The winner of the Softube Grand Channel is Dan Caganoff from Sydney, Australia. Dan writes; 

Our understanding is that is likely that Avid will take advantage of the time they have left in the Q2 window to ship as stable a product as they can. After all what’s the problem with waiting a few more weeks if we all end up with a few less bugs to iron out?

Just to be clear, dealers taking orders or offering upgrade deals is not the same as shipping the product.

We will keep you posted, but consider anything before the end of June as a bonus.

Perfection is said to be as much as curse as it is a blessing, especially for creative types. We record, edit, mix audio or shoot, cut and grade video and often we just can’t leave it alone, or indeed be satisfied with the end results. When asking many creatives if they are happy with their past work many will tell you no. I listen to albums I made 10 years ago and want to go back and replace snares, or watch videos I cut 5 years ago and want to re-grade them.

Add money into the equation and the problem gets even harder, we strive for perfection but within limited time and financial constrains, in fact the two are intrinsically linked when you work as a professional. There is a danger to cut corners, especially when on tight deadlines, however in reality many of us simply work longer and inevitably for free to deliver a great project.

For many of us (and partly why so many creative businesses fail) our primary motivation is not money, it is our desire for excellence, if not perfection.

This weekend I spent hours cutting videos which required some complex audio work too. I was on a tight deadline, but the reality was I just got up at 5am and worked until midnight to make sure I was satisfied that every video edit, dialogue stream, music bed, colour grade etc. were as good as they could be. I know I’m not the exception, that many of you reading this are exactly the same, you too will work more hours than you should, or are indeed getting paid for. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining simply stating the facts.

Our clients often never know the lengths we go to when working on their projects, they certainly won’t pay for half the work we did in the name of perfection. It’s a difficult balance being a creative professional with budgets on the one hand and a personal desire to do the best we can on the other. It’s the little things that take a project from good to great, as I’ve already alluded to most of us seldom feel we have done that, despite our best efforts.

Our desire to do the best we can drives us, perhaps clients know this and take advantage? I’m sure some do, but I also know that most of my clients are hugely appreciative of creatives who are conscientious in their work, it is why they keep using us.

There’s a lot of stuff we do on projects that take them to another level, often little details, but it’s those things that make the difference. Most of the time our clients don’t know when we’ve done them, but we do and that’s what matters most.

Russ, Mike, Neil & James are here with a packed Pro Tools Expert podcast that include… 

• Competitions
• iLok Migration saga
• Reflections on the new Mac Pro
• PlugInUpdate 
• Pro Tools PC is available to buy
• Community Feedback - Kwame James
• Community Feedback - Greg Geddes Fibre Optic Thunderbolt cable
• Community Feedback - Tom Scrivano Link for AIR Ignite
• Community Feedback - Kick In The Doors
• Community Tips - Julian Rodgers
• Community Tips - Phillip Nichols
• Unable to find Digidesign hardware
• Problems with installing Structure
• Will a secondhand HD license be upgradable to PT11HD?
• Preparing Windows laptop for Pro Tools 11
• Recommendations for must have plug-ins for a prosumer user

You can listen here;

• Listen on iTunes here
• Download the MP3 here

Most people are aware of ms as a miking technique: That you can capture mid and side components and encode them to stereo. Lots of people are aware that you can decode stereo to mid and side components for processing mixes, however in my experience most people rely on plugins to do the matrixing and do not understand what happens under the hood. I have made a Pro Tools template which decodes a stereo file to m/s and then encodes it back to stereo. I use this as an exercise for my students. Even if they don’t understand how it happens they recognize the sound of m/s and how to read a phase scope. If for no other reason use it as a listening tool to listen to the sides only of some of your favourite music and get a new perspective on the arrangement and especially the use of reverb. I know I’ve learned a lot doing exactly that.

To use just import a stereo file to the clips list and drag it onto the audio track. Show the phase scope on the master fader and play with the aux faders.

