Waves Extortion Plan

Bought a whole bunch of their plugins last year for use on my m1 Mac mini. Just bought a MacBook Air and they want me to pay again to install on the new computer. Never again.

I just upgraded from a 2011 iMac to a late 2015 iMac and I came to realize I can't use the majority of my waves plugins since they're "outdated". If I want to update, that'd be a $240 cost lol. I'm still deliberating whether I'm willing to pay that or not. If this is their business model, I will most likely stop purchasing from them.

What pisses me off the most about companies like waves, is that pirates have a way easier time, and that should never be the case. They still use ilok for Christ's sakes, which is a stupid relic of the past that any respectable cracker can Crack in seemingly minutes. I do not understand why the hell companies still insist on using ilok, it fucking sucks and doesn't do anything to prevent piracy. Every single plugin that uses ilok is very easy to pirate, so what's the point besides making it harder for your customers?

I just don't get it I bought the diamond and upgraded to the horizon bundle and not a dam thing is working lawd

Wow I woke up yesterday went to load up a track and not one of my waves horizon bundle plugins will work. Nor will any of the add on ons. Is the new forced subscription plan actually preventing paid customers from using there previously purchased items. Cause if it ain't , then yesterday's thermal throttling and forced update seems really creepy! Help I wrote tech support and put in a ticket but now my computer won't start. I am not saying it's the waves deal but I wasn't even on the internet. So ? What ? Is going on?

This renegade and unpredicatable decision to abandon and pull the plug on their loyal customer base overnight without warning in the way that they have done does demonstrate that Waves Audio clearly have no integrity as a company and cannot be trusted to behave decently or in a consistent manner and in the best interests of their customers. They have clearly put making a short-term fast buck as a main priority at the expense of their reputation, causing long term and irreparable damage to the brand.

I got suckered into a Slate subscription once won't happen again
Goodbye Waves Audio
Subscriptions good for music and movies not plugins.
RIP WAVES!

I'd love to hear your take on the latest scummy stunt they have pulled.

I’m not doing it! If I pay $24.99 per month to borrow plug-ins to six different companies. I might as well consider hardware. I want all of these companies to stay out my bank account.

Damn good information, because they just went to subscription only. Can’t even purchase “1” plugin without a subscription. Let’s see how long that lasts. When my update time comes with Waves that’s when I’m probably done doing business with ‘em. 👎🏽

Waves pulls a Netanyahu with an equally-angry response. Good job Waves. You have forever tainted your company with just one move.

Well there Subscription now. Even worst.

1 year later and they did a subscription lol now you can’t buy plug-ins no more

This aged very well 😅

Well it just got a whole lot worse!

Waves expiry date. Today forever. 😂

This video has aged beautifully Barry! Now waves is subscription only 😂

March 26th, 2023 LOL

"Don't do Waves plugins..." 100 percent mate. There are too many other offerings out there now, and the subscription only thing (March 2023) has totally killed it for me.

Waves makes shitty plugins and they make worse business decisions. Abandon Waves. Do not give Waves your money.

I am waiting for your rant against what waves is now doing. It is a necessity.

Thank you so much for your advice

THe updating is such a pain - if you are running other film/editing software etc that you need to update OS for you are literally between a rock and a hard place. Some waves plugins I love but its BS - they should just do all access like slate now - update plan is BS

I shall never buy anything from Waves

Yes, I agree with what you're saying Ive been using waves for more than a year now and I don't earn yet on my music but their business model now is not conducive to upcoming music producers who are not yet earnings through their music especially home recording guys like me. Hopefully they'll change their approach of their business that will cater also for those who are upcoming music producers like me. It is better to give than to receive as the saying goes. Thanks for this video.

WAVES = BAD DEAL ! Your Welcome !

After a year of this video... I am transition old school, and I do not believed in subscriptions... I throw waves when I was no able to open licenses between different computers. Fabfilter - Plugin Alliance - Izotope are the basement.... then keep yourself away from waves.

No more waves 😞

Hey Barry, any idea what Waves is up to... they asked plugin owners to update their registrations before March 2023. I can no longer use their plugins since I switched to a Mac Studio and I'm not paying $240 in order to use Waves plugins I ready purchased (WUP = Ripoff)

Hi Barry. Thank you for sharing.

