What's your snake oil plugin of the year? ALSO as I keep getting people commenting regarding the input sensitivity dial, it purely reduces the ceiling of the soft clipping and doesn't add any input gain to the signal. I know cause the output remains the same and if the input level is increased it shows in the ramp as it will raise in level but the level remains the same and its only the clipping threshold that is affected. Reducing the headroom of the input signal a lot will eventually result in audible soft clipping but in a lot of the presets, the input sensitivity isn't set high enough to engage the clipping. It's all dependent on the peak level of your source and how much headroom you choose to give the input signal. In most cases to really hear the soft clipping you need to get the input sensitivity into the red which waves state is not an ideal input level, probably cause they know the oversampling doesn't work and the clipping in conjuction with the lack of working oversampling will cause more distortion and more aliasing which they won't want further added to the signal (there's a reason why clippers have OS) People have commented that there is auto gain comp in the input sensitivity and this is a lot of bull. From what I could see it's just lowering the ceiling for the clipper which gsat+ does in very simple terms with its "CLIP CEILING" 🤣. Brainworx and Lindell do the same with their THD function and most well coded emulations will include a coded clipper which engages at a certain input level (normally very high as analog takes a lot of input signal to clip, remember analog works in vu/dbu, with 0vu normally being calibrated to -18dbfs in the plugins so it takes quite a bit to make it clip unless you really raise the input level or reduce the input ceiling which you can do in a ton of saturation plugs and emus) Honestly, actual clipping without working oversampling is poor. Most free clippers oversample and actually works. I wouldnt advise clipping a signal heavily without working oversampling.. And waves know this also....
Mix Monolith in my opinion. It degrades the sound quality and does crap that is not needed like sidechaining bass and kicks. I went and bought it right away thinking it would be good, and I usually trust plugins from plugin alliance, but I was highly disappointed in the results. I did as they said and did 2 passes, and the mix sounded shit really bad for me. To me that was one of the most trash plugins I have ever used. Well, I hope they went out to dinner to a nice restaurant with my money.
@@vigilantestylez I've seen this happen a few but there was someones video showed this happening and why, there is certain ranges and under the hood stuff to sort if I recall, but this was a while ago and I tried having a look for it there but no joy, but there is only a few specific ways to use monolith so don't despair have a dig around and get tore into the manual too, it is a weapon when weilded correctly for sure...
Do a wee review on the free saturation plug called Gsat, I find it kind of nice, but your acute experience with such things might offer a better opinion... Infact nevermind just came to that mention on this video haha, guess it's decent then hehe
2 things why i didn't bothered with the plugin when it came out: 1. Honestly, "just another" Saturation / Distortion plugin nowadays doesn't cut it anymore. There are great ones all across the board, for years... It had to be either making something new or the advertised thing absolute top tier. 2. Kush, who makes absolutely BEAUTIFUL saturation, EQ and compressor plugins, released the LG Drive pretty close time wise, absolutely mobbing the floor with the Waves new kid. Kush deserves more love.
I have the new kush and this one, I actually far preferred the waves, don't forget null tests in situations isn't what you think, it's more complicated then that, but have you fun guys
@@wyrlismike I actually like the sound of BB Tubes as well. It does add a TON of gain which is annoying but when you compensate it seems pleasing to me. Kush audio does make great stuff though :)
Okay, I admit I bought it. But from now on, until you do, I ain't gonna. I should have learned this lesson already. You have such a great way of smashing my delusions. Keep it up! It saves me money.
Jason Robertson don’t feel bad I did as well! Just cut out a couple trips to the coffee shop and there’s my $24.99 I spent! Not quite as bad as the $119.00 God Particle regret I didn’t fall for, the waves was a cheap fail!!
Love this Paul and thank you mate for all the amazing video content this year. I'd argue not negativity, but reality. Far too many salesmen on YT and not enough "Real" reviews that you can trust! Love the comedy too mate; fantastic. Hope you and the family have an amazing Christmas and New Year.
@@PaulThird yes, we definitely need the "under the hood" style vids, for sure. Waves is absolutely stealing money from folks who dont have the knowhow or inclination to do all the testing. I am certainly most interested in these kinds of videos. Thanks!
I absolutely love your channel. Your like practically the only youtuber who not only gives direct examples, but shows you in real time, with fine details 🎶
I feel like the audio world is more sensitive to this kind of bullshit. Psychoacoustics delusions and confirmation bias everywhere… I only trust reviews that use scientific tools now, like this great video!
The ads and the testimonials make this look so real. It was tempting, but I already have a lot of saturation plugins. Still I was wondering what the big deal was with a basic saturation plugin with knobs for even and odd order harmonics?! I was planning on demoing it. Thank you for saving me time and $! And giving me a good laugh.
Well to be honest, Neal Pogue which promotes this plugin in the ads, is also saying that the waves L2 and the ozone maximizer with no gain reduction adds colour and depth, so... 🤣 He's still my favourite engineer all time, so I guess you don't need to be that technical lol
I like that you raised the finger and said that you're upset with people who called it a gamechanger, when in fact they should know better. The rest was to be expected. Personally I believe - actually it's not just a belief, it's knowledge- : holding each other accountable is what keeps this society and its communities from completely falling apart.
I feel bad now that I left it so long 😥 I genuinely left it purposely in the hope a smaller youtuber would take my initiative but sadly no.. All the smaller ones fell in the trap 🙈
Don't forget the hard science as well though haha printed sweeps, rx & null tests are the real nail in the coffin for many plugins. Combine that with doctor it makes a lot more sense
👋👋👋👋👋 You're the best, it's good that someone like you with conclusive evidence can show people who don't know anything about this how they are manipulated and scammed... The prestige of all those who charge to put their names on those presets should also be affected . This is not a business, it is a mockery, a scam,... Personally, I waited for your review, I didn't see any of the ones made by plugin vendors that upload videos to RUclips,
@@PaulThird those manufacturers that are honest will still respect you. Because if they do it for love of sound and theire brand, they will love to see someone that separate the good from bad. Its like hard work good musicians like someone that exposes the ones with no merit no dedication.
This popped up in my feed. Great analysis - very thorough when it comes to data. My only issue is that in 15+ minute video there was maybe 30 seconds of audio? You make music with your ears, not your eyes. I understand your argument, but regardless of what the plug-in is “doing” how does it actually sound? You said you recreated the same plug-in using free plug-ins, but I didn’t hear any audio side-by-side? Does it sound the same? If it does, that’d be impressive. If not, Waves clearly doing something that the freeware isn’t. I won’t lie, I don’t know a ton about the backend tech that goes into creating these plug-ins, but I’d have to imagine the algorithms Waves are using are better than some free software (though there are some amazing people out there & I could be wrong). Anyway, that’s my two cents on the video. Just would have liked to have heard more audio comparisons instead of bashing the plug-in with specs. Very good quality & well put together video though. Keep it going!
You don't need audio examples when you show an inaudible null of the most complex audio signal you can possibly use. Tbh im starting to get annoyed where I constantly feel the need to explain to engineers what pink noise is and why an inaudible null bypasses the need for an AB. Pink noise is full bandwidth so every frequency is catered for which is also at a constant amplitude. You can have a 100 piece orchestra with 20 drummers, 5 bassists and 50 singers and it still won't be as complex as pink noise. You can say but it's not musical, but in terms of an AB it's the most reliable proof if something actually makes an audible difference because every frequency is catered for equally at the same time. Pink noise is just white noise (which is all frequencies at the same constant level but tilted) I'm genuinely giving you the most complex audio AB you can possibly ask for. It's actually unrealistic cause there is no audio that has full bandwidth and Constant level all the time but it's the concrete proof that states that an inaudible null will render ANY other audio example pointless. Doesn't matter what it is, cause you won't find another audio signal as complex. Waves state that the ideal signal is max peaks at -12dbfs. So any dynamic signal that peaks at -12dbfs. I've given you a constant signal at -12dbfs catering for ALL audible frequencies, ALL the time. If that null is inaudible then ANY AB you do with ANY musical source peaking at -12dbfs will be inaudible. Simple science.
thank you, honestly this was my first take as a mixing engineer on bb tubes. my reaction to trying it out was “what is special about this?” i have an extensive library of plugins better than most studios i’ve worked in and i can’t see using this plugin regularly.