You could show the hidden tracks and follow the signal flow through the busses. The comments in the mixer should help.

Owners of some of the bundles from Avid may not realize that some of the software included (in particular cut-down versions) are made for Avid and then the responsibilty to update them is Avid’s. VocALign LE was one such product, made for DV Toolkit users, but a vital part of a lot of user workflows.

Avid have made no indication of plans to make or commission an AAX update, which would have left many users moving to Pro Tools 11 high and dry. Revoice Pro is currently AAX ready and all other versions will be ported in the near future. Any user buying a version will get a FREE upgrade to the AAX version when it ships.

Synchro Arts, have decided to make sure users of their products are not left without a version so are offering the following deal.

VocALign LE Upgrades

Synchro Arts are offering owners of the AVID/Digidesign VocALign LE licenses $100 (£65 or €78) off the prices of VocALign Project 3, VocALign PRO 4 or Revoice Pro.

• This offer is valid until the end of August 2013.
• The new Synchro Arts product iLok license will be delivered into the user’s iLok.com account which holds the VocALign LE license being upgraded.
• This upgrade can be purchases here 

Good for Synchro Arts for helping users if migrating to Pro Tools 11.

Punching Out

The Problem:

Punching in Pro Tools when using a console or software cue mixer and not being able to turn off software input monitoring in Pro Tools.

The Current Solution (Mac RTAS only, no Windows or AAX compatibility):

MuteTone by TriTone has been the best solution to the problem of not being able to turn off software input monitoring in Pro Tools. Aside from the compatibility issues, the user must remember to disable the MuteTone plug-in when recording other tracks AND during bounce to disk.

A New Solution (Mac and Windows RTAS/AAX compatibility):

Using 2 stock plug-ins, it is possible to have a record-track audible ONLY during playback and NOT while stopped or recording/punching, behaving like an expanded version of MuteTone. However, the user must remember to disable the 2nd plug-in if recording other tracks (bounce to disk is not a problem though). This method also TEMPORARILY uses a bit of extra disk space.

The Necessary Configuration:

• “Mute Trigger 1”: a mono audio track containing a short 1kHz tone looped to the end of the session. Output = Bus 127.
• “Mute Trigger 2”: a mono audio track containing nothing. Input = Bus 127. Output = Bus 128. 
• Two low-latency plug-ins (a Gate w/ext side chain such as Channel Strip and the Dyn3 Comp/Limiter, both with fairly specific settings) on each session track that will be recorded/punched on. Ideally, the plugs would be set up on one track, then just Option+dragged to needed tracks.
• Pro Tools in Auto Input Monitoring Mode
• “Mute Trigger 1” should stay unmuted. It will trigger the gate to open ONLY during playback.
• “Mute Trigger 2” should stay record-enabled when recording other tracks. It will trigger other record-enabled tracks to “mute” ONLY during recording. Since this track will be also be recording during punches, it will be using extra disk space until the user decides to delete the resulting files from the track.
• Gate plug-in w/ext sidechain (ChannelStrip for example): external key from Bus 127 should be active, maximum attenuation.
• Dyn 3 Compressor/Limiter plug-in: external key from Bus 128. Ratio of 100:1. This will only “mute” the signal during recording.

To make the setup as efficient as possible, obviously it would be ideal to save a template, track preset, and/or plug-in presets. You can download the session template that Philip has created too.

Edit Window Ready to GoMix Window Ready To GoPunching In

Michael Carnes from Exponential Audio has just sent an email to all his users and with his permission I am publishing here in full…

I’m sure you’re aware of the terrible job that PACE has done in rolling out their new iLok software.  Many users have temporarily lost licenses for various plugins, and clients have walked away in some cases.  We developers have been hit by this as well.  People are afraid to purchase and the blogosphere is pretty harsh at the moment.  Many of you are more than a little unhappy, and all of you are uncertain.  So I’m going to tell you what I know.

