Music Software Domain Question

[Trojan]

Hi All,

 

We currently run Sibelius 7.1 and Cubase 7 on our Music computers which are not joined to the domain and everyone logs on as a local user.

 

I have had a request from SMT to investigate putting these computers on the domain.

 

Now obviously I would prefer this from a management perspective but I need to consider the technicalities of actually running this software as a locked down regular student user.

 

I know in the past the conventional wisdom was to not have music computers on the domain for various reasons.. (which I'm not sure were all true to be honest.)

 

I'm wondering what the state of play is now regarding this, what do you all do with your music computers and joining them to the domain? Experiences of running this software on a computer that is domain joined?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Nick.

[tmcd35]

We've done this here and regreated it. CuBase is a complete arse! Contacted Steinberg who said the configuration was not officially supported. We mostly get driver mapping errors that usually can be resolved by deleting the pupils profile.

[foofighterjim]

I have had good results with Sibelius on a Windows domain, it would be best to upgrade your single workstation licencing to network licencing though. Once done you can install Sibelius on as many clients as you want, the licence server application deals with limiting the total number of simultaneous connections.

 

Sibelius support is also very helpful in setting this up (although there isn't much to it!).

[3s-gtech]

No issues at all with Sibelius on a domain. I think Cubase works too.

[Norphy]

We use Sonar X1 and Sibelius on domain joined PCs. Sonar took some adjustment and swearing but Sibelius just works.

[Trojan]

Thanks for the input everyone. I will certainly have to consider this very carefully.

[DJL]

We have Sibelius 6, Sibelius 7, Cubase 7 and ProTools 11 all working our domain joined Windows 7 and Windows 8 computers.

 

They all worked out of the box for us. The only pain was adjusting the MSI's and scripting for an unattended install.

[Steve21]

Out of curiosity how did you get cubase 7 working out the box? Finding it's a bodge at every turn, won't install silently with keys, needs manual setting up per user profile etc

 

STeve

[DJL]

I just edited the msi (Cubase7_64bit.msi) using Orca and set the property IAgree to Yes.

 

Then we use a startup script to install the software:

 

IF NOT EXIST "C:\Program Files\Steinberg\Cubase 7\Cubase7.exe" start /wait msiexec /i "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\Cubase7_64bit.msi" /qn /lv c:\logs\cubase7.log

 

We also did the same with all the VST effects and updates:

 

IF NOT EXIST c:\Logs\Cubase7Updates.txt IF EXIST c:\Logs\Cubase7VST.txt IF EXIST "C:\Program Files\Steinberg\Cubase 7\Cubase7.exe" GOTO UPDATES

GOTO:eof

:UPDATES
start /wait Msiexec -P "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\Updates\Cubase_7.0.5_64bit_Update.msp" /qn 
start /wait Msiexec -P "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\Updates\HALion_Sonic_SE_1.6.3_64bit_Update.msp" /qn

ECHO Cubase VST Updates Installed > c:\Logs\Cubase7Updates.txt

 

IF NOT EXIST c:\Logs\Cubase7VST.txt IF EXIST "C:\Program Files\Steinberg\Cubase 7\Cubase7.exe" GOTO VST 

GOTO:eof

:VST
start /wait msiexec /i "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\VST Sound\VSTAmp_Content_01.msi" /qn /lv c:\logs\CubaseVST1.log
start /wait msiexec /i "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\VST Sound\Steinberg_Midi_Loop_Library.msi" /qn /lv c:\logs\CubaseVST2.log
start /wait msiexec /i "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\VST Sound\Steinberg_Drum_Loop_Expansion_01.msi" /qn /lv c:\logs\CubaseVST3.log
start /wait msiexec /i "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\VST Sound\Reverence_Content_01.msi" /qn /lv c:\logs\CubaseVST4.log
start /wait msiexec /i "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\VST Sound\Retrologue_64bit.msi" /qn /lv c:\logs\CubaseVST5.log
start /wait msiexec /i "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\VST Sound\Padshop_64bit.msi" /qn /lv c:\logs\CubaseVST6.log
start /wait msiexec /i "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\VST Sound\LoopMash_Content2.msi" /qn /lv c:\logs\CubaseVST7.log
start /wait msiexec /i "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\VST Sound\LoopMash_Content.msi" /qn /lv c:\logs\CubaseVST8.log
start /wait msiexec /i "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\VST Sound\HALionSonicSE_Content.msi" /qn /lv c:\logs\CubaseVST9.log
start /wait msiexec /i "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\VST Sound\HALionSonicSE_64bit.msi" /qn /lv c:\logs\CubaseVST10.log
start /wait msiexec /i "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\VST Sound\Groove_Agent_ONE_Vintage_Beatboxes.msi" /qn /lv c:\logs\CubaseVST11.log
start /wait msiexec /i "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\VST Sound\Groove_Agent_ONE_Content.msi" /qn /lv c:\logs\CubaseVST12.log
start /wait msiexec /i "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\VST Sound\Groove_Agent_ONE_Allen_Morgan_Signature_Drums.msi" /qn /lv c:\logs\CubaseVST13.log
start /wait msiexec /i "\\servername\Applications\Cubase 7\VST Sound\EuconAdapter65_64bit.msi" /qn /lv c:\logs\CubaseVST14.log

ECHO Cubase VST Plugins Installed > c:\Logs\Cubase7VST.txt

 

We never managed to find away to install the eLicensor software for the dongles unattended - that's deployed in our standard image instead. In terms of profiles it just works - all users have user permissions and roaming profiles.

 

ProTools on the other hand is a complete nightmare!

[daflibble]

We have Sibelius 6, Sibelius 7, Cubase 7 and ProTools 11 all working our domain joined Windows 7 and Windows 8 computers.

 

They all worked out of the box for us. The only pain was adjusting the MSI's and scripting for an unattended install.

 

I'm interested in how you managed to adjust the install to make it work unattended and if it still applies to the current versions?

I've been unable to get the Sibelius install to work when running under the system account as is needed for unattended SCCM installs.

 

Sorry for reviving an old thread but these issues rarely seem to be addressed by the vendors properly.

[Steve21]

Sibelius was an easy one for us, not sure if that changed in 8 though, but it was Cubase that was a faff

 

For Sibelius 7/7.1 we just use:

 

Sibelius7Installer.exe /SERIAL=XYZ /LSINFO=MYSERVER:7312 /SILENT /NORESTART

Sibelius713b77.exe /LSINFO=MYSERVER /VERYSILENT

 

Not sure if there's a newer one now though?

 

Steve