CS6 Production Premium revealed. Audition CS6 Details.

[_durin_]

Good news, everyone!

I'm very excited to share the news that Production Premium CS6 will be revealed at NAB next week, but even better, I get to share details about Audition CS6 with everyone right away.  More detailed information about some of the new features will be released on the Audition Inside Sound blog this week, but I'l be happy to discuss specifics about the new features on this message thread.

Here's a quick list of the new features and functionality:

Audition CS6 Highlights:

• Real-time and rendered clip stretching in multi-track - including new “varispeed” mode
• Clip Grouping – Including suspend, trimming, & stretching of groups
• VST3 support (Mac and Win) and more effects
• New pitch correction/manipulation tools
• Automatic speech alignment tool
• Red Book Audio CD burning
• Hardware controllers support - Including native Avid EUCON and Mackie MCU support
• Write/Touch/Latch automation modes
• Media browser with file preview
• Session Templates and Enhancements
• Expanded file format support (Native, libsndfile, DLMS)

Audition CS6 Complete List of New Features:

Multitrack

• Session templates
• Automatic speech alignment
• Clip grouping
  • Suspend mode
  • Focus clip actions
  • Trim/fade grouped clips
  • Time aligned stretching of groups
• Clip spotting – Manual entry of clip start or end time
• Clip stretching - Real-time and rendered mode using iZotope Radius
• Vari-speed clip stretching
• Metronome Track
• Skip selection play mode
• Save all open files with session preference
• Select all clips from playhead to end of track
• Sum to mono per track
• Bounce selected track
• Reveal clip in files panel
• Trim to selection
• Send clip to back
• Preference to play/hide overlapped clips
• Mixer enhancements
• Snap volume and pan envelopes at 0dB
• Drag and drop file marker range to multitrack (as clip)

Waveform (Editor)

• Multiple clipboards
• Skip selection play mode
• Open append
• Subclip marker support (Premiere and Prelude)
• Improvements to spectral spot Healing (Limit selection to x- or y- axis)
• Pitch display

Effects

• VST3
• Side Chain support
• Improved plug-in scanning engine
• New channel map per effect – Control over effect input and output channel routing
• Save and apply Effect Racks as a favorite
• New/Added effects:
  • Automatic Pitch Correction
  • Manual Pitch Correction with new spectral pitch view mode
  • Generate Tones
  • Doppler Shifter
  • Notch Filter
  • Graphic Phase Shifter
  • Gain / Fade Envelopes

General

• Media Browser
• Preview in Media Browser and files panel
• Search/filter in Media Browser and files panel
• Display markers for all files in markers panel
• Access and open order fields in files panel (sorting)
• Keyboard shortcuts (shortcut editor enhancements, copy to clipboard)
• Adobe Graphics Manager Implementation to improve UI drawing
• DLMS Integration to support additional video and audio file format import/open
• OpenGL display for video including improved video display for improved performance
• New spectral display preferences
• Support for additional framerates (23.976, 59.94 ndf/df)
• Machine-specific device preferences (optional common audio hardware settings for all users)
• Import most preferences from CS5.5
• Pinch-to-zoom, rotate to scrub Mac touchpad support (Mac only)
• Improved properties panel UI layout

Broadcast Specific

• ITU Loudness – Normalize files (batch) to ITU-BS.1770-2 (R128), view loudness level diagnostics
• Native MPEG1-Layer 2 audio (MP2) import and export
• Enhanced CART timer and metadata support

Control Surface/Automation

• Mackie MCU, native Avid EUCON, other controller support
• Recordable track automation (Full Write, Touch, Latch support with undo)

Format support

• MPEG4, HD Video, and additional audio import (via DLMS)
• Native MPEG1-Layer2 (MP2) audio import and export
• Native APE, FLAC, OGG export and import
• libsndfile export – export most formats supported by libsndfile
• CD Import metadata support (via FreeDB)
• Enhanced RAW format support

Output

• Red Book CD Burning (via CD layout)
• Quick burn single-file, CD-TEXT)
• Advanced mixdown – Mixdown tracks, busses and/or master as seperate files
• Save All Audio As batch process
• Save Copies of Associated Files – Collect/archive all files in a session
• Save open file references in session (“remember” all open files with the session)
• Advanced session export – Including ability to convert sample rate of session and associated files
• Preferred asset importer saved with session files

edited to include additional features.

