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Waves is Relentless with Their Sales

Morning Coffee said:
I'm currently deciding whether to get the Waves restoration bundle (noise reduction type plugins) or the Izotope RX7 noise reduction plugins, but the Waves plugins are so much cheaper during this sale.

From memory, I've seen every Waves plugin for $29 except for the WNS noise suppressor plugin and perhaps some of their surround sound plugins.
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Save your money for RX7. There is soooooooooo much more you can do with it. Overall noise reduction that outshines most others (waves is way down the list), dialog noise reduction that works by itself “live”, pulling specific sounds out of a recording (I used it to yank ships bells out of a wedding video on a dock UNDER soft dialog, worked great). UNMIX music - yanked the vocals out of a track for a talent show singer- worked amazingly well. Removes reverb- adjust the amount of reverb (or remove it) out of any mixed track. Even the de-clip, de-crack, de-hum I use all the time (live sound recordings, film production tracks). I’ve gotten so much out of the standard version (expecially in RX7), I’ve never had to upgrade to advanced.

If you clean up tracks at all, or like to experiment with taking mixed songs apart, RX7 is an unmatched set of tools. Catch a sale (they happen now all the time, almost as much as waves) and you won’t be sorry. ;)

 
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I have a love/hate relationship with my waves plugins and I own a ton of them. On one hand, I detest their installer and WUP can be a "gotcha" for those who don't educate themselves on how it works, especially in relation to updates with the installer.
On the other hand, once I have my plugins installed and working they have been rock solid, they don't crash my sessions (unlike some other companies plugins I've paid for) and they do what they say they'll do.
I tend to buy plugins based on looking at what my current stock plugins can do and then try to fill in the gaps. I only buy Waves when I can get them for less than $30 (which is almost all the time). My favorite and most used Waves plugins are:

1. One knob pumper. OK this one isn't actually a most used plugin and I think I got this one free during their Christmas giveaway but when you need a no thrills pumping sound this one is dead easy.
2. Maxx Bass
3. NLS
4. Linear Phase Multiband EQ - for when you need Linear Phase.
5. Scheps Omni - I'm generally not a channel strip guy but this one is really good.
6. Vitamin Sonic Enhancer
7. Center
8. Waves Tune- A really great plugin. Interface could be improved but this is the one I I actually did pay more than $30 for and was worth it at $50.
9. Abby Road Chambers
10. Abby Road Plates
11. J37
12. Kramer Master Tape
13. Abby Road Vinyl
14. The kings Microphone. Probably the most made fun of Waves plugin but it's nice to just dial up a lofi sound with this thing instead of doing it with EQ and other techniques. At under $30 it's hard to complain. I mainly will only use this on Vocals as an effect that gets automated. I doubt I would ever leave it on a vocal all the time unless the song called for it.

I own so many more but the jury is still out whether or not they become used much or not. I do have their CLA comps that everyone raves about but I'm not nostalgic about classic comps. I do use the CLA's off and on but I don't feel that I couldn't live without them (sorry for the double negative), whereas the ones I've mentioned are unique enough that I do think it would be hard to find another plugin that does what these do.
 
ChristopherT said:
After decades with Waves, I junked them a couple of years ago when I realized that most of them were being outdone with other plugs that were much better.
Waves emails go to my spam folder :)
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I've found that the ones I've bought are excellent. Don't know about the rest of their plugins.
 
Morning Coffee said:
I'm currently deciding whether to get the Waves restoration bundle (noise reduction type plugins) or the Izotope RX7 noise reduction plugins, but the Waves plugins are so much cheaper during this sale.

From memory, I've seen every Waves plugin for $29 except for the WNS noise suppressor plugin and perhaps some of their surround sound plugins.
Click to expand...
I don't know about the WNS noise suppressor, but I have the W43, which does a fantastic job of getting rid of fan noise and equipment hum without a hint of artifacts. It uses a different method than Izotope's RX, I believe, so it's probably wise to get both. If you use Reaper, there's also a very good built-in noise reduction plugin called Reafir, but the third party tools are better.
 
ChristopherT said:
After decades with Waves, I junked them a couple of years ago when I realized that most of them were being outdone with other plugs that were much better.
Waves emails go to my spam folder :)
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Really depends on what your comparing them to. EQ's, Compressor? Yes, Fabfilter and other companies have taken these to another level. However, Tape Emulation, Channel Strips, Sonic Enhancers and effects like Brauer Motion have their own flavor that I think they are worth a look, especially at $29
 
robgb said:
I don't know about the WNS noise suppressor, but I have the W43, which does a fantastic job of getting rid of fan noise and equipment hum without a hint of artifacts. It uses a different method than Izotope's RX, I believe, so it's probably wise to get both.
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It probably is wise to get both brands, can't hurt I guess, they are useful tools after all. By the way, Izotope noise reduction plugins (in simplified form) have been part of the Adobe Audition DAW for a long time now, but I don't see many people using or recommending Adobe Audition here.
 
