Lose plug-ins when upgrading computer?

[SteveBaruah]

Hi All,

This is a very simple question (hopefully), and it might make me seem a little simple, but here goes.

I am looking to upgrade my computer. I'm growing out of my Dell Laptop with upgraded RAM and Windows,
and I will probably be going for an Apple iMac.
The question is this: Will I have to buy all of my plugins again for the new iMac when I switch over?
For example, I bought the Waves Gold bundle a month or two ago, will I have to now buy it again for the iMac?

Apologies if this has been asked before, I searched but could not find a thread.

Cheers,

[hummingbird]

No you don't have to buy your VSTs again but you will have to download them again or upload them from your discs. As long as you have your licence number you should be ok, if not contact the vendor with proof of purchase!

[SteveBaruah]

Thanks, Vikki!
OK great! I was worried changing operating systems (Windows to Apple) would mean I would have to pay again.
More money for Taxi submissions then!

[mojobone]

Most VSTs are cross-platform, so you should be okay; there are only a few plugins that are platform-specific, and most are for platform-specific DAWs. I recently migrated to a Mac Pro for my main studio computer; I did lose some plugins, but it was mainly because of the upgrade from a 32-bit PC operating system to 64-bit Yosemite.

I also have two household laptops, a Chromebook and a Win7 laptop that's sometimes used for remote recording, so I invested in an iLok.

[Len911]

You'll need to visit the plugin web page to find out what is required to reactivate the license. It's very plugin specific what you'll need to do. Plus you are changing operating systems.

http://www.waves.com/1lib/pdf/central/waves-central.pdf

It looks as though you first would deactivate your software in the pc. then you would download the mac version and activate the license on the mac.

[SteveBaruah]

Excellent information! Thanks All!