WOW.. audio engineers will really believe anything these days!!

[@PaulThird]

What's your snake oil plugin of the year? ALSO as I keep getting people commenting regarding the input sensitivity dial, it purely reduces the ceiling of the soft clipping and doesn't add any input gain to the signal. I know cause the output remains the same and if the input level is increased it shows in the ramp as it will raise in level but the level remains the same and its only the clipping threshold that is affected. Reducing the headroom of the input signal a lot will eventually result in audible soft clipping but in a lot of the presets, the input sensitivity isn't set high enough to engage the clipping. It's all dependent on the peak level of your source and how much headroom you choose to give the input signal. In most cases to really hear the soft clipping you need to get the input sensitivity into the red which waves state is not an ideal input level, probably cause they know the oversampling doesn't work and the clipping in conjuction with the lack of working oversampling will cause more distortion and more aliasing which they won't want further added to the signal (there's a reason why clippers have OS) People have commented that there is auto gain comp in the input sensitivity and this is a lot of bull. From what I could see it's just lowering the ceiling for the clipper which gsat+ does in very simple terms with its "CLIP CEILING" 🤣. Brainworx and Lindell do the same with their THD function and most well coded emulations will include a coded clipper which engages at a certain input level (normally very high as analog takes a lot of input signal to clip, remember analog works in vu/dbu, with 0vu normally being calibrated to -18dbfs in the plugins so it takes quite a bit to make it clip unless you really raise the input level or reduce the input ceiling which you can do in a ton of saturation plugs and emus) Honestly, actual clipping without working oversampling is poor. Most free clippers oversample and actually works. I wouldnt advise clipping a signal heavily without working oversampling.. And waves know this also....

[@OlafFinkbeiner]

This is one of them

[@vigilantestylez]

Mix Monolith in my opinion. It degrades the sound quality and does crap that is not needed like sidechaining bass and kicks. I went and bought it right away thinking it would be good, and I usually trust plugins from plugin alliance, but I was highly disappointed in the results. I did as they said and did 2 passes, and the mix sounded shit really bad for me. To me that was one of the most trash plugins I have ever used. Well, I hope they went out to dinner to a nice restaurant with my money.

[@electricwhiterabbit]

This one. I knew there wasn't something right with it. Glad I didn't buy into the hype.

[@DJeMo]

@@vigilantestylez I've seen this happen a few but there was someones video showed this happening and why, there is certain ranges and under the hood stuff to sort if I recall, but this was a while ago and I tried having a look for it there but no joy, but there is only a few specific ways to use monolith so don't despair have a dig around and get tore into the manual too, it is a weapon when weilded correctly for sure...

[@DJeMo]

Do a wee review on the free saturation plug called Gsat, I find it kind of nice, but your acute experience with such things might offer a better opinion... Infact nevermind just came to that mention on this video haha, guess it's decent then hehe

[@Tony-yp7ok]

It’s an absolute gain changer.

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@DrMarlowski]

😂

[@skovbowden]

:DDD

[@WeissAdvice]

This is a great comment.

[@taviqmasteringonline2754]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@SenseiKreese]

Busting companies churning out lies and crap isn't negativity, it's an extremely positive thing to do. Good on you.

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@WarrenPostma]

@@PaulThird This video is straight awesome.

[@KOjoeProduction]

Oui.

[@somdeoliveira]

Agreed. Also, i love Greg Wells, but man, you can see him with these "game changer" statements all over the plugin market.

[@danceswith7wolves]

Criteria and Criticism in general is inherently negative, without it we wouldn't be able to make any rational decisions in life 🤷

[@PALMLINES]

This popped up in my feed. Great analysis - very thorough when it comes to data. My only issue is that in 15+ minute video there was maybe 30 seconds of audio? You make music with your ears, not your eyes. I understand your argument, but regardless of what the plug-in is “doing” how does it actually sound? You said you recreated the same plug-in using free plug-ins, but I didn’t hear any audio side-by-side? Does it sound the same? If it does, that’d be impressive. If not, Waves clearly doing something that the freeware isn’t. I won’t lie, I don’t know a ton about the backend tech that goes into creating these plug-ins, but I’d have to imagine the algorithms Waves are using are better than some free software (though there are some amazing people out there & I could be wrong). Anyway, that’s my two cents on the video. Just would have liked to have heard more audio comparisons instead of bashing the plug-in with specs. Very good quality & well put together video though. Keep it going!

[@PaulThird]

You don't need audio examples when you show an inaudible null of the most complex audio signal you can possibly use. Tbh im starting to get annoyed where I constantly feel the need to explain to engineers what pink noise is and why an inaudible null bypasses the need for an AB. Pink noise is full bandwidth so every frequency is catered for which is also at a constant amplitude. You can have a 100 piece orchestra with 20 drummers, 5 bassists and 50 singers and it still won't be as complex as pink noise. You can say but it's not musical, but in terms of an AB it's the most reliable proof if something actually makes an audible difference because every frequency is catered for equally at the same time. Pink noise is just white noise (which is all frequencies at the same constant level but tilted) I'm genuinely giving you the most complex audio AB you can possibly ask for. It's actually unrealistic cause there is no audio that has full bandwidth and Constant level all the time but it's the concrete proof that states that an inaudible null will render ANY other audio example pointless. Doesn't matter what it is, cause you won't find another audio signal as complex. Waves state that the ideal signal is max peaks at -12dbfs. So any dynamic signal that peaks at -12dbfs. I've given you a constant signal at -12dbfs catering for ALL audible frequencies, ALL the time. If that null is inaudible then ANY AB you do with ANY musical source peaking at -12dbfs will be inaudible. Simple science.

