Investing in the right sound-editing tools can provide big payoffs when you want to create professional-sounding music and multimedia content
Christopher Breen
DESKTOPmedia
MIXING-BOARD JOCKEYS of old depended on perfect takes, well-timed flicks of the Mute button, and a deft hand with a razor blade to create their sound productions. But that was before AV Macs, PowerPC-based systems, and today's proliferation of sound-editing software. Audio engineers can now slice and dice sound tidbits (displayed as waveforms); copy, clone, and paste them to different locations in the track; seamlessly fade one tidbit into another; selectively add effects; and mix the whole kit-'n'-caboodle down to stereo -- all without destroying the original source material.
Incredible, yes? Ah, but wait, there's more: Some of these sound-editing systems even fall within the budget of the most parsimonious multimedia dabbler and run on Macs that aren't 16-bit-capable. If you've got a hankering to be heard, listen up.
The Basics
Today's "basic" sound editors are a big step above Apple's truly basic Sound control panel. In fact, multimedia producers whose documents contain a limited number of audio snippets often rely on these tools. Basic sound editors let you record and edit 8- and 16-bit audio files at a variety of sample rates (22 and 44.1 kHz are the most common), apply effects, convert sample rates, and save the resulting files in any of several formats. Generally less expensive than their multitrack counterparts, these applications don't require a 16-bit-capable Mac.
Audioshop 2.1 (Rating: Acceptable/Very Good (3.5 of 5 mice); $150 list), from Opcode (800-557-2633 or 415-856-3333), provides not only a capable stereo sound editor but also a front end for playing audio CDs on your CD-ROM drive. Its ability to create playlists comprising digital-audio as well as audio-CD tracks is a handy option for sound-only presentations, since it means you don't have to devote massive amounts of disk space to digitized music tracks -- just play 'em off the CD. As with the other basic sound editors discussed here, Audioshop includes such effects as Echo, Normalize, and Flange; allows the direct importing of audio-CD files through QuickTime; and offers batch processing.
SoundEdit 16 2.0 (Rating: Acceptable/Very Good (3.5 of 5 mice); $399 list), from Macromedia (800-326-2128 or 415-252-2000), is the seasoned veteran of the basic bunch and is also the most flexible, but there's a catch -- as a stand-alone application, its $300 street price is a little dear. A much better deal is to purchase the SoundEdit 16 plus Deck II bundle. With an estimated street price of $400, this bundle is a terrific deal if you have only the slightest need for Deck II. Even as a stand-alone program, SoundEdit 16 may well be worth the extra bucks if you need QuickTime synchronization, an important feature for multimedia producers. In addition to QuickTime sync, SoundEdit 16 offers these goodies that Audioshop doesn't: more than two audio tracks, a drag-and-drop batch-processing component, and the ability to accept plug-in effects such as InVision Interactive's CyberSound FX (see the "Effective Plug-ins" sidebar).
Those who can do without QuickTime sync and have loads of RAM may want to consider the new kid on the block (still in beta when we took it for a spin): SoundMaker ($150 projected list), from MicroMat (800-829-6227 or 707-837-8012). Being RAM-based, SoundMaker doesn't accommodate enormous sound files, as do Audioshop and SoundEdit 16, which use "swap files" created on the hard disk to store audio material. Like SoundEdit 16, SoundMaker provides more than two editing tracks, spectral display of audio data, and the ability to mix numerous tracks down to a single track or a stereo pair.
Multimedia users seeking a plethora of onboard effects will discover that SoundMaker has them in spades. Among the three dozen effects included in the beta version were those found in SoundEdit 16 plus such exotic extras as Ring Modulator, Tone Dialer, Robotize, and Doppler. If you're not satisfied with the included effects, you're welcome to create your own by combining the program's basic effect modules.
Virtual Multitrack Editors
Multimedia producers as well as musicians will find these more professional programs, which imitate real-world multitrack hardware, extremely useful. The strength of such programs lies in their ability to assemble a large number of audio snippets within each track. Depending on the processing power of your AV Mac, PowerPC-based system, or add-on audio card, you can have some of these programs play up to 16 tracks concurrently.
If you've ever worked with a multitrack cassette recorder, you'll feel right at home. These applications have interfaces that look like that old mid-'80s-era Fostex multitrack gathering dust in your garage. They come complete with on-screen tape-transport controls, volume and pan sliders on a virtual mixing board, and a Tracks window where waveforms are displayed. The applications also provide synchronization to MIDI programs, automated mixing controls, a limited number of effects, and some form of EQ (picture the bass and treble controls on your stereo). The three less expensive multitrack programs we examine here also support QuickTime synchronization.
The first low-cost, entry-level multitrack editor out of the chute was Alaska Software's DigiTrax 1.2 (Rating: Acceptable (3 of 5 mice); $199 list; published by Opcode). Using the built-in sound of your PowerPC-based machine, DigiTrax gives you six tracks of 22- or 44.1-kHz audio. Although six tracks is less than what you get in other multitrack editors, you can make the most of the tracks by combining (or bouncing) them into a single mono track or stereo pair, freeing up the source tracks for new material.
Included in the program are five proprietary effects plug-ins -- Normalize, Reverse, Invert, Chorus, and Flange. Regrettably, the Chorus and Flange plug-ins are not currently compatible with PowerPC-based systems and the program does not accept third-party plug-ins. Additionally missing from DigiTrax is a dedicated cross-fade function that you would use for fading one audio section into another.
