RAZORMAID2  Not sure why Safari is coming up in this thread for Firefox, but someone questioned me about it, here goes.

The problem (which by the way was confirmed by Apple w was the same problem that some 40,000+ other Apple users had reported in the forum section... for no apparent reason, we would get "Server Not Found", even if clicking "back browser" button returning to a cached page.

This problem is (and was) heavily documented on their forum in both software and networking problems areas. Until 10.5.1 came out it was a world wide problem, nit just little 'ol me. If you did not have this problem, great, for the rest of us, we were unable to get to 90% of our web pages we tried to access.

However (and this is the point I was making in this thread originally)... Firefox 1.0.0.9 worked flawlessly. Apple openly stated that is was a special "web" package they were using that was causing this problem. Firefox does not use this "web package" so their browser was unaffected which was my point.

I was asking in this comment section what Firefox did from version 2.0.0.9 to this beta that caused it to go off the deep end and crash the computer? That's all.

joseph  
(Version 3.0b1)

RAZORMAID2  What happened?

When 2.0.0.9 came out it saved the big Leopard debut, as the version of Safari that arrived with Leopard arrived "crashing and burning". It took Apple about 7 days afterwords to get things back up and running. I bet you picked up a lot of new people during this time, as FireFox was THEEE browser that kept things rolling along... and FAST, I might add.

Imagine my surprise when I went and installed this version 3 beta over this perfectly good working versions of Firefox and it came to a complete crawl all the sudden.

This versions is terrible! This is not a criticism of Firefox in general - only of this version 3 beta. Anyone that says that installed this and it's working great is full of it. I put it on 5 different computers and each had to be "pulled from the wall" to get control of the computer again.

Don't you guys test this stuff before unleashing it "to the hounds"? You deserve every harsh comment made when you release something that performs this pathetic. Seriously guys.

Whatever you did from version 2.0.0.9 up till this release... UN DO IT! This thing crashed and burned my whole computer. I couldn't even "force quit"... it even locked that up. I finally had to pull the plug from the wall.

I immediately reinstalled 2.0.0.9 and every thing's back to working fantastic again. I do NOT recommend this version to anyone, not even people I don't like.

joseph  
(Version 3.0b1)

RAZORMAID2  You must be new to MAC. When you launch an App of course it will show up "in all docks". It is now officially "up and running".

Dockfun! has no control over showing you what you open and leave open. That's just how OS X works. It opens it up and places it on the far right side, with a black triangle undeneath, to remind you "Hey! You left me open, dude!".

When you close it, it goes away. That's how these things work on OS X. You didn't know?

jw  
(Version 4.7)

RAZORMAID2  Popcorn 3 is broken in Leopard. The icon bounces a few times.... then NADA!

I hear Popcorn 2 will work in Leopard, but their web site will not let you login - no matter how many times you change your password.

What is up with this company? The whole programming community has had their hands on Leopard for months (almost over a year in fact), yet when you call them they act so surprised to learn their software isn't working in Leopard? You telling me... no one at Roxio who had a copy of Leopard... ever tried to launch their own software... EVER?

You're kidding me, right?  
(Version 3.0)

RAZORMAID2  My name is Joseph Watt and I am the owner of Razormaid Productions, a professional remix service for Dance Music worldwide. I was one of the original members of the team back in 1986, that helped mold and shape Sound Designer II into the timeless entity that is was. It held the prestigious honor of being the best of the best for nearly two decades. Unfortunately, back in 1997 when lawsuits froze it in time forever, we thought that was the end. When Apple took the leap to UNIX and Digidesign had no way to alter the program (as terms of the lawsuit settlement) we thought our days were numbered... and the were.

In September of 2006, through MacUpdates.com, I discovered a little program called Wave Editor. Keep in mind, like hundreds of you, I too has taken in by programs like Spark and Peak, with promises of things it just could not do - in Peak's case even today after numerous attempts by me to offer to help them "get it right" - so I was skeptical when I first downloaded the free 15 trial version of WE (Wave Editor).

