Why I LIKE iLok!!!

[James Steele]

Okay... I have been blessed that a good friend helped me acquire a gently used MacPro 4,1 and so I've been spending all day migrating things over, etc. Finally got around to getting DP up to snuff. Had to reauthorize DP... that was easy.

But I'll say this... now I have to go through and load various projects and look for the broken plug-ins and go online and authorize all these different plugs. Meanwhile, ALL MY ILOK PLUG-INS JUST WORK!!!!

Seriously... iLok just makes it so much easier when you transfer to a new machine. I love that about it.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Way to go James! Straight to Mavericks?

[James Steele]

Way to go James! Straight to Mavericks?

Nope... hanging back on SL for a while. I have other apps that will break without Rosetta.

One cool thing is the Mercury Accelsior card that was a gift from a friend now really blazes. My MacPro 1,1 it used to be in did not support PCIe 2.0 so it was bottlenecked and it was hardly faster than a conventional hard drive. No it is screaming fast! I'm using it as my boot drive like I did with the MacPro.

One annoyance is there seems to be NOWHERE in San Diego I can just go out and buy RAM for this machine. It came with 4GB which is anemic. I can't really tell how much better DP is working with such low RAM. My processor meeter is bouncing around even in idle because of the low RAM overhead. I will have to order more RAM online before DP will be completely happy and get my processor meter down some.

I also have no FW400 ports on this and you can't just go buy adapters in stores anymore either. Best I could find was a cable with a FW800 connector at one end and a FW400 connector at the other which I am using with Liquid Mix. It seems to be working okay. Haven't opened a project with with a Liquid Mix instance yet. We shall see.

But YES... if you're migrating to another machine, iLok is really, really convenient. I just went rooting around looking for a software box just now as Submersible needed my original serial number to authorize DrumCore 3. Turns out it's a good thing I NEVER delete email, as I searched my inbox and found email from tech support with the info I needed to authorize it.

Oh... and somehow all my PCI Audio System info got hosed and I had to reset which inputs/outputs were enabled and rename them as well. Arghhh... But she looks like she'll be a good machine. I'll update my sig... even though the 4GB of RAM I have in her now is embarrassing. THAT is the biggest frustration now is the lack of RAM in this machine.

[James Steele]

Best I could find was a cable with a FW800 connector at one end and a FW400 connector at the other which I am using with Liquid Mix. It seems to be working okay. Haven't opened a project with with a Liquid Mix instance yet. We shall see.

Liquid Mix working just fine. You know... I'd neglected it in favor of my UAD-2 stuff, but Liquid Mix is a nice little box.

[mikehalloran]

The reason I kept going back to OWC for RAM is that they're still in business. This means that their lifetime warranties actually mean something.

I don't have bad RAM even once a year anymore but it still happens - and it's always weird when it does. Never a hassle and I never have to remember where I bought it.

Glad to see you're fulfilling your need for speed. When you get to the point where you can make the jump to Mavericks, it will be better.

[James Steele]

The reason I kept going back to OWC for RAM is that they're still in business. This means that their lifetime warranties actually mean something.

I used to use a local supplier, The Chip Merchant, and the benefit was I could just pick it up there. I always had good experience with them in the past, but they just didn't stock what I needed. I ended up going with MacRamDirect at the suggestion of a personal friend whose dealt with them many times. If I don't freak out and cancel the order, I'll be getting 24GB. Three 8GB modules. Weird thing is the single processor machines like mine like matching size modules in the first three slots. At least according to Apple's documentation here:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/0 ... Ms_DIY.pdf

[HCMarkus]

James, buy 1333 RAM. It will work fine at 1033 with your 2.66 Quad, but will run at full speed if you ever do the Hex Westmere CPU upgrade.

And: Congrats! Whee Hah!

[HCMarkus]

If you want 32 gigs of RAM, it won't slow down your new Mac to any appreciable degree. My research suggests the triple vs quad difference is nominal, virtually non-existent.

The above stated, I have been very happy with the 3x8 approach myself. 24 gigs is a lot of RAM, and I have yet to get close to maxing it out, despite running some pretty significant projects. Probably the only users who might use more would be running huge orchestral templates with load of sample in RAM.

Again, get 1333 RAM. Might as well get ECC, as your Mac will use it.

