Soundwise Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 On 4/15/2019 at 11:09 PM, Monomox said: I DON'T need an API EQ!! I DON'T need an API EQ!! ... Or do I? I you have H-EQ, it has API mode, which is indistinguishable from Waves' take on API (and Neve and Pultec and SSL). 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Hurley Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 I bought the vocoder - Morphoder. But it doesn't work for me. The Waves Central licensing software uses a network MAC address to identify your computer. The only network MAC address I have is my motherboard WiFi and Windows is set up to assign random MAC addresses on WiFi. So I bought it, it worked the first time, but never again. I could not convince tech support that they have a bug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmcleod Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 25 minutes ago, Jim Hurley said: I bought the vocoder - Morphoder. But it doesn't work for me. The Waves Central licensing software uses a network MAC address to identify your computer. The only network MAC address I have is my motherboard WiFi and Windows is set up to assign random MAC addresses on WiFi. So I bought it, it worked the first time, but never again. I could not convince tech support that they have a bug. Are you sure this is the case? From my experience, Waves Central seems to use the serial number of my system drive. As long as that drive is present, then it'll work fine. So for me, it's my WIN10 OS partition. Even dual booting into Windows 7 works fine, because the WIN10 OS disk is still present. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Hurley Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 (edited) Yes I am sure. Their Tech support told me: "Because Waves licenses are linked to the network adapters, it's best to temporarily enable the ethernet adapter just for the chance that Waves Central recognized your computer by it. If it did, and Waves Central will recognize the computer again, you'll be able to move the licenses back to the License Cloud and then disable the adapter. Once disabled, Waves Central will recognize your current adapter and you'll be able to activate the license again to it." They seemed to think that Waves had used my disabled Ethernet adapter as a MAC address and not my daily-changing WiFi MAC address. This setting is in Windows Settings under WiFi - Random Hardware Addresses. I verified this using 'ipconfig /all' on two consecutive days: ------------------------ Yesterday: Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi: Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9560 160MHz Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 6E-D2-E3-26-72-30 Today: Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi: Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9560 160MHz Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 9A-A1-6C-C7-AF-06 ----------------------------- Edited May 1, 2019 by Jim Hurley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 I lost my Waves licenses when I removed a network adapter from my computer. I had to use the Waves allotted, once a year license "recovery", which proceeded to activate the licenses again, evidently using another available network adapter. When I disabled that new adapter, my Waves licenses were no longer available. When I re-enabled that adapter, all was well again. So I contacted Waves support and the only thing they could suggest was to move the licenses to a USB flash drive, which is another option. "The easiest way to move your Waves licenses between multiple computers is to activate them on a USB flash drive. Once that's done, you will be able to run your Waves plugins on any computer to which the USB flash drive is connected." https://www.waves.com/support/move-licenses Sort of like an iLok, but not iLok... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitekrazy1 Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 The other option is to stop using Waves. Their authorization scheme makes one appreciate iLok. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Hurley Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 (edited) Not having used any Waves software before, I adopted the 'Easy Install' option. Or whatever it was called. Usually I perform a custom install and choose all my own settings, but I guess I'm getting tired of doing that. Besides, I heard so many people here talk about Waves. I saw there were other options, like using a USB stick, etc., but didn't want to keep another iLok-like device connected. I was surprised at the amount of stuff that got installed just to license a $29 Vocoder. Based on the last few days reparte with their support I am not impressed by their efforts to help or listen when given real advice. They don't seem to be aware that this MAC option even exists. I don't think they even believe what I wrote to help them figure this out - the advice they were giving was not very good debugging or troubleshooting practice. Looking into the Hardware randomization feature, I am not sure it is a good thing to use on a desktop computer. Originally, I just checked it off as a security thing and thought it might help avoid tracking issues. But I think this is only useful for smartphones in a public environment now that I've actually thought about what it means. Most tracking on my desktop would be via cookies or my IP address, not a MAC address. And my home router saves all MAC addresses in a table, so, by now, that table must be very full. So I cleared my home router's device list and turned this feature Off. I have a few other vocoders, so I won't miss this one. And I doubt I'll be buying any more such bargains. They have an 'all sales final' policy, but I spent so much time on this already, I just want to forget I even heard about Waves. Edited May 1, 2019 by Jim Hurley 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 I think Waves realizes that they are still holding onto old concepts. And plugins that used to sell for hundreds of $$$. Why else would they be selling off their crown jewels for $29 a pop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starise Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 I find myself frequently going to certain waves plugins. No matter how or why they are so cheap I like it. They have some very quality stuff. I was on a mix last evening and used Kramer Master Tape, Scheps parallel particles, Gregg Wells Mix Centric on the "fairy dust" setting and a few others. Abbey Road TG Mastering chain is understated. It totally rocks. Sheps Omni channel and 73...can't say enough good about those. I could go on about their other stuff. It's all mostly good, They're re working some of their older plugins and adding new ones. I use the usb stick option. Usb sticks are inexpensive. If your motherboard or hard drive smokes today you can have new plugins all verified and playing tomorrow. You can transfer between computers with it. It doesn't cost 30.00 like the iLok. Most computers have lots of usb port in them. If not, I recommend you buy a usb hub. