Product Description: Sound Forge 9 is the industry standard for editing and production. Create and edit stereo and multichannel audio files with speed and precision, in the studio or in the field. The latest version is a complete audio production suite -- CD design, effects processing and mastering tools. A host of new features will gives you total control of your audio - from multichannel audio recording and editing, to Dolby Digital AC-3 encoding. Acclaimed for its power, stability, and intuitive interface, it's the fastest way to get from raw audio to finished master. Automated time-based recording Audio restoration tools, Spectrum Analysis tools, Noise Reduction 2.0 plug-ins Drag and drop editing between channels Hardware meters with output gain control Phase and mono-compatibility meters Multichannel-capable spectrum analysis Disc-at-once CD burning Batch processing and scripting; Wave Hammer Mastering Tools; Acoustic Mirror plug-ins Dolby Digital AC-3 support Hardware meters with output gain control DirectX plug-in FX automation Link to Sony Music Studios Internet Mastering (SIM) Works with Vista
Excellent and supports Vista 64-bit Soundforge is excellent - I use it for LP/tape restoration as well as for mastering. The only major issue I have is that v9.0c will not install on Vista 64-bit.
-Update 2/24/08- Version v9.0e installs fine now on Vista 64-bit and it is working fine with SP1. Overall, I appreciate Sony's schedule of frequenty releasing minor updates! At least 4 stars...
Sound Forge 9.0 I thoroughly enjoy using Sound Forge. It's intuitive and versatile, and has many applications. I don't have the experience the other reviewers have with sound editing, but I feel comfortable recommending it to someone who has reasonable computer skills. I can mix and manipulate existing sounds and music, or record my own. It's like having my own sound studio.
see above Agreed! as a long time professional musician, recordist, engineer -and now, finally- mastering engineer with a house payment i gotta give a big amen to Jon S for mentioning that with -"soundforge + waves plugins? ....full fledged mastering studio for the price of a few hundred dollars? ...incredible!" TRUE! i started out w/ Sonic Foundry (90) way before Sony ate them and have never (Acid-CD-Arch-DVDArch-Vegas Pro-etc) been let down, save a few times via update in the mid 90's, once. i use Cubase for much of my recording and have at times Mastered a Disc using Pro-Tools (i dislike PTs), Logic, etc-- they are all quite nice, but for ease of use and intuitiveness, SF8 (buying 9 soon) cannot be beaten WHEN (as Jon S pointed out) paired with gold-standard plug-ins such as Waves Ltd produces (and i use). in the end a platform (SF9) is only as good as its Plug-Ins -- while the Sony Plugs are nice the Waves Ltd Plugs and their uber-easy interface with SF are a marriage made in heaven.
for Multitracking i often use the also wonderful, Sony Acid Pro, which, as you would expect is easily integrated with SF and Waves Ltd Plugs...
looooong story short --this is one helluva buy .. esp. in the "bang for yer buck" category!
ah-hem... appearantly the last reviewer doesn't understand the simplicity of what a fully featured "audio editing" program is.
as of soundforge 1.0, you could mix vocals into music, ...all you do is copy it onto the clipboard, ...and highlight the area in the audio you want to mix the vocals into, ...and move it also to the cliboard, ...then choose the "mix" setting on the clipboard, ...make any required adjustments inside the dialogue box, ....and click paste.
the cursor should still be left precisley at the point you extracted the audio segment to be mixed.
this is "not" a multi-track recorder.
this is an "audio editing program", ...mainly oriented towards sound designers, ...audio engineer "mastering" specialists. ...and people who use hardware and software samplers who want to get closer, spiritually with the essence of their samplers.
you 'can' sync to video, ...but vegas might be a better option.
soundforge 9 also excepts any VST plugins, ...an insane value if you are already into music production/recording/engineering.
not to mention "noise reduction", ...how else would you get all that vynil onto your hard drive, and capture its origional sound quality?
this editing program is by far more powerful than "ANY" editing program featured in any software multitrack recording program or DAW, ...as well as "ANY" hardware sampler.
although it is meant to "edit" with the entent of dispersing its results onto other working software/hardware applications.
don't get pissed cause you bought a high quality turntable needle, but can't be a full fledged dj without two turntables and a mixer.
the only competition is Steinberg Wavelab. i haven't used it, ...but it costs twice as much, ...and steinberg has caught up to its features with surround sound mixing, ...video audio syncing, ...vst implementation, ...noise reduction 2.0, ....as well as CD Architect, ...what a great program to create RED BOOK STANDARD commercially professional cds?
soundforge + waves plugins? ....full fledged mastering studio for the price of a few hundred dollars? ...incredible!
the three stars for unclearity of these types of products(ever) Although this has some fancy bells and whistles, it seems, it does not indicate wheather you can grapht your own voice overs onto all of theses "professionally edited" recordings. ALso in some audio phyle's cases the voice mic use in a quality manner, is the ONLY purpose of this software, as microsoft's own media is of terrible quality. You need a mixer and quality mic recording software, the mixer needs to be user freindly(at least resonably so) and not go through uncessisary complicated steps to be utilize fully, the mixer and VO device are what make all this stuff work for the purpose of art and production of your own, and if sound software doesn't have these capablitiies, it's only an over priced karioke machine, and totally useless in my opinion!
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