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How to Solve Blank GUI Issues on macOS High Sierra

Mar 26, 2023

Follow the steps below to solve Blank GUI issues on macOS High Sierra.

If the graphic user interface of your Waves plugins, SoundGrid Studio or StudioRack (V12 and higher) is blank after installing plugins on your macOS High Sierra computer, this may be because your Mac’s graphics card does not support Metal, which is required for plugins, SoundGrid Studio and StudioRack, V12 and above.

To verify whether that is indeed the cause of the behavior, check which Mac models support Metal. If your Mac does not support Metal, you will need to roll back your Waves plugins to V11, or roll back your SoundGrid Studio and StudioRack to the previous version which does not require Metal support.

The graphic user interface will then display properly.

Important Notes:

  • V11 Plugins can be activated by Waves Creative Access subscription licenses and perpetual (non-subscription) V14-V11 licenses.
  • To check if a plugin exists in an V11, scroll to the bottom of the V11 download page.

First, uninstall your V12 (or above) plugins, SoundGrid Studio or StudioRack (whichever you have installed):

  1. Quit any host application.
  2. Launch Waves Central from the Applications folder.
  3. In the left-hand side, click on the Settings page.
  4. Under Maintenance, click on the Uninstall drop-down menu and choose to uninstall V12 Plugins and Applications & SoundGrid I/O Drivers (If installed). Please note that doing so will also uninstall eMotion LV1 and SuperRack V12.

Once uninstalled, install V11 plugins. (If you’ve also uninstalled SuperRack and/or eMotion LV1, re-install them as well.)

If you are subscribed to Waves Creative Access:

  1. Quit any host application.
  2. Download the V11 Waves Creative Access Offline Installation Folder for Mac.
  3. Unzip the folder to your desktop.
  4. Navigate to the Waves V11 plugins folder(which you just extracted).
  5. In the folder, launch the file named “install.cen”.
  6. Waves Central will open on the Offline Installer page.
  7. Select All Waves Plugins and click Install.
    • Do not install StudioRack at this stage.

Important Notes:

  • Only plugins that are part of your Waves Creative Access plan will show up in your DAW.
  • Products released after October 18, 2020 will not be available in the V11 offline installer.
  • To see a list of the plugins available in the V11 installer, scroll down to the bottom of this page.
  • When installing using the offline installer, sample libraries for Waves instruments must be installed manually.
  • If you are installing bundles or single plugins:
    1. Quit any host application.
    2. Download the V12.7 Offline Installation Folder for Mac.
    3. Unzip the folder to your desktop.
    4. Navigate to the Waves V11 – 18.10.20 folder (which you just extracted).
    5. In the folder, launch the file named “install.cen”.
    6. Waves Central will open on the Offline Installer page.
    7. Select the products you wish to install.
      • Do not install StudioRack or SoundGrid Studio at this stage.
    8. Click Install.

      9. Important Notes:

      • In order for V11 products to work, you will need to have corresponding licenses that are V11 or higher.
      • Products released after October 18, 2020 will not be available in the V11 offline installer.
      • To see a list of the plugins available in the V11 installer, scroll down to the bottom of this page.
      • When installing using the offline installer, sample libraries for Waves instruments must be installed manually.

Next, install the supported version of SoundGrid Studio and StudioRack (if they were uninstalled):

  1. Quit any host application.
  2. Download this offline installer (632 MB).
  3. Unzip the folder to your desktop.
  4. Navigate to the ‘Waves - SGST_STRK_V11_NonMetal1208’ folder on your desktop (which you just extracted).
  5. In the folder, launch the file named “install.cen”.
  6. Waves Central will open on the Offline Installer page.
  7. Select StudioRack and/or the channel configuration of SoundGrid Studio you wish to install.
  8. Click Install.
  9. Restart your computer.

None of the above worked? Contact Waves Technical Support.