# Cubase Dongle Problem - Solved!



## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 4, 2017)

As Sonar is now out of business, I decided to switch over to Cubase Pro 9.5, so I bought the crossgrade. With my points I was able to get it for around $200 at Musician's Friend, where it is 17% off the list price of $255. 

Now... I have a 10 year old dongle but it looks identical to the ones they sell today.

I've spoken to two people in customer service on the phone and they told me that my dongle won't work on Cubase 9.5 and I'll need to buy a new one.

Is this true Cubase users? Do your dongles stop working from time to time and you have to buy new ones?

If that's the case I won't put up a fuss and will buy a new one, but I would like the opportunity to get a new activation code and see if the one I have works.


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## kitekrazy (Dec 4, 2017)

TigerTheFrog said:


> As Sonar is now out of business, I decided to switch over to Cubase Pro 9.5, so I bought the crossgrade. With my points I was able to get it for around $200 at Musician's Friend, where it is 17% off the list price of $255.
> 
> Now... I have a 10 year old dongle but it looks identical to the ones they sell today.
> 
> ...



That's odd. I have two from GS4 and GVI. My VSL licenses are on one, the other has Cubase Elements on it. I also previously registered these dongles on Steinberg. Try that first.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 4, 2017)

I found out that Steinberg has had four dongles over the years. I have the second generation, second from the left below.







They say that there are problems with the first one, but they don't mention any issues with the second. Second and third look very similar, and the fourth is just smaller. So I'm going to hold off buying a new one and keep trying with Steinberg.

Two customer service guys asked me what color my dongle was and when I said it was blue, they said it was out of date. Should be red.


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## Guillermo Navarrete (Dec 5, 2017)

Hi,



TigerTheFrog said:


> I found out that Steinberg has had four dongles over the years. I have the second generation, second from the left below.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



All dongles are blue. The one that you have should work, yes it is old and it might eventually stop working any time, but if it is still running I don't see why they have told you so... Also, if you purchase the crossgrade you will receive a box (I am assuming) there will be a new dongle in the box. 

Do you have the name of this representative, where them from the US or EU support? 

Best regards,
GN


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 5, 2017)

Guillermo Navarrete said:


> Hi,
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thanks for writing, Guillermo.

I would first like to thank you and everybody at Steinberg for offering a reasonably priced Crossgrade, which is a blessing for Sonar users like myself. I used Nuendo in the past and currently use Cubasis on the iPad, so this was an easy choice to make.

After I made my purchase of the crossgrade and got my email from Musician's Friend, I called Steinberg customer service before even trying to install Cubase. The first guy told me that my dongle was old, but would probably work. He strongly advised me to buy a new one to avoid future problems, but didn't say I had to. This was before I installed the software and found out I couldn't launch it without resolving the dongle issue. I would need a new activation code, although the one I have would allow me to install my old copy of Groove Agent (that's why I bought it). (I should add that I have another issue--I can't get into my old Steinberg account--this guy helpfully told me he has to work with Steinberg Germany to resolve this and will get back to me.)

I called again. The second guy told me I needed a red dongle, that if mine was blue it was out of date and would never work. When I went online to buy one I saw that all Steinberg dongles were blue in every store, and this made me curious to explore further.

I called a third time. This guy told me about the many dongles that Steinberg has created. He said he would check if mine would work. He put me on hold for a few minutes and came back and said it wouldn't. I had to buy a new one. Again, he mentioned the red dongle. I said that all the dongles I see selling online are blue, and he apologized and said that European dongles were red. I asked him if all the users of Steinberg products had to buy new dongles every few years. He didn't answer that exactly but said he could send me a link that would show me about the various dongles. We were then disconnected.

I went online to some forums I frequent and one person was kind enough to give me the link where I got the picture I posted above. This way I was able to verify my dongle was Version 2. I don't know how the guy on the phone could know whether my dongle would work or not without asking me to describe it.

Musician's Friend advertises the crossgrade as a download only, no box. After my purchase went through they sent me an email with a download link and a License Key. That will allow me to register the software on the site, but it doesn't help with the e-licenser.

