which audio editor for mac?

Recording Techniques, People Skills, Gear, Recording Spaces, Computers, and DIY

Moderators: drumsound, tomb

User avatar
Babaluma
suffering 'studio suck'
Posts: 447
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 6:42 am
Location: Milan, Italy
Contact:

which audio editor for mac?

Post by Babaluma » Tue Feb 03, 2009 3:56 am

i have a few questions. for the last 10 years the only things keeping me on a pc have been audiomulch and cooledit pro (now adobe audition). it's been announced that audiomulch 2.0 will be available for mac (early this year - finally!), so that gives me 50% more reason to switch. also, my current pc is 7 years old, hardly cutting edge...

so, i'm gonna buy a new computer. i like the look of the new macbook pro 17". mulch is fine (maybe i'll loose some of the plugins i'm used to using, but i use a lot more hardware these days anyway), but i'm wondering:

a) what might be a good mac replacement for cooledit?

b) is it easy/possible/quick to run pc apps on a mac, so that i could stick with cooledit?

c) should i stick with pc?

i currently use an echo mia soundcard, but will soon upgrade to the echo audioifire 12.

thanks for any help,

gregg

kingtoad
pushin' record
Posts: 279
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 10:12 am

Post by kingtoad » Tue Feb 03, 2009 4:18 am

Sorry, I don't have the answer to a) or c) but you can install windows on your mac using bootcamp and boot to that if you want to use cooledit.

That's awesome that audiomulch is coming to mac. Amazing program.

bluesman
re-cappin' neve
Posts: 679
Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2004 9:01 am
Location: Little Rock, Arkansas

Post by bluesman » Tue Feb 03, 2009 6:14 am

I recently bought a Mac Pro...my first Apple computer. I have been using PC's for years & mixing with Cool Edit Pro & then Adobe Audition. My computer was getting old too, so I decided to get a Mac because I wanted to start doing some video editing, which Mac's excell at & was curious about getting into Logic Studio 8....I knew there would be a learning curve & didn't want to give up Audition until I became proficient in Logic. As the previous poster stated, Bootcamp let me partition my hard drive & use my Mac Pro as both a Windows XP Professional machine AND a Mac OS machine. To my amazement, all my old windows software runs flawlessly....even my $20 CD stomper that I have had so long, I don't even remember when I bought it. Audition even runs much faster than ever before, all my programs do for that matter & since I didn't have to give up any of my familiar tools, I can now take my time & get acquainted with Logic at my own pace. So far, I like the change, I like Logic, I definately like the speed this machine has to offer & I like the comfort zone of having all my old familiar software to run whenever I want.
I'm not a militant Mac convert or a die hard PC guy...I just wanted a fast, dependable & expandable system & so far I am happy with my purchase.
"The digital future sucks the boils off my white ass." McHugh

desdinova
gimme a little kick & snare
Posts: 78
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2008 6:54 am
Location: MA

Post by desdinova » Tue Feb 03, 2009 1:33 pm

a) Bias Peak is my favourite editor on the mac
b) You can reboot into XP, which is kind of silly, or run windows apps in virtualization software like parallels or vmware.
c) If you're going to spend the money to get a mac, use OSX. It's one thing to bootcamp or parallels for some absolutely critical (usually legacy) app that has to run on windows. It's another thing to do it for your wave editor.

bluesman
re-cappin' neve
Posts: 679
Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2004 9:01 am
Location: Little Rock, Arkansas

