Waves Renaissance Axx

I purchased this plug-in as part of the Waves Gold Bundle. The Renaissance Axx compressor is a software plug-in to be used inside a DAW. Waves plug-in are easy to install and authorize. Their plug-ins can be directly downloaded from their website and take about 5 minutes to get authorized.
The Renaissance Axx plug-in was designed to be super easy to use. Compressors can have a lot of settings (attack, release, threshold, ratio, knee, etc). This plug-in makes is simple if you don't know much about how to use compression. There is a slider on the left to pull down until you squeeze the input signal enough, and there is a slider on the right to pull up and down to change the output volume. Waves includes 'presets', but I think they are unnecessary. Essentially this plug-in is just one big preset to begin with, as the settings for release, ratio, knee are already fixed behind the scenes.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

This compressor levels out the volume of a guitar track very well. This compressor doesn't add a lot of 'color' to the track like a Waves H-Comp or CLA-76 compressor does. There are plenty of situations when I want the level of my guitar track to be evened out, but I don't want the sound to change dramatically. In those situations, I call up the Renaissance Axx, and I like the results.

OVERALL OPINION

This plug-in is marketed for adding compression to guitar tracks, and does a great job at its specialty. Honestly, I haven't tried the plug-in with any other source material (drums, bass, keyboards, vocals) because I have a lot of other compressors. I wouldn't be surprised, though, that this compressor could do a decent job for other instruments. If this was the only compressor I owned, it would probably suffice.
Some people won't like the limited about of features/controls. There are plenty of other plug-ins to buy if you want a lot of knobs to tweak. Sometimes it is just easier to load up Renaissance Axx and move on.

The Waves Renaissance Axx is a compressor that was aimed for guitars but can be used for so many different tracks. It has 3 different efficient controls as well as a fixed ratio curve and automatic release value. The Waves Renaissance Ax can support TDM, RTAS, VST, and AU. You can download the demo version of Waves Renaissance Axe first to try it before you buy it (which is what I highly suggest and recommend doing). I have not seen a manual and I am pretty sure you wont need one if you understand compression. All of the basic functions of the plug in are easy to use and they are right on the main panel of the plug in. Setting up Waves Renaissance Ax was quick easy and painless.


SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I have been using Renaissance Axx (off and on) for almost a year now, and it works perfect with my i7 Quad Core PC running Windows 7. I have never experienced any crashes or freezes when running Renaissance Ax. It works great every time I use it, I have used it in Cubase and Ableton. You can purchase Waves Renaissance Axx online now for around 80 bucks and if you start with version 9 of Waves Plug ins you will no longer be required to us iLok. You can just register your purchase plug ins from Wave normally now.


OVERALL OPINION

The best thing about Waves Renaissance Axx is that there are only 3 main controls, Threshold (input), Attack (Attenuation), and Gain (Output). So you really can not have many issues using Ax. It is really simple but still packs a punch and can give you a great quality compressor that you will use a lot throughout your projects. It is by far better than in “pre installed” compressor that comes with most of the main DAWS including but not limited to: Cubase and Ableton. It is worth the Try, download the demo and try it out.

Compression has long since been a staple of today's music. It's been one of the most used and abused effects to ever hit the market. A lot of compressors out there are extremely complex and contains many options that cane make one's head spin. However, some people need a more basic compressor for that regular compression sound. This plugin was made for you, especially if you're looking to add some compression to guitars. The plugin is basic in that it has a threshold, gain and attack adjustment. There aren't really any other things in this plugin besides those. However, that's all you really need to deliver a solid compression sound if you're not looking for something very specific, tone wise. To use this, just enable it on whatever guitar buss or busses you have. There's no need for a manual because it's so simple to use.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I've been using the Mercury bundle for half a year or so now, and it's been awesome. I've never experienced a single crash or issue with any of these plugins, including this one. No matter how many plugins I tend to load, my machine still keeps chugging along. The plugin itself is cross platform compatible, so nearly anybody can use this on his or her favorite machine. Personally, I'm a Mac user, so I'm using OS X on a Mac Pro with Logic Pro. There is one issue that I've been having, however. For the OS X users out there, this plugin is a 32 bit plugin. That means that your DAW will need to utilize a special bridge application for this to work inside your 64 bit DAW. It's not a huge deal, but it can be a bit of a pain, depending on how your particular DAW handles the 32 bit conversion.

OVERALL OPINION

The plugin sounds good, and it delivers some solid compression. However, it's not the most transparent thing in the world. I realize that's part of this plugin's charm, but I tend to prefer things that are more transparent. I like the built-in Logic compressor quite a bit, and I like the multiband compressor even more. This can work out for you, but it's more for those who just want a "set and go" plugin more than anything else.

The Waves Ltd. Renaissance Axx is a simple compression plug-in for guitar. It's part of the Waves Renaissance bundle which has some similar plug-ins for other applications. I've got all of the Waves plug-ins on my system at home, and installed all of them at once including this one. The process is easy and shouldn't even be an issue at all. Learning how to use the plug-in is even easier! It's just got parameters for threshold, gain, and attack. It's great for getting a really quick guitar compression sound, as not much thought needs to go into it at all. It's easy enough to use that a manual isn't at all necessary.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I'm currently running the Waves Ltd. Renaissance Axx plug-in in Pro Tools LE 8 on a Mac Book Pro lap top consisting of a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM. I run Pro Tools LE with a Digi 002R audio interface or a Digidesign Micro Box if I'm on the move. This plug-in doesn't seem to take up much processing power as I've never had a problem running a few instances of it at a time within the aforementioned recording configuration.

OVERALL OPINION

The Waves Ltd. Renaissance Axx is a great little plug-in that although not versatile, is perfect for touching up guitar tracks with a bit of compression. I've used it on both acoustic and electric guitars and find it to be equally effective on both. While not as drastically effective as the Renaissance Bass plug-in, it's still a great one to have in the plug-in suite. In fact, the entire Renaissance bundle is really one that every DAW user should have, as it's inexpensive for what you're getting, and you're getting a lot with it! If you have the bundle and haven't checked out Renaissance Axx, it's definitely about time that you do so. If you don't have the Renaissance bundle, it's definitely one worth considering!