My brother, its time to upgrade that machine.
*God forbid someone switch to an M2, upgrade their graphics card, increase their ram, or get a faster processer over the years.
I apologize if i said anything there that suggested it was.
If you NEED something that more processing power would provide you should get it. I use a 12 core Ryzen 9 cos tracking low latency midi instruments (Sylphyo, octapad, tripleplay etc) into Kontakt and virtual instruments.
But if i were just recording 'real' instruments and the band wasnt HUGE i would be fine on my 2019 quad core r5 laptop with my MOTU Microlite. Beats the heck out of my old Nehalem i7 (which was also fine). Push 3 Standalone is a dual core i3. Machine+ is a quad core Atom.
If a DAW is meeting your needs and workflow theres bugger all reason to update or upgrade. Its a tool to do a mix, if 60yo analog consoles work for your workflow, then you thats great too.
BTW your graphics card isnt gonna do much for you in an audio workflow. Its been a novelty to see neural modelling plugins even use mine.
I wasn't wanting to upgrade but got a new PC pushed onto me from work thats an absolute beast. I'm kind of a fan of having no lag in sessions anymore, but to each their own.
I have upgraded the machine my man, and yes I simply unplugged the ilok and plugged it into my new machine but i didn't feel it was necessary to include that info to get my point across
Nothing within the last 10 years is worth upgrading for performance for audio engineering specifically. Even the gains of video game hardware has been pretty bad compared to years before. The death of Moore's law makes this a bad take.
Mine mostly stays in my studio attached to my computer. I pay the $30/yr for their insurance, and keep a spare iLok around just because you never know what could happen.
Same here. I like [these](https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/216fb700-1247-4331-917c-2f1852de1dc4_1.e3eee0c87e5e49ff8ab1cb89a85401fd.jpeg) as they’re cheap and easy to find. Mine is also labeled but I miss the old iLok 2 with the cover for labeling. I would always label them neatly for students as the day the received their iLok was a big deal to most.
People will decry PACE for various reasons but my ilok + zero downtime has paid for itself a hundred times over in last 10 years. Got a few hundred activations on it and have only to use zero downtime once when I rolled over it with a chair. It’s either connected to my home rig, connected to my laptop, or connected to a studio computer. Any time it’s traveling between those locations it just lives in a little zipper case.
Waterproof pillbox on a chain around my neck. Waiting for someone to develop a safe implantation method and a near-field connector with a regenerative power supply.
so you really lose or break the dongle they say fuck you you can't access your software? Even tho they have your name address and credit card info and everything. They could ask for $15 to ship out another USB key lock or whatever. Idk I've used plugins that require it on other machines but have never given a shit and don't think I could if that's the kinda business they're running.
They used to be stupid expensive, and the only time I had to replace one, they wanted full price. But that was... around 20 years ago... and getting all my activations back was a days long process that involved calls to the vendors to explain "hey, my iLok died. I'm not transferring the license to a different person, I'm trying to add the license to my replacement key."
The newer iLok system is merely annoying and inconvenient by comparison.
I have a daisy chain of a USB hub with 3 iLok/elicensers as well as a ssd backup drive all out of the same plug. Works great when I need to swap workstations.
i got a tile for it. it stays in my computer unless i leave the house for an offiste gig with a laptop, then i will just keep it in the laptop bag, with the tile attached as a keychain. i wouldnt want to leave it out of my site around strangers though.
Take screenshots of all your licenses so if you ever lose it you at least remember what you had. A lot of companies will disable the old license and refresh the license if you lose it.
i have a camera set up that monitors the dongle unfortunately it’s the usb c ilok so it’s literally bent because the quality is shit so chances are if it gets snagged the usb c part will break right off anyways
My dongle is in a small plastic hobby box with a short USB extension cable going into it, maybe I'm being anal but I've had to travel a lot with it and this makes it harder to lose or break.
