Ozone ($299) or Waves Native ($500)?

TorS wrote on 8/12/2004, 6:52 AM
I've searched these forums and found frequent mentions of Ozone's heavy CPU-usage. Apart from that people seem to hold it in high regard. About Waves, I've learned that the TrueVerb is the greatest, and also that the developing team behind Vegas work closely with their brothers and sisters at Waves - whatever that means. It ought to mean that the combination of Vegas and Waves should always work well.

I'm looking for advise on which way to go. I want to use the package for video productions (live recodings of choirs and accoustical instrument groups). The price difference of £201 is (to me) a significant one, but if Ozone is not really adequate, or if Native is really heaven in comparison, I will try to find the cash.

I run a 2.8 P4, 1 gig memory. I will typically record 2-4 tracks, but would like headroom for working with up to 8. Would Ozone behave well in that situation? Would Native still be worth the extra cash?
Tor

Comments

bog wrote on 8/12/2004, 12:08 PM
I believe both of these products offer free demos to try out for yourself. I myself tried out the Ozone (probably an older version though) and couldn't stand it, but it seemed to do an okay job, just like the Waves plugs - which I did initially find to be better, but definately not heaven, in comparison.
MacMoney wrote on 8/12/2004, 4:21 PM
I agree try both demos

George Ware
PipelineAudio wrote on 8/12/2004, 11:04 PM
Whoever told you waves truverb was best needs a smack in the nose.

I understand about self esteem and rewarding people for trying even when they fail, but the terrible rotten garbage quality of plugin reverbs has gone on long enough

that plug is HORRIBLE. The cheapest crappiest even Alesis reverb will stomp all over that thing, and thats sad

Waves makes some other really cool stuff though. Enigma is good fun, Mondo mod has a bpm interface unlike sony's amplitude modulation
VegUser wrote on 8/13/2004, 2:36 AM
<<<that plug is HORRIBLE>>>

naw man, just like an instrument, it's how you use it. You know this.

I myself like the Timeworks 4080L for some odd reason, but I'm sure others will argue that it's one of the worst.
drbam wrote on 8/13/2004, 6:49 AM
I agree with Pipe. An Alesis Nanoverb sounds better than the TrueVerb (and most native plugs IMO). What I mean by "better" is that the tails are much smoother and you don't get that awful metallic quality that's inherent in most of the plugs and cheaper hardware verbs.

drbam
Greg_M wrote on 8/13/2004, 1:55 PM
TorS,

Ozone is a mastering suite. Version 3 is pretty good. I'm not sure what Waves Native plugs or bundle you are comparing to Ozone. The Waves native bundle has 3 very good mastering plugs (Linear EQ, Multiband Compressor, and an L2 Ultramaximizer), usually costs more than $500, and no reverb that I know of.

Neither Ozone or the Waves Masters Bundle are meant to be used as single channel plugs.

If you don't have any plugins now, and you are looking for a good set of plugs, you will likely get a lot of mileage out of the Waves Native Gold/Platinum bundles - but they will cost you a lot more than $500.

If you are looking for a low cost mastering suite that will impress you, Ozone will do it. Your P4 2.8 GHz machine should have no trouble with any of these plugs.

Excuse me if you already knew this.

The advice given in the above posts is very good - try out the demos.

Hope his helped.

Greg
TorS wrote on 8/13/2004, 3:09 PM
Thanks, Greg,
Of course I'll try the demo. What I was hoping was that if some of you people had the experience and were willing to share it, I'd get away with trying just one, and be well prepared, so I could get to the critical issues fast. I appreciate everyone's opinion about reverbs, but the question was about two different mastering suites.
The Waves Native Power Pack does sell for $500 (download) and it includes True Verb Room Emulator (which I believe is a reverb thing). The question was - for my plans, will Ozone do and/or is Waves NPP worth the extra 201 dollars?

I don't have any plugins now, like you suspect. I have been using the ones that comes with Vegas and Sound Forge. Obviously, I'm not entirely happy with them, or rather - they do not satisfy my needs entirely.
Tor
drbam wrote on 8/13/2004, 4:14 PM
The 2 choices you are comparing really aren't in the same category. Ozone is indeed a dedicated "mastering suite." The Waves NPP is not a mastering suite per se, and although it could used for doing some mastering, it lacks some features for this. Waves offers a mastering bundle and if you're going to be comparing "apples to apples" then I would suggest comparing it to Ozone. Huge price difference though! Given that you don't have any 3rd party plugs, I would suggest the Waves Ren bundle. The compressors and eqs are quite nice and I personally think the R verb sounds much better than the True Verb. Some folks feel the opposite.

HTH,

drbam
TorS wrote on 8/19/2004, 7:45 AM
drbam,
Thank you for that good reply. I downloaded Waves ren bundle to have a closer look - only to realise it requires XP. I've had XP Pro lying on a shelf since Vegas 5 came out but have not had the extra timespace to install it. I'll make do with the Vegas plugs for now and come back to the other possibilities by and by.
Tor