Copyright: Copyright ¸ 1994-96 by Ceres
Citation: Copyright ¸ 1994-96 by Ceres


Ceres SoundStudio 2.0 Turorial

Working with multi-track files

Recording

Recording without extras

Recording with synchronous Playback

Recording with midi-accompaniment

Recording with Audio CD Playback

Playback

Playing back the active document

Playing back a document from harddisk

Editing

Noise reduction

Creating video sound tracks

Creating Paning and other effects


Basic Recroding - Recording without extra

To record with the CERES SoundStudio take the following steps.

Create a new wave file. Either use the New command from the File menu or click in the tool bar on this symbol:

The dialogue on the left then appears. Set the parameters for the new wave file by using this dialogue. Now you can specify the number of tracks, the sampling resolution, and the sampling rate for the new wave file. You may also decide if Ceres SoundStudio has to use mono or stereo playback for this document.

When you click on the <OK> button an editor window is opened and your new file is thus created. All newly created files have the title "WAVEx", where x stands for a number. If you want to give your file a name you have to use the Save As command from the File menu.

Now specify which input source is to be used, using the Mixer command from the menu View or the mixer software from your sound card.

When you record with the CERES SoundStudio for the first time do check that the right sound card is set for recording and playback. Use the Settings dialog box, register Record from the File menu. Now you can choose which sound card is to record and which is for playback. The buffer size for the sample buffer can also be set, however you should only change the default value if you get unexpected clicks etc. during recording.

If you have installed at least one sound card then Windows will provide the wave mapper.  If you select wave mapper, Windows will use the next available sound system (sound driver). So, for example, with one sound card which supports the Microsoft Sound System as well as Sound Blaster or with a full duplex sound card you can simultaneously record and playback provided you have installed both drivers in Windows.

Lastly, you should check in the Recording menu that both Synchronous Playback, Midi Accompaniment and CD-Player are switched off during recording. (No tick shown.)

Now select the Start command from the Record menu or click in the toolbar on this symbol:

The CERES SoundStudio is now in the recording mode. To start recording select the Pause command from the Record menu or click in the toolbar on this symbol:

The CERES SoundStudio now starts recording. You can finish the recording by using the Stop command from the Record menu or you can click in the toolbar on this symbol:

If you have recorded a stereo document then you have to specify at the end of the recording which track of the recording is to be saved on which track of your document.

Note that track 1 of the recording is the left channel and track 2 is the right channel. When you specify where track 1 is to be saved then track 2 will be automatically saved on the next highest track. If you don’t want that to happen then you should specify explicitly where track 2 is to be saved in the document.

You can delete a channel of the stereo recording by using the Discard Track check box. The data will then not be saved in the wave file.

The data of your recording will now be saved on the appropriate track in the wave file. Existing data may be overwritten by setting the Overwrite option in the Edit menu to On. Otherwise the existing data will be moved to the right.


Recording with Midi-Accompaniment

How to record with CERES SoundStudio can be found in the section Basic Recording. This section only explains the differences to normal recording.

Open the from the File menu the dialog box Settings, register Midi and choose which midi device has to be used for midi accompaniment.

Use the option Midi-Accompaniment (menu Record) and activate the Midi-accompaniment during recording checkbox.

Enter the filename (full pathname) of the midi file, you want to play into the Midi-File edit field or locate this document by using the <Browse> button.

You can test if you have selected the right file by using the <Test> button.

When you have completed all the steps mentioned, you can continue as described in basic recording.


Recording with Audio CD Playback

How to record with CERES SoundStudio can be found in the section Basic Recording. This section only explains the differences to normal recording.

Use the option CD-Player (menu Record) and activate the Start CD Playback when recording checkbox.

By using the option Stop after track, you can set Ceres SoundStudio to finish playback when the selected track has been played back completely. By using the option Play from track you can set the start track for playback.

You can test if you have selected the right track by using the <Test> button.

When you have completed all the steps mentioned, you can continue as described in basic recording.


Recording with synchronous Playback

How to record with CERES SoundStudio can be found in the section Basic Recording. This section only explains the differences to normal recording.

In order to use this function you need a soundcard which is able to record and playback simultaineously (Full Duplex) or two soundcards (one for recording and one for simultaineous playback).

