Customer Reviews

Sound Forge Audio Studio 9 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

For years I've used different audio editors from Steinberg's Wavelab, to Cool Edit Pro (now owned by Adobe), to Soundforge's current only real rival Audacity (which is free), which I still currently have on PC. I still choose Soundforge (like Willie Hutch sang), and here's why: There is no other affordable audio editing program that has the ease and workflow of Sound Forge.

There are the high end programs and plug ins like TDM Waves, but unless you are running a multi-plantinum artist recording studio you most likely don't need a program like this, and wouldn't get any mileage out of it if you did have it. Soundforge is a good place to hone your audio editing skills. Alot of people always think they have to use the most full blown and expensive versions of audio, music, and video programs, but a good program won't make up for a lack of skills.

That said I currently use Sound Forge Studio with a suite of Sony plug-ins, and some Focusrite Saffire audio plug-ins (which are very good). It should be noted also that Sound Forge Studio 9 has more features than many of the older versions of Sound Forge Pro (which are probably floating around the internet, not recommended). The Vinyl Recording (once you tweek the settings) feature is great, it can use VST and Direct X plug-ins, and it works hand in hand with the other suite of Sony Creative programs (Vegas Studio 9 Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 Platinum Pro Pack, Acid MusicACID Music Studio 7) which I own.

I've had no problems with installation on both a laptop and desktop, and have mixed and edited my own recordings, converted non-copy protected songs I purchased to MP3s with my own mix settings, and have converted a small part of my vinyl catalog to digital. If someone is having installation problems they should make sure they uninstall all older versions of Sound Forge, especially the old Sonic Foundry versions, that may help...

Sound Forge vs. Audacity

Audacity is a great program and if money is an issue this a good place to start using auditor software, being that its free. There are alot of third party plug-ins available for Audacity, however, for me Audacity does not have the speed and workflow of Sound Forge, and there are many tasks in Sound Forge that are done in one mouse click, that would take multiple clicks in Audacity, it also does not natively support as many file formats as Sound Forge, such as windows media audio, which is a downside for me.

Overall, people may have their pro and cons, and yes the Sony registration can be a bit annoying, but in terms of ease of use and reliability Sound Forge studio has been great.

As a last point, it does take some audio know how to get the most out of SF hence the four stars, you may have to select either Microsoft Sound Mapper (if you don't have a high end soundcard), or use the ASIO drivers (at least under Windows XP) under preferences to get the most out your sound playback. Enjoy.....

Also recommended Steinberg Cubase Essential 4 - Personal Music Production - Windows Macintosh, Ableton Live 7 LE - Windows and Macintosh, Focusrite Saffire LE 6 In/8 Out Version 2 Firewire Audio Interface

For my purposes, Audio Studio is a really nice editing program. I do not use it to create my own music, but only to edit existing music files. My husband is a drama teacher, so we're often mixing and splicing music to get the right amount of time for a certain piece. I also edit curse words out of lyrics so that his students can listen to a musical without warranting a parental advisory. For this, Audio Studio 9 is very user friendly and includes all the tools to do so, if you're creative.
My only beef is the bogus claim that its "Vocal Eraser" can erase vocals and create a karaoke track. NOT AT ALL TRUE! Every music file I have tried, you can still hear the lyrics very clearly. They may be more faint, but they are far from removed. You cannot use the vocal eraser to create a background track, nor to remove curse words. But, other than that, it Audio Studio performs as advertised.

I am using Windows XP Home version. Installed the program. Registered the program with Sony. Program ran OK immediately after installation. Tried to run in again several days later and got following error message: "This application has failed to start because AudioStudio90k.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem."

I re-installed the program, and it asked me to register the program again! Not knowing if Sony would let me register it twice, I took the "Register later" option. I was able to use it for one session immediately after re-installation. I tried to use it again [for a third time], about a week later and got the SAME error message that "AudioStudio90k.dll was not found."

I have not installed or removed any other programs since I first installed/re-installed Sound Forge Audio Studio 9.

I went to the Sony support, FAQs but found nothing that matched my problem. Tried to submit as a technical question. This was not easy since they ask you a question you have to be able to load the program to get the answer to. Finally was able to fake my way through and submitted my question including the error message. Got an automated response that suggested things I had already eliminated. It thought I was having trouble activating the program, to which I responded I am not having trouble activating my software; I'm having trouble KEEPING it activated.

