Should I buy Vegas?

[MDesigner]

Can Vegas 4.0 replace SoundForge 6? Does it let you do waveform editing.. at least cutting/pasting/mixing? And of course Vegas can handle DX plugins, so things like Ozone will work just fine as well.

I\'m looking into Vegas because I\'m going to change my methods of mixing into one where I dump each instrument section to separate WAV files, and process them all separately. SoundForge works fine for that, but it gets very cluttered with all the windows open. I hear Vegas is multi-track.. so that should be nice.

[Scott Cairns]

Hi Sam.

Well they are different tools in your toolbox really. I dont know that one can replce the other.

Vegas can do sample accurate cutting and pasting, normalization, etc. If you wanted to batch process wav\'s or something I would still turn to Sound Forge.

If you are currently using Sound Forge to process one track of audio, e.g; apply an impulse, then Vegas will be heaven for you.

Ozone works fine in Vegas but as it is 64bit it chews the processor. With things like that and impulses, I render the wav file, bring it back into Vegas alongside the original track, and mute the original.

Scott.

[MDesigner]

Hmm..sounds intriguing. So will it let me open several WAV files and mute/solo them, run DX plugins on them, and so forth? If so, I\'m sold. images/icons/smile.gif Like I said, processing multiple wav files as tracks in SoundForge is a bit of a mess.

[Francis Belardino]

YES! YES! YES!

I have ProTools and I find myself using Vegas Video 4.0c more often. Go with Vegas Video not Audio. It will handle many MANY plugins.

You can ...
Cut
Paste
Drag
Drop
Draw instant cross fades
Fades at head and tail
Slide
Automated plugins volumes and panning.
Create 5.1 audio
Render to ANY format audio and video

The explore wavs function is killer. Wav pool is amazing.

The video features are sooooo powerful that we use it as much as our avid system at the studio.

Burn CD, VCD SVCD and DVD

I cant push you enough!!

images/icons/smile.gif

[Francis Belardino]

Vegas can do sample accurate cutting and pasting, normalization, etc. If you wanted to batch process wav\'s or something I would still turn to Sound Forge.


Nope. Unless you have SF 5.0 you will need Batch Converter 5.0. Blows away what you could do in SF 5.0.

[Eric Richmond]

Vegas is my NLE of choice. Just as powerful as Avid DVXpress, FCP, Premiere in terms of video editing, and it BLOWS AWAY the others in Audio, and I mean BLOWS away.

For detailed editing in Vegas you have some options. Something called the trimmer, where you load a wav into a dedicated window, and can zoom/edit/etc (like a mini soundforge), or you can use the \'open in soundforge\' option, which opens the particular wav in soundforge. then use soundforge like you normally would, and save the wav, and vegas updates the file for you :-D

Plus you get 5.1 mixing :-D

HTH

[Eric Richmond]

Batch Convertor is pretty hardcore too :-D

I use that to do mass conversions when I sample stuff in music. Grab a ton of mp3s from teh web, cut \'em up, and use bc to convert all hundred or so into wav format :-D

[MDesigner]

Why Vegas Video over Vegas Audio? Does it have everything Audio has plus more? If it\'s lacking stuff the Audio version has, I won\'t get it. Besides, I don\'t really deal w/ video.

[Francis Belardino]

Vegas Video is their full blown audio as well.

[Francis Belardino]

Download the demo!

BTW, you may not deal with video but I know your clients do. It\'s a great thing to be able to import any video format they hand you... drop it into the timeline and record MEGA audio tracks along side the video. I just go Gigastudio out via digital into vegas via digi in.

For scoring and sound design it rocks. I have the Tascam USB428 so I can scrub video and audio. I also use firewire video I/O and I can \"watch\" the video on my 27inch flat Sony TV as I compose/sound design.

NOW THAT\'S ROCK AND ROLL!

[Eric Richmond]

there is no longer vegas audio or vegas video, with the 4.0 release there is only vegas 4.0 :-D

[Mike Gill]

If you get Vegas Plus, the DVD authoring software, you get the AC3 surround sound encoder for free. I bought this a few months ago when they had a special offer, purely for the surround encoder. Saved about $500 on equivalent surround encoders alone, plus I got all the video stuff! I dumped Premier afterwards when I saw how much easier Vegas is to use.