Open the from the File menu the dialog box Settings, register Syncronous Device and choose which soundcard has to be used for synchronous playback.

Open the from the File menu the dialog box Settings, register Syncronous Playback. Here you can specify the sampling rate and sampling resolution for the synchronous playback music. In order to recude possible changes in timing to a minimum, we reccomend to use the same parameters for synchronous playback as they are use for the original document.

Activate the Synchronous Playback option (menu Record). This is shown by a tick.

When you operate the [image] button another wave file will be created, using the existing sample data and the parameters just specified.

This will then be played back synchronously to the recording when you activate this button:


Playing Back The Active Document

When you are playing back with Ceres SoundStudio for the first time then you have to select the soundcard, which you want Ceres SoundStudio to use for playback.

Open the from the File menu the dialog box Settings, register Playback and choose which soundcard has to be used for playback.

Now you have to open the document you want to play back. Use the Open comand from the File menu to do this.

To start playback use the Start command (menu Playback) or click on [image].


Playing Back a Document From Harddisk

When you are playing back with Ceres SoundStudio for the first time then you have to select the soundcard, which you want Ceres SoundStudio to use for playback.

Open the from the File menu the dialog box Settings, register Playback and choose which soundcard has to be used for playback.

Now use the Start from Disk command (menu Playback) and use the appearing dialog box to select the document you want to play.


Noise Reduction

Using the Change Dynamics command (menu Edit) you can reduce the noise level of most documents.

Highlight  the area where noise reduction shall apply, and select Change Dynamics from the Edit menu. Now enter a value of more than 100% for the new dynamics. The value you should choose depends on the noise level of your document. So we are not able to give a rule of thumb or any other common suggestion. You should try and error to get the best result for each document.


Creating video sound tracks

Often the most difficult problem with creating video sound tracks is the synchronisation of picutres and sounds. With Ceres SoundStudio you have a very clever solution to get round this problem.

Open the Settings dialog box from the File menu, register Sample-Window. Here choose Frames per second as the time format and enter the number of frames your video has for each second (commonly 25) into the box appearing right beside the frist one. Now you the ruler displays a frame number instead of the time and you do not have to not have to torture your calculator to find the right position.


Creating Paning And Other Effects

By using the Crossfade command (menu Edit) you can create al lot of effects. How to do this and to use it, shall be demonstrated creating a panning.

In this exmple there is a track that at first shall be played back on the left hand stereo channel, then slowly move to the right hand stereo channel, back again to the left and so on.

Therefore we need two tracks. At the beginning the first track shall contain all data, shall be named "Spur 1" and shall be played back on the left hand stereo channel (balance -100%). The scond track, named "Spur 2" is empty and shall be played back on the right hand stereo channel (balance +100%).

Now we higlight both tracks (or the area where the crossfade effect shall apply) and use the Crossfade command form the Edit menu.

Now your document should similar to the one shown in illustration 1.

Now set the following options and parameters in the Crossfade dialog box:

Preferences:
You do not need to select any of the preset configurations.

Crossfade Type:
Here you have to select sine, because this is the one that will fade slowly from left to right and then back from right to left and so on.

Crossfade Time:
Select the time frame for the panning effect appropriate to the length of your document.

Crossfade Depth:
If you select here a value lower than 100% a rest of the first track ("Spur 1") will remain on the left hand stereo channel an so played back on both channels, because you do not fade 100% of the track to the right hand channel.


Arbeiten mit Mehrspurdateien
Working with multitrack files

The most important difference between standard WAVE-documents and Ceres SoundStudio Documents is, that standard documents contain 1 or 2 tracks, but Ceres SoundStudio documents may contain up to 32 tracks.

So if you want to use Ceres SoundStudio documents with other wave-document capable programs, you have to convert the SoundStudio document into a standard wave document. In order to do this use the Save as standard wave file command from the file menu. When you convert a SoundStudio document into a stanard wave document, it will loose its multi-track capabilities, and so all the advantages this system offers.

With Ceres SoundStudio you can adjust volume and balcance for each of the 32 tracks seperately. So you may record different instruments or effects to different tracks and will have the option to edit them seperately, without always having to recreate the complete file.

You may even create and maintain a lot of effects (e.g. panning) which are much easier to create than with 2 track based systems.