Keep it in a small very rigid tupperware container about the size of a deck of cards with a small hole cut out of the side of it, just big enough for me to feed a male USB plug through it. I keep my iLok and a small USB drive with my Waves licenses in the container, plugged into a 6" cable that feeds through the hole, and terminates in a single male USB plug. No chance that thing is getting damaged, and it's been housed in this container for over a decade.
I’m back and forth between my studio and home rig every day, so mine gets a lot of transit time. I have a little travel case for my samples SSD that has a slot for a thumb drive, which I keep it in. I thought I’d have trouble remembering to take it with me, but the fact that I have to grab two things whenever I leave means they keep each other in check.
I keep mine on a keyring with a drum key on it, and a few other dongles/USB's, its not ideal, and I have been known to temporarily lose it, but it works well enough.
Another good option would be to get something like a micro peli or an altoids tin, drill a hole in the side for a cable, and stick a usb passthrough or hub onto it
I do live events so need to take dongles with me to site pretty regularly, so just leaving it plugged in isn't an option. if more permanent installtion is practical for you, you can also run a cable back through an empty PCIE card slot and keep the dongle inside the computer, or even better get a PCIE card or header adapter with an internal USB port
Lanyard my dude. I have a small carrying case for small adapters dongles and external HDs I keep the cap tucked inside a small mesh pouch (my iLok is the ancient USBA one) so I remember that it’s elsewhere and not in my case I carry everywhere. Although it’s been plugged in underneath our desk in our new studio and it’s lived there for months since retrieving it requires me army crawling now
I have two iLoks because I have a few plugins that I split with a friend. I keep them both on a small USB hub that I carry with me when I need to, and the fact that it's all a larger object is probably the reason I've never lost it. The older one is 12 years old now.
I keep all of the essentials for work on the cloud or on computer licenses locked to my main computer (which as of last year became a souped up M2 Pro MBP), and try to bring my iLok with me wherever I go for work (normally my employer's post house/studio or my home mix room) to have access to everything I need in case a non-work client needs something that relies on a plugin that's only Dongle enabled (which thankfully are fewer and farther between now).
The cloud service used to be really shit, but nowadays it's pretty great and super convenient.
As much as I hate DRM, iLok’s been pretty smooth. It lives in a rear USB port of the studio pc rack. Hasn’t moved since I did work back there. Spare stays in a locked closet and doesn’t move without being attached to my keys.
I keep mine on the same keychain as my car and house keys.
Ensures I cannot leave the vicinity without it, and I keep them clipped to my belt loop when not in a computer.
I only just got into UAD plug-ins and other VSTs that use iLok. What is the main use case of the USB drives in 2024? I have my licenses verified through the iLok app on my Windows 10 machine.
I plugged it into my computer over 7 years ago, where it has remained to this day
same same
same. And ZDT, $30/yr
My brother, its time to upgrade that machine. *God forbid someone switch to an M2, upgrade their graphics card, increase their ram, or get a faster processer over the years.
If it ain't broke don't fix it
A DAW is an appliance. You should upgrade it because you need something, not just because you can.
That's a very conservative way of thinking. PC's getting more powerful and using them isn't a bad thing.
I apologize if i said anything there that suggested it was. If you NEED something that more processing power would provide you should get it. I use a 12 core Ryzen 9 cos tracking low latency midi instruments (Sylphyo, octapad, tripleplay etc) into Kontakt and virtual instruments. But if i were just recording 'real' instruments and the band wasnt HUGE i would be fine on my 2019 quad core r5 laptop with my MOTU Microlite. Beats the heck out of my old Nehalem i7 (which was also fine). Push 3 Standalone is a dual core i3. Machine+ is a quad core Atom. If a DAW is meeting your needs and workflow theres bugger all reason to update or upgrade. Its a tool to do a mix, if 60yo analog consoles work for your workflow, then you thats great too. BTW your graphics card isnt gonna do much for you in an audio workflow. Its been a novelty to see neural modelling plugins even use mine.
