# Play 5 - coming soon??



## constaneum (Aug 12, 2016)

Saw East West's email regarding Play 5 coming out next week. Woot ??!! Any idea what improvements are involved?


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## Rasmus Hartvig (Aug 12, 2016)

Was just about to create the exact same thread 

I'm not using Play much these days, but I'm still curious to see what improvements they've made.

Weird thing is, there doesn't seem to be any threads about it on the EW forums, so this is probably the first announcement.


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## HardyP (Aug 12, 2016)

And it´s only said as a side note of an advertising mail, that´s a quite new move of ew... 

Also curious, what they will come up with to justify the major step in version numbering!


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## jamwerks (Aug 12, 2016)

Awesome!


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## SymphonicSamples (Aug 12, 2016)

Yes,Yes,Yes , ok one more Yes. Hoping the slow load times on the last build are fixed. All I can say is I'm glad it's not April 1st today otherwise I would have been gutted


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## OleJoergensen (Aug 12, 2016)

2 month ago admin at East West forum said the new version will take advantage of ssd and pci- ssd. So hopefully it will be a fast load time.


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## AllanH (Aug 12, 2016)

I haven't received any email yet, but this sounds great. Other than load times, PLAY works very well.


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## TeamLeader (Aug 12, 2016)

Is it Play PRO?


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## Ashermusic (Aug 12, 2016)

No, it is not Play Pro. But it is the fastest and seemingly best version I have ever tested for them. For the first time, the memory footprint on the Mac is similar to the PC.

Wolfgang Kundrus, who formerly worked for Steinberg, is apparently a whiz.


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## rocking.xmas.man (Aug 12, 2016)

well, maybe some things get fixed that before got out of order by accident.
like the velocity-controlled multi articulation patches in MOR2 that suddenly started to trigger not only different artics but also different notes.


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## dcoscina (Aug 12, 2016)

Ashermusic said:


> No, it is not Play Pro. But it is the fastest and seemingly best version I have ever tested for them. For the first time, the memory footprint on the Mac is similar to the PC.
> 
> Wolfgang Kundrus, who formerly worked for Steinberg, is apparently a whiz.


Great to hear Jay!


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## Ashermusic (Aug 12, 2016)

jieff said:


> Isn't PLAY Pro a myth? Some sort of urban legend?
> 
> Earliest mention I could find... the post just before the last one: http://www.soundsonline-forums.com/archive/index.php/t-17135.html



It exists, and it is what they use internally to program but it has always been too buggy for general release. My guess is that now that this version is coming out, that will be the next priority for them. But that is a guess, no insider info on it.


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## Ashermusic (Aug 12, 2016)

jieff said:


> Was just kidding, Jay. ^_^
> 
> (laughter is an important part of a work day!)



I know, but I am sure that people wonder because it was promised a loooonnnggg time ago.


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## SymphonicSamples (Aug 12, 2016)

Ashermusic said:


> But it is the fastest and seemingly best version I have ever tested for them.


Don't be messing with me Jay, I don't like being Play'ed by a keyboard Play'er. By your comment I'm expecting this to play out as it should, fast load times, with a progress disPLAY bar that screams along. Obviously I'm not trying to downPlay the new version, I'm just hoping it's not a rePlay of the last version of, well you guessed it...PLAY


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## Silence-is-Golden (Aug 12, 2016)

Ashermusic said:


> No, it is not Play Pro. But it is the fastest and seemingly best version I have ever tested for them. For the first time, the memory footprint on the Mac is similar to the PC.
> 
> Wolfgang Kundrus, who formerly worked for Steinberg, is apparently a whiz.


Have you also seen that it has now a similar stability as on a mac? I.o.w. no more accidental logic X crashes? 

And its compatibilty with VEPro 5/6?


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## jonathanwright (Aug 12, 2016)

'Admin' on the EW forums just posted this:

_PLAY 5 is not the version that will be released next year, that is being coded by Wolfgang Kundrus (Cubase/Nuendo/Studio One) from the ground up using the very latest technology; however PLAY 5 is a major performance upgrade and our fastest PLAY version to date. 

The SSL/EW FX Global Suite is now included for free to all PLAY 5 users for all products! This collection of professional audio processing tools includes a Filter, EQ, Compressor, Gate/Expander, Transient Shaper and Stereo Buss Compressor. Also included in this free upgrade are an additional 726 Reverb Impulses for the EW Convolution Reverb. 

Power users in particular will appreciate the special optimization settings for SSDs and PCIe-based flash storage.

