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EDIT: As of 3/29, Waves announced they are are bringing "back the perpetual plugin license model, side-by-side with the new subscriptions."


Since Waves is a popular plugin producer in the music community, I thought it would be worthwhile to post this.

As of 3/26/2023, the only way to access new Waves plugins is via their subscription service. There are two options, each only covering a single computer:

  • $15/month for a limited number of plugins; or
  • 25/month for all plugins

Plugins that have already been purchased will still work, but will no longer be updated. Updates for V14 plugins will continue for the duration of the current Waves Update Plan coverage. After that, the only way to get updates is via the subscription.


-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?
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dcuny Offline OP
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Originally Posted By: MusicStudent
This announcement has blownup VI-Control

Yep, I just finished that before posting to make sure I understood everything.

There's a similar thread on KVR: https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=593357&start=165

They both start with "No, that's not going to happen" and go to "Wow, I never thought Waves would make me miss WUP."

There were a few additional Waves plugins I was considering getting, but I didn't really think they'd take this route. And if I really wanted them, I'd have bought them already. wink

What really not cool is Waves apparently telling their customers this wasn't going to happen. Windows users will be OK because Windows has very good backwards compatibility, but Mac users will be out of luck with their old plugins when they have to upgrade their machines.


-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?
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Goodbye waves.

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Their Facebook site received 200+ comments in very short order yesterday. The most negative responses I’ve ever seen regarding an audio product. And the cheaper plan does not include some of their most popular fx. We only produce about one song a month but their products are a big part of our mixes. And they dumped all over the many folks who had recently purchased their products. Zero notice until rollout. And they seemed like such a friendly and customer responsive company.

Bud


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I have a lot of Wave's effects. If I start losing them do to Win updates and/or a major catastrophic event I will have to replace them with other products. I will not go the subscription route.

IMHO I think Waves just shot themselves in the foot and may not survive if they continue down this path.


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I read through many of the posts from the links. There are a lot of very disappointed and concerned users. I didn't read one comment from anyone who supported the idea. It will be very interesting to monitor how unsuccessful this new model is for them.


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I think they are crazy to think non-professional musicians / hobbyists, etc. would fork over that much for their products when there are many other competitive non-subscription alternatives. No more Waves for me as well.

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Perhaps the worst part is that if you use the Subscription plan, you lose all your prior licenses. mad


-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?
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I remember back in the early 90s going into the big Sam Ash music store in New York and asking how I could make my recordings sound more like commercial releases. They said, use Waves Plugins, which at that time was only an EQ and Limiter. I was dissuaded by whatever the copy protection scheme was (something I recall wrote to an unusable section of the hard drive). For the past twenty years, I've used Ozone by Izotope. I suspect some others will switch over now. I would feel equally as annoyed as you all do if Izotope did something similar.


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Pretty much my same experiences too, Matt.




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Another reason why I prefer hardware synthesizers. The TX81z I bought in the 1990s still works. Total cost since I bought it is 2 battery replacements. So does my old Roland MT32, and the newer sound modules I've bought through the years. Once paid for, they are mine.

I don't like paying over and over and over for the same things. I also avoid all subscription services that are not absolutely necessary, like my web host, ISP, phone, etc.

Being a self-employed musician, I never know when something like COVID will put me out of work for a year or two. Because I don't have many subscriptions, I made it through 2 years of COVID without hitting my savings account.

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Yep, it will make a bunch of people mad for sure. A lot of companies are going this route anymore. I am pretty sure they did their research beforehand, and this may be how they continue to be profitable. I suspect that all the complaints, while seemingly a bunch, are a fraction of their users and customers. But I have no idea really. People who are going to pay, are not going to post most likely, so all you ever see are complaints if you know what I mean. I imagine their target customer is not the non-professional hobbyist.


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Originally Posted By: etcjoe
Yep, it will make a bunch of people mad for sure. A lot of companies are going this route anymore. I am pretty sure they did their research beforehand, and this may be how they continue to be profitable. I suspect that all the complaints, while seemingly a bunch, are a fraction of their users and customers. But I have no idea really. People who are going to pay, are not going to post most likely, so all you ever see are complaints if you know what I mean. I imagine their target customer is not the non-professional hobbyist.

Not too sure about that. Software subscriptions have been around for a long time now. Developers are looking for a steady, predictable income stream. Can't blame them.

But Waves? v9 was out for a long time. I have a bunch of v9 licenses. Then they tried $29 sale prices. I bought a number of additional plugins at that price. But then I wound up with v10, v11 and v12 shells. Yeah, they started increasing the version number much more often. Why? Because the only way you could update a plugin from an earlier version was via WUP, which for me was over $200/year. Forget about it. Plus, every time you bought a new license, a new shell got created, so I had a bunch of shells for each version. Stupid design. And I refused to pay for WUP each year, so a bunch of my existing plugins had updates that I couldn't access.

I bit the bullet and didn't install any Waves plugins when I replaced my desktop with a laptop before my move to France. I have been Waves-free for almost 2 years now, and frankly, I don't miss them. Some of their plugins are very good, but all were replaceable.

So, my opinion is that they are late to the subscription game, which indicates to me that they are just throwing something else at the wall to see if it will stick. Adios muchachos.

Last edited by TheMaartian; 03/29/23 03:18 AM.

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Originally Posted By: BlueAttitude


Thanks Dave. Just read that also. Reassuring that they listened to their customers albeit from a financial perspective. I think many under estimated the reaction.

Bud


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Originally Posted By: BlueAttitude


Power to the people!

I'll bet they came to realize that the hobbyist and semi-pro were the main source of their income and when many/most said they would not subscribe forced their decision.

PS - I would fire their CFO.


Whenever I get something stuck in the back of my throat, I dislodge it by drinking a beer.
It's called the Heineken Maneuver.

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Ah, late to the party.

Given how strong and universal the backlash was, this change back isn't surprising.

But since they've shown they were more than willing to burn their customers, I suspect they've done permanent damage to their brand.


-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?
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Originally Posted By: dcuny
Given how strong and universal the backlash was, this change back isn't surprising.

But since they've shown they were more than willing to burn their customers, I suspect they've done permanent damage to their brand.

Over the years Avid has learned this with Pro Tools. I started out as a subscriber then I realized I don't need to spend that kind of money to have the latest/greatest. I've been using perpetual for a while now. When I update, I lock in at that current version of PT for a few years until I decide to renew again. This is also more cost effective if you're not doing it for a living.




Steve

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