Sony Sound Forge 10

Product Review: Page (1) of 2 - 10/05/09

Sony Sound Forge 10 Sony unleashes a robust update to its flagship audio recording and editing application By Jeffrey P. Fisher

Sony Creative Software has reached a major milestone with its September 2009 release of Sound Forge 10. Few applications survive all the way to high version numbers. But not only has the latest version of Sony's audio recording and editing program survived, it continues to thrive with a bevy of new features that keep you wondering how you ever worked without them.

The program already includes a deep and wide feature set so this review concentrates on the latest additions.

Event Editing
This tool brings a brand new level of editing efficiency to your desktop. For users of Sony Vegas Pro, this innovative Sound Forge editing mode will seem familiar. It's akin to the Timeline-based editing from that popular NLE. For those unfamiliar with this concept, the Event Edit mode lets you trim edges and separate sections inside the sound file providing unprecedented editing and processing flexibility.

Sound Forge 10 includes a radical new Event Edit mode.

Turn on this new editing mode using the Event Tool icon. Hover near either edge of a sound file and you can click and drag inward to trim the file length. Position the cursor where you wish to make an edit or other separation and press 'S' on your keyboard to split the file. Once split these file 'pieces' (called Events) can be moved, rearranged, cut, copied, pasted, and more --- all within the single sound file. For more precise editing, hold down the Alt key and slip trim to move the contents inside an event without affecting its edges.

Sound Forge's Event Edit mode supports crossfades and fade-in/out.

Overlap any of these event pieces and they automatically crossfade. Right-click any of the crossfades and choose from 25 different crossfade shape options, too. Hover near the top left or right of the event and click and drag the yellow flag to create quick fade-ins and/or fade-outs. Hover near the top middle of the event and click and drag downward to adjust the volume. The waveform updates dynamically to visually show this volume change.

There are 25 different crossfade shapes from which to choose.

Also, you can process any individual event (or combination) with the built-in (and any third-party) audio processes and effects. However, I did miss Vegas Pro's Ctrl+Trim tool which supports time stretch/compress -- that would have been a handy feature to include in Sound Forge's Event Edit mode, too.

If you combine Event Editing with Sound Forge's multichannel functionality, the result is a crude, though serviceable, multitrack workflow that can let you build more complex projects quickly. This is not as robust as using a dedicated DAW (such as Vegas Pro), but in a pinch you could get some acceptable results.

Metadata views
For those who work with the Broadcast Wave format (BWF), you can use the new Metadata window to easily edit and view the BWF properties (View > Metadata). Other metadata that the program supports includes Regions List, Playlist, Track List, ACID Properties, CD Information, Sampler Loops, and Summary Information. Veteran users of the Regions and Playlist features should note that these have been removed from their former menu locations and made available via the metadata window instead.

View and Edit metadata for a variety of file formats and other needs.