Waves license error no valid waves licenses found

Join Date: Mar 2013

Posts: 19

Join Date: Dec 2009

Location: Minnesota

Posts: 9,020

Join Date: Aug 2014

Posts: 10,827

If they’re licensed to your machine, not a stick, have you checked your HDD for faults?

Have you tried re-scanning plugins in REAPER? Do you have another DAW to check that it’s just in REAPER?

Join Date: Aug 2007

Location: Near Cambridge UK and Near Questembert, France

Posts: 22,690

might possibly be related to vst3.

reap5 follows the «standard » routing of vst3 to the program files/common files/vst3 folder.

I seem to recall having a similar problem when I first started using 5pres and updated all my waves/NI/etc plugs to include the vst3 stuff.

Join Date: Mar 2013

Posts: 19

Join Date: Dec 2009

Location: Minnesota

Posts: 9,020

I had a scarily similar issue with all Waves products over a year ago, and the Waves support response, after a few days, was to do a remote takeover (Teamviewer type thing) and «have a look around. I have retired my Waves plugins.
I do know that you are allowed one «restore» a year, so if you have not used that yet, open the license manager and at the top is an option labelled «recover licenses». That should allow you to restore them to any device. Be careful though, this is what got me finally because I had already had this issue and had already used my once-a-year golden ticket. They refused to take any responsibility and when I asked them to maybe make a few mouse-clicks and give me another restore, they basically laughed and told me that they were fairly confident that the problem was user error…. Look into restoring the licenses, and when you finish the project, I strongly urge you to start looking for replacement plugins…They are out there, and most are even better than what you had….

Join Date: Jun 2014

Posts: 37

Very similar experience five years ago wherein Waves could care less that I had just purchased a $1900 bundle. I purchased the wrong one and had the wrong operating system as they did not support that version of windows… (the current one at the time)…

They were glad to speak with me for $340 more and see what else I needed to purchase.

I retired the Waves plug-ins too. My iZotope tools are much better, and much more ethical in their business revenue/support model.

Waves is a great example of the King Has no Clothes fable — people just keep saying they are good. But they are not anything special, above what you can find as an ethical alternative if you do your homework. For example, epicVerb, a free reverb plugin tops anything that Waves had in its aresenal when I switched. Similarly, the band compression and spectrum capabilities of Sony Spectral Layers or iZotope Ozone 6 easily top Waves in comparison at a much better cost.

~TS

Join Date: Dec 2009

Location: Minnesota

Posts: 9,020

I agree in parts here, but the OP is also in a bind with a critical project. I think first priority is to get up and running, even if it is temporary until this project is either complete or has plugins replaced.
But in agreement with TStranger27, everything that Waves makes has an alternative that is at least as good, and in my discoveries, much much better. I hope the OP gets the project sorted out, that is a super-stressful situation to be in, especially if it involves a paying client.

Join Date: Mar 2013

Posts: 19

Join Date: Dec 2009

Location: Minnesota

Posts: 9,020

This is exactly what I was describing…..My «recover» option had already been used once for an issue I considered to be due to their odd policies, so when I needed another for the same reason and they would not budge, that was when I decided that I needed to replace them all…too risky.
Use your recover option to save the project, you are not likely to get any other solution from them, trust me. Then quit using the plugins and consider the money loss as lessons learned (my advice based on my very similar experience).

Join Date: Nov 2009

Location: Montreal, Canada

Posts: 8,549

There is a way to load your project with all FX disabled to prevent crashing out on initialization.

I forget exactly what it is, but I seem to remember something like holding alt or something when opening reaper or something like that. There is a way for sure. I’ve had to do that before.

Join Date: Dec 2009

Location: Minnesota

Posts: 9,020

Definitely, good thinking! Another way is to open Reaper as a blank project, and using the «open» option, navigate to the rpp file for the problem project and select to open in recovery mode (option is on the bottom). Good thinking. So at the very least you can still open it and if needed, remove any plugin and rebuild the project…Not ideal but totally doable.

Join Date: Apr 2013

Posts: 337

hay hay my my you all making me scared about waves, im completely opposite I tried all other plugins until I started using waves now I just dont bother with other plugins my go to plugins are waves.

on another note where is your license kept i did not see that or maybe I missed it, even if you have changed your net work card you should still be able to use waves, if licenses is on USB you can put them on cloud, sort your machine dude then bring them back,

waves are not that silly to think that we dont change components on our system, or even build a new system, or even system brake down, buying software online is very dodgy but there are some safe guards we can do.

you should be able to send your license to cloud and all license are registered with waves .

I have removed two HD from my system and I still have waves working.

I can totally understand when things get messed up we wont to blame the product and tell them its your fault, my systems perfect its got to be the products fault,

We do a lot of things our self on our workstation a kind of do it your self but if you were in a company system you could not and will not be able to touch that machine if it brakes down or there was an error, the company would call in technicians who understands all the information about software and PC.

there are some of us me included that install software and close our eyes and hope for the best, not understanding conflicts or what adverse effect it can have on other programs on our system.

Some times when we install things a window item pops up and says this product is not registered and it may do harm to your system, how many of us have had those warnings but we still go ahead and install it anyway because we just got to have it.

few weeks down the line some thing stops working and we forgot about all those warning pop ups

So of course when we go back to the supplier they dont want to know, they cant be sure what crap we have on our system of course they will say get out of here dude.

Can you pay every time something goes wrong with your system can you pay a technician to rectify it some of us cant but that is what software demands that you get the right person to do the job some one who understands the ins and outs, but hay where living in the real world you say, well its not what software says.

there are to many questions to be answered before we can just blame one product and a hundred 1000 people our using that same product with out problems.

