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With the pretty much constant sales that Waves have on their website, a good deal can usually be found. What are your favourite/go-to plugins from them?

I haven't extensively tested similar/equivalent plugins from other companies, so not saying the ones below are the best, but I probably got most of them on sale and find them useful:

Mine are :
L2 Maximiser --- for quick limiting
BSS DPR-402 compressor -- for making everything tight & wide
API 560 eq --- sounds smooth even when making large boosts or cuts
DBX160 --- for emphasising bass parts
Aphex Aural Exciter --- to add a little magic to pretty much anything
LinMB --- Linear Phase Multiband Compressor
J37 Tape --- To round off some edges

OVox, by far the best thing they have released for ages.

OneKnob lol

Believe it or not, the only ones I still use (bought Gold at least 18 years ago~) are the guitar racks/amps/stomps. They still sound great for low-distortion stuff to my boomer ears, even though I've got lots of other newer options.

the API EQs get used fairly often, but probably the one Waves plugin I reach for most often is Vitamin. I use it to widen the top end a bit on certain tracks, or if I need some broad rebalancing of the sound spectrum that I can’t accomplish easily with an EQ.

oh, and the sibilance plugin gets used a lot too. way better than the other de-easing options I’ve used, so far.

I really love their classic plugins - Kramer Tape to soften the digital edges off of things, S1 Stereo Imager still one of the best if not THE best imager, Doubler for some nice 80s effects, L1 to control things, Metaflanger for great sounding phasing, flanging, and chorusing, and the whole Renaissance bundle is extremely useful.

They've also quietly built up a great distortion and saturation arsenal lately, with Saphira, the MDMX distortion modules and the Multimod rack, Berzerk, Abbey Road Saturator, the PRS modules, plus all of the hidden distortion capabilities in plugins like Scheps Omni and Brauer Motion (freaking good distortion on this thing).

They're my favorite effects developer. They need to work on their instruments though.

hurricane wrote: ↑

11 May 2020

They need to work on their instruments though.

They did an interesting synth but I don't recall the name. The UI was basically 4 interconnected circles so offered something a bit different. I didn't buy it though.

I really like all the Abbey Road gear - especially the reverbs and the RS56 EQ. I haven't got Saturator yet, but it's on the shopping list - tried it and liked it a lot

Other favourites:

Kramer HLS EQ and Pie compressor
NLS
PuigChild 670 compressor
Sibilance
F6 dynamic EQ
API 2500 compressor
RBass
Vitamin

Waves cop a lot of shit - mostly for their installation process and their stupid Update Plan - but they've always made really good basic meat & potatoes production plugins. If you're willing to wait, everything seems to come around to $29, which is incredible value. They offered Sibilance for free when it first appeared, and it's by far the best deesser I've used outside of Reason (Selig is still the gold standard)

Interesting also to observe the way that since they started doing the $29 thing, there's been a noticeable backlash against them. Their status as industry standard used to be more or less unquestioned, but since they got cheap, "Waves sucks" has become quite a popular bandwagon - and on the grounds of quality, like if it's $29 it can't be any good

I like Codex, simple to use and less aggressive sounding than most wavetable synths. At $29 it is worth it.
Rbass, when you need that extra depth
Ovox, the chord presets are great.
Abbey Road NX headphone mix, didn't believe in it, not even after checking YouTube vids. Tried it, boy was I surprised how headphone listening became a pleasure.
Abbey Road saturator. Don't have it yet, but seems to be the best one they have made for good exciter type high lift.
F6, dynamic EQ, I'll probably get this one too.
Hverb is ok too, but many alternatives exists.

DaveyG wrote: ↑

11 May 2020

hurricane wrote: ↑

11 May 2020

They need to work on their instruments though.

They did an interesting synth but I don't recall the name. The UI was basically 4 interconnected circles so offered something a bit different. I didn't buy it though.

Was it Flow Motion FM Synth?

dvdrtldg wrote: ↑

11 May 2020

Other favourites:

F6 dynamic EQ

Are you able to feed a sidechain input into their compressors? I though that was a strictly VST3 function?

