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Tony, Tony, Tony: three from the Maserati collection.

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• Review

Long-term Waves user Tony Maserati is the sort of big-name mix engineer that many would like to emulate, with credits on releases from artists such as Britney Spears, will.i.am, Black Eyed Peas, Mary J Blige, Beyoncé and even the UK's own Craaaig David.

It should therefore come as no surprise that he and Waves have joined forces to produce a bespoke set of plug-ins. What's a little more unexpected, though, is that this is no trawl through Maserati's rack of classic analogue units (as was the recent Jack Joseph Puig Collection), but actually a set of entirely original application-specific effects.

In theory, you choose the plug-in to match the sound you're processing, and – bang! – you've got Tony's tones in a flash.

Overview

The six plug-ins are GTi Guitar Toner, VX1 Vocal Enhancer, DRM Drum Slammer, B72 Bass Phattener, ACG Acoustic Guitar Designer and HMX Harmonics Generator. Each has its own complement of EQ/dynamics manipulation, as well as effects such as delay, reverb, chorus and harmonic enhancement.

As well as the usual parameters, there's a set of task-specific radio buttons, which typically alter the knob positions – however, note that they're not merely presets, as they sometimes subtly alter the way the plug-in sounds, too.

One control that's common to all units (except HMX in Bounce mode) is Input Sensitivity, which controls the input level and drives the internal dynamics processing, including compression and expansion.

Also common to all is Output level and the rev counter-style level meter. Across all plug-ins, there's no mention of parameter specifics (frequencies and so on), and they're often presented simply as more/less controls. This disguises, to some degree, precisely what's going on (annoyingly at times), but encourages you to use your ears (which is generally a good thing).

Also worth noting is that, because some of the plug-ins include stereo effects, they only operate in stereo or mono-to-stereo formats.

Bass and beats

So, starting with the B72 unit for bass, things look pretty simple. However, it operates in two distinct modes: DI and Synth. Both of these include bass and treble controls, but Synth mode activates the additional 'buzz' effect.

In practice, this makes the B72 a winner for a multitude of low-end treatments. We found this particular treatment more swirly than buzzy, though, so don't expect it to dirty up a sound.

Most welcome, however, is the input dynamics section, with the input lamp moving from green through amber to red, indicating the amount of compression.

DRM offers a one-stop shop for all drum kit elements. The seven presets (BD, SNR TOP, SNR BOT, HH, TOMS, OH and ROOM) all rely on different combinations of the same parameter set.

This time, direct EQing control is limited to a Treble knob, with the emphasis being more on frequency-specific dynamics via the Thump and Snap controls. The former seems to combine both EQ and compression with plus/minus settings. The latter is a one-way ticket to fast attack/slow release dynamics, and you simply wind it up until you reach the desired amount.