oh how i despise the use of "ILOK" can anyone help

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 9:32 pm

so i bought these expensive little plugins through "waves" and then i found out i needed to buy this other little 40 dollar device that Waves requires to validate their plugins. now i've been using these plug ins for a while now, i use them on every single session because they sound way better than the stock compressors and eqs and verbs.

now the problem i ran into is that, my ilock was plugged into the front of my mac pro, and at some point when the band was leaving, my chair or something pushed into the ilok and bent it to the point where the usb part pretty much came off.

now i attempted to resolder everything to get it back to normal, (because i didn't want to pay another 40 bucks for this IMO useless piece of plastic), but i plugged it in and it blinked about 3 times and then went off. and wouldn't recognize.

so i'm like, shit, i've got to go waste another 40 bucks, and at this point today, spending that 40 bucks doesn't seem all that bad when i ended up finding out how much shit i've got to go through just to get this damn ilok thing back up.

so i take the trip to guitar center, buy my new ilok, go out to eat, then come home, plug it in, go to ilok's sight, then look to see how i can get my already purchased waves bundle on the new unbroken newly purchased ILOK.

come to find out i can't just buy a new ILOK, i've got to send the broken ilok to "PACE" to make sure i really did have the same plugins that i bought on that broken ILOK before i could do anything.

"so tell me what that means johnny"

well that means i'm royally fucked

i have to send the ilok to that place, then they need to send it back to me, while i've got sessions that need to be mixed, need to be recorded, and have deadlines.

this is such a bunch of crap, it really is. i can go online to waves and see in my account that i have purchased the bundle, and i can see that i authorized my original ilok months ago. sooooo why can't i just put the authorizations on my new ilok and make the broken ilok void or something, no they've got to make it all complicated and shit.

i can't open any projects that have any waves plugins being used on it.

so that mean every project can't be opened.

Does anyone know how to get around this to the point where i just want to open up the session to work on the song, i don't care if the plug-ins don't work, but at least let me open the session.

i use digital performer 5.13 on a mac,

oh, and does anyone know any good plugins that don't use an ilok??? i need AU's and i need a good reverb, compressor, limiter, and eq. thats all.

i bought drumagog and didn't have to deal with this shit. i don't see why i've got to suffer through all this mess when i've got proof from registering my product, i could even get my receipt with the authorization code on it to show that i bought it.

if i knew it were going to be this much trouble, i would have looked around to get other plugins that sound good but didn't have so much hassle involved, even installing and downloading the waves plugins was a pain in the ass, since i've got a new mac pro and the newer version of digital performer and they a beta wave enabler or something.

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:06 pm

Here is a good bundle.

http://www.waves.com/Content.aspx?id=166

After you send in your iLok and get it fixed, connect it to a USB cable back inside your computer, or get an internal USB card and mount it inside. Then lock it up.

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:47 pm

i'm thinkin the UA stuff, looks interesting, and price isn't too bad,

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:25 am

This is one reason I will not buy the new digi micro track. Yes it would de cool to mix anywhere i like BUT. I deal with computers and equipment that gets used commercially, and I cannot count how often USB tips get broken or smashed during daily use. I'm not about to pay 250 for a P.O.S USB device that is so easily broken. i'd rather buy the cheapest mbox and just keep it in the computer bag.

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:44 pm

bobbo wrote:

come to find out i can't just buy a new ILOK, i've got to send the broken ilok to "PACE" to make sure i really did have the same plugins that i bought on that broken ILOK before i could do anything.

"so tell me what that means johnny"
well that means i'm royally fucked

i have to send the ilok to that place, then they need to send it back to me, while i've got sessions that need to be mixed, need to be recorded, and have deadlines.

iLok (and several other vendors) sells a 6" USB extension for about 5 or 6 bucks. It protects the iLok from getting the connector accidentally snapped-off.

If you had purchased their "Zero Downtime" coverage you would have been able to immediately transfer temp licenses to your new iLok while the broken one went through the RMA process. Yeah, it's $30 bucks a year, but if you're that busy or need to protect your income, it's very cheap insurance. Add the fact that the NEW replacement iLok would then be a spare for you to use, the cost of which pays for a year of coverage.

Just think of it as a business cost, and don't let it get to you. Gotta keep your head clear for all that music making!

Cool

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:50 pm

Quote:

If you had purchased their "Zero Downtime" coverage you would have been able to immediately transfer temp licenses to your new iLok while the broken one went through the RMA process.

Not with Waves, they do not support it.

The return process, if you use Fedex overnight, should be under 4 days.

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