[@marvinrockon]

2 things why i didn't bothered with the plugin when it came out: 1. Honestly, "just another" Saturation / Distortion plugin nowadays doesn't cut it anymore. There are great ones all across the board, for years... It had to be either making something new or the advertised thing absolute top tier. 2. Kush, who makes absolutely BEAUTIFUL saturation, EQ and compressor plugins, released the LG Drive pretty close time wise, absolutely mobbing the floor with the Waves new kid. Kush deserves more love.

[@MagicCvstle]

Agreed! Gregory Scott is an absolute legend.

[@buhlir]

Yes dude EXACTLY!! Kush is my all time fav. and Gregory is just the best

[@kariffigueroa8912]

Yes Kush is amazing.

[@wyrlismike]

I have the new kush and this one, I actually far preferred the waves, don't forget null tests in situations isn't what you think, it's more complicated then that, but have you fun guys

[@MagicCvstle]

@@wyrlismike I actually like the sound of BB Tubes as well. It does add a TON of gain which is annoying but when you compensate it seems pleasing to me. Kush audio does make great stuff though :)

[@EdThorne]

14:40 Controversial, Paul 😉👏🏻 I’m interested what you think of the free L’il Tubes plugin. I think it sounds better and doesn’t come with the EQ filters.

[@PaulThird]

The thought of installing another waves trial brings back my hernia 🤣🤣

[@MikeSmith-qk5zw]

I love this guy. He saves us from burning money on unnecessary junk. Thanks a lot, Paul. We love you!

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@michaelsstatement]

Again a great one Paul. When I saw first time the Waves ad I knew Paul will make a video and it will be the way it is...hahahahaaa GREAT!!

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@IntheDAW]

OMG FINALLY! I have been waiting for your video on this!

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@DavidDiMuzio]

Goodness gracious 😅🫠

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@bartldrum]

Love this Paul and thank you mate for all the amazing video content this year. I'd argue not negativity, but reality. Far too many salesmen on YT and not enough "Real" reviews that you can trust! Love the comedy too mate; fantastic. Hope you and the family have an amazing Christmas and New Year.

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@firewerk66]

@@PaulThird yes, we definitely need the "under the hood" style vids, for sure. Waves is absolutely stealing money from folks who dont have the knowhow or inclination to do all the testing. I am certainly most interested in these kinds of videos. Thanks!

[@marianlech3378]

I just love these laughing girls in the thumbnail, Sir. Extremely accurate! Well done review!

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@JAANDLU]

Okay, I admit I bought it. But from now on, until you do, I ain't gonna. I should have learned this lesson already. You have such a great way of smashing my delusions. Keep it up! It saves me money.

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@BobbyLouxMusic]

Jason Robertson don’t feel bad I did as well! Just cut out a couple trips to the coffee shop and there’s my $24.99 I spent! Not quite as bad as the $119.00 God Particle regret I didn’t fall for, the waves was a cheap fail!!

[@JAANDLU]

@@BobbyLouxMusic I think they always get me because they are cheap. It's always a "deal."

[@leonfriedemann9151]

​@@JAANDLU and after a year they would like you to keep it updated for triple the price, without any changes.

[@Tedbearbeats]

@@BobbyLouxMusic god particle is a good plug in

[@bodhimian]

thank you, honestly this was my first take as a mixing engineer on bb tubes. my reaction to trying it out was “what is special about this?” i have an extensive library of plugins better than most studios i’ve worked in and i can’t see using this plugin regularly.

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@MIHAO]

Plugin Doctor is the biggest hero in all of audio engineering for the past few years

[@PaulThird]

Don't forget the hard science as well though haha printed sweeps, rx & null tests are the real nail in the coffin for many plugins. Combine that with doctor it makes a lot more sense

[@MIHAO]

@@PaulThird preach!

[@AutoclaveBeats]

Thank you, Thank you! I was waiting for your thoughts on it because something didnt feel right...Please if possible, What reverbs do you recommend that are not snake oil...

[@PaulThird]

Not much snake oil with reverbs tbh

[@papa_da_engineer]

I absolutely love your channel. Your like practically the only youtuber who not only gives direct examples, but shows you in real time, with fine details 🎶

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@MarcosRobertoDosSantosJF]

Hi Paul, are you planning to review Slate digital FG-X2? Thanks!

[@PaulThird]

Possibly but not on this channel

[@e.mo.4530]

Is it lonely being the only honest plug-in reviewer on KZbin?

[@PaulThird]

Sometimes 😰😰 least there's Worral as well though

[@lucianogm]

@@PaulThird what happened with Dan?

[@unknwngamer1]

​@@lucianogm u read it wrong, nothing happened to him

[@rameynttp]

Take a look at "White sea studio" he's completely honest

[@khoivinh3402]

You just don't watch enough. This guy is not the only.

[@djcolinturnbull]

It was the same with the slate fg-x2. It was the new best limiter/all in one mastering solution !🤣 I compared it to the uad precision limiter and the the old uad plugin sounded way better. 😀 I can’t stand the marketing they do now days. And Black Friday is the worst…. “Pro” influencers showing bad techniques to ruin your mixes and market for these companies. It’s sad! Glad your calling them out! 👍🏻

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@arthurmee]

We are quickly getting two Snake Oil channels on KZbin now . . . progress definitely . . Good work Paul. Keep it up.

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@realraven2000]

13:52 looking at that example it almost looks like a tilt EQ. just lower the lows and accentuate the highs? I wonder if there is such a thing as a logarithmic tilt?

[@PaulThird]

There's loads of tilt eq's 🤓 most decent digital eq plugins have a tilt function. Even ihny v2 has a tilt

[@phadrus]

The ads and the testimonials make this look so real. It was tempting, but I already have a lot of saturation plugins. Still I was wondering what the big deal was with a basic saturation plugin with knobs for even and odd order harmonics?! I was planning on demoing it. Thank you for saving me time and $! And giving me a good laugh.

