Waves LoAir

For those of you who have ever wanted a subharmonic generator for post production work, this could quite possibly be the exact plugin you're looking for. The plugin is basically a super adjustable low end adjuster to add depth and girth to your overall mix. The plugin has four knobs for resonance, lo, loair and output. It also has four sliders for L/R, C, Ls/Rs and LFE. Finally, there are two buttons for align and trim. The plugin itself is implemented in a very intuitive way, so anybody can use this without having to read the manual. Personally, I've never read it, so I can't comment on it. The plugin is also real easy to utilize. Simply enable it on whatever buss you're looking to shape the low end on. It tends to work best on the master buss, but don't let that stop you from utilizing it on other busses.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

Waves is the king when it comes to things like stability and performance. They're almost unbeatable in this category. I've never experienced a single crash or hiccup while using this plugin inside of my favorite DAW -- Logic Pro. The plugin is cross compatible, and that means that almost every user out there should be able to utilize this plugin on their favorite machine. It also doesn't take up too much RAM or processing power, which is a huge plus. There is one issue I have experienced, however. The plugin itself is a 32 bit plugin. I run a 64 bit DAW, and it can be a real pain because Logic Pro has to run a special bridge application to utilize this inside the 64 bit workspace. I'm hoping they'll update this plugin later down the road to work in 64 bit environments natively. I've been using the Mercury bundle for about half a year now, and I'm loving every minute of it.

OVERALL OPINION

If you're looking for a high quality low end shaper for your master buss, this is a good plugin to check out. It's very solid at what it does, and I found that it works great for certain mixes. However, I'm a heavy metal guitarist, and using this can sometimes make the overall mix muddy if you use too much of it. I think this would work much better for electronica music and the like. This could really help deliver that huge thump without having everything sound like a jumbled mess.

The Waves Ltd. LoAir plug-in is a subharmonic, low end generator specifically designed for post production and sound design, but certainly useful across the board. The plug-in is a part of a few different bundles, but I have since I've got the full Waves Complete bundle. It's also available in the Waves Sound Design Suite and the 360 Surround Tools bundle. I didn't install this plug-in individually as you do the full bundles at once, but this process was quick and easy enough where it's not really even worth mentioning. As far as using the plug-in goes, it took me a bit of messing around with it to get the hang of it as not all of the parameters are clean cut. The main parameters are for frequency range for the low pass filter, LoAir, which is controls the volume level of the pitch, Lo, direct level, LFE output (for 5.0 and 5.1) and then there's a feed section as well. A manual would definitely be a good idea for this one.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

Right now I'm running the Waves Ltd. LoAir plug-in on a Mac Book Pro and in Pro Tools LE 8. The computer has a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM, while I'm running Pro Tools LE 8 with a Digi 002R audio interface. This has definitely been enough for me to run this plug-in without issues, although I've really only tried to run one instance of it at a time.

OVERALL OPINION

While I haven't exactly been using the Waves Ltd. LoAir plug-in for what it's designed for, I've been finding it to be a pretty cool and useful tool for adding some more low end presence to kick drums. It can definitely be a bit too much, but when used in moderation I think it can add some depth if the kick drum sound is lacking it. I don't do any post production or sound design work, so I'm afraid I won't be able to review the plug-in on this sort of basis. Having said this, if you too have the Waves Complete bundle and are looking to make the most of every single on in it, the LoAir plug-in can definitely be a friend when trying to beef up your low end signals. However, I wouldn't buy this plug-in unless you're using it for the original intended purposes, as there's only so far it will take you otherwise...