I especially liked the hi-hat mode for bringing up lightly played eighth notes while not excessively lifting spill from the rest of the kit. I liked the Snap control because it works subtly on the transient portion of drum hits-harder sounding without being just brighter. Although I don't know exactly what's going on behind the GUI, DRM duplicates the sound of equalizer and compressor chains I often used for these tracks. DRM's processing modes are Kick, Snare Top, Snare Bottom, Hat, Toms, Overheads and Room Tracks. drum sounds into punchy and bright drums. The DRM is excellent for converting dull, lifeless R.I.P. All of these effects are married together within the plug, so vocals take on a more cohesive, focused and "produced" sound as opposed to the result of using send/return to effect processors. Used sparingly, the delay and reverb sounds were good the delays were on the short side with regeneration and the reverb sounds were plate-like. I liked Contour 2 for this vocal in the verses and went with Contour 1 for the choruses as its slimmer, denser sound was a better fit for the track. Too bad because Contour changes can be automated and I would use this ability for separate verse and chorus treatments. I saved presets of each contour after tweaking the FX, EQ and Compress controls-tweaks not saved (at least on an interim basis) when switching between Contours. On a densely produced modern rock song, I liked switching through the three contours while listening to the whole mix. When first inserting VX1 on my female lead vocal track, I noticed a low-frequency roll-off even though the Bass and Treble knobs indicated "0." The change in sound is instantly gratifying: None of these plugs come up flat or "swimming" in effects-delays and reverbs are dialed off but ready to add. There are six additional controls for adjusting delay and reverb parameters. Running under Contour 3, Compress becomes an Air control for adding pleasant high frequencies to the sound. Contour 1 puts a vocal in a small studio or room a slow ballad vocal might sound better on Contour 2 with its larger chamber and many pre-delay choices and Contour 3 uses a small room with shorter delay options for uptempo songs. Conceptually and musically, this is a good way to initially set up a vocal processing and treatment chain. VX1 has three "contours" or modes configured for the most suitable vocal treatment predicated on song tempo. The VX1's compressor has vibey sound to it, and although WAVES is "close to the vest" about the details of the internal processors of these plugs, I'm betting the compressor section is based on a tube compressor's characteristics and sound. The controls on VX1 are: Sensitivity which drives the chain harder right into a cool distorted sound if you prefer, the Bass and Treble controls are fairly broad EQs like tone controls on a FM radio, and Compress is for applying more or less compression. The intuitive control sets on the six plug-ins vary, depending on the specific task, except for a Sensitivity control that drives the chain harder and harder, right into a cool, distorted sound much like a hardware's "blooming" tube stage. The Waves GUI provides for A and B setups for fast switching and comparing between two settings. Each plug-in includes both mono in/stereo out and stereo in/out versions. This bundle is available in Native only-VST, AU, RTAS and AudioSuite-no TDM versions.
I tested them in Pro Tools HD3 Accel running Pro Tools 7.4 on an OS 10.4.11 Mac Quadcore PPC. Visually, these plugs are pleasing to look at and are a definite conversation piece during mixing session breaks.
The GUIs look like bakelite radios from the 1930s and '40s-old Grundig Majestic shortwave receivers with huge knobs and buttons, ventilation slots revealing glowing "tubes" and round glass-faced radio dials for I/O VU meters. The six plug-ins are the VX1 Vocal Enhancer, B72 Bass Phattener, DRM Drum Slammer, GTi Guitar Toner, ACG Acoustic Guitar Designer and HMX Harmonics Generator.
While the default settings sound great, all the plug-ins have a huge range of processing power and many automatable macro parameter controls to conform them to your own style and aesthetic. Waves has combined, into task-specific plug-ins, all the different processors Maserati employs to achieve his hit-making sonic treatments of individual vocal and instrument tracks. Each of these six plug-ins is a unique, preconfigured signal processor chain designed by New York-based mix-mëister Tony Maserati.
The Tony Maserati Collection is the first in the Waves Signature Series of plug-ins.
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