Syntrillium Cool Edit Pro 2.0 and Red Rover

Product Review: Page (1) of 1 - 02/11/03

Syntrillium Cool Edit Pro 2.0 and Red Rover Full-featured digital audio editor, recorder, and mixer for Windows 98/ME/2000/ XP By Mike Lawson

Cool Edit Pro 2.0 screen (click for larger view)

Syntrillium Software?s Cool Edit Pro 2.0 ($249 US) is a fabulous piece of Audio/MIDI multitrack software that enables up to 128 tracks of stereo audio and comes complete with over 45 DSP effects, audio restoration, mastering and analysis tools.

It supports simultaneous multiple audio files formats, from WAV to MP3, AIFF, and all of the other standard audio formats in addition to the AVI video format.

Cool Edit Pro 2.0 features an easy-to-use interface and is designed to have a short learning curve, helping you get to work right away. The software, which works on Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP, features 32-bit processing and supports 24bit/192kHz and higher. In addition, Cool Edit Pro 2.0 incorporates loop-based song creation sequencing, and even allows direct import of ACID file format songs (not just ACID loops, but actual .acd files.) In addition, Cool Edit Pro provides SMPTE/MTC master and slave, DirectX, MIDI and video support and more!

The software was a quick and painless install onto my system and at fewer than 20mb; it?s hardly a programming pig. As quick as it was to install, it also loads up quite quickly, too. The first thing I did was to try to open an ACID song I had created in Sonic Foundry?s famous software application. At first I was confused about doing so, as the only option was for Cool Edit?s .ses file format. However, upon choosing ?all files *.*? under the drop-down files of type menu, I was able to scroll through my directory and easily open up the ACID files. It opened each looped used in the ACID file and displayed it in place on each track, just as though it was opening in ACID. I was really impressed with the way this piece of software used this existing file format and allowed me to directly import the song and loop placements without any additional thought, giving me the ability to move right into using the song with MIDI tracks and additional recorded tracks as I saw fit. With 128 stereo audio tracks possible, I wasn?t worried about running out anytime soon, either.

Red Rover

One of the great innovations that Syntrillium has come up with is Red Rover. This is a remote transport that runs via USB, and with it, you can control Cool Edit Pro 2.0 from up to ten feet away. Red Rover shows you the key information you need to record and even do some basic mixing tasks on its LCD panel. This is a great device that allowed me to arm tracks for recording while standing in my vocal recording area, right in front of the microphone, without having to run back to the mouse or keyboard every time I hit a sour note. What a great idea! At $129, it?s a bargain and highly recommended for Cool Edit Pro 2.0 owners. Using the software without it now would seem foreign.

Overall, I think you?ll find Cool Edit Pro 2.0 to be a well thought out, very stable software recording tool that has many uses, from MIDI to audio to loop-based sequencing and any combination thereof. I have used the software to create several finished pieces of music and have yet to have it crash on me, which is a great relief. In spite of owning most of the software on the market for audio and MIDI and looping, lately I?ve found myself opening up Cool Edit Pro 2.0 when working on a new project because of its intuitive design and stability. Because I work with a lot of different musicians who each have different recording programs, having yet another one in my arsenal, especially one as stable and friendly as Cool Edit Pro 2.0, is a welcome addition.

It isn?t just me who?s enjoying this software, either. Look for our upcoming ArtistPro Magazine story about Roger McGuinn (The Byrds) and how he used Cool Edit Pro 2.0 and a PC laptop to record a GRAMMY-nominated CD in 2001.

For more information, visit www.cooledit.com.

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