Cool Editor, which is also a recording software with a wide user base and high popularity in China. Its advantage lies in the combination of single-track recording and multi-track recording (although some multi-track recording software can also edit single-track audio, but it is not as convenient as cool editing), that is to say, you can switch between single-track and multi-track modes with a simple button, and both of them are very good. Many users who design animations with Flash and make multimedia discs with Authorware like to use Cool Edit for sound processing and voice recording, which seems to have become a habit. They affectionately call it "cool editor", from which we can see that cool editor is a multi-faceted and all-round "star" Later, we will give you a more detailed introduction with the example of cool compilation Pro 1.2 (hereinafter referred to as cool compilation). Figure 9: Cool Edit Pro with single track/multi-track recording function is ready. After the stars appeared, they were waiting for an exciting challenge. It should be pointed out in advance that the following comparison is not software evaluation, because in terms of performance, Sound Forge is definitely far superior to GoldWave and Cool Edit, and Vegas and Sonar are definitely not rivals of Sam2496 and Nuendo, but our competitive intention here is not here, and our starting point is practicality! Because different users have different requirements for recording, we give them a reference scheme to choose these softwares for users at different levels. At the same time, when comparing different aspects of these softwares, we can also understand the most basic usage methods. It's killing two birds with one stone. Why not? Follow me!
2. Monorail recording, who is competing with it?
In the competition of monorail recording software, several of our contestants-SoundForge, WaveCN, GoldWave and WaveLab-have already appeared, and they will compete in the next few rounds, and we will also give you the "referee's opinion" that suits your mind best (that is, the author's summary recommendation for vomiting blood).
Round 1. Recording quality
Since we are going to use them for recording, the first and most important thing is the recording quality. If the recording effect is not good, then it is meaningless to be good in other aspects. After all, sound quality comes first. When recording the same sound with a microphone, we can hardly feel the difference between them, and we can faithfully play back the real effect of the sound when playing. If we use a spectrum software, such as Pinguin Audio Meter(PG-AM), we can still observe their differences in sound quality. The sound recorded by Sound Forge is moist, full and clear, and it has performed well in various index tests of PG-AM (as shown in figure 10), which is undoubtedly the best choice to ensure sound quality. In fact, in the author's long-term research and comparison, it is found that the audio internal algorithm adopted by Sound Forge is indeed the best. With the same operation, the direct effect of Sound Forge on sound is better than other similar software, which is what Sonic Foundry is proud of. It is invincible! Figure 10: After testing with PG-AM, it is found that Sound Forge has the best recording quality. As for the recording quality of the other three softwares, WaveLab is also highly professional, and the quality of all Steinberg's recording software products is guaranteed, and WaveLab is no exception. WaveCN and GoldWave ranked second. After all, the internal audio algorithm is a very complicated process. Referee's opinion: Phonetic forging won the contest of recording quality in 1 round. Although ordinary users' ears may not hear the difference, Sound Forge is the first choice for professional users who aim at quality!
Second round. operating environment
An excellent software can be used in various environments and works stably. Compared with these four softwares, WaveCN 1.4 has the smallest volume, and only one installation file * * is 1. 1M, which can be loaded on floppy disks and is convenient to carry. Jinbo 4. 16 is also very small, and the main file is only 1.4M, which is the only portable application among these four softwares that does not need to be installed. In contrast, the installation capacity of Sound Forge and wave lab 10m is slightly bloated, and it is not very good for the spread on the network. On the other hand, from the hardware requirements of each software, Sound Forge is undoubtedly the highest. Running Sound Forge for recording while several other softwares are open at the same time is easy to cause a crash, because its running will consume a lot of CPU resources. Moreover, WaveLab is not a fuel-efficient lamp, and computers under Celeron 300 can't basically play, so WaveCN and GoldWave are much better, especially GoldWave. The characteristics of portable applications determine that there will be no illegal operation errors at any time, which is really commendable! Referee's opinion: In the second round-Running Environment Competition, Jin Lang won on 4. 16. Its magic weapon lies in its small software capacity, zero time-consuming installation, and free operation on low-equipped computers, which is particularly practical for friends with little money in their pockets!
