|
Adobe Audition 3
Although Adobe Audition 3 has been
on the PC for a considerably amount of time, it's still one of the best
recording, mixing, editing and mastering software packages available.
Interestingly enough, even though I never used the previous incarnations of the software, the
interface and capabilities were reminiscent of a program that I was
quite familiar with, Cool Edit Pro which has been relabeled to Audition
and is now part of the Adobe family.
With that said, Audition 3 is aimed at the sound
professional, whether that's music, radio, video and the web, this
software package will allow to create professional audio productions in
one relatively simple to use software package.
The installation of Audition 3 was a
breeze and it simply auto-installed once detected in our system. The
minimum system requires of Adobe Audition include a Pentium 4 (1.4 GHz),
512 MB RAM, 10GB Hard Drive Space, DVD-ROM and 16MB of Video Memory with
1280x900 monitor resolution. However for true processing power, I would
recommend something a little more robust and on our test machine, the
AMD Phenom II processor with 4GB of Kingston RAM, the software was pure
bliss to use.
Features
VSTi virtual instrument support
Enjoy support for a wider range
of virtual instruments. Simply
add a MIDI host track to your
mix, choose an instrument, and
then record new audio in the
Sequencer.
Improved multitrack editing
Save time and increase accuracy
by editing grouped clips
together. Auto-crossfade clips
in multitrack view to quickly
mix files together.
Click-and-drag fade handles on
multitrack clips and in the Edit
View for faster editing.
Enhanced spectral editing
Make a free-form selection in
frequency space with the Effects
Paintbrush and apply effects in
varying degrees to that
selection. Smooth over a
selected region to automatically
repair clicks, pops, and other
noises using the Spot Healing
Brush.
Top/Tail Views
Need a quick and easy way to
tweak the start and end of a
loop or other audio file? The
new Top/Tail Views allow you to
zoom into the beginning and end
of a file so you can quickly add
precise fades while keeping the
whole file in view.
New
effects
Adobe Audition 3 includes new
effects such as Convolution
Reverb, Analog Delay, Mastering
tool, Guitar Suite, and
Tube-modeled Compressor.
Superior performance
Get superior performance and
take advantage of the new
multicore processors. The
optimized mix engine allows for
more tracks and effects on the
same machine, offering more
variety and faster processing
Although the interface has been slightly
tweaked from previous versions, the biggest change to version 3.0 is the
inclusion of MIDI and VSTi support which is ideal for users who wish to
mix and create their own tunes. Whether your creating a majestic
orchestral piece or something more heavy, this new feature is definitely
on target.
The interface of Audition 3 is basically
split into three different work windows that include Edit, Multitrack
and CD. Edit is ideal for modifying sound files and gives the user a
considerably amount of tools, graphs and the like to manipulate their
sound files. Multitrack of course is for mixing multiple audio files
together and CD allows you to flawlessly transfer your creations to
disc. The interface is quite customizable and there are quite a few
options that can be enabled or disabled.
Like other Adobe products, the software
gives the user the option of working on "work" audio files which means
original audio files will not be touched. So what audio formats does
Audition 3 support? Apart from all the main formats such as MP3 and
Windows PCM (WAV), the software supports quite a few with a couple of
dozen, even OGG Vorbis.
The program boasts a variety of effects and
best of all, independent users and developers have made their own
effects which can be flawlessly imported into Audition 3.0. Apart from a
plethora of effects, there are over 5000 royalty free music bites that
can jazz up your songs or radio shows. Adding these into our existing
songs and even voice overs really created something quite professional.
Apart from some impressive effects and
music loops, the main crux of the program for us was the noise reduction
abilities that either gives full control to the user or the program
removes the background noise such as pops, clicks and hiss.
There is even a "repair" brush for manual
control which is ideal for removing those occasional sound glitches that
should not be there. This feature is great for users converting old LP's
or Vinyl to the digital age, albeit quite time consuming as it is done
in real-time.
On our test machine, the software performed
admirably, although as stated we would recommend something with a little
bit of grunt if you are converting audio files or repairing them. For
users wanting to create their own audio files, this program has all the
bells and whistles that is relatively quite affordable.
In conclusion, Audition 3 is the perfect
tool for creating your own audio masterpieces or repairing existing
audio files and although the learning curve is rather steep, the
interface and web-based help interface is the perfect compendium for
those beginner users.
Definitely for sound connoisseurs!
|