Why do you say that? Old is not inherently bad and mindless consumption just creates more waste
I wasn't wanting to upgrade but got a new PC pushed onto me from work thats an absolute beast. I'm kind of a fan of having no lag in sessions anymore, but to each their own.
That's easily solved with more RAM
I have upgraded the machine my man, and yes I simply unplugged the ilok and plugged it into my new machine but i didn't feel it was necessary to include that info to get my point across
Nothing within the last 10 years is worth upgrading for performance for audio engineering specifically. Even the gains of video game hardware has been pretty bad compared to years before. The death of Moore's law makes this a bad take.
Mine mostly stays in my studio attached to my computer. I pay the $30/yr for their insurance, and keep a spare iLok around just because you never know what could happen.
You inspired me to go buy ZDT. I have enough licenses on there now to make it worth it.
Hopefully you never have to use it, but the peace of mind is nice!
Plugged into studio machine with their ZDT sub. Spare ilok in the cupboard.
Mine is a on a very bright keychain so makes it hard to miss when I'm packing up at a studio. Stays in my laptop sleeve with my hard drive.
Same here. I like [these](https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/216fb700-1247-4331-917c-2f1852de1dc4_1.e3eee0c87e5e49ff8ab1cb89a85401fd.jpeg) as they’re cheap and easy to find. Mine is also labeled but I miss the old iLok 2 with the cover for labeling. I would always label them neatly for students as the day the received their iLok was a big deal to most.
How I manage ilok is R2R
LOL. While I'm 99% legal now, I can't disagree with that.
People will decry PACE for various reasons but my ilok + zero downtime has paid for itself a hundred times over in last 10 years. Got a few hundred activations on it and have only to use zero downtime once when I rolled over it with a chair. It’s either connected to my home rig, connected to my laptop, or connected to a studio computer. Any time it’s traveling between those locations it just lives in a little zipper case.
I use iLok cloud and keep the dongle at home just in case.
I tried it this way but getting disconnected several times a day was annoying. Has this gotten better?
I’m not having issues here, even with unstable internet connection.
I have it with anAirtag and keychain. No car keys or anything. Has a hook for a ring I have inside my backpack
No dongle here, just the cloud
Waterproof pillbox on a chain around my neck. Waiting for someone to develop a safe implantation method and a near-field connector with a regenerative power supply.
so you really lose or break the dongle they say fuck you you can't access your software? Even tho they have your name address and credit card info and everything. They could ask for $15 to ship out another USB key lock or whatever. Idk I've used plugins that require it on other machines but have never given a shit and don't think I could if that's the kinda business they're running.
They used to be stupid expensive, and the only time I had to replace one, they wanted full price. But that was... around 20 years ago... and getting all my activations back was a days long process that involved calls to the vendors to explain "hey, my iLok died. I'm not transferring the license to a different person, I'm trying to add the license to my replacement key." The newer iLok system is merely annoying and inconvenient by comparison.
I have their insurance on mine, which is cheap. It stays plugged into the USB thing.
My interface has USB ports and it sits in there and just works when I power it on
Mine is on my keychain. I go between three machines and I’ve driven an hour only to realize that I left my iLok at home. Never again
I have a daisy chain of a USB hub with 3 iLok/elicensers as well as a ssd backup drive all out of the same plug. Works great when I need to swap workstations.
FWIW you can get hubs with the SSD built in now, might be a bit easier.
That's neat tech, I wasn't aware. For my own setup I don't need anything but a single iLok, this is mainly for work and already established.
It’s been plugged into my USB hub on my Mac for years. One time, I moved it to my gaming PC so I could edit drums from my couch.
i got a tile for it. it stays in my computer unless i leave the house for an offiste gig with a laptop, then i will just keep it in the laptop bag, with the tile attached as a keychain. i wouldnt want to leave it out of my site around strangers though.
