GoToWebinar is GoTo’s webinar and online conferencing solution, and offers features like audience polling and Q&A, flexible scheduling experiences, and webinar templates. It offers CRM integrations and reporting & analytics tools to help engage clients’ audiences.
$49
per month per organizer
Sound Forge
Score10 out of 10
N/A
Magix Software offers Sound Forge, the company's audio editing and digital audio workstation. Magix acquried Sound Forge from Sony in 2016.
It is great for big events like training or product demos. It's good for marketing webinars with features like polls and Q&A. It's not ideal for small, casual meetings. It can be too expensive for some businesses. For smaller events, other tools might be better.
Sound Forge is great for when you need to edit a lot of audio, like interviews, spoken word, podcasts, monologues, presentations, lessons—you name it. When you have a lot of audio to get through, Sound Forge can make it go by very quickly by using such features as the markers and hotkeys for normalization, inserting silence (where needed), graphical fades to remove audio artifacts, and so on. I've been able to edit a 1 hour interview in 2 hours, having made hundreds of edits in the process. Sound Forge is less useful for situations where you want to hear a realtime effects chain, or record with VST effects on. For instance, if you want the person being recorded to hear their own voice through headphones with reverb and compression applied, I do not know how to do this in Sound Forge. I think it is impossible, but even if it is possible, it is not readily apparent how to do so.
A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info
A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. TR verified that a representative sample of customers was invited. More Info
Markers - You can rapidly edit spoken audio to remove pauses, "ums" and "ahs," by using the marker feature while listening to the audio in realtime. Then, you go back and cycle through the markers and make the edits very quickly.
Hotkeys - Once you've learned the Sound Forge hotkeys, you can rapidly perform a number of tasks related to audio editing and mastering.
Fixing Clicks and Pops - The Graphical Fade feature allows you to easily draw volume envelopes in extremely short spans of audio, to successfully remove clicks and pops without affecting the rest of the sound.
Organizing VST Plugins - Sound Forge has a nice way of organizing VST effects into folders so you can put your most regularly-used plugins in a "Favorites" folder while organizing others in a sensible way.
A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info
Can't schedule recurring webinars twice per week or every other week--must manually add or delete instances.
Can't schedule recurring webinars more than 'x' number of instances (less than a year's worth).
If you want a recurring webinar to continue past the last instance (in order to keep the same link), your only option is to manually add future instances before the last one occurs. If the last instance occurs, the webinar (and corresponding link) are archived with no recourse and you must recreate it from scratch and update every bit of external collateral with a new link. So I have to have reminders on my calendar every 6 months to go in and add additional dates for all my recurring webinars in order to keep my links active.
Canceling/changing seats is a huge pain.
The default 'join' screen is app-based rather than web based, so registrants often have to download GTW. I have a lot of clients whose computers are locked down from unapproved apps and have missed the webinar because the ability to join on the web is very unintuitive.
A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. TR verified that a representative sample of customers was invited. More Info
Batch Processing - While I like a lot of things about the batch audio processing in Sound Forge, the inability to hear the effects chain is limiting.
Performance - Sound Forge takes a long time to open large files the first time they are opened, as it draws the waveform. It also takes a long time to save large files, every time.
Inability to Listen to VST FX in Realtime - Technically you can listen in realtime, but only from the beginning of the waveform, rather and it is not easy. You have to open the VST effect and turn on the "Preview" mode which starts the audio from the very beginning, without being able to seek.
Inability to Chain VST FX - You have to apply one, then apply the next, then the next, in a destructive mode. The only non-destructive way you can test out different FX chains is by applying them one at a time, and then hitting "Undo" over and over to get back to an earlier state. But you couldn't, for instance, add a reverb, then add compression, then go back and change the reverb. You'd have to undo the compression first.
FX Preset Management - You can save FX presets but it does not save your last-used settings from session to session, and with some VST FX plugins, it doesn't even save them between application, undoing, and attempting to apply again.