Join Date: Mar 2013

Posts: 19

Well Waves did get back to me and tell me to use recover to re-license my paid for products. I sent them back an email saying that I shouldn’t have to do that and asking for another solution, not quite 24 hours ago and still no response. The issue is indeed created by Waves and their system, which according to them identifies your computer through the network adapter that you have used to register your plugs on their License Centre. If you change that adapter you will have this problem. My licenses resided in two different places, or devices to use their terminology, one an Ilok that I used before they implemented this current version of the license centre and two a hard drive in my computer. the Ilok is still listed as a connected device as is a new device which the License Centre seems to have created on my computer the original device where my licenses existed is still there but listed as a disconnected device. The cloud license is still there as well. In each of these places only the EMI TG12345 license is available and all the other show all my licenses but there is no check box available to select them to move them either to a new USB or to the device that their system created. this should be a simple fix on their part, just give me back access to the licenses on the cloud and I’ll move them issue solved. I’m unwilling to let this go I want Waves to make it right, it’s surely in their power to do so and there’s no reason for them not to except what I see as an imperious nature as I research the issue more and find wacks of folks who have had this very same problem.

Join Date: Dec 2009

Location: Minnesota

Posts: 9,020

You will not get a different answer, so if your actual goal is to finish the project, then use the recover option and get on with it. If instead your goal is to try to get them to see where they are wrong (because I agree that they are indeed wrong), then I think that you will be fighting that one indefinitely…They have stated their policy to you, as they did to me as well, and add to that the fact that even before you bought a single Waves plugin, it is very clearly stated on their website that Reaper is not one of the supported platforms..so right or wrong, that’s their disclaimer and on a technical and «legal» level, they are in the «right» and are not obligated to do anything besides what they have already done.
You, on the other hand, have the power of a consumer, the power to not spend any more money on their products and move on to better plugins and a more reasonable company. If you insist on expecting them to change their policy for one person (you), and for a DAW platform that they have very explicitly said that they do not support, you are wishing..wishing does not make it so…..

Join Date: Dec 2009

Location: Minnesota

Posts: 9,020

Hay Hay My My there are reasons to be nervous…..ha ha. Don’t reject the many awesome options out there…. But if your Waves stuff are behaving consistently for you, count yourself as fortunate (and a bit lucky…ha ha). I own more Waves plugins that I care to admit to, and none of them are currently installed, probably never will be again. I cut my losses.

Join Date: Mar 2013

Posts: 19

I also own licenses to Nuendo and Cubase, even though I don’t use them since I started with Reaper, so I contact them with those DAWS listed so it’s not an issue with their silly anti Reaper policy. The plugs are also disabled in those DAWs as well as Wavelab which I do still use. I definitely will not be buying any more Waves products and I had planned to, and I’ll have to use recover very soon but I’ll continue to slag the bastards at every opportunity until the day I die. Funny how I haven’t heard from support for over 24 hours since I asked for another solution but I have received 4 different emails from Waves dunning me to buy more products. Their recent sales push smacks of a desperate company, perhaps a little respect for their paying customers might be in order. Take care, Logan

Join Date: Apr 2013

Posts: 337

I think this is why there was a time that I would never even look at waves,

I think it was the pump that they were giving away free so I installed there center with my heart beating it turned out fine,

Since then I managed to capture a few more freebies from wave with some great plugins at a stupendous cheap offers then I became a fan and now addicted.

probably can do with out other plugins but not with out my waves

Its not the guys or the company its there products I just think there very good, but havent had not one bad experience with the company or the license center each time I have purchased a wave product.

Join Date: Nov 2012

Location: Mount Colah, Sydney, Australia

Posts: 435

yeah, i feel for those with all the hassles with Waves.

I started on v9.18 and it worked a charm, but that Pumper freebie would not show up to install. So i updated to V9.21 and i admit it would turn to crap and nothing worked, so i just kept going back to V9.18.

Recently i updated to V9.27 and for some reason it all worked fine, and Pumper and other new plugs appear to install. I was initially going to give Waves a miss, but over the last 2 years have enjoyed using their product with not too much fuss.

Join Date: Dec 2009

Location: Minnesota

Posts: 9,020

Join Date: Apr 2013

Posts: 337

I feel for them too

I think waves do not support any thing below version 9 and they dont support ilok

Join Date: Nov 2013

Posts: 139

Join Date: Apr 2013

Posts: 337

ha ha no I dont want to have problems with waves so im very careful of what goes on my system.

I dont find waves very special, and there not the best, I just find they tend to have there own character and sound a tube amp feel if you like, I think its there emulations they are so into that, some great amp and EQ emulations

the waves company are also innovators at creating new plugins that make a difference to your sound. kinda a bit like Izotope

if im using other plugins and im trying to select an Eq over say drums or bass I find i can slap any eq on it because they all kinda sound the same nothing really jumps out at me.

but with the waves plugins they sound different in a nice way I find even if you turn the dial a little it changes the character of the sound, they just feel solid to use it just may all be in my head, they tend to be very kind to the CPU.

I feel UA are in the same street as waves probably better but thats another story.

But all in all waves are very simple to use easy to get a fat sound quick, and I generally find they do whats written on the box

If you there at the write time you will always get a great bargain this is a big plus, you really should not be paying nothing close to the full price on getting a top of the range wave plugin or bundle, there sales go through the year, then they have crazy sales, then they have flash sales

Join Date: Nov 2015

Posts: 2

Hi,

All you need to do is have the Waves Center software send the liscence file(s) to your PC.
There’s a section for doing so in the software, you’ll find it.

Then, find where Waves center put the Liscence file on the drive you selected and copy it into the appropriate folder. The same thing happened to me. I wasn’t sure which folder to put in so I copied it both to the Waves folder and the plugin folder where the Waves .dll file was.

Bingo.