Review of installing EWQL HO Diamond with iLok Machine License.
On request, I'm posting a little write-up I did about a month ago:
I have always had concerns about iLoK and have so far been unwilling to purchase any products with an iLok key. I simply don’t know anyone with an iLok who have not been locked out for extended periods of times and gotten very angry with PACE and their various “insurance/replacement” programs.
The generous HO Diamond deal convinced me to give it a try, and since a few have messaged me for my experiences, here they are.
Summary: Flawless – I’m impressed.The installation was flawless and the installer one of the best I’ve ever used. I’m impressed given the complexity with the iLok system services. Everything worked the first time without fail.
BackgroundI purchased a 1 TB SSD and installed HO/D to the SSD. The system is a 4 core AMD with 16 GB of DDR3 meeting the recommended specs. I’m using it to run Sonar, Kontakt with Albion, Miroslav, Garritan CFX, and Pianoteq, so it’s acceptable while not recent.
InstallationI used the install link from the purchase email. I downloaded an installer dated 10/19/2015, i.e. 10 days old. The installer on disk was from August. The email also had a link to a video illustrating an install. I followed along until the video no longer matched installing from USB. The video was clearly for the new Cloud offering. I then switched to the instructions on the provided USB disk. There are a total of nearly 1.7M files. The copy for me took 13 hours, but I had mistakenly connected the USB drive to a slower port on the front.
The installer contains all the licensing, and allowed me to download and install the latest Play with one click. I had to redirect the licensing directory to the SSD folder where the various HO folders were located. I then activated with one click all four licenses as machine licenses. It took seconds.
The default setting of Play was Direct Sound. Changed that to ASIO.
Sound of the InstrumentsI had read all sorts of things about how difficult it was to make HO sound “good”. So I was both curious and bit nervous where I would end up on the “hissy cat” to Thomas Bergersen spectrum.
I loaded up many different versions of the instruments, and I can only say that I’m impressed. The sampling is exquisite. I can hear the bow hit the strings, some of the little “scratchy” sounds in the violas, etc. The various mics give lots of possibility and the reverb engine is excellent.
HO is very different from the “smooth” orchestral libraries such as Albion and even Miroslav. However, the detail is just delightful and stunning. For the first time some of my music sounds like it’s being played by a person as opposed to just an instrument.
So while I have far to go to reach the Bergersen end of the spectrum, I’m very excited about the potential while recognizing that I’ve probably only touched 1% or less of the instruments and settings. It’s obviously very different from my Miroslav, and a quick “port” of a Miroslav composition using Sonar will definitely need some work before it sounds balanced and elegant again. I was recognizable though noticeably different.
Performance of Play:Loading of samples is quick and comparable to Albion etc. 5-10 seconds for a multi sample. CPU load is a tad heavier that e.g. Sampletank or Kontakt/Albion. I saw about 25% to 35% CPU utilization with six Play tracks loaded. No pops or clicks.
In summary: Perfect install experience, excellent sound, lots of work ahead.
I hope this was helpful and answers some of the previous questions
Allan
post edited by AllanH - 2015/11/26 17:16:59