Sonic Foundry's New Sound Forge[R] 4.5 Offers Expanded Features And Support for Windows Media Technologies

Sonic Foundry, Inc. today announced the development and soon to be released 4.5 version of its flagship Sound Forge product. The upgrade will incorporate expanded features and support for Windows Media Technologies, including Microsoft Windows NT Server NetShow Services, and will be available in July.

The 4.5 version includes the features of the 4.0 release, plus a built-in batch converter for automated processing of multiple files, a powerful spectrum analyzer function, and an advanced loop editing toolset with support for Sonic Foundry's ACID[TM] loop-based music creation product.

According to Chief Technology Officer Curtis Palmer, "The Internet authoring capability included in Sound Forge 4.5, along with the now standard batch conversion, continues to demonstrate Sonic Foundry's commitment to providing leading edge Internet authoring tools. Windows Media Technologies offer leading streaming functionality and is recognized as one of the emerging media streaming standards. Our continued support for the NetShow Services will help enable content developers worldwide."

"Sonic Foundry continues to offer customers leading tools to enable the easy creation of Windows Media content," said Gary Schare, Microsoft Media Technologies and NetShow Lead Product Manager. "We look forward to working closely with Sonic Foundry in the future to create leading streaming media technologies."

Sound Forge is a comprehensive media editing environment containing a wide range of processes, tools, and effects for manipulating audio. Sound Forge has been built from the ground up as a Windows platform product, featuring DirectX Audio Plug-In compatibility and support for the new media streaming ASF (Active Streaming Format) for streaming Web audio + video productions.

Applications — Music production, multimedia development, Internet audio production, sound design, broadcast production, and sound analysis.

Features — Powerful tools combined with easy-to-use preset functions in the familiar Windows environment make the program easy enough for beginners and the tool of choice for professionals. Video for Windows support includes editing sound events to video with sub-frame accuracy. Sound Forge 4.5 is expandable with proprietary and third-party DirectX Audio Plug-Ins.

Upgrades and Demo Downloads on the Internet — Current owners of Sound Forge 4.0 are eligible for a reduced price upgrade of $99 directly from Sonic Foundry. Owners of Sound Forge[R] XP qualify for a $249 upgrade. Demo versions of Sound Forge 4.5 can be obtained by anyone with a Web browser by visiting the Sonic Foundry Web site.

MSRP — $499

Technical Requirements — Sound Forge 4.5 runs on Windows 9x and Windows NT 4.0 or later systems. It requires a computer with a 133MHz Intel Pentium or better, at least 8MB of RAM, 5MB of hard-disk space for installation, a 300M or larger hard disk for temporary file storage, and a CD-ROM drive.

SOURCE: Sonic Foundry, Inc.