The Preferences Dialog

The Preferences dialog allows you to set various options which determine how SoundStation runs.  Each section in the dialog is enclosed in a Group Box with an appropriate label.  Each of these groups is discussed below.  Some additional features appear by themselves and are also covered in the following sections.

Save/Restore Volume

The Save/Restore Volume group has several checkboxes, one for each of the input levels on the mixer, and another one for the Master volume control.  By checking the appropriate box, the given input or output level will be saved on exit from the program and used to restore the setting on the next program startup.  If the given item is left unchecked, then the current sound card setting for that particular level will be used by the program on restart.

The Save All checkbox is a convenience item that allows you to check all of the other boxes with one action.  The Save All checkbox will uncheck if any of the other checkboxes are changed.  If you happen to check all of the other checkboxes individually, the Save All checkbox will not automatically check itself.  This does not mean that all of the items will not be active on program exit and restart, however.

To have the program use your defined Default input and volume level settings, as well as Mute states, check the "Use Defaults" item.  This overrides the remaining selections in this section.

Startup Mode

The Startup Mode radio buttons allow you to select the mode that the program will use to determine how to initially present itself when it is started each time.  If you select Last Mode, then the program will start up in the mode it was in when last exited.  If you select Rack Mode, then the program will always start with the Rack system and components initially visible.  If you select Remote Mode, then the program will always start with the selected remote control type (see Remote Type section, below) initially visible.

Save on Exit

The Save on Exit group allows you to select whether the program will save the rack position to use on the next startup and whether it will save the remote position (moveable remote only) to use on the next startup.  If left unchecked, the appropriate device will be placed at the Windows default position the first time it is made visible during each run of the program.

Note that once you move either the rack or the moveable remote once the program is underway, then the position is temporarily stored during that run of the program so that the device is not always placed at a default position every time it is activated.  However, the position will not be remembered once the program is exited.

Remote Type

There are several different types of remote controls supplied with SoundStation in order to try to provide the remote control that works best for you and your desktop layout.  Select the remote control type that best suits your needs from the list presented.  Note that if you do not want a remote control at all, you can select the None (Iconize) option and the rack system will minimize to an icon at the bottom of the screen when the Remote Button is pressed.

If you want the selected remote control to always be on top of any application windows that happen to overlay the remote, check the Remote on Top checkbox.  This will make it impossible to cover the remote control with other application windows.  Turn the checkbox off to make the remote behave like most other Windows apps and disappear behind other windows when they attempt to overlay the remote control.

The two general types of remotes provided with SoundStation are described below:

Moveable

The moveable remote allows you to drag the remote control around the screen to the desired location.  To restore the rack system, press the "Rack" button on the remote.

Bar

The Bar remotes are similar to other applications' toolbars.  The buttons are arranged in one horizontal row.  The Bar remotes can be attached to either the very top or the very bottom of your screen.  To restore the rack system, press the Rack button on the remote.

For more information on the Remote controls and their specific operations, refer to The Remote Controls topic.

VU Peak Delay

You can set the reset peak level delay value to one of three settings by clicking on the appropriate button here.  The Long value is approximately 1.5 seconds, the Medium value is about 1 second and the Short value is about 0.5 seconds.  The peak level is the red bar that stays lit on the VU meter for a short time to indicate the last highest value for each channel.

Flashing Mutes

By enabling the Flashing Mutes checkbox, all mute button LEDs will flash when the appropriate mute button or buttons are activated.  If the Flashing Mutes checkbox is not checked, then any active mute buttons will have a solid LED.

Flashing Pauses

By enabling the Flashing Pauses checkbox, all pause button LEDs will flash when the appropriate pause button or buttons are activated.  If the Flashing Pauses checkbox is not checked, then any active pause buttons will have a solid LED.

Clock Seconds

If the Clock Seconds checkbox is checked, the clock on the rack system will show seconds in addition to the hours and minutes.  If the checkbox is not checked, then the rack system clock will show either an A for AM or a P for PM in place of the seconds.  Note that the clock on the moveable remote always shows the seconds.