[wylie1]

iLok has never caused me any pain so I can't say I dislike it and it does make sense to have all your authorizations on one device.
Good luck with your new Mac your going to notice a big jump in performance.

[mikehalloran]

In the past, RAM performance was put to the test by running huge Adobe projects. Nowadays, it's video and VIs. Three sticks is fine.

Suppliers will give you the fastest memory that can run on your machine - this includes Apple as I have often found out when I've removed OE RAM. If Y is backwards compatible with X, no one reorders X ever and the manufacturers stop making it. Makes sense as it keeps inventory manageable.

[James Steele]

James, buy 1333 RAM. It will work fine at 1033 with your 2.66 Quad, but will run at full speed if you ever do the Hex Westmere CPU upgrade.

Oh no. So you mean I need the faster speed if I do the upgrade? I have tried to contact the vendor via email and phone. They're on the east coast and their message says they're open till 7:30, yet I get a recording. I'm going to see about changing my order to the 1333 modules. I really hoped they haven't shipped yet, but I can return them within a certain number of days. Seems like this would be a smart move. Also wish I'd known this as I could have sourced some 1333 modules locally and not half to wait for them to show up. I have a felling I "overkilled" with 24GB and I definitely stretched my budget. If I'm going to stick my neck out like that, I should at least make sure the modules are "upwardly compatible."

Hoping I hear back from MacRamDirect before it ships.

[James Steele]

iLok has never caused me any pain so I can't say I dislike it and it does make sense to have all your authorizations on one device.
Good luck with your new Mac your going to notice a big jump in performance.

Thanks. Yeah, every time I upgrade machines (which hasn't been that often admittedly) I am thankful how the iLok-protected plug-ins just work. If I kept copious notes on all my third-party plugs it might not be so bad, but usually after putting a new Mac in service, there's a interval of time afterward where I'll be opening a project and get accosted by a dialog from a plug that I forgot needs to be re-authorized and then there's a trip to the manufacturer's website and some futzing around to do to get the plug to work again.

I know some folks despise iLok, but it sure makes life easier in certain situations, and moving your stuff over to a newer computer is one of those situations.

[James Steele]

Well, I may have hosed myself by contacting the vendor and inquiring. I just received this email in response:

Hi James,

Thanks for checking with us...

While there is some talk of running the 1333 parts in 1066 machines, we do not recommend it..and it is not an Apple approved upgrade.
Having said that, you are of course welcome to do whatever you wish..we simply can not stand fully behind it.

I just looked up your order and it has in act already shipped out so if you did still want to play around with different speed swaps you can contact us after you receive it and work out an exchange to your liking.

I hope this all sounds reasonable.

The way I read "we simply can not stand fully behind it" is that if I change my order, and they're now aware of my intentions, they are withdrawing the warranty on the RAM. I emailed him back asking for clarity on what that phrase means, but that's how I take it.

I guess it depends on how important getting 1333 RAM is to me. Sounds like all I could do at this point is check the refund policy, return it, and then order from another vendor without sharing TMI. So glad I only update computers every 5-6 years... LOL.

[James Steele]

UPDATE: Heard back from vendor. He's a standup guy. "No warranty issue James... just cannot guarantee it will work as advertised for you." He says I can try it and it may likely work, just that I could have some issues and if I did, I'd have to do the hassle of returning it. At least that risk is not part of the equation.

The processor upgrade HCMarkus mentioned is what I'm thinking about down the road and turning the machine into a hexcore someday.

[Prime Mover]

Of all things, my problem with iLok is that I'm just scared of it. I REALLY don't like big things lazily sticking out of my USB port on my laptop, just waiting for someone to bump it and screw up the controller. I have an original iLok and it just looks like it's about to fall apart, and it pretty much has ever since I got it.

What I would like to see is the iLok shrink to just a tiny nub. I saw some Bluetooth 4.0 dongles like this, and it really changed my opinion about the possibilities of reasonable dongles. It looks like something that you can stick in and expect to keep it in there semi-perminantly. That's what iLok needs to be, but it isn't. Until then, I'm just not comfortable using iLoks with a laptop.

I'll take the WAVES system any day, where you can choose to use a USB dongle OR an internet token. Why not, Pace? Give us some options here!