PACE has been working on new iLok code for many months.  There are really two pieces to this.  There’s a new driver as well as some improvements to the way we developers can wrap and protect our code.  I’ve been working with beta versions for nearly a year.  Then there’s the new License Manager—the piece that you directly experience.  This is the piece of code that allows you to redeem licenses, and to move licenses between iLoks.  PACE chose to roll out all of this at the same time.  In hindsight, this was not the best move on their part.

I believe the new iLok driver and new wrapper are real improvements, and my experience of the last several months gives me reason to believe they’re stable.  I also think the new License Manager provides a much easier way to deal with iLoks.  Of course, people have a very bad taste in their mouths about this right now.  From everything I can see, the cause of most of the trouble over the last week has been with the PACE servers—the internet-based system that communicates between your computer and the PACE database.  I’ve received communications from PACE several times in the last few days.  Usually these are sent in the late hours.  The Pace engineers are working nearly around the clock, and they’ve put every other employee to work dealing with service tickets. They are also working directly with IBM.  It’s probably not much fun to be at PACE right now. 

Many users make suggestions about using other types of protection, such as eLicenser or some other sort of web-based authorization.  They are equally vulnerable: this problem just hit PACE first.  More than anything, I believe this is a classic example of scaling.  Something that works beautifully in a test environment then fails when scaled up a thousand-fold.  Knowing that fact doesn’t make this experience any easier, but it once again demonstrates just how hard this is to do.  The technical staff at PACE are more than capable.  This was a failure of planning on their part.  I believe that we developers are going to demand greater accountability from PACE in the future.  I will of course consider all options for Exponential Audio.  But reactive decisions are usually the worst decisions.  In the short run, this problem will be resolved.  My choices (and those of other developers) will be driven in large part by the steps that PACE takes in restructuring the way they provide their service.  To be clear, I do believe steps are necessary.  I have communicated some of this to PACE, and I will communicate with other developers as well.

I should tell you that I receive automatic emails from PACE whenever a license code is redeemed.  That allows me to know when paid licenses or demo licenses are redeemed, meaning a successful use of the PACE License Manager.  I haven’t seen much difference in the rate of transactions. To me, that is an indication that most customers are able to work successfully.  PACE has provided a number of helpful steps on iLok.com to help users restore licenses and to use the service.  I do hope that the License Manager soon becomes what it’s supposed to be—a smooth and easy way to manage iLoks.  But for now, I recommend that you follow the PACE instructions carefully.

In closing, let me say that I am sorry if you’ve experienced difficulties.  I will work with you and I’ll also speak on your behalf.  Thank you for your faith in Exponential Audio.

Sincerely,

Michael Carnes

Thank you Michael for this considered statement. I for one appreciate your analysis of scale and consideration of the alternatives.

Russ takes a look at the baby of the Arturia keyboard family and is pleasantly surprised by a keyboard that is punching way above its weight!

You may not heard of DSP Quattro Mastering Suite for Mac. but it boast an impressive array of features as well as garnering several awards.

It features some powerful stuff including;

• High quality suite of audio editing tools
• AudioCD Layout (Playlist) and AudioCD burning
• Audio mastering & burning capabilities
• Customizable audio editing key commands
• Built in digital effects (chorus, delay, reverb, filters, 4 and 7 band eq’s, many more)

It is normally $99.99 but right now it’s a steal at $39.99. Use this link to buy at the deal

For extensive info click here

Update 17th June 2013 10:30 BST - The iLok team have told us that they have just made a update to their systems ‘to add more muscle’ to help the Sync & Repair sequence go more smoothly. So if you haven’t been successful so far then it might be worth trying again.

I suppose there is always the danger of reading a blog like this and forgetting that those of us who write it are real people living the same kind of lives of the community we serve. This is not like some corporation, political party or religious institution, where we are removed from the lives of those we try to serve.

I write that to underpin that whilst the iLok issues have been hitting some of the community, at least two of the team, myself and Mike have been dealing with the same pain. I lost 209 licences in the migration, but as of 5 minutes ago I have 202 of them back, so I can get on with working and making a living again.

