This are the definitions for all known Cubase Versions (extracted from eLD License Database):

[MCFACT:1BETA;BlackBox:TRUE;LicenseBound:License;AllApplication:TRUE;]
[MCFACT:1;BlackBox:TRUE;LicenseBound:License;AllApplication:TRUE;]
[MCFACT:2;BlackBox:TRUE;LicenseBound:License;AllApplication:TRUE;]
[MCFACT:3;BlackBox:TRUE;LicenseBound:License;AllApplication:TRUE;]
[MCFACT:4;BlackBox:TRUE;LicenseBound:License;AllApplication:TRUE;]
[MCFACT:4B;DCP:2;Soft-eLicenser:TRUE;BlackBox:TRUE;LicenseBound:License;AllApplication:TRUE;]
[MCFACT:5;DCP:2;BlackBox:TRUE;LicenseBound:License;AllApplication:TRUE;]
[MCFACT:6_80_C.GLOO6;DCP:2;BlackBox:TRUE;LicenseBound:License;AllApplication:TRUE;]
[MCFACT:6B;DCP:2;Soft-eLicenser:TRUE;BlackBox:TRUE;LicenseBound:License;AllApplication:TRUE;]

MCFACT4 was the last one cracked/emulated.

 

I wonder why if it remained I cracked after v4, aside from the soft ELic addition, was it updated? Compatibility with other protection systems? Was getting in the way of feature development?

 

Steinberg thought they could keep the high prices. We will probably see even bigger discounts and you will be able to get the pro version for 100-150$ in the next two-three years.
Those regular prices are not a realistic a reflection to how the world has changed and then there are the updates that really do not offer anything new, i will update when they introduce a a vastly bigger cpu improvement management.
Right now the daw itself is not nearly capable of using all the cpu power, soon even S1 will have better cpu management.

 

Think about the MCFACT stuff like an encryption system and with every new version they changed the key and increased the keysize.
As v4 was cracked they updated to mcfact5 and later to mcfact6. In lastest releases you will find a combination of both.

I have no real idea why development stopped after v6 but I think the development of this FINITE AUTOMATAS is very expensive and time consuming. So why should they waste time and money if it is uncracked... and they had to change the code from 32 to 64 bit world.

 

Wow, you're right, sorry! In the forum where I was at the times (Oooold times) they debated a lot about MCFact V3, some saying that even from a legit client perspective, it was not a good thing, they had serious arguments there...

Other info / hypothesis to be verified: In the same forum, they said that founders of the Synchrosoft company (now property of Steinberg) was serious / renown / fine crackers themselves (retired members of famous Teams?), it's why their protection was / is still so efficient: they knew perfectly all the tricks and tools used by cracking groups, so they wanted to create a protection that even themselves could not crack, in the goal of course to make a lot of money with their discovery.

We can all say they had been perfectly successful on reaching this last goal, they must have earned a BIG packet of green bills when they have sold their company to Steinberg!

- - - NEWS Please read - - -

The Dorico team seems to be very different from the other guys of Steinberg: they are very present on the forum and answer to all questions very frankly, in the same forum you can learn that this team is very active concerning the new protection system, so they know better than anyone what is it about and what it will do.

So I'm not surprised to have found this message in the same part of the forum, from an active member of the Dorico team, read it because it contains precious details on the future new protection, at least for legit users:

 

Last edited: Aug 14, 2021

Well, to make it short - the story about retired crackers creating the perfect protection is just not true.
MCFACT was invented / developed by Wulf Harder, a well known crypto scientist from the baltic area.
Read this for a better understanding whats going on and how its implemented:
http://re-trust.dit.unitn.it/files/20080311Doc/harder-Syncrosoft-MCFACT.pdf

Personally I would not bet that they got SOOOOO much money from Steinberg. We should not forget that Steiny had to go with syncrosoft until they reached version 5 to have a real secure solution.

Versions 1, 2, 3 and 4 got cracked/emulated... Soft-eLicenser got keygened long before VR produced the driver patch masaker we have today...
Steiny did not abandon the technology anyways, so they had the time and money to grow - prolly one of the best decisions Steiny ever made.

 

This is so well said and so freaking true ! hahahahahah

 

I have said similar thing on this post http://audiosex.pro/threads/cubase-is-this-it-then-no-more-dongle.60102/page-4#post-573491, and they don't need cloud based licensing system, because eLicenser itself can behave like cloud licensing system.