[Bruce A. Richardson]

You absolutely cannot go wrong with Vegas. Note Mike\'s post about the DVD version. DVD Architect is VERY solid (and if you\'ve watched your sync go to hell in other products, fear not). You get the AC-3 codecs, which are a value in and of themselves. And you get an editor that hands down blows FCP, Premeire, and AVID right out of the water.

Sonic Foundry has had a few very rough years. I talked to Curtis Palmer right after the Sony news broke, and I have not heard him sounding like this since SF took the ill-fated plunge and went public. He sounded literally like the same old guy, ready to jump into leading a software-company once again. So as much progress as they have been able to make on Vegas under extreme financial and corporate duress--I think that bodes very well for what they\'ll be able to do concentrating 100% on software again. And with Sony\'s distribution, they\'ll get the elusive shelf space.

So Vegas? Yes. You will love it, and it will make lots of software you already own look very clunky once you\'re up to speed.

[MDesigner]

Hmm..I just took a look at CoolEdit Pro. I noticed it does a lot that SoundForge does, AND it has multi-track and mixing. Any comments on CoolEdit Pro? What does it lack (if anything) from SoundForge 6 & Vegas 4? (besides video)

[Francis Belardino]

Have that too images/icons/smile.gif

Besides great surface control with the Tascam US 428 CEP is not for the \"pro\". The editing is not as powerful as Vegas or Pro Tools. There is no MIDI tracks. (nor in Vegas) Real time plug ins are almost not there (Vegas rocks there) ands file mgmt is not so great. IE, session files and folders.

If I was looking for a solid MIDI/Audio set up, I would go for Digi001 or the 002 (really sweet)
or MBox and ProTools v6.

If I wanted audio only with POWERFUL video too boot ... VEGAS!

BTW

www.digidesign.com (\"http://www.digidesign.com\")

[Nhick Ramiro Pacis]

I have Vegas+DVD - so far it\'s been great! I do the MIDI stuff in Sonar then I export the wav files for surround mixing and video editing in Vegas.

Nhick (\"http://www.mp3.com/npacis\")

[jam]

Vegas is an EXCELLENT multi track audio tool, as far as I know (i don\'t own it). But, a friend of mine works in a studio, does many many recordings with it, and he\'s ahhpy.
Cool Edit pro does not \"exist\" anymore, Synillitrium has been sold to Adobe, and now adobe proposes this product (at a higher price!).
If you want to do \"just\" mutli-tracking, editing, apply plugins and do your final mix, Vegas can be THE choice. Samplitude does also such a job very well, as Wavelab too.
But, IF money is a problem, my advice is: Go for Magix Music Studio 2003 Deluxe. It contains Audio Studio (quite similar to Samplitude 6) + Midi Studio(qui similar to Logic Audio). I use Audio Studio 95%, to do a job like - it seems - you wan to do. And I\'m ahhpy. An audio engine POWERFULL (the same as Samplitude), good effects, and very very stable (NO crash since months i use it). and it costs only $49!! Do NOT react \"against\" the price saying: it\'s cheap, it a toy for kids\". It\'s 100% wrong!

Regards,
jam

[Scott Cairns]

Vegas can do sample accurate cutting and pasting, normalization, etc. If you wanted to batch process wav\'s or something I would still turn to Sound Forge.


Nope. Unless you have SF 5.0 you will need Batch Converter 5.0. Blows away what you could do in SF 5.0.<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">- Well admittedly i havent used Sound Forge in years but my point and to oversimplify;

Sound Forge = single track
Vegas = multi track

C\'MON MAN! YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT! (read as Fat bastard, Austin Powers)

[Hudson]

um...did you skip all the posts raving about Vegas? Cool Edit Pro is grade school by comparison and has a horrible interface.
-Hudson


Originally posted by MDesigner:
Hmm..I just took a look at CoolEdit Pro. I noticed it does a lot that SoundForge does, AND it has multi-track and mixing. Any comments on CoolEdit Pro? What does it lack (if anything) from SoundForge 6 & Vegas 4? (besides video) <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">