Sony Audio / Music Studio Software:
Sound Forge Audio Studio 9 and ACID
Music Studio 7
by Douglas Dixon
www.manifest-tech.com
Sony ACID Music
Studio 7
Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio 9
It's a
glorious time for music! Never has there
been so much music, from so many sources,
available in so many ways. We can listen to
spinning discs, or to a selection of 24-hour
cable music channels. We can tune in to the
radio on the go, or pick up satellite
channels, or carry our own portable players.
Music sites and software can help us find
new artists, and even small independents can
develop fans on MySpace.
Even
better, even non-musicians and beginning
enthusiasts can collect, organize, mix and
mash up, and create new music using today's
inexpensive and accessible software tools,
such as the Sony ACID Music Studio
for music creation and mixing, and Sony
Sound Forge Audio Studio for audio
recording, editing, and encoding.
Sony Creative Software continues to
develop popular and powerful tools for
digital video, music, DVD, and audio
production, including both higher-end
professional tools and more entry-level
consumer software (www.sonycreativesoftware.com).
The professional product line is built
around three core product names: Vegas
for video editing, Sound Forge for
audio editing, and ACID for music
creation. Sony offers trial versions as
downloads from its website.
Sony Movie Studio, Audio Studio, Music
Studio
Sony's
consumer products trade off these names, but
under the Home Studio branding, as
Vegas Movie Studio, Sound Forge Audio
Studio, and ACID Music Studio (www.sonycreativesoftware.com/products/studiofamily.asp).
For
summaries of the Sony Home Studio products,
see:
Find related
Sony Software
articles
in the Manifest Tech Blog
You
can get started creating and mixing music
with Sony ACID Music Studio 7, which
is designed to span music recording, mixing,
loop-based creation, and MIDI processing (www.sonycreativesoftware.com/productinfo.asp?product=musicstudio).
It's for people creating original music
using loops or recording vocals,
instruments, or using MIDI -- like DJs and
remix artists, home recording studios and
musicians, video and multimedia producers,
podcast and streaming media creators,
educators, trainers, and presenters.
Version 7 adds features including MIDI
recording and editing, more music loops and
instruments, multiple events per track,
freehand envelope drawing, and multicore
processor and Windows Vista support.
To
help you get started, the Sony Studio
products also include interactive Show Me
How tutorials to help step though learning
new tasks.
Sony
ACID Music Studio 7 is available for Windows
for $59 (download) or $69 (packaged
product).
Mix
But
even if you're just getting started with
music, you can use Music Studio to get
creative with music, especially to create
backgrounds for your own video productions.
Experiment with creating your own original
mixes with the more than 3,000
professionally recorded loops.
Loop
Lay
out looped samples to start with a beat,
then use the multi-track mixer to add on
layers with different instruments. Or begin
with some of the pre-built projects, to
deconstruct how they are built and then
explore your own variations.
MIDI
Music
Studio version 7 now also supports MIDI
editing, so again you can start by
experimenting with simple MIDI tunes such as
ring tones on your mobile phone or alarms on
your PDA. Have fun combining and trimming
segments, and editing individual notes. Then
check out the included 1,000 MIDI files in a
variety of genres.
More
Of
course there's a lot more: Import music from
CDs and MP3s, record or capture vocals and
instruments. Mix multiple tracks, set pan
and volume envelopes, reverse audio, and
change pitch and tempo in real time. Enhance
with built-in effects such as EQ, reverb,
delay, and echo. Then share your
compositions, burn CDs, upload to the Web,
prepare audio for podcasts, or export to MP3
players.
While
Sony ACID Music Studio is focused on music
creation and multi-track mixing, Sony
Sound Forge Audio Studio 9 is focused on
the end-to-end audio editing -- recording,
editing / restoration, encoding, and
mastering (www.sonycreativesoftware.com/productinfo.asp?product=audiostudio).
Version 9 adds high-fidelity 24-bit / 96kHz
audio support, the Vinyl Recording and
Restoration Tool, the Vocal Eraser plug-in
by iZotope, Gracenote CD album
identification, and Windows Vista support.
Sony
Sound Forge Audio Studio 9 is available for
Windows for $59 (download) or $69 (packaged
product).
Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio 9
Effects
Again,
you don't have to be an expert to get
started working with audio clips. Sony
provides a 1001 Sound FX library of
fun sound effects that you can use for your
productions -- people and animals, cars and
planes, home and office, liquid and metal,
arcade and sci-fi, comical and explosions.
Just import them into Audio Studio and have
fun manipulating them, with effects
including amplitude modulation, distortion,
and pitch bend.
Edit and effects
Edit
/ Enhance
Or
import your own recordings, or audio tracks
from video shoots, to clean up and enhance
the sound. Edit recordings to balance sound
levels, trim unwanted sections, or
synchronize audio with video. Customize with
built-in effects such as EQ, delay, reverb,
and chorus. Restore old and damaged vinyl
and cassette recordings, or remove vocals.
Vocal Eraser
Import & Share
You
also can import music from CDs and MP3s,
record live performances, and capture audio
from vinyl or cassettes. Then share your
work, burn CDs, export audio to MP3 players,
or upload songs to the Web. Save audio and
video in popular formats including MP3, WAV,
WMV, and QuickTime -- encode for web
streaming or portable music players.
Burn track
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