Customer Reviews

BIAS Peak LE 4 ( Macintosh )

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm a dual platformer by trade. I teach PCs but just bought my Powerbook G4 after a brief trip to the dark side (6 years since my last Mac). A born-again Mac Addict. I use CDwave for PC to track out live concert discs. It is simple and made solely made to record. split and export audio files. That left me searching for something comparable for Mac without buying a $500 software package that does more than I'm ready for now.

I just bought Peak LE after trying out the trialware. I saw it in the Apple Store and decided to try it. The saleslady actually recommended Sound Studio which is $50 instead of the $99 retail fpr Peak LE. And they don't even carry it. I tried Sound Studio first but it crashes anytime you try to do something...and I have 1Ghz Powerbook (fixed permissions and all). I read that Sound Studio is prone to this and has done little to fix the problem. Prior to finding either program, I tried the free audio software, Audacity, but it is too complex for what I need. It is difficult to understand and manipulate. It also has little support and documentation.

So I tried Peak LE and found it to be just the right amount of power I need for my means. I record live concerts (by permission of the bands) onto DAT, transfer to CD and track in a non-linear editor (i.e. Peak LE). The most I need to do is fade-in and -out and other simple operations. In addition, you can even burn discs straight from Peak LE. DAO is the default settings with 0.00s gaps between tracks! The online documentation is excellent and it helped teach me to use the software before i even bought it!

There are only a few criticisms of the software/packaging. A printed version of the 80-page manual and 50-page tutorials with the retail version of the software. I know I'm a slave to paper. I also wish I could edit the markers and regions in a list format. Other than that, it's perfect!

i have a large collection of LP's that I am finally committed to getting into iTunes. I was using Audacity but it lacked a few features I could use to make the job easier so I got the trial version of PeakLE. It's a great program but lacks one very important feature. You can break a long recording into smaller units (think LP's broken up into tracks) BUT you can only write those tracks out to CD. In this version of the program you can't save them to files. This means you I would have to write each LP out to CD then import the CD into iTunes. Not going to happen. The non LE version of the software allows regions (as they call the smaller units) to be written to disk. Unfortunately that version is around $350.

On well it's either Audacity or Sound Studio.

With so many audio editing programs out there that are easy to use and productive, this one was a complete waste of time and money. Editing is cumbersome and much for difficult to do than should possibly be. Burning your project to disk is even more unhelpful. Additionally, customer service was even more unsatisfactory than the product.