I am experiencing a severe routing issue in WaveLab 13 Pro regarding live monitoring from the Dolby Atmos Renderer.
When setting the Atmos Renderer output to 5.1, the WaveLab Master Section and internal meters correctly show activity on all 6 channels (L, R, C, Lfe, Ls, Rs). However, during real-time playback, WaveLab only outputs audio on physical channels 1 and 2 (Front L/R). Channels 3 to 6 remain completely muted at the hardware level.
To fully isolate the issue, I have performed two definitive tests:
Digital Routing (ADAT Loopback): Routed the 5.1 Speaker Configuration to the ADAT outputs of my MOTU UltraLite-mk5 into Nuendo. Only L/R passed audio. (Note: Using the exact same hardware routing and ports with another standalone spatial audio application works perfectly, passing all 6 channels into Nuendo).
Direct Analog Routing: Completely closed Nuendo and assigned the 5.1 Speaker Configuration directly to the physical analog outputs connected to my studio monitors. Again, only the Front L/R speakers received audio, while Center and Surrounds remained completely silent, despite WaveLab’s meters showing full multi-channel movement.
This confirms that the issue is entirely internal to WaveLab 13 Pro’s live playback engine, which seems to force a stereo downmix or truncation right before the ASIO output stage when handling Atmos projects, regardless of the selected Speaker Configuration layout.
Is this a known issue with the current patch, or is there a specific preference preventing the Atmos Renderer from streaming multi-channel audio in real-time to the ASIO driver?
UPDATE: Workaround found and exact point of (possibile) failure isolated.
Hi everyone, I managed to find a working solution, and it clearly highlights where the routing bug should be located within WaveLab’s architecture.
The Workaround: I created a custom Output Bus in the Master Section, specifically configured as “Before Playback Processing”. By routing the signal through this pre-processing bus, all 6 optical channels (5.1) immediately and perfectly pass through the MOTU ASIO driver into my Nuendo monitoring setup.
The Conclusion: This proves that the Dolby Atmos Renderer’s multi-channel stream remains perfectly intact throughout the entire Master Section. The truncation to stereo occurs exclusively at the very last stage: the Speaker Configuration section (bottom right).
It appears that when the Atmos Renderer is active, the Speaker Configuration output is somehow hard-locked to stereo, ignoring the selected multi-channel layout (e.g., 5.1). To get real-time multi-channel ASIO output, you are forced to bypass the Speaker Configuration entirely by tapping the signal before the Playback Processing slots.
Given that WaveLab 13 Pro is designed for immersive monitoring, this limitation seems like an undocumented routing bug between the Atmos Renderer and the final Speaker Configuration output stage.
I hope this helps the development team investigate the issue!
To playback Atmos in multi channel mode, like 5.1 or 7.1.4, you have to use only the speaker configuration number 1. This works for sure. You could insert the Mixer Delay plugin in the playback section to monitor the signals.
If this does work for you, check the audio connection settings.
ok thank you. As I’d like to monitor different 2d/3d configuration (5.1, 5.1.2, 7.1.2) through Nuendo as I use in Nuendo bass management and calibration plugins, would it be possibile to set up all these configurations as output busses classified as ‘before output processing’? Are there some contraindications?
If I understand what you need…
What you can do is create a speaker configuration like the one in my picture, which is exactly the same configuration as for the main playback bus. And this configuration must include all speakers each time (don’t try to make a stereo bus, a 5.1 bus, a 7.1.4 bus, just make the largest one).
Then in the matter section, playback section, assign different plugins for the Speaker Configuration #1 and #2, and very importantly, use the Bind function so that when you switch from one speaker configuration to the other, the plugins automatically change.
Thank you for your kind answer. I tried the solution suggested but probabily I did not understand it. Now I configured ALL THE AUDIO BUSSES as ‘Dolby Atmos’ with 7.1.4 configuration. But when I try to listen to 5.1.2 DA rendering and speaker arrangement 6 which is configured as follows:
As you can see, even if I called it ‘headphones int’ I created it as a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos bus. I simply connected the two front outs only. Every bus has been created as a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos output configuration and only the used channels have been connected. My sound car has 10 analog or digital outs. So I cannot physically reply your configuration. If it is mandatory to connect all the 12 outs I could use a purely theorical configuration with, for instance, 10 analog outs + 2 digital. But I will never use it in real cases. The important thing, for me, is that in the other speaker configurations (2, 3, etc…) 5.1 or 5.1.2 layouts can be fully driven if the ‘main’ has all the 12 outs connects. Can you confirm? Thank you
Ok, I finally understood the Wavelab audio bus logic! I created all the necessary immersive routes on Speaker Configuration 1 (binaural, stereo, 5.1, 5.1.2, 7.1.2) and setup the ‘default’ 7.1.4 configuration even if I will not use it due to lack of outputs. Thank you for your kind answers
