people are not getting the point of the op. what he means is that r2r system is OS dependent which makes their releases not future proof.
imagine windows 13 is released and the certificate stops working. all the releases that depend on it will stop working. you can always search for new cracked releases of that plugin, but they might not exist because the developer went out of business.
on the other hand, if you have cracked dlls or a keygen, that release will never stop working, even if windows is updated.

 

What's the lesson here? Don't wait for a miracle; instead, back up your current working operating system using backup software and perform a full backup of your C:/ drive.

You should seriously consider imposing an update freeze. What do you expect from Windows 12 or 13? Windows will increasingly rely on AI and, as always with Windows, install incomplete, faulty software, potentially leading to Blue Screens of Death (BSODs) through updates. A saying from famous recording studios: Never update while working on a project.

If you absolutely must have updates or Windows 13, run your music PC offline and go online with a second system; I recommend a Linux system.
P.S.: Prepare for the worst: you boot up your PC and the internet is unavailable due to a cyberattack, hardware failure, or a power outage.

 

I've been thinking again about this thread because I knew this morning that a youtube channel from Spain is going to be cancelled and his owner is waiting for the court's ruling to see if he goes to jail for more than 2 years and pay nearly 1M € or he's free (something related to an old movies channel).

Point 1: nowadays you can pay (notice I'm not saying "buy") for something, call it hardware, call it software, call it a car, call it a tractor... but it does not mean you're actually owning it. You're paying for the usage of that good (Because that is the kind of society we are rushing towards at lightning speed. Near future will be like that). So things are not like they used to be anymore. Meaning that there will be a day when I don't even think on what would be the way that warez scene will be doing to release things based on an online subscription... This is like movies/music copyright taken to the goods themselves. You don't own seat's heating in a car, because even the equipment is there in the car, it won't work unless your monthly payment is done.
2. If a team dissapears, another one will come (better or worse, but it will, and will try to do the same).
3. In spite of the fact that music evolves due to the newcoming technology, I haven't listened to anything really groundbreaking lately since the supersaw from Roland. What I'm trying to explain is that even though new software and hardware have been released, they have not helped to discover new sounds that gave birth to new music that you could not have achieved with all the tools we have up until now. So, even if new software/hardware is unreachable unless you pay for it, there's still a whole universe of sounds to play with already.
4. If you need stability, buy a real piano. I mean with this is that a piano won't ever change, you only have to keep it tuned, but that's all. So, if you want a workstation that never changes, keep your system as it is, same OS, same DAW, same tools and you'll be fine. (Somehow, this is what pulsewave explained right up there).
5. Else, go back to FastTracker II, it's still working!

 

Just try to put some money aside, and if you have some left over, buy the plugin or daw you use the most before R2R or whichever group leaves that way, you'll still have a number of plugs.

 

I just use blurray or dvd and burn especially the keygens there (software too if its not to big). Especially keygens are great to burn. I bought some second hand 10 dollar blueray that is internal but I just connected it using sata to usb. It's super cheap and no virusscanner can delete things from a blueray/dvd. At most it can try to make it impossible to open it..but its never gone

Also, if you have keygens on the computer, indeed RAR them as someoone else suggested and just give it a password (can be simple) because it also helps to I think to keep viruscanner from deleting it as easily (however, blueray/dvd method is saver)

 

Nobody understood the OP's question, because it made no sense. He was asking if you can install on a new PC after R2R is gone.
Yeah, sure. Let's say R2R disappears tomorrow, I buy a new computer 3 days later. You just reinstall everything, it's not dependent on R2R existing.

As long as you have the hardware that can run the OS, that the software you want uses, you can still run the software.

You can still run DOS and Windows 95 software, as long as you have hardware that works with it.
(it might be difficult to find a Windows 95 audio driver for a modern sound card, for example)

If the software was made for example, Windows 10, and for some reason stops working with Windows 15 in the future, you might just have to revert back to Windows 10-14 for the software to work.

In short, if R2R disappears, the keygen is still on your computer. And it still generates keys.

How much the R2R system is OS-dependent and future-proof and how long after R2R is gone will it work, nobody can say. It's a good solution in the short term and a security nightmare. But you get what you pay for

 

Last edited: Apr 13, 2026

As sad as it sounds, I guess the only way not to be worried is to buy stuff.
Once bought, nothing prevents you from using warez versions anyway. (if you want to get rid of some telemtry etc)

 

Last edited: Apr 13, 2026

The change, the process of becoming different
Sometimes in a difficult way

 

Don’t worry about the new R2R system becoming obsolete. At the rate things are going, you’ll be dead long before that stops you from producing your timeless masterpieces.
And if, by some miracle, you were to survive this disaster, you’d be faced with a musical decline worse than what we’re experiencing today; you’d then prefer to focus on things that are truly useful (and which will make you much more likable in the eyes of your neighbors), such as, for example, gardening...

 

Last edited: Apr 27, 2026 at 10:39 PM

re: the OP.

great crews have come and gone over the years, In a time before the internet, as it is now, with it's torrents and it's websites, and all that easy filesharing jazz, there was always a way. Maybe in this age of increased scrutiny, it'll all end back up on IRC Efnet, where the OG's (RADIUM) held court and we can all get back to FTP hacking and dump sites.

But, with 30 years of hindsight, more plugins are just more plugins. You can collect all you want, but unless you actually use releases to make great music, then you've missed the point, which was always Music For The Masses philosophy.

When this all started, noone was into the digital thing, they were all buying fostex or tascam portasudios. Piracy was the answer to establish a market for computer based recording.

 

Last edited: Apr 28, 2026 at 12:21 AM

a) certificates are not dependent on OS nor the deprecation of technologies (unless you actually care about their ability to protect things)
b) r2r went through the trouble of making the certificate not expire until something silly like 2199 so the cert is the least of our worries

 

they keep working unlike server authentication slop

 

The sky was all purple
There were people runnin' everywhere
Tryin' to run from DAW destruction
You know I didn't even care
'Cause they say
22, zero, zero, party over
Oops, out of time
So tonight I'm gonna party like it's 2199

 

Last edited: Apr 28, 2026 at 1:04 PM

haha at least two comments in here with this same sentiment. The thing i find most weird about them stopping macs (for the most part) is they will stop even with a release that they have already covered for mac. They will have put out version 1.2 for both mac and windows but then, another year they will release version 2.0, but only for Windows.

 

If the developer changes the protection in some way/amount that turns it into "new work to do", that would make sense for them to not spend the time to do it.

Wonder what happens to all the ideas of ‘use forever’ when x86/x64 eventually depend on emulation to run.

 

Last edited: Apr 28, 2026 at 7:39 AM