Multi track recorder, or two track editor

After using Audition and CEP for several years, I have yet to see a stable multi-track DAW that runs audition.  I love it's two track editing abilities, but am getting frustrated by it's lake of dependability.  It may be that I am just not aware of how to fix my issues, and if that is the case, I will enlist the help of this forum to smooth out my bugs.

However, I find it odd that through 4 editions (CEP, AA1.0, 1.5, 2.0) and about 7 computers I have never seen a rock solid performance when recording multi track.  Is this just a fluke, or is AA primarily an amazing two track editor?  Are you all using it for all your recording needs, or do you have a different favorite for that?  Please let us know!

Er.... shouldn't this be in the Polls Forum?

And what problems are you having with AA as a DAW? What equipment are you using under what circumstances? I would say there are probably a hundred different answers to this depending on how you use it and what you have connected to it. I have never had any problems recording to AA in multitrack - so what does that mean?

I think it's safe to presume that most Audition users are delighted with it 

Er.... shouldn't this be in the Polls Forum?

On balance I agree - it doesn't seem to be limited to a specific version of the software and anyway, we haven't had anything much new in here for a while, so why not?

My problem with the poll is that it doesn't have enough options - it certainly doesn't cover what I do, for instance... and I'm not sure how many questions you might need to cover the entire range of activities either - probably quite a few.

one of the reasons I have affection for the program (if no loyalty for the company that markets it) is how easily it adapts to a variety of tasks, to a variety of ways of working.

If I trouble shoot a clients DAW I still tend to install CE2K as one of the tools .. . it's showing it's age, doesn't do ASIO but with 4trck option it lets you test most of the significant hardware issues with a very small footprint, non invasive GUI .. . it follows windows conventions well, does all audio with appropriate math (well more or less . . . still better then most entry level and my prejudices against PT are well documented)

even in CE days, while I finally surrendered the idea of it as a single application for everything, I found it to be one of the most robust apps for editing audio for digital video . . . with appropriate outboard sync it simply blew any & all Avid audio solutions out of the game

one of the value added features I offered to clients at live shows (I don't do FOH) was to turn around the a raw edit of some of the evening as a salable CD before crowd left . . . while I was never wild about CE for tracking live it (& AA) remains the best overall solution (for me) for this effort . . . again no other single product comes close (some do this better or that better)

testimonials could go on . . . but the main thing here (and it applies more to Syntrillium then to current masters) is that CE & AA ) (through 1.5) was robust, stable and intuitive enough that finding alternative revenue threads, suggested by interacting with the software, was relatively easy . . . I tried stuff I probably would not have if I had not had CE as a tool

for me not being a CE/AA 'user' but someone who does audio and happens to use the tool is perhaps the strongest recommendation I can extend . . . it is not that it doesn't have eccentricities but certainly through the Syntrillium days it's limitations were fairly clearly defined and within those limitations it was a program that did not get in your way (and with a few notable exceptions the modules rolled into, integrated with, the app tended to be genuinely useful)

so there is no possible legitimate response I could make to any poll as to 'how' I use AA, nor how it is integrated into work flow  (I will say it's the only audio app (other then console for primary A/D) that is 'pinned' to the windows start menu .. . don't track with it, don't use it for automation but it is still only app accessed from a keystroke + a letter)

...If I trouble shoot a clients DAW I still tend to install CE2K as one of the tools .. . it's showing it's age, doesn't do ASIO...

ASIO works just fine on my system with CE2K (Cool Edit 2000).  Maybe your sound card is giving you ASIO troubles. 

so there is no possible legitimate response I could make to any poll as to 'how' I use AA, nor how it is integrated into work flow  (I will say it's the only audio app (other then console for primary A/D) that is 'pinned' to the windows start menu .. . don't track with it, don't use it for automation but it is still only app accessed from a keystroke + a letter)

May I ask what you do use for tracking?

ASIO works just fine on my system with CE2K (Cool Edit 2000).  Maybe your sound card is giving you ASIO troubles. 

That's a pretty neat trick, considering CE2000 never had support for ASIO.

I selected the third option, but that's not quite an accurate description of my situation.  For the most part, I have moved away from AA for multitrack work.  Between 1.5 and 2.0 I started using Samplitude Pro.  I wanted aux sends, automation, master effects, and other bits that are handy for multitrack work.  I had a hunch many or all of the features I was looking for would be in AA2, but I didn't want to wait and potentially be disappointed.  Also, I had no clue how long the wait for 2.0 would be.

AA is still my go-to app for any WAV editing, cleanup, restoration, and many other tasks, but these days, nearly all multitrack work happens in Samplitude.

[recording]

I also think the poll is ambiguous.  Are you asking about multi-track recording or its multi-track capabilities in general?  Remember, these days a lot of people have little need to actually record material in the traditional sense, though obviously many others still do.  I don't use AA for multi-track recording because almost all my material is made with software synthesisers.  But I do use its multi-track capabilities for mixing, as well its single wave editing features.  It's not my primary composition tool, but it is my primary editing tool.