It would be nice indeed if they implement RENT-TO-OWN system, because they are able to do so, and for sure that would gain sales and make other users which were hesitating to use their software.

Subscription is not a option, and that was said only by Dorico Team, once the announced new licensing scheme, because other Steinberg staff didn't talk to much...
I mean, Dorico costs almost like Cubase and it on soft eLicenser (how mad is that), and that was big risk from the very beginning of being cracked, and not to tell about Halion and GA, they cost about USD400, or even more, and what about their whole software pallete which is cracked by Team V.R which cost 10x more than Cubase and Nuendo? Where is the logic for that?

And all software cracked by Team VR is already good enough, so there is no need to upgrade them to a upcoming version, unless they build all of them from the ground up with a radical changes and improvements, which I doubt will happen.
All software cracked by now will not be obsolete at least for 2 to 5 yrs. And that is kind of big lost.

If I were like those kind of people who can rapidly adapt to changes I would first switch to Studio One, which is long time cracked and have same functions as a Cubase and has fast workflow and is convenient in stability etc.
I think Cubase and Nuendo even if they are the most wanted they are no more mainstream, there is a lot of cheaper and better competition. Hype about them is just they are uncracked so rest is a history.

And because of that all that said Cubase or Nuendo are out from game long time ago, but for users like myself which can not make a switch to another DAW.

Nowdays I see a lot of youngsters and PRO users who use and buy StudioOne, and reason for that they are cheaper I think, and they give bunch of licenses per user, and not to speak how light on system it is.

That being said every user easily can use all other Steiny cracked software for free inside S1 or another DAW, and Steinberg knows that is not a solution for the future.
They are not ditching the dongle because they respect or love users, but they love their money like every company do!

Wait while Vengeance Avenger comes cracked, what will happen then with their CODEMETER and eLicenser....
Steinberg will ditch the dongle, so that is not an option and all other hard protections are cracked by now, I cant wait to see that.
The only thing he made sales is because of that was "free" for testing for a unlimited time, and licensing system was very easy to use.

 

Hey, thank you a lot for your answer!

What I reported was persistent rumours on several wrz forums, since longtime I wanted to know if it's true or not, thank you to unveil the truth!

Your PDF is very interesting, very scientific and worth reading entirely (though it's just the PPT presentation diapos, it misses the conference itself): it confirms what was said earlier: the program is entirely encrypted, and never-ever decoded, the consequence is that no one can really "see" the program itself in memory, it is always masked, occulted.

OK but now I'm curious on how they will obtain the same protection as the dongle, but with only an simple online check from time to time? Does it implies (like someone said earlier), a form of soft e-licenser, or a different system?

EDIT:

Completely agree! Though I'm so used to the Cubase / Nuendo Workflow, that it is very, very difficult for me to adapt to another tool... Like you it seems...

It's another reason why, I suppose, "einSteinberg" proggies are still researched / requested by wrz users.

 

Last edited: Aug 14, 2021

https://imgur.com/a/UjsmD8r


I was talking about this.
Fake SofteLicenser b16, idk if earlier versions have some more licenses like this was.
Just to be clear, this license on fake eLicenser needed to be generate and installed to Team VR computer so he could share that one "sel" file on all computers, otherwise would not work.
Because one soft eLicenser is for one HDD.
So the license exist in eLD database, and it is real.
Only fake thing here is the method Team V.R implemented to work on all computers, so he needed to make a harder crack just to get working on all systems.

(Actualy TEAM V.R used a method from the Team H2O) you can see by the files are installed after FAKE Soft eLicenser b16 or bellow.)

You can see in license generator versions there is not license for Absolute 4, but on fake sofelicenser exist.
Team V.R only knows the reasons.

To properly crack current version of Cubase 11 is to have a legit activation code, and to make offline license decryption with java script so it can be "downloaded" onto USB....
Otherwise, just online, which is not possible to use one activation several times....
Or to emulate USB Dongle....

 

Last edited: Aug 14, 2021

Yes I remember very well this strange "Halion developer" license on old versions of the V.R. "Anti-trial", which implied that the clock was set back to... longtime in the past! Fortunately, V.R. have developed this new system of "fake e-licenser" that works a treat!

You can even copy the famous file from mac to pc, or a pc to a different pc, (same with mac to mac), and back again (each time, only a simple "Repair" is required), you can even move the VR soft licenses to a dongle if ever you have one!

