TO ORDER THE FULL WORKING VERSION OF THE 1.0 SOFTWARE SEND $25.00 TO ADC c/o SCIOTO TV 1628 Grandview Ave. Portsmouth,Ohio 45662 (614) 354-1289 Ask for MIKE CORRIEL This doc file explains the features of the program, a tutorial version will be sent with your order. Preface Thank you for purchasing SoundEd. We have made this product to be the best 8SVX sound editing software we believe available. It is written entirely in machine code to optimize size, speed, and features. SoundEd has been designed with an intuitive user interface, however, the documentation should be fully read to understand all function of this program. In the following instructions, it will be assumed that the user understands how to use the AMIGA family of computers. If you have any questions on how to use your AMIGA, consult your owners manual. Program requirements SoundEd will run on any properly configured AMIGA. Hopefully you will have one megabyte of ram or more, but the program will run on a 512K machine. The program has not been tested on a 256K AMIGA 1000. Naturally with all variations of third party products, the program cannot be tested on every possible variation of machine. Please advise us of compatibility problems, we will do our best to help. Running the program SoundEd may be run from the workbench by double clicking on the program icon. The program may also be run from the cli by entering run (pathname) Sound_Ed where "pathname" is the complete path to the location of the SoundEd file. At this time the SoundEd program is complete within one file, no other support files are needed. Overview 8SVX sound files have header data at the beginning of each file that contain information on rate, stereo or mono, and if mono data on what side the file is to be loaded on. When the program is run, it will open up with two editing windows, one for the left side of a sound file and one for the right side of a file. Each editing window contains gadgets that allow manipulation of the sound files. The format of the documentation will be as follows: first we will take a look at the various requesters that you will come across using the program. Next we will look at the menus. Finally we will look at the gadgets that can be used. REQUESTERS PLEASE WAIT The please wait requester is a full screen requester that will block the selection of any other gadgets during a program file manipulation. LOAD - SAVE This is a requester that allows loading and saving of files for the program. The requester is the common file requester format used in most AMIGA programs now. There are a couple of ways to select files for loads and saves. You can type the filename, including full path to the file, in the name box and hit return to load and save. The device gadgets can be selected (DH0: ram: etc) and you can work your way through a path to a file for selection. You can double click on a filename to do a load or save (caution: the program does not verify file overwrites, be careful when saving a new version of a file with the same filename, it is possible to loose data.). L - R This requester appears when a file is being loaded and has no data in the header (see above) to indicate what channel the file should be loaded as. Select "L" to load in the left edit window and "R" to load the file in the right edit window. This requester will always appear when loading RAW files. LOW MEMORY This will appear when your computer encounters a low memory condition. During the course of an editing session you may choose a file manipulation technique that requires more free memory than your system has available. Memory fragmentation may also cause a low memory condition. Unless you have a utility that can de-fragment memory, you can save your work to disk and reboot as a work around for the fragmentation problem. This requester will inform you of the ammount of available memory your machine has and will also show the ammount of memory used by the CUT buffer. If the CUT buffer is not needed, this memory can be freed using the FREE menu selection. SAVE FILES FIRST? If you select "QUIT" menu or one of the "FREE" menu selections you will be presented with a chance to save your work first. If yes is selected, you will be sent back to the program and you can select save to bring up the save requester. If no is selected the menu selection operation will be invoked. MENUS Menus will be explained from left to right. Each selection under a menu heading will be discussed before going to the nest menu heading. QUIT There is only one selection under this heading...quit. This exits the program. If there are files present in the edit windows, you will be presented with the "save files first?" requester to give you a second chance to save your work before program exit. There is a keyboard shortcut for this selection, The right Amiga - Q key combination. TASK The only selection under this heading, iconify, moves the program into a tiny black box at the top of the workbench screen. It also put the program into a waiting state, so it won't hinder the other