Freeware sound editor?, Part 2

Recall --

After briefly reviewing Sound Pad by Menasoft in last weeks' newsletter, I asked Infopackets Readers to send me their own picks for a favorite freeware sound editor.

Quite a number of of users recommended a program called Audacity. Infopackets Reader Peter G. writes:

" I have used Audacity to record audio tapes onto CD. It's pretty straightforward to use -- anyone with a bit of experience will find it quite easy to work out without having to read the help files too much. What I like about it is the very clean interface without any bells and whistles to clutter it up.

From the web site: ... record sounds, play sounds, import and export WAV, AIFF, Ogg Vorbis, and MP3 files, and more. Use it to edit your sounds using Cut, Copy and Paste (with unlimited Undo), mix tracks together, or apply effects to your recordings. It also has a built-in amplitude envelope editor, a customizable spectrogram mode and a frequency analysis window for audio analysis applications. Built-in effects include Echo, Change Tempo, and Noise Removal, and it also supports VST and LADSPA plug-in effects. "

Infopackets Reader Daniel M. suggested dbPowerAmp:

" While not really a true sound editor, dbPowerAmp allows simplified recording from cassettes and LP's with the ability to normalize the volume.

From the web site: Rip digitally sound from Audio CDs, and store in a multitude of formats, Convert from one format to another, just about every audio type is supported: mp3, mp4, Windows Media Audio (WMA), Ogg Vorbis, AAC, Monkeys Audio, FLAC and many others [Codec downloads], whilst preserving ID Tags, Volume Normalize audio files, Windows Explorer Integration - right click Convert To & popup useful information on audio files (such as bit rate, length), ID tag editing [Power Pack Option], Record from LPs or anything [optional Auxiliary Input install], Fully compatible with Windows 95/98/ME NT4/2000, Windows XP and Linux (using Wine). 100% Free, No nags, popups, hidden Spyware or bundleware. "

http://www.dbpoweramp.com

William W. writes:

" You might try a program called mp3DirectCut. I find it quite useful. PS: I enjoy and look forward to infopackets, keep up the good work!

From the web site: mp3DirectCut is a small tool for editing MPEG audio directly. You can remove parts, change the volume, split files or copy regions to new files. All without the need to decompress your MP3 into PCM/WAV. This saves work, encoding time and disk space. And there is no quality loss through any re-compressions. Featuers: Several prelisten functions, MP3 visualisation and VU meter, Easy navigation, Fading, volume setting, normalizing, Pause detection, Direct recording of MP3 (ACM and Lame encoder supported), Layer 2 support, ID3v1.1 support, and Cue Sheet support. "

http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~pesch

Leland G. recommended HarddiskOgg:

" I honestly can't remember who recommended it but I've found a freeware program that has been working perfectly for copying tapes! The name of the program is HarddiskOgg. It's very simple while at the same time very effective. The amazing thing about the program is something called smart normalization and it's ability to adjust the input volume automatically and on the fly! It apparently was created to record directly to Ogg Vorbis but it also records to MP3 (if you download the encoder) and WAV format as well as something called Monkeys Audio. "

http://www.fridgesoft.de/

And finally, Robert L. suggested pricelessware.org, a web site which features some of the best freeware on the net available today:

" Thanks for the very informative newsletter. I'd like to share a web site called pricelessware.org. The web site states 'The best of the best in Windows Freeware, as determined by the news readers of alt.comp.freeware. Check it out. "

http://www.pricelessware.org

Thanks to all who wrote in with their suggestions!