SOUND FORGE 9.0 has been released - AND IT ROCKS!!

[JonUrban]

For you old timers (like me) with hard habits to break, there's a new version of the venerable "Sound Forge" on the horizon. Looking at the screen shot, it appears to be more like Vegas than Sound Forge. Not sure if that's good or bad, but at least it appears to be set up for surround. Check out the little "scope" displays in the upper right screen shot. Reminds me of a QX-949A!


The Sound Forge® 9 professional digital audio production suite includes everything you need to quickly get from raw audio to finished master. Create and edit stereo or multichannel audio files, analyze, record and edit audio, digitize and restore old recordings, design sound for multimedia, and master replication-ready CDs. Works with Windows® Vista™.

FEATURES

• A complete professional audio production suite
• Open, edit and save stereo or multichannel audio files
• Digitize and clean up old recordings
• Includes powerful processing and mastering tools
• Master replication-ready CDs

Comes with Application DVD which includes Sound Forge 9.0, CD Architect 5.2, Noise Reduction 2.0 plug-ins, Mastering Effects Bundle powered by iZotope, over 40 DirectX® plug-ins, Acoustic Mirror environment and microphone modeling software, and online help

 

[JonUrban]

It's out. $149 upgrade from any version of Sound Forge

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/products/product.asp?PID=431


Recording/Playback

Multichannel Audio Recording New!

With Sound Forge 9 software, you can record multichannel audio when using multichannel sound card devices. Each audio stream can be set to a particular channel, and be edited in the Sound Forge interface just like a stereo file. Some scenarios where you could use Sound Forge 9 software for multichannel recording include:

• Using surround microphones and preamps for recording in multichannel configurations
• For court recording and transcription
• Recording audio for a multichannel surround sound environment in real time, including Foley work and individual instruments
• 5.1 multichannel recordings for television and other broadcast formats
• Recording and preparing files for use on surround sound DVDs
• Recording multichannel audio streams from streaming content such as multichannel .wma files
• Recording multiple sources simultanouesly, including voice, telephone, radio station, or other sound sources
• Recording for video game developers for delivery in multichannel format

 

[JonUrban]

It showed up today, and I just barely am into it, but it seems to be pretty nice. I was SHOCKED that I could create a surround sound wav file in 4.0, 5.1, and 7.1. How is this possible?

I attached a screen shot below. I created a "new" Quad wav file, then pasted the 4 24/96 mono wav files I had from the song "Band on the Run" that I recorded from my Q8, and using the Creative ASIO outputs on my X-Fi, I was able to play the four files back is "QUAD"!!!

This has great possibilities for conversions, as I can now adjust things like volume levels, NR, tape clicks and pops, while auditioning all 4 (or more) channels at once.

This is awesome! :banana:

I saved the file as a single wav file, then opened it up in AA 2.0, just to see what would happen. AA opened it up as 4 independant mono wav files.

I am still not sure what I have here. I have never heard of a wav file with more than two channels, but then again, I am not really up to speed on a lot of things.

So far, though, this is pretty sweet! :sun

PS - On the screen cap below, I "blew up" the drop down box so you could all get a better view of it.

 

[Bob Romano]

Does the setup seem the same as Vegas? Or is this seemingly a totally new setup?

 

[JonUrban]

It's very different. Here I figured out how to get individual channel level meters up, and a spectrum for each channel. This is a 4 channel reel wav of "Be Thankful For What You Got".

Now I have to see how it works when you try and work on the channels together or one by one. This may actually motivate me to do some "work"!

 

[JonUrban]

OK, I'm going to "gloat" a bit more. I found something that will save me a lot of time, and it works great.

SCENARIO "OLD": Record a quad tape to 4 mono channels, and you have an entire 40+ minute album. Now, to extract one song from it, in the past I would have opened up all 4 wav files, painstakingly extracted the song from exact milliseconds start to finish, 4 times, then paste them into 4 seperate mono wav files, then compare to make sure I did not screw up and that all 4 files were the same length.

