Of course, the answer is, It depends. That answer should help me avoid any religious wars, but I do have a preferenceā¦
I use Amadeus Pro exclusively for recording and relatively simple clean-up of narration tracks for video as well as casual screwing around with sound. If you are looking for a bargain, there’s even a Lite version for half price.
It’s a tiny fraction of the cost ($59 for Pro, $25 for Lite) of the audio workstations (ProTools: $699, Adobe Audition: $350 or $49/month, Logic Pro: $199, etc), but does most of what I’ve needed for professional and personal use.
Look at the features and pick the one that lets you do what you need to do at a price you’re prepared to pay.
Source: edited audio since the 1970s, video since the 1990s, and was a beta-tester for Avid (parent company of Pro Tools) Media Composer video editor.
PS: There’s a great resource for finding alternatives to specific programs: AlternativeTo.net. Here areĀ alternatives to Amadeus Pro, including some of the programs mentioned above, and some not yet mentioned, but also good, like Audacity, which is a fantastic, totally free multi-platform audio editor.