Focusrite registered users get free R2 reverb this month

If you have registered any Focusrite gear, you can log-in to the Focusrite site and get details on how to get the Exponential Audio R2 Stereo Reverb plug in for free. (Thanks to James Steele at MotuNation for enlightening me about this one.)

It is a low-CPU item worth quite a bit normally, developed by an old Lexicon veteran. iLok key required for this one (V2 or V3).

Terry

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Thanks for the tip, I registered 2 Scarlett 2i4s a month back and have already had the Addictive Keys CP80, so good on Focusrite for coming up with more goodies. Now I need to get an iLOK!

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[quote=“Derek, post:2, topic:1535”]
Now I need to get an iLOK!
[/quote]ILOK is the Mark Of The Beast :stuck_out_tongue: :smiley:

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[quote=“FredProgGH, post:3, topic:1535, full:true”]

Yeah, I hear you, but there a a few things I want that are iLOK only for their protection, so probably need to succumb :slight_smile:

Regards
Derek

Always succumbing to the beast, aren’t we? Ah, the curse of the musician! Poor Robert Johnson started us off on that devilish road.

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[quote=“FredProgGH, post:3, topic:1535, full:true”]

There’s a few plugins I’m pretty keen on but they are iLok. I’ve managed to resist so far and am planning to keep doing so!!
I reckon Satan himself had a hand in creating iLok! :imp:

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I hate to say this and spoil this party, but so many of the best offerings are on iLok and/or eLicenser (iLok is WAY superior in my opinion.) I would not want to do without items I have from these companies:

  • The Xils-Labs stuff (PolyKB III and Xils-3 + 4),
  • the AIR stuff (Xpand!2, Loom, Velvet and Hybrid 3 are STILL great!),
  • the Lexicon stuff (PCM Native Reverbs and PCM Native Effects Bundles),
  • the Eventide stuff (Blackhole, 2016 Stereo Room*),
  • Sonivox (Orchestral Companion Strings*, though they are problematic, and Twist),
  • UVI (Rotary),
  • Flux (Studio Session Analyzer*),
  • Soundtoys (Little Alter Boy*, Tremolater*, Sie-Q 5*),
  • iZotope (Nektar Elements and DDLY Dynamic Delay*)
  • Metric Halo (MH HaloVerb*),
  • and Exponential Audio with this free R2 offering.
    …among others! Many of those were free offerings as well (marked with asterisk), several from previous Focusrite offers!

The devil owns those companies as well (or gives them inspiration!) Focusrite is in on this ploy. :wink:

Terry

[EDIT] BTW, most of these plugins nowadays do not require you to actually own an iLok USB key - they will work authorizing a computer using the iLok software, so all you need is a free iLok account. This R2 offering is unique these days in that it does require you to have the physical USB dongle. (So does Lexicon and iZotope.)

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Terry , you ARE a party pooper! Actually, ILok has come a long way from what it was a few short years ago. Not that @FredProgGH would agree with that! I think the software companies using ILok have discovered the overwhelming hate for ILok which makes it difficult to sell their product. Thus, the lure of free software. I have been sucked in by the offers, but it still concerns me to use any ILok protected software in a live situation, which is my principle use of plugins. ILok protected software is usually much more expensive also. For “most” of the plugs under the ILok shroud, there are counter-plugs without ILok that are just as good or better. :smiling_imp::smiling_imp::smiling_imp:

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Terry, the Xils Labs VCS3 (and 4) plugins are one of my primary interests. It is THE product that has drawn me VERY close to the dark side with iLok. Alas, I have resisted.
If I can source all the components, I’m going to build a VCS3 or two one of these days. I have the schematics and they are actually fairly basic circuits.

IZotope products actually don’t require iLok or an iLok account. I have pretty much their full suite and have been using it for quite some time. It would be a huge issue for me if they decided to go iLok only. I use their plugins on nearly all my stuff.

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Xils-4 is sooooo worth taking the plunge to the dark side, David! :slight_smile:

The Xils version blows the original out of the water – I would not bother building one. I had two available to me back in the early seventies at the Boston “Museum School” where I attended, and tuning them was a nightmare, plus the pins would go sour (had a special collection of “favorite pins” I dared any of my fellow students to mess with and mix with the others!)

