Upgrading to Wavelab Pro. Dongle still required?

WaveLab
1

I got Wavelab LE with a Zoom H6
Tried it, liked it more than Ableton and Studio One and all that. Right up my alley coming from Sound Forge.
With the discounts going on, I want to upgrade to Elements or Pro seeing LE only allows 2 tracks. Elements allowing 3 tracks is ridiculous IMO
Not a single software on the market allows such limited amount of tracks especially when it’s not the LE that came free with hardware or a trial, but a paid for version. That jumps up to >1000 for Pro with nothing in between. Really scummy if you ask me. Reaper goes for $60 and got no limitations.
Sound Forge Audio Studio, not even Pro, doesn’t tell you max 3 tracks.

I thought ok, but i like the setup of Wavelab, so I’ll bite their unwelcome practice, and jump from 2/3 tracks to 1000 like they’re pushing me. But now, it says I need to buy a usb dongle? and DHL to ship it to Egypt where I live? Oh come on. You want me to pay the price of another software (Sound Forge or Reaper) just for a usb dongle and shipping? Who thought this is a good idea to keep in 2020?

Yea, keeps pirates away, right? Guess what, it’s keeping legitimate prospective buyers away too.
Reaper didn’t lose their business to pirates.
Ableton didn’t lose their business to pirates.
Apple Logic Pro didn’t lose their business to pirates.
Studio One didn’t lose their business to pirates.

It’s not like Steinberg is selling me a ticket to heaven. There’s competition… and when you make it hard and pricey for your user to pay you for upgrade, that 30 mins lesson to get used to that other piece of software will be the only way to go. I see threads here on the forum from 3 years ago of people saying that usb dongle thing is what’s keeping them from upgrading and the reason they will move to another company. Job well done keeping the pirates away.

Alright, screw Wabelab Pro, I’ll stick with Elements. Oh right, that will push me down from 1000+ tracks down to 3. LOL it’s unreal how you run things here. You’re making Pro an impossible option for me, and Elements and impossible option for me.
I’m going to give Sound Forge or Reaper my money instead. You enjoy keeping the pirates away. Adios

2

There seems to be a misunderstanding here. Wavelab is mastering software. Many users ever use more than two tracks - I mostly use only 1 stereo track - even in Pro. You seem to be confusing WL with a recording (tracking/production) DAW, which it is not.

So yeah, give your money to someone else who does NOT provide mastering facilities which you obviously aren’t looking for. Good luck!

3

It would be nice to run WaveLab Pro without a dongle in 2020. In particular, on my MacBook Pro that doesn’t have a normal USB port when I’m not at my studio.

It’s for sure causing some complications with the 1 mastering class I teach which has gone online/virtual this semester too.

I too normally never go beyond two tracks in a montage (even on a 50+ song deluxe remaster) but the other limitations of Elements are pretty severe such as not being able to use CD Track Splice Markers, no DDP, and very limited metering/analysis. It’s so limited that I couldn’t recommend it for my mastering class after it went online/virtual. We normally use WaveLab Pro in the classroom/lab.

4

Sound Forge Audio Studio doesn’t say max 3 tracks because it doesn’t have tracks at all…

Paul

5

Nice first post. :unamused: