Best for
Best for Windows musicians and home studios who want an approachable DAW they own outright.
Audio Editing & Mastering Comparison
Mixcraft vs. Waves
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for mix engineers and producers who want a broad plug-in catalogue for mixing, mastering and vocal cleanup under one subscription.
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Mixcraft | Waves |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $39 one-time Regular price of Home Studio, a perpetual licence, as announced by Acoustica; it is often discounted in sales. Recording Studio $79, Pro Studio $149. Rent-to-own from $8 a month, and cheaper upgrades for registered users. | lower value From $14.99 / month Waves Essential billed monthly, or $149.99 billed annually. Waves Ultimate is $24.99 a month or $249.99 a year. |
| Free trial | Free trial download | 7-day free trial of Waves Essential and Waves Ultimate |
| Output | Recorded, edited and mixed audio and MIDI, plus scored video with titles and transitions | Processed audio inside a DAW |
| Languages | Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish and Thai | Not stated |
| Hosting | Desktop app for 64-bit Windows 7 SP1, 8, 10 and 11 | Plug-ins for macOS 14 Sonoma to 27 Golden Gate and Windows 10 (22H2) and 11, version 17; on Mac only M-series Apple Silicon is officially supported |
| What it does | Digital audio workstation for recording, editing and mixing audio and MIDI, with a live Performance Panel for loop-based composition and a video editing and scoring environment | Plug-in catalogue for mixing, mastering, vocal production and repair: analog console and tape models, equalisers, compressors, pitch correction, noise reduction, limiters and virtual instruments |
| Multitrack or two-track | Multitrack: up to 16 audio and MIDI tracks in Home Studio, unlimited in Recording Studio and Pro Studio, with vocoder tracks, curved, tempo and pitch envelopes and clip-based automation; Track Regions and advanced audio and MIDI routing in Pro Studio | Neither on its own: plug-ins that run inside a host DAW on tracks, busses or the master |
| Noise removal and repair | Built-in noise reduction on audio clips, learned from a noise sample between Noise Start and Noise End markers and suited to steady noise such as fans or air conditioners; Micro Fades add 5 ms fades at clip edges to remove clicks | AI-powered Clarity Vx and Clarity Vx DeReverb, Z-Noise, NS1 and DeBreath in both subscriptions; Waves Ultimate adds X-Noise, X-Click, X-Crackle, X-Hum, WNS, W43 and the Pro versions of Clarity Vx |
| Mastering and loudness | Project templates include a mastering preset, and the edition comparison lists iZotope Mastering Essentials | L1 and L2 Ultramaximizer and the WLM Plus Loudness Meter in both subscriptions; Waves Ultimate adds the L3 Multimaximizer and Ultramaximizer family, the Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain and credits for AI Mastering Online |
| Formats and resolution | Mixes down to MP3, OGG, WAV, WMA and FLAC, with bit rate and quality settings per format, and to AVI, WMV and MP4 video; Mix Down To Stems writes a separate audio file for each track | Runs at the host session's sample rate: every Waves plug-in supports 44.1 and 48 kHz and most support higher rates, with each plug-in's maximum listed in its tech specs, such as 192 kHz for the L2 Ultramaximizer. The L2 dithers down to 24, 22, 20 or 16 bits, and the catalogue includes surround plug-ins such as the L360 Surround Limiter |
| Where it runs | Desktop app for 64-bit Windows 7 SP1 through 11, with a plug-in manager for third-party instruments and effects, ReWire hosting, audio interfaces and MIDI control surfaces, and the free Mixcraft Remote app for iOS and Android | Plug-ins in VST3, AU and AAX for any DAW that supports those formats, on macOS and Windows |
| Licence and pricing model | One-time licence in three editions: Home Studio at a regular $39, Recording Studio $79 and Pro Studio $149, with rent-to-own from $8 a month and upgrade pricing for registered users | Waves Essential with over 120 plug-ins at $14.99 a month or $149.99 a year, Waves Ultimate with over 240 at $24.99 a month or $249.99 a year, both cancellable at any time with updates included; individual plug-ins are also sold as perpetual licences |
| Also included | More than 7,500 loops, sound effects and samples, 16 instruments and 36 effects (24 instruments and over 50 effects in Pro Studio), piano roll, step editor and music notation panels, video editing and an integrated store for extra content; Pro Studio adds Celemony Melodyne 5 Essential and audio to MIDI conversion | Waves Stream for real-time lossless audio sharing with collaborators, the StudioVerse library of presets and effect chains, premium mixing courses, and in Waves Ultimate mastering credits: 30 a year on annual plans, 2 a month on monthly plans |
| API | Controller Scripts API for MIDI control surfaces and devices, included in all three editions | Not stated |
| AI features | Yes | Yes |
| Deployment | On-premise | On-premise |
| Support | Community forum | more entries Email helpdesk, Phone, Community forum |
| Onboarding | Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials | Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials |
| Integrations | Celemony Melodyne, ReWire, iZotope Mastering Essentials | Not stated |
Add a tool
Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Mixcraft From $39 one-time Waves From $14.99 / month
- Free trial Mixcraft Free trial download Waves 7-day free trial of Waves Essential and Waves Ultimate
- Hosting Mixcraft Desktop app for 64-bit Windows 7 SP1, 8, 10 and 11 Waves Plug-ins for macOS 14 Sonoma to 27 Golden Gate and Windows 10 (22H2) and 11, version 17; on Mac only M-series Apple Silicon is officially supported
- Support Mixcraft Community forum Waves Email helpdesk, Phone, Community forum
- Output Mixcraft Recorded, edited and mixed audio and MIDI, plus scored video with titles and transitions Waves Processed audio inside a DAW
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Mixcraft
Strengths
- Perpetual licence with a rent-to-own option
- Video editing and scoring built into the DAW
- Large bundled library of loops, instruments and effects
Limitations
- Windows only
- Home Studio is capped at 16 tracks
- Stem separation, Melodyne and advanced routing are reserved for Pro Studio
Waves
Strengths
- Over 240 plug-ins in Waves Ultimate, with new plug-ins added at no extra cost
- Noise, click, crackle and hum removal alongside the L-series limiters in one catalogue
- Subscriptions can be cancelled at any time and switched between the two tiers
- 7-day free trial of both subscriptions
Limitations
- The X-series restoration plug-ins and L3 limiters need Waves Ultimate
- On Mac only M-series Apple Silicon processors are officially supported
- Needs a host DAW; there is no standalone editor
Plans
Pricing
Mixcraft
- Home Studio $39 One-time, regular price. Up to 16 audio and MIDI tracks, six instruments and 20 effects.
- Recording Studio $79 One-time. Unlimited tracks and the core feature set, including video editing and notation.
- Pro Studio $149 One-time. Adds AI stem separation, Track Regions, advanced routing, Melodyne 5 Essential, audio to MIDI conversion and more instruments and effects.
Waves
- Waves Essential $14.99 / month Over 120 plug-ins, or $149.99 billed annually. 7-day free trial.
- Waves Ultimate $24.99 / month Over 240 plug-ins plus AI Mastering Online credits, or $249.99 billed annually. 7-day free trial.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Mixcraft
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
Waves
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
How we check reviews
Reviews are not published yet. The form on a tool's page works and reaches us, but nothing from it appears on this site, so no score here is based on a review. The rules below are the ones that will apply once reviews go live.
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Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Mixcraft https://acoustica.com/mixcraft · checked against the official source on 2026-10-22
Waves https://www.waves.com/ · checked against the official source on 2026-10-19
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.