Thanks for the vid! I dont buy Waves plugins anyway because of their awful anti customer support plan. It doesnt surprise me they are now releasing scamware that simply doesnt work. Unethical companies do unethical things.
I love how you keep doing these types of vids my dude,,, I know u said you wanted to do less but until others youtubers grow a pair we will still need Paul 3rd 🤘🤘
As soon as I saw the ad for it I was instantly convinced that there was something fishy about it. Thanks for proving me right there! I wish companies would stop it with these moneygrabbers. Even serious companies like UAD are doing it.
Oh what a relief. I bought this and could not bring anything useful out of it. Compared it to "Baby Audio Taip" even if one is tube sat. and the other tape sat. Taip was clearly doing good things. The BB was a mystery to me. And I felt alone in the world with that opinion. Till now. Thanks for this!
Thanks Paul your work pushes developers to a higher level. Hopefully one day plugins get their standardized score based on UI / performance / value for money. We need more facts, less sales BS
Wonderful video Paul! I love the fact that you just come straight to the point and tell it how it is mate. I have always found that if you pay audio engineers enough they will say whatever you want them to say! 😂
They'd have to pay way more for me 😂 somebody asked me once what my price would be hypothetically to sell my soul and it was extortionate. Like stupid but I value my transparency. My entire career would be over in one foul swoop if I was to out and out lie and its not worth even 10 or 20 grand put it that way. Id much rather someone paid me to leave youtube than shill haha
I couldn't leave it haha. I was actually annoyed when I seen the "game changer" video but I genuinely believed any smaller youtuber would take the opportunity and nope.. They all shit a brick 🤣
You're a very smart guy and know how to replicate it. I don't. I'm not as smart as you. I did purchase it for $25 and found it to be very easy to use and sounds great in my new mastering chain. In fact, it's the 1st time I've used a saturating plug-in that felt comfortable and sounds good to me.
Yeah I had the same experience. I tried it and it worked much better than any other saturation plugins I'd tried, so I bought it. Good on you though for trying to keeping Waves honest.
Paul, if you're still following, another question about aliasing, please... if I'm running Cubase, mixing recorded instruments, tracked and mixed at 96k32b, and I put this on my Master bus, do you think I would have aliasing problems? Do I engage its limited 2x oversampling?
Dependent on how hard the drive is but if theres any place its gonna alias its the masterbus as its full frequency range and a loud consistent input signal. I wouldn't advise saturating your 2bus. Keep that shit clean and saturate on tracks you feel it would benefit. As I showed in the video it's pretty much inaudible at moderate settings unless you use the eq and actually saturate it but at that point your adding aliasing to your entire mix and smearing your mix with that amount of saturation. Look at the presets. The real big hitters don't have masterbus presets. Waves advising this on the 2bus is pretty redundant for me. You'd be may as well using the saturation from your 2bus compressor rather than waves bb, make way more sense. You want more perceived loudness... use a well coded clean clipper with oversampling.
A Null test is very hard to work between "harmonics/saturation" sources... But, it seem it would at least agree with you, Paul... Thank you for your great work for all those that, like me, are always looking for "game changers"... ...You are leading us to the cure. 😁
I didnt even care about this plugin since your videos in the past have shown waves dont seem to be better than most alternatives... But i did wonder if you would cover it due to the oversampling 🤔 great that someone's being honest... In a way the channels that have said its a game changer and there were quite a few i got recommended, at least now let us see who are marketing shills vs honest... Thanks paul for this, hopefully it will help people not get caught up in the "game changing" plugin gas that surrounds this plugin 😂👍
I actually think this plugin sounds pretty killer and it's made it into my mix template for vocals. That's honestly the only feature that I like about it. To my ears, it gives that airiness one gets from using a mic like a C12. But I agree, Waves marketing is trying to make everyone like put this on every track as if it's JesusJuice or something. A bit ridiculous.
Thanks for this! I know little about mixing and was very confused with all the advertisement and reviews about this. There were these two geezers sitting in front of a laptop marvelling every time they turned a knob, slapping their backs, keeping repeating in awe "it's very subtle". I could not understand what they meant, and even less so when adjusting the volume between wet and dry. I put it down to me getting older and progressively unable to hear certain frequencies (which is certainly the case, but anyway).
I didn't know about the ACG bring implemented, when was that updated? That was always the thing that put me off it. Everything became so f*cking loud haha
@@PaulThird I think it's been a couple of months now. You set your saturation, then hit a button, and the plugin automatically sets the level. Works great for my taste.
It was the same with the slate fg-x2. It was the new best limiter/all in one mastering solution !🤣 I compared it to the uad precision limiter and the the old uad plugin sounded way better. 😀 I can’t stand the marketing they do now days. And Black Friday is the worst…. “Pro” influencers showing bad techniques to ruin your mixes and market for these companies. It’s sad! Glad your calling them out! 👍🏻
I’m so glad you did this video. I haven’t been able to find any genuine analysis of this plugin, and no one’s really talking about how it’s primarily just two giant volume knobs that only go up. So glad I didn’t spend the money. I will admit, the particular blend of harmonics that it does bring in do seem to be a special blend/balance that I can’t quite replicate with other saturation plugins, but getting that out of this plugin is way more work than it’s worth. I’ve been wondering if the “game changing” aspect of this plugin had anything to do with IR or special sauce in the saturation/harmonic blend itself, but if it’s housed in a shitty GUI that seems designed to confuse the user about what they are hearing, it doesn’t really matter. It’s still no Acustica plug, even if that’s what’s going on. But they also haven’t advertised any of that, and if waves was finally upping their game with IR tech, they’d be advertising that like crazy. So I’d prefer to do what you did with the wrap plugin over toying with this thing time and time again, and that’s only if I didn’t already have a plugin folder oversaturated with saturation plugins (see what I did there?😅) that I have yet to fully dive into. I might already own 10 plugins far more useful than the bb tubes. So glad I didn’t spend the money and fall for the trap. So as always, thanks for the fair analysis, and being seemingly the only content creator brave enough to stand up to waves, and their “wave” of media making the plug seem beyond repute. It is not. Now we have evidence. Keep it up, friend! ❤
The situation is simple: Recall that Clarity voice denoiser was also a game-changer. They obviously weren't happy with the modified game, so now BB just changes the game back to the way it was originally.
Well, Greg Wells is a drama queen, every time he promotes a plug-in is sooo exaggerated “gane changer”, “ I can not believe it” .... he would be in Broadway
They sell it as this holy grail plugin. But at $25 is a fair price for what it does lol. I personally love it. But I certainly won’t get rid of all my saturator plugins because of it
Thank you man cause you saved me those bucks right in time... I am a Reaper user and getting nice mixes itb completely with just Cockos plugins. But ALWAYS demoing around...
People are underestimating Klanghelm's SDRR2, Arturia's Culture Vulture, and Pulsar Modular's P42 Climax. Bonus sat VSTfx goodie: Tone Empire's Black Q VERSION 2. Excellent colourisation EQ (saturation on EQ curve). Those saturation plugins really do tap into the ampere-voltage-wattage logarithmic functionality.
Having used and loved the UAD Culture Vulture for years I was very interested in the Arturia one to see if they had been able to take it one step further. But honestly I was quite disappointed in it. Did not at all get the effect that I love about the CV. Might be a good effect on its own, but for me it was meh.
Firstly try naming it right. The Arturia is not called the culture vulture because they ripped off all the settings from the UAD version. The makers, thermionic culture get zero royalties and there's nothing they can do about it. What your all buying is digital distortion. Live with it.
