Waves APA Bad news.

[T_R_S]

Just talked to Waves on the phone all of us APA owners now own APA door stops.
After no support for several months Waves now sat they APA is no longer supported.

[True North]

Whew!!! - sold mine at a loss over a year ago...

That sucks for existing users. Who new that native power would have gone so beserk over the past few years

I thought Version 6 was rumored to include APA support for all of their plugs

[ddageek]

Yeah didn't the guy from waves say there was going to be APA support for everything in 6.1 o r something to that effect??

[slaves666]

I just saw one at the pro audio shop today, and I wondered about it......it was a great idea for the time.....but now that quad-cores have taken over....we have plenty of power.

[Tui]

Sweetwater are still selling it, at $1350 a pop..?

"the APA32 lets you run 6 IR-1 Reverbs,"

A modern computer can run 100 IR-1s without breaking a sweat.

[Ken Paul]

Saw the writing on the wall before 5.9.7. They seeded a bunch into the beta tester community (I no longer test for Waves) but then never gave us anything to test on them. I have a 32 and a 44M connected to an intel MINI and it works fine. Best of all I got them free :)

-kp

[ezrecords]

It´s a very shame about the Waves business, since a few years ago they are over interested on take the maximun amount of money as possible meanwhile their plugins quality are been defeated by another manufacturers.
I was two days ago in the last step to purchase a second hand apa32, but as soon as I see the waves 6 announcement I wait until I see the apa32 support.
The apa32 has disappeared from the waves website, even from the direct email support they don´t answer more emails about apa32
The most shameless thing is that if you open the apa32 you will be find a classical pc motherboard with and old AMD processor and a Pc power supply, nothing that you couldn´t built on a saturday rainy afternoon at home. The netshell that is the interface between the soft and hardware is available with the original plugins, so you can spend about 200 dollars to take the motherboard and the amd processor plus a rack enclosure and a pc power supply and you can build your own apa and then purchase all the plugins.
On the other hand you can spend the 1800$ that costs some years ago.
Waves please, come back to the original philosophy of company, don´t want so much money, and take care about real plugins must be

[MartinBaird]

I own an APA 32. I'm now wondering if, via the internet, a group of users can be brought together to put some pressure on Waves to change their decision. This is insane. They won't even allow us to keep a system that can run the APA because when you upgrade to Waves version 6 they remove the iLok authorization from version 5. So they have rendered my WUP useless. Boycott? Class action law suit?
Anyone have any ideas where to begin?
MB

[ETM Dude]

While it stinks... I wouldn't quite think class action lawsuit... Waves didn't 'force' you to upgrade.. you had something that works as is and its your choice to upgrade or not. All software has a life cycle.. sometimes its upgraded and sometimes its not. Now if they don't let you downgrade back to V5 then you've got a good reason to bring it.

[MartinBaird]

I guess my point is is that they are taking my money for the WUP (Waves Update Plan) and telling me that my software upgrades are covered for the period that I have paid for. But I can't update! Because they haven't updated the software.
I mean how hard can it be anyway. We're taking about less than a dozen plug-ins that just need to be modified to work with the APA units. I'm not asking them to write completely new code for a new plug-in - not even close.
Bottom line - they've taken my money and said I'd always be up-to-date and yet I can't be (up-to-date).
MB

[ezrecords]

Waves didn't 'force' you to upgrade.. you had something that works as is and its your choice to upgrade or not

Totally agree, but the apa32 is still available on USA and Europe stores, but they are not supporting it more, so how is it possible that you are still selling an item that it is not longer support????

That´s the real shame thing the appearance of " take all the money you can without regarding to customers "

[MartinBaird]

I just got off the phone with a very nice and fairly sympathetic tech support guy at Waves. He said the APA units were not supported "yet" and he didn't know when they would be. He suggested contacting the man who makes the decisions via the "Contact" page at wavessupport.net When you fill the box with your message use the drop down menu to select "Comments, Suggestions"
I think if we can get enough people to contact them they will make it happen. The question is when.
Please take a moment to send a (nice) message to Waves.
Thanks,
Martin

[T_R_S]

That's what I did I called and emailed both meaasages were the same
"APA is no longer supported as of version (and including) 5.9.7"

[DAWgEAR]

On page 8 of the JJP thread, the reply below indicated that while APA support is currently in limbo, it will be resumed. Unless something has changed in the last few weeks.

