Multitrack audio editing software w/AAC support?

[adriantoll]

Hiya

Just switched from a PC to a lovely 17" Powerbook, and enjoying it enormously, particularly this bit of DJ software with support for AAC - http://www.dj1800.com/ - after having digitised all of my 1500-or-so CDs into iTunes

But the one thing I'm missing from my PC is CoolEdit Pro (now Adobe Audition) which I used to make mix CDs. The problem is that I can't find anything for the Mac that isn't very expensive (e.g. Logic or ProTools), and even then I'm not sure whether those have support for the tunes that I've ripped into an AAC format using iTunes. All I want is:

1. A multitrack display, so I can drop audio files into the tracks, move them around and play with the volume envelopes etc.

2. Support for doing this with AAC files (including ones that I've bought from the iTunes store)

Does anyone have any recommendations for software that does this, because I've just spent the best part of a day searching the web and I haven't been able to come up with anything...

 

[TranceClubMusic]

This may be a stupid comment - but cant you do all that in Final Cut Pro's Sound Track or even the watered down version Garage Band?

Hiya

Just switched from a PC to a lovely 17" Powerbook, and enjoying it enormously, particularly this bit of DJ software with support for AAC - http://www.dj1800.com/ - after having digitised all of my 1500-or-so CDs into iTunes

But the one thing I'm missing from my PC is CoolEdit Pro (now Adobe Audition) which I used to make mix CDs. The problem is that I can't find anything for the Mac that isn't very expensive (e.g. Logic or ProTools), and even then I'm not sure whether those have support for the tunes that I've ripped into an AAC format using iTunes. All I want is:

1. A multitrack display, so I can drop audio files into the tracks, move them around and play with the volume envelopes etc.

2. Support for doing this with AAC files (including ones that I've bought from the iTunes store)

Does anyone have any recommendations for software that does this, because I've just spent the best part of a day searching the web and I haven't been able to come up with anything...

 

[adriantoll]

This may be a stupid comment - but cant you do all that in Final Cut Pro's Sound Track or even the watered down version Garage Band?

Thanks TranceClubMusic - you can do a bit in Garageband; line up all the songs, switching from one track to the next (e.g if I have 10 songs the first is on track 1, the second on track 2, the third on track 1 and so on, using the volume envelopes to fade from one track to the next).

The thing is that there doesn't seem to be a way of selecting a portion of the whole timeline and saving the mixdown of that section to an audio file (usually a .wav file to preserve as much quality as possible). The only way seems to be to export the whole timeline to iTunes. I could do each song individually in Garageband, but besides being a bit of a pain setting up each track (each song would have one song fading out at the beginning, the main song fading in and out, and a third song fading in at the end), if you're beat matching between songs, the exact position of each song in the timeline is obviously very important, as the second track has to start off exactly at the point that the first left off etc. and I burn them to a CD with no gap between songs to preserve the mix.

I haven't had any experience of Final Cut Pro, so if anyone knows whether that's possible in FCP that would be handy

 

[jrv3034]

Final Cut Pro is a video editing program. It does have audio editing capabilities, but they're not designed for music editing; more for dialogue. And it costs $1000. Soundtrack, which can be bought separately, is for using samples to create custom soundtracks, not for mixing pre-existing music, I believe. Logic is also expensive ($1000), but there's Logic Express for much less ($299).

http://www.apple.com/software/logicexpress/

Hope this helps.

 

[boskie]

Try Roxio's Toast with Jam. A hell of a lot cheaper than FCP.

 

[adriantoll]

Thanks for your replies everyone.

I've decided to go for Logic Express, as it seems to offer a lot of scope for expansion in the future (MIDI, easy upgrade path to Logic Pro etc.) and wasn't too expensive (got it for £150 from Turnkey on Charing Cross Road in London - an excellent shop!).

I'm having a bit of trouble importing my AAC files at the moment, but Logic 6 apparently has support for Quicktime formats including AAC, so that's probably just me and I'll sort it out when my registration goes through and I get access to the tech support from emagic...

 

[furrina]

Hiya

Just switched from a PC to a lovely 17" Powerbook, and enjoying it enormously, particularly this bit of DJ software with support for AAC - http://www.dj1800.com/ - after having digitised all of my 1500-or-so CDs into iTunes
.

I was just looking at this on their site. I have Traktor on my 15" PB, but I haven't had a chance to use it yet. Does anyone know how dj1800 compares to Traktor as DJ software? Would it be worth buying or does Traktor do everything that it can and how about convenience (importing playlists from iTunes, for example?)

 

[howard]

you made a great choice

 

[kanker]

For more help with Logic, got to osxaudio or sonikmatter.

 

[Spizzo]

I feel ya, the only thing i ever do on a PC anymore is use Audition. If you find something for X you like as much, post it!!!

Thanks.

 

[adriantoll]

I was just looking at this on their site. I have Traktor on my 15" PB, but I haven't had a chance to use it yet. Does anyone know how dj1800 compares to Traktor as DJ software? Would it be worth buying or does Traktor do everything that it can and how about convenience (importing playlists from iTunes, for example?)

The main difference between the two for me (apart from cost - DJ1800 is only $40) is that DJ1800 automatically updates its song dropdown lists based on the iTunes library, and it also plays AAC files (including ones purchased from the iTunes store), which was the thing that I really needed, as at least half of my songs are in AAC format. Otherwise, Traktor looks like it does more (wavform display etc.), but I haven't used it so I can't really say.

Thanks for the tip kanker - I've posted on the sonicmatter BB to see whether anyone else has come up against this problem.

Spizzo - I'll let you know if I can manage to import any of my files into Logic Express!

 

[adriantoll]

Quick update - it seems that in the upcoming Traktor 2.6 Studio you can use non-DRM AAC files. But Traktor Studio is €199 and DJ1800 is $40 - if DJ1800 had waveforms I wouldn't think about Traktor at all, as DJ1800 also plays DRM AAC files...