Sound to burn: audio recording tools for CD-R

Emedia Professional, Feb, 1998 by Stephen F. Nathans

Elektroson's GEAR Audio: Music to My Gear

Elektroson, Inc.'s GEAR is among the longest-standing of any CD-R premastering tool, and true to CD-R tradition, GEAR has remained primarily a professional-market tool, (though the Wizard interface included with version 4.0 has given the software wider accessibility among the range of CD-R user experience levels). A more recent tradition for Elektroson, however, has been to add separately sold, application-specific tools to the GEAR family, such as Web Grabber, a tool for transporting full Web pages to CD-R, and CD Replicator, a CD copying tool. CD Replicator features the usual range of CD-duping functionality, including copying and compiling audio discs in disc-at-once mode for making replication-ready masters.

But the company's real plunge into the audio breach happened in late 1997 with the release of GEAR Audio, a new audio-specific CD-R tool that replicates Adaptec's CD Spin Doctor model by combining audio copying, compiling, and customization capabilities with analog-to-digital conversion for upgrading LPs and cassettes to CD-R. The key difference between CD Spin Doctor and GEAR Audio is that GEAR Audio sells and operates separately from the company's mainline premastering tool.

Based on the GEAR interface and engine, GEAR Audio offers all the major capabilities of CD Spin Doctor, including automatic pop-and-crackle clean-up of LPS being converted to CD. In addition, GEAR Audio can instantly convert Internet and computer sound files in WAV format to conventional music CD track format. The product employs a simple step-by-step series of command menus through which users navigate the various choices involved in the recording process. One aspect of GEAR Audio particularly emphasized by Elektroson is its ability to be integrated into high-end audio editors, making it easier to record remasters and original material to CD.

GEAR Audio supports most popular audio file formats, including Red Book and WAV files, and is compatible with most CD-R drives on the market today. GEAR Audio is available for Windows 95, Windows NT, and Macintosh and lists for $149.

Creative Digital Research's HyCD Music: New Sounds for CD-R Publishers

Like GEAR Audio, Creative Digital Research (CDR)'s HyCD Music represents a departure for a professional CD recording standard-setter, targeting novice users with a dramatically simpler interface and a self-consciously entertainment-oriented focus than anything previously seen in a CDR Publisher tool. HyCD Music is one of three distinct applications in CDR's new HyCD Suite, which makes its first appearance in Philips' OMNIwriter CD-Rewritable drive bundle. The Suite also includes HyCD Data for data and multimedia recording and premastering and HyCD Copy for disc-to-disc duping tasks. All three applications are also included as icon-activated elements of the latest version of HyCD Publisher, and sell individually as well. [See Robert A. Starrett, "Philips OMNIwriter CD-Rewritable Drive," EMedia Professional, December 1997, Volume 10, Number 12--Editor.]