programs you may run during the iconified state. To resume use of SoundEd, you click on the "icon" with the left and then right mouse buttons. The keyboard shortcut for this selection is right Amiga - I key combination. FREE There are four selections under this menu heading. Left, right, both,and cut are possible selections. This will clear the left, right, or both edit windows according to the selection made. The cut selection will free the cut buffer if you have used it. You will see the save files first? requester and be given a chance to save your work before the edit windows are reset. The keyboard shortcuts are as follows: right Amiga - L will new the left edit window, right Amiga - R will new the right edit window, and right Amiga - B will new both edit windows. DIGITIZER In addition to being a sound editing program, SoundEd can also be used for sound digitizing. Because it has been designed to work with various hardware configurations, you must select the digitizing hardware from this menu. Digitizing hardware supported at this time are SoundEd, PS_3.0 (Perfect Sound), and Generic.(Perfect Sound 2.0) The SoundEd selection permits sound recording with the SoundEd digitizing hardware, for a full description of the SoundEd hardware and it's uses, please refer to the hardware documentation with it. The PS_3.0 selection works with the Perfect Sound 3.0 digitizing hardware. There is a hidden software volume control for this hardware. Select the mouse on the word VOX beside the slider gadget and use the up/down arrow keys to set the volume. MAIN SCREEN GADGETS This section will describe the operation of the main control gadgets you see when the program is started. These are the main controls used in editing, copying, and ranging. The gadget descriptions will be from left to right starting in the upper row, then left to right in the lower row. Both the left and right edit windows have the same gadgets, so the explanation for each gadget will apply to the opposite edit window. LEFT (RIGHT) This box is for the left (right) side filename. It can also contain status reports and error messages about files that are being loaded. LOAD Selection of load will bring up a file requester listing available files in the directory that SoundEd was started from. You can select files with a double click of the left mouse button. The filename can also be typed into the box for the name and it will be loaded when you hit the carriage return key. When the file is loaded, a waveform representation is drawn in the edit window. The various gadgets in the load requester will be covered in the section dealing with requesters. RANG This is the range in/out selector. The mouse can be used to select a range in the waveform. The range selection procedure is as follows: move the mouse pointer to the area in the file where you want your range to begin. Click and hold the left mouse button while dragging the pointer to the right. The area you have dragged the pointer will now be highlighted in grey and is your range area. If the range button is clicked, the waveform drawing will changed to a zoomed view of the ranged area. If RANG is selected when a file has been ranged into, the file will range out by a factor of two to allow a larger working range. All edit functions will work on the ranged selection. The SIZ box will display the number of bytes per pixel when the left mouse button is first pressed to begin range selection. The SIZ number will increase as the mouse is moved during range selection so the size of the ranged portion (in bytes) is known. See also, TIM, BEG, and END. CUT This gadget will cut a section from the file. You must first have a range selected in the edit window. The area colored grey will be cut from the file. The CUT section will be held in a CUT buffer ready for you to PASTE in either edit window. Warning if you cut another section the first one will be lost so be careful! The CUT function will cut as little as 2 bytes from the file. Its best to try to cut even amounts from the file. If you want to modify the cut section and replace it in its origional position note the BEG time and you can paste the cut section back. If you want to modify the cut section, paste it in the other window then modify it as you wish. To replace it in the file range over it using the mouse then find the position in the file using the mouse and the BEG time you noted then use the COPY gadget to move the modified version back to the origional file COPY This gadget will copy a range from one window to the other. You must first select a range in the opposite window to use the COPY gadget. The COPY gadget does not use a buffer. You cant copy to the same window, use CUT/PASTE for this. MONO - STER This gadget toggles between mono and stereo MODE for record and playback. If you use the STER (stereo) mode remember that the file lengths must be the same size in order to work properly. Also keep in mind that when you save a file this MODE will be saved with the data. If you have STER selected both left and right