Improved mixing performance and flexibility

With the new low-latency mixing engine built into Adobe Audition 2.0, you will enjoy outstanding speed and power in all of your recording and mixing work. Get fast response and monitor your parameter changes in real time. Take advantage of tremendous routing flexibility in applying effects, grouping tracks together, and setting up submixes and headphone cues. ASIO (Audio Streaming Input/Output) is now the default audio driver in Adobe Audition 2.0, resulting in lower-latency operations and more options for compatible professional audio hardware. With ASIO support, you can also monitor audio as you record it and instantly hear volume, pan, and effects changes during playback.

New session capabilities, such as unlimited track count and support for up to 80 simultaneous inputs and outputs, give you greater flexibility and more hardware options while recording and mixing.

Try it: Playing tracks

1. If you don't already have Adobe Audition 2.0 open from Part 1, start the application and choose
Multitrack View.

2. To specify an ASIO driver to use, choose Edit > Audio Hardware Setup and select Multitrack View. If you have an ASIO-supported sound card, it should appear in the Audio Driver pull-down menu. If so, select it. Otherwise, select Audition Windows Sound. Also choose the Edit view tab, and select your sound card from that pull-down menu.

3. Choose File > Open. Select the file Audition/Partylife_Mix_Session.ses, and then click Open. Note that the files appear in the Files panel on the left.

4. In the bottom left of your workspace, observe that the Transport panel includes Play, Pause, Record, and other controls. Move your cursor over any of the buttons to reveal its function. Click the Play button, and hear all the tracks in the session playing. Press the space bar as a shortcut to stop and start it again.

5. With all tracks playing, choose the solo button to isolate the kick_snare_loop track. Notice the instantaneous response as you select and deselect it. Choose the mute button to cut off the audio as it plays. Try selecting the Solo buttons on several tracks at once to hear how they sound together.

6. Increase, then decrease the volume of any track in the mix by using the level control . As you adjust it up and down, listen as the volume for that track is affected.

Sends are an efficient and flexible way to route tracks for effects processing. A send taps into a signal, duplicates
it, and then routes it to a bus, which serves as a submix. In Adobe Audition 2.0, you can create up to 16 sends per channel, giving you great versatility while mixing and monitoring your sessions. For instance, creating sends on several tracks to go to a bus with reverb or other effects applied will help you utilize CPU power more efficiently since you can use one instance of the effect for multiple tracks.

Using bus tracks, you can also combine the outputs of a group of audio tracks or sends and control them collectively.
For example, to control the volume of multiple drum tracks with a single fader, output all the tracks to a bus entitled Drums. For most mixes, you'll output buses to the Master track, but if you need to combine buses, you can even output to other buses. The revamped Mixer panel lets you set up whatever type of routing
you need using inputs, outputs, sends, and buses, and the clear layout allows you to see all of your mix settings at a glance.

Sends and buses are also a great way to route multiple audio tracks to one set of controls so you can easily organize and mix a session, or create mixes for specific purposes, such as a headphone mix for a vocalist.

Try it: Creating sends and buses

1. With Partylife_Mix_Session.ses still open in the Main panel, click the Sends button located just above the video track title and underneath the Main panel tab.

2. Find the Kick/Snare track, click the Send 1 output pull-down menu, and then choose Add Bus. You will see your new bus track appear below your other tracks, and just above the Master track. Rename the new bus by clicking on the track label and typing Reverb bus.

3. Select the Mixer panel and click the Effects Insert pull-down menu (click the arrow in the FX section) on the new Reverb bus. Under Delay Effects choose the Studio Reverb effect. In the Effects Rack, choose the Drum Plate (Medium) from the Effect Preset pull-down menu.

4. Select the Mixer panel and click another slot on the Effects Insert pull-down menu on the new Reverb bus. Under Amplitude choose the Amplify effect. In the Effects Rack, choose the +3dB Boost from the Effect Preset pull-down menu. In Adobe Audition 2.0, you can add up to 16 effects at once, whether on a bus, a track, or the master channel.

5. In the Mixer panel, play the Drum track, and use the Send Level
control to adjust the amount of reverb going through the send to the bus.

6. To bypass all effects applied to a track, toggle the main Effects Power button . When the power is on (lit up green), the effects are applied. When it's off, they are bypassed. This is the same button that is used to turn a send on or off.

7. Keep this sample session open, but without saving it, before moving on to Part 3 of this guide.

As you can see, buses are a convenient way to create submixes, and give you tremendous routing flexibility as you add effects in multitrack environments.
Buses can also save you time, since you are applying an effect to multiple tracks in one operation.