Waveshell 5.2

[powerjoe]

Not sure if this is correct....


But, I think I read at the Waves website that owners of Waves products will need to upgrade their bundles with the most recent waveshell 5.2 release in order for Waves Bundles to work with PTLE 7.x...

Is that right? If so, Waves will not let me update to the 5.2 waveshell because WUP thingy is expired. And, if that is correct, can I assume that Waves won't even offer the compatibility fix for 7.x at no charge? Or, are they now charging clients who need an update from them in order to use their software?

Man, I hope I am wrong about this...

[spkguitar]

You're not wrong, man.

[technician]

I've said this so many times, but it is ridiculous!!!!

WAVES, drop the WUP! I'll NEVER buy a waves product because of this. Horrible way to treat your customers.

[vocalvoodoo]

Yeah, especially when you've had WUP for a couple years and NEVER needed it, then once it expires, all of a sudden you need to buy it for 7 compato and their recent free plugs for certain bundles. Talk about a waste.

[JFreak]

Yeah, especially when you've had WUP for a couple years and NEVER needed it, then once it expires, all of a sudden you need to buy it for 7 compato and their recent free plugs for certain bundles. Talk about a waste.

I agree. Wup was introduced with V4 plugins, and if you take a closer look at Waves version history, there actually were version updates before V4 and WUP. So they basically justified the upgrade plan with the future updates they'd release, but that didn't happen. There was one bug fix in V4-era, but nothing else; and now their V5 plugs we have only seen one update (that was because their APA netshell hardware). Yes, lately they have given few freebies, but IMHO they have been clueless since the introduction of WUP. Slow in acting, and when acting, doing wrong things. Until lately -- they actually changed their WUP policies for the better, regarding WUP status of freebie plugins. I hope they release V6 soon to clear this confusion, but I think they themselves must have admitted that they dropped the ball. I really hope they do it right, and make it happen soon.

[gonzo99]

Just out of interest (and to get back on topic?), I have been using the Waveshell 5.0 plugins without any problems (so far) on PTLE 7.1. Wasn't game to try them after my PTLE v7 upgrade because of posts I'd seen, however since I had to reimage my system after the 7.1 upgrade I thought I'd give it a go. Seems to be working fine.

I've opened some old PTLE 6.9 sessions which had waves plugs on and they've been fine. Save them as v7 sessions and still fine. I Can adjust the plugin settings and NO crashes!!!!!!!!

So if you're feeling as though your ass has been WUP-ped and you still happen to have your old v5.0 plugs, give it a try. As I say, it's working for me, and if it stops working I'll just uninstall and use my non-Waves plugs. I tend to prefer them these days anyway - although I haven't found a de-esser as good as or better than RDeEsser yet.

Anyways, just my $0.02. Hope it helps someone.

Cheers,

P.S. Forgot to mention that I can add the Waves plugs to new sessions with no probs. Basically, all working normally!

[powerjoe]

Thanks all.


I'll tell you frankly, that I am a pretty tough customer. But when a company does something right, I use them for ever. Waves has single handedly pissed me off here. I ma reading elsewhere and in talking to my own customers, that Waves have pushed them to the limit with this WUP crapola. And many top studio owners are moving away from companies who operate just like Waves. Now, I know why. If I had the kind of attitude with my own products and clients, I would be out of business tomorrow, and rightfully so.

The times they are-a-changin'..... and I am looking to a new company for my plugins.

I am sure this has been beaten to death, but what company's plugins do you all prefer over Waves?


Many thanks for your kind replies, all.

~ J

[JFreak]

what company's plugins do you all prefer over Waves?

Waves is one of the best. Others are URS, McDSP and Sony Oxford. Then there are also a lot of other good quality plugins from companies that do not produce complete plugin suites, and those that only do TDM plugs.

[RandB]

Yes, it's true that if you want to get Waves version 5.x plug-ins to work with Pro Tools 7.x, you'll need Waves' WaveShell update. It's fairly easy to install, and I was unaware that you needed the WUP to download it for free. Is that really so? (If so, that sucks.)

Something else you need to know about the WaveShell update, and you're not going to like this either:

Ever since I installed Pro Tools 7 (and subsequently installed Waves' WaveShell update, which, oh, by the way, is WaveShell 5.0.3), all the Waves plug-ins behave a little differently than they did when I was running versions of Pro Tools LE prior to 7.0.

The difference in behavior occurs when you use a plug-in from the AudioSuite. I'll describe my work flow, and you can decide if this applies to you, too:

I'll have a region in the timeline that I need to apply an effect to. So I'll launch the Waves plug-in from the AudioSuite menu. Then I'll click and drag across the timeline to select a time period I can play using Pro Tools' Loop Play mode that includes the region (clip) I wish to apply the effect to. Then I'll click PREVIEW on the Waves AudioSuite plug-in while the selected time period is playing over and over. Everything's fine *until* I change any parameter setting on the plug-in's interface. When I do that, play stops, and I have to once again click PREVIEW to get play to start again.

In Pro Tools 6.9 and earlier, play would just continue looping while adjustments were made to the plug-in's settings, and the sound would update more or less on the fly (usually with a slight delay while the plug-in computes the new settings). But ever since Pro Tools 7 and the Waves update to the WaveShell, this kind of "live updating on the fly" while play continues is no longer possible when using AudioSuite.

This unwanted behavior does not happen when using any of Digidesign's plug-ins. Only the Waves plug-ins do this. You can PREVIEW in loop play using a Digi plug-in from Audio Suite and the sound will update on the fly as you adjust settings without the play stopping. Not so with the new Waves Waveshell for Pro Tools 7.

I have reported this to Waves a couple of times, and their technical support people have confirmed on their own computers that this behavior is repeatable. So they now consider it a "known issue." However, the last time I spoke to them, they informed me that it likely would not be fixed until the next upgrade to Waves (which I'm sure I'll have to pay for).

Nice.

Randy

[Shan]

Well, there are workarounds in action. First, you need WUP just to upgrade the Waves Shell to 5.3. And yes, that is bull. But i have seen many forced into work arounds. Just get a bunch of Waves users together, find the one user who has the cheapest WUP to purchase and pool your money together. You'll all end up with the 5.3 shell.