Want a free Eventide channel strip plugin?

[Phil O'Keefe]

Trust me, you're going to want to check this out. It's first-rate stuff, and if you act fast, you can get it for free...

 

http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/forum/Forums_General/acapella-57/31179941-free-eventide-plugin

[nat whilk II]

Thanks a bunch, Phil. Got it downloaded. Had a lot of trouble getting iLok squared away - I bought an iLok 5 years ago and haven't messed with it since. Had fits getting iLok to confirm my email for some reason...after multiple attempts doing exactly the same thing for about an hour and a half, all of a sudden it worked.

 

nat whilk ii

[MikeRivers]

If anyone else is confused by the registration form, your "i-Lok Acoount" isn't a number (that you won't find), it's your user name when logging into the i-Lok account manager.

 

I eventually discovered that and passed the IQ test.

[nat whilk II]

MIke - I found my iLok account number by searching my email - when I bought my iLok way back, iLok sent me a confirmation email that had language like "your account name is blahdeblah" and so on. What it was, was what I would have called my username which I had noted in my super-special-secret file where I try to keep all 10 million of my usernames and passwords stored.

 

Once iLok was sure I was who I am, all my licenses magically appeared in the new iLok License Manager.

 

Good luck!

[MikeRivers]

I re-read the page for getting the plug-in and there, it says to enter your name, iLok user name (not "account") and e-mail address. When I entered that, it worked, or at least it said it did. I'll have to check to see if there's a license there, and then diddle with it.

 

I have a folder where I save all those "important" e-mails, that's called "Saved." But I guess I didn't save that one since I used my real name as my user name.

[blue2blue]

This looks pretty neat -- and great there are VST and other formats for us non-PT folks, but I note that while it doesn't require the actual iLok dongle, it does require their iLok software, which I presume runs in the background. I guess the way for me to find out if the iLok TSR is a burden is to just install it and see, but one thing I've learned at this point is to avoid typical corporate background software like the bloated, CPU-wasting plague it is.

 

I guess they're going to make this pay-for, so I suppose they feel they have to protect themselves going forward -- and, sadly, many of today's recordists only seem to worry about piracy against artists, not developers, and have the ethics of car stereo thieves, no question -- but I just HATE to drag down my system performance 24/7 for something I'll be using maybe a few hours a month -- even if it's putatively relatively 'minor' -- because, if nothing else, most of these bloated, inefficient TSR's take more RAM just sitting there than I had on my first three computers!

[WRGKMC]

I don't have an Iloc account nor need it for any of the software or plugins I use so I guess I'm out of luck on this one.

It looks pretty cool but as Blue says, It likely a CPU Porker and unless its something I'd use allot, it doesn't make sense to install it. My systems loaded with tons of crap I never use as it is.

[MikeRivers]

I don't have an Iloc account nor need it for any of the software or plugins I use so I guess I'm out of luck on this one.

 

Well, you'll never know if you'll use it or not unless you try it. I don't know to look any further than the Windows Task Manager, but I didn't see any evidence of the iLock Manager running when I had the plug-in plugged in. I think it may just look at a file stored by the iLock Manager when you get the license, and if it finds that, it allows the plug-in to run. This was on a computer on which I stored the activated license on the computer rather than on the iLok key.

 

[WRGKMC]

 

Well, you'll never know if you'll use it or not unless you try it. I don't know to look any further than the Windows Task Manager, but I didn't see any evidence of the iLock Manager running when I had the plug-in plugged in. I think it may just look at a file stored by the iLock Manager when you get the license, and if it finds that, it allows the plug-in to run. This was on a computer on which I stored the activated license on the computer rather than on the iLok key.

 

Thanks Mike. I dug a bit deeper last night. You're right, it appears you don't need a key, just a free account before they send it to you in a email.

I downloaded it and some other file it looks like it needs. I think it should work when I get it loaded this weekend. Not 100% sure it will work on Vista but I can give it a shot and see what happens.

[MikeRivers]

 

I downloaded it and some other file it looks like it needs. I think it should work when I get it loaded this weekend. Not 100% sure it will work on Vista but I can give it a shot and see what happens.

 

What you need to do is download the installer file that's in the e-mail you got, then run that to install the plug-in. Then you need to go to your iLok account, find the plug-in license (it'll probably the only one there, select it, and click on Activate. Since you don't have a key, you'll want to activate it on the comupter. That should do it.

 

I haven't tried it on Vista yet, but it runs under XP and Win7 so there's no reason why it shouldn't run under Vista.

 

I have a Vista question you probably can answer, but I'll put it under my "Vista users" post so as not to get off topic here.

[blue2blue]

I was just told (by a normally authoritative source) that those of us without iLoks who were concerned about the iLok software (which would probably be me) can relax: the iLok software just needs to set the authorization and then it doesn't need to run. Which pretty much removes the last of my reservations.

