The Toontrack authorisation system is crazy

[Tom]

I have just built a new DAW computer and installed all my music software once again. Shortly after I was surprised to see Superior demanding a new authorisation with a different computer ID. Next day it worked again somehow. Then yesterday Superior demanded authorisation again, this time with yet another computer ID …

The answer is in the FAQ. I used a usb wireless connection borrowed from work while building the computer. Removing it caused the second authorisation demand. Unware of this, I must have inserted it again. Yesterday my own usb wireless connection arrived and after installing this, Toontrack wanted the third authorisation.

From the FAQ I found out the change of internet connection requires new authorisations. I find this completely crazy considering how volatile something like an internet card/usb can be. You only have a total install count of four! These can quickly be used when somehting as immaterial as changing the internet connects eats up counts.

Come on, Toontrack, there are easily availalbe cracks out there. Treat your legal customers decently. I have been a customer for years, but because my previous DAW computer had net card on the motherboard, I never ran into this problem before.

BTW, although there are many iLok haters out there, I have never had any trouble with iLok comparable to this.

Topic

[John]

Hi,

I can delete an old Auth which you have Removed but all your Auths are ‘Active’.
The only product which has run out of Authorizations is the ‘N.Y. Studios Vol 2’, which I can see you have made 2 new Authorizations for with the exact same Computer ID yesterday.
Please make one of them inactive, so I may delete it.
If you do some ‘cleaning’, Removing unwanted Authorizations, I can delete them afterwards, OK?

Best Regards,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Tom]

You don’t answer my question: Why does Toontrack have such a crazy authorisation system that making smaller changes to your hardware makes you lose authorisations? Why???

Yes, I can remove my two active Superior 2 authorisations myself. One is for my old DAW-pc, the other for my current DAW-pc with a borrowed usb wireless device. Doing that I will have two left: one for my own use wireless device and one if someone runs off with it or it just dies as some of these things do.

Now you make me even more worried, telling me I have authorised NY vol. 2 twice yesterday. I am not aware of having done that. It was authorised with my old DAW-pc long ago and once with the new one about a month ago. So what is going on. Are my possible authorisations just disappearing, even behind my back?

You have two choices:

1. Two active authorisations that can be removed making it possible to reinstall on other hardware. But no upper limit to how many times this can be done. Not 4 as it says now. That is ridiculous given my story above.

2. Give us an iLok alternative. The iLok haters can choose the above mess if the prefer. Celemony had a choice like this at one stage for Melodyne.

[Rogue]

… John misinterpreted the data stored in our backend due to the SDX peculiar nature (2 sets in one box) and most likely misread the month in the timestamp, since the most recent authorizations were made exactly a month ago.

I’m really not sure what you are ultimately getting at, since I’m yet to see a single case scenario of a user being refused or ‘stuck’ authorizing a product since the system is in place. But I have removed all the codes you generated last February, which, as far as I understand, is what your post is outlining as the cause for concern.

Rogue Marechal - Toontrack
Configuration Manager

[Author]

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