I have sound forge 7.0 and acid pro 4.0>
What I was wondering is if anyone know of better one out there for use in laying down tracks and manipulating them.
I am recording my guitar and want to add drums and all that fun stuff.
Thanks for any help.

All depends on the application, though there are several choices out there to look at.

Cubase, ProTools, etc pop to mind rather easily, depends on what you do and how much you really want to invest in it.

Seablade

Cubase/Nuendo, Sonar, Pro Tools are commonly used in professional recording.

ive had acid and sound forge...but...i recently found something cooler. it combines the looping of acid, the waveform editing of sound forge and a CD creator all in one software

its Adobe Audition 2.0

i use it all the time now...its so awesome...it like having all those program in one awesome program. download the free trial. i use it all the time now.

For professional results, Sonar and Pro-tools.. But I do use Adobe Audition 2.0 for my podcasting. And Adobe Audition now supports VSTi's so adding effects is great!

yeah protools is better for music creation and stuff like that. i use adobe audition for broadcasting purposes, like making commercials, news packages, ect... Its also cheaper having both a waveform editor and multitrack enviroment in one program.

The thought process you HAVE to use any one peice of software for professional results is VERY flawed.

You can get professional results from many different software packages, in many different price ranges. Your talent plays a LARGE part in how professional of results you can get once you get past a certain point. Get fancy expensive pacakges and have little talent and its still gonna sound like crud. Whereas somsone with good talent and a lesser package will be able to get better sounding results.

Seablade

Never said you HAVE to use them, I just think they are more professional pieces of software compared to a few others. Reading is fundamental... Also, everyone has there own opinion whether I think they will make your sound better or not. Every piece of software has different options.

It is the line, "more professional peices of software" that is incorrect in my opinion and why I posted.

I have used software from all rungs of the ladder, Audition(And Cool Edit before that), Pro Tools, CuBase, Nuendo, Ardour, Audacity, etc. I have currentl licenses to ProTools, which I rarely use because I find there are better out there, in fact currently I use Ardour with the VST plugins enabled for my work unless I am dealing with audio for video, in which case then I will use PT just because Ardour doesnt support video yet and I no longer have a current license to Nuendo, plus I run on a Mac and Linux so Audition is no longer an option.

That of course may change though as xjadeo can be synced to ardour to allow this, and it is my intention to try this on the next project where I am doing audio post-production for video.

What defines something as professional, is not the software that is used, and the thought process that ProTools is more professional than anything is flawed logic. In fact many recording engineers will tell you the same thing, it is widespread for other reasons, advertising, and ill informed people primarily now. It was once the option for professional audio, but now there are many other options of at least the same quality, and protools is not a requirement over much to make something 'professional'

Seablade

Sorry to raise an old thread from the dead. But would Adobe Audition or Sony Acid/Soundforge be on par with some of the other "pro" tools out there?? I'm just beginning this as sort of a hobby, so trying to figure out what to look for in software options. I'm assuming the learning curve should be my most important priority as I am beginning, but I don't want some expensive software to limit me later on when I will improve my skills(hopefully).

What are you trying to do with these softwares?
Adobe Audition, Wavelab, and Soundforge are more specialized in Audio/Music editing.
For music recording or multitrack recording Cubase/Nuendo, Sonar, protools are more specialized.
A good example is making/writing a song with Sonar and mastering the song with Audition.

Do a search in this folder for my name... youll find my opinion posted a LOT of places

The software matters MUCH less than your ability in determining quality.

But on another side of things, each software has different strengths. For example Adobe Audition up through 1.5 was a FANTASTIC single file editor, probably the best I have ever used. However I havent played with 2.0 much, but they made many changes in an effort to beef up their sequencer which was lacking before. I cant speak for its abilities now with the 2.0 version as I havent used it and can only go from what I know from others.

SoundForge I havent used so I cant speak for it either.

However what I can tell you is that many free programs get used in what most people would consider 'professional' settings, aka recording studios. Audacity for example is a very commonly used single file editor for making destructive edits, even in recording studios. Some studios have started using Ardour. Both of these are open source software, and there are many more options out there(Hydrogen for a drum machine for example)

Price does not dictate quality. Common opinion of the public that is not doing audio probably doesnt mean a lick in terms of quality(See my many rants on ProTools for example

The main thing that dictates quality is first and foremost your skill, and then your equipment. If you are good you can get much better quality out of, shall we say less than ideal equipment than an average person on really good equipment that cost thousands more.

Seablade

I stopped using Audition (cool edit) after becoming quite proficient in it for a few reasons....

First, I had latency problems. Most of my recordings from my cooledit/audition years don't sound nearly as tight as my cubase recordings. Audition does not support ASIO drivers.

Second, Audition does not support vst plugins all that well. I have compiled a decent collection of vst plugins and instruments and I need to be able to use them.

Finally, and this is the real deal breaker, audition does not support midi composition. If you do any synth tracks or compose your own drum tracks then midi composition with quantanizing is crucial.

So, if your using windows, i'd suggest cubase. I've also heard that cakewalk is really good now, although I haven't used it in ages myself. That might be a better lower cost solution.

BT, most of your problems are addressed in Audition 2.0 I believe.

Like I said up to 1.5 was a great single file editor, but yes its sequencer left much to be desired. 2.0 which I havent used addressed its sequencer heavily, unfortunatly I wonder wether that may have had a negative impact on its single file editing, but havent tried it yet to know.

Seablade

Look into Ableton Live. Could be right up your alley...