Waves...smh

[cryophonik]

This seems like it has disaster written all over it for Waves. Are pro studios still so reliant on them that they’ll jump to the $25/month sub? Are hobbyists actually going to sub at $15/month for their oldest and least desirable plugins? I’m guessing no to both given the oversaturation of the plugin effects market, so I won’t be shocked when Waves calls an emergency about face and brings back WUP for its existing customers. It’s not like Waves is Adobe or even AVID…

[cryophonik]

Also, I think this would have been more palatable if Waves had also offered an ala carte option, like Choose 30 plugins for $15/month or choose 100 for $20/month. I’m guessing that a lot of us who own dozens of their plugins don’t want or use all of the plugins that are included in the bundles, so having the option to choose would potentially be a more enticing reason to sub.

[Greenstorm33]

I think most pro studios will have no problem paying since they were probably WUPing yearly anyways, but no hobbyist in their right mind who owns now dead-in-the-water perpetual licenses will spring for this garbage. They better have done the math and determined they can subsist on subscriptions from the pro market alone or they'll be running back with their tail between their legs within six months.

[thecontrolcentre]

It's impossible to activate anything using Waves Central. I wanted to activate my 7 day trial period, but I've been trying for hours and keep getting the same message "An Error Has Occurred"

[Greenstorm33]

You know...when you call a company to ask them about policies, I can understand not getting a completely accurate answer. Waves sells plugins. So, asking them if they're switching to subscription-only begs a binary answer of yes or no. I called last week after I received an email from Best Service stating that Waves was switching to subscription-only. I called Waves and talked to one of their staff members who has been there for decades. I was told that you will still be able to buy perpetual licenses directly from Waves but that distributors won't be able to offer them.

So, I figured I would update my WUP later, after my v14 plugins expired. Well, I just go an email from Waves with their Subscription-only plans. So, all of us with perpetual licenses can no longer update our WUPs. Ok. Got it. Did I miss an email warning perpetual license owners they will lose their ability to update their plugins after the 25th? I only received an email stating that we won't be able to register new plugins after the 26th, but not losing the ability to update after the 25th and not be able to buy perpetual licenses.

Waves marketing has been predatory bullsh*t for 10-15 years now. It sucks but I'm not surprised they'd pull something like this and just flat-out lie about it beforehand. Good thing for them they're US based because they'd already have been torn to shreds in the EU.

[wangeroge]

Maybe they just pretend to go subscription only. In a few days they will activate WUP again and no one will ever complain about it anymore.

[Bodhisan]

Seems our politicians and media have paved the way for lying, making it okay for everyone. Biden: “I’ve always supported same sex marriage.” Uh, no - that is a lie. We could fill a book between Biden and Trump lies.

Apologies if this belongs in Hyde Corner, but maybe Waves belongs there, too?

[revvy]

f**k off

[zvenx]

Maybe they just pretend to go subscription only. In a few days they will activate WUP again and no one will ever complain about it anymore.

Lol..
This!!
rsp

[martiu]

"You will own nothing and you will be happy"
Waves

[martiu]

There is so many good plugin companies those days that boycotting the sub only brands is no problem at all.

[seangm]

Yep. Same here. Luckily for me, the only product I have from them is the Aphex Aural Exciter, as it is not emulated anywhere else, as far as I know.

Audiothing has an Aphex that is really good, I use it more than the Waves one:

https://www.audiothing.net/effects/type-b/

[vurt]

I did not study law but it looks like Section 5(a) of the FTC Act is in question:
https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/mission/e ... -authority

are waves based in the usa?

and now they are only selling from home base, theyre not trading in the usa either, you are now shopping in israel (iirc)

Waves has an office in the US but I do recall reading about them being founded in Israel. I just checked and Israel is in compliance with the FTC Act:
https://www.ftc.gov/policy/internationa ... consumers.

We'll see what happens. I guess someone with financial fortitude may take this to the next step. Until then, I would like them to offer an opportunity to their loyal perpetual license holders to be able to update their plugins.

should be ok then if the rules are the same

not a customer personally, but i hope you all get a favourable outcome.
and i kind of hope it goes belly up for waves, or at least floundering, otherwise more will follow ...

[plexuss]

Abandon Waves. I did a few years ago. I kept the products of theirs I wanted to retain, assuming I'd never be able to sell them, and never bought another plugin from them again. Give it a try. There are way more better options for every Waves plugin out there with other competitors. Show them your opinion by no longer giving them your money.

[kidslow]

True vurt, Adobe opened the door and proved subscription-only could make business sense. Waves success here would unleash the deluge. Waves is no Adobe, and most of their competition are likely to take a watch and wait approach, but definitely this is a barometer moment for the industry. Since Waves is not a public company like Adobe, perhaps the only way to measure the success of this will be whether or not they backtrack within 12 months.