I downloaded the latest demo of Serum,. When I wanted to enter the serial number I have from the latest version I downloaded from the site there was nowhere for me to enter the serial number. All that's there are two buttons on the bottom right Buy & Try.
I downloaded the Voxa preset pack from the site. When I went to audition the sounds they all say "created with a later version of Serum" So that being the reason for downloading the demo from Xfer Records' site.

-BiG Pluck

 

Are There Changes in Serum's Protection Scheme?
Yes.

 

Please always specify the operating system, PC or Mac ?

 

Last edited: Apr 24, 2022

Well guys I got tired of the 20 minute timeout using the demo.
I created a nice bass patch that I wanted to use in a track I wrote. So I ended up reinstalling the original version I have with is 1.33b4.
However now when I bring the plugin back up after closing the GUI for other things I'm doing in my session the plugin opens Xfer Records web site and I have to re-enter the serial.
I guess after I sell some more Trax it'll be worth the purchase.
Thanx for all your help guys.

-BiG Pluck

 

When you say there's been a change in the protection, is it still offline for legit users?

 

The legit/retail packages still work offline and I didn't see any big changes in comparison to previous versions like 1.33b4.
Finding stuff in a debugger got a little harder but the basic protection seems to be the same. But I didn't check out
any demo version of Serum, didn't even know about its existence.

Btw. Xfer Steve always changes his protection a little with every update.
Any developer would do that after someone bypassed it. That's how life works - going on and making it better.

Anyways, a purchase of Serum is always worth it. With that splice deal,
you even can buy it by paying 10 bucks a month until it's paid off.
A lot of my friends did it that way and they didn't even notice
those missing $10/month.

 

Thank you. Good to hear it's still offline. I would be very disappointed if Steve Duda would implement some C/R crap or similar to his plugins. Would certainly be a reason for me to stop buying anything he does in the future, but thankfully he's at least treated his customers well.

 

But it would make sense if you think as a developer.
Though it would be bypassed anyways by someone then (I believe).

 

In his case at least, certainly. Serum is one of the, if not THE, industry standard synth nowadays. Everyone who bought it has already spent their money and can't punish him because future updates will be free, even if they should include C/R or similar, and new customers will still buy because they might feel that they have to get it sooner or later anyway. This is different for e.g. Avenger where a lot of customers were super frustrated and jumped ship as soon as Schleis implemented Codemeter and treated his customers like crap. If anything I would guess Duda will care about his reputation or about how his customers perceive him. I think he knows that there's a big part of his audience that appreciates him for the way he does DRM. If that changes there'll at least be a ruckus.

 

The codemeter has been eliminated.
I have often written to the Avenger support and I was always very well advised by Mr. Keilwerth, the maker of Avenger.