The two iZotope products I have use iLok. One came with Samplitude Pro X3 Suite’s inclusion of Sound Forge Pro 11 (Nektar Elements), and the other (DDLY) came from a freebie offer.

iLok definitely has come a long way since the early days, when they had server hiccups and all kinds of issues driving people crazy back then. It is rock solid for me, and is far easier than the limited authorizations approach used by some other software vendors (MAGIX especially).

Native Instruments and Arturia do not use iLok, but instead use systems that seem sourced from the same code base which works well and detects the need for updates automatically. If only iLok would include that feature!!!

Terry

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Terry, now your secret is out… You are the antichrist!!! :wink: You’re doing a pretty good job pushing me closer to iLok land!!! LOL!
What’s Xils 4 like on CPU?

Regarding iZotope, you can use iLok but it is optional. I have the full version of Nectar and also have DDLY and use the regular non iLok authorization on my two main DAW computers.
The Ozone 7 Advanced suite is brilliant. I particularly like the vintage tape plugin. The ability to control the second and third order harmonic content is extremely useful.

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Sometimes, especially when using both “sides” (dual-Xils-3s, essentially) it can get a little heavy on the CPU side. But only if doing a bunch of notes and pulling polyphony like crazy. Mostly it is rather well optimized.

I still miss the full-range vernier dials of the original, but I can get fine control from my Komplete Kontrol S-88 if I hold the shift key on the keyboard down while spinning the knobs. It does NOT have full-range frequency adjustment, but I can get around that by running two instances and cross-fading between the two. I hope they add it for at least one of the oscillators. They did add a separate low-freq LFO oscillator, freeing up oscillator 3 for other uses as a second LFO on each side.

Heck - it is just so much fun mentally working out the pin-outs and going for it! And the adjustable pins in negative-0-positive directions is a much needed thing, replacing the old physical pins of differing colors which had different fixed resistances for varying applications. Now the pin resistence is continuously variable instead, and can go in the negative direction.

Ok - this is turning into a different thread! :slight_smile:

I should do a review coming from a “seasoned user’s” perspective!

Terry

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I have XILS4 and PolyKB but not on iLOK, as there was an option to just have an authorisation string - ditto for all of my Izotope products.

I have avoided iLOK so far, but only because I did not want another dongle. All of my Steinberg products are on a Steinberg eLicenser key, and it has been mostly glitch free. So as long as the iLOK is a similar experence then hopefully it is not too much the mark of the beast. As a small scale software developer myself (I do Java Librarians for my Yamaha synths) I understand the need for developers to minimise their exposure to piracy.

XILS-4 and PolyKB are amazing sounding soft synths that I plan to do more with. They are on my list to get onto my music laptop so I can use them live (via Cantabile of course).

@Derek

Surely you mean you do not have it on an iLok “Dongle”, but you did use the iLok software to install it onto your computer, correct?

BTW - if you have not upgraded in a while, Xavier now allows two computers to be authorized. (Used to be only one allowed).

Terry

I’ll need to check when I get back home (away on business right now), but I’m having an Oliver North moment right now (I have no recollection, sir…).

The wine consumption might be having an adverse memory affect of course :wink:

I don’t mind just the iLok copy protect in principle. I do have Arturia and it works no sweat. Spectrasonics usually gives me more headache with their call/response system. Toontrack’s authorize has always been hassle-free. I sort of have an issue with the dongle, part of which is just that it costs me $$$ to authorize something I already paid for. Of course my big issue is that I have a computer that has no internet access. Almost everything I can authorize via a second computer but I get mildly bent out of shape when the only options are go directly online or get the dongle :wink: At least I don’t need an embedded chip or a tattoo though :smiley:

Yes, challenge response works well as well, and easier for us.

For my own software I use License4J (Java) and I allow up to two computers to be authorised. Basically a software sale generates a unique key that can then be authenticated (online or offline) on two computers. It’s use is relatively painless and few users have had problems with it. It certainly beats my old scheme, where I had to manually generate licenses in response to PayPal payments! Which became unsustainable when I was away on business for long periods.

Dongles are a bit of a PIA (throwback?) But I can live with them. The challenge is to set them up so they are easily shared between studio and live rig without them getting lost or damaged!