Ted Onyszczak |
With version 4.1, Bias
Peak is now the pre-emminent stereo editor and budget mastering solution for the Mac
OS X platform. With the recent demise of TC Electronic's Spark, Peak has stepped up to
fill the void with some welcome new additions to its already packed feature set. First up,
Peak 4.1 now includes a light version of their V-Box technology. This is a 4X4 cell
plug-in matrix that can create previously unheard of sounds by combining several plug-ins
in user defined chains, in both parallel and serial or a flexible combination of both.
Little features such as input and output meters on every cell make this an especially
usefull tool. Peak now fully supports red-book CD burning from its playlist editor, but
ships with a full copy of Roxio's Jam and Roxio Toast Lite in order to cover all CD
burning and backup needs. Some other improvements include Apple Audio Unit support, their
new Sqweez compressor, ImpulseVerb convolution reverb, and a host of other smaller
processing add-ons.
Peak also ships with SFX Machine LT for even more creative audio processing options, and
their top notch Freq 4 EQ plug-in. With other features such as batch processing, realtime
plug-ins, playlists, non-destructive editing, multiple undo, and sampler supprt, Bias now
fulfills almost any stereo editing need.
Peak installs very easily on any OS X mac, OS 9
support is through an included copy of version 3. Authorization is challenge and response,
painlessly handled through their web site. Once up and running it was flawless, and
integrated nicely with such programs as Ableton Live, Apple Final Cut Pro or DVD Studio
Pro and Propellerheads Reason, none of which have their own editors. Ableton Live, for
instance, allows you to assign an external editor for any loops you want to process. It's
a simple matter of hitting a button in Live and Bias Peak opens up with the sample ready
to be edit. Once you've cropped, processed and saved the file, Ableton Live automatically
updates itself and you're ready to continue creating. Peak goes far beyond simple
cut-copy-paste, allowing you to open multiple files simultaneously and apply dozens of
different audio processors beyond just gain and normalization, such as Multi-Vox 3,
RoboTalk, BackwardsFragment 5, Jimi Echo, Triggered Wah+Dist, and Harmonic Rotate.
Apple's Final Cut Pro ships with a lite version of Peak,
called Peak DV. However, this version doesn't include the higher level features that would
be especially usefull for video editing, such as Batch Processing, and Audio CD burning.
One nice feature for video is that Peak and Peak DV will play audio out the firewire port
to your camera or video system, so you don't have to have extra audio hardware or external
audio mixer in a video production suite. Peak fully supports Apple's Core Audio so dozens
of audio interfaces are compatible. Plus, with Audio Unit support hundreds of third party
plug-ins are available. Peak's mastering component has been beefed up to include real-time
processing, including the V-Box unit, and separate plug-ins on each region in a playlist
allow for total control over your final master right up to burning. Also supported is real
time crossfading and markers for added CD creating flexibility. If you prefer, you can
export your Peak master playlist as a Jam (now included) image file for further editing
and burning.
Coming in a variety of levels to suit any requirements
and budget, Bias Peak is an excellent and much needed addition to any computer based
studio.
Ted Onyszczak Product
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