Unresolved Activation Issues with NI Service Centre and VSTs on Intel Mac

Tracking number: TS 104316 (May 20)
Tracking number: TS 204100 (May 26)

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Hi folks

I have bought, installed and activated Absynth 4, Massive, Battery 3, and FM8. As standalones, all of these apps work fine. In Cubase SX, the second I select the corresponding VST, I am immediately directed to NI Service Centre to be told that there has been a hardware change (not true!) and that the products must be activated or run in demo mode! Battery 3, on the other hand does not show up at all in Cubase as a VST.

Repeatedly uninstalling and reinstalling the apps and updates makes no difference.

The version numbers of the apps and VST plug ins are identical (something support had me check).

I also bought another manufacturer's VST/Standalone product which worked perfectly as do the generic Steinberg VSTs.

I am having alot of problems contacting support by email and by phone (Germany and US) phones are very busy.. but I'm beginning to think that maybe my system IDs need to be removed from the NI database to allow me to re-activate!

I really don't want to return these products as I'm sure it's simply a question of support being so busy but I am getting a little impatient!

Help!

__________________
iMac 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
OSX 10.4.9
1GB RAM
Cubase SX3.1, Edirol FA101

 

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Following the procedures outlined in the brilliant LA Support response yesterday, I did the following:

Removed .plist files from both Library/Preferences directories
Reinstalled all four products from the original discs plus the updates in sequential order excluding the NI Service centre app.

Reassigned the permissions as instructed to username – Read/Write, Groups: Admin ReadWrite and other – Read only
Installed Service Centre and opened each product as fully licensed and activated standalones which was OK EXCEPT FM8 would not initially accept the serial number in the Service Centre so that took a few attempts to correct!

Opened Cubase Devices >VST Instruments and all products are shown but each leads back to the service centre as not being activated due to a hardware change.

Spent many hours reassigning admin protocols to the .plist files to no avail!

Managed to get Battery 3 to show in demo mode in Cubase VSt Instruments after changing the permissions but was still given a hardware change/activation result via Servcie Centre.

We are using Absynth 4 as our test bed for now so that we don’t have to reinstall all the other products and reassign their admin protocols over and over again.

Could someone please give me some help or alternatives here? I have spent a total of 1000 dollars in the past two weeks on software that I know is outstanding but will not activate correctly!

 

Wednesday 30 May update

I received a response from Alexander that asked me to remove the NI VSTs from the plug ins folder and restart Cubase SX and close it again.

Then I returned the VSTs to the correct folder and opened Cubase... guess what happenned when I tried to use the VSTs?

I'm redirected to the NI Service Centre to be told I need to activate my activated products!

My retailer in Canada who sold me the most recent products less than two weeks ago says 'Well we're out of the loop... it's between you and NI to resolve now!'

My theory is that my system ID needs to be inactivated on the NI server/database that would allow me to at least stop being reminded that I have made an imagnary hardware change!

At the end of the day though folks.... the support responses tell me that they are working hard on trying to figure this one out... I just hope that the fix is something that makes NI Service Centre a shining example of innovative forward thinking in security applications software!

 

Hi RCAT,

following your initial error description I can only assume two possible problems:

1) Cubase runs in Rosetta mode, meaning you have either an older version installed which is running in an emulated mode (Rosetta) or you have an IntelMac version of Cubase, but have set the emulated mode yourself for this application.

2) Standalone and plugin are installed in different version. You can check this by selecting the standalone application and then the VST plugin and press Apple + I in order to display the software version of both.

 

Thank you for your response Marius and hello to Berlin!

In reply:

1 - Cubase SX3.1 is not running in Rosetta mode and I have not set an emulation mode.

2 - The standalone and VST versions are identical.

Selecting any one of the four NI products as a VST in Cubase SX3.1 immediately opens a demo mode product and I am directed to the NI service centre to activate my products while the message tells me there has been a hardware change when there has not been any such change.

I also submitted an ARF file to support yesterday (May 31).

 

Update in further response to Marius..

Although Cubase SX3.1 is not shown to be running under rosetta... I've since learned that it may well be by install default.

I have ordered an upgrade to Cubase 4 and so maybe the issues I have been having will finally be resolved!

 

Hello RCAT,

I did not realize this yesterday, but Cubase SX 3.x was never available for IntelMac, just Cubase SX 4, so it must run in Rosetta mode.

 

Thanks Marius

I will get back to you once Cubase 4 arrives and is installed.

The plan is to remove all of the installs and related files for NI instruments and reinstall them on top of Cubase 4.