Tangent WAVE2 in Baselight
The number of Baselight-compatible panels available in 2025 is very limited. Besides excellent but pricy offerings from Filmlight, there are three options from British manufacturer Tangent.
Wave2 is the second cheapest panel that you can use with Baselight. It costs around 1000 euros and has a decent amount of buttons and knobs, but unfortunately, not all of them are usable in Baselight. What’s even worse is the fact that mapping is fixed and can't be changed.
Here is a good review of a panel itself (design, built quality, etc.), I will stick to additional, Baselight-related information.
All 9 buttons below the screen do nothing, I also couldn’t find a use for the ALT key. Two arrows in the upper right corner of the panel act exactly like up and down arrows on the keyboard, so we don’t gain anything from it. Here is a list of actions hidden behind F-keys:
F7 → Previous keyframes, F8 → Next keyframe, F9 → Set/Unset keyframe
F4 → Copy, F5 → Paste, F6 → Move keyframes,
F1 → Undo, F2 → Redo, F3 → UI/Image screen toggle
Shutter Control works but in a very odd, choppy way. Other Transport Controls are perfectly fine. If you want to go left or right by one frame you can press and hold Stop and tap Play and Reverse.
Here is a table with a few tool-dependent parameters that can be manipulated using this panel. Some mappings are good (for example Base Grade) but there is also an element of randomness in others.
Two examples of the quirkiness of this mapping:
When using Film Grade, no matter if you are changing Exp Red (left knob), Exp Green (middle knob), or Exp Blue (right knob), you can only reset the adjusted parameter by pressing the middle encoder. Pressing the one on the left or right will do nothing.
Resetting Master Dials and Trackballs with dedicated buttons works perfectly when using Base Grade, but doesn't work at all in any of "Boost ..." operators.
Even though this panel is plasticky and the mapping is far from perfect, it might still be the best option in terms of price and usability when it comes to buying your first panel for Baselight.