WAVELAB 6 EDUCATION STEINBERG
Audio Editing (Stereo, Multi-Track, Surround)
WaveLab 6 is one of the most powerful and versatile audio editing and processing applications on the market today and combines the facilities of many other products within one, intuitive, flexible application.
WaveLab 6 features sample-accurate stereo or multi-track audio editing combined with impressive effects for sound design. Depending on the editing task, users may chose between a destructive stereo editor and the powerful non-destructive, clip-based Audio Montage for stereo or multi-track projects. In addition, WaveLab 6 supports any surround format with up to eight channels, as well as surround plug-ins like the Steinberg Surround Edition.
The Audio Montage allows real-time fades and cross fades, clip-based effects with effect morphing between adjacent clips and track-based effects through the Master Section. With unlimited undo/redo and the powerful batch processing and archiving features no other single software tool can match the truly exceptional WaveLab 6 feature set in its price range.
CD Mastering
CD Mastering is more than just squeezing maximum loudness out of music tracks and putting these into the right order for creating a CD. A mastering studio has to match and adjust levels, equalization, spatial integration and many other audio aspects between different audio tracks in order to create a coherent acoustic experience across the entire CD.
WaveLab 6 makes the creation of complex transitions and cross fades between titles very easy. WaveLab provides intuitive track assembly, audio editing and applying effects or cross fades down to accurate CD marker and PQ editing is very fast and intuitive. WaveLab can create a CD image file or burn the project directly to CD and optionally compares the final CD to the master image for error checking and repair. With WaveLab one can create CD reports and export track sheets. One can even create full colour CD covers and labels right out of the project. No other audio editing software offers such a complete set of CD mastering features.
DVD-Audio Authoring
DVD-Audio is acknowledged to be the standard for high resolution audio media, combining uncompressed or lossless compressed multi-channel audio with video, text and DVD-ROM content. WaveLab 6 offers DVD-Audio authoring support on top of its powerful audio processing and Mastering capabilities. It combines all of its powerful graphical editing and processing features with full DVD-Audio authoring, including graphic menus, DVD Text, multiple track groups and even import/burning of DVD Video content in one intuitive window. The seamless integration of these new features in addition to the support in WaveLab 6 for multi-channel audio makes it particularly easy for existing WaveLab users to explore DVD-Audio creation.
Audio Restoration
WaveLab 6 not only allows for complex and precise equalization or dynamics processing. It also includes powerful audio restoration tools. The DeNoiser plug-in is based on acoustic fingerprint analysis and analyzes recorded audio in real-time to remove unwanted background noise while maintaining the ambience of the recording. The DeClicker plug-in also operated in real-time by analyzing the original material, detecting clicks and then removing those clicks. For offline and manual restoration WaveLab 6 includes a fast and flexible interface to detect and navigate to disturbances. The extremely powerful interpolation algorithms replace problems like clicks, clipping or drop-outs intelligently with appropriate material from other parts of the audio files. Combined with the brand new spectral editor WaveLab 6 is an excellent choice for serious restoration work. WaveLab 6 also fully supports Algorithmix’ renovator plug-in for the highest demands of restoration.
Audio-for-Video
With its “smart” video thumbnail track, WaveLab 6 is the perfect tool for audio-for-video editing. WaveLab allows for far more accurate and detailed audio editing than the typical video editing software. From trimming and editing audio clips to complex sound design - WaveLab 6 offers the full spectrum of audio editing and processing tools needed to turn a flat-sounding movie soundtrack into a powerful and impressive sonic experience. WaveLab 6 can be used to create sound effects, looped background music beds, impressively clear and “in the face” dialog or even complex multi-track edits using the Audio Montage window. With up to eight audio channels, WaveLab 6 can also serve as a soundtrack mastering tool for all popular surround formats, including 5.1 and 7.1.
Use WaveLab 6 to edit the audio track of a video clip extracted from the video file. Or run WaveLab 6 as the audio editing front-end of your preferred video editor. With XSend and XReceive, WaveLab 6 can be integrated seamlessly into any AV workstation, e.g. Pinnacles Liquid Edition
Broadcast Production
Besides outstanding sound quality and data integrity, workflow optimization and system integration are some of the key requirements in professional broadcast facilities. WaveLab 6 offers state-of-the-art 24-bit / 384 kHz resolution and 32-bit floating-point precision, which results in exceptional sound quality and processing accuracy. Furthermore, WaveLab 6 supports the MPEG 1 Layer 2 (M.U.S.I.C.A.M.) file format, which is commonly used in digital broadcast systems, as well as Broadcast WAV, the extended WAV format that includes additional information in the file header.
But clearly the most exciting features for broadcast users are the new scripting capabilities in combination with user presets and batch processing functions. When combined, these functions allow for perfect integration of WaveLab 6 into the existing workflow, including automated file import, format conversion and signal processing. Using the new API scripting interface WaveLab 6 can run even difficult processing tasks in the background without even being touched.
