Sep 05, 2018  RX by iZotope has long been a top application for audio restoration and noise reduction. In addition to being a staple in post-production houses, RX’s feature set is also quite useful for music production. In this article, I’ll look at ways in which you can use it to help eliminate sonic issues on your recordings. Sonnox Restore (Mac. RX 6 Standard is a comprehensive audio repair and noise reduction toolkit that includes everything from RX Elements and more. Visually identify and repair problems with the standalone RX Audio Editor application, or use the plug-ins in real time in your favorite DAW or NLE. You can now integrate other audio editors (like SpectraLayers or iZotope RX) into your WaveLab workflow, giving you the option of modifying an audio file range (in the Audio File Editor) or an audio clip range (in the Audio Montage) in other editors, directly from within your current WaveLab session. After removing your authorization, RX 5 Audio Editor’s authorization screen will pop up when you restart the program. Now you can re-authorize using a new serial number. You may also remove your authorization at any time in order to run in Trial or Demo mode. How to contact iZotope Customer Care. For additional help with authorizing RX 5. Sonnox Restore is a very capable suite of three plug-ins designed for highly accurate audio restoration. Its advanced algorithms and novel features allow fast and extremely effective removal of pops, clicks, crackles, scratches, hum, buzzes and background noise from virtually any recording without damaging the important 'wanted' audio content.

• Sonnox Restore Vs Izotope Rx 5
• Sonnox Restore Vs Izotope Rx 3
• Sonnox Restore Vs Izotope Rx 1
• Sonnox Restore Vs Izotope Rx 350
• Sonnox Restore Vs Izotope Rx 4

Wavelab Pro and Wavelab Elements just got better with their latest incarnations, both now at version 9.5. Let’s see what’s new in Steinberg’s masterful audio tools.

by Vincenzo Bellanova, July 2018

New versions of Steinberg’s professional audio editors are here, with great new features that further raise the level of these already impressive software sound utilities.

In this review we will have a tour of the main new features introduced in the 9.5 versions, if you wish to learn more on how Wavelab works, you can check these earlier reviews of WaveLab 8.5 here and Wavelab 9 here.

Wavelab Pro 9.5 and Wavelab Elements are most certainly products that everyone should consider, whether you’re making music, organizing samples, are a mastering engineer or a sound designer. They are audio editors and mastering suites, so their features will move in two directions: morphing, cutting, processing, organizing audio files, or mastering (in fact, almost all of the plugins in the Master Rig have been updated with new features).

So many things are to be found in the suite – and wait, don’t forget about the batch processing options. You can drag entire folders into Wavelab and simply apply fades, or normalize levels, or add one or more effects, to a whole list of files, which can then be exported into a separate folder so you won’t lose your originals. And that is just one of Wavelab’s amazing features. Wavelab (either version) now features a 64-bit audio engine, just like Cubase, that uses double precision computation for increased accuracy and detail from summing, mixing and effects. So there is the possibility of a significant improvement when processing files with this new powerful engine. There’s more: Wavelab now supports High DPI, which means that the software is fully supported by the modern ultra-high resolution displays.

While the Pro version has a list price of €559.00 EUR, and an upgrade price of €59.99 EUR, Elements, whose features are limited compared to its full-featured sibling (but is still absolutely capable of a wide variety of tasks), is €99.00 EUR. Please note that a Steinberg eLicenser dongle, sold separately, is required to activate Pro, but software authorization (i.e., no dongle) can be used with Elements.

Spectrum Editor, Wavelet Display and Audio Inpainting

The new Spectrum Editor stands out. The redesigned Spectrogram now allows more options to customize the display, such as color scale adjustments, frequency span adjustments, and a menu with new frequency scales (these might be familiar for iZotope RX users). In fact these new features allow you to focus more precisely on some frequencies, and thus, process and edit more comfortably.

The wavelet display is a new feature that we can think of as a superior way to visualize and analyze audio material, since the Spectrogram has a fixed length in the window, and the wavelet displays a higher resolution in the time domain of the high frequencies, and a higher resolution in the frequency domain of the low end.

New visualization options are complemented by new tools, enhancing the possibilities of spectral editing in Wavelab 9.5. We now have new selection tools, like the invert selection tool for the situation in which we want to select everything except the region we intend to preserve. Then there’s the amazing Source at Cursor capability, which if we removed some audio material, will find and copy a region from another part of the file to fill the gap we left. This tool is especially good when we need to remove or restore files that processors like De Buzzer or De Noiser can’t fix. It is not only intelligent, but also very precise. In the Processing Algorithm dropdown menu, we can also notice a Transcode Picture function, which is very useful for watermarking audio by “printing” an image upon the spectrogram – a more discreet, and, again, intelligent solution.

