Waves...smh

[ramseysounds]

@jens - just quote the part of my post that suits your agenda.

[jens]

I don't have an agenda. And I just quoted the part I wanted to reply to i.e. I considered relevant to my reply.

If you think my quote took your sentence out of context then please be so kind as to explain how and why and I will
wholeheartedly apologize.

[Mathematics]

So if you get a new computer and try to install your previously purchased plugins will it work?

In short, it appears that you can still install perpetual licenses on a new system (I wouln't be surprised to find out that someone cannot). I launched Waves Central and it updated itself to the latest version. I am still allowed to manage perpetual licenses, e.g., Deactivate and assign locations. I have a deactivated license of Soundgrid which is still available to activate, so I expect that deactivating a license is not a one-way action; meaning, you can still reactivate it. Can you reactivate elsewhere? I don't see why not, but I would rather not try.

What I am NOT certain about is, what happens if the activated location fails. Will you lose those activations? It looks like it, but I last recall Waves allowed a once-per-year reactivation of a new device should a previously activated device failed. I don't have the time to confirm this but perhaps someone can find the time to see if this policy is still in the TOS.

So, as long as you download the Offline installers and save them, the latest version of Waves Central, as of now, will install them...but with what has happened thus far, it's possible that Waves could deprecate this ability.

[jamcat]

I think up to now that was their biggest strength.

I always assumed Waves to be the most stable company of all. The one that will always be there, that will still maintain all their oldest plugins so you can safely expect to keep beeing able to re-open your age old projects even if you otherwise may not have used these ancient plugins in a decade (or two).

So have I. I’ve even cited this here in the past. That’s why I said, “What has always been Waves’ greatest strength, is also their greatest weakness, and it’s caught up with them.”

I mean, “old plugins” is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Waves. Old and reliable isn’t exactly fresh and exciting. And that’s what audio people are going to buy.

Waves are just tired at this point, and the customers moved on to newer developers a while ago.

It’s been years since Waves made any waves with anything groundbreaking. Their new offerings have been gimmicky and underwhelming, and they’ve been relying on a back catalogue of past hits that are well past their prime. And it’s finally caught up with them.

[GaryG]

Is it really fair that iOS apps of a certain cross-platform software are significantly cheaper than a perpetual license on a computer?

It's an unpopular opinion but I generally agree. I see different markets have different expectations but when the devs are almost boasting that they can script their builds to just spit out different formats based on the exact same dsp... makes me question the inherent worth.

[ramseysounds]

I don't have an agenda. And I just quoted the part I wanted to reply to i.e. I considered relevant to my reply.

If you think my quote took your sentence out of context then please be so kind as to explain how and why and I will
wholeheartedly apologize.

Not after an apology, I just think it churlish that you quote just the part I wrote to try and get a cheap laugh. But hey, you crack on. I made my thoughts clear in my post and I stick by them.

[i need Help]

So if you get a new computer and try to install your previously purchased plugins will it work?

In short, it appears that you can still install perpetual licenses on a new system (I wouln't be surprised to find out that someone cannot). I launched Waves Central and it updated itself to the latest version. I am still allowed to manage perpetual licenses, e.g., Deactivate and assign locations. I have a deactivated license of Soundgrid which is still available to activate, so I expect that deactivating a license is not a one-way action; meaning, you can still reactivate it. Can you reactivate elsewhere? I don't see why not, but I would rather not try.

What I am NOT certain about is, what happens if the activated location fails. Will you lose those activations? It looks like it, but I last recall Waves allowed a once-per-year reactivation of a new device should a previously activated device failed. I don't have the time to confirm this but perhaps someone can find the time to see if this policy is still in the TOS.

So, as long as you download the Offline installers and save them, the latest version of Waves Central, as of now, will install them...but with what has happened thus far, it's possible that Waves could deprecate this ability.

I’m replying to the last paragraph but don’t wanna come off as having an agenda lol, so quoting the whole thing.

I’d be willing to bet the plan is to let it “drain” and once all the previous WUPs have expired, kindly offer a couple of months or a year of technical support to smooth the transition.

Lol jk, most likely once all previous WUPs are gone, you’re dead to them until you subscribe lol.

If this is the plan, I’d assume this time next year should see all WUPs expired and then the perpetual versions go “unsupported”.

EDIT!
Wait, if I recall you could get WUP for multiple years at a time? Like 3 yrs or something? I never did this but vaguely recall this as an option.

[tha_man]

I'm not surprised at all, since they were using sort of subscription model even before, it just wasn't called that.

Not really. People had complaints about WUP, but you only needed to pay it as needed to update to new versions. You still kept what you got even when your WUP was expired.

Now, you lose everything when your subscription runs out. You don’t get to keep your investment. If you have V14 now and you get the sub when V15 comes out, you go back to V14 when your subscription runs out.

Yeah, but what good is software without support? Unless maybe if you never update anything on your computer. I agree it's a crappy move to force existing customers to this model, but those huge sales and then constant upgrade charges in practice worked a lot like a subscription.

