But then again, how did they do sound design back then? Given the lack of automation or any other envelope tool..
That's a typical mistake the newcomers to the OS7-9 world make - they're approaching the 25+ years old software with today's thinking. What envelope? You chop up your sounds in SDII, transfer them back to
hardware sampler and do your ADSR there. Maybe in Sample Cell too, but I haven't used that thing.
SDII started as sample editor for samplers of that era, but quickly evolved into 2 track editor and finished CD assembly app. Especially when it became able to handle a 24 bit files. Back then it was a "low cost" alternative to the full blown Sonic Solutions system.
There are thousands of CD titles out there that were made with SDII, especially in classical music world. Radio programming is another area where SDII got used a lot.
Record your material, drop markers on the fly, play it back, use very well implemented scrub tool, find your edit points, adjust markers, define your regions. Then create a new playlist, drop in your regions, adjust fades and region gain - DONE! Quick and efficient. Try that with Peak ..
http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=9994P.S. I have a suspicion that SDII is not a right tool for you. You'll be better off with Peak 2.5.x if using OS9, or stay in OSX and choose whatever modern tool you want.