The Audio Inpainting feature, allows us to analyze and replace the content based on other regions of the same file. We can simultaneously select a region, analyze and automatically replace it. We will have controls on the number of bands in order to adjust the area of analysis according to the type of audio material. It is particularly helpful and will save a lot of time when restoring audio dropouts or replacing accidents, noises, bleeds or mistakes with only a few clicks.

Note that the Wavelet display, Spectrum editor and Audio Inpainting are available only in the Pro version.

New Error Correction Tab and Restore Rig

The tools for correcting clicks and errors in the audio files, have now a dedicated ribbon. All of the tools for both detecting and correcting errors are clearly organized, as the other ribbons are well designed, so it is very easy to find them. Wavelab will not only check the files, but also will place a marker and will give us information on the type of error encountered. Now we have some ready-to-use presets for detecting errors and for correcting them more precisely with the same concept we just discussed, Audio Inpainting. The surrounding regions will be scanned in order to find similar material and replace the clicks we might find without introducing any unwanted unpleasantness. The Error Correction Tab is an exclusive of the Pro version.

But there’s something else that really enhances the usefulness of Wavelab: the Restore Rig, not just limited to Pro. The software now features a set of tools for further audio restoration. It replaces the Sonnox restoration suite, with the new DeNoiser, DeBuzzer and Declicker, which can control, attenuate and eliminate pops, clicks and crackles (or should that be “remove snap, crackle and pop”? [SMILEY]). If we consider these in addition to the spectral editing functions, we can see that Wavelab is filling the audio repair field with intuitive and effective tools. The algorithms of the various processors work really well, and it is quite easy to know what is happening because we can choose to listen to the output noise only. Furthermore, the meters on each of the modules provide a visual feedback on the amount of noise reduction, which in turn can give us an idea of how much processing is going on. These tools can be pushed too far resulting in artifacts and the like, but the instrumentation helps keep that sort of thing in check.

Plug-Ins

A lot of plugins have been updated, not only with larger interfaces and meters, but with new functionality as well. The Vintage Compressor now has a Mix control, so we can layer compressed (sometimes heavily compressed) and dry audio to advantage – a technique is widely referred to as parallel compression.

The Maximizer features a new limiting algorithm, Modern, for even more loudness. Another interesting capability is the Character control, which bring in more compression on the high frequencies, allowing less saturation for the low-end.

Thanks to the new interface, Autopan now allows to draw curves more freely, simply moving the dots on the screen. The EQ in the Master Rig now features a LIN button, which engages the linear phase mode for each of the bands, great feature to give even more precision during the mastering process.

The Batch Processor has been improved as well, with an Audio Mixer which can insert a new audio file in the current one. Then we have the Delay Next process, a subtle but really effective function, with which you can decide to insert a specific delay for the processing steps, so you can be sure that transients or other parts of the audio file are preserved.

DDP Player and Touchbar Integration

A couple of new interesting features are the Touchbar controls for the new MacBook OLED Bar, which guarantees a complete set of tools at our fingertips. The best part is that it is adaptive: the icons will change depending on what we are doing, and this is completely customizable. This feature can enhance the workflow for Mac users, and, moreover, surely demonstrates the attention to workflow details.

Another brand new tool is the DDP (Disc Description Protocol) player included in the Pro version, delivered as a separate application, which allows us to play and be sure that the created DDP information does not contain any errors before declaring a project complete. The interface is essential – we have the possibility to check all the metadata and, in the lower section, we can also check levels one more time with a simple meter. One point more scored for mastering engineers: Audio montage and all the possibilities included in Wavelab Pro.

Conclusions

Steinberg normally delivers the goods when it comes to upgrades, and has done so once again. The new features are, in our opinion, worth the price of upgrading. The enhanced capabilities of the plugins and the whole new set of tools for audio restoration are really making Wavelab more and more complete. An essential suite that I would personally recommend for almost every music related task, from editing clips, to mastering, audio repair and, especially (this is my personal interest) for sound designers. The possibility to edit, remove noise and polish audio files, batch rename, fade or process so many clips, is an absolute time saver.

But what, then, about Elements? Despite the paired-down functionality compared to Pro, it is absolutely worth it for the price. Why, just thinking of the new Restore Rig, added to the other functions, it is easily justified. Elements could surely be an effective way for home studio musicians to enhance their workflow and the quality of their products with a limited, but highly professional, set of tools.

Although both versions are impressively capable, we do have a modest wish list. We’d love to see further developments in the Restoration field. We could always use more plugins (who ever doesn’t want more plugins?). Finally, more comprehensive tutorials would be welcome in order to make the learning curve even faster, since the manual is, unsurprisingly, quite large. But don’t take that to mean we are not happy campers – we most certainly are.

You can check in detail the comparison between the two versions here:

And the complete list of new features, improvements and fixes, here:

WaveLab Pro 9.5 is the first significant update of the application since March 2016, when version 9.0—which featured a completely redesigned user interface—was released. The latest version provides a mix of new and improved functionality, with the biggest enhancements coming in the areas of spectral editing and audio restoration. This review will focus on WaveLab Pro. Steinberg also offers a lower priced version called WaveLab Elements, with a much smaller feature set.

For those who are unfamiliar, WaveLab Pro is an audio editor with multitrack and multichannel capabilities. It’s been around for more than 20 years, starting out as a Windows-only application and adding Mac support several years ago.

It offers one of the most complete feature sets of any product of its kind. Its metering and analysis tools alone are more comprehensive than any I’ve seen in other editing programs. Not only does it include meters for level and loudness, but also a Spectrometer, Spectroscope, Wavescope, Oscilloscope and more.

WaveLab Pro 9.5 includes powerful mastering features, spectral editing, noise reduction and error correction, DVD-A and CD authoring, batch processing, interpolation, a dedicated podcast editor, and much more.

The GUI consists of one large workspace that’s broken up into many smaller windows. You can undock and resize any of these windows from the main one, and move them around at will. This allows you to customize your workflow pretty significantly.

Tabs across various parts of the interface open a variety of tool palettes, windows, file browsers and more. An extensive Master section on the far right allows you to adjust level, resample audio, turn on dithering and insert master plug-ins—either those included with WaveLab Pro or any VST plug-ins you have in your system.

The comprehensive nature of WaveLab Pro comes with a price, however: It’s complex and not particularly intuitive. Perhaps the best analogy would be to a sports car that’s powerful and fast, but difficult to drive.

WaveLab has its own idiosyncratic way of doing things, and it may take you more time to get comfortable on it than it would with other editors. Most of the functions are not available from the main menu; you have to find the correct Tab and open it, and then access functions from icons that, in some cases, are unlabeled. I found myself referring to the manual (which, thankfully, is easily accessible) often just to locate essential functions. The manual has entries for virtually every feature, but they’re frequently skimpy, providing a bare minimum of information. On a number of occasions, I found a description of a feature in the manual, but no indication as to how to find it in the interface.

The app lets users organize collection of tracks and group them easily in a DJ-friendly way.VirtualDJ pro 8 actually has more options than a simple media player like iTunes. VirtualDJ Pro 8 torrent download.No doubt, is the best software to mix music, but you also need to get the right tracks to play. It is really possible conveniently to mix songs and play many tracks at the same time.

SPECTRA-TACULAR

Once you get comfortable with WaveLab Pro, you can take full advantage of its potent feature set. One of the more noteworthy improvements is the revamped spectral editing section, which introduces a new option called the Wavelet display, a more detailed view for spectral editing. Audio events in the Wavelet display show up as thinner, more defined lines than in the Spectrogram, and there’s more detail visible in the low-frequency range.

Whether you set the editor to show the Spectrogram or Wavelet options, you can use the redesigned spectral tools for selecting and editing audio. Not only can you make time selections—and edits—across all frequencies, but also of specific frequency ranges. Many of the audio selection tools apply a Photoshop-like approach. These include the Magic Wand, Lasso and Brush Selection tools. There’s even a tool that automatically grabs the harmonics above your selection.

Steinberg also added more choices for the Spectrogram itself, by adding customizable color schemes and other display options.

Several flavors of interpolation are available in WaveLab Pro 9.5. The most dramatic is called Audio InPainting, which lets you choose a section of audio and replace it with content based on the surrounding area. For getting rid of incidental noises within a recording, it’s quite efficient.

I tested it on an acoustic guitar track with some overly loud finger squeaks. Editing in either the Spectrogram or Wavelet display, I was able to pretty quickly find and remove the squeaks, in most cases without degrading the audio at the edit point.

Sonnox Restore Vs Izotope Rx 5

If you’ve ever used iZotope RX 6, you’ll find Audio InPainting reminiscent of that program’s Spectral Repair feature, albeit with fewer adjustable parameters. Audio InPainting is extremely easy to use, and its algorithms work exceptionally well.

One of the other new features is a display called the Live Spectrogram, which opens in a dedicated window that’s smaller than the Spectrogram or Wavelet. The spectral data in it scrolls across the window in real time. You can even see changes to the spectral data caused by effects that you insert. The Live Spectrogram is a visual aid only, you can’t edit directly in it.

Sonnox Restore Vs Izotope Rx 3

RESTORATIVE TOOLS

Also new in WaveLab Pro 9.5 is a plug-in called RestoreRig, which provides three different audio restoration modules—DeNoiser, DeBuzzer and DeClicker—in one integrated shell.

