Waves August Promo...

Gold Bundle or Gold Bundle Upgrade 50% Off.  Gold Bundle is $399 and upgrade is $250
AudioDeluxe price is $297.99

And the Waves V-Series Plugs are now included in Gold Bundle....Just the V-Series is $375

why I really need these plugs is ... somebody help me out here!

Mod Bod

why I really need these plugs is ... somebody help me out here!

I would say to demo them as I am doing and if you think they are making things better or getting you to a finished product quicker then consider buying them at this good price.


I personally, like the GUI and some of the specific tools I would use to correct problems or enhance a track.  Waves have been touted as some of the best plugins around for a long time.  I happen to like companies who have been around for a long time because they have something to lose if they don't meet customer expectations.  Waves + 64 bit + new authorization system (doesn't really matter now)+ quality + affordability + usefulness + need is what's driving my decision.

Rain

leapinlizard

Waves August Promo...

Gold Bundle or Gold Bundle Upgrade 50% Off.  Gold Bundle is $399 and upgrade is $250
AudioDeluxe price is $297.99

And the Waves V-Series Plugs are now included in Gold Bundle....Just the V-Series is $375

Man, you Waves guys are really plugin junkies  ;-)  So, to stir the pot a little, why do I need this bundle full of compressors, EQ's and verbs when I already have a boatload of said plugs?  Are these plugs that much better than, say, IK's plugs, or Sonar's offerings?  I get the "30 plugs for $300" argument, and unfortunately I don't have a voucher to get me a better deal than that (which is almost criminal), but I am having a hard time justifying the expense just for MaxxBass, PAZ, UltraPitch, and maybe GTR3, which I probably don't have an equivalent for, and a whole complement of compressors, EQs and verbs, which I probably already have covered.  Money is not the issue ... why I really need these plugs is ... somebody help me out here!

My 2 cents - yes, they're worth it.  Do you need them? Nope. You can achieve a perfectly good mix only w/ Sonar's native plug-in.


Are they that much better? Question of taste I guess. I think they usually are. If you can create a good mix using Sonar plug-ins, then Waves might give you a little extra sheen - but nothing that will make or break a mix.


I do own T-Racks and all the extras, including the Black-76 and the White 2A. Throughout the last year, I've tried and tried to use them in my mixes - only to find myself going back to Logic's native compressor set either in Opto or FET mode. Pretty much every time. It sounded so much"tighter" and also had an option to add pleasant distortion if needed. The IK plug-ins seem to put the emphasis on the distortion and warmth, but didn't seem to cut it in terms of dynamic. 


I was pretty much convinced that I'd stick to my native compressor. Then I demo'ed Waves equivalent - their versions of the 1176 and LA-2A. Now these work like I'd expect. I couldn't believe how punchier the CLA-76 was. The Black-76 gave me an approximation of the color of a vintage hardware compressor. Waves delivers the color PLUS effective compression. 

Let me put it this way - for a year, I've tried and tried to use T-Racks and couldn't figure out what the heck was wrong w/ me that I couldn't set it up to works as I was reading it should so I ended up removing it and re-inserting another comp. 2 minutes w/ Waves' demo, and I had that CLA-76 set up and punching its way through the mix  and there was no doubt that I didn't want to replace it w/ anything else. I bought it almost on the spot.


For middle of the road overdrive and clean sounds, GTR is also better imho. IMHO, Amplitube sounds like a plastic box - unless you bypass the cab and use speaker impulses. Then it's pretty similar to GTR. I don't like the hi gain stuff in either of them. Waves GUI makes a whole lot more sense to me - you don't need to move back and forth and you can adjust the amp and the cabs parameters on the same screen. Less flexible, less exhaustive list of models, but it has the merits of being very easy to set up and get a good sound. I see it as a preset bank, filled mostly w/ great sounding patches (exception of heavier/hi gain stuff as I mentioned).


Waves stuff simply work. There's got to be a reason why so many top engineers have relied on plug-ins like the Renaissance Compressor and EQ for over 10 years and continue to do so. FWIW...

fwrend


or just want them (surely!).