[abc1mce2]

So if you get a new computer and try to install your previously purchased plugins will it work?

In short, it appears that you can still install perpetual licenses on a new system (I wouln't be surprised to find out that someone cannot). I launched Waves Central and it updated itself to the latest version. I am still allowed to manage perpetual licenses, e.g., Deactivate and assign locations. I have a deactivated license of Soundgrid which is still available to activate, so I expect that deactivating a license is not a one-way action; meaning, you can still reactivate it. Can you reactivate elsewhere? I don't see why not, but I would rather not try.

What I am NOT certain about is, what happens if the activated location fails. Will you lose those activations? It looks like it, but I last recall Waves allowed a once-per-year reactivation of a new device should a previously activated device failed. I don't have the time to confirm this but perhaps someone can find the time to see if this policy is still in the TOS.

So, as long as you download the Offline installers and save them, the latest version of Waves Central, as of now, will install them...but with what has happened thus far, it's possible that Waves could deprecate this ability.

You can still recover licenses from a bad/fail drive or USB stick in Waves Central.
You can only do it once every 12 months and they recommend putting your licenses on a USB stick.
If you need to reinstall your perpetual license plugins, you must now use the offline install on Wave website. Updates to V14 installed plugins are still available through the Waves Central app.
The Wave rep told me this today. He walked me through it just to make sure, cause like many of you I will not be subscribing to their nonsense.

[vata44]

I hated Waves WUP plan and pain in the ass install if you don’t WUP your plugins. I spent quite a bit of money with them over the years, but after realizing how WUP works I didn’t install them on my new computer and have boycotted them. I don’t miss them as I have found better replacements for everything. Now it’s a double f**k off to Waves. I hope they sink to the bottom of the ocean.

[Mathematics]

You can still recover licenses from a bad/fail drive or USB stick in Waves Central.
You can only do it once every 12 months and they recommend putting your licenses on a USB stick.
If you need to reinstall your perpetual license plugins, you must now use the offline install on Wave website. Updates to V14 installed plugins are still available through the Waves Central app.
The Wave rep told me this today. He walked me through it just to make sure, cause like many of you I will not be subscribing to their nonsense.

Thank you for confirming this.

[DrGonzo]

Yeah, but what good is software without support? Unless maybe if you never update anything on your computer. I agree it's a crappy move to force existing customers to this model, but those huge sales and then constant upgrade charges in practice worked a lot like a subscription.

Yes, there are cases that would work exactly like this. If you change your Mac every year you basically need a new WUP every year too. If you buy all the sales and new releases from Waves - I agree then the new subscription model is an even a better deal compared with the old model.

The issue lies if you don't buy a new computer every year, or update your OS to the latest all the time. Lots of people stick with the same setup for a long time. And regarding the new plugins Waves release - personally, most of them are not interesting to me. Maybe 20-25% of what they release these days, make me investigate further. Most of what's coming out of Waves feels like noise and fillers (to me personally that is). Compare that to u-he, Fabfilter, Gforce, Arturia for example - when they release something new, I am immediately interested to hear more. Waves - while still occasionally releasing really good stuff (their NX headphone speaker emulator is damn brilliant) most of it feels done and stale.

/C

[Shabdahbriah]

[kovengarden]

So people have several options now - especially if you do not want to support this new route by Waves Audio. Or any company, really.. And I'm sure to utilize one of those (if not multiple) myself.

1) try to get your recent plugins running, triple backup all installers. If possible - move your existing licenses to a third party USB stick rather than "linked to HDD/OS". Then continue using your existing plugins until they break / are no longer usable. Unfortunately, the servers are currently insanely hammered (also in protest!), but I always had the foresight to activate my licenses on a custom USB stick.

2) other "backup" means (vaguely put... do not continue pressing this topic further here!)

3) stop using whatever you have from Waves Audio, and find suitable plugin alternatives (see the Community List for Alternatives as started by plexus)

Probably the only way to protect the licensed assets of old users. Decade ago I decided to acquire Waves products, beginning with single plugin, multiple plugins, then bigger bundle after upgraded bundle, and WUP after WUP. Now the situation makes me go back to the abyss meanwhile looking for used PCs/laptops on sale in my neighborhood. Multiple setups needed for sustained compatibility to protect my investment over the years. The ridiculous part is that certain developers don't give notice beforehand, and they don't care and help afterwards. You are forced to subscribe into another of their devised eco-systems. They just want to follow Adobe's route, with a cohort of endorsing engineers, youtubers and affiliates appealing to younger generations, and make their balance sheet and user bases look attractive to VC and bankers. The promise they have made to the long-term users mean very little in their own perspective. Really sad.

[RikkShow]

READ THE EULA!!!!! WAVES RESERVES THE RIGHT TO COME TO YOUR HOME AND AUDIT!

Not joking, but these Israelis, have they gone crazy?

They will also sell your personal info to foreign third parties! Se the Privacy Statement.