While I waited for it to download, I read a bit about the programmers, through their online bios. When I saw the phrase, "We wrote this program to pay homage to Sound Designer II"... I knew instantly I found the right program... or so I thought.

My first reaction to the free download was not a good one. When I went to the pulldown menu's expecting to see all the same things I had in SDII, it hardly had anything at all. Even the preference window only had the option to change the sound wave's color. What's up with that? I mean, despite it's obvious flaws, even the dreadful PEAK program had similar "phrases" to SDII, so I was about to bail on this program, until I wrote to the programmers to ask them what part of WE did they pay homage to SDII with, 'cause I can't find it.

Keep in mind, this was version 1.1 which I noticed a few reviews on here that were not that positive, probably because they were expecting one thing, but saw another... just like me.

When the programmers, Matthew and Ev, walked me through the Keystrokes Window, I was completely blown away. What they had written was a program with extremely limited tools "turn on" out of the box, allowing the user to customize 100's of WE's tools, through the Keystrokes WIndow. Basically, all of us get to pretend we're programmers and assign the tools whatever keystroke we want. What a blast!

This was the coolest thing I ever saw! Not only can you remix for the first time since 1997, EXACTLY like SDII (with the right combination of keystrokes turned on) but it goes WAAAAY beyond that.

I can't stress enough that at first glance, pulling down the pull down menu's, you will be somewhat disappointed, but that is due to the programmer's insistence to having WE stay "out of your way". For those of you who wish to take the time to setup the keystrokes to your exact specifications - this will be a "dream come true" program. For those of you who want to click on things immediately with the same results as SDII, this will be a little frustrating, as it was for me.

After contacting them on several follow up phone calls, Matthew and Ev began making a few changes, allowing the user a few more options "from the get go", to thwart off any critics that may see nothing right off the bat like I did and say, "This thing can't do Jack"... and from their perspective, they would be correct. With these adjustments, like having the Keystrokes Pallet launch upon opening WE, curiosity will indeed take over, leaving the Cat alive. (Curiosity using kills the cat, but in this case it will not ) You will begin to click on things and VOILA!... hundreds of tools that were not their just moments earlier and now functioning and to YOUR particular needs.

One other thing that I did personally, once they had a version I felt comfortable about, I placed in our own company website, a series of small training videos, that range from 2 minutes to 10 minutes in length. I used these to bring my own staff up to speed, here at Razormaid. I decided to leave the vids on our web site and give the "back door" access to anyone that takes the time to read this review. Within minutes, just like me, these videos will not only bring you up to speed, but will in fact reveal hundreds of hidden things the program does, that I'm not sure even the programmers know it can do.

This videos are not part of Wave Editor or associated with Audiofile-Engineering at all, so if you have questions about them, you need to write to me, not them. They had nothing to do with it at all.. They were intended to be seen "in house" by our production staff only, so they are quite real and VERY "raw". We were in fact training someone while we made them, so the questions are real and so are the situations pertained in each video.

The address for those who would like it is: http://razormaid.com/Training

My hat's off to Matthew and Ev. They set out to "remake" SDII and they did so much more. Imagine being able to Time Shift with the accuracy of Time Factory (a $499.00 program from Prosoniq), but it's included FREE in WE' processor window. Or be able to overlay the beginning of one song, onto the end of another song (DJ'ing) using their LAYERS option. You can even "force align" the same two songs to 1000th accuracy, using the same Time Shift program in WE.

One of my favorite tools is the built in 31 band Equalizer. None of this 5 and 10 band junk - this is a full sized, full band EQ. In addition to our other duties here at Razormaid, we also double as a mastering facility for many of the major record labels. Using SDII, to process EQ (5 bands at a time) would take about 6 minutes per pass. With WE, I can EQ our entire song, in one shot, and it takes about 20 seconds That's seconds... not minutes!!

There's WAAAY to much stuff to mention in this review, without it being edited back by MACUPDATE, so feel free to jump to our business web site, click on the training vids I made and get ready to be dazzled, BIG TIME!

A big thanks to Matthew and Ev who took the time to "get it right".

Joseph Watt

Razormaid Productions

Contact E-mail: razrmaid@aol.com  
(Version 1.2.1)