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Why Does Waves Keep Harassing Me?

Like many of you, I have grown extremely frustrated after the forced update to version 11 killed all my version 9 plugins. I am now trying to get them back via the 3 GB+ Legacy installer for offline installation.
I have downloaded the legacy version installer for version 9 plugins and installed the Legacy version of Waves Central. When I open it, on the left it says "Select offline installer". But when, as instructed, I then select the Waves folder on my desktop that contains the Waves Central L and all the plugins, I keep getting this message and nothing appears in "Choose Products to install". When I click on "please click here" in the message, I get the instructions to do exactly what I am doing. What the heck is happening? I am on OS 10.14.6 (Mojave) so AM on a recent o/s.

Screen Shot 2019-12-01 at 3.44.52 PM.png
 
Like many of you, I have grown extremely frustrated after the forced update to version 11 killed all my version 9 plugins.

Officially, Waves version 9.92 is not compatible with Mojave.
The Waves website lists 10.10.5 - 10.13.3.

Waves version 10.x supports macOS 10.11.6 - 10.14.5 and version 11 includes Catalina.

I understand your frustration, but this is really nothing special with Waves. I had this issue with suddenly incompatible installers with many developers.
 
They key is, in order to install 9.92 versions of the plugins, you need to download the large legacy installer and unpack it, but DO NOT RUN IT. Instead run the latest waves central. In that latest waves central you can select offline installer and point it to the dir full of 9.x installers and find the ones you own and install them. I just did this recently, on Mojave. I don't know why that compability page says 9.92 is only good up to 10.13. I don't know if it said that a few weeks ago when I installed them on Mojave, but I did and they work fine. I was also interacting with Waves tech support and they knew I was trying to install it on Mojave and did not ever mentioned it would be a problem. If they are changing their official support in some way now, that's kind of lame. There is no reason to upgrade a lot of v9 stuff honestly
 
They key is, in order to install 9.92 versions of the plugins, you need to download the large legacy installer and unpack it, but DO NOT RUN IT. Instead run the latest waves central. In that latest waves central you can select offline installer and point it to the dir full of 9.x installers and find the ones you own and install them. ETC...
Well, thank you very much for that. As you advised, I used the latest WC and "reinstalled" them. But, nowhere on the instruction page did it say to use the latest version of Waves Central. Yet now, although my version 9 plugins are reinstalled, they are still NOT shown as activated. So how do I reactivate them? My licenses were not removed from my computer so should still be there and show up under "My Products"? That's really been the problem from the beginning. The plugins are shown as installed, but not activated anymore. I've got headache! :)
 
I hear you. I was going in circles too trying to use the actual legacy installer. I contacted their tech support and their emails to me weren't that clear either, but eventually I put two and two together about something they said and the instructions I found online for installing 9.92, so it comes down to that.. Use the latest installer, but point it to the offline installer packs for 9.92

If its not showing up in your DAW such as LogicPro, then go to /Applications/Waves/WaveShells V9/ and run the Waves AU Reg Utility.

I don't disagree with that waves makes all of this way too hard. I don't know if its a deliberate attempt to get people to pay for the update plan more often or just the fact that their entire versioning and installation setup is beyond ridiculously way too complicated. Probably the latter.
 
If you think you have a licensing issue, I think the latest Waves Central has a license tab, my V9 licenses are all there under Connected Devices.
 
Thank you again for your advice and the information. Yes, all my licenses are showing under Connected Devices in WC, just not shown as activated in "All Products". Many of the plugins did show up in Logic after running the AU Reg. utility, but not all. In Cubase, some are there and some are not. So still more time required, but thanks again for getting me headed in the right direction. I filed a Support request with Waves on Friday, but haven't heard from them yet. Certainly, if they tell me I need to pay money to update, I'm inclined to just scrap all Waves products and move on. I've spent way too much time on this already. Cheers!
 
Just don't upgrade. I see no reason to at this point.
 
15-20 years ago, Waves was the gold standard for plugins, and at the time, nearly every professional studio used them. Waves' update/maintenance policy made sense in that professional context, especially since their plugins were extremely expensive. But it didn't take long for home studios to explode into a huge market that was largely unwilling, or unable, to pay high prices for plugins, so Waves wisely started lowering their prices to appeal to this large emerging market (I never would've thought I'd see the day their SSL console sold for $29, but it happened).

Where Waves is being thick-headed is in retaining their update policy. Not only is there far more competition nowadays from developers who sell superior plugins at very reasonable prices (with no costly update policies), but Waves barely touches their plugins with each update, except for occasional OS compatibility. I mean it's 2020, and Waves still doesn't have a scalable UI... and they still expect me to pay for an update!!??