WAVES Introducing the JJP collection

We have been working on continued support for APA. A short time after launch of 6.0 there will be resumed support for APA. However we do not have an ETA at this time.

Keep an eye on waves.com and the Waves Newsletter for updates on this.
__________________
Best Regard,

Waves Customer Support

[Animus]

Originally Posted by ETM Dude

While it stinks... I wouldn't quite think class action lawsuit... Waves didn't 'force' you to upgrade.. you had something that works as is and its your choice to upgrade or not. All software has a life cycle.. sometimes its upgraded and sometimes its not. Now if they don't let you downgrade back to V5 then you've got a good reason to bring it.

That's what we have been forced to accept in the "software world" but that's not how it works in other areas. If I buy I car I know it will work and be able to be repaired as long as I want it too, regardless if I buy a new car. Software companies for some reason get a free pass to pull this kind of shit.

[MartinBaird]

I too heard today through my music store sales guy, via someone at Waves, that APA support will be coming but that there is no ETA. I waited 18 months for them to get everything going correctly in Digital Performer. I hope it won't be that long.
MB

Originally Posted by DAWgEAR

On page 8 of the JJP thread, the reply below indicated that while APA support is currently in limbo, it will be resumed. Unless something has changed in the last few weeks.

WAVES Introducing the JJP collection

[Tui]

Originally Posted by Animus

Software companies for some reason get a free pass to pull this kind of shit.

No, it's only Waves that gets "a free pass to pull this kind of shit", for some unfathomable reason. In the audio field, no other software company I am aware of behaves as selfishly and ruthlessly as Waves - and consistently so.

[MartinBaird]

Well, there is something that APA users and owners can do that may help bring Waves version 6 support for the APA32 and APA 44. Please read this thread:

Waves APA - How you can help get version 6 support

Thanks,
Martin

Originally Posted by Tui

No, it's only Waves that gets "a free pass to pull this kind of shit", for some unfathomable reason. In the audio field, no other software company I am aware of behaves as selfishly and ruthlessly as Waves - and consistently so.

[ezrecords]

Wake up dude, Waves will not do anything that doesn´t reports inmediately money. The apa doesn´t generate enough money to them even the materials of the unit doesn´t cost more than 300 dollars. So time to sell the apa32 and migrate to other plugins brands.
This is what waves are making over us
Let´s us demostrate them that waves are not the unique plugins brand

[Ken Paul]

I'll keep the current setup on the mac it's on. Buy another ilok for the machine that runs the new stuff. They can't stop you from using what you have and they don't (and never will) care about whether or not you old stuff works. They treat their testers like shit and based on the turnover I witnessed in the house staff working in the test area probably don't treat their people much better. Their marketing machine need lots of dough to keep rolling so they will keep selling. Best buy is next. Seriously!!! Reality sucks sometimes. Get used to it!!

-kp

[T_R_S]

Originally Posted by ETM Dude

Waves didn't 'force' you to upgrade.. you had something that works as is and its your choice to upgrade or not. All software has a life cycle.. sometimes its upgraded and sometimes its not. Now if they don't let you downgrade back to V5 then you've got a good reason to bring it.

Yes that's true Waves did not force me to update Apple did ...
I bought a new Mac Pro only ran on Leopard Waves Intel Leopard required 5.9.7 thus cutting off support for APA, Yes software should have a life cyle but what is the excuse for no APA support?
It seems Waves employees need to get a clear message. 3 Waves employees told me no more support for Waves APA. Perhaps I misunderstood "what no more support" meant.
But I can tell you in the past 3 years, my APA has spent more time off than on due to variious software support issues. That is plain and simply wrong.

[malice]

this company is shamefull.

I was a customer. I'll never buy from them no matter what.


Shamefull

malice

[ezrecords]

3 Waves employees told me no more support for Waves APA. Perhaps I misunderstood "what no more support" meant.

I´m still waiting for my email answer

[MartinBaird]

