Customer Reviews

Cakewalk Pyro Audio Creator

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

 

 

I don't usually write reviews and when I do they are usually short ones. I'm generally pretty satisfied with stuff I buy because I research before purchase. Back in 2004, I started using an audio program called Cakewalk Pyro 2003. It was a pretty awesome program that allowed me to do exactly what I wanted to do - switch from analog cassette recording to digital PC to CD recording and still make "blended" recordings. By "blended" I actually mean crossfading...which is overlapping the audio at the beginning and end of each track. I did it for years with two CD players, an audio mixer and a cassette deck. By the way, I bought my first PC in 1991 and am on my ninth one now. I know what I'm doing.

Pyro 2003 allowed me to do the same thing on my PC and then burn the project to a CD...yielding a very pleasant, professional series of songs, overlapped with the next succeeding one with no break in the music. Then I bought a new PC with Windows Vista. Pyro 2003 wouldn't work on it and Cakewalk had no other "Pyro" program that would work on Vista. Then late last year (unknown to me) Cakewalk released "Pyro Audio Creator"; their new program that does audio editing (among other things) and though it is supposed to work with XP, it is specifically "recommended for Vista". I discovered it online and rushed out to buy it.

After installation, the first thing you see is a "bug sheet" that pops up telling you all the problems this program still has. I reviewed it but figured it would still work for me. First problem...no audio. After reinstalling, still no audio. Found two patches at Cakewalk's website for "version 1.0" of this program but nowhere, anywhere on anything does it say what version this program is. Plus, in order to download the patches, you have to "register" the program. Once registered, you can't return it or sell it to anybody else. Oh well. So I went ahead and installed the two patches. GREAT....have audio now.

I read the online instructions and tried to create my first Pyro "project". Pyro 2003 was a neat program that you could figure out easily and had a great interface. Things work like you expected them to. But this one, Pyro Audio Creator, is way too complex and is supposed do things only people in a pro sound studio would want to do...and I guarantee you they wouldn't be doing it with a $40.00 program. To move around in this program and set up your audio tracks is way, way too cumbersome, takes way too many clicks and (get this) with Vista (the "recommended" operating system) drag and drop in not functional. By now I'm not happy.

After playing with my project, I go to burn it to CD, but guess what...there is no option to do that like in Pyro 2003. I have to save it (I guess) and go to the "burning" part of the program to burn it. I save it, which takes about 5 minutes, and then I go to the burn section and can't find my project now because it didn't tell me where it saved it. I have to do a hard drive search to find it.

By now I've spend about 5 hours trying to get this overpriced roll of toilet paper to work so I decided to take a break and watch a movie with my son. I turned the monitor off but left the PC running. Two hours later I return for more gnashing of teeth and discover my PC has entered Vista's new "Auto Repair mode" in an attempt to save the operating system from death. Auto repair finally stops and the PC reboots. My wallpaper is different and, guess what, Pyro Audio Creator is completely gone. Windows uninstalled it. Vista must be pretty smart - it recognizes garbage and gets rid of it automatically. I wonder what else I've lost but just haven't discovered yet.

Bottom Line: No refunds allowed, email tech support only (yeah that will work) and I'm out not only the 40 bucks plus tax but I still don't have a program to do my music. Cakewalk can contact me and give me a refund or I'm going to plaster this review everywhere I can on the internet. Awful program, awful program with known bugs, awful program that doesn't work, awful program that endangers your computer. This is a "Don't Buy"!

I read the gentleman's review that said that his Vista OS computer recovered and eliminated this so-called garbage. I'm not sure what was going on with his machine but my experience has been uneventful and mildly challenging. My partner tells me that I'm particularly patient and tenacious so keep that in mind if you read this review.

My prior experience was with Pyro 2004 which I was using on an XP box. The Pyro 2004 user interface was pretty easy to understand since it incorporated it's own explorer for adding files to a project. Pyro Audio Creator has a new user interface that allows drag and drop using Windows explorer and the various modules of the tool bar. Cakewalk offers videos and the help system to bring a user up to speed with the new user interface. I used Pyro Audio Creator this October to record radio broadcasts of the Presidential debates so I could share them with my partner. This was easily accomplished without any difficulty.