I was digitizing a favorite album of classical organ music for my parents and used the Waves stuff. It was okay. The biggest problem was crackle and clicks in the quiet parts. Trying to remove things that are noisier than the actual music was difficult. I got RX7 recently and may try again. It would be worth comparing it.
 
robgb said:
I don't know about the WNS noise suppressor, but I have the W43, which does a fantastic job of getting rid of fan noise and equipment hum without a hint of artifacts. It uses a different method than Izotope's RX, I believe, so it's probably wise to get both. If you use Reaper, there's also a very good built-in noise reduction plugin called Reafir, but the third party tools are better.
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Apologies, as I realize some people like a device that is simple to figure out, the waves plugs might work well enough for them.

But to put it in perspective for composers, it’s a bit like deciding between a Zebra synth and a simple oscillator synth with only a volume control and tone controls. Yes you can get a synth sound from both, but one gives you far more control, processing possibilities and in the end is going to sound much better. Even the auto modes in RX7 analyse the sound and make appropriate tone changes (much more specifically than 4 bands), so comparing them is kind of like comparing apples to a small hard stone, with tone controls. But waves offers synths as well, I wonder why they are not so popular? ;)
 
X-Bassist said:
Apologies, as I realize some people like a device that is simple to figure out, the waves plugs might work well enough for them.
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That's a bit condescending. Simple is not necessarily bad if it does the job quickly and efficiently. I have no problem with more complex tools when I really need to get into the nitty gritty. But noise reduction is not really a problem I need to address very often.
 
I use a lot of H-Delay (when I’m not using echoboy), PuigTec EQ always on strings and brass, often V-EQ4 for sparkle, CLA-76 on harp and piano, their limiters, Scheps Parallel Particles on short strings, x-noise for noise reduction, NLS Channel on brass, oneknob pumpern for sidechain, PAZ Analyzer for analyzing room placement, Kramer Master Tape before reverb.

They work great and I don’t think they are dated even if newer plugins might look more modern and fancy.
 
There are plenty of developers that have sale after sale. It doesn't bother me. I have plenty of plugins. It's sad I couldn't name 10 of them I have in the Gold bundle. I'm not a fan of their licensing. With Melda there is no machine limit an lifetime updates. So far I've had no authorization issues with Izotope.
 
A sale isn't a sale at Waves.

The Gold Bundle was "on sale" at approximately 199 USD (down from the still-listed original price of 799 USD) for for the better part of 5 years. Hell, it's now all the way down to 99 USD at AudioDeluxe.

I'll admit to being taken in by these Waves sales on a few occasions. But now, after a bunch of nibbles on the bait, I've come to realize that there really is no sale at all. These ARE the normal prices. A plugin perpetually on sale for 29 dollars - is a 29 dollar plugin.

That doesn't mean there aren't still a couple of plugins that I still use from Waves' back catalog, or that they've made a few new ones that I like.

It just means I have to recalibrate my sale-goggles.
 
KMA said:
But now, after a bunch of nibbles on the bait, I've come to realize that there really is no sale at all. These ARE the normal prices.
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Of course. But you do have to catch them at the right time to get that $29 price and be patient. They will sell as many as they can at the higher price, then drop it for guys like us. And I'm glad they do.
 
KMA said:
A sale isn't a sale at Waves.

The Gold Bundle was "on sale" at approximately 199 USD (down from the still-listed original price of 799 USD) for for the better part of 5 years. Hell, it's now all the way down to 99 USD at AudioDeluxe.

I'll admit to being taken in by these Waves sales on a few occasions. But now, after a bunch of nibbles on the bait, I've come to realize that there really is no sale at all. These ARE the normal prices. A plugin perpetually on sale for 29 dollars - is a 29 dollar plugin.

That doesn't mean there aren't still a couple of plugins that I still use from Waves' back catalog, or that they've made a few new ones that I like.

It just means I have to recalibrate my sale-goggles.
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Nobody pays that for Gold. I think my 2nd copy was under $70. I wish all of this stuff was that affordable when I started out around the turn of the century.
 
kitekrazy said:
I wish all of this stuff was that affordable when I started out around the turn of the century.
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Indeed. Waves have gone from very expensive to very affordable and the math behind this move is easily understandable: They realized that at a much lower price point they sell many more plugins. It is one thing, having just a few luxurious studio paying over a thousand dollars but another having tens of thousands of users paying 29$ or 49$.
 
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