Waves live tdm, worth it in 2013?

[Denny Jagard]

Kristo, Yes, I understand Waves would decide if they want to support AAX, which seems imminent according to the link below from NAMM 2013 ((EDITED LATER: Note I WAS WRONG, this video is only about AAX Native NOT AAX DSP, see note in later post)). Of course, it would be up to Avid to decide to change hardware that makes previous software obsolete. I presume there is a big cost savings/DSP advantage by going to AAX. Certainly as an Avid, TDM and Waves user/investor, I am concerned that my favorite plugs will work seamlessly (including scenes) with a console that works for me (Profile is my favorite now). Fingers are crossed!

Also, for full disclosure, I am a member of the Waves "Street Team," because I like their products so much I volunteered to help them out for a discount on software.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eXS51ip7L8

[Kristo Kotkas]

Originally Posted by Denny Jagard

Kristo, Yes, I understand Waves would decide if they want to support AAX, which seems imminent according to the link below from NAMM 2013. Of course, it would be up to Avid to decide to change hardware that makes previous software obsolete. I presume there is a big cost savings/DSP advantage by going to AAX. Certainly as an Avid, TDM and Waves user/investor, I am concerned that my favorite plugs will work seamlessly (including scenes) with a console that works for me (Profile is my favorite now). Fingers are crossed!

Also, for full disclosure, I am a member of the Waves "Street Team," because I like their products so much I volunteered to help them out for a discount on software.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eXS51ip7L8

What can we say? I too like Waves plugins, they are great! Like they say, we all use only 8 Waves plugins, but the thing is we all use 8 DIFFERENT Waves plugins

But then again, I like a bunch of other plugins too... And that is why I use Pro Tools HD and Venue live consoles. Combination of DSP tools created worldwide by a number of different talented DSP coders is what makes my work sound great!
Waves... they have announced doing AAX (native)plugins, but not AAX-DSP plugins. Me, as a customer who has paid the premium price, owning Mercury TDM and Platinum TDM, I am not happy. I feel that the company is not thinking straight and they are not standing for my best interest.

Waves has made a business decision and only time will tell how much they benefit or loose from that decision. It feels bizarre, if they think that not supporting AAX-DSP will turn Venue users into Digico users, who then would be able to only run Waves plugins, and handful of others on their systems compared to what they have in their arsenal today.

To be fair, there are others, who have not done DSP versions, but very few if not none other has said they "have no plans doing DSP versions". They rather say they are "working on it". Or "looking for solutions" to create these versions.

What has already happened among early HDX adopters is, that people have started looking for substitutes of Waves plugins, because they need to run DSP plugins, not Native. Many have reported, that they have actually been able to find a even beter sounding replacement! So a number of small plugin manufacturers, fast AAX-DSP adopters, have got a nice boost out of Waves moods and frankly that's the only good thing about all this

I still seriously hope that Waves will come to their senses and create that damn AAX-DSP Waveshell, as in fact, it seems it's just as easy as that (from the interview on your link)!

[Denny Jagard]

Kristo, thanks for opening my eyes to this issue! I was ignorant to the difference between AAX DSP and native, as so far I have only used TDM for live and audio units versions of those in Logic.

I spoke with some Waves folks who are unable to discuss details due to non-disclosure agreements with Avid. They did mention their previous decision not to support AAX DSP at this time, which includes that the shell is indeed NOT easy to revise:^(

Below is their official statement, at least until the new Avid product is revealed. They assure me that they understand my concerns and that a solution will be worked out. This will be very interesting, as obviously we live engineers have a huge investment not only in software, but also in hours of experience with software and hardware of the console as well as the plugins.
One huge benefit to Avid so far has been that files and plugin software have been fairly universal around the world. I wonder if that will still be the case... For studio engineers or fixed venues compatibility might be no big deal, but for live guys on tours, if our show files and licenses aren't transferable among consoles that is a huge step backwards. Same with if we have to develop external systems for running scene recallable plugins; progress is making things simpler, not more complicated. Will be interesting to see where this goes...

"As Waves and Avid are two separate entities, it would be imprudent on our part to speculate on business decisions Avid may or may not make in the future. On our part, Waves is committed to providing the most advanced solutions to serve our users."