DeClicker has individual reduction knobs for Crackle, Clicks and Pops. I found it easy to use and quite efficient. For example, on a spoken word recording with fairly loud vinyl clicking and crackling, it was simply a matter of turning up the knobs until the noises went away. Even on a music track, as long as I turned the reduction knobs no higher than necessary to remove the noises, the effect on fidelity was usually not noticeable. DeClicker has fewer parameters than some other de-clicking/de-cracking software I’ve used, but its performance is impressive.

The DeNoiser module is designed for reducing broadband noise. It’s equipped with a Learn function, as well as knobs labeled Dynamic Level and Static Level. When dealing with steady-state noise, you’ll get the best results if you can find a spot in your audio where there’s no program material, just noise. You then use DeNoiser’s Learn function to capture characteristics of the noise, and WaveLab Pro will customize the reduction process based on that sample.

Once the noise is learned, you can use the Static Noise knob to find the right balance between reduction and quality. The Achilles Heel of most de-noising software is that if you apply too much reduction, it creates artifacts (aka “musical noise”) that degrade the audio. I was impressed that I was able to push RestoreRig’s algorithm pretty hard before hearing artifacts.

For situations where you need to reduce noise that’s not static, DeNoiser has another reduction knob called Dynamic Noise. It applies an algorithm designed to adapt to changes in the character of the noise over time. As expected, that kind of reduction is less effective, which is not a knock on DeNoiser, but simply the reality of that type of processing.

DeNoiser also gives you the choice of four algorithms—Smooth, Musical, Rhythmic and Strong—to help tailor the processing to the source material.

The final module of RestoreRig is DeBuzzer, which removes hum, buzz and other electronic noise. It provides Level and Sensitivity knobs, as well as a frequency slider. I found its results to be roughly similar to those I’ve achieved with other hum and buzz reduction software.

Each module in RestoreRig offers a feature called Noise Listening Mode, which lets you monitor only the portion of the signal that you’ve removed through the processing. You’ll find this quite helpful for fine-tuning settings to make sure the restoration algorithm is working only (or mostly) on the noise, rather than on the program material.

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WaveLab Pro 9.5 also introduces a new Error Correction section, designed to simplify the workflow for finding errors and clicks in an audio file. Opening the Correction Tab reveals a toolset that makes that process simple. You can easily detect and mark all errors in an audio file or selection, and then correct them with a variety of processes.

It displays the current BPM as well as the one that played over the last few minutes. It is a DJing software that allows you to manipulate your music in almost any way imaginable. Beat Counter has an adjustable detection tolerance and does not use a lot of the processor’s time and space.8. It comes with a broad range of effects that range from sound mixing, combine tracks and adding sound effects to looping, slicing and gridding.Virtual DJ also provides the feature of analyzing the number of beats per minute of any song you want and incorporate it with other tracks of a similar tempo.Virtual DJ plays audio as well as video and karaoke tracks and analyses them with whatever parameters you specify.9. Best bpm and key analyzer video.

WaveLab Pro 9.5 comes with a variety of high-quality plug-ins, a number of which have been revamped from version 9. For example, the stand-alone Limiter has a new maximizer algorithm (Modern Mode), as does the limiter in the powerful MasterRig mastering processor. Steinberg also added a Mix control to both the Tube Compressor and Vintage Compressor plug-ins, allowing for easy parallel compression.

Other improvements include Apple Touchbar support, support for high-resolution video displays, and automatic censor bleeps.

WaveLab Pro 9.5 is incredibly comprehensive, and is particularly powerful as a mastering environment. The Spectrogram and Audio InPainting are the highlight additions to the new version, as is Restore Rig, which gives WaveLab some potent audio restoration features.

If you’re already a WaveLab user, you’ll be quite pleased with the new features. If you’re considering switching to WaveLab Pro, you’ll be getting a piece of software that can handle virtually any audio editing task you can think of, whether it’s mastering, music production, audio post-production or podcast editing. Just don’t expect to become an instant power user, it will probably take you a little while to acclimate to WaveLab’s way of doing things.

PRODUCT SUMMARY

Sonnox Restore Vs Izotope Rx 350

COMPANY: Steinberg
PRODUCT: WaveLab Pro 9.5
WEBSITE: www.steinberg.net
PRICE: $579; Update from v. 9.0 $59; Update from v. 8.5, $149
PROS: Comprehensive feature set offers tools for audio editing of all types. Efficient new error correction tools. Excellent metering and analysis features. Integration with Cubase and Nuendo.
CONS: Steep learning curve. Cluttered GUI. Descriptions in the manual lack depth.

TRY THIS

Sonnox Restore Vs Izotope Rx 4

Insert a Censor Bleep: Set the main display on waveform. Select the word that you want to censor. Click the Insert Tab. Pull down the Bleep Censor menu. Adjust parameters for Frequency, Level and Crossfading to taste. Hit Apply.

Mike Levine is a composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist from the New York area.