Sony’s Sound Forge 9 is the latest version of the highly acclaimed sound editing software. There isn’t much competition left in this space, but, new releases and updates still keep pouring in.
The interface hasn’t changed much since the previous releases. It is still easy to use for intermediate and expert level users.
To start with, Sound Forge allows you to import from a wide range of formats – including video formats that contain more audio streams than stereo. Let your imagination run wild with number of effects Sound Forge gives you. Flange, Chorus and Reverb are just a few of them. The overwhelming number of effects and tools is what makes Sound Forge unique.
Setting up parameters for each of the effects is easy. Windows pop-up for every effect you apply where parameters can be changed, and real time previews are played back instantaneously.
It’s not all fun and games either. The Detect Clipping feature finds instances of clipping in a track and marks them so they can be treated. The plugin chainer queues up multiple effects. Several audio files can be processed and effects applied one after another automatically.
Support for script is inbuilt, as well as some presets for normalizing, cropping and fading, etc. These can be used to run automated tasks like extracting audio CDs and encoding them, for example. A script editor is provided; anyone with some understanding of programming can make his own scripts.
Sound Forge stays well under the 50MB limit while working on more than a couple of mp3s.
As it stands now, Sony’s Sound Forge has become a well refined and optimized audio editing software that performs well and manages to have as many features as you’d want. All is well, it might seem, but the price tag of $299.96 is bound to create some hesitation for prospective buyers. Professional level users already on older Sound Forge versions will have no such doubts, all thanks to support for new formats and standards – and the added effects and tools.
Newcomers to the field of audio editing would be better off starting with open source alternatives – Audacity, for example.

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