Reaper and Waves plugins: Oh My God!

[never_mind]

Hi,

I just want to share some experiences I recently made with Waves plugins. Downloading the plugins and register them using the iLok license system was no problem, even with Firefox4 (on the iLok website you can read that they work on FF4 compatibility, in fact the Internet Explorer 8 didn't work at all because the website can't recognize my iLok with this browser).

Than the trouble began. After installing the plugins using Waves V8r6, Reaper 64 bit was not able to find the plugs. Somewhere on the Reaper forum I read that I should disable a feature that enables Reaper to recognize the name of any scanned VST and that I should use the 32 bit Release of Reaper. Okay, I did that, started the scanning process once more and Reaper crashed. I started Reaper again, but no Waves plugins found. After a few attempts there was a waveshell v8 plugin in Reapers plugin list. Okay, I loaded it, clicked on a drop-down menu and thought that I can select any of my Wave plugins now, but the drop down list was empty. I repeated all the steps a few times, but no luck whatsoever.

Then I also downloaded Waves V7, knowing that both versions can run concurrently on the same system. I repeated all the steps I mentioned above with the same crappy result.

BUT THEN, I don't know when and why, suddenly all Waves plugins appeared and I can load and use them, without using any obscure Waves shell. But I'm not sure if there is something running in the background.

Holy shit, are those Waves plugins worth all the effort and trouble and grey hairs? Most likely NO. I know that Reaper is not in the list of supported DAWs, but I really didn't expect those problems, because Reaper is not the biggest player on the market so it happens quite often that you can't find it on any compatibility lists.

So my summary: stay away from Waves plugins.

[richie43]

Originally Posted by never_mind

So my summary: stay away from Waves plugins.

Absolutely! Check out Stillwell's/Schwa's stuff. They're Reaper devs and make plugins that are amazing and affordable.

http://www.stillwellaudio.com/

I guess I am becoming a fanboi of their stuff... haha.

[lxm]

Shell2VST is what you need.

[never_mind]

Originally Posted by lxm

Shell2VST is what you need.

Obviously not because now the plugins are working. At least I'm not aware that I installed something called "Shell2VST".

[richie43]

Everyone has a valid opinion, of course. But I have tested so many good plugins and have found that there are some very serious, high quality, yet affordable plugins out there. I have never understood the huge price on Waves stuff compared to other good plugins. And I personally refuse to deal with dongles of any sort again. That's my deal. My recommended plugin companies to forever replace Waves and other high priced and dongled companies:

Stillwell Audio- These guys are awesome Reaper style and insanely affordable.
Valhalla DSP-(2 amazing reverbs, each $50.00)
Acustica Audio (Nebula)- terrible work-flow but oh-so-nice-and-creamy sounds. The 3rd party libraries are addictive and added up are pricey but an amazing value.
Bootsy/Variety Of Sounds- Of course these. Can't believe that they are free!

I'm sure there are too many more, but these are my favs. Never again will I waste time and money on Waves. I know they are supposedly the industry standard, but so is Pro-Tools and Reaper has replaced that for me nicely!

[bdog57]

Sorry, can't agree with this. I'm a total Reaper noobie and all of my Waves plug-ins are working just fine. Without being there, I can't really help - but just make sure that you've added ALL of the VST folders under the Options/Preferences/VST window. It looks for the Waveshells in one place and the actual VST in another. No Shell2VST necessary (which I used for bringing over all of my Cakewalk DirectX FX from Sonar). Godspeed in your quest. Rvox, RenComp, RenAxx, Doubler, Vocal Rider, and L3 are all essential elements in my workflow.

That said, I will certainly try out some of the Stillwell stuff.

[never_mind]

I've no problems with dongles at all. It can even make the process of setting up a new machine much easier when you've lot's of plugins since you have all licenses saved on one USB device. Just plug it in and you're done. Challenge response and dealing with huge key codes is a pain in the ass when you've more than 10 plugins.

[richie43]

Originally Posted by bdog57

Sorry, can't agree with this. I'm a total Reaper noobie and all of my Waves plug-ins are working just fine. Without being there, I can't really help - but just make sure that you've added ALL of the VST folders under the Options/Preferences/VST window. It looks for the Waveshells in one place and the actual VST in another. No Shell2VST necessary (which I used for bringing over all of my Cakewalk DirectX FX from Sonar). Godspeed in your quest. Rvox, RenComp, RenAxx, Doubler, Vocal Rider, and L3 are all essential elements in my workflow.

