Waves V12 is here, now with resizable GUIs

[jochicago]

... does not charge for upgrades.

You can't list every brand that doesn't charge for upgrades or we'll be here all day.

It's easier to point out the few crappy ones that charge for upgrades even when nothing has been upgraded in 15 years. Here's the list:
- Waves

[The Noodlist]

The price of WUP per plugin is also not an issue. It's very reasonable considering that majority of developers ask 19-29$ per plugin for most upgrades.

False.
Waves is who charges for that.
Acustica Audio upgrades are free forever and they add more new plugins included on the upgrades for free, every time they upgrade them, which is often. And they do a great upgrading work, quality increases more and more.
Fuse Audio Labs does not charge for upgrades.
BlackRooster does not charge for upgrades.
...

These newer developers are smaller businesses with smaller overheads. Waves have a lot of wages to pay with offices located all over the globe. They also sell hardware. I bet these newer companies have 12 or less employees and use contactors.

Multiple WUPs need for Waves V9 by the looks of it.

[imrae]

These newer developers are smaller businesses with smaller overheads. Waves have a lot of wages to pay with offices located all over the globe. They also sell hardware. I bet these newer companies have 12 or less employees and use contactors.

I don't see how any of that makes Waves updates more valuable to end-users.

[The Noodlist]

I don't see how any of that makes Waves updates more valuable to end-users.

It doesn't, unless you need the new features and functionality and also using a Mac computer.

There are plenty of alternatives. I'm starting to use PA, Klanghelm, TDR, BR, Toneboosters, IKM and others to replace Waves.

[babiuk]

Waves have a lot of wages to pay with offices located all over the globe.

You can find tons of companies(supermarkets, book stores...) with offices all over the world having to pay lots of money too.

What is the difference?

The difference is that when you pay in a book store you get a book,in a market you get tomatoes or bread or any food. In Waves you get zero when you pay for an update(which seems to require having offices all over the world in order to be created).

Secondly, little companies have to pay lots of money too, and they don´t charge you nothing. And they work hard so their graphics (excellent mostly and extremely amazing in Acustica Audio particularly) does not need Metal card orr new computer. Resizing? oh, my god, most of companies do that years ago for free.

About big ones: Amazon is bigger than Waves and every time you pay to Amazon you get something, even paying for Prime subscription you get Prime Video and free shippings.

"They also sell hardware"... OK, Waves, Don´t do it if that does not work for you, or if you lose money and you need to cover it using software incomes

[The Noodlist]

Resizing? oh, my god, most of companies do that years ago for free.

I couldn't agree more. And freeware, too.
I'd rather walk away than pay WUP, as an hobbyist.

I was stating, Waves needs constant revenue to keep the wheels turning. Maybe they need to downsize.
The market is saturated with alternatives. Things have changed since they were a dominant force in a once limited market.

[LoveEnigma18]

The market is saturated with alternatives. Things have changed since they were a dominant force in a once limited market.

Exactly. Sometimes I think they are just trying to cash in while they can and future might not be very promising. Of course, we probably don't have the full understanding or right to say this, but the sales that have been going on from last few years have been ridiculous and lead me into thinking this way.

Mind you, I like Waves plugins and own a significant number of them. However, IIRC, it's been a year or so I haven't purchased any (new) plugin from them.

Customers expecting a "proper" scalable GUI from a big company like Waves needs no justification, especially when, as mentioned, even free plugins have scalable GUIs since a long time.

[Grizzellda]

Waves is not Tonehelm.

Tony, and Shaun from Valhalla, and Melda, these smaller developers are agile, and can do updates quickly, communicate with KVR posters, and do stuff that a bigger company cannot, and quicker, too.

I like Waves, but they are behind the times for sure. If they shape up, get it together, I wanna use their products. The Schepps channel strip is pretty darn good, so let us roll with that, and frankly, stuff like that.

Come on Waves! get it together for some cool software in the future!

[The Noodlist]

Come on Waves! get it together for some cool software in the future!