There are some things we are sure about and some things we are not certain regarding the recent issues surrounding the migration of iLok to their new platform. So rather than try and come up with conjecture about the technical, PR and legal issues, Mike and I thought it might help to outline what helped us and what didn’t help.

What Helped? 

• Knowing I wasn’t the only one dealing with this and that I wasn’t mad.
• Mike’s excellent efforts in trying to communicate ways to solve the problem.
• The reports from other users and how they solved their issues, there’s some real gems on the DUC, Facebook and other sites around the web. Check the DUC here and here
• Having the iLok team personally respond to every email I sent, the last reply I got was about an hour ago, which is around 2:00am PST.

What Didn’t Help?

• Although iLok did try and answer emails at any time of the day, they do have to sleep, so iLok need to figure out how to offer 24/7 manned support email and phone lines. I know Andrew and the team do all they can, but however willing they are to try and do it themselves, it is not a viable business model.
• Having to try and explain complex issues via email. iLok should also seriously consider a screen sharing support application. Most of my emails contained complex descriptions of my issues - one of them contained 5 screen shots as well as extensive narrative. Not all people are able to convey these issues in writing.
• People unaffected by the issues deciding the have an opinion in forums or on Facebook threads. To be frank the last thing I need when looking for a solution is to have to wade through endless comments (half of them from people unaffected by this issue) who want to give legal, change management, IT, developer and any other would-be professional opinions, so I can find a real answer. If you are unaffected by this, bored and want to have an opinion, then please go and comment on a dancing cat on YouTube, don’t make this harder than it has to be.

What to do now

• If you haven’t used the new iLok License Manager think very carefully as to when to do it, especially if you are in or about to enter a busy period. This was the advice we gave over a week ago when this started, it is the same advice we give when a new version of Pro Tools comes out. There will be teething troubles with any new version despite a comprehensive testing programme before release. Remember Apple’s transition from Mobile Me to iCloud…. The real world is very different to the lab. But remember a lot of users have had no problems.
• If you have used the License Manager and you are still having problems then do follow the instructions from the ilok team that we have posted here. This is resolving most people’s problems, even if it does take several attempts at the Sync/Repair cycle.
• The Sync/Repair cycle is very sensitive to a dodgy internet connection. If you can do via a wired connection then we recommend this is what you do.
• If you are still having problems then do get in touch with the iLok team with a Support Ticket via the iLok web site. Use the Continue button to start the Support Ticket process. They will get to you, they are working incredibly hard, but it may not be an instant response.
• Update 17th June 2013 10:30 BST - The iLok team have told us that they have just made a update to their systems ‘to add more muscle’ to help the Sync & Repair sequence go more smoothly. So if you haven’t been successful so far then it might be worth trying again.

Once the dust has settled then iLok have a number of questions to answer regarding roll-out, back-up scenarios, ongoing support and what zero downtime really means? For a couple of days I was on Zero Up Time, which was costing me time, money and reputation.

However, now is not the time for blame but for robust and lasting solutions which I would rather iLok spend their energy on, sooner rather than later. Once this has happened and iLok can gather their thoughts then we can begin the autopsy.

Sync/Repair has been updated

June 15, 2013 02:53 PST
Traffic volume continues to be high and some users are reporting that they cannot connect. Please be patient and if you get an error message, please wait awhile and try your operation again. We are working to improve performance levels.

June 15, 2013 00:40 PST
If some of your authorizations (licenses) show as being on your iLok but are not authorizing the software, or if some of your authorizations appear to be missing, this may be caused by a mismatch between the data on your iLok and on our server. This data issue was related to a complex data migration of tens of millions of licenses delivered to users via many different methods, and has been resolved. Please know that your licenses have not been permanently damaged or removed from your iLok in any way; all of your non-expiring authorizations are still on your iLok and they have not expired.