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@alexandre7634]

Well to be honest, Neal Pogue which promotes this plugin in the ads, is also saying that the waves L2 and the ozone maximizer with no gain reduction adds colour and depth, so... 🤣 He's still my favourite engineer all time, so I guess you don't need to be that technical lol

[@JayTheLane]

I was waiting for this and nearly emailed you to cover it but had total faithfully and honestly cover this.

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@AledesChica]

your videos are pure gold! 👏🏻

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@allpdmusic]

Not trying to change the topic but... I think the most pleasing saturation plugins are made by Kush. And yet hardly any person I follow ever mentions/uses them. What's the deal there? Is there some industry insider info I'm not privy too? Do you have an opinion on Kush Paul?

[@PaulThird]

Contacted them about NFRs and got binned so just moved elsewhere

[@akagerhard]

I like that you raised the finger and said that you're upset with people who called it a gamechanger, when in fact they should know better. The rest was to be expected. Personally I believe - actually it's not just a belief, it's knowledge- : holding each other accountable is what keeps this society and its communities from completely falling apart.

[@PaulThird]

Yeah... Its just annoying it's always gotta be me, Worral or Wytse haha

[@realraven2000]

it's just a one knob sauce, but it works. the Beauty knob just works bringing female vocals forward in a away other saturation plugins don't. so you are telling me this just an EQ?

[@PaulThird]

If you use the beauty all the way up to like 7 it's just one barely audible order of harmonic. The rest is just eq (bass relief, tone etc). Transformer will give you the bass bump but saturation wise only really makes a difference when pushing the plugin into high saturation which is an aliasing mess at that point. Using the saturation subtle in this.. Your basically using an eq plugin

[@realraven2000]

@@PaulThird cool :) as I got it on the black friday / intro price, it actually still is nice to use. (you can tell I am kind'a shit at EQ haha) - I did comment on the original promo that waves will learn how to do auto gain compensation in about 15 years time.

[@PaulThird]

ACG is the death of all plugin marketing if coded correctly. Waves doing ACG is VERY unlikely haha

[@sonicart1808]

We are drowning in marketing BS everywhere these days and the audio world is no exception.... great video Paul thanks.

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@FlorentChardevel]

I feel like the audio world is more sensitive to this kind of bullshit. Psychoacoustics delusions and confirmation bias everywhere… I only trust reviews that use scientific tools now, like this great video!

[@sonicart1808]

@@FlorentChardevel Damn right Florent!

[@KOjoeProduction]

God bless the magic of internet and the freedom of speech, it's more and more dificult to scam the good people imo

[@DG-mi7jv]

They got me. Should of waited for you review.

[@jmizzbeatsj-jigga7888]

😂😂😂😂

[@jmizzbeatsj-jigga7888]

They got me too😂😂😂

[@PaulThird]

I feel bad now that I left it so long 😥 I genuinely left it purposely in the hope a smaller youtuber would take my initiative but sadly no.. All the smaller ones fell in the trap 🙈

[@JAANDLU]

Right there with ya.

[@JAANDLU]

@@PaulThird Well, from now on, I will be waiting for your review. So, please do not stop reviewing these things.

[@agirotto1]

It's funny because Softube Saturation Knob has auto gain now. And it's free. And it sounds very good. And you don't need to buy an update plan.

[@PaulThird]

I didn't know about the ACG bring implemented, when was that updated? That was always the thing that put me off it. Everything became so f*cking loud haha

[@agirotto1]

@@PaulThird I think it's been a couple of months now. You set your saturation, then hit a button, and the plugin automatically sets the level. Works great for my taste.

[@michaelseifertprofessional9685]

I hoped you that youll do a video about this plugin. Great video as always Paul :)

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@OlafFinkbeiner]

First issue is waves update price policy

[@PaulThird]

Don't get me started on that. I've still got v9's 🤣

[@aldotanca9430]

Thanks for this! I know little about mixing and was very confused with all the advertisement and reviews about this. There were these two geezers sitting in front of a laptop marvelling every time they turned a knob, slapping their backs, keeping repeating in awe "it's very subtle". I could not understand what they meant, and even less so when adjusting the volume between wet and dry. I put it down to me getting older and progressively unable to hear certain frequencies (which is certainly the case, but anyway).

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@tomrankin2701]

“Joe Chiccarelli Kick Attack” is like the audio engineer’s equivalent to “Purple Burglar Alarm”

[@PaulThird]

Hahaha the "k's" are very easy for Scottish folk haha

[@studiosix4431]

Thank you for spilling the tea Paul. May you enjoy your holidays.

[@PaulThird]

You too 🤓

[@viol8rmusic]

You're a very smart guy and know how to replicate it. I don't. I'm not as smart as you. I did purchase it for $25 and found it to be very easy to use and sounds great in my new mastering chain. In fact, it's the 1st time I've used a saturating plug-in that felt comfortable and sounds good to me.

[@PaulThird]

If it works for you, it works 🤓

[@stu9000]

Yeah I had the same experience. I tried it and it worked much better than any other saturation plugins I'd tried, so I bought it. Good on you though for trying to keeping Waves honest.

[@viol8rmusic]

Paul, if you're still following, another question about aliasing, please... if I'm running Cubase, mixing recorded instruments, tracked and mixed at 96k32b, and I put this on my Master bus, do you think I would have aliasing problems? Do I engage its limited 2x oversampling?

[@PaulThird]

Dependent on how hard the drive is but if theres any place its gonna alias its the masterbus as its full frequency range and a loud consistent input signal. I wouldn't advise saturating your 2bus. Keep that shit clean and saturate on tracks you feel it would benefit. As I showed in the video it's pretty much inaudible at moderate settings unless you use the eq and actually saturate it but at that point your adding aliasing to your entire mix and smearing your mix with that amount of saturation. Look at the presets. The real big hitters don't have masterbus presets. Waves advising this on the 2bus is pretty redundant for me. You'd be may as well using the saturation from your 2bus compressor rather than waves bb, make way more sense. You want more perceived loudness... use a well coded clean clipper with oversampling.