Including questionable sales tactics.
Gold Bundle at $799, c'mon. with code Bundle 50 $179.50.
Gold Bundle was $55.27 at Audio Deluxe in Sept 2018. Inflated RRP.

[Captain]

I have been trying to get away from Waves plugins for some years now, due to many of the things mentioned here, plus some technical inconveniencies (mono & stereo versions are separate plugins (with AU & Logic at least), the convoluted versioning system, lack of proper resizing, just the general feeling that the whole company is behind the times, etc). But then they always manage to release something that I really like (Omni Channel), and I can't get rid of them just yet. Plus I'm still using the good old RDeEsser, I have tested many others, but somehow it always feels the best to me.

[robotmonkey]

Waves have a lot of wages to pay with offices located all over the globe.

What is the difference?

The difference is that when you pay in a book store you get a book,in a market you get tomatoes or bread or any food. In Waves you get zero when you pay for an update(which seems to require having offices all over the world in order to be created).

Secondly, little companies have to pay lots of money too, and they don´t charge you nothing. And they work hard so their graphics (excellent mostly and extremely amazing in Acustica Audio particularly) does not need Metal card orr new computer. Resizing? oh, my god, most of companies do that years ago for free.

That's complete nonsense. Have you even looked at the Waves release notes? They are publicly available for everyone to see, by the way.

First, you do not have to pay WUP if you don't need it.
Second, even though Waves plugins are pretty much the most stable plugins on release there are, with WUP you get quick bug fixes and updates. Waves fixes their mistakes in days or weeks, for all the hundreds of plugins in their catalog. Very few developers come close. Some of the developers have bugs unfixed for years.
Third, you get first rate support when needed. No other developer in the industry comes close to Waves as far as customer support is concerned. If music is your work, then this is pretty much essential. They even have a phone support on weekends.
Fourth, with WUP you get access to all kinds of additional content. Personally, I do not care about it, but many probably see value in this.

[MissOptimyst]

I love Waves products, but I’m not about to play the WUP game either. Maybe for the Ovox and H-Delay down the road...but I’ve kind of switched over for the most part to other FX due to their policies. Doesn’t seem long term sustainable without a lot of $$$ thrown at the same software I already bought...

[0degree]

That's complete nonsense. Have you even looked at the Waves release notes? They are publicly available for everyone to see, by the way.

And what can I find for example about MaxxBass ? It's unchanged at least from v9 as many as other plugins. Release notes are meaningless IMO and bugfixes should be included in older versions

First, you do not have to pay WUP if you don't need it.

Unless you have to upgrade your Mac

Second, even though Waves plugins are pretty much the most stable plugins on release there are, with WUP you get quick bug fixes and updates

Unless you don't have WUP then you're stuck with a bug

Waves fixes their mistakes in days or weeks, for all the hundreds of plugins in their catalog. Very few developers come close. Some of the developers have bugs unfixed for years.

And some developers fix their bugs for free without WUP - pretty poor argument

Fourth, with WUP you get access to all kinds of additional content. Personally, I do not care about it, but many probably see value in this.

From the Waves webpage I see "NEW: Exclusive Premium Content, Get access to premium music production & mixing masterclasses****" - not sure how useful this is and if it's worth the money

[jochicago]

First, you do not have to pay WUP

How many times do we need to debunk your shilling BS before you stop repeating it. Seriously dude, you force us to have the same argument on repeat for years because you keep coming back and saying the same lies over and over.

If you don't have WUP you lose access to the second plugin install. You lose support, you are denied your right to sell your plugins, and you are denied bug fixes even when the bugs were known while your WUP was still current.

And no, they don't fix bugs "quickly". For the v12 release they held back bug fixes for months so they could release them as v12, specifically so they can lock out v11 people and force them to "upgrade".

I don't want to keep repeating myself like this, makes me feel like I'm wasting time that I could be using to run EQs through Plugin Doctor. I've had to say this many times, probably in this same thread. Please stop dragging me here to say the same things over and over. Get a hobby or something. Maybe make music instead of shilling so hard.

[rasmusklump]

As if Steinberg would fix your Cubase Version 11 bugs for free if you don't pay for version 12.

robotmonkey is completely right