Adobe Audition is a multi-track recording studio that offers all the refinement you expect in Adobe products but may leave beginners floundering in technical jargon.

After the initial installation, Adobe Audition searches for compatible audio formats on your hard drive but asks you which file types you want to associate with it. Otherwise the program would detect every single sound file on your hard drive meaning your Adobe Audition library would be a jumbled mess.

Adobe Audition's interface is clean, with the active window highlighted by a red border. Each window is separated by tabs to keep the File, Effects, Main and Mixer sections separate and easy to revert to. If you don’t like the layout then Adobe has provided an Unlock Panel option which allows you to detach and move these windows to a position of your choosing. You can save your own rearrangements as workplace templates according to the type of project you are working on.

To really get the most out of Adobe Audition, you’ll need a pretty good sound card. For those concerned with MIDI support, Adobe Audition doesn’t offer a great deal in this area and many users report this as one of the most confusing aspects of the program to configure.

To describe all the editing possibilities of Adobe Audition would involve going into the minute technicalities of audio composition and compression but there are four main modes to get to grips with. The first is Waveform Display which displays the wave in graphical form. Second is Spectral Frequency Display which graphically displays the frequency range with colors. Logarithmic Display does exactly the same but obviously displays the wave as a Logarithm. For producing stereo-sound, there’s also Spectral Pan Display and Spectral Phase Display which enable you to get stereo sound perfectly synced.

Editing is performed using the time-honored cut and paste functions common to most audio and video editing programs. You simply mark an in and out point and cut and paste the audio until it’s as you want it. However, the Adobe Audition is much more advanced than this as it's able to detect beat patterns and rhythms and set in and out points accordingly. To use this function though, you’ll have to spend a long time studying the Help guide (which fortunately is very clear and detailed). You can also use a relatively new function in the audio editing field called Frequency Space Editing which means you can edit certain frequencies of the sound rather than the wave as a whole. There are also of course a heap of effects that you can apply to sounds ranging from complex distortions to pitch bending specific frequencies.

Adobe Audition has been updated with a host of new features. Pick of the bunch is probably the way Adobe have improved multitrack editing, added new effects and enhanced noise reduction. They've also added phase correction tools plus VSTi virtual instrument support and native 5.1 surround support. The multi-track editing suite has been improved to save time and maintain consistency by grouping clips into a Multitrack View. From here you can trim and fade much more easily. You can also batch save all audio files applying specific file formats, locations, filename templates, and more.

Adobe Audition is a very advanced program designed only for those who are serious about multi-track audio production. If you are looking for a simple sound editor, then this is way too advanced and will only leave you frustrated. If however you want to take your first few steps into professional editing, the extensive Adobe help guide will ensure that you get the most out of this rich and complex program.

Download Adobe Audition 5.0 in Softonic

You can also add video, complete with information on the song labels and convert files to karaoke videos in several formats As an extra bonus, you can also create subtitles for a movie DVD which can also be used to create your own DVD movie subtitles. The text editing function is a pleasure to use and in fact, I'd prefer to use this than some purpose made subtitling programs even if it doesn't offer as many options.

This is a great way to create not only karaoke videos but also subtitle DVD's aswell.

Download AV Video Karaoke Maker 1.0.48 in Softonic

Cool Record Edit is here to help though, allowing you to polish up your music and audio through an intuitive editor. The program is able to import recordings from LP, Internet, radio, TV, cassette, etc. to your hard drive, before making refinements to it. The application contains many useful tools, such as an amplifier, reverberator, volume gain, etc. as well as a handy zoom feature for pinpoint manipulation of the audio spectrum. I was also mightily impressed with the click and crackle filter, which is particularly good for cleaning up vinyl recordings.

Once you've edited your audio, you can committ it to CD using the built-in burning tool, and there are also tools for ripping and converting. If you want a program that can edit tracks for mixing and creating your own music then look elsewhere, but if you're after something that can improve the sound quality of your audio then Cool Record Edit is a powerful solution.

Download Cool Record Edit 7.3.1 Pro in Softonic

MP3 Quality Modifier is a simple, straightforward tool does exactly what it says it will - reduce the size of your MP3 files without compromising any quality. The trick to this is modifying the file's bitrate - from 10 to 310 - so you can choose the option that best suits your purposes. This can be manually tweaked, or you can just use one of the 5 presets included in MP3 Quality Modifier.

MP3 Quality Modifier doesn't require installation and is easy to use - even for the beginner. You can add files or folders, checking and unchecking the files you want to modify. More advanced users can choose from a variety of configuration settings. You can leave MP3 Quality Modifier working in the background, checking its progress from the percentage displayed in the taskbar and it also offers you the option to shutdown after it's done.

MP3 Quality Modifier is a simple, efficient program that will modify MP1, MP2 and MP3 files quickly and smoothly.