Third round. Operation difficulty
The more powerful the function, the more complicated the operation! This truth is also common in recording software, which can be seen from the menu commands of each software. Sound Forge undoubtedly discourages all beginners, and its complicated and lengthy menu commands give people a dazzling feeling. Often a very simple operation will repeatedly search in various main menus and submenus, which is time-consuming and laborious. Similar to Sound Forge, there is WaveLab. Although the menu command is slightly simplified, for friends who are not familiar with the operation of audio software, they are still not so satisfied with the operation of full-screen electronic text. For ordinary users, it is better to choose GoldWave and WaveCN in the operation interface. After all, the former is the Chinese version of English software. In the process of Chinese translation, many grammars and terms are inaccurate. Although it can help us understand how to use the software, it feels a bit inferior to demanding users. However, WaveCN is completely different. It is a Chinese recording software written by China people. All kinds of music terms and vocabulary are well explained, and menu commands and mouse operations are very simple, which can make beginners learn to use them in a short time. Figure 1 1: WAVECN full Chinese operation mode Referee's opinion: WaveCN 1.4 won the third round of the operation difficulty competition. If a novice wants to master the basic recording skills quickly, it is not wrong to choose WaveCN. Of course, it is a pity that the right-click shortcut menu is not supported in the operation of GoldWave and WaveCN: o (
Round four. Appearance interface
Nowadays, any software attaches great importance to the beauty of the operation interface, and no one wants to work with an ugly face all day, so the beauty of the interface has become an important goal pursued by various software developers in software design, and recording software is no exception. WaveLab inherited Steinberg's consistent interface style, "carved" the shape of each button and fader in detail, without losing the unity and neatness of the overall layout, which undoubtedly conquered the hearts of the "judges". WaveLab inherited Steinberg's exquisite interface design style. Compared with WaveLab, the other three softwares are somewhat eclipsed. For GoldWave, a software whose capacity is too small to care too much about the interface, it is really different from WaveLab. Friends who enjoy Gaobo's stable operation on low-end computers have to put up with its "dinosaur" image again: o) Referee's opinion: WaveLab 3.0 won the fourth round of appearance interface competition! Not much explanation, it is very clear to run it all once. Recording with WaveLab is like enjoying a visual work of art (a bit exaggerated), which is definitely a pleasure!
Round five. Special effects production
Often, the recording operation is not only to record the sound, but also to process the sound in various ways in the later stage to produce all kinds of sound special effects we want, which depends on the editing means and special effects production methods provided by the recording software. Although WaveCN, GoldWave and WaveLab all have the ability to produce common effects, there is still a big gap compared with the careful adjustment and rich preset of Sound Forge. The effects of fade-in, volume maximization, time stretching and balanced adjustment are simply dwarfed by sound forging, even advanced skills such as field simulation, noise reduction, waveform generation and synchronous setting are not to mention. As mentioned above, audio processing with Sound Forge is unexpected and impossible! Referee's opinion: In the fifth round of special effects production competition, Sound Forge won! If you don't need to do so many complicated sound effects, you can also choose WaveCN and GoldWave. Sound Forge can't run away if you want to complete the recording DIY.
The comprehensive opinion can really be described as "the ruler is short and the inch is long". As can be seen from the above contest, no matter how powerful a monorail recording software is, it cannot completely replace other similar software. In fact, according to different recording requirements and different professional levels, it is most important to choose your ideal software. For professional and semi-professional multimedia producers and sound recorders, Sound Forge is the first choice, and WaveLab can also be considered as a whole with the following Nuendo multi-channel recording software. For ordinary beginners, WaveCN and Jinbo are the best choices, and the operating interface of China culture is their biggest selling point!
3. Multi-track recording, competing with each other
If monorail recording focuses on the details of sound processing, multi-channel recording focuses on the overall synthesis of sound, which plays a huge role in post-production of music and vocal recording of songs. Every experienced user who aspires to become a professional sound engineer must be proficient, and every ordinary music lover who makes karaoke songs in his spare time must also be familiar with the basics. After the contestants-Sonar, Vegas, Sam2496, Nuendo and Cool Editor are ready, let's kick off the multi-track recording software!