[Guest]

C.R.Helmrich likes this

Seriously, the list of new features is very impressive. Great work! Question, though. You mention:

"

• Adobe Graphics Manager Implementation to improve UI drawing
• OpenGL display for video including improved video display for improved performance
• New spectral display preferences

"

For CS 5.5 I had reported two Edit-view related display bugs (spectral display "dB range" value not saved properly, spectral drawing hick-ups when switching between files). Also, compared to Audition 1.x I noticed a slower live-update of the Frequency Analysis window (i.e. less updates per second) when playing a file. Does this mean all three issues have been solved in the course of implementing the above 3 bullet points?

Edit: You wrote, "I'll be adding some posts ... showing off some of the new stuff. Feel free to make requests so I don't have to make the hard decisions about what to share first." => I'd like to see the new spectral display preferences, please

Chris

[jdmack01]

I've read over the new features, and in terms of the automation, there is one question I don't see specifically answered.  Will I be able to record surround-sound panning moves in real time in CS6?  It's always been a pain to move sounds in a circle up until now. 

And I take it that CS6 will still be a 32-bit program?  I was hoping that applying effects to large files (noise reduction, for example) would be speedier.

J. D.

[jdmack01]

I also meant to ask - have scripts returned to this version of AA?

J. D.

[_durin_]

J.D.

Scripts as they were in Au3 have not returned.  The Favorites tool allows you to record processes and actions and performs much of what Scripts allowed, but obviously there was a level of detail Scripting offered - if you were able to learn the, uh, nuances of the language - that Favorites doesn't yet accomplish.  I believe we'll continue to make Favorites more powerful, but I also hope we can implement and expose a comprehensive scripting layer as well.

[Teetow1]

_durin_ wrote:

I also hope we can implement and expose a comprehensive scripting layer as well.

I'm going to print this on a t-shirt and sit on the pavement outside your office until the day this feature is implemented.

[Kost7]

I'm going to print this on a t-shirt and sit on the pavement outside your office until the day this feature is implemented.

Outside his office you will find that another guy is already there with big words of MIDI and REWIRE

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Kost7 wrote:

Outside his office you will find that another guy is already there with big words of MIDI and REWIRE

Complete waste of time. If you want to compete with music software, then you have to add all of the other bits and pieces that music software has - like notation facilities and grids where you really don't need them, etc. And then you're in direct competition with a load of mature software that already exists to fill this need - you'd always be playing catch-up. And you've needlessly cluttered up the interface. But more significantly, you've provided facilities that the vast majority of your proven market has no need or desire for. If the big players did need this sort of stuff, then it would be there. I think you'll find that most of them actively don't want music software, and would rather Adobe added facilities that they do want.

[Kost7]

SteveG(AudioMasters) wrote:

If you want to compete with music software, then you have to add all of the other bits and pieces that music software has - like notation facilities and grids where you really don't need them, etc. And then you're in direct competition with a load of mature software that already exists to fill this need - you'd always be playing catch-up.

Yes, that's precisely my point of having  ReWire in Audition CS6.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Rewire perhaps - but not MIDI.

[Paul_Ferguson]

I know about your opposition to the MIDI idea (I respect it, even though I don't share it), but I'm curious about why you'd say 'maybe' to Rewire.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Rewire only inasmuch as it can run an external MIDI sequencer - no need for it to go any further than that, and even that's too far really.

[_durin_]

jdmack01 wrote:

Will I be able to record surround-sound panning moves in real time in CS6?  It's always been a pain to move sounds in a circle up until now. 

You can record surround pan automation by setting the track to Write, Touch, or Latch mode and either adjusting positioning in the Surround Panner Panel, adjusting the puck in the track panel mini-panner view, or via hardware controllers like the Avid Artist MC Control.