[@viol8rmusic]

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate what you do. 🌹

[@RealHomeRecording]

Jeez...I think I will stick with the Brainworx Black Box HG-2 or Acustica Diamond DS for my tube saturation needs.

[@PaulThird]

Honestly I can't believe waves users haven't commented once on gsat+. It's free and does more in regards to saturation.. Its like showing a dog something they've ripped apart and they refuse to look at it 🤣

[@RealHomeRecording]

@@PaulThird I've honestly never heard of it/used it. Now, their mvMeter2 I really like! No doubt, you hurt some feelings with this one! I made a vow to divorce myself from Waves plugins in 2023 because they dropped support for my operating system and because of the WUP fees.

[@rodvik]

Thanks for the vid! I dont buy Waves plugins anyway because of their awful anti customer support plan. It doesnt surprise me they are now releasing scamware that simply doesnt work. Unethical companies do unethical things.

[@PaulThird]

Indeed

[@moksoundstudios]

Not gonna lie Paul, you took that plugin apart sample by sample.....and I enjoyed every second of it. You changed the game for the game changer Paul.

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@henrikpetersson3463]

As soon as I saw the ad for it I was instantly convinced that there was something fishy about it. Thanks for proving me right there! I wish companies would stop it with these moneygrabbers. Even serious companies like UAD are doing it.

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@1andahalfmen268]

Hey Paul. Found your channel last week, definitely the most unique channel of the genre of videos I watch of an evening 🤣 I had realised in recent times that I have been had many times by plugin providers. However, your videos confirmed this. I do some producing for fun, and I'm actually quite s**t, but for some reason I see a plugin and think it will change my life. It doesn't! I like the way you check the science of what is happening ie wave spectrum. I have stopped buying plugins as a result, as I can barely use what I actually have effectively! Anyway.... There is a point to this comment. I haven't looked at all your videos yet, but I wonder what plugins you think ARE good? For instance, to me, the fabfilter package is great; I'm a total amateur and when I AB after using the plugins I definitely have made improvements to sound quality and mix. Other than that, I think both black rooster and Soundtoys are good and also Eventide split eq note - (FF and ST are not worth the full price though) Other than that, I don't use any of the Waves plugins or plugin alliance tools aside from RVocs and Maag4 (the one that retails at $300 but is somehow always available at $30 🤔). DAWs are so accessible; obviously I needed Ableton "suite" due to the phenomenal tracks I release on a daily basis (I really don't), but it definitely feels as though firms are pretty much robbing people - the daily promo emails are beyond unacceptable.l When I tally my spend on s**t, it's quite embarrassing that I've fallen victim to promotional bull and spent so much money. To top it off, you can't even really sell your plugins because then the twonks want a cut from the removal of the licence. Rant over 🤣, however I am interested in what plugins you actually use regularly. I assume they enhance/add value but it would be great to see an analysis video (as you did with the wave form in this "game changer"). Great channel anyway, it's refreshing to see objective opinion rather than "please click the link below, it will help the channel/give me a cut when you purchase this software that does pretty much nothing at all, with your hard earned money".

[@PaulThird]

I like plugins that do things not possible in the analog domain. Gulfoss, soothe, smart eq, trackspacer, God particle, reso, kirchhoff to name a few. I also like plugins that save me time like AYAIK mix monolith. I'm really getting into AYAIK ceilings of sound which will make so much more sense when I release my first video after New year. My video on ceilings of sound won't be till like another 3-4 months till I've used it for a long period of time but eq'ing to noise slopes actually makes more sense to me the more I think about it. All musical sources have a slope due to sound intensity becoming less as you progress higher up the frequency spectrum. It's plain to see but it's just that most of our analysers are set up purposely tilted to cater for human sensitivity so audio to us looks very balanced and almost a bit like a smiley curve when in actual fact all music and natural sounds have a downward slope. Pink noise is actually technically classed as perfect sound because it is based around the intensity/slope of musical sound but has equal intensity per octave so it theoretically the most pleasing sound to the human ear. It's essentially how the human ear wants to hear sound. So eq'ing to noise profiles makes a ton of sense. Bass instruments have a much darker slope where the intensity is so high in the bass and basically inaudible in the higher regions. So if you eq low end sources to a darker slope it should theoritically sound more pleasing to the ear. It really worked on my first mix monolith/ceilings of sound mix but I need more practice as the creator of COS has very specific methods to get the most of the idea of eq'ing to noise slopes. That's why I need a good few months to make a video on it so I can say without considerable doubt that the method works well. Honestly, in a lot of cases you don't even have to listen to the sound to eq it haha its crazy and that's why i need months at it to prove the method works So yeah there's your answer haha

[@1andahalfmen268]

@@PaulThird cheers for the reply Paul. So..... It is very apparent after reading your response that I am definitely an accountant and only a hobbyist producer and singer, due to the level of understanding I have over some of the wording you used 🤣. This said, despite not being stupid, I feel VERY stupid for succumbing to the plugin promotional emails that hit my inbox daily. So.... From a guy who clearly knows what he's doing I really need some validation 🤣. I produce in my tiny living room, usually while my two autistic children are trying to destroy each other behind me, and therefore don't have and have never used analog equipment. The validation I need is.......please please please tell me that the £300 I spent on the fabfilter bundle and the £150 on Soundtoys is money well spent. And if you don't believe this is the case, can you please compromise your integrity in this instance and just lie. I can't take it, for the simple reason that I actually BOUGHT the stupid game changing plugin in your video! (Don't worry I got it at the 99.999999% discount that will surely end soon). Clearly the years of study on critical evaluation, and the professional scepticism I have to show as an accountant, appear to disappear from my life when a new plugin is released. To provide context, I've released a few Spotify covers (hit me up with a follow if you like terrible production) and have 4 followers (no zero's missing), who I think are my two children and my parents. So my need for such expensive software and equipment does not exist. You mention your Asperger's. I have ADHD, and at the tender age of 38, my impulsiveness is as strong as when I was 5 so I'll be checking your videos often to assist with this. Also, can you please validate my need for the suite version of Ableton, because... "It's my money and boys need toys" (actual quote when I was challenged over my spending). Thank you

