Next Version of Audition

[Bobbsy]

For NAB, Adobe are giving previews of the next versions of all the Creative Suite products, including Audition. Durin Gleaves (from the development team) has also posted a list of what's new in the Audition user forums HERE.

There's some very interesting sounding stuff, at least for me since I still do a fair bit of theatre sound design.

 

[gearz]

I have used them all...ProTools, Cubase, Logic....etc. I keep going right back to Audition. It has the very best layout in my opinion. All the virtual buttons and controls are perfectly sized and are in logical places. I love this program by far.

 

[Bobbsy]

Adobe have announced that the next version of Audition will be formally released on June 17 but it's a case of good news and bad news.

The good news is that the new version has lots of great features.

The bad news is that they've changed their sales strategy--in that they won't sell it anymore. Instead, it will only be available on a subscription basis via their "Creative Cloud".

If you use lots of Adobe software this is a pretty good deal--$49.95 a month will get you access to everything: Audition, Premiere Pro, After Effects, the full version of Photoshop, Dreamweaver and all sorts of others I'm forgetting about. For the first year, it's even better--the introductory offer gives you all the Creative Suite for (I think) $29.95 per month.

However, if you only need Audition, single applications will be $19.95 per month (marked down to $9.95 pm for the first year. This is somewhat less attractive than the previous model and cost since you pay a bit more and can only use the software as long as you pay--it isn't a permanent license.

There's LOTS of interesting (and angry) discussion over on the Adobe user forums.

 

[PTravel]

And as well a couple of photography forums I'm on. One thread has close a 1000 posts from pissed off Photoshop users. I have bought some Adobe products, but I absolutely refuse to get hooked on "renting" the use of any software.

Me, either. I've been an Adobe user for a long, long time, but it looks like Photoshop and Audition CS6 are the last Adobe products that I'll be buying. Adobe seems to be deliberately ignoring casual users of their products and, for those for whom Adobe products are part of their work day, asking that they risk losing the ability to open and use older projects unless they are blackmailed into a subscription.

As much as I like Audition for mixing and mastering, I'll just switch to Sonar X2, which I've also used since it was Cakewalk (and a DOS program!), and that has become increasingly capable as an audio Swiss Army knife. AND it supports ReWire.

 

[Bobbsy]

FYI, it's not just casual users up in arms. Some of the big radio network users (CBS and BBC to name two) are up in arms because they only need/want Audition, get no benefit from the extras, and are expected to pay a lot more for their thousands of licenses.

I think this could be Adobe's "new Coke moment".

 

[petroley]

I`ve tried a lot of sound editing software but for me cool edit and adobe audition are still leaders! Masters!

ViVa LA Adobe!

 

[Bobbsy]

I couldn't agree more about the quality of Audition as an audio editor. I've been a loyal user since Cool Edit 96 in, well, '96. There have been a couple of hiccups along the way (Audition 2.0 was kind of unreliable and flaky because the developers were forced to hit an arbitrary release date rather than wait until it was ready and Audition CS5.5 (the one re-written to be cross platform for Mac users) was missing some features essential to me, again because of an arbitrary release date. Other than that, it's darn good software and perfect for what I do.

The issue with buying the next version though...is that you can't buy it. Adobe's model for all their "Creative Suite" software is that from now on you have to RENT it by the month or year--and once you stop paying you lose access to the software. Even worse, the monthly rental for a single app like Audition will be something like 2.5 times the cost we used to pay for an upgrade with a permanent license. For the first year, there's a half price introductory offer but even that costs more than the typical $99 upgrade--and only last a year, not as long as you want it.

If you use the whole Adobe Creative package (including things like Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Dreamweaver and so on) the price of the rental model is actually pretty good--it's just the single app price that seems miles out of line with what it should be.

So...much as I love using Audition, I have to do some long, hard thinking about where I go from here. I may try the introductory offer and see where it goes...or I may decide to "freeze" my use with AA and CS6, the last two packages I have permanent licenses for.

 

[Beck]

Yep, Adobe has lost me now with the leasing model. I'll never do it that way, so the last stable version that I can own with no strings attached is where I stay. I've also been a fan of Cool Edit Pro and then Audition since the early days. Actually the last Cool Edit Pro, which was basically the first Audition is my fav, so I feel no pressure to upgrade. Of course with my studio built around analog and with lots of outboard gear I've not been sucked into the box over the last decade like so many others have. When it comes down to it I can still get a lot done with Cool Edit Pro 1.2... very basic, but stable and effective. If I can't own something I don't want it!

 

[PTravel]

If you have an Adobe product be careful about installing something called "Adobe Application Manager". It prompts you to install trial versions of updated products and to uninstall the applications manager an uninstall program has to be downloaded from Adobe and run.

It's pretty clear about whether something is a trial version or an update. It's like a number of other "application managers" that perform automatic update checks and then lets you know when an update is available.

 

[PTravel]

I have a number of Adobe products installed on my machine, including products from CS4 and CS6. I know which ones I own and which I don't. Moreover, the manager clearly indicates "update" versus "install." Honestly, if this is your only gripe with Adobe, I don't know how to respond. I am far, far, far more concerned with Adobe's switch to a cloud-supported rental format which, as far as I'm concerned, will be the end of my relationship with Adobe.

 

[PTravel]

The applications manager was more of a unwanted nuisance that just added to the primary gripe of the cloud crap. Since I got rid of the AAM when I check for an update it is specific to the program without the extra baggage. Pretty much done with Adobe products at this point. Even so far as to dump Adobe Reader and move to Foxit Reader which seems faster and takes up less disk space.

I understand your point. I don't like bloatware, either. I just don't see it as that much of a nuisance, and it does offer some benefits. I have Adobe Acrobat XI, for which there is no reasonable substitute -- it does a lot of things that other PDF software can't, and for which I have need at my job. If I didn't need it, I'd switch to one of the various free PDF products that are out there. I'm not relishing the thought of abandoning Audition, which I've used forever, it seems. However, I absolutely will NOT take the risk of not having access to projects that I work on if I stop renting from Adobe. My most current project is one I started 25 years ago and only picked up again 3 years ago. When I started it, it was all analog. I transcoded the tapes which, fortunately, will still completely viable, as was the Fostex A8LR on which they were recorded, and started mixing in Audition 3.0. Since then, I've written and recorded new tracks, some of which go into the original songs, some of which are for new songs. I've done a lot of processing on the original sounds, given the relative crudeness of my original equipment, and all of it has been done in Audition with some outboard software like Melodyne. Happily, I own Audition 3.0 and CS6, so I will ALWAYS have access to the three years of work I've on this project in those programs. I can just imagine Adobe either raising the rental costs of the Audition successors to a point that I can't afford it, or even selling off the Audition line (which has always been ancillary to its digital image processing core products), or simply going out of business and leaving my high-and-dry with no way to use my work.

To me, that is a very serious issue and, for those reasons, Audition CS6 is the last Adobe audio product that I will ever use. It's too bad, too, because I don't know any other software that is as comprehensive, intuitive and stable as Audition 3.0/CS6. However, I'll have to find some.