CS6 At Last

There are a list of features here that should make pretty well everyone (bar those wanting midi) sit up and take notice

http://blogs.adobe.com/insidesound/2012/04/whats-new-in-adobe-audition-cs6.html

Seriously looking forward to this

Just need to know when, where & how much

Just need to know when, where & how much

That, indeed, is THE question!

Seriously, the (new) features list looks to have answered a very large number of the posts requesting features to be added or restored.  Yes, those wanting MIDI will doubtless vent their anger here or at the Adobe forums; I would have liked to see MIDI more fully implemented but I understand why this was not a priority in any way for the AA team.  As SteveG and others have pointed out, Adobe were "late to the party" with MIDI; a number of other companies already had fully-functional MIDI sequencers/editors.  Adobe would always have been in the situation of trying to "catch up".

Looking forward to getting ALL the details re dates and prices!

Jeff

So is this Audition v4.1, v4.5, or v5 (or no longer any of these)?

It will be interesting to see if the really useful (to me) but decidedly half-baked support of multi-channel files that arrived in CS5.5 has been quietly extended at all; there's no mention of it, but that's not very surprising.

Paul

So is this Audition v4.1, v4.5, or v5 (or no longer any of these)?

It's actually Audition 5, although it will be marketed as Audition CS6.

It will be interesting to see if the really useful (to me) but decidedly half-baked support of multi-channel files that arrived in CS5.5 has been quietly extended at all; there's no mention of it, but that's not very surprising.

Well, since Colin says that they're revealing all of the features (even though they aren't all in that communication), I don't suppose that it will hurt to tell you that yes, multi-channel operation is vastly improved. In other words, I can run VVMic in it directly, and reduce B format to stereo (the only really useful thing you can do with B format...  ) directly. I cannot tell you how much of an improvement this is! (update: I just checked elsewhere, and a) it's fine to talk about it and b) the list was only what the team could remember from memory - and clearly they can't remember everything!!!!)

The n-channel capability has been there for a while, but there's been no capability for running multichannel VSTs, and this is the major breakthrough and upgrade, as far as that's concerned - VST3.
Overall, the forthcoming release is pretty damned good. Not absolutely perfect, but streets ahead of the previous version.

Sounds well worth it for me, then.  But can you use files with channel counts other than 1, 2 or 6 in the multitrack, though?  Or create such files?

Paul

The multitrack is still restricted to mono/stereo/5.1 tracks.  However, you can have a clip of any channelization on any of the tracks, and that's no different than CS5.5.

Other things that have been improved for people with multichannel files is support for the 'CHAN' chunk in AIFF files, and reading / writing Ambisonic B-Format channelization info in WAV, CAF, AIFF, MOV, etc.

If you want to create a non mono/stereo/5.1 file, that isn't improved _that_ much.  My workaround is to use the "Import Raw Data" command and just type in the number of channels I want.  I then can paste in whatever audio I want, or I can save a blank file with that number of channels (e.g. a 3 channel file, a 7 channel file, etc) as templates.

If you need n-channel files _with_ channelization info, I made myself a bunch of templates as well, but I did those in QuickTime 7 Pro, and then load those in Audition and save to whatever format I want with the above-described workflow.

Thanks for that.

However, you can have a clip of any channelization on any of the tracks, and that's no different than CS5.5.

But in CS5.5 the channels of, say, a four-channel file all got routed to L or R in the multitrack view when I tried it, and so having them there was useless - if they had gone to four separate channels in a 5.1 system, that would have been usable.  But you've given me an idea that I might have missed how to make it work - something to try this evening!

Paul

You can put the Channel Mixer effect on the 4 channel clip, and have that routed the way you'd like it to the stereo track.  Or you can put the 4 channel clip on a 5.1 track, and also use the channel mixer effect to route it to the 5.1 channels in the way that you choose.

I'm guessing that with Audition accommodating files with 1-32 channels, and a combinatorial nightmare of channelizations (just looking at common 4 channel files: L/R/Ls/Rs; L/C/R/Cs; L/R/C/Cs; L/R/C/LFE; 1/2/3/4; W/X/Y/Z; etc) that restricting the track formats in the Multitrack to mono/stereo/5.1 is out of fear of going down a rabbit's hole.

You can put the Channel Mixer effect on the 4 channel clip, and have that routed the way you'd like it to the stereo track. 

If I get a chance over the next few days, I'll try and do a short video of how it works with VVMIc - there are at least two ways you can use it.

