I’ve just spent way over an hour trying to get my Waves v13 plugins working again because for reasons completely beyond my understanding they are listed in Waves Central but are completely greyed out.
I eventually realised I needed a (6 GB!!) additional download to make them re-appear but even then I have to switch between tabs so I can work out which ones in the massive list I own already (as I have quite a few).
Why on earth are v13 plugins not downloadable just the same as v14 plugins? If there is some sort of feature limitation - why can that not be resolved (after all that’s what software development is).
This was a super frustrating UX experience. As a feature request I hope Waves can work this out so there is less friction - this isn’t what you need in the middle of a session (which was actually caused by me installing a new plugin which automatically updated all my other plugins and stopped half of them from working, resulting in a fresh install).
The contact form isn’t letting me contact them, so gonna post this here in solidarity:
Hi there Waves Team, I hope you are having a good day so far.
I have purchased a number of Waves Plugins and recently bought a new Macbook.
Now I understand that you, the reader, probably don’t have much to do with any of the following, but I really can’t stress enough how much of a pain this has been.
After a very long time of problem solving, I have managed to install all of my Waves Plugins and they are more or less usable and accessible on the Latest M2 Macbook Pro (Running Logic Pro X). My issue is that they are not connecting to Waves Central. They don’t even have an option to install or anything. It shows that they are licensed to the new computer, but they are greyed out. I have tried downloading Legacy Versions from the website which was a super slow and painful process, I’ve uninstalled and then reinstalled them, I’ve tried pretty much everything I can think of and it’s still not working. It’s more or less functioning in Logic - it unfortunately no longer hides the mono version plugin in the dropdown menu for stereo tracks and vice versa, but my OCD can deal with that if need be. What is driving me crazy though, is that it won’t let me sync with the Waves Central app, even though the plugins are working in Logic.
Tbh, I’m thinking that after this whole process, this may be the nail in the coffin for me as a Waves Customer… The fact that it is so difficult to move your plugins from an old system to a new system makes upgrading computers a logistical nightmare. Other plugin companies haven’t been anywhere near as much of an issue, but Waves has been a completely different story altogether.
I’m not one to download cracked plugins, they’re usually buggy and a hassle when it comes time to upgrade anyway, but ironically at this stage, it would be easier to have downloaded the plugins illegally, rather than bothering with the impossibly overcomplicated system that Waves has created.
Waves, please make it so that you can download the individual plugins directly from the website, or at the very least from your extremely buggy App; And let your customers have at least 2 licenses per plugin for system upgrading purposes! Making me download a whole history of legacy files from your slow speed website is such a horrible way to treat your loyal customers.
If you could fix these issues ASAP that would be much appreciated. If not, then unfortunately you have lost a once loyal customer.
Currently I am also experiencing the same problem. Somehow because of Update v14.12 some of my plugins were not visible in my DAW and I had to reset everything then I realized my all plugins are gone and I had to reinstall but the problem is only v14 is there. I cant get it why ! Point of having such a central software is making everything centralized and provide a smooth and nice user experience but as I see Waves is going direction of giving that smooth experince to their own developers and not spending any effort for their customers. Such an old company should be able to do more. Now I think I understand why most complaining customers are at waves. Bad Implementation of central software, less feature with every update etc …
I think it is by design that only latest major version is supported by Central.
I could manage licenses with latest Waves Central, but no downloads and updates and such.
So managed legacy versions by offline installer. But there you have to go into Waves account by a browser and see that you only check what you bought.
When you are current Waves Central is a good idea, otherwise not. But I had loads of issues with Waves Central even as I was current on v9. Missing products when download was made etc. I had to go offline installer even then to get it sorted. All suggested by Waves support agents.
Appreciate the feedback and will make sure it reaches the appropriate department.
Currently, to install legacy versions, you will need to download a Waves offline Installer for the version you wish to install.
Once done you will only install the plugins you own from the offline installer and you can delete the offline installer.
If you cannot contact support by email you can try them directly when needing technical assistance Call Technical Support: +1-865-909-9200 ext. 1.