vegas is a non-linear video editor. if you just want to do music, you may only need acid. but, i hear that vegas video is amazing for editing audio. i'm not really a music guy, so i'll shutup now. :)

ACID is for making music out of loops. It is not and has never been intended for audio recording and editing. If you're laying down tracks and mixing them together then ACID isn't going to work very well for you. ACID only allows you to record one track at a time and have a single recorded file per track. While both these issues can be worked around, you may not be a popular studio if you tell every group that they have to record their stuff one instrument or voice at a time. Vegas handles both of these issues nicely.

On the other hand, if you are creating music (rather than recording it) from loops, possibly even integrating MIDI from external synths, and your recorded inputs are limited to some samples, then ACID is exactly the right tool to use. Ideally most studios would consider having both programs as well as SoundForge to be a good combination for getting all their jobs done.

i have vv3 and love it!!
i just bought acid 3.0 and already i love it?
i am drooling over the possibilities of both
i will eventually pick up sound forge, but what does sound forge do?
excuse my ignorance...
thnx and be gentle on me
:)
sb

Mind if I toss in a silly question??

I'd like to create some music. Does one of the SF products let me make my own loops?
(I don't have a synth or keyboard). I have tried the demo of Acid, but didn't get very far. (And I'm not a musician).

Thanks.

Sounds like Acid is what you want, if you need loop-based music creation. It's pretty easy to use, once you get the hang of it, but if the Acid demo was a little intimidating you might look at SF's stripped down version for kids called the Super Duper Music Looper. :-)

http://www.musiclooper.com/

Any boxed version of Acid you buy will come with loops that you'll combine and, well, loop, to make your songs. You can also download 8 free loops every week (called an 8-pack) from acidplanet.com. Explore that site for all things Acid.

Luxo

>>Why should i get Vegas when I already have Acid. Can it do that much more?<<

Yes, it can multi-track. As far as I know, you can only record stereo in Acid, right? Vegas can record 24 tracks of audio at the same time (or more if you have the inputs). Its not just a video editor, its a great recording studio app as well.

-Matt

To say VV3 is a non-linear video editor is only half the story and I believe Vegas Video is inaptly named. I do all my multitrack audio recording and mixing with VV3 because it is has such a great interface for organizing, trimming, cutting, pasting and moving around media. Whether it be audio or video, the tools I use to process my audio is done through DirectX plugins so for me it is the interface that is important. I believe that SF is missing out on many potential customers that may be looking for a multitrack mixer and editor; They see the word "video" and don't realize its audio capabilities.

I have Sound Forge 6 and I use it for editing, but I think you can do most of your editing and Mastering in VV3 if you want to, especially since all processing is plugin based. I often mix my multitrack songs down to a 2 track stereo mix and do my final processing in Sound Forge 6 if not only for a less cluttered work space.

I am a professional audio engineer and composer, and I own ACID, Vegas and Sound Forge. I use each of them every single day in my production of radio ads, jingles, music scores for film and video, music for TV ads etc. And here is my 2 cents for using Sonic Foundry software in music and audio production (I can't speak for video)...

VEGAS:
This is the flagship product and the central piece of software used in my production process. I can import video clips and create frame-accurate music tracks and sound effects. I record singing, voice-overs and instruments directly into Vegas. I use Vegas to create and mix multi-track recordings of music and audio. (Songs, jingles, underscores, radio and TV ads, etc.) Neither ACID nor SOUND FORGE are suited for proper multi-track mixing. Vegas Video has the ability to do pretty much any pro audio production task you need done.

ACID:
I use ACID to create basic tracks for songs and jingles. (I have almost 4GB of ACID loops, some from libraries and some are original loops I created using VEGAS and SOUND FORGE.) For example, I have a bunch of drum loops...beats, fills, single hits, etc. I pull these files into ACID and cut-and-paste my way to a seamless drum track, which sounds like it was performed by a live drummer.

SOUND FORGE:
I use Sound Forge to edit and finalize mixes created in Vegas, to create loops which I can then use in ACID, and to master mixes for broadcast use or burning to a CD.

Does this clear things up for you at all?

Rob Solberg
Hypersound Music & Audio Design
www.hypersound.net