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Not defending him here, he's a professional millionaire musician and should just buy it... But music software is a HUGE pain in the ass to purchase. Pro Tools,

by kdamken 11y ago

Not defending him here, he's a professional millionaire musician and should just buy it... But music software is a HUGE pain in the ass to purchase. Pro Tools, for example, is tied to a dongle. It's 2016, and that's still the security method they choose to use. Lose the dongle? You're fucked. It's unfathomably frustrating.

robmccoll 11y ago
Not even the majority of major music production suites - Ableton Live, FL Studio, Propellerhead Reason are all incredibly easy to license, download, and install and all three have easy-to-use market places to purchase and download third party plug-ins. Pro Tools is really more of an exception than the rule. To be honest, I'm not sure why people are still using it extensively other than legacy purchases and lock-in with some hardware vendors.
- busterarm 11y ago
  People still use Pro Tools? I can't think of a single popular commercial DAW that's worse to use. Pretty much the only people I see use it are all aspiring rappers. I guess it has hip hop cred. Tangentially, I can't think of a single piece of Avid software that isn't a flaming piece of shit. Full disclosure: I used to have to support Avid.
  - pierrec 11y ago
    Oh yes they do. As far as I can tell, it still has the monopoly in film music editing, at the very least. Otherwise I agree with you on all accounts.
  - darkr 11y ago
    Pro Tools is still pretty much _the_ standard for audio recording, mixing and AV post-production. If you're just producing electronic music, want VSTs, and/or just using a few live tracks, then yeah; you're probably far better off using something else.
    - busterarm 11y ago
      Uhh...ever heard of Cubase? In a professional setting (recording, mixing, mastering label-released albums), I've seen PT used far less than Cubase. I see it used less than Logic, even.
      - darkr 11y ago
        Yup, used Cubase extensively back in the day, was pretty much my go-to for a number of years. I've the opposite experience to you with seeing it in use at studios though.
  - AndrewUnmuted 11y ago
    Unfortunately, there are no DAW applications that are really reliable, not buggy, and lightweight. The Open Source attempts are largely laughable, even though JACK represents the most sophisticated audio connection suite/API out there. Pro Tools is shit, I agree, but because of Avid's dominance in the film/TV worlds, Pro Tools is the "professional" choice for audio in support of these industries. I imagine that most music houses have moved on to the Apple or Steinberg offerings. Personally, I've always really liked Steinberg's products, especially WaveLab and Cubase. As bad as Pro Tools is, don't even get me started on Ableton Live. It's like someone just barely made it out of their first Code Academy lesson alive, and then attempted to reverse engineer Nuendo. Utterly horrifying application development standards over at Ableton.
    - zeitpolizei 11y ago
      I don't really know much about Nuendo, but it looks like it's more of a traditional DAW and has specific features aimed at post production, which doesn't seem to be Ableton Live's goal. I might try to get you started on Ableton Live, why do you think Ableton has such "horrifying application development standards"?
    - busterarm 11y ago
      Yeah, Cubase is pretty awesome. That's pretty much all I've seen anyone (professional) recording instruments use going on 10 years now.
soundwave106 11y ago
It is 2016, and indeed most of the music software on my computer is tied to no dongle whatsoever. Dongles are understandably thought of as a bit of a pain by many musicians, and I'm sure many developers understand that they'll lose customers by requiring one.
- DonHopkins 11y ago
  I knew an artist who would wear his dongle around his neck on a gold chain like bling, to show off to all the adoring groupie chicks that he was rich and important enough to have a license.
dimmuborgir 11y ago
The dongle (iLok2) was cracked recently. https://torrentfreak.com/ilok2-drm-system-appears-to-have-been-cracked-151224/ https://torrentfreak.com/ilok2-drm-system-appears-to-have-be...
s_kilk 11y ago
I dread re-formatting my laptop because of this. Getting all my (legitimately purchased) plugins back onto the system is an absolute nightmare. I've started paring my setup down to just Ableton and a handful of plugins for this reason.
ylhert 11y ago
Serum doesn't require a dongle of any kind. Just a serial which is easy to find, it is in your account which is a login and password away
RUG3Y 11y ago
Reaper is something like $60.00, has an awesome free trial period and is just as capable for my needs as Pro Tools. Plus you get free upgrades.

