BIAS Peak Pro - 6.1.1

I'm the kind of guy who updates his gear pretty regularly. Since obtaining Peak Pro, I have installed/authorized then uninstalled/deauthorized it on at least 3 desktops/laptops. That's why a deauthorize option exists -- so you can legitimately move it from machine to machine when you upgrade or change your hardware, etc.

Yesterday, I bought a new MacBook Pro. When I tried to DEAUTHORIZE Peak from my old one, I received an alert telling me I couldn't because I had DEAUTHORIZED the program too many times!

Now, having just about every plug-in out there, plus plenty of other audio software and Adobe CS4, I am very familiar with the concept of limited AUTHORIZATIONS, but I have never heard of limiting DEAUTHORIZATIONS. The former prevents license fraud, but the latter enforces license adherence, so why incorporate such a lame and debilitating routine?

Of course, this happened on a holiday weekend, and the only instruction is to email Bias to see what they have to say about it. I guess a manual reset of the count or something. Who knows. I'm still waiting.

Sigh.

I have used this product since Peak version 4. I realise the current comments are focussing upon ver. 6 - but I must comment that I have used Peak, during live gigs, I have used it to master down to CD mix of my music, and currently I am using ver. 6 to master my weekly national radio program. Peak is a great product and the support is A1. I have had no issues with the current version. While I am currently upgrading to an iMac Core Duo, my current G4 handles peak 6 well, and believe me I am running too many top end apps and it tends to grind to a halt - but no issue with peak. I do use a variety of plug-ins and they have presented no problem. I do believe there is a small issue with the response of the metering - it does appear to have a small lag - but overall I find it hard to fault. If you are long time user of Peak you will find the interface not dissimilar to previous versions - which for a new user can be confusing (even overly complex), but like many pro apps it's a matter of diving in and using it over and over again. Suddenly it does make sense.

For my radio work, I have found the simple addition of the 'ducking' feature to be very useful. It was a pain in the butt previously in regard to layering voice overs, now it's a breeze. I love the seamless interface with Soundsoap Pro, which together make for a great suite for reviving old vinyl and cassette recordings, therefore it's great for archiving old material.

So in summary, I have used it professionally on stage, in a music recording studio and as the main tool for radio program production. I will continue to use it. I can't comment on why others are having problems - except to say it becomes necessary to keep your system uptodate and run utilities and programs like Techtool Pro (and other such programs) regularly. I have found that oiften minimises issues of program/plug-in crashes.

It seems that v6 is just a little more sensitive to third party add-ons than previous versions. Thanks to the excellent tech support from BIAS, we were able to solve the issues I was having, First, Default Folder (a great app in its own right) is not compatible with Peak. Adding Peak to the DF exclusion list solved the cursor problem. The crashes were caused by Hear (by Joesoft), a trail product that I thought I had removed and is a known issue. I had to run the uninstaller to get rid of it thoroughly after which everything was fine in Peak which now gets a 4 from me. I can't give it a 5 because of the bumps in the road the newly induced sensitivity caused. Still, Peak is a great app.

Forgot to mention that it's actually less expensive than what is listed here because BIAS sells through resellers instead of only direct. A lot of the software these days is only sold direct and there's no competition – the price is the price. With BIAS, and a lot of pro audio software companies – you can buy it direct at full list price ($599) or through resellers – typically around $499. And what I didn't mention before, was the fact that Peak Pro 6 includes a really cool DVD with extra plug-ins worth over $300! One user complained here that BIAS doesn't listen to their users, but I beg to differ – they added about 10 features I personally requested (ok, it was probably more than just me, but still, they definitely listen). Hey, but don't take my word for it, contact them yourself....

I love the new look and new features in this version. It is rock solid on my rig, so I'm a happy camper. The new Perpetual Loop is unlike anything else I've used for looping - amazing. I also can't tell you how great the improvements to the playlist are - volume automation, customizable reports, classical crossfade 4-point editing... Finally I can toss my copies of Waveburner and JAM. I also want to check out the new podcasting publishing feature (and Voiceover Ducking) since I've been using other tools that involve too many steps. This is the best version of Peak ever!

I haven't had any problem with the authorization that others have complained about - it just works.