V12 is here with Resizable plugins and more!

Introducing V12, a new version of Waves plugins!

V12 - The New Version of Waves Plugins

UPDATE TO V12
RESIZE YOUR PLUGINS \ 300x1

RESIZE YOUR PLUGINS

5 sizes to let you view your plugins however you want: Learn more


LIGHTNING-FAST PRESET BROWSER \ 300x1

NEW

LIGHTNING-FAST PRESET BROWSER

Find presets with instant text search. Audition presets on the fly: Learn more

RETINA-READY GRAPHICS \ 300x1

NEW

RETINA-READY GRAPHICS

Take advantage of retina displays for ultra-sharp graphics: Learn more

PLUGINS ADDED TO SELECT BUNDLES \ 300x1

NEW

PLUGINS ADDED TO SELECT BUNDLES

Smack Attack, LoAir & Submarine added to premium bundles: Learn more

2nd LICENCES FOR YOUR PLUGINS \ 300x1

2ND LICENCES FOR YOUR PLUGINS

Get a bonus license for every plugin or bundle you update: Learn more
UPDATE TO V12

WAVES PREMIUM MASTERCLASSES

MORE REASONS TO UPDATE

To update to V12, your plugins must be covered by the Waves Update Plan (free for 1 year with every plugin purchase), which gives you extra benefits: premium tech support, Waves vouchers & premium masterclasses: Learn more

Waves Premium Masterclass - Young Guru Presents The Art of Subtractive EQ

We are thrilled to present the first in a series of Waves Premium Masterclasses with the world’s leading producers & engineers—exclusive to Waves Update Plan owners.

In this Waves Premium Masterclass, Grammy-winning mix engineer Young Guru (Jay Z) goes deep into his vocal mixing techniques and helps you master “the lost art of subtractive EQ.”

Learn more

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I’m using V12 now with UI scaling and my eyes are thanking all of you! This is an enormous usability improvement and will greatly add to my enjoyment of using these tools.

Congratulations on a successful V12 launch! This is fantastic.

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The scaling is not good on Windows. I understand that it is fine on Apple computers. But on Windows it is too blurry to be acceptable. For Windows, this has to be redone, at least for me to be happy with it. And judging by the reactions on Gearslutz, I am not alone.

So please, redo the Windows bitmaps, so that the larger size guis are razor sharp.

/Magnus

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Hi @Magnus_Norden

Thank for the feedback, I will pass this on to our developers.

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Hi Yishai,

Thanks, that is excellent.

All the best,

Magnus

I’m sure there was internal debate about whether or not to even release a scaling option… but it was the right call because usability was increased massively.

The naysayers shouldn’t make great the enemy of good. He’s right, the graphics are blurry because they are being scaled… but it’s better than no scaling at all. Far, far, far better.

I DO think it would be worth updating the actual art, but the investment there would be enormous so I understand the reluctance… It would give these plugins a longer lifespan though, so I hope you guys are considering that for V13.

But what do you do? 8k monitors are coming, and the issue will be here again.

Perhaps it is time for Waves to consider an overall vector based UI solution as opposed to bitmaps… Particularly since Waves plugins still sound good after 15+ years.

And 16k monitors sound unimaginable right now but we’ll have those, too, eventually. It’s good to plan for the future, and vector scales without blur!

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As I was saying elsewhere in this forum…

“It’s quite possible that it’s because the original graphics were never made with “large scales” in mind. All they could really do from that point is use an enlarging algorithm on the original graphics. It’s not the best option but the only one they would have available.

What I foresee happening though is this represents just another stepping stone, making rescaling immediately available. The step following, I imaging, would be to update all the graphics for 2020, like they did with Renaissance.”

It’s certainly a move in the right direction.

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GUI resizing is a great feature, but I’m disappointed it looks so blurry.

I understand the original graphics were probably never created at a higher resolution, so it would be a massive job to recreate them all.

Maybe Waves should look into some of the AI upsampling algorithms used by apps like Topaz Labs Gigapixel AI.