DaveyG wrote: ↑

11 May 2020

hurricane wrote: ↑

11 May 2020

They need to work on their instruments though.

They did an interesting synth but I don't recall the name. The UI was basically 4 interconnected circles so offered something a bit different. I didn't buy it though.

Yeah, that's Flow Motion. I like it, it has an interesting character, but a lot of the presets are really over the top. Kind of like the designers were trying really hard to show off.The default preset for example - but I guess that's supposed to show you what you can do with Flow Motion (which is A LOT just judging by this preset). And I really wish more synths had a global fx bypass - like U-he's. The preset makers were a bit too heavy handed here.

Codex is my favorite. Element is ok. I don't understand why they went all in on a Clavinet, a piano, and then some pretty standard electric pianos though. I can't imagine there was a demand for these with so many other options out there already. Completely perplexing, to me at least.

michael.jaye wrote: ↑

11 May 2020

dvdrtldg wrote: ↑

11 May 2020

Other favourites:

F6 dynamic EQ

Are you able to feed a sidechain input into their compressors? I though that was a strictly VST3 function?

That's right, can't sidechain it in Reason. But it's still got a threshold and attack/release for each band

I like to use Scheps Omni Channel on acoustic instruments and electric guitars. SSL Comp - on buses and SSL Channel on lead instruments. C4 Comp for upwards multiband compression. L2 for limiting. Vitamin to make it even greater. Torque for deepening kicks. Smack Attack for transient shaping and CLA Vocals for... quick vocals

Now I would like Waves Tune Real-Time, I think it's pretty great and clean autotune for it's price.


Waves plugins definitely keep high level but recently I am looking for discounts on the Alliance plugin.

hurricane wrote: ↑

11 May 2020

They've also quietly built up a great distortion and saturation arsenal lately

Interesting - I quite like Berzerk, and Saphira is hugely underrated. But when it comes to the distortion function on some of their older plugins - Kramer Tape, J37, Scheps 73 etc - I don't like them at all. They break up in a very ugly fashion when pushed, or so it seems to my ears

Scheps omni channel, i use it on every track.

hurricane wrote: ↑

11 May 2020

They've also quietly built up a great distortion and saturation arsenal lately, with Saphira, the MDMX distortion modules and the Multimod rack, Berzerk, Abbey Road Saturator, the PRS modules, plus all of the hidden distortion capabilities in plugins like Scheps Omni and Brauer Motion (freaking good distortion on this thing).

They're my favorite effects developer. They need to work on their instruments though.

Do you have any audio examples of Brauer Motion? I've been curious about that one for a while. Never pulled the trigger though.

strangers wrote: ↑

13 May 2020

hurricane wrote: ↑

11 May 2020

They've also quietly built up a great distortion and saturation arsenal lately, with Saphira, the MDMX distortion modules and the Multimod rack, Berzerk, Abbey Road Saturator, the PRS modules, plus all of the hidden distortion capabilities in plugins like Scheps Omni and Brauer Motion (freaking good distortion on this thing).

They're my favorite effects developer. They need to work on their instruments though.

Do you have any audio examples of Brauer Motion? I've been curious about that one for a while. Never pulled the trigger though.

You can trial it for 7 days and if you decide to buy it right now its on sale..

gdm41 wrote: ↑

13 May 2020

Scheps omni channel, i use it on every track.

Can you tell me what it is about the Omni Channel that you like?

API 2500
OMNI
SSL bus compressor
Hcomp

Morphoder, Metafilter, Supertap, H-Delay.

michael.jaye wrote: ↑

14 May 2020

gdm41 wrote: ↑

13 May 2020

Scheps omni channel, i use it on every track.

Can you tell me what it is about the Omni Channel that you like?

It has everything i need in one place. From saturation, to equing, compressing and even a limiter. When you get use to it, it will speed up your workflow.

hurricane wrote: ↑

11 May 2020

Yeah, that's Flow Motion. I like it, it has an interesting character, but a lot of the presets are really over the top.

Trialling Flow Motion, I'm really liking the bass presets. It's a different take on the 808 kick sound, grainy and warm. Not what I was expecting from an FM Synth!