Thank you
Is there a way for me to grab it otherwise than with my computer which is not - and can not be - connected to the net?
Can I use the computer of someone else without any risk?

 

Last edited: Aug 15, 2024

thank you. I'm not one to refuse a freebie. haha

 

better try and read their specs. UAD is very bitchy about their plugins. anytime you use one, you have to have UA connect turned on and connected. It's just about the one company that does that with my many many plugins - paid and otherwise. i tried their free Teletronix and since it didn't bring anything new to the opto game (there are so many alternatives) I ended up deleting it just so I didn't have to be sharing more resourses. now i got a new laptop that can crunch away at anything i'm downloading it again, but I still don't like it that everytime I put up an instance of the teletronix the UA connect shows in my tray.
with that said, i'm not really a UAD guy (just have these two freebies now) so maybe someone can enlighten you about this

 

Softube are pretty close. It's not a big deal, but in Logic's Plugin Manager; they report as "Crashed Validation". That on it's own is a minor thing, but sometimes if Logic's AUValTool gets to them during scanning and they are not marked as Do Not Use already; the plugin immediately after those which "Crashed Validation" also will report crashing and will fail to load too. It's a minor annoyance, but it means I generally keep them as Do Not Use and they are not so great I will decide to change my settings, load their Softube Central app, and reopen Logic. I just use something else equally good instead. It doesn't matter because they are only ones I have acquired free along the way, but it also gives the user a bad impression and I'm not going to buy anything from them because of that experience. Thanks for the free plugins, but no thanks.

 

This is not true. It behaves like that by default, but it's trivial to stop it running and only run it when you want to do an update. It is not required for running the plugins.

I've never had any Softube plugins I've purchased not pass validation in Logic here.

 

Thanks

 

Thanks for your input. It seems that I can use their native plug-ins completely offline, but then I need an USB iLok stick for transfering the license (thank you but no way), or my computer MUST be online just once for the iLok autorisation process.

"Note: The free LA-2A Tube Compressor license cannot be transferred from one location to another using the method explained in this article."

https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/ar...D-UADx-Plug-In-Licenses-Offline-with-iLok-USB

"If you need to authorize it (the free plug-in) to an iLok USB, please follow the steps in this article instead"

https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/ar...ually-Activate-Native-UADx-and-Spark-Licenses

Important: Some products such as LUNA and the free LA-2A Tube Compressor plug-in can only be authorized on an iLok USB or a machine location.

Curiously, there's not a single line about the obligation to be online at every plug-in launch... Maybe UA Connect will launch each time a plug-in start, but it doesn't mean your computer must be online...

 

Last edited: Aug 15, 2024

They pass validation just fine. If you have their app installed and open, or have opened it recently. My comment is in reference to their similarity with UAD and their product manager app called UAConnect. Installing and keeping their product manager app installed and running it periodically is all that is needed. The actual problem with that is when they just change the minimum requirements for your MacOS version (for no reason). For their manager app, not even the plugins. Not every developer does this, example UVI. You can download and install all their stuff via their website and never even install their product manager app. They are all iLok anyway, so i'm unsure this product manager app scheme has any benefit at all, much less to me. They are all "paid" plugins they include with bundles or offers like this one. In a month they will be charging for all of them again.

 

Last edited: Aug 15, 2024

For the paid plugins, if you don't want to use an iLok USB key, then you have to use iLok Cloud licensing, which means you must be online all the time you are using the plugins. Every time you load a plugin, it will check online for authorisation.

The free plugins don't support iLok Cloud licensing as there are costs involved, but do support machine authorisations, which requires neither a dongle, nor being online to use.

 

? The Softube Central installer app is not required to install or authorise plugins - it's just a convenience for people who like that method. They still offer standalone installers, which you can use to install and use the plugins without ever using the standalone installer app.

That can bite some people, but in the Softube Central app, if the system requirements on an update have changed, they issue a message to check the requirements before installing, so unless you're not paying attention, you are at least alerted to this, and can check if it affects you.

As you can with Softube. See the "Product Installers':
https://www.softube.com/installers

People do seem to get confused about this stuff, but it only adds to people's confusion when people post incorrect information about how these things work on forums, without checking or understanding the actual options or how things work for a given company...

 

Show us how your UA Connect is uninstalled and you can run their plugins then.

 

It's not uninstalled here, it's deactivated and prevented from running by the system. Uninstalling it is a waste of time, because I'd just need to reinstall it anytime I wanted to check for an update, or download a freebie or whatever. I can run my UADx plugins just fine, and UA Connect does not run, and is not necessary to use the plugins. But yes, I could remove it completely if I wanted to (some people do this), it doesn't affect the plugins.

