Waves Ultimate

About this release

This is the whole processing collection rather than one of the smaller bundles, which means the plugins that show up on nearly every professional session are all present at once. The vintage compressor and equaliser emulations, the vocal chains, the reverbs, the tape and console models, the de essers and noise reduction tools, the mastering limiters and the metering suite are installed together and appear in whatever host the machine already runs.

The dynamics and equalisation section is the working core. Several generations of compressor design are represented, from the fast transparent digital ones used on drums to the slow coloured emulations that sit across a mix bus, and the equalisers span surgical digital curves and the broad musical shapes that hardware units were known for. Between them there is a sensible answer to almost any mix problem, and the presets are organised by source rather than by parameter, which is far more useful in practice.

Reverb and space are handled with both convolution and algorithmic engines, so a real room and an invented one are both available, along with the plate, spring and hall models that particular records were built on. Delays, modulation, saturation and stereo imaging fill out the creative side, and the imaging tools include proper mono compatibility checking rather than just a width control.

Restoration and mastering close the chain. Broadband and spectral noise reduction, click and crackle removal, hum elimination and a de esser that works on the sibilance rather than the whole top end, then loudness metering against broadcast and streaming targets with a limiter that holds the ceiling without pumping. Formats cover the standard host plugin interfaces, so the collection loads in essentially any current recording application.

What it does

Complete processing collection

Dynamics, equalisation, reverb, delay, saturation, imaging, restoration and metering in one install.

Vintage hardware emulations

Compressor, equaliser, tape and console models with the character the originals were used for.

Convolution and algorithmic reverb

Real captured spaces alongside plate, spring, hall and room algorithms.

Vocal chains

Multi stage processors that handle a whole vocal from gate to limiter in one window.

Restoration tools

Noise, hum, click and sibilance removal that works on the problem rather than the whole band.

Loudness metering

Broadcast and streaming targets with true peak reading and a transparent final limiter.

Changed in this version

• Lower processing load across the older plugins in the collection.
• Interface scaling reworked so every plugin resizes properly on high density displays.
• Preset browser rebuilt with search across the whole collection.
• Improved oversampling options on the mastering limiters.
• Fixed automation smoothing on a handful of modulation plugins.

System requirements

Install order

1. Unpack the archive to a folder with room for the convolution content.
2. Close every recording application before starting the installer.
3. Run the installer and choose the plugin format folders the host scans.
4. Open the host once and let it complete a full plugin scan before loading a session.

Worth knowing before you start

File details