Waves Tony Maserati Collection

The Waves Maserati Signature Series is a suite of effects processing plug-ins to be used in a DAW. Installation is done by downloading the software from the Waves website. Authorization can be done for v9 plug-ins using a USB stick as a dongle, or over the internet using the Waves authorization manager application if your computer is online.
The Signature Series plug-ins are all really easy to get started with, and were specifically designed to make a difference on your tracks just by inserting the plug-in. There are separate plug-ins for different instruments - drums, guitars, bass, etc. After opening the plug-in, there are only a few knobs to tweak to change your sound. The advanced processing takes place behind the scenes of the plug-in.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

Comparing the Maserati plug-ins to the other signature series options (Kramer, CLA, JJP), there are some significant differences. Tony Maserati is known for his mixing of music in styles ranging from hip-hop/rap to pop. The Maserati Series is your best option if you are considering any of the signature series suites and you mix this kind of music. The CLA plug-ins are great from modern rock with over-the-top processing, the Kramer suite is great for vintage sounds (tape echo, old-school compression/eq), and JJP is great for music styles that go from pop to rock. One thing that I actually like about the Maserati series is that it doesn't count on the super-heavy compression and extreme eq curves (that the other packages use) to get a good sound. The effects are more subtle, but very musical nonetheless. In practice, I also find the Maserati plug-ins to be the least CPU intensive of all the other signature series plug-ins. This makes it easier to call up more and more of these plug-ins across all my tracks.

OVERALL OPINION

The Maserati Signature Series Bundle includes some unique processors that aren't available in the other packages (Kramer, CLA, JJP). The Acoustic Guitar processor is probably my favorite in the entire bundle. I have always had a problem with an acoustic guitar getting buried in a mix after I add a few more instruments. With this plug-in I can get an acoustic guitar to sit perfectly in a mix with almost no work. It seems magical. I also really like the 'Mix Bus' plug-in which offers processing for a Drum Bus, Guitar Bus, Vocal Bus, etc. In each case, the processing really helps the mix to gel together by adding some compression and reverb. To me, these two plug-ins are the best part about the Maserati series.

The Waves Ltd. Maserati Collection is a bundle of high quality audio plug-ins designed in tandem by famed producer Tony Maserati. Waves would like you to believe that having this bundle equals having the Maserati sound, which of course simply isn’t the case. However, this is a very powerful bunch of plug-ins nonetheless. It consists of six plug-ins in total (with a seventh just added). Included are the GTi Guitar Toner, VX1 Vocal Enhancer, DRM Drum Slammer, B72 Bass Phattener, ACG Acoustic Guitar Designer, and HMX Harmonics Generator. They also just recently added a Group Processor plug-in to the bundle. You’ll install the bundle all at once along with, which is a simple step by step process that shouldn’t give anyone any problems. I’d also say it’s fairly easy to learn how to use the plug-in, with user friendliness varying a little bit from plug-in to plug-in. If you think you might need it, have the manual on had as it can most likely answer any questions you might have specifically related to the parameters given.



SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I’ve got the Waves Ltd. Maserati Collection on my home system, and the studio I work at has it on theirs as well. I mostly use it at home since that’s where I do most of my in the box processing, where I’ve got Pro Tools 9 and a Digi 002R audio interface. My computer is a Mac Book Pro laptop that has a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM. I don’t use multiple instances of these plug-ins all that often, but have yet to have any problems running any of them either on my home system or at the pro studio where I work.


OVERALL OPINION

The Waves Ltd. Maserati Collection is a great set of plug-ins to have as it makes for very high quality processing right inside your computer. Each plug-in in the bundle corresponds to a particular application, making it easy for new users and experienced ones alike. My favorites in the bundle would have to the B72 Bass Phattener, HMX Harmonics Generator, and VX1 Vocal Enhancer, but all of the plug-ins are at a high level and worthy of use. Again, it’s not going to give you an instant Tony Maserati sound by any means, but it’s cool that he had something to do with them and the fact that they’re awesome plug-ins really makes them worth using regardless. They’re definitely going to be best suited for pop tracks, so if you’re looking for something a bit grittier for rock, I’d recommend the Eddie Kramer bundle.