Waves...smh

[jens]

What do you think, revert back to WUP for a transitional time or just silently ride it out?

Hard to say - but I think regardless of how they react they delivered a blow to themselves that will be very hard (if possible at all) to recover from. Regardless of what they'll say or do they can't fix what they have just broken for good.
And I bet the truth of that will slowly but surely start to sink in for them. Most probably they are in panic-mode already and lots of the Waves staff is fearing for their jobs.

Your forgetting the old users who would regularly buy the WUP (like myself) to stay up to date. That's $240 a year they'll never get from me again. That's not everybody, but it has to be a significant number of people and studios who have more than one seat to WUP.

How is that relevant to this post of mine you just quoted?

[robotmonkey]

I do not get it. Why does Waves makes everyone seethe so much?

Only joking. What a failure this launch is. Even though I do not agree with the notion that Waves plugins are crap. They are not. On the contrary their plugins are first-rate in most cases. Probably the most stable and bug free in the industry so far. Their support was also absolutely best I have ever encountered. And this Google spreadsheet I have seen floating in the interwebs is ludicrous cope mostly. No way are some of those alternatives there viable.

Nonetheless, I'm done with them. Not going to pay for a monthly bill just to use their plugins. These days I have had so little time for music and engineering duties anyway that it just does not make any sense to have such an expense. And I'm not going to pay for any subscription plugins on principle anyway. I will keep using what I own until it brakes and if this happens then I will either look for alternatives or keep my owned plugins updated by other means without feeling any quilt at all.

It is kind of logical that they went this way. I have said it before that if I had to take on one subscription then it would be Waves. Their catalog is just so comprehensive and unlike any other vendor will cover absolutely everything from instruments to utilitarian plugins and special effects. Maybe only PA comes close these days? Not sure, haven't bought a single plugin from anyone for over a year.

Obviously it sucks that they have completely dropped the perpetual licenses and how they have handled the WUP thing is just insane and pathetic. The latter really is a spit in the face for current customers. At least they should have either upgraded everyone to latest version automatically or at least given a fair warning for the people to do so.

[jamcat]

And this Google spreadsheet I have seen floating in the interwebs is ludicrous cope mostly. No way are some of those alternatives there viable.

I agree with that. Like all things, it quickly devolved into just another vehicle for people to promote their favourite niche plugins and developers, no matter how inappropriate they may be for the actual task in question.

[jens]

Their catalog is just so comprehensive and unlike any other vendor will cover absolutely everything from instruments to utilitarian plugins and special effects. Maybe only PA comes close these days?

No, I can't think of any company that comes close - it is a point well-made, but not only in the way you meant it:

a lot of their stuff isn't really first-rate. I wouldn't want to have to rely on Kaleidoscopes for modulation fx. I wouldn't want to have to rely on Epic, H-Reverb, IR1 etc. for reverb. I wouldn't want to have to rely on Metafilter and Epic for delay. Waves Tune doesn't support ARA... and so forth.

None of their plugins are my GoTos for the bread&butter mixing stuff. I love having them, but they're not what I typically reach out for.

PA, Arturia and IK are all much better in regards to providing useful bread&butter stuff imo.

Then there's the specialists like Melodyne for pitch-correction and the - now free - ERA and Izotope for cleaning up, etc.

So maybe once company wanting to do it all is perhaps simply not the best strategy after all.

[robotmonkey]

Their catalog is just so comprehensive and unlike any other vendor will cover absolutely everything from instruments to utilitarian plugins and special effects. Maybe only PA comes close these days?

No, I can't think of any company that comes close - it is a point well-made, but not only in the way you meant it:

a lot of their stuff isn't really first-rate. I wouldn't want to have to rely on Kaleidoscopes for modulation fx. I wouldn't want to have to rely on Epic, H-Reverb, IR1 etc. for reverb. I wouldn't want to have to rely on Metafilter and Epic for delay. Waves Tune doesn't support ARA... and so forth.

None of their plugins are my GoTos for the bread&butter mixing stuff. I love having them, but they're not what I typically reach out for.

PA, Arturia and IK are all much better in regards to providing useful bread&butter stuff imo.

Then there's the specialists like Melodyne for pitch-correction and the - now free - ERA and Izotope for cleaning up, etc.

So maybe once company wanting to do it all is perhaps simply not the best strategy after all.

True. I'm not saying Waves plugins for a given task are always a first choice for me either. For reverb I'm most likely to use Eventide or something else and so on. What I'm saying that if I had to have one subscription then I would take Waves over any other as I *could* easily live with only using Waves plugins and get absolutely everything done I want to do.

[SHall1000]

They’ve caved.

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtop ... 9#p8644769

Nice way to celebrate my 1000th post!

[jens]

Well that was a) fast and more importantly thankfully b) sounds honest and heartfelt.

[robotmonkey]

Nice way to celebrate my 1000th post!

Congrats!

[woodsdenis]

So it seems they done a 180 of sorts !!!!

Letter from Meir Shashoua, Waves CTO and Co-Founder – March 29, 2023:

“Dear Waves community,

Over the past few days, many of you have expressed concerns about our decision to discontinue perpetual plugin licenses and our move to an exclusive plugin subscription model. I would like to start by apologizing for the frustration we have caused many of you, our loyal customers. We understand that our move was sudden and disruptive, and did not sufficiently take into consideration your needs, wishes, and preferences. We are genuinely sorry for the distress it has caused.

After respectfully listening to your concerns, I want to share with you that we are bringing back the perpetual plugin license model, side-by-side with the new subscriptions. You will again be able to get plugins as perpetual licenses, just as before.

In addition, those of you who already own perpetual licenses will once again be able to update your plugins and receive a second license via the Waves Update Plan—again, just as before. This option, too, will be available alongside and independently of the subscription program.

We are currently putting all our efforts into making perpetual licenses available to you again, as quickly as possible. In the meantime, you can keep-up-date on this webpage, where we will post real-time updates as they are available.

I would like you to know that we are committed to you, our users. We listened to your feedback, and we will continue to listen to you. Waves is a company filled with users and creators, just like you, and we are all as passionate about the products as you are. With this in mind, we will strive to find the way to make things right by you, and hopefully regain your trust.

Thank you for your feedback and continued support—I wish you all the best,

Meir Shashoua
CTO and Co-Founder
Waves Audio”

[ATN69]

Wonder how they plan to restore the trust and damage caused

[ghettosynth]

Wonder how they plan to restore the trust and damage caused

I don't think that they can.

[mitchiemasha]

Wonder how they plan to restore the trust and damage caused

Aye, the 180 isn't enough! Their intentions have been revealed. Who's to say the don't do the same a few years from now when we've all just upgrade another bundle or 2.

[ghettosynth]

I think that their site is getting hammered, could be something on my end, I can't get to my user page. Perhaps the short term cashflow gambit is working for them?

[sonicpowa]

Wonder how they plan to restore the trust and damage caused

I don't think that they can.

Yeah, they can´t just F me in the --- for 3 days and get away with it. I already started to get alternative plugins and not going to stop.

[Loudness_Contour]

The more I think about it, this could be a big marketing move to make everyone rant about Waves, and then they’ll "change their mind" to make it look like they truly listen to their customers, and generate more sales.

I was right after all. I'm now sure this was a calculated move so everyone talks about them. Free advertisement. Now they will sell more WUP than ever!