Best FREE sound editor-- for sound effects; any ideas?

[kstatefan40]

I am doing a project at school were we are making an audio cassete of my group reading a book. We have to have sound effects, and i thought it would be cool to do them digitally. I know enough about sound editing to do it, i think, at least i can play with it enough to do what i need. I just need a good FREE editor to do it in. THANKS!!

[TwoRails]

Cool Edit use to have a free version that had all the features of the "paid for" version except for you could only use a few features at a time, meaning to use different features, you have to save your work, exit the program, and restart picking the features you want. Cool Edit is a very powerful program.

HTH

TwoRails

[kstatefan40]

is there a chance you could give me a link? thanks for the quick reply!

[SonicVanguard]

Syntrillium 'sold' Cool Edit to Adobe: http://www.adobe.com/special/product...ntrillium.html - it is no longer available as a freebie.

For what you are looking for, Goldwave (http://www.goldwave.com/) is your best bet.

Dave.

[TwoRails]

That's dishartening news, SonicVanguard -- I know that Goldwave is highly recommended, but I thought it was about $50 to buy (no, I didn't look...). I wonder if there is still "trial" versions of Cool Edit at places like PC World and the like...

[LittleGhoti]

You might take a look at the audacity. It is free open source.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

[SonicVanguard]

Originally posted by TwoRails That's dishartening news, SonicVanguard -- I know that Goldwave is highly recommended, but I thought it was about $50 to buy (no, I didn't look...). I wonder if there is still "trial" versions of Cool Edit at places like PC World and the like...

I don't find it disheartening at all. Syntrillium didn't have the money to keep Cool Edit going - and their approach to shareware (enabling certain features based on user needs) made the program freeware. Adobe took a decent program and made it stand up to Cakewalk Sonar, Logic Audio, and Steinberg Cubase.

Dave.

[TwoRails]

Sorry, I wasn't clear at all as to what I meant. What I meant was that it seems like every time I like a piece of software that is then "taken over" by another company, it is either changed beyond recognition, or dropped entirely. Instantly programs came to mind like Think Tank and Grand View. Now that Adobe has taken over, they have dropped the non-pro version of Cool Edit... and that is, of course, the version I have.

And I'm still looking for something to decode all my dbx type II encoded tapes.... (which Cool Edit didn't do anyway.)

TwoRails

[SonicVanguard]

Originally posted by TwoRails And I'm still looking for something to decode all my dbx type II encoded tapes.... (which Cool Edit didn't do anyway.) TwoRails

How do you mean? dbxII is nothing but alogrithmic noise reduction. There's really nothing to 'decode' on the computer's side. Any tapedeck with dbxII enabled will give you a re-coded signal. Just pump that into your soundcard inputs - you're golden.

Dave.

[TwoRails]

Sadly I haven't been able to find any dbxII players. Also, about 50% or more of my collection is on reel-to-reel tapes. When they were recorded, the "compression" was on, so if the tapes are played back without a dbxII unit, they are extremely flat meaning they are almost, in a sense, mono-tone: no highs and no bass what so ever.

When I picked up Cool Edit years ago, somehow I was under the understanding it could "expand" encoded tapes. A direct call to Syntrillium about this yielded an answer of "it can't be done."

TwoRails

[SonicVanguard]

Hardware coded analog tapes (dbxI&II, Dolby A,B,C,S,HX...) can't be re-coded by any software solution that I'm aware of.

There are a few companies that will digitize your R2R tapes (dbx isn't a problem for them) - but cost would certainly be a factor. I guess it would com down to "is it worth it to you". But it will be expensive since so many studios have discarded so much of their older equipment.

You could also check with any local colleges or universities. I've designed labs and studios at MSU and WMU here in Michigan and both schools still have old R2R decks students use in introductory editing classes. They allow people within the community to use that equipment as long as it does not interupt class flow.

Dave.

[TwoRails]

Thanks for the input, SonicVanguard!

TwoRails