Editing for Sampler
Many studios still rely on their trusted MIDI hardware samplers and their extensive sound libraries. However, editing samples on small LCD displays can be tedious and time-consuming. WaveLab 6 supports more than 30 popular samplers and sample formats. It can communicate directly with hardware samples via MIDI and SCSI, send and receive samples and convert between different formats.
Multimedia Sound Design
Besides its powerful editing and processing features, WaveLab 6 supports major multimedia audio file formats like Windows Media, WMA Pro, and various MPEG formats. Instead of inconvenient importing or exporting, WaveLab 6 natively supports all of these formats and allows for direct opening and saving of files in any of its supported formats. In combination with the powerful batch processing functions, WaveLab 6 becomes the tool of choice for any file-conversion task.
Institutional Applications
WaveLab 6 has many applications beyond mastering or music- and audio-for-video production. Its powerful recording and processing features have made it the number one choice for scientific audio archiving and restoration, as well as more sophisticated laboratory applications including forensic analysis. WaveLab is known for its reliability and its ease-of-use. Its highly customizable workflow and the powerful user-preset and batch processing features, plus its compatibility with many different file formats leave enough room for a perfect integration into practically any thinkable audio laboratory environment.
Non-destructive editing in the Audio Montage
The Audio Montage is the heart of the non-destructive editing processes in WaveLab. All editing tasks and actions are either processed in real-time or rendered into the audio material. The powerful Audio Montage environment supports not only several audio tracks each with up to 8 channels but also a video track or an extra track for a Slide show for DVD-A.
Audio files in the Audio Montage are shown as so-called clips. Each clip is actually merely a window on either a part or the entire length of an audio file. The selection can be enlarged, reduced or just moved over the audio material (known as sliding).
WaveLab 6 now supports the editing of clips over several tracks, making editing of linked tracks in a multi-channel project fast and efficient. By pressing the ALT key, changes made to a clip are also made to every selected clip. Any fades already set remain unaffected; Voume and Pan settings also remain unchanged. A range of grouping functions give a clear overview of the project at all times.
External effect hardware integration
WaveLab 6 includes a powerful new system for integrating outboard FX in the Master Section audio signal chain. Each external effect unit is integrated as a plug-in at any desired position in the Master Section. WaveLab supports up to 8 parallel input and output channels to ASIO-compatible audio interfaces.
WaveLab automatically recognizes the latency of the hardware and compensates this delay to offer perfect synchronization to Timecode. The level sent to the hardware is set using the Send Level control.
Restoration with the Spectrum Editor
The Spectrum Editor is an immensely powerful new tool for restoration and editing of an audio file’s frequency information. The precision linear phase filters allow editing of even microscopically narry frequency bands.
The Spectrum Editor displays the audio material as a sonogram that shows the changing intensities of the frequencies over time in different colors and shades. The Spectrum Editor offers two different editing modes – Surgical processing and Master Section processing.
The Surgical processing mode offers three filter types that can be used in six different ways for a variety of tasks. Using the High Pass, Low Pass or Band Pass filters, a certain frequency area n the sonogram can be dampened, faded in or out or even “wiped over” with the Dispersion function. The dampening and aggressiveness of the filters is also user-definable.
Master Section Processing
This mode allows the processing of the selected frequency area using the Master Section plug-ins, including dithering and noise-shaping algorithms. With this powerful editing tool, a defined frequency area can, for example, be sent through the DeClicker or other restoration plug-in. Other uses include complete dynamics control over user-defined frequency bands.
Another new editing process provided by the Spectrum Editor is the copying of audio material from one “place” to another in the sonogram view. Using the Source/Destination functions a suitable area can be isolated very quickly and copied to several different locations. The area that is to be replaced is defined by stretching a rectangle, and the selected area can be moved and adjusted in size quickly and easily. Editing can be performed independent of the audio channel or simultaneously on both channels of a stereo file.
WaveLab 6 offers freely definable plug-in chains. These can consist of any plug-ins available in WaveLab, and can be created almost instantly by “dragging and dropping” the desired plug-in to the Plug-In page of the Audio Montage. Not only can the order of the plug-ins within the chain be changed as desired, but a plug-in can also be removed from the chain without having to open the plug-in itself. Opening a plug-in for editing is as simple as double-clicking it. Chains can also be saved as a preset and used to process any clip or track in the Audio Montage at will.
Recording through plug-ins
In WaveLab 6, audio signals can be recorded through the effects of the Master Section. This allows effects such as EQ, compression or noise gating to be used while recording, preparing the material for further editing and processing later.
Depending on the number of channels offered by the ASIO-compatible hardware, up to eight channels can be recorded simultaneously, allowing WaveLab to perform recording tasks such as recording a mixer’s subgroups or in recording surround. WaveLab supports recording sample rates up to 384 kHz, and is limited only by the converters of the system’s audio hardware.
Effect plug-ins can alter the perceived volume of a signal, making the direct comparison of a signal that has been sent through a plug-in or a plug-in chain with the original material potentially more difficult.
WaveLab 6 offers a new SmartBypass function which automatically compensates for this difference in loudness, making effective A/B comparison of material with its unaltered version quick and easy.
