Wavelab 9 Pro or Soundforge Pro 11

I have been using Soundforge for a long time and without problems, but it is still 32 bit and obviously I have to download the plugins I wish to use in that format. I was thinking of Upgrading to Wavelab. However the number of people with issues has caused me to think hard about this. Do I go with what I know or take a risk on increased functionality? The guy’s at Magix say there is a new version being worked on currently.

If you are looking for support, this is the place. Frankly, there is no equivalent forum for Sound Forge. The only place I was able to find solutions over the years was the knowledgebase, and searching it was hit and miss. I just checked the Magix forum and the Sound Forge section has … wait for it … 44 entries. FOR ALL VERSIONS. The forum for just Wavelab 9 currently has 4521 entries.

You should view the exception reports here as exactly that. This is the only forum I know where the actual program author frequently (daily!) and regularly answers support issues.

Personally, though both programs are robust, I’ve had more issues with Sound Forge over the years than with Wavelab. Wavelab has more features, as I’m sure you’ve discovered in your searches.

Steinberg was one of the first companies offering support for 64-bit software when everyone else was lagging (and still are!).

As a user of several ex-Sony products (though not Sound Forge), if Magix do produce a new version, be prepared for a very high “upgrade” price, effectively you are likely to be expected to re-purchase the product. Steinberg have a very clear policy regarding upgrade and update pricing whereby you basically pay the difference to the next higher edition and you are not expected to pay full price for the next version. For example, you can buy WaveLab Elements, try it out, and upgrade to WaveLab Pro for the difference in price. An update to the next version is always reasonable, usually in the range of about $50 for the Elements versions and about $100 for the Pro. FInally, you can sell Steinberg products (there’s a clear process for the transfer of ownership) and once activated, the eLicenser system is completely standalone, which is no longer the case with Magix products, which require internet activation (and re-activation on a regular basis).

Regarding “the number of people with issues”, bear in mind that many people will only post on a forum when they encounter a problem, so the ratio of unhappy-to-happy users is always going to be distorted. Personally I’m not aware of any major issues that have been ongoing, or left unaddressed for more than a few months. There are also not very many forums where you can have direct interaction with the developer in the case of there being genuine issues, i.e. not related to specific user equipment or OS issues.

Thanks guys. I am a regular over on the Cubase 9 site and I do know about the propensity for issue based posts. I really wanted to see if Wavelab was a living, breathing developing piece of software. I am not sure that I will justify it’s complexity but I am sure that I will gradually grow into it. I guess I am slightly apprehensive about the learning curve as it has taken me a while to get used to SF. Also the £450 cost requires some thought.

There’s an excellent course here:

It’s probably the most living, breathing and developing software product I use! :smiley:

You can ease yourself into it by trialling WaveLab Elements, then purchase if you like it, then upgrade to Pro at a later time if you feel you need the professional features. That way, if you do go to Pro, it will still have only cost the same as buying Pro outright initially, and you may save yourself an expensive mistake if you find it doesn’t suit.

I can also recommend the Streamworks tutorial, which helped me get my head around the new UI in 9; most of it is equally applicable to Elements.

I am following your advice as I type. Elements sounds as if it will do what I want for the moment - I’ll see what I think of the demo. Thank you for the good advice.