Hello Paul, I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation. I have auditioned many plugins and have arrived at the same conclusions as you have. These plugin designers are selling excellent graphics of vintage machines, meters, faceplates, etc., and little else. I have personally modeled a 6SN7GT vacuum tube with selectable wear, bias, thermal noise, etc. What I can tell you is this.... The human ear can hear and tolerate far more noise and distortion that the 'data' would have you believe. Also, much of the overall sweetness of a tube comes from the interaction of its nonlinearity AND its thermal noise, something that these plugin designers seem to avoid completely. And to add insult to injury, unless the noise and distortion are REALLY bad, the human ear doesn't care and adapts readily. Once again, excellent presentation, Be well, Bill P.
I bought waves vu metre it costed me 5 euros but the update price is 12 euros…when I saw that I bought it on purpose because I find the situation amazing lol
Bit late commenting on this but this video has been an incredibly helpful insight into the idea of “fake oversampling”. I did a few dozen sine sweeps of my own after watching this and it turns out that this “fake” oversampling thing is apparently rife in the plugin world - several of my favourite goto plugins appear to show absolutely no difference in aliasing past X4 whatsoever!?🤯🤯 Suddenly I have all this CPU space freed-up which I never knew I wasting before lol! I was reminded of something I saw Mr Acustica write in a forum, where he basically said that “true” oversampling has a minimum latency value in samples which must be introduced in order for the process to work - so, with this in mind, I picked out some plugins claiming X16 OS with suspiciously low latency - and, sure enough, ALL of them showed no difference past X4. Furthermore, I was surprised to find so many gain utility and/or simple EQ plugins that immediately introduced aliasing just by exceeding an input volume of -12dB going in!? Whereas, plugins like Kirchhoff EQ and even Acustica’s CoralBAX (with preamp turned off) showed no artefacts at all in comparison. On the other hand, my trusty T Racks Stealth Limiter had by far the cleanest results of all my limiters when pushed to extreme levels (so much so that I had to double-check I did the test correctly because it had so little distortion!?). Just as well that I’ve used that on every mastering job that’s gone through my record label since the plugin first got released haha! Big ups Paul, top work!
Is this the same plugin as their "free" magma lil tube plugin they were giving away before this came out? I am assuming it is a scaled down version of this one.
@@PaulThird Oh I see. I figured it was probably similar coming from the magma line of plugins they are releasing. I did check it out in plugin doctor, and yeah it seemed to be an EQ and it had some saturation in the hammerstein analysis, so I figured it was probably good, and it sounds okay, thankfully it was free. I wouldn't buy it otherwise. Basically, a one knob drive with some unique EQ curves.
Thank you Paul. Proved it and saved me money. I was also curious at the exaggerated Professional reviews. It's only saturation for sakes. Commendations.
I don’t particularly care for waves plug-ins, but I purchased this one, and I’m very happy with it. I saw a RUclipsr demo this against 20 other tube style saturators, and they all broke up horribly compared to this. It definitely has a quality that no others can match that I can tell so far. To boot, it’s one of waves plug-ins that reaches 192 kHz sample rate. Perhaps this is something they finally figured out?
But it does fall apart though when the saturation is audible. It's an aliasing mess. I suppose if aliasing doesn't bother you then fair enough but the more you saturate using this you are inherently making the signal less musical, more cloudy and the transients are smeared. That's what audible aliasing will add the more it's brought in. That is what will ultimately never make the plugin sound like real tube saturation unless they fix the oversampling. Id be interested to see this comparison so I could check loudness levels for each example as waves bb needs a lot of output attenuation to get it right. Do you have a link for the video so I can check?
@@PaulThird Yeah, I’m not gonna argue against aliasing. After all who the heck wants that? I’ve only used it subtly myself, and so far so good. I’d be interested to see Dan Worrall dissect this one. Nonetheless, this guy did a very good job comparing against some high-quality plug-ins, including two of my favorites by Sound Toys. He made two videos, one after another. Here they are in order. ✌️ 1- ruclips.net/video/g4hPGvRB1dU/видео.html 2. ruclips.net/video/AZ4fGcId7JI/видео.html
Are they selling broken plugins to make people pay for the update. I will never pay for WUP in a million years. I will sell the plugins before i pay that extortionate amount. Absolutely insane.
my question would be why are these pro engineers so quick to make these huge claims about how great it is? The easy answer is money but why would they be willing to damage their credibility?
They've turned up the gain on the marketing as well as the presets. That video of Joe and Greg salivating over this plugin was appearing everywhere. Thanks for doing the analysis.
Just on the advertisements I have seen with this plugin sounded like those MIDI chord pack were full of crock. You proved I can get a lot better with stock saturation already in my DAW.
Interesting angle here. The title is a little pretentious for a video that doesn’t use a single second of music/audio so we can use our ears to listen to what it’s doing. That’s what audio engineers do after all, right: use our ears? How can one be gullible when using their ears to decide? Think about it. Why are we letting visual information dictate what we use or to tell us if it sounds good, which is all subjective anyways. Plug-in doctor is holding people back from being free creatively. Your clients don’t care about plug-in doctor. Use what you like but most importantly use your EARS.
Dude, seriously, read my other reply to you and maybe think about deleting your comment cause your coming off pretty foolish right now. This is simple science that conclusively proves what I'm showing. You don't need to use your ears after an inaudible pink noise null cause that is needless and a complete waste of time. Your talking as if everything is doctor when I've printed physical sweeps in the daw and imported into rx. The pink noise nulls are your audio examples.. That is real time conclusive evidence that anyone would need regarding the audibility of difference between 2 audio files. White noise is EVERY audible frequency at the SAME constant amplitude all at the same time. Pink noise is that signal but tilted because we perceive mid and high frequencies more than low frequencies. There's is no more complex AB test for human hearing. If I show you under -80dbfs.. Its inaudible. Nobody will consistently pass a blind AB on any musical source. Doesn't matter genre, mix or master. If the peak level is matched .. The difference will remain under -80dbfs I thought we were meant to be audio engineers? Are we not meant to have a basic understanding of audio science to even attempt to call ourselves engineers?
@@PaulThird that’s a bold assumption about my comprehension or understanding here. People can think whatever they want about me based on a comment. I’m not refuting the science here. My point is that a graph means nothing if your ears like what you hear. Why would I delete that? Waves offers free trials. Demo the products. If you don’t like how it sounds then so be it. They’re not claiming to 1:1 emulate a piece of legendary gear and then providing a plug that behaves nothing like it’s real counterpart. You’re bent about people calling it a “game changer” which is a subjective term to begin with. What if it is for them?
But dude we keep circling. You've said it again "a graph means nothing if your ears like what you hear" When you've agreed that you can't refute the science so you agree that the waves bb saturation up to a certain point gives you no audible change to the source. So that null shown in SPAN is telling you that your mind can't actually hear a difference using the saturation at lower levels. That's why I'm getting frustrated. If you are saying.. Look there's a placebo affect and many people may believe they hear a difference when they'd actually consistently fail a blind test but what's wrong about letting them believe they hear a difference.. Then id say fair enough but I'm just showing the facts with this plugin which are that at lower saturation levels it's inaudible, the oversampling x4 & X8 doesn't work which means that the waves aliases audibly even at moderate saturation levels, you can recreate an artist preset with free plugins with no real audible difference, and that the eq moves are bigger than they make out That's all valid stuff to give in a review when I'm the only one testing this stuff out in a sea of overly positive, non level matched youtube reviews not showcasing the issues. Would you not agree that the only reason my video is pissing off so many waves BB owners is because this video has garnered so much attention and likes. If this was a 1-2k views video nobody would hardly bother but cause its hit 25k+ and has lots of positivity surrounding the review people get more pissed.. Dunno maybe that's just my RUclips experience talking
Welllll shit! 😕🤦♂️ I thought it was sounding pretty good, especially with the transformer flipped on. Turns out it's just an eq bump, with some fizz, which i can already do with 10 different plugs on their own 🤷♂️ .............So we should all sue waves for false 8x'ing 😜 "wrapped them in waves own free plugin".....ayyyyy ya cheeky bastard you 😏👏👏
The transformer bump does a bit more when you hit it a lot harder but when it's aliasing like a bitch what's the point haha The hpf and low bump does make a big tonal shift though. Its hard to hear any difference in the transformer when the saturation is under 5 or 6
That's great! A scot is not easily fooled eh? Thanks for the video. I've been using the FREE Melda saturator, having tried all the other sat plugins, for me it's the best. 2, 3, 4, 5 order sats anyone? Of course you can pay over a grand for a Vulture...