Finally got in touch with a person via their e-mail system. Her suggestion was long and complicated and required me to change the registry, but in order to do THAT, I had to download a program that saves registry settings. This is crazy. I didn't even have the warm and fuzzy feeling that this solution was going to fix my problem [much less that I would badly screw up something else], so I tried to get back on their e-mail and open my problem number. Couldn't do it; they didn't recognize the problem number, me, or anything else. What a joke for tech support. Sony should have an update that fixes this problem.

And guess what the upshot of all this is. Using Windows Explorer, I found the .dll file the program is looking for IN THE FOLDER THE INSTALLATION ITSELF CREATED !!!!

Update 10/20/2009:

I placed a copy of the .dll file in EVERY directory and sub-directory of the program folders, and it still couldn't find it.

This is my first and last Sony software.

I first purchased Cakewalk Pyro which was 20 bucks cheaper - the Cakewalk jammed on me multiple times half way through recording sessions, no customer support reponse, etc. Terrible product. So, then I purchased the Sony Sound Forge. Beautiful, smooth, flawless recording program - twelve times better than the Cakewalk Pyro. Never jammed on me - not even once. I got a real person when I called customer support with a minor issue (not an answering machine like I got with Cakewalk). This is the best alternative to a true high end professional recording software program. Well worth the price - BRAVO Sony!!

I used sound forge to edit two albums in 1997 and 2001, so I ordered the latest version to continue working on editing. My recording is done on a Boss 1600 CD so I figured the Audio Studio 9 would be adequate for my purposes. I recieved my package in a timely manner and began using it immediately. It had all the features I worked with a decade ago, in an easy to use more streamlined form and am continually discovering more functions that are useful. So far it is a nine and one-half out of ten. Ken Stroker Columbia, Missouri

Make sure you download the trial versions from Sony's website BEFORE making a purchase. Make sure you know the difference between the Sony Audio products (many of the features seem to overlap).

Does what I wanted it to do, and didn't find many good alternatives. No crashes or other problems. Has a very old, sad looking interface. Not that intuitive to use. If you want to import a video mpg file so you can edit the audio, you'll need to buy a $30 Sony codec!!! Considering there are very good opensource mpeg codecs out there, this seems crazy. BTW, the audio file you edit this way will be saved as an audio file (wav). You'll then need to add that file back into the video with a video editor.

PROs
Does the job

CONs
Sad, old, counter-intuitive interface
Extra cost of plug-ins (codecs etc.)
Don't think this can capture audio streams from the Internets

Sound Forge is a simple and effective audio engineering and recording tool. It could also, in the way of recording, be used for vinyl to go to mp3, not to mention, you could record vocals, and instrumentation as well if you had the proper equipment. As well, you can use it to edit and master your audio or add effects, mix or remove vocals for the sake of using them, if you cared to, for karaoke. Sony bought the rights from Sonic Foundry for this program and it has always been great.

Sound Forge Audio Studio 9 Compared to other Sony audio editing products this seems a bargain. But once again the old adage applies.
Free shareware Audacity offers more features, particularly automatic parsing of recordings into individual tracks. Sound Forge suggests users create multiple files, one for each track. Lame.
What is most disappointing, however, is Sony's technical support. There is NONE. ZIP. ZERO. Two simple questions posted properly have gone unanswered for weeks. No reason to believe that third time would be a charm.

I like the software. Does what it advertise it would do. I have not had any problems.

I am not very experiened in wave editing. I want to record my old vinyl lps to use on both my cd player and my iPod. After exploring several programs, I chose Sound Forge Audio Studio 9. This is a very solid program.
I have a bit to learn, but that is reasonable. When embarking on a totally new course, I expect to have to learn new things and master new skills.
What I have also learned about what I am doing is that if you really want to do it right, you need to make sure the hardware you are using is working right and installed correctly. I had to rebuild my old BIC 980 turntable. That included getting a new stylus, replacing the platter ballbearings, replacing the belt and lubricating the turntable. It also required properly mounting and aligning my cartridge.
Finally, I had to work through the various issues in terms of connecting it to my computer. There are many ways to do that. I have finally chosen to go directly from my stereo to my computer and that required learning about and dealing with ground loop issues. It also required getting a new audio board to replace the on-board audio that came with my motherboard.
The waves I am recording now are about as pure as I could hope for. They require no filtering.