The people at Rogue Amoeba have made quite an impression on the audio side of Mac software, with some of the best tools for recording, play-back and general messing about with audio of all kinds. Their software has stood out so far, not only from a functional point of view, but also because of the design that clearly goes into it, and all those little touches that you will be hard pressed to find anywhere else.

Their editing solution, Fission is no different.

What it does

Fission is a small program which, as the name implies, is designed to make it easy to cut audio files. Whether you have large audio files that you have captured from an Internet radio station, or from an old vinyl, this program makes it easy to cut out the part you want, even if it is the entire thing but just in separate chunks.

Very easy to use and quite up to the task, this program makes cutting as simple as it can get.

Working with it

Fission is similar to other sound editing applications, although most likely not quite as complex.

To cut out a piece of undesired audio from a file, simply open it, select the part you want and cut it out. To remove everything except a desired piece of audio, select it and crop it. When using any of these actions, the program will automatically create a fade in and fade out, each one second long, however, this behavior can be edited in the preferences.

Splitting a file is just as easy. Simply place the ‘playhead’ to the position where you would like the split, and then hit the split command. The positioning can be done either by clicking in the location or by listening to the track up until a certain point and then pausing it. Regardless of how you go about it, that will insert a split, and when you save the audio, it will be saved into separate files for each split area.

However, there are occasions when splitting manually becomes a chore, such as when you record an entire album from vinyl or tape. In those cases, simply open up the track and use the Smart Split option. This will analyze the track and look for periods of silence and then place the split there. The suggested split points are previewed on the track and can be adjusted by moving the two sliders in the Smart Split options. Once you are pleased with the results, simply hit the split button to have proper splits made.

Fade- ins and Fade- outs can also be made easily: simply select the part of the audio where you want to fade and hit the button. Of course, the length of the fade depends on the length of the selection, so it is very easy to fine-tune this to get the desired results.

All about the design

In terms of features, Fission is a rather simple program that can only cut audio. I cannot even put it back together again. However, in terms of design, it is simply marvelous. The way the playhead and split points and selection points all also point to the entire track display at the top of the window is simply great. Usually, audio program only show you the main display, and if you are working with the audio making very delicate selections, you then have to zoom out to get to the other end without it taking the better part of a minute. But with Fission, this is simply not a factor. All of the points can be moved either in the main display or on the entire tack one at the top of the window at any time, and it looks very good. Even the way the translucent grays are moves to indicate the section that you are currently looking at a on the top track display is insanely useful.

With such a great visually orientated approach, it is a shame that you are pretty much forced into using it. There is no way to work in set numbers except when it comes to selections, where you can actually type in the start and end of a selection. However, for splits and other purposes, your only choice is to position the playhead, which is not as simple as it sounds. Why on earth you cannot simply click on either the elapsed time or the remaining time indicators to be able to type in a value is simply beyond me.

The Good

Very easy to use, with a great design that is sure to make even those who have never used such an application feel right at home.

The Bad

There is no possibility to fine tune without excessive dragging. Most of the actions revolve around the playhead. But there is no way to manually type a time and have the playhead be set there.

The Truth

A great application for anyone who needs to cut audio, very simple to use and very well designed from a visual point of view. However, the actual functionality of this program is quite limited when you consider the price tag.

Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge: