ProAudio Review - December 2008 - (Page 16)

www.proaudioreview.com Each band has adjustable bandwidth, gain, frequency, and an individual band bypass button. In Use Installing the Peak Pro XT 6 software suite was a breeze, and I’m happy to report that the package no longer requires a USB key to operate. BIAS has redesigned the entire look of the graphic interface, and it is visually better than ever. The drab gray look of the previous version has been replaced by a higher contrast, more invigorating GUI. The increased customization to be helpful too, though I’m surprised that there’s still no support for storing custom window sets. As with previous versions, Peak’s interface is relatively simple and intuitive. First-time users will be up and running in a minimal amount of time. BIAS has redesigned the metering in Peak and the new high-resolution, logarithmic-scale meters offer user-definable configurations and the ability to meter audio before or after the master output slider. That said, I occasionally miss the old metering which was more accurate in some situa- B I AS P i t c h C r a ft , a n at u r a l - s o u n ding pitch correction plug-in tions. An option for “Peak Legacy” metering would be nice. Since sample rate conversion is still far from perfect in any software package, I think it is a good measure of the quality of the program and how it handles audio. Peak 6’s USRC (Ultimate Sample Rate Conversion) sample rate conversion is quite impressive. I listened to several different files that I converted with Peak and found that in most cases the sonic difference was so small that it was almost undetectable and the results were always usable. It’s sonically better than the sample rate conversion that I’ve ever used in any DAW. The new cache in RAM feature makes for some mighty fast editing without the need to constantly load audio files from the drive. This is a great addition to the packages feature set. I also found the addition of a real-time bounce feature to be extremely helpful when I was using analog gear to process an audio file or when I wanted to manipulate plug-in controls in real time as the bounce happened. As a user of Frontier Design’s Tranzport wireless remote controller, I was happy to see that this device is now supported by BIAS with no additional configuration. My overall impression with Peak Pro XT 6 is quite good. The package includes a substantial amount of content for a reasonable price. As expected with a package this extensive, there are several things that I found disappointing. There’s no support for surround sound, DVD-A, SACD, or Blu-Ray. There’s no PC support, either. [However, “the included plug-ins are cross-platform,” offers the manufacturer. — Ed.] It would be helpful if it were possible to mix regions with different bit depths or combine mono and stereo documents within a playlist. Summary For working with stereo audio files, Peak Pro XT 6 is the best resource that I’ve encountered. New features include mastering and “classical editing” cross-fade modes, controls like pre/post roll audition, the ability to insert new event at play-head, voiceover ducking DSP, new user interface and improvements to the delivery tools. With the inclusion of the Peak Pro Production Pack, a collection of analysis, equalization, audio cleaning tools, and sound effects and BIAS Peak Pro XT 6 is a bargain. 16 ProAudioReview | December 2008 http://www.proaudioreview.com http://www.dwfearn.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ProAudio Review - December 2008

ProAudio Review - December 2008 Contents Technically Speaking New Studio Products Opinion: Mastering Matters Review: BIAS Peak Pro XT 6 Review: Zaxcom Fusion ENG Mixer and Multitrack Recorder Review: Sound Devices 788T 8-Track Digital Audio Recorder Review: Universal Audio UAD-2 Solo DSP Accelerator Review: Chandler Limited Germanium Compressor Review: RME ADI-8 QS A/D-D/A Converter Feature: Converters and Clocks: Engineers on Their Choices New Live Products Opinion: From the Road Review: Yamaha IM8 Series Mixing Consoles Review: NTI Digirator DR2 Digital Audio Signal Generator Review: Sencore SoundPro SP495 Audio Consultant Test Set Single Slice

ProAudio Review - December 2008

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