Open PT 9 using ONLY hardware??

[blbar10]

I purchased the iLok to be able to open PT without hardware and it works great. Now I would like to be able to go to my project studio and open PT 9 connected to my Digi002. It appears that I need to have the iLok also. Is it true that I can no longer open PT using only hardware like I have done for the past 10 years?

I hope singing up for the iLok doesn't REQUIRE it when I have official hardware connected, but that may be the case. Am I wrong?

Thanks,
Brett

Mac OS 10.6
PT9
Digi002

[Craig F]

the hardware is no longer the proof of ownership the iLok is
So iLok must always be connected to open Pro Tools
your 002 is optional

[bradch00]

I believe that is correct. PT9 uses iLok as it's method of authentication not the hardware interface.

[beasound]

Wow. Sorry if this is the wrong place to vent, but I need to let off a little steam on this topic.

I absolutely love Venue mixing consoles. I spec them for every gig that I can and try to use them exclusively, from corporate conferences to music festivals. I prefer the way they sound, I love the plug-in options and I prefer to mix on the more traditional routing architecture it has compared to other competing digital consoles. Nowadays I have clawed my way up to the point where I get to use them regularly and I own several thousand dollars worth of TDM plug-ins to make my job easier and I couldn't be happier.

Until I decided to look into integrating my setup with Pro Tools that is. See, I'm an original MBox owner which means that me and my quad core, solid-state MacBook Pro are completely unable to use the Pro Tools LE license I have paid a total of $800 to acquire and maintain over the last 5 or 6 years. I also have to start over at a full $600 for the PT 9 license.

OK, that sucks but I understand it. Pro Tools 9 is a big step in the right direction and a new product family, I dig it. I had finally decided the $600 was worth it for the convenience and I actually almost ordered it yesterday until I realized what iLok-only authorization means: I need a second iLok. Pro Tools 9 now needs its own exclusive dongle eating up 1 of my only 2 USB ports because my main iLok needs to be in the Venue to authorize my plug-ins.

Now to edit a session in the hotel room I need a USB hub to use Pro Tools and the plug-ins with any other USB device (my RME Fireface UC, my trackball, my hard drives, etc). Or I need to login to iLok.com twice a day to move the iLok licenses around so I can bounce back and forth. And it costs me an extra $50.

So while I really do prefer Pro Tools to other DAWs, for a freelance engineer like me Avid has managed to make it more expensive and less convenient to use their DAW with their $65,000 hardware than it is for me to purchase a full copy of Logic Studio and a 15ft whip to carry the 18 channels of digital and analog audio from the IOx card to my Fireface. That is really, really frustrating.

[bradch00]

I downloaded my PT license onto an existing iLok dongle (didn't buy one exclusively for PT), which has all my plug-ins already on it. I'm not sure if that helps you or not, but could you add PT to the iLok with Venue and your other plug-ins on it, not sure if that would solve anything? I'm don't know if you take your iLok when you edit on your mobile system. I edit on my macbook with the same dongle that is used on the studio system.

[beasound]

The issue is I need a solution to record on my laptop while using the plug-ins on Venue. If I want to record a show I'm mixing I need to have Pro Tools 9 running on my laptop while I'm using the other plug-ins on the Venue, so I would need to buy another iLok to plug into the laptop. Then once they're split up, it's equally annoying whether I choose to carry around a USB hub everywhere or login to iLok.com twice a day to swap licenses around so it's convenient to mix things on a laptop with only 2 USB ports.

I realize my situation is pretty unique, it's not a gripe that most users have and it's not really Avid's fault I only have 2 USB ports, but from my perspective it seems silly that the DAW can't recognize me as a valid Pro Tools user when I have a Venue console attached to my laptop. I just had to vent about it because it really surprised me how inconvenient it turns out to be.

[john1192]

hey man .. feel your pain .. even if you had a PT rig integrated into every venue system you rented, you would need that ilok license on some llok.

sounds like a small really cheap passive USB hub may be your answer. saves moving those licenses back and forth. that just sounds like it wouls suck after day one ...

cheers and be safe out there on the road ..

john