NLS Non-Linear Summer

Waves NLS is a summing plugin that models the harmonic coloration of three historically significant analog consoles: a solid-state design responsible for countless commercial hits, a vintage British tube console favored by The Cure's engineer Mike Hedges, and the EMI TG12345 used on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Rather than chasing transparent summing, NLS captures what made these consoles sonically distinctive - their nonlinear character, the subtle saturation of preamps, and the complex harmonic interactions between channel and bus stages.

The plugin instances 96 channels of summing topology, including every input and bus amplifier from the original designs. This depth of modeling means the plugin responds authentically to gain staging decisions and channel interaction, not simply as a static EQ or compressor overlay. The Drive control manages harmonic distortion across the summing path, while users can toggle between line input and microphone preamp-based input stages, the latter introducing modeled preamp hiss for additional analog character.

NLS works best for engineers seeking cohesion across a mix bus without resorting to compression or EQ. The three console models offer distinct sonic flavors - the British tube option adds warmth and compression, the solid-state character provides aggressive harmonic enrichment, and the Pink Floyd console sits somewhere between clarity and coloration. Given its architectural approach to summing, NLS suits mix engineers comfortable with gain staging and those seeking an alternative to transparent summing buses. It functions as either a master bus processor or as a parallel channel tool within VCA groups.