I’m making some hardware SSD/RAM and software changes to my Mac Pro in an effort to update it to a newer operating system.
Last week I installed Monterey and authorized BFD3 for that SSD. Since then, I have also installed Big Sur on a separate SSD, which required me to take out the Monterey SSD. When I put the Monterey SSD back into my computer I noticed that my authorizations were removed. So technically, I had that authorization for only a week before I lost it.
Note, when I put the Monterey SSD back into the computer, the system configuration was exactly as it was when I authorized (except that I changed all the RAM out); I did not alter the Monterey SSD or its system and apps in any other way.
So is the rule of thumb then: 90 days of authorization before you lose the use of BFD3—unless you are making a hardware change, in which case you lose the authorization immediately?
It’s not really clear anywhere (not in the release notes anyway) what we should expect in terms of software security-related surveillance behavior.
I reauthorized, naturally, so it’s working again. But that’s not the point. Why did I lose my auth?
I would think your whole system spec gets saved with the auth. You know, for security reasons
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Which is a good argument for why we shouldn’t lose our authorizations after 90 days if our systems haven’t changed. For the record, BFD3 is the only software that lost its authorization. Studio One, Reaper, Affinity software, BBEdit, and lots more all stuck with me and played nice.
Noteworthy: This is not my main music production computer, otherwise I would not be risking these issues. Still, to realize that I can lose privileges so easy is…well…just plain BF. Did I spell that right? 
I just did an upgrade from macOS High Sierra to Mojave and moved to a new motherboard and everything went smoothly as far as BFD3. Beforehand, I just de-authorized all my BFD content and authorized again on the new system.
I made a checklist of all my plugins that have authorizations tied to a machine ID so I wouldn’t eat up an authorization. Though I really wish inMusic would have the option on your profile page to remove machine ID’s. It makes the whole process so much easier, especially if you have a dead machine and can’t deactivate authorizations.
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I don’t have a lot of music stuff tied to this Mac computer, so I wasn’t overly cautious in regards to authorizations. I changed my RAM, so that was the only actual change to the system. But I do have other things, such as Studio One 5 and NI Instruments, Korg Software synths, etc., tied to this machine, and I never lost the ability to use them. Different auth schemes.
I’m just saying, it’s a volatile auth system for people who need to switch out hardware once in a while. I had the same thing with another company AMD - you’d literally have to wait for the guy who ran the company to send you the auth by email — wait time was up to 48 hours. Needless to say, people were not delighted with that situation either.
I used to run a commercial studio—we’d do jingles and albums. I wouldn’t be doing this BFD3 thing if I still needed 100% reliability that it would be working each day without a hitch.
it’s a great product otherwise. I just don’t like the uncertainty aspect of it. I have other things that I’d rather worry about…(No, not about “elites” or chemtrails, but about the squirrels raiding my bird feeders all day long.). 
Here a nifty contradiction to the hardware config. auth theory: I actually just put in a brand new USB 3 card today and BFD3 is still running - as a plugin in Studio One. I can hear it. Taunting me. Maybe it’s just biding its time and then when I least expect it, it will strike back, like Jay and Silent Bob. 
Snoochie bootchie!
Surprisingly, my upgrading and changing hardware has been pretty smooth so far. I only caved in because I was noticing less and less support for High Sierra with plugins and I read that Pro Tools was really solid on Mojave.
Indeed, when opening the exact same session, my CPU usage in Pro Tools was 10% less, so that already seems like a win there. Strangely though, I gained back almost 100GB of storage on my boot drive and that just seems weird. If that turns out to be nothing concerning, then I’m cool with that because my drive was getting full, so now I’m ok for a while.
Yeah, NI was one I couldn’t figure out what the authorization deal was. I searched and NI had a FAQ that said you could delete authorizations in the Native Access app, but I didn’t see it on their latest versions. I only had to relocate some products because I changed the drive name. I couldn’t get Kontakt + Reaktor 5 to relocate for some reason.
Something tells me inMusic will eventually cave in. They have to, it’s not sustainable if they intend growth for BFD. No live drummer with any sense would attempt to use BFD3 in a live situation. That could be a disaster on the wrong day. And studios worth their salt aren’t going to bother with BFD3 for similar reasons. That’s a good chunk of revenue that they’re missing out on.
But mainly, they need to increase new user numbers to succeed. Current users probably have already purchased a boatload of expansions and have most of them, so they’re not going to be making money there. You need new users who will potentially buy the existing expansions, as they’re not able to put out new expansions at a consistent rate. And new users will only be enticed by this product line if it’s easy to setup and use on a consistent basis. BFD3 is not there yet in those regards and the authorization scheme is partly to blame.
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