A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info
Our largest issue with GoTo have been the limitations on recording and using recordings to host a webinar, and the biggest of those is the ability to record. We have had most of our webinars recorded successfully, but when it failed to save, it failed in a big way. Their customer service team was there to help, but they were unable to truly fix the problem. There are, of course, other providers, but as we are still seeing where hosted webinars fit in our marketing strategy, cost is an important factor. Since our company already uses GoToMeeting, it makes more sense for us to stay with the entire suite of products, especially while we are testing the strategy as a whole.
This is very easy to set up, configure, onboard, and use. The features can be explored without much ado. In-webinar and post-webinar features are also used seamlessly. Any new person can self-train in minutes and be hands-on. I love the overall usability of this tool.
A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. TR verified that a representative sample of customers was invited. More Info
I rated GoTo Webinar a 9 out of 10 for availability because it generally performs reliably, with minimal application errors or unplanned outages. The platform’s high uptime ensures that it’s usually accessible when needed, supporting a seamless experience for scheduling and conducting webinars. While occasional minor issues may arise, they are infrequent and typically well-managed, contributing to a strong overall rating for availability.
A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info
I rated GoTo Webinar an 8 out of 10 for performance due to its generally robust capabilities. Pages load quickly, and reports are generated efficiently, even for complex data sets. The platform’s integration with other systems typically doesn’t introduce significant latency or performance issues. However, during peak usage times or when handling very large data volumes, there can be occasional slowdowns. Despite these instances, GoTo Webinar consistently provides strong performance and reliability in its core functions.
A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info
I was always able to get someone on the phone when I needed to. They were very thorough and ensuring my questions were answered. And if I was asking for a solution or request that they didn't offer, they told me so I could at least stop trying to search for it.
A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info
I've never contacted MAGIX for support, nor Sony or Sonic Foundry before them (Sound Forge is on its 3rd developer now). But I've always been able to find exactly what information I needed through the support of its large user community. There are a number of audio engineering forums available where you can search the post history to find out how to do specific things in Sound Forge, or you can make a new post if you are running into an issue that has not already been solved.
A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info
I didn't participate in the implementation nor did my company. As far as I know we have an IT office running alla these projects and we just use the final products for our educational purposes. I also didn't notice implementation at any level while using the desktop interface, but would immediately recognize it, if so.
A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info
GoToWebinar has a user-friendly interface and intuitive controls. When comparing it with other platforms, assess how easily you can navigate through features, set up events, and engage with participants. Connection stability, audio and video quality seem pretty much ok. Interactive polls, Q&A sessions, recording options are also working fine and provide to the user experience
A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. TR verified that a representative sample of customers was invited. More Info
I tend to use WaveLab for recording, because I can apply effects chains to the audio as it is coming in. So, if I'm recording a singer, I can give them reverb, compression, EQ, and other audio effects in realtime going into their headphones. I'm still recording the dry signal, so I can change all of those effects later if I wish. Sound Forge does not have a way to do this as far as I know. Where I do prefer Sound Forge is audio editing, specifically of spoken audio, although it is quite useful for music as well. I worked for a company once where I had to edit hundreds of testimonials. I was paid on a per-testimonial basis, flat rate, so I had a strong incentive to get them done as quickly as possible, without sacrificing quality. I would listen through a testimonial all the way through, marking every area that had a long pause, an "ah" or an "um," a click, pop, or other undesirable audio artifact. I could then cycle through the markers and fix all the problems quickly.
A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info
I rated GoTo Webinar an 8 out of 10 for scalability because it effectively supports deployment across multiple departments and sites with its flexible features. It allows for easy management of large-scale webinars and integration with various systems, accommodating a growing number of users and sessions. However, some users might find limitations in advanced customization or specific integration needs as their requirements become more complex. Overall, its robust capabilities and adaptability make it a strong choice for scalable webinar solutions.
A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info
Sound Forge has had a very positive impact in saved time editing files. It would have taken me hours longer using WaveLab, Audacity, Adobe Audition, or some of the other competitors for tasks like editing interviews.
Sound Forge has also had a positive impact in saved time through its batch processing features which allow me to normalize and apply effects to a huge set of files all at once.
Sound Forge has not had any negative impacts that I am aware of beside the cost.
A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info
