Quality of Live's Plugins

[Tarekith]

I have no issues using Live's plug ins for my live sets or my DJ sets, that's what they were designed for IMO. For production work though, I always reach for my Sonalksis dynamics and EQ plugs. Things like Beat Repeat and some of the other more unique plug ins are used as well.

I actually wish Ableton would start to focus on more creative effects now (like Beat Repeat), leave the EQ's and other common tools to the groups that specialize in that.

[roach808]

I own no Waves products, Nomad Factory is doing it for me, PSP would if they ever got UB out.....
If you haven't for some reason messed with Buffer Override, it's a great compliment to Beat Repeat.

Seriously, Nomad Factory plugins rock. Also, some of my favorite plugins are free (destroy FX).

[sweetjesus]

please dont tell me it was the SSL Bundle....id be disappointed if so.

nah it was just the doppler effect plugin. but they don't offer support to ableton users with any of their plugs I don't think.

ill probably get into hot water by saying this,

i used waves for many years (helped being a distributor of their products a long while back) however with their current gen of stuff, i was part of the waves beta, i didnt really get to beta because nobody could tell me how to go through and properly install the damned thing.

i think of myself as technically capable, but they have such a convoluted way of doing things, people like myself would rather make music.

[slow riot]

ill probably get into hot water by saying this,

i used waves for many years (helped being a distributor of their products a long while back) however with their current gen of stuff, i was part of the waves beta, i didnt really get to beta because nobody could tell me how to go through and properly install the damned thing.

i think of myself as technically capable, but they have such a convoluted way of doing things, people like myself would rather make music.

yeah that's one of the main things that pissed me off as well. The installation process is as you say, convoluted, vague, and also very disrespectful to the fact that most people working with audio on their computer value having a stable and working system, and like to be in control of what software is doing what and why.

most au's and vst's are perfect at this. you d/l the plugin, put it in the right folder, load up your host and you're away. No mess, no silly bloatware and maximum enjoyment and creative output.

Waves is the complete opposite. To get the equivalent of one plugin on my computer, which was all I wanted, I had to download the whole gold package, install the whole thing, as well as some dubious authorization software. And then go through every one of the files, work out which ones I did and didnt need. Obviously if they just installed a bunch of au's and vst's it wouldn't be a problem. i could just remove the one's I didn't want, and it would be ok. but they use their own auxilliary plugin interface, which is terribly organised, and obviously poorly coded. Now after I hhave gone through this annoying process, every single plugin (of which there are nearly a hundred I'd guess) still shows up in ableton. And there's nothing I can do about it, because they don't offer support to ableton users.

it's basically the equivalent of a guitarist paying someone to install, say, some new pick ups, and getting their beloved instrument back covered in shit. A musicians job is to make music, not clean up other peoples shit (no offence to the international janitorial community is intended there, i fully appreciate the valuable work that you do in human/faecal relations and offer my sincerest apologies if I have inadvetantly caused any).

fuck waves.

[WaveRider]

My opinion on live`s audio effects is that some are very poor regarding sound quality. Some are inventive and worth using (beat repeat), very few sound good enough to me. Some sound embarassingly bad (reverb, chorus, delay,flange, compressors) , some are ok (auto filter, eqs) but far from spectacular sounding.

To this day I never heard a good chorus/flanger on a computer. Compare those to a cheap boss pedal for exemple, no need to even talk about hi-end TC and lexicons hardware.

..and there is an explanation for this. All because of 0s and 1s...

I like Live`s midi effects and wish they made more.

[Enots]

The effects aren't bad. The only ones i usually grab for are reverb, auto filter and occassionally erosion. The verbs are alright, no real complaint and very low CPU hit.

In reality, all of my work is mixed in outside studios, Logic, PT, or Sonar usually so any effects that are there to help the mix vs creative usage of it (i.e. drowning a sound in a verb purposherely) gets put on at mixing stage by another engineer. IF you planned on doing your own mixing, I'd definitely suggest getting some other plugs for that

[Machinesworking]

To this day I never heard a good chorus/flanger on a computer. Compare those to a cheap boss pedal for exemple, no need to even talk about hi-end TC and lexicons hardware.

http://www.audiodamage.com/

The Dischord plug in, the demos sound promising, I might bite.

Though I'm partial to the chorus in Logic.... doesn't help you much I know.

[difference]

please dont tell me it was the SSL Bundle....id be disappointed if so.

nah it was just the doppler effect plugin. but they don't offer support to ableton users with any of their plugs I don't think.

I think it is as much the other way round to be honest. Ableton doesn't support Waves.

[krank]

The verbs are alright, no real complaint and very low CPU hit.

Are we using the same host?

[tomperson]

After years of using Live's plugins, I like the FX-type plugins (chorus, flange, phaser, beat repeat, redux, etc). I do not find the native EQs, compressors, filters, and reverbs to be of sufficient quality for most serious production work.

The EQ and compressor seem to suck the life out sounds, and when there are many tracks going on the cumulative effect is definitely not my cup of tea. I like them if I am mangling sounds into completely new sounds, but if I want to simply EQ a really great synth part I prefer nicer plugins.

I'm sure it is a combination of Ableton wanting CPU-friendly plugins for live performance, and not wanting to spend a lot of development time on something that probably only serious users would want, and most serious users probably already have their EQ and compressor plugins of choice.

I've tried beginning production with Live's plugins, and then switching them out for high-quality, but that is a huge pain in the ass and never works out right. From now on I'm beginning with nice plugins

I feel ya. Same thing here, same way of dealing with the problem too. What can I say, i have tested live eq against some quite well known high class EQs (sonalksis) and the difference is really obvious. Same thing with the comp, never seemed to get a decent sound out of it. Not one within my taste range at least...