Waves Mercury

Waves is probably the most famous plugin manufacturer in the entire world. Their list of plugins is ridiculous, and their quality is unbeatable. Anybody who has a recording studio will tell you that Waves plugins are some of the first things they buy due to how versatile these are. It would take forever to list what plugins are included in this package. There are hundreds upon hundreds. And you can tell that by the way it costs. However, it's worth every penny. You'll need your iLok to use this, but that's not a huge deal. Some people hate it, but I can easily deal with it considering the quality software I'm getting.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

When it comes to things like stability and overall performance, Waves tends to be at the top of the totem pole. I've never experienced a single crash, freeze or hiccup while using any Waves plugin, let alone this one. They all seem to be super stable, which is a huge plus for something as critical as a recording environment. The plugin itself is cross platform compatible, so there is no issue when it comes to using this with either an Apple or Windows based computer. The biggest problem I experienced simply has to do with the recently technological evolution of OSes. My DAW and OS are now 64 bit. However, these plugins are still 32 bit. For Logic Pro to fully utilize this plugin, it needs to run a bridge application, unless I want to gimp down my DAW. It's a bit of a pain, but it works. I'm hoping they update these to 64 bit in the future. I've been using the Mercury bundle for the past half a year or so, and it's been working out great.


OVERALL OPINION

Waves plugins have saved my recordings time and time again. They're absolutely invaluable towards people like me who have smaller recording studios and can't afford to clutter up their space with tons of different outboard gear. I know this is an expensive package, but this is the second best investment I've ever made, next to my mic preamp I'm currently using. However, please don't pirate this software. You're taking away tons of R&D money from Waves whenever you do this, and it hurts those of us who try to support the developers.

I can't say too much about the process of installing the Waves Ltd. Mercury TDM Bundle, since I wasn't there when everything got installed on the system that I've used it on. However, I would imagine that installing them is pretty straight forward and that you just need to follow the step by step instructions. Although it will probably take a good amount of time since there are so many different plug-ins to be installed here! A manual is probably a good idea to have around if you're new to the plug-ins in the Mercury Bundle, simply because there is so much to learn.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

Since you need an HD system to run the Waves Ltd. Mercury TDM Bundle on, performance shouldn't be a problem for anyone running this bundle. A lot of these plug-ins do take up a good amount of processing power, but with an HD system this shouldn't be a worry. I've run the this bundle on an Apple Mac G5 with a Digidesign 192 I/O and Apogee converters. I only first starting using this bundle about six months ago...

OVERALL OPINION

The Waves Ltd. Mercury TDM Bundle is one of the most complete plug-in bundles currently available from Waves or any other company. You're getting a vast amount of processing and effects plug-ins, including the new hybrid plug-ins offered by Waves. Included in the Mercury Bundle is all of the Diamond, Platinum, Restoration, and Transform bundles, so as you can see the amount of plug-ins in the Mercury Bundle is almost mind blowing! I'm a big fan of the hybrid plug-ins as well as the plug-ins in this bundle that are modeled after specific pieces of outboard gear, as I think they are a huge step up from their predecessors. My only complaint with the bundle is of course the price, but what can you really expect from a bundle of this size! If you're looking for just about the largest plug-in collection available in one place, you want to check out the Waves Ltd. Mercury TDM Bundle without a doubt.