I'm Moving away from Waves Plugins - Here's Why... 

I bought Diamond about 4 years ago. Never would I have thought that I would have to pay for it again!!! That's highway robbery!!!

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.

totally agreed, bug fixes should be free. my Waves plugs go back to version 9 and I refuse to buy into their update deal. I also stopped buying Waves plugs. Luckily I'm on PC not Mac so I don't have Mac users' issues with upgrades, but if any of my Waves plugs for some reason stop working, so be it, I'll use native versions or similar plugs from other companies that don't have this stupid update policy

That is exactly what happened to me and I am moving away from Waves for the same reason. I had to replace my PC and I chose a MAC M1 computer for that. All the plugins from other developers and the latest Waves plugins worked. However, I had hundreds of dollars in plugins that I had purchased over one or two years ago and they won't work unless I paid about 65% of their original price to renew their licenses. That sounds like a scam and I will simply replace them with plugins from other companies.

You are 100% correct. I mean theirs is not even a true subscription model, it's just a money making scam

Agreed. I’m slowly divesting myself of Waves. There are only a few that I rely on still.

Thanks for the information here - I agree with everything you’re saying 👍

Thank you so much mate for this useful information. I planned to buy a Bundle from them and just saw your video and I'll leave Waves forever. Thank you so much for saving my money. I'll invest on a different company now.

Long time ago I used all waves stuff, cracked and worked well every one should do same now

Totally agree, I just bought a new computer and installed all the software that I had in the old computer. I have several plugins from different brands, and guess which plugins are crashing the DAW? exactly ... waves!!! In fact, for all the software installed in the new computer the only ones that required me to pay in order to install the latest versions were Waves plugins, and these are the only ones crashing the Daw, plugins from other brands run very smooth. I contacted Waves support and created a ticket, at this point I am not sure if they will be able to fix the issue, but its ridiculous that the plugins that require payment for installing the latest version, are the ones crashing the most. As an example , I have a lot of IK multimedia plugins, XLN virtual instruments, and other brands, and all of those run smoothly without requiring payment, and no crashes. The only plugin that I really miss at this point is the Waves Tune Real-Time Plug-in , I use it in most of the sessions. If I can find a plugin that do that job without breaking the bank I would be ready to uninstall all waves software. I have melodyne but Waves Tune Real-Time Plug-in its really helpful.

I will limit the ones I use and won't buy more from them. If I am going to have to pay for them again in the future then it's best to look for replacements and buy those just one time.

Yah! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. It’s just like they take advantage of people who wants to use their products instead of serving the people who loves to create music. That’s why I love those people who constantly give then at the end they prosper. I remember the saying, “a generous man will prosper.” God bless.

I completely support you point of view. I like and use many of the waves plug-ins, but there are far better plug-ins in many areas than many of the waves plug-ins. This is a great opportunity for some of those other developers to serve out community better than waves will now. The market will help to flesh this out, but I’m not waiting. If I have to spend more money, it won’t be with a company as unreliable as waves, no matter that some of their plug-ins are not that bad. I’m moving on from waves, and should the market forces force them into a better, more reliable, and equitable position that show regard for their most important asset (us), I will consider taking another look at waves. In the mean time I have 200 or more waves plug-ins that will keep me going as I replace them with better (and a bit more expensive) ones. Let the market decide, I have confidence it will, especially since wave previous plan was not viewed with great favor. Yes, pay for everything two or three times so that they can collect revenue for bug fixes? Nice plan if we are all gullible, and there were no better alternatives. But there are.

I bought my first and last wave plug-in this month for this same reason. They sound great but the business end is just ridiculous. Really wished I did my homework before buying.

Am i missing something? The subscription is priced very reasonable and i assume everything is included .

