Effects • Re: Softube or UAD?

Ilok is an infinite debate. I’d start by stating that no solution is perfect and people have different, often opposite, opinions on this subject.

Ilok offers 3 ways to authorize (but not every dev uses each of them): physical dongle, hard drive authorization and cloud.

I strongly prefer the dongle, but it takes a usb port and it’s inconvenient if you move a lot (it can be damaged/lost); drive authorization doesn’t require a usb port and it’s more convenient on the move but it can be problematic of your drive fails with the licenses activated on it; the cloud allows you move between multiple machines (you only need to login) and you don’t risk to lose your licenses in case of a hardware failure, but you need a fast amd stable internet connection (and iLok servers may have some planned maintenance or outages from time to time).

Keep in mind that, once a license is activated on your iLok account, you can move it back and forth, for example remove it from the cloud ad put it back to the cloud or the “not activated” licenses… and most devs provide you 2 activations (if not 3) so you can have drive authorization when you’re on the move and dongle or cloud authorization in the studio.


For me, the dongle is the best choice, but I’m not moving my setup (maybe I can use a laptop in a different room) and I don’t want to depend on my internet connection (so cloud is ruled out).


Then the choice is yours, depending on your actual needs.

Statistics: Posted by Alexander_D — Sat Oct 26, 2024 4:30 am