Waves SSL EV2 Channel Strip - $39.99 (84% off)

[antic604]

But man the moment he praise Acoustica Audio for their update philosphy I doubt this guy serious. Acoustica needs several iterations and still have significant bugs and on top latest Version has nothing to do with 1 anymore it´s kind of a new plugin all your mixes with older versions sounds very different. Only thing they are really good is to knock a Ryzen5670 out with a EQ Emulation.

He's talking about their policy, not plugin quality.

He says Acoustica offers free upgrades, that actually add new features (and fixes bugs), whereas Waves' WUP upgrade is paid and e.g. for original SSL Channel they've only added GUI scaling, but really not - they literally just stretched the original low-res assets, which make the plugin fuzzy and blurry. Most DAWs can do that by themselves! For free!!

With Waves if you're paying for WUP upgrade they should at least re-render the plugin to high-res, perhaps fix the cramping and add the preamps. But no, instead they've released a new plugin

That's Paul's point.

[sososo]

yes after more as a decade for 39,99$ they are real gangsters.

[Burillo]

I think it's actually a good idea to release a new plugin. Waves has a looooong history, and plenty of people have them in their old projects. Hence, if the sound changes, a lot of people will complain. Releasing new emulation as a new plugin makes sense. IMO it should've been free for existing owners of the old plugin, but that would be way too generous for Waves.

[antic604]

IMO it should've been free for existing owners of the old plugin, but that would be way too generous for Waves.

It's $29.99 instead of $39.99, so that's something at least.

[antic604]

I think it's actually a good idea to release a new plugin. Waves has a looooong history, and plenty of people have them in their old projects. Hence, if the sound changes, a lot of people will complain. Releasing new emulation as a new plugin makes sense.

That's a fair point, but Paul's comment was about Waves' approach in general, not just with regard to this particular plugin. And as I said, paying for WUP to upgrade the classic SSL Channel only gives you stretched, blurry GUI. That's laughable.

[Burillo]

yep, Waves' "scalable GUI" has been a disaster for old plugins, not going to deny that.

[v1o]

The Plugin Anaylzer police said the curves are different from the original Waves SSL channel. And slightly different to the CLA Mixhub. Looks like they modelled a different unit to the console used for the CLA. Possibly one provided by SSL since it has their logo and branding.

IMO it should've been free for existing owners of the old plugin, but that would be way too generous for Waves.

It's free for bundle owners. And I'm sure this is not a copy and paste job, its new product with new code, that costs money to produce.

[pixel85]

Paul's videos are good. He's triggering all these religion-level plugin addicts on GS. He's not only exposing lazy devs but also who on GS belongs to the category "you must be fun at parties"

As criticism in any way or form is becoming forbidden in the western world, people like him are even more needed.
It doesn't matter if he's accurate or not (same for Snake Oil guy).

[Burillo]

As criticism in any way or form is becoming forbidden in the western world

i mean, sure, if you say so...

[itanever]

To be fair, this one is SSL sanctioned, whereas CLA is not. So it wouldn't make much sense for Waves to make it an update for CLA. And it's different enough from the old SSL channel to be a new plugin, so no qualms about it here. If it weren't for WUP, I'd probably even get it, but the prospect of basically having to buy the same plugins again in the future keeps me from buying more Waves stuff than I already have.

[sososo]

Ok Gentleman,

got it. Regards UP where are so many bad examples, unfortunately some of them did good plugins so it´s everybodys decision. I guess we mainly should focus how the tools doing their job and if they sounding good.
I often think if I read about new plugins in forums to less sharing of experience and someone is always directely starting claiming about pricing, update philosphy or company strategy.
First of all what we are talking about are first world problems, right.
Truth is where a lot of producers outhere making really good sounding Tracks with their DAW of choice and the stock plugins. So to spent extra money on plugins is more less driven by the wish to get something different or better but basically it isn´t needed to get the job done. A normal cunsomer wont here the difference if the track is properly produced. It´s only interesseting and relevant for nerds like us, nobody else cares.
Therefore I say stop crying about this. It´s your choice to spent extra it´s your choice which companies you are supporting.

[jamcat]

I’m no fan of Waves WUP policy and particularly the 2nd computer license take-back part of that policy.

But those complaints aside, I will say this about Waves, as it gets to the heart of the complaints about EV2 being a new plugin rather than an update:

If you created a project in 2004 that used Waves plugins (after Waves finally adopted VST), you can still open that project today, more than 15 years later, and all of your Waves plugins will load and sound the way you left them.

And in another 15 years, that will still be the case for those plugins and newer ones alike. If you buy a Waves plugin, you are guaranteed it will still be around and work as expected indefinitely.

Because Waves caters to professional studios and engineers first and foremost, long-term compatibility and support is their top priority. That’s actually pretty rare in the pluginsphere.

[antic604]

To be fair, this one is SSL sanctioned, whereas CLA is not. So it wouldn't make much sense for Waves to make it an update for CLA.

Or maybe they've just not asked SSL for their "stamp of approval" for MixHub, because it was enough to have CLA's one?

[Masr]

I have never tried the old SSL version by Waves and I also do not own the CLA version. But I have to say that this thing totally blew me away. I have never heard such a beautiful emulation of the analog distortion. I own all the IK plugins and none of them comes even close to this - they just seem to colour things and put them a bit out of focus. I have lots of the older Acoustica Audio Nebula 4 third party presets but none of them is capable of the same dynamic behaviour as ev2.

Those who just decided to skip this plugin because of some bad review or on behalf of the waves WUP policies should really try it for themselves. When you put the plugin on the track without touching anything, you get very light effect of smoother highs and more focused lows. Pleasing in itself. But once you decide to drive the signal more (pushing it to the red LED), the source starts to sound incredibly focused, basses start to collapse slightly into centre (which is a great thing) and the track gets incredible punch. But it is not a usual de-focused punch that I have seen with many other emulations. It is a very clean snappy punch that is heavily focused and yet still very transparent. When I heard this for the first time on the bass and kick, I started to lough. "So this is how Andy Wallace creates his beautifully intense, yet clean and focused sound in the lows. No need for any special mixing tricks. He just drives his desk really heard".

And the sound of the mic pre distortion is absolutely amazing too. You may not need this if you already own the CLA version (never tried that one though), but I really deeply doubt that the old SSL by Waves comes even close to the dynamic behaviour of the ev2. And the EQ is so smooth, just unbelievable. I would often use different compressors because I generally prefer the sound of the clean signal mixed in with the compressed sound, but other than that, I find this plugin absolutely gorgeous.

[jamcat]

I own all the IK plugins and none of them comes even close to this - they just seem to colour things and put them a bit out of focus.

Which IK plugins specificially?
Of the IK plugins, only the API (EQ PA, EQ PB, EQ PG) and Neve EQs (EQ 73, EQ 81) model the preamps.

The EQ 73 and EQ 81 have different distortion characteristics, while all 3 API EQs seem to have identical preamp models. All 5 of these plugins are dynamically responsive to the INPUT knob, and have to have MIC engaged.

SSL preamps are quite different than Neve which are quite different than API. So different colouration is expected. And also, the Waves EV2 has WAY more gain than the IK models, so at a certain point the IK models won't be able to keep up, though that should be well beyond the useful range of gain for most applications.

Arturia also has noteworthy full preamp models in the 3 Preamps Collection. I'll be picking those up before the $69 Black Friday sale ends. I am also resigned to picking up EV2.