Adobe SoundBooth - BETA it sezzz!

Downloaded Adobe SoundBooth from Adobe Labs yesterday. I was eager to install and start using it, but, sleep had caught hold of me and shaken me to..umm..sleep! Even the eagerness couldnt shake it off..anways..lets talk about sleep another time. Its all about SoundBooth

First up - The installer is kinda rough. Its all still getting cooked, so you will see a lot of "Blah X is going to come here". I didnt really mind what the installer did, coz, I wanted to get on with using the application. One thing though - unlike other Adobe installers, this one is actually a Zip file that you download from the Labs site and then extract to install. 58MB download (approx) and 138MB on HDD (approx).

Having used Adobe Audition and Sound Forge, you are used to what to expect of editing apps. So, I was right away looking for Markers, noise reduction, normalization, fade in/out...and..I found them all in the proper places and didnt have to go hunting around - User Friendly!!!

[Update : You cant compare SoundBooth to SoundForge or Audition. They are really professional editing tools. SB is more like a normal guy's tool to do the small things easily!]

The grey interface resembles Audition a lot, which makes it quite easy for audition users who want to..ahem.."feel at home". You can brighten up the interface from the Preferences and customize the look and feel to an extent :)

You dont have too much to play with. About 4 effects, the faders, markers and a lot of recording. Ok, I spoke too soon.. there is a whole Task Panel that I am discovering. The Task Panel contains options that allow you to Clean up Audio, Create Music and Remove a Sound.

Clean up Audio - You can remove noise (similar to Noise Gate in Sound Forge 8) and similarly remove Clicks & Pops and Rumble sounds. All Fantastic and very useful in my day to day Audio processing life!

Create Music - You can browse and select SoundBooth Score templates, set it to time and modify a lot of properties that helps you fit the score into whatever you have recorded. I wish this would also allow us to import other sound filetypes. I could be singing with Bon Jovi :D. More experimenting to be done with this.

Remove a Sound - I havent tried it yet. Will update this later!

So I took a test drive and played around with..ahem..the voice of the nightingale..ahem..moi. Recoreded some Whistling, about 2 lines of "Lips like Morphine" (sung by me!) and all the natural sounds around me - of the fan spinning etc.. I first tried the Normalize and it was quick. I also used the Voice Enhancer. The "I want a girl with.." line was very clear..certainly could notice the difference in the enhancement. Every effect you apply, the change is noticable. I know I wont be using the Chorous effect or the Compression for my production anytime soon, but I think it would be worth a more detailed try as time goes on.

One feature I liked and didnt like - If you are playing a sound and when you change to another app (tabbing away from SoundBooth), the Sound pauses. You will need to Play the sound again when you tab back. Its good and bad :) :(

My Wishlist:

1. Settings for Normalization allowing users to set the dB rates they want.

2. Support for other filetypes in the Create Music panel :)

3. Well..the MP3 and FLV support which they are planning to add into the future versions :)

More experiments tomorrow :)

I should say that it fits into what I do so perfectly! I am not an audio processing expert, but, need to do it as my work demands it. I dont deal with MP3s and FLVs, so I dont really mind them not being supported. Its just for the "non work playtime" that I want them added to the Export filetype list.

Some Screenshots:
GUI - (not default layout)
http://www.flashofscarlet.com/downloads/SB/UI.jpg

GUI - Cleanup Audio
http://www.flashofscarlet.com/downloads/SB/UI3.jpg

GUI - Create Music
http://www.flashofscarlet.com/downloads/SB/UI2.jpg

[Update : These are just my initial reactions. I still need to do a really thorough experiment/test with it and see how it goes. I plan to do this over the weekend. So expect a big test result in my next post. Also, I'm trying out Audacity : http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/ . I've read great reviews about it and plan to use it instead of getting a copy of Plus! Analog Recorder for my upcoming Audio cassette to Digital Format conversion home project. Expect a this vs that too]

More info on SoundBooth and other product sneak peeks that were presented at MAX:
http://weblogs.macromedia.com/dehaan/archives/2006/10/day_3_sneak_pee.cfm

Awesome Web puzzles!

I've never really had much patience to do puzzled..and that..that puzzled a lot of people. However, I seem to have gotten addicted to these new fangled web puzzles.

One of my friends sent me a link the other day - http://www.freestuffhotdeals.com/hacker/1.html

It took me a lot of "patience gathering" to crack the puzzle. I did manage to crack it..in a fits n' starts way! I couldnt sit in front of my PC and totally solve it at a stretch. I ended up helping/trying to help others with some pages and finally managed to complete the whole thing.

Once I got used to it, it was time for one of my other friends to send me another URL to a similar type of puzzle. Only, this time it turned out to be a bit more difficult and it was created by some IIM folks. URL - http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris/irising/klueLESS/

I havent completed it..just reached no : 20. Maybe I'll complete it during the weekend. Its getting tougher as the page numbers increment. Its worth the challenge. The best page was :http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris/irising/klueLESS/singalong.asp I got totall misled and got back after about 2 hrs on it. I was thinking "Sound of.." (music..silence..!)..that's the Page Title! A few clues got those mighty wheels spinning again. I almost hit my head on the desk when I found what it was. Rock lives on!

I've already got another URL : http://deathball.net/notpron/
Did the first couple of pages and its already getting really tough.

I guess I am into some puzzle solving groove, nevertheless, it really helps me develop my analytical skills - its really dusty in there! You need to think on your feet and think way out of the box, if you want to really get through the many pages. And when you cross the finish line..its like "Yo! really awesome duude!"

Well..so I am going to make one too. :) Its going to be a bit different - with new challenges and wierd concepts. The whole idea is growing and adding into its complexity. SNARLLL! It should take me about a week to complete it and have it up and running. :)

Application Management Framework : Part One

This has been a longtime "in the works", coz, I wasn't been able to consolidate ideas into one big-bang theory. I am delighted that its finally taking shape - slowly, but, steadily and almost into the first phase of development.

Basically, the Framework will allow users to consolidate, customize, manage and execute files on the web. The type of content can be websites or learning material. It includes user authentication and content management consoles to make sure that the user gets what he sees!

Ok, I know all this sounds too extensive and vast. So, I am restricting it to Flash-based content. So, whatever Flash supports, the Framework supports too :) Whatever it is..one thing is for sure, its going to be Flash and .NET all the way!

I am unable to let out more information right now. So, expect the PART TWO of this entry to carry more news and technical stuff.