I would really appreciate it if somebody from Steinberg will help me get into MySteinberg on the site, and get me an activation code for my dongle. I will call in again later today, unless you have other advice for me.

Thanks again!


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## MarcelM (Dec 5, 2017)

the old dongle will work just fine. i have one myself which is still going strong.

there are red dongles aswell as i heard, but they are for special demo licenses from steinberg and not for customers. atleast thats what i heard.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 5, 2017)

omiroad said:


> The red dongle thing is complete nonsense.
> 
> Why didn't you just activate the activation code you have on the dongle you have?


I have two numbers:

The Steinberg Key # from the box -- this is only 12 characters long, not 32 characters like the activation code that needs to be filled in. 

A Groove Agent Activation Code, for a very old version: This is 32 characters and works, but when I type it in it says it can authorize Groove Agent. I don't think that's going to help me with Cubase 9.5.


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## MarcelM (Dec 5, 2017)

the cubase license codes are 32 characters, and not less.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 5, 2017)

Heroix said:


> the cubase license codes are 32 characters, and not less.



I am now aware of that, but I got this dongle over ten years ago. I don't have the original piece of paper that came in the box, but I put it into my password manager for safekeeping, and I see no reason why I would have typed it incorrectly as it was very important information.

I bought the dongle solely so I could use Groove Agent 3. As I said that came with a 32 character license code. 

By the way, I got a response on Steinberg's Facebook page with a way to check if my dongle is still functional.

I'm sure this will be worked out one way or another. Perhaps Musician's Friend will send me a box for the crossgrade I bought from them, which would solve the problem perfectly. I will check this today. 

If not, I want to explore all possibilities with Steinberg before I purchase a new dongle. 

I respect that they need to deal with the rampant piracy in this business, and I had no issue buying the dongle. But I don't think it's fair for me to have to buy a second one if the first one still does the job.


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## MarcelM (Dec 5, 2017)

if you buy a boxed copy of cubase then there is a dongle inside. i dont know if the crossgrade is just the download version. either way, your dongle should work just fine.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 5, 2017)

Heroix said:


> if you buy a boxed copy of cubase then there is a dongle inside. i dont know if the crossgrade is just the download version. either way, your dongle should work just fine.


You need a dongle AND an activation code. This is what would have come in a box, if I had bought it in a box. 

I will explore this further with Musician's Friend and Steinberg and post here what I have found out.


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## babylonwaves (Dec 5, 2017)

i've successfully made an update from Cubase 4 to Cubase 9 recently and the dongle i'm using looks like a second generation dongle. maybe it's a third generation type, if somebody can tell me how to differentiate those, i'll have a look and let you know. 
red dongle do exist in Cubase land but the have a different purpose and you certainly don't need one of those.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 5, 2017)

On Facebook, Steinberg directed me to Musician's Friend. This didn't make sense to me, because all the stores sell the crossgrade with it clearly marked that a Steinberg dongle is required. 

Without getting into details, I was able to work something out with Musician's Friend and I am completely satisfied. They were my favorite store anyway, but from now on, as long as they sell a product, I will never buy from anybody else.


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## heisenberg (Dec 5, 2017)

TigerTheFrog said:


> Without getting into details, I was able to work something out with Musician's Friend and I am completely satisfied. They were my favorite store anyway, but from now on, as long as they sell a product, I will never buy from anybody else.



Pretty strong endorsement! Good you got it sorted out. Great that Guillermo jumped it with a detailed response. Steinberg has always been good to me whenever I have had a query including dealing with my local Yamaha distributor who handle Steinberg in my country.


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## paulmatthew (Dec 5, 2017)

I'm using an old one right now and it also works with ReFX and VSL as well as Steinberg. The dongle is from cubase 2 lol


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## kitekrazy (Dec 6, 2017)

paulmatthew said:


> I'm using an old one right now and it also works with ReFX and VSL as well as Steinberg. The dongle is from cubase 2 lol



Mine are from GVI and GS4. The GS4 didn't get any use.


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## YaniDee (Dec 6, 2017)

I'm using one from Korg (came with the Digital edition) from 7 yrs ago..works fine.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 9, 2017)

Okay. I got a second Steinberg e-licenser today.