Maybe someday they'll see the light. But in the meantime, I'm happy using the Waves plugins I have, and won't be buying any new ones.
 
Some are saying it didn't happen to them, others are. Seems hit or miss. But yeah, they are a nightmare these days.

-DJ

That didn't happen to me. Maybe I was lucky?

I installed the latest waves installer. Loaded it up. Only chose to copy the one V11 license I have (Berzerk) only chose to install that one plugin. Installed it. Booted up a project. Tested my V9 and V10 plugins. Then tested the V11 one.

Just never choose the all option with waves.
 
That didn't happen to me. Maybe I was lucky?

I installed the latest waves installer. Loaded it up. Only chose to copy the one V11 license I have (Berzerk) only chose to install that one plugin. Installed it. Booted up a project. Tested my V9 and V10 plugins. Then tested the V11 one.

Just never choose the all option with waves.

Do you still have an active update plan? or have you ever upgraded? (trying to figure out common threads fro those its happening to and those it isnt)

-DJ
 
Do you still have an active update plan? or have you ever upgraded? (trying to figure out common threads fro those its happening to and those it isnt)

-DJ

I started with V9. When V10 came out, I saw all the issues people were having and made a google spreadsheet of all my plugins and what version they were on. (which were all V9)

When I got my first V10 plugin, I didn't install it, until I had a few more.

I then uninstalled every wavesshell I could find on my machine. Sent every licence back to the webserver
Did a clean install of all my V10 licences and installed only the plugins marked V10 from my spreadsheet.
Then re-installed the V9 licences and plugins using the offline installer, only installing those marked V9 in my spreadsheet.

Then in a sale, I converted a load of my plugins to some bundles, then upgraded some of those bundles to bigger bundles over the next few sales.

When I install, I only install items per version from the spreadsheet.

All of those V9 and V10 bundles are now out of WUP.

I have a handful of items still in WUP that I have bought in the last year. Having got my V9 and V10 and 1 V11 plugin working fine, last night I did upgrade and re-install my "in WUP" V10s to V11.

So far it is fine.

So I still have a few V9 plugins (I think about 6) on my machine and a load of V10 plugins and a handful of V11s.

I believe the path to joy with Waves is to be slow and know exactly what you are doing, preferably with a list that tells you what items will work in what installer.

I'm sure it will all go pear shaped, if I ever try and re-install my V10s. But for the moment, I install things on an individual basis and never let the installer blindly install everything.

Yes setting up the list and maintaining it takes a little while, but it takes less time than uninstalling everything and re-installing it again via a couple installers.

Hope that helps.
 
I started with V9. When V10 came out, I saw all the issues people were having and made a google spreadsheet of all my plugins and what version they were on. (which were all V9)

When I got my first V10 plugin, I didn't install it, until I had a few more.

I then uninstalled every wavesshell I could find on my machine. Sent every licence back to the webserver
Did a clean install of all my V10 licences and installed only the plugins marked V10 from my spreadsheet.
Then re-installed the V9 licences and plugins using the offline installer, only installing those marked V9 in my spreadsheet.

Then in a sale, I converted a load of my plugins to some bundles, then upgraded some of those bundles to bigger bundles over the next few sales.

When I install, I only install items per version from the spreadsheet.

All of those V9 and V10 bundles are now out of WUP.

I have a handful of items still in WUP that I have bought in the last year. Having got my V9 and V10 and 1 V11 plugin working fine, last night I did upgrade and re-install my "in WUP" V10s to V11.

So far it is fine.

So I still have a few V9 plugins (I think about 6) on my machine and a load of V10 plugins and a handful of V11s.

I believe the path to joy with Waves is to be slow and know exactly what you are doing, preferably with a list that tells you what items will work in what installer.

I'm sure it will all go pear shaped, if I ever try and re-install my V10s. But for the moment, I install things on an individual basis and never let the installer blindly install everything.

Yes setting up the list and maintaining it takes a little while, but it takes less time than uninstalling everything and re-installing it again via a couple installers.

Hope that helps.
Unbelievable! I mean really, if anyone is required to do all that just to install and maintain purchases, then doesn’t it appear something is horribly wrong with the developer’s approach, and also demonstrates no concern or consideration of the subsequent problems faced by their customers? Certainly, if anyone was ever considering buying something from Waves, they should definitely read your post first. I have no doubt, that if they did, they would probably shake their head in disbelief and reject the idea in a heartbeat! 😄
 
You don’t have to do all that. When you get a new v11 plugin, just install it and when the installer prompts you with a question about whether you want all updates, choose no
 
[...] Yes setting up the list and maintaining it takes a little while, but it takes less time than uninstalling everything and re-installing it again via a couple installers.
This is essentially what I do. It's a lot of work (as your description makes clear) that customers really shouldn't have to do.
 
