Digitrack is a small program that allows instant access to a number of sound resources. It was written to be used in any sort of live, music/sound performance where such instant access would be desirable. Possible uses are: playing a certain sound over and over while recording an answering-machine message, or while talking on the phone, or while recording a sound collage. Have fun!
Start Digitrack by double-clicking on its icon, which will start the program but not load in any playable sounds, or double-click on one of the Digitrack SF (sounds files) icons, which will start the program and load in all the sounds in the specified SF. Only one SF can be loaded at a time.
On the screen will be the sounds window, listing all the loaded sounds. To load in a new sounds file, choose Release Sounds from the Sounds menu if there are sounds currently loaded, and then choose Load Sounds... to get a standard dialog box listing all sounds files.
Once a sound file has been loaded in, the sounds window will list all the sounds, and a letter next to each sound. Hitting any of those letters will play the corresponding sound. You can also play the sound by choosing it from the Sounds menu. You can change the volume with the Volume menu; any changes you make to the volume will not hold after you quit Digitrack.
This program can be used with only the above instructions (that is, without using any of the track functions.) To have more control over the sounds you play, read on for information about recording a sequence of sounds.
(To create your own sounds files, you need to use a resource copying program like ResEdit. An SF has any number of ‘snd ‘ resources, numbered sequentially starting from 8129. The names of the sounds can be anything; they are irrelevant to the program and are used for the user’s benefit only.)
To work with a sequence of these sounds, called a track, select New Track from the File menu, and the track window will appear. The numbers in the lower right are like the counter on a CD player or cassette deck; the top number tells how many ticks, or sixtieths of seconds, the track has gotten to, either in recording or playback. The bottom numbers describe the same time, divided (for ease of viewing) into minutes, seconds, and ticks. When a track is first opened, or is cleared, the time reads 0 ticks, denoting the beginning of the track.
To record a track, select Record from the Track menu. The counter will start running, and each time you hit a key, that sound will play, and that sound and its time (a note) will be added to the track. Record for as long as you want (up to a few minutes), and then select Stop from the Track menu. The counter will then tell you how long the entire track is. (Note that all blank space at the beginning of the track is deleted when you Stop; in effect, recording begins when you play the first sound. Use Leader Time in the Track Attributes dialog box to add blank space to the beginning of the track.)
Choose Play from the Track menu to playback the track; you can stop playback anytime by choosing Stop from the Track menu. To clear all the notes from a track, choose Clear Track from the Track menu. You must clear the track in order to record a new sequence. To change certain things about the track, select Track Attributes from the Track Menu.
Whenever there are any notes in the track, exactly one of them will be the selected or current note. You can edit this note by selecting Note Attributes... from the Track menu. The name of the current note will always be shown at the top of the window. Use Previous Note and Next Note from the Track menu to change the current note. For example, you could change the time of a note to have it play slightly sooner or later in the track.
