The Evolution of Audio Editing: A Look Back at Adobe Audition's Early Years

In the late 1990s, audio editing software was rapidly evolving to meet the growing demands of music and film production professionals. One program that played a significant role in this evolution is Adobe Audition, which was first introduced as Cool Edit by Syntrillium Software.

Founded by Robert Ellison and David Johnston, both former Microsoft employees, Syntrillium Software aimed to create audio editing software that would cater to the needs of both amateur users and professionals. By 1999, the program had matured into its final two versions: Cool Edit 2000 for ordinary users and Cool Edit Pro for audio editing professionals.

Cool Edit featured a multitrack, non-destructive mix/edit environment and a destructive-approach waveform editing view, making it an intuitive and powerful tool for audio editing. The software also came with several other features that made it stand out from its competitors, including the Quick Select tool, which allowed users to quickly select specific parts of an audio track.

In 2003, Adobe Systems acquired Syntrillium Software and rebranded Cool Edit as Adobe Audition. Since then, Adobe Audition has continued to evolve and improve, with new features and enhancements added regularly.

Some of the key features that were introduced in Adobe Audition's early years include support for multiple languages, including American English, British English, Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish. The software also featured enhanced and improved Adobe Bridge CS3, which allowed users to easily manage their files and projects.

In addition to its audio editing capabilities, Adobe Audition also included a range of other features that made it an essential tool for music production professionals. These include the ability to create web photo galleries, present images in stylish web layouts using Adobe Media Gallery, and sort and compare photos using the Quick Thumbnail Preview feature.

Overall, Adobe Audition's early years were marked by rapid evolution and improvement, with the software quickly establishing itself as a leading audio editing program for music production professionals. Today, Adobe Audition remains an essential tool for anyone involved in music production or post-production work, offering a range of powerful features and tools that make it easy to edit and mix high-quality audio tracks.

Adobe audition logo 2003