Wave Plugins? Is The Bundle Worth It?

[irecordyou]

I hear people saying that when you but an expensive Wave bundle you will really only use 4 or 5 plugins and then that is it. So how many plugins are you really using inside Pro Tools that come from any bundle?

[Phil Ogden]

I've got Gold Native and use pretty much all the plugs. You'll get more out of any software if you learn it's idiosyncrasies and experiment. There's also number of Waves tutorials and factory/producer presets which are a useful resource.

Whether it's worth the money is subjective and depends on many factors, many of which are unique to each individual. There's now a number of alternatives worth looking at (McDSP, Sonnox, Sonalksis etc).

One particular bugbear is Waves Update Plan which requires an annual payment. It's optional but pretty much essential to keep up to date.

Hope that helps.




http://www.myspace.com/philogg

[BRH]

I actually think the Renaissance Maxx is the best value. Only thing it's missing is the L2. Check Alto Music in NY for a good price.

[Phil Jeffers]

It depends what you do - who your clients are etc. I rarely use plug-ins like Enigma, but I know it's there for the right effect. S1 is damn handy at times also. Same with LEQ. Yes, a mixer would probably have half a dozen work horse plug-ins, but the one's they use every blue moon are just as important. Waves could probably just delete all the Q plugs (i.e. Q 1-10!)

For an alternative to Waves, check out WaveArts. For the best (and original) IR reverb - check out Altiverb - the full XL version even lets you instantiate a 5.1 surround reverb in LE!

[CME]

I have the Platinum Bundle and I definitely use the Renn plugs the most. If someone was wanting to start out with a smaller bundle the Renn Bundle would be a good place to start. But check out the other options also. I had demoed the WaveArts stuff and really liked it, but got a great deal on the Platinum Bundle I couldn't turn down. If not for that I'd probably had gone the WaveArts way. And yes read up on the WUP.

Back to the number of plugs I use. Looked at the list and the plugs most every session are: Renn Channel, Renn EQ (4-band the most), Renn Comp, IR-L, Super Tap (double tap), Maxx Bass, Lin MB, and L3.

And used a quite bit but not every session: Renn Axx, Renn Vox, Renn Bass, C4, Renn Verb, True Verb, and Mondo Mod.

Hope that helps. FWIW I feel I'm getting my money's worth.

[Phil Jeffers]

C4 is awesome... IR-L and IR-1 are pretty damn fine also. Their new Q-Clone is quite interesting also... It's how things are going now - replicating the best EQ & FX processors and spaces via downloadable presets. remember to get the IR Library DVD or download all via impluses.net while your WUP is current.

Gold/Platinum Native are well worth the bucks. If you bought all those plug-ins from another manufacturer you'll pay a lot more...

[lwilliam]

Personally, I think that if you don't master your own stuff (or stuff for others), it's kind of pricey. Maybe the Renaissance package would be worth it. I have Platinum and get hit about $300/year for the Waves updates - that's pretty pricey. Here are the only ones that I use extensively:

1. L1, L2, L3 - individual tracks and on master
2. C4, LinPhase Multi and LinPhase Eq - mastering
3. RenEq - occasionally
4. RenComp and RenVox - occasionally - nice on vocals actually
5. IR-L - quite nice and a different sound than Altiverb (which I also use a lot)
6. The Doubler - occasionally, but not a big fan.
7. PAZ - this is on my master fader in every session to make sure I don't have some weird frequency sticking out of the mix.
8. S1 - once in a while I'll stick this on a track or the master, but not often. It causes some weird phase shifting and/or comb filtering that I don't like if you use it too heavily (above about 1.25).

I rarely use any of the Chorus, modulation or special effects plugins, or the Q series or basic comp/gates. I find either the Digirack plugins to be fine or I use a 3rd party plugin other than Waves.

You really do need some sort of brickwall limiter like the L1 or Digi's Smack or similar. I tried Maxim and liked the L1 better. A limiter would be the bare minimum even for demos. You can try the Digirack limiter, but I haven't found it to be a brickwall (hard limit) limiter. T-Racks and Ozone are two alternatives that get decent reviews.

[Phil Jeffers]

S1 - once in a while I'll stick this on a track or the master, but not often. It causes some weird phase shifting and/or comb filtering that I don't like if you use it too heavily (above about 1.25).

S1 is great if you need to spread out SFX for a big screen.

There are plenty of other options around though these days. The UAD-1 card/plug-ins are awesome and come now with a great free VST to RTAS wrapper (that only works for UA plugs). It work perfectly within Pro Tools LE, and has DSP chips to boot. Alas, no ADC though. For that either spend $15,000-$30,000 for Pro Tools HD, or buy Logic Pro 8 for $500.

[ejwells]

The maximum WUP is 200.00 per Bundle.
Mercury Bundle TDM- 200.00
Mercury Bundle Native- 200.00
I have the Diamond Bundle, SSL, API, V-Series, IR-1, and L3-16, so my WUP gets a little scary.
It's about 340.00 a year for me.
They really ought to have a 200.00 a year CAP per customer. I've talked with them about this. They appreciate my input, but seem to like my money more.

There are several plugs from Diamond that I never use...like everything from the Restoration Bundle, but...it's good to know they're there, as I'm sure a client will need some old tapes remastered somewhere down the line.
As stated above, the WUP does get a tad scary, but I use many plugs from the Diamond Bundle daily, and the dollar a day to keep all my Waves products current is worth it to me.
I toss a buck a day in my Waves can, just so it doesn't sting so much every December.
Oh, and for the record, the SSL, API, and V-Series are all pretty darned amazing, and have quickly become my EQ and comps of choice. I can't imagine life without them.

[smbirddog]

I cannot imagine life without my Waves Plug-ins. I have Diamond on one system and Gold on another and can honestly say that none of my plug-ins go to waste. Waves is pricey but worth it to me. That being said...it all depends on what you do and you personal preference and taste. There are a lot of options out there in terms of plug-ins, the best reccomendation I can give you is try as many as you can (Waves offers free Demos of all products as do many others) and see what fits you best, it may not be Waves, it might be UAD or something else. The price can only be validated if they are worth it to you and you will use them.

Best of luck!