What Software for Windows OS?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bobbsy
  • Start date Start date
Bobbsy

Bobbsy

Boring Old Git
I've been a user of Adobe Audition since the "Cool Edit 96" days have have always been a fan. I'm used to the software (like you get used to a well-fitting glove) and it does everything I need.

However, the next "upgrade" about to be released is anything but. Adobe have decided to totally re-write the software for Mac OS compatibility and, for all sorts of reasons, many of the existing features have been left out in the new version. Some of the things I use that will be missing are CD burning, track "grouping" in Multitrack and the Scientific Filters.

Beyond that, Adobe are playing with pricing so the "upgrade" which would cost me $99 in the USA will cost me almost Aus$180 down here in Australia, despite the Aussie dollar presently being worth more than the American one.

So, rather than simply upgrade, I've decided it's time to look at what other software is out there. My requirements are:

-Windows OS
-Multitrack recording and mixing
-Full range of inbuilt processing (EQ, Reverb, pitch shifting, dynamics, noise reduction etc. etc.)
-Good Editing facilities

MIDI sequencing isn't a major need. I don't do much of that and have other software available if I need it--but if it was built in, I might use it. However, I primarily need to work with Audio, not MIDI.

I already know about Audacity and Reaper but require something a bit more professional. I'm not in a huge rush to upgrade from Audition 3.01 but eventually I'll be upgrading my hardware and the existing Audition can't properly use multicore processors. There are also numerous reported issues with Windows 7 64 bit.

So...what are people using and what do you recommend?

Bob
 
I'm using Reaper and am quite happy with it. (Though I've only tried it and Audacity.)
 
I used Ntrack for several years and was fairly happy w/it. Switched to Reaper 3 or 4 years ago and never looked back. Either will work nicely, but Reaper can be D/Ld free and used without restriction for as long as needed to evaluate. It is well worth the 60 bucks to purchase, though!
 
beezelbubba said:
I used Ntrack for several years and was fairly happy w/it. Switched to Reaper 3 or 4 years ago and never looked back. Either will work nicely, but Reaper can be D/Ld free and used without restriction for as long as needed to evaluate. It is well worth the 60 bucks to purchase, though!
Click to expand...

Or I could read you whole post and see you're not interested in Reaper!:laughings:
 
Bobbsy said:
I already know about Audacity and Reaper but require something a bit more professional.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if I understand this. I can't talk about Audacity, but what is it about Reaper that makes it not as professional as you would like? Is there some specific feature that is missing and that you need?
 
Perhaps, with several recommendations, I should re-evaluate Reaper. I gave it a quick try a few years back when I first heard about it and my experience was that it was really good for recording tracks but a bit awkward and missing features when it came to editing and mixing those tracks (compared to Audition). However, at that time I wasn't actually looking for an alternative, just having a try.

I'll have another go at it.

Bob
 
Bobbsy said:
it was really good for recording tracks but a bit awkward and missing features when it came to editing and mixing those tracks
Click to expand...

Interestingly, that's exactly what I felt when I first started out on it. I was used to Logic, where you double clicked on a WAV and it opened it in an editing window so that you could work on the finer detail. In Reaper, double clicking invoked an alternative editing program, and I thought this was clumsy (which in fact it is).

What I didn't realise was that you needed a different mindset, and that you cold simply zoom in on any WAV and do whatever you like with it. There is actually no need for a specific WAV editor. Once I twigged to this, I was hooked totally.

There are aspects of Reaper that I'm not totally happy with (for example, it does not yet have a scoring function, and some of its MIDI operations are cumbersome), but by and large, it just overwhelms anything I've used before!
 
Unless you are producing mainly electronic music Reapers the way to go....
 
Bobbsy said:
Perhaps, with several recommendations, I should re-evaluate Reaper. I gave it a quick try a few years back when I first heard about it and my experience was that it was really good for recording tracks but a bit awkward and missing features when it came to editing and mixing those tracks (compared to Audition). However, at that time I wasn't actually looking for an alternative, just having a try.

I'll have another go at it.

Bob
Click to expand...

Good plan, and It wont cost you a penny to give it a thorough evaluation.
 
I had to find out what all the buzz was about so I downloaded Reaper. I have to say it looks pretty solid. You should ask yourself this though:

Is there something that I want to do that Audition will not let me do?

Maybe you don't need to upgrade at all.
 
That's a good point because, frankly, I don't need an upgrade in terms of Audition features. It does what I need.

However, the problem is that, sometime in the near to medium future, I'm going to want to upgrade the computer I run it on. Whatever replacement I go for will certainly feature multicore processing and multithreading. Audition 3.01 doesn't use multiple cores efficiently yet so I won't be getting the best out of them. Similarly, I will almost certainly want to move to Windows 7 and there are some horror stories about running Audition on Win7, especially if I go for the 64 bit version.

So, no, I don't have to decide instantly--but I have to start thinking about the future.

Bob
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top