SENARIO "NEW": Paste the 4 mono files from the tape into a new 4 channel wav file, cut the song out all together all 4 channels at once, then paste it into a new 4 channel wav file and you are DONE!


Other things I've noticed: Not all plug ins work on multichannel wav files. The Sound Forge included ones do, like EQ, but third party tools come up with an error, proclaiming "too many channels". It's funny because with SF9, you get NR2.0 (which I think I paid $300 back in the day), CD Architect 5.2, and the iZotope mastering suite. However, the mastering suite does not work on more than two channels.

So, there you are limited...........................more to come.

 

[JonUrban]

More Stuff:

1) The 4 channel wav file is great for dealing with "reversed channels" on some Q8's. Using the 4 mono files, you can just paste them into a 4 channel wav file in any order you like, listen, then repaste until it sounds good! It's very fast. I took the Steely Dan tune "My Old School", and swapped 1+3, and the improvement was amazing. It only took a minute and I was auditioning. Even faster than swapping cables for playback, and better because you can "watch" the wav files go by while playing.

2) You can select 1, 2, 3, or all 4 channels in the '4 channel wav file' with the mouse. So, you can highlight say 1+2, then all of the stereo plug ins will work, only on those two channels. This means you don't have to break them apart to apply NR or volume adjustment. You can work on any individual channel, or subgroups of 2 if the plug in does not support more than 2.

See the screen shot below - Here I have only the front channels selected. This allows all stereo plug ins to work.

 

[timbre4]

Wow, I usually get SONY upgrade notices right away but this is the first I've seen. $150 is a steal and I make work pay for it too!

When I was archiving Fostex 8 channel reels (1/4" tape), I ran the 1010 card into a Vegas template that armed 8 channels for recording. Worked great except the track naming convention is SO incoherent as to be confusing.

Most of the 5.1 stuff I've built is in ACID which has worked very well overall. One nasty bug? Do NOT resize track height or window size while audio is playing. INSTANT crash and you're working with a restored file to get back to where you were.

A multi-channel Sound Forge boggles the mind a bit! Was dreading working the archive reel tracks in Vegas because I couldn't do what I can do in SF. This is more exciting as I think about it; procrastination rules!

I've been using SF since 2.0 and many many projects got done with it. Even my son uses it to record narration for train videos he voices characters for. Just good stuff...

 

[JonUrban]

Oh well, the recording section of the program isn't that great.

It does record, multichannel and all, but it's not like Vegas in that while it is recording, you don't see the wav files being recorded, you just see a red box flashing "recording".

I prefer to see the wav files during recording so I can see if there is an amplitude problem, a dead channel, or some other anomoly.

 

[JonUrban]

Wow, I usually get SONY upgrade notices right away but this is the first I've seen. $150 is a steal and I make work pay for it too!

When I was archiving Fostex 8 channel reels (1/4" tape), I ran the 1010 card into a Vegas template that armed 8 channels for recording. Worked great except the track naming convention is SO incoherent as to be confusing.

Most of the 5.1 stuff I've built is in ACID which has worked very well overall. One nasty bug? Do NOT resize track height or window size while audio is playing. INSTANT crash and you're working with a restored file to get back to where you were.

A multi-channel Sound Forge boggles the mind a bit! Was dreading working the archive reel tracks in Vegas because I couldn't do what I can do in SF. This is more exciting as I think about it; procrastination rules!

I've been using SF since 2.0 and many many projects got done with it. Even my son uses it to record narration for train videos he voices characters for. Just good stuff...

Tim,

This is really a great deal for $150. The bad part is I already had NR 2.0, CDA 5.2, and iZotope, but the program is improved so much that it does not matter. If you are used to using SF, than this is a no brainer.

 

[timbre4]

I also have the NR 2.0 & CD Architect 5.x but I'm going to order it right now.