SmartBypass also supports the integration of external effect hardware.
Advanced Crossfades
Version 6 also offers an intuitive crossfade editing concept. A crossfade is automatically created as soon as two clips overlap in the Audio Montage window. The clips show the results of the crossfade directly in the waveform, offering a useful aid in positioning the fade in exactly the right place. Functions like Snap To Waveform and Snap To Fade speed up editing work and allow an exceedingly efficient worklflow in WaveLab.
The left and right borders of the crossfade can be both adjusted independently of one another or moved symmetrically and simultaneously using the middle of the fade as a reference point. The entire fade can also be moved along the waveform while retaining all its settings.
Multi-channel editing
The Audio Montage environment is fully surround-capable, supporting fast efficient workflow with surround recordings. 5.1 files are automatically imported as two stereo and two mono files, and each track can be routed independently to its own audio output. For audio files that are routed to the LFE channel, a low pass filter can be also be used as an insert effect.
Multiple global plug-ins can be loaded at the same time to process all clips on any desired track. Volume and Pan envelopes can be adjusted with sample accuracy for each and every clip. Fades can also either be edited using the mouse or adjusted by loading user-definable fade curve presets.
WaveLab 6 offers a range of powerful batch processing tools, applying a huge range of editing processes and renaming options to large numbers of with a single command.
Remote controller integration
This version of WaveLab is the first to offer direct tactile access to WaveLab functionality through support for MIDI remote controllers. Assigning the parameters to the hardware is completely flexible and user-definable
Every incoming MIDI message received from a remote controller can be assigned to any command in WaveLab 6, offering an unprecedented level of control over every aspect of WaveLab functionality. Setting up a command is astoundingly simple: the command is selected in the Key Commands Editor, while the desired MIDI command is activated on the control surface. All assigned commands can be saved as a file, allowing different controllers to be selected quickly and easily.
Podcasting
This growing internet standard is now fully supported by WaveLab 6.1. Simple and intuitive user interface allows to create basic or complex Podcasts from A to Z, without ever quitting WaveLab. The perfect integration in the WaveLab audio recording and editing environment makes it a unique solution on the market.
WaveLab 6.1 supports the complete podcast standard RSS 2.0 specification. Not only audio files but also video and PDF files can be integrated. Pictures are automatically scaled to the right size. The integrated FTP client transfers the podcast quickly and efficiently over to the server without stopping work on audio files in WaveLab 6.1. Podcast descriptions can be imported as an HTML file, locally saved picture files are automatically saved with the audio onto the server when a podcast is published. To help create new episodes of the podcast even faster, WaveLab 6.1 includes user-definable templates. WaveLab 6.1 can also create podcasts directly for iTunes.
What’s new in WaveLab 6?
WaveLab 6 offers an advanced new Spectrum Editor with its sonogram view. This exciting new editing tool allows ultra-fine surgical editing of the audio file's frequency information, allowing a range of procedures such as the complete removal of unwanted noises or frequency ranges.
This exceedingly flexible editor employs highest quality linear phase filters and offers many exciting new sound replacement options including cut and paste of an audio file's background ambience to another part of the file or plug-in processing on selected frequencies.
DIRAC Time-stretching and Pitch-shifting
DIRAC is among the most advanced algorithms for time-based manipulation of audio material available today. Excellent audio quality, outstanding performance and maximum precision are among the superlative qualities this technology brings to WaveLab 6. Its flexibility allows it to be used on a huge range of audio material including vocals, drum loops and classical string ensembles to name just a few.
The settings and plug-in chain in the Master Section can now we saved as a preset with the audio file or audio montage. This allows the simultaneous editing of several audio files or versions while retaining all the vital settings in the Master Section.
The enhanced new Master Section now also offers a useful and time-saving new function: SmartBypass. This automatically compensates the different loudness levels of original and processed audio, allowing a lightning-quick A/B comparison.
New Audio Processors
The Crystal Resampler is a top-end new sample rate converter supporting up to 384 kHz, with other new additions including time-saving new tools such as the Loudness Normalizer and the Smat Silence plug-ins.
The powerful Audio Montage environment has been upgraded even further with WaveLab 6, offering new functions such as new fade editing features, batch processing and extended import and export options.
Audio File Handling
WaveLab 6 places no limit on the size of clips, and even files exceeding 2GB in size can now be imported. Other optimizations include enhanced performance when reading and writng files, automated renaming of files as a batch process and a new file list manager handling access and sorting of up to 200 hundred recent audio files.
WaveLab 6 offers a range of new metering and monitoring tools including the Loudness Distribution window and a new Waveform scope display. WaveLab now also supports the K-System metering standard developed by mastering legend Bob Katz.
Software and Hardware Integration
A further highlight is the full integration of external effect hardware within the digital mastering process. With WaveLab 6, any favorite analog hardware unit can be used within WaveLab, combining the advantages of both the digital editng and analog processing domains into one personalized, integrated mastering environment. Version 6 also supports MIDI remote controllers, allowing intuitive, immediate control over many software functions from a compatible hardware controller. | 