[_durin_]

New blog post up about the return and enhancement of CD Burning in Audition CS 6 at http://blogs.adobe.com/insidesound/2012/04/audio-cd-burning-in-adobe-audition-cs6.html

[Guest]

Okay, now that i've picked myself off the floor after seeing what was put back in and all of the new goodies.  All I can say to durin and crew.  Job well done!!!!

Cheers

[Lighthope]

Hmm...this is going to be something that I am going to have to look very hard it.  I've held on to 2.0 for so long because each upgrade (with the notable exception of 5.5) was only a small upgrade not worthy of the price.

This one however definately has possibilties.

[_durin_]

I've put together a short video showing off the new Session Templates feature in Audition CS6.  If everyone finds these useful, I'll put together some more and bump up the production values a bit.

I should note that the green interface tint is a byproduct of the screen capture utility I'm using.  Audition CS6 is still every shade of glorious gray.

[SuiteSpot]

I have been hoping for session templates since before I could spell the word!

This is going to save so much time especially when I have a full band in doing bed tracks for an album and I have set up a a complex headphone mix for the first track - no more dodgy workarounds - woo hoo!.

Well done guys!

[Kost7]

_durin_ wrote:

  If everyone finds these useful, I'll put together some more and bump up the production values a bit.

Useful big time!!!  But why inputs are empty.  I can assign input devices and save, right? It would be helpful for live multitrack recording when I have to assign different inputs to 14 tracks.

[Guest]

As I posted over at Audio Masters, this looks great -- and thx so much for advising it will still run on XP,

since we run AA on multiple systems and all are currently XP SP3.  Do keep us posted as to when

we can get it and cost for the upgrade from CS5.5 - will def. do that

The template feature also seems it will get a lot of use at our studios.  For a long time, we have done sort of the

same thing via several workarounds to make various often-used templates (sort-of-templates at least)

with default assignments, busses and  sometimes plugs loaded  (UA, Izotope, Waves, "AA native" and others)

and set to often used starting settings.  We also use many diff workspace templates all the time for

various tasks.

Recall and repeatability are big things  for a lot  of what we do. It's very often essential with many

projects to be able to go back - even years later -- and get everything back exactly

as it was to then add or re-version something to/from those sessions/projects.

Sometimes clients want to add new material or make changes even inside bits of existing stuff.

And thx for putting back stems exporting (sep files) - a key feature for us - also for Colin's explanation (at Audio

Masters) of enhancements to it -- ditto grouping and several others we really missed in 5.5.

One other  thought for possible inclusion later.:

A split and append feature for SESX files, so that you can split a long m/track project into two

(or more) sub-projects (as sometimes dense projects grow even denser as they progress!)

You would designate a split point on the timeline and  AA would ask you to provide a new name for

each resulting "sub project".

Everything to left of split point becomes new project 1 and everything to right new project 2, and

perhaps the command provides default names which user can override and enter their own pref.

And then an append feature would simply let you append another SESX project to an existing

one at the end of the existing SESX, or perhaps again at a point on the timeline you select, and

in that case it would insert the other project you specify into the project you are appending it to.

With some of the more recent projects we've been doing using only CS5.5 being more than

4 hours long, this feature would come in quite handy.

A very old hardware/software system we still sometimes use for making CD masters provides that feature and

we've often made good use if it.

Hoping too that maybe we'll be again able to use the Frontier Alphatrack with the new version,

though maybe that will  need some work by the Frontier Design Group folks first.

I don't think Alphatrack is fully Mackie protocol compliant, but I'm not sure. It does work pretty well

with AA3- though some features are not implemented.  (their AA2 files on their website for

Alphatrack work with AA3)  www.frontierdesign.com

Frontier's answer on unimplemented stuff was always that because Audition did not expose those

parameters to ext control,  they couldn't implement them at their end -- but since

the architecture changed greatly when AA moved to CS5.5 perhaps that's no longer the

case. 

Maybe the Adobe folks could dialog with the Frontier people on that to see what they need?

Anyhow, bravo on this and will look fwd to being able to use the new stuff when it becomes

available -- and to having the old stuff back too.

[nahravka]

Is there 64-bit version ?

