Waves vocal rider & Maserati bundle

ZV Yoda · 27-11-2012 11:08am #1

Hi folks. Wondering if anybody here uses Vocal Rider? I got it as part of the black Friday sale (reduced to $69) & it seems to do what it says on the tin. I know the engineers here will probably think it’s a waste of time, but for like home studio muso like me (who doesn’t have a treated mix room and isn’t interested spending lots of time on the technical aspect of mixing) it’s a real time saver.

I also got the Tony Maserati bundle (reduced to $99) & have been playing with it a bit. So far, I’d have to say results are mixed. It seems to put a nice polish on acoustic guitars, but the vocal plugin sounds very unnatural. The electric guitar plugin is better, although needs a bit of tweaking. I haven’t used the other modules much yet, so can’t comment on those.

Would be interested to hear other people’s views on how to get the best results from these plugins.

woodsdenis · 27-11-2012 12:29pm

I got the CLA compressors and the Maserati bundle. I have used the CLA stuff before and it rocks. The Maserati stuff is very source dependent, I have used it on a few things and it worked great on others not. I think its a real suck it and see type of plug, definitely worth the sale price. Wouldnt touch it for $500 !!!!

ZV Yoda · 27-11-2012 2:02pm

I get that impression with Maserati alright. Still, at $99 it's been a good investment based on the guitar modules alone. It gives a far more polished guitar sound than I've been able to get by using my standard Pro Tools and IK plug-ins. Will be interested to see how the bass and group plugins work for me.

The normal retail price on the Waves stuff is shocking. I couldn't resist the temptation when I saw the black Friday offers though. Sucker.

johnnylakes · 27-11-2012 9:41pm

Love the Maserati on drums, especially on kicks and snares, and the 'Mastering' one can be nice on the drum group. Have Vocal Rider too, but found it changes the 'sound/eq' a lot, but can be useful. I find the CLA useful some of the time, but the more of it you use, the smaller things begin to sound,in my experience at least.

I am diggin the CLA 2A though!

i57dwun4yb1pt8 · 28-11-2012 1:00am

i prefer to stick an 1176 plug followed by a la-2a plug to do the main evening and compression
then draw in automation on the vocal to even it out if it still has some peaky or to low bits ( similar to vocal riding )

ZV Yoda · 28-11-2012 2:21pm

DaDumTish wrote: »

i prefer to stick an 1176 plug followed by a la-2a plug to do the main evening and compression
then draw in automation on the vocal to even it out if it still has some peaky or to low bits ( similar to vocal riding )

Played around with Maserati on drums last night (it has a great drum plugin as part of the bundle). Just makes them bigger & more polished. Cymbals really cut through & sparkle. Worth trying the demo to see what you think. Dunno if I'd pay $500 for Maserati, but at $99 it's been the best software I've bought (aside from Supoerior Drummer).

woodsdenis · 28-11-2012 3:44pm

ZV Yoda wrote: »

Played around with Maserati on drums last night (it has a great drum plugin as part of the bundle). Just makes them bigger & more polished. Cymbals really cut through & sparkle. Worth trying the demo to see what you think. Dunno if I'd pay $500 for Maserati, but at $99 it's been the best software I've bought (aside from Supoerior Drummer).

I was messing around with it last night on drums using the individual drum settings, it definitely works. Saves a lot of time IMHO. If it sounds good then it is good !!!!! I agree $500 no way, $99 a no brainer

29-11-2012 12:26am

Picked up slate vtm myself over the weekend..was seriously lookin at the classiccompressors too, but i got the massey comps a few weeks ago, so common sense prevailed (sort of..)..

DamagedTrax · 29-11-2012 10:29pm

johnnylakes wrote: »

Have Vocal Rider too, but found it changes the 'sound/eq' a lot,

you sure you're using vocal rider? its only an automatic volume fader, it can not change the sound or the eq at all.

ZV Yoda · 30-11-2012 1:20am

DamagedTrax wrote: »

you sure you're using vocal rider? its only an automatic volume fader, it can not change the sound or the eq at all.

I've noticed an audible difference in the vocals too. I think it's more to so with the fact that the singer's breathing sometimes gets exaggerated as the software struggles with sudden changes. It almost sounds like a compressor (which it is - kind of). Seems more forgiving on male vocals.

I have to say I'm not too impressed with it so far. Maybe it just needs a bit more tweaking to get the best results. I think at best it's just a tool to give an overall level. I reckon the vocal still needs some manual adjustment afterwards (which saves a bit of time in theory, but kind of defeats the purpose).

