Hi everyone, is there a decent alternative to the Waves complete bundle? I got no problem with Waves, just looking for a decent alternative which could be more on the lighweight side in terms of disk space and/or cpu/ram usage but with the kinda same huge arsenal Waves offers. Thanks!

 

I did the same thing around v10 and do not miss them at all. Well, maybe S1 Imager.

But Waves bundles cover so much ground, I can't really just suggest you a big direct replacement bundle. Voxengo and Melda are probably where I would start with that. Also Izotope for repair/resto functions. I was using Fabfilter plugins already, but they are definitely even more of a staple to me now. So I'd suggest them for certain. Same with Valhala reverbs.

I use the Black Rooster plugins quite a bit where I may have used Waves options previously.

 

ik multimedia t racks comes to my mind now

 

all the above + plugin alliance

 

Roughly this is 95% of what I use. And they're on average quite light and fast compared to most Waves plugins
1. Fabfilter
2. Valhalla
3. Meldaproduction
4. PspAudioware

Some alternatives would be DMG Audio, Voxengo and iZotope.

 

Softube

 

out of curiosity, are any of these known for being stable or unstable, reliable or unreliable in the long term (across OS versions and years, recalling earlier versions' settings easily)?

 

wait for the updated version of waves , its called Tsunami

 

Thanks guys.

 

In my opinion it depends which Waves plugins you use the most or require for working.
FabFilter and MeldaProduction plugins should cover the majority of your needs if you dive deep enough into the functionality of each plugin.

 

Waves is a huge bundle so it affords some very specialist functions which no other bundle has. But if you want a general bundle, Meldaproduction is probably the next biggest, then Voxengo & PSP as others have said. I would suggest https://www.toneboosters.com/ .

 

They could probably just take out half the plugins in the Waves full install; and never even get an email about them. More likely they would get a few users back.

 

I think the closest you will get to what you are asking for like a "all round" collection of plugins would be Meldaproductions.

 

my strategy is not to fall on the GUI or any gimmick marketing
better to buy the one that worthy of an investment not necessarily as a bundle ..
1. Fabfilter Q3 and L2
2. Soundtoys - Decap and Alter Boy
3. Some of PA stuffs
4. Gulfoss or Soothe
5. some of WAVES stuffs are actually fine the R series
6. Eventide - Blackhole
7. Valhalla - Vintage Delay

etc

 

Last edited: Feb 4, 2022