buffers will be saved. Be sure they are the same size. PLAY This gadget will play the file on the side you selected. If you should have the STER mode selected both buffers will play VOL This is a slider gadget that allows you to change the volume of the sound being played. The number to the right of the slider is a number from 1 to 64 indicating the level of sound. MAIN SCREEN GADGETS (second row)------------------------------ TIM This box displays the time duration of the file. If you have a range selected, it will show the time of the range. The format for the time is MM:SS.MICROS SIZ This box is the size of the file or range in bytes. If you click the left mouse button in the edit window and release, the siz will display how many bytes are represented by one pixel on the screen. You screen is only 640 pixels wide, so if you have a file 1280 bytes long each pixel rpresents 2 bytes. SAVE This gadget will bring up a file requester for saving a file. If you have a range selected only the range will be saved. The file type will also be used. If you have loaded a file using IFF and select RAW in the file requester it will be converted to RAW. Check all your settings prior to a save. OUT This gadget selects RANGE out. If you have ranged into a section of a file use this gadget to see the entire file again. PAST Use this gadget to paste a section you have previously CUT. To paste a section move the mouse to the position of the file you wish to paste to then press the left mouse button to set the paste point. Then select the PAST gadget to perform the operation. EFF This gadget selects the effects window (see the section effects). The gadget is a toggle select. When selected the gadget will highlight grey to close the effects window select the gadget again. REC Use this gadget to select the recorder window.(see the section RECORD for more information) LOOP This gadget will set loop on for playback. Loop mode is active when the gadget is hilited grey. To turn looping off select the gadget again and it will return to blue. RATE This gadget sets the playback rate in samples per second. It also has a string gadget attached to set the playback rate to a specific value. MAIN SCREEN GADGETS (bottom row)------------------------------ BEG This box indicates the BEGining time. If you select a range, the point where you set the start of the range will be indicated in the box as the beginning time for the range. If you do not have a range selected this value should be 00:00.000000. This time value is relative to the beginning of the file. For instance if you have a file that has a total time of 2 seconds, and you set the start of a range by clicking the mouse down half way through the file the beginning time should be about 1 second. <<<< This gadget allows you to scroll through a ranged section of the file. It will slowly move the graphic to allow you to find an area of interest. This only works when you have a range selected. MAIN SLIDER When you first run the program, there is a long black bar in the center of the screen. This is a slider gadget used when a range has been selected. The bar will shrink to show the percentage of file that has been ranged into and the relative position of the range. To move to a different position in the file grab the slider with the mouse and move it. The size of the range wont change, just the position. >>>> This gadget allows you to scroll towards the end of a ranged section of the file. END This box indicates the END of a range relative to the beginning of the file. If no range has been selected, the display will show the total size of the file (same as TIM). The format for the ending time display is MM:SS.MICROS. EFFECTS WINDOW GADGETS (upper left)--------------------------- RAMP BEG - RAMP END - SETL - SETR This set of gadgets selects the RAMP function. If you want to start a file at full volume and decrease the volume toward the end, you would move the BEG slider to the right (100%) and the END slider to the left (0%), then select SETL. The file will be redrawn with the amplitude (volume) tall at the start and short at the end. When played the sound volume will taper off to nothing toward the end of the file. Move the BEG slider to the left and the END slider to the right and the sound will get louder towards the end. If you have a RANGe selected the RAMP will work only on the range. REV This gadget will REVERSE the file, or display it in reverse. The end of the file will be the beginning. To change it back select REV again. CLONE L>R - R>L This set of gadgets allow you to copy or CLONE the entire file from right to left or left to right. Use this to keep a temporary copy of the file you are working with in case you make a mistake, CLONE it back and try again. MIX L>R - R>L This set of gadgets allows you to mix two files together, creating one file with the sounds of both. The file buffer you are mixing to will be lost so save your work! LEFT VOL -C- - +B+ This set of gadgets is used to BOOST or CUT the amplitude of a file. After a mix the overall volume