The Dominant 80s Synth Sound—Reborn
FM synths like the Yamaha DX7 were huge in the 80s. Their bells, strings, brass, and bass sounds appear on countless hits of the era, and have remained popular in music by Skrillex, Kavinsky, and many more. But programming FM synthesis was often daunting and complex. Not anymore.
Flow Motion makes FM synthesis playful and easy. The graphic FM modulation matrix gives you instant visual feedback: simply drag-and-drop assignments between the four oscillators, each with independent waveform control. Or choose from over 1,000 presets that combine FM and analog tech for screaming leads, rich pads, floor-shaking basses, and big polysynths. Flow Motion does it all.
Artist-Friendly Sound Creation
You don’t need a degree in physics to program this FM synth. Visual, virtual “patch cords” connect the various FM operators together in a way that makes logical sense, and many parameters are just like analog synths anyway.
Digital Engine, Analog Flow
Analog favorites, like 4-voice unison with detune and spread, “mini” or “obie” type filter curves with variable resonance peak, notch and bandpass response, portamento, and LFO smoothing bring the best of analog to digital.
Massive Modulation
4 modulators choose between familiar ADSR envelopes with velocity and aftertouch response, or LFO with 6 waveforms, 3 re-triggering modes, unipolar or bipolar polarity, smoothing, fade-in, sync to tempo, and more.
Effects to Shape Your Sound
Shape the synthesis further with modulatable drive, distortion, bit crusher, phaser, flanger, chorus, stereo delay, and reverb—all with the Waves effects lineage. There’s also a 4-stage graphic EQ, and both high- and low-pass filters.
16-Step Snapshot Sequencer/Arpeggiator
Take “snapshots” of a complete preset with all parameters, and sequence up to 16 of them for playback. Tune each step, then step through snapshots for live performance, or sequence and arpeggiate in individual presets.
Presets for Creative Flow
Get a jump start with a wide array of factory sounds, and over 1,000 presets from artists such as Richard Devine, Juno Reactor, and many more.
Features
- Over 1,000 factory and artist presets
- Analog synth filter, VCA, 4 envelope/LFO modulators
- 16-step sequencer with up to 16 recallable snapshots per patch
- Use as plugin or standalone instrument, in the studio or live
- MIDI Learn for hardware controllers
- 4-oscillator synthesis engine, with Frequency or Phase Modulation
- Interconnections among oscillators give clear visual feedback for edits
- Built-in note sequencer / arpeggiator
- Rich roster of effects to process your sounds even further
- NKS-ready for NI Komplete Kontrol and Maschine
Description
System Requirements
Waves v15 System Requirements
Mac | Windows |
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CPU Intel or Silicon Architecture See notes regarding Apple Silicon based processors | CPU X64 compatible Intel or AMD CPU |
Memory Minimum: 8 GB RAM (16 GB recommended) 16 GB free disk space on the system drive | Memory Minimum: 8 GB RAM (16 GB recommended) 16 GB free disk space on the system drive |
Operating System macOS Monterey 12, Ventura 13, Sonoma 14 | Operating System Windows 10 64 bit (21H2) Windows 11 (21H2) |
Screen Resolution Minimum: 1024x768 Recommended: 1280x1024 / 1600x1024 USB displays are not supported as the primary display. | Screen Resolution Minimum: 1024x768 Recommended: 1280x1024 / 1600x1024 |
Exceptions and Notes
Clarity Vx / Pro and Clarity Vx DeReverb / Pro:
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Waves 15 Supported Hosts
MacApple Silicon Support | Windows |
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Pro Tools 2023.12, 2024 (AAX Native, Audiosuite) | Pro Tools 2022, 2023 (AAX Native, Audiosuite) |
Ableton Live 12 (VST3) | Ableton Live 12 (VST3) |
Audition 24 (VST3) | Audition 24 (VST3) |
Bitwig Studio 5.1 (VST3) | Bitwig Studio 5.1 (VST3) |
Cakewalk by BandLab 2024 (VST3) | |
Cubase 13 (VST3) | Cubase 13 (VST3) |
DaVinci Resolve 18.5 | DaVinci Resolve 18.5 |
Digital Performer 11 (Audio Units) | |
FL Studio 21 (VST3) | FL Studio 21 (VST3) |
Garage Band 10.4 (Audio Units) | |
Komplete Kontrol 3 (VST3) | Komplete Kontrol3 (VST3) |
Logic Pro X 10.8, 11 (Audio Units) | |
Luna 1.6 (Audio Units) | |
Nuendo 13 (VST3) | Nuendo 13 (VST3) |
OBS Studio 29 (Intel Only) Via StudioVerse, Stereo only | OBS Studio 29 (Intel Only) Via StudioVerse, Stereo only |
Premiere Pro 24 (VST3) | Premiere Pro 24 (VST3) |
Maschine 2 (VST3) | |
Main Stage 3 (Audio Units) | |
Pyramix 14 (VST3) | |
REAPER 7 (VST3) | REAPER 7 (VST3) |
Reason 12.7 (VST3) | Reason 12.7 (VST3) |
Samplitude Pro X8 (VST3) | |
Sequoia 16 (VST3) | |
Studio One Professional 6 (VST3) | Studio One Professional 6 (VST3) |
Waves’ latest version works on newer sub-versions of these DAWs, unless stated otherwise.
