Fantastic warm sounding Eq's and compressor 
by brianbfw from Alexandria, VA, April 2008
Music Background:  classical guitarist, composer, and engineer

The v-series is a fabulous plugin. Very warm and vintage sounding.
I do not know exactly what the real Neve EQ and compressors sound like, but
I love what this does for my mixes. The EQ’s sound great on DI recorded guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, and sweetening the sound of virtual instruments.

The best way I can describe the sound in analogue warm. The only small con I had was
The compressor does take some getting used to with the input/out controls –vs- the traditional threshold settings. One you get used to it, it’s a very nice sounding compressor. Warm vintage Neve right in my DAW. I’m a happy camper. Sound quality is fantastic.

I will say that I hate the waves registration process. This is my second waves plug in and I can never get it to work with calling waves tech support. However, this does not take away from the fact that these plugins sound fantastic, just be prepared for some headache when going through the waves registration process.

  A quick blow by blow.... 
by Nathanael Davenport from Rexburg, ID, USA, September 2007
Music Background:  Recording Engineer

I have to say by way of disclaimer that I am not familiar with the Neve hardware that this plugin bundle claims to emulate. I'm guessing they didn't get the official Neve stamp of approval like they did with the SSL and API bundles, otherwise this would probably be $150 more and have Neve written all over it, instead of "V-Series."

Thus being said, it all sounds excellent, especially given that I haven't had enough time yet to learn their responses to different materials and settings. (Each EQ/Dynamics bundle has it's own learning curve, I've found.) I have found the compressor to work best on vocal and drum tracks, especially with the Auto release setting. It is a very fluid compressor, very non-linear (as can be expected from an analog emulation), and sweet sounding. The equalizers I need more than a week's time with, but so far simply running the signal through them with modest settings seems to warm up and polish any track. But in comparison with some other Neve emulations I have heard, it does a very good job of keeping frequency extremes restrained, even at relatively liberal settings.

My favorite application of the V-Series has been on piano. I use Synthogy Ivory, and have found that very modest settings on the compressor and EQ does wonders in making Ivory sound "alive."

However, there are a couple of cons. One is not really a problem for someone who has used the real hardware; instead of the typical threshold control to set the point of gain reduction, they use an input level control. Gain compensation is done with the output level. A small thing, but it through me for a loop. But now I know.

But - the big con is that is might too faithful an emulation of the original, in that it introduces discernible noise at high output levels on either the compressor or the EQ's. Other Neve emulations I have seen don't do this. This problem alone has made me reticent to purchase this bundle, though if it was not a problem I would have bought it by now.

Waves always does good work, and the V-Series is no exception. For those uninitiated to the Neve world, a little time spent getting to know these plugins I am sure will pay off richly. I would highly recommend this collection over the SSL or API collections by Waves if you are looking for a starting place to dive into analog emulations.

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