gimme three good reasons...

...to upgrade to 2.0 and I'll do it.  I'll start:

1  It's got ASIO support and so gets the latency on my system down to about zero.  That's pretty much worth the price of the upgrade right there.
 
Anybody got another two *really* good reasons?  What about the automation thing?  Is it useful with a mouse?  Do I need to buy more gear to make it useful?

I wouldn't have the latency issue as a reason at all! By the time you've got it set to a value that allows a reasonable track count, reliable monitoring, the meters working correctly, etc you will find no improvement over 1.5, really. If we're being honest, then the ASIO engine in 2.0 couldn't really be described as 'efficient' quite frankly...

The automation is a much better reason, and so is the new mixer in general. And you can make good use of it with just a mouse - I've never used any form of external controller with the it, and I get on fine. There are a load of things that you can now control easily within a mix using it that you simply can't do with earlier versions.

If you want one other good reason, then I'd say that direct-to-file recording in MV was one, especially if you ever do longer recordings in live situations - no waiting for temp files to be copied.

In general, if you are looking for good reasons to upgrade, you have to look at MV for them - EV really hasn't changed that much.

AUX bus tracks and submixes!!
(part of the mixer upgrade Steve mentioned - but GREAT parts)

I wouldn't have the latency issue as a reason at all! By the time you've got it set to a value that allows a reasonable track count, reliable monitoring, the meters working correctly, etc you will find no improvement over 1.5, really. If we're being honest, then the ASIO engine in 2.0 couldn't really be described as 'efficient' quite frankly...

Okay, but here's the reason I think the latency situation has disappeared for me:  Cool Edit 1.2 is the ONLY version in which I can record subsequent tracks and they all start at the zero mark.  In CE 2.1, there's always a lag between 0.0000 and the point at which the new track being recorded starts.  Ditto Audition 1.5.   What a pain.  So when I run a dry track from the software through my Lexicon hardware to add some verb and then record it as a new track, that lag is always there and nearly impossible to find where to put the wet track in relation to the dry one.  So I end up adding all my verb tracks in Cool Edit 1.2 and then exporting them back to later versions of Cool Edit or Audition to mix in.  Geez.  What a pain.

Anyway, I've been playing with the Audition 2.0 trial version, and it seems to record everything - first track, second track, whatever track - from the 0.000 mark.  That would mean I wouldn't have to play that time-consuming 'ship it out to Cool Edit 1.2 and then back into the mixing software' game.  Unless the things you were talking about change all that.  All I want to do is be able to record tracks without lag and mix in the same software.  What do you think?  Is it doable?

Cool Edit 1.2 is the ONLY version in which I can record subsequent tracks and they all start at the zero mark.

Well, considering that it uses exactly the same recording mechanism as 1.5, I'd say that latency isn't the issue...

Latency in this context relates to the speed at which the processor handles audio in and out of the card, and doesn't inherently misplace tracks in Audition. In 1.5, have you tried experimenting with Options>Settings>Multitrack and the 'correct for start sync in recordings? This is rather more likely to be the cause of your problem, I think...

Gotta agree with everything said above.  Direct to track recording would be my number one reason.

I like the mixer upgrade, but my number two would be the Mastering Rack option.  The ability to adjust multiple effects at the same time, hearing how they interact, is very useful.

Bob

Unless we know a lot about your personal requirements and workflow it's hard to comment.  Let's turn it around - what made you choose AA1.5 in the first place, and what have you found lacking about it in respect of those requirements?  OK, you've said you're interested in the Asio support, but practically every audio workstation program does that these days, so that's not enough on its own (unless, quite reasonably, you have no interest in changing to a completely different program).

As I said above, I'd like to be able to record and mix in the same software.  I haven't been able to do that, because I've had to shuttle between Cool Edit 1.2 and Cool Edit 2.1 for tracking and mixing, respectively.  I tried the 'fix' that SteveG suggested a long time ago, but it's never worked for me.  I changed soundcards (remember Gadgetlabs?), switching to an M-Audio Delta card, but that didn't fix the lag when recording new tracks in Multitrack - in Cool Edit 1.2 there's no lag; in every other Syntrillium/Adobe application I've used, including Audition 1.5, there's always a significant lag. 

