MPC X, MPC Live, MPC One & MPC Key 61 Forum: Support and discussion for the MPC X, MPC Live, MPC Live II, MPC One & MPC Key 61; Akai's current generation of standalone MPCs.
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By EnochLight Sun Mar 26, 2023 10:02 pm
Not having this issue at all on 2.11.8 on my Live II. What firmware were you all on when you had this happen?
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By Ultros Mon Mar 27, 2023 12:01 am
The certificates are only signed for a certain duration, i am assuming 6 months at a time. eventually on the same day all of us are forced to renew our certificates as the plugins are "subscription" plugins. If you dont keep your account and periodically sign it in to update the cert when it goes bad then the plugins dont work. *Moment of realization* SUBSCRIPTION SUBSCRIPTION SUBSCRIPTION.
By Blups Mon Mar 27, 2023 4:08 am
EnochLight wrote:Not having this issue at all on 2.11.8 on my Live II. What firmware were you all on when you had this happen?

I'm on 2.11.8 too.

But I have another hypothesis. This week-end we went from winter time to summer time. And, last time it happened was about 6 months ago, maybe few days after the time change. Could it be related ?
By Korzo Mon Mar 27, 2023 7:20 am
Blups wrote:
EnochLight wrote:Not having this issue at all on 2.11.8 on my Live II. What firmware were you all on when you had this happen?

I'm on 2.11.8 too.

But I have another hypothesis. This week-end we went from winter time to summer time. And, last time it happened was about 6 months ago, maybe few days after the time change. Could it be related ?

It could be related, yesterday I had to reactivate all my plugins.
By johnnytravels Mon Mar 27, 2023 7:52 am
Reading through this thread I am glad I didn’t buy any plugins for my One without Wi-Fi.
Who thought of this system anyway and what happens when the authentication servers go down?
Also makes me wonder if they are going to handle a potential major firmware update in the same way..
By Blups Mon Mar 27, 2023 9:41 am
johnnytravels wrote:Reading through this thread I am glad I didn’t buy any plugins for my One without Wi-Fi.

I understand, but opx4 is good.
Now, to connect my mpc one, I just plug my cellphone via USB and share connexion. Very easy and very fast.
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By MPC-Tutor Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:52 am
johnnytravels wrote:Also makes me wonder if they are going to handle a potential major firmware update in the same way..


I was wondering about this as well (when all my licenses needed reactivating a few days ago). It's one thing not having your plugins accessible (still very inconvenient) but having the entire operating system go down until you re-activate online?

The thing is, even the MPC Software is forcing me to re-activate, so it's not just a standalone thing. I have never experienced this in any other software; once activated it should remain activated, the end. This is not Adobe Cloud, the license is a lifetime license and should not possess the ability to de-activate itself, only the customer should be able to do this. Surely once activated the activation key is simply stored in a preferences file somewhere in the system, this should be all it needs to maintain activation status.

Also, why is there no way to manage activations via the inMusic account? I had to re-install after a hard drive crash a couple of months ago and don't have any way to deactivate that license so I can transfer it to the new installation. So currently I only have 2 active installs that I can use for those plugins.
By HouseWithoutMouse Mon Mar 27, 2023 2:05 pm
Not trying to be a smartass but why would anyone take the first step towards getting tied to subscription bullshit? :) The license activation crap shouldn't come as a surprise. Any company will try to hook their customers into paying perpetually, because a subscription based model is just vastly superior for the business. Make music with samples and standalone devices. No can do anymore?

Let's see when the base software starts to require periodic activation just to boot up.
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By MPC-Tutor Mon Mar 27, 2023 2:59 pm
I don't have an issue where the subscription relates to an ongoing 'service', for example I use CodeKit, it costs $40 for a perpetual license (i.e. it's mine to use forever 'as is'), but after a year I don't get any further updates or support unless I purchase a 12 month extension ($25 I think). If I don't pay the software however continues to work, I just don't get any further updates until I decide to pay. To me this seems fair, as the developer is providing the updates as an ongoing service and I don't think it's reasonable to expect him to provide that for free, forever. This also avoids the pressure for him to look for other ways to extract money from me (e.g. shift features away from the main app and release as separate add-ons etc).

This works well for a well maintained, stable product where the developer is quick and responsive with bug fixes. I just don't think the MPC is anywhere near the stage yet.
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By MPC-Tutor Tue Mar 28, 2023 9:01 am
Lol, and on the same day as my previous post, Wave goes full subscription model, no option to purchase or continue the old yearly single plugin licensing model. License limited to a single machine at a time (I really hate that), I guess at least it's more simplistic compared to their endless weekly convoluted discounting model.

IMO Waves is hardly market leader these days, some good but dated plugins, plenty of alternatives out there. Interesting to see what happens to them.
By ntalec Mon Apr 03, 2023 2:07 pm
MPC-Tutor wrote:
johnnytravels wrote:Also makes me wonder if they are going to handle a potential major firmware update in the same way..


I was wondering about this as well (when all my licenses needed reactivating a few days ago). It's one thing not having your plugins accessible (still very inconvenient) but having the entire operating system go down until you re-activate online?

The thing is, even the MPC Software is forcing me to re-activate, so it's not just a standalone thing. I have never experienced this in any other software; once activated it should remain activated, the end. This is not Adobe Cloud, the license is a lifetime license and should not possess the ability to de-activate itself, only the customer should be able to do this. Surely once activated the activation key is simply stored in a preferences file somewhere in the system, this should be all it needs to maintain activation status.

Also, why is there no way to manage activations via the inMusic account? I had to re-install after a hard drive crash a couple of months ago and don't have any way to deactivate that license so I can transfer it to the new installation. So currently I only have 2 active installs that I can use for those plugins.

I'm still trying to understand why people are calmly accepting this.
It wasn't disclosed in any fashion prior to selling you the plugin and as Tutor pointed out there are far more ways for this to cause problems than you think.
The sale they had encouraged a lot of user to buy into their plugin structure and we now see it has a time bomb built in as well as not being isolated to a few users.
It affects both standalone and desktop which clearly shows it's not a bug it's a planned function that has only negatives for users, especially ones who don't connect to the internet.
By jamos Mon Apr 03, 2023 2:48 pm
The MPC plugins are not a subscription, no matter how many times that word is repeated. A subscription requires regular payments; the plugins are purchased.

The real question is, why are they using an authorization scheme that was apparently designed for a subscription service? Perhaps that is coming.

Personally, I agree with those who won't touch these.
By liedermusic Wed Apr 05, 2023 12:32 am
Hi everyone,
I spoke with Akai support today and they confirmed that our MPC's need to connect with their servers every few weeks/months (they couldn't specify exact time frame) for our plugins to keep working.

This is complete BS! I'm livid. I for one will not purchase anything from Akai or Air again until this is rectified.

If you agree, consider signing this petition:
https://chng.it/SSkd9g54t9

Also, please share it and contact Akai support as well as any other forums, web pages, etc... that might be interested. This is an unbelievable and completely ridiculous move by Akai. We are their customers and we own the plugins we purchase. Let them know this is unacceptable.