Stupid Waldorf!

Sorry gang, I'm going to vent here...

I had purchased Waldorf Lector and PPG Wave 3.V a year and a half ago. They used the Steinberg eLicense system, which I activated immediately and have been using flawlessly since.

They just recently changed their entire Website and their copy protection methods. With the new updates, my software is no longer activated. They require the original activation codes to obtain a new serial number to re-unlock the plugins. I simply did not keep a record of the activation code, assuming once my eLicenser was activated all would be good.

I wrote support and they insisted I need to provide an invoice or an order number. My bank statements don't go back that far and my email auto-purged at somepoint after my purchase. I realize it is my fault for not keeping a PDF copy of this email or something... But I find it extremely aggravating that THEIR change in copy protection has rendered my legitimate software unusable.

Needless to say, I will not be making any more purchases of Waldorf products again. I may as well have flushed that $300 down the toilet.

OK, end of my rant. I pray I will never have such issues with UA.

I don't know much about the elicenser, but if it's anything like iLok, I would imagine that Steinberg might have that info, or that it might be in the elicenser control center.

As for a change in copy protection, their website shows both Lector and PPG Wave 3 as still using elicensor. Can you update your license within the control center?

Hey! First off, thanks for reading through my rant! I went from being used to UA support quality and an excellent experience with Peterson Tuners yesterday to this debacle... I debated making a post but I figured someone here might have some advice.

Their Website is in some sort of purgatory right now... There are remnants of the old page and lots of outdated information. Support confirmed that version 1.1 of Lector (and the new PPG) have new copy protection. Just curious, you didn't see a download link that I am missing anywhere, did you?

I ran maintenance on my eLicenser and no luck. It is not even showing the Waldorf stuff on the eLicence management site anymore, although the licenses are still intact on the eLicenser. I gave support the serial number of my eLicenser which I would think should be enough for them to verify I own the products but I don't completely understand how this works.

Good call on contacting Steinberg. I hadn't thought of that. I'll see what they have to say. I'm soooooo spoiled from all the positive interaction with UA support!

I was able to locate the original downloads I have and they still work with the eLicense. I guess I might just be at the end of the road as far as updates go. Another example of copy protection gone wrong...

Ha... yeah. So many whiners complained about the dongle that arturia and waldorf and others have gone to the soft licenser version. Annoying. But on a side note, might be time to get better bank... i can download the past 10 years of my bank statements online. No bank worth its salt should be disabling your banking history after 12 momths.

Hmm thanks for the update. Gotta do that myself as well! I have all serials still, so hopefully it wont be a problem. Pretty weird change to be honest. The elicenser works really well. Got waldorf, steinberg and vienna on it. I dont want another new one please ��

Do you remember who you ordered the product from? They might be able to provide you with the Invoice/copy of the receipt.

Just an update to this saga, with a happy ending!
I got my bank records and PayPal transactions, forwarded that info to Waldorf. They rapidly responded with replacement coupon code so I could activate the latest versions using the new authentication system. Now I'm back up and running Lector and the PPG! ...and the licenses are good for three machines, which is a nice bonus. So after a long dormant period, I'm diving back into these cool plugs! I hold no grudge against Waldorf now, I understand that changing a licensing system can be very complicated.