With the Audition 2.0 trial download, I've tried recording multiple tracks and they ALL start at the 0.0000 mark.  Halleluja!  This afternoon, I'm going to load a full session of twenty or more tracks with live effects into 2.0 and try some recording and see how it handles it.  I'll report back.

Gotta agree with everything said above.  Direct to track recording would be my number one reason.

I like the mixer upgrade, but my number two would be the Mastering Rack option.  The ability to adjust multiple effects at the same time, hearing how they interact, is very useful.

I like the mastering track option too - that's really sweet.

But, uh...what's direct to track recording? 

But, uh...what's direct to track recording? 

I think he means direct to file - as explained earlier. Otherwise, I have no idea what he's talking about!

If you want one other good reason, then I'd say that direct-to-file recording in MV was one, especially if you ever do longer recordings in live situations - no waiting for temp files to be copied.

So, is that the reason why after recording a track sometimes, there's a ten- to twenty-second wait before I can do anything in the session - the temp files are being copied?

Okay, I recorded some stuff in a great big mix with all sorts of realtime effects running and Audition 2.0 was happy recording the track from exactly the point I wanted.  Nice.

I like the Multitrack environment, the way it looks and the way it does things - really important to me.

I can't believe it uses the same dumb compressor that Syntrillium came up with years ago.

I'm disappointed it doesn't have Quickverb in its onboard effects list - I've found it really useful for throwing together quick mixes, plus I've sometimes used it in the final mix.  Is it possible to run Cool Edit as a plugin inside Audition 2.0?  Otherwise I'd have to export/import tracks again, which I want to avoid.

So anyway, I just started getting seriously cozy with the idea of upgrading to 2.0, and then I read this over at Adobe:

"Jul 31, 07 PST (#2 of 10)   

Hi Charlie,

While Soundbooth has replaced Audition in the Production Premium suite, Audition development is continuing and Audition 3.0 is due to be released in around five or six months."

This was posted by someone called Durin. 

Oh, yeah?  So why buy 2.0 then, if Durin knows what he/she's talking about?   Hmm... wonder if I could upgrade from 1.5, or if they'd be charging the full whack...

This was posted by someone called Durin. 

Oh, yeah?  So why buy 2.0 then, if Durin knows what he/she's talking about?

Oh, he knows what he's talking about (he's an Adobe staffer) - but I wouldn't hold your breath about the date, quite frankly.

Hmm... wonder if I could upgrade from 1.5, or if they'd be charging the full whack...

There's almost certain to be upgrade paths - there always has been before, and there's no reason at all to suppose that there isn't going to be this time. I believe that in the past, the upgrade prices have been staggered according to which previous version you've got, but I haven't looked at that for ages. There is information about the current situation on the Adobe site though, and I think that this will all be moved on a stage when the new version is released.

I can't believe it uses the same dumb compressor that Syntrillium came up with years ago.

There's nothing dumb about the sound of that compressor at all - once you've learned how to use it. But if you buy and register 2.0 you get a free iZotope single-channel plugin as a free gift. And anyway, there's an iZotope multiband compressor in there anyway - you are hardly short of compression!

I'm disappointed it doesn't have Quickverb in its onboard effects list - I've found it really useful for throwing together quick mixes, plus I've sometimes used it in the final mix.

Why should it be there? Adobe don't own it, and as reverbs go, it's a bit passé these days. If you really want to run Quickverb, then download the free DX version and use that. But a little exploring will find you plenty more... and compared to CE, the reverb situation in AA2.0 is somewhat different anyway - there's a reverb that's intended to do just what you described in there anyway, and I think it sounds better than Quickverb.

If you want a much more interesting (and better-sounding) reverb that's free, then try Glaceverb - this can be surprisingly good sometimes.

Is it possible to run Cool Edit as a plugin inside Audition 2.0?  Otherwise I'd have to export/import tracks again, which I want to avoid.

Well, that's a new one! Cool Edit is a program, not a plugin. No it won't run within AA2.0, but there's a moderately good chance that if you open a CE session file in AA2.0 that it will import the basics of it correctly, although it will ask you to save a new session afterwards - these sessions are not backwards compatible, because there is a lot of extra, new data in the AA2.0 session.

You get Useful Post of the Week Award, Steve. 

Thanks for taking the time.