[@PaulThird]

If you learn the fabfilter bundle and everything you can do with it you'll get a lot out of it. You just need to learn it inside out and make a conscious effort to use it. Only piece of advice Ive got for you is don't be so hard on yourself. Its hard to get out that mindset when it sets in. Can stop you from grinding on and growing when times get tough. Think a bit more positively about yourself and don't think about numbers or that yet when you are starting out. Just enjoy the chore of constantly making mistakes and learning from them. Nobody is perfect and even the best are constantly learning

[@1andahalfmen268]

Cheers buddy. In reality, it's just a hobby. But need to be mindful and use what I have rather than keep buying

[@ritchxmusic]

You're some kind of sound engineering saint, Paul

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@JakeyWakey]

Couldn't believe the hype from this thing. It was even in the comments of videos.

[@PaulThird]

You'd be amazed at how much of those comments are placed intentionally. A lot are genuine but some are staged by fake accounts, beta testers or even people that work for the company. Happens quite a lot where they mix in positive comments to make it look like it is actually a game changer haha I see it on a lot of my critical videos where somebody says something positive and it has like 5 or 6 likes on it in 5 minutes. I watch them like a f*cking hawk haha

[@JakeyWakey]

@@PaulThird ;)

[@patricioo1419]

👋👋👋👋👋 You're the best, it's good that someone like you with conclusive evidence can show people who don't know anything about this how they are manipulated and scammed... The prestige of all those who charge to put their names on those presets should also be affected . This is not a business, it is a mockery, a scam,... Personally, I waited for your review, I didn't see any of the ones made by plugin vendors that upload videos to KZbin,

[@PaulThird]

I'm gonna be even more hated in the industry now am I haha 😅

[@patricioo1419]

They are idiots, they should hire you to test beta versions!

[@SalComposer]

@@PaulThird those manufacturers that are honest will still respect you. Because if they do it for love of sound and theire brand, they will love to see someone that separate the good from bad. Its like hard work good musicians like someone that exposes the ones with no merit no dedication.

[@bartvanmeulebroeck5002]

I've been waiting for this video! Great! 'Don't believe the hype' is the message...

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@sabtekmusic8967]

Wonderful video Paul! I love the fact that you just come straight to the point and tell it how it is mate. I have always found that if you pay audio engineers enough they will say whatever you want them to say! 😂

[@PaulThird]

They'd have to pay way more for me 😂 somebody asked me once what my price would be hypothetically to sell my soul and it was extortionate. Like stupid but I value my transparency. My entire career would be over in one foul swoop if I was to out and out lie and its not worth even 10 or 20 grand put it that way. Id much rather someone paid me to leave youtube than shill haha

[@sabtekmusic8967]

@@PaulThird And that is why I have subscribed mate. You are a good man and are not afraid to buck the trend. I respect you for that Paul! 😁

[@MrTunes333]

Sadly its the industry they are in, across the board its money talks and bullshit walks.

[@mzirpr]

I'm glad I found this channel! I'm stoked to watch the upcoming UAD content

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@martijn_nl]

Thanks Paul your work pushes developers to a higher level. Hopefully one day plugins get their standardized score based on UI / performance / value for money. We need more facts, less sales BS

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@ronnielad1928]

I love how you keep doing these types of vids my dude,,, I know u said you wanted to do less but until others youtubers grow a pair we will still need Paul 3rd 🤘🤘

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@vigilantestylez]

Is this the same plugin as their "free" magma lil tube plugin they were giving away before this came out? I am assuming it is a scaled down version of this one.

[@PaulThird]

I didn't bother looking tbh as the game changing comments were all about the paid one

[@vigilantestylez]

@@PaulThird Oh I see. I figured it was probably similar coming from the magma line of plugins they are releasing. I did check it out in plugin doctor, and yeah it seemed to be an EQ and it had some saturation in the hammerstein analysis, so I figured it was probably good, and it sounds okay, thankfully it was free. I wouldn't buy it otherwise. Basically, a one knob drive with some unique EQ curves.

[@Lateful]

you laugh a lot in this video thumbnail speaks volumes 😂 i lost count on how many time you giggle after a sentence !

[@PaulThird]

I always try and say stuff how I actually feel instead of sounding like an absolute robot

[@TH-gu4wj]

I actually think this plugin sounds pretty killer and it's made it into my mix template for vocals. That's honestly the only feature that I like about it. To my ears, it gives that airiness one gets from using a mic like a C12. But I agree, Waves marketing is trying to make everyone like put this on every track as if it's JesusJuice or something. A bit ridiculous.

[@TH-gu4wj]

@@yahawahprovidence8260 You can't see my empty hand, but I'm holding the exact amount of fucks I give about it. ;)

[@rafyahu]

Oh what a relief. I bought this and could not bring anything useful out of it. Compared it to "Baby Audio Taip" even if one is tube sat. and the other tape sat. Taip was clearly doing good things. The BB was a mystery to me. And I felt alone in the world with that opinion. Till now. Thanks for this!

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@sparella]

The situation is simple: Recall that Clarity voice denoiser was also a game-changer. They obviously weren't happy with the modified game, so now BB just changes the game back to the way it was originally.