Was so waiting for this video to land Paul! 🤣 brilliant. Cannot wait to read the comments now. Please please please would you consider doing a review of MAAT fidef jentwo and exploring if it does anything to make any music feel more intricate detailed, emotional for you? Don’t know if it’s your bag but would love to see your take on interesting psychoacoustic offerings!
I got suspicious when in all the ads waves showed me about this on youtube it never ONCE let me hear anything actually playing THROUGH the plugin. Only people I've never seen before telling how game changing this is... and all I was thinking was literally "It's just a tube stage... this cannot possibly be that new"
Paul! You gave me my video afterall. 🙂 Unfortunately I already bought it prior because it was like $17 on AudioDeluxe. I am not usually a gullible person who gets suckered into plugins but because it was so cheap and easy to use, I figured it was worth $17. Oh well. I saved more than $17 on other things so it's a wash. Live and learn!
@PaulThird I love all of your content be cause you’re, quite simply, technically correct, as validated through testing. The world needs more Truth and less marketing lies…and you provide that Truth to all of us watching. For that, I thank you! “The Truth will make you free”
Hahaha. Thank you very much for this video, Paul. The whole time I was trying out this Game Changer plugin, I was sure you would come up with a hilarious video! Hahaha. Made my day! 😂😂😂
14:40 Controversial, Paul 😉👏🏻 I’m interested what you think of the free L’il Tubes plugin. I think it sounds better and doesn’t come with the EQ filters.
Thanks for the great video! I hadn't tested it in depth with PD yet, but I was planning on it, thanks for saving me the time and effort! I knew something wasn't quite right with Oversampling because it just didn't sound right at all at 4x or 8x and I found the aliasing atrocious as well, so I had a feeling that something was up. And that "0.5db" really scares me, can we not trust the numbers we are looking at anymore? That's just scary.
I'm on the same page as you in regards to a LOT of Waves plugins, even the J37 Tape, for example, are just cleverly masked EQ curves, in my opinion, for the most part.
Wonderfully blown apart Paul - loved it dude. Critical thinking seems to have been lost on so many people. They'd rather be led by the nose and their pockets emptied by the marketeers. If I can quote a bit from Image-Line; "Skill - The world is full of marketing departments trying to convince you that equipment and specifications can substitute for talent & hard work. This is not true, the 'performance' transcends the medium every time. The performance includes musicianship, vocals, orchestration, arrangement and the mixing decisions. These are all under your control and have little to do with the DAW software you use or plugins you have." Think people think, try it by all means YMMV but please think critically and don't become the product. Thanks Paul.
It's not difficult though. I don't need to touch it. It's a basic as f*ck channel strip with no oversampling so drive section is gonna alias like a bitch. 2 basic fixed compression modes. Expander/gate. 3 band eq. There are free plugins that basically do the same thing. Most of the pro's are calling it "an easy tool for beginners" i.e. This is basic as shit and another needless plugin release. Waste of my time even downloading the demo 🤣
What's your snake oil plugin of the year?
ALSO as I keep getting people commenting regarding the input sensitivity dial, it purely reduces the ceiling of the soft clipping and doesn't add any input gain to the signal. I know cause the output remains the same and if the input level is increased it shows in the ramp as it will raise in level but the level remains the same and its only the clipping threshold that is affected.
Reducing the headroom of the input signal a lot will eventually result in audible soft clipping but in a lot of the presets, the input sensitivity isn't set high enough to engage the clipping. It's all dependent on the peak level of your source and how much headroom you choose to give the input signal. In most cases to really hear the soft clipping you need to get the input sensitivity into the red which waves state is not an ideal input level, probably cause they know the oversampling doesn't work and the clipping in conjuction with the lack of working oversampling will cause more distortion and more aliasing which they won't want further added to the signal (there's a reason why clippers have OS)
People have commented that there is auto gain comp in the input sensitivity and this is a lot of bull. From what I could see it's just lowering the ceiling for the clipper which gsat+ does in very simple terms with its "CLIP CEILING" 🤣. Brainworx and Lindell do the same with their THD function and most well coded emulations will include a coded clipper which engages at a certain input level (normally very high as analog takes a lot of input signal to clip, remember analog works in vu/dbu, with 0vu normally being calibrated to -18dbfs in the plugins so it takes quite a bit to make it clip unless you really raise the input level or reduce the input ceiling which you can do in a ton of saturation plugs and emus)
Honestly, actual clipping without working oversampling is poor. Most free clippers oversample and actually works. I wouldnt advise clipping a signal heavily without working oversampling.. And waves know this also....
This is one of them
Mix Monolith in my opinion. It degrades the sound quality and does crap that is not needed like sidechaining bass and kicks. I went and bought it right away thinking it would be good, and I usually trust plugins from plugin alliance, but I was highly disappointed in the results. I did as they said and did 2 passes, and the mix sounded shit really bad for me. To me that was one of the most trash plugins I have ever used. Well, I hope they went out to dinner to a nice restaurant with my money.
This one. I knew there wasn't something right with it. Glad I didn't buy into the hype.
@@vigilantestylez I've seen this happen a few but there was someones video showed this happening and why, there is certain ranges and under the hood stuff to sort if I recall, but this was a while ago and I tried having a look for it there but no joy, but there is only a few specific ways to use monolith so don't despair have a dig around and get tore into the manual too, it is a weapon when weilded correctly for sure...
Do a wee review on the free saturation plug called Gsat, I find it kind of nice, but your acute experience with such things might offer a better opinion...
Infact nevermind just came to that mention on this video haha, guess it's decent then hehe
It’s an absolute gain changer.
🤓🤓
😂
:DDD
This is a great comment.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Busting companies churning out lies and crap isn't negativity, it's an extremely positive thing to do. Good on you.
🤓🤓
@@PaulThird This video is straight awesome.
Oui.
Agreed. Also, i love Greg Wells, but man, you can see him with these "game changer" statements all over the plugin market.
Criteria and Criticism in general is inherently negative, without it we wouldn't be able to make any rational decisions in life 🤷
2 things why i didn't bothered with the plugin when it came out:
1. Honestly, "just another" Saturation / Distortion plugin nowadays doesn't cut it anymore. There are great ones all across the board, for years... It had to be either making something new or the advertised thing absolute top tier.
2. Kush, who makes absolutely BEAUTIFUL saturation, EQ and compressor plugins, released the LG Drive pretty close time wise, absolutely mobbing the floor with the Waves new kid.
Kush deserves more love.
Agreed! Gregory Scott is an absolute legend.
Yes dude EXACTLY!! Kush is my all time fav. and Gregory is just the best
Yes Kush is amazing.
I have the new kush and this one, I actually far preferred the waves, don't forget null tests in situations isn't what you think, it's more complicated then that, but have you fun guys
@@wyrlismike I actually like the sound of BB Tubes as well. It does add a TON of gain which is annoying but when you compensate it seems pleasing to me. Kush audio does make great stuff though :)
I love this guy. He saves us from burning money on unnecessary junk. Thanks a lot, Paul. We love you!
🤜🤛
Okay, I admit I bought it. But from now on, until you do, I ain't gonna. I should have learned this lesson already. You have such a great way of smashing my delusions. Keep it up! It saves me money.
🤜🤛
Jason Robertson don’t feel bad I did as well! Just cut out a couple trips to the coffee shop and there’s my $24.99 I spent! Not quite as bad as the $119.00 God Particle regret I didn’t fall for, the waves was a cheap fail!!
