BIAS Announces Peak 2.0Major New Version of Award Winning Audio Software takes Digital Audio Editing to the Next Level January 29, 1998
Berkley Integrated Audio Software, Inc. (BIAS) today announced version 2.0 of PeakTM, a comprehensive revision of their highly acclaimed digital audio editing software for the Apple® Macintosh. This new version adds a number of high-end features, many new useful tools, improves features from previous versions, and sports a brand new user interface. Version 2.0 has a more powerful, robust feature set than ever before, and sets a new standard for dedicated stereo waveform editing on the Macintosh.
High-end Features for Professionals
Peak's power as a professional-caliber audio tool is evident with the inclusion of a number of high-end features, including the ability to record, edit, and process 8-, 16-, 24-, and 32-bit audio files (depending on available recording hardware). Peak 2.0 also adds support for playback and recording through DAETM. Additionally, Adobe Premiere audio plug-ins can now be used in real-time within Peak 2.0. SMPTE synchronization has been added, making Peak an asset to any video workstation. Peak 2.0 supports encoding RealAudioTM 5.0 for authoring sound files to the internet. Finally, BIAS has included the ability to burn audio directly to CD from within the Playlist in Peak 2.0, and most popular CD burners are supported.
New, Improved User Interface
Peak's user interface has been greatly improved in version 2.0. All dialogs are now Appearance Manager savvy, taking full advantage of the latest Macintosh OS8 features. A user customizable toolbar has been added, as well as a floating palette with selection/zoom /pencil/scrub mouse modes. A QuickTimeTM movie window has been added, and is fully compatible with Peak's scrubbing capabilities, making Peak an ideal tool for multimedia production. A contents window displays the markers, regions, and loops contained within an audio file. Regions can be dragged from the contents window directly into a Playlist. Finally, users can now independently select either the right or left channel for editing and processing.
Sampling Tools
BIAS has added a host of useful new features to Peak 2.0. With the addition of support for the Yamaha A3000 and Ensoniq ASR-X, Peak 2.0 provides users with access to even more sampler hardware than before. Peak's new Loop Tuner dialog makes finding the right loop point in audio files easy. A Pencil tool has been added for sample-level editing, and includes a smoothing option. BIAS has also added support for Ensoniq's PARIS file format (.paf) to the already long list of audio file formats supported by Peak. Finally, Peak 2.0 now includes more on-board DSP processing than ever before.
Existing Features Improved
In addition to the many new features in Peak 2.0, BIAS has gone the extra mile to improve many of the features from previous versions of Peak. The Import CD dialog now includes the ability to select multiple tracks of audio for importing. An improved sample transfer feature enables the user to instantly send a sample, or group of samples, back to the original location in the sampler. A tempo calculator has been added to the Loop Surfer, which determines the tempo of the selected audio. The inclusion of a Nudge Regions dialog adds the ability to fine-tune transitions between regions. The Open... dialog now includes file information regarding the file length, type, sample rate, bit depth, and number of channels. Audio meters are more responsive, calibrated to dB, detect clipping, and include peak hold. Recording in Peak 2.0 has been improved, allowing users to record SDII or AIFF audio files and process through third party Adobe Premiere audio plug-ins in real-time while recording is in progress. Finally, Peak 2.0 allows users to create and read WAV audio files with full support of marker, loop, and region information stored in the file.
Pricing and Availability
Peak 2.0 has an MSRP of US$499.00 and will be available at the end of Q2, 1998. Upgrades from version 1.5 - 2.0 are $129.
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