I am very disappointed

[Asterion]

Hi, I'm new here.

I was pretty much sold on the 10 Year Collection, but I thought I'd better read up on the copy protection first, and now I'm not so sure if I want to deal with it.

I'm a graphic designer, so I'm no stranger to the dreaded dongle. That being said, no company that makes design software uses a dongle anymore, and in fact, they even let you install the software on two computers.

If I'm going to drop that amount of cash on something, I want it to be a good experience.

I know that no one likes the dongle, and Arturia should be aware that it's costing them sales and hurting their reputation at the same time. These synths are top of the line, and it really hurts me not buying them, but I have the feeling it'll hurt more if I do.

I know that the Analog Factory and MiniMg are now dongle-free, as long as you want to only use them on one computer. I can live with that, but god help you if your computer crashes.

I can't do it. I'm not going back to the days of the dongle.

I'm going to look at other synths now.

[Wookiee]

Agreed Dongles bad things 

[onewave]

Asterion,

            Although you are very disappointed, I wonder why. I have another computer music friend that I have known very well since high school, he feels the same way about the dongle.

He came over to my house and I showed him some music that I was working on, he was very impressed with the Arturia software, and soon ordered some.

He knew about the presence of the dongle, but somehow it made no difference to him, which surprised me.

It is agreed that dongles are bad things by themselves, they add clutter and more issues with the usb hubs.

You should also consider why they are used in the first place.

Copy protection is an issue, especially now that we live in the high speed internet age where any kid can find a hacked version out there for free, its just not fair to the developer.

This software is there creation, therefore, IMHO they have a critical choice to make about how to protect the software.

Personally, the sound and practicality of this software outweighs the impact the dongle makes on my computer.

If the dongle protects the software from being stolen, then that is a good thing. It will help Arturia stay profitable so that they can keep making improvements to their paying customers.

Take the good with the bad, everything comes with a price. IMO, there is far more good to the dongle than meets the eye/usb cable.

[Asterion]

Hey Onewave, thanks for the reply.

Good points. I really, really want to buy the Analog Factory Experience, the demo is fantastic, and it only has 137 presets out of 3500! Wow! And if I kept it on one computer I could avoid the dongle altogether.

But I'm still a bit leery about a few things I've read here on this forum, namely the draconian copy protection and poor customer service. I had to use the eLicenser when I downloaded the MiniMg demo, and honestly it didn't seem that bad.

What's your experience been?


 

[onewave]

Well, I have the CS-80V2, Prophet V and Jupiter 8V synth plugins. There are some issues with the older versions of the software, but keep in mind that Arturia is releasing the long awaited V2 Prophet and Jupiter soon along with the others.

I use a MacBook, 2Ghz Core 2 duo/ early 2007 and have had some issues with cpu running very high in Logic 8.

But now I have Logic Studio 9 and things are running fantastic on the CS-80V2, so that being said I am looking forward to the V2 plugs. Jupiter and Prophet are still too high a cpu to use much on LP9.

I am also considering the Mg Modular V now, it sounds like a great plug too.

I hope that helps, and btw you can still find ver 1.0 plugs on ebay for a fraction of the cost.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Arturia-CS80V-Virtual-Synthesizer_W0QQitemZ290355793842QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item439a8dcfb2#ht_6809wt_1167

Best wishes,
Bret

EDIT: 

BTW, I have had good relations with Artuia's support, they do sometimes take a while to get back to you.

If your patient you'll find that they make the effort to see that your issues are taken care of.

If your impatient your bound to be dissatisfied with them.

There's my two pennies worth

[Asterion]

Ha ha! The seller on that auction is AudioMidi, you've probably heard of them – I just picked up the Applied Acoustics Systems Ultra Analog VA-1 on their website last night for $15. That's 92% off! I couldn't pass it up!

I still want Analog Factory, though.

[onewave]

Yeah, I got that same Ultra Analog VA-1 for $15 Plug too:

http://www.audiomidi.com/Ultra-Analog-VA-1-No-Brainer-Deal-P12692.aspx

Very decent for all you whom never seen it.

[b-szczesny]

I was a little bit scared about the copy protection, but everything went just fine! I`m using windows 7 and I have some issues with analog factory right now, but I suppose it`s a matter of time to get round with new x64 os. eLicencer is not as bad, technical support reacts very fast.

[Ashe35]

I'm a graphic designer, so I'm no stranger to the dreaded dongle. That being said, no company that makes design software uses a dongle anymore, and in fact, they even let you install the software on two computers.

Lightwave, VNS, and several other professional applications still use hardware keys. Most others use FlexLM which has its own set of problems...