Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) revolutionized music production, giving hobbyists and independent creators access to tools once reserved for professional studios. Adobe Audition, now a staple for music, podcasts, and video editing, began as Cool Edit Pro, a groundbreaking DAW that transformed audio production.
Cool Edit Pro stood out with its affordability, ease of use, and innovative features like multitrack recording, visual waveform editing, and built-in effects. Unlike Pro Tools, which locked users into expensive proprietary hardware, Cool Edit Pro gave users a standard PC to produce studio-quality work. Creators like me embraced it as a game-changer despite pushback from the industry.
Over the past 25 years, Adobe Audition has remained one of the most used DAWs on the market. Its interface reflects many design principles from its Cool Edit Pro roots, a testament to the lasting power of great user experience design. Its journey highlights how transformative software can reshape an industry and empower new generations of creators.
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The rise of Cool Edit Pro
Cool Edit Pro democratizes audio production
Syntrillium Software released Cool Edit Pro in 1997. This DAW gave creators access to professional audio editing tools at an affordable price. While most competitors required expensive proprietary hardware, Cool Edit Pro offered everyday musicians the ability to record and edit on their home computers. Users could record and edit up to 64 tracks, apply powerful effects, and visualize their audio work through an intuitive interface.
When I first tried Cool Edit Pro, its visual waveform editing immediately made sense.
For me, Cool Edit Pro was revolutionary. Growing up with a small home studio, I often felt frustrated with the standalone recording devices my father used. When I first tried Cool Edit Pro, its visual waveform editing immediately made sense. As someone with aphantasia (an inability to visualize in the mind’s eye), being able to “see” my audio transformed how I worked.
Cool Edit Pro drove the rise of home studios in the early 2000s, changing how creators approached recording. Some standout features included:
- Multitrack Recording: Users could layer up to 64 tracks, which was beyond the limitations of other standalone analog and digital equipment commonly used in home studios at the time.
- Built-in Effects: Tools like reverb, compression, time-stretching, and pitch-shifting eliminated the dependency on expensive outboard equipment.
- Direct Waveform Editing: Visual tools allowed users to manipulate audio with precision, making complex edits accessible to beginners.
The music industry pushes back
Backlash from traditionalists
Like the resistance generative AI tools face today, DAWs like Cool Edit Pro encountered skepticism from traditionalists. Critics claimed that audio recorded with DAWs lacked the warmth and quality of analog recordings. Others argued that having so many tracks was like cheating and “real” producers didn’t need 64 tracks to create great-sounding music.
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There were also fears that professional studios would lose business to home setups and that an influx of low-quality music would flood the market. Historically, this type of pushback has accompanied most technological advancements in creative industries.
Despite resistance, Cool Edit Pro and other affordable DAWs like Fruity Loops (FL Studio) sparked a creative explosion. They lowered the barriers to entry for music production, allowing the rapid spread of new genres and giving independent artists a way to share their creations. Cool Edit Pro allowed me to record and preserve the songs from my first punk band in high school, which wouldn’t have been possible without accessible tools.
The Adobe acquisition and the Creative Suite
Adobe brings Cool Edit Pro into its ecosystem
Adobe bought Syntrillium Software for $16.5 million in 2008. That same year, Adobe introduced its Creative Suite and rebranded Cool Edit Pro as Adobe Audition. At the time, Adobe software was sold as a one-time purchase, without needing a Creative Cloud subscription that can be difficult to cancel. Existing Cool Edit Pro users received upgrade discounts, ensuring a smooth transition to Adobe Audition’s first release.
Adobe Audition 1.0 retained much of Cool Edit Pro’s core functionality. That first version of Audition looks strikingly similar to the Audition we have today, a testament to the staying power of good user experience design. Over time, Adobe introduced advanced features such as spectral frequency editing, noise-reduction tools, and improved multitrack workflows.
Fun Fact:
Adobe’s core Creative Suite wasn’t all developed in-house. Like Cool Edit Pro, some of Adobe’s flagship apps, like Photoshop and After Effects, were purchased from other developers.
Adobe integrated Audition into its growing ecosystem of creative tools. While Cool Edit Pro was a standalone product, Audition was seamlessly integrated with Premiere Pro, Adobe’s video-editing software. This integration allowed creators to easily move between audio and video projects, streamlining workflows for film, television, and multimedia production. The move positioned Audition as a tool for home musicians and a professional-grade tool for video production.
Cool Edit Pro’s legacy in modern audio editing
Cool Edit Pro laid the foundation for what would become Adobe Audition, pioneering features and workflows that remain central to the program today. Many original design elements, like its intuitive interface and emphasis on accessibility, are still evident in the modern version, proving the staying power of great software architecture. Adobe has built on this foundation, introducing advanced features like spectral frequency editing, noise reduction, and integration with other Creative Cloud apps, but the spirit of Cool Edit Pro remains.
For me, Cool Edit Pro wasn’t just another program. It was a gateway to discovering my passion for audio and a key part of my development as a musician. It allowed me to experiment with recording techniques, learn the basics of production, and preserve creative projects that might have been forgotten. Reflecting on Adobe Audition’s beginnings reminds me of how far the software and I have come. Cool Edit Pro didn’t only change how audio was produced. It empowered generations of creators to turn their musical ideas into reality.
