Waves Plug-Ins

Is it just me, or are many of the Waves Plug ins getting pretty cheesy looking. They are beginning to remind me of many of the free plug-ins market. 

kitekrazy1
I try not to judge software on eye candy.  Of course I own Reason which looks really cool and I own Live that has as 8 bit look.  

Case in point? SONAR's Sonitus plugins.

Yeah some of them do have that look, the Butch Vig Vocals plug certainly had a look of it's own, but I do love what it can do for you, the new Greg Wells stuff also, I have Piano and Voice, going to demo the new Mix one shortly, but again I di like what Piano and voice can do.
 
Normally I don't really care so much about the look, as long as it is functional and does a good job, but I could never stomach the Melda plugs look, it was almost nauseous to me, couldn't stand them, had the total bundle and ended up giving them away to a friend.

I wouldn't have thought Waves plug-ins were appearing more and more like free plug-ins. Many free ones are horrid-looking. For Waves, as from what I've read and felt, it's all about human flow. When the first Q10 was released, the main concept was set that you could simply click-drag a ball on the EQ graph and adjust it quickly. Obviously, you can accurately adjust nearly (if not all) settings on a Waves plug-in by double-clicking on each control.
 
There's also many 'emulation' plug-ins Waves offers, which not necessarily are powerful, but offer up a very closely mimic'd hardware emulation of products from Neve, SSL, UA, etc. What you're paying for there is all the talent and hours spent getting those emulations to fool their respective hardware owners, much less the Waves customers.
 
It's all about what you don't see, however, that makes Waves so powerful. Take the CLA, Kramer, Maserati, or JJP Signature plug-ins. Simple, they appear. Complex and powerful they are. 

Now, that I said that, there just might be some ugly-as-sin free plug-ins that offer some serious power. I just can't immediately think of any.

sharke
I tend to prefer the look and feel of plugins which have been designed with onscreen use in mind as opposed to looking as "real" as possible. The Valhalla plugins are a great example of beautiful & functional design IMO. 3D buttons and knobs are starting to look a little old fashioned to me.

I agree, that I like usefulness and screen/flow friendly vs. classic look. The Elysia compressor is a fiddly thing because they chose to make knob adjustments wacky and more like actual hardware. Sonoris is a great example of eye-friendly vs. eye-candy. DMG is another I like pretty well. FabFilter is bordeline eye-candy, but Valhalla, is total apathetic to looks. Much like Algorithmix plugs, and as easy to work with as they are, I think they just don't have a great artistic designer inhouse (joking). But it shouldn't matter what they look like. Consumers won't know.

I think the UI on just about everything I own is going downhill. It's that flat 2D thing that everyone needs for their phones and tablets. The 2 Fab Filter plugs I own are very modern looking and I don't care for it but the sound quality is amazing. On the other end of the spectrum are the Waves Abbey Road plugs. They look like the gear, but just like the originals they are not intuitive to use. 
 
For both the sound and the look I love the Softube stuff. Unfortunately I can't buy in because of the iLock thing.

I really like the sound of the Native Instruments plugs and the simple layouts.

waves:  
if you stick to the basic 'big-dog' plugs, 
they are great.
I HAVEN'T USED a better more transparent limiter than the L2 (mastering plug only)
i use the L1 on individual tracks and busses.
 
that said, i haven't used the L3.
my guess is, i don't really need that.
 
 
the LMB comp is really nice....
 
i use the RComp, RdEEsser, REQ, MaxxBass, Doubler, Super tap, Liner Phase EQ, and that's all.