Audio/Records Engineering Tools

Pro Tools is a Digital Audio Workstation platform for Mac OS and Microsoft Windows operating systems, developed and manufactured by Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, television and post production. Pro Tools has three levels of software; HD, LE, and M-powered. HD is the premier package and is an integration of hardware and software. The hardware includes an external A/D converter and internal PCI or PCIe audio cards with onboard DSP.

Pro Tools LE 7.3 screenshot on Mac OS X
(screenshot)

Ref:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Tools
Official website:
http://www.digidesign.com/

 

Sony ACID Pro is a professional Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software program, originally published by Sonic Foundry, now owned and run by Sony. When it was first launched in 1998 as a loop-based music sequencer, Acid Pro was the first-ever automatic audio loop-based music software of its kind, where someone could simply drag-and-drop an Acid loop file (for example a Drum or Bass loop) onto a track in Acid, and that loop would automatically adjust itself to the tempo and key of the song, with virtually no sonic degradation.

ref:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACID_Pro
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/products/acidfamily.asp

Cubase is a computer program for music production. The program offers recording, producing and mixing of sounds in order to make music production for distribution on CD`s or the internet. Most of the facilities in recording studios are now available for computer owners using Cubase or other similar products.

In order to illustrate this: If you have say guitar, piano, bass and vocal all played by the same person, Cubase can record a track with each instrument and mix the different instruments and sounds into a coherent production. This technique is known as overdubbing. The sound quality is pretty close to what a professional recording studio can offer.

Cubase is a series of MIDI, music sequencer and digital audio editing computer applications (commonly known as a DAW – Digital Audio Workstation), created by the German firm Steinberg. Its first version, which ran on the Atari ST computer, was released in 1989.

Ref:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubase
Official website:
http://www.steinberg.net/27_1.html

Cakewalk SONAR is a computer program made by Cakewalk for recording, editing, mixing, mastering and outputting audio. The latest versions of the software are SONAR Home Studio 6, SONAR Home Studio 6 XL, SONAR 7 Studio Edition, SONAR 7 Producer Edition, and SONAR LE. SONAR LE is an OEM version bundled with hardware; all the other versions can be purchased separately.

SONAR is an example of a digital audio workstation (DAW). Like most DAWs, SONAR lets the user:

• Record and manipulate multitrack digital audio
• Record and manipulate MIDI data
• Apply special effects, such as reverb and delay
• Automate the process of mixing audio
• Utilize virtual instruments, such as software synthesizers, software samplers, software drum machines
• Connect to other multimedia applications with sample accuracy via Rewire

Official website:
http://cakewalk.com/SONAR/

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Logic Pro is a Digital Audio Workstation and MIDI sequencer software application for the Mac OS X platform. Originally created by German software developer Emagic, Logic Pro became an Apple product when Apple bought Emagic in 2002. Logic Pro is part of Apple’s Logic Studio bundle of professional music applications.

A consumer-level version based on the same interface and audio engine but with reduced features, called Logic Express, is also available at a reduced cost. Apple’s GarageBand, another application using Logic’s audio engine, is bundled in iLife, a suite of software which comes included on any new Macintosh computer.

Digital Performer is a full-featured Digital Audio Workstation/Sequencer software package published by Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) of Cambridge, Massachusetts for the Apple Macintosh platform.

ref:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Performer
Official website:
http://www.motu.com/products/software/dp/