 

[neil wilkes]

This is all stuff we've been able to do in Nuendo since 2000, and in Cubase since SX1.
Multichannel interleaved WAV files really are the best way to work & it's good if you can now do this in SF.
Trouble is, the VST SDK is currently at version 2.4 publicly, which means multichannel plugins need to be specially written. Synthedit can also make good ones.
The good news is that the VST 3 SDK will have a switch in it making all plugins written using the SDK mono to multichannel compatible, with up to 8 channels available instantly. Insert the plug into a mono track & it will be mono, insert it into a Quad track & it will be quad etc.

Can SF9 create a 4.0 channel, and record or even use a 4 channel interleave? This is vital for maintaining Phase Coherence, especially if there is any form of EQ being done, or even more necessary of any of the plugins being used introduces any form of latency.
To further this, does SF9 have PDC (Plugin Delay Compensation)?
Is it through the entire signal path?

 

[timbre4]

Based on what Jon says, I'd probably keep the Vegas template (8 channels armed) and record there. Happily most if not all of that is done.

The SF sandbox is the place to work based on past experience. If this works the way I think it does I should have a bunch of past MC reel projects on their feet much sooner. I'm sure there's a monkeywrench (spanner?) waiting to reveal itself!

One of my fav plug-ins is the BBE Sonic Maximizer; it was bizarre to sell the outboard rack box and then replace it with the plug-in for about even money. It's two channel, but I should be able to insert multiple instances to tracks, eh? It's mostly for adding sparkle to vinyl, cassettes and similar sources.

Nuendo? Kind of like having On-Star while we're toiling at the CB radio level of sophistication but we are catching up!

 

[neil wilkes]

SF does certainly keep on growing in capability, and even though it's not an editor I use personally, it is very encouraging to see ever more of the serious developers also adding in full multichannel audio support, and better still, making it affordable.
Couple this with the Cirlinca app DVD-Audio Solo, and you really cannot go wrong.

 

[JonUrban]

...............

Can SF9 create a 4.0 channel, and record or even use a 4 channel interleave? This is vital for maintaining Phase Coherence, especially if there is any form of EQ being done, or even more necessary of any of the plugins being used introduces any form of latency.
To further this, does SF9 have PDC (Plugin Delay Compensation)?
Is it through the entire signal path?

Neil,

I am not sure. Is there some way to tell?

 

[JonUrban]

Based on what Jon says, I'd probably keep the Vegas template (8 channels armed) and record there. Happily most if not all of that is done.

The SF sandbox is the place to work based on past experience. If this works the way I think it does I should have a bunch of past MC reel projects on their feet much sooner. I'm sure there's a monkeywrench (spanner?) waiting to reveal itself!

One of my fav plug-ins is the BBE Sonic Maximizer; it was bizarre to sell the outboard rack box and then replace it with the plug-in for about even money. It's two channel, but I should be able to insert multiple instances to tracks, eh? It's mostly for adding sparkle to vinyl, cassettes and similar sources.

Nuendo? Kind of like having On-Star while we're toiling at the CB radio level of sophistication but we are catching up!

Yup! I'm with you, Tim. Vegas is a workhorse at recording 4.0 or 5.1. That's all I use it for, really. In fact, there probably is no reason for me to ever upgrade it again. I'm on version 6, and I probably could have stayed at an earlier revision and been fine.

The best part about SF is that I am comfortable with it, since I started using it long ago like yourself and any changes are easily learned since I have the foundation. AA seems to be a great program, I just can't get the hang of it and am much quicker in the SF user environment.

 

[JonUrban]

NOTE: I just went to the SF Forum to post a question, and found that there is a "special" upgrade promotion for SF8 users - $99!!!!!

It's well worth it. Of course, I already paid the $149.

 

[timbre4]

OH MAN! Mine os shipped and due tomorrow.
1. They have yet to send me ANY upgrade propaganda as usual
2. Now you tell me about a better price

Oh well, it's going on an expense report anyway

BTW - On Vegas I went from version 4.0 to 6.0 because the update for 5.0 (first with HD support) was priced at $250 instead of the usual $150 and I had no justification so I waited.