All Waves plugs $29 plus 4 for 2! Thoughts on NX?

[flori89]

Yea Waves is O.K, the make good plugins and there are some classics on that list that have been on a lot of hit records. There are plenty of devs who make good plugins that don't rely on those rather questionable tactics to make customer pay.

Now if you use one of the additional 10% coupons you can grab 4 plugins for around 50$ here, so 12.5 per plugin. For what it's worth, even if you WUP for a few years, you are still getting a good deal and there are ways to keep the WUP costs to a minimum. Also there is an argument to be made here that they are keeping even the really old stuff up to date, some companies just let old plugins die and make new "versions". Does it really matter if they call it "Rennisance Bass 5" and make you pay for the update or if they just update them all every year?

Also, while there are cheap alternatives, they also have a few pretty unique plugins. Like CLA Epic or the new Retro Fi plugin. So it's complicated, personally I would say if WUP wouldn't exists, they might as well be one of the best out there.

[jamcat]

I don’t think they update the plugin dsp or feature set, so you’re really just paying for Renaissance Bass 5 times.

[LeVzi]

I own CLA Nx and Nx and I use them both for different situations. Throw in morphit for EQ for when I use my 2nd headphones, its all good.

CLA Nx is only for mixing down.

[flori89]

I don’t think they update the plugin dsp or feature set, so you’re really just paying for Renaissance Bass 5 times.

Not quite true, the whole Renaissance series got a complete makeover in 2019 adding new skins, features, presets etc. What is true though is that you don't have a guarantee that the plugin you bought will get any meaningful update.

IR-1 for example still looks the same as almost 20 years ago and all love it ever got was compatibility upgrades. So it's a gamble but saying they never update the plugins isn't true either.

[SparkySpark]

Thanks for all input! I ended up not investing (or, as some would put it, "inwasteing") more money. Instead I turned to ARS3 again, and it's actually good in that it gives the ears some rest. Also, the extended bass is pretty comfy (albeit maybe exaggerated).

FWIW, in the email I got from Wave, they didn't state free plugs needed to be old.

A bit OT, but anyways... Upon reflection, I would probably have jumped the deal if the Waves plugs were common VST fxs. I have some hopes that we one day will have just ONE license/download manager (à la Steam, I guess). That would make things so much easier for us all, and hopefully get rid of AAX, Waveshell and other nonsense. That way, DAW coders could stop wasting their time implementing proprietary APIs, and we wouldn't need all that download hassle.

[jamcat]

I don’t think they update the plugin dsp or feature set, so you’re really just paying for Renaissance Bass 5 times.

Not quite true, the whole Renaissance series got a complete makeover in 2019 adding new skins, features, presets etc. What is true though is that you don't have a guarantee that the plugin you bought will get any meaningful update.

IR-1 for example still looks the same as almost 20 years ago and all love it ever got was compatibility upgrades. So it's a gamble but saying they never update the plugins isn't true either.

New skins and presets are superficial, and not worthy of a paid upgrade.
What new features were added? Just EQ Curve display support for AAX? That's not exactly something VST users should be paying for.

Yes, Waves plugins are extremely future-proof, which is great. But that also means they will never get a meaningful update. So all you are actually paying for with WUP is compatibility, which really isn't something that gets broken too often.

[pixel85]

For me, NX Ocean Way is an awesome tool to check how my mixes translate in a club environment. Yes, their studio monitors are equivalent to a big club Soundsystem Often it's helping me to find out that some channels are too loud/quiet or there's a certain frequency range that requires attention, which I cannot hear otherwise. Often it's sub-range which normally is hard to control on headphones, yet NX can quickly tell me that there's too much or not enough of it.
I'm not mixing with NX on, just checking it out when I'm finishing my mix. Abbey Road isn't useful for me as much as Ocean Way and I didn't try CLA so I can't tell anything about it.

[jamcat]

Is there a treehouse setting to check your mix in?
That would be most useful to me.

[flori89]

I don’t think they update the plugin dsp or feature set, so you’re really just paying for Renaissance Bass 5 times.

Not quite true, the whole Renaissance series got a complete makeover in 2019 adding new skins, features, presets etc. What is true though is that you don't have a guarantee that the plugin you bought will get any meaningful update.

IR-1 for example still looks the same as almost 20 years ago and all love it ever got was compatibility upgrades. So it's a gamble but saying they never update the plugins isn't true either.

