We don’t know how many audio editing applications for Mac are out there. If you are new to audio editing and need an affordable shareware title, try Amadeus Pro. Software developer HairerSoft made a major upgrade in May, 2007. Their flagship application was previously known as Amadeus II before the upgrade. Now, it’s called Amadeus Pro, which can be used by both PowerPC and Intel-based Mac computers.

If you have never heard of Amadeus Pro, you probably want to know how you can use it. Again, Amadeus Pro is an audio editor. Amadeus Pro reads such audio formats as AIF, MP3, MP4 and OGG (Ogg Vorbis). How about WMA (Windows Media Audio)? We will talk about that soon. By opening an audio file, you can edit it. For example, you can select a segment and then cut it, change the pitch or speed and apply silence over it.

I prepared a small challenge for Amadeus Pro. I have audio files that are compressed in WMA, MP3, MP4 (AAC) and non-compression (AIFF). They are shown in Screenshot 01. So I simply drag and drop them altogether onto the application icon. And Amadeus Pro fails to open one of the files. Amadeus Pro cannot directly read WMA files. (See Screenshot 02) It can read other audio files. (See Screenshot 03) I also tested an Ogg audio file, and Amadeus Pro had no trouble opening it. (See Screenshot 04)

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Amadeus II cannot read WMA files from Open under File, either. However, you can drop them onto the application icon to open them. Amadeus Pro can still open WMA files. Go to Import Raw Data under File and choose the file you want to open. (See Screenshot 04)

If you believe there is little demand among Mac users for editing WMA files, that’s not true. We still live in the computer world dominated by Windows OS users. Many IC recorders compress data in WMA. MOV? Hell, no, not for audio. There are also a lot of transfer users who switched from Windows OS and want to read WMA files.

Anyway, before using it, another major concern that we had with this upgrade was whether Final Cut Pro can read AIFF files from Amadeus Pro. As you probably know, Final Cut Pro is a great application, but it’s quite unpredictable as to recognizing audio and video clips. A problem with Amadeus II is that each time you open and edit and then save (Save As) a file in AIFF, you have to set the sampling rate unless you want to use the default rate of 44.1 kHz. On the other hand, a strange aspect of Final Cut Pro is such that it can read AIFF files with the sampling rate of 44.1 kHz without re-rendering when in fact the Sequence is set for 48 kHz. So how about Amadeus Pro? As you see Screenshot 06, a Final Cut Pro’s Sequence is set for the sampling rate of 48 kHz. And Final Cut Pro can read AIFF files with the sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. (See Screenshot 07) Unpredictable, right?

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Another concern remains in handling WMA files with Amadeus Pro. Can you open a group of WMA files at a time? Actually, you can. Just choose Import Raw Data under File and then select multiple files while holding the Shift Key. As you see in Screenshot 09, Amadeus Pro lets you open multiple WMA files at a time, but… Yes, there is a BUT. There’s a price for reading WMA files in this way. Take a good look at the file names. I have Untitled, Untitled 2, Untitled 3… Amadeus Pro does not open the original file. Rather, it creates a new file and then imports data to it. What’s so big deal? Well, if you open many files at a time in this way, you have to close them one by one, which can be quite time-consuming. (See Screenshot 10.)

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So what’s new in Amadeus Pro? If you see the menu under Effects, it looks like nothing really has changed. (See Screenshot 11.) If you compare it with Amadeus II, however, you can see some changes in the upgraded version. (See Screenshot 12) Amadeus Pro has menu buttons at the top of the window. And you can customize this menu for your needs.

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Actually, that’s not all. There are totally new features in Amadeus Pro. Under Amadeus II, you can only add audio data by writing over an existing segment. HairerSoft replaced Show Whole Sound in Amadeus II with a new concept called Track. You can create a new track by clicking on the plus sign on the menu and paste an audio segment. (See Screenshot 14.) More interestingly, you can move this segment right to left over the track with your Mouse. By saying that it supports tracks, we can also say that Amadeus now supports non-destructive editing. And you can save your audio file in a non-destructive form by choosing Amadeus under the file format. (See Screenshot 15.)

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So far, so good, but we are disappointed with this upgrade over shortcut keys. If you see Screenshot 11, there is no single shortcut key assigned to any of the commands under Edit. There are common commands such as Amplify, Change Pitch and Speed, Generate Silence that users want to access with shortcut keys. We hope that the developer will let users set customized shortcut keys as in Adobe and Apple products.

In summary, Amadeus Pro made major improvements towards non-destructive editing. One can now create tracks and paste audio segments and then save the file as Amadeus to retain changes. Amadeus Pro doesn’t directly let users import WMA files. That’s a major shortcoming. Another shortcoming is that, just as in Amadeus II, you have to set the sampling rate each time you want to save an audio file beyond default settings. Furthermore, Amadeus Pro does not support customizable shortcut keys.

MacHouse recommendation: This is a great upgrade. If you are an Intel-Mac user, you may consider upgrading it right now. If you run Amadeus II on a PowerPC Mac, you probably want to think carefully. If you frequently use Windows Media Audio files, you probably want to stay with Amadeus II a little bit longer. Furthermore, if you are new to audio editing and are looking for an easy application to use, we highly recommend you to use Amadeus Pro. $40… It’s incredibly affordable.






Amadeus Pro is a product of HairerSoft.

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