I realize I could use a program like Audacity (a free program) but I liked the easier interface and tools that Pyro 2004 offered for recording a vinyl album and easily splitting it into different tracks and saving them as different files. This is possible with Audacity but not quite as easily.

I bought a new computer with the Vista OS SP1 this summer and I looked on Cakewalk's website and found that Pyro 2004 doesn't work with the new OS. I purchased Pyro Audio Creator and found the user interface to be drastically different. I even started thinking that Pyro Audio Creator left out some functionality that was important to me in Pyro 2004 but then I spent a little time with the help files and learned more about how to use the program. Now, I see it as quite a good purchase for my Vista box.

I think if you are a pod caster you'll find this program more than adequate at handling your recording and editing chores. For Vista users it is an excellent choice.

I think with a program that costs about as much as a couple of sacks of groceries, telephone support would be a little difficult for any company to supply. Like many other companies selling audio hardware or software the product forums wind up being where much of the product support is served to the customer. The product forums require some effort to find answers to your particular problem. They can be a good place to research a product. I also have Cakewalk Sonar Home Studio XL6 and read the forums for that software before purchasing just so I could have an idea about what to expect in the way of problems and solutions. Audio driver issues can be tricky with audio recording software programs. In many of the Cakewalk forums it seems they bring up ASIO4ALL (free ASIO driver software). Some of the forum members are quite dedicated and helpful.

Just today since I have some time to learn about Pyro Audio Creator, I learned that the program has some key features available from the system tray icon. That seems a novel way to avoid a menu on the toolbar interface. So it was there that I learned there is an update available now for my installed version. I haven't applied the update for this program yet since it seems to work fine as it came from Cakewalk.

I bought this mainly looking for replacement software for Roxio V.6 program I had been using a long time. In the Roxio program, a major feature that I loved was the crossfading. However, that older version of Easy CD Creator didn't really have normalizing so I was hoping that Pyro would contain the best of both worlds. Well, yes, you can crossfade & normalize in the editor module of the program but it's pretty time-consuming and much more cumbersome than the Roxio method of having the track titles laid out - in Pyro, you have to do this in an editor view. One other major problem I had was it took me a few days and a couple of software update downloads before I got the program to recognize my burner. The version I bought was 1.0.2 and I finally discovered - through no help from Cakewalk support - that I needed to download the 1.5 patch and then it finally recognized my burner. Man, I was messing around with the IMAPI setting in my computer, the System Admin tools, and nearly pulling my hair out before I tried the latest download. But, having said all that, it does appear to be a basically good program for the recording engineer in you and if you have the time to spend with it. It's just not what I was looking for but it may prove to be a great program for you.
UPDATE: Since getting used to this program and learning how to do the things with it I wanted it to do, I'm actually kind of getting hooked on it. So, if you do decide to buy Pyro Audio Creator, just be sure to download the latest patch for 1.5 for it to work properly with XP. Someone said that support was non-existent, I've found that to not be the case. Their email support will get back to you in a few days after you contact them. So, I can now say I do recommend this program for it's features & value.

I have been a long time user of Cakewalk's Pyro 2003 and 2004 and just loved both products. I was saddened when neither would work with my new computer (vista based). But I bought this, knowing for sure it would be like the other two. Man, was I gravely mistaken. The original 1.0 version would not allow me to burn anything I recorded. So I downloaded the 1.5 upgrade. At first it would only record for a few seconds and then quit. After reinstalling I solved this problem, but then found that anytime I recorded anything it would truncate up to several minutes off the end of the recording. When I uninstalled and reinstalled the 1.0 version, it would still cut off the last portion of any recording. Just so frustrating. It appears that Cakewalk just hurriedly put together a product that would be vista-compatible. While they did make it vista compatible, they forgot that they needed to make it functional.

All I can say is, never again Cakewalk. You just destroyed 5 years of trust from a formerly satisfied customer.

