All user reviews of 4/5 for the Waves GTR3

The GTR3 software is very easy to use. It is intuitive if you are familiar with guitar effects/amp chains. There are decent presets included to get you started if you aren't experienced at creating your own tones. Compared to other amp sims, I think the presets in GTR3 are actually a lot better than the presets in NI Guitar Rig, Amplitube, Pod Farm, etc.
One thing that was a little strange for me was the dual amps in the full version of the plug-in. They come set up with two amps (one panned left, and one panned right). Most of the time when I am working on a tone, my preference is to only use one amp. It was a little frustrating to have to disable one amp everything I opened the software, but I guess it is just a matter of preference.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

One thing that I like about the software is that it comes with "lite" versions as separate plug-ins. This can be useful when you don't have use for the entire toolrack, but just want to add a single amp or an effects box. This can be done to save CPU processing when working on a full mix.
The other main benefit of having the different versions of the plug-in is for tracking. A big problem when tracking guitars is latency when the computer needs to process the signal, so it plays back the audio with a slight delay. Most DAWs give you the option to decrease the latency with the trade-off of decreased processing power for decreased latency. Therefore, I like to use the "lite" versions of the plug-ins during tracking with low latency. Then I switch to the full versions of the plug-in during mixing when I want to add more effects, dual amps, etc.

OVERALL OPINION

The Waves GTR3 is an amplifier simulator (and effects too) plug-in to be used in a DAW. It includes models of guitar amps ranging from 'clean' to 'high-gain.' Many of the classic guitar amps are included (fender, vox, marshall), although it is a little difficult to tell some times which amps are which. Other amp sims are more obvious about which amp you are using, but just change the name due to licencing. In Waves GTR3, it is harder to tell, but it is more about finding one that sounds good rather than picking a particular amp. There are some unique amps included that aren't included with other amp sims. I think this is probably due to the partnership between PRS and Waves for this product. Nonetheless, there are some cool sounding amps that you won't find elsewhere.
The effects are decent. Waves is best known for their general effects (eq, compressors, etc) and less known for amp sims in particular, so I had high expectations for what they would include in this effects package. I would have liked to see some better effects like an 1176 compressor model or SSL eq model inside GTR3, similar to how Native Instruments has these effects as options to be used inside Guitar Rig.

The Waves GTR3 is a package of amps, cabs and stomps. You can change microphone settings add fX and sync to BPM (for effects). There are just so many things that can be done with this plug in, I have been using it for months now and I have always been a fan of Waves plug ins so I knew what I was going to get before I even installed it.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

Installing these plug ins on my Macbook was very easy, I do suggest having a good amount of RAM and a tleast be running 10.5 or higher (OSX). There are a total of 25 guitar amps, 7 bass amps, 26 stomps and 29 cabs in the GTR3 bundle. The presets are professionally done and I barely have to do any tweaking with them because they sound great just as they are. Though I do like to work with Guitar Rig better than GTR3, but the presets in GTR3 are better than the standard presets that come with Guitar Rig. I just like Guitar Rig better because of the set up and layout/interface. I just think it is easier to work with because of the flow of the amps and adding effects.

OVERALL OPINION

I have used GTR3 as a stand alone version too, but I prefer to use it as a plug in with Pro Tools and Cubase. I love using these amps on different sound just to create cool effects; I have done some drums with them and even put them on synths before just to test out the waters. There are a lot of presets and effects to play with in this bundle and I highly recommend it.
For the price of this package, you are getting a lot of value out of it. It installs easy and is ready to go right way with minimal troubleshooting or learning. It does come with a manual but I didn’t even have to look at it. This package of amps was created by award winning guitarist and the sound is incredible.

Waves GTR3 software is a collection of guitar and bass amplifier modeling plug-ins for your DAW. I've got GTR3 on my home system, without the Studio Guitar Interface that is also sold with the software as well as individually. Their aim is I guess to provide an all in one recording rig for guitarists who want to move to an in the box set up. As far as getting GTR3 up and running goes, it shouldn't take very long as it's a simple step by step process like that you'll find with installing any software. You can even buy it as a download if you want to further shorten up the process. Learning to use the software itself is actually really easy. Each of the amps and stompboxes in here will take a bit of time to learn as they're all a little different, but if you're familiar with real amps and guitar gear, you should be able to figure everything out in time. I love that each of the amps is actually modeled after the real thing, making it that much easier to understand. I don't think that the manual would be necessary but everyone is different.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I'm currently running the Waves GTR3 on my home rig, which is Pro Tools 9 based. I've got a Mac Book Pro laptop that has a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM that I run everything on and have a Digi 002R for Pro Tools. I haven't had problems running GTR3, but on a lesser system I can definitely see it happening since it does take up some processing power. Make sure that you have a pretty stable system before purchasing GTR3.

OVERALL OPINION

Waves GTR3 is some of the most complete amp modeling software available. While in general I'm not the biggest fan of amp modeling as I like to get my guitar sounds using real amps, GTR3 can really help you extend on your natural guitar sounds or make some from scratch. I haven't used it with the optional Studio Guitar Interface, but with it you'd have a pretty good all in one set up. Having said this, the Studio Guitar Interface isn't going to be any better than most audio interfaces, so don't sweat needing all of it together. GTR3 software on it's own is quite powerful and definitely recommended for anyone in the market for high quality amp modeling software.