Waveform 14 Public Beta
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- KVRist
- 372 posts since 18 Nov, 2023
I am not aware of a special setting required to become adjusted. I am on WF beta 14.0.26 for Linux. Maybe this is new in this newest beta release?
Classical guitar --> Line Audio CM4 @ SSL12 --> KDE-Plasma @ Debian-Linux --> Waveform PRO 13.5
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- KVRAF
- 4888 posts since 3 Jan, 2003 from Vancouver
That must be it. I just went from 14.0.24 to 14.0.26 and it now shows those details.talby wrote: Tue May 12, 2026 1:46 pm I am not aware of a special setting required to become adjusted. I am on WF beta 14.0.26 for Linux. Maybe this is new in this newest beta release?
Surely there must be consensus by now...
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- KVRAF
- 4888 posts since 3 Jan, 2003 from Vancouver
The old bug where trying to select a plugin ClipFX when the plugin selector is set to Browser results in an empty list of plugins seems to been finally fixed.
I guess it's too late to fix it in versions 13 and 12...
I guess it's too late to fix it in versions 13 and 12...
Surely there must be consensus by now...
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- KVRian
- 523 posts since 16 Mar, 2017
Hmm, haven't tried the beta yet, not sure that I ever will given the way they are trying to make those bad decisions sound like they are somehow good things.
The Actions panel wastes too much real estate in the wrong place for the way Waveform's UI is set up. The bottom panel makes a lot more sense given the integrated mixer on the right side of the tracks. I'd rather they had gone the other way and gotten rid of the Actions panel instead, though I don't mind it as long as it can be hidden and the bottom panel used instead.
Using the standard menu bar on macOS is definitely a smart move - keep that one.
Agree with others indicating that the AI garbage needs to go away or at least give us the option to disable and completely hide it.
To me surround support is by far the biggest plus on the list, and ARA2 support is also a nice plus, and it would be great to have those, but not at the cost of these two major misfeatures. If these are not fixed I will probably move everything to the other DAWs I have and ditch Waveform entirely when 13 gets harder to run on newer OS versions.
It was nice while it lasted.
The Actions panel wastes too much real estate in the wrong place for the way Waveform's UI is set up. The bottom panel makes a lot more sense given the integrated mixer on the right side of the tracks. I'd rather they had gone the other way and gotten rid of the Actions panel instead, though I don't mind it as long as it can be hidden and the bottom panel used instead.
Using the standard menu bar on macOS is definitely a smart move - keep that one.
Agree with others indicating that the AI garbage needs to go away or at least give us the option to disable and completely hide it.
To me surround support is by far the biggest plus on the list, and ARA2 support is also a nice plus, and it would be great to have those, but not at the cost of these two major misfeatures. If these are not fixed I will probably move everything to the other DAWs I have and ditch Waveform entirely when 13 gets harder to run on newer OS versions.
It was nice while it lasted.
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- KVRer
- 10 posts since 16 Nov, 2007
Silver lining here, the DAW Project support in 14 seems to be a convenient way to leave. Lack of a direct "save to v13" is a pity. Would make playing with the beta less "all or nothing". Although I have been able to "hack the file" to get back into 13.fde101 wrote: Fri May 15, 2026 1:49 am If these are not fixed I will probably move everything to the other DAWs I have and ditch Waveform entirely when 13 gets harder to run on newer OS versions.
It was nice while it lasted.
Only been on 13 for a few months. Liking the more saturated colours on the tracks in 14 (13 are too dull for my tastes). Not sure I like the menu bar, although for Mac and Linux users I suppose it does integrate into the OS in a more consistent manner. But otherwise I am also finding the changes to the UI distracting to say the least. Am checking for new releases to see if "my bugs" have been addressed - my small way to show appreciation for having a free DAW.
Since I am only using the Free version, it's been nice to see some of what the Pro Version offers. Although from what I have seen, I'm not yet convinced of the value of "going Pro" yet.
My problem is that I really like Waveform. Having left this hobby for over 10 years, it is refreshing to come back and find a truly free DAW (yes I tried Cakewalk - it has its merits). So yeah when 14 Free finally lands, and is hopefully stable and migrates projects correctly, I am not sure I will be able to justify shopping around and learning another DAW. Then again I am a hobbyist and am struggling to justify dropping $$$ on the more expensive offerings.
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- KVRAF
- 19788 posts since 16 Sep, 2001 from Las Vegas,USA
I received an email survey about the WF 14 beta. I gave it the lowest scores possible since I dislike it that much.
Everyone should receive the survey at their registered email address.
Everyone should receive the survey at their registered email address.
