Cakewalk Pyro 5

Cakewalk has recently released version 5 of its CD/DVD burning program, Pyro. Though it's much more than a simple CD/DVD creation application, as we will soon enough see.

Along with all the typical features you would find in any CD/DVD burning application, Pyro also comes bundled with Neato's MediaFace label creation software. In addition some of the new features are pretty forward thinking and kind of fun, one being the ability to create ringtones from any audio CD or MP3 audio. Other cool features being an audio player, dual-layer DVD burning, sending playlists and music files to portable players and more.

Installation

Pyro comes packaged in the typical software-sized box that has only a small CD in it. I really, really wish companies would stop doing that. Since manuals are becoming less and less common in favor of software based manuals in a "help" menu, it would seem that software can be packaged in a standard DVD type case these days. I respect companies that are starting to do that for the more environmentally-friendly reasons of using less paper product in packaging.

Installing is as simple as with any modern program. Pyro and the bundled Neato MediaFace are installed separately which is a good thing for those of use that already have a label making preference and do not wish to install Neato.

Installation asks for a serial number, as Cakewalk products always do, however, new to Cakewalk (at least new to the products I have of theirs) upon the first time the application opens it links you to a web page where you give them your email address and it emails you a code to unlock the application. Kind of annoying, but still far less of a hassle than the schemes some companies have adopted.

Interface and Usability

Fortunately, I have recently had a couple CD and DVD authoring and burning projects, so this was a good time to look at Pyro since I had some productive work to do with it.

One thing was kind of odd, not good or bad, just odd, was upon first launch, Pyro shows an all text screen with lists of project types, click on the project type it brings you to the appropriate place. Alternatively, up along the top of the app there are buttons to go to Audio CD burning, Data CD/DVD burning, media ripping, ringtone creation and portable media management screens, which makes quick access to all of the major tools of the application.

Once clicked in to the appropriate tool, using the application is a breeze with its intuitive interface.

CD/DVD burning

Create discs is pretty much the same process regardless of the application you use. Most every app has some sort of file management window which you use the browse to and select the files you want to burn to the disc, and drag them into the "burn these" window. Pyro is no different; it's a simple interface for a relatively simple task.

One thing that makes Pyro somewhat unique is that the CD burning tab also has quicklinks to the CD ripping tool as well as an audio recording tool that allows the user to record from a microphone. Along for the ride are a few cool Cakewalk tools including some plugin effects including a loudness maximizer, audio cleaner, FX pad (containing various reverb, delay and chorus type effects) and an EQ, in addition it also supports any third party DirectX plugin. So the user can view the wave form, apply effect, clean the audio, make it louder and other processing before burning.

The Data CD/DVD window is simpler than that; it's a typical file dragging interface with no fancy bells and whistles like the CD tab is. But then, if you want to get into video editing like the CD tab does into audio editing, it's likely going to be a much more expensive program, Pyro only takes already created DVD images and burns them to disc, it has no authoring capabilities.

One cool feature that I haven't touched on yet is that you can also add files from the audio CD tab, and data CD/DVD tabs both into a single project and burn it as an "Enhanced CD", also known as "CD Extra". This CD format allows the audio to be played in any standard CD player, but, you then pop that same CD into a computer CD Rom drive and you have all that audio, plus all the extra data files that have been added to the CD. Handy for adding maybe bonus video clips, lyric sheets or other such features to your CD compilation.

Audio CD Ripping

Ripping is quite simple, put in a CD, select the track you want to rip, select the format you want to rip them to, tell them where you want them put, and rip them.

You can rip to .mp3, .wav or .wma. For .wav and .wma Pyro will detect and tell you what quality it will rip to, with .mp3 you have many choices of the quality which it will rip to.

The ripping tool also contains the mini audio player which allows the user to preview the track before actually ripping them. This same audio player is available within any of the tabs that contain audio handling functions.

CD/DVD Copy

Well, this, much like ripping, is a pretty basic feature, can't really ask for a lot of fancy features, however, it does what it is supposed to. Pick a source drive, pick a destination drive, or the option of saving it as an .iso image.

Portable Players

The portables tab is the same type of explorer window that the Data CD/DVD tab is, and actually, likely could have been combined with it. A portable (at least most) simply plug in to your computer via a USB connection or something along those lines. From there it is recognized as a "drive". Well, in this window you simply select the "drive" that is your portable, use the explorer window to find the audio you want to move to it, and drag it onto the portable device.

Creating Ringtones

The ringtone creation tools are simply another instance of the same explorer window as the portables and data CD/DVD tabs with the audio editing window of the audio CD tab. It has all the same effects and features and the audio gets saved as a .wav, .mp3 or .wma file.

My Thoughts

Having been through all sorts of programs that burn media, I have seen that simple CD burning apps are a dime a dozen, and all do the same things and do it just fine. Start throwing DVDs, enhanced CDs and other formats into the mix the pack of apps gets smaller. Pyro does support all formats pretty darn well. The only issue I say that surprised me was that DVD creating did not automatically create a DVD movie image including the necessary AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders that are used in DVD movie disks. Of course, that can easily be worked around since many DVD authoring application create their own anyway, but, not all.

Cakewalk Pyro is a pretty cool application that bridges the different formats and tosses in some tools that do what Cakewalk does best, process audio. Add to that the ringtone and portable player features just for fun and you have a pretty cool application with lots of powerful features. Although the interface seems unnecessarily bulky with all the tabs and windows, however, don't misunderstand, it's not difficult to use by any means. Each tool/feature has it's own tab across the top for quick, easy access, but it seems that since so many of the tabs have some common components with other tabs (such as the explorer window used many places and the audio editing window used a couple times) that the application could be further streamlined for more integrated features. Integrating the tabbed interface could also possibly make the building of "CD Extra" format discs a bit easier as well, by having only one central file browsing window to handle the disc compilation.

That said, it does, in my opinion, beat Nero and Roxio hands down for many of my uses, other than that folder issue with DVD movies, which I am used to having added in the DVD explorer window, the first DVD I created I forgot about them and burned a worthless DVD. That is, of course, not saying that would stand true for everybody, but I would suggest it would be worth everybody giving it a fair shake. For the price of $40 USD, well, it's pretty good compared to the competition too...