Thanks, Paul!
Sorry for the delay, I slept most of yesterday 
I’ve thought about this and think I’m probably grumbling unnecessarily… My main beefs are what you mentioned about subs lapsing and what I feel is cost vs advancement in the software. I tend to compare Pro Tools to Cubase because those are the two DAW’s I run, and I feel like Cubase has become this juggernaut and Pro Tools has sort of plodded along and added useful things here n’ there.
I do love Pro Tools and will always make sure I have access to it because I’m still the most comfy in it… and may wind up moving to HD eventually depending on hardware decisions. I also recognize that Pro Tools has to cater to much more than just music-based studios, so I’m probably just jumping on the “Damn you, Avid!” bandwagon 
I don’t know about that one Big Al, but for less than 2X that price, you can get 6 really decent plugins. On the recommendation of a friend, I got the Manny Marroquin bundle and love it. Just the EQ alone is superb. He basically took his favorite EQs and put them all in one. Each range is an emulation from one of his go-tos. It can be had at everyplugin for about $50…
http://everyplugin.com/manny-marroquin-signature-series.html
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Yeah. I think these are the two best in vox plugs they make and the only ones that I still use. Not crazy about the Kramer and maserati vocal plugs, and the Manny set doesn’t have any. The greg wells is a bit more modern sounding to me than the cla.
I use the maserati groups plugin for back up vocals, but not the vocal one for leads.
I just bought this before checking the forum.
If it helps, I used 2 coupons
SUMMER2018
and
YNY23
Total price $23.82
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I went ahead and bought the Voicecentric plugin. Now if I could just find a plugin that made me a good guitar player.
Good deal man. I run the GW voice centric chain like this:
Filter/Surgical EQ
Autotuner
De-esser
Compression/Multi-band compression
VoiceCentric
…then all time, mod, and saturation based effects after it. I keep the Auxes on that channel pre-routed (but disabled) to the Doubler and the MicroShifter incase I don’t like what the doubler does. Then I can default back to my other ones in a couple seconds of auditioning it on the source.
…I also keep this as close to the end of the chain as possible because I found it works best when run mono->stereo, since the doubler is one of the most useful features on that plugin.
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I am pretty sure they’re watching our conversation here. lol
I just got an email with a code for 25% off, so I guess this weekend Waves plugins are worth $21.75. Thinking about getting the Parallel Particles plugin. Anyone use that?
I used the trial version - and I know it shouldn’t matter, but the GUI of that plugin is so awful. Someone online described it as a WinAmp skin from the 90’s!
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Haven’t touched anything Waves in a long time and the only 2 plugs I miss are the Loudness Maximizer and Retro comp from the vintage series. Quite happy running Studio One Producer stock plugins with some freeware. Haven’t looked at Waves a long time, and was surprised to see the same familiar bundle still at the studio that I recorded recently. Honestly, nothing they ever did impressed me much and their validation schemes were always a pain.
I dont really care about the GUI, but I’m guessing it didn’t do anything amazing sound wise either since you didn’t end up buying it?
I’d definitely recommend demo-ing it first. I’d be curious to see what your thoughts are on it. I’ve had a hard time finding a use for this one, but it doesn’t make it bad…maybe it doesn’t fit my workflow real well. It is kind of a workflow plugin when you think about it.
Curious to hear @madpsychot 's thoughts but I’ll give ya mine for insight. They added it to the Mercury bundle. I probably wouldn’t have bought it. I played with it quite a bit and tried to get it to work on a number of sources. Its not a real bold in-your-face concept. Some of the ‘amazingness’ of certain plugins like the Chandler Curve Bender, the Manley Vari-Mu and the Millenia MESQ1 is that they do subtle very very well. And the subtle changes are very difficult to get other EQ/comp plugins to mimic.
The Parallel Particles is designed to be a broad scope middle-of-the-road multi application thing. So its gonna do simple basic stuff easily. For example, if you want to throw a normal parallel compressor on an overhead group, the PP will get you there a lot faster than bussing to an aux, building the chain, and re-structuring your VU meters then sending to your crusher bus. All that happens with one click with the PP.
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I like steampunk but that is awful. I am waiting for a slave from mad max to come out from behind it and finish the mix.
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I was very much in a learning phase at that time, but even at that point I didn’t like the idea of simply moving dials to do “something” to the sound, without actually knowing what was being done to the sound wasn’t appealing to me. But overall, I could feel that an improvement in one part of the sound was doing something else that I didn’t like to another sound. I will say being inexperienced at the time may have had a lot to do with it.
At this moment, I love plugins that do something focussed and do it well.
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Thanks, I’ll demo it first.
Which one?? Are you talking about the Waves V-comp, the R-comp, or the H-comp?
Grey, Blue, or Orange?
Its crazy to see how popular these things still are and how much they continue to be used in modern recordings…just in different ways. I just completed the second half of the Waves certification training in Charlotte NC the other day. The studio I was in had all Waves plugins, and that was about ALL they had. But the place has been cranking out an insane amount of chart topping hits on the international scene. Completely ITB workflow. All digital consoles.
That’s understandable. Waves used to be my hero on a pedestal until UAD started killing them in the outboard clones department. My thoughts are that if you take any single Waves plugin you can find other stuff that does the job or something similar. However, Waves does have 8 truly unique plugins:
B360, Dugan, and InPhase, PSE, MaxxBass, Q-clone, DTS, and the M360 Matrix Manager.
To my knowledge there is nothing else in the audio world that is capable of performing these functions in a similar manner. Do correct me if I’m wrong.