Is Adobe Audition a Good DAW?

Adobe Audition is certainly a good DAW. It’s very popular among professional audio engineers and hobbyists alike for doing post-production effects, editing MP3s or WAV files. However, it’s not a strong DAW for composing or producing music.

The software is very good at editing audio and recording sound, particularly for post-production, podcasting, and narration. It has very good stock plugins for noise reduction, compression, EQ, time-stretching/pitch shifting, mastering, etc.

The stock plugins are great and you can achieve high-quality results with little effort.

However, there are far better DAWs available for composing and producing music, either due to their features (better MIDI and virtual instrument support), or simply due to their better workflows, user interface, and stock plugins which are more useful for these purposes.

Adobe Audition Pros

It Has a Multitrack Editor

Non-destructive editing is essential for music production. Thankfully, Adobe Audition’s multitrack editor enables you to do just that. 

With this editor, you can record using several microphones simultaneously, which can be quite handy for podcasts.

Not to mention, you can add a ton of effects and play around with them without messing up the original track. 

The Software Is Synchronized to Premiere Pro

If you primarily use Premiere Pro for video production, you’ll definitely appreciate how it seamlessly syncs with Adobe Audition. Instead of editing the videos’ audio inside Premiere Pro, you’ll be prompted to do the audio editing separately in Adobe Audition. 

Audition Is Super Easy to Customize

Adobe Audition integrates multiple customization options that let you personalize your experience with the software. For example, you can make some sections larger or smaller than their default sizes. You may also hide certain sections completely. 

Adobe Audition Cons

Some of the most criticized aspects of Adobe Audition include:

It’s Not Great for Composing, Producing, and Track Arrangement

Adobe Audition lacks essential features found in other DAWs, like dynamic EQ, full MIDI support, and pitch correction. This makes it more useful for casual projects like adding some cool sound effects to an existing soundtrack. 

Other than that, you won’t really be able to work on any big music projects.

User Interface 

Adobe Audition’s user interface is far from being intuitive. It’ll probably take you a while before figuring everything out. The audio editing workflow isn’t as smooth as it should be, and the overall interface is lacking in terms of features.

Little to No Upgrades 

DAWs evolve at a very fast pace to cope with new trends and needs in the music industry. But since Adobe Audition isn’t intended as a full-blown DAW in the first place, don’t expect to get all the latest bells and whistles from Adobe on a regular basis.

Can You Make Music With Adobe Audition?

You can make some beats with Adobe Audition, and the result would actually be satisfying for many users.  

Audition’s audio rendering engine can record 32 tracks or take up to 128 tracks without breaking a sweat. What’s more, it offers a wide range of royalty-free loops and sound effects. 

The workstation also makes it easy for you to adjust and select several tracks at the same time. Deleting tracks is also an option.

With its highly functional remixer tool, Audition enables you to cut new versions of your song without relying on a real remixer. The process is pretty straightforward since all you have to do is set a target duration for the track.

However, it’s worth noting that other DAWs such as Ableton Live or Logic Pro are far better for music production due to superior MIDI capabilities.

Does Adobe Audition Have MIDI?

Adobe Audition has an integrated MIDI function. Nevertheless, it’s pretty basic compared to other DAWs.

Which Is Better: Audacity or Adobe Audition?

When comparing Audacity with Adobe Audition, there are two primary factors to take into consideration: video support and sound recording.

Adobe Audition supports video, while Audacity doesn’t. On the other hand, Audacity’s sound recording features are pretty sophisticated compared to what Adobe Audition has to offer.

This doesn’t mean you can’t use Adobe Audition for recording. The recording tool in Audition gets the job done, but you won’t get advanced features that allow you to create professional podcasts, for example.

It’s also worth noting that Adobe Audition does a great job at audio restoration, editing, and cleanup. File repairing is also pretty powerful in Adobe Audition. 

Audacity is also packed with nice features like converting sound files, dozens of adaptability plugins, and the option to save files in various sound quality formats. Sound rearranging and editing are supported, too. 

Summary

A capable Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) should make it easy for you to edit, rearrange, and adjust music tracks professionally. Adobe Audition certainly fits the bill there.

To sum it all up, Adobe Audition is undoubtedly a capable DAW. And while it lacks a bit in certain compartments like full MIDI functionality, it still has plenty of tricks up its sleeve. 

Brian Clark

Brian Clark

I’ve been a writer with Musician Wave for six years, turning my 17-year journey as a multi-instrumentalist and music producer into insightful news, tutorials, reviews, and features.

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