Update on Steinberg Licensing terms

[Matthias_Quellmann]

We have decided to make some changes to the terms of Steinberg Licensing.

Please have a look at the official announcement:

Update on Steinberg Licensing

In November 2021, we announced the details of the new Steinberg Licensing system that will be introduced in early 2022 with the release of Dorico 4, to be followed by Cubase 12 and then other Steinberg software products. We received a great deal of feedback from our users around the world, and we would like to thank everybody for engaging in thoughtful and passionate discussion with us. We know that the way our software is licensed has a big impact on the experience of using our software, and w…

[Dr.Strangelove]

Bravo - excellent result

[ggmanestraki]

@Update on Steinberg Licensing

There will be no offline allowance period: instead, once your software has been activated on your computer, it never needs to contact our activation servers again for you to be able to keep using it.

Well done! In capitals, fireworks, cannon shots, or any other way. Well done.

[Alexandru_Stoicea]

“We aspect that the full transition to be made in 1-2 years” - so in that time we should still use the dongle!!! For what? For groove agent or Halion or what’s included in Cubase should work without the dongle?

[Dorrusvdv]

Great news , but still a question about it:

If I want to move Cubase it to another computer, I have to run Steinberg Activation Manager to deactivate it, freeing up that activation for another computer.
But what if the main pc is broken and therefore I can’t deactivate it on that computer?

[Matthias_Quellmann]

@Alexandru_Stoicea

For what? For groove agent or Halion or what’s included in Cubase should work without the dongle?

Everything in Cubase 12 will be covered by Steinberg Licensing. But there will be a transition period for all the products and services in the Steinberg world.

@Dorrusvdv

But what if the main pc is broken and therefore I can’t deactivate it on that computer?

In that case you can contact our support team to release the license from that computer.

[Highly-Controversial]

NOW this is why i love Steinberg , with all the crap we have given you over the licencing , you do listen , i can only say from my point of view thank you very much , this is a major major step forward and i’m sure with a little more tweaking for others this will be the best news we could have as a Christmas present (apart from a WL sale ) .
Brilliant news Steinberg team , it does pay to stay with the best after all .
Sorry for all the passionate exchanges but you have been apart of my life for 30 years , nothing to take lightly so once again Team Steinberg youv’e just made this miserable old git very happy

[anboithrinciuin]

This is great news.

Thank you for listening to concerns people had.

I never had any doubt in upgrading to 12 (I do it every year) however any hesitation that was there is gone.

[Alexandru_Stoicea]

Good to know! Thank you

[Home_Studio_87]

Well Done !

[Highly-Controversial]

Ohh plus i forgot to mention , i’m pretty sure instead of us migrating to another Daw i think it might now be the other way round

[garethk]

Matthias, you may now change your name to Santa Claus!
Well done Steinberg crew.

[Phillipus]

…for software purchased under a perpetual license, there will be no requirement for your computer to connect to our activation servers after initial activation.

As opposed to software purchased under a…subscription?

[dspreadbury]

@Phillipus

As opposed to software purchased under a…subscription?

Let’s not start all of this stuff about subscriptions again. As you very well know, we are not introducing subscription pricing along with Steinberg Licensing, but we are open to adding other business models in the future. This is all covered in the FAQ.

[dspreadbury]

@Unknown_Unknown

Great news, but I am on cubase 8 because I don’t need all the extra features, when the e license servers go down could you allow users to authorise via a method you just provided please?

Please refer to the FAQs, in particular:

What will happen to my old licenses when the eLicenser servers are turned off

As we transition across to the new Steinberg Licensing system, we will be listening carefully to our users and evaluating a number of possible migration options for users with eLicenser-based licenses for our older products. We will do our best to bring all our customers with us on the journey to a more sustainable and future-proof licensing system. As mentioned above, we will communicate our plans well in advance of any planned shutdown of the eLicenser servers.

[Phillipus]

I’m not starting any “stuff about subscriptions again”. If a statement is made for “software purchased under a perpetual license” I would simply like to know what other type(s) there are.

[digitallysane]

Amazing stuff.
Kudos to Steinberg team for being open to discussion!

[dspreadbury]

@Phillipus

I would simply like to know what other type(s) there are.

There are already a couple of products sold by Steinberg that are not perpetually licensed, for example the monthly or annual subscription to premium features in Dorico for iPad, or access to VST Transit Premium, which is also sold on a subscription basis.

[Phillipus]

Thank-you. That answers my question.