That said, I will certainly try out some of the Stillwell stuff.

Like I said, everyone has a valid opinion. My experience with Waves and all dongles has been terrible. And I would rather support a Stillwell type company, like Reaper.

[bdog57]

Originally Posted by never_mind

It can even make the process of setting up a new machine much easier when you've lot's of plugins since you have all licenses saved on one USB device.

Bingo. Wish all of my plug-ins were tied to my iLok. Had my computer destroyed during shipping by UPS last year. Guess which plugs were easy to get back up and running?

I will totally concede that it can be a daunting task to set up. Once you're up and running, though, it's easy-peasy. Of course, I just described Reaper now, didn't I? Heh.

I thought the name "Stillwell" sounded rather familiar. Just checked over at the forum for prima donna audio engineers (a.k.a. Gearslutz), and the Rocket gets VERY good reviews. More options is always better. The Rocket ranked #3 on their list of everyone's favorite compressor. Of course, the RComp ranked #1, so...

Like I said though, more options is always preferable. Can't go wrong for $49, either ($25 if you get it for Reaper only).

[zappsunzorn]

I would add Voxengo to the list of alternatives


http://www.voxengo.com

[bluzkat]

A big +1 for Voxengo!!

No Waves here, more for you, I guess!

[Magicbuss]

Plenty of options if you want to avoid Waves.

Want something better than SSL buss comp? Get Cytomics The Glue.

Voxengo, Fabfilter, PSP, Soundtoyz, Stillwell, Valhalla, etc etc.

[Rachmaninoff]

Originally Posted by richie43

Absolutely! Check out Stillwell's/Schwa's stuff. They're Reaper devs and make plugins that are amazing and affordable.

http://www.stillwellaudio.com/

I guess I am becoming a fanboi of their stuff... haha.

Another fan of Stillwell VSTs here.
They sound really rounded and smooth.

[airon]

Waves plugins also take longer to instantiate. I wait 5-10 seconds the first time one of my Renaissance plugins is instantiated. After that it takes 3-5 seconds.

v7r16 works ok here on both WinXPsp3 and Win7x64 using Reaper x86.

I had to change the dollar/euro and cent delimiter from "," to "." btw. The plugins would fuck up completely in Protools 9 otherwise (Win7x64). Just a note in case you run in to troubles.

I would not recommend Waves as a first option to anyone unless they must be compatible to someone with Waves plugins. They're very good gear if you really need their plugins, but the choice is quite varied for almost everything they do. The suggestions mentioned above are a good start.


And most companies no longer use iLok. There's no point, and it's safer for the customer too. It's easy to backup serials or restore a hard disk authorization, but you need to buy an insurance for an iLok and when your iLok is broken YOU have to deal with every company you need new licenses from. As if life wasn't complicated enough.

@Nevermind:
I do hope you get the problems sorted out. Waves gives you phone support as long as you're covered by their Waves Update Plan. Use it, they're a friendly, qualified bunch.


Personally I own commercial plugins from 2CAudio, Toneboosters, Waves(RenMaxx), Voxengo, NI, Audio Damage, Spectrasonics, Lennard Digital, Izotope, and some others I can't remember atm. Except for Waves, every one of those companies works with serials, challenge/response or gives me a choice to use anything but an iLok(Izotope for example).

Waves does not. Sound Toys doesn't either, but I like their work and their policies a lot more .

[lxm]

Originally Posted by never_mind

Obviously not because now the plugins are working. At least I'm not aware that I installed something called "Shell2VST".

I ditched waves a while back but I was having GUI issues(many were). Shell2VST 'fixed' that. Waves is buggy as hell tho. No 64 bit. Outrageously expensive. What a joke.

[Peter Richan]

Are the Major Tom, Bad Buss Mojo, etc the same that come with reaper for free, just without the fancy GUI? I don't see the Vibe EQ or 1973 EQ in the Reaper plugs tho. Are they worth the $$?

[Mercado_Negro]

Originally Posted by Peter Richan

Are the Major Tom, Bad Buss Mojo, etc the same that come with reaper for free, just without the fancy GUI? I don't see the Vibe EQ or 1973 EQ in the Reaper plugs tho.

