Question: comparison with other audio editors

[Paulo-Brazil]

Mr. Stian,

Just a question: when discussing some feature or problem of Acoustica in this forum, do you consider it appropriate to mention other audio editors, or to compare Acoustica's behaviour to that of other audio editors?

Thank you.

Paulo

[stian]

Hi Paulo,

Mr. Stian,

Just a question: when discussing some feature or problem of Acoustica in this forum, do you consider it appropriate to mention other audio editors, or to compare Acoustica's behaviour to that of other audio editors?

Thank you.

Paulo

Sure, no problem at all!

Best,
Stian

[Paulo-Brazil]

Mr. Stian, thank you.

[DuX]

I've been comparing it with Wavosaur and concluded it lacks too many things to be considered a serious sample editor for power-users. Stuff like auto-detect silence, auto-split sample at silent points, zero-crossing detection... It's a shame, really, as it looks and works really nice. Just needs some more standard features implemented.

Sugar on top: Wavosaur is freeware.

[Paulo-Brazil]

I have no connection to Acon Digital other than being a client - I purchased from them my copy of Acoustica 7 Premium.

My question in relation to comparing Acoustica to other audio editors stemmed from the idea that, by reference to other editors, we could possibly better understand some characteristics of Acoustica and maybe help to improve it.

Acoustica is a feature-rich editor, with a very user-friendly interface. I am confident that, in time, further capabilities will be added to it, and the relatively small issues that we find on the way will be corrected and polished.

The direct contact and attention that we have from Acoustica's developers through this forum is, from my part, much appreciated - this should be highly valued, I think.

Paulo

[vectorwarrior]

One of the things I love about Acoustica is it's surround support. As someone that works in surround I would otherwise have to pay stupid money for an alternative, as none of the freeware editors support surround (to my knowledge).

[stian]

Hi!

I've been comparing it with Wavosaur and concluded it lacks too many things to be considered a serious sample editor for power-users. Stuff like auto-detect silence, auto-split sample at silent points, zero-crossing detection... It's a shame, really, as it looks and works really nice. Just needs some more standard features implemented.

Sugar on top: Wavosaur is freeware.

As you can see from the forum, we add simple workflow features like these when reported fairly quickly. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Acoustica already offers track splitting (Analysis > Automatic Track Splitting...). Due to the automatic splice de-click feature, we didn't feel that expand to zero crossings was necessary. Expanding to zero crossings isn't really that helpful if the goal is to prevent splice point clicks. It's a trivial feature to add, though...

Best,
Stian

[stian]

I have no connection to Acon Digital other than being a client - I purchased from them my copy of Acoustica 7 Premium.

My question in relation to comparing Acoustica to other audio editors stemmed from the idea that, by reference to other editors, we could possibly better understand some characteristics of Acoustica and maybe help to improve it.

Acoustica is a feature-rich editor, with a very user-friendly interface. I am confident that, in time, further capabilities will be added to it, and the relatively small issues that we find on the way will be corrected and polished.

The direct contact and attention that we have from Acoustica's developers through this forum is, from my part, much appreciated - this should be highly valued, I think.

Thanks, Paulo! We highly appreciate the direct contact as well.

Best,
Stian

[acousmod]

One of the things I love about Acoustica is it's surround support. As someone that works in surround I would otherwise have to pay stupid money for an alternative, as none of the freeware editors support surround (to my knowledge).

Hi,
Just to say that I love Acoustica and all the wonderful work Stian has done and is doing in the surround domain, but actually Wavosaur has a good surround support with up to 16 channels files and plugins.
I know that in a future update Acoustica will break its current 8 channels limit (like in the first v7 beta), but if you need today to work with higher channels formats or HOA, Wavosaur can do it up to 3rd order ambisonics.
There are also a few other more limited freewares as Ocenaudio and Waveshop, but Acoustica is by far the most advanced !

[DuX]

I do a lot of simple sample editing while I'm working in Reaper and slicing at zero-crossings would be really helpful to have. Like, I put the cursor somewhere and it automatically finds a zero-crossing, then I split the sample at that point. I'm generally working with mono samples, too.

