Waves Central
User Guide
Use Waves Central to install and activate the latest version of Waves products.
Waves Central can be downloaded here.
Navigating Waves Central
Waves Central is organized in eight pages that can be accessed via the tabs on the left side.
Want to learn more about a topic? Click the nearby button. This will take you to a detailed, up-to-date
article that tells you what you need to know.
Main Section
Manage plugin
subscriptions
Install and activate
Waves products
Manage and
move licenses
Create and run
offline installers Summary of pending
install/activate
Get started with activity
StudioVerse
Shows latest releases,
product recommendations,
and purchasing options.
File locations, privacy,
maintenance
Support articles, specs,
system information
There are four useful tools at the top of the window:
Tour walks you through the most common processes in Waves Central. Click the Tours icon (circled)
and select a tour from the menu.
Search helps you locate products directly.
Reload refreshes Central.
Username identifies the current Waves account. Click on the down arrow to review your account or log out.
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Creative Access Page: Set Up a Subscription
The Creative Access page is the gateway to Waves Creative Access subscriptions. From here you can start, install,
activate, and manage subscriptions, as well as get updates.
Getting Started
To get started, you’ll need a Waves
account. If you’ve ever purchased a
Waves product, you have an account. If
not, you can set one up from the
waves.com home page.
Get Full Access
Start a subscription. My Subscriptions shows your Creative
Access subscriptions. If you don’t
already have one, click Get Full Access.
This link will take you to the Waves
Creative Access page, where you can
start your subscription.
When you install and activate your
subscription, you will be asked where
My Subscriptions you want to activate your license: on this
A list of your plugin subscriptions. To start computer or on a USB flash drive. You
a subscription, click “Subscribe Now.”
will also be asked if you want to
download the Waves sample libraries.
These libraries, which are used by the
Waves sampler and virtual instruments,
Sample Libraries are very large. If you do not use these
My Products
A list of all Waves Takes you to a web page where you can products, you may choose not to
products for which Legacy Versions download sample libraries for Waves
you have a license. Links to the offline virtual instruments. download the sample files now. You can
Installers page for always download them later.
All Products older versions of
Access to the latest Waves products.
products, as well as
Waves legacy products. Live Sound
A list of all available Waves Live
sound applications and drivers.
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Creative Access Ultimate installs the entire catalog of Waves plugins, while the Essential subscription installs only
plugins within its scope. If you are using Essential, you can always demo Ultimate plugins. The plugin will be fully
functional, but there will be occasional mutes.
Install and Activate Your Subscription Later
If you’re not ready to install and activate your Waves Creative Access subscription at the time of purchase, don’t
click Install & Activate on the waves.com purchase page. You can install this later with Waves Central.
You can also install and activate from the Waves Central Creative Access page by clicking Install &
Activate. If you have already installed the plugins, you will see only Activate on the button.
Once your subscription is ready to go, you’ll see this page.
Subscription Options Subscription Status Manage Your Subscription
If you have more than one Shows the status and location of the Takes you to the My Subscription page
subscription, they will all license and the date of the next in your Waves account.
appear here. automatic payment.
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Creative Access Updates
When new plugins are available for your Waves Creative Access subscription, a blue Update button will appear on the
Waves Creative Access page.
Click the Update button to see a list of updates that will be installed. If a new plugin is available, it will appear at the top
of the list. Click the Update button in this window to update/install plugins.
We recommend that you regularly visit Waves Central to check for updates.
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Install and Activate Products
The Install and Activate Products page shows all Waves products. Here you can install and activate your products, update
products, and find legacy product installers. If you have subscribed to Waves Creative Access—and have no other Waves
products—you will probably not need to visit this page, since you can manage your subscription in the Creative Access page.
My Products Plugin Subscriptions All Products View
A list of your View subscriptions A list of all Waves Use the View menu to filter My Products
Waves products products products by version type / use.
• Use the View menu to filter products by version,
type, and use.
• You can install the current product version
online. Click the button next to the product
name to add product to the install queue. Your
selections will appear in the Selected Products
Current Version list on the right. Click the X to remove products
from the queue.
Selected Products
Older Version Review selected products. • If you are installing sample libraries, you can
Later than V9, Choose destinations for select between the SD and HD versions, or
supported by Central. Activated License license and sample libraries.
Location and Status none.
• Click Install to install the selected products. If there
are licenses to be activated, choose the device
where you want to send them (your computer or a
Selected Product USB flash drive). Click Install and Activate.
• If your list includes products of an unsupported
Legacy Version version, you will see a Learn More on the right side.
Not supported by Central. This takes you to a link where you can read about
your download options.
Plugin Subscriptions
• Shows the Waves subscriptions available for
installation and activation.
All Products
• View and install the current version of all Waves
products, whether you have a license or not.
