Compare The Versions Of WaveLab

WaveLab is available in four different editions: WaveLab Pro, WaveLab Elements, WaveLab Cast, and WaveLab LE. Each one features stunning performance and crystal clear sound quality due to Steinberg's highly acclaimed audio engine.

General

WaveLab Pro 12

WaveLab Elements 12

Table title
Maximum supported sample rate	384 kHz	96 kHz
Maximum number of audio tracks	>1000	5
Internal processing	64-bit floating point	64-bit floating point
Real-time VST 3 effect plug-ins	58	35
Offline processors	25	16
Master Section slots	16	8
Final Effects/Dithering slots	2	1
Playback Processing slots	5	0
Maximum number of clip effects per clip	16	2
Multichannel interleaved audio file editing	up to 22.2	up to 5.1
Docking system	Full	Full
Startup dialog	Full	Full
High DPI support	Full	Full
Apple Touch Bar support	Full	Full
Audio file browser	Full	Full
Single-window user interface	Full	Full
Metadata support	Full	Limited
Video playback support	Full	Full
Audio Montage environment	Full	Limited
Audio File environment	Full	Limited
Recording options	Full	Limited
Marker toolset	Full	Limited
Editing toolset	Full	Limited
Transport panel	Full	Limited
CD burning engine	Full	Limited
Project Manager	Full	No
DDP support	Full	No
Unlimited audio file size	Full	Full
External effects support	Full	No
Reference track with automatic loudness compensation	Full	No
External editor support	Full	No
Startup Assistant with web display panel	Yes	Yes
Visualization of Keyboard and Mouse Input	Yes	Yes

Audio Analysis

WaveLab Pro 12

WaveLab Elements 12

Table title
SuperVision	Yes	No
3D Spectrum Analysis	Full	Full
Spectrogram view	Full	Full
Spectroscope	Full	Full
Oscilloscope	Full	Full
Level meter	Full	Full
Global audio analysis	Full	Limited
Audio analysis and error correction tools	Full	Limited
Rainbow waveform	Yes	Yes
Loudness waveform overlay	Yes	Yes
Wavelet display	Full	No
Live Spectrogram	Full	No
Spectrometer	Full	No
Bit Meter	Full	Full
Phasescope	Full	Full
Wavescope	Full	Full
EBU-compliant loudness meter	Full	Not included
Offline loudness analysis and report	Full	No
Encoder Checker for AAC, MP3, OGG	Full	No

Processing

WaveLab Pro 12

WaveLab Elements 12

Table title
Track ducking	Yes	Yes
Bleep Censor Generator	Full	Full
Time-stretching and pitch correction	Full	Limited
Batch Processor incl. naming scheme	Full	No
Watch Folders Batch Processor	Full	No
EBU-compliant loudness processing	Full	No
Pan and Loudness Normalizer	Full	Full
Audio Inpainting technology	Full	No
Mid/Side monitoring, editing and processing	Full	No
Auto split	Full	No
Batch process Audio Analyzer	Full	No
Batch process Audio Injector	Full	No
Batch process Audio Mixer	Full	No
Batch process DC Remover	Full	No
Batch process Delay Next Process Activation	Full	No
Batch process Fade In/Fade Out	Full	No
Batch process Instructor	Full	No
Batch process Level Normalizer	Full	No
Batch process Loudness Meta Normalizer	Full	No
Batch process Loudness Restorer	Full	No
Batch process Meta Leveler	Full	No
Batch process Resizer	Full	No
Batch process Stereo to Mono	Full	No
Batch process Trimmer	Full	No

Plug-ins

WaveLab Pro 12

WaveLab Elements 12

Table title
Clean pane in Track Inspector	Yes	Yes
Enhance pane in Track Inspector	Yes	Yes
AutoPan	Yes	Yes
Brickwall Limiter	Yes	Yes
Channel Extractor	Yes	Yes
Chorus	Yes	Yes
Compressor	Yes	Yes
CurveEQ	Yes	No
DeEsser	Yes	Yes
DeReverb	Yes	No
DualFilter	Yes	No
EnvelopeShaper	Yes	Yes
Expander	Yes	Yes
Frequency EQ 2	Yes	No
PhaseAlign plug-in	Yes	No
Black Valve	Yes	No
VoxComp	Yes	No
Raiser	Yes	No
EQ-P1A	Yes	No
EQ-M5	Yes	No
Gate	Yes	Yes
GEQ-10/GEQ-30	Yes	No
Imager	Yes	No
Resampler	Yes	Yes
Internal Dithering	Yes	Yes
iZotope MBIT+™ Master Dither	No	No
L/R to M/S, M/S to L/R	Yes	No
Leveler	Yes	Yes
Leveler Multi	Yes	No
Limiter	Yes	Yes
MasterRig plug-in suite	Full	Limited
Magneto 2	Yes	No
Maximizer	Yes	Yes
Mix6to2	Yes	Yes
Mix8to2	Yes	No
MixConvert	Yes	No
MonoDelay	Yes	Yes
MonoToStereo	Yes	Yes
MultibandCompressor	Yes	No
MultibandEnvelopeShaper	Yes	No
MultibandExpander	Yes	No
Octaver	Yes	No
Peak Master	Yes	Yes
PingPongDelay	Yes	Yes
PostFilter	Yes	No
Quadrafuzz 2	Yes	No
RestoreRig	Yes	Yes
RoomWorks	Yes	Yes
RoomWorks SE	Yes	Yes
Signal and DTMF Generator	Yes	Yes
Silence	Yes	Yes
Stereo Tools	Yes	No
Stereo Expander	Yes	Yes
StereoDelay	Yes	Yes
StereoEnhancer	Yes	Yes
StudioEQ	Yes	Yes
TestGenerator	Yes	No
Tube Compressor	Yes	Yes
Distortion	Yes	Yes
VSTDynamics	Yes	Yes
REVelation	Yes	No
Ambidecoder	Yes	No
Squasher	Yes	No
StudioChorus	Yes	No
VintageCompressor	Yes	No