I'm not sure what "show us" means. I'm not inviting you round for a show and tell. If you think I'm wrong, don't know what I'm doing, or am lying, then you're welcome to think what you want... in the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy my non-UA Connect plugin experience. ;)

(If you'd have just asked nicely how to do this, I'd have told you, but the attitude kinda turned me off from wanting to help. Two minutes with Google will give you all the info you need, if you can't work it out yourself. It's extremely easy, so easy I just worked it out myself too.)

 

I'm not asking for you to comment at all. You're just wasting text dude. But thanks, Mr Helper. When you can prove what you are saying, i'll take you off ignore. I won't hold my breath.

 

Sorry to contradict, but you can also use an iLok machine autorisation with paid plugins since:

"UA Connect will automatically authorize your licenses in the iLok License Manager."

https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/ar...ually-Activate-Native-UADx-and-Spark-Licenses

As soon as your plugin license is authorized in the iLok Licence Manager, you can then select where to activate this licence: iLok USB stick, Machine or Cloud.

So when as a licence is activated on a computer (licence "linked" to this computer or to an iLok USB stick), and when the plug-in is launched on that specific computer, there is no reason for the iLok License Manager to proceed online checks for this licence anymore.

 

Last edited: Aug 15, 2024

That's not entirely true. UADx plugins can be authorized on iLok USB key OR iLok Cloud.
The only exeptions are those free few which can be authorized on a machine.

 

yep . And that is a major drawback for me

 

You know I would never ordinarily knock back a free be like this but... I hate the u-connect thing...and I don't need these plugins, they arrived way too late in the market for me and I have loads of equally quality plugins. Appreciate the heads up but na I'm not joining the UA plugin ecosystem any time soon thanks. And that in a nutshell is their problem, remained exclusive for so long and then tried to catch up with the likes of Waves, PA, Softube, Arturia its a crowded market guys...

 

Thanks for posting about it mate never refuse a freebie

 

...all I know is this: I have an iLok account, necessary evil to my chagrin as there are some tools that I use that require it... whether it be machine/dongle/(and now)cloud registration... like Soundtoys, Eventide, some other things...

Since I have different systems (or have had situations where I am going to different locations and don't feel like machine authorizing those) I do have my damn iLok dongle which I hate the idea of and bite it and carry it around in the same 'precious' bag I keep my passport and certain other things that are put in safes and whatnot when traveling...

I have some UAD stuff, and while I have an issue with the company as I was an early adopter when they came out and f'd me over a few times, and I'm no longer buying into their hardware ecosystem at this time as whatever, and I don't like cloud authorizations and whatnot... (and iLok has had some previous issues over the last few months with that that have screwed over people if you look at the intertubes about it)..

Yeah, I have UA's whatever control software on my system, but that piece of sh*t isn't kissing the internet unless I want it to, and I *never* work while online... so since I got the damn boat anchor iLok stick, that's what I use for this kinda thing...

but I haven't had to go "online" with anything UA to work once authorized with their freebies etc once. I guess I could machine authorize if I chose (some of their stuff in their ecosystem can't be from what I have read but I personally haven't run into that problem myself).... and probably will since I am generally using just one system right now and it would be easier then having the boat anchor around etc... but haven't yet for UA...

But I get what @dkny is saying, as hey, it doesn't require being online in use. It doesn't require UA crawling up your jiggy with it if you don't want it to.. outside of perhaps extant os limitations in order to authorize run it from the get go...

So I guess I don't understand what the contention is here.

I hate software "managers" that want to update and whatnot, and that can become an issue with older os's (particularly macOS at the current time), but I've been using some UA crap and it hasn't bothered me to update in use offline etc or whatever... It wanted to update on the installation of this plugin, which was fine with me, I don't care.. so I allowed it, and it's blocked from phoning home or whatever after that... I don't delete UA's control manager or whatever they call it, as it's not a big deal, doesn't instantiate itself, is neutered from doing anything unless I allow it...

got my physical iLok (and yeah, I hate the idea of those f'ers), or either machine authorization on systems (my older 5,1's haven't touched the internet in years that I remember, and my Soundtoys and Eventide and I believe Softube machine authorizations work just fine...and they are running Mavericks or maybe one is running Sierra tops I think....)..

tl/dr: I hate iLok, have to deal with it on some level, but it hasn't been a big whup to me, and probably as I have chosen not to deal with their damn cloud crap... and with the stick or machine auth's... I don't know what the issue is here, as I wouldn't expect this plugin to run on my older systems as life goes...?

 

i got this one years ago. really really nice plugin