Also hate paying for the updates, but I moved to M1 and Monterey and needed to pay just to keep the plugins I had already purchased. I'm also sick of how long Native Instruments is taking to fix and compile for M1. Right now, for me the best company that is doing it right is Arturia. Their plugins and VSTs are great, they run well on M1 native, and they give updates to new versions for free e.g. Pigments 4 was a free update for existing users. Also great integration with their hardware.

Plugin Alliance is the best

Plugins Alliance, no more aliasing 👌

So I just got a new Mac and I find out that all the waves plugins I bought Inc platinum collection I can no longer use unless I pay to update them, that’s scandalous, no other plugin maker is doing this, it’s simple , I will never buy or use waves again!

Istopped because I didn't need 20 compressors, 30 EQ, and 2-dozen limiters taking up space on my HDD.

Now i Understand why most of my friends they all Download HACKED PLUGINS.. you cannot buy anything that will NEVER be yours.. its all a SCAM

Someone please send this video to Waves! They need to get some perspective! If they are going to charge for updates, it should be much, much cheaper than what they charge now....and free updates should be for at least 3 years, to be fair.

It just happened to me. I have no plugins from waves even though I bough platnum bundle 10 yrs ago and continued buying new plugins they made now I have 1 plug-in left as of today. This is absurd

Good plugins don’t mean anything if they don’t function because of waves update issues. I was unable to open a song because of waves. NOT GOOD!!! I have the support plan still but they were not able to respond after over an hour on the telephone waiting …also tried support via internet . I think waves is good for people can afford the latest computer…and constant maintenance instead of making music ….best of luck to all . I’m moving away after knowing for years I needed to back then . This is the final straw …losing a song …are you kidding me

I just got email from them, and I just got my new Mac Studio... that how I jumped in your video, because I start to search about this problem. This is insane, and maximum stupid. Ans I think the same as you, I will never buy a new plugin from them.

They're not even charging for bug fixes or radical chipset updates only. They're charging for re-compiling for a new Mac-OS updates, without even updating the functionality. That's why Waves plugins are substantially a better deal for Windows. Windows 10 has been around for many years and Waves won't require an update as long as you don't switch to 11.

WE SHOULD HAVE LISTENED!!!

Been using waves for years .. never again 😂

i wanted to use my 60 dollar Ovox plugin and come to find out it expired..smh

I will miss RBass first and foremost, will really miss it. No support and love for Waves in future, tho'

WUP is not required for using the plugins. They still work. You can still use V9 on equipment. The only reason your ere forced to do WUP is because you upgraded your hardware. If you had left it alone you could still run V5 plugins. I don’t know very many successful recording studios who spend more time buying gear than they spend making money from the gear. If your studio cannot afford to pay $250 every so many years, you should get more clients.

I'm done with WAVES

I wish I never bought them - regretting it since they are so unstable in FL Studio.

It’s far worse now!

Waves should stick to designing plugins not designing clever angles on taking consumers hostage. As an artist I feel nothing but agitation about Wave's greed. Certainly don't want to see their logo in my DAW! That would destroy the vibe for creating!

Waves making 'Netanyahu' moves. Time to protest, I guess.

bye felicia 👋

I understand how you feel but but if they're good they're good Pay the price don't fight it.

Buy them from a third party

hell no

I have a regular customer for whom I produce podcasts, a few a month. I've used WAVES plugins in my live productions before, such as WLM Loudness Meter. Recently, I came across a plugin called Playlist Rider, which automatically aligns levels on each track. Without these two plugins, with i make a podcast for 3h. After installing and automating the tasks, it took me 30 minutes. This is a great time benefit. If I charge a client about $ 300 per episode, and I do 2-4 episodes a month, then the purchase of plugins for $ 89 will pay me back in one month anyway. I've never paid for updates, I'm working on Windows. If I have to pay $50 a year, then so be it. Financially, it still pays off for me. Although I understand you, I have plugins that I have had for years and they work without updating and I don't pay for the upgrade. I really like plugins from Softube and of course for denoise Izotope.