Purchased soundloops not accessible via offline computer

D-C4557 wrote on 1/5/2024, 9:46 AM

PROBLEM

Music Maker v25. The soundloops our NGO have licensed are not accessible via Music Maker. "Please sign into the store to use any soundpools you have purchased."

LIMITATIONS

The computer with Music Maker cannot be connected directly to the internet. When it was connected we registered the various MAGIX software applications and also added many soundpools. The licensed soundpools are not associated with a subscription service.

We do not have another computer that can run Music Maker; our internet-connected computers run Ubuntu. We only have one Windows box which we have kept solely for legacy programs like Music Maker.

According to MAGIX: "[a]fter activation, the software will run also without an active internet connection!" This is what we are attempting to do, to use our licensed software without an active internet connection. Note: we are aware that some apps/codecs require periodic re-activation but, per the license, that is not supposed to be the case with Music Maker or related soundpools.

WHAT WE HAVE TRIED

We have downloaded the licensed soundpools (both as WAV and OGG files) and confirmed the directory structure but continue to receive an error when trying to use Music Maker.

  • How do we make the soundpools available for use in Music Maker? (given our inability to connect that computer to the internet again)
  • We have tested with three formats of files in the required directory structure (wav, ogg, and mxcogg files) but we still receive the same error messages.
  • Note: the "free" soundloop package is accessible and appears to work as designed. (Music Maker - Feel Good)

MORE INFO

Since 2017 we have purchased several versions of Music Maker and other Magix software. The only Magix software applications we will use are those that do not require an internet connection. A quick search shows we appear to currently have both versions 25 & 30 of Music Maker. We are attempting to use 25 as we find it to be much more user-friendly.

Over the years we have found ways to work around the many problems we've had with MAGIX but right now we have an immediate need to make use of the content for which we have paid. We are reluctantly investing some time into finding a solution that will work from now on.

Thanks in advance for any insight / work-arounds / assistance.

Comments

SP. wrote on 1/5/2024, 11:41 AM

@D-C4557 You probably downloaded the Soundpools as Zip files from Producerplanet.com, correct?

Did you extract the Zip files? If yes, then it shouldn't be any problem to add the extracted Soundpools to the Loops Manager inside Music Maker.

Old versions of Music Maker should work without internet, after a one-time activation. If I counted it correctly, Music Maker version 25 should be the same as Music Maker 2016. I believe back then it was still possible to use Music Maker without a constant internet connection.

D-C4557 wrote on 1/5/2024, 12:27 PM

@SP. Yes, we downloaded and then extracted the zip files. We did this twice, once for WAV and then for the OGG files. We thought (and the license appears to agree) that we do not need an internet connection.

However we are still receiving the message to "sign into the store" to access any individual files from the Soundpools from within Music Maker.

We can sidestep this by importing individual files from those Soundpools but that is a very cumbersome process. And the manual process does not allow us to use Music Maker to "create" any music using those files. The only Soundpool that works properly is "Feel Good."

Thank you for the response. Now we know that we've probably done everything correctly at least.

SP. wrote on 1/5/2024, 12:38 PM

@D-C4557 What version number is shown in Music Maker if you click on the Help > About menu?

D-C4557 wrote on 1/5/2024, 1:28 PM

@SP. Version: 25.1.3.84

SP. wrote on 1/5/2024, 5:49 PM

@D-C4557 Ok, I searched a little bit and it looks like version 25 was Music Maker 2018. I believe back then the in-app-store was already introduced. With these old versions you need to login, but after the login, you can disconnect the Internet connection and stay logged in. If I remember it correctly, you should even stay logged in if you close and reopen the program. And should be able to use WAV and OGG Soundpools without being online.

But subscription-mxcogg definitely need an online connection. Are there still some mxcogg files on your hard drive? I also believe that, when Magix introduced the mxcogg file format, they made it the standard file format for Music Maker. They later changed the file format back to WAV and OGG, maybe because of complaining from customers. I would guess that your version 25 is the version that came with mxcogg files. I suggest you remove all mxcogg files. Then re-scan all Soundpool folders.

gjonny wrote on 1/5/2024, 10:02 PM

@D-C4557
Silly question maybe, but what's stopping you from connecting temporarily to the Internet (on the Windows computer)?