[WRGKMC]

I got a chance to install and try it out yesterday. Installing it went easy enough. Getting Sonar to see it was a bit tougher. Sonar needs to be directed to the right file on the drive to see it as a plugin. it wound up being on the C drive under programs. The scan stopped and asked for the ILoc user name and password, and after that it was recognized. I just set it up on a new folder on the list so it was easy to find.

 

I tried the plugin out on a quick song just to check its properties, mainly using presets with a little tweaking here and there. I got results that pretty much matched what I would get using several singular plugins. I also ran several instances of the plugin and didn't notice any issues with them being hugely CPU Hungry which was a big concern.

 

I first tried the effects within the plugin separately and didn't hear anything spectacular. The compressor was very neutral sounding without color and the EQ worked like most others I have. I quickly found the presets in a drop down and found they were actually well designed for the instruments in their categories. Selecting one for the drums, Bass, Guitar etc. provided great jump off points and even without tweaking them you could get an excellent mix between the instruments.

 

I did try using them in separate instrument Busses then ran them to a master buss and that's where it got a bit dicey. I often run minimal plugins on tracks, then some others on busses then run those busses into a master buss and apply a multiband compressor or limiter to even things up.

 

When I tried this I got bad results. The drum tracks and bass farted out badly on me. I also tried the Eventide set in the main buss as a mastering plugin and had the same problem. I do need to go back and check my gain staging. I didn't see the tracks or busses running too hot so its likely an over enhancement of the frequency responses the presets give the instruments. I'll probably stick a frequency analyzer in the mains and see what the heck is going on.

 

I can say the plugin presets are good enough to where you probably don't need to use mastering plugins and it would be and ideal tool for a beginner, but I'll likely have to modify the settings to tame them as channel or buss settings. My approach to mixing is incremental. A little enhancement in the tracks, a little in the busses then the mastering plugins put the icing on the cake.

 

The plugins presets took the mix right to the icing and all you can likely do is add some final EQing and limiting afterwards. This is still fine because it is a big time saver if you can use them that way, its just not how I usually mix.

 

There was also one preset in there for Bass that's called Motown. It will shift the bass up the ladder a bit to remove sub lows for that 60's bass tone. I found it hissing in the background with the preset being used. When I cranked the compressor down a few Db's it disappeared but the bass wound up sounding weak.

 

 

Still if that's the only major fault I could find using it for several hours its a non issue. Its still a very cool toy for the toolbox and once I get to know its limitations better I'm sure it will provide some good results. Even the drum issue was based on a drum machine track, and it may have better results using live drums. I will likely tut that to the test today with some live tracks I have on file.

 

Anyway, thanks for posting the plugin Phil.

 

[blue2blue]

I can't even get onto the ilok.com site to register. I tried the register new account link from the iLOK manager and it went to the site and hung up, finally returning an error message many minutes later.

 

So I tried just going to ilok.com directly thinking I might manually set up an account.

 

The landing page never even loads.

 

I'll tell you, this is EVERYTHING I always figured iLok would be, based on my reading and the horror stories I've heard about it over the years.

 

THUMBS DOWN

 

I imagine iLok is even more of a tick-off if you've paid for something that requires it.

 

UPDATE: Still getting errors using Chrome in Win 7 -- of course NO ONE ELSE uses such an unusual combination! But I was theoretically able to activate my iLok account by logging in from my tablet.

 

But just now when I tried to log in using the tablet, I got proxy errors there, too,

 

CLEARLY, iLOK IS AS UTTERLY CRAPPY AS I'VE SO OFTEN HEARD.

 

 

Yeah, it's churlish to complain about something that's free -- but I've now wasted an HOUR with this crap and I'm starting to get kind of annoyed.

 

 

I just tried entering my Login stuff in the iLok Manager on my desktop when even the tablet connection errored out. It seemed to accept it but no sign I'm logged in at all. However, when I click Details it seems to suggest I am. We'll see. Crap software.

 

Seems like I got it registered somehow, no thanks to the iLok site, which I still can't access directly.

 

Still working on it hours later. It SAID it installed both 32 and 64 bit versions but as far as I can tell, only the 32 bit version displays. (Dos the 64 bit version display any sign that it's 64? Most of my other plugs that come in multiple versions actually SAY which one it is. But I'm just seeing one UltraChannel plugin with no sign whether it's 32 or 64.)

 

Free, free, I keep telling myself this is free...

 

But I have to tell you, if I had PAID for this, I would be blowing big, billowing clouds of ominously dark smoke out my ears.

 

 

 

[UstadKhanAli]

I can't even get the http://www.ilok.com page to load. I mean, literally, the page will not load.