New skins and presets are superficial, and not worthy of a paid upgrade.
What new features were added? Just EQ Curve display support for AAX? That's not exactly something VST users should be paying for.

Yes, Waves plugins are extremely future-proof, which is great. But that also means they will never get a meaningful update. So all you are actually paying for with WUP is compatibility, which really isn't something that gets broken too often.

If it's worth it to you personally is another thing, but you said that the never update plugins or feature sets and that's factually not true. You could say:

"Each year they only make updates for a few plugins and mostly provide OS compatibility for the rest"

Also if it's not broken on your computer you don't have to WUP, so saying you are paying for nothing is also not true. Most of the times for WUP you are paying for:
- Being able to resell your license
- Getting a second license for another machine
- Fixing compatiblity with an OS upgrade

Now again, if that is "fair" or worth it to you is a different thing. I think for 90% of their plugins it's not, because other developers have equally good options that don't force you to WUP. But some like the new Retro Fi plugin are hard to pass to be honest, especially if you can get it for 12$ like in the current sale (if you calculate the per plugin price for 2 for 2).

I'm just not a friend of hyperbole, yes WUP sucks, but let's stay a little bit on the ground here.

[soulata]

Waves plugins are not bad, but their licensing is not ok comparing with other developers. You have to pay annually to be able to use their products on two PCs, without much trouble. It's similar to a subscription in some ways. If anyone were to ask me, I would suggest to stay away from Waves, there are lots of alternatives, some even free.

They're not that bad. Their support works well (got into trouble some time ago, their tech guy called me from Israel and made it work, at their expense).

I've only WUPed once in 10 years or so. Started buying at v8, got upgraded to v9. It's only in 2020 that I've decided to upgrade to v12 and was still covered this year, when v13 dropped.

Next time I'll do it is going to be (most probably) at v15 or 16 and that's perfectly ok.

k

[Agreed]

I actually like HLS! It has a nice coloration and EQ emphasis for tracking guitar through, I've found, easy to boost the mids in a pleasing way with its EQ also. Preamp drive is not so special sounding but not like hurting my ears either, I won't be hitting it too hot personally though. This is what I was hoping for, tone shaping, maybe not the hardest goal to meet but HLS is working in that capacity.

[_leras]

Hi,

Now on Cyber Monday, all Waves plugins are just 29 dollars each (and YES I know their prices are often super-inflated, but still)! Plus for every two bought, one gets two for free! There MUST be some good stuff in there.

I'm especially interested in their studio modelling software (for us working mainly on headphones). I bought their Abbey Road emulation before, and am looking at Nx Ocean Way Nashville and CLA NX.

Any thoughts? Waste of money? From what I can understand, Ocean Way is more faithful than Abbey Road.

I think Ocean Way is the best, allows a good near field room emulation when using headphones, and the large mains for this seem to be a really good full range representation.

I think the CLA is possibly a good tool for checking for mix problems, the ns10s push out the mids and are good to focus on some bit in there - but the mains in there seemed 'boomy' to me with some bass rumble - probably fine if you're intending to trim off more of the low end for pop/radio style mixed.

In terms of other good waves plugins, they do have quite a lot. Schepps Omni Channel is a great mixing tool, and they have some neat little things like the the Abbey Road vinyl. I think they are great value the abbey road stuff always seems good. Like anything, worth demoing. Personally I think they are still maligned on KVR as I believe they used to have iLok.

[2:43AM]

I'm going to have to read through this forum for ideas as I am STRUGGLING to find some Waves plugins that I want to buy and have passed the initial demo Litmus tests (over the past 6 years or so). I feel that I should buy 2 (+2 free) to take advantage, but I already own many of the most-recommended (and versatile plugins, to me at least) already. First world problems.

[soulata]

I'm going to have to read through this forum for ideas as I am STRUGGLING to find some Waves plugins that I want to buy and have passed the initial demo Litmus tests (over the past 6 years or so). I feel that I should buy 2 (+2 free) to take advantage, but I already own many of the most-recommended (and versatile plugins, to me at least) already. First world problems.

The ones I really like and need on almost every mix I do are ADT, MV2 and one of the Renaissance Compressors (can't remember which). Everything else I could live without.

[vata44]

While I like some of my Waves plugins, I completely dislike their WUP program and their installation process. I don’t find anything I can’t live without that’s worth essentially a yearly subscription WUP plan for less headache.