Plugin Bugs You Should Know About

Kevin Becka February 23rd, 2010

Recently during some sessions, I came across a couple of consistent Waves plugin misfires when using a Pro Tools HD TDM system.

Â 1. TDM vs. RTAS Performance

A Waves C1 Gate’s performance varies greatly between TDM and RTAS versions. In the following examples, the session, source file, track and plug-in’s settings were exactly the same, only the type changed. Listen how the C1 RTAS gate randomly changes amplitube and function making it unusable and drastically different from the outcome when using the TDM version of the same plugin. This was repeated and verified across more than one Mac 2 x 2.66 GHz Dual-Core system with 8 GB of RAM running OS 10.6.2 running Pro Tools 8.0.3 cs1.

2. Broken Relink Function

On any multi-mono plugin, the relink function allows you to reset your other instances to the settings of the channel chosen in the “Channel to retain” pulldown. While this worked as expected on any multi-mono plugin I tried, it did not operate as it should on a Waves C1 Gate and C1 Compressor, leaving all settings as is.

3 Comments to “Plugin Bugs You Should Know About”

Bill Ebmeyer Says:

March 9th, 2010 at 6:27 pm

While I like the sound of Waves plug generally, I have an ICON and NONE of the Waves plugs map to the EQ or Dynamic sections on the control surface. Nor do they read on these section’s meters.

The other thing that completely drives me nuts is the tab through parameter function when a Waves plug in window is open. Tab is such a useful key command in Pro Tools and having a Waves plug in open negates the ability to navigate in Pro Tools.
I have REPEATEDLY asked the folks at Waves to add the Tab through parameters function to their menu tree or upon install so you can dis-able it… but to no avail.
I personally have been on a search to replace all my Waves plugs with plugs from other manufacturers specifically for this reason.
Plus the tech support at Waves is less than stellar. It seems like the people at Waves believe they are “above” us end users.
Mike Guess Says:

March 10th, 2010 at 1:20 am

TDM vs. RTAS Performance

At first listen, it seems like the volume of the TDM version is much louder than the RTAS version. It’s hard to compare the two examples without them being the same volume.

Mike Guess
Mike Guess Says:

March 10th, 2010 at 1:30 am

TDM vs. RTAS Performance

After making the volume match, I have to admit that the TDM sounds much better

Mike Guess