We are in final testing and hope for a release next week. 

Note: PLAY 5 will no longer support 32-bit, those users should continue using PLAY 4._


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## Ashermusic (Aug 12, 2016)

Silence-is-Golden said:


> Have you also seen that it has now a similar stability as on a mac? I.o.w. no more accidental logic X crashes?
> 
> And its compatibilty with VEPro 5/6?



All seems fine here in my tests, but they are not extensive on the Mac.

Here is what I am seeing. My large VE Pro PC Hollywood Orchestra template (app. 30 GB) loaded in about 6:30 in Play 4.2.2. In subsequent versions, that load time almost doubled.

I just loaded it here in 2:25.

BTW, I must say that enabling Samsung Magician's Rapid mode on the 840 Evo and turning off Windows Defender on my two SSDs, makes a huge difference.


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## samphony (Aug 12, 2016)

Thanks to Wolfgang Studio One is also a fine DAW! 



Ashermusic said:


> No, it is not Play Pro. But it is the fastest and seemingly best version I have ever tested for them. For the first time, the memory footprint on the Mac is similar to the PC.
> 
> Wolfgang Kundrus, who formerly worked for Steinberg, is apparently a whiz.


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## Parsifal666 (Aug 12, 2016)

Ashermusic said:


> No, it is not Play Pro. But it is the fastest and seemingly best version I have ever tested for them. For the first time, the memory footprint on the Mac is similar to the PC.
> 
> Wolfgang Kundrus, who formerly worked for Steinberg, is apparently a whiz.



OOO. Hopefully the hanging notes problem will be finally, completely vanquished.


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## Parsifal666 (Aug 12, 2016)

Whoa, just saw the _SSL/EW FX Global Suite _is coming along for the ride. I do like and use that, just not as often as the Waves.


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## HardyP (Aug 12, 2016)

Ashermusic said:


> Wolfgang Kundrus, who formerly worked for Steinberg, is apparently a whiz.


But according to ew-admin, this version is not the one he is working on -
so really looking forward what the next year will provide for us!!



jonathanwright said:


> The SSL/EW FX Global Suite is now included for free to all PLAY 5 users for all products! [...] Also included in this free upgrade are an additional 726 Reverb Impulses for the EW Convolution Reverb.


I think that justifies the major jump to V5 - and maybe helps some people to overcome the small caveats (only 64bit, no iLok1).


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## catsass (Aug 12, 2016)

> _PLAY 5 is not the version that will be released next year_


Wait, what? It's not from the future, bestowed upon us by a rift in the spacetime continuum?!?


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## Ashermusic (Aug 12, 2016)

HardyP said:


> But according to ew-admin, this version is not the one he is working on -



My understanding is that he is contributing, but not from the ground up, which he eventually will. But I could be wrong about that.


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## Zhao Shen (Aug 12, 2016)

Oh wow... The hype is real. Can't wait!


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## HardyP (Aug 12, 2016)

Ashermusic said:


> My understanding is that he is contributing, but not from the ground up, which he eventually will. But I could be wrong about that.


Makes sense. Anyhow, the path ew is going in terms of software development seems to be the right and long overdue step forward.


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## novaburst (Aug 12, 2016)

I got the mail too, well i am looking foreword to it


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## novaburst (Aug 12, 2016)

SymphonicSamples said:


> glad it's not April 1st today otherwise I would have been gutted


 Lol What i would like to know is are they playing us.............


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## NYC Composer (Aug 12, 2016)

I wonder when Play Pro was initially announced- more than 10 years ago?


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## constaneum (Aug 12, 2016)

oh dear. then my past projects with Play 32 bit will not load up.


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## trumpoz (Aug 12, 2016)

NYC Composer said:


> I wonder when Play Pro was initially announced- more than 10 years ago?


Play Pro was announced in 2009 - it was Play 2 before that. I reckon 10 years is not far off.


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## NYC Composer (Aug 12, 2016)

So, only 8 years til it'll be released, assuming it ever is. 

Upon release, I think EW should include a unicorn in the GUI.


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## brett (Aug 12, 2016)

Don't forget the promised networking solution advertised on the box when Play was first released. East West's answer to FX- Teleport.


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## HardyP (Aug 13, 2016)

brett said:


> Don't forget the promised networking solution advertised on the box when Play was first released. East West's answer to FX- Teleport.


Hm, I'm pretty shure there has allready been some statement long ago, that network capabilities have been dropped bcs VSL came up with the great and very stable VEP.
But - who knows, what we'll get next year...