We now have steps for you to follow to correct the license information and restore your authorizations to their proper state.

IMPORTANT: For the quickest and best result, we recommend going through these steps with each iLok individually, with ONLY that iLok plugged in. 

The first generation iLok is not as speedy as the second generation iLok; please be patient as this type of iLok will take longer and the process may seem slow or like nothing is happening. Don’t quit the process, leave it alone until it is finished. Seriously! Don’t touch the keyboard.

1. Unplug all iLoks from your computer.
2. Launch iLok License Manager. If you see “operation in progress” immediately upon launching, wait until the message clears before signing in. BE PATIENT. Do not close the application. When the initial operation is finished, sign in.
3. Plug in ONE iLok.
4. Double-click the plugged in iLok in the left-hand location column to open the Details Pane.
5. Click the “Sync/Repair” link, and wait until the process completes. Again, be patient and let it do its job. The progress bar may flicker and at some points it may look like nothing is happening but you need to wait for the confirmation that the process is finished. This may take some time, especially for a first generation iLok.
6. Verify that all expected licenses are now seen on your iLok, or in some cases, a license may be in your account instead of on the iLok.

Repeat steps 3-6 until you have performed a Sync/Repair on each iLok. 

We realize that this may have led to an interruption in your ability to work and we are very sorry for any inconvenience we have inadvertently caused. Our engineering team is continuing to work on improving our products and services. Many users are now reporting much better performance and we are striving to continue this trend. As we may have said to you before, we truly appreciate your patience with us through this major release.

I have been one of these affected users and I cannot stress enough the need to be patient. Unfortunately the progress bar can be misleading and it can appear that nothing is happening. Please resist all attempts to ‘help’ it along’, it won’t help, it will just make things worse. This includes, when you start up the License Manager waiting before it will let you sign in, that can take some time, and by that I mean several minutes so please, please be patient. The Sync/Repair process can take 5 minutes especially if you have a lot of licenses on your iLok but again please be patient and wait fro it to complete. The good news is that it does work and it may take you a little while to get each iLok resolved but it will resolve it. I was working with the iLok team at 1:30am for them and they were still hard at it.

In this session learn about how using the 4 different edit modes can enable you to become a power editor in Pro Tools.

The session explains and demonstrates the best uses for using the Shuffle, Spot, Slip and Grid edit modes.

• Members watch it here
• Or watch it on demand for $1

SoundCode LtRt Tools is a suite of Pro Tools AAX Native 64 and AAX DSP 64 encode, decode and monitor plug-ins designed for post-production studios TV mixers, video game mixers and broadcasters that monitor or deliver stereo down mixed and LtRt encoded audio.

V-Mon is a powerful AAX DSP 64 surround monitoring plug-in system for Pro Tools HDX and HD Accel systems. It can handle multiple inputs and speaker feeds up to 7.1 and is compatible with the TAC Systems VMC-101 remote controller. 

1. Look at your workflows. What do you need your equipment to do for you, so that you can be creative in whatever field or genre you are working in. Remember, the gear is a tool to enable you to be creative, the gear should not be controlling your creativity. Your creativity should determine what gear you need.
2. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. This advice applies to upgrades as much as it does to anything else. For example, if you have a Pro Tools 7.4 system with old Accel cards, etc., and you can happily do all you need to do, then use that system and carry on using it until it starts to limit your creativity. Then, and only then, consider what to upgrade to.
3. Don’t automatically assume you need to jump to the latest technology. There is a good argument to staying one step behind the cutting edge, so that you have a reliable and proven system that won’t let you down. Clients should be looking for people that can do the job, not necessarily for studios that have the latest kit (which may or may not work). No one likes downtime when gear/software doesn’t doesn’t work properly and unreliability will kill a reputation in a flash; it will take you a long time and a lot of hard work to get back from that. So it may be better for you to upgrade to an older secondhand system because it does all you need it to do and won’t break the bank.
4. Whenever you make an upgrade decision, there will always be rumours about the next new thing which that might do this or do that and is certain to be ready next week, or next month. You should only make decisions based on equipment and software actually available and not on ‘vapourware’. Make your choices from what is in front of you now.
5. Accept that on the day you buy your equipment, it is almost automatically “out of date.” With the pace of new developments these days, there is almost always something new out which supersedes what you have bought.  But if you have bought that widget because it enables you to be creative, then it shouldn’t matter that it isn’t the latest widget. 

