Cakewalk Pyro

by Cakewalk

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8.2 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004U8LD
• Item model number: 10-CWPY1.00-10C
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 6, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,315 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #35 in Software > Video & Music > MP3 Software
  • #67 in Software > Video & Music > CD Burning & Labeling > Mastering & Burning
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Cakewalk's Pyro organizes and converts the digital music that flows between the tech-lovin' audiophile's computer and his or her home stereo, portable MP3 player, or preferred new-fangled audio device. It's not the first all-in-one software product of its kind, but it does offer unique sound-processing enhancements and CD-creation tools--from burning to labeling--that may appeal to users who wish to customize files with sound effects.

Getting started is a breeze: select media files from your hard drive or CD, click a button, and wait as the tracks convert into your desired format. Once converted, the tracks can be played through the integrated media player. Environmental Sound Processing effects optimize the MP3 and WMA audio output (CD audio is unaffected). These effects sculpt the sound for listening via headphones, a desktop system's speakers, or a home stereo. Other settings simulate a concert hall, stadium, and orchestra hall, among other environments, adding flavor to certain recordings. Customizable effects such as flange, chorus, delay/echo, and reverb are available as well, though the advanced-controls interface may intimidate some. Home-recording enthusiasts will benefit most from these effects (and hundreds of additional downloadable DirectX effects), since the settings can be permanently affixed to sound files. General users who simply want to turn their favorite CDs into MP3s will likely play around with these effects a few times for entertainment value, then ignore them.

Moving the tunes off your hard drive is, in theory, a snap: a few clicks send your files to a portable media player or onto a blank CD. However, both options have potential limitations. Only a few portable players--Creative Labs's and S2/Diamond's most popular brands--are compatible with Pyro. The CD-burning function supports a wider range of popular CD-R/CD-RW drives, though our ostensibly compatible model (HP 8100 CD-Writer Plus) refused to successfully burn a CD after numerous tweaks.

When properly configured with the user's hardware, Pyro provides plenty of sound-sculpting options for the amateur music engineer. But for those who simply wish to convert CD tracks to MP3 or WMA files for general listening, one of the dozens of other popular--and often free--programs may provide a more economical, no-nonsense solution. --Eric Twelker

Amazon.com Product Description

Pyro provides a complete system for recording, playing, and organizing your favorite digital music. Burn CDs, make MP3s, or turn your PC into a customized jukebox. Start "ripping" songs from your CDs, LPs, and cassettes and turning them into MP3 or WAV files. From there, it's easy to listen to your music on your PC, export to portable MP3 players like RIO and NOMAD, or make a custom CD. Need help? FastForward Tutorials are there for you when you need them, and Environmental Sound Processing (ESP) optimizes the sound of your digital music in any environment you choose.

Pyro is compatible with many industry CD-R and CD-RW recordable drives. Some supported manufacturers are Acer, Backpack, BTC, Creative, CyberDrive, Delta, Hi-Val, HP, IMATION, Iodata, Iomega, I/O Magic, JVC, Kodak, LG (Goldstar), Matsushita, Maxell, Memorex, Mitsubishi, Mitsumi, NEC, Olympus, Pacific Digital, Philips, Pinnacle, Pioneer, Plasmon, Plextor, QPS, Ricoh, RWD, Samung, Sanyo, Smart and Friendly, Sony, TDK, Teac, Toshiba, Traxdata, Waitec, Wearnes, and Yamaha

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Pyro-Mania" - It Works Fine For Me, January 2, 2001

By 

edzaf (Chandler, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cakewalk Pyro (CD-ROM)

I was having a hard time finding the right software to burn CDs (particulary with Adaptec's Easy CD Creator). From the reviews that I have read here, I may be in the minority, but Cakewalk's Pyro has been a wonderful program to work with. I have only had to toss a bad CD a couple times in dozens of instances - a vast improvment from the stack of "coasters" that piled up with other programs.

What I particularly liked about Pyro was its ability to work with different file formats (and in my experience successful complete one). You can burn MP3s right onto a CD without converting it to another file format. Additionally, I have heavily used the "ripping" feature which allows you to convert your own CDs to digital files (MP3s, WAVs, etc.). It also allows you to set a bitrate for your "ripped" music to help control the sometimes out-of-control files sizes (I have well over a gigabtye of MP3s on my computer right now these files tend to take up. Another terrific feature is that when you load a CD to "rip" you can download the CD's song titles and artist(s) via CD Database (CDDB) -- so no typing in file names! (The registration for this service is free and I have not received any spam e-mails from it). The audio player in the program seems more stable than other players (i.e. RealPlayer) I have used - though it certainly is not a full-featured "jukebox" type program. Finally, another nice Pyro feature is the ability to put in customized gaps between tracks prior to burning.

However, I am taking away one star for one fairly consistent problem. Pyro, at times, is unable to recognize MP3 downloads from that very popular online music "sharing" community. Often these MP3 files are said to be "corrupted" or not in the proper format (and thus can not be listened to and/or burned with Pyro). The same files DO work on other players and programs that I have. So this is my only substantive complaint with the program. For those with high speed modems, it might not take long to replace it with another file but for me and my measly phone line modem it is not worth the time.

Overall, I have been very pleased with Pyro. It has saved me a lot of time and aggravation and the ripping ability/features was worth the price of the software alone. Obviously, it appears this is not the case with everyone but I would recommend giving Pyro a try.

41 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pyro review, June 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Cakewalk Pyro (CD-ROM)

I did use a demo version of this and was impressed. It is a combination of Spin Doctor and Easy CD Creator (except you can burn MP3s to CD). This program should sell many copies, especially at its low price...

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy and powerful software at a great price., January 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Cakewalk Pyro (CD-ROM)

Pyro is awesome! I had no trouble installing, and was burning CDs within minutes. Pyro quickly found my CD burner, and located my mp3, WMA and WAV files. I've been making my own compilation CDs and converting some of my favorite CD tracks to mp3, now they're small enough for storage or to e mail to friends. The label maker is really cool because you can import your own pictures and text. Pyro automatically finds album and song titles on my CDs. It also records audio, and it was easy to connect my old turntable and transfer songs off some old records and tapes, then enhance the sound with EQ and other effects. This thing is the bomb!