Title Bar Help

If the Title Bar Help checkbox is checked, then passing the mouse pointer over any of the buttons on the SoundStation rack system will cause the title bar for the application to display a single line of descriptive text for the particular button over which the mouse pointer is currently residing.  If this checkbox is turned off, then the title bar for the application always shows the title "SoundStation".


The Wave Player Setup Dialog

The Wave Player Setup dialog allows you to set various options which determine how the Wave player section of the program runs.  Each of the options is discussed below.

Drag and Drop

Select one of the two options in the Drag and Drop group to determine how the program will handle new .WAV files that are dragged from File Manager to SoundStation and dropped.  If the Adds to Program option is selected, then .WAV files that are dropped on the program are added to any wave files that are already selected in the program through either the Program dialog or through previous drag and drop operations.  If the Replaces program option is selected, then .WAV files that are dropped on the program replace any previously selected wave files.

Recording

Select one of the two options in the Recording group to determine how recording of wave files will proceed when invoked.  The default selection, Starts immediately, means that once you press the Record button all necessary setup actions will perform and then recording will start.

To be able to cue up a recording session with more accuracy, it is better to select the Pauses initially option.  When this option is selected, and the wave Record button is pressed, the usual housekeeping occurs, but then the Pause button comes on and the wave player is ready to record immediately when the Pause button is released.  If accuracy in starting your recording is needed, then select this option.

The Counts Up and Counts Down options determine the operation of the timer on the Wave Display while recording is in progress.  If you select Counts Up, then when you start recording the timer will start at 0:00.0 and increment as time goes by.  If you select Count Down, then the timer will start at a certain time that is determined by the amount of space left on the disk selected in the Wave Record Path (below).  As recording progresses, this timer will count down.  If the timer hits 0:00.0, then the disk you are recording to is full, and recording will stop.

The Coordinated CD pause release option allows you to more accurately record selections from your CD-ROM player.  To use this option, turn on the checkbox.  Then, the next time you wish to record from the CD-ROM, have the desired selection ready to go on the CD, with the pause button enabled.  Then, be sure to select the Pauses initially option set, above.  When you release the pause on the Wave recorder to start recording, the CD player will automatically unpause itself and start playing.  This saves having to reach up and unpause the CD manually.

The Wave Record Path options allows you to designate the drive and path to which the wave recorder will store the waveform data during recording.  It is definitely recommended that this drive be a hard disk drive.  A floppy drive will definitely not have the throughput needed to store the data, and you cannot store to a CD-ROM drive.  This option is available so that you may designate a drive that may have a faster throughput rate, or that is kept clean and defragmented, or possibly a drive that has not been compressed with a disk doubler or compressor.

To select the drive and path to use for recording, press the Change button.  A Record Path selection dialog will appear.  To change the drive letter, select the desired drive letter by double-clicking the left mouse button on the desired drive letter.  You can change the recording path by traversing to the proper path by double-clicking on the subdirectories listed in the Directories list box until you have the path you want.  Press the OK button to accept the new path, or Cancel to abort the choice.

The Limit waveform recording to: option allows you to make sure you don't inadvertently fill up your hard disk with a huge waveform recording.  This is a safety net you can invoke to limit the amount of recording you can perform at a time.  To remove this safety net, enter a 0 for the time and you can record until your hard disk fills up, if you wish.

Additional Options

The "Pause after playing each waveform file." option allows you to have the WAVE device pause at the end of each selection in a multiple selection playback.  Check this box on to have the pause activate between each file, check it off to allow normal sequential operation.


The MIDI Player Setup Dialog

The MIDI Player Setup dialog allows you to set various options which determine how the MIDI player runs.  Each section in the dialog is discussed below.

