Basic Questions for Adobe Audition before subscribing

[rbannist]

Got many questions after watching Adobe's how-to podcast intro (How to Make Your Own Podcast using Audition CC | Adobe Creative Cloud - YouTube ). I'm seriously considering buying a 1-yr subscription, if not a monthly to try it out. I'll ask all my questions here, but if there's someplace else I should post these, let me know. All these questions are based on my unfortunate experience w/ Pro Tools (getting rid it!).

I have used Adobe Audition 3.0 extensively, but need to upgrade as support for it has disappeared for many years now.

For podcasts:

1. Are you able to use previously produced wav files recorded at 44.1/16 bit, and bring those into a session where I have a spoken voice recording at 48/24 bit, without having to up-sample the 16 bit files? (Pro Tools forces you to use all files at same sampling and bit rates.)

2. Can you switch between edit and multi-track modes to edit specific tracks with surgical precision? (Adobe Audition 3.0 allows this.) Thus, I'd be using plugins for noise reduction, compression, EQing, normalizing, etc., then going back to the multi-track view to mix the spoken voice with the standard tracks such as music.

For different kinds of projects, I'd also be doing the #2 process for single files that I then sync to video in Adobe Premiere CC (which I have).

3. Can I use a Zoom 4n as an audio interface to record directly to the computer? (If not that's fine. I may record on the Zoom's flash disk anyway, but would be nice to sometimes go direct to my machine.)

4. Does Adobe Audition support or work with internal sound cards? (Pro Tools doesn't. Well, it does, but I've been having "static" problems on playback. I was told on Pro Tools forum that Pro Tools does not work well w/ internal sound cards, and that basically I MUST get an external audio interface to get decent playback. Does Adobe Audition suffer from the same problem?) Should I plan on investing on an external device like FocusRite or any of the countless other popular interfaces?

The majority of my needs is for very simple podcasting (Google for Ramon's Movie Reviews or look for it on iTunes just to note my simple needs) and for work-related audio processing that I then sync to video.

[Here is the list of all Adobe forums... https://forums.adobe.com/welcome]

[Moved from generic Cloud/Setup forum to the specific Program forum... Mod]

[aaronc77278719]

I can answer a couple of these, but not all:

2: Yes, it's called the "Waveform" view. You can switch between the multi track and waveform view of a specific clip.

3: I believe you need to record to the SD card then transfer the .wav  file from the card to the computer. Unless the 4n has a direct out that you can run into the mic in or use an imic to convert to USB.

4. Yes. I've not had any issues with my Mac Mini and noise. Still, I prefer an interface. I'd rather have hardware designed to do just that one thing.

Lastly, there is a free trial of Audition (and any other Adobe CC software), so I'd say download it and see for yourself. Be certain before shelling out the $10 or $30 per month.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Out of the stuff not answered (or incomplete):

rbannist  wrote

For podcasts:

1. Are you able to use previously produced wav files recorded at 44.1/16 bit, and bring those into a session where I have a spoken voice recording at 48/24 bit, without having to up-sample the 16 bit files? (Pro Tools forces you to use all files at same sampling and bit rates.)

All the multitrack software I'm aware of can only operate at a single sample rate. Whilst it's not technically impossible to do otherwise, it would be a criminal waste of resources that would be (and indeed is) better spent on optimising the multitrack performance.

3. Can I use a Zoom 4n as an audio interface to record directly to the computer? (If not that's fine. I may record on the Zoom's flash disk anyway, but would be nice to sometimes go direct to my machine.)

Last time I checked, you could use a Zoom H4n as a direct interface via its USB port, so yes. There's a video about how to do this here: Zoom H4n Introduction - How to use your Zoom H4n as a USB audio interface - YouTube

4. Does Adobe Audition support or work with internal sound cards? (Pro Tools doesn't. Well, it does, but I've been having "static" problems on playback. I was told on Pro Tools forum that Pro Tools does not work well w/ internal sound cards, and that basically I MUST get an external audio interface to get decent playback. Does Adobe Audition suffer from the same problem?) Should I plan on investing on an external device like FocusRite or any of the countless other popular interfaces?

Audition will always work better with a better sound device, although it will work as well as anything will with an internal one. These generally aren't of the highest quality and even for a podcast, the better your sound to start with, the better it sounds when it's compressed and sent to the end user. It doesn't make any difference as far as playing back is concerned - any old device will do for that. But as far as recording in the first place is concerned, a decent sound device and a proper mic intended for voice recording will be a vast improvement over anything built-in (or a Zoom, for that matter...)

Please be aware that although Audition trials used to last for a month, the trial period has been reduced quite dramatically - I believe it's only a week now, although for that week it's fully functional.

[Bob_Howes]

Steve's answer covers everything in a good level of detail.  However, one last thing to add about your second point.  While you can switch between Multitrack and Waveform (Edit) with the same ease as on AA3, spend a bit of time editing in Multitrack.  The editing capabilities there have be hugely enhanced and I now find myself doing 99% of my editing in MT view with the advantage that everything I do is non destructive and completely reverseable.  It's to the point where I rarely visit Waveform except to use effects that can't work in Multitrack in real time.