Making WAVES - waves plug forum

[daleandtheguitar]

So I just got a hold of the Waves Diamond Bundle and I have no idea about a lot of the plugs. I am sure I'll get great use out of the Renaissance stuff, but I'm at a loss for some of the others. For the sake of speed and ease, I would like to trim the fat from my plugin list, and I can't wait for time to tell what is good and what is memory better spent on porn. I invite everyone to tell me about there fave waves plug, and what applications it has.

[burak]

So I just got a hold of the Waves Diamond Bundle
:icon_eek:

[burak]

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DiamondNat/

Did you get a discount?

[daleandtheguitar]

Nope. Friendly Freebie from a pal who saw I had taken an interest in recording. Thanks, John... I saw a thread from someone saying that you could get it somewhere online for nearly half price, though.

...(15 minutes later)...

I just searched thru the womb and couldn't find where I saw the Waves discount... Must have imagined it!

[Comte de St Germain]

Friendly Freebie as in Warez?

Sheesh as much as I hate Waves and their POS WUP program I chose to avoid their products altogether rather than steal them.

[daleandtheguitar]

Friendly Freebie as in Warez?

Sheesh as much as I hate Waves and their POS WUP program I chose to avoid their products altogether rather than steal them.

Whoa, there, Nelly. Friendly Freebie as in a loan from a friend! My good friend John Haricot, at Prizm Studios in Mt MacKinnly, asked me if I'd like to use them. He has switched platforms recently and uses something else for fx. He said these use too much CPU.

That said, I've looked at only a few of the plugs, and they seem a little intimidating. Are there any that are practically useless? I can't even begin to find applications for some... What is Enigma?How many of these actually have a use?

[Comte de St Germain]

I liked you better when you were a thief. heh.

As a former Waves user I found RenComp useful, Ren Vox (on toms), metaflanger and the occasional doppler death match from Enigma. Supertap and the 10band graphic were fun too.

Personally i've lived without them for quite some time without even a thought.

[daleandtheguitar]

I just got 'em, so it may be a while before I retire them. It's a big step forward from my previously existing stable of effects.
I was reading Charles D.'s Hard Disk Life 12-part column, and he said for split harmonizing, he uses DPP-1. I think this effect could really add some pizazz to my vocals and such. I don't have DPP-1, but it seems there must be a suitable RTAS pitch plug to take it's place. Any suggestions?

[Oreganmusic]

I think this effect could really add some pizazz to my vocals and such. I don't have DPP-1, but it seems there must be a suitable RTAS pitch plug to take it's place. Any suggestions?


WAVES DOUBLER SHOULD DO OK FOR THIS I'D SAY..:)

[Skwaidu]

I can't even begin to find applications for some... What is Enigma?How many of these actually have a use?

You aren't trying hard enough? All of them have their uses, many are very useful... Some of them are practically the only option for their chosen task, even.

Oh, Soundtoys Pitchblender also does a mean harmonizer, that's what I've gotten accustomed to. (TDM only, I think) Though you don't need harmonizers to have a really useable vocal sound/mix. EQ, Compression and some delays are the basic building blocks you need, IMHO.

[otek]

Are there any that are practically useless? I can't even begin to find applications for some... What is Enigma?How many of these actually have a use?


You will find out if you start using them, wontcha? :Wink:

The whole bundle I think takes up about 55-60 MB, so it's not like you can fit a lot of porn clips in that HD space anyway.

The Enigma is a combination of a lot of things, among them a multi-tap delay and a ring modulator.


Cheers,

otek

[daleandtheguitar]

You will find out if you start using them, wontcha? :Wink:

The whole bundle I think takes up about 55-60 MB, so it's not like you can fit a lot of porn clips in that HD space anyway.

The Enigma is a combination of a lot of things, among them a multi-tap delay and a ring modulator.


Cheers,

otek

Ok... first, the porn was a joke. But the way my PT is running now isn't funny at all. I don't have a dedicated computer for recording, it is just yet another function I make my box perform. I have never had any performance problems before now (I don't have a supercomputer - pc, Intel P4 2.4g, 512m RAM, if anyone is asking - but it has always done the trick). I assumed that I need to cut down on the individual plugins because, since I loaded them up, my performance has been drastically reduced. It now takes about 5 minutes for startup, and while in a session, it can take up to 2 minutes to start play on the transport. I haven't even tried to start tracking since aquiring the plugs. I am assuming that these problems are connected to my recent installation of the Waves bundle.

On a related note, are there any suggestions on improving overall PC performance as it pertains to Pro Tools? I imagine an increase to RAM would be a good start. But I am all ears...

ps. I do realize that it seems I am being lazy by asking people to tell me which plugs might be less than useful, but I have found that my sonic experimentation time has been slashed since the arrival of a certain little girl in my life. I know that experience is the key to finding the "keepers", but I am hoping to draw on other's trial and error to help guide me thru what can be a confusing list of options. Of course, if deleting some plugs isn't going to help performance, maybe I needn't worry.

[otek]

I don't have a dedicated computer for recording, it is just yet another function I make my box perform.

This is always a problem. A dedicated computer for recording would of course be the way to go in the end, but for now, you should a) up the RAM a bit, and b) get a separate disk to handle the audio. If you are getting such sluggish performance, you should probably also defragment your drives. Other than that, I know there are ways of streamlining the XP installation, but I am no PC Jedi, so maybe others can chime in here.

I assumed that I need to cut down on the individual plugins because, since I loaded them up, my performance has been drastically reduced.

