for When the Adobe Audition 4

[_ittounsi_]

hi is there any information about AA4, for when and the new fonctionnalities ?

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Lost Weekend wrote:

I have some amazing virtual instrument plug-ins from EastWest and Steinberg that I can't use on Audition, because they're not compatible. I have to go to my old version of Cubase, which I'm really not crazy about, but it's my only choice for now, in order to use these instruments. It would be so much easier for me to do all my recording on one DAW instead of importing and exporting files from one to another.

On quite a regular basis it's been found that plugins that aren't compatible have actually been at fault rather than Audition. And we're not talking small names either - Waves had to rebuild quite a few of theirs so that they actually met the laid-down criteria. Apparently there are some regular shortcuts that programmers take that will work - sort of - with some software that could be perhaps described as 'not very particular', but these plugins all seem to come unstuck with Audition unless their authors get it exactly right. Nowadays more do than don't, fortunately.

[SuiteSpot]

You know its pretty funny that Audition gets bagged for being to strict with its enforcement of various standards, specifications etc.

What most don't realise is that this not only protects Adobe from backlash (or at least it should) but also the user experience.

I have a tremendous amount of experience under the cover of a huge number of daws and their workings as well as their inputs and outputs and you would be very surprised how poorly other daws abide by specs & standards.

The grass is not always greener on the other side 🙂

[emmrecs]

Don't really want to "extend" this topic but thought the doubters about Adobe's intentions might like to read this post on the Adobe blogs from Lawson Hancock, who is the Audition Product Manager (I think) http://blogs.adobe.com/insidesound/2008/02/audition_3_on_a_mac_1.html#comment-2151035

Although this is a "discussion" on AA for the Mac if you scroll to the (currently) penultimate entry (by Lawson) you'll read quite clearly Adobe's intent re a "new version".

Jeff

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Yeah, it's amazing - the entirety of noisy Mac users who want Audition on their beloved machines all on one thread! I bet they meet once a year in a telephone kiosk...

You'll also notice if you go through the whole thing that just one person actually told the truth about the 'Mac is wonderful, Windows is sh*t' situation.

But as to the main point, it's like I said before - if Adobe aren't going to continue to develop Audition, they'll tell you.

[SuiteSpot]

Maybe Adobe's waiting for them to get 2 mouse buttons?

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

(sharp intake of breath...) Ooh, they don't like being taunted like that!

They claim it's not true, either. Certainly used to be, though. Personally I have several digits on my hand, and I really can't see the point of having to restrict myself by only using one of them, and that's a fundamental limitation of the thought processes involved in the creation of their OS in the first place. Let's face it - Audition without a right mouse button is going to be severely restricted in what you can do rapidly.

Why they like their kiddie OS is beyond me - I couldn't get on with it at all. I did try, honest... Personally, I blame the idiot who read Piaget and actually believed that it had anything to do with adult thought processes - because it doesn't, really. And that's what they claim their OS is based on.

[SuiteSpot]

Well it shouldn't be seen as a taunt but merely an observation

I remember the first time I had to use an apple - spent hours trying to figure out how to copy a floppy - who would have thought to drag one on top of the other or drag a cd into the bin to eject it!

Some things aren't always either obvious or simple to some people - anyway whatever happened to DOS 3.1 ??

[MacEachaidh-Zb1Cv0]

Since the subject's strayed onto OSes, I want to put in a word for the late lamented Amiga.  The company ate itself alive, sadly, but both the OS and the hardware were way ahead of anything either Apple or Microsoft (or IBM or CPM) could offer at the time.  And even the apps, in many cases.

And since we're thinking of the good ol' days, I'm often mindful of the marvellous WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS.  Not just for the stability and capability of the app itself, but for the fact that the company used to release frequent (and free!) enhancement packs, that addressed conversion filters for new file formats in its competitors' apps or other software categories, but also sometimes enhanced existing features or even added new ones.  Free.  I'm pretty happy with Audition as it exists, but formats have moved on since it was released, and I'd like to see Adobe keep it current by enhancing its conversion capabilities in both directions.  In the absence of a new version (which I'm not in such a rush for, really), it would give greater longevity to the product, wouldn't it?

