Audacity

I’ve always been a SoundForge person, I’ve used it since the Sonic Foundry days. When I got a Mac, I was disappointed to find there was no SoundForge available. They have since come out with one, but it’s absolute crap, imo.

I’ve been looking for a suitable replacement for a long time and have just recently started using Isotope RX, which I’m really starting to warm to. What other (if any) good sound editing software is out there for Mac? What do you use? I don’t really care for any of the DAW’s built in sound editing functions, either.

If you have the audacity to suggest audacity, gtfo :)

**UPDATE** I've used TwistedWave for a few weeks and the results are interesting (mostly good, some bad). See my addendum after this post.

A couple days ago I asked the hive for "waveform editor" recs and boy did I get some. Cheers everyone. I don't know if this list will be useful to anyone but I figure it's better to have it posted here than buried in the comments on another thread.

There are understandably strong preferences about fav audio editors, and the tests I did were only focused on a few key features/usability things, so these are not a final verdict on any of the apps, just my takeaways. What I didn't test is software intended for mixing/mastering or audio repair.

I make sample libraries, among other things, which involves a lot of zipping around large files, zooming/highlighting, making edits on L/R channels of stereo files (cutting/pasting, mixes, fades, normalization), then splitting them and outputting as individual files (sometimes many thousands). Many apps tout big feature lists but tbh I don't need a lot; a few must-haves:

• Easy to navigate/highlight audio with the mouse (ie. No key combos/tool switching)

• Good, logical GUI (user customization is a plus, running 3rd party FX is a plus)

• Playback/editing of L/R channels independently

• Accessible edit functions (cut/paste, fade, normalization, etc)

• Splitting files into regions/markers/items intelligently and exporting them as files

• Batch processing

The apps I tried range in price but most seem to fall under $100.

Fission ($35)

Zooming/highlighting is good

Not many prefs for user customizations…

Displays stereo files as one waveform—no L/R editing/playback

No 3rd party FX plugins

“Smart split” is simple but it works & outputs splits easily

-- I like the simplicity but it's missing a few basic features. Stereo files displayed as a single track is a killer for me tho.

Audacity (free)

Zooming/highlighting requires key/mouse combos or menu clicks

Can’t play L/R channels without first splitting the stereo file

Creating/exporting labels (regions) is a bit clunky (but offers leading/trailing silence)

Adding 3rd party FX plugins is also a bit clunky

-- More thorough than I expected (no wonder it's so popular) but some basic usability functions wouldn't mesh with how I work

SoundStudio 4 ($50)

Zooming/highlighting is good

Playback/editing of L/R channels is good

Snap to zero crossings

Rudimentary “gap” marker & “Split by markers”

Runs 3rd party FX plugins, but buggy/unstable with some

No batch processing

-- This has been my go-to app for quick edits and recording; simple and straightforward. Unfortunately, it's occasionally unstable/buggy (particularly with some 3rd party plugins).

Acon Acoustica ($60/$200)

Zooming/highlighting is good

Playback of L/R is just OK (global on/off switch)

Track splitting/exporting is clunky & not always accurate/useful

The FX chain is useful (with a plugins manager like Logic)

-- This was a great rec. It's like an audio editor paired with a plugin FX processor. It's feature-rich but also simple enough to be a contender. I'd need to use this some more to get a better feel for it.

TwistedWave ($100) **This one checks all my boxes

Zooming/highlighting is good

Auto-detects selections to user-customizable zero-crossings (like Sound Forge)

Playback/editing of L/R channels is good

Split by silences/markers is very thorough (with leading/trailing silence)

Exporting by markers is simple but few export options

Loads FX plugins either individually or as effect “stacks”

Speech recognition for labeling is an interesting feature

Has batch processing

-- Another great rec. Many similarities with SoundStudio 4. I could easily use this on a daily basis but for larger projects it might also not be enough. **UPDATE: It is enough; easy to use/output files. See my update below.

Reaper ($60)

Definitely a pro quality GUI & extensive preferences

Zooming/highlighting is good.

Can only play (not edit?) L/R channels independently with right-click > “Item settings"

Custom toolbars are useful but clunky to read

Items must be split to perform individual edits (normalization, fades etc)

Item splitting is very good (includes transients, fades, padding etc)

Export functions are solid/many output options

-- The GUI is good (mostly) and I can see why this is so popular. It offers *a lot* of customization and preference settings. Two issues: I can't edit L/R channels independently (unless I'm missing a pref setting?) and it seems like a track first has to be split into "items" before individual edits can be made. Hmm.

WaveLab ($130/$508) ...amazing quantity of downloads/installation, but then the trial license failed...support suggested installing more software to fix the problem. Sorry to WaveLab fans, but this is a sign to run like hell.

Ocenaudio (free/donationware)

Zooming/highlighting is good.