by kdamken 11y ago

robmccoll 11y ago

Not even the majority of major music production suites - Ableton Live, FL Studio, Propellerhead Reason are all incredibly easy to license, download, and install and all three have easy-to-use market places to purchase and download third party plug-ins. Pro Tools is really more of an exception than the rule. To be honest, I'm not sure why people are still using it extensively other than legacy purchases and lock-in with some hardware vendors.

busterarm 11y ago
People still use Pro Tools? I can't think of a single popular commercial DAW that's worse to use. Pretty much the only people I see use it are all aspiring rappers. I guess it has hip hop cred. Tangentially, I can't think of a single piece of Avid software that isn't a flaming piece of shit. Full disclosure: I used to have to support Avid.
- pierrec 11y ago
  Oh yes they do. As far as I can tell, it still has the monopoly in film music editing, at the very least. Otherwise I agree with you on all accounts.
- darkr 11y ago
  Pro Tools is still pretty much _the_ standard for audio recording, mixing and AV post-production. If you're just producing electronic music, want VSTs, and/or just using a few live tracks, then yeah; you're probably far better off using something else.
  - busterarm 11y ago
    Uhh...ever heard of Cubase? In a professional setting (recording, mixing, mastering label-released albums), I've seen PT used far less than Cubase. I see it used less than Logic, even.
    - darkr 11y ago
      Yup, used Cubase extensively back in the day, was pretty much my go-to for a number of years. I've the opposite experience to you with seeing it in use at studios though.
- AndrewUnmuted 11y ago
  Unfortunately, there are no DAW applications that are really reliable, not buggy, and lightweight. The Open Source attempts are largely laughable, even though JACK represents the most sophisticated audio connection suite/API out there. Pro Tools is shit, I agree, but because of Avid's dominance in the film/TV worlds, Pro Tools is the "professional" choice for audio in support of these industries. I imagine that most music houses have moved on to the Apple or Steinberg offerings. Personally, I've always really liked Steinberg's products, especially WaveLab and Cubase. As bad as Pro Tools is, don't even get me started on Ableton Live. It's like someone just barely made it out of their first Code Academy lesson alive, and then attempted to reverse engineer Nuendo. Utterly horrifying application development standards over at Ableton.
  - zeitpolizei 11y ago
    I don't really know much about Nuendo, but it looks like it's more of a traditional DAW and has specific features aimed at post production, which doesn't seem to be Ableton Live's goal. I might try to get you started on Ableton Live, why do you think Ableton has such "horrifying application development standards"?
  - busterarm 11y ago
    Yeah, Cubase is pretty awesome. That's pretty much all I've seen anyone (professional) recording instruments use going on 10 years now.

soundwave106 11y ago

It is 2016, and indeed most of the music software on my computer is tied to no dongle whatsoever. Dongles are understandably thought of as a bit of a pain by many musicians, and I'm sure many developers understand that they'll lose customers by requiring one.

DonHopkins 11y ago
I knew an artist who would wear his dongle around his neck on a gold chain like bling, to show off to all the adoring groupie chicks that he was rich and important enough to have a license.

dimmuborgir 11y ago

The dongle (iLok2) was cracked recently. https://torrentfreak.com/ilok2-drm-system-appears-to-have-been-cracked-151224/ https://torrentfreak.com/ilok2-drm-system-appears-to-have-be...

s_kilk 11y ago

I dread re-formatting my laptop because of this. Getting all my (legitimately purchased) plugins back onto the system is an absolute nightmare. I've started paring my setup down to just Ableton and a handful of plugins for this reason.

ylhert 11y ago

Serum doesn't require a dongle of any kind. Just a serial which is easy to find, it is in your account which is a login and password away

RUG3Y 11y ago

Reaper is something like $60.00, has an awesome free trial period and is just as capable for my needs as Pro Tools. Plus you get free upgrades.