WAVES Alternatives

[strikingtwice]

Hello everyone. I was browsing around in the general chat section yesterday and I saw a "Cheap/Free" mac alternatives to Adobe and other expensive stuff that I think was started by James Steele (IE use gimp instead of photoshop). It sort of inspired me to try to get a Waves alternative list going, if nothing other than curiosity. I feel like for the prices, there are so many cool and probably cheaper alternatives that do just as well. I don't want to be talking about our favorite delay plug ins, but I mean some of the more specific and unique waves stuff. I'll start, if it catches on and people wanna contribute, we can probably get a cool list.

Instead of SSL Bus Compressor, try Cytomic's "The Glue"

Feel free to contribute!

[James Steele]

I saw a "Cheap/Free" mac alternatives to Adobe and other expensive stuff that I think was started by James Steele (IE use gimp instead of photoshop).

Not me actually, it might have been amplidood aka Andy.

[kassonica]

Stillwell plugins 1073 EQ and Bombardier....

URS Saturation.

[Albert Bacardit]

SonEQ is getting very good reviews lately, if just an alternative to MW EQ:
http://sonimus.com/site/page/downloads/

Nebula too (there's a free bundle and the others have a reasonable price):
http://www.acustica-audio.com/

I can't get AcquaVox to work in DP.

Cheers.

[Phil O]

Not a cheap alternative, but definitely my go-to for many plugs. UAD.

Also Ozone is thought of as a mastering plug, but I use it's various components on individual tracks all the time. If you're not using DP's own Masterworks stuff, you should be. Masterworks EQ is wonderful. And +1 on the Stillwell stuff.

Lots of free stuff around. Some good, some not so much. Check out Voxengo Span, Schwa Bitter, and Sonalksis Free G.

Phil

[strikingtwice]

I love the masterworks eq, and I use it all the time. I'm not fond of the others, and despite being excited about the leveler, i haven't found it terribly usable, and I have more go tos.

Brainworx has the really cool cleansweep for a super low cpu high and low pass filter, kinda like the old channel strip high and low pass filters.

[daniel.sneed]

+1 on Ozone.

Just took the deep plunge into iZotope Alloy. It's a powerful channel strip. The EQ, de-esser, compressor and distortion fit my needs very well

With Ozone, Alloy and DP stock plugins, my bases are very well covered now.

Just add the ADT for voice thickening. But take care with this great free plug, for it does not report latency in DP properly. Time alignment must be set manually.

BTW, any restoration task is a breeze with iZotope RX2.

[Armageddon]

Before I got back on the Waves train, I snagged a lot of inexpensive alternatives, some of which actually do as well, if not better, than their Waves' counterparts:

T-RackS 3, Classik Studio Reverb, Amplitude 3 (IKMultimedia) - You can actually now purchase T-RackS and (I think) Classik Studio Reverb as individual components, or you can snag it all as part of a Production Bundle and save a LOT of money.

WaveArts PowerSuite 5 (WaveArts) - You get a mastering plug, a reverb, a channel strip, a dynamics plug and a stereo enhancer for under $500, plus, you can buy/download any or all of these plugs (plus others) individually. They're decent plugs, too, very reminiscent of TCWorks.

Voxengo - Somebody else already mentioned it, but I have most of the Voxengo plugs and they're all great (and inexpensive). Most of them are dynamics and EQ plugs.

PSPaudioware - Another great company with some killer plugs, like an LA-2A emulations, Lexicon analog delay emulations and reverbs.

D16 Group Audio Software - I own Fazortan and Syntorus (phaser and chorus) and I think they also make a high-end reverb box emulation. Great stuff.

iZotope - Ozone 4 is an incredible mastering plug, and I also like Alloy (channel strip) and RX (noise removal). I also own Trash and Spectron (and the free Vinyl plug), but I think iZotope's strength is their mastering and dynamics' stuff.

Antares - Their Vocal Bundle has some great stuff, like Punch, which is an aggressive vocal compressor, and a redux version of their classic tube saturation plug. And two versions of Auto-Tune (regular and Lite).

I gravitated back to Waves recently just because I'm familiar with how most of the plugs work and it's easier for me to work with them, but I can assure you, most of the plugs listed above do the job just as well, and in some cases, better than Waves does.

[strikingtwice]

Just add the ADT for voice thickening. But take care with this great free plug, for it does not report latency in DP properly. Time alignment must be set manually.

BTW, any restoration task is a breeze with iZotope RX2.

I totally forgot about ADT i LOVE that plug in. Amazing plug in. So simple and awesome.

[arielmusic]

The Sonnox Oxford EQ is a fantastic plugin, totally precision and colorless and the model for the Masterworks. Their Oxford Dynamics is a really excellent Swiss Army knife for it's limiting, compression, gating, expansion and sidechain EQ. I use both in virtually every mix.

I'm also loving The Glue by Cytomic which is now my go to compressor for both channel and bus compression. It's also virtually colorless and has a great internal/external sidechain feature with a blend control (like the Vintage Warmer which is also a great plug) and a highpass filter that I've found to be really helpful.

I still love Waves plugs...