OT: Waves SSL 4000 plugs?

[trock]

Has anyone tried these yet??

http://www.waves.com/content.asp?id=2063

[israel40]

Has anyone tried these yet??

http://www.waves.com/content.asp?id=2063

Also can anyone verify they work in saw ? please ??

[trock]

most of the reviews i have read have been very good. however they are expensive and they are WAVES.

[Sam C]

they are expensive and they are WAVES.


I've never understood the disdain for Waves? I like their products.

I understand from a few folks that downloaded GT it does not work in SAW.

[TotalSonic]

I've never understood the disdain for Waves? I like their products.

I think the disdain comes from the following things:
* annoying and intrusive activation schemes. I have had to spend time on the phone with Waves to deal with some problems in this regard when transferring my L3 to a new DAW. I greatly prefer using products like Bob's or Pieter's where there is never any hassle with this type of thing.
* much higher price relative to other similar quality products
* mediocre upgrade / update policy - in general if you want to keep current you'll have to continue to pony up cash to them.

Having said that - I think the venerable Waves RCL is a great digital comp for tracking (I like it a lot for crushing vox - although I've been getting just as nice results recently using the Sonoris comp) and the L3 provides some options not available in other digital limiters that I find useful on occasion.

Other than that I've been trying to avoid new purchases of Waves products as for most cases I feel there are other companies out there without the 3 problems noted that make just as nice if not better products.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Sam C]

I think the disdain comes from the following things:
* annoying and intrusive activation schemes. I have had to spend time on the phone with Waves to deal with some problems in this regard when transferring my L3 to a new DAW. I greatly prefer using products like Bob's or Pieter's where there is never any hassle with this type of thing.
* much higher price relative to other similar quality products
* mediocre upgrade / update policy - in general if you want to keep current you'll have to continue to pony up cash to them.

Yeah, activation schemes from most companies suck!

Higher prices........I guess some folks believe they are worth a little more. Subjective, I know!

The last is the worst of the three in my opinion. You should not have to pay with each upgrade.

Out of curiousoty, what if you were still using Waves from two years ago, would you be missing that much in "upgrade quality?" Was the first Waves C4 that bad?

[trock]

Hey Sam

that about sums it up for me too. the WUP etc

just so damn annoying.

[TotalSonic]

Yeah, activation schemes from most companies suck!

Higher prices........I guess some folks believe they are worth a little more. Subjective, I know!

The last is the worst of the three in my opinion. You should not have to pay with each upgrade.

Out of curiousoty, what if you were still using Waves from two years ago, would you be missing that much in "upgrade quality?" Was the first Waves C4 that bad?

Funny that you mention the C4 - I've completely stopped using this thing as the Sonoris Multiband Comp sounds very substantially better than it to my ear.
&
Actually Waves upgrades gave me other problems in that some of the 4.0 plugs sounded very different from the 3.x versions resulting in having to change some settings when recalling edls in order to try and match what the previous sound was.
I still think Waves does make some very good sounding stuff though - it's just at this point there are so many alternatives that I think for the most part are just as nice.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Bob L]

Can we say CPU hogs?

I had to give up on them just for the sake of the slow code... at least in my experience... perhaps the newer stuff is better in that dept... but I was so beaten down by their inefficiency in the past that I never went back to test... and with all the copy protection schemes, frankly, I have no desire to look anymore... there are too many other good sounding and efficient plugs available in all formats, including native SS now thanks to the support of our small group of third party developers. :)

Bob

[Sean McCoy]

And I discovered yesterday that in order to keep using my Waves Gold Bundle on my new computer, I had no choice but to upgrade and buy an Ilok key since they no longer offer the old Pace challenge and response authorization. I'm fine with the change to the portable Ilok, and I'm fine with them not offering lifetime free support for an older product. But I'm not fine with their decision to deliberately remove what was an automated online authorization system, forcing users like me into a paid upgrade when all I really wanted was to be able to continue to use what I had already paid for. Definitely not a commendable business practice.

[Bill Park]

And I discovered yesterday that in order to keep using my Waves Gold Bundle on my new computer, I had no choice ...

I actually don't have a problem with the ilok, but I have a big problem with the paid subscription idea. As that is the case, I've stayed with version 4 of the Platimum bundle, but I'll likely just drop waves in favor of other choices sametime in the future. If I was doing more work, I'd be making that choice today.

As to the SSL plus, I haven't tried them but the issues are these... the SSL console really doesn't sound very good, and that is not very desirable in my opinion. The strength of the SSL is in the workflow.
But what people seem to be used to or to really like is that compression, and the bus compression plug is getting mostly good reviews in terms of sounding like the hardware it is supposed to emulate. Not everyone agrees, and as time goes on, perhaps more nay-sayers will emerge as more people get to hear it and compare directly to the original.

Bill

[Tim Miskimon]

I gave up on the Waves stuff long ago - Too expensive and there are too many other plug ins out there that personally I like better.
For all the money the Waves stuff cost I think they are kind of clunky in design and way too CPU intensive add that to their recent copy protection and it's enough to assure that I won't be a customer anytime soon.

[Bill Park]

Waves is basically the ProTools of effects. They were there early in the game, when no one else could do it. The name is out there, big time. And the one thing that I learned after years of beta testing every app under the sun and all, was that I should find one or two good products and stick with them. So, since I've been a Waves user since I betaed the L-1 plug in, and they have treated me well and worked for me all these years, I've never had the need to go very far beyond waves and the JMS SAWStudio plugs.

But, much like ProTools, the benefits are not outweighing the other issues involved, so its probably time to findanother solution. For years I did not hesitate to recommend them, but they have been sorta acting like the schoolyard bully for a while now... giving off a very Mac-app attitude, if you know what I mean.

Bill

[Pedro Itriago]

Do you use winxp? planing to use Vista? then get used to it, because when this OS's enter the "phasing out stage", you won't be able to use them anymore nor any app that runs on them.

Unlike win9x, nt or w2k where you could take your old machine, hardware & progras and still run them, as many places have for rent or to give conversion/transfer services, you won't be able to run them anymore on those runing on the "activated" OS's once their support is gone.


...But I'm not fine with their decision to deliberately remove what was an automated online authorization system, forcing users like me into a paid upgrade when all I really wanted was to be able to continue to use what I had already paid for. Definitely not a commendable business practice.

[Mark Stebbeds]

Waves is basically the ProTools of effects. They were there early in the game, when no one else could do it.

<snip>

But, much like ProTools, the benefits are not outweighing the other issues involved, so its probably time to find another solution.

<snip>

but they have been sorta acting like the schoolyard bully for a while now... giving off a very Mac-app attitude, if you know what I mean.



Like Digidesign, they have decided to focus on the high end market who are williing to pay for their products, and apparently it's working for them.

I know dozens of folks using the Waves Platinum v5 bundle, both PC native and TDM, and I'm not sure if I know anyone that actually paid for it.

We can pretend that bootlegging is not a problem, but you're only fooling yourself.

And like Digidesign, Waves still makes an entry level product that is quite affordable.

Markl

[Bill Park]

I know dozens of folks using the Waves Platinum v5 bundle, both PC native and TDM, and I'm not sure if I know anyone that actually paid for it.


Markl

well, I've been using version 4 and I did pay for it.

Bill

[Mark Stebbeds]

well, I've been using version 4 and I did pay for it.


me too.