I understand that slicing them and making an artificial zero-point is often times good, especially for stereo samples, but slicing drums doesn't work that way as it can cut out the starting transient. That's why I use Wavosaur for quick zero-crossing slicing.

What is also incredibly handy in Wavosaur is batch-processing of files. You setup some parameters and edit hundreds of WAVs within seconds. Like removing DC offset, converting sample rate, cutting off silence. All in one go!

I'm not really criticising. Maybe more like trying to make you more creative. Wavosaur is incredible for a freeware editor. But your editor looks and often works better. It does have that pro-sheen to it, but lacks features. You'll have to be more inventive [or just blatantly copy features] to attract more users.

How about batch processing where you cut out starting and ending silence at zero-crossings? Or make artificial zero-crossings at dB threshold values as an option. For example. That would make a lot of sample library makers happy. Just an idea.

Also, how can we edit the colours? The theme. Is there a way?

[stian]

Hi!

I do a lot of simple sample editing while I'm working in Reaper and slicing at zero-crossings would be really helpful to have. Like, I put the cursor somewhere and it automatically finds a zero-crossing, then I split the sample at that point. I'm generally working with mono samples, too.

I understand that slicing them and making an artificial zero-point is often times good, especially for stereo samples, but slicing drums doesn't work that way as it can cut out the starting transient. That's why I use Wavosaur for quick zero-crossing slicing.

Thanks for the input -- we'll try to get that implemented quickly. It's a trivial feature, really.

What is also incredibly handy in Wavosaur is batch-processing of files. You setup some parameters and edit hundreds of WAVs within seconds. Like removing DC offset, converting sample rate, cutting off silence. All in one go!

Acoustica has a powerful batch processor included -- see File > Batch Processor.... It doesn't have any scripting to make selections and remove silence automatically, but it does conversions between file formats, sample rates, channel counts, etc. as well as processing through chains of internal processors an plug-ins.

I'm not really criticising. Maybe more like trying to make you more creative. Wavosaur is incredible for a freeware editor. But your editor looks and often works better. It does have that pro-sheen to it, but lacks features. You'll have to be more inventive [or just blatantly copy features] to attract more users.

The true strength of Acoustica lies in the extensive collection of high quality integrated tools and the smooth and unified user interface as I see it.

How about batch processing where you cut out starting and ending silence at zero-crossings? Or make artificial zero-crossings at dB threshold values as an option. For example. That would make a lot of sample library makers happy. Just an idea.

These things are always tricky to get intuitive yet powerful. I don't want to overload the UI with very specialized features, but some kind of automatic selection and editing commands -- i.e. delete -- would be very handy, indeed. I'll see what we can do.

Also, how can we edit the colours? The theme. Is there a way?

Unfortunately, the colour set is fixed at the time being.

Best,
Stian

[Grizzellda]

The true strength of Acoustica lies in the extensive collection of high quality integrated tools and the smooth and unified user interface as I see it.

That is how I see it too...

Could this be some sort of "Scandanavian Design Philosophy"?

But hey, I really don't know anything about "Scandanavian Design Philosophy", but if I were to throw out a few ideas, it would be functional, organized, uncluttered...

or am I just bonkers over here?

[stian]

Could this be some sort of "Scandanavian Design Philosophy"?

Something like the equivalent of IKEA in world of pro audio? I'm not even sure if there's such a thing as a Scandinavian design philosophy except for furniture...

Best,
Stian

[stian]

I understand that slicing them and making an artificial zero-point is often times good, especially for stereo samples, but slicing drums doesn't work that way as it can cut out the starting transient. That's why I use Wavosaur for quick zero-crossing slicing.

FYI, expand to zero crossings is implemented and will included in the next update.

Best,
Stian

[DuX]

Usually when I mention zero-crossings to a developer of some software, I get "it's hard to implement" and similar. Vikings obviously don't find anything hard to implement.

And yes, the GUI is organised incredibly well.

Cheers!