There are so many different kinds of audio editing software out there, that it can be a real trial to figure out which one is right for you.  I have used three or four different audio editing software programs, and I can tell you that each one has its own feel, its own strengths, and its own weaknesses.  My favorite music editing software program is called cool edit, but it is certainly not the only one which I would recommend.  What I really like about cool edit is hard to define.  It may actually not be the most technologically advanced audio editing software out there.  As a matter of fact, one of the things that I most like about this particular piece of audio editing software is that it has a kind of low-tech feel to it.  The sound file is displayed in green wireframe for one thing.  You can custom tinker with the filters, or another.  Unlike one of the top-of-the-line programs such as SoundForge, with CoolEdit, you do not have filters that work perfectly as they are.  You have to tinker with them to get just the effect that you want.

If you are using your audio editing software to get realistic effects that sound natural and imitate fairly normal environments such as a small amphitheater or a warm room with wooden walls, something like Sound Forge is probably what you are looking for.  But for me, when I use audio editing software, I am usually in it to experiment with different sounds that I can get.  I do not use the audio editing software for the sake of realism, but for the sake of being able to produce sounds that would never occur in nature.  This is why I prefer the audio editing programs that I do.  It can really be every bit as much fun to get a truly new and unique sound, as to get one that sounds like other things that you have heard.  For some people, high fidelity is the key, but for me, what is really interesting is to use audio editing software that will give me new kinds of noise. This is why, or at least part of the reason why, I like the audio editing software cool edit so much. It is not that I can't use it to get nice realistic sounds, but that to get the sort of strange sounds that I like, it is so much easier to tweak and customize.