Noam Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Looking for recommendations for a simple and reliable editing software, that will enable me to do no more than to drop track marks, do fade out, splitting and reduce volume of sections of the WAV form (applause). I tried to use CD architect, but haven’t been able to get much help from the help menu. Is there any program that comes with a real instruction manual for dummies, or a program that is simple and intuitive? - Noam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielbb90 Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/I don't know about a manual but the software is pritty simple to use! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmachine Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Audacity - free basic editing software with good documentation (i think). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrazyIvan Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 I'll second the Audacity suggestion. It is really intuitive and a manual is online. It also has the ability to use VST plugins if you are so inclined. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielbb90 Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 I never knew about the features of that!I never thourght of downloading it beofre...Mainly because i never saw the websiteThanks, you helped me too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrazyIvan Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 It really is good software. It is my weapon of choice when editing. I have done multi track soundtracks for school/church plays on it with very good success. Your multi tracking capabilities will depend on your CPU/RAM but my humble Athlon 1800+ w/ 512 MB RAM is able to handle up to 16 tracks of wav audio without a hitch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielbb90 Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 It really is good software. It is my weapon of choice when editing. I have done multi track soundtracks for school/church plays on it with very good success. Your multi tracking capabilities will depend on your CPU/RAM but my humble Athlon 1800+ w/ 512 MB RAM is able to handle up to 16 tracks of wav audio without a hitch.All I can say to that is "sweet"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noam Posted February 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 Audacity - free basic editing software with good documentation (i think).Thanks. I am trying to read the manual online and I don't get anywhere. All these manuals are for people more advanced in this than me. I can work a dumb program like SonicStage, but here I click on tabs and funny things happen - Noam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmachine Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 Don't give up yet, you'll get into it sooner or later. It works pretty much like any other audio editor without some of the advanced functions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 Another entry in the free category is Kristal Audio Engine [also in the download section here if I'm not mistaken]. Its interface is somewhat friendlier than Audacity, I've found, though when comparing functionality between the two I find that they're pretty close to par with each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrazyIvan Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 It looks a lot more like a traditional mixing console too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raintheory Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 Another entry in the free category is Kristal Audio Engine [also in the download section here if I'm not mistaken]. Its interface is somewhat friendlier than Audacity, I've found, though when comparing functionality between the two I find that they're pretty close to par with each other.I've heard of this one before and installed it once to check it out. Looks to be a pretty decent Multi-Track recorder... Personally I use GoldWave for editing/mixing sounds, does Kristal Audio have a fair amount of editing possiblilities? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrazyIvan Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 I have had it on my system for some time but I have not played with it enough. I keep going back to audacity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raintheory Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 I have had it on my system for some time but I have not played with it enough. I keep going back to audacity.I seem to keep going back to GoldWave myself... Have tried Audacity, Wavelab, etc. but I guess it's just that I'm more familiar with GoldWave since I have used it for so long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 I use Audacity most of the time, although I also have Wavepad, Goldwave, Magix Audio and Adobe Audition installed. No judgment involved: It's really a matter of what you get used to. Here's a 20-second Audacity manual: Just Open your file, stick the cursor on the boundary between the two tracks and click it, hold down Shift and use the arrow keys to select whatever chunk of the waveform you want to play with. You'll see it shaded. Clicking the green Play button will play from the cursor. (Edit also lets you Select: Beginning to Cursor or Cursor to End for a fade-in or fade-out.) Then click Effects to fade, etc. Or click Edit to cut, export the selection as a separate track, etc. The big quirk with Audacity is that its Save command just saves to its own .aup format instead of a format you can use elsewhere. So instead of Save, which would be intuitive, you have to Export to .wav, Export to .mp3, etc. Not a biggie. When you're done, instead of Save (though you can do that too), just export the finished file to .wav or .mp3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozpeter Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 At risk of getting off topic - (because I'm getting beyond "simple", but it's currently a free beta and some say it will only be about $20 when finished), is "Reaper". Nothing much in the looks department, but the rate of development is spectacular - new features added daily - has vst support, automation, auto crossfades, and many other features that quite costly audio programs can lack. Once complete I'd predict it will shake the audio editing software market to its core.The guy who is writing it apparently wrote Winamp.http://www.cockos.com/reaper/index.php is the site - but a warning - although I have had no trouble with it here, I have heard reports from colleagues that it totally crashes their PCs. So don't try it unless you've saved all other programs' data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noam Posted February 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 I use Audacity most of the time, although I also have Wavepad, Goldwave, Magix Audio and Adobe Audition installed. No judgment involved: It's really a matter of what you get used to. Here's a 20-second Audacity manual: Just Open your file, stick the cursor on the boundary between the two tracks and click it, hold down Shift and use the arrow keys to select whatever chunk of the waveform you want to play with. You'll see it shaded. Clicking the green Play button will play from the cursor. (Edit also lets you Select: Beginning to Cursor or Cursor to End for a fade-in or fade-out.) Then click Effects to fade, etc. Or click Edit to cut, export the selection as a separate track, etc. The big quirk with Audacity is that its Save command just saves to its own .aup format instead of a format you can use elsewhere. So instead of Save, which would be intuitive, you have to Export to .wav, Export to .mp3, etc. Not a biggie. When you're done, instead of Save (though you can do that too), just export the finished file to .wav or .mp3.Thanks, that looks pretty useful. Why do some people who use the Audacity prefer to do the tracking with CD Wave? Is it because Audacity handles shorter files better and tracking with CD Wave is fast? - Noam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrazyIvan Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 I am not sure I understand the question. I use wav because it is lossless and there is no conversion when transferring to CD audio. Sometimes I "bounce" tracks around and there is no audio quality loss when working with wav and bouncing tracks. Wav is also pretty much universally supported by most audio editors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 Sometimes I "bounce" tracks around and there is no audio quality loss when working with wav and bouncing tracks. Even this isn't necessarily true.Any mixing [overlapping audio in different tracks], crossfades, fades, volume changes, EQ - any signal processing at all, in other words, induces some error in the signal [hence the final stage after processing usually being dither].I suppose it depends on what you mean by loss, too, though computational/rounding errors cause some distortion and lower overall SNR, which I'd consider a form of loss, though certainly not the same as lossy compression artifacting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrazyIvan Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 Even this isn't necessarily true.Any mixing [overlapping audio in different tracks], crossfades, fades, volume changes, EQ - any signal processing at all, in other words, induces some error in the signal [hence the final stage after processing usually being dither].I suppose it depends on what you mean by loss, too, though computational/rounding errors cause some distortion and lower overall SNR, which I'd consider a form of loss, though certainly not the same as lossy compression artifacting.True, but I seriously doubt anyone is going to hear the difference in real world situations, even people with "golden ears". I guess I should have been clear. I was thinking as opposed to bouncing tracks the old fashioned way, on a multitrack tape recorder. The sound quality loss is almost nothing on the computer, unless you are doing something really wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielbb90 Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 I used Audacity yesterday... My mic records a lot of noise while recording...The software got rid of this with no problem!I was Amazed! Great Software Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmachine Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 Doesn't post noise removal either dull the sound or amplify artifacts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 Doesn't post noise removal either dull the sound or amplify artifacts?I can do both, as well well as the fact that it has artifacts of its own. If used carefully it's not an altogether bad thing though. A tradeoff, as with many forms of DSP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 Er, _IT_ can do both.[although technically I, given the tools, can both dull the sound and amplify artifacts. heh.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielbb90 Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 What I was recording was speech so really It didn't matter...But if it was music I REALLY need to get a new mic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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