Of course all this nice system risks to be threatened if ever Stbrg decide to move ALL its software (including the soft lic.ones) to the new system!

If it's the case, they should give credit to H2O, even if it's only their method and not the real H2O code that is used by VR, it is simple correction.

 

Last edited: Aug 15, 2021

Not anymore 30mins ago I wanted to do that, but no luck.
Until recent times you could also transfer all generated licenses to USB with ease, now you can not.
Actually I have them all licenses on 2 dongles, but now you cant do that.
Now when you try to transfer license onto DONGLE, after that transfer dongle gets deactivaed in terms that you can not transfer any new license or to download trial or something else.
It gives an error every time.
If you can afford you can try and give feedback, but so far my 2 dongles got deactivated from license transferring.

I am not in coding and cracking , but i am perssistant researcher, so as far i can see they are making protection gradually harder.
Just for purpose of demoing i installed fake soft elicenser and I ruined my system, so now I have serious job to do, to delete all files installed ...

It is not about licnese itself but the "periodically verification" which requires internet connection and rest is self explained.

 

Last edited: Aug 15, 2021

I've tried to transfer one VR license to a dongle before writing that, I can tell you with certainty that it's still possible, though I haven't updated the elic. proggie, I stick with 6.12.6 + fake B23, and unless I'm constrained to move, I will stick with this version as longtime I can.

 

Last edited: Aug 15, 2021

Team H2O have actually created DONGLE emulator, which have used particular eLD for licenses at the time. All of them were stored in eLicenser folder. But they have installed and "audcon.sys" file which was , i guess, preventing license transfer and eLicenser from calling home and "SetACL" to give proper permissions on elicenser so it can get activated on any PC.

 

Well for sure then I have made a mistake since I was deactivated with recent versions of eLicener, to be exact with v6.12.7.xxx .
You can update eLD otherwise, newer licenses will not be recognized like Absolute 5 or Cubase Elements 12 which is present in generator... Or i have malfunctioned dongles, i have to buy a new one and try all again.

 

Here is my proof, I've made a sreen capture, with a bonus:



WL Elements 10 from VR on a dongle.

What you see also, is a f*cked up Wlab pro trial license, that I transfered several times from one dongle to another (don't ask me why), for the last transfer I had a BIG bug, my comp was totally frozen, after reboot I've had this...

This trial license of WL pro, unfortunately, stopped working definitively. And once you have put this kind of trial license on a dongle, you cannot claim for another trial: the elic. forbids you to put two times the same kind of trial license on the same dongle... EDIT: And you can't delete / remove the ultra-buggy license from your f*cking dongle... /:

 

Last edited: Aug 15, 2021

I have transfered all of 250+ licenses on my both dongles with ease, and that would be about 500 licenses. All trials were intacted and still they are there.
Actualy with V.R antitrial i got twice Cubase 10.5 Trial for 60days, i just made maintenance, and in what condition i don't know. There is a flaw but i am not a programmer.

Now all my Nuendo and Cubase Trials still exists on my dongle, but i am not able to transfer any license.
When i try to transfer license it gives me message "error prevented operation to finish successfully" and to contact vendor to repair that.
So from my point of view that was LEGIT and possible untill two months ago, but no more, otherwise even if you manage to do that, like you did it screws all other licenses, which was not the case....

And if you cant transfer any license from the Soft eLicenser that means your dongle is blocked and banned from server.

 

Last edited: Aug 15, 2021

You're right, it must be the case here too (for my second dongle), so I don't play with it anymore. It was mainly by curiosity, but I don't wanna mess anymore with dongles, I'm OK with what I have now. Thank you VR!

 

That is the error i am talking about.... I don't care about dongles since they are working and i dont have any bought license, but is nice not to use any crack, just insert a dongle and you are good to go... I know a lot of people that have done that. It was spoken here since the beginning of eLicense generator. So maybe Team VR can get us a new CMD or python command line so we can install license on dongle without to have this transfer shit with internet. That would be nice and less time consuming. hahaha

 

I have seen the same error (or the same kind of error) but I'm not sure exactly when and why... As you, I don't care anymore about dongles, I prefer working on songs.

I'd absolutely love this idea! An "anti-internet", for me, would be equivalent to an "anti-bullshit", a true miracle!

 

Last edited: Aug 15, 2021