[@PaulThird]

It's like the crystal maze, but the 90's version. Everybody swanning about theatrically to find fake diamonds 🤣

[@bluematrix5001]

Well, Greg Wells is a drama queen, every time he promotes a plug-in is sooo exaggerated “gane changer”, “ I can not believe it” .... he would be in Broadway

[@marceloribeirosimoes8959]

A Null test is very hard to work between "harmonics/saturation" sources... But, it seem it would at least agree with you, Paul... Thank you for your great work for all those that, like me, are always looking for "game changers"... ...You are leading us to the cure. 😁

[@mikaelzakrisson5514]

Paul is the CSI of plugins. 👍

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@panorama_mastering]

Golden! Love it ! Good job mate!

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@surgerywithoutknives2353]

Nice 1… I nearly fell for it when I saw neal pogue say it was amazing … 🤣you saved me 25 quid

[@PaulThird]

Result haha

[@tiadiad]

You are a warrior, a fighter! And I love you for it. Thank you for delivering the truths.

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@slowdivisionmusic]

I bought waves vu metre it costed me 5 euros but the update price is 12 euros…when I saw that I bought it on purpose because I find the situation amazing lol

[@PaulThird]

£12 for a vu.. F*ck me haha

[@rickylegend]

TBProAudio mvMeter 2 is the best VU meter and it's FREEEEE.

[@adampeters9684]

@@rickylegend facts, it blows my mind that anyone would pay for a VU meter plug

[@lX-NDR]

Little radiator from soundtoys is now free and works amazing on the drumbuss too!

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@theneonskymusic]

They sell it as this holy grail plugin. But at $25 is a fair price for what it does lol. I personally love it. But I certainly won’t get rid of all my saturator plugins because of it

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@andrewmalekmusic]

Thanks for the in-depth-while-keeping-it-silly review!

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@pcwinstead]

Gain-changer

[@PaulThird]

Bastard.. I never wouldve even thought of that.. Where were you when I was recording 🤣

[@TheFactoryOfMusic]

hahahahahahaha

[@JoeyFTL]

I love that Huge like

[@CosmicSoupRecordingAZ]

How do you feel about the Lil Tube free plugin? Is that one worth using? Thanks for the video!

[@PaulThird]

Didn't bother looking at it when I've got gsat+. Anybody that has lil tube should have gsat+. I prefer that over hardware ssl drive

[@TheReal_E.IRIZARRY]

People are underestimating Klanghelm's SDRR2, Arturia's Culture Vulture, and Pulsar Modular's P42 Climax. Bonus sat VSTfx goodie: Tone Empire's Black Q VERSION 2. Excellent colourisation EQ (saturation on EQ curve). Those saturation plugins really do tap into the ampere-voltage-wattage logarithmic functionality.

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@bluematrix5001]

Gordito hate it P42 right?

[@henrikpetersson3463]

Having used and loved the UAD Culture Vulture for years I was very interested in the Arturia one to see if they had been able to take it one step further. But honestly I was quite disappointed in it. Did not at all get the effect that I love about the CV. Might be a good effect on its own, but for me it was meh.

[@peternorth6782]

Firstly try naming it right. The Arturia is not called the culture vulture because they ripped off all the settings from the UAD version. The makers, thermionic culture get zero royalties and there's nothing they can do about it. What your all buying is digital distortion. Live with it.

[@TheReal_E.IRIZARRY]

@@peternorth6782 socially-awkward much?

[@fabriziof5466]

Thank you man cause you saved me those bucks right in time... I am a Reaper user and getting nice mixes itb completely with just Cockos plugins. But ALWAYS demoing around...

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@delorusclaiborne3274]

I didnt even care about this plugin since your videos in the past have shown waves dont seem to be better than most alternatives... But i did wonder if you would cover it due to the oversampling 🤔 great that someone's being honest... In a way the channels that have said its a game changer and there were quite a few i got recommended, at least now let us see who are marketing shills vs honest... Thanks paul for this, hopefully it will help people not get caught up in the "game changing" plugin gas that surrounds this plugin 😂👍

[@PaulThird]

I was gonna leave it but the final straw was a "game changer" review that showed doctor being used incorrectly.. I was like.. Aiiight, hold my beer 🤣

[@adamsmith7058]

You not only showed the emperor has no clothes, you kicked him in the balls as well. Class mate.

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@zwsh89]

I’m so glad you did this video. I haven’t been able to find any genuine analysis of this plugin, and no one’s really talking about how it’s primarily just two giant volume knobs that only go up. So glad I didn’t spend the money. I will admit, the particular blend of harmonics that it does bring in do seem to be a special blend/balance that I can’t quite replicate with other saturation plugins, but getting that out of this plugin is way more work than it’s worth. I’ve been wondering if the “game changing” aspect of this plugin had anything to do with IR or special sauce in the saturation/harmonic blend itself, but if it’s housed in a shitty GUI that seems designed to confuse the user about what they are hearing, it doesn’t really matter. It’s still no Acustica plug, even if that’s what’s going on. But they also haven’t advertised any of that, and if waves was finally upping their game with IR tech, they’d be advertising that like crazy. So I’d prefer to do what you did with the wrap plugin over toying with this thing time and time again, and that’s only if I didn’t already have a plugin folder oversaturated with saturation plugins (see what I did there?😅) that I have yet to fully dive into. I might already own 10 plugins far more useful than the bb tubes. So glad I didn’t spend the money and fall for the trap. So as always, thanks for the fair analysis, and being seemingly the only content creator brave enough to stand up to waves, and their “wave” of media making the plug seem beyond repute. It is not. Now we have evidence. Keep it up, friend! ❤

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@heesuhbeats9038]

Get black box analog design HG-2 for a similar blend of harmonics that ACTUALLY sounds amazing

[@jedisaac1]

Thank you Paul. Proved it and saved me money. I was also curious at the exaggerated Professional reviews. It's only saturation for sakes. Commendations.

