Debates between Cool Edit 2000 and Sound Forge XP's respective qualities will always rage in the kind of manner that often divides Mac and Windows users, but let's just look at what you get with Cool Edit 2000.

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What you get is immense bang for your buck.

You get a beefed up version of Cool Edit 96, featuring integrated MP3 support, which also includes some of the features of Cool Edit Pro. As audio editors go, Cool Edit 2000 will keep all but the hardcore audio fiends satisfied. Processing audio for the web or CD is a breeze and a range of plug-ins can convert the robust audio editor into a four-track studio, complete with noise reduction and sophisticated audio EQ features.

Installing Cool Edit 2000 is a simple process which went smoothly on this reviewer's machine and, with the help of built-in multimedia tutorials, recording, editing and processing sound is a breeze. An array of presets make it relatively simple for novices to apply amplification, delay, distortion and apply pitch-shifting. Within a couple of minutes, you can transform a sample into something either mesmerizing or brutal. It's your choice.

As a self-confessed drum loop lover, the beat finding feature is great for isolating drum sounds. You can even isolate words from sections of speech. This is great news, particularly for spoken-word artists and online broadcasters. And there's no need for a degree in sound engineering, either.

More experienced users can perform tasks such as batch processing or conversion. You can also analyze your audio with spectral view and frequency analysis. A handy presets feature can be used to store your processing function settings so that you don't end up scratching your head at 2am trying to replicate something you did a few weeks prior.

Fraunhofer-based codecs are used to read and write MP3s. Admittedly the choice of MP3 codec may not be to all tastes, but to these gnarled ears there's nothing wrong with the output when mashing up and converting a WAV drumloop to MP3. Why did I do that? Because I'm using Cool Edit 2000. Because I could!

Cool Edit 2000 isn't without its drawbacks. It doesn't provide an audition feature for effects, although you can always use 'undo' feature as you experiment. Nor can you apply effects as you are listening to them. Nonetheless, for what it sets out to do, Cool Edit 2000 is one of the more impressive audio editors out there.

New features in Cool Edit 2000 include:

• Forget crashes! Cool Edit 2000 can bring up your session exactly where you left off. No more lost work!
• Multiple file support so you can load several files into one session.
• Cool Edit 2000 can record sample rates up to 10 Megahertz and 32 bits
• Automatic silence detection and deletion which is great for quick-editing narration or call-ins for radio shows!
• Cool Edit 2000 can detect musical beats and automatically adjust your selection to include them. Great for creating loops!
• Automatically define musical phrases and add them to the Cue List.
• Customizeable toolbars enable you to show just those toolbar buttons you need.
• The software automatically checks Syntrillium's web site for new versions of the software and other updates.

Essential downloads:

• Cool Edit 2000
• Audio Cleanup Plug-in
• Studio Plug-in
• Pro EQ Plug-in

Be sure to check out the 'Convert a WAV to MP3 by using Cool Edit 2000' tutorial.

System requirements:
Windows 95/98/2000 or NT 4 or higher
16 MB RAM
17MB free Hard Drive space for Install
20MB free Hard Drive space for Operation

 

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