Private servers don't broadcast their presence on the network, so access can be restricted. Servers can be configured to be Public, in which case there is effectively no setup to be done at all, or Private. Perhaps the biggest operational difference for many users is that in Pro Tools 2019.5, a number of actions can now be carried out without interrupting playback. They are also more flexible in that, with a standard disk image pushed out to all the computers in a facility, any of those computers can access a licence as long as they are on the correct network. These licences are more secure, particularly in environments which run Macs - which, since the demise of the cheese-grater-style case of the old Mac Pro, don't offer anywhere for an iLok to be installed internally. Client machines needing a licence can be set up to temporarily access one of the available licences from the server up to the maximum set by the number of seats purchased and installed on the licence server. In these cases, multiple licences are purchased, with an iLok plugged into a computer set up as a licence server, which can be in a secure location. Network licensing is ideal for administering shared resources, for example in educational institutions, though larger facilities like post houses with many editors are an equally good example. For these users, a new system of network licensing was introduced with the release of Pro Tools 2019.5. Only one Pro Tools cloud licence can be available in an individual iLok account, and even if that wasn't the case, the fact that a new user joining a cloud session ends the session for the older user would result in terrible problems in a post-production facility or educational establishment. However, this cloud system isn't suitable for and isn't designed for institutional users who wish to share licences across multiple users. When the majority of major plug-in manufacturers have moved there will be a viable alternative to the physical iLok dongle for individual users who wish to share a Pro Tools licence between multiple computers. Unfortunately, uptake from plug-in developers has been frustratingly slow so far, but with Slate Digital, McDSP, Sonnox, Synchro Arts and LiquidSonics now on board, the list of third-party plug-in manufacturers is growing all the time. After all, if you still need your physical iLok for your third-party plug-ins, then your Pro Tools licence might as well have stayed on the physical iLok with them. Pro Tools will prompt the user to save changes and quit.Īvid were early adopters of iLok Cloud, but any development like this also relies on widespread uptake by third parties. If the other licence is currently being used, the Cloud Session will force the first system to log out. Operation of a Cloud Session across machines is relatively seamless, with the option to create a Cloud Session that persists all the time: when you switch between machines, the new machine trying to use the cloud licence takes over the licence which was being used by the first machine. One machine at a time may be connected to each Cloud Session via an active Internet connection. This provides a means of licensing Pro Tools and the associated stock plug-ins to a Cloud Session rather than to a specific computer or key. Since January 2018, moreover, Pro Tools users have no longer had to use a physical dongle, thanks to iLok Cloud. I'm sure many of these detractors are people who dislike iLok because it protects things they would prefer not to have to pay for, and my own opinion that iLok does a very good job and is preferable to the alternatives is supported by the results of a recent survey by Nugen Audio, who found that 46 percent of respondents preferred iLok to the alternatives. Sometimes we forget how much better things are today! The iLok key itself has also been upgraded, from the supremely snappable first–generation blue iLok, through the much–improved iLok 2 with its ungrippable but very crackable lid, to the excellent all-metal iLok 3.ĭespite these improvements the iLok remains much maligned, particularly by a very vocal group of people who insist it is an unacceptable system. Since then, there have been multiple improvements to address the inconveniences of the system, notably the launch of the iLok License Manager application which replaced the original web-based interface - I still remember entire afternoons lost to hundreds of page loads when setting up rooms full of multiple Pro Tools machines. ILoks have been a compulsory part of the Pro Tools experience since Pro Tools 9 broke the link between using Pro Tools and using Digidesign/Avid hardware back in 2010. The iLok system is here to stay, but there are now more alternatives to a physical dongle. Three generations of physical iLok are now made optional by cloud and network licensing.
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