BIAS Inc. unveiled Peak 4, an upcoming version of the stereo waveform editing application for the Mac, today at NAB2003. Peak 4 adds support for Audio Unit plug-ins, Apple’s audio plug-in standard for Mac OS X; in fact, the application will be Mac OS X only.
Several Audio Units plug-ins are included as part of Mac OS X 10.2, including Bandpass, Delay and others. They’re accessible from within the Peak 4 Audio Units plug-in menu. You can mix and match both VST and Audio Units plug-ins with the five available inserts.
Peak 4 also adds multi-processor support, Redbook CD burning directly from within the Peak application, new DSP (Digital Signal Processing) tools, and a brushed metal appearance. Also, several interface elements have been modified and relocated to be more user friendly, according to BIAS.
For example, the elements of the Contents Window — which stores a library of markers, loops and regions associated with a file — can now be accessed from an audio document drawer that can either be open or closed, eliminating the need for a separate floating window. The naming of markers, loops and regions from within the drawer will automatically update in the audio document; also, playback can also be initiated from within the drawer.
The drawer also includes live, cursor location information, which you can have appear in a transparent cursor overlay as well, if you wish. The contents of the Cursor Palette window have also been moved. Cursor mode buttons such as the Selection Tool, Magnifying Glass, and Pencil Tool can now be found in the top right-hand side of the audio document window.
With Peak 4, the Toolbar can be resized into a number of different shapes and orientations, and the toolbar buttons are resizable from 16 x 16 to 64 x 64 pixels. Finally the Overview window can now be shown or hidden with a disclosure triangle and the audio document window itself features live resizing.
Peak’s built-in DSP tools have been improved. A new convolution-based sampling reverb algorithm has been added which uses a library of impulse responses and supports real-time preview. Additionally, you can create and import your own impulse responses.
Harmonic Rotate can “twist” your signal’s harmonics by rotating the frequency spectrum. And Peak 4 includes a new Bit Usage display, and Squeeze, a compressor/limiter VST plug-in. More control has also been implemented in some of the existing DSP functions. For instance, dynamic envelope control has been added to the Time Compression/Expansion, Add, and Mix functions.
A number of other enhancements to Peak include importing and auditioning of sub-segments from audio CD tracks, QuickTime movie looping, QuickTime movie playback during recording for dialog replacement, a Markers From Tempo feature and an audition option in the Open File dialog.
Peak 4 will ship in the second quarter of the year with a suggested retail price of US$499. (Version 4 of Peak LE and Peak DV are due shortly after Peak 4’s arrival.) Upgrades to version 4 will be $149, though anyone who buys Peak/Peak LE/Peak DV 3 after April 1 gets a free upgrade.