Synths & FX at a bargain price: pearl diving at the March sale from Waves

Here we present a few of our highlights - plus a personal recommendation from David Guetta: the "soundgoodiser" Waves Vitamin Sonic Enhancer.

David Guetta's insider tip: the Vitamin Sonic Enhancer

The Vitamin Sonic Enhancer is a "soundgoodiser" or, to put it more bluntly: the "add fat and mojo" button for all sounds. The multiband harmonic enhancer uses a mixture of parallel EQ, dynamics and saturation under the hood, with very simple operation and a clear GUI. Here you can see it in action on a bootleg of Cardi B's song WAP:

You can find the Vitamin Sonic Enhancer here.

Our personal editorial favourite: the Waves CR8 sampler

According to its features, the CR8 is a sampler for all situations ... except for sampling itself, which it can't do. Instead, it offers every conceivable form of sound bending: the loaded material can be played in a classic chromatic style, but also at a constant tempo at any pitch.

Thanks to five different algorithms, beats remain tight, vocals relatively natural and melodies largely free of artefacts, even with large jumps away from the original pitch. Two practical features are the recognition of the root note, which finds the correct key in most cases, and a "flat" mode, which quantises the pitch of the sample to one pitch in the style of Autotune. This works brilliantly and is a unique feature to date. When testing the CR8, a dilettantish vocal recording by the editor quickly turned into a passable choir.

It would go beyond the scope of this article to go into the full range of functions of the CR8 Sampler, but it should be clear: The plug-in can do a lot and is an asset for anyone who wants to use samples quickly and easily, as well as those who like to bend their material and explore completely new sounds. Unique features such as root note detection, flat mode, freeze, unison and stereo spread deliver outstanding results at the touch of a button; any sound becomes thick and wide within seconds. And then there's Cosmos and a no-brainer price. We can only make a clear recommendation for anyone who works with loops and samples.

Find the CR8 Creative Sampler here.

Tube power from Waves: Magma Tube Channel Strip

With the Magma Tube Channel Strip, Waves has developed a new effects plug-in that works as a channel strip. The sound is said to be based on legendary analogue mixing consoles and other tube-based hardware. The signal flow should ensure an organic sound even at extreme settings. The plug-in not only aims to optimise the sound tonally but also dynamically. It offers a wide range of sounds - from subtle to aggressive tube colourations.

Magma Tube Channel Strip has a preamp (drive) and a 3-band equaliser. The equaliser's mid-band can be set to either 100 Hz, 1.6 kHz or a maximum of 5 kHz. There is also a dynamics section with a one-button compressor. Its toggle switch ensures maximum compression. There is also an expander that can optionally be switched to gate mode. Several presets, an A/B comparison and a VU meter round off the range of functions.

You can find the Magma Tube Channel Strip here.

Have fun with the sturgeon, finding and – most important – making music with it!