Graphs depict the transfer function for both compressor and gate / expander, and full metering is available indicating gain reduction and output level. You get complete control over all compressor functionality. This tool is as flexible as any compressor you’ve ever seen. For example, you can select just the compressor or gate / expander, a compressor with sidechain, a compressor / gate / expander with sidechain, or compressor / gate / expander with sidechain and dithering. I use it on virtually every mix I do.Īs with other Waves devices these may be used as separate modules to conserve CPU power. It is an efficient and powerful compressor. More than just a compressor, it is also capable of gating, expansion, sidechain gating and filtering.
The C1 was famous in the Mac world long before it was available on the PC platform. For those people who still use rackmount gear. It is so popular and powerful that Waves has released the L1 as a rack-mount hardware device, the L2 UltraMaximizer.
There is nothing quite like the L1 plugin available at this time. Conversely, if you are recording classical music with wide dynamic range, this is still the tool to choose! Elegant compression on the peaks, and perfect noise shaped dithering for high resolution on the valleys. If you are one of those people that insists on your mix being the loudest thing over the airwaves, this is the device that can do it gracefully. You really have to get into some extreme settings to get non-musical results. The cool thing about L1 is it does all of this so smoothly. The interface allows you to easily control frequency, gain, and Q in high-resolution increments, with output meters to keep you from clipping. The interface is almost self-explanatory at first glance, and allows you to just grab and drag a graphic EQ line into whatever shape you need. A lot of EQ’s exhibit minor phase shifting character that sometimes becomes quite audible. The Q10 Paragraphic EQįirst of all let me say that this EQ sounds great. I will now try to cover the important features of each device in three words or less (well, maybe a few more) but I’ll try to keep this as concise as possible.
All of these plugs were written with the professional in mind and are very tweakable, but on the whole, the interface is written so well that even a novice will have little trouble negotiating them. The pack includes the Q10 (EQ), the L1 (a mastering compressor and limiter), the C1 (compression, gate, expansion), the TrueVerb (high quality reverb), Renaissance (a vintage type compressor) MaxxBass (similar to the BBE processor for low end), the S1 (stereo imaging enhancer) and the DE (a de-essing device). No serious DAW based studio should be without NPP. A full list of compatible programs may be found at the bottom of this article.
NPP performs all of its functions flawlessly, and is about as solid as software gets.
You will likely experience no mysterious Direct-X computer glitches or crashes when using these babies. A beautiful black loose-leaf type notebook with heavy pages that even your puppy would have a hard time destroying.īesides aesthetics, I am very pleased to report that this attention to detail extends to the coding of the program itself. The abundance of quality is again apparent in the manual. This is one product that wasn’t rushed to market in a half-baked state. The minute you first lay eyes on the box you begin to understand that Waves cares about quality. So are the Rolling Stones.Īdd to the list the Waves Native Power Pack. You can read a full review of NPP II here The other plugins reviewed here – Renaissance Compressor, DeEsser, and MaxxBass – are part of the Native Power Pack II. The Native Power Pack includes the Q10 EQ, the C1 compressor, the S1 StereoImager, the L1 Ultramaximizer, and the TrueVerb. Always the overachiever, Pete reviewed all the software sent to him – many of which are not included in the Native Power Pack. Note from the Editor: Waves sent us a full CD of software for review. Please visit the home page for our latest content. We will not be making any updates to the article. It first appeared on in January 1999, contributed by then Contributing Editor Pete Leoni. PLEASE NOTE: This article has been archived.