Does "Reveal clip in files panel" mean that if I highlight a clip in the multitrack window that clip will also be highlighted in the files window?

Glad to see the automation/midi control/clip group stuff.   What about 23.98 fps TC though?  90% of jobs I do are at that frame rate....

phil p

Does "Reveal clip in files panel" mean that if I highlight a clip in the multitrack window that clip will also be highlighted in the files window?

Glad to see the automation/midi control/clip group stuff.   What about 23.98 fps TC though?  90% of jobs I do are at that frame rate....

23.976 and 59.94 fps support was added to the timeline rulers.

"Reveal Clip in Files Panel" just puts focus on the selected clips source asset in the Files Panel.  It's not a dynamic toggle that constantly shifts file focus as you click around multitrack.

Does "Reveal clip in files panel" mean that if I highlight a clip in the multitrack window that clip will also be highlighted in the files window?

Glad to see the automation/midi control/clip group stuff.   What about 23.98 fps TC though?  90% of jobs I do are at that frame rate....

23.976 and 59.94 fps support was added to the timeline rulers.

"Reveal Clip in Files Panel" just puts focus on the selected clips source asset in the Files Panel.  It's not a dynamic toggle that constantly shifts file focus as you click around multitrack.

In the multitrack, I see that I can change the name of a clip (there), but the name of that clip does not seem to change in the "file" window.  In CS6 if I do "make unique copy", then rename that, it still has the old name in the file window.  So if I wanted to do some work on a clip, that then wanted to be able to copy and use at other locations in the timeline, how would I name it and save it so I can find it again later?

Another question: I get a lot of audio from OMF imports (longform video projects).  The editors have often renamed their original clips to something meaningful to them ("joe interview #4"), but the OMF process also gives those clips a unique name, often a very long string of numbers and letters.  When I import the OMF into AA I see the "editor name" on the clip in the time line, but in the file window I see the long number+letter name (and nothing else).  Is there a way in CS6  to make the file window see the same names that the MT window is showing for the clips?

thanks

phil p

Good news.

Anyone know if the scientific filters have made a reappearance?

In the multitrack, I see that I can change the name of a clip (there), but the name of that clip does not seem to change in the "file" window.  In CS6 if I do "make unique copy", then rename that, it still has the old name in the file window.  So if I wanted to do some work on a clip, that then wanted to be able to copy and use at other locations in the timeline, how would I name it and save it so I can find it again later?

Another question: I get a lot of audio from OMF imports (longform video projects).  The editors have often renamed their original clips to something meaningful to them ("joe interview #4"), but the OMF process also gives those clips a unique name, often a very long string of numbers and letters.  When I import the OMF into AA I see the "editor name" on the clip in the time line, but in the file window I see the long number+letter name (and nothing else).  Is there a way in CS6  to make the file window see the same names that the MT window is showing for the clips?

Clips are just abstract containers that reference a real file asset.  Changing a clip name does not currently modify the source file in any way.  There are some usability issues that would need to be addressed in order to tackle this feature, including what happens when multiple clips reference the same file?  If changing the name of one clip changes the name of the file, the other clip either changes on you or is left dangling.  I do like the suggestion of customizing the name of the asset when creating a unique copy as Audition would be generating a brand new file at this point.

As for the OMF issue, there's no method for matching these yet.  Again, clips are fundamentally just a box that happens to point to a span of samples within a particular file.  The clip itself isn't necessarily chained to that asset, and the file itself may be in use in other sessions or other applications, and changing the physical filename is opening up a can of worms. 

One potential solution we're considering for the future is a Clip Manager view or panel which would display clips for the current session in a view similar to the Files and Marker panels.  I don't believe there's been any design on this yet, but I'll verify the feature request is up-to-date and in the correct backlog for the next cycle.

Anyone know if the scientific filters have made a reappearance?

Scientific Filter is one of the plugins that has not yet been ported.  Running quickly down up the Effects panel list from Audition 3.0, the following effects are not included as of Audition CS6:
Generate Noise
DTMF Signals.  (This can be accomplished manually within Generate Tones, to some degree)
Pitch Bender
Stereo Field Rotate
Stereo Expander
Pan/Expand
Graphic Panner
Binaural Auto-Panner
Convolution
Dynamic EQ
Quick Filter
Scientific Filter
Dynamic Delay
Echo Chamber
Multitap Delay
Envelope Follower
Frequency Band Splitter
Vocoder