WavePad Masters Edition

NCH's WavePad Sound Editor Master's Edition v 5.96 analyzes and edits audio, burns discs, converts text to speech, and adds all kinds of effects to WAVs and additional audio formats.

Pros

Intuitive layout: WavePad Sound Editor Master's Edition's Office-style Ribbon toolbar, integrated media player, and large spectral display create an intuitive user interface. Like other NCH tools, WavePad avoids dark themes in favor of a less flashy but more efficient layout.

Pro tools: WavePad boasts Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Temporal Fourier Transform (TFFT) frequency analysis, peak sample, beat detection, surround sound, stereo pan, reverb, multiple chained effects, click and pop repair, text to speech, a tone generator, a noise reduction menu, and many more pro-quality audio tools.

Bookmarks: You can bookmark clips for quick access to start and stop points, beats, and so on.

Automatic beats detection: WavePad finds and combines beats and displays beats-per-minute for fast sampling.

Cons

Pop-ups et al: Pop-up nags, ads in browser pages, and even the NCH Suite might strike some users as a bit heavy-handed for shareware, even during a trial.

Bottom Line

WavePad isn't as flashy as some audio editors, but megabyte-sized WAVs loaded quickly, and it's full of features and extras.

Editors' note: This is a review of the trial version of WavePad Sound Editor Master's Edition 5.96.