What: The latest in Waves’ Artist Collection series, this RTAS/AudioSuite/VST/AU plug-in suite features six processors designed in conjunction with Jack Joseph Puig (U2, Lady Gaga, Green Day, Beck, John Mayer, Keith Urban, and many more). The plug-ins run under Mac OS X 10.4.11 or higher, and Windows XP/Vista/7 (32- bit only); see Wavesupport.net for more host support information.

Why: All of the Artist Collection series not only make some wonderful sounds, but capture a lot of the artist’s style; by putting together specific modules for specific functions, newbies don’t have to cobble together plug-in chains, and pros can save time.

Packaging: Boxed or download.

Installation: An iLok key is required, These are V7.1 plug-ins, and can co-exist with V6 plug-ins but not V4 or V5; you’ll need to update these to at least V6, although it’s worth the jump to V7. If you have existing V7 plug-ins, they’ll be removed and replaced with V7.1 versions to match JJP—no additional authorization required. Note: Pro Tools plug-ins are native-only.

What’s hot: We covered the previous editions (Eddie Kramer, Chris Lord-Alge, and Tony Maserati) in the 06/10 issue, so check that out for background on the series and concept. The premise is to offer a set of functional processing blocks for specific applications, comprised of numerous functions that would normally be individual plug-ins. The JJP collection offers blocks for guitar, vocals, drums, bass, cymbals/percussion, and strings/keys.

While all the sets are excellent, in the previous review I particularly liked the Chris Lord-Alge set for not necessarily trying to reproduce a particular style, but instead, offering a versatile tool kit meeting CLA’s aesthetics. The JJP set is similar, and is suitable for a wide variety of musical styles—not surprising, given Puig’s background—and this gives extra value to the package.

Conclusions: There’s no need to go into details, as a 7-day demo is available—check it out for yourself. As an inveterate tweaker, I have no problem creating plug-in chains and tweaking them to get the sound I want. Nonetheless, the speed and efficiency of having all these processors assembled into logical combinations is a major time-saver, and more importantly, the sound is totally on target.

The unique aspect is that these are “style” plug-ins rather than “function” plug-ins. If the musical genres in your life match the kind with which JJP works, then this is the Artist Collection for you.