Still loving the Maserati drum & acoustic guitar plug-ins though!

johnnylakes · 30-11-2012 5:16pm

Re: Vocal Rider, I too have found myself 'riding' the fader. Seems more natural to my ears. I find in the top end especially there are tonal changes, and it does sound 'compressed' too, but in saying that I didn't spend a lot of time with it so it could be a case of tweaking it a bit.

Rockshamrover · 01-12-2012 11:14pm

Anyone thinking of buying Waves plugins or bundles should try waves universe.com.

I got the Waves Silver bundle during the week for $150.00, waves were doing it direct for $199.00. The only requirement is that you sign up to their website, no hassle apart from that.

They do plugins and bundles from other companies too.

Rockshamrover · 02-12-2012 10:03am

ZV Yoda wrote: »

Hi folks. Wondering if anybody here uses Vocal Rider? I got it as part of the black Friday sale (reduced to $69) & it seems to do what it says on the tin. I know the engineers here will probably think it’s a waste of time, but for like home studio muso like me (who doesn’t have a treated mix room and isn’t interested spending lots of time on the technical aspect of mixing) it’s a real time saver.

I also got the Tony Maserati bundle (reduced to $99) & have been playing with it a bit. So far, I’d have to say results are mixed. It seems to put a nice polish on acoustic guitars, but the vocal plugin sounds very unnatural. The electric guitar plugin is better, although needs a bit of tweaking. I haven’t used the other modules much yet, so can’t comment on those.

Would be interested to hear other people’s views on how to get the best results from these plugins.

That's wavesuniverse.com. The waves sale is still on there but is due to end very soon.

Luckycharms_74 · 06-12-2012 1:43pm

Rockshamrover wrote: »

That's wavesuniverse.com. The waves sale is still on there but is due to end very soon.

You got a link for that "Vocal Rider" Plugin. Its $300 on this link

. I must have missed the sale.

http://register.waves.com/wavesstore/storemain.aspx?expend=0.1&#

Rockshamrover · 06-12-2012 7:07pm

Luckycharms_74 wrote: »

You got a link for that "Vocal Rider" Plugin. Its $300 on this link . I must have missed the sale.

http://register.waves.com/wavesstore/storemain.aspx?expend=0.1&#

Wavesuniverse are doing it for $230.99. You have to sign up though to buy from them.

woodsdenis · 07-12-2012 6:02pm

http://audiodeluxe.com

These guys have very good deals too.

Rockshamrover · 08-12-2012 12:22am

Yeah, they are currently cheaper than Wavesuniverse for the Maserati bundle. Cheers for the link.

woodsdenis · 08-12-2012 3:22pm

Rockshamrover wrote: »

Yeah, they are currently cheaper than Wavesuniverse for the Maserati bundle. Cheers for the link.

They are in general, the cheapest I have found on the web.

Rockshamrover · 09-12-2012 7:31pm

woodsdenis wrote: »

They are in general, the cheapest I have found on the web.

There are some Waves items the other crowd are doing better prices on, definitely worth checking both sites before making a purchase.

Your link definitely have a much bigger range of products though.

ZV Yoda · 05-01-2013 5:53pm

I think I've been bitten by the Waves bug. Their stuff is really good. I ended up getting the CLA & JJP signature plugins too (there's a bundle deal on at the minute). Unbelievable how good they are. The CLA drums plugin is amazing for getting a big rock drum sound. Same for the guitar/bass. Vox not so good.

I know the signature plugins are not for everybody, but I love 'em. Just one plugin per track & hey presto!

woodsdenis · 05-01-2013 9:58pm

ZV Yoda wrote: »

I think I've been bitten by the Waves bug. Their stuff is really good. I ended up getting the CLA & JJP signature plugins too (there's a bundle deal on at the minute). Unbelievable how good they are. The CLA drums plugin is amazing for getting a big rock drum sound. Same for the guitar/bass. Vox not so good.

I know the signature plugins are not for everybody, but I love 'em. Just one plugin per track & hey presto!

Ha I couldn't resist the sales either , Waves plugs are very good just way too expensive for the market. The batch of current sales changed that. I am very much into workflow and doing things on time. I got the CLA sig bundle too, great for assimilating his sound quickly. I don't have any issue with it at all, if it works it works !!!. Also got the API/Neve bundle which is brill.

Waves vocal rider & Maserati bundle

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