“Great value, great features and a very slick workflow”: Tracktion Waveform Pro 13 review

Tracktion Waveform Pro 13: What is it?

Tracktion’s Waveform has been quietly becoming one of the best cross-platform DAWs on the market, all thanks to a series of updates in recent years that have added just about every feature the modern DAW use could ask for. 

Waveform’s panel-based UI is not exactly unique, but it has a brilliant way of customising what you see so you can tailor your music production to your workflow. Recent updates have seen this UI redesigned, the engine upgraded, a slew of instruments and effects added, and lots of modulation and MIDI extras that both Bitwig and Ableton would be proud of. But this latest v13 update is the DAW’s most significant as it adds clip launching and a decent wavetable synth to the Waveform arsenal.  

Tracktion Waveform Pro 13: Performance and verdict

In many ways, Tracktion has become a ‘best of’ compilation of the best elements of other DAWs, borrowing popular features and workflows, and the latest clip launch addition is obviously a feature made famous by Ableton Live. But Tracktion is by no means the first developer to lift the idea – stand up Apple and Bitwig, among others. And rather than being just a hoover of great ideas, when Tracktion lifts a feature, it integrates it into the Waveform philosophy, like it’s been there from the start. 

The new Clip Launcher is a case in point, offering easy drag and drop clip filling and copying. Do this either from the browser or arrangement window, then play back in the now traditional vertical individual clip launching and horizontal scene launching for playing different sections. Even the mixer and arrange windows can be toggled using the tab key – familiar stuff!

You can also record live performances (with Performance Recording) to edit later, and Follow Action options specify how (and how many) clips are played, while an Action Probability slider adds some chance to proceedings.  Overall, the new Clip Launcher is obviously a highlight of Waveform 13 and slips effortlessly into the Waveform workflow, and it will be a feature that opens the DAW up to a whole range of new composers and live performers. 

Tracktion has also ensured the new Clip Launcher feature can be controlled by the big names in hardware so you can set it up with Novation’s Launch and Akai’s APC controllers.   

Aside from the new Wavetable synth (see below), other updates include improvements to the UI (v13 adds lots of colour options) plus user requested additions including mute while recording and an auto-monitor record mode. 

More waves for Waveform

The new Clip Launching feature has obviously been the big news for Waveform 13, but hopefully hasn’t overshadowed the arrival of Wavetable, a fine new plugin synth. It looks like a lot of wavetable synths – probably because it is a lot like other synths of that nature – but don’t let the rather flat UI fool you as there’s a lot going on behind it. 

Wavetable has two wavetable oscillators, each of which has access to a very decent 150 wavetables spread over categories including Analog, Digital, Spectral, Synth and Vocal. You can also drag and drop your own .wavs onto each oscillator or load in Serum compatible tables. 

You only get around 50 presets but these are quite varied – everything from bold basses, to ethereal atmosphere with some realistic orchestral and string sounds thrown in. There’s plenty to do modulation wise too, with four LFOs and macros plus three envelopes, making Wavetable a worthy addition to the Waveform fold.

Making waves?

Of all the major updates to Waveform over the last five years – and there have been a lot – this is the most dramatic as it gives the DAW all the tools it needs to compete with the big boys. There are four bundle options to choose from with the basic Waveform Pro (with Autotune and Melodyne) costing just $199, so it can be one of the cheapest DAWs out there too. The price does max out at $999 for the Everything Bundle, but that does include some of our favourite plugins, including Dawesome’s Kult and Myth synths. There’s also a free version (Waveform Free), which Computer Music magazine regularly highlights as one of the best free DAWs around.  

So any negatives then? You’ll need to decide early on how you want your UI to stack up –there are so many options that it’s easy to get bogged down with what you want, and we’d suggest having a couple templated that you can switch between, but to keep it a lot simpler than the one we have shown top left (for demonstration purposes only!). 

Waveform Pro might well have borrowed a lot from the big guns, but it has made these additions very much its own, and has become one of the sleekest and most powerful ‘alternative DAWs’ out there. And given its good value, it comes highly recommended.

MusicRadar verdict: Great value, great features and a very slick workflow, Waveform 13 deserves to be right up there vying for your cash with the big names of the DAW world.

Tracktion Waveform Pro 13: Hands-on demos

TracktionSoftware

Waveform 13 | Wavetable - Overview - YouTube

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Tracktion Waveform 13 - What's New? - YouTube

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Tracktion Waveform Pro 13: Specifications

• macOS 10.15 or later. 64-bit Intel or Apple Silicon.
• Windows 10, 11. 64-bit.
• CONTACT: Tracktion