Hi,
When in June can we expect Wavelab 8.5 to be released? Thanks!
Last I saw it was mid-June but that’s not real precise. Maybe there is a clearer picture now that June is almost here.
There won’t be delay. But I ignore the exact date in june.
What exactly does this sentence mean?
VP
I think he means he doesn’t care or isn’t paying attention to the actual release date and that the update is ready but in the hands of Steinberg at this point.
The update is ready and in the hands of the distribution channel. This is not my part.
Gotcha. Thanks!
VP
I think there is a slight difference in meaning between the French ‘ignorer’ and the English ‘to ignore’ - or ‘ignorer’ has more meanings. But then, I’m Dutch so what do I know 
Right on!
Actually I think WL 8.5 will be available right around June 13 given that I received this promo email from Steinberg:
"The updates to the latest generation of WaveLab used by high-profile mastering engineers, musicians and hobby producers alike will be receiving a price increase starting June 13 with the release of WaveLab 8.5.
If you haven’t already updated your version of WaveLab to version 8, you may want to give it some serious thought today. From now until June 12, you can save up to € 50 based on the future price of selected WaveLab updates.
And — what’s more — all customers who purchase now are eligible for a free Grace Period update to the forthcoming WaveLab 8.5 audio editing and mastering suite!
Hurry up, update now to WaveLab 8, take advantage of the current price and get a free update to WaveLab 8.5 as soon as it becomes available!"
That “price increase” bit does NOT sit well at all - but I will assume that’s for new users never having owned WL.
Now if there is a sudden massive uptick in the price of an upgrade (especially since 8.5 is not what I would term a must have feature extravaganza) - that makes me nervous…
VP
I hope there’s no heavy upgrade fee. WL8 wasn’t that long ago, but for the features I thought the $50 or whatever it was didn’t seem terrible. I’d pay that to keep my licenses fresh, but above that I’d probably bail.
From the top message in this very forum:
It was $99 bucks for me to go from WL7 to WL8 as I recall. That was a very decent price for what we got. But this 8.0 → 8.5 move looks like (on the surface at least) to be nothing more than batch processing upgrade - which I do use a lot but never for multi-format and certainly not for iTunes.
Why this is a “point” upgrade is a paid one is beyond me - unless there are some other nuggets non disclosed at this point. And I do hope there is a long bug fix list (also non-disclosed). Whilst I am hoping I am wrong - $50 bucks seems a bit excessive for what I can see.
VP
Perhaps specifically the licensing of extra codecs?
AAC encoding, supplied with wavelab 8.5, does not come for free. It is a major audio format today, that many wavelab users asked for long.
Encoder checker is a feature sold on its own by another company, for a few hundred $.
Watch folders are a productivity tool and can do more than the batch processor alone.
Multi file format rendering will save time to many.
All this for the price of a good restaurant meal sounds decent to me.
I think the upgrade price is fair. Especially for Mac users, still not many other options in this area of software.
PG,
I do not think any of us will dispute the overall “value” in WL - however - the optics of saying “price increase” and so on in your marketing blurbs that can indicate a cash grab rather than real value.
We all use WL in different ways - however - charging me 50 bucks so I can “not bother” to use the AAC encoding seems a bit harsh. That piece should have an add-on license chargeable to those that need this format - much like Steinberg does with the Fraun MP3 encoder.
But passing along a hard cost like a AAC license to those of us who will never use it - is an unfair cash grab.
I still look forward to 8.5 but not blatant mentions of a “price increase”.
VP
That piece and what others? Who chooses? Very quickly the cost and complication of splitting the product into pieces would have to be recouped, leading to the same cost with added inconvenience.
For my part, for what it’s worth, the new codecs will save me having to move files between different programs, and I am glad to see them arrive.
Paul
For your part - FWIW - it’s clearly worth the upgrade cost since you can (and will) make use of the new codecs. I on the other hand (and most certainly others) will not - yet we all must pay the same price if we want to upgrade.
And while 50 bucks is not a big deal - I guess it comes down to me having to decide to stay current (while begrudgingly paying for things I won’t use) or not.
VP
Steinberg has been pretty quiet on a definite release date, I hope that this is the week.
You know, short of licensing each component as one licenses plug-ins, I don’t think many upgrades can be slam dunks for every user. Use it or not, for a mastering daw in 2014 the ability to deliver MfiT spec AACs without resorting to external tools is a pretty important task that’s been more painful than necessary for too long. So that’s a very nice to have, even if you don’t use it.
I have one major unmet need right now that affects the length of my day and thus my rate of pay: Presently I’m bouncing parts at different sample rates and resolutions for these targets: CD, MfiT, vinyl, and licensing share MP3s. Currently I can do most of these fairly efficiently in WL8, but with a little help in batching I could do them with a single click. Unfortunately for me the biggest block is sample rate conversion. Sometimes Crystal’s fine, but generally speaking I strongly prefer Izotopes src in RX3 or SonicStudio’s but both are non-realtime and not easily integrated with WL8. Consequently I can bounce MfiT, MP3 and vinyl from WL8 directly, but CDs from high res sources require an extra step. It doesn’t sound like the SRC is being updated or improved in WL8.5. And to be fair, as a real time SRC Crystal is very good. But since it’s not “the best sounding” SRC available that’s usually not good enough (in my imagination’s idealized universe).
My point is simply that improvements in batching capabilities might be worth the price of admission for me, even if increased. Based on prior comments I’m not sure this update gets me there, but I’ll keep an open mind and see what it brings. If it saves me a half hour or so a week via better batch tools it becomes a no-brainer, if not I’ll need to weigh the benefits of staying on the “current” train.