Ever heard of Wavosaur? Free sample editor with ASIO & VST support!

ShelLuser

Hi gang!

I think I'm actually finding my comfy place around here! Took me a while (then again: I am kinda 'on and off' anyway so to speak, but still..).

Guys, ever heard of Wavosaur?

It's a free audio / sample editor ("free as in beer") but it even provides ASIO and VST support!

Now, it's not actively maintained and given the fact that the last update was in 2020 I'm sure some people will consider this a "dead project". To those I say: "your loss".

What can it do?

So, funny thing is that I only recently started paying more attention to the iZotope plugin interfaces and well... iZotope Imager 2 anyone?

But alas, it can edit your sample files in various ways. Cutting out parts, adding pauses, applying effects. You can even apply VST effects and if you like the results then you can apply those results onto the actual sample file.

Sampling? This one has you covered.

Normalizing, muting, fading, mono'ing or stereotyping (🤦‍♂️), all possible with Wavosaur.

It's not open source (but let's be honest here... what added value would that have for anything where funtionality is concerned?) but it is one heck of a physical sample editor.

Figured I'd share, hope this could be useful for some of you.

JesterMgee

Is there anything it does (apart from take you way back to the GUI designs of the early 90s) that Audacity cannot do?

Given Audacity is also completely open source/free, supports Win/Mac/Linux, has plugin support with a rather decent set of features and a slightly less eye straining GUI just curious what this would offer over the more standard free editor people use.

I use Wavelab these days (def not free, rather costly and mine needs a dongle which I think they now offer dongle free licenses) but way back in my beginner days I used what was a free (or shareware) software called GoldWave this appears to now have a small $19 price tag but also appears to have come along way. It had a half-decent echo and reverb effect built in which is how I use to apply effects back in my Fasttracker days before plugins were a thing.

ShelLuser

Is there anything it does (apart from take you way back to the GUI designs of the early 90s) that Audacity cannot do?

Well... I followed the link and it seems Audacity finally added VST support, just too bad I can't make out if that involves VST3 as well.

But then we have ASIO support to consider:

See, and this is also putting the finger on the sore spot of "open source" as if it were the holy grail. Because it's not:

https://gist.github.com/SteveALee/da24c2be633340b8791066dd98eb5d0b

I quote the linked article:

Due to licensing rules Audacity cannot provide a prebuilt version with ASIO support.

Yet this freebie Wavosaur can do just that without any issues?!

And that leads me up to the obvious question / puzzle: what else could there be which Audacity refuses to do and blames on "other" stuff?

The audacity of it all! 😁

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Now, don't get me wrong here... Yes, I am very critical because I have an issue with "open source" being touted as the holy grail while in fact it more than often leaves huge gaps and issues to cope with. And when you point that out as possible ways for improvement you get: "It's free, what are you complaining about?". Just look at Open / Libre -office vs. Microsoft Office.

But surely... if this is a licensing issue (it is) then why not set up a fund raiser to help cover the costs and the end users? If Wavosaur can do this, why can't Audacity?

Open source can be great.. heck.. I prefer running FreeBSD WAY over Windows Server and yet I can set up the same functionality. Heck, I even contribute to that project. But at the same time there are also plenty of flawed examples out there to cope with as well.

Most succesfull "open source" projects got that status because they adopted a commerial way of thinking.

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I looked into Wavelab.. omg... if it wasn't Steinberg I'd have bought into that right now. Loving the feature set! The only problem is that I have a "history" with Steinberg; I was once a betatester doing what I do and let's just say it didn't end well. Imagine someone having complaints, then a lawyer gets involved because they aren't as dumb as some think and they know their rights, suddenly they end up without any credits but accept (have to) the rights of using high end software perpetually. Without actually owning any rights of course.

Errrr... I think I'll cut myself off right now 😲

But I will never buy or pay to license any Steinberg product ever again. Screw that! (don't get me wrong: some of their products are amazing!).

JesterMgee

Yeah there is a big difference in capability and need between a freebie like this Waveasaur and Wavelab. In the industry and areas I work in, I could never even attempt to use something that limited or visually "ugly" /subjective of course.

I too have gripes with Steinberg but regardless I choose the tools that do what I need, learned many moons ago to never burn a bridge completely because of a bad experience, otherwise i'd probably never use anything.

Not sure the gripe with Open Source (nor am I that keen to hear it) since OS is designed to allow anyone to get in and make what they need and contribute to a concept, some of the best things I have used in my lifetime (Linux, Blender, Kodi, VLC, G I M P, Thunderbird, Firefox.....) are open source. The whole coin of the term is the source code is Open and of course there will be limitations because certain licensed tech cannot be freely distributed, hence why something that is "donation/payware/shareware" can be licensed and then you pay that token so the dev can pay the license. Users have to trade off some convenience for the freedom.

TBH for a wav editor the ASIO side is not really a big deal unless you are trying to record in real-time. I operate WaveLab using MME because I often have another app open that is accessing the ASIO driver (Ableton/Reaper or whatever) so using the shared driver for doing edits is beneficial and it's rare you need to have the low latency just to hear a wav file.

Anyway, it's another of many entry level options for wav editors out there I guess.

NOoneis

I'm using it for ages, i love you can turn interpolation off, then tune up or down for some good grit. Try it mates.