Waves go subscription only!

[The Elf]

I think a lot of damage will have been done and they could live to regret it mightily.

While creating a mix this morning I've made it a point to try replacing every Waves plug-in in my channel presets with an alternative. TBH I've found better solutions in a couple of instances.

[Luke Wood SOS News Editor]

The latest update is now in our News section.

The previous story still available, and now just covers the two new subscription packages and StudioVerse feature.

[Kwackman]

I suspect there'll be an accounting/marketing team getting the hairdryer treatment.

[MeJ]

I just got a snivelling rollback letter from Waves. Good, but as previously said, they will be paying for this in shifted attitudes and trust.

I don't in principle object to subscription offerings, as long as they are an option. For some people they can make sense, but there has to a benefit to the subscriber.

I stopped using Adobe products when they moved to subscription only, but then I'm not in professional graphics, if you are there's no choice. But that's not the case at all for film, Adobe is now a minor player.

In the plugin field AFAIK both Melda and Plugin Alliance offer subscribe-to-own models, which make a lot more sense to me. I did take up the PA "all" offer last year.

Also these companies (and many others) DON'T restrict me to just two machines (I have four in use, main DAW, VEP, mastering machine, location laptop, obvs. not all at once)...

[Drew Stephenson]

Anyone got a strong recommendation for a good de-esser? I like Waves Sibilance and I've never got on with the JS one in Reaper for some reason.

Have you tried ReaFIR in compression mode? It is easy to see and then tune out the sibilance.

I haven't, I shall add that to the list. I've only really used ReaFIR as a noise reduction tool - I've been aware it's capable of a lot more but not had a play.
Thanks

[Alperian]

As more companies go subscription model, the big winners here will be the DAW manufacturers as more bedroom producers decide that their trouble-free stock plugins ain't so bad after all.

Now under a waves subscription it's impossible for old tracks to work faithfully again if the subscription is stopped. Bounce or freeze all your tracks quickly?

For me, I was in a quandary as to upgrade (Horizons + more) or not. Now the decision happily has been taken out of my hands. I won't be subscribing.

Ignore my above. Now I have a quandary again

[sonics]

Well that reversal didn't take long, did it?
I was thinking they'd wait until Saturday.

Whilst the decision is helpful to me since it'll allow me to WUP a couple of the older plugins (at which level I'll then be happy to stay for the forseeable future) I do wish they would say sorry by giving us two perpetual licenses. That's still a negative point for me.

[Guest]

It's good to see that they rolled back as it gives some people time to adjust. However, the very poor heavy handed approach taken in the first instance was indeed shameful in my view.

I guess today was a zero revenue day for them and that's the reason for the cold feet. I truly cannot accept that they thought pulling everything perpetual overnight without warning and forcing people into all or nothing subscriptions was good for customers. To suggest that would make them either really out of touch, stupid or dishonest.

Every second that passed gave competitors a leg up and opened people's eyes to other options.

I will stick to my gut feeling and avoid them, despite having most of their stuff. For me they were not always the best plugins. But the were native and reliable.

I feel differently now. The trust is gone and I hope it does cost them.

Goodbye Waves.

[Guest]

ps, Martin, the document with alternatives is a great idea, thanks for linking.

[Drew Stephenson]

As more companies go subscription model, the big winners here will be the DAW manufacturers as more bedroom producers decide that their trouble-free stock plugins ain't so bad after all.

This ^^^!
Stock plugins are so good now you really have to wonder what the thinking was because, retraction or not, that seed has now been planted.

[ITHertz]

Anyone got a strong recommendation for a good de-esser? I like Waves Sibilance and I've never got on with the JS one in Reaper for some reason.

Plugin Alliance have the SPL and Lindell. Also Toneboosters.

[Guest]

It seems that upgrades are still gone.

So when they say "You now have full choice." Presumably they mean now you have full choice to buy separate plugins to upgrade or to buy a bundle from scratch e.g. mercury with no recognition of your existing licences.

If that's the case then they are still sharks.
Beware buying anything from them untill things become clearer.

[sonics]

I assume it's only a matter of time until some form of WUP is unveiled.
It really is looking like they didn't expect to have to about-turn!

I'd be intrigued to read an insider article about how such a big audio software company with a huge client base made such a bad decision.

[Guest]

The upgrades seem to be gone and the website says the same.

https://www.waves.com/support/upgrades

I wonder if they will make good and bring back perpetual properly. I am still not happy with them. They pretended to be humble about the mess but they are totally unconvincing.

So many people were thinking that waves would do a sale or some other gesture to win back annoyed and upset customers. And so far they come back with a banner that say Perpetual is back, and all plugins are 29.99, but when you look at it, not all plugins are 29.99 as the small print says "Excluding Abbey Road Studio 3, B360, Clarity Vx Pro, Spherix, TRACT".

Take this with the fact that upgrades are not reinstated makes me even more disgusted with waves.

Somehow I am pleased that they have confirmed how rotten they are, as it reinforces my sentiment to not buy any more waves products.

