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Xav8tor wrote:
Having used CE Pro and Audition for longer than I can remember, while I am impressed with the new interface of 5.5/6, I mourn the loss of numerous features I used every single day. Scientifc filters? Gone! Yes, there is a workaround, but it is far from being efficient. Now I see that control over all color aspects is gone from the spectral display. Anyone using spectrograms extensively understands the importance of user control over spectral settings. Will this return or is this yet another former feature that is dust in the wind? There is a similar post on the feature request forum with no response.
Some of these features aren't 'lost' - they just aren't implemented yet, for reasons thoroughly discussed elsewhere. I must admit though that the inflexibility with the way things are displayed does seem to be something of an ongoing issue... and I agree about the spectral options entirely. I'm not exactly a huge fan of varying shades of grey either, come to that, but I can live with it.
Kost7, as you are no doubt aware, DirectX is a victim of not being Mac compatible. Since the idea is to make the program functionally (although not quite operationally, I believe) identical on both platforms, it had to go. So unless you can persuade Apple to implement a Windows plugin feature in their OS 
, I think that DirectX really has gone permanently.
Thanks for the feedback so far. I'll put any suggestions into our feature database as they come in. I figured I'd show off a few screenshots of UI improvements, new features, and the like. Let me know if you'd like any information on specific tools and I'll be happy to elaborate. Several members of the team are hoping to post some tutorials or video tutorials in time for release, so any suggestions for that would be most welcome.
Amplitude Statistics
This panel has always been modal meaning while it's visible, you have not been able to interact with the application, make new selections to scan, or continue editing. With Audition CS 5.5, this tool behaves like most every other panel and can be docked or moved to another monitor or area of your desktop so you can have access as-needed. Functionally, the tool has been improved to address some minor bugs and accuracy issues uncovered in Audition 3, and several new stats have been included such as Dynamic Range and Loudness levels.
Batch Processing
Batch Processing has been re-written as a dockable, standard panel as well and files can be dragged directly from the Files panel, from your OS File Browser, or from a standard OS Open File dialog available within the panel. Stats about the file are displayed and the contents can be sorted as desired.
Opening the process parameter dialog presents all options in a single panel rather than the 5 tabbed menu format from Audition 3. Here, you can apply a recorded favorite to all files, adjust filenames with a prefix and postfix, choose format conversion settings, and a few additional cleanup options. As the files are processed - in the background as with almost all operations, delegating the tasks across available processors - you'll see the progress indicators next to each file giving you quick, visual feedback on the status and remaining time to complete the operation.
Diagnostics Panel
Many of our restoration and diagnostic tools are now located in their own dockable panel including the DeClicker, DeClipper, Delete Silence, and Mark Audio tools. While sensible defaults are selected for each tool, you may adjust the sensitivity parameters by clicking the "Settings" button. After scanning the active file, all identified items (clicks, regions of silence, etc..) are displayed and can be brought into view and selected by a single-click on the entry row. Repair one at a time or all at once.
Effects Rack
Waveform Edit View and Multitrack View now have a near-identical Effects Rack where you can layer, shuffle, preview, and adjust Audition's internal audio effects, and third-party VST and AudioUnits effects (AU on Mac only.) In Waveform mode, this replaces the Mastering Rack from Audition 3 and is dockable and non-modal so you can continue editing, previewing different regions of your file, and anything else you might need to do before committing your effects stack and applying it to the file. When in Multitrack mode, switch easily between Clip and Track effects mode depending either on what method you're most comfortable using, or mix-and-match based on your needs. Both views allow you to create Rack Presets which are saved configurations of effects and parameters, and these can be shared between views.
Files Panel
The Files Panel displays more metadata and information about the files you have open than ever before. You can enable or disable columns from the top-right panel tab so that only the information you need is displayed, and all columns can be resized and sorted to quickly organize your open files. In addition to standard items such as Filename, Duration, Sample Rate, and Channels, you can display detailed information on the Source Format and Codec, Frame Rate, and more. In addition, a Status column shows a small pie progress indicator for any files with operations proceeding in the background. Make these files active to see a detailed status progress in the Editor window.
