10 Killer Virtual Instruments from Waves
Whether you’re a producer, composer, songwriter, beat maker, or musician, the Waves Inspire Virtual Instruments Collection is sure to inject you with creativity and inspiration (pun intended). This collection of 10 virtual instruments is jam-packed with everything from stunning acoustic and electric pianos to realistic basses to cutting-edge synths. No matter what sound you’re reaching for, you’re sure to find it in the Inspire Virtual Instruments Collection.
Related Videos: Inspire Virtual Instrument Plug-in Bundle
Grand Rhapsody Piano
There's nothing quite like a Fazioli. With the performance and style of a sleek Italian race car, Fazioli pianos are in a class by themselves, chosen by some of the most discerning ears in music. Now you can deploy the Fazioli magic on your tracks with Grand Rhapsody Piano, a meticulously sampled virtual instrument from Waves. First, Waves had to find the definitive Fazioli to sample. The chosen one — an F228 resident at London's Metropolis Studios — is featured on countless hits, including such Grammy winners as Adele's "Hello." The wood used for this impeccable piano — cultivated from the same red spruce forest Antonio Stradivari tapped for his legendary violins — plays a big part in its regal sound. Sweetwater engineers have found Grand Rhapsody complements everything from jazz to classical to pop-rock — and even electronic music.
Features:
- Meticulously sampled Fazioli F228 grand piano resident at London's Metropolis Studios
- The actual piano played on Adele's "Hello" and countless other hits
- Expertly recorded using 8 pairs of microphones
- Mix up to 3 mic pairs and select their position
- Control pedal, key up, and sympathetic resonance amount in the overall mix
- Equalization, compression, limiting, delay, and reverb derived from Waves' acclaimed H-Reverb
- Use standalone or as a plug-in
Electric 88 Piano
Add the sound of a vintage electric piano to your sonic palette, with the Waves Electric 88 Piano software instrument plug-in. Waves sampled a well-loved and road-worn electric piano in great detail, creating an expressive piano instrument that has the subtle nonlinearity of a years-old but well-maintained electric piano. You're able to fine-tune your sound by using the Mix section to balance the sound of the internal mechanisms, tines, and key-up sounds. When it's time to add the soulful sound of a vintage EP to your music, Sweetwater is sure you'll dig the Waves Electric 88 Piano plug-in.
Features:
- Electric piano software instrument
- Based on a meticulously sampled vintage electric piano
- Fine-tune your sound with the Mix section, compressor, and amplifier modeling
- Built-in effects include tremolo, autopan, phaser, chorus, and reverb
- Use as a plug-in or as a standalone instrument
Electric 200 Piano
Add the sound of a vintage electric piano to your sonic palette, with the Waves Electric 200 Piano software instrument plug-in. Waves sampled two well-loved and road-worn 200-model electric pianos in great detail, creating an expressive piano instrument that has the subtle nonlinearity of a years-old but well-maintained electric piano. You can fine-tune your tone by using the Mix section to balance the sound of the internal mechanisms, tines, and key-up sounds. When it's time to add the soulful sound of a vintage EP to your music, Sweetwater is sure you'll dig the Waves Electric 200 Piano plug-in.
Features:
- Electric piano software instrument
- Based on 2 meticulously sampled 200-model vintage electric pianos
- Fine-tune your sound with the Mix section, compressor, and amplifier modeling
- Built-in effects include tremolo, autopan, phaser, chorus, and reverb
- Use as a plug-in or as a standalone instrument
Electric Grand 80 Piano
From Elton John and Peter Gabriel to Herbie Hancock and Vangelis, the Yamaha CP-80 was the definitive 1980s electric grand piano sound. For the Electric Grand 80 Piano virtual instrument, Waves expertly sampled a fastidiously maintained CP-80, and the results deliver the classic shiny leads and reverberant chords that graced some of our favorite '80s rock, jazz, pop, and R&B songs. The original electro-acoustic instrument featured fewer strings per key than a traditional acoustic piano, resulting in a streamlined sound that's easier to mix into your music. Waves Electric Grand 80 Piano captures all the magic, including tone controls, tremolo, and Sustain Resonance, which lets you control the simulated sympathetic resonance of unplayed strings — ideal for adding depth and dimension to both solos and chords.