Post by bluesman » Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:20 pm

desdinova wrote: b) You can reboot into XP, which is kind of silly, or run windows apps in virtualization software like parallels or vmware.
c) If you're going to spend the money to get a mac, use OSX. It's one thing to bootcamp or parallels for some absolutely critical (usually legacy) app that has to run on windows. It's another thing to do it for your wave editor.
This is simply Bad Information! The new Mac Pro uses an Intell chipset & runs Windows XP pro flawlessly....When I boot up as a Windows machine, it IS a Windows machine. I am currently using Adobe Audition as my primary wave editor in Windows XP Pro using Bootcamp on my Mac Pro without a single issue, as I stated above. I do all my movie editing, email & other basic computing functions when booted with Mac OS, again with absolutely no issues. This is the best machine I have owned for doing everything I need to do. I did my homework before buying....true, parallels was not a viable option for running an audio editor, but Bootcamp works without a hitch. Its not silly at all to want & have the best of both formats. It makes for a really smoothe transition & does not negetavily affect work flow. In fact, as I stated earlier, Audition runs much faster on my Mac using XP Pro with Bootcamp. I did buy a copy of Logic Studio Pro 8 & will gradually transition to it....when I feel that I am ready, until then, Adobe Audition is where my comfort zone is & Bootcamp makes it possible.
Is desdinova currently using a Adobe Audition on a Intel chip Mac Pro using Bootcamp, or are these comments simply an assumption on desdinova's part? Don't let the naysayers get you down. Don't take anyone's word for fact. Don't let anyone make your mind up for you. Do your own research. Find you own answers & you will be happy with your decision, regardless which way you decide to go.
"The digital future sucks the boils off my white ass." McHugh

chris harris
speech impediment
Posts: 4270
Joined: Tue Aug 12, 2003 5:31 pm
Location: Norman, OK
Contact:

Post by chris harris » Tue Feb 03, 2009 6:45 pm

Check out Wave Editor from Audiofile Engineering. It's an amazing editor for Mac. It does what some much, much more expensive audio editor/cd authoring software will do, and only costs $79.

I absolutely LOVE this program. In fact, I chose it over Sonic Studio's PMCD and also their flagship, soundBlade. It's THAT good.

wren
suffering 'studio suck'
Posts: 464
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:50 pm
Location: Central VA
Contact:

Post by wren » Tue Feb 03, 2009 7:48 pm

desdinova wrote:a) Bias Peak is my favourite editor on the mac
(Disclaimer: the version I'm badmouthing is 3.5, a really old version of this program. Please take this into account.) (*EDIT* I'm actually using Peak Pro 5, not 3.5.)

Peak is a great editor but it's an extremely unstable and unreliable program in my experience. It's not uncommon to get mysterious error messages (whose error #s aren't in Peak's manual) for no reason at all, and often when I try to use some of the DSP effects (most notably Peak's reverb) it'll turn the selected portion of audio into a burst of really loud static when I click "apply". These problems are usually remedied by restarting the computer, but that's still not really excusable.

I love Peak's workflow, especially for doing really specific and microscopic editing, but based on my experiences with it I would never ever pay for it (the version I use is at work and was bought before I got the job); I'd try to find something with a practically identical workflow and setup if I could, but based on previous experience I don't have a whole lot of faith in the program.

*EDIT: I originally wrote "Peak Pro 3.5 is the version I'm badmouthing", and while I have used that version and it is still installed on some of our machines at work, Peak Pro 5 is actually the version I usually use, and the version I've experienced all those problems with.
Last edited by wren on Fri Feb 06, 2009 9:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I don't need time, I need a deadline." -Duke Ellington

"I liked the holes in it as much as I liked what was in them." -Tom Waits

desdinova
gimme a little kick & snare
Posts: 78
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2008 6:54 am
Location: MA

The fud, the fud

Post by desdinova » Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:42 am

@bluesman
The reason I said it was silly is because you might as well save yourself the money and buy a PC unless you're in OSX the majority of the time. I was making a general statement, saying nothing about Audition. I'm sorry if you thought I was speaking about you. The "your" was vous not tu.
Peak is a great editor but it's an extremely unstable and unreliable program in my experience.
3.5 was their first X release. The versions before and since don't have any stability problems to speak of. If you still have to use Peak now you really should upgrade. It was strange waters for OSX up until ~10.2, so I can't really blame them.

studjo
audio school
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:04 pm

Post by studjo » Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:24 pm

a little OT but what is the word about Ardour. It's a free app and when I opened it for a little test it looked very much like PT. I think plug in support is not its forte but they are working on it as I read - As an audio editor it might be an option. Any real users here?