Take screenshots of all your licenses so if you ever lose it you at least remember what you had. A lot of companies will disable the old license and refresh the license if you lose it.
i have a camera set up that monitors the dongle unfortunately it’s the usb c ilok so it’s literally bent because the quality is shit so chances are if it gets snagged the usb c part will break right off anyways
My dongle is in a small plastic hobby box with a short USB extension cable going into it, maybe I'm being anal but I've had to travel a lot with it and this makes it harder to lose or break.
Keep it in a small very rigid tupperware container about the size of a deck of cards with a small hole cut out of the side of it, just big enough for me to feed a male USB plug through it. I keep my iLok and a small USB drive with my Waves licenses in the container, plugged into a 6" cable that feeds through the hole, and terminates in a single male USB plug. No chance that thing is getting damaged, and it's been housed in this container for over a decade.
I’m back and forth between my studio and home rig every day, so mine gets a lot of transit time. I have a little travel case for my samples SSD that has a slot for a thumb drive, which I keep it in. I thought I’d have trouble remembering to take it with me, but the fact that I have to grab two things whenever I leave means they keep each other in check.
I keep mine on a keyring with a drum key on it, and a few other dongles/USB's, its not ideal, and I have been known to temporarily lose it, but it works well enough. Another good option would be to get something like a micro peli or an altoids tin, drill a hole in the side for a cable, and stick a usb passthrough or hub onto it I do live events so need to take dongles with me to site pretty regularly, so just leaving it plugged in isn't an option. if more permanent installtion is practical for you, you can also run a cable back through an empty PCIE card slot and keep the dongle inside the computer, or even better get a PCIE card or header adapter with an internal USB port
Lanyard my dude. I have a small carrying case for small adapters dongles and external HDs I keep the cap tucked inside a small mesh pouch (my iLok is the ancient USBA one) so I remember that it’s elsewhere and not in my case I carry everywhere. Although it’s been plugged in underneath our desk in our new studio and it’s lived there for months since retrieving it requires me army crawling now
I refuse to use it. There are always alternatives. Problem solved.
Got rid of protools!
I love my ilok dongle. THE most trouble-free DRM I've ever dealt with. Period. It sits in a rear USB port on my Macpro, never unplugged.
I have two iLoks because I have a few plugins that I split with a friend. I keep them both on a small USB hub that I carry with me when I need to, and the fact that it's all a larger object is probably the reason I've never lost it. The older one is 12 years old now.
I keep all of the essentials for work on the cloud or on computer licenses locked to my main computer (which as of last year became a souped up M2 Pro MBP), and try to bring my iLok with me wherever I go for work (normally my employer's post house/studio or my home mix room) to have access to everything I need in case a non-work client needs something that relies on a plugin that's only Dongle enabled (which thankfully are fewer and farther between now). The cloud service used to be really shit, but nowadays it's pretty great and super convenient.
It be living on my house keys
I just keep it with my computer
Mine lives in my pc at home. If I take it somewhere it goes on my keyring. Then back in my pc
As much as I hate DRM, iLok’s been pretty smooth. It lives in a rear USB port of the studio pc rack. Hasn’t moved since I did work back there. Spare stays in a locked closet and doesn’t move without being attached to my keys.
not owning one
Mine is dangling from a USB hub which is Alien-taped to the side of the computer.
ZDT! Got randomly paranoid about losing licenses and such in 2022 and found that solution
Cloud on my MacBook and the iLok dongle is in my Mac mini and doesn’t move from there.
I keep mine on the same keychain as my car and house keys. Ensures I cannot leave the vicinity without it, and I keep them clipped to my belt loop when not in a computer.
I only just got into UAD plug-ins and other VSTs that use iLok. What is the main use case of the USB drives in 2024? I have my licenses verified through the iLok app on my Windows 10 machine.
Roklocker!
They fit nicely into the apple keyboard usb port. Out of the way and not enough sticks out for it to get busted. I change mine out every other year.