Moving montages between v7 & v6

WaveLab
1

Hi All,

I’m using WL6 (on a PC) and want to move montages back and forth with WL v7 (on a Mac). I have access to a WL 7 Mac install and found that the v7 montages wouldn’t open in v6 on the PC. I also tried using XML but also found that v7 XMLs wouldn’t open in v6. AES31 worked, but with its obvious limitations i.e. no volume automation data other than fade in/fade out, no plug-ins etc. How can I move montages between v7 and v6?

Thanks.

2

A Montage saved in 7 can’t be open in 6 [edited]
Using XML, you could use that way (I think) to open a WaveLab 7 Windows montage under WaveLab 6 Windows.
But not from a WaveLab 7 Mac montage.
Maybe you could try to open the WaveLab 7 Mac Montage in WaveLab 7 Windows, and export to XML from there, then to import from WaveLab 6…

3

Thanks for the info. Can XML compatibilty between Mac and PC versions 7 & 6 be included in an later update? I work in a PC WL6 environment and I’m starting to get Mac users wanting to bring projects in.

4

Can XML compatibilty between Mac and PC versions 7 & 6 be included in an later update?

No, sorry. Only 6 to 7 path, or crossplatform 7 to 7, is possible.

5

OK. Bad news for me.

  1. Are WL7 XML files compatible between Mac and PC?

  2. If WL7 and WL6 PC XML files are compatible, how is the WL7 Mac XML file different? Are there specific XML tags I can remove or alter to make it readable?

6
  1. yes, if the audio files are in the same path, or in a child path, of the XML file.
  2. In WaveLab 6, I think the \ is used as file separator, while / is used in 7.
    Mac won’t recognize
    This could be edited by hand.
7

Hi, Folks!

This issue raises a serious concern about not only cross-platform (Windows-Mac) compatibility, but WL version compatibility. It’s very frustrating to move from one system to another with files mastered on one version that need to be burned to discs on another when they’re not at least backward compatible, so that older version montages can be “lifted” into the newer version loaded systems. :exclamation:

This issue came to light between WL versions 5 and 6, but appears to have become a dead-end situation between versions 6 and 7! Montage files appear to be incompatible in both directions! Not necessarily a wise move, if this is the situation!

It’s as though a conscious effort was initiated by Steinberg to obsolete all earlier WL versions, and their mastered montage files, with any new versions. This is going to cause considerable difficulties with archival masters which may need to be reissued, if the original application version of WL is no longer available or accessible. And a real show-stopper for bothering to upgrade WL to newer versions!

If this is indeed the case, then some serious thought needs to be given to backward conversions of older Montage files to convert them to the latter versions upon upload. Otherwise, archivists may simply either not upgrade; render all mastered wave files directly, forgoing the montage conversion until the file needs to be converted to the current montage format; or switch to other vendor applications which may provide backward compatibility for mastered files.

8

Really?

9

:blush: I was totally wrong of course. I meant: a Montage saved in 7 can’t be open in 6.
Of course, Montages saved in 6 can be open in 7 !

That is, a very common scenario of a file behind upwards compatible, not backwards compatible.

Thanks for drawing this typo to my attention.

Philippe

10

Thanks PG,

files not being backwardly compatible is common, though not necessarily always the rule in DAW software. Sometimes for practicality reasons there is compatibility with the later version(s). Often there is the ability to “save as” in the format of earlier versions, meaning that an earlier version of the software can open later version sessions (without new features of course). As Wavelab has never offered the ability to “save as” an earlier version, I thought that XML would serve this purpose in WL7, so I am quite disappointed that it can’t in some cases. This will cause me problems. AES31, whilst useful, is a very crude way of exchanging montages as volume automation is not included. My feature request is that a future update of WL have a “save as previous version” option.

Does that mean that the XML montage file is different for Mac and PC versions of Wavelab and not compatible with each other?

11

Does that mean that the XML montage file is different for Mac and PC versions of Wavelab and not compatible with each other?

No, XML files saved from WaveLab 7 are meant to be compatible. Honestly, I haven’t done many tests here. But the / \ issue mentionned before, is only for WaveLab 6 XML files.

Philippe