Helpful ReplyOpinions on Waves L3-16?

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cclarry
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2013/01/20 18:34:16 (permalink)

Opinions on Waves L3-16?

I can get the L3-16 right now for $140...that's $410 less then normal price.
Major bonus will be it will drop my upgrade to Platinum by $100 or more...


I've downloaded the Demo and the presets sound REALLY good...

Just wondering what the opinions are here...I've read REALLY great reviews...and really bad
reviews...and I'm sure that's due to "usage"

Just curious to hear what you guys think...



post edited by cclarry - 2013/01/20 20:11:40


#1
Rain
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2013/01/20 19:16:47 (permalink)
I think there's a lot of people out there bashing Waves plugs because so many rave about them. They just love to hate them.

I've not tried the L3, but I do like the L1 (which gets the same type of split reviews). That being said, of all the Waves plug-ins I've tried and worked w/, the quality is always there. They are very consistent.

I could probably work w/ only Waves and McDSP - and my Lexicon reverb. In fact, it's pretty much all I use these days, besides bundled plugs.




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#2
Kroneborge
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2013/01/21 14:23:48 (permalink)
I've always been very happy with the Ozone package


Mathew

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#3
batsbrew
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2013/01/21 15:26:00 (permalink)
i use the L2 as my mastering limiter

really like it.



it works well as bus limiters as well

and perfect for bass tracks


have never used the L3, much like Kroneborge.
heheh


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#4
Eddie TX
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2013/01/21 15:33:03 (permalink)
$140 still seems pretty steep for just a limiter.  For just a few bucks more, you could get Ozone and have many more features, and IMHO its limiter is second to none.  Try a demo and see for yourself how it compares to the Waves L-series.  Good luck!
 
Cheers,
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#5
cclarry
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2013/01/21 15:52:18 (permalink)
Eddie TX


$140 still seems pretty steep for just a limiter.  For just a few bucks more, you could get Ozone and have many more features, and IMHO its limiter is second to none.  Try a demo and see for yourself how it compares to the Waves L-series.  Good luck!
 
Cheers,
Eddie 

Actually Eddie, the L3-16 is FIVE Limiter/Maximizers....the L3-16 Multimaximizer, the L3-LL Ultra AND Multimaximers, and the L3 Ultra and Multimaximizers, and their predecessors, the L1 and L2, are on more hit records and movies then you could begin to count.  


#6
cclarry
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2013/01/21 15:53:22 (permalink)
But I will check out Ozone and see how it stacks up...


#7
cclarry
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2013/01/21 16:15:38 (permalink)
Ok...just did a comparison of the Maximizer (loud) setting in Ozone and the same
relative setting in the L3.  To MY ears Ozone adds some color.  It's not as "transparent" 
and doesn't give the "gain" that the L3 does....

Maybe I'm crazy...but that's what I hear...

That being said, there are some nice presets in Ozone.  And it's very straightforward.


#8
batsbrew
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2013/01/21 16:19:12 (permalink)
that's the reason i like the Waves stuff so much...

Transparancy

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#9
cclarry
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2013/01/21 16:36:40 (permalink)
Ok....started messing with the Maximizer presets in Ozone.

I got more gain and retained transparency...

So, I guess I need to look into this a bit more...I'm quite surprised.
It's not even Ozone Advanced.....even more shocking...

Reverb is not very impressive.  Probably have to work with it a bit to get acceptable sound.
Dynamics section is pretty nice.
EQ is nice.

All in all it's a nice package I must admit...

Only disadvantage here is I don't need all the other processors...I have all the reverbs, eq's, 
and etc...so they're redundant....and Ozone doesn't get me any money back  or save me
any money later...




But it's a nice package for sure..although I'm not a fan of the green...can I get the Alloy blue instead? 


#10
bluzdog
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2013/01/21 17:54:47 (permalink)
I realize this is a little OT but if your in the market for a transparent Limiter you might want to check out the Slate FG-X.

Rocky
#11
Sacalait
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2013/01/21 20:47:35 (permalink)
I'd like to get the L3 as I'm using the L2 for the final stage of mastering.  The L2 is very transparent- unless you go beyond 6 or 8dB of gain reduction. 

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#12
Eddie TX
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2013/01/22 00:11:23 (permalink)
Larry, glad to hear about your Ozone demo.  I think its limiter is more advanced than Waves' stuff, even though I'm a Waves fan. 
 
I never use Ozone's reverb ... been using Valhalla and sometimes Breverb lately.  Much better I think.
 
Ozone's EQ is cool, though.  Fun "matching" feature, and the alt-solo function is very useful (hit alt key to solo a band, then sweep up and down to find problem freqs).
 
The dynamics section can work wonders on a lot of material.  What I do is let the "learn" function set the bands, then use the histograms to set initial threshold levels.  Then tweak as needed.  The Gate works very well, too.   
 
