Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)[UPDATE AUG 23, 2010. RATING UPDATED FROM "1" TO "3"]
I stand by everything I wrote in the first review. Both of my reviews are related only to my experience with Adobe's Customer Technical Service with the product and not to the features or quality of the product.
I have a strong feeling that someone at Adobe has read the 3 reviews posted here on Amazon regarding the failure of Soundbooth to launch or operate and they may not have been too happy about my comments relating to my customer service experience. Although I first phoned Adobe on July 30th for help, it was not until Aug 12th that I wrote the original "1" Star review. During that time I spent well over 100 hours of my time researching fixes to try to get the product to launch.
I received an email from an Adobe Support representative shortly after posting my original review. It informed me that they have tried to reach me by phone and asked me to please call them. The Adobe rep promised they would see to it that my Soundbooth product would install and work properly. I called, my case was reviewed and I was connected to a Technical Service Rep who worked with me for 90 minutes until my problem was resolved. True to the word of the rep who emailed me, I feel certain that the TSR staff was going to do whatever it took to get my product up and running.
I received an unexpected phone call today (5 days after the "fix") from another Adobe Staff person who wanted to see if I was satisfied or if I needed any additional assistance. He apologized several times to me for my unsatisfactory support experience and informed me that certain issues associated with my case would be written up and presented to a higher level of Adobe management. His mantra was: "Adobe exists because of customers like you..."[The words sounded very canned but he put some real 'feeling' into them each time he said them.]
Bottom line: I eventually got first class Technical Support that is befitting the name Adobe but I could not rate this a "5" star due to all that I went through prior to this. I have learned that the Adobe product support policies seem to get updated faster than their products. I believe that they currently provide free support for 2 separate service issues per product during the first year or until 3 months after the newer version of the product is released (whichever is shorter).After which, there is a $39 contract fee per service. The contract lasts until that particular issue is resolved. Upon purchasing a newer version of product, all service on the previous version is by fee only. [Don't quote me on that, it is a confusing mix of rules. My advice is to know the rules before you install a newer version of an Adobe product and to first make sure your CS3 or CS4 products are working satisfactorily if you plan to continue to run them.][MY ORIGINAL REVIEW BELOW WAS WRITTEN ON AUG 12, 2010.I RATED IT A "1" STAR]
I purchased the Adobe CS4 Master Suite 8 months ago.Soundbooth has never launched.I now am working on projects that I need to work on in Soundbooth. I have spent hours on the phone with Adobe support and was sent from one person to their 'specialist' on Soundbooth.I gave him the error code and identifier.The specialist, who seemed to know less about Soundbooth than me (at least I had spent time searching the 'net and the Adobe Forums trying to find an answer), told me he had never heard of this problem before. For him to say this means he has not looked at Adobe's own Forums or their own online support information because the exact problem is addressed in several locations.
The support rep told me to unistall the entire CS4 Suite and reinstall, which I did but there was no improvement. I was given a case number to follow up via email. I've received 3 emails from Adobe.The subject of the emails is that they have additional information regarding my problem, however, all the emails do is to direct me to their online support info (which I've done) and ask me to submit any additional response.Their computer sends me out the same useless email 3 days later asking me to reply or they will close my case. Each of the emails they send me shows a growing list of all my responses but not a single word of support from them.
I have asked them in 3 emails to let me try to download a standalone version of the software. No one will respond to that request.My computer also far exceeds requirements. 8G Ram and a ATI gamers quality video card. I'm currently using Vista Premium but will be loading Windows 7 in the next few weeks.
Their Adobe Premiere Pro crashes regularly as well. All the other programs in the suite seem to work fine.
This is the worst customer support I've ever encountered.They never try to offer a solution.Buyer beware.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Adobe Soundbooth CS5
Product Description:
Adobe Soundbooth CS5 software is a professional audio editor that makes it easy to create, edit, and clean up audio for all your productions. Intuitive, task-based features and tight integration with other Adobe applications save time and help you achieve professional results. Mix royalty-free, customizable soundtracks and sound effects with dialogue in the improved multitrack environment for complete creative control.
View your entire multitrack soundtrack at once with the new resizable Multitrack View. Click to enlarge.
The new global track-resizing feature lets you view entire projects or zoom in on individual tracks for precise edits by clicking and dragging between tracks. Working with clips is also easier, with enhanced drag-and-copy and clip-splitting tools. Click to enlarge.
Select Soundbooth Scores by genre from an expanded selection of Scores in the Resource Central panel. Each Soundbooth Score has several performance parameters that can be adjusted directly. Click to enlarge.
Foley footsteps is one of many categories of sound effects accessible in the Resource Central panel.
Create and edit audio with ease
Fast audio cleanup
Automatically detect and fix common flaws in audio recordings such as hisses, hums, buzzing, phase problems, crackling, and pops. Create special audio effects or add reverb to match on-location room ambience.
Visual healing tools to remove individual sounds
Visually edit your audio with frequency space editing workflows. See phase problems and background noises and fix them with standard graphics editing tools.