We’re sorry to announce that the PluginUpdate Store project has been cancelled due to lack of interest. We had thought that it would be a great way to tie PluginUpdate together as a complete solution, and obviously a very transparent and unobtrusive way to fund the project, however, it turns out it was a complete miscalculation. Very sorry for any confusion or inconvenience this may have caused (although it doesn’t seem that anyone will mind much.) The good news is, further development of PluginUpdate continues, totally unaffected by this revelation. We’re committed to keeping PluginUpdate free and incredibly useful. 

This is a real shame as it would have given us a one stop shop for plug-ins but it is not to be. However it is good news that the PlugInUpdate project isn’t dead.

In this video, James takes a look at the XFilter 500 true stereo EQ for API 500 series by Elysia. He shows how to use the EQ for a drum master buss and how to get the best from this very classy 500 series unit. This is the first in a new series of reviews of API 500 series kit.

• See Mike taking it out of the box.
• See how little needs to be done before you can use it.
• See Mike fitting his HDX card into it.
• See how easily the Pro Tools PC fitted into Mike’s Mac based studio.

If you like what you see, you can now buy yourself a Pro Tools PC on the PTPC web site which was launched today.

The Pro Tools PC website has today gone live and is taking orders for the UK and Europe as well as taking enquiries of interest from the USA and the rest of the world.

Head over to www.pro-tools-pc.com and take a look at the newly-designed website. We think you’ll find all the information you need (but feel free to use the website contact form or Facebook page to ask anything more you might need or want to know).

There are two ways forward depending on whether you have downloaded and synced your iLoks using the new iLok License Manager or not.

1. If you haven’t done anything since the weekend, then don’t download and run the license manager just yet. We recommend you go to iLok.com and log in with your normal user name and password. This will allow you to view the database ‘post migration’. You can scroll down and check that all your licenses have make the transition onto the new system. Once you have logged in, click on the View Account button near the top left of the screen just under the iLok.com logo. At the bottom on the window you will now see a table with all your iLoks listed. Click on the first iLok (if you have more than one) and the window will extend downwards and show all the licenses that are on that iLok. Scroll down and look at the Type column looking for ‘Temporary’. If you see any that are Temporary (that shouldn’t be) make a note of them and then do nothing, don’t install the License Manager and don’t Sync your iLoks. Check back in a few hours and see if they have changed. The iLok team are working incredibly hard to go through the millions of licenses on their system and fix the data that didn’t make the transition properly. In my case when I checked 8 hours ago I have several ‘Temporary’ licenses that shouldn’t have been listed as such. I have just logged in again and they have all been fixed. Your’s might not have been fixed yet, but rest assured they are working through them as fast as possible. Once the licenses are no longer listed as Temporary then when you are ready (and not in the middle of a critical project, wait until it is all done and you have some downtime) download, install and run the iLok License Manager software and all should be OK.
2. If you have downloaded the License Manager and Synced your iLok(s) and you have problems with license becoming Temporary then we recommend the advice given by the iLok team on this site.  
   If your iLok had been seen by our server and your license is no longer working, please plug in the iLok and deactivate each of the affected licenses. To do this, open the Detail pane, then select the license from the license grid at the top. Choose the Deactivate link. Once the licenses are deactivated, you may then re-activate each one by putting them back onto your iLok.

If after following these guidelines you are still having problems then please get in touch with iLok using this link and they work with you to fix your issues. They are monitoring the support tickets extra specially closely during extra long hours to help to get every last user back on track.

