BIAS

Infobox Company
company_name = BIAS
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1994
location = Petaluma, California
area_served = Digital Audio Software
industry = Technology
homepage = [http://www.bias-inc.com www.bias-inc.com]

BIAS (originally known as Berkley Integrated Audio Software) is a privately held corporation based in Petaluma, California.

History

Composer/software engineer Steve Berkley initially created Peak for editing the samples used in his musical compositions. Peak started out as a utility for transferring content ("samples") from a hardware sampler to a Macintosh computer, editing the samples, and returning them to the sampler for playback/performance. Word of this new utility spread quickly, and soon colleagues were requesting copies to use themselves. Features were requested and implemented – more features requested and implemented, and the utility evolved into a commercial sample editing application, “Peak”, which remains as BIAS’ flagship product to this day. BIAS Inc. was founded in 1994 in Sausalito, California, by Steve and Christine Berkley.

Products

Peak

Peak is a full-featured professional stereo sample editor – and BIAS’ flagship product.

Peak’s approach to editing differs from most DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) applications, as it edits directly at the file level. Rather than creating a “session” or “project” and then importing the audio files to be edited, Peak opens files directly. Once a file has been edited as desired, it is simply saved, rather than having to be “bounced” or exported from a session/project. This fundamental difference from a DAW is what gives Peak the ability to edit digital audio so quickly. Its focused editing environment makes it a complementary tool to many DAWs, video editing, and multimedia applications that offer limited editing features. Peak is offered in a full-featured professional edition (Peak Pro), a basic edition (Peak LE), and a limited-feature edition often included with other manufacturer’s hardware/software products (Peak Express). Peak runs on Mac OS X computer systems.

SoundSoap

SoundSoap is a noise reduction/audio restoration plug-in and stand-alone application. SoundSoap is designed to remove unwanted clicks, crackles, pops, hum, rumble, and broadband noise (such as tape hiss and HVAC system noise). It offers “one-click” noise reduction, and may also be manually fine-tuned for optimal results. SoundSoap includes Audio Units, DirectX, RTAS/AudioSuite, and VST plug-in formats, as well as a stand-alone edition – and runs on Mac OS X and Windows XP computer systems.

SoundSoap Pro

SoundSoap Pro is a professional-level noise reduction/audio restoration plug-in. It is based on the same advanced technology as SoundSoap, but offers a much more advanced user interface, with the ability to access and fine-tune many parameters not available in the standard version. In addition to removing clicks, crackles, pops, hum, rumble, and broadband noise (such as tape hiss and HVAC system noise), SoundSoap Pro also features an integrated noise gate. SoundSoap Pro includes Audio Units, RTAS/AudioSuite, and VST plug-in formats – and runs on Mac OS X and Windows XP computer systems.

Master Perfection Suite

This suite of six effects processing plug-ins offers numerous features for mastering, sound design, and general audio processing.

Plug-ins included:

*GateEx – a noise gate and downward expander
*PitchCraft – pitch correction/transposition with formant change
*Sqweez-3 & -5 - multiband linear phase compressor/limiter
*Reveal – 7-in-1 analysis tool, with oscilloscope, peak/RMS power history, peak/RMS metering, spectral analyzer, spectrogram, phase scope, and pan power metering
*SuperFreq – 4, 6, 8, & 10 band paragraphic equalizers
*RepliQ – Linear phase EQ/spectral matching

The Master Perfection Suite is included with Peak Pro XT, and runs on Mac OS X computer systems.

Deck

Deck is a simple multitrack DAW (digital audio workstation) designed for working with digital audio. While Deck offers limited MIDI features – such as MIDI control of the integrated transport and mixing console, and the ability to import and play back a MIDI file in sync with digital audio – it is not a MIDI sequencing application. Deck excels in recording analog audio sources, such as musical instruments and microphones – as well as in multimedia and post-production, where its QuickTime foundation allows it to synchronize with digital video and QuickTime movies for mono, stereo, and 5.1 surround sound mixing. Two editions are offered: “Deck” – a full-featured professional DAW, and “Deck LE” – a limited feature, entry level DAW – both run on Mac OS 8.6, Mac OS 9, and Mac OS X computer systems.

Product timeline

1/96 – Peak 1.0 debuts at NAMM show in Anaheim, CA.
11/96 – BIAS Introduces Peak LE – entry level stereo editor
1/97 – SFX Machine 1.0 multi-effects plug-in introduced
9/98 – BIAS acquires Deck DAW from Macromedia
12/98 – Peak 2.0 introduced – adds DAE, TDM, AudioSuite, QuickTime movie, Premiere plug-in support, and CD burning
8/99 – BIAS Brings Peak to BeOS
1/00 – Peak 2.1 adds ASIO driver support – expands compatibility with third-party audio hardware
9/00 – Peak 2.5 introduced – adds VST plug-in support
1/01 – Deck 2.7 adds ASIO driver support – expands compatibility with third-party audio hardware
1/01 – BIAS introduces Deck LE – entry level DAW
7/01 – BIAS introduces Deck 3.0 – adds real-time VST plug-in support
8/01 – Vbox 1.0 effect plug-in routing matrix introduced
11/01 – Peak DV 3.0 introduced – first pro audio application for Mac OS X
1/02 – Peak and Peak LE 3.0 introduced – run on Mac OS 8.6, 9.x, X
1/02 – BIAS introduces SuperFreq paragraphic equalizer plug-in for Mac OS 8.6, 9.x, X
6/02 – BIAS introduces Deck 3.5 – the first professional DAW to run on Mac OS X adds 5.1 surround mixing
7/02 – Entire BIAS product line now runs on Mac OS X
8/02 – BIAS introduces Vbox 1.1 – runs on Mac OS X and Windows operating systems
12/02 – BIAS introduces SoundSoap – runs on Mac OS X and Windows XP operating systems
8/03 – Peak 4.0 introduced – adds direct CD burning, Audio Unit support, sample-based ImpulseVerb, and Sqweez compressor plug-in
5/04 – SoundSoap Pro introduced – runs on Mac OS X and Windows XP
10/04 – SoundSoap 2 introduced – adds Click & Crackle removal, audio enhancement, and Audio Unit/RTAS/DirectX formats, drag and drop file support
8/05 – BIAS introduces Peak Pro 5 – adds industry-leading sample rate conversion and graphical waveform view to playlist, DDP export capability
9/05 – BIAS introduces Peak Pro XT & Peak LE 5 – XT power bundle includes Peak Pro 5, SoundSoap 2, SoundSoap Pro, and Master Perfection Suite plug-ins
6/06 – Peak 5.2 introduced – Universal version runs natively on PPC and Intel-based Macintosh computers
11/06 – SoundSoap 2.1 introduced – Universal version runs natively on PPC and Intel-based Macintosh computers

External links

* [http://www.bias-inc.com BIAS Website]
* [http://www.bias-inc.com/forums/ BIAS User Discussion Forum]