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## Ashermusic (Aug 13, 2016)

Indeed, I am pretty sure that the advent of VE Pro convinced Doug that an EW network solution was no longer necessary or financially worth pursuing.


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## NYC Composer (Aug 13, 2016)

EW products have been staples of my composing career and I think many of them are great-which makes it so strange to me that Play development has been so incredibly slow.


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## rgames (Aug 13, 2016)

Parsifal666 said:


> Whoa, just saw the _SSL/EW FX Global Suite _is coming along for the ride. I do like and use that, just not as often as the Waves.


That'll be great so long as they don't make them "always on" like in SD3.

They're included with SD3 but you can't disable them. As a result you can't build a template with SD3 because those plug-ins gobble up CPU like crazy. A few instruments - no problem. But not a few dozen like you would use in a template.

rgames


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## novaburst (Aug 13, 2016)

NYC Composer said:


> strange to me that Play development has been so incredibly slow.


At the end of the day all a developer needs to do is to deliver a product (multitimbral) that allows you to use there library to a pro standard, and they have done that with mic balance and legato and more.

Once this is achieved i suppose you can take as long as you like with other development, simply because there is nothing stopping you from making music with play and eastwest librarys.

What is coming out next week with the implement of SSL and more is some thing to look forward to, and once more there is a very nice sound to it......that sound is called free, there would have been no reason for eastwest not to charge for this up coming play 5, and many would have purchased it.


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## Parsifal666 (Aug 13, 2016)

NYC Composer said:


> EW products have been staples of my composing career and I think many of them are great-which makes it so strange to me that Play development has been so incredibly slow.



Yep. Love them.



rgames said:


> That'll be great so long as they don't make them "always on" like in SD3.
> 
> They're included with SD3 but you can't disable them. As a result you can't build a template with SD3 because those plug-ins gobble up CPU like crazy. A few instruments - no problem. But not a few dozen like you would use in a template.
> 
> rgames



I must have a different library, because, I can turn the SSL and effects on and off from the mixe, the reverb both from the main gui and the aforementioned. Not sure what you mean...? Stormdrum 3 isn't Dark Side.


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## rgames (Aug 13, 2016)

Parsifal666 said:


> I must have a different library, because, I can turn the SSL and effects on and off from the mixe, the reverb both from the main gui and the aforementioned. Not sure what you mean...? Stormdrum 3 isn't Dark Side.


Are they turned off or bypassed? There's a difference, of course - bypassed still uses CPU. Turned off does not. You can't notice it on one or a few instruments - it only becomes apparent when you're using a large number of instruments like you would in a template.

IIRC if you buy the plug-ins separately and use them with other libraries then you can turn them off. But you can't turn them off in the libraries that come with those plug-ins (like SD3), only bypass them. For that reason, you can't build a template around them. There have been threads over at the EW forum on that topic.

rgames


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## Parsifal666 (Aug 13, 2016)

rgames said:


> Are they turned off or bypassed? There's a difference, of course - bypassed still uses CPU. Turned off does not. You can't notice it on one or a few instruments - it only becomes apparent when you're using a large number of instruments like you would in a template.
> 
> IIRC if you buy the plug-ins separately and use them with other libraries then you can turn them off. But you can't turn them off in the libraries that come with those plug-ins (like SD3), only bypass them. For that reason, you can't build a template around them. There have been threads over at the EW forum on that topic.
> 
> rgames



I really don't have problems with CPU and Stormdrum 3 too often, and the samples sound pretty darn bald out of the box to me. Even when I stack, using full Taiko ensembles plus Ghostwriter guitars, etc. I'm not carrying too heavy a load And I'm on a laptop 16 Ram, hybrid SSD. The EW stuff is on a Samsung SSD outboard USB. Maybe the last has something to do with the lightened load...

No disrespect, but I'm still a little weirded out by your thing about the effects. I have to go and turn on the compressor, reverb, delay, eq, bus comp...none of that is on and/or bypassed when I open SD3...? They have to be manually switched on. I'm baffled.

Anyhoo, I've found the SSL stuff to be way more useful than they have any right to be, and can vouch that they're worth trying out when using the instruments. That said, I wouldn't trade it for the Waves...nuh-uh.


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## constaneum (Aug 16, 2016)

There's rumour that Ilok 1 won't work with Play 5?? Oh dear...i'm still on Ilok 1 though.


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## Ashermusic (Aug 16, 2016)

constaneum said:


> There's rumour that Ilok 1 won't work with Play 5?? Oh dear...i'm still on Ilok 1 though.



