MAGIX Sound Forge Audio Studio 16: fairly advanced but uncomplicated audio editor

26 Jan 2022 by Lyubomir Dobrev | Approximate reading time: 2 Minutes

· Source: MAGIX

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In version 16, SOUND FORGE Audio Studio gains additional options for editing almost any kind of audio. While DAWs are the king of the hill for a great many reasons, I still find merit in a to-the-point audio editor – it starts quickly and making a bunch of cuts and adjustments to an audio recording is a breeze. DAWS are overkill for that kind of stuff.

Sound Forge Audio Studio 16 is an audio editor that won’t intimidate beginners but it’s going to carry them fairly far in their recording pursuits before more advanced features call for a DAW. The software covers the basics of high-fidelity recording (up to 32-bit, 384khz) and wave editing (including 5.1 surround files) and reaches all the way to mastering and restoration features. Some of those are powered by iZotope Ozone Elements 9. If you’re doing podcasts or audiobooks, these may be all you’ll ever need. Furthermore, you can export straight to audiobook formats in addition to all standard audio files.

Sound Forge Audio Studio 16

In version 16, the new modernEQ tool enables precise frequency adjustments of the kind you’d expect from professional software. Likewise, the restoration software lets you dig into the frequency spectrum to help attenuate clicks, pops, and other undesirable degradations. Also new is modernReverb, a quick reverb effect mostly organized around presets.

Version 16 also sports a redesigned resampling engine with improved resampling quality at sample rates up to 384kHz. It lets you edit several formats and associated codecs together without having to bother with the technicalities.

Also included is the wizardFX suite with reasonably competent processing and creative effects, such as dynamics, tape machine, bitcrusher, tube distortion, modulation and the like.

Sound Forge Audio Studio 16

All in all, Sound Forge Audio Studio 16 seems to be like a seriously souped-up Audacity. I believe content creators will appreciate it for what it is.

Sound Forge Audio Studio 16 – Price and availability

Sound Forge Audio Studio 16 is available on subscription for EUR 3 per month, or as a perpetual license for EUR 59.99. The pricing is fair but you can always get Reaper, a full-blown DAW, for that kind of money. Whether you’ll like the experience is up to you. I have a forever soft spot for Reaper as my introduction to DAWs, but the interface is cumbersome (the menus are labyrinthine, I had to mod them) and I don’t like the stock plug-ins. The thinking behind Sound Forge is more along the lines of mine.