Description:
Cakewalk's Pyro organizes and converts the digital music that flows between the tech-lovin' audiophile's computer and his or her home stereo, portable MP3 player, or preferred new-fangled audio device. It's not the first all-in-one software product of its kind, but it does offer unique sound-processing enhancements and CD-creation tools--from burning to labeling--that may appeal to users who wish to customize files with sound effects. Getting started is a breeze: select media files from your hard drive or CD, click a button, and wait as the tracks convert into your desired format. Once converted, the tracks can be played through the integrated media player. Environmental Sound Processing effects optimize the MP3 and WMA audio output (CD audio is unaffected). These effects sculpt the sound for listening via headphones, a desktop system's speakers, or a home stereo. Other settings simulate a concert hall, stadium, and orchestra hall, among other environments, adding flavor to certain recordings. Customizable effects such as flange, chorus, delay/echo, and reverb are available as well, though the advanced-controls interface may intimidate some. Home-recording enthusiasts will benefit most from these effects (and hundreds of additional downloadable DirectX effects), since the settings can be permanently affixed to sound files. General users who simply want to turn their favorite CDs into MP3s will likely play around with these effects a few times for entertainment value, then ignore them. Moving the tunes off your hard drive is, in theory, a snap: a few clicks send your files to a portable media player or onto a blank CD. However, both options have potential limitations. Only a few portable players--Creative Labs's and S2/Diamond's most popular brands--are compatible with Pyro. The CD-burning function supports a wider range of popular CD-R/CD-RW drives, though our ostensibly compatible model (HP 8100 CD-Writer Plus) refused to successfully burn a CD after numerous tweaks. When properly configured with the user's hardware, Pyro provides plenty of sound-sculpting options for the amateur music engineer. But for those who simply wish to convert CD tracks to MP3 or WMA files for general listening, one of the dozens of other popular--and often free--programs may provide a more economical, no-nonsense solution. --Eric Twelker
| 