Play/edit L/R channels independently

Good user preferences

Multi-select function is excellent

No function to automatically split into regions; must be done manually

Outputting regions is simple

No batch processing

-- Very usable app! It's really too bad that there's no automatic/dynamic split function because this app has so much going for it. Adding this would make it very usable.

AmadeusPro ($25/$60)

Zooming/highlighting good

Play/edit L/R channels independently

Fairly useful user preferences

Adding markers automatically is poor

Outputting split markers as files is basic but works

Has batch processing

-- There's a lot to like about this app; easy to use and easy on the eyes. But the audio detection/generate markers function is not good: it couldn't properly find/mark loud transients with a -60dB threshold. That needs work.

AudioFinder ($80)

Zooming/highlighting requires either command-click or a different tool

Process menu is permanently greyed out (trial?) so...

Can't play/edit L/R channels independently (or even split stereo to mono)

Adding markers??

Generating split files from markers (slices)??

Batch processing??

Has snap to zero crossings

Odd selection of user preferences

Main window/file window setup would take some getting used to

-- Unimpressed tbh. If I can't access the process menu, where most of the goodies seem to live, I can't test the software. I saw many references to "slices" so it seems like the app can work with these but I'll never know. Same for batch editing. It *seems* to offer a lot but within 2 minutes I was googling "Process menu greyed out", "play one channel of stereo file", and "batch processing". Not a great first impression.

DSP-Quattro ($100)

Zooming/highlighting is good

User-customizable GUI colors & other preferences are great

Can't play/edit L/R channels independently (only turn off outputs 1/2?)

Splitting file into regions is impenetrable ("scissors"? where?)

Robust batch processing section

-- This looked promising but within a few minutes I was totally lost. Again, I don't know if the demo version had stuff turned off (they claimed only file outputting was disabled) but I couldn't find basic functions. The fact that CD authoring features so prominently should have been a sign that it might not be the right tool for me; some functions appear to work only in conjunction with the AudioCD section...which I couldn't get to work. The manual was not helpful.

SoundOP windows only

Izotope RX9 ($300/$800) I didn't test this because batch processing only available in Standard version ($300, too rich for my blood) and it seems more geared for repair/cleanup than dealing with thousands of <1sec files.

I might update this with others I find. I have a couple of favorites so far.

**UPDATE May 22, 2022**

So I've been using TwistedWave for a few weeks seeing how it fits with my workflow. All in all, it's exactly what it says it is: it's quick, nimble, and has just those features that I need for chugging through raw sampling sessions looking for gold. (See the tips I got from the developer after this.)

That being said, it's not perfect (what is?) and there are a couple of things that need attention (especially for the $99 price, which is not expensive, but not inexpensive either):

1. The markers setup is very good for having individual takes split up, particularly for lengthy recording sessions where many takes need to be compared, sometimes edited/adjusted, named, then exported as individual files. The "Mark transients" function, however, is really *only* good for transients. As soon as I tested it with bowed samples or more complex, noisy percussive samples like shakers, rain sticks etc, it falls apart. It ends up marking *every* transient it encounters, some being literally a few 1000ths of a second apart. So a single shake of a maraca might yield anywhere from 1-10+ markers! Scale that up to a recording session of 10 minutes and the number of markers to sort through makes it unusable. You have to mark those manually... In the preferences there is a threshold setting but no adjustments I tried—from 0% to 100%—made any real difference. This is so disappointing because I had high hopes for that feature. The split feature is crying out for more control over the type of recording, namely dB threshold AND attack/release time between potential markers (basically like a noise gate that adds markers). From the developer: There's a "Remove Duplicates" function for getting rid of many of those ghost markers (though it only works where the time interval between peaks is somewhat regular, ie: not so effective on long, noisy samples.)

2. The snap to zero crossings feature is handy but it becomes a problem when working with transients (ironic!). I was testing a session of loud, short transients with steep starting waveforms but the snap feature caused any markers I placed to be nudged too late past the start of the transient (they'd turn up at the end of the previous sample; not good). And when I tried manually dragging the marker/selection back, it would snap to somewhere in the middle of the previous sample. This needs attention. From the developer: You can toggle this setting on/off more quickly with Edit > Edit Keyboard Shortcuts...

But otherwise this has been so easy to use. I zipped through several long recording sessions in no time. I also like that it offers to open the most recently used plugin, which is super handy for when you want to audition different FX, compression, EQ, etc. It also opens multiple files in tabs (like Sound Forge). The developer really thought about stuff like this. Ruthless simplicity! 4/5 stars (so far)

From the developer: At the suggestion of another TwistedWave user here, I contacted the developer, Thomas, who was super helpful and steered me straight on a couple of things. Something I initially missed is that TwistedWave has batch processing and I put in a feature request for a custom fade tool (like SoundStudio4) which I use a lot in different situations.