A couple of other nice touches include Snapshots and MP3 Preview. Essentially, Snapshots lets you save several states of a Sb CS4 project into the same file, letting you switch back and forth even after it's saved. This could allow you to, for example, mix some music and dialog a couple of different ways for a scene and then cycle through the mixes while watching your video (Sb CS4 provides a video track and preview panel for this purpose). MP3 Preview is nice when you're trying to strike that perfect balance between file size and quality. No more trial and error, saving it with various settings 6 times before making a decision -- I've been there, and it's a real drain on time and creativity. Even with all of my high-end audio software, I'll certainly find myself using Sb CS4's useful MP3 Preview options when preparing a handful of new .mp3 audio examples for my website!
Overall, Sb CS4 performed great. I love that it takes advantage of the lower latency, more stable ASIO drivers for my professional audio interface. It didn't freeze once while running on a very modest Dell PC. The sound quality of the scores is good and the transitions between various intensities was seamless after programming the changes with keyframes. Sb CS4 integrates a lot of little things that speed up common audio tasks, like on-clip controls that appear upon selecting a clip, etc. Sb CS4 also provides both waveform and spectral displays, letting you view the audio in the best way possible for what you're doing at the time.
My only minor gripes with this software come in the mixing. I know it's not supposed to be a full-blown audio mixing environment, but it would be very nice if I could hear the changes made to a parameter in real time as I drag the mouse back and forth to change its value. This would further save time because I wouldn't have to guess what a given value will sound like. I would also like to see separate volume controls for each element of a score in addition to the intensity modifier parameters. It's interesting to note that in certain cases you can't make an element disappear, even by setting the modifier value to zero. I guess Adobe assumes that if you are using an ocean score you are going to want at least some water SFX playing.
This piece of software is absolutely worth every dime, especially for the visually-inclined editor who needs to do everyday audio editing in a way that is intuitive to them. Plus Adobe lets you download many individual scores free of charge via the Resource Central panel. You can also purchase additional collections at very reasonable prices through the same panel. (And, for an even better value than buying it by itself, you can get it as part of the Production Premium package. Check out the full review on CS4: Production Premium by clicking here!)
Soundbooth CS4 is very good at what it's made to do! It's available as a standalone product and in several of Adobe's bundles. It's great for quickly assembling soundscapes, temp music (or not-so-temp music if your budget can't deal with hiring a composer), and dialog for a scene. And with a visually intuitive GUI, reliable performance, and a low price point, low-budget film makers should find it's just what the doctor ordered.
