Comments on: Mac Sound Editor Please?

By: Kristijonas

Kristijonas — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 10:37:20 +0000

I was searching for a good editor too. Since Wave Editor dropped his price (now it costs only $79!) I got it and I think it’s the best deal at these days. Beside all editor’s functions, sound design abilities (apply effects with layers) it can also be CD mastering and authoring application. Keyboard shortcuts are fully customizable. And it has beautiful documentation, great support too. http://www.audiofile-engineering.com/waveeditor/

By: Craig

Craig — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:46:21 +0000

I was (am) a sound forge junkie. I started around ver.3 and am at ver.8. then my pc crashed for good. I’d worked on macs at work and thought it time to make the plunge because i didn’t want a new desktop with vista (my laptop running vista has to shut down nearly every day to upload a new fix). so i got the new i mac (sexy and beautiful) and installed parallels - still needed to buy a new copy of vista - there are issues with parallels and firewire and usb devices. my mac kept stealing my audio and wouldn’t let me record - playback was fine..sometimes. then i upgraded to macs newest os to take advantge of boot camp. running windows in boot camp is just like running windows on a pc only faster- really! i’ve removed parallels and am about to remove boot camp…just makes no sense to shut down to start up my audio program. i’m warming up to logic pro. the included soundtrack pro is about as close to sound forge as i’ve been able to find. i think i will get used to it. and the new wave burner is like cd architect on steroids..imagine mastering effects in the cd layout, you could try different compressions or equing on the final master without affecting the original. and the multitrack editor has to be one of the best around, and its easy to bounce a track to soundtrack pro for sample level editing then open it again in the multitrack editor. i’m going to spend the time necessary to make logic pro work for my sound editing needs, and i will learn to enjoy it,… and not worry about how sony blew it by not making the best stereo editor in the universe cross platform.

By: Greg the audio pro

Greg the audio pro — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:46:49 +0000

Ok, Aaron, you are seeking a loop editor, not a audio mastering and restoration tool .
To get what you are seeking you must purchase something to handle the job professionally so go to:
http://www.propellerheads.se/products/recycle/

For straight up audio editing check out these products. It is all about the power you want, and the money you are willing to spend to get the results you want
My personal favorite for many years and to which I now use on my Imac is
NUENDO
http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/audiopostproduction_product/nuendo4/nuendo4_system.html

If the aforementioned are out of your price range then

check out PEAK (mastering) and DECK (recording/mixing) at
http://www.bias-inc.com.

Apple’s Soundtrack
http://www.apple.com/soundtrack/

PROTOOLS http://www.protools.com It was designed for PC and I don’t like the interface considering the price they ask for it. Simply due to our American recording Industry making it the defacto-default for the audio-recording industry (way overpriced as well) it has become hugely popular with the prostudios simply because of the hardware it had to complement the software in days when computers didn’t have enough processing power on their own without PCI card help like Protools offered. Because of all this, it had a headstart, a pricetag to match, became the standard but by no means is it the best out there anymore IMHO but because initial investment by the ‘pro’ market was so huge they don’t want to move out of their ‘comfort zone’.
You still can get a free copy of its software to use as an editor but the audio multitrack recording programs such as Cubase, Logic, and Protools will have far too many bells and whistles for what many ‘laypersons’ are trying to do (record and restore/edit old records, tapes etc) and will only confuse them further with endless menus they’ll never use.
Good luck

LOGIC PRO
http://www.apple.com/software/pro/logic/

By: rbanks

rbanks — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:06:28 +0000

@aaron:
Sound Studio 3 also has the ability to edit selection borders. You just have to hold SHIFT.

By: Aux

Aux — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 09:02:08 +0000

Maybe you should try DSP-Quattro X.

By: Randy

Randy — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:38:43 +0000

Just doing some research. I have been a mac user since day one but did have a job years ago and used pc/soundforge constantly. I LOVE the program. I too have never found anything close to it for easy editing and features. Going to try Freeverse app and Amadeus. Like aaron i do a lot of loop based edits. SF was awesome for that.

By: mosaicthump

mosaicthump — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:17:57 +0000

Freeverse Sound Studio is quite simply the exact thing that I was looking for! I am so excited that I stumbled upon this site because I downloaded the trial version and was able to do everything that I used to do in Sony SoundForge within 30 minutes. If you are a former PC user and are looking for something that is similar to Soundforge for MAC then you need to try Freeverse. It’s almost too simple!

By: Stew Dean

Stew Dean — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:39:41 +0000

I’m here after again getting fed up with how awful Audacity is. On PC I’m used to creating a wave file then doing a few bits of ‘eq’ing, trimming and compressing before generating the final file or compressing to MP3. It was also useful for creating effects that where tricky in whatever program I was using (currently Ableton Live).

One thing I relied upon was the preview in sound forge - it worked like a real preview - unlike audacity that appears to play you a second - what use is that?

I’m going to be checking out the options give here, otherwise it’s sound forge on parallels.

By: aaron

aaron — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 05:45:01 +0000

update…

AMADEUS PRO - The ONLY program that seems to do it.

THanks everyone for clueing me in.. I’m MUCH MUCH HAPPIER now..

AMADEUS PRO does seem to function like Sound forge…

By: aaron

aaron — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 05:39:04 +0000

Guys, you aren’t getting it… None of these programs touches sound forge for a very simple reason.

When I’m editing a sound, loop or whatever, and I’ve selected a region, I can actually go in and drag the beginning and end of those regions with my mouse. Trying to find the end of a drum loop in Sound studio 3? If you missed the END point, you have to highlight from the BEGINNING of the god damned loop and eyeball it.. This is rediculous, do you people actually USE these sound editors?
Oh, and looping, I want my F’n SELECTION to loop not the whole peace of music…. and I don’t want to hit play every time I nudge my start and endpoints.. every time it loops, it should recognize my CURRENT region, not the one I had last time I hit play.

Here’s a list of programs that will waste your time if you’re trying to do what I described above (which happens to be 100% of my job)

Amadeus - no deal
Sound Studio 3 - nope
Peak - no (not stable and really gray dull looking, causes depression)
Audacity - too much an eyesore for me to even TRY
Pro Tools - LIKELY.
Logic - unbelievably, NO!

Sound Studio 3 is the least offensive out of the ones listed above but for crying out loud, you mac guys have NO idea what you’re missing…..

I miss Sound Forge greatly…

By: Hugh

Hugh — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 06:58:39 +0000

Howard - since writing this piece I have come to agree with some of the people above. Sound Studio for mac is very good. It has most of the features of sound forge, including editing between markers. It’s also got a very clean interface.

http://www.freeverse.com/apps/app/?id=5012