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Waves Plugin for $5


Sander Verstraten

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I think the Pianos and Keys bundle and Qclone are the only ones I would have a hard time finding an equivalent at the right price. I think both are undervalued, too. Q-clone is meant to capture the curves of hardware EQs, but Reaper allows you to create a feedback loop between two tracks and I use Qclone within that loop to find out how plugins react along the frequency spectrum. I have captured a few clean amp tones with Qclone (with and without cabs), for example. 

J37 is nice too. 

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1 minute ago, Patrick Derbidge said:

Not many but I still like J37 and Kramer tape. I like Abbey Road Plates, Abbey Road Chambers, Scheps Omni Channel, Renaissance De-esser, Reel ADT ,NLS and F6 Floating Band Dynamic EQ.

I also like using One knob pumper for it's ease. I have others to do this but they tend to need a little massaging to avoid artifacting whereas One Knob just works.

I also use Waves Tune which I could replace with melodyne but it keeps doing its job so I haven't bothered yet.

All the replacements I've found for these that I'd be satisfied with are a bit more money than I want to spend right now so as long as my Waves plugins keep working I don't have much incentive to move on. I still use a lot of others from Waves but mostly just to change things up. I have plenty of alternatives for the ones I didn't list here.

Yeah, J37 was a hard one for me to give up, I do like it.  I use a combo of things.  Airwindows Tape isn't the same but surprisingly good when I add it with other things in my chain.   Toneboosters Tape is good, but I find I have to compensate for the high end roll off.  Honeslty I think there are some better options on the market - IKM for example but haven't seen it go on a real sale outside of the bundle which I don't need all of the different tape machines. 

NLS was the other hard one to give up, sound is good and the workflow is better than some alternatives for sure.  I can't say any that feel like a real 1:1 replacement, but I have found other ones that I think are good enough and use depending on the sound and the project.  

Plates sounds very good, but so process intensive, I just gave up on it.  The Exponential Audio stuff covers most of my baisc reverb needs (though you have to buy two of them or you are also stuck in the 1 seat model), and Arturia EMT Plate whcih was free at one point - is no slouch on that similar concept front.

I actually like WAVES Sibilance better than the De-esser.  Haven't found a single De-esser that does everything on every source so I use a combination of them.  Some are dirt cheap (Hornet), ToneBoosters CM, Airwindows DeBess, Flux Bitter Sweet come to mind.  

 

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15 hours ago, Brian Walton said:

The system preys on the uneducated consumer and the unreliability of their own product.

This is simply not true. Users are certainly not uneducated, by a long shot. I know a lot of Waves users. And there are some pretty smart people that I respect highly.

And I also know for a fact that Waves products are not unreliable.

I like my Waves plugins. And will keep using them. I have never wup'd, but I may do that one day. It's not out of the question. 

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58 minutes ago, Brian Walton said:

Yeah, J37 was a hard one for me to give up, I do like it.  I use a combo of things.  Airwindows Tape isn't the same but surprisingly good when I add it with other things in my chain.   Toneboosters Tape is good, but I find I have to compensate for the high end roll off.  Honeslty I think there are some better options on the market - IKM for example but haven't seen it go on a real sale outside of the bundle which I don't need all of the different tape machines. 

NLS was the other hard one to give up, sound is good and the workflow is better than some alternatives for sure.  I can't say any that feel like a real 1:1 replacement, but I have found other ones that I think are good enough and use depending on the sound and the project.  

Plates sounds very good, but so process intensive, I just gave up on it.  The Exponential Audio stuff covers most of my baisc reverb needs (though you have to buy two of them or you are also stuck in the 1 seat model), and Arturia EMT Plate whcih was free at one point - is no slouch on that similar concept front.

I actually like WAVES Sibilance better than the De-esser.  Haven't found a single De-esser that does everything on every source so I use a combination of them.  Some are dirt cheap (Hornet), ToneBoosters CM, Airwindows DeBess, Flux Bitter Sweet come to mind.  

 

Ah sibilance, you're right, it is better. I used that a lot on my last mix and remember liking it better. Thanks for the reminder.