[SuiteSpot]

Wordstar over WordPerfect any day

"I'd like to see Adobe keep it current by enhancing its conversion capabilities in both directions"

Now thats an interesting statement which is of particular interest to me.

Now when most people say that what they mean is to be PT 'compatible'

Sony tried that by supplying their users (for free) an AAF capability but it was pretty well useless because if you were a PT user you had to pay $500 to Avid (the owners of AAF & PT) for the privelege. So naturally most users didn't which meant that OMF was the only viable way of moving between paranoid Digi's encrpted session files and the outside world.  But most people dont realise that the "O" in OMF stands for 'not quite open'.  So what you get is a dog's breakfast of interpretations of the 'standard' and then you have secret handshake fields and values known only to Avid & Digi products..

So what you get is the impression that your exported omf has all the data and will be imported by the other daw correctly

Pause while I roll around the floor in laughter

Back now - nah thats not what you get

So careful what you ask for just in case you actually get it

Please disregard all of the above I can see the men in white coats at the front door, must go.........

[MacEachaidh-Zb1Cv0]

Suite Spot wrote:

Wordstar over WordPerfect any day

Fair enough, matey.  I have no experience of Wordstar myself, so maybe I don't know what I'm missing.  But of those apps I've used, I like WordPerfect *a lot*, and -- solely on personal experience of using it, teaching it, and techdesk-supporting it -- I *really* don't like or think highly of Microsoft Word.

As for the other, I was really most interested in the ability to edit or encode FLAC or OGG files with Audition's level of tools.  That's been sorted out now with filter plug-ins and help from these forums, so I'm a happy chappy.  I'm fairly new to Audition, so for my newbie level of use, there's nothing else I'm so far aware of wanting from the app that it doesn't already provide.

[SuiteSpot]

Wordstar / Wordpefect all simpler tools that did the job without the bells & whistles and overheads of todays sledgehammer wordprocessing apps.

I'm like you I don't want too much else from Audition - other than the same responsiveness as say Vegas, Reaper etal - thats it nothing else - I guess I'm easily pleased

[Fikssss]

It is very disapointing that there is no AA4 with the new version of the CS5,  maybe adobe is not going to take out a new version of AA4.

[emmrecs]

Without wishing to extend this topic uneccessarily...

Fikssss wrote:

It is very disapointing that there is no AA4 with the new version of the CS5,  maybe adobe is not going to take out a new version of AA4.

Can I suggest you read ALL the posts?  You'll clearly see then that AA4 IS under development.

[MacEachaidh-Zb1Cv0]

> You'll clearly see then that AA4 IS under development.

And unless I'm wrong, AA has never been part of any Creative Suite so far anyway.  Hasn't that been Soundbooth's role, and Audition was left as a specialist pro-level app?

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

MacEachaidh wrote:

And unless I'm wrong, AA has never been part of any Creative Suite so far anyway.  Hasn't that been Soundbooth's role, and Audition was left as a specialist pro-level app?

I'm afraid that history didn't work quite like that, but for your edification (and the fact that from your last post you seem to have an eminently sensible approach to upgrades), I'll relate the later chronology for you:

Audition was put into CS development after 1.5. And this resulted in what could only be regarded as some sort of late beta that got accidentally released - AKA Audition 2. What happened was that corporate planning and code development didn't coincide at all, and as a release it was rushed out with unseemly haste to meet the corporate deadline. All the other progs in the suite only needed a bit of tweaking to meet that particular release date, but Audition was getting a complete rewrite, so this really wasn't fair on the developers at all. End result - Audition got out of the CS cycle, and Audition 3 was created and released as a separate entity again - but only when it was ready. Being in CS in itself doesn't matter - but being in the corporate release date structure certainly does. Anyway as a sort of compromise, when Audition got out, the developers agreed to create a cross-platform app that would be in the suite permanently - and that's how Soundbooth came to be. End result is that one development team has to develop both products, so major releases of either inevitably take longer to achieve.