Yes, it will, except as before, not with the Composer Cloud.


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## constaneum (Aug 16, 2016)

Ashermusic said:


> Yes, it will, except as before, not with the Composer Cloud.



As in it will not work or will work?


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## Ashermusic (Aug 16, 2016)

constaneum said:


> As in it will not work or will work?


Just like Play 4, Play 5 will work with iLok 1, but the Composer Cloud will not.


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## constaneum (Aug 16, 2016)

Oh ok ! Thanks ! =)


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## Parsifal666 (Aug 17, 2016)

constaneum said:


> Oh dear...i'm still on Ilok 1 though.


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## constaneum (Aug 17, 2016)

Hahahah


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## eric_w (Aug 18, 2016)

Jay, the latest version(s) of Play are unusable for me, as the loading times with VE Pro are insanely slow and sometimes will freeze up. I know I was not the only person experiencing that .. Does Play 5 fix any of this?


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## Ashermusic (Aug 18, 2016)

Yes., The bug where loading from SSDs gets progressively slower has been fixed. This version is loading quicker than any version I have tried.


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## Parsifal666 (Aug 18, 2016)

Ashermusic said:


> Yes., The bug where loading from SSDs gets progressively slower has been fixed. This version is loading quicker than any version I have tried.



Oo! Are the hanging notes still...uh, hanging around?


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## Ashermusic (Aug 18, 2016)

Parsifal666 said:


> Oo! Are the hanging notes still...uh, hanging around?



I did not encounter that personally with 4.2.2 and I am not with this one either.


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## dcoscina (Aug 18, 2016)

Ashermusic said:


> I did not encounter that personally with 4.2.2 and I am not with this one either.


me neither


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## constaneum (Aug 18, 2016)

It's suppose to be out by this week right???


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## Ashermusic (Aug 18, 2016)

constaneum said:


> It's suppose to be out by this week right???



Yes, but nothing is a done deal until it is a done deal


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## Zhao Shen (Aug 18, 2016)

I'm a little too hyped for this... As in my anticipation for this is even killing my excitement for new libraries. Uhhh... My wallet thanks you I guess.


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## constaneum (Aug 18, 2016)

Ashermusic said:


> Yes, but nothing is a done deal until it is a done deal



typical. ahaha


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## Ashermusic (Aug 18, 2016)

constaneum said:


> typical. ahaha



Don't misunderstand me, I DO think it will be this week.


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## constaneum (Aug 18, 2016)

Don't misunderstand me too. We're kinda used to waiting for the things to release by surprise instead of promised to be released months ago but never get to release after the declared dates. Lots of developers are like this. Ended up losing the hype. Might as well just wait for it to pop out and walah, released ! ahahahah


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## lpuser (Aug 19, 2016)

Ashermusic said:


> I did not encounter that personally with 4.2.2 and I am not with this one either.



No hanging notes either, all fine.

P.S.: OT - The only thing which really bothers me these days is that EW have changed their licensing so that the previously available "Free Orchestra" does no longer work. After having bought the HW Silver and Gold series, I still have a bunch of older songs where the free version was used and all these don´t load properly anymore but give error after error. Trying to get them to work again resulted in Play no longer detecting my current libraries so I had to reinstall everything from the Cloud again. Oh well, could have been made easier for musicians, I guess (and I am sure that still supporting the free library would have not caused any harm to EW).


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## trumpoz (Aug 19, 2016)

From EW Admin:



> We have a couple of bugs the beta testers have reported that need fixing next week, we'll make a formal announcement when it's ready.h


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## Ashermusic (Aug 19, 2016)

trumpoz said:


> From EW Admin:


Blame me, I found one of them


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## IFM (Aug 19, 2016)

trumpoz said:


> From EW Admin:


Ug I was so looking forward to finally ditching the PC.


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Aug 20, 2016)

I was not so much looking forward to getting rid of the PC. But was thinking about running my Diamond instruments from the Mac Pro instead. Could take a while since I bought a CC Pro Win drive with the CC Plus. But I seem to have hit the roof on my 32GB of RAM in the PC. But the Mac Pro has 12-Cores and 64GB of RAM, so I guess I will have to wait...


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## muziksculp (Sep 1, 2016)

I think the topic should have been : PLAY 5 Not Coming Soon ??


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Sep 1, 2016)

muziksculp said:


> PLAY 5 Not Coming Soon



I'm not surprised mofos!


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## WhiteNoiz (Sep 1, 2016)

Well, they must have done something because my activated licenses got mixed up with the other ones on the Installation Center (they're not at the top) and they don't have the "tick" beside them. And it's taking ultra long to load/open it. It still says Play is up to date though.

----
OK, what the f...??


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## AllanH (Sep 1, 2016)

I've only seen that iLOK error once, and it was due to the iLok services not being started. If this happens repeatedly, you can set the service to delayed start, which supposedly helps. Last night Microsoft Windows 10 had another "gift" delivered, so boot/reboot will have been slow and could explain the issue.

The service is called "PACE License Services"


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## WhiteNoiz (Sep 1, 2016)

AllanH said:


> The service is called "PACE License Services"



I just checked the services and it's there but it says it's stopped... So weird. But I didn't change anything; it just decided to start doing it today. ...

--

I just restarted and it's back to normal. Dunno what could've caused this. Hopefully we won't have to deal with such pleasant surprises once the new version is released. Sorry for the hassle.


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## Mike Fox (Sep 1, 2016)

WhiteNoiz said:


> I just checked the services and it's there but it says it's stopped... So weird. But I didn't change anything; it just decided to start doing it today. ...
> 
> --
> 
> I just restarted and it's back to normal. Dunno what could've caused this. Hopefully we won't have to deal with such pleasant surprises once the new version is released. Sorry for the hassle.


Yes! Problems already!


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## AllanH (Sep 1, 2016)

WhiteNoiz said:


> I just checked the services and it's there but it says it's stopped... So weird. But I didn't change anything; it just decided to start doing it today. ...
> I just restarted and it's back to normal. Dunno what could've caused this. Hopefully we won't have to deal with such pleasant surprises once the new version is released. Sorry for the hassle.



I think this is just how it is with PACE/iLOK: Most of the time it works but every once in a while the service stops for no apparent reason. It's a pity that good software has to come with iLOK to combat pirating.


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## lpuser (Sep 1, 2016)

AllanH said:


> I think this is just how it is with PACE/iLOK: Most of the time it works but every once in a while the service stops for no apparent reason. It's a pity that good software has to come with iLOK to combat pirating.



For what it´s worth, I don´t think this is a PACE issue per se, rather a Microsoft Windows issue. On the Mac this never happend in years and I have seen other system (kernel) software suddenly showing a stopped service on Windows (up to Windows 10) for no appearant reason.


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## dcoscina (Sep 1, 2016)

Jimmy Hellfire said:


> I'm not surprised mofos!


Easy now. They were ready to release but their beta testers found some issues. I'd rather them deliver a solid product and not one rife with problems personally.


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## Jimmy Hellfire (Sep 1, 2016)

dcoscina said:


> Easy now.



Haha, that was just a pop-cultural reference.


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## dcoscina (Sep 1, 2016)

Jimmy Hellfire said:


> Haha, that was just a pop-cultural reference.


Ha! No worries. I'm as excited as anyone to get a new Play 5 as I'm Mac only and I'm sure would benefit greatly from it.


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Sep 1, 2016)

This is going to end being the longest thread on the internet about an update none of us have had yet


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## owenave (Sep 1, 2016)

So a couple weeks later and no news when Play 5 will really be out?


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## RCsound (Sep 1, 2016)

With the imminent announcement of Spectrasonics, the best they can do is wait to "next week"


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## novaburst (Sep 1, 2016)

WhiteNoiz said:


> Well, they must have done something because my activated licenses got mixed up with the other ones on the Installation Center (they're not at the top) and they don't have the "tick" beside them. And it's taking ultra long to load/open it. It still says Play is up to date though.
> 
> ----
> OK, what the f...??


So what gives, today i boot up ready for some creation, no play well yes there is play ok but it says can not recognize or validate license, so it starts to load then i get the message, i dont have ilok only license manager.
my heart is in my mouth now as every i have 3 instances of play, and all instruments are on expression,

shut down boot up still the same , in the end i needed to install the play software again and that took care of the issue, but very scary. 

i wonder if some one will tell play to stop playing around. anyway back up an running ok now, but what a shocker


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## kitekrazy (Sep 2, 2016)

Shad0wLandsUK said:


> This is going to end being the longest thread on the internet about an update none of us have had yet



You should have seen the one about Bitwig in Live's forum. Over 100 pages.


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## trumpoz (Sep 2, 2016)

From EW Admin yesterday

"Just an update, we still have a couple of issues we're resolving, and because of the long weekend there won't be a release until next week at least."

My guess is that these are what the beta testers found a week or do ago.


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