No.

Originally Posted by Peter Richan

Are they worth the $$?

Yes.

[planetnine]

The only Waves plug I've got is their renaissance De-Esser. Needed something better than Spitfish, and it was on offer at the time, so quite cheap.

But they made me download a 1GB install file for that single plug, AND I had to buy the sodding i-lok just for it.

>

[airon]

Yeah, that's the biggest plus about my Waves plugin set, the Renaissance DeEsser. Saves a lot of dialogue tracks here.

These days if I was looking for feature complete plugins, I'd probably turn to places like Fabfilter, Wavearts and Voxengo. Amongst the plugins of medium price, they're really cool in both support and features. High priced plugins are Lexicon, Sound Toys and Softube for example. If you need them for your business they're worth it. Like much of Waves.

[zillboe]

i have same issue as orig poster. V8 and Waves plug works ok in Sony DAW (which i hate) but not in Reaper.

i have tried shellvst but no luck (im not sure i did it right... i dragged the Wave FX plug dll into it window and hit return - is that all you do?)

i dont see a dll for shellvst or a "new" version of the plug anywhere.

i am using Waves V8 (legal-not a crack)w iLok on Wind7x64 . ive added every dang folder to the VST Scan window.

NOTE - it seems to WORK (so far) on my old XP 32 Bit SP2 (current Reaper)... whats the diff as far as Reaper-Waves cares?

help !

i agree - i HATE Waves and iLok, but i wanted one of their plugs and dont use crax.

[Sigilus]

If you HAVE to use Waves on x64, google JBridge

[Johnny Z]

Originally Posted by bdog57

Sorry, can't agree with this. I'm a total Reaper noobie and all of my Waves plug-ins are working just fine. Without being there, I can't really help - but just make sure that you've added ALL of the VST folders under the Options/Preferences/VST window. It looks for the Waveshells in one place and the actual VST in another. No Shell2VST necessary (which I used for bringing over all of my Cakewalk DirectX FX from Sonar). Godspeed in your quest. Rvox, RenComp, RenAxx, Doubler, Vocal Rider, and L3 are all essential elements in my workflow.

My friend... Are you running 64 bit? Where are your folders installed? I'm a new Reaper convert, and I'd love to at least try to bring in my Waves PlugIns since I had to sell my house to afford them.

[Doc Brown]

Originally Posted by Rachmaninoff

Another fan of Stillwell VSTs here.
They sound really rounded and smooth.

Big thumbs up. 1973 and cmx just ggot cmx a couple days ago. Works magic on a mono acoustic guitar track.

[Doc Brown]

Originally Posted by richie43

Absolutely! Check out Stillwell's/Schwa's stuff. They're Reaper devs and make plugins that are amazing and affordable.

http://www.stillwellaudio.com/

I guess I am becoming a fanboi of their stuff... haha.

I am rapidly becoming a fanboy.

[mikeroephonics]

Waves is the AIDS of the plugin world.

[richie43]

Originally Posted by Doc Brown

I am rapidly becoming a fanboy.

Unbelievable plugins for the pennies they cost.

[ivansc]

Can I just gently remind everyone that Waves have moved on significantly since this thread was last posted on in August of 2012?

No more iLok and 64bit is fine.

Not that I have any particular love for waves, but fair is fair.

P.S. Also like the stillwell stuff.

[planetnine]

Originally Posted by ivansc

Can I just gently remind everyone that Waves have moved on significantly since this thread was last posted on in August of 2012?

No more iLok and 64bit is fine.

Not that I have any particular love for waves, but fair is fair.

P.S. Also like the stillwell stuff.

Letting the facts get in the way of a good thread necromancy session again Ivan?

They've got me a number of times -I often forget to look at the date...


>

[tombuur]

I have had similar problems as the original poster a couple of times. Then I found out I just have to do a complete rescan of all plugins to make it work. I believe that Reaper only sees waveshell, and if this is not updated, Reaper will not recognize newly installe Waves plugins.

I do like the Waves plugins. Got of other stuff UAD-2 (never use anymore), Sonnox (fine for clean), Slate use tape and console on everything, TC Powercore (only use VSS3). One overlooked provider may me Meldaproductions. You have to learn their special way, but then it's the same for all of their plugins. Almost as ugly as Voxengo, though, but easier to use once you figured it out.