I started with V9. When V10 came out, I saw all the issues people were having and made a google spreadsheet of all my plugins and what version they were on. (which were all V9)

When I got my first V10 plugin, I didn't install it, until I had a few more.

I then uninstalled every wavesshell I could find on my machine. Sent every licence back to the webserver
Did a clean install of all my V10 licences and installed only the plugins marked V10 from my spreadsheet.
Then re-installed the V9 licences and plugins using the offline installer, only installing those marked V9 in my spreadsheet.

Then in a sale, I converted a load of my plugins to some bundles, then upgraded some of those bundles to bigger bundles over the next few sales.

When I install, I only install items per version from the spreadsheet.

All of those V9 and V10 bundles are now out of WUP.

I have a handful of items still in WUP that I have bought in the last year. Having got my V9 and V10 and 1 V11 plugin working fine, last night I did upgrade and re-install my "in WUP" V10s to V11.

So far it is fine.

So I still have a few V9 plugins (I think about 6) on my machine and a load of V10 plugins and a handful of V11s.

I believe the path to joy with Waves is to be slow and know exactly what you are doing, preferably with a list that tells you what items will work in what installer.

I'm sure it will all go pear shaped, if I ever try and re-install my V10s. But for the moment, I install things on an individual basis and never let the installer blindly install everything.

Yes setting up the list and maintaining it takes a little while, but it takes less time than uninstalling everything and re-installing it again via a couple installers.

Hope that helps.

Most of the people the deletion issue has happened to (based on the various accounts of the same thing happening in a waves focused facebook group) have never upgraded before, and many of those saying it didn't happen to them have upgraded. I was trying to work out if the company was 'punishing' those who have never bought into the WUP.

I received confirmation of my official complaint from the Better Business Bureau today, so the company is at least now definitely aware of this issue in an official capacity. I am not really expecting change, hopefully at least a moment of reflection.

-DJ
 
You don’t have to do all that. When you get a new v11 plugin, just install it and when the installer prompts you with a question about whether you want all updates, choose no

I was never given that option. This is what it looked like for me, notice no reference to v9 in the main installer, and clicking the install button uninstalled all my other waves. There was no extra prompt about updating, it just installed this one and uninstalled everything else. Notice the legacy products option down the bottom, clicking that just tells you v9 plugins are on their website. Again nothing about un-installing, or fucking with stuff that is working fine. If you can see anything there that indicates its going to fuck with older installations please point it out.

Screen Shot 2019-11-29 at 9.26.27 PM.png
 
I assure you, when you ran the Berzerk installer, there is a little dialog box that popped open and said something about whether you want "ALL" updated. And listen, for years now people have been stung by this dialog box, because the word "ALL" could easily be mis-interpreted to mean you want all updates for just that particular plugin you are in the process of installing. What it actually means, and is not worded very well AT ALL, is do you want all your waves plugins updated. Then it systematically updates all your plugins regardless of whether you have the license for the newer versions or not. Totally lame, I agree, but still...all you have to do is make sure to not click OK when that dialog is presented to you while you run the plugin installer for the newer thing.

Listen I agree completely, Waves has a ridiculously over-complicated installation process, and yes its over complicated because they want us to only get updates, even simple version updates that bring no new features...by subscribing to an update plan. I also got stung by this exact thing a couple years ago and had to reinstall everything and I was annoyed as hell. But I can say now, it wasn't that bad once I figured out how to avoid clicking OK on that one question. If they have removed that dialog from the V11 process, that is not good, but I recently did install a V11 thing and I didn't lose any of my V10 or V9 things at all. And I'm confident it was because I did not click OK on that box like I did in the past. After that, if you did, then you will need to uninstall the V10 or V11 versions of the plugins you own V9 license for, and then use the legacy installation procedure to reinstall them.
 
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Same here. Nowhere did it say it will rip away plenty of other plugins, in middle of projects. Just gone, nowhere to find. Unless, of course, you pay 240$. I do have a company in production and booked a studio for this week. I had no choice but to buy the 240$ upgrade, yes, and I did try to reinstall last night before being coerced to buy.

I dont think this is a matter of being ’frustrated’ or ’disappointed’. This is a matter of raising official complaints, to relevant organizations, even legal action, personally I will take it further and demand the money back. Composers and producers should not have to deal with shit like this, it was a very dirty trick, and btw to a loyal customer (with 36 Waves plugins Ive bought individually!)
 
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