I noticed the recent release of Gladiator and saw that a lot of people are avoiding it. I thought to myself "...Hmmm, this is strange". I can understand why someone wouldn't want to try it, but to actually avoid it altogether!? There were two particular comments about this release that struck me: "Beware everyone: Tone2 is basically spyware", and "I've had enough of Markus and his bullshit."

I myself have never used anything Tone2, so this really intrigued me. I decided to verify what this was all about, and typed "markus tone2 spyware" into google. I was shocked at what I found, as this comes from a reliable source IMO. I am posting this so that hopefully the word spreads. Anyone who purchases, or has purchased Tone2 Products has a right to know...

TEAM AiR - 2009 - Gladiator v2.2:

Û Protection Notes
Û ================
Û
Û It's not everyday AiR feels the need to comment on a
Û release but we believe some issues about Markus Feil
Û need to be addressed for both legitimate users and
Û the warez community.
Û
Û In our opinion Markus Feil's plugins are the
Û equivilent to MALWARE, it is with disgust we find the
Û elaborate (and futile!) measures he has taken within
Û his code.
Û
Û When a developer starts dropping files and creating
Û empty BOGUS registry keys, writing to a users host
Û file etc. then they have crossed a line of ethics
Û that is inexcusable.
Û
Û One could argue that warez users get what they
Û deserve, however... warez uses ALWAYS choose to take
Û a risk when they use warez. The legitimate user
Û however gets exactly the SAME codebase and IF things
Û go wrong they are subjected to the same MALWARE crap
Û undeservedly.
Û
Û Furthermore, our release is BETTER than what legit
Û users are getting because we have disposed of the
Û MALWARE traps and HAVE ENABLED TWO EXTRA NEW HIDDEN
Û expansions that legit users DON'T have and probably
Û DON'T know about.
Û
Û NOTE TO Markus: you are tool, ppl may debate our
Û ethics but WE DON'T infect and manipulate filesystems
Û or registries, you're no better than a virus
Û developer in our opinion.
Û
Û Stick to what you know cause your protection schemes
Û are no match for us <middle finger>
Û
Û Some warez users like to go legit, it's hard to see
Û them going legit with your plugins when the
Û experience you give them results in piss poor MALWARE
Û techniques. FUCK YOU!
Û
Û Here are some of the techniques Markus infects your
Û machine with:
Û
Û - Registry scanning
Û
Û - Filesystem scanning
Û
Û - Creating bogus registry keys
Û
Û - File dropping
Û
Û - Multiple \system32\drivers\etc\host file updates
Û
Û - Deletion of files
Û
Û - Phone home notification
Û
Û - ExitWindowsEx calls (causes machine to shutdown)
Û
Û - DLL unpacked checks
Û
Û
Û # Registry scanning...
Û
Û Markus has coded his plugins to look for other Tone2
Û and reFX registry entries, if blacklisted serials are
Û found then his MALWARE is invoked. These include
Û Firebird, FilterBank, Warmverb, Gladiator, Vanguard
Û
Û # Filesystem scanning...
Û
Û Markus has coded his plugins to look for other
Û products keyfiles, if blacklisted keyfiles are found
Û then his MALWARE is invoked. This includes FireBird,
Û FilterBank, Warmverb, Gladiator
Û
Û # Bogus registry entries...
Û
Û Markus creates keys in HKEY_CURRENT_USER
Û
Û at least two NEW keys with no data (not disclosing to
Û protect privacy). if you have been subjected to the
Û MALWARE traps check your registry, the keys will be
Û obvious as the names are crap, make no sense and they
Û have no data under them.
Û
Û # File dropping...
Û
Û Markus creates:
Û
Û twdef.sys
Û
Û wvdriver.sys
Û
Û r2._9X1.r
Û
Û gldriver.sys
Û
Û gsndrun.sys
Û
Û
Û + about 4 other random file names (not disclosing to
Û protect privacy)
Û
Û If your going to look for these files make sure you
Û have turned off 'Hide protected operating system
Û files' in explorer. Typically they are dropped in the
Û same location as the Gladiator2 dll.
Û
Û # Update of hosts file...
Û
Û Markus updates the users host file with a massive
Û list of warez, torrent and other site urls
Û
Û # Deletion of files...
Û
Û Markus deletes any blacklisted keyfiles from the
Û users machine

 

but this dates of 2009

 

Dev lied about it when confronted (obviously) and has shown no signs of changing this shocking, anti-consumer behaviour. Still has blacklisting et al in recent products, reportedly. That the dev felt this behaviour was acceptable in the first place is reason enough to avoid giving them even attention by pirating (free advert) imo. I mean, subjective, but all their synths are very samey (replicas of each other) and I think they spent moar time writing spyware than on synthesis.

 

And I am hoping they have changed their ways, but as far as I have read from others, Tone2 still does that. I only posted that info becuase it's a complete list of what they found. It doesn't leave anything out. But yeah, I seriously hope they have changed and stopped doing these things since 2009.

 

Yeah, I'm not going to chance it. The crazy thing to realize is that the Cracked versions are probably safer than the legit versions because they were reverse engineered and taken out. I hope Tone2 reads this and realizes it's safer to use a cracked version than a retail one due to this malicious endeavor, IF anyone wants to try their products at all, and that through time, they change their malicious behavior ...Only time will tell.

