Name: WaveLab
Rating: 9 (2 reviews)
Author: Steinberg Media Technologies

Help Desk

Web and Video Conferencing

Customer Support

Business Intelligence (BI)

Collaboration

Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS)

Diagramming

Enterprise

Accounting

Revenue Management

Finance and Accounting

Applicant Tracking

Corporate Learning Management

HR Management

HR Service Delivery

Payroll

Talent Intelligence

Talent Management

Technical Skills Assessment

Workforce Analytics

Workforce Management

Human Resources

Application Infrastructure

Cloud Storage

Data Center Infrastructure Management

Data Center Networking

Data Mapping

Data Observability

Debugging

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

Endpoint Encryption

Ethernet Switches

Event Monitoring

Fraud Detection

Industrial IoT

Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)

Managed Detection and Response (MDR)

Mobile Application Performance Monitoring  (APM)

Network Performance Monitoring

Password Management System

Rack Servers

Software Defined Storage (SDS)

Static Code Analysis

Tape Storage

Threat Hunting

VoIP Monitoring

Voice Recognition

Web Application Firewalls

Wireless WAN

Information Technology

A/B Testing

Ad Serving & Retargeting

All-in-One Marketing

Content Experience

Content Management

Creative Management

Customer Journey Analytics

Digital Analytics

Digital Rewards

Digital Signage

Email Marketing

Marketing Automation

Predictive Analytics

Real-Time Interaction Management

Social Login

Social Media Management

Survey & Forms Building

Swag Management

Web Analytics

Marketing

Business Caller ID

Project Management

Professional Services

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Predictive Sales Analytics

Presales

eCommerce

Sales

Animation

Legal Billing

Public Sector Software

Spreadsheet

Vertical-Specific

small

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Descript

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Steinberg Media Technologies headquartered in Hamburg offers WaveLab, an audio editing application.

Basic

Professional

Express Scribe

Transcription

NCH Software

WaveLab

Reviews

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TrustRadius

3rd party plugins

Difficult to use

Easy to use

3rd party

Audio editing

Large file

Allows editing

File formats

Able to edit

Pro tools

Sound quality

Saving files

Home

Audio Editing Software

I first used WaveLab back when I was going to college for audio engineering. I ended up becoming a software developer, but I have still found a use for WaveLab over the years for various projects. When I worked at Amazon.com, I used WaveLab to edit voice clips for an automated phone system. At Bluefire Productions, I use WaveLab whenever the need for audio editing comes up, particularly when I need a realtime FX chain (e.g., compressor, EQ, reverb). That need does not arise frequently, but when it does, I can quickly get whatever audio-related tasks done that we need, whether it's editing customer development interviews or audio clips for a rich-media EPUB3 interactive ebook.

Product Usage

Pros and Cons

Realtime FX Chain - This is the big one for me. I always had both WaveLab and Sound Forge (along with some other audio editing programs, and using Pro Tools at school). Of the two, I preferred Sound Forge for its user interface and hotkeys, but I preferred WaveLab for its realtime FX. The ability to easily chain FX together and tweak them on the fly while the audio is playing is enormous for me.
Speed - Quite simply, saving a huge file in WaveLab is orders of magnitude faster than in Sound Forge. To this day, I don't know why that is, but it's just faster. Opening and saving files is a breeze in WaveLab, while in some other audio editing programs, it can take 30 seconds or a minute for a large file.

Things done well

User Interface and Hotkeys - I've always struggled with the UI in WaveLab, and even after all these years, I am just much faster in Sound Forge. I used to have a job as an audio editor, where I edited hundreds of hours of interviews. By using the "Mark" feature, I could easily cut out silence, "ums" and "ahs," and other audio artifacts in Sound Forge. I struggled to do the same in WaveLab but was never able to work even a fraction as quickly.
Built-In Audio Processing - I much prefer Sound Forge's built-in audio tools like time-stretching, normalization, compression, and so on. WaveLab has many of the same tools, but I have not found them to be as easy to use, and in some cases, nonexistent (relying instead on a VST plugin).

Things done poorly

WaveLab is well-suited when you want to apply a lot of VST FX processing to audio, or do a real-time recording and be able to hear how the FX processing sounds as you're recording. It is an excellent tool for recording in the studio. However, it lacks the sophisticated multitrack capabilities you find in a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), instead of focusing on the features of an audio editor. It is also great for quickly opening, editing, and saving a lot of files because of how fast it is.

Positive Impact - Ability to rapidly edit audio for EPUB3 ebooks and interviews.
Positive Impact - Being able to hear in realtime how audio effects chains will sound, and to save commonly-used effects chains.

Return on Investment

I am relatively agnostic about what audio software I use. I still use WaveLab to this day, 21 years later, for applications where I want to apply effects chains and tweak them in real-time. Sound Forge even can't do this for some reason. But when I have a lot of editing to do, I'll typically open Sound Forge instead, because I prefer the workflow of using the "M" hotkey to mark the audio as it's playing, and then quickly skip through markers and edit out audio artifacts.

When I'm recording a vocalist, however, if I am not using a Digital Audio Workstation (like Ableton Live), then I do prefer WaveLab. I can apply VST effects in real-time to the audio coming in through the sound card input and playing back in their headphones.

Sound Forge, Audacity, Adobe Audition and Avid Pro Tools

Alternatives

I have never contacted Steinberg, so I am not sure how responsive they are. Still, I've watched countless tutorials on audio editing and mastering in WaveLab, so I am pleased with the level of support available from the online community of users. It is a much-loved program among audio industry professionals, and there are all sorts of great tutorials, tips, and tricks available online.

Sound Forge, Ableton Live, Avid Pro Tools, Logic Pro X, Audacity, Adobe Audition

Other Software Used

Web & Mobile Developer

WaveLab 2020-02-24 19:10:37

Operating Systems	Unspecified
Mobile Application	No

WaveLab

Overview

What is WaveLab?

Great For Realtime VST Effect Chain, Mastering, Quick Saving and Opening

Pricing

WaveLab

What is WaveLab?

Entry-level set up fee?

Offerings

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Alternatives Pricing

Cubase

What is Cubase?

Express Scribe

What is Express Scribe?

Product Details

What is WaveLab?

WaveLab Technical Details

Comparisons

Compare with

Cubase

Audacity

Sound Forge

Audition

Logic Pro X

Ableton Live

Pro Tools

Descript

GarageBand

FL Studio

Reviews and Ratings

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Reviews

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