check this unit out http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/UAD1eExpert/
I'm generally happy to pay a few bucks for good tools, but $1k's
way out of my pricerange. I should've indicated I'm thinking more like, uhm...freeware or shareware.
You dont like Wavelab or Samplitude, etc, Brian?Or is it the lack of support for those on LINUX that turned you towards Audacity?
I loathe Wavelab. I really wanted to like it, because it's speed performance is far superior to Audition, but the UI simply sucks eggs. I love the Adobe Audition UI, find it an absolute breeze. But it's speed performance is not so breezey. It's simply too slow for 24-bit multitrack stuff - slow to open, slow to process, slow to save, etc. It never bothered me for 16-bit 2-channel, bothered me a little for 24-bit 2-channel, and drives me nuts for 24-bit 4-channel.
And yes, you hit on the real kicker, which I neglected to mention: I'm wanting something I can run on Linux since I'll eventually make the switch to Linux as my primary desktop OS. I'd rather not dual boot or keep a separate PC around simply for audio processing.
Of course if audacity does all you need it to ,then nevermind.
Audacity -almost- does everything I need. While it doesn't do everything with the utmost quality, I find it's generally Good Enough. I'm not especially fond of its dither (wish I could use the iZotope Ozone Megabitmax plugin), but it's acceptable. It's resampling doesn't sound bad to my ears, so that'll do for now (and besides, I only need resampling for the recordings I distribute to the masses, I'll listen to the full-quality sources). But I
really need a good, functioning compressor. And I anticipate wanting the parametric EQ as I slowly get more involved in post-production futzing.
I think I really need to fire up Linux and Audacity so I can see if the LADSPA plug-ins are any better (not sure how they could be worse than the VST Enabler). And I've not explored to see if there are other Linux-compatible audio editors (I'm sure there are), so that's another step in the process, as well.
I like all the Voxengo, and Elemental Audio plugs.
Yeah, I like the Voxengo ones, too. And they're generally reasonably priced. But they don't work in Audacity. I think I've tried some Elemental Audio plugs, too, but can't recall for sure - I'll give 'em a go again, but pretty sure they won't work, either. Damn Audacity's sucky VST Enabler.
A legit copy of samp can be found cheap on ebay, and the update to a current version would only be about 150 bucks.
Thanks for the feedback, Teddy. I know you fluff Samplitude regularly, and if I can't find what I need for Audacity (which is looking increasingly likely) in order to make the switch to Linux, I'll definitely give Samplitude a try.