Acme Voiceworx

So I decided to postpone the Samplitude 10 review until the June issue of Radio & Production (with approval from Editor Jerry, of course). I wanted more time to explore the program, which is both deep and wide. But Samplitude still has a Rodney Dangerfield complex here in the US — it gets no respect. That’s too bad, because it’s a strong contender as a standalone, all-in-one PC recorder and editor. Compared to Audition, its interface looks and feels more professional to me, and it provides a significantly better mixer with more features and functions. On top of that, it sounds really good; even in-the-box bounces sound good.

Unfortunately, Samplitude 10 is still as spendy as ever. The Pro version lists at $1295, which leaves the street price under a grand. There’s a “standard” version (maximum 64 tracks and eight busses) that carries a US list of $649, which puts street price under $500. The two-track Master version is $349, which streets at something under three c-notes. For VO work, the standard version is close enough, and you won’t miss the Pro’s extras.

Check out the June issue of RAP here.

I haven’t decided yet, actually. In fact, I just figured out that I have another couple weeks to finish writing it (joy!).

But I’ve been playing with two very kewl products… the MicPort Pro from CEntrance and Magix’s Samplitude 10. Actually I’ve been playing with both at the same time. MicPort is a USB-to-audio converter that so far sounds great, unlike some others out there. Most of the existing converters are noisy and sound like crap, but the MicPort actually sounds very good, and does 96k/24 bits to boot. I think I’m keeping this one.

Samplitude 10, like previous versions (the last one I reviewed was version 8 back in 2005), is very deep. My concern with it is finding whether it’s still a resource-hog… I’ll be checking that this week. More later.

This month’s review concerns one of those products that not everyone needs, but those who need it really need it.

I’ve scored a copy of iZotope’s RX noise reduction plug-in, and so far, it’s sweet. It’s a standalone program that lists for $349 USD, substantially less than the current crop of third party noise reduction plugs. What’s more, RX offers five distinct modules: a de-clipper, a de-clicker, a de-noiser, hum removal, and spectral repair, all in one interface. And quite the interface it is, with the buttons for each modules at the lower left of the interface.

Actually the nice folks at iZotope have given me a full copy of RX Advanced, which retails for about $1200. While it’s nice to have, I can already tell that I’ll do most of my work using the “simpler” controls that come with the regular edition. Here’s the main screen: (more…)

Sony’s Sound Forge version 9 is out… how good is it? Is it worth upgrading from version 8 or earlier? We’ll soon see, as I have a copy coming for the June issue of Radio & Production magazine.

I’ve been using version 8 for a year or so, but I still think version 5 was the best since Sony bought Sonic Foundry’s product line. Simple, solid, and very stable.

Variation on an old joke: how many old audio editors does it take to install a new version of software? Five. One to install it, and four to talk about how good the old version was.

Sorry. That sucked, didn’t it?

The March 2007 issue of RAP features my review of Steinberg’s Wavelab 6 stereo editor. New features including a Spectrum display and editor, improved time-stretch, and Master Section presets make it a must-have upgrade. Check it out in the March issue, or visit RAP’s website here.