Waves Audio

What is Waves Audio and how does it work?

Waves Audio is one of the most established names in audio plugins — used by mastering engineers, producers, and mixers across virtually every major studio. In 2025 Waves expanded its catalog with three AI-driven products that complement the company’s traditional plugin business:

• Waves Online Mastering — browser-based AI mastering for fast, professional output
• Voice ReGen — AI vocal enhancement, repair, and retoning
• ILLUGEN — text-to-sample generation for one-shots, loops, and SFX

The three products share Waves’ deep audio engineering pedigree but each operates as a standalone service with its own pricing.

Waves Online Mastering

Waves Online Mastering is Waves’ entry into the AI mastering category. Upload a finished mix and get a release-ready master back in minutes — no plugins to install, no DAW configuration. The engine reflects decades of Waves’ work in mastering plugins (L1, L2, L3 limiters, the SSL channel, API 2500) applied through an AI workflow.

Best for: producers and indie artists who want fast, web-based mastering from a brand with a serious audio pedigree.

Voice ReGen

Voice ReGen is Waves’ AI vocal enhancer. It cleans up, repairs, and retones recorded vocals using AI trained on professional vocal recordings — addressing the same problems traditionally solved with extensive manual editing, EQ, and de-essing.

• Pricing: subscription model with credits in full-minute increments (file duration rounds up)
• Use cases: podcast vocal cleanup, music vocal polishing, voice-over repair, dialog audio restoration
• Best for: podcasters, video creators, vocalists, and audio engineers who want fast, AI-assisted vocal repair

ILLUGEN — AI Text-to-Sample Generator

ILLUGEN is Waves’ AI sample generator. Type a descriptive prompt like “a violin made of ice playing in a frozen cave” and ILLUGEN generates three unique audio variations in seconds — 16-bit 44.1kHz WAV files that drag directly into your DAW.

The differentiator: ILLUGEN is trained exclusively on legally licensed material, which matters as AI music tools face increasing scrutiny over training data provenance.

• Pricing: subscription with credit system — 30 free credits for new users
• Credit costs: one-shots cost 1 credit, loops use 2 credits, complex effects up to 3 credits
• Best for: producers tired of generic sample packs, sound designers needing unique textures

How does Waves Audio compare to other AI music tools?

Waves spans three distinct categories, so it competes with different tools in each:

• Online Mastering vs LANDR / Ozone / MasterChannel — Waves brings traditional plugin pedigree to the AI mastering category
• Voice ReGen vs iZotope RX / Adobe Enhance Speech — Waves enters the AI vocal repair category dominated by audio post-production tools
• ILLUGEN vs TwoShot / Splice — Waves emphasizes generation-only and licensed training data versus TwoShot’s hybrid library + generation approach

Choose Waves Audio when you want AI tools from an established audio plugin brand with deep engineering credibility — and when you appreciate having mastering, vocal repair, and sample generation under one ecosystem.

What are some use cases for Waves Audio?

• Indie release mastering — Online Mastering for fast, professional masters
• Vocal recording cleanup — Voice ReGen for podcast, video, and music vocal repair
• Unique sample sourcing — ILLUGEN for one-of-a-kind sounds nobody else has
• Sound design — generate impossible-to-record textures and effects via ILLUGEN
• Audio restoration — Voice ReGen for damaged or noisy recordings
• Demo production — quick mastering and vocal polish on works-in-progress
• Multi-format content — repair vocals for podcast, video, and music in one tool
• Established Waves users — extend an existing Waves plugin library with AI tools from the same vendor

Waves Audio is most valuable to producers, audio engineers, and content creators who already trust the Waves brand and want AI tools that fit alongside their existing plugin workflow — or who appreciate AI music tools built on licensed training data rather than scraped catalogs.