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24 minutes ago, cclarry said:

Ok...so I did the math...if you buy one of the $5 plugins and then a $19.99
plugin you can get 2 more from the list of free plugins!  That's 4 Plugins for $25!

Wait, you mean you can use one of the $5 plugins towards the 2 for deal? Anyone try this to confirm its works?

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40 minutes ago, Grem said:

This is simply not true. Users are certainly not uneducated, by a long shot. I know a lot of Waves users. And there are some pretty smart people that I respect highly.

And I also know for a fact that Waves products are not unreliable.

I like my Waves plugins. And will keep using them. I have never wup'd, but I may do that one day. It's not out of the question. 

Tons of smart people out there, that doesn't mean they are educated consumers.  It isn't about using WAVES and not being educated, it is the WUP program itself that preys on the uneducated consumer.  You are clearly educated enough to know you didn't have to WUP, there are lots of people that buy into WUP when coverage expires for no reason other than to be "updated" which doesn't mean things like better compatibility, new functionality, etc to a broad base of users....they do it becuase they are used to software updates that provides those things.  

I've had more trouble with WAVES than any other plugin maker.  Our definitions of unreliable are perhpas different things.  When they are working, they are fine.  The install, authorization process, and scanning of shells is anyting but a 100% uptime guarantee.  

I have friends that are "sponsored/have an artist deal" with WAVES.

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4 hours ago, Patrick Derbidge said:

Not many but I still like J37 and Kramer tape. I like Abbey Road Plates, Abbey Road Chambers, Scheps Omni Channel, Renaissance De-esser, Reel ADT ,NLS and F6 Floating Band Dynamic EQ...

  • J37/Kramer Tape < IK/Overloud/Softube/Slate/Chow, maybe even airwindows tapes
  • Qclone < IK Master Match
  • NLS =/< Slate, Cakewalk, maybe even airwindows consoles... for saturation I like to use T-rackS EQ73 and 81 which can add a sweet sweet tone when driven, or True Iron... there was sknote Stripbus that had a very big potential for being the ultimate ITB summing box but was a little too buggy the last time I've checked it, didn't mess with it since then
  • Electric88 < Neo Soul Keys Studio, Scarbee EP88, Acousticsamples VTines, AK Mark One
  • Clavinet < Clavitube
  • Codex < Synthmaster One
  • F6 < MAutoDynamicEq
  • ADT < MDoubleTracker
  • R-Deesser < FF Pro DS, PA both de-essers or something like soothie
  • Rbass < ???😱😱💀!
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9 hours ago, chris.r said:
  • J37/Kramer Tape < IK/Overloud/Softube/Slate/Chow, maybe even airwindows tapes
  • Qclone < IK Master Match
  • NLS =/< Slate, Cakewalk, maybe even airwindows consoles... for saturation I like to use T-rackS EQ73 and 81 which can add a sweet sweet tone when driven, or True Iron... there was sknote Stripbus that had a very big potential for being the ultimate ITB summing box but was a little too buggy the last time I've checked it, didn't mess with it since then
  • Electric88 < Neo Soul Keys Studio, Scarbee EP88, Acousticsamples VTines, AK Mark One
  • Clavinet < Clavitube
  • Codex < Synthmaster One
  • F6 < MAutoDynamicEq
  • ADT < MDoubleTracker
  • R-Deesser < FF Pro DS, PA both de-essers or something like soothie
  • Rbass < ???😱😱💀!

Good list. I especially like the Melda plugins. I have actually put together my own list with alternatives for each of my Waves plugins. The problem is that my Waves are working just fine for now so there is no real push for me to replace them all right away. Every once in a while when there is a good sale on an alternative I'll pick it up. I like airwindows console but they haven't replaced NLS for me but it's not like NLS is a plugin I'd die without, I just like to use it. The truth is, if I lost all my Waves plugins today I wouldn't be despondent. Plugins are not a cure to poor mixing skills and luckily I've been through enough training that I'm happy with my improvements and I never stop learning new mixing tricks to keep me current.

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