Features:
- Meticulously sampled from the classic Yamaha CP-80 electric grand piano
- Includes tone controls from the original instrument
- Mix section lets you add sounds sampled from the original: key up, mechanics, sustain pedal
- Onboard studio-grade compressor/limiter
- Included effects: tremolo, autopan, phaser, chorus, and reverb
- May be played as a plug-in or as a standalone instrument
- SoundGrid operation requires Waves SoundGrid Server hardware
Clavinet
Famous for its percussive, gritty sound, the iconic D6 model Clavinet was a key component of classic 1970s funk, fusion, rock, and soul records. From vibrant to mellow, the clav delivered the sounds that producers and artists were looking for. For the Clavinet plug-in, Waves painstakingly sampled every nuance, texture, and articulation of a mint-condition D6, as well as every aspect of its string-strike mechanism in its muted and unmuted modes. The result is a spectacular virtual instrument that re-creates all the expression, dynamic control, and feel of the iconic keyboard funk machine.
Features:
- Powered by the powerful Waves Sampler Engine (WSE)
- Onboard effects include advanced autowah, phaser, chorus, and reverb
- Full-velocity response mix control with Key Up and Mechanics features
- Customizable EQ for more extensive tone shaping
- Includes presets modeled after Stevie Wonder's "Superstition," Billy Preston's "Outta Space," and more
- Mute slider control for decayed staccato or mellow sustain
- Amp overdrive control with tube condenser and dynamic microphone selectors
- Global tuning control; MIDI-assignable
- NKS-ready for NI Komplete Kontrol and Maschine
- May be used standalone or as a plug-in
Flow Motion FM Synth
Waves' Flow Motion is a virtual instrument plug-in that provides a refreshingly straightforward approach to FM synthesis. First appearing in the early 1980s, FM (Frequency Modulation) synths sounded great and very different from analog synthesizers, but editing patches and getting around on these digital beasts was, for most keyboardists without an engineering degree, a frustrating, arduous endeavor. Combining the best elements of FM and analog-style subtractive synthesis in one powerful hybrid instrument, Flow Motion features an intuitive graphical interface that makes editing and navigating a breeze. And you'll love the sounds — fat growling basses, soaring leads, richly dimensional pads, and stunning effects that will work wonders in your productions. An innovative 16-step snapshot sequencer and a deep library of over 1,000 presets turn FM synthesis into a joyous sound-quest.
Features:
- Hybrid FM synth combining FM and subtractive synthesis
- Intuitive graphic FM modulation matrix with instant visual feedback
- 1,000+ preset library, including exclusive artist presets
- 4 high-resolution oscillators
- 4 flexible LFOs and envelope modulators
- 16-step snapshot sequencer — sequence up to 16 recallable snapshots per patch
- Onboard note sequencer/arpeggiator
- Studio-grade effects include Drive, Distortion, Crusher, Phaser, Flanger, Chorus, Reverb, and Delay
- Use standalone or as a plug-in, onstage or in the studio
- NKS-ready for NI Komplete Kontrol and Maschine
Element 2.0 Virtual Analog Synth
Waves' Element 2.0 software synth generates the sound of the analog classics and serves it up fat, punchy, and dimensional. This polyphonic subtractive synthesizer gives you everything you need to craft killer patches: two main oscillators, noise and sub oscillators, oscillator sync, a voltage-controlled filter switchable between highpass and lowpass, four LFOs, and four ADSR envelopes. Waves also equipped Element 2.0 with an onboard effects engine, 4-band EQ, and a 16-step arpeggiator/sequencer. That's a lot of sound design power, yet Element 2.0 is simple and intuitive to use. From searing leads and gargantuan basses to glorious celestial pads, Element 2.0 is the genie that will make your analog synth dreams come true.