@@BobbyLouxMusic I think they always get me because they are cheap. It's always a "deal."
@@JAANDLU and after a year they would like you to keep it updated for triple the price, without any changes.
@@BobbyLouxMusic god particle is a good plug in
Is it lonely being the only honest plug-in reviewer on RUclips?
Sometimes 😰😰 least there's Worral as well though
@@PaulThird what happened with Dan?
@@lucianogm u read it wrong, nothing happened to him
Take a look at "White sea studio" he's completely honest
You just don't watch enough. This guy is not the only.
Love this Paul and thank you mate for all the amazing video content this year.
I'd argue not negativity, but reality. Far too many salesmen on YT and not enough "Real" reviews that you can trust! Love the comedy too mate; fantastic.
Hope you and the family have an amazing Christmas and New Year.
🤜🤛
Paul is a fookin honest guy in a world snakes.
@@PaulThird yes, we definitely need the "under the hood" style vids, for sure. Waves is absolutely stealing money from folks who dont have the knowhow or inclination to do all the testing. I am certainly most interested in these kinds of videos. Thanks!
OMG FINALLY! I have been waiting for your video on this!
🤓🤓
I absolutely love your channel. Your like practically the only youtuber who not only gives direct examples, but shows you in real time, with fine details 🎶
🤜🤛
We are drowning in marketing BS everywhere these days and the audio world is no exception.... great video Paul thanks.
🤓🤓
I feel like the audio world is more sensitive to this kind of bullshit. Psychoacoustics delusions and confirmation bias everywhere…
I only trust reviews that use scientific tools now, like this great video!
@@FlorentChardevel Damn right Florent!
God bless the magic of internet and the freedom of speech, it's more and more dificult to scam the good people imo
We are quickly getting two Snake Oil channels on RUclips now . . . progress definitely . . Good work Paul. Keep it up.
🤜🤛
I just love these laughing girls in the thumbnail, Sir. Extremely accurate! Well done review!
🤓🤓
The ads and the testimonials make this look so real. It was tempting, but I already have a lot of saturation plugins. Still I was wondering what the big deal was with a basic saturation plugin with knobs for even and odd order harmonics?! I was planning on demoing it. Thank you for saving me time and $! And giving me a good laugh.
🤜🤛
Well to be honest, Neal Pogue which promotes this plugin in the ads, is also saying that the waves L2 and the ozone maximizer with no gain reduction adds colour and depth, so... 🤣 He's still my favourite engineer all time, so I guess you don't need to be that technical lol
I like that you raised the finger and said that you're upset with people who called it a gamechanger, when in fact they should know better. The rest was to be expected. Personally I believe - actually it's not just a belief, it's knowledge- : holding each other accountable is what keeps this society and its communities from completely falling apart.
Yeah... Its just annoying it's always gotta be me, Worral or Wytse haha
They got me. Should of waited for you review.
😂😂😂😂
They got me too😂😂😂
I feel bad now that I left it so long 😥 I genuinely left it purposely in the hope a smaller youtuber would take my initiative but sadly no.. All the smaller ones fell in the trap 🙈
Right there with ya.
@@PaulThird Well, from now on, I will be waiting for your review. So, please do not stop reviewing these things.
Plugin Doctor is the biggest hero in all of audio engineering for the past few years
Don't forget the hard science as well though haha printed sweeps, rx & null tests are the real nail in the coffin for many plugins. Combine that with doctor it makes a lot more sense
@@PaulThird preach!
👋👋👋👋👋 You're the best, it's good that someone like you with conclusive evidence can show people who don't know anything about this how they are manipulated and scammed... The prestige of all those who charge to put their names on those presets should also be affected . This is not a business, it is a mockery, a scam,... Personally, I waited for your review, I didn't see any of the ones made by plugin vendors that upload videos to RUclips,
I'm gonna be even more hated in the industry now am I haha 😅
They are idiots, they should hire you to test beta versions!
@@PaulThird those manufacturers that are honest will still respect you. Because if they do it for love of sound and theire brand, they will love to see someone that separate the good from bad. Its like hard work good musicians like someone that exposes the ones with no merit no dedication.
This popped up in my feed. Great analysis - very thorough when it comes to data. My only issue is that in 15+ minute video there was maybe 30 seconds of audio? You make music with your ears, not your eyes. I understand your argument, but regardless of what the plug-in is “doing” how does it actually sound?
You said you recreated the same plug-in using free plug-ins, but I didn’t hear any audio side-by-side? Does it sound the same? If it does, that’d be impressive. If not, Waves clearly doing something that the freeware isn’t.
I won’t lie, I don’t know a ton about the backend tech that goes into creating these plug-ins, but I’d have to imagine the algorithms Waves are using are better than some free software (though there are some amazing people out there & I could be wrong).
Anyway, that’s my two cents on the video. Just would have liked to have heard more audio comparisons instead of bashing the plug-in with specs. Very good quality & well put together video though. Keep it going!
You don't need audio examples when you show an inaudible null of the most complex audio signal you can possibly use.
Tbh im starting to get annoyed where I constantly feel the need to explain to engineers what pink noise is and why an inaudible null bypasses the need for an AB.
Pink noise is full bandwidth so every frequency is catered for which is also at a constant amplitude.
You can have a 100 piece orchestra with 20 drummers, 5 bassists and 50 singers and it still won't be as complex as pink noise.
You can say but it's not musical, but in terms of an AB it's the most reliable proof if something actually makes an audible difference because every frequency is catered for equally at the same time.
Pink noise is just white noise (which is all frequencies at the same constant level but tilted)
I'm genuinely giving you the most complex audio AB you can possibly ask for. It's actually unrealistic cause there is no audio that has full bandwidth and Constant level all the time but it's the concrete proof that states that an inaudible null will render ANY other audio example pointless. Doesn't matter what it is, cause you won't find another audio signal as complex.
Waves state that the ideal signal is max peaks at -12dbfs. So any dynamic signal that peaks at -12dbfs. I've given you a constant signal at -12dbfs catering for ALL audible frequencies, ALL the time.
If that null is inaudible then ANY AB you do with ANY musical source peaking at -12dbfs will be inaudible.
Simple science.
Gain-changer
Bastard.. I never wouldve even thought of that.. Where were you when I was recording 🤣
hahahahahahaha
I love that
Huge like
thank you, honestly this was my first take as a mixing engineer on bb tubes. my reaction to trying it out was “what is special about this?” i have an extensive library of plugins better than most studios i’ve worked in and i can’t see using this plugin regularly.
🤓🤓
your videos are pure gold! 👏🏻
🤜🤛
I was waiting for this and nearly emailed you to cover it but had total faithfully and honestly cover this.
🤜🤛
Thanks for the vid! I dont buy Waves plugins anyway because of their awful anti customer support plan. It doesnt surprise me they are now releasing scamware that simply doesnt work. Unethical companies do unethical things.
Indeed
I love how you keep doing these types of vids my dude,,, I know u said you wanted to do less but until others youtubers grow a pair we will still need Paul 3rd 🤘🤘
🤜🤛
Not gonna lie Paul, you took that plugin apart sample by sample.....and I enjoyed every second of it. You changed the game for the game changer Paul.
🤓🤓
You're some kind of sound engineering saint, Paul
🤜🤛
As soon as I saw the ad for it I was instantly convinced that there was something fishy about it. Thanks for proving me right there!
I wish companies would stop it with these moneygrabbers. Even serious companies like UAD are doing it.
🤓🤓
First issue is waves update price policy
Don't get me started on that. I've still got v9's 🤣
Oh what a relief.
I bought this and could not bring anything useful out of it. Compared it to "Baby Audio Taip"
even if one is tube sat. and the other tape sat. Taip was clearly doing good things.
The BB was a mystery to me. And I felt alone in the world with that opinion.
Till now. Thanks for this!
🤓🤓
Thanks Paul your work pushes developers to a higher level. Hopefully one day plugins get their standardized score based on UI / performance / value for money. We need more facts, less sales BS
🤜🤛
I've been waiting for this video! Great! 'Don't believe the hype' is the message...
