I think it has to be (peacefully) admitted that Steinberg has failed to make some things well clear when announcing the transition to the new license system.
One of them is the one discussed here.
It seems quite clear to me that the company, perhaps inadvertently, didn’t make sure that long term users understood without a shadow of a doubt that the repeatedly announced possibility of becoming “dongle-free” would immediately be real only using Cubase 12 alone, without any “old” licensed product inside (VST, effects…), and that in all the other (very common) cases the wait would have lasted much longer, up to one or two years, over all provided that all products are updated (by… purchasing the respective upgrades?).
Another thing is the somehow “lower power” of the new 12 license (compared to the previous ones); new customers who last year bought license 11 were able, with it, to use Cubase 11 and also all its older versions (for any eventual need), while any new customer who buys license 12 today can only use Cubase 12.
Steinberg obviously did not“lie” , because both the issues are consequences of the innovations introduced, which have been correctly announced and described. Let’s say they just did not point out those particular aspects, letting affected users… notice for themselves.
Moreover, the idea of gradually “migrating all products” can legitimately be interpreted in different ways. One could, for example, think that an “old” product could “migrate” to the new system by just… adapting itself to it, perhaps thanks to the new Steinberg Licensing software becoming able to emulate the old Elicenser while actually checking for the licenses online. Or something like that.
And of course, for all those who understood things “badly”, the move to rel. 12 was far less exciting than hoped and expected.
For me it was perfectly clear from the very first announcement that only Cubase 12 would be dongle-free. I think it’s pretty obvious that unless Steinberg has invented the time machine and updated older products this would be the case.
I’ve no doubt that for you everything was “pretty obvious” from the very first and I’m sure it was the same for others as well. But misunderstandings did actually arise, also here on the forum, so: either many of Steinberg’s customers are not very clever in reading or things could have been explained more clearly, maybe with some unequivocal “real-life” examples.
As to the “time machine” thing, it is no mystery that software developers can do many things, as long as they want to. Not everything they want, but many things.
Let’s say that if Steinberg had really wanted to somehow preserve the usual “backwards compatibility” of Cubase licenses and so on, then they could have come up with some kind of solution or, at least, some workaround. With no need of any… time machine.
Instead they made different choices, which are obviously totally rightful; but still choices, not inevitable moves.
Old licenses, for example, could have been (optionally) removed from dongles and transferred to the new licensing system servers, while making the new Steinberg Licensing software able to deal with them, maybe “tricking” older products into “seeing” a dongle that isn’t really there. Surely more complicated and expensive, but not impossible.
Anyway, I’ve no intention of feeding controversy or invectives. Just trying to understand and describe things, with their pros and cons.
Maybe, in the current “early-transition” situation, some users could decide to postpone updates for a while, staying with the (11 or older) systems already in use, which are known to fully work, and waiting for the whole thing to consolidate.
No, this discussion is related to the non SE products that are NOT included with Cubase. Or additional paid for libraries, also NOT included.
i.e. if you own HALion, HALion Sonic, Groove Agent, Backbone etc (Full versions, which are separate purchases) - you still need the dongle for those, until they’ve been moved across.
If you’re running stock C10 you’ll be dongle free. i.e. with Groove Agent SE, HALion Sonic SE etc.
Basically, anything other than Cubase that shows on your dongle right now most likely won’t be on the new licensing - if you have no other products you’re good.
hey @skijumptoes , you are everywhere!!
Thx for your reply.
So, if I open a C10 project that uses Halion and Groove Agent (both plugins as stock plugins of C10) with C12, the project will be opened without problems and without USB-licenser. Is it correct?
It is all stated in the FAQ. I don’t know what any company can do if customers don’t do their own due diligence, in this case by reading the page linked at the very top of the Steinberg website, and if needed one other page linked from there.
You will need the usb-licenser if, for any reason, you want or need to run C10 again. Or, as others have correctly pointed out, if inside C12 you need to use some “old” licensed products (VST instruments, plugins…) whose licenses are stored in the usb-elicenser.
Until they’ve been moved across AND you’ve purchased their own separate upgrades (I guess).
Maybe it’s obvious, but I think it’s worth specifying anyway, if only for greater accuracy.
I personally don’t consider it false advertising saying Cubase 12 doesn’t need a dongle. Though I have an iLok for a bunch of other VSTs I use that is required whether I use Cubase or OpenMPT, so Steinberg VSTs separate from purchasing Cubase needing a dongle isn’t a shock to me.
