The Waves Ltd. PAZ PsychoAcoustic Analyzer is a metering plug-in system designed for mixing and mastering purposes. You can monitor the frequency spectrum, stereo spread, and RMS and peak levels all within this one plug-in. I wasn't involved with installing the plug-in since I don't own it and have only used it in a professional studio where I was working. I didn't need to do much to understand the interface and everything going on with the meters and graphs, as it's pretty self explanatory and easy to understand. You can zoom in on the frequency spectrum graph to really see it up close and personal, which is really cool. The rest of the graphs and meters aren't complicated either in any way. A manual probably isn't necessary, but I haven't looked at it so I don't know anything about it's configuration.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I don't own the Waves Ltd. PAZ PsychoAcoustic Analyzer, but I have run it in a professional studio running Pro Tools HD on a Mac desk top with a whole ton of power. We never have problems running plug-ins really, so running it on this system isn't exactly a good judge of how well this plug-in will run on a given system. However, most users won't have a need to run more than one of these at a time any way, so I'd say that as long as you're able to run plug-ins currently without it taxing your system, you'll be okay with PAZ.

OVERALL OPINION

As far as collections of metering for mixing and mastering purposes, the Waves Ltd. PAZ PsychoAcoustic Analyzer is about as complete as you'll find one. I use IK Multimedia's T-Racks 3 Metering Suite in place of this at home since I don't own this plug-in, but both are definitely comparable. PAZ will cost you a bit more, but it definitely has a more in depth frequency spectrum chart with more options for viewing in general. If you're doing a lot of mixing and/or mastering, something like PAZ is a must have and you might as well go with something from Waves who are up there with the best when it comes to plug-ins...