*Adobe Audition* started life as a simple audio editor called Cool Edit Pro
until Adobe saw that the big money was in music creation software. Adobe
Audition is a multi-track recording studio that offers all the refinement you
expect in Adobe products but may leave beginners floundering in technical
jargon. After the initial installation, Adobe Audition *searches for
compatible audio formats on your hard drive* but asks you which file types
you want to associate with it. Otherwise the program would detect every
single sound file on your hard drive meaning your Adobe Audition library
would be a jumbled mess. Adobe Audition's *interface is clean*, with the
active window highlighted by a red border. Each window is separated by tabs
to keep the *File, Effects, Main and Mixer* sections separate and easy to
revert to. If you don't like the layout then Adobe has provided an *Unlock
Panel* option which allows you to detach and move these windows to a position
of your choosing. You can save your own rearrangements as workplace templates
according to the type of project you are working on. To really get the most
out of Adobe Audition, you'll need a pretty good sound card. For those
concerned with MIDI support, Adobe Audition doesn't offer a great deal in
this area and many users report this as one of the most confusing aspects of
the program to configure. To describe all the editing possibilities of Adobe
Audition would involve going into the minute technicalities of audio
composition and compression but there are four main modes to get to grips
with. The first is *Waveform Display* which displays the wave in graphical
form. Second is *Spectral Frequency Display* which graphically displays the
frequency range with colors. *Logarithmic Display* does exactly the same but
obviously displays the wave as a Logarithm. For producing stereo-sound,
there's also *Spectral Pan Display* and *Spectral Phase Display* which
enable you to get stereo sound perfectly synced. Editing is performed using
the time-honored *cut and paste functions* common to most audio and video
editing programs. You simply *mark an in and out point* and cut and paste the
audio until it's as you want it. However, the Adobe Audition is much more
advanced than this as it's able to *detect beat patterns and rhythms* and set
in and out points accordingly. To use this function though, you'll have to
spend a long time studying the *Help guide* (which fortunately is very clear
and detailed). You can also use a relatively new function in the audio
editing field called *Frequency Space Editing* which means you can edit
certain frequencies of the sound rather than the wave as a whole. There are
also of course a *heap of effects* that you can apply to sounds ranging from
complex distortions to pitch bending specific frequencies. Adobe Audition has
been updated with a host of new features. Pick of the bunch is probably the
way Adobe have *improved multitrack editing*, added *new effects and enhanced
noise reduction*. They've also added *phase correction tools* plus *VSTi
virtual instrument support and native 5.1 surround support*. The multi-track
editing suite has been improved to save time and maintain consistency by
grouping clips into a *Multitrack View*. From here you can trim and fade much
more easily. You can also *batch save all audio files* applying specific file
formats, locations, filename templates, and more. *Adobe Audition is a very
advanced program designed only for those who are serious about multi-track
audio production. If you are looking for a simple sound editor, then this is
way too advanced and will only leave you frustrated. If however you want to
take your first few steps into professional editing, the extensive Adobe help
guide will ensure that you get the most out of this rich and complex
program.*Download *Adobe Audition 3* in Softonic
