Choosing the correct Magix product

4MC wrote on 10/7/2021, 11:46 AM

I've been using Audio Cleaning Lab 3 for 43-days and am almost ready to buy a product. I want to make sure I buy the best one though.

My use case is almost exclusively using the software to record/edit/master/export music. The music is from vinyl/cassette/8-track/laserdisc/VHS - Vinyl is connected via USB, everything else via a soundcard.

I also produce mixes from the recorded tracks to post on Mixcloud and occasionally youtube.

As far as I can see there are three products to choose from

1. SOUND FORGE Audio Studio 15
2. SOUND FORGE Audio Cleaning Lab 3
3. SOUND FORGE Pro 15

I don't want to have to install trials of all 3 and work out what I think is best, has anyone seen a useful comparison of the product features?

Anyone care to recommend one over the others?

Thanks in advance

++Mark.
https://ctproduced.com

Comments

SP. wrote on 10/7/2021, 6:56 PM

@4MC Do you need to restore old records a lot? I would say that Audio Cleaning Lab is the fastest option of these three softwares for audio restoration. The "best one" with the most features is Sound Forge Pro Suite which also gets you the excellent SpectraLayers and Melodyne Essential. But the workflow is different and much more complex/open compared to the preset oriented step-by-step-workflow in Audio Cleaning Lab and maybe you don't like it.

You can find a small comparison chart here:

https://www.magix.com/int/music/sound-forge/sound-forge-pro/version-comparison/

Audio Cleaning Lab cannot really be compared and that's why it isn't listed.

If you can handle everything fine with Audio Cleaning Lab I don't think it is worth to get Sound Forge Audio Studio or Sound Forge Pro. Sound Forge Pro Suite with SpectraLayers on the other hand could be valuable option if you can get it for the reduced upgrade price from Audio Cleaning Lab, but I'm not sure if this is possible so you need to ask sales support at infoservice@magix.net about this first.

I think a combination of both programs is really powerful.

Do you make all your mixes from single audio files? In case you want to make remixes by adding new tracks like drums etc. be aware that these softwares are not multi-track-DAWs. They work fine with multi-channel audio files. But for multi-track editing you need a different software.

4MC wrote on 10/8/2021, 10:18 AM

Thats a good summary, thanks for taking time to answer.

I have over 2,800 albums, I've already recorded/ripped more than a thousand, and they range from new to awful condition. They were all processed with Audacity, which I'm pretty competent with but is slow and painful to use sometimes. Equally its brilliant because you can do almost anything with it.

Yes, all the mixes are basically individual mp3 fade out/in together. Here is an example.
https://www.mixcloud.com/ctproduced/hank-crawford-a-born-day-celebration/

I have one question left about setting up input levels that I'll start a new entry for. Thanks again.