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@bontempo1271]

Are they selling broken plugins to make people pay for the update. I will never pay for WUP in a million years. I will sell the plugins before i pay that extortionate amount. Absolutely insane.

[@PaulThird]

Well it took them 20 years to do oversampling so dunno how long this fix is gonna take 🤣

[@pablovazquez8386]

don't sell them, NOBODY WANTS THEM!

[@bontempo1271]

@@PaulThird lol !

[@bontempo1271]

@@pablovazquez8386 😂

[@ABS_AD77]

Most of the plugins are like this. They say very close to hardware, but as an ear trained audio engineer from Uni, I find that most plugins do not sound like hardware at all. They use the word "close", which is very deceptive. I totally agree with this video.

[@Tyrell_Corp2019]

I don’t particularly care for waves plug-ins, but I purchased this one, and I’m very happy with it. I saw a KZbinr demo this against 20 other tube style saturators, and they all broke up horribly compared to this. It definitely has a quality that no others can match that I can tell so far. To boot, it’s one of waves plug-ins that reaches 192 kHz sample rate. Perhaps this is something they finally figured out?

[@PaulThird]

But it does fall apart though when the saturation is audible. It's an aliasing mess. I suppose if aliasing doesn't bother you then fair enough but the more you saturate using this you are inherently making the signal less musical, more cloudy and the transients are smeared. That's what audible aliasing will add the more it's brought in. That is what will ultimately never make the plugin sound like real tube saturation unless they fix the oversampling. Id be interested to see this comparison so I could check loudness levels for each example as waves bb needs a lot of output attenuation to get it right. Do you have a link for the video so I can check?

[@Tyrell_Corp2019]

@@PaulThird Yeah, I’m not gonna argue against aliasing. After all who the heck wants that? I’ve only used it subtly myself, and so far so good. I’d be interested to see Dan Worrall dissect this one. Nonetheless, this guy did a very good job comparing against some high-quality plug-ins, including two of my favorites by Sound Toys. He made two videos, one after another. Here they are in order. ✌️ 1- kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWXLgXqsh6dkmrc 2. kzbin.info/www/bejne/d4uXl3qZfslqgKs

[@themelmacs]

Thanks Paul!

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@J-DUB-F1]

Welllll shit! 😕🤦‍♂️ I thought it was sounding pretty good, especially with the transformer flipped on. Turns out it's just an eq bump, with some fizz, which i can already do with 10 different plugs on their own 🤷‍♂️ .............So we should all sue waves for false 8x'ing 😜 "wrapped them in waves own free plugin".....ayyyyy ya cheeky bastard you 😏👏👏

[@PaulThird]

The transformer bump does a bit more when you hit it a lot harder but when it's aliasing like a bitch what's the point haha The hpf and low bump does make a big tonal shift though. Its hard to hear any difference in the transformer when the saturation is under 5 or 6

[@jmizzbeatsj-jigga7888]

Aaaawww snap when Paul come in you know its serious. 🔥🔥🔥💯💯💯

[@PaulThird]

I couldn't leave it haha. I was actually annoyed when I seen the "game changer" video but I genuinely believed any smaller youtuber would take the opportunity and nope.. They all shit a brick 🤣

[@jmizzbeatsj-jigga7888]

@@PaulThird 😂😂😂😂💯💯💯

[@septemberwalk]

my question would be why are these pro engineers so quick to make these huge claims about how great it is? The easy answer is money but why would they be willing to damage their credibility?

[@PaulThird]

This was me actually trying to be diplomatic haha 😅😅

[@anthonyayora4572]

What do you think about RedlightDistorsion? (Studio One's stock plugin)?

[@PaulThird]

Being honest, not even tried it

[@adrianl5899]

Waves: This is humiliating. It can't get any worse. *StudioRack enters chat*

[@PaulThird]

😂😂😂

[@RealHomeRecording]

Waves ---Alimony--- Update Plan enters the chat.

[@aleksandardojcinovic1002]

Congrats Detective Third!

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@GrecoMEMOIREMusic]

Interesting angle here. The title is a little pretentious for a video that doesn’t use a single second of music/audio so we can use our ears to listen to what it’s doing. That’s what audio engineers do after all, right: use our ears? How can one be gullible when using their ears to decide? Think about it. Why are we letting visual information dictate what we use or to tell us if it sounds good, which is all subjective anyways. Plug-in doctor is holding people back from being free creatively. Your clients don’t care about plug-in doctor. Use what you like but most importantly use your EARS.

[@PaulThird]

Dude, seriously, read my other reply to you and maybe think about deleting your comment cause your coming off pretty foolish right now. This is simple science that conclusively proves what I'm showing. You don't need to use your ears after an inaudible pink noise null cause that is needless and a complete waste of time. Your talking as if everything is doctor when I've printed physical sweeps in the daw and imported into rx. The pink noise nulls are your audio examples.. That is real time conclusive evidence that anyone would need regarding the audibility of difference between 2 audio files. White noise is EVERY audible frequency at the SAME constant amplitude all at the same time. Pink noise is that signal but tilted because we perceive mid and high frequencies more than low frequencies. There's is no more complex AB test for human hearing. If I show you under -80dbfs.. Its inaudible. Nobody will consistently pass a blind AB on any musical source. Doesn't matter genre, mix or master. If the peak level is matched .. The difference will remain under -80dbfs I thought we were meant to be audio engineers? Are we not meant to have a basic understanding of audio science to even attempt to call ourselves engineers?

