My point was in response to these words "i looked at ilok 2-3 years ago, its a crazy multi-layered protection. unnecessary bloated, hence R2R always writes it uses less memory, because this is very true due to nature how works".

I just wanted to say that even if UADx plugins are Ilok protected they can be more efficient in respect to others and for some (not many) of them there are really no comparable alternatives in terms of quality/efficiency/features.

There are for most of the offers many alternatives that sound pretty much the same and are even more efficient so it's not a case of UAD/Ilok fanboyism lol!

 

Actually this isn't necessarily true either to toss on to the confusion.

MY Polymax is only able to be authorized via: a. Dongle iLok, or b. iLok Cloud. NO machine auth.

Same with my Studio City.

BOTH purchased.

This has created some issues and anger for some UAD users, as some who bought other products at top dollar or whatnot are still not able to use them via machine authorization, where other people who got them for 'free' or giveaways etc, ARE.

I've got ~10 UAD plugins. 8 of which were free or promotion. Those allow for machine and/or dongle authorization. NO iLok cloud authorization even available for them.

The other 2, one purchased by me, another gifted (but was a 'purchase') are only dongle or cloud.

I'm fully updated and all, so no, not ALL native plugins are available for local machine authorization.

I'm glad they aren't tied to their cloud as I wouldn't use them. And while it's an inconvenience to have the damn iLok dongle, it's preferable to me to use that thing by a country mile.

 

No they are runin very nice I only have a SSL 2+ everything runs nicely 4-5ms buffer
but
There's one very annoying thing each plugin adds like 2ms to your project (I have no idea why maybe it's the UADx native wrapper)
So when you insert a plugin inside Ableton you hover over with your mouse and it shows you how much latency 1 plugin adds
And no matter which UADx VST3 I add each add like 2ms to the project so you definitely have to raise your overall ASIO buffer/latency
So UADx VST3s are not for live perfomrance just mixing & FX & Mastering with big project buffer

 

UA - CPU & Latency [Limiter 2 ms & Opal Synth 1,3 ms]

 

Yusssssss

 

Weird. Both are working fine with machine auth. on mine.

 

Cloud activation was full of bugs, that's why i got the ilok dongles for my computers...

 

as a legit Soundtoys user bundle, I hope they follow the example on the old licenses, because since last year they sell licenses the are not cloud based activations ...the old ones remained unchanged

 

Right, and that's what I was saying. It is not the same for all depending on how it was acquired, whether as a package, a giveaway, or a freebie, or tied to hardware. So certainly no sweeping generalizations can be made.

I can show you my screenshot as well, and it's a well known phenomenon if you read on other music production sites etc, and while it's within someones right to vote to "disagree" with me on my polite distinction, there is nothing to disagree with in regards to fact that it "isn't necessarily true" that "a USB dongle is not required for offline use" as some have said.

 

I have no problem using UAD (or other vsts that introduce a reasonable amount of latency) playing live. I work with a RTL (round-trip latency) of 6.10 ms, so, for my needs, 2 ms or even 4 ms more are still not noticeable.

If I'm not using A/D inputs (using MIDI controllers) I gain another 2/3 ms so I could stack 3 and not notice anything. It depends on many things of course (instrument, style, BPM etc...) but I never had problems tracking with these tools.

YMMV, as always, but I don't think it's correct to state that "So UADx VST3s are not for live perfomrance just mixing & FX & Mastering with big project buffer"

I work (every single day) at 64 samples buffer most of the time and never had any problem with these vsts.

For example, most Arturia vst synths introduce 1 ms of latency: add an Arturia 1176 (5.77 ms) and you are at 6.77ms.This equals to 3 UAD 1176 + 0.77 ms.

Or, to make another example, an Arturia synth plus a chorus, a delay and a reverb on insert count for 4 ms of latency (1 ms each on average). Even just a synth + 1 effect (very common scenario) equals 2 ms (the same as one UAD 1176 and other UAD vsts).

Again, never had a single problem, and never heard anyone not able to play with such latencies but as I already said YMMV: just my 2 cents

 

Chasing Zero Latency is the kind of thing people tend to do because they are looking at numbers on a monitor. If some plugin was adding 2ms latency in Logic, I wouldn't even notice it to go look into the matter.

When I first read the post you are referencing, I thought about asking if this had been tested in another DAW. That whole plugin chain in the screenshot leads me to more questions than answers. But the first one is really about the DAW with existing concerns about its Plugin Delay Compensation and External instrument Latency Compensation. Someone might get to the bottom of the issue by creating a thread about it. It very likely has nothing to do with iLok authorization options.

 

Last edited: Mar 29, 2025

Right. And FWIW I wasn't disagreeing with you or making generalisations, just finding it odd that the purchased UAD-X ones weren't available for you, when they are for others. I had the LA-2A freebie, which IIRC was always machine authorised, so no change there. Were the other freebies machine auth?

I'm presuming UAD are addressing this (albeit at their standard "submit a report" glacial pace? I know there was (yet another) Connect update the other day.

