How about giving users a grace period to connect online? For times when the LM can’t connect to verify credentials, but still allow BFD3 to stay fully-functional for that window of time.
This should prevent most show-stopping events from happening and make the experience much more stable imo. Less moments of disappointment. Think of it like a temporary BFD3 demo mode. Even something like 3 days to authorize might be reasonable enough. What say you @BFD_Drew? I think this is a good idea and a fair compromise, worth passing on to TPTB.
@Mr_Arkadin True…bad choice of words. It was just a silly thought that came to me. I’m not sure I articulated it correctly, or if they could even implement something like this with the LM’s unpredictable behavior.
Ironically, it had been a few days since I fired up BFD3 or the LM and right on cue, everything was deauthorized. It re-authorized fine, but I should have had plenty of days left on the counter, based on the last time I checked. So their countdown system is definitely NOT even working as intended.
appreciate the intent of solution vs complaint, but if they insist on locking it out whenever, an embedded countdown timer would make more sense imho. that way their customers have a shot at managing it within their time frame. however, that’s gotta be extra complexity/overhead to maintain given their approach.
would also be nice if they didn’t wreck a loaded preset when triggering the re-authorization. pretty good about saving here, but just one more reminder of why this is still the worst drm implementation for anything i own.
@SoundMILL Well the current LM does have a 90 day timer, however that is not functioning as intended. As I have posted a few times already, I get de-authorized even though I should have many days left on the timer. My idea, is like a secondary timer that would prevent the LM from de-authorizing at all, when it tries to connect and can’t, giving you a few days to re-authorize.
The benefit of this, is that it wouldn’t bring your work to a halt, in the event that the LM arbitrarily decides to knock you out. It would just give you a warning that the LM needs to verify your serials and you have some time to do that, but can continue to work with a fully functional BFD3. This would really give more peace of mind to professionals especially, who may be working on a client’s project and don’t have lose a day’s work because inMusic’s servers are acting wonky and the LM can’t connect.
It might not work anyways because it may be the LM and the coding itself that is a big part of the problem. I should be able to use the current 90 day timer and run it down to zero before I get knocked out, but that’s not happening. There is a bug somewhere, their servers are not reliable, or both.
@Fender_Bender I hear ya, perhaps I missed something, but how does a user check status?
Even if status was displayed somewhere, BFD is often routed to daw channels so the UI doesn’t get opened up much after an initial preset setup, until you wonder where the drums went in your mix…
So ya, to your point, a pop up on project load -before- trashing the loaded preset would be acceptable, but it’s just another complication to a poorly designed implementation.
Correct fender bender! The 90 day clock is not working. I didn’t use it for about three weeks maybe four. Opened deauthorized. Authorized fine but no where near the 90 days.
hmm, still on 3.4.3 build 7 which has no such indication, seem to recall some issue with the latest that caused me to hold off at the time. however, a quick scan of the forum suggests the coast might be clear, will book the time to -follow the rather clear and explicit directions- for this update.
a dialog to re-authorize [now] or [in the next n days] is a rather good suggestion given where we’re at.
…
just checked the release notes, not sure what “Task Issues Resolved” means but sounds like there’s something, but without any indication as to where this would be displayed for a user.
"BFD - Task Issues Resolved BFD should tell users to go online to recheck license if there is 20 or fewer days until license expiry"
@SoundMILL Yeah, the timer is only on the latest LM, but as I’ve posted a few times, it’s not even working as intended. I’ve been de-authorized 3 or 4 times with the latest LM, even though I had many days remaining on the countdown timer. Authorizing again for me hasn’t been a problem, but this is not supposed to be happening. De-authorizing should only happen when you have zero days left on the counter.
I mean I get what you’re saying. Even with authorization files saved to machine ID’s though, I’ve still gotten de-authorized at times by other plugins with perpetual licenses. Sometimes the file gets corrupted, the plugin can’t locate it, or after a system restore or cloning of the boot drive. Still, I’d rather deal with that, then have to hope that the inMusic servers and LM are going to behave. It’s just too much of a gamble.
can recall being de-authorized only once or twice over the last 5-6 months, maybe i should stick with the older build.
just a guess, but v3.4.4.31 seems like an attempt to reset the existing installed base to ‘simplify’ their overhead for tracking validations. could comment on what this implies but there’s more than enough speculation already.
truth. InMusic’s ‘strategy’ is worse than going out of business as preexisting users (paying customers) should be able to use their investment for as long as their OS held up. fwiw, we’re planning new PC builds and the first task is to see if we can rebuild a pre-InMusic configuration from our backups to support 15 years of projects. ya, I -know-, but we’ve got some clever lads who thrive on these kind of challenges. we’ve looked at the cost of future-proofing/maintaining continuity for existing clients/projects and believe it’s worth the trouble. ymmv
Why are we still discussing how to fine tune this authorization mess? They should just scrap it and use one of the several systems that work. So far, all they’ve done is provided data for one of those business school classes on how to ruin an excellent product and it’s reputation, by refusing to admit the mistakes they’ve made. Truly unfathomable.
Yeah I was logged out a few times before my 90 day hit. And I gotta say there isn’t anything more frustrating than opening a session that requires a License Manger to open my midi. Especially when I have to get it to a client and the License Manager arbitrarily refuses to work. Man, I love this product but that’s not a great way to treat paying customers.
@LAGinz Sorry man, it was just a spur of the moment idea that came to me whilst chatting with others in the recent sales thread on Reddit and I felt like sharing. I’m pretty sure they won’t even take notice of this, or consider it, so not to worry. We’ll still be stuck in this pile of shit.
discouraging to say the least. wanted to pick up a couple of the newer expansions, decided to cut my losses for now.
i had initially suggested/advocated for an iLok implementation as a more robust path to usability, but iLok has their own problems, so there probably is a solid business case for a proprietary drm, even if it is most assuredly not a simple task. but no excuse for the InMusic bait and switch to compromise existing user investments.
imho, they would have been -much- better off relaunching with a few new expansions to get them back on the radar, rebuild credibility in the market place and retain/increase? the user base. BFD4, the award winning version of the best drum vst on the planet would have been a better scenario for a proprietary drm, once it had been properly proven with beta users. ya, there would massive uproar on the forum, but that’s when ya roll out M1/VST3 with a free expansion for existing owners, and wait for Apple/Steinberg to obsolete all previous versions…
You’re only stuck with it if you continue to purchase it. Stop giving them your money and move on. It’s a drum plugin ffs. There are many more than back in the day and at least they’re being actively developed. InMusic does not care about the product or its customers. Just look at its other brands, some once great names reduced to a logo and $10 sales. Time to move on from them.
@Mr_Arkadin Well, I’m hopeful that things will turn around. I’ve invested enough in the past couple years that I’m not just gonna throw all that away. I’m just a poor musician at the end of the day. Yes, there are more drum sampler choices today, but honestly most just sound way too compressed and similar imo. Maybe that’s perfect for some users, but I prefer the natural sound of BFD.
Aside from being inexplicably de-authorized, the plugin/standalone themselves have been pretty stable for me the last couple of builds and I’ve been very happy with the drum mixes I’ve been able to get in my productions.
inMusic isn’t the only company out there that doesn’t give a shit about it’s customers (i.e. Avid, Waves, IK Multimedia, McDSP to name a few). Not saying it’s right, or acceptable, but it’s something users have had to either deal with, or not over the years.