The Songwriter Forum - songwriting reviews, tips and chat
Songwriter Forum => Recording => Topic started by: Yodasdad on November 29, 2017, 11:28:31 PM
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Hi,
I've been lured in by the Waves Cyber Monday sale at the last minute.
They've got a deal where you get a free plugin if you spend over $80
I picked the 3 I wanted which came to $71, so added another one taking me to $91, thinking I could then pick a free one of my choice.
Turns out you have to pick the free one from this limited selection.
https://www.waves.com/black-friday-2017-free-plugins
I have the one knob and the renaissance comp already, the others I've not really looked at yet.
I haven't checked out at waves yet, just wondering if anyone is spotting anything they think is a no brainier?
If not, I'm probably happy with my original 3 at $71 and leaving the freebie.
Cheers
Yodasdad
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I was lured in too. I bought the Vocal rider. Haven’t used it yet but am looking forward to doing so.
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Interesting,
The vocal rider is my plugin no 4, the one I'm thinking of putting back if I'm not tempted by a freebie.
Does sound like it could be useful though.
The abbey road plates and the cla -76 and 2a are my others.
Yodasdad
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Ah, what the hell, looks like 4 plugins it is, my kids can manage without Christmas presents this year.
Watch out forum, me and Wicked are gonna be riding our vocals like a mofo.
Yodasdad
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Those are really good choices
I recently got the WAVES "compressor pack" and the CL2a and 76 are great compressors
The good thing about the WAVES stuff at the moment is that it is actually quite "old"
This has LOADS of advantages over the "latest and greatest" plugins
They have been tried and tested by everyone from the pros and hobbyists
I would say many are actually industry standards
They are extremely light on CPU and even though some of the interfaces have had a bit of a spruce up they are still very light and functional
Vocal rider is an absolute Godsend and I think you will both love it
My personal approach is to let it run through the whole vocal track on a relatively "light" setting so that it smooths the vocal out and creates a complete volume automation envelope for you. Once this is done you can go through a fine tune any areas - e.g. reduce any specifically loud parts left over or (IMHO most importantly) bring up the very end of words / syllables which adds soooooo much to the emotional impact to the vocal, which often gets lost without automation and compressors often miss due to release times etc.
A vocal treated with vocal rider and then the CL2A would make a significant improvement to your vocal tracks
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I picked up the abbey road plate reverb on black friday...something like $30 which is incredible (think retail price is about $250). I think it is still on sale.
Absolutely awesome reverb, especially if you are into these more 'analoguey' or old school sounds.
A great companion to my TSAR-1 reverb aswell.
I also have the CLA-2A, a really good compressor, and the Kramer tape machine....which is a lot easier than using my Revox B77 ;D
Along with PSPAudioware, Wave are probably my fave plugin vendors...you really cant go wrong with any of their stuff.
And unlike some other vendors (ahem Steven Slate), Ive never had any ilok/licensing issues with Waves
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Cheers Boydie.
And Ram, yeah I got them $29, bargain.
Now all I've got to do is learn how to use the compressors without ruining my vocals (See my latest thread)
Yodasdad
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Don't forget that the vocal rider is essentially acting as a compressor that you have full control over when you edit the automation envelope
I would therefore use this FIRST to sculpt the vocal volume and then use your other compressors extremely lightly to aim for some "character" rather than compression to address issues (as your vocal rider has already done that)
Even after the compression has been done you will STILL have the track volume automation to play with to ensure you get the vocal sitting in the mix
A general principle is "lots of plugins doing very little" will often sound better than one plugin being slammed, which is especially true with compressors, to get some "depth" and texture to you sounds
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Hey guys, after reading it here, I bought Vocal Rider. That's a snip at $29.
Just my fonkin' luck it's VST3 and my Reaper version 4 only supports VST2.
No problem I thought, Reaper updates are always free. No friggin way, man, they're charging $60 for version 5!
Is there some work around here? So I can use Vocal Rider with only VST2 support?
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@Silver Machine. I can't answer your technical question, but I do know Reaper is not free. That misconception by many is due to their practice of not crippling the program when a user exceeds the trial period. I interpret that to indicate (1) it takes some people (like me) longer than 60 days to determine if the program is worth at least $60 to them and/or (2) they prefer to spend their development energy on the program itself rather than ways to cripple it.
