IK Multimedia-ARC system.. great software, registration however is a pain in the @*$!!!!!

Man.....  I have to register fro another computer as my daw will never see the internet,  the daw says the serial # is invalid (the same number on the card it came with).   no phone support, you can acess online support once you have registered.  Well what the hell do you do when the problem is YOU CAN'T REGISTER THE DAMN THING!!  WTF!!  I hate automated machine messages. So I eventually call the sales phone line & the guys saidhe'd get someone to call me right back..... 3 hrs later still nothing.  So they man the phones for sales & blow you off for support. 
F*^king pefect.

Your DAW never sees the internet because??????

I ascribed to the same philosophy for a bit, had a another PC for internet access when I COULD do offline registrations, my DAW was non internet.
Had the NW card disabled in BIOS, all W services disabled. (only because I was trying to run a "lean" Win7 environment. Well ran into issues like yours  . I re-enable the card in bios, and restart the services for NW access, grab the license authorizations, and my software is running, Truth be told, the NW services dont hog much resources, but I stiill do the dance to grab authorizations when  they wont reg off line.
Ye sits a small PITA , but I dont wander off to other sites to browse,,
ad BTW I am running a less than prime HW system, and old Dell XPS 420 with a core 3 duo 2.6, 8 gig ram,old intel p965 chipset, Sonar X1E, and still have  no performance issues leaving the NW services enabled..I just succumbed to all the tweak hype that is floating around,,  

Did this get sorted out? If not PM me your ticket number and I'll follow it from my side as well. :)

I have been using both ik and ni stuff for a long time and find their authorization systems to be quite easy and trouble free.  Admittedly I have run into problems with "offline" registration similar to yours but "on-line" is a snap.  I assume it's the zero vs. letter "o" issue but regardless, my solution was to tether my studio computer whenever authorizations are needed.  I have no direct internet access in my "back of the property" studio but periodic short term tethering does the trick.

Personally I like the system ik and ni use.  It protects them and is painless for us.  Takes under a minute and allows them to continue making a profit, thus able to create the next fantastic kit for us.

As to customer service, I feel IK is far better than NI.  I've had numerous discussions/emails back and forth with IK and they are always pretty quick (within 24-48 hours) and very responsive. In fact, I'd say their personal attention to my queries have been STELLAR!  NI on the otherhand is totally useless and hardly ever responds.  

Bapu,
Did you request a new number or just use your first existing number?
I have lots of IK stuff and a few of the Synths wanted the number re-done after using the new "Authorization Manager".
Never had one ask a third time though...

Tom

Bapu,
IK Obi will have to weigh in here, but the reason I asked is many users blow thru a bunch of their authorizations when the process "hangs" like it has on you.
In my case I did a "manual" authorization; I think it asks if you want to "use existing authorization", something like that and maybe "not recommended".
Then I loaded the original number in manually (not using the "manager" a second time) and bingo good to go.
Like I said before I never had to authorize a third time.

Tom

DeeringAmps


Bapu,
IK Obi will have to weigh in here, but the reason I asked is many users blow thru a bunch of their authorizations when the process "hangs" like it has on you.
In my case I did a "manual" authorization; I think it asks if you want to "use existing authorization", something like that and maybe "not recommended".
Then I loaded the original number in manually (not using the "manager" a second time) and bingo good to go.
Like I said before I never had to authorize a third time.

Tom

I have always entered the serial number manually with the new Auth Manager. I'm not familiar with a manual authorization. I'll look into that today.

Anubis


I have complained about IK's arcane authorization system. It chews up authorizations needlessly and is very unintuitive. IK's only answer is (as echoed by IK Obi)... "don't worry, just contact us when you run out we'll give you more". I have stopped using their products. I have plenty of quality instruments from NI and their service center is leap years ahead of IK's.

I have no problems with all IK 32 bit plugs (using the arcane auth). I have no problems with the latest Amplitube 3.5 being auth'd on two DAWs using the new Auth Manager. It's just 64bit ARC that acts strange.

@ChuckC Thanks for the PM, I've forwarded the info to the right people and you should be getting a response in the next day or so. As for authorizations being used up, let us know and we will supply you with more. @Anubis I'm sorry you feel that way about us. Is there anything I can do to help you out and change your mind?

Bapu,
Run Sonar as "Administrator", then load ARC into a new project.
I think then the prompt will let you enter the Auth number.
If not, you might have to re-install ARC, that would require you to re-test (Yikes!), unless there is a way to save the tests.
I guess we'll have to wait on Obi's advice...

Annibus (actually to all),
You don't have to "chew" up anything. Your computer has a "digital" id and an Auth number that is ALWAYS available at the IK website.
Re-enter the original code, its easy.
It works on-line or off, its a minor inconvenience compared to the way Cake handles things.
But hey they want (need) to get paid for their product.

Tom

bapu


BTW, you can save your tests config. It's in a file on the hard drive (forget where right now). Maybe that is my problem. I'm using the config from a test run on the previous 32bit only version of ARC.

I've been using ARC since it was only a 32-bit plug-in and now I'm using it as a 64-bit plug-in while using my original test results from the 32bit version with no problems so that probably isn't at issue.

My issue was resolved.  Thank you for your help Obi!

bapu,
Run a new test, just leave the mic in one spot so it will go fast, and use that profile; and see what happens...

Whoddathunk?

That a deinstall & reinstall would solve the problem. Especially since this was on a DAW that was a clean install of W7 and ARC.

OH well. Now I wait 11 days to see if the problem comes back.

IK Obi


Be sure to keep us updated, I want to make sure your ARC issue gets resolved. :)

5 or 6 more days will tell.


No more problems, so far.