The plugins might increase your boot times, but playback shoudn't be affected if the plugins aren't used. I have never tried removing some of the plugins in a given bundle, so I can't tell you if that would have any effect on the boot time.

I do realize that it seems I am being lazy by asking people to tell me which plugs might be less than useful, but I have found that my sonic experimentation time has been slashed since the arrival of a certain little girl in my life.

Balancing family life with the pursuit of audio engineering is one of the hardest things to do. The topic is discussed in an episode of The Mixerman Radio Show, if you care to have a look. But there really aren't any hard and fast rules for which plugins work and which don't. This is just something you have to discover over time. Kinda like raising a kid, ainnit? :Wink:

Congratulations by the way.

otek

[Skwaidu]

On a related note, are there any suggestions on improving overall PC performance as it pertains to Pro Tools? I imagine an increase to RAM would be a good start. But I am all ears...


I'm not a gury regarding audio Wintel tweakage either but you have to get more RAM ASAP. 1 gig more would be a start, I guess. I have 4,5 GB for the PT machine at the studio... ;)

However, that machine of yours is not too fast for native and knowing how Windows gets slower and slower over time... Maybe you should try a clean install to a 2nd partition just for audio apps with everything imaginable stripped down? Also, separating The OS/ program, the system cache and the audio data to separate drives and separate IDE channels(I doubt your box has SATA?) could help some...

And there's something wrong with your system or Waves install, the addition of the Waves bundle shouldn't slow down playback start. (Though your system is way under decent amounts of memory, I don't know...)

Oh, congrats about the kid. ;)

[Wilkesin]

http://www.musicxp.net/

get on this stuff pronto for streamlining your pc for recording. The digi rep came by my store today and did a ton of stuff to our mac to streamline it's recording possibilities that i would have never thought of. I use my home PC for everything, and the more i learn about PC's and macs the more i realize there is a whole lot to be done to make them run better for what we do! Have fun!

[otek]

you have to get more RAM ASAP. 1 gig more would be a start, I guess. I have 4,5 GB for the PT machine at the studio... ;)

....and I have 6 in my Logic machine. :lol:

MusicXP.net seems to be a very informative site. But I think the main thing at this point is getting more RAM, and a separate audio drive.

[Watershed]

On a related note, are there any suggestions on improving overall PC performance as it pertains to Pro Tools? I imagine an increase to RAM would be a good start. But I am all ears...
If you mean PC as in Windows XP, then there's no point putting in more than 2 gig as XP cannot allocate more than 2 gigs to any one program.

CPU speed has a much greater effect on Protools than RAM anyway.

[daleandtheguitar]

I am sensing a need for a new thread here...

[volthause]

I am sensing a need for a new thread here...

I'm sensing a need for a new computer. :lol:

[Pancho Ballard]

One thing that was really slowing my PC down was something I didn't even think of; the temperature of the CPU and case. I downloaded something called Motherboard Monitor (should be on Google) and found that my CPU often reached temperatures of up to 72 degrees Centigrade. Hot :icon_eek:

The problem was that by neccesity I am forced to record vocals in the same room as my PC and used a fan controller whenever doing so to turn it down to the minimum noise level, which obviously didn't help reduce the heat.

Anyway, two new very quiet case fans (Silent Eagle 1000's - great name) and a nice quiet CPU fan (a Zalman CNPS9500 - less great name) and the CPU runs at around 50 deg with PT running. This in turn really made that little System Usage bar on PT go right down.

I think this is already a new thread...

[robmacki]

Whoa, there, Nelly. Friendly Freebie as in a loan from a friend! My good friend John Haricot, at Prizm Studios in Mt MacKinnly, asked me if I'd like to use them. He has switched platforms recently and uses something else for fx. He said these use too much CPU.

That said, I've looked at only a few of the plugs, and they seem a little intimidating. Are there any that are practically useless? I can't even begin to find applications for some... What is Enigma?How many of these actually have a use?

So let me get this straight.
Loan as in an iLok?
Or did he get you a C/R from Waves on the 'new' machine?

FWIW I'm surprised you can even launch PT with only 512MB RAM:icon_eek:

[FajitaTone]

So let me get this straight.
Loan as in an iLok?
Or did he get you a C/R from Waves on the 'new' machine?

FWIW I'm surprised you can even launch PT with only 512MB RAM:icon_eek:

PT launched on my laptop (mac) and it has only 512MB RAM.

it is a MIX system witht a 13 slot expansion chassis, with CardbusAdapter.

:Coolio:

[robmacki]

PT launched on my laptop (mac) and it has only 512MB RAM.

it is a MIX system witht a 13 slot expansion chassis, with CardbusAdapter.

:Coolio:

Rock on:Coolio:
Are you on 9 or 6.4.1 OSX?
X is a RAM hog.

[tigeba]

I just got 'em, so it may be a while before I retire them. It's a big step forward from my previously existing stable of effects.
I was reading Charles D.'s Hard Disk Life 12-part column, and he said for split harmonizing, he uses DPP-1. I think this effect could really add some pizazz to my vocals and such. I don't have DPP-1, but it seems there must be a suitable RTAS pitch plug to take it's place. Any suggestions?

Unless I am mistaken, DPP-1 used to be a purchasable plugin (I own it) but it was converted to a digirack plugin and is now just called Pitch. I just use pitch now, and DPP-1 is sitting in a box somewhere. I'm still not sure why it takes a whole chip on and HD system since it clearly used to work on Mix....:icon_eek: