CD Architect 5

[auralerogeny]

Has anyone had any experience with Sony's CD Architect 5? Is it decent for the money, or a waste of hard

drive space, etc. I have no huge budget and cannot afford to get my music proffessionaly mastered. Is there other software that I should check out?

[Rev. Robb]

Sony's CD Architect is an awesome program. I have used it for years. It's worth the $100 for sure...

[Franco]

Yup, that's what I use as well. I've had people send stuff out to places like Diskmakers and haven't had any problems with them or any other replicator as far as the premasters having errors. I'm pretty sure your burner and your computer's ability to transfer the data for your project properly have a lot to do with it as well, but what's nice about CDA is that if it detects a problem, it will tell you.

[Kayo]

CD Architect v5, is a wonderful piece of software, so is their DVD architect. Very user friendly, to the point softwares. It's basically my defacto 4 or 20 point editor, as I use Sequioa a lot too..

Never had a problem..ever.

[masteringhouse]

I also think it's a great value (though I don't use it currently). My only gripe with it is that it doesn't support CD Enhanced (multi-session). At least the last time that I used it.

[seriousfun]

Originally Posted by auralerogeny

Has anyone had any experience with Sony's CD Architect 5? Is it decent for the money, or a waste of hard

drive space, etc. I have no huge budget and cannot afford to get my music proffessionaly mastered. Is there other software that I should check out?

What other software do you have? What do you use to record the music? This might be sufficient to master the mix. CDA itself is just a burning program - although it does some of the job, it is not a mastering program in itself.

CDA comes with Sound Forge, and I agree that that combo works great for mastering.

[SMC Productions]

Originally Posted by auralerogeny

Has anyone had any experience with Sony's CD Architect 5? Is it decent for the money, or a waste of hard

drive space, etc. I have no huge budget and cannot afford to get my music proffessionaly mastered. Is there other software that I should check out?

GREAT program...used it for years...along with Video Architect....

WELL worth the money!

[Beaker02]

Any reason to learn it if you already are happy with Nero?

[George Ware]

I only use Nero for CD Roms or DVD Roms
I use CDA5 for audio

George Ware

[SMC Productions]

Originally Posted by Beaker02

Any reason to learn it if you already are happy with Nero?

For audio work, with lots of plugs and stuff, yeah!

[Audio Enginerd]

I've had 2 masters fail at the plant. I can't blame it on CD Architect, but I'm trying to track down the problem. I've since sent them another burnt disc with a back-up and they were without errors. Does anyone know of a way to burn CDs slower than 8x? That is the slowest speed in the drop-down menu in the program. The guys at the mastering plant keep asking for 4x...

[TRJanuary]

The speeds you see on the drop down menu are what is being reported to CDA by your drive. Your burner may not be 4x compatible.

Also, to address an earlier post, you most certainly can master in CDA, with stackable directX plugins on each track, and on the "master fader", PQ editing, envelopes, ISRC, workspace, etc. Blows waveburner, toast, and every other Red Book CD program out of the water.

[Audio Enginerd]

Neither of my drives are 4x compatible I guess. Thanks for the info! I might look into getting another burner.

[Tubefreak]

It's very easy to use, but the lack of VST effects is really too bad.

[Cellotron]

Originally Posted by Tubefreak

It's very easy to use, but the lack of VST effects is really too bad.

It's kind of sad when you realize that the last time Sony actually updated CDA was around the time when this thread was first started about 4 years ago!

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Petrus]

It is a bad idea to use CDA for anything than making the master CD and getting the track info in there. Not that it would not work, but my workflow for (classical) is to do all editing and tweaking in 24 bits, and as a last step dither one continuous CD file to 16 bits. Nothing should be done to it after that.

[Cellotron]

Originally Posted by Petrus

It is a bad idea to use CDA for anything than making the master CD and getting the track info in there. Not that it would not work, but my workflow for (classical) is to do all editing and tweaking in 24 bits, and as a last step dither one continuous CD file to 16 bits. Nothing should be done to it after that.

One small warning is that the built in Sony Dither plugin is correlated (mono) noise (at least when I tested it last about 5 years ago). Other options would probably do better.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[Franco]

5 years after replying to this post, I'm still using this program for my premaster discs. I don't do any effects processing with it but it's what I use for transitions.

I really wish there was a way to export audio files from the markers, I usually get asked for an MP3 version of albums and the only way I can do that is by making a CD and then extracting the audio in A3.

[Audio Enginerd]

Originally Posted by Franco

5 years after replying to this post, I'm still using this program for my premaster discs. I don't do any effects processing with it but it's what I use for transitions.

I really wish there was a way to export audio files from the markers, I usually get asked for an MP3 version of albums and the only way I can do that is by making a CD and then extracting the audio in A3.

I feel you on this one!

[James Smith]

WaveBurner 1.6 on Mac. Great program. Simple, easy and utilizes all of my plugins.

Apple - Logic Studio - Production Utilities

[TRJanuary]

Originally Posted by Petrus

It is a bad idea to use CDA for anything than making the master CD and getting the track info in there. Not that it would not work, but my workflow for (classical) is to do all editing and tweaking in 24 bits, and as a last step dither one continuous CD file to 16 bits. Nothing should be done to it after that.

CDA allows this. I stay in 24 bit while doing all work, then the Dither plug in on the master fader puts it on disc at 16 bits, DAO. I use the direct-x (still work great !!) plug ins on each track and do my processing in 24 bits. You can MONITOR your work in 16 or 24, and you can use or disable (or replace) the dither on the master fader.

Originally Posted by James Smith

WaveBurner 1.6 on Mac. Great program. Simple, easy and utilizes all of my plugins.

Apple - Logic Studio - Production Utilities

I tried to switch to waveburner a few years after it came out. It was possibly the worst software experience of my career. It was like they copied the exact form and features of CD Architect, except it never worked. We tried different versions, different Macs, different burners, etc. Would not recognize plug ins. Would burn blank discs, then report them as good. Would crash. We never did figure it out. But since 1997, CDA has been flawless for me.

BUT, I realize that since it is still around all these years later, they must have made it work or else folks would be screaming about it. When I used it, it was shortly after Apple bought eMagic.

[James Smith]

Originally Posted by TRJanuary

I tried to switch to waveburner a few years after it came out. It was possibly the worst software experience of my career. It was like they copied the exact form and features of CD Architect, except it never worked. We tried different versions, different Macs, different burners, etc. Would not recognize plug ins. Would burn blank discs, then report them as good. Would crash. We never did figure it out. But since 1997, CDA has been flawless for me.

BUT, I realize that since it is still around all these years later, they must have made it work or else folks would be screaming about it. When I used it, it was shortly after Apple bought eMagic.

I totally understand. It use to be terrible. It works really well now. Apple has spent a few dollars developing it. It works great with all my AU plugins. But like you said, it's still very bare and only does the minimum. Bias Peak is another option. I tried the demo for awhile but stuck with WaveBurner.

[MichaelPatrick]

Originally Posted by Cellotron

One small warning is that the built in Sony Dither plugin is correlated (mono) noise (at least when I tested it last about 5 years ago). Other options would probably do better.

Good warning Steve. I love CDA, but the dither plug which is turned on by default must be turned off, especially if you use other tools to dither and truncate.

[Petrus]

Originally Posted by Cellotron

One small warning is that the built in Sony Dither plugin is correlated (mono) noise (at least when I tested it last about 5 years ago). Other options would probably do better.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

OK, I clarify: I SRC and dither my 24/96 or 24/88.2 masters with iZotope or Sox, then bring the 16/44.1 file to CDA and do absolutelly nothing to it there. So CDA is used only to place track markers and add cd-text etc, and burn the master, not for audio manipulation of any kind.

I think this procedure is a safe one; editing and manipulation with DAW, SRC and dither with a specific tool, CD authoring with CD authoring tool.