Equipment Review
Product Reviewed:
Cool Edit Pro
Made by: Syntrillium Software Corporation
Cost: $299 (street) USD
Submitted by Chad Badham (JR#97)
Rating: 
Features:
Wave Editing and Multritrack Software. 64 Tracks DX plugin support Multiple file formats supported (basically if it exists, CEP can open it and save to it) 24/96 support (i think their ad says up to 128 support? and who has that card, huh?) Most of the audio editing features known to man.... Brain wave generator? (..you will send money to..... ) Free upgrades to registered users. Syncing stuff. (no .avi or video support though) Plethora of stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting.
Technical Specifications:
N/A
What I liked:
For the $$, Cool Edit Pro is by far the best audio program out there. It has all of the same wave editing features as SoundForge and adds multritrack on top of it! The multitracking features are far superior to those available in Cakewalk and are more intuitive to use. The multitrack volume and pan envelopes make automated mixing a breeze. I also like having the envelopes belong to the waveform and not to the track. What that means is that when you move a waveform on a track, the envelopes move with it. Unlike Sonic Foundary's Vegas Pro, which has the envelopes belonging to the track; when you move the waveform, the envelopes stay put and are then out of reference to the waveform (what's the point of that?!) Background mixing. CEP does all of it's mixing in the background, which supposedly uses less memory, HD space, and is quicker. However, just don't do anything while the green bar back ground mixing indicator is doing it's thing or you could corrupt your session file. The effects are useable, but I prefer my pile of DX plug-ins. CEP 2.0 is very stable running DX plug-ins, unlike it's preceding versions. You can save to RealAudio (including G2) formats which is very handy. MP3 is supported through their new $30 plugin. (there are some downloads on their site that allow you to open mp3's, just not save to them. Works great for converting mp3's to .wav files though) The noise reduction is top notch. I have a bunch of noise reduction programs/plug-ins, and CEP is as good as any of them. Scripting for batch processing. Never thought I'd need it, but I do! Saves time/keystrokes like you can't believe! Onboard CD player. Don't have CD ripping software? Record CD tracks via CEP. This feature was mana from heaven for flying in sound effects from a CD for some film projects I did.
What I didn't:
NO REAL TIME MIXING. That is a HUGE disappointment. You want to add soe effects, eq, etc? You have to add those things to the waveform and then listen. You can't tweak in the reverb and see how it sounds with the rest of the mix... you have to guess, then listen, undo and guess again and give another listen. Major pain in the keester. There is a small solution to this written in the TIPS section below. (Even a master section similar to Wavelab would be better than nothing!) The metering is pretty weak. No individual track meters. And the meters don't seem to be the most accurate. (for input metering, I highly suggest a program called Penguin Audio Meters) No .avi support. Not a big deal given the cost of the program. I was still able to use CEP on a video sound track and score, but it wasn't easy. No midi sequencing stuff. (fine by me.. make a product do one thing and do it well!)
User Tips:
Use CEP for what it can do, and you've got a very powerful piece of software. Here's some things I do where CEP is indispensable. Track compositing. (huh?) Editing multiple takes to get the perfect take you could never pull off the first time. Instead of blowing away a blown take, keep it and record a new one. Using the multitrack view, simply use the volume envelopes to choose the parts from the various tracks. Then mixdown to a new track and you've got your perfect take. Much easier than single wave cross fade edits. I've been able to replace a single blown note before. Something I couldn't do in SoundForge without ripping out my hair. And with multiple tracks (64 of them!), why bother punching in? (CEP does have punch in capabilities, btw) No real time mixing? Well, there is a fix, but it eats up space in a hurry. For reverb, chorus, flange type effects, you can copy the original wave, apply the effect 100%, and then adjust the mix between the wet and dry tracks. It costs you a track plus HD space, but it works. No mixer interface? Somepeople have to have that! You can click on the track properties buttons and that brings up a fader. Leave them open and line them up and you've got your mixer interface! Not as pretty as Samplitude (review coming soon) or Cakewalk, but it works just fine. The 64 tracks are stereo. Careful track management, and you have 128 effective tracks. Pitch/stretch feature. I use this lovely feature for transcribing guitar stuff. The sounds gets 'warbly', but it sounds better than a stand alone hardware unit with only 8 bit 22k sampling power. 4 1/2 CD's from! I'd go 5 if there was RT mixing and .avi support, but for the price and stability.... If you have a CEP SE that came with an Event/Echo card, I highly recommend upgrading to the full version.
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