Is waves so bad that people have to resort to this?

rwc · Post by **rwc** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:56 am

I was in my boss's tenants' room yesterday, and he was showing me their small studio setup, for mixing/editing stuff they did elsewhere.

I pointed and smirked at the waves h20 folders I saw on the desktop. the plugins seemed to work fine.

The guy laughed and said "yeah, we bought those a while ago" and pointed to BOXES on the shelf "but I didn't have the patience or time to deal with their customer service when we had ilok issues. I already paid for it so fuck 'em!"

I've been thinking of getting myself a cubase4/waves ssl/waves ren plugin bundle for myself so the place I do my recording has the same setup as where I mix stuff.. so I don't have to export wavs out of logic and restart a mix after leaving the studio. The best work I do is in places with nuendo 3, the waves ssl bundle, rverb, rcomp, the linmb, the L2.. all waves shit. A;though I work in logic a lot, I've developed a workflow and comfort zone with this stuff so to speak..

I don't want to use them if they're that annoying though. I've searched the board and found several horror stories(thanks joel hamilton and others who take the time to post after the miserable experience!), is it still that bad or has any progress been made two years later?

Thanks.

palinilap · Post by **palinilap** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:22 am

If you're going to big upgrade, like 4 to 5, or move to an Intel Mac, than Waves sucks because their update plan only lasts a year. After that you have to pay like $200 to upgrade. But, if you think you're going to be on 5 for a long time to come, than their plug-ins are ok, albeit overpriced. A lot of people freak out about their authorization process, but there's step-by-step instructions on their website that lay it all out if you have the patience.

Vogon · Post by **Vogon** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 5:47 am

I have known/heard of a number of people who bought waves stuff and then installed cracked versions... (one guy's reason was, he didn't wan't dongles on his laptop).
Funny, I wonder what the legal ramifications are?

rwc · Post by **rwc** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 8:01 am

Do you mean upgrading the plugin for new versions of software, or because new versions of the same plugin come out?

As in cosmetic or required for it to function?

I could care less about updating to a new version.. the LA-3As I see in some places haven't been updated in 30 years and they sound great.
[/quote]

japmn · Post by **japmn** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 8:37 am

I know someone who is having Waves go after his studio right now.
I don't know all the facts but I think he is fkd.

JdJ · Post by **JdJ** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:36 am

My waves experience was pretty painless. However, as previously stated, the WUP seems like extortion. I ended up getting mine off of Evil Bay for a lot less than I've seen them advertised elsewhere. The guy sent me me the serial in an email, I registered/downloaded/ ran the auth program and bingo, good to go.

J

japmn · Post by **japmn** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:15 pm

Does anyone know waves policy on old "outdated" plugins.
I have a disk with a waves bundle on it from around 2001.
Other than that I haven't ever been blown away by the sound of Waves plugs and would rather use something else anyway. Some are even free.

Randy · Post by **Randy** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 1:21 pm

japmn wrote:Does anyone know waves policy on old "outdated" plugins.
I have a disk with a waves bundle on it from around 2001.
Other than that I haven't ever been blown away by the sound of Waves plugs and would rather use something else anyway. Some are even free.

My guess is that if you have a 7-year old bundle it would cost more to go the upgrade path than buying it all new outright.

I bought a Powercore card and the plugins included make the Waves stuff sound like toys. My goto compressors are the powercore ones and the Digital Fishphones Fish Fillets, which are free.

japmn · Post by **japmn** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 5:28 pm

Randy wrote: I bought a Powercore card and the plugins included make the Waves stuff sound like toys.

Toys is a good description.
they do what they are made to do, but to me are a little cold and flavorless. They never seem to really improve the sound as much as just change it.

I love the URS stuff and Izotope Ozone.

knobtwirler · Post by **knobtwirler** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:31 pm

japmn wrote:
Randy wrote: I bought a Powercore card and the plugins included make the Waves stuff sound like toys.
Toys is a good description.
they do what they are made to do, but to me are a little cold and flavorless. They never seem to really improve the sound as much as just change it.

I love the URS stuff and Izotope Ozone.

Toys even in TDM? Or are you talking about LE? TDM vs. LE sounds very different.

rwc · Post by **rwc** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:02 pm

the tc powercore stuff sounds nice, but I am looking for stuff I can use in two different places. I have two quad core PCs so I don't see a need to buy more hardware. I'd obviously have to buy two cards, one for each PC, which is a total waste for me.. unless I felt like removing the card after every session.

But even then, it's 2008. I keep a regularly clocked record machine and the mix machine with an overclock, I never go over 20% steady CPU at home... I've tried putting reverbs on 100+ duped click tracks and it never spikes over 25%

The regular waves shit work like toys for me(q10/req/c1 comp/) but the L2, linmb, and ssl plugs can be great at times. rbox and rbass too, I enjoy studio A in rverb. the ssl/linmb/l2 aren't stuff I'm familiar with elsewhere.. I've tried izotope ozone, and was not feeling that at all.

JdJ · Post by **JdJ** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 9:16 am

I got the Waves stuff just for the 5 or 6 plugs I usually use. Unfortunately, to cherry pick would have cost $$$, so I went the bundle route... I mainly use the utility stuff like ren comp for expansion sometimes IR, L2, LinEQ/MB sometimes RenAx. I have never liked any of the Waves EQs. If I am compressing in the box, it usually is the Massey or Vintage Warmer. I wish you could get UA stuff without the hardware...

-J

rwc · Post by **rwc** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 9:35 pm

Pushing hardware with software is real lame. It's why I don't bother with digidesign products.

In this day where I can have a 3 GHz quad core for under 1K, why do I have to mess with PCI cards for DSP power?

knobtwirler · Post by **knobtwirler** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:12 pm

rwc wrote:Pushing hardware with software is real lame. It's why I don't bother with digidesign products.

In this day where I can have a 3 GHz quad core for under 1K, why do I have to mess with PCI cards for DSP power?

Well, for one, it sounds better. And two, having DSP available with something like an HD|3 is still more powerful than your 3 GHz quad core whatever thingy.

rwc · Post by **rwc** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:32 pm

knobtwirler wrote:
rwc wrote:Pushing hardware with software is real lame. It's why I don't bother with digidesign products.

In this day where I can have a 3 GHz quad core for under 1K, why do I have to mess with PCI cards for DSP power?
Well, for one, it sounds better. And two, having DSP available with something like an HD|3 is still more powerful than your 3 GHz quad core whatever thingy.

Sounds better? Is the card's 2 + 2 giving me any less of a 4 than the CPU's? I don't get it.

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Is waves so bad that people have to resort to this?

Is waves so bad that people have to resort to this?

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