Alright, I decided to bite the bullet and buy Waves bundle, but which one?

[ahjteam]

I just got the educational prices for Diamond Bundle and Platinum bundle, now I have hard time to choose which one to get. I get the Platinum for 803€ and Diamond for 1274€ (including tax) compared to Thomann prices that are 1590€ and 990€, and the plugins that are included in the Diamond that are not in Platinum bundle are:

L3 Multimaximizer
L3-LL Multi
Q-Clone
Soundshifter
X-Click
X-Crackle
X-Hum
X-Noise
Morphoder
TransX Transient Shaper
Z-Noise
Center
V-Comp


If excluding the X-series restoration plugins, I've never needed to use the other plugins in the list, but the TransX sounds interesting, but is it, I dunno. So do you see it is wise to add almost 500€ to plugins that I have no use for?

 

[amarshism]

Never had a need for any of those plugins

 

[Ermz]

Me neither.

 

[greyskull]

me neither

 

[bryan_kilco]

Why are these plugins so darn expensive? I mean I'm sure they are good and all, but what is so special about them compared to, say, stock plugins in a DAW?

 

[MetalSound]

if Soundshifter is the name of the pitch shifting plugin then i would say it´s really useful from what i´ver heard. everything else you won´t need.

 

[Lasse Lammert]

I'd say get the renaissance bundle+the CLA+the SSL4000 instead.

 

[amarshism]

Agreed.

 

[amarshism]

Or the APIs

 

[ahjteam]

Why are these plugins so darn expensive? I mean I'm sure they are good and all, but what is so special about them compared to, say, stock plugins in a DAW?

There are 40 plugins on the Platinum bundle, and if I pay 800€ for them, that's 20€ per plugin. I don't consider that excessively expensive? For example Antares Autotune by itself costs 329€

It's like they are nothing special, but I know how they work, what they do and I like how they sound. And to be honest, I'm addicted to a few Waves plugins, especially PAZ, L2, Rvox and the sidechain feature on C1. I could've done with just those four plugins. The L2 especially is a strange one, because as a limiter it "kinda" sucks ass, but it doesn't distort my mixes like for example the Slate FG-X does, but it does get the mix loud enough for me.

And many of the bundled plugins with Cubase sucks ass... For example the EQ? Only four bands and you can't have a combination of highpass filter + low shelf with the same plugin, which is kinda stupid. The tuner is okay but seems over sensitive, basic stuff like compressor, modulations, delays and reverbs sound okay, but the limiters make everything sound really pumpy, I don't like how the multiband compressor works and sounds, and the ampsim totally sucks ass.

And don't let me get to Pro Tools... Haven't used PT9 yet, but atleast with PT8 the EQ and Delay is superb, D-verb, Lo-Fi, Sansamp and Bombfactory 1176 plugins are okay, but almost everything else sucks and most of the Air plugins just sound like ass for some reason, Eleven Free sucks, Maxim limiter sucks cock and distorts the output and lets stuff past the threshold, and the range of plugins is really limited in the end compared to say Logic, Cubase or other major competitors.

I'd say get the renaissance bundle+the CLA+the SSL4000 instead.

The combined price is over my budget, and I didn't find the SSL plugins that special when I tested them out at the uni. Might get the CLA plugs tho.

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

I think you'll never find a use for those plugins IMO. Like was stated before, get the REN pack + CLA + SSL4000 or go for the Studio Collection or APIs

 

[Auster]

i've tried some of them, here is my 2 cents:

L3 Multimaximizer is good exept it's eats a little too much transients to my liking
Soundshifter is probably the best plugin i've tried for that purpose
the X and Z denoising series works very well for what they're meant for
TransX Transient Shaper is awesome

diden't use the others plugs.

i also like rchannel, q10 and the c1 comp/gates.

 

[Lasse Lammert]

if you don't need the SSL get the API instead.

 

[ahjteam]

I ordered the Platinum bundle, but since I also bought the Dual Recto, I'll move getting the other plugins to a later date.

 

[gabriel g.]

the only great plugin in the diamond compared to the platinum is the V-comp (neve emulation). I have the platinum bundle, studio-classics and cla.
And I must say. I use everyday:

api
ssl
v-series
R-bundle
cla comps

the rest is cool if you want to create special effects, or need some clean effects for something thats not music......

 

[crillemannen]

I'd say get the renaissance bundle+the CLA+the SSL4000 instead.

+ 1

Or get the musician bundle 2 instead of the renaissance, then you get doubbler, delay and ren. eq. You dont need anymore waves plugs.

 

[gabriel g.]

and dont buy the waves SSL
Buy the SSL-> SSL native plugs.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/new-product-alert-software/571040-ssl-duende-native-announcement.html

 

[Vinny]

I personally LOVE the X series plug-ins...
But you'd be better of just buying Platinum and getting the individual plug-ins seperately

 

[ahjteam]

Good timing... Waves just updated all their plugins TODAY to version 8

We're excited to announce the release of the new Waves Version 8. V8 adds the horsepower of the vintage-modeled V-Series to selected Waves bundles, and brings a fresh new look to several classic plugins. V8 includes a host of new technical features and bug fixes. In addition, more Waves plugins than ever are now available individually.


* V-Series added to selected bundles:
o Horizon
o Diamond
o Platinum
o Gold
o Grand Masters Collection
o Broadcast & Production
o Sound Design Suite
o Live Bundle

* New interfaces for classic plugins:
o L1 Ultramaximizer
o C1 Compressor
o S1 Stereo Imager
o Q10 Equalizer
o DeEsser
o TrueVerb
o AudioTrack

* Improved Toolbar and Presets Management:
o 32 levels of Undo/Redo
o Preset previous/next navigation buttons
o Factory preset navigation via host preset menus in VST3 and Audio Units
o Waves Artists presets integrated into plugin preset menus
o Preset ‘Load’ menu – multi-level support for preset indication bullet

* Integrated support for Novation Automap application (V3.8 or higher) and Novation controllers. (Waves supports “unwrapped” mode only.)

* Enhanced support for ICON control LED indicators for all EQ & Dynamics plugins

* Pro Tools AudioSuite improvements:
o Added support for ‘overwrite files’
o Improved control responsiveness during preview
o Smoother response of meters and other status indicators during preview

* Mouse wheel support for plugin controls

* Mouse cursor displays a spinning Waves icon during plugin scan (Windows only)

* Most plugins now available individually

* New lower prices across the Waves product line

* Bug Fixes:
o Dorrough Meters graphic refresh rate no longer drops when multiple instances are opened
o Various keyboard event-stealing issues were eliminated
o Single click text entry in Pro Tools now registers correctly in Undo/Redo
o All controls now update sound upon mouse down event instead of mouse up

* MultiRack SG for Yamaha New Features:
o Record MultiRack-processed tracks direct-to-DAW in the same computer
o Advanced side-chaining capabilities

 

[jipchen]

Haha nice, in 3 days my update plan for Waves Gold would've expired.. scored the free V-Series plugins thanks to V8 a few minutes ago.
Thanks for the news