Here's a copy of my latest thoughts that I sent Waves.
While I understand that APA support wouldn't go on forever, it would have been very beneficial to your customers had Waves given us 6 months to a year's warning that APA support would be ending. This would have allowed us to discontinue use of our APAs on projects that we knew we would need to recall at a later date. According to the Waves web site, I'm not allowed to keep version 5 and version 6 iLok authorizations enabled at the same time. This makes it impossible for me to have two startup disks, one frozen in time with a system that will work with the APA, and another that would have version 6 of the Waves software. The only way to convert from an APA plug-in to a regular version is to open up the APA plug-in, manually notate the settings via screenshot, and then replace with a regular version and reset all the settings. Needless to say this could become extremely time consuming. Since I must keep my APA available for some ongoing projects, and for two projects that will need to be revisited soon, I cannot upgrade to version 6. But I have already paid for version 6 via WUP.
I still feel that since I have a pre-paid WUP account, all the software that is covered should continue to be updated. If, let's say, Waves unilaterally decided, for whatever reason, to drop updates and support for all of the Renaissance plug-ins, the outcry from users would be deafening. I'm sure Waves would quickly reconsider. I honestly don't see any difference in the APA situation. APA users with up-to-date WUP plans expected continued APA compatible software. The only difference is that there are far fewer of us to complain.

[Tui]

I think you are wasting your time. No other audio company is as immune to constructive criticism as Waves.

They should merge with Microsoft, the two would get on just fine.

[Ken Paul]

Originally Posted by MartinBaird

Here's a copy of my latest thoughts that I sent Waves.
While I understand that APA support wouldn't go on forever, it would have been very beneficial to your customers had Waves given us 6 months to a year's warning that APA support would be ending. This would have allowed us to discontinue use of our APAs on projects that we knew we would need to recall at a later date. According to the Waves web site, I'm not allowed to keep version 5 and version 6 iLok authorizations enabled at the same time. This makes it impossible for me to have two startup disks, one frozen in time with a system that will work with the APA, and another that would have version 6 of the Waves software. The only way to convert from an APA plug-in to a regular version is to open up the APA plug-in, manually notate the settings via screenshot, and then replace with a regular version and reset all the settings. Needless to say this could become extremely time consuming. Since I must keep my APA available for some ongoing projects, and for two projects that will need to be revisited soon, I cannot upgrade to version 6. But I have already paid for version 6 via WUP.
I still feel that since I have a pre-paid WUP account, all the software that is covered should continue to be updated. If, let's say, Waves unilaterally decided, for whatever reason, to drop updates and support for all of the Renaissance plug-ins, the outcry from users would be deafening. I'm sure Waves would quickly reconsider. I honestly don't see any difference in the APA situation. APA users with up-to-date WUP plans expected continued APA compatible software. The only difference is that there are far fewer of us to complain.

I hope that made you feel better because nobody at Waves gives a f**k about you or any of the rest of us that have APAs.

-kp

[ezrecords]

At last I purchased the waves apa32. I accordate with the first owner to take his apa 2 days before the new waves 6, after seeing the support of waves to apa owners after the version 6 I cancelated the trade and that not was totally gentleman. So at last I purchased the Apa only for a gentleman reason.
Now I spend 300 euros in rack chassis with a pc motherboard inside that is very usefull for putting it down an old chair of my living room, now the chair doesn´t oscilate, the apa is so great to repair such things
I have been talking with two guys of waves no one give me a real solution, I also speak with several waves dealers and they not know any real solution.
So what the ****, use the apa to fix your old furniture, and forget waves for the rest of your live

Waves piracy pride.

[Nate Scott]

I have two APA 32's new in box ?! I waited and waited to get them up and running (I was under the impression that v6 would allow Netshell support for ALL Waves plugs)...now I'm stuck.

Waves may allow downgrades (i.e. v6 to v5.9) for users who call in, I'm not sure yet. They've been really good to me in the past.

I do agree that current users should contact Waves via email asking for future support.

[ripper]

Originally Posted by ezrecords

Wake up dude, Waves will not do anything that doesn´t reports inmediately money. The apa doesn´t generate enough money to them even the materials of the unit doesn´t cost more than 300 dollars. So time to sell the apa32 and migrate to other plugins brands.
This is what waves are making over us
Let´s us demostrate them that waves are not the unique plugins brand

big +1

i dont hacve pirated stuff.. all HD and iloked plugs... and NONE are from waves...

ever hear about their lying/spying programs and fake-assed web "forums".

i dont like their "everyone is a criminal mentality" and loved upgrading as it was a chance to sell my last system and get nothing of theirs for it!

yeah, and w/ an HD2 in a mac 8 core... who needs'em?????

[ezrecords]

We can do a bet pool
Did you think that netshell will run over the waves version 6???
Yes or no???? I bet 10 to 1 that the answer is not.
The winner of the bet will enjoy a marvelous waves pirate bundle, just downloaded from the edonkey :D