PSA - Wave Platinum bundle $99 at Plugin Boutique

[Reezekeys]

Just got an email with this offer.

 

https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/81-Bundles/97-Various-Category/12542-Platinum-Bundle

 

Wondering if there's any catch here. Are these older version plugins? I'm mostly concerned with AS support. I think Waves took a litle longer than most to get there.

 

https://www.waves.com/support/waves-with-apple-silicon-processors

 

Looking elsewhere on the web, the best price I see on this is $299. $99 seems like a pretty good deal but I don't follow the plugin world much. Did they go to a subscription model? Will I be able to update these? Are individual Waves plugins cheaper now? I probably only need reverbs, compressors, the limiter (maximiser) and some EQs. Still, seems like a lot for the money. Opinions? This coupon deal lasts until Sept. 19.

[Bill Heins]

I bought this bundle years ago for 10x as much! I've updated along the way and upgraded to the Horizon bundle last year. Waves is at version 15 right now and you'll get free updates for a year. They have a subscription plan but you don't have to use it. There's always sales so updates and upgrades can be got for less. Also the plugins as are will run for as long as your OS and DAW will accept them, for years in a Windows system...maybe not so long with OSX unless you skip OS updates

 

Bill

[Anderton]

I clicked on the link, and it said $1,999. Maybe a typo? If you have a screen shot, you can hold them to it.

 

Waves does subscriptions or individual licenses. They make some great plugins. 

[Bill Heins]

Hey Craig, below the price is a big box with a promo code

 

Bill

[Anderton]

14 hours ago, Bill Heins said:

Hey Craig, below the price is a big box with a promo code

 

Bill

 

If I scroll down far enough, I can see it...it was hidden by the cookie consent splash screen. 🤔

[analogika]

These were the gold, er Platinum standard fifteen, twenty years ago — are they really still state-of-the-art today? 

[Reezekeys]

2 hours ago, analogika said:

These were the gold, er Platinum standard fifteen, twenty years ago — are they really still state-of-the-art today? 

 

This is what's having me hesitate, since I'm happy with own the plugins I already have and not exactly sure if using these instead would make a difference – or whether I might be doing any recording work in the future where I'd need such a variety (probably not). Logic and Digital Performer come with pretty good plugins - and there are other very good brands that have occasional sales. I don't need these - but 59 Waves plugins for $99? (I counted!). That's less than $2 each!

[D. Gauss]

1 hour ago, Reezekeys said:

 

 That's less than $2 each!

 

Some are even worth less!  Seriously, if you must use Waves, just grab the individual ones on the $19 buck sales promos or whatever they send out every week.  There's so much in these bundles that you will rarely if ever use and it just clutters up your plugin list making the plugs you do use harder to find.  Imo, you'd be better off just buying Schepp's Omni Channel a la carte rather than this tired old bundle.

[Reezekeys]

23 minutes ago, D. Gauss said:

it just clutters up you plugin list

 

I know, there are plenty of plugs here I would never use. I believe the installer lets you choose what you want on your system, so one could conceivably keep the installer on an external and only load what you need, when you need it.

 

If I had a real studio doing recording, mixing & mastering I might be able to justify this purchase. That is not the case now and will probably never be the case. Thanks for helping me make up my mind!

[Anderton]

4 hours ago, Reezekeys said:

I know, there are plenty of plugs here I would never use. I believe the installer lets you choose what you want on your system, so one could conceivably keep the installer on an external and only load what you need, when you need it.

 

Yes, that's the case. Also, many programs let you hide plugins. For example, in Studio One I hid all the mono > stereo ones because like Cubase and many other programs, Studio One is mono/stereo agnostic so there's no need for plugins that aren't stereo in > stereo out.

 

Many of the plugins in a Waves bundle will be redundant with what comes with a DAW, but even then, there are exceptions. Like a while ago, they added wet/dry controls to their vintage compressors. Also, some of their plugins are massively underrated, like the MV2 which I use all the time with drum loops. The Clarity series is astonishing for removing noise and unwanted room reverb. Soundshifter is still the best-sounding pitch transposer, and the Morphoder often wins out over dedicated vocoder plugins. Then they also have weird stuff like Kaleidoscopes and Scheps Particles, which you don't use every day but nothing else does what they do. Vitamin C has saved some masters that were submitted to me.

 

I've consulted to Waves and part of the deal was getting a full set of plugins. At first I ignored most of them but over time, I've found many of the "corner case" plugins to be extremely useful. The hard part is getting to know them well enough so that you know what to apply, and when.