DigiTrax would have garnered our recommendation as the low-priced multitrack leader had Digidesign (800-333-2137 or 415-842-7900) not reduced the cost of its full-featured multitrack editor, Session 2.0 (Rating: Acceptable/Very Good (3.5 of 5 mice); $199 list). Session offers more playback tracks -- as many as 8 tracks on a 60-MHz PowerPC-based system, as many as 12 tracks on an 80-MHz machine, and as many as 16 tracks on a 100-MHz system. Using Digidesign's 16-bit Audiomedia II digital-audio card, Session supports four playback tracks on NuBus-based Macs (on PCI-based systems, it would use Audiomedia III). In contrast, DigiTrax is currently not compatible with Digidesign cards. Other Session goodies not found in DigiTrax are a host of fade options that control how your sounds enter, exit, and cross-fade, as well as more-flexible EQ and sample-rate-conversion options (for changing a sound's resolution, say, from 44.1 to 22 kHz).
Like more-expensive multitrack programs, Session provides MIDI-device-based control of the on-screen volume and pan sliders. This feature lets you move these virtual faders with an external MIDI controller -- a lifesaver when your mix demands the type of quick fader moves your mouse can't handle.
But unlike DigiTrax and our other multitrack editors, Session supplies no plug-in effects. To add effects to your Session session, you either have to route your sound files out of the Mac, into a mixing board connected to a hardware-based effects unit, and back to the Mac or you have to send the Session sound files to a program that includes effects.
Although Session outpaces DigiTrax, a better choice yet -- for those with an extra 200 bucks in their budget -- is Macromedia's Deck II 2.5 (Rating: Very Good (4 of 5 mice); bundled with SoundEdit 16 for $499 list). For the track-hungry, Deck II ups the ante by making the number of available tracks dependent on processor speed and SCSI transfer rate. According to the manual, a Power Mac 6100/66 with a fast hard drive that has a defragmented disk can play up to 10 tracks and an optimized Power Mac 8100/110 with plenty of RAM can achieve 24 tracks. Your mileage may vary, though -- we could coax no more than 8 tracks from an accelerated 6100/66.
New in version 2.5 of the program is support for Adobe Premiere-compatible audio plug-ins (see the "Effective Plug-ins" sidebar). There's no need to rely solely on third-party plug-ins, however. Deck II includes Gain, two delays, Chorus, and three varieties of EQ (including a seven-band graphic equalizer). As with earlier versions, you can normalize and reverse each track.
Deck II also sports robust synchronization capabilities (QuickTime, MIDI, and live video), the scrolling of tracks during playback, and the ability to create work tracks (areas where you can record and store additional audio material for possible inclusion in your play tracks). If you want to hear your work and your play tracks together, issue the Virtual Mix command; to combine them, bounce them down to one or two tracks. For a modestly priced software-only package, multimedia users would be hard-pressed to find a finer utility.
Of course you can do a bit better with Digidesign's more than modestly priced ProTools PowerMix 3.2 (Rating: Very Good (4 of 5 mice); $795 list). Don't be confused: Digidesign also offers a hardware-based digital-audio system, ProTools III, which is the most popular in the land. Listing for just under 7,000 smackers, it makes the software-only version seem like a bargain. But is ProTools sans hardware worth hundreds of dollars more than Deck II? It depends.
The immediate advantage goes to those who will eventually use their ProTools files with Digidesign hardware. These users will find it possible to edit their work at another computer -- no more waiting to jump onto a Mac connected to a ProTools system. Just load the software onto a Power Mac 7100/80 or better that has a minimum of 24 MB of RAM, call up your session, and edit away. Obviously, users seated at a Mac actually attached to a Digidesign hardware system will enjoy other advantages. For example, they'll have access to more input tracks -- using Digidesign's ProTools Project ($2,495 list), you can record eight separate audio tracks simultaneously. (A PowerPC-based Mac OS system can record only two tracks at a time through the machine's sound-input port, which makes the system a less-than-ideal tool for recording multiple instruments concurrently.)
The software-only version also lacks other important ProTools-with-hardware features -- Digidesign's proprietary TDM plug-ins and audio scrub, for example, don't work without Digidesign iron. The company is working on a series of plug-in effects for the software-only version of the product, but they were still under development as we went to press.
Still, the software-only version of Pro-Tools does offer some advantages over Deck II. For example, instead of operating MIDI-sequencer and digital-audio programs separately and synchronizing the two, you can record MIDI data directly into ProTools, from which you can adjust such aspects as MIDI panning, instrument selection, and volume. More-complex MIDI editing must still be performed in a dedicated sequencer program. ProTools also improves on Deck II's scheme of work tracks. In ProTools, the work tracks (called virtual tracks) are dynamically allocated so that when a space opens up in one of the play tracks -- say, a vocalist gives way to an instrumental solo -- you can have the audio contained in the first work track "poke through" and play until a new audio tidbit appears in the play track.
ProTools is a wonderful audio-editing environment for those who can afford it and who want to transfer their sound files to a system linked to Digidesign hardware. For those who don't fit into either category, Deck II is still a solid choice.
The Sound and the Jury
For basic sound editors without QuickTime sync and disk-based editing, we like what we've seen in the beta version of MicroMat's SoundMaker. If QuickTime's your thing and you want to grab a great bundle for a good price, check out Macromedia's SoundEdit 16/Deck II offering.
Deck II is the all-around winner in the multitrack-editor category -- although Session is worth a look if you're on a budget -- and ProTools is a must if you've got the machines and the money. Bias' Peak sample editor (see the "Sonic Samplers" sidebar) is worth a long look for serious sound editing, as are Waves' high-end effects plug-ins. Users shopping for a capable collection of affordable plug-ins will be pleased with CyberSound FX.
No matter which tools you decide on, with this kind of variety and power, sound won't be relegated to a supporting role in your next production.
Contributing editor Christopher Breen occasionally takes time out from his Help Folder duties to muck about in his digital-audio/MIDI project studio.