So we're on our honor to pay for it once we've determined it works for us (or not, if it doesn't). I'm surprised, though, that you can't upgrade without paying. Apparently, that's one perk paid users have that others don't. I used Reaper for at least a couple years before I paid for it. It actually took me that long to decide I would actually keep using it. Until recently I almost exclusively used Audacity.
Anyway, if you can't afford the $60, why not try Go Fund Me or Kickstarter or something? I like the idea of supporting Reaper, as it's so low cost compared to any other comparable DAW. Ask all your friends to spread the word. It should be fairly easy to raise less than $100.
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Lady, I already paid for it! Back in 2012.
And as you state, one of the neat things you got for your money was free updates to new builds and they was always free.
But now they want you to pay to upgrade to Version 5 which includes VST3 support.
I aint complaining, cos it's always been such great value.
What I'm teed off about is $29 turning into $99, just so I can use Vocal Rider.
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hi ho silver
when you paid for reaper they would have given you a keycode.
probably came with the confirmation email ..
when you download the next version you enter the keycode and dont pay anything
i think there maybe a way of confirming that your an 'owner' but lost your licence code ?
of course i might be wrong but
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Hey man, thanks, but I checked my licence and it says Version 3 (valid through 4).
So that kinda confirms they want peeps to buy to update now to 5.
Thing is I really don't know I wanna update, I like what I got, y'know. I dont see any advantage in the new version. Except being able to use this Vocal Rider.
My original question still stands, anyone got a work around so you can use VST3 plugins on a VST2 host?
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Hey Silva. I don't know about you but when I forked out my $60 for Reaper I just got free updates for life. Those guys seem to be banging out updates every couple of weeks and are pretty on the ball so I would be surprised if they're trying to get extra cash out of you. I'm on version 5.2.3 I think :o but I do get updates almost every week
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No man, what you get is free updates for two complete versions/ builds.
I bought it right at the end of version 3 in 2011. So I gotta buy Reaper 5 if I want it now.
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Ah, sorry, Silver Machine. I misunderstood. I wish I had an answer for you. I did think updates were for life. So I checked my license. I see I am good only until version 6.99.
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No man, what you get is free updates for two complete versions/ builds.
I bought it right at the end of version 3 in 2011. So I gotta buy Reaper 5 if I want it now.
That's interesting if not a little sneaky
I'm on 5.6.2 atm so I presume I'm covered for versions 5 & 6 ??
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I picked up the abbey road plate reverb on black friday...something like $30 which is incredible (think retail price is about $250). I think it is still on sale.
Absolutely awesome reverb, especially if you are into these more 'analoguey' or old school sounds.
Thanks RAM - I was on the lookout for some new reverbs so have taken the plunge based on your recommendation as it is the last day of the $29 sale
Just listened to this demo - WOWOWOWOW - I just can't get over how natural and authentic they sound and the versatility is phenomenal!!!!
Here is the demo: :o
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I picked up the abbey road plate reverb on black friday...something like $30 which is incredible (think retail price is about $250). I think it is still on sale.
Absolutely awesome reverb, especially if you are into these more 'analoguey' or old school sounds.
Thanks RAM - I was on the lookout for some new reverbs so have taken the plunge based on your recommendation as it is the last day of the $29 sale
Just listened to this demo - WOWOWOWOW - I just can't get over how natural and authentic they sound and the versatility is phenomenal!!!!
Here is the demo: :o
They are really incredible aren't they...Really easy to get a good sound.
Aswell as stunning smooth & silky reverbs, you can get some totally wacky & cool effects by just messing about with it. There is a preset called something like Long Vocal FX which is a good starting point
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Had to take the plunge. 22 quid, would be rather annoyed if I'd paid full price.
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Only 7 hours of the Cyber Monday sale left and I'm very tempted to get 'Waves Centre' for $49
I've seen it used to good effect on various instument tracks, rather than just a whole mix.
Any thoughts?...
Great!!!, just popped to the waves site to get a link and now I'm looking st Piano centric as well!!
Jesus, I gotta stop going there. :-\ :-\
Yodasdad