I just purchased a $2000 Yamaha Keyboard that came with an activation code for CubaseAI. I went to the website and entered the download code and received an email with an activation code. Now when I go and enter the activation code it starts the activation process and then fails, telling me that this activation code has already been used. I’ve followed all of the posts about this and reinstalled the license helper at least three times, ran as admin and I tried to activate the license again… And, you guessed it, “Activation Code has already been used” This is complete BS. For a software that is sold as a standalone, for a hefty price might I add, this is the worst experience I’ve ever had with a software installation.
This software was bundled with a keyboard? Ask your dealer for support…
That’s the way we deal with this kind of problems in this part of the world.
Well, let me tell you how things work in this part of the world. Yes, it was bundled with the keyboard. And yes, I did contact the retailer. I purchased this keyboard at a Guitar Center where the staff pretty much knows what the instrument is and how to turn it on. They are definitely not a source tech support for the software. I’ve been a software engineer for a very large company for 27 years, and if we were to launch a product that was this buggy, we’d all be fired.
This means that someone else already used your code, not you. Or that you already used your code and tried again which will fail. It is a one time only code. Did you register it at mysteinberg? If yes have a look there and see if you can get a reactivation code.
I am not from steinberg, just trying to help so don’t shoot me…
What should we say?
@DocHD Would you buy your next new car from the boat dealer around the corner? In other words: I buy my equipment from a specialist dealer with the necessary expertise and not from a dealer who actually has a completely different core business… That’s just by the way… 
As far as the activation is concerned: Something like this can always happen. This does not only happen at Steinberg and can have many reasons - for example, the keyboard could theoretically be a return shipment (and the code was already used) or similar, or the license code was marked as used for other reasons or not even added to the pool.
I have found Steinberg to be an extremely customer-friendly company. Even in a really not quite everyday problem situation with my Licenser, Steinberg not only helped me competently, but also quickly. My advice: Simply contact support, explain the situation and have proof of purchase ready. Maybe a solution can be found very quickly.
By the way, I actually work in the software industry and am responsible for projects worth millions of euros. Errors are part of the daily business, are unavoidable with complex software and we have never fired a developer for it. It depends on what kind of errors you discuss and which solution strategies you choose. A registration/activation problem, which can have many causes, is not critical and can usually be solved quickly and easily.
if you bought this from Guitar Center, and the license code was used already that’s an issue for Guitar Center – they didn’t include everything that was supposed to come with the product.
That said, what @Floatzero said above sounds about right to me.