Waves Alternative ideas?

[omni7]

Hi all hope you are well! I was wondering if any one has some good ideas for alternative software to replace some of the Waves plugins I use the most. (I am sick of having to renew licences if I update my system or I require a new version)
Here is a list to the ones I used the most - None of the many, many I bought will work on my new computer system

Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can offer for viable alternatives (even if you only have one idea of a good alternative)

WLM Plus Loudness Meter
Brauer Motion
C6 Multiband Compressor
Center
CLA Epic
CLA-2A Compressor / Limiter
CLA-3A Compressor / Limiter
CLA-76 Compressor / Limiter
Kaleidoscopes V14.0.0
L3-16 Multimaximizer
MaxxBass

PS22 Stereo Maker

Scheps Parallel Particles

SSL G-Master Buss Compressor

WLM Plus Loudness Meter

[telecharge]

Here's a thread from last year when Waves went subscription for a while. There's a link to a Google spreadsheet, too - viewtopic.php?t=595119

[roman.i]

It is not like all the other companies will provide you with free lifetime updates...

[Funk Dracula]

It is not like all the other companies will provide you with free lifetime updates...

True, but other companies can be much more pleasant to deal with and way less shrewd than Waves.

I'm still amazed at how a plug-in developer managed to give me such bad vibes and experiences when dealing with them in the past, it resulted in my bias being so extreme that they could literally develop a plug-in that performed sexual favors on me and I'd still boycott it lmao.

Cheers

[roman.i]

Many companies release new versions every year or two and stop supporting the old version.
So you are kind of forced to upgrade.
And you don't know when this going to happen, maybe you bought a plugin and after a month they release a new version.
You can't fully avoid it, but do your research on upgrade policy and frequency, so you don't get more of the same.

[Razzia]

With respect to the CLA stuff and the SSL comp, PluginBoutique has a huge UAD bundle on sale for like $300 right now.
Their plugins sound fantastic and at least you don't have to pay for updates when there hasn't been a major revision or upgrade.

That said they do some really obnoxious nickel-and-diming. Like I got my UAD stuff years ago when it was still expensive, and if you have for instance a 1073 plugin, they'll release a Neve Preamp plugin and charge you $50 for it when it's literally just a 1:1 section of a plugin you already own. So if treating customers well is a make or break factor for you, there are things to consider.

Black Rooster Audio and Fuse Audio Labs are two companies that have good sounding plugins, good support in my experience, fair prices, and make similar emulations to some of those things.

For a C6 replacement- Fabfilter Pro-MB is expensive but great and I've never had cause for complaint with their update or upgrade policies. Minimal Audio has a great up&downward MB compressor called Fuse Comp. I guess it depends on your use case. Fuse Comp is really handy for more aggressive stuff and sound design purposes. Devious Machines has a 6 band compressor that looks nice called, I think, Comp X6. That one I haven't used but I have a few of their other plugins and they are a good, trustworthy brand with very fast and friendly support

good luck

[DCrown]

Here's a thread from last year when Waves went subscription for a while. There's a link to a Google spreadsheet, too - viewtopic.php?t=595119

They didn't go subscription, cuz Waves is a company that t listens to their customers.
What's your intention for sending link?

Waves has quite a lot of plugins that still are the benchmark for many years and can't be replaced.
You can make a complete professional production with a fast learning curve and easy workflow with e. g Waves Horizon only.

[hotmitts]

I had the CLA acoustic plug-ins, they sounded very nice, but it was a pain to install (you couldn't do it with the current version of the installer etc etc} plus every time my DAW scanned for VST, it spent ages on the Waves stuff.
I replaced them mainly with Nomad factory (for most eq & compression needs anyway) which were helluva easy install, plus they sound very nice, double plus are available cheap
Other stuff is good like Toneboosters, Black Rooster, Voxengo - no obnoxious install problems

[Ah_Dziz]

Here's a thread from last year when Waves went subscription for a while. There's a link to a Google spreadsheet, too - viewtopic.php?t=595119

They didn't go subscription, cuz Waves is a company that t listens to their customers.
What's your intention for sending link?

Waves has quite a lot of plugins that still are the benchmark for many years and can't be replaced.
You can make a complete professional production 0with a fast learning curve and easy workflow with e. g Waves Horizon only.

They did go subscription and only agreed to keep the perpetual licensing available because of the imminent boycott and terrible press they got from an insane amount of users from hobbyists to professionals. Their lame subscriptions are still available on their site.

I'm sure the link was to provide the OP with a big spreadsheet of plugins that were meant to replace Waves plugins. This was made between when waves announced their terrible plan and when they realized they wouldn't stay anywhere near the top of the plugin market if they went through with it. I'm sure it's a handy list. I didn't use it since I was going to keep my waves stuff at the last perpetual version available no matter what, but many many people here got out of buying anything from the company moving forward and wanted to get something similar from companies that they felt were going to be more reliable moving forward.

[Daystrom]

I've been combing Waves stuff out of my beard the last few years because of this. I had a ton of their stuff for the last 18 years, but I've slowly gotten away from all of that. IDK what DAW you're using, but after years of using Pro Tools, here is what I'm using 98.9874551% of the time:

UAD 1176LN Rev E on almost everything.
Brainworx Digital EQ V3 for notching and de-booping things.
Valhalla DSP -everything, they make gorgeous-sounding stuff.
UAD Lexicon 224
UAD API 2500
Avid Pro Limiter -it has a LUFS meter.

The only Waves I have left is the F6, and I'm going to replace it by the end of the week. Probably the Oxford deal I saw here at KVR.

If you are using Logic, I would probably only use what comes with it. It's very good, IMO. Good luck!

[jens]

I am sick of having to renew licences if I update my system or I require a new version

Are you on Mac/OSX?

[Vic Firth]

I use Studio One plugins where I might have once tried to use Waves. The less plugins that require constant proof you own them via scanning your network the better.

Waves. Ah good times *(not)

Here's what I think:

Get plugins for free. Get plugins that don't want anything from you. Use your DAW plugins they can be just great.


Only rule of thumb is get free stuff. Never pay for anything. As soon as they make your money you're on the road to ruin, relationship wise.

It's a fantasy notion, but I say if they can get money for it, they are going to be a total shrew to deal with.