Adobe Audition vs. WavePad

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Audition
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Adobe offers Audition as part of the Creative Cloud suite, a sound and audio editing and creation application.
$31.49
per month
WavePad
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
WavePad is an audio editing application from NCH Software headquartered Greenwood Village, Colorado.
$39.95
per user
Pricing
Adobe AuditionWavePad
Editions & Modules
Audition - Individuals
$31.49
per month
Single App - Business
$33.99
per month
Standard Edition
$39.95
per user
Master's Edition
$69.95
per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AuditionWavePad
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Best Alternatives
Adobe AuditionWavePad
Small Businesses
Descript
Descript
Score 9.0 out of 10
Descript
Descript
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Audacity
Audacity
Score 8.5 out of 10
Audition
Audition
Score 8.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Audacity
Audacity
Score 8.5 out of 10
Audition
Audition
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Adobe AuditionWavePad
Likelihood to Recommend
9.1
(28 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
6.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
7.8
(14 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Adobe AuditionWavePad
Likelihood to Recommend
Adobe
So, starting off, Cool Edit Pro is NOT a replacement for Adobe Audition. I used to use Cool Edit Pro and there is a world of difference in quality and ability. I use Adobe Audition for post-production editing. it it very well suited for that application. Truncate, fade, add a second or 2 of silence at the end or beginning, save as MP3 or almost any other format a client would want to receive the file in
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NCH Software
Highly recommended for voice over recording and editing. Great for splicing together several different recorded files to create a final track. Our voice over talent typically sends us their unedited recordings with multiple recordings of the script. Then we can listen to the different versions to select the best fit for our client. We just select the sections we like and copy them into a new file, then continue to add the sections until we have the final voice over. It is easy to tighten up or stretch out the recording to better fit our timeline.
We have not used WavePad for recording live music so not sure how well it is suited for that. If you need multi-track editing you will need another product. MixPad makes a nice companion.
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Pros
Adobe
  • Sound waves - Sound originates in the air, arising from its vibrations. The source of air vibrations can be, for example, a person's vocal cords, a drum or loudspeaker membrane, or guitar strings. These vibrations push nearby molecules together, slightly increasing the air pressure.
  • Bit depth - The bit depth (depth) of digital audio determines the dynamic range for an audio file. When a sound wave is digitized (sampled), each sample is assigned an amplitude value that most closely matches the amplitude of the original sound wave. The higher the bit depth value, the greater the dynamic range, the lower the noise level, and the higher the digital sound quality.
  • Automatic filters and special effects - Adobe Audition includes a suite of new sound effects ranging from circuit-optimized Surround Reverb to a suite of diagnostic effects.
  • Analog Audio: Positive and Negative Voltage - The microphone converts the pressure of sound waves into electrical current: high air pressure becomes a positive voltage, and low pressure becomes negative. As these voltage changes move along the microphone wire, they can be recorded (as changes in magnetic field strength) onto magnetic tape or onto a vinyl record (by resizing the grooves on the disc).
  • High-performance code - Adobe Audition has received a new redesigned code. This means increased speed of audio processing, accurate and smooth sound reproduction during preprocessing, the ability to work with multiple files and audio tracks at the same time, high overall performance.
  • Editing, enhancing and restoring audio - Any professional working with sound dreams of making the source material as close to ideal as possible. For this, special studios are being built with soundproofing, special acoustic form, and equipment. Indeed, if there is such an opportunity, then it is better to record sound in the studio. Even in this case, insignificant noises and unwanted sounds can be received at the input: a click of a switch, a weak background of a poor-quality or punctured cable, or, for example, a defect in human diction, in which some hissing sounds turn into whistling sounds. It is worth going out to record an interview, for example, in an office space - phone calls or conversations in the next room, the noise of the city outside the window, sounds of the door being opened, etc. will be added.
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NCH Software
  • Voice recording is our most used function. It is simple and straight forward. We have trained non-technical voice over talent to use it.
  • The cleanup tools have saved us from having to go out and rerecord some bad original recordings.
  • Being able to cut out sections of recordings and insert a different audio piece is a great time saver.
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Cons
Adobe
  • It is a very expensive software, as is all of Adobe's other software.
  • The interface and all the features can be difficult [for] beginners to get the hang of and get used to.
  • When live listening to your recording with effects, there is an unavoidable latency which doesn't help.
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NCH Software
  • WavePad only works with a single audio track. NCH does offer MixPad for multi-track editing. We also use MixPad occasionally to mix background music with voice.
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Likelihood to Renew
Adobe
It is a solid product that has served us well.
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NCH Software
An important product for our production of customer ads.
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Usability
Adobe
It isn't easy to just jump in and learn the program, though most of Adobe products aren't easy to use the first time around. They UI is not friendly, and it is cumbersome and intimidating when you first try it. For simple audio changes, it seems to difficult to use, but for the more advanced audio work, it's the perfect solution.
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NCH Software
Easily handles basic audio recording and editing. Advanced editing features are there but if you don't already understand audio editing you will need to watch some of the provided videos to learn how to use the tools.
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Support Rating
Adobe
I have not contacted support but given the large amount of users, I have no doubt that most problems can be solved fairly easily. A cursory search for known issues in Adobe Audition yields a support website with many workarounds posted by the official Audition team. They seem responsive and eager to continue fixing bugs and improving the application, which I take as a sign that their support is top notch, as I would expect from my experience using other Adobe products.
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NCH Software
Phone support is not available.
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Implementation Rating
Adobe
No answers on this topic
NCH Software
It is a simple product to start using.
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Alternatives Considered
Adobe
I mentioned earlier that I used software from Sony before moving to Audition. I really liked the Sony solution, but when I moved to Audition I found a lot more power and surprisingly, an easier-to-use solution. Working with the timeline in Audition is more intuitive for me. Audition has more effects than the Sony product had and the interface is better organized. Plus, Audition's workspace can be customized in ways I never figured out how to do in the Sony product.
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NCH Software
We ran across WavePad years ago and used it for some simple music file edits. Cutting out some parts to make it fit better into the time slot. Audacity was recommended by a friend and we installed it and give it a brief try. We didn't find anything bad about it but came back to WavePad.
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Return on Investment
Adobe
  • Audition makes Audio editing/production so efficient that we're able to produce audio more rapidly than with any other software.
  • The option to save in multiple file formats, and to save session files, makes it easy to go back and make edits to completed projects with just a few clicks.
  • All versions of Audition work well together, so whether you have the latest version or an older one, you can pick up any session file and edit as needed.
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NCH Software
  • We are able to work with local voice-over talent and amateurs and that allows us to keep our cost low to our clients.
  • WavePad is so inexpensive that is pays for itself on the first project. The Master's edition is less than $100 and the standard edition is less than $50.
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ScreenShots

WavePad Screenshots

Screenshot of WavePad includes a sound recorder that supports auto-trim and voice activated recording.Screenshot of The full Sound Effects Library comes with WavePad Master's edition and gives you access to 800 SFX files and 200 music files that you can add to ringtones, podcasts, movie soundtracks, and more.Screenshot of Audio Effects include Amplify, Normalize, Equalizer, Envelope, Reverb, Echo, Reverse, Noise Reduction, Sample Rate Conversion and more.