Topic: Software Reccomendations Needed.

[DaveG73]

I think it is time to invest in some software. I have so far only used Audacity (and CdWave) but it is a little limited for what I want to do.

I am running a 4 year old PC with Windows XP Home : Pentium 4 3.0Ghz

While it is getting old, I see no need to upgrade just yet, but I realise this may limit my options.

I am looking for something which is relatively straightforward as I am not overly skilled in the "post" area of work. I know both Audition and Samplitude are used quite a lot by members here but is there anything else I should be considering?

Ideally I would like to find something that will offer me a free trial so I can have a play around with it before paying out, as I need to make sure that I can actually use it, given my limited technical skills.

I realise that, like music, everyone has different tastes, but any suggestions would be welcome.

TIA

Dave.

[Gordon]

wavelab.  I have used most of the others and keep coming back.

[Brian Skalinder]

I've used Audition, WaveLab, and Samplitude fairly extensively.  I found Audition the most intuitive (for me), Samplitude by far the best workflow, and I didn't care at all for the WaveLab UI and workflow.  I know some people really like Sony Sound Forge, but I don't have any experience with it.  Price / performance, I think SAM SE offers the best bang for the buck, but it also has the slowest / steepest learning curve.  Not sure which are offering free demos these days, but a poke around their websites should address that easily enough.

[stevetoney]

I can't address the differences between the packages, but I've been an Audition user for a long time since I grandfathered in from Cool Edit days.  What I can say is that Audition 3.0 seems to be a serious RAM hog compared to Audition 1.0, although 3.0 does alot better in workflow.  In other words, where 1.0 might take 10 minutes to convert a show from 24 bit to 16 bit, 3.0 does it quicker.  However, I seem to get far more computer lockups and slower overall multi-tasking performance when I'm using 3.0.  So, for my own purposes, I still use 1.0 and will probably keep using 1.0 until I upgrade my PC.  You said you have an older PC, so you should definitely get a test version of Audition before purchasing to make sure your machine can handle it.