is lower than either of the two files you mixed. Select the +B+ BOOST gadget and the file will increase in amplitude. If the file is not as loud as you want select the +B+ BOOST gadget as many times as necessary to get the desired result. CAUTION, the +B+ BOOST operation can cause the file to be too loud,and cause distortion, so be careful! LEFT DELAY - SETL This set of gadgets will introduce delay into the file. Move the slider and play the file. When you get the amount of delay you want select the SETL gadget and the file will have that amount of delay permanently installed. HARD FILTER This gadget turns the audio filter on or off as desired. If you turn the filter off you will be able to hear higher frequency sounds. When this filter is selected the power light on the front of the computer will get dim or bright depending on the state of the filter selection. FILE FILTER - LOW MID HIGH This set of gadgets will filter frequencies from the file. Save your work first. When this filter system is used the file data will be altered! RATE CONVERTER This set of gadgets allows you to change the rate of the file. If you have a file sampled at 20,000 samples per second and you want it to change to 12,000 samples per second, move the slider or use the string gadget to select the new rate, then select the SET gadget and the rate will be converted. Selecting a slower rate will take less memory for the file. CAUTION, sampling rates below 10,000 samples per second will sound noisy so be careful when performing this operation. *NOTE* the pitch of the sound will NOT be changed during this operation only the sampled rate. *NOTE* The SET function only operates on the file that is visible. TRANSPOSE This gadget will allow you to change the rate at an exact musical scale. Move the slider to the octave shown below the OCT name and the note within the octave will appear under the NOTE name MIDC This gadget will resample the file to 8363 samples per second. This rate is used by most music playres like MED, GMC etc. OCTD This gadget will resample the file an octave down. OCTU This gadget will resample the file an octave up. RECORD WINDOW ------------------------------------------------ The record window opens over a section of the edit window. You can't edit a file with the RECORD window open, nor can you ICONify the program with the record window open. To return to the EDIT function select the EDIT gadget. MEM This gadget shows the amount of memory allocated for recording. You may select a larger amount of memory to be allocated by changing the string gadget or by using the slider below. If you select stereo for the mode the memory allocation will split evenly between the two files. REC Select this gadget when you are ready to record. Remember to select the type of hardware in the menus (DIGITIZER) before you start. MONO - STER This is a toggle select gadget that sets the record MODE. If you have the STER option set the RATE on the LEFT file will set the rate for recording for both sides. PLAY This gadget allows you to PLAY the file before returning to the edit session. You may choose to resample if you don't get what you want in the first try. VOX Set the VOX level by moving the slider gadget. VOX is the level at which the recorder will turn on. If you have the vox set high the recorder function will wait till it gets a loud enough sound to start recording. Its like a sound activated switch After the recording has started the VOX has no effect. VOX is not supported on the PS_3.0 hardware. MON This is the MONITOR gadget. You can use it listen to the digitizer prior to recording. While in MONitor mode if you select the right mouse button you will go into record mode. EDIT This gadget gets you back to the editor. SYNC This gadget allows simultaneous tracking of the opposite file. In other words if you record on the left side you can hear the right side file played along with the recording, so you can synchronize the two files for stereo. You must have MONO mode selected to use this feature. Then select STEReo mode to hear the result. SYNC is not supported for the PS_3.0 hardware. RAT This gadget sets the rate in samples per second for the recording. There is a string gadget attached so you can set an exact rate. If you have STER or stereo mode selected the RATE will change in both windows. SOUND_ED HARDWARE ---------------------------------------------- INPUTS There are 4 inputs to the hardware, 2 1/4" phone jacks for mics and guitars, and 2 RCA line inputs for mixers or tapes. If you select MONo mode in the software all 4 inputs are mixed together. For STEReo mode they are switched to left and right. VOLUME Each input has its own volume control to set input levels. KNOWN BUG LIST 1> Filenames with spaces should not be used. 2> You cant cut odd number of bytes from the file. 3> Playback on stereo must have the same file size or the shortest file may wrap around. 4> The program wants to be in the root directory of a disk or a system requester will pop up. Select CANCEL and go on with the session.