Frequency Analysis
In keeping with the theme, the Frequency Analysis panel is dockable and non-modal, so keep it running in your main window or on a secondary display for constant feedback and the frequency balance of your files or composition. Eight hold buttons allow you to stamp a particular graph for comparison among a file or with other files. In keeping with Audition CS 5.5's goal of reducing complexity while continuing to offer power users the parameters and control they love, twirling down the Advanced option gives access to detailed settings and additional data. The Frequency Analysis panel operates in both Waveform and Multitrack views and is efficient enough that it can be kept open while playing the most demanding sessions.
History Panel
One of the items carried over from Soundbooth was the Edit History panel which allows you to see all modifications you've made to a file or multitrack session and quickly jump backwards or forwards to easily A/B or undo a change.
Level Metering
Accurate levels is crucial to a proper mix or edit, and Audition CS 5.5 has improved accuracy and performance of all level meters including the Master levels, track levels, and effects rack Input/Output levels. Change dB range, gradient, and even switch to LED view. The Master levels meter can be docked horizontally or vertically depending on your preference, and provides information during playback or scrubbing.
Match Volume
A new tool in Audition CS 5.5 enables you to adjust the volume levels of different files to ensure a consistent level between all assets. Match to specific RMS or Loudness levels, or choose a particular file as a reference to match your other files. This panel is also dockable and all operations take place in the background. In addition, you can use this panel to piggy-back an additional Batch Processing operation, taking care of several pesky birds with one stone.
Clip grouping must have been one of those less important yet easy to implement things that hit near the bottom of the list. This is what happens when your on a tight schedule with a lot to do. But you never know, you might get a patch release that adds in some of those simpler features... Just don't hold your breath waiting for it...
Honestly though, with all the new features, I think this release will be a very productive one given the heavy use of parallel processing... I'll have to find a way to slow things down when I'm on an hourly job. Something like not using groups might just be it. 
Clip Grouping was a feature that came up too late in the development cycle to be implemented properly as it relied on the existence of a lot of other functionality. It's not as simple as maintaining a list of which clips belong to which group. Exclusive behaviors have to be addressed for crossfading, resizing, moving, inserting new tracks, overlapping clips detection, and a host of other concerns that one of the engineers more familiar with the code than myself would know.
I know this release won't satisfy everyone and some of the missing features may be important enough that some users may choose not to upgrade. I think CS 5.5 is an amazing application and I've personally used it exclusively for recording, mixing, and editing my own projects (although I do get paid to do so 
) but I think there is a segment of our users for whom CS 6 will represent the true, full upgrade for their needs. Had we not released CS 5.5, the CS 6 cycle would still represent the time frame we'd have needed for the re-write and updates. If this the case, please see CS 5.5 as a preview of what's to come and where we're taking Audition.
I would ask that those interested in taking a more active role in Audition's development, please send an e-mail to audbugs@adobe.com and ask to be considered for the CS 6 cycle pre-release program. I can't promise everyone will be included, but it would be great to get a better cross-segment of our old and new user base when we have new builds and feature questions that need real user feedback.
Sigh.
As a developer myself, I understand that seemingly simple features can be very complex under the hood - especially if we've done our job as UX designers - but there was such a clamor for clip grouping here that it's hard to understand why it didn't make the cut. That and the lack of control surface support scotches my upgrade plans.
Durin, the gist of a lot of your posts on this thread is that we should regard this release as a preview or a taste of things to come. Without asking you to commit, can you give us some idea of when an interim *feature* (vs bug fix) release might be expected? A year or so from now? Just wondering how long I have to keep my struggling PC running...can't run AA3 under VMWare on the Mac because unfortunately I have a Firewire audio interface.
Anyway, I appreciate all the thought and creativity that went into this first Mac release and hope there will be a future release that works for my sort of workflow.
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