Electronic Musician review Steinberg WaveLab 5.01a and emphasise its multimedia capabilities: “Among the most important new features are tools for DVD-Audio (DVD-A) authoring and production, an integrated video track, and track-based effects and level controls. Combined with the large number of professional-quality VST mastering and effects plug-ins, WaveLab 5 is a powerful media production environment.”

They are pleased that WaveLab 5 finally allows control of individual track levels, and also track-based effects. They give a lot of space to the new DVD-A authoring capabilities, as well as the new surround-sound functions.

I have always thought that support is very important for any complex program, and the review says that Steinberg have this covered. “WaveLab’s support is excellent — the comprehensive printed manual is more than 700 pages. … There is online support through the Help menu option in addition to context-sensitive help for many of the program’s features. There is also an active users forum, which is moderated by WaveLab’s principal developer, Philippe Goutier.”

Their final numerical rating across their categories is 17.5 out of a possible 20. If you are current user wondering whether to upgrade, they say you’ll make your decision based on whether you need the new DVD-A and multimedia features. For everyone else, “if you’re looking to move into a multitrack audio editor that supports many of the hottest new-media technologies available today, has a friendly interface, and can help manage not only your audio assets but also all of the files on your system, WaveLab is an excellent choice.”

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