I won't buy another Waves plugin until they sort out copy protection

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zero-13
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Joined: 16 May 2020

24 May 2020

Boombastix wrote:
24 May 2020
Just open Waves Central and move the license to the other computer. That's what I did when I needed them in my laptop during some travel. Pretty easy actually.
I think the occasional transfer would not be a big deal, but if you go from your desktop to laptop multiple times a day, even once a day it quickly becomes a completely silly requirement.

Then you couple that with the fact that none of the other plugins you own require it whether Arturia, iZotope, FabFilter etc. none of them have these requirements.

Why can’t the Waves software center / hub work like Arturia’s or iZotopes, and just auto manage your licenses in the background?

I’d be back on the Waves 🌊 wave if they sort it out, tis 2020 and 2021 is upon us, let’s go Waves! 👍😃

avasopht
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24 May 2020

Seems pretty silly given their copy protection isn't even remotely effective.

Spaceship
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Joined: 11 May 2019

24 May 2020

Waves is overrated trash

ab459
Posts: 383
Joined: 28 Dec 2018
Location: Minsk Belarus

24 May 2020

I have no problem with Waves v9 (at Win10) without update plan. Moreover, futher versions (which start to use shitty Central instead convenient old License center) install all to system partition with bunch of folders in different locations without any choise, that i do not like. Though, perhaps will forced buy upgrade once due to some new useful stuff, who know.

Ulpu
Posts: 188
Joined: 17 Mar 2020

25 May 2020

MrFigg wrote:
24 May 2020
WavesCentral was my first experience of trying to install a VST after getting a device free from Propellerheads. I found it so irritating that I didn’t look at any other VSTs for a long time afterwards. Everything good now but That experience has put me off ever buying a Waves product.
I was planning to download demo of some of their plugins, but then realized I needed to install the Waves Central to even try the demos... When other plugin manufacturers usually just let you download the demo without any extra stuff needed. So I skipped Waves totally. I mean there are already TOO many choices of great VST plugins without extra hustle :puf_bigsmile:

michael.jaye
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27 May 2020

I use a flash drive to go between two pc's. Doesn't bother me, but I'm not an audio professional.

avasopht
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27 May 2020

michael.jaye wrote:
27 May 2020
I use a flash drive to go between two pc's. Doesn't bother me, but I'm not an audio professional.
Do you not have any issues with licenses thinking you're on a different machine?

jlgrimes
Posts: 661
Joined: 06 Jun 2017

27 May 2020

tobypearce wrote:
31 May 2017
I'm going to drop Waves a note but also want to post on this forum. In fact, I'll simply send them a copy of this post.

Waves make great plugins, and it's a major step forward to be able to use them in the Reason environment. Yet, I won't give them any more of my money until they make their copy protection more user friendly.

They allow for use on multiple computers, but there's a catch, and it often catches me. You can only have one computer activated at once and have to manually assign the license to the different computer when you want to switch environments. Worse still, you have to do this from the computer on which the license is currently activated. For example, if you are in a home studio and want to continue work on a laptop later, you have to open the Waves Central software and transfer the licenses before you leave the studio - every single time. And if you forget, there's no way to use the plugins on your laptop; They don't allow you to do this remotely, even though you own the plugins. They do allow you to license a USB dongle, and you can use that on different computers, but the same thing applies: you have to remember to take the dongle with you - every single time. If you don't, you're out of luck, and you can't use the Waves plugins you bought.

Compare this to Propellerheads' system: you can sync licenses to both computers automatically. It works transparently, behind the scenes. It's no less secure than Waves, but much more user friendly.

As I say, Waves make great products, but their system simply isn't appropriate for the way many people now make music. If they want to sell their products to more people, they've got to fix this and provide a more flexible approach. Until then, I'll spend my money elsewhere.
Waves copy protection model is pretty bad.

Compared with something like Fabfilter or NI who have nice systems.


Waves plug-ins are alot cheaper than they where in the 2000s but they still have antiquated copy protection rules and worse yet their upgrade plans are pretty bad. i recently had to deal with this when buying a new computer. Waves no longer had the original older versions of the plug-ins I had so I had to pay for an upgrade fee (and the newer versions where really just some GUI enhancements and no feature releases).

I tend to use stuff like Fabfilter or Ik Multimedia (T-Racks) as they have better copy protection (and more reasonable upgrade plans).

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tobypearce
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14 Jun 2020

This is just an opinion, but to me it feels like the waves system was designed with pro studios in mind - i.e. a studio professional at work in a single location, occasionally taking road trips and needing to do a spot of work on the road. Then there's the provision for your licenses to be transportable via flash - using them on a completely different system that might not even be yours.

There probably are folk like that, but the world really has moved on.

I suspect Waves have been subjected to horrendous amounts of piracy over the years. They must have been the no. 1 pirated plugins at one point. They're probably very risk averse at this point. But as others have pointed out, other companies provide much more elegant solutions.

I'll point out that a system like theirs could veritably promote piracy, like this:
I can see how someone who had bought a few plugins might feel justified in pirating a second copy of those plugins for their (own, personal) second computer. But because of Waves central, once you've installed one plugin, it is trivial to install others that you don't own.

It would be good (for them) to move with the times.
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DaveyG
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14 Jun 2020

tobypearce wrote:
14 Jun 2020
I can see how someone who had bought a few plugins might feel justified in pirating a second copy of those plugins for their (own, personal) second computer.
I, er, may know someone who fits that description (cough, cough).
They should licence the person, not the PC.

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PhutureD
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23 Jun 2020

They definitely need to sort out this copy protection programme, its really bad now for me after the latest update, especially being on windows 7. The latest version does not support version 11 licenses, so any version 11 licenses which have not been activated after the update is virtually useless. I have been in contact with support , but there are only so many workarounds , just to get one or two products to work, its a complete waste of time for me. The last thing which I am trying to do now , in the hopes that it would work, is to create an offline installer for version 10 products , but even that is not working because the installer is stuck on 85.1% , after numerous attempts , and its not a guarantee that I will have a successful install either. For me ,waves central is definitely on the same level as ilok and whatever other bad copy protection software there is out there.
Giving up on the next attempt and will share the solution if there is one.

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PhutureD
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23 Jun 2020

Support has just sent me a different solution this time, apparently they are aware of the issues and have created a custom waves central build for windows 7 users which can only be obtained via support. Lets see how this one goes.

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PhutureD
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23 Jun 2020

Okay so the custom build of the waves central programme for Win7 works, i am able to install all of the v10 plugins now, so far so good, and all the vst's are available in Reason:) Support has been great !!!

michael.jaye
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26 Jun 2020

avasopht wrote:
27 May 2020
michael.jaye wrote:
27 May 2020
I use a flash drive to go between two pc's. Doesn't bother me, but I'm not an audio professional.
Do you not have any issues with licenses thinking you're on a different machine?
Nope. The only issue I have is having different version of plugins because of different OS of each computer.
It's confusing, but once it's set up it's no bother.

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