Waves bundle for electronic music??

[alsgrooves]

I'm very tempted by the waves sale at the moment.

I'm looking for "novice level" mixing plugin. Basically I'd like to just be able to get half decent stems out to a 3rd party for "finishing" mixdown/master.

The CLA Signature series bundle seem to fit the bill, - obviously these are from the rock world so not sure if they are just a waste of money for electronic music? Anyone using these at the moment? The Maserati bundle also looks interesting...

I've thought about the "One Knob" bundle but these seem a bit too dumbed down, - but maybe I'm wrong?

Actually I'm probably leaning most to the Waves Silver bundle (partially as I can't make up my mind on the others) and it may stand to me better in the long run

Any thoughts or alternatives? probably Waves only, - price is a relevant and doubt it can be beaten at the moment at 70% off (and even cheaper on plugindiscounts)

[jestermgee]

Waves are always having a sale... always! I wouldn't stress about having to get it "Now" because of the sale. That's their marketing hook. There are loads of great plugin bundles depending on what you are trying to add to your toolbox.

First question is the obvious one. What do you need to achieve in your process? What do you have already (do you have Live Lite/Standard/Suit)? What areas do you feel you don't have the correct tools?

I personally use mostly Lives own devices as much as possible because they are lean and very capable (compressor/multi-band dynamics/glue/EQ8). There are cases where I may want a warmer "analog" sound or harmonics etc where I start looking at the other options I have but most of the typical work is easily done with the native plugins.

[alsgrooves]

Yeah, I have ableton suite.
I already use the standard compressor, reverb etc.
Yeah, I was wondering if I would really get much better results with waves than stock ableton plugins.

Have you noticed the hybrid plugins give a nicer result? I was looking at this one also. I'm going for a nu disco sound so it appeals to me quite a bit

[Stromkraft]

Yeah, I have ableton suite.
I already use the standard compressor, reverb etc.
Yeah, I was wondering if I would really get much better results with waves than stock ableton plugins.

Well, I certainly think so, though great music is in the ideas, the attitude, the approach and the style of execution much more than in the tools.

Your own bundles
I choose to make my own bundles in different "combine" sales Waves have had trough the years. While I might have paid more in the end, I got the plug-ins I needed when I needed them and could focus on actually learning these and getting the exact effect I wanted. Getting a bundle doesn't have to be a bad idea though. I just wanted so many not in one bundle.

Demos
Don't get the bundle demos! Get the specific ones. If you don't have the time to check them all out in the bundle, and you likely won't, you will have to contact Waves and ask for a new demo when you later are interested in one that is in a bundle you have demoed.

These are my killer Waves plug-ins:

NLS, console and analog summing emulation
NX, for emulating mixing with monitors in a (virtual) room on head phones
C1, transparent work horse compressor/gate with side-chaining
Debreath, works instantly when needed
Doubler, so simple, so devious (easily solved in Live, but this gives great control)
H-Delay, this one grows on me. Simple and sound great. Not necessarily the best delay out there though, just really nice.
LinMB for "pseudo"-mastering tracks I need to play for people today.
C6, Really powerful multiband compressor with side-chaining.
Puigchild, while a compressor somewhat limited in scope sometimes it just creates magic.
RBass, for making it appear you have more bass than what you have also in systems with lesser bass response. Use with care.
LoAir, Watch out!
Saphira, again can create that magic I need to make a track feel more present in the mix without overstating it.
V-EQ3 and V-EQ4, is so much faster to get an instrument "sit" in the mix, than EQ8 (that nevertheless is a great and powerful EQ)
Center, for balancing the phantom mid and stereo aspect information without resorting to standard mid/side treatment.


A caveat, my choices above are very much influenced from working with analog desks. That's what I feel sounds best and also means I've adapted to analog levels with gain staging in all my tracks in order to make the tracks and the plug-ins sing as I want them to. NLS, V-EQ3 and 4 certainly need not too hot signals to shine.

Sound and style
With plug-ins and devices in Live it's very possible to go for any kind of sound though. I think everyone ought to discover their own path and follow their heart trough exploration of their ideas and also tools, certainly what you get with Live. This takes time and you can only learn so much within the time you have for music. Finishing music is what you want likely, so make it an adventure with that in focus. There will always be new places to go with your music and your ideas expressed trough your tools are the vehicles you travel with.

Alternatives
I think Waves is not for everyone. I like how the ones I got from them sound, but I'd advise any producer to check out Tokyo Dawn Labs, Klanghelm, u-he and many others. These compliment any other tool quite well.

Chose wisely and don't believe the hype. Start with Live and make music from the start. You only need so many tools. Sometimes you choose the wrong one and then it can be cool to sell off what you don't need..

Don't forget there is a second hand market for most plug-ins, but be careful there. Know how, and if, different makers handle license transfers.

[alsgrooves]

Well, I demo-ed the h-series bundle and ended up buying it.

That h-series reverb, - all I can say is Wow! It's beautiful, and can really do some sweet reverb effects