Time/Track Defaults

The Time/Track Defaults section determines how the time and track display on the MIDI player will operate when the rack system is running and the MIDI player is active.  When a new list of MIDI selections is obtained through the MIDI programming dialog, the program finds the length of each song and the total length of all the songs.  The totals are shown on the MIDI display for a period of five seconds before reverting to the default or desired time and track display mode.  Also, if you press the Time or Track buttons to alter the display, the default action is that the display also reverts back to the default time and track display mode after five seconds.

If the Default on Timeout checkbox is checked, the display will always revert back after a period of five seconds whenever the Time or Track buttons are used to alter the display.  If this option is checked, then the default display on the timeout will be the one selected from the other options in the group.  These options include whether to count up or down, and whether to display the count on a song by song or total of the selections basis.  Turning off the checkbox will cause the Time and Track display to "stick" to the last setting instead of trying to revert back.

Reverse Skip

The Reverse Skip option allows you to customize the operation of the Reverse Skip button on the MIDI player.  The default operation of the Reverse Skip button while the player is in Play or Pause mode is to return to the beginning of the current song if the current position of the song is greater than 2 seconds, or to skip back to the previous song if the current position of the current song is less than or equal to 2 seconds.  By selecting the Previous Track option, then the Reverse Skip button will always skip back to the previous song when pressed, no matter where the current position of the current song is.

Drag and Drop

Select one of the two options in the Drag and Drop group to determine how the program will handle new .MID files that are dragged from File Manager to SoundStation and dropped.  If the Adds to Program option is selected, then .MID files that are dropped on the program are added to any MIDI files that are already selected in the program through either the Program dialog or through previous drag and drop operations.  If the Replaces program option is selected, then .MID files that are dropped on the program replace any previously selected MIDI files.

MIDI Song Title Display

You can decide how the display in the MIDI component displays the name of the currently playing MIDI song.  Choose between full path and filename or just filename only.  Also, you can select between all uppercase or all lowercase.

Additional Options

The "Pause after each song" option allows you to have the MIDI device pause at the end of each selection in a multiple selection playback.  Check this box on to have the pause activate between each file, check it off to allow normal sequential (or random or repeated) operation.


The CD Player Setup Dialog

The CD Player Setup dialog allows you to set various options which determine how the CD player runs.  Each section in the dialog is enclosed in a Group Box with an appropriate label.  Each of these groups is discussed below.

Time/Track Defaults

The Time/Track Defaults section determines how the time and track display on the CD player will operate when the rack system is running and the CD player is active.  When a new list of CD selections is obtained through the Load button, the program finds the length of each song and the total length of all the songs.  The totals are shown on the CD display for a period of five seconds before reverting to the default or desired time and track display mode.  Also, if you press the Time or Track buttons to alter the display, the default action is that the display also reverts back to the default time and track display mode after five seconds.

If the Default on Timeout checkbox is checked, the display will always revert back after a period of five seconds whenever the Time or Track buttons are used to alter the display.  If this option is checked, then the default display on the timeout will be the one selected from the other options in the group.  These options include whether to count up or down, and whether to display the count on a track by track or total of the selections basis.  Turning off the checkbox will cause the Time and Track display to "stick" to the last setting instead of trying to revert back.

Reverse Skip

The Reverse Skip option allows you to customize the operation of the Reverse Skip button on the CD player.  The default operation of the Reverse Skip button while the player is in Play or Pause mode is to return to the beginning of the current track if the current position of the track is greater than 2 seconds, or to skip back to the previous track if the current position of the current track is less than or equal to 2 seconds.  By selecting the Previous Track option, then the Reverse Skip button will always skip back to the previous track when pressed, no matter where the current position of the current track is.


The Info Button
The Information Dialog

The Info button provides a visual feedback regarding the status of your sound board.  Since not all sound boards are created equal, this dialog box indicates what aspects of the sound board were found on your system.  Those items that are marked, are available.  Those that are not marked, are not available on your sound board.  The information gathered by this dialog box is also the same information that set your SoundStation functions.