Is Waves H Reverb good for Instrumentals?

Discuss VST stuff here!
Post Reply
User avatar
Mistro17
Posts: 310
Joined: 04 Jul 2017
Location: Brooklyn, NY

02 Dec 2021

Waves is having an extended sale and I just discovered H Reverb for $29 during this sale. I'm tempted to get it because I love reverbs but most of the demonstrations I see are for vocals which I'm not doing. It's just me and my virtual instruments. Is anyone here using this for more instrumental music and is this a good thing to have in such a case. I'm also wondering if it's just a GAS attack for now and I can let it go. Just would like to hear any thoughts here. Thanks.

User avatar
Benedict
Competition Winner
Posts: 2747
Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Location: Gold Coast, Australia
Contact:

03 Dec 2021

Several answers:

H Delay/Reverb/Bolt Cutters are good for whatever you like using them for.

Waves are a product of their own marketing efforts. Their tools are ok, but never much more than that. If you weren't already owning (say) RV-7000 and Scream4 (for example), a Waves product might be a fair solution for $29.

Waves have developed a nasty habit of selling their tools/toys for seemingly cheap prices then asking you to pay again every year lest they cease to be usable (unless you can work out their arcane workarounds).

My bottom line is: Get H Reverb if it really changes things for you. BUUUT if you put the effort into using the tools you already have (esp if you have R12 and Combi II) you can outgun Waves anything with just a bit of work and have something that is uniquely yours.

:-)
Benedict Roff-Marsh
Completely burned and gone

User avatar
crimsonwarlock
Posts: 2255
Joined: 06 Nov 2021
Location: Close to the Edge

03 Dec 2021

Benedict wrote:
03 Dec 2021
you can outgun Waves anything with just a bit of work
Highly agree. My take on this is to have one or two good algorithmic reverbs (that you can get for free) and hunt the web for (again free) reverb impulse responses that you can load into RV7000. There are IR-sets floating around for pretty famous reverbs like Bricasti and Yamaha SPX90. And get the free refill for the RV7000 if you haven't yet.

The two free algo reverbs I swear by:

- EpicVerb: https://plugins4free.com/plugin/664/
- OrilRiver: https://plugins4free.com/plugin/2538/
-------
Analog tape ⇒ ESQ1 sequencer board ⇒ Atari/Steinberg Pro24 ⇒ Atari/Cubase ⇒ Cakewalk Sonar ⇒ Orion Pro/Platinum ⇒ Reaper ⇒ Reason DAW.

User avatar
huggermugger
Posts: 1294
Joined: 16 Jul 2021

03 Dec 2021

It's a decent reverb. It's good for anything that needs reverb if you like the way it sounds and operates.

User avatar
guitfnky
Posts: 4408
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

03 Dec 2021

Benedict wrote:
03 Dec 2021
Waves have developed a nasty habit of selling their tools/toys for seemingly cheap prices then asking you to pay again every year lest they cease to be usable (unless you can work out their arcane workarounds).
this is false. you absolutely do not have to keep paying to keep your Waves plugins working. they work exactly like any other plugin you buy. pay them money, and you get to use the version of the plugin at the time you paid forever. yes, there could be hardware and DAW changes down the line that may cause a plugin to stop working with that particular configuration, but that's no different than any other plugin ever made. and like any other plugin developer, they can charge you additional money for updated versions of their plugins. you don't have to buy them.

to the question—I have H Reverb, and it sounds good enough, but the UI and workflow doesn't work for me, so I rarely use it. Waves has demos for all their plugins, so I'd suggest trying it. it might tamp down your desire to purchase it. also, their pricing is usually at around that $29 level—you should NEVER pay full price for a Waves plugin. they're "on sale" almost all of the time.
I write good music for good people

https://slowrobot.bandcamp.com/

User avatar
Mistro17
Posts: 310
Joined: 04 Jul 2017
Location: Brooklyn, NY

03 Dec 2021

Thanks for the advice! I just burped. No more GAS. Yeah I have a ton of reverb tools already. Reason Suite + Komplete Ultimate +stuff I forgot I had. So I will sit this one out.