Thanks Jo

User avatar
Babaluma
suffering 'studio suck'
Posts: 447
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 6:42 am
Location: Milan, Italy
Contact:

Post by Babaluma » Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:19 pm

thanks for all the replies. i'll probably go ahead and get a mac, and run audition under bootcamp until i've learned a new app, like bluesman suggested.

GooberNumber9
tinnitus
Posts: 1094
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2006 7:52 am
Location: Washington, DC

Post by GooberNumber9 » Fri Feb 06, 2009 12:02 am

subatomic pieces wrote:Check out Wave Editor from Audiofile Engineering. It's an amazing editor for Mac. It does what some much, much more expensive audio editor/cd authoring software will do, and only costs $79.

I absolutely LOVE this program. In fact, I chose it over Sonic Studio's PMCD and also their flagship, soundBlade. It's THAT good.
+1 on all counts. Don't bother with Audition and Boot Camp. Take from someone who uses both Boot Camp and Parallels, you really don't want to go over to Windows unless you have to. There's no way Audition is better than Wave Editor and Wave Editor is SO easy to use.

P.S.: OSX is not the only reason to buy a Mac - the hardware is pretty nice. 24" HD Cinema display built right into the computer? Hot damn! Windows is a lot more fun on a Mac than it is on a Dell.

wren
suffering 'studio suck'
Posts: 464
Joined: Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:50 pm
Location: Central VA
Contact:

Re: The fud, the fud

Post by wren » Fri Feb 06, 2009 9:41 am

desdinova wrote:@bluesman
The reason I said it was silly is because you might as well save yourself the money and buy a PC unless you're in OSX the majority of the time. I was making a general statement, saying nothing about Audition. I'm sorry if you thought I was speaking about you. The "your" was vous not tu.
Peak is a great editor but it's an extremely unstable and unreliable program in my experience.
3.5 was their first X release. The versions before and since don't have any stability problems to speak of. If you still have to use Peak now you really should upgrade. It was strange waters for OSX up until ~10.2, so I can't really blame them.
Actually, just for the record: I checked, and although we still have Peak 3.5 installed on our machines, it's Peak Pro 5 that I usually use and Peak Pro 5 that I've had those problems with.
"I don't need time, I need a deadline." -Duke Ellington

"I liked the holes in it as much as I liked what was in them." -Tom Waits

bloodspoint
alignin' 24-trk
Posts: 55
Joined: Fri Aug 01, 2003 12:11 am
Location: Cincinnati, OH, USA
Contact:

Post by bloodspoint » Fri Feb 06, 2009 4:43 pm

I use a Mac for almost everything, but two apps that I can't quit from my PC days are Sound Forge and CD Architect. SF is still way easier for me to use than any 2-track editor I've found for the Mac, and CD Architect is by far my favorite CD authoring tool. I use them _after_ I'm done in ProTools, so I don't need to have Mac and PC going at the same time.
Rather than dedicate a partition for Windows through Boot Camp, I got Parallels and installed Windows in that. When I'm done with PT and ready to edit and burn the mixes, I start up Parallels and do my thing. It works great for me, and also has the advantage that Windows is a virtual machine, so that I can snapshot it with the apps and everything set up, and if something goes wrong with it, I just delete the Windows machine and restore the snapshot.
--
Bloodspoint Studio
http://www.bloodspoint.com/
"This is our concern, Dude..."

nomansland
audio school
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:02 am

Post by nomansland » Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:33 pm

Sound Forge and CD architect are great on the pc side. How about waveburner on the mac side of audio?

bloodspoint
alignin' 24-trk
Posts: 55
Joined: Fri Aug 01, 2003 12:11 am
Location: Cincinnati, OH, USA
Contact:

Post by bloodspoint » Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:17 am

nomansland wrote:Sound Forge and CD architect are great on the pc side. How about waveburner on the mac side of audio?
I have heard about Waveburner and Wave Editor, and they look nice, but I'm loath to make a switch when these are working for me. I'd definitely try them out if I were starting from scratch. I did try out Peak once, and didn't think it compared too favorably. Everybody's got his own style and workflow, though, and what works great for me might seem awkward to someone else.
--
Bloodspoint Studio
http://www.bloodspoint.com/
"This is our concern, Dude..."

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 67 guests