Waves...smh

[Ah_Dziz]

I'd never buy another product for them outside of them bringing back non subscription licenses fully and in perpetuity. I've been buying about 2 plugins a year since they started their crazy "mega sale" marketing. Between just people I know in real life that have similar purchase habits that's still a few thousand bucks a year just in my tiny region and only in new purchases (no wup income or anything). It's hard to extrapolate the worldwide market from the behavior of the mid Atlantic of the US semi pro market but I can't imagine that they weren't seeing similar if not far greater income all over the place, and that's before the broadcast and live sound market. I do not know a single person that prefers software licensing via subscription.

[jamcat]

Waves believe they are indispensable in 2023. That theory is about to be tested.

[Ah_Dziz]

I can dispense the hell out of them.

[martiu]

OBEY
MARRY AND REPRODUCE
NO INDEPENDENT THOUGHT
NO THOUGHT
CONSUME
CONFORM
SUBMIT
STAY ASLEEP
BUY
WATCH TV
NO IMAGINATION
DO NOT QUESTION AUTHORITY
SLEEP
WORK 8 HOURS
SLEEP 8 HOURS
PLAY 8 HOURS
HONOR APATHY
NO IDEAS
FOLLOW
SURRENDER
COOPERATE
DOUBT HUMANITY
REWARD INDIFFERENT

THIS IS YOUR GOD

EAT THE BUGS

[martiu]

waves are good plugins, subscribe now

Bring back the thumbs down.

sorry , i no mod

[jamcat]

a lil lack of perspective...waves bet on the power of their brand and market share and their ability to ride out the resulting reduced revenue years; to drive the market to the 29$ price point in the first place...they didn't do it altruistically...most likely they did it to thin the market and reduce competition due to the downturn of the pro market and the closure of most big studios, coinciding with a partial pivot to hobbyist...but the end result benefitted consumers just the same...waves is the main reason you have been able to pick up so many plugins from tons of developers for 30$; most of which used to be 3-4 times that price

Here’s a different perspective.

Waves did not steer the market. They merely responded to the commoditization of plugins that was occurring naturally due to over-saturation of the market.

Now Waves has reached full market saturation from constant sales and needs to generate new revenue from the same pool of existing customers.

Pro Tools users on Mac is Waves core base of diehard customers going back decades. Pro Tools only recently became M1 compatible, and Waves AAX plugins are not yet available natively for Apple Silicon. But they are probably readying the release of V15 with full native support.

Native AAX support on Apple Silicon is Waves’ leverage to corral their core customers into the subscription ghetto.

[ghettosynth]

a lil lack of perspective...waves bet on the power of their brand and market share and their ability to ride out the resulting reduced revenue years; to drive the market to the 29$ price point in the first place...they didn't do it altruistically...most likely they did it to thin the market and reduce competition due to the downturn of the pro market and the closure of most big studios, coinciding with a partial pivot to hobbyist...but the end result benefitted consumers just the same...waves is the main reason you have been able to pick up so many plugins from tons of developers for 30$; most of which used to be 3-4 times that price

Here’s a different perspective.

Waves did not steer the market. They merely responded to the commoditization of plugins that was occurring naturally due to over-saturation of the market.

Now Waves has reached full market saturation from constant sales and needs to generate new revenue from the same pool of existing customers.

Pro Tools users on Mac is Waves core base of diehard customers going back decades. Pro Tools only recently became M1 compatible, and Waves AAX plugins are not yet available natively for Apple Silicon. But they are probably readying the release of V15 with full native support.

Native AAX support on Apple Silicon is Waves’ leverage to corral their core customers into the subscription ghetto.

Yeah, this sounds closer to the truth.

[tha_man]

I'm not surprised at all, since they were using sort of subscription model even before, it just wasn't called that. I bought one of their plugin years ago, it got updated once and after that they wanted me to pay just to keep it compatible with their latest plugin manager, which was needed for compatibility with latest OS. As I realised what their business model is, I uninstalled the plugin and decided not to buy from them anymore.

But if I were a professional who relies on many of their plugins to make a living, 25$ per month for all of their, let's not forget - quality catalogue, updates and I guess anything they will produce in the future is not that expensive. Probably even cheaper that before.

[vitocorleone123]

I've never had a Waves plugin, and now, never will.

[mothra]

I'm not hearing lots of support from the "only $15 a month, that's way cheap" people.

Its 'only' $15 a month depending on the plugins you want to use. I only use two of their plugins anymore, the SSL Ev2 and the SSL Bus Comp. Both of those plugins, put me in the $25 a month sub (the $15 sub has the old E channel and no bus compressor). I occasionally use the API EQ's and 2500 (I own the Studio Collection) so yeah not about to drop $250+ a year to use two plugins I paid $20 each for when I have two or three other SSL channels and compressors to choose from that have permanent licenses.

[SirkusPi]

Unlike many here, I only have a handful of Waves plugins (three, to be exact), acquired over 10 or so years, and I've only used one (Waves Tune Real Time) with any frequency. So I’m not a customer Waves probably cares much about, as I haven’t sent a lot of money their way. But while I would periodically entertain updating Real Time through WUP, there is most certainly no way I’m going to pay $15/month, every month, for all time, to keep using that one plugin. That’s several hundred dollars after just a couple years! For one plugin! Waves plainly has lost all interest in casual customers.

Happily, because I don’t use Waves much, it will be painless to me to abandon the company altogether and simply not purchase from them again. I feel badly foreveryone with a bigger investment who is now caught in their abusive behavior.

[ghettosynth]

I'm not hearing lots of support from the "only $15 a month, that's way cheap" people.

Its 'only' $15 a month depending on the plugins you want to use. I only use two of their plugins anymore, the SSL Ev2 and the SSL Bus Comp. Both of those plugins, put me in the $25 a month sub (the $15 sub has the old E channel and no bus compressor). I occasionally use the API EQ's and 2500 (I own the Studio Collection) so yeah not about to drop $250+ a year to use two plugins I paid $20 each for when I have two or three other SSL channels and compressors to choose from that have permanent licenses.

You're preaching to the choir. But, this is big news. There's been considerable apologetics around here for subscriptions. I feel like it's time for those people who might now have to pay multiple vendors every month for their take now.

[jens]

Happily, because I don’t use Waves much, it will be painless to me to abandon the company altogether and simply not purchase from them again. I feel badly foreveryone with a bigger investment who is now caught in their abusive behavior.

I own most of the newer ones... (the last few releases didn't interest me enough anymore - the SSL stuff, the Magmas, Vocal Bender and Harmony, the sampler...)

But I'm good - it's not like I can't use them anymore.

Full disclosure: I never paid WUP for even just a single plugin and to be frank I never even could be arsed to update them to a newer version while their Update Plan was still active.

Yes, you read that right - here they're basically almost all (at least, I guess) one version behind - I just couldn't be bothered.

(And I was never one of these WUP-haters - I just couldn't see the point...)

[martiu]

i never knew Waves existed couple a weeks ago, but who does when you have Sonic Charge and Madrona Labs gems

[Grumbleweed]

I have a shed load of Waves stuff and I figure they will still work and I'll just carry on with what I have. I can't see them getting any brothers and sisters in the future - but I think I'd reach saturation point anyway.
Cubase takes a long time saying "Scanning VST3 Plug-ins.." on the boot up screen and it will be nice not to make that any worse!

Grum.