CD burning software other than Toast

[Gravity Jim]

I did a search on this but only found a couple of recent posts, so I'll ask:

Roxio killed my favorite feature in Toast, and I'd like to find another program that will make good quality audio CDS and allow me to change the level of individual tracks on the disc in 1db increments.

Any suggestions?

[Gravity Jim]

Never mind... Since Toast allows you to insert AU plugs in CD tracks, I found a slick, free AU trim plug from Sonalksis called FreeG. Doesn't color the sound at all, lets me adjust the level in realtime during preview, even provides a much better VU that Toast's own. Much finer and more convenient control than earlier versions of Toast ever provided. Problem resolved.

[mikehalloran]

Jim - are you using Toast 10 or 11?

[Gravity Jim]

Toast 11. Why do you ask?

[Klaus]

An alternative, maybe

http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/Pages/English/home.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Best

Klaus

[mikehalloran]

Never mind... Since Toast allows you to insert AU plugs in CD tracks, I found a slick, free AU trim plug from Sonalksis called FreeG. Doesn't color the sound at all, lets me adjust the level in realtime during preview, even provides a much better VU that Toast's own. Much finer and more convenient control than earlier versions of Toast ever provided. Problem resolved.

I never liked the feature as was implemented in earlier versions of Toast. Having just upgraded to 11, FreeG looks interesting. I will check it out.

One of the things I like about Toast is that DiscLabel works so well with it. My HP printer can print a CD with track names in a few seconds using Fast Draft B&W mode - much faster and easier than Roxio's Disc Cover, BTW. Since my I became handicapped and cannot write very well with my working arm, this is a tremendous time saver.

[Gravity Jim]

Mike, I like Toast, too, because it makes reliable, solid discs (and now that I can burn the same disc to multiple drives, I like it even more).

And you'll really like FreeG... It uses almost no memory, has a nice looking interface for clients to look at, and makes the process of balancing a CD much, much quicker.

Only down side: to get it, you have to download and install a package of demos of everything Sonalksis makes. No big deal, but not as easy to grab 'n' go as one might hope. Still, It works great and it's free, so I am not allowed to complain.

[mikehalloran]

Well, I installed Toast 11. The first thing I found was the ability to change the volume of individual tracks in 1dB increments just like in past versions. It's under the heading of Gains.

I'm still going to give FreeG a try. Thanks for the heads up.

[Gravity Jim]

You're kidding! Not only did I fail to find it, I called and wrote their tech support several times and was told repeatedly that the feature I was asking about didn't exist!!! This has got to be the worst tech support line ever.

Well, like FreeG better.

[Gravity Jim]

Okay.... I can't find "Gains." It doesn't show up anywhere I click and there's no response when entering the word "gain" or "gains" in the help window. And, as I say, the help guys at Roxio said it wasn't there, so...

Where do I look? I"m still gonna use FreeG, but I'm just curious as to why they hid it so deep and how it operates when you finally find it.

[mikehalloran]

This is the best screen shot I can capture:



You'll see it between Length and Fade.

A thought occurred to me: I created this in Toast 10. However, when I created a new Audio CD in Toast 11, Gains was present again.

Have you updated to 11.04?

[Gravity Jim]

That column does not appear in the window in Toast 11. it goes Length, Fades , Effects. That's where I looked for it, because that's where it always was! And when I called and wrote (repeatedly) to ask about it, the told me over and over that the feature was gone, so...

I'll download the 11.4 update and see.

[mikehalloran]

What can I say? It's there in the screen shot.

If I change to Music DVD or mp3 Disk in the drop-down menu (upper left), it goes away. Changing back to Audio CD or Enhanced Audio CD brings it back.

I double-checked. I'm running Toast 11.0.4.

[Gravity Jim]

Here's my screen shot.




And the guys at Roxio are the worst support ever. When I complained about this, they just said, "no, you can't do that anymore." WT...?

BTW, this is the absolute latest... i even offered me an update when I opened it to get this shot.

[mikehalloran]

I have a couple of ideas. I will try them out on my test drive and let you know what I find.