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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- KVRist
- 372 posts since 18 Nov, 2023
I haven't had problems adopting to use the several Actions Panels in substitution of the obsolete Properties Panel, and quickly learned to appreciate them!
1) In the obsolete Properties Panel the items needed to be read in three or four columns, eyes moving a lot around when searching for something. Now it is only one column. Longer, though, but just one faster eye move from the top to the bottom.
2) By using the favorites system of the Actions Panel the usage is much more comfortable now. All actions which are out of interest are completely out of my eyes - and by a simple click can still be seen and accessed. And by its "hidden" option it is actually a 3-level favorites system! Showing also the items marked as "hidden" will show ALL available actions for the selected items, and the "not hidden and not marked as favorites" are already a user definable subset of these actions, and the "marked as favorites" are again a subset of this. Where else do you have three levels in a favorite system?
3) And I now have at least three Actions Panel!
One of them can be locked to stick with a selected item, while the others continue to follow the new selection.It is at the left side, lockable to an item, and could be popped out as a window free to become placed wherever you prefer it to appear, even on a second monitor.
Another one is in the Browser, always following the current selection, and the Browser can be placed either to the left or to the right side. Beyond this, the other functionality of the Browser stays fully available, because you can show various of them in parallel and show in each of them the particular Browser panel you are interested in.
Both, the one in the Browser and the individual one could also be hidden, or stay permanently opened, just as you wish.
Then there is an Actions Panel accessible as a temporary pop-up menu from the bottom bar.
[EDIT: Worth to mention, the free Actions Panel (by default shown at the left side) and the "Actions Tab" in the Browser (by default shown at the right side) react synchronously on the favorites view toggle, but the pop-up Actions menu called from the bottom bar applies it independently. So, you can lock one to a certain item, and you toggle a different one to a different favorites view state. I personally toggle the Actions Panel (and synchronized to this also the Actions tab in the Browser) to show only the favorites, and I then call occasionally the Actions pop-up menu from the bottom for showing me all actions, with the benefit that the scroll states in my (left) Panel and (right) Tab are not affected, that items there are not jumping vertically on the screen when temporarily searching through the non-favorites actions.]
Finally, there is an Actions Menu at the top of the GUI.
And you can add your own macros to all of them, easily found at the bottom of the actions list, then.
I wonder if someone could still not find a personal comfortable workflow through the GUI by all these possible to combine options.
4) Colors? Just save your color settings as you preferred them in your former version and load this setting into the new version, if you do not like the new colors. Or, if you didn't customize colors at all, just select from the Color Editor the color set of the former WF versions 13 or 12 or other readily provided options. So complicated?
5) AI ? I don't have any connection to third party AI providers activated and really wonder where others see it to bother there eyes.
By the way, I love STEM Separation, which is included in Waveform for years now, and it is also AI, and it works really good, won't miss it!
Several Action panels with a 3-level favorites system, in addition to a pre-selection of actions also being available in the context menu accessible by the right mouse click on an item, this is quite an improvement in my opinion. Then, for each of these locations of an Actions Panel there exits the possibility to right away jump up in the hierarchy of targets, for instance from the actions for a plugin to the actions of the track it is placed on, without first having to select the trac.
Isn't all this flexibility of allowing each user to go for a preferred workflow all worth to appreciate it a little bit?
All this weighted against the custom that the much less flexible and cluttered Properties Panel showed up at the bottom - while computer monitors have more space to the sides than in the height - isn't this worth to change the custom of having had to look at the bottom to now look at the side?
You don't like AI and wonder what extra value you would get with the new version, if not having had a problem with the GUI of the former version?
Indeed, there aren't many new functional features for those who are fine to produce mono or stereo results. Some changes in the GUI pave the way for future additions, like for more comfortable audio clip editing in a clip editor, but are by now not enriched with new functions. So, yes, this could be better, for a new mayor release.
But, the new Waveform version will for sure be appreciated by the users who create cinematic audio, like 5.1 or 7.1! This availability of multichannel audio production is a huge step forward, and for sure an intense job for the developers to consider everywhere, in all routings and actions.
1) In the obsolete Properties Panel the items needed to be read in three or four columns, eyes moving a lot around when searching for something. Now it is only one column. Longer, though, but just one faster eye move from the top to the bottom.
2) By using the favorites system of the Actions Panel the usage is much more comfortable now. All actions which are out of interest are completely out of my eyes - and by a simple click can still be seen and accessed. And by its "hidden" option it is actually a 3-level favorites system! Showing also the items marked as "hidden" will show ALL available actions for the selected items, and the "not hidden and not marked as favorites" are already a user definable subset of these actions, and the "marked as favorites" are again a subset of this. Where else do you have three levels in a favorite system?
