Basic FX Suite relies on the old eLicenser system (God only knows why, but still…). Doesn’t the eLicenser functionality stop working in 2025?
Without the Basic FX suite, one can’t use the DSP plugins on the UR-C interfaces, right?
Can we please either have a Basic FX suite that is free of copy protection, or at least is activatable via the new licensing system on a few PCs? Time appears to be getting a bit short!
I assume that Steinberg will release an updated (Steinberg Licensing based) version of the Basic FX Suite in time before the eLicenser server is shut down.
Only the Steinberg license server will be shut down. This means that after the shutdown, no more activations or transfers of eLicenser-based products can be carried out. However, existing installations are not affected, i.e. plugins activated on your computer continue to work as before
No, that is not correct. The Basic FX Suite are VST plugins that are similar in function to the DSP effects that are integrated into the UR hardware, but otherwise they are two separate systems.
In order to use the effects integrated in the hardware, the Basic FX Suite does not need to be installed or activated.
The VST versions of the DSP effects allow the user to use these effects independently of the hardware in the DAW
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Thanks P.A.T,
Can anyone confirm this assumption?
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Appreciate the reply, but I’m very sceptical about that.
How, for example, could one process an input audio stream through one of the DSP amp modellers without the BasicFx VST plugins?
It seems to me that without this software, the UR-22C has little if any advantage over a cheap Behringer interface.
Given that the software is only of any real value if you own the accompanying DSP-equipped hardware, what is the point of protecting it with any such copy-protection mechanism? It’s a weird decision, particularly in today’s open-source world.
If you take a look at this page, you will quickly see that the VST plugins of the Basic Fx Suite are “replicas” of the DSP effects hard-coded in the interface. Again: The DSP effects integrated into the interface work regardless of whether the Basic Fx Suite has been installed or activated. However, the prerequisite for using the integrated effects is the mixer software dspMixFx.
UR-C Series: USB 3.0 Audio Interfaces | Steinberg
Incidentally, I have been using a UR28M interface for a long time, and the situation is the same.
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Why?
Don’t understand the question.
The BasicFX Suite are the VST version of the hardware effects. The hardware effects are still available in the hardware without any licensing issues.
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Let me illustrate the problem with a hypothetical thought-experiment.
Uninstall the Basic FX suite. That will uninstall the VSTs (and DSPMixFX too IIRC).
Your PC is now in the kind of state it would be in if you had to recover it. After some point in 2025 the eLicenser server will be switched off so there’s no way you’ll be able to install the Basic FX suite and activate it.
Connect your UR-xxC interface and plug in a guitar.
Exactly how will you switch on the hardware (DSP) amp sim without any of the software that controls it?
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TBH, the dspMixFX software is free for use with the hardware, always.
And it ever was.
The Basic FX suite is not needed for the hardware FX.
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