A small notepad icon indicates that there is more than one plugin • SoundGrid applications are not licensed under a
associated with this download. Click to see download contents.
subscription; activate their licenses separately.
This notification appears when product updates are available. These may include
product improvements or bug fixes. By default, all relevant plugins are updated to
the latest version but, to save time, you can deselect plugins that you don’t want
to update presently. A restart may be required after an update.
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Manage Licenses
Use the Licenses page to activate, move, deactivate, or recover a license.
Not Activated
This is a list of your licenses that are not
activated to a device.
To activate a license:
Export licenses status
to a CSV file. • Select your product licenses (they will appear in
the summary on the right).
• Click Activate.
The selected license is activated to your
Licenses selected for computer or a USB flash drive. When a license
activation.
has been activated on a device, it will
Selected Products
no longer appear in this list.
Review selected licenses.
Choose destinations for
Connected Devices
license and sample This shows the licenses activated on this
libraries. Important notices
are posted here.
computer or on a USB flash drive connected to it.
To deactivate a license:
• Select your products.
• Click Deactivate (the license moves
to your Not Activated list).
Disconnected Devices
This is a list of your licenses on devices that are
not connected to this computer. It can be used to
recover a license from a device that has been
damaged or lost.
Central can remind you that it’s nearing time to To recover a license:
renew a license. Remind Me sets a reminder in • Select the products.
your personal calendar. Open the drop-down • Click Recover (default).
menu to choose your calendar. The selected license is sent back to
your Not Activated list or to a
connected device. You can recover a
license once per year.
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Offline Installer
Waves products V11 or later can be installed online with Waves Central. There are, however, occasions when you
cannot or don’t want to install online, such as:
• When installing Waves products to a computer that is not connected to the internet.
• When there are issues with the internet connection that prevent the products from being downloaded properly.
In these cases, you can create an offline installer, a one-click customizable tool for product installation.
To install from an offline installer, follow these steps:
• Click Browse.
• Navigate to the offline installer and select it. You can
open the installer folder and click on the “install.cen”
file or drag the installer directly onto the Waves
Central interface.
• Click Install.
If your list of products in the My Products tab of the Install
Products page includes products of a previous version,
you will see Learn More on the right side. This takes you
to a link where you can download the
offline installer for that version.
To create an offline installer of current Waves software, follow these steps:
• Click Create. Select the products for your offline installer.
• In the Selected Products panel, choose a platform according to the target offline computer (Mac or Windows).
• Click Create an Installer.
Note: An offline installer does not include your license. Use the Licenses page to transfer licenses. If you want to move
between host computers, you may choose to activate your license to a USB flash drive rather than your host computer’s drive.
A legacy product will work with a newer license, so you can combine a subscripton with your legacy plugins.
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StudioVerse
This is your introduction to StudioVerse. From this page you can visit the StudioVerse web site to learn what StudioVerse has to offer. Or
you can install the entire the Waves plugins library so that you can demo all the StudioVerse plugin chains.
A plugin chain is a record of the structure, plugins, and settings of an instance of StudioVerse. It is a comprehensive snapshot of the
chain. StudioVerse lets you store and recall your chains online, so you have access to them from any location. But that’s just the
beginning: StudioVerse is an online community where you can post your chains and share them with other users or load chains from
industry-leading pros. StudioVerse can even scan a track and recommend chains based on the sonic fingerprint of your track.
A StudioVerse chain includes macros that help you adjust the chain’s controls, based on sound attributes, not numbers.
StudioVerse Status
This page manages your StudioVerse environment. It
considers which plugins are installed on your
computer and advises the best course of action to
get the most from StudioVerse.
Controls on this page change according to your
configuration and needs.
Click Install StudioVerse to update to the latest
version or install all Waves plugins so that you can
preview all the chains that StudioVerse has to offer.
Unlicensed plugins will load fully functioning into
chains, but there will be periodic audio drops until the
plugin is licensed or removed from the chain.
Check Creative Access Status
Takes you to the Creative Access section,
where you can check the status of your
subscription account.
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Settings
The Settings page is used to control the look of the interface and the default file locations, as well as to clean up your
plugins files. Each control has a tooltip or a prompt that explains its function.
General
Set the look of the interface.
Locations
Set the default location of your Waves
sample libraries and licenses.
Privacy
Allow Waves Audio to collect plugin usage data
for product improvement.
Maintenance
Tools for troubleshooting and cleaning up your
system. Supplies system information to Waves
technical support, if necessary.
The first time you launch Waves Central, or if Central detects a permissions problem, it will automatically repair Waves
file and folders permissions and ownership to ensure a clean installation. If you later encounter installation problems,
you can run “Fix permissions and Ownership” manually.
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Support
The Support page answers questions about installing, managing, and updating your Waves products. You will also
find technical requirements, system information, release notes, and contact information on this page.
Waves technical support contact information is shown at the bottom of the page.
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