Wave's Musician's Bundles II vs. Sonitus?

[AVBunyan]

I know this may get old and I looked at the Waves thread here but - Just your thoughts on Wave's Musician's Bundles II vs. Sonitus even though they don't match up perfectly because Waves Musician Bundles have no reverb.

I have Sonar 5 Producer but had a chance to compare the Sonitus with the Waves a while back on another system. I really like the Super Tap and Doubler - the Ren Comp and Vox seem nice but so does the Sonitus. The Ren EQ vs. Sonitus EQ seem equal to me. With the Cakewalk Pitcher Shifter I can come close to the Double though not as full.

For $150 I was thinking of just adding some different falvoring for I do like Waves stuff - just can't afford the bigger bundles.

Your thoughts?

Thanks

[backpage]

I'd go for it. RenComp is still my favorite and Doubler works well on vox and acoustic guitars.

[Alan]

The Ren EQ vs. Sonitus EQ seem equal to me.

That's the important ones,as far as doubling and pitch shifting there's plenty of better alternatives than Waves and even some freeware.In Sonar 5 you already have V-Vocal and other options for pitch shifting,and for doubling there are plenty of delay tweakings you can do besides some doubling presets already in the SpectraFX plugin.For Reverb the combination of the new Perfect Space/Lexicon and DSPFX reverb in my mind kills R-Verb(which I never liked anyway).I personally feel that this particular bundle while cheap,is not really necessary at all If you have Sonar.For $150.00 your mainly adding
PACE,not flavor.Save your money for something better.

[AVBunyan]

The Ren EQ vs. Sonitus EQ seem equal to me.

That's the important ones,as far as doubling and pitch shifting there's plenty of better alternatives than Waves and even some freeware.I personally feel that this particular bundle while cheap,is not really necessary at all If you have Sonar.For $150.00 your mainly adding
PACE,not flavor.Save your money for something better.

Thanks Alan - I do appreciate your input - I will experiment some more based upon your input.

Later

[AVBunyan]

I'd go for it. RenComp is still my favorite and Doubler works well on vox and acoustic guitars.

Thanks for your thoughts Back - glad you like them - I'm still thinking about it.

[headquest]

I just got Sonar 5 PE as well, and like Alan I really can't think why you would want the Waves plugs in Sonar. The Sonitus effects are totally stunning, and were a major reason why Sonar appealed to me as a host in the first place (along with the Lexicon and Perfect Space reverbs and V-Vocal).

I tested all the Waves Diamond Bundle in my go-to host Ableton Live 5 last summer. Some are undoubtedly good effects, but most of the bundles and certainly all the individual plugs are excessively priced.

In any case, now I have the Sonitus bundle I really think that most bases are very well covered .

The PACE protection/dongle is another significant turn off with Waves as far as I am concerned. If I ran ProTools as a host and already had a PACE dongle then I guess I would go with Waves. But Sonar - along with my other software, Ableton, Reason, Adobe Audition and Sibelius - avoides intrusive copy protection systems and dongles, so I'll be blown if I'm going to start using a dongle just for my plugins!!

My early impressions as a registered Sonar user are that this is the most complete standalone package I have come across. Say "no" to Waves

[AVBunyan]

I just got Sonar 5 PE as well, and like Alan I really can't think why you would want the Waves plugs in Sonar. The Sonitus effects are totally stunning, and were a major reason why Sonar appealed to me as a host in the first place (along with the Lexicon and Perfect Space reverbs and V-Vocal).

My early impressions as a registered Sonar user are that this is the most complete standalone package I have come across. Say "no" to Waves

Thanks headquest - good thoughts.

Yes, I also like Sonitus and firmly believe they are underated and the best plugins packaged with Recording Software. Sonitus was the reason I went from Home Studio to Producer 4 and then to 5.

I really like the Multiband also and am learning to use it - almost like an EQ.

Strangley enough the Sonar forum says they like the Waves II and believe they would compliment well.

Let me clarify - I am a Sonitus guy right now - maybe because I've learned to use them better. But I have to admit some of the Wave's Plugs I would like to have - I just don't have the xtra monies for what I'd like.

I like their Doubler and Super Tap though I like Sonitus Delay also - I may buy the Musicians II just for those two alone. I've tried to duplicate the Doubler and have not been able to yet - but I'll keep trying.

And honestly - this could be more of a "want thing" instead of a need. Youa re right - sonitus covers all the basics for a "hobby-user" like me.

I wish the Lexicon wasn't so harsh sounding to me at time - I know you can eq some out but I wish I didn't have to. Love the interface and ease of use.

