Initially developed by Syntrillium as Cool Edit, the full version was useful and flexible, particularly for its era. Syntrillium soon after released Cool Edit Pro, which added the capability to work with multiple tracks, as well as other features. Audio processing though, was done in a destructive manner due mostly with computers not being powerful enough at the time in terms of processor performance and memory capacity to perform the functions in real time.

Cool Edit Pro v2 added support for real-time non-destructive processing, and v2.1 added support for surround sound mixing and unlimited simultaneous tracks limited only by the actual computer hardware. Cool Edit also included a number of plugins such as noise reduction and FFT equalization.

Cool Edit Pro v2.1 was reportedly purchased by Adobe in 2003 for $16.5 million in cool cash as was a large loop library called “Loopology”. Adobe then promptly changed the name of Cool Edit Pro to Adobe Audition.

Adobe released Audition v1 on August 2003. It consisted of no new features and was basically Cool Edit Pro but with a different name.

Adobe then released Audition v1.5 in May of the following year with significant improvements over AV1 which included pitch correction, frequency space editing, a CD project view, basic video editing and integration with Adobe Premiere, as well as a number of other enhancements.

Adobe Audition v2 was released on January of 2006. With this release, Audition leaped into the midst of the professional Digital Audio Workstation scene. Some of the newest features in this release included ASIO (Audio stream input output) support, VST (Virtual Studio Technology) support, new mastering tools and a redesigned UI .

Adobe also included Audition v2 as part of its Creative Suite 2 application package. Audition has not been included in any subsequent version of Creative Suite, having been replaced by Adobe Soundbooth, an audio-editing application for home and semi-pro users.

Adobe Audition v3 was released on November 2007. New features included VSTi (virtual instrument) support, enhanced spectral editing, a redesigned multi-track interface, new effects, and a collection of royalty-free loops.

I personally own both Cool Edit Pro and Adobe AuditionV2, and let me tell you from personal experience… these tools are a necessity for music production and music editing. Every private Home Recording Studio should have either one or the other.