User avatar
dvdrtldg
Posts: 2386
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

03 Dec 2021

Benedict wrote:
03 Dec 2021
Waves have developed a nasty habit of selling their tools/toys for seemingly cheap prices then asking you to pay again every year lest they cease to be usable
"Every year"? Er, no

It's true that Waves charge to update their plugins. But you can go for years without having to update

There's also a cap on the amount they charge to update, so the more you own, the less it costs per plugin. I just updated all mine for the first time ever (for M1 compatiblity), and it cost me about 5 bucks per plugin

This is all in the interest of setting the record straight, and I'm not defending the company itself. I actually think Waves' business model sucks, and their sales tactics are dodgy as you can get without committing fraud. I like their plugins, though. And H Reverb is a solid all-purpose reverb

User avatar
Benedict
Competition Winner
Posts: 2747
Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Location: Gold Coast, Australia
Contact:

03 Dec 2021

What I really said: Waves have developed a nasty habit of selling their tools/toys for seemingly cheap prices then asking you to pay again every year lest they cease to be usable (unless you can work out their arcane workarounds).

IF one reads & quotes the full statement I made properly, they would see that I say that Waves "ask" and that there is a path for non-payers, BUT (in my experience and that of others I have seen) it is not as easy as indicated. This led me to abandon the few Waves devices I had seeing they effectively became impossible to download and install, even tho I owned them fair & square (editorial opinion based on personal experience - not requiring White Knighting). This would not pass muster under law in Australia.

I am happy for those whose experience has been otherwise. I am also happy to hear that they have a path that works. I am not happy having myself misquoted and misconstrued in what comes across as people feeling the need to tear down and replace with their own statement to make themselves seem nobler. This is not good manners at all. This sort to behavior is a massive disincentive to being here when it becomes almost impossible to say anything without being attacked/belittled based on false assumptions (or weird personal agendas).

:-(
Benedict Roff-Marsh
Completely burned and gone

User avatar
BRIGGS
Posts: 2135
Joined: 25 Sep 2015
Location: Orange County California

03 Dec 2021

Did you try the demo? Let your ears decide. :puf_smile:
r11s

User avatar
jam-s
Posts: 3035
Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Location: Aachen, Germany
Contact:

03 Dec 2021

Benedict wrote:
03 Dec 2021
I am happy for those whose experience has been otherwise. I am also happy to hear that they have a path that works.
I suppose your experience with the Waves plugins has been with the switch from V9 to V10 or even further back. I also remember it to have been quite a bit of a hassle, but with Waves Central 11 it got turned into a quite good experience and one can happily install and manage all the different versions from V10 to V13 and it even gives a prominent link to the legacy V9 version installers for the licenses which you did not update.

My only gripes with Waves are the clutter they produce with having all those slight variations of their plugins (mono version, stereo version, EQ with 4 bands, EQ with 5 bands, EQ with 6 bands, ... EQ with 10 bands) and their much too frequent sales promotion emails (more than one a day, you must be kidding me!).

User avatar
Benedict
Competition Winner
Posts: 2747
Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Location: Gold Coast, Australia
Contact:

03 Dec 2021

jam-s wrote:
03 Dec 2021
Benedict wrote:
03 Dec 2021
I am happy for those whose experience has been otherwise. I am also happy to hear that they have a path that works.
I suppose your experience with the Waves plugins has been with the switch from V9 to V10 or even further back. I also remember it to have been quite a bit of a hassle, but with Waves Central 11 it got turned into a quite good experience and one can happily install and manage all the different versions from V10 to V13 and it even gives a prominent link to the legacy V9 version installers for the licenses which you did not update.

My only gripes with Waves are the clutter they produce with having all those slight variations of their plugins (mono version, stereo version, EQ with 4 bands, EQ with 5 bands, EQ with 6 bands, ... EQ with 10 bands) and their much too frequent sales promotion emails (more than one a day, you must be kidding me!).
Indeed it was that transition that made it effectively impossible to carry on. I looked again not so long ago and it still seemed far too arcane to be able to use what I owned without making what felt like "stand-over" payments to get access - more than I actually paid in the first place!

I also did not like the clutter they made - all to appear to be more Pro than the others. May have made sense in 2001, but now... Those non-stop sales (that would see a visit from the consumer body here in Oz) do not see me consider Waves as much better than Drum Monkey. They are not the only ones playing that game tho so the people get what the people want ;-)

:-)

p.s. Thanks for approaching me as a conversation. Appreciated.
Benedict Roff-Marsh
Completely burned and gone

kitekrazy
Posts: 1036
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

04 Dec 2021

Their licensing sucks. If you have more than one machine you can do the make your own dongle option. That's about the only thing I don't like. I have products that require iLok and gives you 2 authorization.
They make great stuff. If I had to do it over again I would have gotten RennMaxx and be done with it.