3) And I now have at least three Actions Panel!
One of them can be locked to stick with a selected item, while the others continue to follow the new selection.It is at the left side, lockable to an item, and could be popped out as a window free to become placed wherever you prefer it to appear, even on a second monitor.
Another one is in the Browser, always following the current selection, and the Browser can be placed either to the left or to the right side. Beyond this, the other functionality of the Browser stays fully available, because you can show various of them in parallel and show in each of them the particular Browser panel you are interested in.
Both, the one in the Browser and the individual one could also be hidden, or stay permanently opened, just as you wish.
Then there is an Actions Panel accessible as a temporary pop-up menu from the bottom bar.
[EDIT: Worth to mention, the free Actions Panel (by default shown at the left side) and the "Actions Tab" in the Browser (by default shown at the right side) react synchronously on the favorites view toggle, but the pop-up Actions menu called from the bottom bar applies it independently. So, you can lock one to a certain item, and you toggle a different one to a different favorites view state. I personally toggle the Actions Panel (and synchronized to this also the Actions tab in the Browser) to show only the favorites, and I then call occasionally the Actions pop-up menu from the bottom for showing me all actions, with the benefit that the scroll states in my (left) Panel and (right) Tab are not affected, that items there are not jumping vertically on the screen when temporarily searching through the non-favorites actions.]
Finally, there is an Actions Menu at the top of the GUI.
And you can add your own macros to all of them, easily found at the bottom of the actions list, then.
I wonder if someone could still not find a personal comfortable workflow through the GUI by all these possible to combine options.
4) Colors? Just save your color settings as you preferred them in your former version and load this setting into the new version, if you do not like the new colors. Or, if you didn't customize colors at all, just select from the Color Editor the color set of the former WF versions 13 or 12 or other readily provided options. So complicated?
5) AI ? I don't have any connection to third party AI providers activated and really wonder where others see it to bother there eyes.
By the way, I love STEM Separation, which is included in Waveform for years now, and it is also AI, and it works really good, won't miss it!
Several Action panels with a 3-level favorites system, in addition to a pre-selection of actions also being available in the context menu accessible by the right mouse click on an item, this is quite an improvement in my opinion. Then, for each of these locations of an Actions Panel there exits the possibility to right away jump up in the hierarchy of targets, for instance from the actions for a plugin to the actions of the track it is placed on, without first having to select the trac.
Isn't all this flexibility of allowing each user to go for a preferred workflow all worth to appreciate it a little bit?
All this weighted against the custom that the much less flexible and cluttered Properties Panel showed up at the bottom - while computer monitors have more space to the sides than in the height - isn't this worth to change the custom of having had to look at the bottom to now look at the side?
You don't like AI and wonder what extra value you would get with the new version, if not having had a problem with the GUI of the former version?
Indeed, there aren't many new functional features for those who are fine to produce mono or stereo results. Some changes in the GUI pave the way for future additions, like for more comfortable audio clip editing in a clip editor, but are by now not enriched with new functions. So, yes, this could be better, for a new mayor release.
But, the new Waveform version will for sure be appreciated by the users who create cinematic audio, like 5.1 or 7.1! This availability of multichannel audio production is a huge step forward, and for sure an intense job for the developers to consider everywhere, in all routings and actions.
Last edited by talby on Tue May 19, 2026 4:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Classical guitar --> Line Audio CM4 @ SSL12 --> KDE-Plasma @ Debian-Linux --> Waveform PRO 13.5
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- KVRAF
- 4888 posts since 3 Jan, 2003 from Vancouver
I think I could adapt to the Actions Panel. After some time reflecting, the reasons I don't like the loss of the Controls Panel are...
1. It's what I'm used to.
2. This forum is littered with helpful tips that rely on it.
Like most things, it's not absolute. One is not absolutely better than the other. Ignoring personal preference, there are a number of pros and cons for both placements. I'm beginning to think that the Actions Panel actually edges out the Controls Panel. Two things I can think of are the way it uses space on modern monitors and the ease with which more controls can be added by the developers. You could argue customization is a plus, but there wasn't anything stopping them from customizing the Controls Panel.
1. It's what I'm used to.
2. This forum is littered with helpful tips that rely on it.
Like most things, it's not absolute. One is not absolutely better than the other. Ignoring personal preference, there are a number of pros and cons for both placements. I'm beginning to think that the Actions Panel actually edges out the Controls Panel. Two things I can think of are the way it uses space on modern monitors and the ease with which more controls can be added by the developers. You could argue customization is a plus, but there wasn't anything stopping them from customizing the Controls Panel.