 

+1 avoid

 

To me, stuff like this is like choosing to eat beetroot. However delicious the guy selling it claims it is, you've already tried it once and got purple gunk all over you & ur clothes. And realised it tastes pretty bland. Tone2 is exactly as appealing as that beetroot. Why bother, when there's grapes to satisfy that urge for purple stuff? I think that analogy went all over the place, but y'know. >____>

 

@Nana Banana
The Gladiator update was not unlocked the way ya think and is not cr@cked
there was an easer way to get it working and now they will be so p@ssed when they see how easy it was

 

Low CPU (the only guy that manages to achieve this these days), quality synths, good presets. The dev. may be a dick, but his stuff is decent. If it wasn't for his copy protection scheme, he would have been way more popular (btw, he coded old refx synths that are now abandoned)

 

A re-occuring topic in the forums. A Program installer that silently changes your host file is an absolute no go. I'm glad that OSX doesn't have a registry. But anyway, after I read this .nfo back in the days I decided that I will never ever ever support this bavarian dev.

 

Marcus is a great coder, and there's no doubt about his talent.
He only does what it's needed to keep his business... I do the same if I was in his place.

 

My rig is mostly legit but I use a very simple rule: never buy gear from a dev with an obsession about piracy. The's why I don't buy Tone2 and it's also why I don't buy u-he. Back in the day Tone2 was very leading edge but is now just average. U-he are one of the finest audio devs around. That said, you deploy softs into real machines on the end of other people's budgets and then you have to deal with hard discs going down, cpus burning out and once anything real like that happens and enters the equation you get whatever cockamamy madness flowing out of Tone2 and you get stuff dying and going all burnt looking with u-he. You don't need this. You really don't need to meet somebody else's uptight madness half-way any more in audio software.

You make the choice. But if you get half way through a piece of good work and have satan dumping his bile all over your efforts, you go somewhere else. The choice is yours.

 

old subject, old news,

 

Yes, and emperical knwoledge shows that bad behaviour most likely won't change.

I'm one of those warez users who frequently goes legit after some time because I've been a programmer myself and know about the work behind a seemingly easy piece of software.

But I won't ever buy one of his plugins!

Yep. But old shit stinks the same. And it's good to let people know about it because as it's old they may not find it easily.

 

I refuse to ever use a tone2 plugin because of this developer free or not

 

This nfo is almost 10 years old, and his protection scheme is actually different nowadays, and there is no malware nor spyware in it, but i agree that it still stinks.
Personally, I don't use it either, because given this developer's attitude, I simply prefer to forget about him. this called "boycott" and is an effective way to show disagreement.

After doubting if I should or not, I've made the post in sister site for those who wanted to try it, and because mono found a good way to make it work. I believe that most of the one who will try it, will trash it, sound is lacking dynamic, and deepness. But at least they will know that for free.

As many members stated, there are much better synth than tone2's today, His technology does not seem to evolve, they all sound very similar, while other brands have made big steps forward.

 

Last edited: Oct 12, 2018

Well, like always, These are the tone 2 minutes of hate...Orwell anyone?

I personally use his synths extensively as they perfectly fit my favorite genre of music. And the guys over there have always been helpful. Period.

Excuse me but isn't the dev allowed to protect his work ANY way he sees fit? I have the impression we live in a world where thieves, (that's basically what we are despite the fact that we go legit or not) can complain about a too well defended house. What's next? Sue him?

At the end of the day, this all boils down to this:
Imagine yourself going to a shop and taking everything you like and then go home. Try everything and decide if you are going to go back to the shop and pay for what you liked...or not.

Don't misunderstand me. I did this for years. Decades. So i'm not judging anyone. At all... But I really am pissed when I see guys complaining about someone protecting his work from us to be treated like he's a world level threat. That just doesn't make sense.

And for the record, R2R has never been able to release any Tone2 software, have they? So no need to brag about how easy it is to defeat his protections... No disprespect or ungratefulness but I made my point.

 

Last edited: Oct 12, 2018

As you said, this is your opinion. I beg to differ. But just for the sake of argument, can you please specify which "much better" synths are you talking about? "Big steps forward"? Be cause i have the feeling that we are stagnating for years now so i'm really curious about what you meant by that...? I use and overuse U-He most of the time, they have not changed much and i have not been able to find more recent and better ones. Hence the question. Thanks

 

Last edited: Oct 12, 2018

Absolutely not. In France, I don't think anyone bothered to complain about those malwares of his (I'm talking about legit users, demo users), but dev can't in anyway implement tools that damage your OS (worst your hw !) even in the situation you illegally got the software, and if anyone did bother to sue his ass they would probably win. Heck OS developpers themselves who have implemented less invasives and destructive tools for different purposes can't even do that in Europe.
Probably why he doesn't talk anymore about the subject. This is border line illegal.

Anyway this line of argument is about as invalid as saying "a car constructor can booby trap their car and explode them remotely if they get stolen. Just a constructor protecting its products.", it doesn't makes sense. There are legal ways for devs if they wanna go after hackers or users of hacks, and that's the only way to proceed in a legal system that puts private property, intellectual property at the center of its preoccupations. Devs don't need to implement malwares at all.

Anyway those synths are indeed at best average.

 

Okay. I'm french too so i would probably know about it anyway. it's quite funny to state that one line of argument is invalid as it is on the contrary your whole statement which is.

Everything you just said is basically a complete sophism.

You stated that Tone 2 software would damage your OS and even worse your hardware. Sorry to disappoint you but you haven't the slightest proof of that. It's clear that every software of his protects his other softwares but that's it. It will not hurt anything else other that hacked versions of his software. There are no malware. Otherwise you could be sure that he would have been sued in germany, in the US, anywhere. They are people that sue for a living no matter what. So you can be sure it would have happened if what you said without any proof was true. Even partially.
The most funny part was the comparison with booby trapped cars... No even close mate. this is completely irrelevant. Tone2 software does NOT harm your OS or computer.
My advice? Don't make statements without covering all your bases.