Laptop Studio — Music software reviews, news and info for computer music

21 April 2005

Steinberg WaveLab 5 review — Grooves

Filed under: Music software at 4:30 pm Comments Off on Steinberg WaveLab 5 review — Grooves
wavelab-5

Grooves magazine reviews Steinberg WaveLab 5. The new version of WaveLab, they say, focuses on DVD features — you can now create various DVD formats, though the options aren’t as extensive as you would expect from a high-end DVD authoring program. There are also lots of other goodies in this general-purpose audio editor.

The Audio Montage feature in this version of WaveLab supports VST effects, but not DirectX. Still, they say, “it would be a great tool, though, for editing things like radio spots or news programs, as cutting up audio, sliding it around, and crossfading between clips is fast and easy.” They think Audio Montage is powerful and useful, though it doesn’t quite do everything.

The reviewers find some faults with WaveLab’s user interface. The editing commands are non-standard — Steinberg like to do things their own way rather than follow the Microsoft guidelines. Also, the arrangement of functions is not always intuitive: “Certain operations that should be fundamental, like setting tempo, are hidden deeply in menus.”

Despite the fancy DVD features, they conclude that the basic features are what makes this program worthwhile. “The real value of the program for me — and for users not yet working with surround sound — is as a fast, flexible, full-featured stereo-audio editor and CD mastering tool. Those core functions are all easy to grasp, quick, and flexible. I’ve yet to have have WaveLab 5 crash or lose work, either, and in general, it seems very stable. As a result, WaveLab 5 is perhaps the only audio editor you’ll ever need.”

More articles about WaveLab

No Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.