Thanks Bob99,
Is there a link we can use for our clients to be able to use DDP Player without having to install Wavelab altogether?
There’s no link for the client that I know of.
You need to download the latest Wavelab 9.5 Pro Full Installer using the Download Assistant
(Steinberg Download Assistant | Steinberg), then start the install to extract the Windows and Mac DDP Player installers that are in the Additional Content folder. You shouldn’t need to complete the install, just get as far as extracting to the main folder, and navigating to the Additional Content folder. Then you can send the clients the Win and Mac DDP Player installers that are in there. (they’re both there, for Win and Mac, in the latest 9.5 Pro full installer).
But the Windows DDP Player installer (and probably the Mac installer) doesn’t find the latest DDP player update (1.0.20) when the client installs. Even if it did, the latest Windows DDP Player version 1.0.20 still has the distortion problem with default Windows 48K SRC playback. So you need to tell the client to change the Windows playback to 44.1K until that’s fixed. ( Steinberg Forums)
Also, you should tell the client to use the “check for updates” option when installing, otherwise they’ll end up with the 1.0.0 version, with it’s issues.
This is odd… I remember the promotional videos saying something like “now you can have your clients listen to finished DDPs”… maybe I´m wrong but that was one of the appeals of this DDP player.
What a shame.
Well, thanks!
You can do that. But you have to send the clients the Players, just like with Hofa. In the case of Steinberg, you send the clients the Mac and Windows DDP Player Installers, that are in the Additional Content folder. They’re about the same file size as the Hofa players.
Steinberg (and Hofa and Sonoris) don’t provide a download link for the client to download the players. You send the clients the Player Installers, along with the DDP.
For the record, Sonoris and HOFA DDP Player deliveries work differently, but both are far easier than the current Steinberg solution.
With HOFA, you load the existing DDP into the DDP Player Maker app on your computer, and it generates a subfolder in the DDP folder with a separate Mac and PC DDP Player with a few options that that creator can control. It zips it all up for you and then you transmit it to your clients as you wish.
Then your client simply downloads the DDP and when they unzip or extract the zip, they can launch the DDP Player without any hassle. No password etc.
The Sonoris player requires the client to separately download and install the Mac or PC DDP Player, authorize it one time with a code, and then the client can drag the DDP into the DDP Player to listen, analyze, burn a CD etc.
I send all projects with the HOFA DDP Player because I think it’s easier but now and then the Sonrois DDP Player comes in handy as an alternate option to troubleshoot.
The bonus with owning the Sonoris DDP Player OEM is that you can also let your clients use the iOS DDP Player which seems to be getting more and more use as we shift away from desktop and laptop computers. Many younger clients don’t even have a laptop or desktop. Sonoris says an Android version could be coming too.
Either way, I don’t think the Steinberg solution is very well implemented and for anybody serious about DDP delivery for client approval may want to rely on HOFA DDP Player Maker until some things are sorted out, unless it’s really not possible to spend the extra money for it.
I really think Steinberg would have been better off partnering with HOFA on this endeavor like they have done with other 3rd party companies rather than with what we ended up with. The GUI looks nice but nearly everything else is lacking.
But then my question persists… where is the installer?
Do I have to send them wavelab´s full installer and direct them to only install the DDP player?
This question seems hard to answer which is kind of the point of my last post. It would be ridiculous to have your clients download the full installer and hunt for the DDP Player installer.
The workflow seems so convoluted and that combined with the DDP Player stability and lack of features means that I’ve never tried sending it to a client.
No you don’t need to send them the Wavelab Pro installer. You only need to download the latest full installer yourself to get both the Mac and Windows DDP Player Installers that are only in the latest full installer Additional Content folder. After downloading and extracting the full installer (by starting the full install and stopping after it extracts the install folder), copy the DDP Player installers folder somewhere convenient so you can send it along with your DDPs, or put it inside each of your DDP folders like the Hofa Player Maker does.
Thanks for all the details Justin. Well said as always.
Why isn’t the install for the DDP Player on Steinberg website? 
It would be more convenient for the clients…
+1
I thought about this but I suppose it would be too easy for non-WaveLab users to access and there is really no license security implemented that I know of.
The issue has been complicated by the fact that the DDP Player installers have only been available in the full Wavelab Pro installers, and before now only included the player installer for your particular platform, Win or Mac.
Bur in the latest full Wavelab Pro installer, available via the Download Assistant, both the Win and Mac Player installers are included in the Additional Content folder, and those are what you really need to send to the client, the player installers for both Win and Mac.
If you have Wavelab Pro already installed, you probably don’t want to download the full installer, but that’s what you have to do, to extract those Player installers so you can send them to the client. Just download the full Pro installer, start the install and then cancel the install just after it’s created the main Wavelab Pro installer folder. Then you can navigate to the Additional Content folder and pull out the “DDP Player” folder that contains the Player installers, so you can send them to the client.
Steinberg has already said you can send the players to the client, and technically the client could send them to someone else, so yes it would be nice if Steinberg could make this easier for Wavelab users who already have Pro installed, but for now that’s how you have to do it. You have to download the Wavelab Pro full installer only to extract the DDP Player installers that are in there. But it would be nice if Steinberg could just put the Player installers only in our accounts or something.
You would think it’s easy enough to create a separate download link in WL Pro user’s MySteinberg. That’s already linked to your activated software titles. But maybe it’s easier said than done…
The standalone DDP Player Installers still only find the 1.0.10 update when installing. And that version still has the “repeat” problem between tracks when skipping tracks in DDPs made from splice marker montages. Possibly other montages I’m really not sure.
PG, do you know when the update search for the installers will be fixed to find the latest update? It seems like it could be fixed from the Steinberg server side, but I don’t really know how it all works.
Really what would be great is if Steinberg followed the HOFA model and just put the Mac and PC DDP Player right in the DDP folder for you so the client didn’t even need to install it. It’s just there and works.
The HOFA model is pretty perfect but WaveLab could possibly save a step since it also can render the DDP.
Actually it turns out the latest standalone Windows player installer installs 1.0.15 if you choose “install local software”. If you have it search for updates, it only finds 1.0.10 (?!!?).
Regardless, both those versions have the 1/4 second repeat problem when skipping to tracks in splice marker montage DDPs. Only 1.0.20 doesn’t, and you can’t get 1.0.20 from the standalone installer update function like you should be able to, so it would be good to know when that will be made available to the installer.
Agreed. And CD burn and file export would be nice.
I just recently found that the free XLD can burn a CD and export files from a DDP. No ISRC or CD Text pass-through from the DDP, but it burns a CD and exports files.
PG, can this be fixed so it sees the correct 1.0.20 update?
I hope so, but I don’t deal with the DDP player myself.
+1
The DDP player should just be a free product/download for anybody - Wavelab owners or not. It would be an excellent way to advertise for Steinberg because every single master we send out to a client could include a link to Steinberg’s website to download the DDP player) - so may people who may not know about Steinberg will learn of Steinberg and/or Wavelab.