[zappa]

At the risk of sounding like a sonnox rep (I'm not!) I'm gonna chime in here.. Depending on what of the waves stuff you actually use; if the EQ, Maxbass, Dynamics, L1/3 etc. and DeEsser are your go-to waves plugs, may I suggest you take a look at the Sonnox plugins instead. They're quite pricey, but the audio performance of these plugins to my ears blows waves (and just about everything else) out of the water. Imo these are worth every penny if you're serious about mixing and production work.

The only thing you might miss from waves on the production side is some of the vintage plugs, since sonnox aims for a transparent and accurate sound, rather than vintage emulation(s).

Check out the sonnox dynamics, eq, inflater, limiter and transmod. The SuprEsser is really darn good as well.

As for the cheaper end, I really don't see much point in using anything but the Reaper plugs, unless you need some fancy UI to make you think it sounds better. Most of the Reaper plugs work really nice, sound rather good, and price - well - you know it. I routinely use Reaper's convolver, ReaFir (interesting effects can be obtained from this one) and ReaTune. Feature and UI light but do the job well, and miserly on the CPU. Generally I check out Reaper plugin options before I look at 3rd party. Some are great, and the rest do the job pretty well.

Note to self. Try to avoid bleating on about sonnox plugs in future.

z.

[Rusty Falcon]

Originally Posted by ivansc

Can I just gently remind everyone that Waves have moved on significantly since this thread was last posted on in August of 2012?

No more iLok and 64bit is fine.

Not that I have any particular love for waves, but fair is fair.

P.S. Also like the stillwell stuff.

True. I only have Waves OneKnob Louder at this point since I got it on a free offer around Christmastime. I had no problems installing it, did not need an iLok. I moved the WavesShell dll file into my scan path for 64-bit VSTs and all was well.

[ivansc]

I have a total of $15 US invested in my four waves plugs, so if it all goes south do I really care?
And of course I have my steven slate stuff and my Soundtoys stuff on the iLok still.

Now talk to me about SSL and their crap security system.....

[xenofil]

FYI
Waves was one of the first vst plugin dev's around (since mid 90's)
and quickly became kind of an industry standard in both radio/tv and music prod
(much like pro-tools was, and still think they are..).
So alot of people (my self included) have been dependent of them for
almost 20 years and are therefor a part of many engineers workflow and sound.
Sonically their legacy line of plug's easily match any "modern" counterpart.
Smart people don't trade their workflow away to save a few bucks on a plugin

PS. save up some cash for one of their next big sales and the prices are ok.

[Rodal]

Originally Posted by xenofil

Smart people don't trade their workflow away to save a few bucks on a plugin

Really smart people don't waste time resurrecting a 2 year old thread otherwise bored people like me will join in

Originally Posted by xenofil

PS. save up some cash for one of their next big sales and the prices are ok.

Or maybe use the saved cash to buy a current calendar

[Gianfini]

I use V9 and use the Licence Center software. They work smoothly and perfectly. I got 20+ Waves plugins

g

[paulheu]

Originally Posted by Gianfini

I use V9 and use the Licence Center software. They work smoothly and perfectly. I got 20+ Waves plugins

g

So you're basically saying you could not care less whether anyone posted this yet.. let me just get my 2ct in..

[ivansc]

Originally Posted by Rodal

Or maybe use the saved cash to buy a current calendar

Heh - might have known you were from North London - another smartarse like me!

Took the boy out of London in 1961 but thy never managed to take the London out of the boy!

P.S. I was at the celebrations when Harrow & Wealdstone became a London borough - 1950 -something.....

[G-Sun]

Waves plugins v.9 working fine here on win 8.1 x64 reaper x86.

My only concern is that they show up x6 (mono, stereo, x64)
-a little old way of doing things.
Ok, prices these days.

[Gianfini]

Originally Posted by G-Sun

Waves plugins v.9 working fine here on win 8.1 x64 reaper x86.

My only concern is that they show up x6 (mono, stereo, x64)
-a little old way of doing things.
Ok, prices these days.

+1 it's very annoying that they show +6... maybe we should ask devs to highlight or show-separate 32bits (x86) from 64bits.

g

[ivansc]

"very annoying"????