Sonic Foundry Sound Forge XP 4.5

Like Cool Edit 2000, Sonic Foundry Sound Forge XP 4.5 is a cut-down version of its professional counterpart, Sound Forge. XP 4.5 is certainly good, but the upgrade is very tempting.
Sound Forge XP has a bleak interface, but what it lacks in colour and texture it makes up for in accessibility. All the information and navigation tools you need are clearly visible and not cluttered with things you don’t need.
Performing standard sample editing is simple, but unlike Cool Edit 2000, XP has no automatic beat detection. There are only about eight built-in effects, but they are versatile and the quality is very good — especially the dynamics and reverb. Like Cool Edit 2000 and GoldWave, you can’t preview these effects before applying them, but you can always use a selection instead of the whole file for doing your own auditioning. All of the effects are professional quality, the EQ and pitch shifting are particularly good, and if you’re planning on using Acid you can also prepare your sounds* looping properties before loading them.
If you dabble in video editing, then you’ll appreciate being able to open an AVI file and edit the soundtrack just like a regular audio file — with frame accuracy. This is much better than trying to do soundtrack mastering in video programs like Adobe Premiere or Ulead MediaStudio.
However, when it comes to MP3, Sound Forge XP is disappointing. It can open MP3 files but not save them. You can buy the Sonic Foundry MP3-saving add-on, but these days if MP3 support isn’t standard then the application is chasing the pack. Even the budget-priced GoldWave supports saving as MP3.
For recording live input, XP supports multiple takes and ‘punching in’, with real time level meters to check your inputs. The only other program reviewed here that supports this is HiSoft SoundProbe 1.4. If you’re planning to do a lot of live recording, Sound Forge XP is a definite candidate. It is worth noting, however, that there are no CD controls in XP, so recording from CD is fiddly.
For finalising and mastering tasks such as normalisation, EQ, compression and
fades, XP is excellent. There’s not much you can’t do here that you would be able to do in the Pro version, and once again the quality is excellent.
Sound Forge XP is a very professional product that is easy to use and offers very high quality audio processing. Its video support is an unusual but useful feature for those who need it, but its MP3 support is inadequate.