Waves Platinum or Voxengo Plugs and a computer upgrade?

[bmanic]

Ok, so if you could choose between buying a new motherboard and CPU(Dual Core) and some Voxengo Plug ins, or Waves Platinum without the computer hardware, which would you choose?

I have tried out some of the Voxengo plugins on demo, and they are pretty good. The CurveEQ is one I really like... Elephant is probably the best loudness maximizer I have tried too... Better than Izotope Ozone's and probably better than the T-Racks soft clipper...

I havn't had a chance to try any Waves plug ins so I'm really not sure what to expect except a high price tag. Does anybody know if you can demo their plug ins?

Right now I have Cubase SX 3, T-Racks, Izotope Ozone, DFHS, Battery, DFH1, Sonik Synth 2, SampleTank 2XL... So, I'm really only looking to pick up one more bundle here since I have a bunch of stuff already. Also, if anybody is interested in Ozone, Battery, DFH1, I will be selling them pending emails with the companies getting approval to transfer ownership. O, Possibly T-Racks also, depending what I pick up for plug ins.

The Voxengo plug ins I'm looking to purchase at this point are, Voxformer, CurveEQ, HarmoniEQ, Elephant, and possibly Soniformer.

Anyway, I posted this on another board, but really didn't get much out of the responses. Also after reading stuff on this board it seems there are alot of good freebies...

Waves native plugins are not at all worth the money. Even on Pro Tools TDM it's not really that good (although they do sound better). Voxengo, kjaerhus, sonalksis are definately better value and more importantly, much better quality!

For reverb you should look at the ArtsAccousitc one as it's by far the best non-convolution reverb out there.

The only really useful plugins in the waves pack are the mondo modulator and that other weird thing, the doppler effect one but they are rather special and not needed all the time.

For basic eq/compressor/expander etc. waves are only mediocre so get something else. Personally I recommend you get most of the Voxengo plugins, at least the Analog Flux bundle and the Mastering Bundle (elephant, curve EQ and Soniformer I believe..)

Cheers!
bManic

[Midiworks]

Ok, its free....

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... sc&start=0

but one of the best EQs I have tried.

[OMU]

For basic eq/compressor/expander etc. waves are only mediocre so get something else. Personally I recommend you get most of the Voxengo plugins, at least the Analog Flux bundle and the Mastering Bundle (elephant, curve EQ and Soniformer I believe..)

Cheers!
bManic

i disagree

and i agree

i personnally think that sonalksis plugs beats their waves counterparts but the mastering bundle sounds just great. not to mention L3 which just blows every similar product (though elephant doesn't sound bad, and the uad limiter really stands out)

but in the native eq area i believe is only one company that really did something that can't be beaten: URS.

[kevvvvv]

My pet hate is maximisers that tend to give volume at the expense of dynamic contrasts.

Ozone 3's Maximiser when set on Intelligent is very good for material with dynamic range.

It gives bags more volume where rqd yet still entertains quieter passages nicely.

But like Stairsteps says - who's tried all the Waves stuff and is here to tell the story?

But having said that, Waves must be the most bootlegged fx package around. So lots of people know it really, but can't come out and say it.

[mauseoleum]

how about getting a fine mix of native plugs, uad1 and a nice computer upgrade?

[jens]

But having said that, Waves must be the most bootlegged fx package around. So lots of people know it really, but can't come out and say it.

I want to call my lawyer!

[OMU]

how about getting a fine mix of native plugs, uad1 and a nice computer upgrade?

one uad card isn't enough... at least two are necessary for not feeling frustrated.

[headquest]

But like Stairsteps says - who's tried all the Waves stuff and is here to tell the story?

Me for one... demos of the entire Waves range were given away on a special Music Tech Magazine cover disc a few months ago

[defjamm]

Waves native plugins are not at all worth the money. Even on Pro Tools TDM it's not really that good (although they do sound better).

it depends, they have updated some of them, the rcomp for example is 64-bit floating point in native and 56-bit fixed point in tdm(from the manual). rchannel too(48bit tdm and 64bit native).

Voxengo, kjaerhus, sonalksis are definately better value and more importantly, much better quality!

this is pretty subjective, there are pro engineers out who used the waves-stuff on great sounding multi-platinum-lps and like them, so it really depends. i owned 2 uad-1s and one powercore and didn't find them automatically better than waves. voxengo, kjaerhus and sonalksis offer great products, but waves get a lot of hate in forums(i understand that regarding their update-policy, but not regarding their quality). i like the rcomp, the older eqs are good for substracting work, qclone is nice for adding(but not usable without a nice hardware-eq), the ir-1 has great impulses, i like the limiters and i like the transx. you can mix and master on a high level just usin waves but you could also do the same with voxengo, so it really depends. for me they are good workhorses.

[OMU]

Waves native plugins are not at all worth the money. Even on Pro Tools TDM it's not really that good (although they do sound better).

it depends, they have updated some of them, the rcomp for example is 64-bit floating point in native and 56-bit fixed point in tdm(from the manual). rchannel too(48bit tdm and 64bit native).

