GOOD. maybe the natives will be that much easier to crack.

 

My polymax was in the cloud and could not be local before. After this change I had to de-authorize it from the cloud and then it appeared as 3 local instead of 2 cloud licences. The rest of my few (free) plugins was already local.

 

They are native, without hardware about 3 years. But not all, about 30-40 plugins, maybe even bit more now. They add plugins from time to time, newer ones and old classics.
Google UAD Spark. It has a separate website with native plugins.

 

I only clicked into this thread to read the obligatory ArticStorm hate towards ilok lol ... I really can't disagree with it.

 

UA Connect updated itself today and everything is working perfectly. The pro-iLok and anti-iLok camps are, as always, divided. You either accept iLok or you don't. By saying no to iLok, you exclude yourself from UA and other iLok software. I've had iLok for ages and have had no problems. UA Connect also runs smoothly and without issues.

 

I guess no change for Apollo users - where (non native) UAD plugins are "activated" to audio interface device ID ?

 

Just this morning I tried to add one of their plugins. The GUI was blurred and it required UA Connect, which I had deinstalled. Other UA plugins, six in total, behaved the same.

After reading this, I deactivated all my UA plugins in iLok, downloaded and installed the UA Connect, and reactivated the plugins directly in UA Connect.

The plugin GUIs were still blurred and none of the plugins were activated, although they were activated again in iLok, presumably by the UA Connect.

I then erased everything UA related from the computer and it felt good. Life's too short for crap like that.

 

Yeah, for some reason they haven't fixed the GUI's on Windows. They are resizable and fine on macOS...

(oh, my bad...in re-rereading your comment, you are talking about something else, in having UA Connect not installed etc that caused the blur... Well I do, but I just turn it off until I get a new product of theirs or there is an update I give an s about... it's no biggie...)

I personally hate iLok, but I'm forced to deal with it as it is required for a lot of the work I do or the products involved.

I hate the iLok cloud, as hell no am I going to be online when I work, or depend on it, and so I've always used the damn dongle or machine auth.

I don't like the UAD punishes early adopters or owners of their hw in that a lot of those products were not available for machine auth to those users as not an option, grayed out, whatever... whereas someone who got it later, or even for free, had the option.

I've got plenty of issues with UAD and how they have treated me over the decades, and I've previously referred to them as a cult....but I will say that I have begrudgingly come around to some of their stuff, especially since they have had a reality check on what things should f'ing cost somewhat... and don't require their damn interfaces as an even bigger dongle for a fair amount, if not most, of their product line.

This is a step in a better direction, but not one that makes a whiff of difference to me, as I'm dongle'd already, and have machine authed for many.... and I would never depend on the cloud for that...

 

UAD 1176 consumes less cpu than Arturia version with less latency.

It doesn't sound much different from it (certainly not worse) but it's more efficient. These are, IMHO, two of the best 1176 emus available and I tried them all. Pulsar Audio 1178 and PA Purple Audio MC77 are other 2 great choices.

This is just to say that when they're in use they just work and sound very good.

There are alternatives for many of their vsts but not for all. Lexicon 224 is a prime example. Arturia version sounds literally the same except for the lack of the Bass/Mid decay split. Unfortunately this is an inexplicable omission that lead to not having all of the sound possibilities of the original so I always use the UAD one.

I know that Ilok can be irritating for many but once you use it it's not so bad!

 

ILok = Legal
ILok R2R = Illegal

Nobody is forcing you to buy these iLok products.
Every manufacturer has the right to protect its software against illegal copying.

 

How did you get that from his post? Sure, some of the best plugins are iLok'd; but that's all he's talking about is good plugins. They aren't any better because they are iLok'd. But some people, make iLok's current forms out to be way worse than it is.

The only benefit I have seen about iLok anything, is the plugins you can easily get a demo version of. You type in your email or ilok user name and that's the only added process to actually downloading and installing them. They are typically a complete unrestricted trial of the product. There is no hiss, white noise, static, or dropouts every # minutes, and the export function is usually not disabled either. You can actually use them.

 

the shortest demo on iLok I have seen is 14 days, and that is Sonnox. They actually announced they were going to do this same, or similar; switch as UAD. Haven't heard a peep about it since; positive or negative.

 

You've explained that very convincingly, dear @ArticStorm! I bought the "Sample Logic - Animation Station 2" with the Ilok dongle.
If there had been a cracked version, I would have definitely preferred the cracked version.

 

That's good news. I bought Polymax without paying attention to the fact that you had to be online all the time to use it.
Never used it for that reason. I do own other legal iLok plugins but these do not have to be online continuously.
I was waiting for UAD to make this move. Forcing musicians to be online all the time for using software is bad policy.
Finally i can tinker with polymax.

 

Correction: You don't have to be online all the time:

It's true that Universal Audio now offers an offline use option for PolyMAX and other UAD Native plug-ins.
You can now transfer your PolyMAX license to a physical iLok USB flash drive (2nd generation or higher) for offline use.

To use PolyMAX offline, you must complete the following steps:

1. Ensure you have a compatible iLok USB drive.
2. Install the iLok License Manager on your computer.
3. Register the iLok USB drive with your iLok account.
4. Transfer the PolyMAX license from your iLok account to the USB drive.

Once these steps are complete, you can use PolyMAX without an internet connection as long as the iLok USB drive is connected to your computer.

 

A USB dongle is not required for offline use! Local Machine activation for native (UADx) plugins is now available. This does not apply to the UA Spark subscription!