Waves plugins comply with the major audio plugin formats (VST3, AU, AAX).
If your DAW is not listed below, but supports VST3, AU or AAX, it should work fine with our software.
Your DAW must be running on an operating system that supports it in order for plugins to work properly. To confirm that your DAW version is supported on your operating system, please refer to your DAW’s website.
Exceptions & Notes:
General:
- These specs are for software version 15.
- V15 supports 64-bit only.
- In hosts that support both VST and VST3 plugins, we highly recommend using only VST3 plugins in new sessions from now on, and migrating plugins in old sessions to VST3.
- With the release of Waves V13 plugins, we announce full official Apple Silicon support for host applications that are themselves Apple Silicon-compatible. We will work to provide official ARM support for more host applications as they become Silicon-compatible. We will update this page with new developments as they are available.
- MIDI Support: The following hosts do not offer MIDI support: Pyramix, Premiere, Audition and OBS.
- MIDI Learn:
Not supported in the following plugins: Scheps Omni Channel 2, MultiMod Rack, CLA MixHub, Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain.
Native Instrument hosts: MIDI learn is not supported in effect plugins if they’re inserted after a virtual instrument plugin in Maschine and Komplete Kontrol.
Logic Pro, MainStage, Digital Performer, Luna: Only certain plugins support MIDI learn. Click here for a full list.
GarageBand: MIDI Learn is supported only with Waves Virtual Instrument plugins. - Mono to Stereo components are not supported in Cakewalk by BandLab, GarageBand and Luna.
- Sidechaining is supported on the following hosts: Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Nuendo, Cubase, Cakewalk by BandLab, Audition, Ableton Live, FL Studio, REAPER, Bitwig Studio, Samplitude, Sequoia and Studio One.
- Demo Mode: Audio mutes are not synced between plug-ins running in Demo Mode, when tracks are set to Input Monitoring and the transport is stopped.
- Surround plugins are supported on the following hosts: Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Digital Performer, Nuendo, Cubase, Audition, Premiere, REAPER, Pyramix and DaVinci Resolve.
- Drag and Drop support: ‘Drag and Drop' of samples and audio files in to CR8 Creative Sampler is possible only on DAWs that support this feature: Ableton Live, Cubase, Nuendo and Studio One.
- GarageBand: The Preset Browser is not available on Intel Mac computers.
- Adobe Premiere on Apple Silicon Macs: While loading plugins / changing parameters, you may experience a slow graphic refresh rate.
- Maschine/ Komplete Kontrol: The following plugins will not function correctly when loaded as VST3 plugins: API-2500, C1 Compressor, dbx160 Compressor / Limiter, H-Comp Hybrid Compressor, Renaissance Compressor, SSL G-Master Bus Compressor, V-Comp. Maschine 2.17.2 and Komplete Kontrol 2.9.2 include a fix for this issue.
- FL Studio: FL Studio 21.1.1.3318 may produce graphics issues on Mac computers with Intel processors.
Solution: Update FL Studio to the latest version (21.0.3.3352 or later). - DaVinci Resolve: Tempo Sync is not supported.
See all exceptions here
Change Log
View All Waves Release Notes here |
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All Waves Plugins: Across-the-board software update to V15New Features & Improvements in Waves V15
Bug fixes in all Waves plugins
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