Pro tools iLok cloud

[TheNeil]

Yeah, I’d read that. It’s a helpful article. Thanks.

Doesn’t explicitly cover the above scenario, but like I say, I reckon it was an outage on their side.

Inferring from the article, when I restarted the same machine and tried to open a fresh session, it should’ve closed the first one (which it did prompt me to do, actually), then started up a fresh one (which is where it started bugging out until this morning).

[thanos4]

I just tested it and works fine
i just watched a video Russ made and it so simple https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvwecpoZi1w

[Eric Seaberg]

I was able to open ProTools HD on my MBPro without an iLok, but NONE of my Avid plugins in the cloud would authorize. The only way to get it to work was plug in an iLok and the license would download for that plugin to the iLok, even when the plugin showed as being CLOUD available.

Still, it's only day two, right?

[jeffro]

Originally Posted by Eric Seaberg

...NONE of my Avid plugins in the cloud would authorize...

Did you update your plug-ins to 18.1, or were they older versions?

[Eric Seaberg]

The manager said there weren't any updates to be done, and all the licenses do show up in the cloud. I'll try it again.

[Eric Seaberg]

Originally Posted by jeffro

Did you update your plug-ins to 18.1, or were they older versions?

Just ran App Manager again this morning and it's updating... didn't do that yesterday. Thanks!

[noiseboyuk]

Pro Tools Expert ran a bizarre almost aggressively defensive piece about using PT with iLok cloud here - https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/hom...pro-tools-2018 . Lots of spurious logic there about how only people recording on location in the jungle etc would have any issues with online authorisation every time.

As it stands I can see a lot of problems with the iLok cloud, which is a shame because I'd really love to use it. Here are some off the top of my head.

1. I have a cracking 300mbps internet connection in the studio, connected to our domestic connection. But it tends to go down for a while every few months, sometimes for a few hours, at its worst for a few days. If one of those days is a day I have to work and I can't, that's one too many.

2. Avid's track record with its own cloud service is not very strong. Colleagues tried it in anger with the collab thing and they ran away screaming after some server downtime. Again, it only has to happen once on a mission critical job, and it's game over.

3. For mobile use, internet reception is far, far more flaky than the figures quoted in the PTE article. More than once I've had to quickly open up an emergency project on a train, on which connection is a world of pain. Or maybe on vacation in the hills - the owner said the wifi would work, but it's been a bit troublesome lately, you know the kind of thing. Now, I know a comeback here is that if its urgent you'd need a net connection to send the result anyway, but sometimes you just need to open a project for information. And besides:

4. It's unclear if you need a continuous connection, or what would happen if there was an erratic one.

5. At the time of writing, no 3rd party plugs will work with the cloud, so you'd still need a dongle for anything requiring them. This will hopefully change over time.

I'm not sure all of these issues will get truly resolved, so I think there's always going to be a problem with the iLok cloud. What I don't quite understand is why machine licensing is apparently less secure than Cloud licensing. What I'd love is to be able to keep a license on a laptop, and then move via the cloud if required. That would be a far better solution for me, but I doubt this will ever happen.

[uptheoctave]

I've got it running on my portable but I own two copies of PT so I will be keeping my main studio computer on a physical iLok.

It works though and given there is no USB C iLok dongle it means less pissing about with USB A to USB C dongles..

I don't imagine plugin companies will be fast implement and, like machine authorisation, there is always going to be one or two companies that make a business decision to not embrace the technology.
I don't see physical iLok's going anywhere.

[Eric Seaberg]

A couple of updates based on my morning with it...

I put one of our 18.1HD licenses and my personal non-HD license in iLok Cloud to see what would happen. If you just open ProTools without iLok cloud being connected, it goes through the process of authorizing by asking if you'd like a CLOUD authorization. If I do this with my non-HD license, the non-HD version loads up. Same thing happens with the HD version where it loads up properly.

However, if I open an iLok cloud session FIRST and then launch my non-HD version, it will load HD since that license seems to take priority over the non-HD in the cloud.

This means I can run HD sessions on my home system when absolutely needed, as long as no one is in my personal control-room at the studios using my HD system, allowing me to work on multi-stem high-speed bounces, etc., which non-HD can't do yet. I can do the same thing on my MacBook Pro... works great!

Also updated all plugins to 18.1 and am leaving licensing for them in the cloud. Works well!!

[noiseboyuk]

Originally Posted by Eric Seaberg

If you just open ProTools without iLok cloud being connected, it goes through the process of authorizing by asking if you'd like a CLOUD authorization.

I’ve re-read this post several times but I don’t quite get it. I think this is the sentence I trip up on. How can you have iLok cloud connected before you launch PT? I realise you’re saying it isn’t connected, but I don’t understand how it can be any other way.