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Elgato Launches Wave Next, Pairing Free Wave Link 3.0 With DSP-Powered Hardware

New on-device DSP promises simpler creator audio with consistent, low-latency results.

Overview

  • Wave Link 3.0 is now a free mixer for Windows and macOS that works with virtually any microphone or interface, handling routing, mixing, monitoring, VST effects, and up to five independent submixes.
  • A custom Wave FX Processor, developed with Lewitt Audio, brings on-board DSP like EQ and compression, adds Clipguard 2.0 distortion protection via multi-ADC and 32-bit float processing, and enables VST Insert for a low-latency hardware–software effects path.
  • Processed audio can be delivered as a single input to any application, keeping sound consistent across streams, recordings, and calls without complex virtual devices or duplicative routing.
  • New hardware includes Wave:3 MK.2 (USB), Wave XLR MK.2, and XLR Dock MK.2 with tight Stream Deck integration, while Wave XLR Pro is slated for Q2 2026 with dual XLR inputs and five zero-latency hardware monitoring mixes.
  • Early hands-on testing reports the app is intuitive and genuinely useful with non-Elgato gear, though it currently limits users to eight inputs and does not allow different effects per mix or multiple inputs on a single track.