It seems that WL12 was a GREAT update but there are so many “hidden” features which are making WL too complicated for “normal tasks”. I find myself spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to turn on or off certain features that I never had to worry about before and I also see a lot of people having the same problems and at the same time others are asking PG to add features that only they seem to want like a full blown mixer or unlimited changes over unlimited tracks all with a push of a button. I think WL is getting away from its design and intended uses and has been for the past few years. A lot of people seem to want WL to be another CUBASE which it was never designed to be.
–Just my thoughts–
Maybe it is time for WL to have a way to turn off all the unneeded parts with a simple command. MTCW
As it stands today, I would not buy WL again and can not recommend it.
Although, I still like it (and other products from Steinberg).
But it seems, that the products become to overloaded and complicated in use.
Generell usability and customer experience has becoming worse and worse over time.
But hey, maybe, it’s just the stupid customer, who does not understand the ingenious product design? Wonder what Steven Jobs would have said to this…
I make the observation that one of the things about WL is it allows users to customize how it looks and feels. For me, essentially the successive upgrades carried over the user preferences and my screen doesn’t really look any different to say 9.5 and I’m essentially working the same way (just faster).
I really didn’t find myself having to turn off features. It pretty much loaded as I expected.
But the extra power and features that I might need for a project are there at fingertip.
I have been a user of WL since version 1.6.2. (25 years ago) GREAT PROGRAM!!! and I use it daily. The “ribbon” was a GREAT innovation and so have some other things added recently. BUT this constant push to add “new features” is getting a bit out of hand. I use WL for 2 track mastering and for restoration work. I do not use it for multichannel work nor do I want to add a “mixer” or a fully blown DAW which seems to be where WL is headed. I think a lot of users don’t want to spend any money on programs like CUBASE and instead want WL to be a full DAW which it was never designed to be. Sorry if I am not in the que for making it a DAW like Cubase or ProTools.
This is a well traveled road many of us went down with ProTols and Sequoa and to some extent WL
The solution there was generally to stay on a version that worked for you and was STABLE (reliability trumps features every time). Personally, I always continue to purchase (but not necessarily install) progressive upgrades not only to support the developer but also so that a version that might turn out to be useful is on hand to install.
The downside is that support progressively diminishes but probably not much of an issue in the real world.
But like I said earlier, my screen doesn’t really look any different to say 9.5 and I’m essentially working the same way (just faster).
Just my two cents as a more casual user: I find that each new version has made it easier for me to intuitively discover the “right way” to do things than the previous one. For example, working with plugins at the clip/track/output/master level is something I had been struggling with before, and this is so much more user-friendly in WL12. So at least for me, the development is going in the right direction
For the life of me, I can’t figure out how to stop WL 12 from automatically re-opening all the audio files I had open when I last quit. I can’t find a preference that does it or anything clearly pointed that way in the manual. A little help? Thanks.
I think since Version 7, Wavelab is run by the deep state. But as you can see Steinberg is making changes to newer versions of Wavelab and trying to make it better through this forum according to user requests.
For someone, who works with WL for years and evolving with its updates, it’s fine - sure!
But it seems unquestionable, that the learning curve for using WL properly, has become steeper and steeper over time, for someone, who starts right now with the (phantastic) program.
As a nonprofessional user of WL, who started working with it recently, I agree with the author of this thread.
The last time, I used WL before, was sometime around 2000 till 2005 or so.
And yes, it was much easier to use than. Of course, the programm has evolved and more and more features are integrated. But they seem somewhat loosely connected and scattered all around. It just doesn’t fell very coherent at this time and might need a redesign of the gui… may be, I am not an expert on this. So, year, WL is a very fine program and certainly much more professional, than Audacity (I compare it so often with) - no question about that.
Audacity seems like Wavelab at former times and yes, I use both of them. (I also prefer to use Audacity on some simple tasks, like normalization, instead of Spectral Layers.)
The gui of Audacity is far simplier than that of Wavelab.
In Audacity, we see the “Remove DC offset” at once.
To clarify: Wavelab is definetely more advancend and has all kind of parameters to adjust needed for the professional. Sure, but it would be more friendly, when it would be more logically consistent, so, the user can concentrate on his work, not on the search to find the feature he needs.
Reminds me of Mathematica (very well structured) ↔ Maple (kind of creative chaos).
In the Audio Editor, open the audio file that you want to check for DC offset and that you want to fix.
Select the Process tab.
In the Level section, click Remove DC Offset.
A dialog opens, stating the amount of DC offset in the audio file. You can also create a selection range in the wave window and select this option to only show the DC offset in the selection range.
Note
This function should be applied to whole files, because the problem is normally present throughout the entire recording.
To use an audio interface, like the MixPre-3 II, just plug it in via USB-C.
In Audacity, it is immediately available and recording runs smoothly as expected.
In WaveLab 12, the startup assistant allows you to select your audio device right from the initial launch, complete with playback and recording test options. By default, WaveLab automatically selects the most capable audio device available, making the process straightforward—an improvement over earlier versions. According to the official requirements, “ASIO compatible audio hardware recommended for low-latency performance” is recommended, underscoring WaveLab’s focus on professional audio use.
For users without ASIO-compatible hardware (like you, apparently), WaveLab includes a driver proxy called the “Steinberg built-in ASIO driver.” In these cases, an additional step is required to manually select a non-ASIO driver.
WL is a GREAT program and it is GREAT that it keeps getting updated and features added. HOWEVER I personally think that it is like over grown “Swiss Army knife” with more and more “blades” (new features) being added that are simply not needed for the normal running of WL and this is in large part to a few individuals needs for their own uses and not for the general users of WL.
WL 6.5 was a joy to use then the “upgrades” and “new features” started to be added and when it came to WL 11 it was unstable and had a lot of problems. It is to PGs credit that WL 12 was such an improvement. I just wish there was a way to turn off all the extras in the menus that I never even knew existed.
I use WL everyday and I keep getting caught in situations that I never had before because in some menu I did not check or uncheck a certain function and this is REALLY slowing down my productivity. MTCW
It works in Audacity and Reaper… ok, but this might be, because those programs are not professional enough. (it’s a bit polemic and not meant to be offensive.) And yes, it’s the customers fault, of course.
Usually, we do not need to know the heavy details of electrodynamics in order to just flip a light-switch.
It seems to me, that WL is actually lost in details, like physics is lost in math.
I mean what are we talking about here ? Simple recording of sound with a software, that is supposed to be some kind of market leader, right? It just does not feel right to invest hours into such topic as in the year 2024. In 1995 than, ok. But not now. This should be as easy as flippig a light-switch.
Why don’t you use old version of WL till your problem is addressed? Also are you running spectra layers, reaper etc. without an audio interface?
I did a test using FLStudio ASIO and I was able to record from YouTube to Wavelab, using Realtek as the input and output. If you want this driver you can download a demo of FLStudio or search online. Also please check your DM.
