TrustRadius: an HG Insights company

Save this comparison

Save this comparison

Add Product

Recommended Comparisons

    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Sound Forge

    Score10 out of 10
    N/AMagix Software offers Sound Forge, the company's audio editing and digital audio workstation. Magix acquried Sound Forge from Sony in 2016.N/A

    WideOrbit

    Score6 out of 10
    N/AWideOrbit offers sell-side ad management solutions for media companies, including programmatic capabilities for TV, radio and the web.N/A
    Pricing
    Sound ForgeWideOrbit
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Sound ForgeWideOrbit
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    Sound ForgeWideOrbit
    Ad Network Integration
    Comparison of Ad Network Integration features of Sound Forge and WideOrbit
    Feature
    Sound Forge
    -
    Ratings
    WideOrbit
    7.0
    1 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Data Transfer00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    DSP integration00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Ad Campaigns
    Comparison of Ad Campaigns features of Sound Forge and WideOrbit
    Feature
    Sound Forge
    -
    Ratings
    WideOrbit
    7.8
    2 Ratings
    1% below category average
    Ad deployment00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
    Display advertising00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Ad display and retargeting segmentation00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Sequence targeting00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Ad Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Ad Reporting & Analytics features of Sound Forge and WideOrbit
    Feature
    Sound Forge
    -
    Ratings
    WideOrbit
    7.8
    2 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Ad dashboards00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Ad performance reports00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
    Ad conversion tracking00 Ratings6.01 Ratings
    Ad attribution reporting00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Cross-channel ad management00 Ratings6.02 Ratings
    Ad forecasting and optimization00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Sound ForgeWideOrbit
    Small Businesses
    Descript
    Score8.5 out of 10
    AdRoll
    Score3.7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Adobe Audition
    Score9 out of 10
    Criteo Commerce Growth
    Score8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Adobe Audition
    Score9 out of 10
    Criteo Commerce Growth
    Score8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Sound ForgeWideOrbit
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Sound ForgeWideOrbit
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Boris FX
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    WideOrbit
    I think for the purpose of our business, WideOrbit is one of the better systems I have worked on. No system is every perfect, but WideOrbit seems to be a lot better than the system we've worked on in the past. The fact that it is able to integrate other third-party systems into it is also very helpful. We have recently moved to a new avail system for our sales executives, and the fact that they can easily transfer avails and schedules into the order system in WideOrbit is very helpful.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Boris FX
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    WideOrbit
    • Wide Orbit offers a wide variety of reports, as a user- you are able to maximize these to your advantage and include as much or as little information as necessary for internal use or for your clients.
    • It's fantastic to be able to reference all of our orders in one place and track completion process from order entry to approvals and actual air time/run dates
    • Very user friendly and efficient to use.
    • The Revenue Reports are especially wonderful, and can be sorted according to whatever perimeters you desire.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Boris FX
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    WideOrbit
    • Would love to see the inventory codes in the drop-down menu stick like breaks and weeks..and not have to re-select each time for a report
    • would like to have better functionality when exporting to XL or to PDF. Formatting could use improvement with output
    • offer a monthly calendar of training opportunities like Nielsen offers
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Boris FX
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    WideOrbit
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Boris FX
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    WideOrbit
    I would say that WideOrbit is much better than Pilat in terms of its ease of use. One major factor was that WideOrbits customer support is stateside and easily reachable if help is needed. Pilat was located in Europe I believe and getting assistance was very hard. As far as just the overall day to day usage, WideOrbit is leaps and bounds better in the area of functionality
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Boris FX
    • 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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    WideOrbit
    • The system doesn't seem to work well with any of our digital platforms. For example, we can input an order and track an approval process through our finance system and see the invoice, but actual execution of any digital assets are NOT done through Wide Orbit
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots