Fully agree. That’s the key point.
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That would be a dangerous leap right now after Presonus’ recent purchase by Fender. I was a former Cakewalk Sonar user until the acquisition by Gibson which turned out to be a complete disaster.
You will be able activate your Cubase license on 2 systems. The important point to note here is that it is a single-user license, so only you should be using the systems - and you can use them as you wish.
You know that Studio One also contacts Presonus’ servers on startup?
I would like to give a suggestion, in case it has not been taken into consideration by the developers.
it would be useful to have the ability to generally monitor the “authorization days remaining” for my SB products. in order not to run the risk of getting on an “intercontinental airplane” and realizing that the license of cubase, doric, or halion has expired …
Ouch! Fender is acquiring Presonus, didn’t know that. Thx.
What will that mean for Studio One in the future? Their forum users doesn’t seem to happy about it in this thread:
Fender acquires PreSonus…
yes was confirmed on another post that there is an activation manager that you can launch to authenticate Cubase, thus renewing the period.
Anything that require Steinberg involvement of a activation is a ransome wall and it will fail in the future. With the dongle you can reinstall the machine, get a new machine. You can even switch OS. Steinberg does not get involved. With any post activation interaction your system is blocked until Steinberg says OK. In the future there might not be a Steinberg saying OK.
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Isn’t this exactly what the USB dongle is doing??? Steinberg forces you to hang onto and guard a USB stick, forces you to take up a port on your system, in which it must stay connected at all times. The dongle, is essentially a portable server that Cubase is checking at all times.
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With the big difference that I have control over the dongle.
Do you? You know how to fix it if it breaks? Or if an OS update renders it incompatible, then you depend on Steinberg to release an update?
It’s barely any difference. In fact often, you need to update the elicenser to avoid problems with Cubase and the dongle.
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Why not offer both, dongle and activation for at least some time? This way, folks (like me) can continue to stick with the dongle and watch how it’s going with the activation version. Maybe they will switch at some point because Steinberg proved they are making the best move. Or Steinberg learns that a huge amount of users want to still continue with their dongles. Again, choice is a good thing. Please, a little goodwill…
This is already the case, for at least 1 if not 2 years
As long as the OS update is not enforced I can install a old OS on a old machine. Yes, the dongle will break at some point. But there are a lot of dongles out there, so I can get a used one with a license and use that. But eventually the last dongle will also break, but that is a problem for archaeologists.
Is it not clear that the new releases will not use the dongle and that there is no hybrid?
It’s clearly NOT the case since the new licencing / activation system doesn’t even (publicly) exist yet.
Yet the dongle has reliance on a remote server and the app being updated. So is not perfect either, I’ve had the dongle stop working on one machine and not the other, and needed an online update to get it moving it again.
For offline use across multiple machines the dongle wins out by a fair margin. Whereas the new system has a lot more going for it in the broader spectrum.
Trouble is, those using illegal plugins and other such content will be a part of the voice against any app “calling home”, so Steinberg have to be careful that they are not applying too much weight to those user demands.
This is why it’s important that people are clear as to ‘why’ an issue would exist for them, and ‘what’ would be the solution. Rambling wild conspiracies (Which I’m not aiming at yourself) is just not constructive (imo).
Let me point to another drawback of the new licensing system. I don’t know whether somebody else has already mentioned it. Why isn’t it possible to transfer all my existing licenses to the new system? Why do I have to buy new versions of my Cubase, Wavelab, etc.to be able to use the new licensing system? It’s really ugly! If I upgrade to let’s say Cubase 12 and I use it together with my Absolute 4 collection, I will need the old dongle for Absolute and the new licensing system for Cubase 12. That’s a no go. What about things like Jazz Essentials etc.? Will they be upgraded to newer versions with only little or no improvements but which nevertheless have to be paid for? Is it the intention of Steinberg to force their customers to switch to the latest versions in order to be able to use the new licensing system? Sure, thus Steinberg will make more money but that’s not fair. Please, dear Steinberg folks, rethink your concept and open up the possibility to transfer all my acquired licenses to the new system. And please, allow one license to be used on at least three of my computers. Thanks.
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Absolutely. If and when we decide to make any adjustments to what we have already outlined, and indeed as we finalise some of the more complex aspects of the transition (e.g. for older, content-based products, etc.), we will of course be as transparent as we can with you about our plans and how they will affect your use of our products.
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Effectively, that is what we are doing. When Cubase 12 is released, you will not be forced to update: you can watch and see what others’ experience of the new licensing system is. In the meantime, your Cubase 11 license on your USB-eLicenser will continue to work just as it always has. Once you are reassured that the new licensing system works as smoothly as advertised, at that point you can jump on board. Nobody is going to try to pry your USB-eLicenser out of your hands on the day Cubase 12 is released.
And if you’re really tempted by the new features of Cubase 12 and want to update anyway, you will continue to be able to run Cubase 11 using the license on your USB-eLicenser, so you really have nothing to fear.
However, it’s not technically practical for us to provide both eLicenser and Steinberg Licensing options for new products in the future. We need to jump in to the new system with both feet, and leave eLicenser behind, for all of the reasons explained over and over again that I won’t repeat again now.
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