Unfortunately this update only enables to scale the size of the plugins and doesn’t fix the resolution issue of 4K in Windows. That’s one of the worst updates I’ve seen especially with the fact that it cost 240 USD for all my plugins… And the ad is very misleading because it shows that with scaling the GUI resolution is intact but that is not the case in real scenario whether it’s mac or windows. When you scale your GUI in V12 to a bigger window everything is becoming more pixelated so it’s not true scaling, it’s just makes a bigger plugin window… That’s a shame for such a big plugin company like WAVES…

Sincerely,
M.

2 Likes

It’s my understanding that this is more of an upgrade and not an update. I heard that if I update to V12 my waves update plan cost will go thru the roof. Almost like repurchasing the plug-ins all over again.

Hi @david.leffel and welcome to our forum!

Well, V12 is a software update that included several great new features and many bug fixes and infrastructure improvements:

  • 5 adjustable sizes to view your plugins as large or small as you want to.
  • Find & audition the perfect presets with instant text search.
  • Enjoy sharper graphics & optimized GPU performance on Macs with retina displays.
  • Full ongoing compatibility with the latest DAWs & operating systems.
  • Platinum, Horizon, and Diamond owners get LoAir, Smack Attack, Submarine.

Note that this update is not mandatory – although we do always recommend updating to the latest version. That said, as long as there are no changes to your current system, your current Waves version should continue to work as usual, so this update is not mandatory.

You can update licenses to V12 for free if they are covered by the the Waves Update Plan. Newly purchased licenses come with one year of update plan coverage.
To update older licenses to V12, it is required to renew update plan coverage or Upgrade to a bigger bundle:

The first option is to renew the coverage and then update the licenses.
Note that renewing WUP coverage per year ranges between $12 and $240, for non-overlapping products.

The 2nd option is to Upgrade a license to a bigger bundle, which will also register a new V12 license, covered by the update plan for one year ahead.

Again, if your older versions are working on a supported environment, there is no requirement to update to V12. Only if and when you move to a new system / DAW that will only support V12, will you need to update.

If anything is not clear you can always contact our Orders or Tech Support team to advise according to your account.

Yishai,

Are you working on optimising the scalable graphics for Windows users? It would be nice if this could be confirmed, so we knew that an update is in the pipeline.

All the best,

Magnus

Hey @Magnus_Norden,

The V12 plugin resize feature is for Windows users as well and works great. It is not limited to Mac users.

Lear more here: https://www.waves.com/v12

Hi Yishai,

Thanks for the quick reply. I take it no update is in the pipeine for Windows, then. This is disappointing, since there is general agreement (here and on Gearslutz etc) that the up-sizing in Windows is sub par, and very lo res and blurry.

This issue has been raised with your developers according to posts here on the forum, but your reply indicates that the issue will not be addressed - which is a pity.

All the best,

Magnus

Hi @Magnus_Norden,

I must have misunderstood your question, we do plan to improve the sharpness of the resized plugins on Windows, although I cannot yet provide an ETA for this.
So yes, we have heard this feedback and have passed this to our developers.

Thanks

2 Likes

Hi again Yishai,

That is GREAT news! Thanks for confirming this. Lovely!

All the best,

Magnus

This is great to hear, Yishai. I work as a UI artist in games so I know the costs of updating the UI to true 4k graphics… It’s a big investment.

But considering the lifespan of Waves plugins and how they still sound great 15 years later – true 4k graphics might be worth it… Particularly since so many other plugin developers have incredible looking UIs. Waves has a lot more competition now than it did a decade ago.

In the meanwhile, this scaling update is much appreciated. To those who complain – we shouldn’t make “great” the enemy of “good.”

2 Likes

It’s not just here. The internet in general is alight with “wow, we can resize out plugins now, but the graphics need to be sharper”, generally speaking.

Transitioning to 100% hi-res graphics would be a wise move heading into the future.

3 Likes

Any chance Waves can allow install on older Mac machines that can only run older OS? My Mac Pro Mid 2010 can’t update past OS 10.12.6 and I’d love the V12 update…but it says it’s not compatible.

Hi @jasoncardinalmusic,

Unfortunately, that is not an option.
That being said - a V12 license with V11 or V10 software will work fine on macOS 10.12.6.

check out:
https://www.waves.com/support/how-to-install-waves-v11
https://www.waves.com/support/how-to-install-waves-v10

1 Like