Waves Plug-in Advice (Vocal Bundle / Ultramaximiser)

sparky606 · Post by **sparky606** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:19 pm

Hi,

I have been looking at buying the Waves Vocal bundle just to beef up the vocals on my tracks, and perhaps the L3-LL Ultramaximiser to run on the master track also.

I wondered if anybody here has used these, and if so if you think they are worth having as the Ableton audio effects are quite good already of course.

Also I run Live 7.0.1 on Mac OS 10.1.11 and the Waves demos don't seem to appear in the plug-in browser - if anyone can advise on why that might be that would be helpful too!

Many thanks,
Steve

popoff · Post by **popoff** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:14 pm

MacOSX 1 ?

for PPC Mac: check this

(for Intel Mac: check this)

As You can see, supporting Vocal depends on vst host - not every soft (not every version as well) works with the plugin. What is interesting - AL isn't mentioned at all.

this might be the reason…

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:19 pm

They are decent plugins but I think some bundles (and especially individual plugins at 200 dollars a shot) are overpriced.

There are also many good alternatives, some of which are more cost friendly. And the way Waves do business with their retarded WUP and sending undercover sneaks to subpoena cracked plugins users (I am certainly not pro cracking, but hate this deceptive underhand tactic) makes them a company I am reluctant to do business with.

sparky606 · Post by **sparky606** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:19 pm

Thanks for this - I believe Ableton Live is not officially supported by Waves, however I know that many of the plug-ins work just fine and are commonly used within Ableton.

For clarification mine is an Intel mac running OS X 10.1.11 - I'm trying to use the AU versions of the plug-ins but they don't appear after installation.

I always read that Waves are the choice of professionals and the plug-ins will improve the quality of my vocals and rendered WAVs but I'm looking for first hand views of Ableton users if possible.

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:23 pm

Waves are sometimes the choice of some professionals.

Look at Sony Oxford (sonnox), PSP Audio, Sonalksis, TC Powercore DSP system, Universal Audio UAD-1, and more. Most of these offer similar and sometimes better quality, some without the hassles of ilok, all of them without the retarded Waves Upgrade Policy (WUP).

sparky606 · Post by **sparky606** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:36 pm

Thanks for the recommendations - I have done a quick web search on these and will try a few out in the next 24 hours.

I wonder if I might be better just practising with Live effects and getting better at processing vocals, however I know when I briefly tried out Doubler and RChannel from Waves the results from the presets sounded really good.

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 7:44 pm

in the end, the best plugins are the ones which work for you.

But try a few out first, they cost a lot of money and at least you are making an informed choice - I'm not putting down the quality of waves plugins, just the way they do business

but if their products work out best for your needs then you should buy them.

What specifically are you looking for in the plugins?

I assume you are looking at things such as compression/saturation/gating. you mention doubling, this is something that can be done in most modulation effects, such as delays/chorus/phase etc.

Voxengo have a great vocal channel strip called Voxformer which has 2 compressors, (one can be set to de-ess), saturation, gating, adjustable stereo linking and forcing mono etc. It costs 60 bucks and with the help of some nice verbs and delays it can sound great - although, unfortunately for mac users, it's PC vst only at the moment.

This is what I mean before splashing on a Waves bundle, check out alternatives. (and stuff like Powercore, Liquid Mix and UAD-1 is certainly big bucks but these are also systems used extensively by audio professionals).

As for learning Live's plugins first - yes, definately there are many advantages to keeping everything native, such as lower latency and CPU usage and with some tweaking you can get some good results. Also, I have bought stuff from covert operators and puremagnetik which has had some very useful Live vocal (and instrument) audio racks stuff with some great doubling options etc.

evernaut · Post by **evernaut** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 8:03 pm

I wish I didn't feel this way, purely because I can't afford Waves, but I've used them a lot and I think they're still about the best there is, alongside UAD.

sparky606 · Post by **sparky606** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 8:43 pm

leedsquietman wrote: I assume you are looking at things such as compression/saturation/gating. you mention doubling, this is something that can be done in most modulation effects, such as delays/chorus/phase etc.

Also, I have bought stuff from covert operators and puremagnetik which has had some very useful Live vocal (and instrument) audio racks stuff with some great doubling options etc.

I guess the conclusion is that it's a case of trying different options until you discover the plug-ins that are right for you.

It's a shame because I woke up this morning and thought I would test out the Waves plug-ins but they're so cumbersome to install and activate I haven't been able to do so

Thanks for being so helpful though, I'm going to try out a few of your suggestions in the next few days and hopefully make Live an even more powerful product for me!

sparky606 · Post by **sparky606** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 3:13 pm

leedsquietman wrote: Look at Sony Oxford (sonnox), PSP Audio, Sonalksis, TC Powercore DSP system, Universal Audio UAD-1, and more.

I had to come back and thank you for this - I had been struggling with a vocal mix for a few days but I installed the Sonnox plug-ins last night and the reverb and EQ are really something, so warm sounding. The mix is complete now and I will buy these when the trial expires. Many thanks.

I love Ableton's effects but I have realised this weekend that for the basics that you use all the time there is no substitute for the top of the range stuff.

morerecords · Post by **morerecords** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 3:46 pm

UAD are the way to go.

gomi · Post by **gomi** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 8:24 am

sparky606 wrote:Hi,

I have been looking at buying the Waves

waves are a complete waste of time

they are the microsoft of the audio production world

Waves Plug-in Advice (Vocal Bundle / Ultramaximiser)

Waves Plug-in Advice (Vocal Bundle / Ultramaximiser)

Re: Waves Plug-in Advice (Vocal Bundle / Ultramaximiser)