To be fair to the iLok team the number of actual problems has been incredibly small compared to the number of accounts and licenses they have had to migrate onto the new system. Of course for anyone unfortunate enough to have suffered problems that is little conciliation but we have been in regular contact with the iLok team and we know they won’t rest until every last user is sorted.

Part of Russ’ sightseeing tour in New York this year

Wow! It seems that some of our intitial letting off of steam on the podcast last night was taken to mean everything from (A) me wanting to shoot myself to (Z) a conspiracy to sell Pro Tools PCs.

Our podcast comments were simply the PTE team, whilst watching the WWDC with one eye and recording a show at the same time, expressing our early thoughts about the new Mac Pro. After a serious amount of cider and a night’s sleep, I feel a little better about it today; I may well end up buying the thing (after all, it is shiny and does have an Apple logo on it!).

Normal service will resume and I’ll continue to rip Neil apart for thinking round computers are as silly as the notion of a round earth. Please continue to feel free to express your views in your comments, but also appreciate we will do that too.

This shows the kind of complete package that dealers can offer; that they can provide their clients all the support they need, rather than just deliver cardbord boxes and run.

The team at iLok have asked us and other outlets to share this with our community:

Dear iLok User Community,

We have let you down and we know it. We could have done a better job communicating that we were hard at work to fix the issues some of you have been having and for that we are truly sorry.  

We handle tens of millions of licences for users, some stretching back over a decade with legacy code. Whilst we have worked to ensure a seamless transition, some issues occurred.

We are currently finishing the data migration to address each of the affected licenses. This should totally complete in the next three hours. The data change will happen in the background, and the resolution may not happen for each license in your account at the same time. It is a “first in - first out” change, so older licenses across all iLok accounts will be finished prior to newer ones. By the time you receive this, your licenses may already be fully migrated. 

The following are updated steps for solving the temporary license issue:

Steps you need to take once you see the license type of “License” instead of “Temporary”:

• If your iLok with the license had not been seen by the server, just the updating of the database record for your license will take care of the issue.
• If your iLok had been seen by our server and your license is no longer working, please plug in the iLok and deactivate each of the affected licenses. To do this, open the Detail pane, then select the license from the license grid at the top. Choose the Deactivate link. Once the licenses are deactivated, you may then activate it to any allowed location.

If you are still experiencing difficulties please use this link to contact us and we will work with you to fix your issues. We are monitoring our support tickets closely during extra long hours to right matters.

We appreciate your continued support.

Andrew Kirk
Vice President
The iLok.com Team

As the letter says, for users who are still having issues, please use the link above to contact their support team.

Russ, Mike, Neil & James are here with a packed Pro Tools Expert podcast that includes

Apple today announced the new Mac Pro, giving users a preview of what is to be expected when the unit ships later this year. It is a departure from convention in terms of design, which should come as no shock to long term Apple fans, who are used to Apple making these bold design statements.

Apple have sometime been ahead of the curve when it comes to guessing the future of product development, two examples are being the first company to drop the use of floppy disk drives and also creating a laptop (the MacBook Air) without any optical drive. At the time, both ideas were seen in many quarters as odd, only to see the rest of the industry follow later.

However, the idea of a circular design that does not allow for conventional pro expansion remains to be seen, with many early responses criticising the new design. What do you think, is this genius or madness? Are some of us simply slaves to conventional PCI based card slots when the future is via options like Thunderbolt and USB3? Discuss…

More here

“The recent update of iLok.com involved the migration of huge amounts of data to our new system which is designed for ease of use and scalability. This new system will provide us the ability to add more of the features that you and software publishers are asking for.

After the Sunday night re-launch of iLok.com and related services, we immediately began to see a tremendous volume of activity. Although we prepared for a high volume, we are not satisfied with the level of service we are presently providing. We are currently expanding our infrastructure to help eliminate time-outs and provide more system resources.

