Nuendo 2 on Mac OS Dongle Emulator

[imacj]

Hey all,

I was looking around Macintosh Repository for Nuendo 2 and stumbled upon this.
https://www.macintoshrepository.org/17410-steinberg-nuendo-2-0

I got all the way through the installation, however, when opening Nuendo 2 it asks for a hardware key. There is a dongle emulator included with the software, but it is EXE based.

Has anyone had luck with emulating dongles for Nuendo 2?

Cheers!

[smilesdavis]

afaik nuendo 1 to 2 for mac were never emulated

[adingley]

Just in case anyone else is ever looking here and thinking about installing Nuendo 2.0 — I'm 99% certain it wasn't macOS 9.x compatible. Version 2.0 and beyond required at least macOS X 10.2.x or later. Nuendo 1.5 was macOS 9.x compatible. And, best I can tell, no one ever released a reliable dongle-emulator.  I have a real Nuendo 2.0 dongle, as I used the platform heavily ~20yrs ago, but I was using it on 10.2.x

[DieHard]

Yes, unfortunately, a stable Nuendo 1.x or 2.x system under Mac OS9 was not meant to be...

I was a 50% owner in a company that was endorsed by Steinberg to sell Nuendo PC dual Pentium III systems (with blue lucite cases) via Sam Ash distribution in NY.  The Tower PCs were outfitted with RME 9652 Cards and Nuendo 1.x  This was the first time that PC platform product development was was ahead as compared to the mac.  Nuendo, as I remember, was announced for both Silcon Graphics workstations and PCs with Windows NT. 

Since Nuendo was originally released as a Windows-only product, the Mac OS Nuendo 1.5 version would have to wait a full year (in 2001) to be compiled from the "portable framework" that is was developed on.  Meaning in 2001, Nuendo 1.x for Mac OS 9 was basically a super-buggy application that crashed constantly while the PC version ran on dual PIIIs rock solid all day long. As far as Nuendo 2, Mac OS 9 was done by then.

I was very sad at the time, because my heart was in the OS 9 camp.  Many Mac OS 9 project studios that switched to Nuendo eventually switched back VST 5/32 after a few months, since it was just not ready for prime time in Mac OS 9.  I strongly believe that VST 5/32 is as good as it gets for Steinberg fans under OS 9.  At the time in 2001, Nuendo was absolutely amazing on a PC with a multiple undo stack, dual-CPU support, and a bunch of other features, but it still lagged when triggering Virtual instruments with a controller.  This was my main gripe with PCs, we were enjoying zero latency MIDI via keyboard controllers since Mac OS 8.1.  Also, Directx plugins on the windows side lacked the ability for recording automation (another thing we were enjoying in the mac arena).

But time marched on, in the end, CPUs got fast enough to crunch the Mircrosoft spaghetti code that they called "an operating system" As as these systems parsed thru the fu*k&^g database nightmare that they called a registry, a DAW on PC platform became quite use-able.  It's was just a known fact, like today, that if your Studio PCs is working well... don't install anything new, don't update anything, ALWAYS make a restore point, etc. (what a way to live).  Now Apple has followed suite by breaking things for musicians with every OS update.... who knows, maybe Apple will announce their big plans to add a registry to Mac OS as a new great feature in 2024.

[ssp3]

Nuendo 1.6 was pretty stable, at least for my needs. I was legal user back in the day.
I am wondering how much of bad rep Nuendo got from users of k'ed earlier version 1.5.2 
Unfortunately, I can't report on stability of 1.6 anymore, because my dongle was stolen together with other stuff by some idiots 6 years ago, who probably thought that this is just a fancy looking USB stick.

[DieHard]

Nuendo 1.6 was pretty stable, at least for my needs. I was legal user back in the day.

Yes, I admit 1.6.1 on Mac OS 9 was indeed stable.  At that point, I was personally done with Nuendo (after initially being very excited).  Many inside contacts I had at Steinberg told me directly that the Nuendo Windows team was the focus and they put very little resources into the Mac versions. 

Circa 2001/2002 was the most chaotic times for software development... Vendors had to deal with OS X and the expansion of the Windows Pro Audio market literally at the same time !  There were so many rumors (probably based on loose facts) that some vendors were abandoning Mac all together and going with the numbers.

I can tell you that Nuendo, specifically, was easily doing more tracks and plugins on the Dual PIII systems with NT than Mac OS 9.  I was stuck running around demo-ing the "Nuendo PC system" during the day, only to start up my mac when I got home in the evening.

[AtariMan]

I can confirm that Nuendo 1.6.1 runs flawlessly on Mac OS 9.
Here are some photos of Nuendo running.

[IIO]

haha, i also lost mine and now i am left with 152k. i shall buy one again somewhen soon.

[ssp3]

That's why I don't buy anything that uses dongles anymore. Same applies to stuff that requires internet connection.
<Middle finger emoji>
I played with idea to take a closer look at 1.6, but am lacking the motivation. Anyone have original 1.5.2 in their collections?

[teroyk]

That's why I don't buy anything that uses dongles anymore. Same applies to stuff that requires internet connection.

Dongles are easier find that open shutdowned internet server.

Does somebody know if Nuendo 1.6 works with 1.5 dongle?

[AtariMan]

That's why I don't buy anything that uses dongles anymore. Same applies to stuff that requires internet connection.

Dongles are easier find that open shutdowned internet server.

Does somebody know if Nuendo 1.6 works with 1.5 dongle?

Yes, versions 1.5.2 and 1.5.3 work with the key from 1.6.