Plugin Deals and Discussion Thread

Habanero · March 2023

octatonic said:

Waves have gone subscription only.

https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/production-expert-1/waves-new-subscription-only-plans-everything-you-need-to-know

I only have one Waves plugin (Waves Tune). By an odd coincidence I got one email saying that the 2nd license would soon expire and I need to by an update plan, and before I could even look at it the next day I got another email saying they've gone subscription only and I'd need to pay $24.99 a month! There is absolutely no way I'm going to do that.

octatonic · March 2023

Fortunately I WUPPED ($240) last week so I will have access to everything, including my second license, for a year.
After that... not sure.

Probably won't subscribe, which is annoying because i have around £5000 sunk into their products over the years.

monquixote · March 2023

octatonic said:

Fortunately I WUPPED ($240) last week so I will have access to everything, including my second license, for a year.
After that... not sure.

Probably won't subscribe, which is annoying because i have around £5000 sunk into their products over the years.

I'm really not down with subscriptions for plugins.

I'd love all of the Roland Cloud stuff, but I don't like the idea of being on the hook forever and the buy forever option is crazy expensive.

Habanero · March 2023

I wouldn't have a subscription for any software. I'm particularly annoyed as having checked I only paid $32.99 for the plugin originally, and now they want nearly the same every month!

I'm happy with the functionality it has now, so don't need any updates, but was using the 2nd license and the option to just renew that is gone.

octatonic · March 2023

monquixote said:

octatonic said:

Fortunately I WUPPED ($240) last week so I will have access to everything, including my second license, for a year.
After that... not sure.

Probably won't subscribe, which is annoying because i have around £5000 sunk into their products over the years.

I'm really not down with subscriptions for plugins.

I'd love all of the Roland Cloud stuff, but I don't like the idea of being on the hook forever and the buy forever option is crazy expensive.

This is why, where possible, I buy hardware.

I have 2 Empirical Labs Distressors here.
They were about $1200 a piece, so $2400.
I have owned them for quite a while- one since 2006 when I lived in the US.

Waves plugins are now $250 a year.
OK, so with Waves I get LOOOADS of plugins, sure.
But after 10 years I've spend the same and what do I have to show for it?
Nothing.

I could turn around and sell my Distressors for more than I paid for them.
I can never sell my investment in Waves plugins.

Habanero · March 2023

I suppose it really depends who Waves customers are. I think charging roughly 3x the price of an Office 365 subscription may well be too much for hobbyists.

octatonic · March 2023

Habanero said:

I suppose it really depends who Waves customers are. I think charging roughly 3x the price of an Office 365 subscription may well be too much for hobbyists.

A lot of it is education and the pro market.
But both of those have dropped off a lot as competition has increased and stock plugins in DAW's have improved.

IMHO Waves are trying to push as many people who bought a few £30 plugins into getting the subscription.
They think professionals will just follow along because the subscription is about the same price as yearly WUP.

I think they are wrong on both counts.

Bezzer · March 2023

I'm fine with subscriptions as an option ... I've got a few, EastWest for example. But it shouldn't be the ONLY option, that's just madness surely?

monquixote · March 2023

Habanero said:

I suppose it really depends who Waves customers are. I think charging roughly 3x the price of an Office 365 subscription may well be too much for hobbyists.

I think the idea is that the world is split into pros who pay for stuff and will probably subscribe and amatures who mostly use cracked stuff.

The group who are in the middle they probably don't care about.

I'm sticking with Fab Filter and Soundtoys for my plugins.

octatonic · March 2023

monquixote said:

Habanero said:

I suppose it really depends who Waves customers are. I think charging roughly 3x the price of an Office 365 subscription may well be too much for hobbyists.

I think the idea is that the world is split into pros who pay for stuff and will probably subscribe and amatures who mostly use cracked stuff.

The group who are in the middle they probably don't care about.

I'm sticking with Fab Filter and Soundtoys for my plugins.

That isn't what I am seeing in some pro oriented forums and private FB groups.
Overwhelmingly the position is 'fuck waves'.

monquixote · March 2023

octatonic said:

monquixote said:

Habanero said:

I suppose it really depends who Waves customers are. I think charging roughly 3x the price of an Office 365 subscription may well be too much for hobbyists.

I think the idea is that the world is split into pros who pay for stuff and will probably subscribe and amatures who mostly use cracked stuff.

The group who are in the middle they probably don't care about.

I'm sticking with Fab Filter and Soundtoys for my plugins.

That isn't what I am seeing in some pro oriented forums and private FB groups.
Overwhelmingly the position is 'fuck waves'.

I think Waves have just done it really badly.
I think it's also different if you are a pro as in a lone gunman or a corporation.

If you are a hobbyist or lone photographer you probably think "fuck photoshop", but as a corporation with 500 photoshop licenses being able to add and remove people from your subscription is actually pretty nice and lets you control costs.

I would have thought Waves falls more into the lone gunman market though.

I'm assuming it's going to be a trend in the industry as I got a survey from Plugin Boutique recently where all the questions were about "What if we switched to a subscription service"

Habanero · March 2023

octatonic said:

That isn't what I am seeing in some pro oriented forums and private FB groups.
Overwhelmingly the position is 'fuck waves'.

I think Microsoft with Office and Adobe with Photoshop can get away with a subscription model because they’re so dominant. I doubt that is true with Waves.

