Yes, the community here on BPB is quite friendly, welcome! :) I don’t always respond to all comments, but oftentimes a reader would respond to another reader’s comment even better than I would. On the topic of piracy, everyone can have their point of view, but the bottom line is always that it’s not cool.

I don’t understand what you are talking about. I’m still using all the freebies I got from Waves, I was never forced to pay, it’s entirely optional if you want to update, which I don’t think is worth it. H-Comp is great and I still use the V10 version I got for free.
The only “problem” I see with their licenses is that you need to remember to deactivate them on one computer before moving the license to another machine (or format your computer), just like online iLok licenses, otherwise you will lose them.

Glad to help!

As for Waves though HComp is good there are loads of other good freebie “character” compressors listed on this very site (RoughRider!!). This Waves policy really is a dealbreaker though, shame as their stuff looks good.

Interesting, I’ll look into it. Thanks for the info!

Pirating isn’t the way to go, no matter the justification. So, BPB’s official view on this topic is: don’t pirate software.

You do make a point that, on one hand, I understand. I’ve lost access to 3/4 of my Waves plugins due to their stupid Coverage Plan…but the fact is, pirating a VST even if you technically own it violates Wave’s rules and EULA (not to mention the ethical issues). So personally I’d suggest that Alter Diego *doesn’t* download a cracked version.

Just my 2 cents.

Hello friend! I agree with your frustration a 100%. I have to say though… if I were you, I would pirate it and be done. Here is my reasoning: if you have to re-activate it means you lost a previous activation. Let’s suppose you didn’t lose it, right? You’d still have it no problems. No questions asked. You’d have it for free… you’d have waves permision. It was a freebie. So… just pirate it. I think you are right here and this is just a problem in their system they don’t care to fix. Maybe the extra activations have a cumulative cost on their servers they don’t feel like paying. Whatever. I agree with you and this shouldn’t be necessary. But you were present when it was free, went to the trouble of getting it and actually got it. Pirate it. vstcrack.com. Its yourse anyways. My best to you!

Exactly. Got H-Comp for free a and now Waves won’t let me activate it again unless I update for 20 dollars. Paid updates is one thing but forcing users to do those updates is uncool. Won’t complain it was a great freebie but won’t use their stuff anymore as a result. Shame :/