Licenser mess and the DAW performance

[Harry_HH]

I wonder if anyone has investigated what all different plugin licenser softwares do for the computer performance.
Many of us have in the same computer the PACE iLok licenser, Steinberg eLicenser and the Waves Central licenser, plus maybe licensers such as the Native Instruments, Fxpansion, IK-Multimedia licenser and maybe some more.

Are all those licensers slowing down our system? Can different licensers conflict with each other? How do different OSs' updates react to licensers?

New plugin versions or new licenser can cause problems, as we saw in the case of the iLok few years ago, and now again.

The situation is not on the healthy base at the moment. The music software licenser jungle is at the moment a total mess from the user point if view!

[Orbit-50]

I've thought about that stuff for like 3 seconds and just realized it doesn't have anything to do with anything, and I don't even really worry about it at all. Everything is working fine for me and I don't care about what type of copy protection my software uses and how much resources the copy protection uses. As long as my dongles don't fail, I'm fine.

[BertKoor]

If there were conflicts or performance issues, you'd already know about it. Qed?

[DJ Warmonger]

Every software, plugin, extension, library, driver or registry entry on your system has a chance to misbehave or conflict in a most unexpected way. That is why people often have to reinstall OS (Windows at least). The answer is simple: the less, the better.

[robotmonkey]

Are all those licensers slowing down our system? Can different licensers conflict with each other? How do different OSs' updates react to licensers?

New plugin versions or new licenser can cause problems, as we saw in the case of the iLok few years ago, and now again.

In short yes. Mostly it's ok but PACE iLok is an negative exception. iLok plugins take forever to load especially the first time you load them. Which is super annoying if someone is using project templates with lots of iLok plugins. That this is solely down to iLok is proven beyond doubt by the cracked version which have no such problem. Also they are up to 50% smaller which is a considerable saving of RAM when using loads of plugins.

There have also been reported cases where iLok has interfered with eLicenser plugins and tried to disable them (the infamous computer shutdown problem).

And obviously there have been problems with Windows 10 updates too.

Other systems like eLicencer or Waves Center have generally not been plagued by similar problems.

[Harry_HH]

If there were conflicts or performance issues, you'd already know about it. Qed?

Do YOU immediately recognize if your computer performance diminishes lets say 8 %?
I don't, especially if these changes in my DAW develop step by step.
Therefore I wish someone does a 'scientific' research, accurate measurements with different OS-licenser combinations.

And maybe even bigger problem is the time wasted with the licenser problems.

During the past 10 years I have used cumulative several working days by solving different conflicts caused by the licensers.
I guess anyone who has been longer in this busines has lost huge amount of time (=money) fighting against music software licensers.

What I suggest, is a) some wise people will really investigate this and make a 'white paper' based on accurate measurements. This paper could be used as an evidence to b) demand/suggest software developers more co-operation between each other and create one common standard for licenser.

P.s. I know that one common standard is wishful thinking, shouting to the wind, but most progressive initiatives have been, in the beginning, have they .

[Gamma-UT]

I did come across a situation where there was some sort of interaction between iLok/PACE and OS X that slowed the machine down at times – but didn't affect the DAW all that much – that I got as far as diagnosing, but haven't discovered the root problem (part of the problem was with root. Ho ho. I won't make any more Unix jokes, promise).

It was on a laptop where I'd used Migration Assistant to set it up (pro tip: don't use Migration Assistant). What the software does is set up the main user with a different UID number to the usual one. This should not cause a problem, in principle. However, I noticed that for some file operations, the Mac would freeze for a short time and then recover. A look at the Console output revealed that the OS was scanning through the system Audio Units and sometimes this process would slow the machine down to a near halt. Removing iLok plugins or simply moving them to the User AU folder cured the problem (I narrowed it down by moving different types of plugin out of the system AU folder). I took the entire PACE driver out but it made little difference – removing the plugins from the system AU folder was enough.

So, I just moved most of the plugins into the User AU folder, which made updating slightly more involved but wasn't a big hardship. I can only assume there was some user permissions check that glued the machine up, but I am baffled as to why the different UID would make a difference.

I haven't noticed other performance issues, other than the load time for dongled plugins, which isn't a massive surprise given the challenge/response that likely goes to what is probably a slow MCU on the USB device.

[ls1xxx]

That ilok licenser ain't worth a shit.

[EnGee]

Of course it slows down the system, the more the slower. After all, either they must start with your system or starting when you run your host or starting when you start the plugins associated with them!

In the past I didn't care about it, but the move of Steinberg to authorize one computer at all times (software e-licenser) or buying usb one for $47 (NZ$65) is ridiculus! This made me re-think about my consideration for the software protection.

Nowadays, I prefer non-dongle, non-crazy maniac authorisation, although I still have e-licenser because I have Largo, but once I decide that I don't need it, then I'll say goodby to e-licenser forever!

I already uninstalled Pace and all related software. I don't like Wave's protection, but what I can do? I already bought some plugs that I don't have alternative for them. The rest of my plugs are using either serial/key license or a friendly authorisation management (u-he, NI, ..etc).

My plan for the future is to avoid all e-licenser/iLok/Waves related plugs (and all those that depend on service to run). I'm trying to depend/use now the plugins that has a friendly authorization/installation and keep looking for alternative to those I have with e-licenser\iLok\Waves. I haven't decided about Serum yet though. The Splice service is annoying, but Serum is a great synth

[jinotsuh]

I haven't decided about Serum yet though. The Splice service is annoying, but Serum is a great synth

You could of course cut your losses and buy Serum straight from Xfer (or auth Dealer) and say goodbye to splice. And yes, Serum is a great synth, had it for ages.

[EnGee]

I haven't decided about Serum yet though. The Splice service is annoying, but Serum is a great synth

You could of course cut your losses and buy Serum straight from Xfer (or auth Dealer) and say goodbye to splice. And yes, Serum is a great synth, had it for ages.

I'll wait for several months, then might pay for the rest all at once (no losses here ). Anyway, I'm running Splice service once every 3 days, and for few minutes only, once the plan is active in Serum, I can disable the service.

[jinotsuh]

(no losses here )

I like your style

[EnGee]

(no losses here )

I like your style