Chapter 1 - Overview

4.1.1 Zooming the Waveform Display

The level of magnification of the waveform can be altered to give optimum visibility to the operator. The amount of zoom can be increased by repeatedly pressing the ‘PAGE UP’ key on the computer keyboard. The zoom can be decreased be pressing the ‘PAGE DOWN’ key on the keyboard.

The display will be centred around the yellow playback marker during zoom operations.

It is possible to alter the zoom whilst the editor is playing back.

To zoom in on a particular section of the waveform, select the ‘ZOOM’ tool (See section 2.1 “Main Window” for more information), and drag with the mouse over the area to be displayed. The selected area will be zoomed to fill the display.

Notes

· At very high levels of zoom, the display will not scroll whilst the editor is in playback

· The amount of zoom can be incremented by clicking once with the zoom tool at the point to be zoomed. Holding down ‘Ctrl’ on the keyboard whilst performing this operation will zoom out one level.

4.1.2 Audio Scrub Function

A ‘scrub’ function can be used to locate a particular point in the audio. To activate this function, hold down the alternative mouse button (normally the right hand button) and drag the playback cursor over the audio waveform.

As the cursor is moved, the audio corresponding to that playback position is heard.

Notes

· It is necessary to hold down the mouse button for a moment to activate the function. Clicking once will display a context sensitive menu.

· To position the playback marker, simply click in the ruler above the waveform display.

4.1.3 Selecting a section of audio

The first stage in many editing operations is selecting a section of audio. It is them possible to for example remove the section, or copy it to a different position.

There are a number of ways audio can be selected – each of these is outlined below.

Using the SELECT tool

1 Click on the SELECT tool in the toolbar

2 Place the cursor at the start of the audio to be selected on the waveform display

3 Holding down the mouse button, ‘drag’ the mouse to select the section

4 Release the mouse button when the desired section is highlighted white

Using the Scrub function

1 Use the SCRUB function to locate the beginning of the desired section (See section 4.1.2 for more information)

2 With the playback marker in the desired position, press the left arrow key on the keyboard. This places the START marker at that position

3 Use the SCRUB function again to locate the end of the desired section

4 Press the right arrow key on the keyboard. This places the END marker at that position, and selects the audio between the markers. It should be highlighted white.

Making a selection ‘on the fly’

1 Position the playback marker a little before the desired section

2 Commence playback

3 At the instant you hear the start of the desired section, press the left arrow key on the keyboard. This places the START marker at that position

4 At the instant you hear the end of the desired section, press the right arrow key on the keyboard. This places the END marker at that position, and selects the audio between the markers. It should be highlighted white

Selecting an entire cut

It is possible to select an entire audio cut using the GRAB tool. Select the GRAB tool from the toolbar, then click on the desired audio cut. The entire cut will be highlighted, indicating it is selected.

Note

· To position the playback marker, simply click in the ruler above the waveform display.

4.1.4 Playing a selection

Once a selection of audio has been made, it is possible to play the selection. Simply start playback. The editor plays from the start of the selection (the green START marker) to the end (the red END marker).

4.1.5 Looping a selection

If the LOOP mode function is activated, the editor will continuously loop play the selection when play is activated. LOOP mode is activated by clicking the LOOP control, and deactivated by pressing the same control again.

4.1.6 Trimming a selection

After a selection has been made, it is possible to trim the START and END points of the selection by using the SELECT tool.

1 Select the SELECT tool from the toolbar

2 Position the cursor over the START marker

3 Whilst holding down SHIFT on the keyboard, drag the mouse by holding down the mouse button and moving the mouse

4 When the START marker is in the required position, release the mouse button.

5 The END point can be adjusted in the same manner

Note

· The START and END points can be adjusted whilst in playback mode. Enter LOOP play, as described in section 4.1.5, and adjust the points as above. The playback will change to reflect the new marker positions

4.1.7 Previewing removal of a selection

Frequently the reason for making a selection is to facilitate its removal – for example to remove a cough from a speech recording. To do this, first the cough is selected by one of the techniques described in section 4.1.3 “Making a selection”. Once this has been done, the effect of removing the section can be previewed as described below.

1 Activate the EDIT PREVIEW mode by clicking on the EDIT PREVIEW control (see section 2.1 “Main Window” for the location of the control).

