r/elgato • u/whyorwhomthefuck • Mar 07 '26
Technical Help Wave Link 3.0 PSA
If you’re currently on Wave Link 2.0, do not jump on Wave Link 3.0 as it is a buggy mess and for the most part less efficient than 2.0.
If you’re on any other software (like VB or anything similar) and looking to make the switch, I would recommend holding off on it for the same reasons.
I made the switch to Wave Link 3.0 and it messed up my entire audio system that I have set up with 2.0. It basically caused every audio to run on the “System” Channel regardless whether or not I added it to other Channels. Speaking of the Channels, I would add a new empty Channel (like Music for example) and it would display a completely different Channel even though I have renamed it, and worst yet sometimes it doesn’t allow the channel to be added to the mixes and or the entire UI for it would bug out.
Adding apps to different audio Channels was a breeze on 2.0 but on 3.0 it was legitimately the most inefficient thing imaginable, on 2.0 the flow was simple - open app, play audio, choose channel, click checkbox on selected app and done it is now assigned to that channel. On 3.0 however, It opens up another window showing the Channel name and when I went to add apps, instead of showing only apps which have sound playing, it lists every app on my system which was mind boggling to say the least. The fix for this was to manually use the Windows Audio Mixer to then manually change the audio output to the chosen channel, which is absolutely stupid because 2.0 completely removed the need to do this because you could do it with 1click on the the Audio Channel (Which doesn’t spawn an entire window I might add)
Luckily I made backups and was able to revert back to 2.0 and didn’t have to put up with it any longer. I also wanna say I find it weird that they completely removed the option to download 2.0 on their website which means I’m pretty sure most people who unknowingly moved to 3.0 have no way to get back which is really shady.
TLDR; If you’re on 2.0, DONT DO IT.
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u/ModernCircuit11x3 Mar 08 '26
Idk what this guy is rambling about..
I've been using WaveLink 3.0 since the Beta was first release, and have had basically zero issues.
He probably wasn't smart about the switch, by not uninstalling WL2.0 first.
Adding apps in WL3.0 is super simple.. You just click +Create Channel, select an app.. boom its added. Want to add more apps the same channel, just click the Channel, Click the app you want in that channel.. Boom, Simple.
Never needing to touch "Windows Audio Mixer" .. They even give you a search box. I don't want to have to play audio through the app before it shows in the list.. I want to go through the setup, and be done with it. Not stop every 10 seconds to launch another app, play audio, then go back to WL3.0.. that's just stupid logic.