Thanks again - and yes the PACE is starting to scare me!

[headquest]

Cheers for that. I guess I'm slightly the opposite in that I know the Waves ones quite well from testing them quite thoroughly... but I'm only just discovering quite how great the Sonitus ones are now that I actually have Sonar.

If you like SuperTap and enjoy versatile delay effects, then I wonder have you tried the PSP effects? They seem not to have a particularly major following here, but they are superb and may give you a better (non-PACE!) option:

especially:

http://www.pspaudioware.com/indexen.htm ... 608md.html;

but also:

http://www.pspaudioware.com/indexen.htm ... psp84.html;

Good luck!

[fac]

Don't forget that Sonar also includes some of the DSP-FX plugins, in case you need more "flavors". They are not bad at all: a 4-tap delay, 4-voice chorus, 2-voice flanger, and a decent reverb. Te FX-Chorus doesn't look too different from the Waves Doubler.

If all you want from the Waves bundle are the Doubler and SuperTap, I would take a look at some of the freeware options first: for example, the db-audioware db-T Tempo Delay is pretty good. For modulation, there's the Kjaerhus GMO-1 which is pretty good.

I'm not saying "don't buy Waves". I just think you should try demos of various products before you decide.

[AVBunyan]

1. The FX-Chorus doesn't look too different from the Waves Doubler.

2. If all you want from the Waves bundle are the Doubler and SuperTap, I would take a look at some of the freeware options first: for example, the db-audioware db-T Tempo Delay is pretty good. For modulation, there's the Kjaerhus GMO-1 which is pretty good.
3. I just think you should try demos of various products before you decide.

1. I've got them loaded - I'll play with the FX-Chorus again to see if I can come close. It is a decent chorus and in a decent set of effects those FX's.

2. I'll check them ou - thanks

3. Makes sense - I'll keep researching - I'm having fun anyway

Thanks

[wwwill]

This was a thought of mine too. I have Sonar 4 Producer so I have the Sonitus, DSP FX, and Lexicon. I also picked up the Voxengo Marquis.

I feel like my compression needs may covered from clean (Sonitus) to flavored (Marquis, BlockFish). I was mainly looking at rounding out my EQ selection.

Not to hijack this thread but...

Would the RenEQ be worth the price? Probably not.
I feel like everything in the Musicians Bundlescan be substituted with other plugs.

Someone correct me if I'm off base.

[bduffy]

Oh well, I feel lucky...I'm just going to be the Devil's Advocate here and recommend the Musicians II Bundle. RenVox is such a simple and effective compressor; it just works, I can't imagine using anything else on vocals. You get such prescence from it. And the Doubler is the best there is - nothing gives you that effect or control while keeping the phase in check. Renaissance Compressor and Renaissance EQ are very widely accepted, but I think the Sonitus stuff is about as good. And Super-Tap I don't like very much, but it is a powerful delay - I just find the sliders awkward to use.

And I think this is the only Waves product that is properly priced. 5 Plug-ins - the same that are used in professional studios - for $149...I jumped on it when I saw this, before they changed their minds! And I haven't had any problems with the iLok.

But if money's tight, I'd say you already have a good setup with Sonar and Sonitus too. Only if you have the spare cash, would I recommend it; RenVox and Doubler I find indispensable.

[Alan]

Would the RenEQ be worth the price? Probably not.
I feel like everything in the Musicians Bundlescan be substituted with other plugs.

$150.00 is a good price for all the plugs if you like them,but I personally wouldn't buy it for the Ren EQ as I feel it's been eclipsed by other quality plugs out there like the Sonalksis,URS and UAD.If you want better EQ your going to have to spend more money,the cheapest being the Sonalksis SV-517($250.00),from there it's UAD or URS or Sony Oxford on the PoCo card,but adding the Ren EQ will just give you a slightly different option in the same leauge/level.Spending an additional $100.00 for the Sonalksis would be money better spent.

[Alan]

I've got them loaded - I'll play with the FX-Chorus again to see if I can come close.

Also try the FX-Delay,and try the last preset.."Vocal Fattener" and play with the mix a bit.Also,here's a freeebie VST plug called Big Tick Hexaline http://bigtick.pastnotecut.org/index.ph ... &pcode=300 Dont forget to search and try other freebies out there as there are ton of them.A good place to strt is either right here or here http://www.vstcentral.com/plugins.aspx

[fac]

Yeah, Ren Vox is pretty good and easy to use, and I agree the Musicians bundles are not expensive at all. A single PSP plugin will cost you as much.