🤓🤓
Wonderful video Paul! I love the fact that you just come straight to the point and tell it how it is mate. I have always found that if you pay audio engineers enough they will say whatever you want them to say! 😂
They'd have to pay way more for me 😂 somebody asked me once what my price would be hypothetically to sell my soul and it was extortionate. Like stupid but I value my transparency. My entire career would be over in one foul swoop if I was to out and out lie and its not worth even 10 or 20 grand put it that way.
Id much rather someone paid me to leave youtube than shill haha
@@PaulThird And that is why I have subscribed mate. You are a good man and are not afraid to buck the trend. I respect you for that Paul! 😁
Sadly its the industry they are in, across the board its money talks and bullshit walks.
Aaaawww snap when Paul come in you know its serious. 🔥🔥🔥💯💯💯
I couldn't leave it haha. I was actually annoyed when I seen the "game changer" video but I genuinely believed any smaller youtuber would take the opportunity and nope.. They all shit a brick 🤣
@@PaulThird 😂😂😂😂💯💯💯
You're a very smart guy and know how to replicate it. I don't. I'm not as smart as you. I did purchase it for $25 and found it to be very easy to use and sounds great in my new mastering chain. In fact, it's the 1st time I've used a saturating plug-in that felt comfortable and sounds good to me.
If it works for you, it works 🤓
Yeah I had the same experience. I tried it and it worked much better than any other saturation plugins I'd tried, so I bought it. Good on you though for trying to keeping Waves honest.
Paul, if you're still following, another question about aliasing, please... if I'm running Cubase, mixing recorded instruments, tracked and mixed at 96k32b, and I put this on my Master bus, do you think I would have aliasing problems? Do I engage its limited 2x oversampling?
Dependent on how hard the drive is but if theres any place its gonna alias its the masterbus as its full frequency range and a loud consistent input signal.
I wouldn't advise saturating your 2bus. Keep that shit clean and saturate on tracks you feel it would benefit.
As I showed in the video it's pretty much inaudible at moderate settings unless you use the eq and actually saturate it but at that point your adding aliasing to your entire mix and smearing your mix with that amount of saturation.
Look at the presets. The real big hitters don't have masterbus presets. Waves advising this on the 2bus is pretty redundant for me. You'd be may as well using the saturation from your 2bus compressor rather than waves bb, make way more sense.
You want more perceived loudness... use a well coded clean clipper with oversampling.
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate what you do. 🌹
A Null test is very hard to work between "harmonics/saturation" sources...
But, it seem it would at least agree with you, Paul...
Thank you for your great work for all those that, like me, are always looking for "game changers"...
...You are leading us to the cure. 😁
“Joe Chiccarelli Kick Attack” is like the audio engineer’s equivalent to “Purple Burglar Alarm”
Hahaha the "k's" are very easy for Scottish folk haha
You not only showed the emperor has no clothes, you kicked him in the balls as well. Class mate.
🤓🤓
I didnt even care about this plugin since your videos in the past have shown waves dont seem to be better than most alternatives... But i did wonder if you would cover it due to the oversampling 🤔 great that someone's being honest... In a way the channels that have said its a game changer and there were quite a few i got recommended, at least now let us see who are marketing shills vs honest... Thanks paul for this, hopefully it will help people not get caught up in the "game changing" plugin gas that surrounds this plugin 😂👍
I was gonna leave it but the final straw was a "game changer" review that showed doctor being used incorrectly.. I was like.. Aiiight, hold my beer 🤣
I'm glad I found this channel! I'm stoked to watch the upcoming UAD content
🤓🤓
I actually think this plugin sounds pretty killer and it's made it into my mix template for vocals. That's honestly the only feature that I like about it. To my ears, it gives that airiness one gets from using a mic like a C12. But I agree, Waves marketing is trying to make everyone like put this on every track as if it's JesusJuice or something. A bit ridiculous.
@@yahawahprovidence8260 You can't see my empty hand, but I'm holding the exact amount of fucks I give about it. ;)
Great looking gain utility! Game changer! Edit!!! Wait it can also do shelving EQ!
🤓🤓
Paul is the CSI of plugins. 👍
🤜🤛
Thanks for this! I know little about mixing and was very confused with all the advertisement and reviews about this. There were these two geezers sitting in front of a laptop marvelling every time they turned a knob, slapping their backs, keeping repeating in awe "it's very subtle". I could not understand what they meant, and even less so when adjusting the volume between wet and dry. I put it down to me getting older and progressively unable to hear certain frequencies (which is certainly the case, but anyway).
🤓🤓
It's funny because Softube Saturation Knob has auto gain now. And it's free. And it sounds very good. And you don't need to buy an update plan.
I didn't know about the ACG bring implemented, when was that updated? That was always the thing that put me off it. Everything became so f*cking loud haha
@@PaulThird I think it's been a couple of months now. You set your saturation, then hit a button, and the plugin automatically sets the level. Works great for my taste.
It was the same with the slate fg-x2. It was the new best limiter/all in one mastering solution !🤣 I compared it to the uad precision limiter and the the old uad plugin sounded way better. 😀 I can’t stand the marketing they do now days. And Black Friday is the worst…. “Pro” influencers showing bad techniques to ruin your mixes and market for these companies. It’s sad! Glad your calling them out! 👍🏻
🤜🤛
Nice 1… I nearly fell for it when I saw neal pogue say it was amazing … 🤣you saved me 25 quid
Result haha
Thanks for the in-depth-while-keeping-it-silly review!
🤓🤓
I’m so glad you did this video. I haven’t been able to find any genuine analysis of this plugin, and no one’s really talking about how it’s primarily just two giant volume knobs that only go up. So glad I didn’t spend the money. I will admit, the particular blend of harmonics that it does bring in do seem to be a special blend/balance that I can’t quite replicate with other saturation plugins, but getting that out of this plugin is way more work than it’s worth. I’ve been wondering if the “game changing” aspect of this plugin had anything to do with IR or special sauce in the saturation/harmonic blend itself, but if it’s housed in a shitty GUI that seems designed to confuse the user about what they are hearing, it doesn’t really matter. It’s still no Acustica plug, even if that’s what’s going on. But they also haven’t advertised any of that, and if waves was finally upping their game with IR tech, they’d be advertising that like crazy. So I’d prefer to do what you did with the wrap plugin over toying with this thing time and time again, and that’s only if I didn’t already have a plugin folder oversaturated with saturation plugins (see what I did there?😅) that I have yet to fully dive into. I might already own 10 plugins far more useful than the bb tubes. So glad I didn’t spend the money and fall for the trap. So as always, thanks for the fair analysis, and being seemingly the only content creator brave enough to stand up to waves, and their “wave” of media making the plug seem beyond repute. It is not. Now we have evidence. Keep it up, friend! ❤
🤜🤛
Get black box analog design HG-2 for a similar blend of harmonics that ACTUALLY sounds amazing
You are a warrior, a fighter! And I love you for it. Thank you for delivering the truths.
🤜🤛
The situation is simple: Recall that Clarity voice denoiser was also a game-changer. They obviously weren't happy with the modified game, so now BB just changes the game back to the way it was originally.
It's like the crystal maze, but the 90's version. Everybody swanning about theatrically to find fake diamonds 🤣
Well, Greg Wells is a drama queen, every time he promotes a plug-in is sooo exaggerated “gane changer”, “ I can not believe it” .... he would be in Broadway
Again a great one Paul. When I saw first time the Waves ad I knew Paul will make a video and it will be the way it is...hahahahaaa GREAT!!
🤓🤓
They sell it as this holy grail plugin. But at $25 is a fair price for what it does lol. I personally love it. But I certainly won’t get rid of all my saturator plugins because of it
🤓🤓
Thank you man cause you saved me those bucks right in time... I am a Reaper user and getting nice mixes itb completely with just Cockos plugins. But ALWAYS demoing around...