 

While getting rid of iLok altogether would be best, it's a good move by UA towards legitimate users.
I experienced a few days of internet problems and it was a pain in the ass to load projects with UADx plugins.
And because of that I was using them less and less now to not encounter such a situation anymore, plus it can only make them easier to use.

 

I do not have this problem in Cubase 14 so I find that unusual. It might be a simple configuration change in your DAW or a latency buffer change in your audio interface perhaps? I am only guessing, not being able to see it there in person. I find they load much faster than the IK Multimedia or Arturia plugins.

Are you using the ET call home version or the iLok dongle version (I do)? I ask this because if it is the first, this might be the source. The second you do not need to be connected to the Internet and the first sporadically keeps calling home. I personally noticed the difference when I decided to buy a key and transfer all of my computer licenses to the dongle. Every developer app runs faster because it does a quick check on load once only, not on every individual plugin.

 

Last edited: Mar 29, 2025

Oh I'm sorry if I came off wrong to you in that regard, I didn't think you were disagreeing with me or making generalizations, it was someone else previous in the thread.. ;)

Yeah, I have spoken with a lot of other UAD customers, and long time ones, (hell, I had their first card based pci system back in what, 2004 or 2005 or whatnot and they treated me like sh1t and it took me a long time to get over their f'ing me over that and even install free plugins from them, let alone spend more money with them)....

tl/dr: but yes, it's f'd that long time customers/early adopters/those who paid the most/and whatnot tend to get more screwed over by UAD than others, and tbh, I haven't paid attention much to their shifting policies over the years,... but it is odd that the ones I have from them that were paid for are not available for machine auth, whereas everything I got for free, simply is. And it's also odd that it's inconsistent across the user base. I updated my UA Connect yesterday and iLok software prior to taking that screenshot to make sure I wasn't missing anything...

I missed the LA-2A freebie (which I don't have now, or even the old ones, as even though I BOUGHT the old versions,... long story/won't bore you with blah blah blah)... so I don't know about that one...but I imagine it's fine with machine auth as it looks like the 1176 version they gave away last month for free is allowed machine auth,

but again, not the Sound City Studios, which I paid for.... so dunno... I don't really care that much, as I'm stuck with an iLok dongle anyway for other reasons, but it still doesn't make a lot of sense to me, and I understand why others would be angry or frustrated.

And I'm sure I will be again myself when they force me to buy yet ANOTHER f'ing dongle for $50 when they deprecate the iLok2 as they did the first one...

So according to 'my' experience: all freebies have allowed machine auth, but my purchased ones curiously have not, not sure why, as it seems an odd policy on their part.

Or, as we are seeing, inconsistent, as yours are all machine auth enabled, and you paid for most of those... so I don't know... and this is an ongoing conversation on other sites, as certainly not just me.

So it goes.

 

Yeah, as someone on the record who dislikes iLok passionately, yet still have to deal with the devil.. yup.. iLok cloud is a joke and unusable for me, as I know many who have been left in a lurch when their systems have gone down (a few times this year already iirc), and that would really suck on a deadline or with clients etc. I wouldn't trust it.

Machine auth is better than that obviously, but if one moves around different studios etc... you know... big pita, and stuck getting the $1 dongle stick but paying ~$50 or whatever in yet another of their middleman schemes, as iLok is so that... they stick it to both their clients (the devs), AND their other clients, US, with foolish and bs "extra insurance policies" with zero down time and blah blah blah bullshit.

they can f themselves.

sucks I have to exist or work within their system.

I don't see UAD leaving iLok anytime soon, as it took them forever to get off the teat of their hardware dongles with silly ass pathetic sharc chips from 20 years ago required to run their stuff.... but I think they made a business decision to allow machine auth due to ilok cloud problems (AND from what I've read, the devs have to pay more for ilok cloud service, so there is that....), and they are trying to get as many people into their ecosystem as possible with less friction, as yeah, we know people aren't in a rush to buy $40-50 dongles to run a free plugin....

 

Anyting under 10 ms is fine.

 

Perfect! work as expected, thank you!

 

yeah, its stil ilok crap,

 

Activate UAD Plug‑Ins on Your Computer - 2. April 2025

Good news, Now you can activate all of your native UAD plug‑ins and apps on up to three devices and use them anywhere — without internet or connecting an iLok.

This free update is waiting for you. Open the UA Connect app today to get started.

Mix the Way You Want
You asked, we listened. You no longer need an iLok USB or internet connection to use your native UAD plug‑ins or LUNA. Simply open the UA Connect app and follow the steps to move UAD activations to your computer, then start creating.*

Offline? No Problem
Moving activation to your computer means you can work totally offline, without worrying about downtime during outages.

Activate on up to Three Devices
We've increased your number of activation locations, so now you can use your plug-ins on up to three computers.

Your Studio On‑The‑Go
You can still activate licenses at any time on an iLok USB (v2 or v3), so you can take your plug‑ins and apps with you to any location.

Questions? Visit our knowledge base to learn more.

*Note that UAD Spark subscription licenses are still activated on iLok Cloud or iLok (sold separately). Any activations on iLok USB keys are unaffected by this update.