Michael Fereday makes some sounds sound better.
Audio Cleaning Lab from Magix is a product
that has been designed to provide an all-in-one solution for digitising and
restoring the user’s music collection whether it is stored on vinyl or tape.
Although now up to version 18, Magix seems more interested in identifying this
product by its MX reference rather than its version number. MX, incidentally,
stands for Media X-change.
The opening menu
If you stick to the default settings or
standard Windows conventions with the installation routine, then you should
have no problems. However, when I attempted to change the destination drive
from the default C: to my preferred option of D: by manually changing the drive
letter in the path box rather than use the Browse feature, it caused the
installation to shut down. While hardly a fatal fault, it was rather annoying.
As part of the first-time run, you will
need to enter the product’s 30-character serial number and will have the
opportunity to register your copy online. Options, from an opening menu, will
be available to carry out tasks such as restore vinyl sound, clean tape sound,
optimise voice and ebook recordings plus edit an already existing digital audio
file by adding some special effects. There’s also an option to view a tutorial
video, which is well worth the effort.
One point to be aware of with this product
is that some tasks will require you to supply leads to link your computer to whatever
source is supplying the audio (record deck or tape unit). This approach is at
odds with Magix’s usual policy of supplying leads with other products designed
to transfer audio from vinyl and/or tape.
The lack of leads apart, Audio Cleaning Lab
is well capable of handling the import of content. Once loaded, the audio
content will be displayed as a Waveform. Buttons are available to carry out
cleaning. mastering and export tasks. You can use VCR-type controls to play,
record and move in either direction through a track. An analyser feature
provides visual assistance by displaying useful implements such as a peek
meter, oscilloscope, phase correlator or spectroscope.
While you can opt to get your hands dirty
with your adjustments, the Audio Cleaning Lab’s preferred method of working is
through the use of wizards and presets. This latest version of the software
features more than 60 new presets, which brings the overall total to more then
300 offerings. You also have access to wizard-led tools that are known by names
such as DeClicker, DeCrackler, DeClipper, DeNoiser and DeHisser – sounds a bit
like a pop group of many years ago.
For those, such as myself, who have built
up a large collection of audio cassettes packed with their favourite music, one
new feature is almost worth the cost on its own. This feature is entitled Turbo
Tape and it allows you to record tape cassettes at double speed. Another new
feature that might appeal is the ability to apply reverb or echo to a whole
track in a quick and easy manner. One slight drawback to the product is that
certain audio formats will require activating and, in a few cases, (MPEG-2, MP3
surround and AAC export), a fee will be required.
De whatever
|
Details
Price: $60
Manufacturer: Magix
Website: www.magix.com
Required spec: 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM,
500MB HD, 16-bit sound card, graphics card resolution 1024 x 768, Windows XP
or later
|
Micro mart
Quality: 9
Cost: 8
Overall: 9
Verdict
An excellent product, leads and codec
fees apart, which does what it promises |