The first 1 wheel: running speed
Frequent processing of audio data will consume a lot of CPU, which is mainly caused by the huge amount of data in Wav. Therefore, after recording a certain number of voice parts or music parts, the system performance will be greatly reduced. Multi-track recording software with strong "tolerance" will run 30 tracks at the same time, while software with small "throughput" will show a tired posture after several tracks. If you limit your singing ability to only a few tracks, I'm afraid no one wants to see this, so the running speed becomes a crucial link to measure the quality of multi-track recording software. In the recording of the same part, we found that Vegas from Sonic Foundry achieved the best performance with its unique algorithm, and its running stability, efficiency and rapidity were the best among several similar softwares. Indeed, after further using Vegas, you will find that those operations that often consume a lot of CPU in other software can always be easily solved in Vegas. Vegas is realized by different audio algorithms of Sam24962496, Nuendo and other software. If you want to record a multi-part chorus or a synchronized recording of a band or even a symphony, there is no problem. Just ask Las Vegas. There is no problem running 40 tracks on the author's PIII-600. Isn't it enough for you? Figure 13: No matter how many tracks Vegas can handle, the referee's opinion: in the contest of 1- running speed, Vegas won! If we record the same 10 track music with the above multi-track recording software, and then edit and play it, we will obviously feel that the speed of Vegas is better than that of cool editing and sonar. Compared with the first three, the running efficiency of Sam2496 is greatly reduced, and the slowest is Nuendo. Computers are hard to play without PIII.
Round 2: mixer control
In the process of multi-channel recording, the most used measurement and control equipment may be the mixer. Because the reference objects of each track need to be compared in the recording process, the operation convenience of the mixer directly affects the work efficiency, which is the most important link in the design of multi-channel recording software! According to the different operating habits of different users, it is difficult to judge the quality of the mixer. Here, we compare the mixers of various softwares according to intuition and convenience. First of all, we should rule out Cool Edit and Vegas, because they don't have the console panel that we are used to operating. Although there is a console called a mixer in Vegas, it is very different from the traditional track-splitting mixer and is not very practical, which has to be said to be a pity of the two softwares! Friends who are familiar with Cakewalk will definitely choose sonar. Its mixer interface is relatively simple, but it can also meet our operating requirements. You can add sound effects, adjust the volume and pan, and bring two auxiliary effects and a bus output, but the monotonous interface is one of its problems. Sonar console panel Nuendo has a noble and gorgeous console, which can be called by pressing F3 in the main interface operation, but the corresponding cumbersome operation will bring a lot of trouble to friends who have never used Nuendo. Figure 15: Sam2496 is the most ideal and convenient mixer of Nuendo's luxury mixer. It can not only conveniently adjust the basic track attributes such as volume and sound, but also has its own commonly used effects such as equalization, delay and stereo expansion. Even using plug-in effectors is the most convenient of all mixers! The most distinctive feature is the skin shell program that supports the mixer. You can design your own personalized mixer. The picture 16 is a "metal" mixer designed by the author's friend Hugh. Figure 16: The panel of the mixer designed by Hugh: Sam2496 won the second round-the contest of mixer control. The reason for winning is that the operation is simple and practical, the function is powerful and rich, and the interface is beautiful and generous.
Round 3: Integration with MIDI
The so-called integration with MIDI is to convert MIDI music produced in the early stage into audio files and then synthesize them in multi-channel recording software! This process is necessary for every MIDI song to achieve the best effect. Because Cakewalk has a large number of users in China and also has audio processing function, it is the most ideal way to make MIDI in sonar and then convert it directly into Wav for post-processing. It is very convenient to save the conversion between various softwares. Although Nuendo also has the function of making MIDI, it is not so convenient compared with sonar. If Cubase(Steinberg, professional music synthesis system) is used as MIDI, Nuendo is the most suitable for post-synthesis. However, Cool Edit, Vegas and Sam2496 don't support MIDI production at all, so naturally there is no need to talk about the integration with MIDI. Referee's opinion: the third round-the contest with MIDI fusion, sonar won! With the huge number of users in China, more and more users will realize its powerful audio function, which is the best choice for sonar MIDI → recording → post-synthesis.