[recording]

I also think the poll is ambiguous.  Are you asking about multi-track recording or its multi-track capabilities in general?  Remember, these days a lot of people have little need to actually record material in the traditional sense, though obviously many others still do.  I don't use AA for multi-track recording because almost all my material is made with software synthesisers.  But I do use its multi-track capabilities for mixing, as well its single wave editing features.  It's not my primary composition tool, but it is my primary editing tool.

Good point, I appologize for not making this clearer.  I am talking about multi tracking in the traditional sence of the word.  As in recording x amount of imputs simulttainiously.  Live.

ASIO works just fine on my system with CE2K (Cool Edit 2000).  Maybe your sound card is giving you ASIO troubles. 

That's a pretty neat trick, considering CE2000 never had support for ASIO.

Hmm I'll have to study the devices section of my preferences.  I thought I was selecting ASIO drivers.  I guess that explains why I was able to run CoolEdit at the same time as some other audio programs without freezing the soundcard up. 

I haven't had to use it yet, but ASIO4ALL might bring ASIO support to CoolEdit 2000 depending upon the soundcard installed. 

I haven't had to use it yet, but ASIO4ALL might bring ASIO support to CoolEdit 2000 depending upon the soundcard installed. 

No.  CE2000 can't use ASIO; what ASIO4all does is simulate an ASIO driver when there isn't one.

Paul

(I will say it's the only audio app (other then console for primary A/D) that is 'pinned' to the windows start menu .. . don't track with it, don't use it for automation but it is still only app accessed from a keystroke + a letter)

May I ask what you do use for tracking?

There is no easy straightforward answer . ..  I remain somewhat partial to IZ's Radar (first one I used was still marketed by Otari) . . . OS was based on BE code, not sure 'kernel' is correct word here.  In my experience it crossed minimal line for robustness and did the one task: tracking, with some of the least anomalies of any system I've used.

I put a Paris system, based on two 1000X cards, into play in a Chicago 'B' room, dual AMD < 1 gHz processors into an array of ultra wide SCSI's (drives in 'whisper' cabinet) . . . never beat it up enough to know if I would have been 'happy' with it, but it did not immediately piss me off . . . but by time it was configured it's cost was running neck & neck with entry level RADAR and Paris was still crippled by dependence on windows (and for the record, while 'X+' might be much better my decade old experience with Mac convinced me it was just as crippled as Win, got some important virtual mem issues quite wrong and even more of PIA for audio production work (and PT was always 'just wrong'))

but truth is I'm not married to any tracking 'brand'. I just want it to work in such a way that 'I' don't have to hunch over console just to keep it breathing . . . want to set levels, press the big red button and go put out fires elsewhere or catch a nap on the couch . . . if I have to 'ride faders' I don't want it to me on recording hardware.  What gear is used is dependent on specifics of project.  I've spent interminable hours on PT systems due to client preferences (my original experience with MOTU firewire a/d's was based on the Mac setup, so we'd have one available when clients needed one) . . . and only very occasionally are projects defined exclusively by my aesthetic (or ethical) values.  While I keep thinking I'm going to put a Nuendo system into play, in the project studio Cuebase and Sonar (I was using 12 tone stuff before there was desk top audio and Cakewalk was first or second 'sequencer' I used that allowed you to cobble audio on top of MIDI, and I think it's safe to say I genuinely hate cakewalk) probably run neck & neck . . . in a decade I can't recall a single client requesting AA (or it's predecessors)  . . .This past summer via the laptop rigs I actually used Tracktion a bunch more then I ever thought I would . . .but that had as much to do with fairly low latency integration with a couple of plug-ins we needed as with any affection for the program

In the field (which in reality is pretty much anywhere accept huddled alone recording a single track at a time (which is not exactly what I mean by 'tracking')) I tended to find that I always belt/suspendered AA/CE partially due to 'temp' file thing . . . and that pretty much defeated purpose of using it in the first place

I've gone back to look @ SAW recently . . . but am hoping that a couple of robust hrd/sft Linux solutions show up within a year or two  . . . I just can't see any real point in thinking that Windows is going to be of any use (except cosmetic) in keeping me competitive . . . so I'll undoubtedly keep a Windows box available . . .  but am thinking seriously about picking up a couple or RADAR classics and a couple of UFC-24's . . . If I 'member the latest software upgrade now supports SATA drives (more an issue for price and drive capacity, ease of B/U's then 'cause I think SATA finally puts performance boots to SCSI).

Currently I use Reaper for multitrack (or stereo) recording and editing, and Audition only for its tools such as noise reduction.  If Adobe can radically overhaul Audition's multitrack in the next release, and make it significantly less resource hungry I'd reconsider it for all purposes.