I have actually deactivated them from my Machine and am going to live without them.

To me waves feel dirty at this point. They are abusive to customers and have no respect. Horrible horrible company.

[Guest]

It seems that the IK total studio bundle is still available for e199. For anyone who missed that one.

https://www.thomann.de/ie/ik_multimedia ... .5_max.htm

[jaminem]

I assume it's only a matter of time until some form of WUP is unveiled.
It really is looking like they didn't expect to have to about-turn!

I'd be intrigued to read an insider article about how such a big audio software company with a huge client base made such a bad decision.

You can WUP your plugins again now if you want....

https://www.waves.com/support/waves-update-plan

[Guest]

Yes you can get a WUP, but no plugin to bundle upgrades possible. So if you wanted to upgrade you would be buying some plugins twice. It's stupid or greedy, or both what do you reckon?

[jaminem]

Yes you can get a WUP, but no plugin to bundle upgrades possible. So if you wanted to upgrade you would be buying some plugins twice. It's stupid or greedy, or both what do you reckon?

Reckon I'm trying not to get involved in the hysteria...

I saw what they did, and yes it was very poorly executed idea and for people who had a large investment in their plugins it was absolutely a kick in the teeth, but I largely abandoned Waves sometime ago because of their attitude to their customers so this move was no surprise nor did it effect me that much...

Fool me once shame on you, fool me consistently (yet still invest in their platform) shame on me.....

I only stayed in for MaxxBass....and from this I've discovered Bass-Mint

[Wonks]

Yes you can get a WUP, but no plugin to bundle upgrades possible. So if you wanted to upgrade you would be buying some plugins twice. It's stupid or greedy, or both what do you reckon?

It's probably just down to the sheer complexity of trying to manage a discount scheme on upgrade bundles where you've already got some. Waves currently seem to have about 230 different plugins, which you could have bought at anywhere between full price and a very heavily discounted price.

Let's say you want to buy the Diamond bundle, list price $2999, currently on sale for $269.99. If you bought 75 plug-ins separately at their current offer price of $29.99, they would come to $2249.25. So the bundle is already saving you $1952.26 over the individual offer prices.

Lets say you have 9 of those 75 plugins already. How do they price those plugins to offer a further discount? If you price them at the current $29.99 per individual plug-in, then you basically get the rest of the bundle for nothing. If you paid more than that per plug-in, then you'd still feel cheated, despite all the free plugins you'd get.

Even with a per existing plug-in discount at an equivalent $3.60 per plug for that 75 plug bundle, someone with 9 plugs might still feel aggrieved that they spent say $189 on those plugs but only get a $32.40 credit.

Administering individual discounts for existing plugs (based on the original purchase price) against heavily discounted bundles would take them a lot of time, and time is money. They are still a business and trying to make money (however badly they manage themselves and upset their customers).

The pricing and offers are what they are. It is not stupid or greedy IMO and currently there are some stunning bargains to be had, which really need to be taken into account. I don't know about your individual case, and for some people I'm sure that they come off a lot worse than some others here. But instead of concentrating at what you feel you are loosing out, it would probably be best if you looked instead at what you are gaining.

There are plenty of alternatives to Waves products (as many have recently found out) and I'd never buy any of their products because they do have this cyclical tendency to do really stupid things regarding their customer base.

[Guest]

I get that upgrades prices are based on several factors. But up until last week they had a perfectly functioning system of doing just that.

You logged in, selected the plugins you wanted to upgrade and it came back with several options available to you.

It was transparent and worked well in fairness. So for a company that sells AI powered plugins, I think your argument about the complexity of it all does not hold water.

They should make good and offer upgrades as before in my opinion if the CTO makes an announcement that perpetual is back. Then let's have it back. Not just some bits.

[BWC]

It seems that the IK total studio bundle is still available for e199. For anyone who missed that one.

Thanks! Only $99.99 for me since I already had AT5 MAX. ...minus $21 in Jam Points. ...$78.99!

[resistorman]

I only stayed in for MaxxBass....and from this I've discovered Bass-Mint

When I read this I dimly recalled that I'd bought Bass-Mint on sale a while back. Just so happens that I'm rough mixing a festival recording today, so I fired it up on bass... great! Thanks for the reminder

[Sam Spoons]

Any company that can sell a product it claims is worth $3000 for $270 is clearly doing something dodgy IMO.

[Bob Bickerton]

Well, it’s interesting to consider, for a passing moment, and without any compassion on my part, what it must have been like in Waves Co management and board meetings over the last week………….what plug ins did they engage?

Clearly somebody switched on their X-FDBK anti feedback plug-in, following which their Vocal Bender distorted the conversation and no amount of Clarity VX Pro could remove the noise being heard. An attempt to engage the OVox Vocal Resynthesis was applied too late resulting in over use of the Smack Attack plug-in, which itself failed to control the intransigents……….. they then realised someone had engaged an L2 on their intelligence.

Apologies in advance

Bob