I’ve been saying for a long time that this day was coming, but I honestly didn’t think it would be this early—Waves finally went subscription-only. In this video I break down why that frustrates me as a producer/engineer who’s already spent real money on “perpetual” licenses, bundles, and upgrades over the years. The biggest issue is simple: I don’t want to rent plugins forever. Once you stop paying, you lose access, and that concept feels like a scam to me—especially when you’ve already supported a company for years. I also talk about the real-world problem a lot of us deal with, especially on Apple systems: OS updates and compatibility. Waves says you can keep using what you already bought, but what happens the next time an operating system update breaks your old plugins? If the only path forward is paying monthly just to stay compatible, that’s not a win for the consumer. I do cover the “pros” of Waves Creative Access—like updates being included and access to a huge catalog—but I’m also keeping it real: most people don’t even use 200 plugins. My takeaway is this: learn your stock/factory plugins, build your skills, and stop thinking you need Waves to be great. I’m doubling down on templates and workflows that don’t depend on stuff that can get yanked away by subscriptions.