I have used previous versions of Pyro with great success. After getting a new Windows 7 64 bit computer, unfortunately the previous versions would not work. I upgraded to this unfortunate newest version and wish I had looked elsewhere. It appears there are now 6 separate programs that can be launched from a main menu form. The seemless integration of all features is completely gone. Of particular disappointment is the Editor. The interface is very clunky and the main waveform editor screen does not properly track the current file being played/edited. What you hear is not what you see.

To their credit, this sorry program DOES work on a Windows 7 64 bit computer. However, the user interface is a major step backwards.

It would not surprise me if the CakeWalk folks went out and purchased 6 separate programs that worked on Windows 7 and half-hazardly put their own menu system on them to make it appear they are all developed by the same company.

If you have never used CakeWalk Pyro before AND want a program that works a bit clunkily on Windows 7 AND you don't have the time to research other programs AND have some extra cash to burn, then this is the program for you. Otherwise, I would highly suggest looking at any other option before buying this sorry piece of software.

I have to agree with the others who didn't like this software. I'm using Vista Home Premium. My CD / DVD drive is labeled "F" and the cd wouldn't even install from that drive. It would just freeze up. I was able to copy all the files to my "E" hard drive and install it from there. I used it a couple of times and besides being clumsy and hard to use, it kept crashing. I even tried installing it on my XP system. It installed much better, but still crashed.
Don't waste your money.

This program jammed repeatedly after minimum use - it has known bugs and customer support doesn't really exist. You get an answering machine with the phone number listed for "support" and the email support goes to nowhere with no response. TOTAL waste of money (even though its only $[...]) - Look at Sony Sound Forge instead. Yes, the Sony Sound Forge is about [...] bucks more expensive - but - it works FLAWLESSLY. You cannot get your money back for the Cakewalk Pyro Audio Creator - so - I ended up completely losing the $[...] I wasted on Cakewalk. I rarely write reviews, but I felt totally ripped off by Cakewalk - so - I felt compelled to let the public know the truth. Do not, I repeat, do not buy a Cakewalk product - you are essentially throwing away your money.

A really good software package that generally easy to navigate and simple to use. Very inexpensive but quite effective. I highly recommend this software package for anyone wanting to record audio!!!!!!!!!

The old Pyro 2003 and Pyro 5 programs were the greatest for assembling miscellaneous songs into a personal entertainment CD. However, the Pyro Audio Creator 1.5 is nothing like the older ones; it is not user friendly, and THE NAME PYRO IS MISLEADING ON THIS PRODUCT.

In the older Pyro versions it was easy to select songs from various folders, change the order of the songs in list view or wave view, change the playback level of the songs, set a gap between songs, etc.

NONE OF THESE FEATURES ARE CONVENIENTLY AVAILABLE IN Pyro Audio Creator. For example, to change the playback level of a song, you have to open the file in the audio editor (a separate program), make the changes and then save the file (Saving the modified file seems to be a very slow process, as if you are recording it over the old file). This is a very time consuming process compared to the old Pyro where you simply adjusted the level of each song with a slider in wave view. The advanced features in the Audio Creator are of no use to someone who simply wants to make a CD for their personal entertainment. I have most of these advanced features in Sonar, but that is a studio situation, not personal entertainment.

Again, THE NAME PYRO IS MISLEADING ON THIS PRODUCT. It's similar to the Second Generation Mustang cars in the late 70s; they were weak compact cars that simply had the name Mustang. They degraded the names Mustang and Ford. Cakewalk has made a big mistake by using the name Pyro on this new product. It has degraded the name Pyro and Cakewalk by misleading previous users into buying what they thought was an updated version of a reliable product. IT IS NOT. Pyro Audio Creator is a totally different product. DO NOT buy it.

In such a competitive market, having to pay for a marginal product such as this as well as all the other Calkwalk products, one would expect a reasonable level of support. I personally made a couple of attempts to get support and no response. I would recommend trying a plethora of freeware or shareware, or stick with embedded apps with other products like Nero or products that come with the OS.