Surely there must be consensus by now...
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- KVRAF
- 19788 posts since 16 Sep, 2001 from Las Vegas,USA
I spent some more time with the Beta today and I hate it even more now.
If I have to spend time "adapting" to a new workflow (that I don't remember anyone asking for) I'll just spend that time adapting to a new DAW.
Not all change results in progress. This Beta is proof positive of that fact.
If I have to spend time "adapting" to a new workflow (that I don't remember anyone asking for) I'll just spend that time adapting to a new DAW.
Not all change results in progress. This Beta is proof positive of that fact.
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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vitocorleone123 vitocorleone123 https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=333504
- KVRAF
- 2489 posts since 30 Jun, 2014 from Pacific NW
Historically, odd numbered version of Tracktion are better. If I remember right.fde101 wrote: Fri May 15, 2026 1:49 am Hmm, haven't tried the beta yet, not sure that I ever will given the way they are trying to make those bad decisions sound like they are somehow good things.
The Actions panel wastes too much real estate in the wrong place for the way Waveform's UI is set up. The bottom panel makes a lot more sense given the integrated mixer on the right side of the tracks. I'd rather they had gone the other way and gotten rid of the Actions panel instead, though I don't mind it as long as it can be hidden and the bottom panel used instead.
Using the standard menu bar on macOS is definitely a smart move - keep that one.
Agree with others indicating that the AI garbage needs to go away or at least give us the option to disable and completely hide it.
To me surround support is by far the biggest plus on the list, and ARA2 support is also a nice plus, and it would be great to have those, but not at the cost of these two major misfeatures. If these are not fixed I will probably move everything to the other DAWs I have and ditch Waveform entirely when 13 gets harder to run on newer OS versions.
It was nice while it lasted.
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- KVRAF
- 1594 posts since 9 Jan, 2018
Kind of!vitocorleone123 wrote: Tue May 19, 2026 7:01 pm Historically, odd numbered version of Tracktion are better. If I remember right.
T5, T7, W9, and W11 were really good.
W13...mmm, not so much for me. W13.5, however, was a big fix to a lot of weirdness that was happening.
I'm a little more skeptical of W14 than I should be. It *seems* really nice, but I haven't had enough time to really put it through its paces.
Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and even Deezer, whatever the hell Deezer is.
More fun at Twitter @watchfulactual
More fun at Twitter @watchfulactual
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vitocorleone123 vitocorleone123 https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=333504
- KVRAF
- 2489 posts since 30 Jun, 2014 from Pacific NW
Give that it’s not my main DAW anymore, I’ll probably skip v14.Watchful wrote: Tue May 19, 2026 7:16 pmKind of!vitocorleone123 wrote: Tue May 19, 2026 7:01 pm Historically, odd numbered version of Tracktion are better. If I remember right.
T5, T7, W9, and W11 were really good.
W13...mmm, not so much for me. W13.5, however, was a big fix to a lot of weirdness that was happening.
I'm a little more skeptical of W14 than I should be. It *seems* really nice, but I haven't had enough time to really put it through its paces.
T3 was also a big step, but T5 is where it really seemed to come into its own.
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- KVRAF
- 1594 posts since 9 Jan, 2018
In more ways than one, I understand. I wasn't using it at the time, but I think that's when Mackie took hold of it and basically killed it.
T3 - T4 users are welcome to correct my history here.
Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and even Deezer, whatever the hell Deezer is.
More fun at Twitter @watchfulactual
More fun at Twitter @watchfulactual
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vitocorleone123 vitocorleone123 https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=333504
- KVRAF
- 2489 posts since 30 Jun, 2014 from Pacific NW
They didn't kill it at first.Watchful wrote: Wed May 20, 2026 3:08 pmIn more ways than one, I understand. I wasn't using it at the time, but I think that's when Mackie took hold of it and basically killed it.
T3 - T4 users are welcome to correct my history here.
Think I saw T2 and didn't know what to do with it, then had T3 via a Mackie product or some such. But, yea, T5 is where I really started using it. Kind of a few years ago and the memory has gotten a bit fuzzy around such things.
I stopped using it regularly around W12 I think it was. Moved to Studio One Pro 5 - 7. Currently using Bitwig 6. But I've kept supporting Tracktion by continuing to pay for updates. Until now, anyway.
Waveform just doesn't seem as good with external hardware, and it doesn't seem to have ever been a priority. But it is for me, so I don't use Waveform anymore.