Now you, too, can have the very same software that resides on the hard drives of actual Webmonkeys!

CoolEdit 96  get it >>
Platform: Win 95, NT, 3.1
Cost: US$50 (US$25-Lite, US$100-Full Registration)
Company: Syntrillium
A relatively simple sound tool for basic editing, without all the fancy stuff. Particularly useful for converting between file formats, including RealAudio.

Cosmo Player  get it >>
Platform: Win 95, NT, IRIX
Cost: Free
Company: Silicon Graphics
Another quality product from Silicon Graphics. If you have a Windows or IRIX box, this Netscape plug-in is what you want to be using. Period.

DeBabelizer  get it >>
Platform: Mac, Power Mac; Win 95, NT
Cost: US$291.95 (Mac); US$291.95 (Win); US$56.95(Lite version: Mac only)
Company: Equilibrium
A necessary tool for Web production in general, and palette optimization in particular. DeBabelizer turns those images that eat up a lot of space into images that don't use as much.

Director  get it >>
Platform: Power Mac; Win 95, NT
Cost: About US$790.95
Company: Macromedia
The tool of choice for CD-ROM creation, Director creates interactive multimedia presentations, which can be ported to the Web with the Shockwave plug-in.

Flash 4  get it >>
Platform: Mac, Power Mac; Win 95, NT
Cost: About US$246.30
Company: Macromedia
Creates vector-based animations that are scalable and bandwidth-efficient.

GifBuilder  get it >>
Platform: Mac
Cost: Free
Company: Yves Piguet
A highly useful and simple tool for making GIF animations. Also useful for converting between image formats and simple image editing.

GIF Construction Set  get it >>
Platform: Win 95, NT, 3.1
Cost: US$20
Company: Alchemy Mindworks
Animate your graphics nice and fast with this GIF animation software and its Animation Wizard that almost does the work for you.

Media Cleaner Pro  get it >>
Platform: Mac, Power Mac
Cost: About US$399 ("EZ" version is US$159)
Company: Terran Interactive
Another utility for compressing movies. Both the EZ and Pro formats are useful, though the Pro version (of course) provides more features.

Pixound Maker  get it >>
Platform: Mac, Power Mac
Cost: Free
Company: Pixound Technology Partners
What does purple sound like? Pixound Maker lets you create images in which each color is translated into a specific sound. Go crazy.

Premiere  get it >>
Platform: Mac, Power Mac; Win 95, 3.1, NT
Cost: About US$500
Company: Adobe
Industry standard for video editing and compositing on the desktop. With extensive features and an intuitive interface, Premiere does an impressive job bridging the gap between novice and professional.

Pro Tools  get it >>
Platform: Mac, Power Mac
Cost: Not published
Company: Digidesign
There are several Pro Tools packages, and they're all pretty darn desirable, offering high-end recording, editing, and mixing software that also supports popular MIDI controllers. Unfortunately, they don't come cheap.

QuickEditor  get it >>
Platform: Mac, Power Mac
Cost: US$35 (shareware)
Company: Mathias Tschopp
If you can't afford Adobe Premiere, give QuickEditor a look. It's a good shareware video editor with a wide array of effects.

QuickTime  get it >>
Platform: Mac, Power Mac; Win 95, NT
Cost: Free
Company: Apple Computer
The QuickTime plug-in allows QuickTime movies and audio tracks to be embedded in a page and played back in the browser window. The free version of Quicktime 3.2, includes a version of MoviePlayer that is scaled down from older versions. If you pay the US$29.99 to upgrade to Quicktime Pro, you get all the functionality of the old MoviePlayer and then some. The Pro version is also included in the latest versions of some video editing programs, such as Premiere 5 and Media Cleaner Pro 3.1

RealPlayer  get it >>
Platform: Win 95, NT, 3.1; Power Mac
Cost: Free
Company: RealNetworks
This is all the software you need to play RealAudio and RealVideo, which stream audio and video across the Web and into your trusty computer. You can pay money for RealPlayer Plus, but the free version works fine for us.

RealAudio and RealVideo Servers  get it >>
Platform: Win 95, NT; Unix
Cost: Big Bucks
Company: RealNetworks
Hooked on streaming media? You're in trouble now. Developing for RealAudio and RealVideo will cost you a good chunk of change (starter fee is a few grand). But the new and improved encoder takes the sting out of the price tag.

RealVideo Encoder  get it >>
Platform: Mac, Power Mac; Windows 3.1, 95, NT
Cost: Free
Company: Progressive Networks
Similar to the company's first product - RealAudio - RealVideo compresses and encodes video for streamed delivery over the Web.

Shockwave  get it >>
Platform: Mac; Win 95, 3.1, NT
Cost: Free
Company: Macromedia
Allows you to view inline, interactive multimedia files built in Macromedia Director or Authorware. The plug-in's definitely worth having, though a little, uh, unpredictable.

SoundEdit 16 2.0 + Deck II  get it >>
Platform: Mac, Power Mac
Cost: US$223
Company: Macromedia
Another sound recording/editing/mixing package with lots of goodies: sound effects, multitrack recording, and support for popular MIDI controllers.

Sound Effects  get it >>
Platform: Mac
Cost: US$15 Shareware
Company: Alberto Ricci
Somewhere between SoundMachine and SoundEdit 16 lies Sound Effects, a versatile shareware tool with digital sound processing. With a range of effects that can be upgraded with plug-ins, Sound Effects is a useful editor with a future.

Sound Forge  get it >>
Platform: Win 95, v3.x, NT
Cost: About US$248
Company: Sonic Foundry
Sound Forge is a PC sound-editing software that has nice effects and tools.

SoundMachine  get it >>
Platform: Mac, Power Mac
Cost: Free
Company: Rod Kennedy
If you're an audiophile with very simple needs or modest means, give SoundMachine a look. It's a simple sound utility that plays .au and .aiff files, and does a little editing and recording on the side.

Speed Razor Mach 3.5  get it >>
Platform: Win NT
Cost: About US$1,500
Company: in:sync
With a cool name and big price tag, it better be good. Speed Razor, a nonlinear, real-time video editing and composing system, supports PAL and NTSC video, and apparently has excellent tech support.

Talker  get it >>
Platform: Mac
Cost: Free
Company: MVP Solutions
The name says it all. Talker uses Apple's text-to-speech software to read text from enhanced Web pages. The voices are robot-like, but endearing all the same

VideoShop 4.5+  get it >>
Platform: Mac, Power Mac
Cost: US$260
Company: Strata
Geared toward casual users, VideoShop is fine for beginners who want to edit or produce QuickTime video clips for the Web. But if it's precise edits you're after, you'll find yourself frustrated.

Wired Digital offers Hotwired Wired News, Wired magazine online, Cocktail, The Rough Guide, HotBot, NewsBot, LiveWired, and Suck.

Copyright © 1994-97 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.