Children of the Cool

excellent
key review info
application features
  • Play an audio file or any part of it
  • (11 more, see all...)

I hope that even the fans of SoundForge, WaveLab or Cakewalk will admit that Cool Edit Pro, (Adobe Audition, as it's called today) was one of the best - if not THE best - editing, mixing and mastering host-software ever. While not being a totally one-in-all program (the pro-grade all-in-one, not the freeware-grade) the Cool Edit Pro (CEP) inspired audio producers and musicians alike through the years of its existence. I was surprised this year when I was in a studio to master my new LP to see that the guys still worked in CEP, yet I rejoiced as I knew the software, and this meant a new set of opportunities for the final product.

Well, given the notoriety of the CEP it's no wonder that "similar", almost copycats softwares emerged; some just tried to copy what CEP stood for and failed, while others just followed the road it had opened in audio production and became decent and even very good pieces of code sold for decent money and at the same time offering processing power close to the professional applications and very reliable ease-of-use, looks and generic operation. It's the case of Dexster, a pretty good audio editor which somehow replicates the feeling of the CEP, even if it still cannot compare to "the king".

The Looks

Dexster has a very simple look, its GUI being divided in three major sections: the sine waveform-view pane, which is by far the largest of all the three areas and technically it is the most visually-important part of the entire program. The upper part of the main window is dedicated to menus and shortcut buttons (which you will find in abundance) while the right side has been filled with the playback and recording settings, the zoom controls and the SFX tree-view pane.

The fact that Dexster is not a totally professional software is easily noticeable if we look at the multitude of colored shortcut icons: they are small and each bears a very intuitive sign - the clear indicator that they're intended rather for the inexperienced user. The time counter is small and the shortcut buttons are small as well, despite their different importance in the ergonomy of the audio production work.

Dexster has no skins (not that it needed skins) and can be easily customized as far as different selection-colors are concerned, so if you simply hate the traditional green you can instantly change it to whatever color you'd like. As a sign of home/semi-pro intended use, the VU-meters - which are placed at the bottom of the waveform-pane - are small and in a rather common color, not being at all able to alert you when things go wrong because the peak and red-colors are totally absent.

Spectral view is also available in this Dexster version and the developers have done a very good job here as it looks really good even if, again, the intended type of use is instantly detected by people who were at least one time in a real studio: as you move your mouse in different areas of the spectral view-area you won't get data regarding frequency or dB-level.

Anyway, the Dexster's GUI is pretty good and fit for the beginners in the field, while at the same time not being a pain in the a** for the more pro.

The Works

Well, after some time I have spent running different tasks in Dexster, I am glad to say that it has returned me no error. The engine which runs the various processes is not the fastest one available, but it will not let you wait indefinitely, either. At the working-chapter Dexster can't rival the CEP, but has so far managed to replicate well-enough the extensive array of features and options for audio processing the Cool Edit Pro had.

Features like zoom to selection and zoom back are quite handy when you need precise operation for tenth-of-a-second accuracy; at the same time a large number of presets is available for immediate use even if at the keyboard is a professional or a newbie; and should you not be happy with what the Dexster has to offer you on-site - no problem: you just have to build your own presets and store them for further use.

The FX are not even by far what you might expect in a childish software: you have lots of parameters you can tweak and set up, so that you finally get what you want of a specific track. Effects like flanger, delay, compression, normalize, silence/noise, band/low/high pass and so on are accessible with just a few moves as well as quickly and easily editable. Recording is quite easy and smooth-working, being impeded by one thing only: the transport controls are not spacebar-based, therefore, it may be a bit uncanny when playing one instrument and doing a recording at the same time. Nevertheless, as you'll get used to working with Dexster, this feeeling will surely fade away.

As I assume you have imagined already, I will not write here a complete owners' manual but rather let you discover the features of Dexster for yourselves. I'll end my article mentioning that it has an integrated, very reliable and fast CD-burning module which will let you quickly back-up your work or write a disc and share your creations.

The Good

I'll just enumerate some of the things I liked in Dexster as I see absolutely no point in writing down a list of almost all features in this program. Nice price for a complete semi-pro audio editor coming with a CD burning engine, lots of customizable SFX, spectral view and almost all things you might meet in high-grade pieces of code.

The Bad

I really liked Dexster, so I'll mention here only one personal dislike: please issue the next version with spacebar-based operation and drag and drop support!

The Truth

Dexster is definitely one software I will recommend you all: you'll surely find it quite handy when you want to produce good-sounding home audio, enrich your recordings, and even record a demo CD with your band and so on. Adding the awesome price of just $40, it's almost like stealing.

Now it's time for the screenshots:

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user interface 4
features 4
ease of use 4
pricing / value 5


final rating 5
Editor's review
excellent