Hi all,

I’ve been listening to Acustica Audio’s ‘Thing’ (Roland Jupiter-8 emulation) and I’m really starting to dig it, thinking that’s it’s [definitely] worth a purchase. In fact, I’ve sort of made mental-note for a couple of different plug-ins I’d like to buy come Cyber Monday.

My question is: would a legit AA purchase work alongside the R2R releases (and vice-versa, obviously).

 

No, the Aquarius manager can detect cracked Acustica and will ban you and all your purchases won't be refunded.

 

i was able to do it by keeping cracked plugins in an external vst3 folder, but use at your own risk. I also tested this with only non paid legit acustica plugins, the freebies.

 

Guys — thank you so, so much for all of your input(s). Currently, I keep all of the Acustica Audio VSTs [outside] local drive(s) — they’re tucked deep & away in a custom VST3 folder located on an [external] HD. When scanning for VST2.x/VST3 folders. Nuendo 14 makes sure to include this specific folder as well and everything works great.

I suppose the next logical question would be to make sure that the developer doesn’t phone-home and/or run any deep — be it quick or thorough — without my knowledge; especially unsolicited ones.

 

Last edited: Nov 1, 2025 at 7:05 AM

Another very important step you have to take is to make sure you completely remove the R2R framework from the Acustica folder in the Program Files folder (or it might be Program Data - I can’t remember and I’m not at my computer). You should send that folder to the Recycle Bin and Restore it afterwards or hide it temporarily into your special Acustica VST3 folder and put it back in place after you make your purchase and download your plugin. If Acustica sniffs that R2R framework out when you load in their Aquarius program, you’re cooked.

Also, if you use a cracked version of Nebula at all, you have to send the Nebula folder in your C: drive to the Recycle Bin and restore it after you purchase and download your legit Acustica plugin. You will need to perform these steps any time you open Aquarius- for trials, updates, new purchases, etc

I hope that helps