Steinberg WaveLab 13: Intuitive Atmos Mastering
Steinberg's popular audio mastering and restoration suite.
4,5 / 5,0 | 
In Steinberg WaveLab 13, you get improved workflow features for stereo and immersive mastering, as well as a range of enhancements.
All about Steinberg WaveLab:
With Dolby Atmos becoming a firmly established format, Steinberg has responded by introducing new Master and Album montages that provide the ideal finalization platform for stereo and immersive mastering workflows. While the Master montage allows quick ADM file importing and editing, it also preserves the data from spatial objects, while offering processing, re-rendering, and normalization.
Steinberg WaveLab 13
In addition, WaveLab’s Immersive Plugin Hub gives you the power to add VST 3 plugins on up to 128 channels with compatibility for track, clip, and bed plugins. With the Album montage, you can easily arrange different ADM files into a sequenced album master. From stereo to 9.1.6 channel formats, you can visualize clips, and the display can update automatically, matching the Dolby Atmos
Renderer.
What’s more, processes such as TruePeak and Loudness normalization provide precise levels across different ADM files, and you have the choice to adjust discrepancies or preserve levels with both stereo or multichannel masters. Any ADM files can be crossfaded together or merged completely for added flexibility. Meanwhile, with a stereo reference track, you can do an A/B comparison with the ADM file and align the length accurately with a stereo master.
WaveLab 13 has also updated its MasterRig 2 plugin suite, enhancing it with a new modern interface, sidechain functionality, and new compressor, limiter, EQ, and stereo imaging modules. There are further Dolby Atmos enhancements in the form of MixerDelay for precise speaker time-alignment and Bass Manager for low-end optimization.
For speech and vocals, VocalChain combines compression, EQ, and reverb in a single intuitive processor, while UltraShaper gives you more extensive dynamics control with transient shaping. In Audio Montage, multi-core processing also enables multitasking, which speeds up your workflow considerably.
Pricing and Availability:
Steinberg WaveLab 13 Elements and Pro versions are currently available. Get it at Thomann.*
For current users, updates and upgrade offers can be accessed via the Steinberg Online Store with a 15% discount until 4 February, while users who activated WaveLab from 1 January are eligible for a free update.
Steinberg WaveLab 13 Arrives at NAMM 2026
[16 Jan 2026] This year at the NAMM show, Steinberg WaveLab 13 is planned for release, which brings in a newly enhanced Dolby Atmos mastering workflow.
WaveLab’s comprehensive mastering, editing, and restoration suite is always improving, providing the ideal platform for finalizing audio or enhancing and repairing digitized versions of analogue formats like vinyl and tape.
Over the years, WaveLab has developed its own identity, which contrasts with traditional DAW workflows such as Cubase. With its flexible interface, WaveLab revolves around two primary areas: the destructive Audio Editor and the non-destructive Audio Montage.
This allows you to make sample-accurate audio alterations, introduce effects processing chains, and do track sequencing for your next album or EP. Other tools include batch processing, audio analysis, and VST plugins, such as the included MasterRig, with dynamics and EQ.
Steinberg WaveLab 13 at NAMM
At NAMM this year, Steinberg has prepared an exclusive presentation in collaboration with Genelec and Dolby at 14:00 PST on each of the three days from 22-24 January at the Genelec immersive showroom. Guiding you through the new features of WaveLab 13 is multiple Grammy Award-winning mastering engineer, Michael Romanowski. Join the party at Booth #15500 on ACC North Level 1.
This gives us plenty to look forward to for the NAMM show this year. What features are you hoping for in WaveLab 13? Let us know in the comments below!
More about Steinberg WaveLab 13:
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