2 Commence playback. The Editor will play from a little before the selection. When the START marker is reached, the editor will instantly play away from the END marker

3 The LOOP function may also be activated, to continuously play the preview

4 The procedure described in section 4.1.6 “Trimming a Selection” may be followed to adjust the START and END markers to achieve the desired result

4.1.8 Deleting a selection

To remove a selection either press the delete key on the keyboard, or press Ctrl+X to cut the selection, and place it on the clipboard. See section 4.1.10 “Cut, Copy and Paste” for more information.

4.1.9 Moving a Cut

The audio represented in the editor display is divided into Cuts. When a file is first imported, it is represented as a single Cut. Cuts can be easily moved around the edit window using the GRAB tool.

1 Select the GRAB tool from the toolbar

2 Click on the cut you wish to move. The entire cut is highlighted

3 Holding down the mouse button, drag the Cut to the new location

Note

· Cuts can be moved whilst the editor is in playback mode. As Cuts are dragged over the playback marker, the sound instantly updates to reflect the new position

The MAGNET tool is used to help place Cuts in the display. When the tool is activated (by clicking on the MAGNET tool button – see section 2.1 “Main Window” for the location of the control) Cuts automatically butt up to the preceding Cut. When it is de-activated, Cuts can be freely placed anywhere in the editor window.

To select several cuts at the same time, hold down Ctrl on the keyboard whilst clicking on all the required cuts with the GRAB tool. All the selected cuts will be highlighted. If (whilst still holding Ctrl) one of the Cuts is dragged, all the selected cuts will also move by the same amount.

4.1.10 Cut, Copy, Paste operations

Much in the manner of a word processor, standard Cut, Copy and Paste operations can be used to perform audio editing. After selecting some audio (see section 4.1.3 for details), the audio can be copied to the clipboard either by pressing ‘Ctrl+C’, or by selecting ‘Copy’ from the ‘Edit’ menu. This places a copy of the selected audio onto the clipboard without altering the original in any way.

To remove a section of audio and place it on the clipboard, the keys ‘Ctrl+X’ can be used (or select ‘Cut’ from the ‘Edit’ menu. In this case, the selected audio is removed from the screen.

To place the audio from the clipboard back into the project, press ‘Ctrl+V’, or select ‘Paste’ from the ‘Edit’ menu. The audio is placed in the project at the current playback position, in the active track(s).

Notes

· The paste function can be used whilst the editor is in playback – the audio will be instantly inserted at the current playback position

· Multiple copies of the audio can be pasted from the clipboard by repeatedly using the paste command. The audio selection remains on the clipboard until another Copy or Cut operation is performed

4.1.11 Splitting an audio cut

An audio cut can be divided into two cuts, to facilitate cue marking, editing and labelling.

1 Place the playback marker at the point you wish to make the split.

2 Select ‘Split’ from the ‘Edit’ menu

3 The cut will be split, and a new name assigned to the new section

A selection within a cut (highlighted with the SELECT tool for example) can also be split into a new cut (i.e. splitting the cut at both the START and END marker). To do this, the following procedure is used.

1. Select the audio to be made into a new cut by using one of the techniques described in section 4.1.3 of this manual

2. Select ‘Separate’ from the ‘region’ menu

3. A box will appear, prompting for a new name for the cut

4. Click OK to create the new cut

4.1.12 Removing all but a selected portion of a cut

It is possible to remove all of a cut from the editor except for a desired portion. The procedure to do this is described below.

1. Select the required part of the cut using one of the techniques described in section 4.1.3 of this manual

2. Select ‘Trim’ from the ‘Region’ menu

3. All but the selected part of the cut will be removed

Note

· Keyboard shortcuts may be used to access the functions described in sections 4.1.11 and 4.1.12 (see Appendix I ‘Keyboard shortcuts’ for more information).

4.1.13 Naming an audio cut

When audio cuts are imported into the editor, they are given a default name, which is the name of the original file. These names appear as small labels at the top left of the cut’s waveform display.

To re-name a cut, double click on the cut using the GRAB tool. The following dialog box will appear.

Type the new name of the cut in the box, and click ‘OK’. The cut will be renamed.

To exit without changing the name of the cut, click ‘Cancel’.

Note

· Naming an audio cut has no effect on the name of the original soundfile

4.1.14 Seeing the parameters of a cut

The parameters of a selected cut can be seen in the status bar of the editor when the cut is selected (for details of selecting a cut, see section 4.1.3 ‘Selecting a section of audio’).

To the left of the status bar (at the bottom of the main editor window) is displayed the source file the cut is from. To the right of the status bar is the sampling rate, number of channels and word length of the cut.