Adobe Audition is one of the more popular DAWs (Digital Audio Workstation) on the market for rank ‘n’ file voice-actors.
ProTools is like getting in an F-16 to cross the street for most voice-actors who are not also audio engineers (my unsolicited opinion).
Plenty of people like the free Audacity program. Other worthy alternatives are OcenAudio, Studio One, Reaper, PreSonus, CakeWalk Sonar, Ableton, GarageBand, Steinburg CuBase, even GoldWave and Sony SoundForge (now owned by MAGIX).
But Adobe makes a worthy value proposition for people who are also adept at other software tools, or enjoy doing their own creative digital work. Here’s what I mean:
Adobe began selling all their popular software programs in their CREATIVE CLOUD service 2-3 years ago. Some users hit the ceiling, but most of their fears have disappeared now that this method of using software is proving to be advantageous. You get constant upgrades, cross-platform functionality, multi-computer use of the software, and a monthly payment is all that’s needed. You don’t have to be ON the internet to use the program….just to update.
Adobe Audition CC is $20/month, and you get a Creative Cloud storage account for free(2 Gigs – big deal). The arrangement is painless, though…upgrades are sight-unseen (any of their single-app programs are $20/mo).
Now though, Adobe is sweetening the pot even more. Until the 25th of November, you get the entire collection of all their signature apps for $40/mo…it’s usually $50. For that, you get PhotoShop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Dreamweaver, After Effects, Lightroom, Sketch, Muse, InDesign, Bridge, Media Encoder, Prelude, Animate, AND Audition (and more). Plus you get 20 Gigs of Cloud storage along with all that…and 10 free images from Adobe Stock. These are the full-featured programs, not their “elements” (or lite) versions.
Am I going to buy? I’m sorely tempted.
Here’s what might make me hesitate: I already own competing products in most of these genres. I’m well-versed in their use, and happy with the alternatives. Can I afford to spend the time to learn PhotoShop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, etc? (notoriously complicated programs) Criminy!…I’m too busy now to pet my cat… not likely I’ll get to all those tutorials right away.
The devil’s advocate might say, though, that for double the price of Audition CC right now ($20/mo) I’ll be getting a disproportionately bigger value of some 20 top software programs on the market. That’s a compelling argument.
I will say that all the many online reviews of the Creative Cloud suite deal that I’ve read are almost universally favorable, but most were written by graphics artists…and the CC suite favors that freelance realm more than audio engineers or voice-actors.
Just go to Adobe.com to see all the details. That’s where you manage your account, download, find FAQ’s, get tutorials, seek support, and avail yourself of their considerable online assets. Just 9 more days to take advantage of that sweet deal yet (and, no, I’m not getting a kickback by mentioning this).
No word yet, whether Adobe’s newest wrinkle — a means of “fabricating” voice out of your audio samples — will be included in the CC suite eventually. See my blog: VOICE SYNTH IS BA-A-A-A-ACK to read more.
CourVO
