i'll post this link and text from a conversation over at OSXAUDIO.com. i was replying to another's interest about an editor to use with Live. this was my reply/offering to that post. i use Live as my editor/seq/AU-VST host with my computer. the MPC still takes center stage but for mutating, fine editing, and the likes, i'm happy with Live. it works well as a DAW and editor. most don't consider it an actual 'editor' but it works excellent for me. i have Peak, Audacity, SparkMe, DSP-Quattro SE. if i had to just pick one editor, and not Live, i vote DSP-Quattro hands down. simply the finest-featured, most well thought out, unblotted software editor on the MAC platform. if you haven't checked it out DSP-Quattro (i-3 media), i'd seriously suggest you download the demo. so there's more 2 cents.
http://www.osxaudio.com/forums/viewtopi ... highlight=
you don't 'need' an external audio editor outside of Live3/4, unless you just want one. you can take any audio you have and edit right within the arrange view or clip view. for example:
1. i first i like to make a copy of all original audio onto a muted track. so if something happens or whatev, i still have an original unedited copy. (but in case you forget u can always undo)
2. so lets say i record in a 4 bar bassline
3. now i want to seperate each bar into it's own bar, so there will be 4 individual bars.
4. now select the beginning point and end point of the desired bar/phrase/piece and 'apple + e' which is the 'split' command.
5. then once that bars/phrase/piece is selected (by dragging mouse over selection desired), you can hit 'apple + j' to 'consolidate' that piece. so bam, bar one is seperated (is now its own clip). then you just continue as needed. you'll now have individual control over each selection. (you can also render that piece but i find rendering to be more handy in the latter phase of arranging and not while getting your early edits.)
6. if you're doin micro-edits, say like having each bass note seperated, you may need to turn off the 'snap to grid' option to you can do fine editing.
anyway, this is a brief and rather generic example but once you start really tinkering with it, you'll find their are tons of possible ways to flex Live. once i've consolidated my audio, i then do finer edit within the clip view. the clip view is an excellent way to dial in tons of editing potentials and to mangle. in Live 4 you can resize your clip view window which'll allow for far greater visualization or your clips.
hope some of that made sense. i rarely, rarely use an external editor. i just haven't found too many situation where i thought "Live can't do that", but that just me.
peace
actuel
. But blending, modulating, and working with regions in batch