[@GrecoMEMOIREMusic]

@@PaulThird that’s a bold assumption about my comprehension or understanding here. People can think whatever they want about me based on a comment. I’m not refuting the science here. My point is that a graph means nothing if your ears like what you hear. Why would I delete that? Waves offers free trials. Demo the products. If you don’t like how it sounds then so be it. They’re not claiming to 1:1 emulate a piece of legendary gear and then providing a plug that behaves nothing like it’s real counterpart. You’re bent about people calling it a “game changer” which is a subjective term to begin with. What if it is for them?

[@PaulThird]

But dude we keep circling. You've said it again "a graph means nothing if your ears like what you hear" When you've agreed that you can't refute the science so you agree that the waves bb saturation up to a certain point gives you no audible change to the source. So that null shown in SPAN is telling you that your mind can't actually hear a difference using the saturation at lower levels. That's why I'm getting frustrated. If you are saying.. Look there's a placebo affect and many people may believe they hear a difference when they'd actually consistently fail a blind test but what's wrong about letting them believe they hear a difference.. Then id say fair enough but I'm just showing the facts with this plugin which are that at lower saturation levels it's inaudible, the oversampling x4 & X8 doesn't work which means that the waves aliases audibly even at moderate saturation levels, you can recreate an artist preset with free plugins with no real audible difference, and that the eq moves are bigger than they make out That's all valid stuff to give in a review when I'm the only one testing this stuff out in a sea of overly positive, non level matched youtube reviews not showcasing the issues. Would you not agree that the only reason my video is pissing off so many waves BB owners is because this video has garnered so much attention and likes. If this was a 1-2k views video nobody would hardly bother but cause its hit 25k+ and has lots of positivity surrounding the review people get more pissed.. Dunno maybe that's just my KZbin experience talking

[@paulluna8099]

Just on the advertisements I have seen with this plugin sounded like those MIDI chord pack were full of crock. You proved I can get a lot better with stock saturation already in my DAW.

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@KevTJones]

Good for you Paul, wtf is wrong with these (lets be honest) greedy people. Oops sorry that is exactly what it is, GREED. Thanks again Paul.

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@tonymitchell2026]

Thanks for the video. I almost purchased this. But the hype was too much to believe it to be a "game changer".

[@PaulThird]

Clever man

[@campar1043]

How does this plugin compare to the blackbox hg2 plugin? Or the ssl x saturator. And what’s your go to saturation plugin?

[@PaulThird]

Don't care for anything ssl. Hg2 has a sound. Good for transient stuff. I use pimax but that's more for perceived loudness and punch. If its more for an overdriven sound then I'll use spicerack.

[@campar1043]

@@PaulThird any particular reason why you avoid ssl?

[@PaulThird]

Cause they are nothing special

[@campar1043]

@@PaulThird just for clarification, we're talking about ssl plugins from the actual solid state logic company? not waves or uad or any other companies versions?

[@PaulThird]

Yeah

[@douggroulx1525]

Thank you for making these videos and showing the proof. It helps me out I’m sure it helps a lot of people out again thank you.

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@gabrielaaron]

What is the program that allows him to see the frequency response of the plugin?

[@PaulThird]

Plugin doctor. But when I show the frequency response of anything that has audible non linearities (saturation, compression) I use the fundamental sweep in the harmonic tab which counters for non linearities AFTER processing. Many use doctor wrong and use the default linear tab with non linear plugins and they believe there is tons of wierd shit going on cause they don't know that the linear test requires a linear signal path so no saturation, modulation, compression etc

[@DavidSmith-ne1zp]

As always, I learned something. Thanks for full transparency Paul.

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@charlesbonkley]

I'm on the same page as you in regards to a LOT of Waves plugins, even the J37 Tape, for example, are just cleverly masked EQ curves, in my opinion, for the most part.

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@diyrecordingstudio]

I spy a 500 series rack in the background Paul. Looks like it needs some modules though!!! What are you gonna get?

[@PaulThird]

It's all for testing. I'm waiting on a Lindell 7x-500 and a dbx subharmonic synth. Plan is to test, compare and then sell and buy another haha

[@diyrecordingstudio]

@@PaulThird oh nice. Super interested in the subharmonic synth. Sounds like a good plan. Problem is… you might actually want to keep some 😉

[@CharlesK441]

Thanks Paul for another honest review. Saving people money and educating them as well 😊

[@jriron1]

Thanks for the report sir!

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@rajakhan2668]

After Saturn 2 i didn't bought any saturation plugin

[@PaulThird]

🤓🤓

[@TachyBunker]

Not related, but I love you accent. Where you from?

[@PaulThird]

Scotland

[@TachyBunker]

@@PaulThird Oh ok. Nice video by the way, looking on your channel rn, and expecting good stuff :)

[@AvormW]

I immediately subscribed the first time you laughed. Keep up the good work Paul!

[@PaulThird]

🤜🤛

[@SuperFake777]

Can you do karzog true iron?

[@PaulThird]

Not gonna lie, I just can't be bothered with more saturation haha

[@SuperFake777]

@@PaulThird understandable

[@jmizzbeatsj-jigga7888]

Paul what you think fars Acustica ash plug-in def wanna see a review from you

[@PaulThird]

Not gonna happen after acustica tried gas lighting me with rust

[@jmizzbeatsj-jigga7888]

@@PaulThird I fell ya 💜💯💯💯

[@Anders01]

I heard that the human brain can trick us to believe that there is a change in the audio when there is none! I tested BB Tubes and adjusted for LUFS and thought it sounded great. I still think it sounds great but I will watch out for aliasing at high settings.

[@PaulThird]

All depends what you compare it against and how much saturation and eq you are using. It's a usable plugin, just nothing special

[@Tedbearbeats]

I actually did an AB with producers that have multiple hit records they chose the mix with BB tubes lol(probably loudness). I like it sometimes - sometimes I don’t use it.