 

iLok is awful. Not the dongle, but the whole experience of iLok itself. Once you get the bloody thing on the dongle, all is good. Most of my issues with this has been with getting something registered through iLok. Once it's on the dongle, it's good forever, but like I say, iLok is so unbelievably irritating.

[blue2blue]

I can't even get the www.ilok.com page to load. I mean, literally, the page will not load.

 

iLok is awful. Not the dongle, but the whole experience of iLok itself. Once you get the bloody thing on the dongle, all is good. Most of my issues with this has been with getting something registered through iLok. Once it's on the dongle, it's good forever, but like I say, iLok is so unbelievably irritating.

Right. I can't get it their main page to load. Clicking on the links in the iLok Manager same difference.

 

The ONLY way I could get to iLok was via my tablet (and what fun it is entering a screen full of text on a tablet, oh yeah... should have plugged in the keyboard but I thought it would be in and out. Ha! Joke was on me.)

 

And then EVEN THE TABLET wouldn't work when I tried to use m newly acquired login credentials.

 

SOMEHOW, however, the Eventide handshake software was able to get through and log me in and update my license.

 

Whoo-EE!

 

Unfortunately, I now find that -- contrary to what I'd been told by well meaning cyber-friends AND the Eventide materials -- you DO need to run the crappy iLok manager software in background in order for the Eventide VST to work.

 

Which puts me a hair's breadth from hitting the blessed RESTORE BUTTON and ditching this pile of muddled good and other intentions once and for all and going back to my simple but charmed life BEFORE I was dumb enough to install this.

 

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

 

Unfortunately, poor Eventide comes out the loser here. I now know I will NEVER, EVER go under the iLok dongle regime and will -- almost certainly -- remove the drag-ware iLok Manager and shoot-can Eventide Ultrachannel.

 

Ultrachannel looks like it has a lot of cute features (but the presets all sound pretty awful) but, honestly, with the plugs I have from CWP 8.5, I just don't think Ultrachannel is going to bring enough to the table that will balance out having the iLok crapware dragging my system down.

 

 

Ultrachannel may be '$250 worth' of software in Eventide's dreams -- but I'm not sure it's worth 'free' when you consider having to put up with the iLok software installed and running on your system -- even if we don't need to hassle with an actual dongle.

 

For the record, the Pace iLok software runs whenever your system is on -- and even at rest uses over 3.3 MB of active memory -- SIX TIMES as much RAM as my first computer even had -- just sitting around behind the scenes waiting for someone to try to use an iLok-requiring software.

 

 

At this point, it seems highly unlikely that I will be keeping UltraChannel -- since it requires the annoying and profligate iLok Manager to be running.

[MikeRivers]

Ken, Blue, and iLok must be having a bad day. I tried it just now and it the page didn't come up for me either. But then, Friday of this week, I think it was, this forum was down for a good part of the day. It happens,

 

iLok has this thing they call Zero Down Time which, for some programs, you can pay them money in advance as insurance that if your license doesn't work they'll give you a temporary license or something like that. But first you have to contact them, and if the only way you know how to do that is via the web site . . . Not something I'd like to stake my reputation, questionable as it is, on.

 

Reminds me of when I'm on hold with Verizon (on my cell phone) and the recorded message is telling me that I can go to their web site for troubleshooting. If I could go to the web site, I wouldn't need troubleshooting, and my Verizon phone would work, too. Duh!

[MikeRivers]

I first tried the effects within the plugin separately and didn't hear anything spectacular. The compressor was very neutral sounding without color and the EQ worked like most others I have.

 

I did try using them in separate instrument Busses then ran them to a master buss and that's where it got a bit dicey. I often run minimal plugins on tracks, then some others on busses then run those busses into a master buss and apply a multiband compressor or limiter to even things up.

 

When I tried this I got bad results. The drum tracks and bass farted out badly on me. I also tried the Eventide set in the main buss as a mastering plugin and had the same problem. I do need to go back and check my gain staging.

 

Did you try the Omnipressor? That can sound absolutely offensive, just like the real one. So far I've only played with the Ultra Channel on the master bus and it works pretty much as I expected. I guess you can say that about most plug-ins, but I suppose the reason why there are so many of them is that most of them have one thing that separates them from the others. At least I should hope so. I don't use plug-ins much, other than the ones that have real jacks and patch cables.

[blue2blue]

iLok has this thing they call Zero Down Time which, for some programs, you can pay them money in advance as insurance that if your license doesn't work they'll give you a temporary license or something like that.

I've heard about that. Now that is truly pathetic. What unbelievable gall!

 

 

I'm going to hang on to UltraChannel a while longer, despite my initial lack of being impressed (for the life of me, the FX sounded really gritty and low fi -- and this was like on vocal-female-smooth or something).

 

Maybe it would be worth the hassle of unchecking the Pace Licensing (iLok) service in MSConfig's startup settings and rebooting on those occasions when I wanted to use UC.