Saturation is OK ... not really my favorite part, but sometimes comes in handy. 
 
If you've taken advantage of the Groove3 offer, there's a good Ozone tutorial in there.  Have fun!
 
Cheers,
Eddie
 

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#13
Kroneborge
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2013/01/22 16:40:54 (permalink)
Usually I use the multiband and the limiter for mastering. Sometimes just a touch of the stereo or maximizing effect. Have to be careful though not to overdue it.


Mathew

Hip Hop
http://www.soundclick.com...ault.cfm?bandID=213418

BreakBeats
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#14
interpolated
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2017/07/19 14:53:43 (permalink)
I reckon I'm going to demo this. Used to have an older VST2 demo although I don't recall it being very efficient on my system at that time.  The price is currently $99 which technically is around $20 per limiter component, so isn't too bad I suppose.
 
Having one process to handle many in one plug-in seems more logical to me. In essence this should be used on a final stereo mixdown really.

I have computer stuff.
 
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#15
batsbrew
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2017/07/19 15:32:29 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby cclarry 2017/07/19 16:59:24


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#16
interpolated
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2017/07/19 15:52:21 (permalink)
Zombies had feelings too. Looking at a latency chart for it. I will see if I can I resolve any latency issues I am having. I think my focusrite driver is broken. So may reinstall the 2.5 build.

I have computer stuff.
 
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#17
cclarry
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2017/07/19 17:00:41 (permalink)
In the end I ended up getting Ozone 7 Advanced in the Music Production Bundle 1...

Was VERY HAPPY I did!!


#18
interpolated
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2017/07/19 18:09:01 (permalink)
Ozone is a good production tool but the cost is a bit much for me right now.
 

I have computer stuff.
 
https://soundcloud.com/sigmadelta
#19
clintmartin
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2017/07/19 19:18:24 (permalink)
I have pretty much switched over to the new Barricade 4 from Toneboosters. It's excellent!
I bet the new TDR LimiterNo.6 would also hang in there with the best of them.

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#20
interpolated
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2017/07/19 20:21:59 (permalink)
I suppose I'm looking for a particular function rather than a certain brand. L3-16 would be in flow with my current plug-in purchasing. With an exception of a few Artist plug-ins Waves fares well in my opinion. My ideal situation would be to get an UAD Apollo device and some of their more up to date plug-ins. Not so much the Unison based ones however the Moog Filters which are excellent in my opinion, a couple more of the Precision series just to add to the workflow at the end.
 
Tried the latest 9.2 demo of L3-16 and the latency is greatly reduced. Perhaps because it's 64-bit and using VST3 it's working to my advantage. Last time I was getting clicks and latency bad.
 
I will check out your plug-ins though.
 
TBH I just want to be a better mixer with the tools I have rather than reinventing the wheel by splashing out for plug-ins all of the time. 
 

I have computer stuff.
 
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#21
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2017/07/19 22:17:50 (permalink)
The TDR one looks pretty awesome. Cheaper than the Waves too. Even has a RMS meter lovely.
 
A serious consideration I think.
 

I have computer stuff.
 
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#22
brconflict
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2017/07/20 14:39:44 (permalink)
Waves multi-band limiters, such as the L3-LL and L3-16 has one feature I've not seen in any other plugin: Priority
 
When it comes to limiting, this is a feature that undeniably can help you judiciously dial in the right amount of limiting for how much the kick drum affects the rest of the mix. I never go overboard with it, and it's not a replacement for a great multi-band compressor, such as the Flux Alchemist, but it's very good with band-management in limiting. VERY powerful and unique plug-in!!

I use the L3-LL when I want to manually adjust the release times of each band, but then use the L3-16 next to perform a general multi-band limiting. Finally, for down-sampling, since neither offer this function, I'll drop in a Nugen Audio ISL 2st to handle any final overs from the output of the L3-16.

Brian
 
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#23
Sycraft
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2017/07/20 18:51:04 (permalink)
I like it, but I like IK Stealth Limiter better.
 
As others noted, I wouldn't worry about bad Waves reviews much since people often do it just to be "cool by being not cool" sort of things. It is the illogic of "Waves is the big thing, thus they can't be good, so I don't like them." Nah, Waves are big because they are good. Their stuff works well. You can argue if it is worth what they want for it, but it does its job.
#24
interpolated
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Re:Opinions on Waves L3-16? 2017/07/20 19:30:14 (permalink)
When it comes down to it, these software products are tried out in studio environments initially not cars and bedrooms. So I never judge a book by it's cover. 
 
I think some of the Waves Artist plug-ins are gimmicky but a big fan of CLA LA collection. Schep's Neve 1073 emulation.  Suppose it's come down to your end needs.

I have computer stuff.
 
https://soundcloud.com/sigmadelta
#25
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