Bod · March 2023

Presonus Studio One Pro full version and upgrades are 30% off until the end of March.

colourofsound · March 2023

I swore off Waves once I realised the Logic plugs were basically 80% there for the most part. Your listeners can’t tell.

I opted for Fabfilter, SoundToys, Goodhertz - the little guys making great or unique stuff.

Love the Vulf Comp and Maag EQ!

octatonic · March 2023

colourofsound said:

I swore off Waves once I realised the Logic plugs were basically 80% there for the most part. Your listeners can’t tell.

Sure, but in 1995 there was nothing but Waves.
I've had some of these plugins for nearly 30 years.

colourofsound · March 2023

octatonic said:

colourofsound said:

I swore off Waves once I realised the Logic plugs were basically 80% there for the most part. Your listeners can’t tell.

Sure, but in 1995 there was nothing but Waves.
I've had some of these plugins for nearly 30 years.

Yeah I havent been in the game that long! But thats a shitty deal for long term users.

PhilKing · March 2023

I have a ton of Waves plugins, but most of them are v14, so I guess that's where they will stay. I just bought a Softube Console 1 setup and have started to use their products, which seem just as good as the Waves stuff, with the plus that you have physical controls for them (and also a lot of UAD plugins). The only issue (which is minor) is that you have to add an instance of the Console 1 plugin to every track.

roberty · March 2023

roberty said:

Waves NLS Non-Linear Summer free for 48 hours on this link:

https://www.waves.com/account/free-nls-nonlinear-summer-help-me-devvon

I guess this will stop working then

Habanero · March 2023

I just removed my Waves plugin and all their management apps from the laptop I had with the 2nd license.

Bezzer · March 2023

roberty said:

roberty said:

Waves NLS Non-Linear Summer free for 48 hours on this link:

I guess this will stop working then

No, it'll be fine. They've stated anything you own you own, you just won't be able to upgrade any more ... or buy any new stuff from them (self defeating)

TBH, I've never upgraded any waves plugins anyway. I've stopped using 90% of them as I find alternatives that suit me better. Never really believed their plugins gained anything from updating to the newer version anyway.

monquixote · March 2023

When I got back into DAWs people warned me to stay away from Waves.

I'm glad I listened.

roberty · March 2023

@Bezzer good to know ta. I haven't actually used it but it looks like fun

PolarityMan · March 2023

monquixote said:

When I got back into DAWs people warned me to stay away from Waves.

I'm glad I listened.

I like dunking the RVerb in tea.

Habanero · March 2023

The peasants are revolting...

https://www.musicradar.com/news/waves-plugin-subscription-service-uproar

monquixote · March 2023

Habanero said:

The peasants are revolting...

https://www.musicradar.com/news/waves-plugin-subscription-service-uproar

A similar thing happened with Bitwig a few months ago.

They had the opposite in that if you pay the subscription you got everything they made, but they suddenly released something you were expected to pay extra for and people were very unhappy about it.

Eventually they went back on it and included it as a free update, but a couple of prominent YouTubers (Venus Theory and Ben Jordan) cut ties with them over it and I think a few people cancelled their subscriptions.

roberty · March 2023

monquixote said:

Habanero said:

The peasants are revolting...

https://www.musicradar.com/news/waves-plugin-subscription-service-uproar

A similar thing happened with Bitwig a few months ago.

They had the opposite in that if you pay the subscription you got everything they made, but they suddenly released something you were expected to pay extra for and people were very unhappy about it.

Eventually they went back on it and included it as a free update, but a couple of prominent YouTubers (Venus Theory and Ben Jordan) cut ties with them over it and I think a few people cancelled their subscriptions.

The revolution is now

https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/production-expert-1/waves-announce-reinstatement-of-perpetual-and-wup

That waves goodbye to that experiment

Habanero · March 2023

roberty said:

monquixote said:

Habanero said:

The peasants are revolting...

https://www.musicradar.com/news/waves-plugin-subscription-service-uproar

A similar thing happened with Bitwig a few months ago.

They had the opposite in that if you pay the subscription you got everything they made, but they suddenly released something you were expected to pay extra for and people were very unhappy about it.

Eventually they went back on it and included it as a free update, but a couple of prominent YouTubers (Venus Theory and Ben Jordan) cut ties with them over it and I think a few people cancelled their subscriptions.

The revolution is now

https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/production-expert-1/waves-announce-reinstatement-of-perpetual-and-wup

That waves goodbye to that experiment

Ha! It was clearly me uninstalling my one plugin 2nd license that sent them into panic mode!

octatonic · March 2023

roberty said:

monquixote said:

Habanero said:

The peasants are revolting...

https://www.musicradar.com/news/waves-plugin-subscription-service-uproar

A similar thing happened with Bitwig a few months ago.

They had the opposite in that if you pay the subscription you got everything they made, but they suddenly released something you were expected to pay extra for and people were very unhappy about it.

Eventually they went back on it and included it as a free update, but a couple of prominent YouTubers (Venus Theory and Ben Jordan) cut ties with them over it and I think a few people cancelled their subscriptions.

The revolution is now

https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/production-expert-1/waves-announce-reinstatement-of-perpetual-and-wup

That waves goodbye to that experiment

Yes, I am pleased they rolled this one back.

monquixote · March 2023

Well that was a big foot cannon.

Glad they've seen sense quickly.

Habanero · March 2023

Those people rioting over in Paris could possibly learn something from the Waves plugin community.

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