 

But, to be honest I find the fact this iLok crapware takes ~3.3 MB JUST SITTING THERE to be so vexing, it's hard to imagine I won't uninstall the iLok manager and UC along with it.

 

But maybe UC will be redeemed as I try to use it in some real projects. It will be a very uphill climb. Unless UC surprises me and proves VERY impressive, it will almost certainly be good riddance to iLok -- and anything requiring it.

 

[EDIT: OK. As I already noted, I do realize it's free. And I also get it that for many busy studios and mixers with a bunch of iLok-requiring plugs, 3 or 4 MB of overhead for all their iLok plugs isn't that big a deal. Once I'd finished all the kludging around, jumping back and forth to the tablet to register/authenticate/etc, I started mellowing out on the whole business.]

[UstadKhanAli]

I've CONTINUALLY had issues with iLok. Again, not the dongle, but dealing with the license. It's been CONTINUALLY. It's not just a "bad day" for their website. It's CONTINUALLY. It's always something. How can a company be this inept and still be in business?

 

Once the license is housed on the dongle, there are no issues.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I've never really had any issues with getting on to their site, getting the licenses and getting them on my iLok dongle, but I don't care for the way they have changed their site. Rather than being easier to understand and use, it seems harder to me now than it was before.

 

As far as the zero downtime thing, I don't have it, although I've been tempted a few times. It also covers you if the iLok breaks... I don't know if it covers theft or not. If so, that would be good insurance.

[blue2blue]

Oh, I don't quarrel with the wisdom of busy Pro Tools freelance mixers and engineers paying for the 'insurance' -- just as, you know, if you were a shop owner in certain neighborhoods in Chicago or NYC in the 1930's, it probably made sense to buy your supplies and services -- and that all-important 'window insurance' -- from the right people.

 

But, you know, iLok provides a service that many plugin companies feel they need.

 

If it wasn't for the obvious and abject failure of the broader recording community to play fair with the people who create the software, there wouldn't be a workable business model there.

[WRGKMC]

But maybe UC will be redeemed as I try to use it in some real projects. It will be a very uphill climb. Unless UC surprises me and proves VERY impressive, it will almost certainly be good riddance to iLok -- and anything requiring it.

 

Try it on some live recordings you've done, separate tracks or Busses. I found it ran lighter then some of CPU hungry Sonars Plugins I use regularly. I did like how the bass and electric drums solidified when I used a pair of presets on those two. I normally have to work on those a bit with a couple of plugins to get the same results. Haven't tried it on vocals yet. If it has any beneficial effects on my vocals which are extremely hard to tame then I may be using this plugin for awhile.

 

As far as memory goes, I'm not real sure how much memory is actually utilized by Sonar and its plugins. I do run my OS extremely lean and if the Pace "isn't" robbing any memory Sonar is normally allocated, then I don't as a hindrance. I have 4G of memory installed (which is above what a win 32 system can fully utilize). 3 Megs really isn't that much in comparison. My main concern is the Memory/CPU usage of the plugin as its running as a plugin within the program. If that 3M was being robbed from the program and made the program run less efficient with my normal plugins I'd have to think about whether I'd want to sacrifice their performance with a plugin that's not being used. If the Pace takes memory that isn't being utilized by the OS, then I don't see any problem. I only use my studio computer for Audio production and so long as it works well without crashing I'm good to go.

[blue2blue]

Well, I don't run big sessions and I have 8 GB of RAM -- not a huge amount, of course, by today's standards but I'm quite used to using plugin/VI track freeze to get around limitations from my years with my 2 GB single core machine.

 

So, I suppose, in a sense, I'm worrying about a relatively small problem -- but it was only by that kind of borderline obsession worrying about such details that allowed my old machine to perform like a champ vis a vis the much more recent and higher powered hardware of others.

[WRGKMC]

 

Well, I don't run big sessions and I have 8 GB of RAM -- not a huge amount, of course, by today's standards but I'm quite used to using plugin/VI track freeze to get around limitations from my years with my 2 GB single core machine.

 

So, I suppose, in a sense, I'm worrying about a relatively small problem -- but it was only by that kind of borderline obsession worrying about such details that allowed my old machine to perform like a champ vis a vis the much more recent and higher powered hardware of others.

 

 

 

You and I were both in that boat. I ran my first multitrack card long after XP came out because the card couldn't be upgraded to XP. Then when I did upgrade my cards I was still running a single core for a long time. I upgraded the computer shortly after switching to Sonar 8.5 because it didn't run so hot on a single core and probably wont again till I have to. Maybe by the time I'm retired I'll have the latest and the greatest.

 

Kind of funny because both my wife and I work for major computer manufacturers. Guess its because you deal with it all day long and don't want to be bothered with it when you get home Or, you know what it costs to manufacturer and don't want to give the companies back your paycheck buying the gear new.