What we love, (and don't), about CS6

Question

I am thrilled with the progress that Adobe developers have made with CS6.  The control surface support and metronome were my "deal breakers" for CS5.5, but in CS6, there is alot more to love.   It has crashed on me once in the last three days... when I was adjusting an effects plugin on the fly.... but other than that, it seems very stable on my AMD 6 core system running 32 bit Windows 7 with 4G ram.  I must say that the improvements over and above Audition 3.0 were significant enough for me to pay for the upgrade, even through full MIDI support is still on the horizon.  It would be nice to have it, but it is not a big deal right now for the way that I prefer to work.  I look forward to next editions, that are a bit more processor effecient (Audition 3 seems to play a large-scale multitrack configuration that CS6 will not.  In fact, CS6 seems to handle fewer plugins at a time than its predecessor.  No clue why this is. 
I have even learned to live with the inability to change the tint of the user interface from various shades of sick brown to an almost metalic grey to death pallor, I have opted for the closest to flat metalic grey that I can get.... 3.0's ability to change UI color alowed me to make my visual display more appealing (at least to my admittedly quirky tastes).
All said, I am very happy with this software.   The control surface support is leagues ahead of the legacy cool edit support that was in 3.0.   Multiple control surfaces with android and ios devices working harmoniously together.  This is the way that the control surface universe should be for bargain-seeking kludgers like me.
Keep up the good work.  I was pleasantly surprised with the progress you are making on this.   I'm sure that many others must feel the same.  Perhaps they too will express their gratitude to the Adobe Audition development team for their impressive work, and encouraging them to keep moving forward to an even more impressive CS7.
JPK  
hmmm.. it says mark my discussion as a question.  Perhaps the question is, "Why do you love about the new CS6, and what would make you love it even more?"

Answer 1

Claude,
One of the things that I love most about Adobe in general is the fact that they allow you to download fully functional, albeit time-limited, trial versions so that you don't have to have such fears.  Simply download the trial version and follow the instructions.   They give you plenty of time to play with the software and decide if it is worth the investment.   If after the trial period you decide that the upgrade is not for you, e.g. because it won't loop, poop, or whatever bell or whistle you desire, you can choose to invest in another product that suits your needs.  I doubt that the Adobe engineers will put up with bugs in their software, and I have faith that they will eventually address all of the functionality concerns, and perhaps even get to minor issues like being able to change the icky user interface color.  It looks ok with earthy wallpapers, but it still makes me feel like I am sitting at the controls of a high-tech tank.  Why, just awhile ago, I was mixing with Audition 6 and driving my tank through Stonehenge.
I knew for sure when I tried CS5.5 that it wasn't a viable upgrade for me after trying it.   It only took me a few days after I tried CS6 to make the decision to purchase an upgrade for one of my Audition licenses, mainly because the iPad and Android control surface app support was outstanding (i.e. multiple surfaces so no more bank switching, vu meters on the individual channels work, and the channel labels are no longer all screwy).  Since I use Audition mainly to record and produce my own music and don't sequence or loop, the loss of MIDI functionality from 3.01 to 6.0 wasn't a big deal.   Since they do have the control surface support, and the control surface support operates via midi, I can't help but to think that such functionality will appear in subsequent versions of Audition. 
I started out with Cool Edit Pro back in the '90s,   I stayed with it because when Adobe came out with Audition 1, they kept the overall layout of the user interface and made the pricing structure affordable, just as they have with version 5 in CS6.   The upgrade price from CS5.5 to CS6 is really reasonable, and if you already own CS5.5, I can't see a downside to going to CS6 (I was a beta tester for CS5.5, and ran it on a home-made hackintosh / windows dual boot system, with the goal in mind of getting away from Windows and eventually moving to Mac.  I was impressed with the fact that the software was exactly the same in 32 bit OSX 10.5.9 as it was in 32 bit Windows, but the lack of control surface support made it not viable for me at that time).  Now that I am running a stable and responsive 64 bit system with an overclocked processor, I have no need to move in the Mac direction at this time and dismantled the Hackintosh..   I have a feeling that the next version of Audition will have native 64 bit support, which should speed things up quite a bit.  As it is, CS6 loads much faster than 3.01, and in my opinion, is much more stable than its predecessor. 
Their engineers often respond directly and quickly to concerns raised in these forums.   No software is perfect.  Audition is a fine product built by audio Software engineers in .a mostly visual work environment, and their relatively small development team has produced impressive results.  Adobe could have dropped Audition altogether, and I believe almost did, because it is by far not its cash cow.   I for one am glad that they chose to hang in, and am grateful for the continued efforts of the developers, because I really didn't want to have to learn a new software package.
When I started this forum, I deliberately made it about what we loved first, and what we didn't second.   People derive more creative solutions when motivated by carrot rather than stick, so I encourage users to try the free trial download and give the engineers a fair and honest appraisal, beginning with feedback about the many things that these high;y capable engineers have gotten right.  I am concerned that if there is too much customer dissatisfaction expressed, Adobe might abandon Audition altogether, or change its functionality so it is no longer that useful for people like me who use it as a complete music production solution.   Engineers have to answer to bottom-line oriented executives.  We as customers ultimately decide the software's fate.   I for one hope that Adobe continues to move forward in its development.