I can slap Izotope, Melda, and IK on every machine I have.

User avatar
ArcoZ
Posts: 85
Joined: 17 Mar 2015

04 Dec 2021

You don't have to pay twice for the same plugin if you don't want. Some people don't understand Waves pricing policy. You can pay once and wait until plugins is ... not compatibile with your new operating system. Then buying renewal may be the option.
This pricing policy however makes Waves company reliable. Some technical solutions are maybe a bit obsolate but they are rock solid.

User avatar
dvdrtldg
Posts: 2386
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

04 Dec 2021

Benedict wrote:
03 Dec 2021
I am not happy having myself misquoted and misconstrued in what comes across as people feeling the need to tear down and replace with their own statement to make themselves seem nobler. This is not good manners at all. This sort to behavior is a massive disincentive to being here when it becomes almost impossible to say anything without being attacked/belittled based on false assumptions (or weird personal agendas).
Relax mate. Nobody's "attacking" or "belittling" you. There's no "tearing down" or "weird personal agendas". Just a polite disagreement, based on a misunderstanding of a post that could have been more clearly worded. Everything's fine, I have a lot of respect for you and your music and your contributions on here

User avatar
jam-s
Posts: 3035
Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Location: Aachen, Germany
Contact:

04 Dec 2021

Some more info on the WUP:

User avatar
Benedict
Competition Winner
Posts: 2747
Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Location: Gold Coast, Australia
Contact:

04 Dec 2021

Thanks. It seems Waves noticed the mess they made with V9 to V10. That is good.
If the older versions are still as easy to run fine, but they are still not, so...

All bit moot for me seeing I am happy with Reason devices and just got NFR'd everything from Kilohearts which is really a lot like Reason in some ways in that it is all small parts that get used to build a larger whole based on need or desire. Add in Combi II and life is good.

Image

Ultimately, this thread was supposed to be possible approaches to what smelled like a GAS attack and not so much an are Waves a bunch of bastards thread as extrapolated far beyond the smaller part of a larger whole comment I made.

:-)
Benedict Roff-Marsh
Completely burned and gone

User avatar
Mistro17
Posts: 310
Joined: 04 Jul 2017
Location: Brooklyn, NY

04 Dec 2021

Benedict wrote:
04 Dec 2021
Ultimately, this thread was supposed to be possible approaches to what smelled like a GAS attack and not so much an are Waves a bunch of bastards thread as extrapolated far beyond the smaller part of a larger whole comment I made.

:-)
The popcorn was good :-)

m.arthur
Posts: 115
Joined: 21 Oct 2017

04 Dec 2021

Benedict wrote:
03 Dec 2021

IF one reads & quotes the full statement I made properly, they would see that I say that Waves "ask" and that there is a path for non-payers, BUT (in my experience and that of others I have seen) it is not as easy as indicated. This led me to abandon the few Waves devices I had seeing they effectively became impossible to download and install, even tho I owned them fair & square (editorial opinion based on personal experience - not requiring White Knighting).
This was my exact experience as well. I "own" a bunch of v9 licenses, but Waves update Waves Central such that it can no longer install anything before v10. Hahah, jokes on me. My old stuff can't be installed. Then they said "you can still download and install these with manual installers," without linking to them. I eventually found them on Waves website after much searching, only to be told, upon running them, that the installers required a newer operating system than OSX Catalina. So think about that for a minute: their central plugin installer can't install old plugin versions (anything before v10), and tells you to get manual installation files, and when you get those, THOSE tell you your OS must be updated to Big Sur or beyond -- to install the OLD plugins!

This was the point at which I said: F--K YOU, Waves, and stopped using their crap. You know what? I don't miss any of it. It's a nightmare. They also try to trick you into 'renewing' all your plugins whenever the new version comes out, with pop up reminder windows that make it sound like it's required, when it's not....

I'll just stop. But my advice is to just stay away from Waves altogether.

Post Reply
  • Information
  • Who is online

    Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests