If your Waves plugins are missing on your Apple M1 Mac then we have the solution to run them.
If you've been one of the many brave souls to jump on Apple's brand new Silicon-based Macs, no doubt you've accepted the fact that limitations come with being a bleeding-edge user. While some plugin developers like Fabfilter were quick to turn around M1 compatible native plugins, many developers are still quite a ways away from porting software to an M1 world.
For some plugins not yet M1 supported, Apple has provided its Rosetta 2 translation system as a solution. As stated on Apple’s Rosetta 2 support page:
Rosetta 2 works in the background whenever you use an app built only for Mac computers with an Intel processor. It automatically translates the app for use with Apple silicon.
In most cases, you won't notice any difference in the performance of an app that needs Rosetta. But you should contact the app developer to inquire about a version that can natively use the full power and performance of Apple silicon.
But unfortunately for Waves plugin users, the plugin giant's massive catalog is not yet officially supported for M1 systems. And despite Logic Pro being a native application on M1s, Waves plugins are unable to load inside Logic Pro even through Rosetta 2.
On the page Screengrabbed above Waves are clear about the situation:
💾 Link (Win): 💾💾 Link (MAC OS): 💾Password for the archive: 11111-System Req.
- All entries should work on PCs and some will be good for Mac users as well. For a master list of some of the best free AAX Pro Tools plugins around—all of which are Mac-friendly—try The (Updated) Big List of Free Pro Tools Plugins. One of the downsides to free plugins is that they may cease being supported at any time.
- 1400+ artist presets added to plugins. EQ Curve support on Pro Tools and Avid S6 for the AudioTrack, eMo F2, eMo Q4, F6, GEQ, H-EQ, Linear Phase EQ, Q10, R-EQ, R-Channel, RS56 plugins. Set any preset as default preset in all plugins. NKS support added to 43 Waves plugins for compatibility with Native Instruments hardware. Waves 11 16th, 2020.
Waves software is not yet officially supported on Apple Computers with the new Apple Silicon M1 processors.
We are working on providing official support. We expect developments in the near future and will update this page with new developments as they are available.
In the meantime, here are our findings:
Waves Plugins With License Free Mac
Pro Tools 2020.12, Ableton Live 10, FL Studio 20.10, Studio One 5, Reason 11, Bitwig Studio 3.3, Digital Performer, Adobe Audition 2020
These DAWs have not yet announced official support for M1 processors. However, we have found that Waves V12 plugins load and work, when these DAWs are running in the Rosetta 2 emulator environment. Still, this is not official support, Waves Support will not be able to troubleshoot technical issues.
Waves Central, standalone instruments and amps
These applications load and work properly on M1 processors, running in the Rosetta 2 emulator environment. Still, this is not official support, Waves Support will not be able to troubleshoot technical issues.
Logic Pro, GarageBand, MainStage, Final Cut Pro
Although Apple has announced that its proprietary DAWs are officially supported natively on M1 processors (without Rosetta 2), we have found that Waves plugins do not load or work properly in these DAWs on M1 processors.
Cubase, Adobe Premiere
Waves plugins cannot currently be used in these DAWs on M1 processors.
SuperRack, eMotion LV1, SoundGrid Studio, SoundGrid QRec, SoundGrid Driver
SoundGrid applications and drivers do not work at all on M1 processors.
Rewire, H-Reverb, IR-1 plugins
Rewire software does not work on M1 systems. The IR-1 and H-Reverb plugins display graphic issues on M1 systems with Retina displays.
Please note: Even in DAWs where Waves V12 plugins do load and work, they are not yet officially supported. We will update this page with new developments as they are available.
However, it appears there just might be a helpful workaround for Waves users that comes in the form of the free StudioRack plugin. StudioRack is a 'plugin chainer,' or a container that can house multiple Waves plugins in a single instance. Which paves the way for more complicated plugin arrangements. And one can even assign up to 8 macros for intuitive control of multiple Waves plugins.
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And thanks to some sleuthing from reader Poke of Slow Poke Productions, despite the issues related to Waves plugins on M1 systems, it appears that StudioRack is not only able to successfully load on an M1 Mac, but can also successfully load your entire Waves plugin folder as well.
The StudioRack workaround is accomplished by loading an instance of StudioRack onto a Channel Strip. And then selecting your chosen Waves plugin via StudioRack’s plugin slots. Your chosen plugin is then able to successfully load within the StudioRack plugin container. And from there will both visually and audibly process audio as expected.
Poke has kindly put together a video demonstrating this workaround, which you can view below. The thrust of the workaround begins at 2:46. But Poke has made sure to carefully walk through the details of his M1 system and Waves plugins installed on his system:
Waves Plugins Free Mac Reddit
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We here at Logic Pro Expert are not in possession of any M1 systems. So we're unable to confirm or deny Poke's findings. But based on the findings illustrated in Poke's video, he clearly demonstrates an active CLA-76 instance processing a drum track.
When the workaround was brought to the attention of Waves Tech Support, they replied with the following:
'We very much appreciate you sharing with us the workaround you found. Hopefully it will assist some users until we announce an official support.
Unfortunately, we will not be able to officially share this workaround with our users, since all Waves software including StudioRack are not yet officially qualified and supported on Apple computers with the new Apple M1 processor.'
So for now the StudioRack workaround is not an official solution. But one that could potentially help many M1 users as they wait for Waves to finalize M1 compatibility for their plugins.
Our question to M1 users - have you tried this StudioRack workaround and found it a successful workaround? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.