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Hurley Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 The external drive approach will work until it doesn't. Just like the MAC address approach. Some day Microsoft may change how external drives are handled and the licensing approach may break. I am not so opposed to licensing arrangements, what I don't like is that Waves tech support refused to admit that they have a bug and were willing to fix it. Probably it will be rare that people only have a single network interface. And that is WiFi. And that they enable random hardware MAC assignment. And that they buy Waves and use quick install. But it is quite common that Microsoft changes things with every patch Tuesday update, particularly with new security features. They might do something similar with Random MAC assignment and make removable drives address themselves uniquely upon install - or whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grem Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 @Jim Hurley Would Waves give you that 'One Time A Year' licenses 'do-over' ? I agree that their license scheme isn't the greatest, but it's really not that bad once you got it figured out. And the quality of their products gives them some of the best bang-for-buck value out there today! I would even venture to say that you could spend another $29 on these same plugins and once you use them, you will agree they worth the $60 investment! However, after having said all that, there are companies that I will never give my money to again. Period. If that's your choice I understand and respect that decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 17 minutes ago, Grem said: @Jim HurleyWould Waves give you that 'One Time A Year' licenses 'do-over' ? It should, unless you are like me, and have already burned my "One Time" this year. Will now need to be extra careful until next year. I'm going to go for the USB flash approach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grem Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 35 minutes ago, abacab said: I'm going to go for the USB flash approach. I switch back and forth between that and putting the license in the cloud. I never mess with any type of network or MAC address stuff. That's beyond my understanding. And when I did look at it years ago, it was a lot more involved than I really wanted. I mean the only reason I ever got a computer was to do my music. (The reason I gave the family was to allow everyone to learn computers!!) So if it ain't got nothing to do with that aspect of computing, I leave it alone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Hurley Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 3 hours ago, Grem said: @Jim Hurley Would Waves give you that 'One Time A Year' licenses 'do-over' ? Yes, they made that offer but I didn't try that. I wanted to understand why it failed before proceeding. When they told me about the MAC linkage, I eventually figured it out because I saw that my MAC address was not a constant. Then I discovered the setting about Hardware Randomization which I have since turned off because I don't think it is useful in a non-mobile setting. As I mentioned, my original install was using the 'Easy' method, which I imagine is what most people would do. I don't remember seeing any reference to USB drives or any alternative. But I did find that later when I looked through their troubleshooting pages. Had I taken that do-over, the day after, it would have failed again, because I hadn't yet discovered the real reason. Then I would not have any more do-overs. I never used the vocoder beyond initial testing, so I would not call this a 'do-over', I'd call it a 're-install'. But I want to re-iterate that it isn't the licensing I am objecting to - it was the treatment by tech support. At the moment, I have Waves Central uninstalled and they have $29. I'll let it go at that, I've spent way too much time on this already, I will say no more. '' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finnbogi Ragnar Ragnarsson Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 On 4/30/2019 at 10:24 PM, Jim Hurley said: I bought the vocoder - Morphoder. But it doesn't work for me. The Waves Central licensing software uses a network MAC address to identify your computer. The only network MAC address I have is my motherboard WiFi and Windows is set up to assign random MAC addresses on WiFi. So I bought it, it worked the first time, but never again. I could not convince tech support that they have a bug. This usually happens if you have Hyper-V set up. The workaround is to put it on USB memory stick. I did. You loose an USB port, but then again it's easier to move the USB stick to the laptop when needed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 (edited) There may be a few things I would critique about Waves, but their tech support would never be one of them! For the few times that I have had to contact them about issues, their response has always been top notch! But I think some of their technologies are stuck in the past, especially with the use of a network adapter MAC address to lock the copy protection to. As if everybody is still using just a dedicated, on-board, Ethernet interface on their systems for network access. I would think their developers just need to look a bit harder (just a little) to locate a less transient bit of system hardware to use. It's not like they are sending a network message home with the the network MAC address stamped on it to verify your license. My Waves license was locked to a virtual network loopback adapter used by another product that I had decided to remove. Then my Waves licenses were "poof" gone! I will add that I keep my on-board Ethernet adapter disabled in my motherboard BIOS, since I do not use it. So it appears that the Waves installer looks for the next best thing. Edited May 3, 2019 by abacab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadfoot Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 My usb license quit working. Waves Central shows the licenses on my usb stick when I'm on an online computer, but when I take it back to my DAW computer, no dice. I've tried all the ports. My iLok works fine. It just suddenly quit recognizing my licenses one day. There are other files on the U.S. stick, and my computer sees those just fine. I don't get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 1 hour ago, Leadfoot said: My usb license quit working. Waves Central shows the licenses on my usb stick when I'm on an online computer, but when I take it back to my DAW computer, no dice. I've tried all the ports. My iLok works fine. It just suddenly quit recognizing my licenses one day. There are other files on the U.S. stick, and my computer sees those just fine. I don't get it. I asked Waves tech support if it was safe to use the USB for other things once it contained my licences. This may or may not apply to your issue, so I am just providing this info in case it may help. Here was their response: "The USB can be used for other things and other files can be copied over to this USB device. Just do not move or copy the Waves folder that will be created on this USB drive upon license activation via Waves Central." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadfoot Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 I appreciate it abacab. Unfortunately it doesn't apply in my case. I put the license on this usb stick years ago, and haven't changed a thing. It just decided to quit working. Thank you for your response, though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 I wonder if Waves requires a periodic online check-in from the offline computer? Probably a good question for the Waves support team. Did you have to install Waves Central on the offline computer to use the USB based license, or was just having the USB inserted enough to allow the plugins to run as authorized? Just curious, as I'm fairly new to Waves, and so far only use them on my main PC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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