Download MP3 Quality Modifier 2.2 in Softonic

aGuitar Pro lets you manage your guitar or bass progress with exercises on the notes and on the accords. There are many advanced lessons you can follow and surely it can be helpful for advanced students as a reference point. The program features testing tools to sample your knowledge of the harmonic world.
Unfortunately, I don't see it as an easy tool for beginners. This is because of the way information is displayed which seems to be too technical. It would have been good to have a simple mode display for beginners so to ease things when learning and testing basic notes.

The tab reader and tab editor are also interesting as they can modify or create music sheets with text and notes of your favourite songs. It would have been good to have a function to search for songs online in free databases, but you will have to do it manually.

aGuitar Pro can be useful to study and test your knowledge of guitar theory if you are already a medium experienced player. It also includes a tab reader and editor, which ease the transcription of songs for professionals.

Download aGuitar Pro in Softonic

Normally, you'd pay good money for such a multitrack audio editor so it's definitely worth a look if you're thinking of pslahing out on one soon. The program is aimed at both professional and home users although if you've got no multitrack experience you will have to spend some time getting to grips with it. Traverso is a complete audio mixing solution from recording to CD authoring. The advantage of this is that once you've mastered it, there's no need to learn a whole host of other programs to see your final product. This constitutes one of the biggest selling points of the program - speed as it offers a complete non-linear audio processing solution. Since it's open source, there are various add ons and plugins that can be easily added and all edits can be replayed in real-time with no rendering or waiting time. This is a massive bonus if you're working with Mp3 tracks or other compressed formats that usually require conversion or decompression before playback is allowed. The program has now been expanded to include native reading of FLAC, OGG, Mp3 and WAV format. It's also been updated to handle the importing of different sample rates regardless of your sound card's capabilities.

Traverso is no substitute for a professional multitrack editing program and professionals will find it limited but beginners should look no further to get some experience.

Download Traverso DAW 0.42.0 in Softonic

Digital music has many advantages in comparison to other more traditional supports. But what if you have a large collection of old cassette tapes and vinyl records? With MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab you can easily import them onto your computer and save those precious records and tapes as digital music.

MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab features a nicely designed interface, with the selected track on the top and all available tools at the bottom of the window. The four main functions in MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab – Import, Clean, Master and Export – are conveniently laid out as tabs, right in between these two areas.

With MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab you can import music from a variety of sources (record player, tape recorder, microphone, audio file and more), clean it from noise, hissing, cracks and other imperfections, and finally export it to a digital format of your choice.

The first impression you get when launching MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab is one of confusion. There are so many sliders to adjust and buttons to press that you feel completely lost. Luckily MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab is extensively documented and includes loads of tips, hints and a highly detailed Help section to walk you through the whole process.

Rescue your old vinyl records and cassette tapes and give them a new digital life with MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab. It may take some time to learn how to use all of its features but it's worth it!

Download MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab 17 Deluxe in Softonic

Wondershare DVD Creator is a powerful but easy to use DVD burning tool that uses a handy wizard to help you burn custom DVDs from your collection of images, videos and music.

Wondershare DVD Creator allows highly customizable burning, including animated menus that give your DVDs a highly personal touch. Simply select the multimedia files you want to add via the setup wizard, place them in the order you want them to appear and add a static or animated menu.

You can burn the results either onto a DVD or as an ISO image. Wondershare DVD Creator supports a wide range of video formats and also converts all regular SD and HD videos to high quality DVD format. Unlike some converters, Wondershare DVD Creator does a good job of maintaining quality after conversions too.

Wondershare DVD Creator is a powerful DVD creation tool that gives your DVDs a truly personal touch.

Download Wondershare DVD Creator 2.6.5 in Softonic

If so, then you'll know that iTunes won't do it. iPod Access solves this problem by allowing you to select individual songs, movies, podcasts and playlists to be moved back into iTunes or an external hard drive. There are several features and modes which allow you to do this namely Force Manual Mode, iTunes Integration, Duplicate Song Checking, Preserve MetaData, Track Organization and integration with the iTunes Music Store.

Force Manual Mode prevents that problem that all iPod owners dread - the moment when iTunes erases all of your data on your iPod. iPod Access detects iPods in Auto-Update mode and instantly gives you the option to switch to Manual Mode. However, note that this option does not work for iPod Shuffles or iPhones.

iTunes Integration means that iPod Access transfers your songs, movies, podcasts and playlists directly into iTunes on your computer. Duplicate Song Checking is self explanatory and Preserve MetaData means that added extras, along with track name, artist and album are embedded in the song file on your iPod.

Note that as the name suggests, iPod Access is only really suitable for iPods and not iPod Shuffles or iPhones although it does work to a limited extent with both. You'll also need to make sure you have the latest iPod firmware 1.2 installed plus QuickTime 7.2 or higher.

iPod Access adds a ton of new functionality to the way you manage and access your iPod and should make the life easier for any iPod owner.

Download iPod Access 4.4.1 in Softonic