Podcasting

WaveLab Pro 12

WaveLab Elements 12

Table title
Podcast environment	Full	Full
Replacing audio in video	Yes	Yes
SoundCloud	Yes	Yes
Spreaker	Yes	Yes
Podbean	Yes	Yes
Buzzsprout	Yes	Yes
Castos	Yes	Yes
Chapter Generator for YouTube and Spotify	Yes	Yes

Restoration

WaveLab Pro 12

WaveLab Elements 12

Table title
Spectrogram view	Full	Full
RestoreRig plug-in suite	Full	Full
Audio restoration functions	Full	Limited
Spectrum Editor	Full	No
Wavelet display	Full	No
External editor support	Full	No

Formats & Export

WaveLab Pro 12

WaveLab Elements 12

Table title
AAC Encoding incl. AAC-HD, AAC-HE and more	Full	Full
Extended support of various audio file formats	Full	Limited
Encoder Checker for AAC, MP3, OGG	Full	No
Multi-format rendering incl. presets chains	Full	No
5.1 surround rendering	Full	No
Rendering of multiple files incl. naming scheme	Full	No
Live input stream rendering	Full	No
Ambisonics (.amb/.ambix) import/export	up to 7th order	1st order only

Workflow

WaveLab Pro 12

WaveLab Elements 12

Table title
Time grid for the Audio Editor and Audio Montage clips	Yes	No
Audio Montage dB Level Ruler	Yes	No
Audio Montage Null Test Track	Yes	No
Audio Montage File and Asset Management	Yes	Yes
Parameter automation with clip envelopes	Yes	No
Track groups	Yes	No
Track lanes	Yes	No
Multichannel support in audio montage	Yes	No
Title Navigator	Yes	No
Selection ranges on multiple tracks	Yes	No
Level, fade and pan envelope before or after clip effects	Yes	No
Inserting stereo audio files into mono tracks or vice versa	Yes	Yes
Multi-core processing for audio montages	Yes	Yes
Custom names for audio ports	Yes	Yes
Automatic audio input port to bus assignment	Yes	Yes
16-bit float high resolution waveform zooming	Full	Full
Montage Inspector	Full	Full
Performance monitor	Full	Full
Real-time rendering	Full	Full
File exchange with other Steinberg DAWs	Full	Full
Single-window plug-in management	Full	Full
Panning tools and effects section	Full	Full
Auto Replay option	Full	Full
Key commands and remote control support	Full	Limited
Undo/Redo History	Full	Full
Speaker Management System	Full	No
Timecode display	Full	Full
WaveLab Control	Full	No
Monitoring options incl. meter freeze	Full	No
SuperClips	Full	No
Clip plug-in send automation	Full	No
Multi-track recording	Full	Full
Montage inline editing	Full	No
Live input stream recording	Full	No
External effects support	Full	No
Reference track with automatic loudness compensation	Full	No
External editor support	Full	No
Metadata support	Full	Limited

System requirements

WaveLab Pro 12

WaveLab Elements 12

Table title
Operating systems (Windows)	64-bit Windows 11 Version 22H2 (or higher), 64-bit Windows 10 Version 22H2 (or higher)	64-bit Windows 11 Version 21H2 (or higher), 64-bit Windows 10 Version 21H2 (or higher)
Operating systems (Mac)	macOS Monterey, macOS Ventura, macOS Sonoma	macOS Monterey, macOS Ventura, macOS Sonoma
Apple silicon–based Mac	Rosetta 2 App, Native App	Rosetta 2 App, Native App
CPU minimum (Windows)	Intel® Core™ i5 (4th Generation) or AMD Ryzen™	Intel® Core™ i5 (4th Generation) or AMD Ryzen™
CPU minimum (Mac)	Intel® Core™ i5 (mid 2013 or later) or Apple silicon	Intel® Core™ i5 (mid 2013 or later) or Apple silicon
CPU cores	4 or more	4 or more
RAM minimum	8 GB	8 GB
Hard disk free space (core installation)	1 GB	1 GB
Hard disk free space	4 GB	4 GB
Display resolution minimum at 100% UI scaling	1440 x 900	1440 x 900
Display resolution recommended	1920 x 1080	1920 x 1080
Graphics minimum (Windows)	Graphics card with native Windows 10 support	Graphics card with native Windows 10 support
Graphics recommended (Windows)	AMD R or RX series and later or NVIDIA Series 700 and later	AMD R or RX series and later or NVIDIA Series 700 and later
Graphics (Mac)	Graphics card with Metal support	Graphics card with Metal support
Graphics (GPU memory)	4 GB or higher for 4k displays	4 GB or higher for 4k displays
OS compatible audio hardware	Yes	Yes
ASIO compatible audio hardware recommended for low-latency performance	Yes	Yes
Internet connection for	license activation, installer download, account sign up and product registration	license activation, installer download, account sign up and product registration
License Management	No	No