I have only just invested in the waves plugins and realised the costly upgrade path if you change operating systems. I intend to stick with Windows 10 for music as I won't be dragged into this Windows 11 nonsense that is threatening to make massive landfills of our older computers.
If you are like me and not going to change operating systems, the Waves plugins will be fine and operate as long as you want them to. For professionals and those that need to keep up with the latest hardware and operating systems they need to give the costs of the Waves update plan against alternatives from other plugin providers some careful consideration.
As you have pointed out it may be far better to pay more initially from the other providers who won't follow your purchase by charging extra for having to update products when you change operating systems and hardware.

Wow, Waves uninstalled my NLS. Wow, thats freaking robbery

THANK YOU. I wanted to add something: Waves plugins aren't actually on sale. The CLA-76 isn't actually valued at $249, nobody has actually paid that price, the constant "Sale" tactic is a pathetic way to make the consumer think they got a deal but in reality the plugin you bought is valued at $30-$40 by Waves and will always be valued $30-$40

This doesn't get pointed out enough, Waves don't give a f**k about their consumers

I think you hit the nail on the head. It might be time to shed waves and protools all together. I’m so tired of getting extorted. Thanks for putting this out there and hopefully something changes.

Bye waves , I don't buy anymore

Thats why I respect plugins alliance. I subsrcibed and get plugins as free. With each year you renew you will get free plugins. And also I love fabfilter, they are making few plugins but freaking awesome. Even they are costly, I bought the complete fab bundles and when upgrade a plugin it come with huge discount.

After 15 years using Waves, the absurd WUP forced me to start looking for alternatives to every single plugin. I've been able to replace 90% of them so far (UAD, Arturia, Plugin Alliance, IKMultimedia). Planning to stop using Waves for good this year.

100% spot on! They attract new and upcoming artist/producers specially during this time of the year with Black Friday sale and buy 2 plugins and get 1 for free etc. Nowhere in the sale they mention that you will be paying for it to update down the track in future (or at least I was not made aware of it several years ago)

When I was starting out I bought the Platinum bundle deal along with CLA and other plugins thinking it was mine to keep for life but when I saw I had to update to continue to use the plugins I lost it.

Its daylight Robbery and with this business model they may end up in jail!

"Waves - The First Fix Is Free" (tm)

AND THIS IS WHY I CRACK WAVES PLUGINS LMAOOOOOO I DONT HAVE THESE ISSUES!!!!

I dumped 40 Waves plugins yesterday and just deleted them all. I'm just done. I got so tired of keeping track of updates and versions and most importantly, I will not reward a company for extortion because it seems unethical and even borderline illegal. Also, Waves is being lapped by companies with better products and WAY better customer service. Like Valhalla.

Waves are literally the only plugin maker, I think are fair game when it comes to Piracy. I personally dont use cracked software , but I also dont buy Waves plugins.. I tried to once but their customer service was appalling, and since I found out about WUP I have vowed to never buy single one of their plugins.
There are plenty of Devs that make just as good, even better plugins so forget Waves.
Exploiting customers, IMO you make yourself(Waves) fair game for hacks at that point. This is coming from the type of dude who has downloaded legit free plugins (TDR, Klanghelm, etc) and then bought plugins from those companies just as a thank you for making such good stuff. I do not support piracy.....unless its Waves and then I understand (although like I said I dont use cracked software)
Also the whole always on sale thing is just vile as well. In fact where I am in the UK they could be shut down for such practices, as that is against the law here.
Vile company, with average plug ins in most cases. Plenty of other honest Devs that don't exploit their customers

Thanks for posting!

Daaang, please don't talk about Biscuits and Gravy and pancakes.... it's 10pm and i'm diabetic LOLOL All i can do is smell food. The nearest Whatburger is 2 hours away ;) teasin

i bought waves vu meter for 5€ ..the update plan is 12 € per year lol

What do you get with updated waves plugins? Do they sound better? I have some v9 waves that still work in reaper and cakewalk.

It's super ugly that Black Friday is like a money trap that, if you don't research enough, you will find yourself in, expecting that you will be getting the new versions, at least the bug fixes, within the purchase price. I purchased my plugins last year, and due to some life hiccups, lost access to the computer that I was using for recording. In the year that I haven't logged into the central, they updated their apps for Silicon chips, and since I didn't hit that "update version" button, my apps were left in v12, now asking for $250 to upgrade them all. How much did I pay them initially? Maybe $40-$50 tops.

i still have not updated and won't ever but you are right the bs they pull