Voxengo, kjaerhus, sonalksis are definately better value and more importantly, much better quality!

this is pretty subjective, there are pro engineers out who used the waves-stuff on great sounding multi-platinum-lps and like them, so it really depends. i owned 2 uad-1s and one powercore and didn't find them automatically better than waves. voxengo, kjaerhus and sonalksis offer great products, but waves get a lot of hate in forums(i understand that regarding their update-policy, but not regarding their quality). i like the rcomp, the older eqs are good for substracting work, qclone is nice for adding(but not usable without a nice hardware-eq), the ir-1 has great impulses, i like the limiters and i like the transx. you can mix and master on a high level just usin waves but you could also do the same with voxengo, so it really depends. for me they are good workhorses.

i have to agree... (for subtracting reneq rocks)
wise words

[pitchdrifter]

The weakest link most of the time is the user, not the plugin. It's not primarily the tool that gets you a result but the user, who can achieve the same result many different ways, with many different plugins.
That said, you can get the same results with voxengo stuff as you can get with waves plugins. My personal opinion is that the voxengo plugins are heavier in terms of cpu load, because they sport less compromises, less quality trade-offs (e.g. pristine space vs IR1). The difference in sound obviously is nuances.

Now obviously since the voxengo plugins are a good bit more affordable, who wouldn't mind paying a bit more cpu power for that and at the same time to be aware that the dsp quality is uncompromising (even if you can't hear a difference due to whatever reason, be that lack of monitoring equipment, lack of experience how to employ either plugin apropriately, or simply not the best hearing anymore)? I went with voxengo+uad1 instead of waves for that very reason. Simply because a pro/contra list of voxengo vs waves had the latter win the comparison in my personal 'whats better' list.

A word about IR1, IR1 isn't too special, the impulses coming with it, however, are special. I believe thats why it is rather popular. I wish the sydney opera house impulses were available seperately, or any of the impulses that come with IR1 for that matter. Thats really the only waves product I keep pondering about since I want to get hold of impulses like that somehow.

2c

Markus

[Aleister7]

I love Izotope's Ozone 3, though I've yet to try Voxengo Elephant. But speaking of Voxengo, have you tried the GlissEq? My experience w/ it has been wonderful. It can really bring dull tracks to life, as well as reduce certain 'problems' with tracking (made vox through a crummy preamp come alive and reduce perceived distortion).
As for Waves, I have never been satisfied with any of their products, and I've tried a bunch.

[monkeymanx]

Yes, Gliss EQ is good, but I like Curve EQ because you can really do any shape EQ you want. You can get some very unique EQ settings for that reason.

I noticed Waves is even getting sold as bootlegs on eBay. I also noticed some guy offering a 20 dollar CD with a ton of stuff on it. Waves, Ozone, T-Racks, etc... All bootlegs obviously... I can't believe this stuff gets sold on eBay like that, I looked through the person's feedback and numerous people bought these bootlegs and were happy with them. Personally, it sort of angers me, just because I actually pay for all my stuff, and it costs quite a bit.

[airon]

I own the Voxengo plugs Elephant, Soniformer and CurveEQ. I've tested HarmiEQ and it's just a wonderful piece of gear.

My work is in TV editing and mixing, and during the past 14 months I've been using the Renaissance EQ and Compressor all the time. All this is on a Protools TDM system, and yes I can confirm that these plugins work damn good in EQ'ing (mostly cutting) dialogue and fx. The compressor is simply the most useful I've had.

The PACE protection or whatever they're using on newer systems(ours is a MacOS9 MixPlus Protools 5.1.3 TDM rig), is for stopping commercial companies from pirating these plugins.

The industry uses these plugins a lot, so it's not the legion of hobby to almost-professional musicians they're worried about, it's the professionals using their gear every day to make money. For the price they're asking, it's a bargain. The Diamond bundle isn't cheap at over $6000 for the TDM version, but if you need it in a full-time professional enviroment, it's not that big a deal.

Please note that as soon as Voxengo releases TDM versions of Elephant, CurveEQ and so on, I'll be quietly blackmailing our support staff and post supervisor to get us those plugins . Untill then, it's mostly Waves plugs.

[bmanic]

For basic eq/compressor/expander etc. waves are only mediocre so get something else. Personally I recommend you get most of the Voxengo plugins, at least the Analog Flux bundle and the Mastering Bundle (elephant, curve EQ and Soniformer I believe..)

Cheers!
bManic

i disagree

and i agree

i personnally think that sonalksis plugs beats their waves counterparts but the mastering bundle sounds just great. not to mention L3 which just blows every similar product (though elephant doesn't sound bad, and the uad limiter really stands out)

but in the native eq area i believe is only one company that really did something that can't be beaten: URS.

I actually disagree with both your comments about L3 and URS. L3 is about as bad a limiter as it can get and the URS equalizers are only mediocre algorithms wrapped into long proven good wide eq 'curves' and pretty graphics. They are very digital sounding when pushed, much more so than say, harmoniEQ or Hydratone or even the free Posifhopit.

As for L3, it's just squeezing the last bit of juice out of a track because of it's multiband nature. Try splitting your master up into 5 bands and insert 5 different elephants, you get similar but superior results. I'm very much against any form of multiband treatment on the master though (unless it's a tubetech unit and the artifacts of the crossovers are intentional!) so I think the traditional L2, elephant, ozone, overdriven analogue desk, is better.

.. just my humble opinion though

- bManic