Since the re-launch we have been monitoring all activity carefully to watch for any issues. We are aware that some people are experiencing issues with a subset of their existing licenses reporting to be of Type “Temporary”. The Type is only a database label and the change from the previous Type (most often Update) resolve over the course of the next several days as a data migration remediation continues.

The change in the word shown as the Type should not in any way affect your ability to use your plug-ins or protected software authorized by licenses that are already on your iLok(s).

Rest assured that we have records of all of your license data just as it was before the migration started. No data or licenses will be lost. 

If you are experiencing additional issues that are not explained in the this message or in the error messages you see, please send us a support ticket via the iLok.com website’s Support page. The more information you can provide about the exact situation you are experiencing, the better.

We understand your frustration and our team is working non-stop to understand and fix any issues the community is having.”

A first look at the new iLok Licence Manager App for Mac and PC. Manage your iLok from your desktop and more!

The Facebook Group “We Want A New Mac Pro” posted this image on their Facebook page overnight.

If it’s real then this is a serious shift in another direction, or is it a fake?

What do you think?

Click on the image to see a larger version

UPDATE: We are getting some unverified reports about issues with some vendor licences not working. As we say these are unverfied forum posts, if you have any concerns DO NOT UPDATE

To access and manage our iLok licenses users for many years now have used a web browser and a special extension, which worked well, but has been plagued with browser compatibility issues, especially with Firefox which hasn’t been supported for quite a while now, and there have been a number of things we couldn’t do like delete expired demo licenses.

New iLok License Manager Application
We can exclusively announce PACE, the manufacturers of iLok, who also manage the iLok.com site, have been working very hard over the past year or so, producing a solution to resolve the limitations of the browser based user interface. What the iLok.com Team has been working on is a dedicated application, called The iLok License Manager, to completely replace the web browser interface. But Team iLok haven’t been satisfied to simply do a like for like replacement they have added a load more features - see this comparison table….

But it doesn’t stop there, From the License Manager user interface it sorts all your licenses into tabs…

• All licenses 
• Available
• Activated
• Unavailable (expired, transferred to another user etc…)

They have added a Search feature for those of us who have more than a couple of licenses.

Zero Down Time Now Has Theft & Loss Cover
ZDT has remained at same price ($30 per iLok per year) but now it includes coverage for theft and loss (TLC). The way this will work is that a user can nominate an iLok and have all licenses on it expire every 90 days unless the iLok checks back in, so no need for the user to renew licenses every 90 days, just make sure that you run the License Manager so that iLok can see that you still have the iLok. This will help those of us who have hundreds of licenses not loose sleep worrying about the loss or theft of a very small iLok that can effectively be worth thousands of dollars or pounds.

Transfer Fees Capped
Team iLok have also capped the fees for transferring ownership of licenses from one account to another at $50.00. So it is still $25.00 per license but with a maximum of $50 per transaction, so if you need to transfer licenses when you sell them for example, then you no longer have to pay $25 for every license if there is more than two. Locked bundles (called Locked Groups from today forward) are also capped at $25.00.

Activate Licenses From Within Plug-ins
It is now possible to activate a license from within an application or plug-in, so no need to go to iLok.com or use the License Manager, if the plug-in vendor enables the feature, they can walk the user through accessing their account or using activation codes fro inside the plug-in after launching the un-activated application or plug-in. Expect to see this more and more as software vendors release new products.

Non iLok Licenses Possible
They have also added an option for software vendors to offer non-iLok licenses that activate to a machine. Now, software vendors may opt to offer non-iLok licenses for their products.  The licenses can be activated and de-activated and moving to an iLok USB Smart key will always an option.  But because machine based licenses are not as secure as iLok and then there can be problems with licenses when users loose their computers or give their computer to someone else without deactivating the license first, the software vendors may only offer this feature on their cheaper products.

More Help Available
To help you more you can download iLok’s Quick Start Guide to their new License Manager. We have had a sneak at the iLok License Manager and it is easy to use and we will have a video up very shortly.