But guess what? No code in the box. There's supposed to be a sheet of paper in there, but there wasn't. So after a week, I still can't use Cubase.

Getting the new dongle was totally unnecessary because the old dongle worked fine. But Steinberg said that Musician's Friend had to give me the code. Which they couldn't do as they didn't have one to give. And their advertising spelled out that I was responsible for the e-licenser. I didn't worry about that because I owned one.

But Musician's Friend was kind enough to send me a new dongle.

Again, I respect that Steinberg has to be concerned with pirates. But I am a customer who has bought a lot of stuff from them. This is my sixth Steinberg purchase, after Nuendo, Groove Agent 3, the first dongle, and Cubasis on the iPad.

@Guillermo Navarrete Can't Steinberg supply me with a code so I can use the software I've paid for? Granted my situation may be a little out of the ordinary, but I've spent many hours trying to make this work and have patiently waited a week. I'm going to keep reaching out to them through Facebook.

I can't fill out a form for customer support because I haven't registered Cubase!
Well on Monday I can call them again. They do give phone support.


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## blinkofani (Dec 9, 2017)

TigerTheFrog said:


> Okay. I got a second Steinberg e-licenser today.
> 
> But guess what? No code in the box. There's supposed to be a sheet of paper in there, but there wasn't. So after a week, I still can't use Cubase.
> 
> ...


You get an activation code from the business you bought Cubase from, be it Musician's Friend, Sweetwater or Steinberg webshop. An eLicenser only have a serial number. Once plugged on your computer and you installed the manager app, you enter the activation code in the app so a license is transferred to your dongle. 

If you bought Cubase from MF, it's their responsability to provide you with a 32 character activation code. 

Blink


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 9, 2017)

blinkofani said:


> You get an activation code from the business you bought Cubase from, be it Musician's Friend, Sweetwater or Steinberg webshop. An eLicenser only have a serial number. Once plugged on your computer and you installed the manager app, you enter the activation code in the app so a license is transferred to your dongle.
> 
> If you bought Cubase from MF, it's their responsability to provide you with a 32 character activation code.
> 
> Blink


I see now that Sweetwater says that they deliver the license code. Musician's Friend says nothing in their ad about this. So I will take it up with them again.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 9, 2017)

I finally figured this out. The source of the problem is that I was unable to get into my MySteinberg account when I bought the software. The password didn't work. 
The code that they gave me wasn't long enough. But when I entered the code in my account, Steinberg generated a code of the right length for me. 

So there's egg on my face. This was my fault.


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## steveo42 (Dec 10, 2017)

You guys just scared me ! I don't have any codes for my Steinberg eLicenser itself. I tossed the box years ago. I think it had a serial number on it but I've never needed it. Hopefully I don't need it in the future.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Dec 10, 2017)

steveo42 said:


> You guys just scared me ! I don't have any codes for my Steinberg eLicenser itself. I tossed the box years ago. I think it had a serial number on it but I've never needed it. Hopefully I don't need it in the future.


 
You're fine. If you buy Steinberg software as an online download you'll receive a code that you can input into your account on the website--at which point they will send you an activation code for the e-licencer. 

Anybody can download a download of Cubase for free. The thing that you are buying when you buy the software is the activation code for the software. It was pretty dumb of me to think that I could get an activation code for Cubase 9.5 by buying or previously owning a $30+ dongle.


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## steveo42 (Dec 10, 2017)

TigerTheFrog said:


> You're fine. If you buy Steinberg software as an online download you'll receive a code that you can input into your account on the website--at which point they will send you an activation code for the e-licencer.
> 
> Anybody can download a download of Cubase for free. The thing that you are buying when you buy the software is the activation code for the software. It was pretty dumb of me to think that I could get an activation code for Cubase 9.5 by buying or previously owning a $30+ dongle.



That has been my exact experience. I purchased the dongle way back when I tried Cubase 7 Pro. I hated Cubase so I sold it and had the license transferred to the buyer and put the dongle in the desk. So with the new Cubase offer I purchased Cubase 9.5 Professional, fired up the dongle, installed eLicenser software, activation code
etc and all has been fine. I just wanted to make sure nothing had changed. Thanks for the reply.


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