Audio Editing:  

Whether you are a musician looking to refine and improve tracks, a journalist looking to trim or extract vocal clips or looking to add voice narration to a multimedia presentation, WavePad offers a unique range, making it accessible to users with audio editing needs not related to music production.

With batch processing, users can quickly convert a variety of audio file types at impressive rates, depending upon the amount of tracks selected. This one-stop-shop approach greatly reduces the steps necessary for converting tracks to an editable file type while rendering them accurately into waveform expression for precise editing and track embellishment. With additional features such as FFT spectral analysis, users can make edits and embellishments with an even more detailed blue-print, which, when coupled with drag-and-drop functionality, makes for accurate and precise edits every time.

WavePad also has dozens of automated and manually-applied effects, including echo, delay, reverse, amplify, reverb, distort, loop and others. WavePad also includes song formatting effect features, such as auto-trim, fade-in/fade-out, normalizer, equalizer and a sample rate converter, among others. Moreover, WavePad gives users an option to preview effects before they are actually implemented into the track at hand.

WavePad also features an entire tool-set dedicated to sound restoration and improvement, including tools specifically designed for noise reduction and hiss and pop removal.

Recording/Burning:  

It is easy to record with this product, you can record anything off the internet, from a line-in or it can rip from a CD or extract audio from a video file. It can also work with many formats and the manufacturer is always adding new formats through updates. The program will work with most WAV and MP3 type files, as well as other compression types like FLAC, ogg-vorbis, gsm, vox, Real Audio, AIF and others. It also includes CD burning software. WavePad also offers tools to export completed or converted tracks to iPod, PSP and can even be used as ringtones in phones with the proper technology.

Ease of Use:  

WavePad’s greatest strength lies in its intuitive, user-friendly interface and overall simplicity. While it might lack effects-chain options and other advanced features, these hardly seem losses given the program’s impressive flexibility and range. The interface itself sets the groundwork for much of this. It can be customized to meet the needs of its users, but never loses its simplicity and organization. And, with scroll-over text captions for all buttons, users can avoid the manual and go right to the task at hand.

Help/Support:  

NCH offers a diverse offering of resources for program use and technical assistance. The help tab located within WavePad provides instant access to a variety of online help portals. There, FAQ pages, discussion forums and an email contact page for issues and topics not addressed in the other areas.

WavePad strikes an incredible balance between high-end and low-end, advanced and beginner level audio and sound editing software programs, giving users of various professions, skill-sets and program needs an incredible range with which to work. Best of all, it does so without over-simplifying its interface or limiting users to only a handful of tools. It’s by no means a substitute to true sound design and creation programs like Recording Studio software programs Reason and Ableton Live, but it has a daily usability that most—if not all—specialty programs lack.