Features:
- 2 high-res main oscillators, plus noise and sub oscillators
- Oscillator sync
- Select your sonic flavor: Element 1 or Element 2
- Voltage-controlled zero-delay feedback filter switchable between highpass and lowpass
- 4 LFOs; 4 ADSR envelopes
- Onboard effects engine with reverb, delay, chorus, distortion, and 2 crushers
- 4-band EQ (100Hz, 600Hz, 1500Hz, 5kHz), plus fixed HP and LP filters
- 16-step arpeggiator/sequencer includes Re-trigger and Hold and modes you can use as modulation sources
- Use standalone or as a plug-in
Codex Wavetable Synth
Waves' Codex is a polyphonic wavetable soft synth that will shift your sound design into overdrive. Based on an advanced granular wavetable engine and Waves' Virtual Voltage technology, Codex lets you easily create sounds that range from organic acoustic to analog emulated to wonderfully rich, evolving textures. Codex comes with hundreds of killer presets, but you can also import your own audio files, transform them into wavetables, and tweak them to taste. Advanced formant control gives you direct control over the acoustic resonance of your sounds while providing consistent resonance character that's true to the original signal.
Features:
- Cutting-edge polyphonic wavetable synthesizer
- Powered by Waves' Virtual Voltage technology
- Innovative oscillators with progressive wavetable scanning capabilities
- Advanced and comprehensive Modulation Matrix
- Formant control — direct control over the acoustic resonance of the sound
- Wavetable (sample) importing
- User-replaceable wavetables
- VCA, VCF, 2 LFOs, ADSR envelope, and Mod Matrix
- Arpeggiator/16-step sequencer
- Integrated chorus, delay, reverb, distortion and bit crusher effects
- Visual dynamic waveforms
- Plug-in and standalone instrument
Morphoder
A classic effect, the Waves Morphoder plug-in gives you the iconic character of a vocoder, plus the sonic flexibility you need to create truly unique sounds. At Sweetwater, we've seen a lot of vocoders, but Morphoder takes the cake! Like any true vocoder, Morphoder starts by combining the frequency information of a carrier signal with the amplitude information of a modulator signal. That lets you get singing synths, talking drums, and many other cool effects. But Morphoder also comes loaded with Waves' Linear Phase EQ and a killer formant effect. What's more, there's an 8-voice MIDI-controllable synthesizer built right into Waves Morphoder, so you always have a carrier signal handy.
Features:
- Traditional vocoder plug-in with great extra features
- Easy-to-use carrier/modulator assignment gives you flexible workflow options
- Built-in 8-voice stereo synthesizer with MIDI control provides easy access to a carrier signal
- Onboard Linear Phase EQ gives you extra control over your modulator's sound
- Powerful formant control lets you sculpt and shape your sound
- Mono, mono-to-stereo, and stereo components
Bass Slapper
Looking for that inimitable slap bass tone for a funk or disco track? Waves' Bass Slapper lets you control slap bass from a MIDI controller. This cross-platform virtual instrument was designed with keyboardists in mind; it senses your natural playing style and translates it to the appropriate place on a bass fretboard using the appropriate technique. Play notes short for a percussive slap. Play smoother for groovier passages. An onboard effects suite with all the usual suspects — distortion, wah, compression, and more — make Bass Slapper a one-stop shop for authentic slap bass tone.
Features:
- Play authentic slap bass from a MIDI controller
- Great for funk, rock, disco, and soul
- Designed with keyboardists in mind
- Responds to your natural playing style
- Onboard effects suite makes Bass Slapper a one-stop shop
OVox
Transform your vocal productions with Waves’ Waves OVox Vocal ReSynthesis Plug-in, the next-generation voice-controlled synth and vocal effects processor. Create a limitless palette of vocal morphing, tuning, harmonizing, vocoder, and talk box effects and more; with the depth, clarity, and control you need to craft killer productions. Useable as a plug-in or standalone app, OVox Vocal ReSynthesis will have you bidding farewell to boring vocals. With a huge menu of vocal synthesis and reshaping options.
Features:
- Voice-controlled synth and vocal FX processor
- Powered by Waves Organic ReSynthesis technology
- Automatic Note Mapper to trigger chords, harmonies or scales from your vocal tracks
- Built-in 8-voice synth with dual high-resolution synth engines
- 9 customizable LFOs/Sequencer, ADSR, and ORS modulators
- 6 modulatable FX: AutoPan, Chorus, Comp, Delay, Distortion, Reverb
- Fully modulatable 4-band EQ