🤜🤛
People are underestimating Klanghelm's SDRR2, Arturia's Culture Vulture, and Pulsar Modular's P42 Climax. Bonus sat VSTfx goodie: Tone Empire's Black Q VERSION 2. Excellent colourisation EQ (saturation on EQ curve). Those saturation plugins really do tap into the ampere-voltage-wattage logarithmic functionality.
🤓🤓
Gordito hate it P42 right?
Having used and loved the UAD Culture Vulture for years I was very interested in the Arturia one to see if they had been able to take it one step further. But honestly I was quite disappointed in it. Did not at all get the effect that I love about the CV.
Might be a good effect on its own, but for me it was meh.
Firstly try naming it right. The Arturia is not called the culture vulture because they ripped off all the settings from the UAD version. The makers, thermionic culture get zero royalties and there's nothing they can do about it. What your all buying is digital distortion. Live with it.
@@peternorth6782 socially-awkward much?
Hello Paul,
I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation.
I have auditioned many plugins and have arrived at the same conclusions as you have.
These plugin designers are selling excellent graphics of vintage machines, meters, faceplates, etc., and little else.
I have personally modeled a 6SN7GT vacuum tube with selectable wear, bias, thermal noise, etc.
What I can tell you is this....
The human ear can hear and tolerate far more noise and distortion that the 'data' would have you believe.
Also, much of the overall sweetness of a tube comes from the interaction of its nonlinearity AND its thermal noise, something that these plugin designers seem to avoid completely.
And to add insult to injury, unless the noise and distortion are REALLY bad, the human ear doesn't care and adapts readily.
Once again, excellent presentation,
Be well,
Bill P.
🤓🤓
I bought waves vu metre it costed me 5 euros but the update price is 12 euros…when I saw that I bought it on purpose because I find the situation amazing lol
£12 for a vu.. F*ck me haha
TBProAudio mvMeter 2 is the best VU meter and it's FREEEEE.
@@rickylegend facts, it blows my mind that anyone would pay for a VU meter plug
Bit late commenting on this but this video has been an incredibly helpful insight into the idea of “fake oversampling”. I did a few dozen sine sweeps of my own after watching this and it turns out that this “fake” oversampling thing is apparently rife in the plugin world - several of my favourite goto plugins appear to show absolutely no difference in aliasing past X4 whatsoever!?🤯🤯
Suddenly I have all this CPU space freed-up which I never knew I wasting before lol!
I was reminded of something I saw Mr Acustica write in a forum, where he basically said that “true” oversampling has a minimum latency value in samples which must be introduced in order for the process to work - so, with this in mind, I picked out some plugins claiming X16 OS with suspiciously low latency - and, sure enough, ALL of them showed no difference past X4.
Furthermore, I was surprised to find so many gain utility and/or simple EQ plugins that immediately introduced aliasing just by exceeding an input volume of -12dB going in!? Whereas, plugins like Kirchhoff EQ and even Acustica’s CoralBAX (with preamp turned off) showed no artefacts at all in comparison.
On the other hand, my trusty T Racks Stealth Limiter had by far the cleanest results of all my limiters when pushed to extreme levels (so much so that I had to double-check I did the test correctly because it had so little distortion!?). Just as well that I’ve used that on every mastering job that’s gone through my record label since the plugin first got released haha! Big ups Paul, top work!
🤓🤓
Is this the same plugin as their "free" magma lil tube plugin they were giving away before this came out? I am assuming it is a scaled down version of this one.
I didn't bother looking tbh as the game changing comments were all about the paid one
@@PaulThird Oh I see. I figured it was probably similar coming from the magma line of plugins they are releasing. I did check it out in plugin doctor, and yeah it seemed to be an EQ and it had some saturation in the hammerstein analysis, so I figured it was probably good, and it sounds okay, thankfully it was free. I wouldn't buy it otherwise. Basically, a one knob drive with some unique EQ curves.
Thank you Paul. Proved it and saved me money. I was also curious at the exaggerated Professional reviews. It's only saturation for sakes. Commendations.
🤓🤓
I don’t particularly care for waves plug-ins, but I purchased this one, and I’m very happy with it. I saw a RUclipsr demo this against 20 other tube style saturators, and they all broke up horribly compared to this. It definitely has a quality that no others can match that I can tell so far. To boot, it’s one of waves plug-ins that reaches 192 kHz sample rate. Perhaps this is something they finally figured out?
But it does fall apart though when the saturation is audible. It's an aliasing mess. I suppose if aliasing doesn't bother you then fair enough but the more you saturate using this you are inherently making the signal less musical, more cloudy and the transients are smeared. That's what audible aliasing will add the more it's brought in. That is what will ultimately never make the plugin sound like real tube saturation unless they fix the oversampling.
Id be interested to see this comparison so I could check loudness levels for each example as waves bb needs a lot of output attenuation to get it right.
Do you have a link for the video so I can check?
@@PaulThird Yeah, I’m not gonna argue against aliasing. After all who the heck wants that? I’ve only used it subtly myself, and so far so good. I’d be interested to see Dan Worrall dissect this one. Nonetheless, this guy did a very good job comparing against some high-quality plug-ins, including two of my favorites by Sound Toys.
He made two videos, one after another. Here they are in order. ✌️
1- ruclips.net/video/g4hPGvRB1dU/видео.html
2. ruclips.net/video/AZ4fGcId7JI/видео.html
That was helpfull.
🤓🤓
Are they selling broken plugins to make people pay for the update. I will never pay for WUP in a million years. I will sell the plugins before i pay that extortionate amount. Absolutely insane.
Well it took them 20 years to do oversampling so dunno how long this fix is gonna take 🤣
don't sell them, NOBODY WANTS THEM!
@@PaulThird lol !
@@pablovazquez8386 😂
Thank you for making these videos and showing the proof. It helps me out I’m sure it helps a lot of people out again thank you.
🤜🤛
my question would be why are these pro engineers so quick to make these huge claims about how great it is? The easy answer is money but why would they be willing to damage their credibility?
This was me actually trying to be diplomatic haha 😅😅
They've turned up the gain on the marketing as well as the presets. That video of Joe and Greg salivating over this plugin was appearing everywhere. Thanks for doing the analysis.
🤓🤓
@@PaulThird Seriously how much do you think they paid them to say all that shit lol
Waves: This is humiliating. It can't get any worse.
*StudioRack enters chat*
😂😂😂
Waves ---Alimony--- Update Plan enters the chat.
you laugh a lot in this video thumbnail speaks volumes 😂 i lost count on how many time you giggle after a sentence !
I always try and say stuff how I actually feel instead of sounding like an absolute robot
Good for you Paul, wtf is wrong with these (lets be honest) greedy people. Oops sorry that is exactly what it is, GREED. Thanks again Paul.
🤓🤓
Just on the advertisements I have seen with this plugin sounded like those MIDI chord pack were full of crock. You proved I can get a lot better with stock saturation already in my DAW.
🤓🤓
Interesting angle here. The title is a little pretentious for a video that doesn’t use a single second of music/audio so we can use our ears to listen to what it’s doing. That’s what audio engineers do after all, right: use our ears? How can one be gullible when using their ears to decide? Think about it. Why are we letting visual information dictate what we use or to tell us if it sounds good, which is all subjective anyways. Plug-in doctor is holding people back from being free creatively. Your clients don’t care about plug-in doctor. Use what you like but most importantly use your EARS.
Dude, seriously, read my other reply to you and maybe think about deleting your comment cause your coming off pretty foolish right now. This is simple science that conclusively proves what I'm showing. You don't need to use your ears after an inaudible pink noise null cause that is needless and a complete waste of time.
Your talking as if everything is doctor when I've printed physical sweeps in the daw and imported into rx. The pink noise nulls are your audio examples.. That is real time conclusive evidence that anyone would need regarding the audibility of difference between 2 audio files.
