Waves StudioVerse – Enhance your mixdowns with mixing chains from the community

How does StudioVerse work?

As before, StudioRack is available as a plug-in inside your DAW. The virtual rack can contain effect chains of a combination of up to eight Waves and VST3 plug-ins. The loading of presets for many different applications is done through the already familiar browser. But it gets really interesting when you click on the StudioVerse button. Here, you can browse the growing number of plug-in chains in an easy-to-use browser with a search function using keywords, tags and filters. You can also browse the StudioVerse Chains on the Waves website. A hearty click on the Load button and the effect chain is loaded, although this takes a little while. With the eight Macro Controls, the most important sound adjustments can be made quickly and easily. And if that‘s not enough for you, you can, of course, customize the settings of the effects you use.

Suggestions from the AI

Well, you know how it is. Sometimes you‘re working on a track and you just want a track to sound „better“ or „more interesting,“ for example, vocals, drums, a guitar riff, or a synth sequence. Imagine a top Producer sitting next to you with „fresh ears“ suggesting suitable effects processing.

StudioRack‘s built-in Artificial Intelligence does just that: It first analyzes the incoming audio signal and then suggests suitable plug-in chains from the StudioVerse community.

To do this, simply play the track you want to refine and click the Scan button on the plug-in GUI or in the StudioVerse window. Just like that, matching presets are displayed. This is a great feature for single instruments or vocals, but it doesn‘t work so well on busses or complete mixes.

In detail

The virtual rack is visualized on the plug-in page of the same name. Clicking on a slot displays the GUI of the respective plug-in. If parallel or multiband splits are present in the effect chain, the corresponding sub-racks are displayed. Thanks to Parallel Split Racks, the tool is not only equipped for mono and stereo applications, but also masters any invidual processing of the Mid and Side parts. The M/S functionality, in particular, is worth its weight in gold for Mixing and Mastering tasks, for example, to bring the vocals in the center signal more to the foreground and, at the same time, to give the instruments in the side channel a little more reverb.

6 FX chains you definitely have to check out

• Beyoncé Lead Vocal Chain | LuDiaz: Our tip for present Beyoncé-style vocals with silky highs. If the S-sounds too sharp, just turn up the DeEsser control a bit. Tip: A higher Life value makes for a more atmospheric sound.
• GTR Metal Hell | Mick Gordon: This preset is a real weapon for high-gain metal boards. Just send your clean recorded riffs through the effects chain. Want a more defined sound? Just disable the Fuzz effect.
• Cloud Pad Generator – CirroCumulus | Bluetech: Ambient and Downbeat producer, Bluetech, has created a whole series of effects chains for Ambient & more with his Cloud Pad Generator presets. An insider tip for pads and atmospheric textures.
• CLA Stereo Drums | Chris Lord-Alge: Our recommendation for giving acoustic drums a punchy sound. Turn up the Spank control for a powerful sound in the style of John Bonham (Led Zeppelin).
• Mega Mastering Chain | Krakota: The Mega Mastering Chain is actually intended for the final polish on Drum & Bass tracks, but it also plays to its strengths on club music of any stripe or Hip Hop.
• No Face Distortion | Abbey Road Studios: Brutal distortion? Then this effect chain is just the thing for you! Simple synth sounds become brutal leads at the touch of a button - perfect for Industrial and Electro Rock!

Custom effects chains

Do you feel more like creating your own effect chains? That‘s easy to do, too. If you have a Waves subscription, you can choose from a wide range of effects, from Dynamics Processors and Equalizers to Modulation, Distortion, Pitch Shift, Delay, Reverb, and Room Simulations. Quickly customize the signal path with drag-and-drop ease. You can also create Multiband Compressors, Limiters, or Distortion thanks to the ability to divide each signal into up to five frequency bands. Cool! The crossover frequencies can also be adjusted.

Or how about adding saturation to a guitar sound with distorted mids, while only subtly compressing the bass and leaving the treble unprocessed? Parallel signal processing makes it possible, for example, to give complete mixes more punch and presence without sacrificing transparency, since the dry signal is mixed with the effected signal. Once you‘ve created your dream effects chain, you can save it to a preset and use it across platforms and DAWs, and share it with other users.

Finally, on the Macro page, you can assign the plug-in parameters that you want to control to the eight macros. Here, you have all assignments at a glance and can also define the Modulation Intensity and which control range of a macro knob influences that parameter. For example, it is possible to control compression with the left control range, while the right control range doses up the saturation.