hi! I am sure some of you use sound in your engines. so, you must use some sound editor to create or edit the sound. I am asking because I am looking for one which is able to edit .mp3 files - obviously free one. I have soundForge ver5 but for some reason it always fades out the beginning and the end of the file which is a bit annoying. I dont want to have silence at the beginning and the end of the file. I thought its something wrong with my settings but its not! Does anyone know any good MP3 sound editors which I could download for free?

Hey robert_s,

First, you don''t want an MP3 sound editor. MP3 is not the native sound editing format. It is a lossy form of compression that should only be used for a final piece of audio to save disk space. Normally, you record, edit and mix sounds in WAV format, then when you are completely happy with the result, you compress that WAV into an MP3.

So if you are using source material in MP3 format, you need to first turn that into a WAV, then do all your editing with that.

SoundForge is an expensive and useful sound editing tool, but it takes a little getting used to. It should not, by default, put in any fading effects! So check the online help or a manual.

Hope that helps,

Trevize

arghghghgh hell with SoundForge, Pro tools has a full version of their software available for free! If I was going to spend money on some editing software it would be Cakewalk Sonar, they have a ton of plugins and one of the best interfaces, once you get the hang of it. But why spend the money when you can get the Pro standard editing software for free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What is the full name and URL of this software?

Internally, I presume SoundForge will convert a compressed format ( ie, mp3 ) into a PCM one anyone, so editing an mp3 should be no different to editing a wav. You are right though, in general, mp3 should only be used as a 'final format' because once you have compressed a PCM, there is no way of getting back that original file. Anyway,...

Protools can be found at digidesign. The free version is called ProTools LE, look around for it. Using ProTools to edit an mp3? Could be done, but is way beyond what is required, and will probably be more difficult than using a dedicated wave editor. Same for Cakewalk. Both of these are integrated MIDI editing and multi-track audio sequencers. Sound Forge is probably the best mid end editor available, and if I spent a few hundred quid on it first thing I would do is read the manual. Never heard of Sound Forge fading and mp3 in and out without explicitly doing it, are you sure it is Sound Forge doing this? WinAmp has a function that will automatically fade and mp3 in an out, could this be the 'problem' instead?

GoldWave is a good free / shareware editor, but not a patch on Sound Forge. Other good sites for free audio software are The Shareware Music Machine or Source Forge.

Edited by - Colin Barry on February 12, 2002 4:24:38 AM

Pro tools has the best basic audio editing capabilities, you can just ignore the midi interface and import 2 tracks and bamb it becomes your 2 track editor. Pro Tools also has the best realtime plugin sys that I''ve used. It takes a little time to learn, but it''s worth it once ya do. I use the multitrack capabilities of this software to layer sound effects for sound design purposess. Why use a 2 track editor when you can use a multi track system? If ya want to use just 2 tracks ya can, but you aren''t just limited to 2 tracks, when you want to edit more complex audio.



DRINK GIN! IT MAKES A MAN MEAN-milk and cheese

dunno about SF coz'' I haven''t played with it enough, but Cool Edit seems damned good too; ''96 version is good, and 2000 seems much better. But you''ll probably have to write yer MP3 to a WAV before you open it.

I use Cool Edit Pro in a professional environment. I think its worth the money, and its a treat to work with.