Hi everyone, I'm looking at getting some waves plugins, there are some great deals at the moment, I have been thinking about diving into the waves for a while, but haven't as yet got wet. I have read quite a bit about peoples experiences, for some it seems the waves get pretty rough and they end up drowning in the heavy seas, and thus get out of the water never to venture there again, others seem to frolic in the calm and have no problems swimming daily.
 
I hear that the 'waves shell' can be fairly sharp and cause serious injury if stood on, and is very hard to get rid of, also the WUP seems to be a bone of contention.
 
I have read enough to confuse myself, so I thought I would have a reboot, and try again by asking here.
 
I prefer to avoid things which are known to be problematic, that is why I am not married or in relationship , so . . .
 
The waves shell - is this something one must have ?, it's not optional ? like you can't just install the plugin's like any normal regular plugin without all the extraneous bit's and pieces ? Does it have any negative impact ?
 
The WUP procedure, I believe you get 1 years worth with your purchase, and then must update yearly after that, what are the benefit's if any, and any downsides if you don't keep it up to date ?
 
Installation, I have seen a lot of people complain about the installation process, and a lot having trouble with the installation, what is your experiences ?
 
Are they worth it ? in your opinion ?
 
Thanks for reading, and for any input/advice you may give.
 
 
 

The Waves shell confused me for a couple of hours and then I understood it and all has been well since then. I think the key is to stick to either 32 or 64 bit, or if it doesn't give you the option to choose, delete the shell you don't need (or store it somewhere outside your scanned VST folders). I've been a Waves Gold user for a couple of years and have had a fantastic amount of use out of those plugins. They're top quality.

My update plan is over but I see no reason to update, I have no problems with them.

I've been using the SSL 4000 stuff on just about everything, sounds great. AFAICT the Waves Shell maps the plugins into your DAW space so I think you might need it.

That's also how I understood the Shell.
 
As an example, Audio Unit plug-ins usually are usually labeled "component", and reside in the plug-in folder on your HD. But my plug-in folder has no actual Waves plug-ins in it, just the Waves shell. The plug-ins themselves reside in the Applications folder. I'm guessing the shell is sort of a micro host.
 
The WUP can be a blessing if own many, many plug-ins or the bigger bundles, as you regularly get new plug-ins added to your bundle if you have an active WUP. If you own smaller bundles or individual plug-ins, it's a different story. But the good news is you don't have to buy it until you need a critical upgrade, and there's no penalty for skipping a few years.
 
Installation-wise, I've also read contradictory report. Personally, I've just upgraded my studio computer 2 months ago and Waves installation and authorization was one of the most hassle free of the bunch.
 
As for the plug-ins themselves, they're still some of the most widely used out there, even the older ones like the Renaissance stuff. I dig mine. 

I have had some bad experiences with the waves stuff and won't be purchasing any more, I didn't even accept the free plugs they gave away the last two years. I only represent a small percentage of people who do have issues but, if/when you do, don't count on Waves support to give you much help even if you are currently under wup. 
 
I needed to use them on two separate machines which some people are able to do using the License cloud or a thumb drive. If I didn't have the license on the machine Sonar gave me all kinds of weird problems even when I didn't have a waves plug instantiated.
 
Waves support worked with me for awhile using remote connections to my machines and still could not figure it out. Their final suggestion was that I was going to Have to transfer the license to whatever machine I was using prior to opening Sonar, or, I could just purchase a license for each machine. So I ended up spending the extra money to make the problem go away.
 
Now I never use the Waves plugs because of others I find more desirable. I am stuck for two licenses of each plug and I can't sell them unless I re-wup each plug and then pay a transfer fee for each plug. It would cost me more to sell them than to just write them off.
 
They were nice plugs, even though most are old, but there are other plugs available with less cost and strings attached. Some People love Waves and that is cool if it works for them but I just don't personally have any use for them today.

Waves plugs are top-quality, used by pros worldwide, and are a good value when on sale.  Yes, the installation is a bit convoluted, but once that's done you're usually good for a long time.  The WUP is optional, but you do have to have it in effect to sell your licenses (there is no transfer fee except for the bigger bundles). 
 
I think the Gold bundle is worth a look at the current sale price.  $150 or so for all those useful tools is a no-brainer, IMHO.  You can demo the bundle to make sure you and your system get along with the plugs -- if so, they'll serve you well.  Do you NEED them to do a good mix?  No, but they may make things easier for you.  I wouldn't want to be without them myself -- I still use them all the time.
 
Cheers,
Eddie
 
 

Waves deserves your money. They have spent millions in advertising trying to get it. Just do it!

WUP? It's hard to say if you need it. I haven't used, in the past 10 years, any of the Waves stuff that I have bought so I've rarely worried about an update. I was worried about 64 bit so instead of WUP I bought a few more Waves to set up a x64 system but I haven't actually used any of them either.

Everyone should buy some Waves. They have great sales and some real good advertisements.
 
 
 

I have a lot of waves stuff and I'm a fan. I found that the Waves shell works fine if you use the default installation paths. I only ran into trouble when I tried a custom install location. To Waves credit, they were pretty responsive via email and did help me sort it out.
 
I used their license manager to put my licenses on a small thumb drive I had lying about, just in case I want to use them on another machine. It's plugged into a hub full time and I've never had a license issue.
 
I haven't used WUP yet. Once all of my stuff is out of date, I might use WUP once to get everything current (since that's the cheapest way to go) but only if they've added something that would make the WUP worth paying for.

I have Platinum, which I bought many years ago (v7 ?) and WUP'd when I bought a new DAW two years ago. It was well worth it. Since then, I've added single plugins that I wanted, like SSL 4000, Aphex Aural Exciter, and so on, when they are on sale. They have been great plugins.
 
As far as installation issues go, I've found it best to simply unininstall the old ones and install the new ones whenever I update. Once, I had to clean out Sonar's plugin inventory in the registry to get things working again, but this only happened once.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

Thanks guys, I have loaded up the cart a couple of times now, only to back out lol. But I am going to get the Abbey Road Reel ADT plug, it has had my interest and is a little different, and do a test run with it, if installation and everything else goes well with it, I'll pull the trigger on the other stuff I am looking at, the Gold bundle, CLA Classic Comp's and CLA Signature Series (the later may be a little limited due to it's nature, but for a quick slap it on, push a few faders and get better/pleasing result it might be fine, plus it comes bundled with the Comps and still under half price of the Comp's alone, so . . .) Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter, REDD, Abbey Road EMI TG12345 and the Scheps 73.
 
Not quite sure if Mr Mccue may have a little tendency toward sarcasm, or perhaps was on the bottle, or forgot to take his med's, perhaps a bit of all 3, I don't know ? :)
 
Thanks guys, for the positive and the negative.