Round 4: Support plug-in effectors
After recording, it often takes more time to process the sound, because it can make up for the shortcomings brought by recording and present the most beautiful side of the sound, and this special processing is done by external effectors, which means the dispute between DX and VST. A few years ago, the PC audio field was still dominated by DX, and the effects of DX were endless, and the quality at that time was also very good. However, with the rapid rise of Steinberg company in Germany in the past two years, it has brought a brand-new concept of VST effector, and seized a large market of DX with lightning speed. At present, many top plug-in effectors are based on VST. What is even more puzzling is that software that supports VST (such as Nuendo) can still easily use DX plug-ins, while software that supports DX (such as Sonar, Sam2496, Vegas and Cool Edit) can't use VST plug-ins at all, that is, there are still many problems after conversion with third-party VST to DX software. Figure 17: Referee's views on Nuendo's various exquisite VST plug-in effectors: Round 4-External Effectors Support Competition, and Nuendo won. At present, there are more and more plug-in effectors based on VST, and the timbre effect is greatly improved, while the DX standard is crumbling, which is likely to be replaced by VST. For the long-term plan, let's take refuge in Nundo.
The fifth round: difficulty of operation
Anyone who has used Vegas will be deeply impressed by its simple operation. Comparing the menu commands of Vegas and other software, we can clearly see that almost all the operations of Vegas focus on the shortcut keys of the left and right mouse, so don't worry about not understanding English commands. The recording process can be completed in the simple activity of the mouse, which is really good news for beginners. Figure18: The main interface of Vegas is super streamlined. At the same time, the Vegas Video 3.0 introduced by us also has the function of video processing, and provides a variety of video special effects to choose from in Video FX, which is most suitable for users who synthesize audio and video at the same time. All operations are very simple, and you can get started in 3 minutes! Referee's opinion: In the fifth round-difficulty of operation, Vegas won by an absolute margin. Friends who have no experience in using similar software may wish to try to install a Vegas and learn computer recording in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.
Round 6: comprehensiveness of use
In the previous rounds, I didn't see any charming performance of Cool Editor, so why does he still have so many loyal users? The reason is very simple, that is, the comprehensiveness of use. Although the function of Cool Edit is not the most powerful and the operation is not the simplest, its recording quality is better than Vegas, its computing speed is higher than Sam2496 and Nuendo, and it is stronger than sonar command system. It can be used as both monorail recording software and multi-track post-synthesis software. It has the strongest comprehensive strength and can help record all kinds of music and sounds. The latest album "Ski Resort on Mars" by Li Yanliang, a good friend of the author and a famous guitarist in China, was recorded with cool clips! Switching between single track and multi-track requires only one button. In particular, the recently launched Coolpad Edit 2000 is quite different from Coolpad Edit Pro 1.2. The former is a very amateur, compact and civilian-grade software, and the latter is a professional recording software, which can definitely reach the professional level. Be sure to distinguish when choosing. Referee's opinion: In the 6th round of comprehensive contest, Cool Editor won. On the one hand, because it has a large number of users, many people have become accustomed to its operation mode, and on the other hand, because it can play a very good role in various music environments such as multimedia production, vocal recording, video soundtrack and post-synthesis. , worthy of users' favor.
The multi-track recording software mentioned above is only the tip of the iceberg in the whole similar software field, and there are too many other multi-track recording software that have not been commented one by one, and these five softwares are the most famous in China and have been completely popularized among users at different levels. Cool editing and sonar are good choices for multimedia players who often make sound effects and edit sound materials. The effects of noise reduction and reverberation in cool editing will bring more novel feelings to your sound fragments; Sonar's powerful MIDI editing function can help you edit the ready-made MIDI downloaded from the Internet according to your own requirements, and then synthesize it, making the integration operation more convenient. For ordinary music lovers who like DIY songs and albums, Vegas can help you realize your dreams faster. Simple operation makes it more friendly, and you will love it as soon as you use it. For home recording studios and professional recording studios, it is right to choose Sam2496 and Nuendo, and their software quality can completely reach the publishing level. Now many famous musicians and sound engineers have abandoned the "old" ProTools (a recording system based on Apple computer, which is very expensive). Quot, into the arms of PC, they are for Sam2496 and Nuendo.