This does make commercial sense, because the apps are different in their stated intentions and to an extent, their operational approach, but being developed by one team each product 'informs' the other to a degree. And from a corporate POV, I suppose that managent is happy, because they get extra leverage from the team.

But as far as releases in general are concerned, Audition 3 works fine. Audition 1.5 works fine, and for some applications has advantages. You can use the software, and it doesn't need constant updates to keep it working without regular disasters. There's a comment on AudioMasters that attempts (in a tongue-in-cheek way) to suggest that software development should all be done the Microsoft way, where they have to keep releasing bugfixes for their bugfixes, and Adobe have sensibly not gone down that route at all. They get it pretty much right at the initial release, and don't issue any service packs until either there is a pressing need for a particular fix (rare) or a cumulative pile that can be done in one hit (also rare, but has happened with 3.0.1). If you are using this software as any sort of a revenue generator, and have clients around, then the last thing you want is software that you have to keep updating, and you aren't really sure of the status of. And that's why the Audition release model is the way it is - and long may it continue like that.

[Fikssss]

So taking out Soundbooth of the CS all the other  programs in  it  are not pro level apps?

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

How on earth do you conclude that?

[Prizm4]

Adobe Audition has already been dumped and a pro version of Soundbooth will take over.

[MacEachaidh-Zb1Cv0]

Prizm4 wrote:

Adobe Audition has already been dumped and a pro version of Soundbooth will take over.

Really?!

Has that actually been announced, or is this speculation on your part?  Where does this info come from?

[ryclark]

NO, definately not really Just speculation because Soundbooth CS5 is out with slightly extended multitrack capability.

[MacEachaidh-Zb1Cv0]

Ahh, thanks ryclark.

I've never used Soundbooth myself, or the specific CS it's part of (is it the "Production" suite?) -- I'm mostly involved in print media myself -- but I had thought Soundbooth was a capable but non-professional app, and that for people involved with sound professionally Audition was thought the better way to go.  (My own copy of Audition was a gift from someone who'd bought it but decided he didn't much like it, and I think went with Sony software instead.)

I could be very wrong, of course -- as I said, I've never used Soundbooth, so I can't compare them.  But if what I'm saying is correct, I'm not sure why Adobe would abandon the more technical app in favour of the less-technical one?  Has Soundbooth got more potential for development?  (I thought Audition and its previous incarnations -- I've forgotten its name in its former life -- were well-established and well-regarded as professional tools?)

Or is it like Dreamweaver and Go Live, where Adobe decided to cease develop on one app it had previously acquired by buying and developing another one?  Does Soundbooth have a bigger user-base or is maybe better-accepted commercially?

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

MacEachaidh wrote:

Prizm4 wrote:

Adobe Audition has already been dumped and a pro version of Soundbooth will take over.

Really?!

Has that actually been announced, or is this speculation on your part?  Where does this info come from?

It's not info at all, and it's certainly not reasonable speculation, because like most of these statements, it's completely unresearched. Like it says earlier in the thread, Adobe will indicate the 'no further development' state if it ever occurs, and they haven't.

What you should take rather more notice of is Lawson Hancock's blog. He is Audition's product manager, after all, and this is from 19th April - just a few days ago:

"As you mentioned, the launch of CS5 was the main focus for us at the  show this year.  However, we are actively working on the next release of  Audition.  Nothing specific to share yet, but your feedback is  appreciated."

You also said:

"I thought Audition and its previous incarnations -- I've forgotten its  name in its former life -- were well-established and well-regarded as  professional tools?"

Yes they are, and that's the other reason that they won't be disappearing overnight. And back in the good old Syntrillium days it was called Cool Edit Pro.

[tomrrt]

My thoughts exactly, despite post to the contrary...

[memofhs]

Adobe Audition 4 is comming!!!

After years and years waiting for... Adobe says "We expect to make a public beta of Audition for the Mac available in Winter 2010" So... Its time for us to do our jobs, and give overcrowd feedback to make this release all that we expect.

More info on: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/audition/

PS. Oh by the way... it comes to mac OS.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Oh, for heaven's sake - haven't you read any of the other posts on this forum at all? This isn't exactly news...