Is it possible to hide TABS (to make my small monitor BIGGER) ?

thanx

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

nahravka wrote:

Is there 64-bit version ?

Is it possible to hide TABS (to make my small monitor BIGGER) ?

No 64-bit version this time. No you can't hide tabs either - that would be pointless! A new monitor will cost you less than Audition will these days...

[Guest]

Hi Steve,

since Adobe doesn't seem to want to answer my GUI related questions, and you seem to be a beta (or even alpha) tester, can you help out please and tell me whether the following issues have been addressed in CS6?

1. earlier in this thread (I posted this 3 days ago):

"For CS 5.5 I had reported two Edit-view related display bugs (spectral display "dB range" value not saved properly, spectral drawing hick-ups when switching between files). Also, compared to Audition 1.x I noticed a slower live-update of the Frequency Analysis window (i.e. less updates per second) when playing a file. Does this mean all three issues have been solved in the course of implementing the above 3 bullet points?"

2. What I am missing... (I posted this 11 months ago):
http://forums.adobe.com/message/3683921#3683921

"I already submitted two bug reports, and in addition I'd like to mention that the Preferences check box 'Synchronize selection, zoom level, and CTI across files in the Waveform Editor' doesn't cover the vertical zoom level (neither in time nor in spectral view), which it did in version 3. Is there a special reason why this IMHO very useful feature was omitted? Did you just forget about it?"

3. Zooming in Spectral Frequency Display (I also posted this 11 months ago):
http://forums.adobe.com/message/3664409#3664409

"vertical zoom states of waveform and spectrogram in Edit view are not saved when switching to a different file. You have to manually define the zoom state for each file, which makes it very difficult and time consuming to e.g. directly compare two files at user-defined vertical zoom levels (by switching back and forth). 

Windows XP SP3, x86. Is this a bug or a feature? It used to work in AA 3 (and 2 IIRC). The horizontal zoom state is kept when switching between files (assuming the corresponding option in the Preferences is checked)."

Maybe I should clarify: at work (and at home) I use Audition to compare waveforms and spectrograms of different files by switching back and forth. I am an audio codec developer at Fraunhofer IIS. So fixing the above 3 issues directly translates into me saving time at work.

Thanks in advance,

Chris

[_colin_]

Hi Chris, likely we just missed your post above, we're not trying to avoid it certainly 😉

I would like to have someone validate against our work history this cycle and see if indeed resolved any of these and respond. I'm not in a spot where I can do the research, so have to rely on someone who can.

RE: using AGM (your post above) is around to improvements draw performance for static items (fonts, lines, etc) and likely does not improve specifically feq analysis panel, but that does not mean there wasn't an improvement there that I'm not aware of.

Colin

[_durin_]

Hi C.R.,

1. The dB scale preference is properly retained when closing Audition.  This bug was resolved and I've verified it again this morning.  I don't have any specific data on the Frequency Panel frame rate, but if I recall correctly from performance testing, the panel usually achieves at least 30fps in most circumstances.  I'll investigate a bit further when I'm in the office Monday and see what I can find.

2 & 3.  Horizontal Zoom level and Time/Marquee selections are maintained between files for both Waveform and Spectral view when switching between files with the "Synchronize" preference enabled.  Waveform vertical zoom is not.  Again, let me double-check the feature description and check-in notes when I'm back in the office to verify.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

C.R.Helmrich wrote:

Hi Steve,

since Adobe doesn't seem to want to answer my GUI related questions, and you seem to be a beta (or even alpha) tester, can you help out please and tell me whether the following issues have been addressed in CS6? (et seq...)

Only just seen this, but from memory also (unless I go and turn on another machine and play around for a while), I think Durin's nailed it. I don't think that waveform vertical zoom has ever done what you want it to - in order to do that, I believe that the display would have to be re-established at that zoom level every time you went back to the file, and you wouldn't actually save any time at all. What appears to be optimised is the establishment of a basic spectral display. If I wanted to do what you seem to be attempting to do, I'd open-append both files into one display, and put markers at the points I wanted to compare - it's relatively easy to hit those quickly, and under these circumstances the zoom level will remain the same.