White noise is EVERY audible frequency at the SAME constant amplitude all at the same time. Pink noise is that signal but tilted because we perceive mid and high frequencies more than low frequencies. There's is no more complex AB test for human hearing. If I show you under -80dbfs.. Its inaudible. Nobody will consistently pass a blind AB on any musical source. Doesn't matter genre, mix or master. If the peak level is matched .. The difference will remain under -80dbfs
I thought we were meant to be audio engineers? Are we not meant to have a basic understanding of audio science to even attempt to call ourselves engineers?
@@PaulThird that’s a bold assumption about my comprehension or understanding here. People can think whatever they want about me based on a comment. I’m not refuting the science here. My point is that a graph means nothing if your ears like what you hear. Why would I delete that? Waves offers free trials. Demo the products. If you don’t like how it sounds then so be it. They’re not claiming to 1:1 emulate a piece of legendary gear and then providing a plug that behaves nothing like it’s real counterpart. You’re bent about people calling it a “game changer” which is a subjective term to begin with. What if it is for them?
But dude we keep circling.
You've said it again "a graph means nothing if your ears like what you hear"
When you've agreed that you can't refute the science so you agree that the waves bb saturation up to a certain point gives you no audible change to the source. So that null shown in SPAN is telling you that your mind can't actually hear a difference using the saturation at lower levels.
That's why I'm getting frustrated.
If you are saying.. Look there's a placebo affect and many people may believe they hear a difference when they'd actually consistently fail a blind test but what's wrong about letting them believe they hear a difference..
Then id say fair enough but I'm just showing the facts with this plugin which are that at lower saturation levels it's inaudible, the oversampling x4 & X8 doesn't work which means that the waves aliases audibly even at moderate saturation levels, you can recreate an artist preset with free plugins with no real audible difference, and that the eq moves are bigger than they make out
That's all valid stuff to give in a review when I'm the only one testing this stuff out in a sea of overly positive, non level matched youtube reviews not showcasing the issues.
Would you not agree that the only reason my video is pissing off so many waves BB owners is because this video has garnered so much attention and likes.
If this was a 1-2k views video nobody would hardly bother but cause its hit 25k+ and has lots of positivity surrounding the review people get more pissed.. Dunno maybe that's just my RUclips experience talking
Golden! Love it ! Good job mate!
🤜🤛
Welllll shit! 😕🤦♂️
I thought it was sounding pretty good, especially with the transformer flipped on. Turns out it's just an eq bump, with some fizz, which i can already do with 10 different plugs on their own 🤷♂️
.............So we should all sue waves for false 8x'ing 😜
"wrapped them in waves own free plugin".....ayyyyy ya cheeky bastard you 😏👏👏
The transformer bump does a bit more when you hit it a lot harder but when it's aliasing like a bitch what's the point haha
The hpf and low bump does make a big tonal shift though. Its hard to hear any difference in the transformer when the saturation is under 5 or 6
I immediately subscribed the first time you laughed. Keep up the good work Paul!
🤜🤛
I hoped you that youll do a video about this plugin. Great video as always Paul :)
🤓🤓
Haha, hilarious 😂 another nail in the waves coffin. Great video 👏
🤓🤓
That's great! A scot is not easily fooled eh? Thanks for the video.
I've been using the FREE Melda saturator, having tried all the other sat plugins, for me it's the best. 2, 3, 4, 5 order sats anyone?
Of course you can pay over a grand for a Vulture...
Melda's oversampling is some of the best in the plugin game
Thanks for the video. I almost purchased this. But the hype was too much to believe it to be a "game changer".
Clever man
Super informative as usual, bravo it was didactic and précise.
🤜🤛
Little radiator from soundtoys is now free and works amazing on the drumbuss too!
🤓🤓
Thanks Paul for another honest review. Saving people money and educating them as well 😊
Savage as always lol. Wish we could post this video in its testimonial page to vary a bit from their botted reviews lol
🤣🤣
Was so waiting for this video to land Paul! 🤣 brilliant. Cannot wait to read the comments now. Please please please would you consider doing a review of MAAT fidef jentwo and exploring if it does anything to make any music feel more intricate detailed, emotional for you? Don’t know if it’s your bag but would love to see your take on interesting psychoacoustic offerings!
🤓🤓
I got suspicious when in all the ads waves showed me about this on youtube it never ONCE let me hear anything actually playing THROUGH the plugin. Only people I've never seen before telling how game changing this is... and all I was thinking was literally "It's just a tube stage... this cannot possibly be that new"
🤓🤓
Thank you for spilling the tea Paul. May you enjoy your holidays.
You too 🤓
Paul! You gave me my video afterall. 🙂
Unfortunately I already bought it prior because it was like $17 on AudioDeluxe. I am not usually a gullible person who gets suckered into plugins but because it was so cheap and easy to use, I figured it was worth $17. Oh well. I saved more than $17 on other things so it's a wash. Live and learn!
Always live and learn 🤓
« Everyone likes proof this days » oh my you killed me with that one (moreover I am a lawyer I wish I could reuse that quote in court lol)
🤓🤓
@PaulThird I love all of your content be cause you’re, quite simply, technically correct, as validated through testing. The world needs more Truth and less marketing lies…and you provide that Truth to all of us watching. For that, I thank you! “The Truth will make you free”
🤜🤛
Hahaha. Thank you very much for this video, Paul. The whole time I was trying out this Game Changer plugin, I was sure you would come up with a hilarious video! Hahaha. Made my day! 😂😂😂
As soon as I pull out the dj filter in filmora... You know you're f*cked 😂
@@PaulThird 😂😂😂
Thanks for the report sir!
🤜🤛
14:40 Controversial, Paul 😉👏🏻 I’m interested what you think of the free L’il Tubes plugin. I think it sounds better and doesn’t come with the EQ filters.
The thought of installing another waves trial brings back my hernia 🤣🤣
Thanks for the great video! I hadn't tested it in depth with PD yet, but I was planning on it, thanks for saving me the time and effort! I knew something wasn't quite right with Oversampling because it just didn't sound right at all at 4x or 8x and I found the aliasing atrocious as well, so I had a feeling that something was up. And that "0.5db" really scares me, can we not trust the numbers we are looking at anymore? That's just scary.
🤓🤓
Congrats Detective Third!
🤓🤓
I'm on the same page as you in regards to a LOT of Waves plugins, even the J37 Tape, for example, are just cleverly masked EQ curves, in my opinion, for the most part.
🤓🤓
Thank you man! I really appreciate your work!
🤜🤛
I watch your videos just wen I heave pluginitis, that's perfect for aid before expend my money 💰
🤜🤛
Goodness gracious 😅🫠
🤓🤓
This plugin deserves to be released 2nd time under Plugin Alliance but with magical TMT for only $199 (original price $399)
😅😅
Wonderfully blown apart Paul - loved it dude. Critical thinking seems to have been lost on so many people. They'd rather be led by the nose and their pockets emptied by the marketeers. If I can quote a bit from Image-Line;
"Skill - The world is full of marketing departments trying to convince you that equipment and specifications can substitute for talent & hard work. This is not true, the 'performance' transcends the medium every time. The performance includes musicianship, vocals, orchestration, arrangement and the mixing decisions. These are all under your control and have little to do with the DAW software you use or plugins you have."
Think people think, try it by all means YMMV but please think critically and don't become the product.
Thanks Paul.
🤓🤓
Paul, I can’t wait to hear your take on the BB’s new sister, the Magma Channel Strip that Waves just released.
Cant be bothered. You's all know the script and what to look out for haha
@@PaulThird aww, can’t you quickly give them the verbal moon-pounding they so richly deserve? You’re the OG “Killa Inna Kilt” we all love!
It's not difficult though. I don't need to touch it. It's a basic as f*ck channel strip with no oversampling so drive section is gonna alias like a bitch. 2 basic fixed compression modes. Expander/gate. 3 band eq. There are free plugins that basically do the same thing.
Most of the pro's are calling it "an easy tool for beginners" i.e. This is basic as shit and another needless plugin release.
Waste of my time even downloading the demo 🤣