D-C4557 wrote on 1/6/2024, 10:34 AM

@SP. Good idea -- we'll give that a try and will report back. The mxcogg files are definitely there.

@gjonny Unfortunately that's not an option. The Windows computer is solely for the few Windows-only apps we use (Synology NAS / Adobe CS6 / etc). It is outdated & unsafe and so we've removed all connectivity other than within our LAN. There are some products (Construct2 was one) that supported an offline use via software "patches" but MAGIX doesn't appear to offer this type of support.

We're a nonprofit and publish free prosocial video games. Although our system setup is not ideal it helps us, among other things, protect the source code for dozens of games while allowing us to keep using some of the legacy software that we've already purchased.

D-C4557 wrote on 1/6/2024, 12:04 PM

@SP. No luck. There are mxcogg files in all of the soundpool directories. Testing one of the soundpools by removing the mxcogg files while retaining ogg and wav files gave us a different error than before:

"*.mxcogg has been deleted or moved and cannot be used."

Adding the mxcogg files back to the directory gave the original error: "Please sign into the store to use any soundpools you have purchased."

A few other things of note:

In the directory for each soundpool there is a file: description.xml. That file includes a flag: enabledBySubscription. Each of our soundpools show that flag as set to: "false".

Also: on our system, the .mxcogg files were created on March 6, 2018. The .ogg files were created on July 10, 2017. The .wav files were created on June 6, 2018. It might be that the introduction of the .mxcogg files to our system was due to an "update" from MAGIX. If so, and if it limited the use of the software, that would arguably be a problem that MAGIX should have to resolve.

Last: after trying a variety of other things, to include creating a newly named soundpool using the existing files (with a slightly modified JSON file) as well as importing the raw .wav files, there are now .H0 files appearing in the soundpool directory. Our understanding is that these are used to indicate the waveform of a sound file. And so, it seems that even if the program is not allowing access to the audio files, it is still recognizing when those files have been "side-loaded" (via import) and then assigning .H0 files to them within that soundpool directory. It might be that .H0 files are created in the directory from which any audio file is imported so this might be meaningless.

Thank you for the suggestion, we hoped it would be a reasonable way to resolve this.

 

 

 

SP. wrote on 1/6/2024, 12:18 PM

@D-C4557 Ok, if you used mxcogg files in your projects, you probably cannot get it to work again without internet.

David-Barselow wrote on 1/8/2024, 3:45 PM

@D-C4557 if you want to search for those mxcoog files and make sure you searched the whole drive go to file explorer select your root drive most likely c: drive? while it is selected use this search query *.mxcoog the Asterix is a wild card that assumes any and every possible alphanumeric combination before .mxcoog do this before going to sleep at night and you should have your answer in the morning whether or not you have any .mxcoog files on your machine. Best of luck I hope you get it figured out.

David-Barselow wrote on 1/8/2024, 3:55 PM

If you find those *.mxcoog files have been or are on the machine and you the proper software version you want. Do a uninstall and then rebuild the older version, seems logical? Or you can do a uninstall the program and then do a search for possible remanences left behind and then do your reinstall. Better than troubleshooting forever

 

D-C4557 wrote on 1/9/2024, 10:09 AM

@David-Barselow Thank you for your input. However, our problem does not seem to be with missing *.mxcogg files. Instead the problem appears to be that MAGIX is not allowing us to access soundloops we have previously purchased. We do not have an internet connection and the Music Maker software is requiring us to re-connect to the store in order to access those files we have already purchased. We are able to connect to the store via another computer and have re-downloaded the WAV and OGG files but can only use them via import. The Music Maker software is not allowing us to use them programatically within the software.

The T&Cs for Music Maker claim that an internet is not required once the software has been activated but in our case it does not seem to be working properly. When we have a volunteer or intern who has the time to spend on this we will have them contact MAGIX tech support to find a resolution.

We posted the issue on here because we were hoping that there was an easy solution or something that we had overlooked. Instead this appears to be a problem with MAGIX's software and/or policies.

johnebaker wrote on 1/9/2024, 11:06 AM

@D-C4557

Hi

I would suggest contact Magix by email to infoservice@magix.net, explain your situation and the NGO's sphere of operations, eg are they a governing body for education/schools etc.

Ask if there is a solution available that uses a local registration/activation server software for your system, as is used in many education establishments.

John EB
Forum Moderator

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