Waveburner's DDP is BROKEN!!! - Catastrophically broken
Warning.
When creating DDP master file sets with Waveburner, beware that your track markers can move and no longer be where you had placed them in the Waveburner session. DDP files are strictly for professional mastering and delivery for replication. It's tragic that Apple has offered this professional feature that is dangerously non-functional in Waveburner. Just the other day we were finishing a critical deadline project for Decca/Universal Records set for a very large release. We had the master assembled and playing perfectly in Waveburner 1.6.1. Then we created a DDP file set from Waveburner. Then we used Sonoris DDP Player to audition and confirm the audio was clean with no glitches. The audio was sounding fine, so we initiated the DDP upload to Decca/Universal Records FTP site. As we continued to audition the audio, I noticed visually that the tracks were jumping after the audio had started. So we aborted the upload and looked more closely at the issue. Sure enough, Waveburner's DDP file had scooted all the track markers late by a little bit, literally chopping off the start of every track by about a second or so. I had to go back into the Waveburner session and literally move all 32 track markers early to compensate for this DDP glitch. We finally were able to generate an acceptable DDP, but not without a major panic and headache.
The Mastering data (PQ sheet) that was printed from the Waveburner file did NOT match the actual time codes found in the DDP file set. This too is absurd. The PQ sheet data is used along with the DDP so the replicator can confirm that everything matches. But the codes don't match at all. This is a serious problem for Waveburner.
We now know to steer clear of Waveburner's DDP function. It's catastrophically broken. For many people who own Waveburner, they may not also own the professional DDP players required to play back a DDP and confirm its condition. I wonder how many people have generated DDP masters from Waveburner and sent them off to be replicated only to find that their track starts had all moved from where they placed them in the Waveburner session. It's a scary thought.
Apple, you simply can't offer this DDP feature in Waveburner until you fix it. DDP is a seriously professional method of master delivery and currently it's a severe failure. I and a few others are warning the mastering community of this danger. Waveburner has such incredible potential with it's deep functionality, but it still has a few issues that are keeping it amateur, consumer software at best and not the pro app it claims to be or is destined to become someday. I truly want it to get there, but until it does, I'm simply afraid to trust it. If it does get its bugs worked out, I'll be a huge supporter.
Brad Sarno
Blue Jade Audio Mastering
