Music Editing Software

[Kim Koerner]

Does anyone have suggestions for a good music editing software? Is there any that I should stay away from? I have Windows XP if that helps. I barely qualify as computer literate. :)

[resullivan]

I downloaded Audacity (I think that is how it is spelled). Works ok for me, I mostly want to clip the intro or ending of a song, but I know there must be better things.

[vilia]

I highly recommend Cakewalk Pyro. Very user friendly, especially for those of us that have little or no patience when it comes to having to figure things out on the computer, before actually getting done what you got on there for in the first place. I'm quite picky about my music, rarely want to use a full piece, like to cut it up and paste other bits in, fade in and out, that sort of thing. I can do it all without much fuss on Pyro.

[*Shira*]

I personally use Screenblast Sound Forge, which costs about $70-$80. (There's a more expensive version, meant for professional sound editors, which is called just Sound Forge, but I find that the lower-cost Screenblast version is perfectly fine for my needs.) I've been using it for 10 years now. I find the user interface to be nicely intuitive, and I've rarely needed to look at the manual or the help file.

I use it to do fade in/out, raise/lower the volume, cut songs to a shorter length, paste repetitions in (which I occasionally do for entrances or exits), lengthen tracks from Mary Ellen Donald's drum rhythm CD's to use for drills in class, etc.

It works great on both Windows XP and Windows Vista.

I've never tried Audacity, so I can't comment on it.

I also have Adobe Audible, which used to be known as CoolEdit, and so far I don't like it. I find the user interface kludgy and hard to learn. I use it if I want to edit the sound track of video footage because my low-end version of Sound Forge can't do that, but otherwise I avoid it because I find it too difficult to figure out.

[SummerSahar]

I just bought a mac, and I then purchased Amadeus ii, and I LOVE IT! It's super easy. At first I was intimidated, but I've discovered (without having to read the manual) how to do most simple things like fade in, out, cut and stitch songs together. It's great for those simple tasks!

[Kim Koerner]

Thanks for all your suggestions ladies, I really appreciate it.

[zorba]

I used to use an older version of Sound Forge back in my Pee Cee days, and liked it well enough. Audacity seems to be more powerful though, at least "back in the day".

[aazura]

I use Peak LE, but it's not really user friendly if your "barely computer literate." I would consider myself very computer literate and I still have to sit with the instruction book on some stuff. Summer, I might try the Amadeus program -- how much is it?

[Annie]

I've been able to do a lot of fairly fiddly things with Audacity -- splicing pieces to edit them down to length while maintaining the original structure, and so on.

You can find tutorials online to show you how to do all these things.

I doubt there's anything objectively "better" out there for your purpose, although you might find something with an interface that you prefer. In the realm of software, price doesn't necessarily correlate with anything at all.

[toria_dances]

I also use audacity is free and kinda easy to use. I just like to cut music, picece musice together and love how you can fade mussic in and out.

[Shirin.]

I tried to use Audicity the other day and found out you have to download a 3rd party software>mirror, I think they called it? I couldn't figure out how to extract the files I needed to make the things work together. If you could explain it, I would love to use it. Right now I'm using wavepad for windows but I think the trial is ending soon.

[ANISAHDANCER]

I while back someone here had mentioned Wavepad, so I tried that, and I just
love it. I just got a new laptop and downloaded it on there too.

[mahira-michelle]

Originally Posted by toria_dances

I also use audacity is free and kinda easy to use. I just like to cut music, picece musice together and love how you can fade mussic in and out.

I downloaded Audacity but it can't edit .wma files on my computer so how do I use it?

[resullivan]

I use it for MP3 files. (which somehow I got Itunes to import music as mp3)