Multitrack support
Create your own soundtrack by combining multiple audio clips on multiple tracks. Combine with Soundbooth Scores and sound effects. Enhancements in Soundbooth CS5 include multitrack track resizing and multitrack default view.
Recording and mastering of audio clips
Record mono or stereo files. Use streamlined mastering tools to polish your file to clarify vocals, make your music sparkle, and give the whole soundtrack presence and punch.
Tight integration with other Adobe Creative Suite tools
Create and edit audio in Soundbooth, and then move it effortlessly to Adobe Premiere Pro or Adobe Flash Professional. Drive animation or create captions through ActionScript by exporting Soundbooth markers as XML or in FLV.
Nondestructive audio editing
The Adobe Sound Document format packages single or multiple tracks into a nondestructive ASND file that can be easily shared with Adobe Premiere Pro or Flash Professional software.
More ready-to-use audio assets
Select from over 130 royalty-free Soundbooth Scores and thousands of sound effects in Resource Central, and then drag and drop them directly into your project to customize, combine, or layer multiple scores and effects.
Speech Search
Convert spoken dialogue into searchable text transcripts to quickly find assets within Soundbooth. Export transcripts in XML for ActionScript language searchable video development. Use the new Custom Dictionary feature for improved accuracy.
Volume correction
Equalize volume levels within a specific file with a single click. Use the Match Volume task to quickly match the volume of multiple clips to one another or to a single reference volume level.
Loop creation tool
Increase your creative options by easily creating loops. Save time and create loops quickly and accurately with beat detection.
Top new features of Adobe Soundbooth CS5
Improved multitrack editing
High-impact visual media depend on effective use of sound and music, and Soundbooth CS5 makes it easy to place sonic elements precisely to create the perfect blend of dialogue, voice-over, music, and sound effects. With the improved workflow in multitrack edit mode, you can mix and edit multitrack projects faster and with more control. For example, you can resize the tracks in Multitrack View to view entire multitrack projects at once or to zoom in on specific tracks. Split, move, and copy audio clips more easily with enhanced clip editing; these improvements let you align sound clips to specific points in a scene, duplicate clips within a track, or move clips between different tracks.
Expanded library of royalty-free Soundbooth Scores and sound effects
Kick-start your soundtrack with a dramatically expanded selection of royalty-free content: Soundbooth CS5 now offers access to the enhanced Resource Central panel, where you'll find more than 10,000 sound effects and more than 130 customizable Soundbooth Scores. Scores are easily identified by genre in Resource Central, which you access from within Soundbooth; just click the Play button next to the title of each Soundbooth Score to hear a preview. Drag and drop sound effects or Soundbooth Scores from Resource Central into your multitrack project to customize, combine, and layer them. Soundbooth Scores include not just music, but ambience and environmental sounds as well. Combine scores and sound effects until your soundtrack sounds exactly the way you want, and it's ready to send back to Adobe Premiere Pro or Flash Professional for final export.
Soundbooth Scores: Flexible music and ambience for any production
Soundbooth Scores are extremely flexible and configurable. Professionally composed, each Score is a multipart instrumental performance or a mix of instrumental and ambient sounds. Each self-contained score has clearly marked sections such as intros, endings, and thematic variations. You can easily align start and end times of a score with the length of a scene simply by dragging the start and end points. Internal sections are automatically stretched or shortened to keep the integrity of the performance consistent. If you need to shorten a scene by a few seconds, just drag the end points to match the new length, and your soundtrack is automatically adjusted. Intuitive controls make it easy to configure a score to match changes in mood and intensity throughout a scene. By adjusting controls for intensity, atmosphere, and lead (an instrumental variation), you can change the complexity and mood of the performance to evoke just the right level of emotion for your scene. These controls can be adjusted overall in the Properties tab, and you can also set their levels on the score itself to coincide with hit points in the scene.
Sound effects: Much more than explosions
Crashes, explosions, and tire screeches are great to have in a sound effects library; they can save you a lot of expense, not to mention threats to life and limb. But a good sound effects library offers much more than bangs and booms. Among the 10,000+ sound effects available through Soundbooth in Resource Central*, you'll find sounds that can not only punctuate a scene, but set it entirely. A wide variety of sound effects is easily accessible in Resource Central, organized in clearly labeled categories such as Sports, Transportation, Household, Human Elements, Liquids/Water, Weather, and others.
As with Soundbooth Scores, it's easy to browse and preview sound effects in the enhanced Resource Central panel. Drag and drop the effects you like into one or more tracks. Zoom in and increase the track height to align the effect precisely with the scene. Adjust overall volume of the track using on-clip controls, or set keyframes that match volume to changes in scene intensity. Open an effect in Single-track Mode and apply effects to give the sound punch and clarity with compression and EQ, or to create a sense of space with reverb.
Among the huge number of sound effects, interactive designers will find many that are ideal for triggering rollovers, transitions, and other behaviors in FLV and SWF rich media.
Want to read more honest consumer review about Adobe Soundbooth CS5 now ?
No comments:
Post a Comment