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Sound Forge

Sound Forge

Overview

What is Sound Forge?

Magix Software offers Sound Forge, the company's audio editing and digital audio workstation. Magix acquried Sound Forge from Sony in 2016.

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Sound Forge is a versatile and reliable audio editing software that seamlessly integrates into digital audio workstations, allowing users …
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Pricing

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What is Sound Forge?

Magix Software offers Sound Forge, the company's audio editing and digital audio workstation. Magix acquried Sound Forge from Sony in 2016.

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  • No setup fee

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  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Product Details

What is Sound Forge?

Sound Forge Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo
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Reviews and Ratings

(3)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Sound Forge is a versatile and reliable audio editing software that seamlessly integrates into digital audio workstations, allowing users to directly edit sound files in their projects. Users appreciate its user-friendly interface and wide range of tools, including noise reduction and compression, making it a top choice for sound editing tasks. The software's compatibility with both Windows and Mac platforms has made it accessible to a diverse user base. It has been a trusted audio editing platform for many years, serving beginners and professionals alike. Sound Forge is commonly used for creating personalized music mixes, collaborating with other software like FL Studio, or editing audio tracks for videos. Users have successfully fixed various audio issues with the software, such as incidental noise, hum, or plosive sounds. Its markers and hotkey features make audio editing tasks effortless, allowing users to combine songs, create overlays, and match tunes seamlessly. With its efficient performance and support for VST plugins, Sound Forge is well-suited for producing podcasts, voice-over projects, and radio broadcasts. The software also provides advanced features like graphical fade options to remove clicks and pops from audio files. Users find Sound Forge valuable for processing audio files, improving audio quality, removing vocals for karaoke music, mixing music and songs, as well as checking pitch using the synthesis plugin. Sound Forge's simplicity and efficiency make it suitable for quick editing tasks in video projects without straining the system when running alongside other software like Premiere and After Effects. Despite some users finding other software more efficient for specific situations, Sound Forge continues to be favored for its ease of use and ability to ensure pristine audio quality for high-profile projects. Whether it's recording audio quickly, restoring recordings, or removing noise effortlessly, Sound Forge provides peace of mind knowing users have access to a reliable audio editor whenever needed.

Versatile and useful audio editing software: Users find Sound Forge to be a versatile and useful audio editing software for a variety of tasks, including music production and audio for video. Many reviewers have stated that they appreciate its powerful editing tools, such as the Normalize and Pitch Shift features, which help in achieving consistent volume levels and adjusting tuning for different songs.

Easy-to-use recording tool: The recording tool in Sound Forge is praised by users for its ease of use and ability to capture audio from various sources. Many reviewers have mentioned that they find Sound Forge easy to use for editing as well, with a simple process for applying effects.

Wide range of effects: Sound Forge offers a wide range of effects that users can use to shape the sound of their tracks and add depth to their mix. The extensive library of audio effects, including plugins like Spectralayers Pro and Melodyne, is seen as a valuable addition to the software by many customers.

Outdated Interface: Some users have expressed that the basic interface of Sound Forge has remained largely unchanged for the past 20 years, making it difficult to determine if any new features have been added. This lack of visual updates can give the impression that the software is stagnant and may not meet modern design standards.

Limited Capabilities: Many users found that Sound Forge had limited capabilities beyond basic audio editing tasks like trimming files. They felt that when it came to more advanced editing techniques or adding effects, other software options provided better features and functionalities.

Export File Size: Some users mentioned that exporting files created with Sound Forge resulted in larger file sizes compared to other similar software. This could be a concern for those looking to optimize their storage space or share files online efficiently.

Users commonly recommend the following:

  1. Use Sound Forge if you want to edit samples like a professional. The software provides the necessary tools for high-quality audio editing.

  2. Before purchasing Sound Forge, try out other audio editors. Some users have experienced limitations or difficulties with certain aspects of the software, so exploring alternatives is advised.

  3. For single track audio editing, Sound Forge is highly recommended. Users appreciate its intuitive interface and efficient workflow for working on individual audio files. However, for tasks such as multi-track editing or editing audio for video purposes, considering other software options may be beneficial.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-1 of 1)
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Jonah Dempcy | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Sound Forge for audio editing, noise reduction, mastering, and file conversion. The audio tracks range from customer development interviews to presentations, product demos, and soundtracks to rich media EPUB3 ebooks. Additionally, I have used Sound Forge ever since I went to school for audio engineering back in 2000, on both a personal and professional basis for such applications as normalizing and mastering music, as well as editing speech such as interviews and podcasts.
  • 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.
  • 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.
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.
  • 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.
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.
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.
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