although I purchased the upgrade from WL8.5 to WL9 month ago I finally got to giving it a whirl.
after a few hours I realized why it was all so frustrating, rather than exciting and uplifting:
all my visual cues, my well-honed workflows, deeply ingrained knowledge of how to get the job done are useless!
I realised I will have to learn every move and every location and shortcut from scratch!
if the designers and software gurus at Steinberg would ask any professional if they would like a complete revamp of their software that they use since (sometimes) decades, I bet anything that the answer will be NO!!
WL9 offers great new functionality and is a tremendous piece of software, but 98% of all that improvement could or better SHOULD have been realized within basically the same GUI to save the professional users all that unnecessary time and frustration.
I am a WL fan and also Cubase user, but DO take ProTools as an example which does comply with that continuity over its evolving iterations, that a professional user needs!!!
leave the fancy GUI tweaks for the kids and the geeks and let them have fun with garage band!
Actually I think that PG and others have done an excellent job of making WL’s GUI even more intuitive and easy to use. I loved WL 6, hated WL 7 & 8 and I am overjoyed with WL 9.
Different strokes for different folks?
WL 9’s ribbon makes my whole life easier and I picked up on the changes they day I downloaded and installed it.
My advice keep using WL 9 for a while and within a couple of days you will wonder why this wasn’t the way WL was suppose to look and work all along.
Now if we are talking about Microsoft Word for the Mac…You are 100% correct. I wish they would stop changing the GUI.
I agree 100% with Thomas. WL6 was my workhorse for years, WL7 was awful and WL8 a little better. But IMO WL9 beats them all and is a very intuitive environment - even though it needs getting used to. Give it time and soon you’ll find yourself in much easier workflows than before.
The one I really sympathise with is the the one who goes from WL6 to WL9, they really are completey different applications! Having gone through the pain, it really is worth it however. Keep the faith …
thanks everyone for their different viewpoints. but mostly you are misinterpreting my point:
i am NOT saying that the GUI is bad in itself or that the many new features are not helpful.
I am struggling with the TIME required to explore and unlock and relearn the application. it is time that i do not have when i work every day in the studio. i agree, sometimes you have to throw out the old to get a fresh start with innovation. i venture to say that the transition including the new features could have been done without that extra challenge of the ingrained neural paths.
there is alot of research into how we attain mastery in any field and one of the core principles is repetition, repetition, repetition…until the brain develops hardwired neural connections. and i think in this area it is an ability that makes me efficient as an audio engineer.
i would be interested to hear how long it took for anyone else to achieve the same level of efficiency working with WL9 coming from previous versions.
maybe i am just a bit slow…
What I hear you saying is that new features could have been incorporated into the old GUI style. But it also sounds like “That’s not the way we used to do it.” So perhaps it’s time to expand on those neural pathways! I didn’t have WL8, I had a version from 7 years ago, hadn’t used it for years after I made the switch to an iMac. So it’s taken some time to get up to speed, but it’s not been that bad. Wl9 has done everything I’ve wanted it to do, and I’m using the Elements version.
yes, if i want to use WL9 i will have to expand the neural pathways…
right now it looks i will stick with WL8.5 till i find the time to switch.
i rather work on music and USE the software than re-learn it…
WL 6 was very intuitive for me. WL 7 and WL8 were disasters (IMHO). I took to WL 9 like a duck to water. Once I understood what the ribbon could do for me it made everything easier.
I suggest that you spend a day with WL9 and concentrate on the ribbon. Once you have that under control everything will seem super easy.
For me I don’t fight technology innovations, I embrace them. The world is always going forward never backward. What is new today will be “old hat” tomorrow. Best of luck!
Hint: There are also some super easy to follow how to movies on YouTube that will take you though the basics.
WL8 and WL9 will happily co-exist on the same computer, so the approach I took during the transition was to attempt to do what I wanted in WL9, and if I felt pressure (time or effort) I simply switched back to WL8 for that project. I still have WL8.5 installed, but haven’t had to revert to it for a long time.
Ugh… no way! I really struggled with Wavelab 7… 8 was a bit better, but 9, is FAR FAR FAR preferred in my opinion. In V9, I have found the GUI incredibly intuitive. When I first got it, I was able to do work almost immediately - basically no learning time at all. I know not everyone may feel the same, but I found it super intuitive.
Give it a chance. I believe v9 is best version of Wavelab ever.
thanks everyone for your sincere feedback. i see that humans are all functioning in different ways, and i do take it as an encouragement to tackle WL9 again with a different mindset.
To make it clear again: i do highly appreciate the clever and useful new features in WL9 that serve a higher level of working with audio and mastering. thanks PG and the whole team!