BIAS closed

[dix]

If anyone hears anything (maybe they will salvage something and resurrect), please post it.

And hurry. The DSP-Quatro cross-grade is only available through June.

[James Steele]

I’ve never seen such an honest assessment of why a company went down as that post from the pres of the co,

To be honest, it may be honest, but when I read it I sort of had doubts about the wisdom of that degree of honesty.

[jjhp3]

I agree it is too bad they're out of business, but I continue to use Peak - it didn't stop working because the company did... I recently upgraded to Peak Pro 7 after using the previous version for years and years.

John

[dix]

Oh, man. I'm liking DSP-Quattro so far! The cross-grade was a good deal for me since I hadn't popped for a Peak upgrade since version 5. D-Q seems very much more evolved by comparison. It's a really well thought out app. …though CDs are aren't so relevant these days, I also like the CD sequencing in D-Q much better than Peak. It's almost exactly like Waveburner - my weapon of choice for CD sequencing - so I can retire WB now.

[mhschmieder]

I'll have to give Quattro another try; I didn't like its workflow or find it intuitive the last time I tried it (maybe a couple of years ago) and had trouble locating features that are important to me.

I may find that iZotope RX Advanced is all that I need for mastering, but I'd like a project based workflow and environment if possible.

These cross-grades from DSP and Steinberg are enticing, but so is the upcoming Wave Editor v2, and that probably won't be out until the promotional cross-grades end. So I guess maybe if the price is right, I'll take "one of each".

[mikehalloran]

Back when I had a large budget for a particular project, I went wild and bought some Izotope bundles. Didn't necessarily use everything I bought -I imagine we are all like that with bundles, right?

Someone gave me an old cassette of a demo that they used to sell at gigs. It was not the Master - that was lost years ago. Acoustic band - the original had been recorded M/S with room mics direct to cassette so this was only one generation removed. Still, it was a 21 year old tape recorded with no noise reduction (thankfully!). Was there anything I could do to get a decent CD out of it?

I have a couple of nice decks that have been carefully maintained. I put it into one and listened then recorded it to my Mac and loaded it into DP 7.24. The audio wasn't bad but damn, this tape was noisy.

I have RX 2 Advanced but never really explored it before. Looks like now was the time.

The basic controls were nice but, tweaking the Advanced features, I was able to dial out the noise and leave in the music to a degree I was never able to with SoundSoap. Since the noise was consistent, it took about 7 minutes or so till I knew I had it.

It was a James Brown moment for me: "Goodgawd!"

[sdfalk]

Amadeus Pro and Izotope plugins..couldn't be happier

[mikehalloran]

I found my BIAS Peak 4 Restoration package the other day. Using it to get my $49.95 crossgrade to DSP Quatro.

I was thinking I might run it on my old G4 to see if there was any use left in it - perhaps do a real world A/B between SoundSoap Pro and RX 2. Then I noticed that my dongle is no longer in the box. It's been so long that I don't remember what it looks like anymore. I've no idea if I still have it or if it was tossed.

Does anyone remember what it looks like? Was it a one piece unit or did it have a pigtail?

If it's gone, no big deal but I have a few old parts boxes to check. It would be nice if I knew what I was looking for.

[mhschmieder]

I don't remember ever having a dongle for BIAS software -- maybe I came into SoundSoap and Peak just after your versions. But probably there is an authorization tool on your computer and/or a preferences file that you might be able to locate that contains the necessary authorization code.

There is a mini-app called "BIAS Authorization Manager" for awhile now, that you can use to investigate your licenses (I don't think they have to be on your current computer as I'm pretty sure that mini-app accesses the information across the web). Maybe it works with your version as well, whether or not it "replaces" the older dongle approach.

Good luck.

As for SoundSoap vs. RX, no contest. Especially the non-pro version(s). But even the pro version of SoundSoap is more limited in functionality than Rx. There might be some cases where SoundSoap does a better job of broadband noise cleanup (it's always good to have a few different tools for this particular cleanup job, as each tool has its strengths and weaknesses). The final version was said to be way better; I never got a chance to try it.

[mikehalloran]

Peak 4 used a dongle and stopped working when OS 10.4 was released. I have an old G4 running 10.2/10.4/9.1 that I am using to examine old projects to update or archive permanently.

My version was the last to include a copy of JAM 6 to burn redbook CDs. I spent over a grand on it and a few months later, when nothing except Jam worked in 10.4 (but, for a $600 upgrade)... I decided they were never seeing my money again.

If I find the dongle again, ok; if not, no big deal. I am hoping that it will look unusual enough that I figure out what it must be.

[mikebeckmotu]

I remember the dongle as being short with a concave end. I can't remember if it was black or dark blue, but I'm pretty sure it was dark-colored. I think it had the brand name "Hasp" on it.
Here's hoping you find it, because the last few times I checked, the BIAS site has been down.

[mikehalloran]

I remember the dongle as being short with a concave end. I can't remember if it was black or dark blue, but I'm pretty sure it was dark-colored. I think it had the brand name "Hasp" on it.
Here's hoping you find it, because the last few times I checked, the BIAS site has been down.

Thanks. There are four boxes that it could be in. If not there, to heck with it. My plan was to install it on my G4.

I ordered DSP Quatro under the cross-grade but haven't done much with it yet.

[dix]

Of course now that we all have bought DSP-Quatro this: http://www.macrumors.com/2012/08/22/son ... ing-to-mac

Looks very cool. Anyone used the Windows version Sound Forge?

[nk_e]

Hmm..this does look interesting.

I've never been overly impressed with Sony tools...though in truth the only one I really tried was Acid years and years ago. The interface was a wreck. I saw a recent copy and it doesn't look like it has changed an iota. Uggh. But the glimpses you get of the Sound Forge interface in these 'drops' look a lot more refined here. Maybe they will go back and rework ACID too.

To answer the question, my dayJob uses it a lot for very simple narration and voice tracking tasks. Nothing complex really. From the little I have seen of it, it looks quite utilitarian. But all they use it for is utilitarian stuff so that may be why.

[Dwetmaster]

You must be kidding me!!!!
The only reason I had a PC in my studio was to use SoundForge...
Now I might have just "wasted" 50$ on DSP quattro.