◊ When you first launch SoundEffects, you will see a new empty document window. Every document window is divided into three parts:
the top part contains information about the sound, such as its sample rate, number of channels, and size.
the middle part is where all the editing takes place: you can select portions of the waveform with the mouse or with the arrow keys and then cut, copy, paste, apply effects and so on.
at the bottom there are various buttons, much like in a tape recorder. You can record a sound, play the sound and control the sound that is playing.
◊ To record a new sound, click the record button at the bottom of the window. A recording window will show up: you can then begin recording, pause or stop recording, play the recorded sound or choose options for recording. When you are done, click the “Save” button if you want to insert the recorded sound in the document, or “Cancel” if you don’t. Inside the recording window a small waveform shows what is coming through the microphone. The wave is red when it is being recorded, otherwise it is green.
◊ To add new channels to the sound, you just need to drag the “New Channel” icon to the right of the waveform. A new channel will be inserted. You may want to add channels to the sound not only to make stereo (or multi-channel) sounds, but also to use them as a temporary work space.
◊ To delete an existing channel, drag the icon next to that channel into the trash.
◊ To switch channel positions, drag a channel icon on top of the one you wish to switch it with.
◊ You can choose how every channel will output sound. At the left of every channel there are two buttons, one for the left speaker, one for the right speaker. Turn them on or off, whether you wish to make that channel play through the left, right or both speakers.
• Applying the effects
◊ To apply effects to sounds, select the portion of the sound you wish to modify (if you don’t select anything, the whole sound will be used), then choose an effect from the “Effects” menu. If the effect you chose has a settings dialog, it will be shown, otherwise the effect will run immediately. If you choose an effect from the menu while holding the option key down, it will not show the settings dialog and it will use the last settings. If you choose an effect while holding the option and shift key down, it will only show the settings dialog, but it won’t run.
◊ If you choose an effect from the “Effects” menu while holding the shift key down, a window will be displayed containing information and help about the effect.
• Keyboard Shortcuts
◊ Some keys may be used as shortcuts in SoundEffects:
- space = Toggle play/pause.
- function keys = Play a single channel (F1 plays channel 1, F2 channel 2, and so on).
- option-function keys = Mute a single channel.
- arrow keys = Move the insertion point, like in a text editor.
- shift-arrow keys = Extend the selection, like in a text editor.
- delete = Delete the currently selected portion of sound.
- shift-Select All = Select a single channel.
- option-Select All = Select a stereo pair of channels.
- option-Open = Open any kind of document.
- option-Revert = Revert without asking for a confirmation.
- option-Leave Silence = Don’t show the dialog, use the last used settings instead.
- option-Select Peak = Don’t show the dialog, use the last used settings instead.
- option-Find Clipped Samples = Don’t show the dialog, use the last used settings instead.
◊ If you hold down these keys when clicking these buttons, the behavior will be slightly different:
- option-Zoom To Fit = Zoom to fit the selection, not the whole sound.
- option-Zoom In = Zoom in as much as possible.
- option-Play = When the Loop button is pressed, don’t loop the selected sound. Instead, use the portion of the sound chosen as a loop (with “Set Loop” in the “Selection” menu) for looping.
- option-Record = Quick record: create a new document and open the record window.
• Recording Options
◊ All recording options are in the “Recording” pages of the Preferences dialog. The most common ones are also included in the recording window, the window that appears when you click the record button or choose “Record…” from the Sound menu.
◊ In the Preferences dialog, you will see a control labeled “Active Channels”. To record only from a specific channel, hilight it by clicking it. The number of available channels depends on the input device connected to your Mac. If your Mac can record stereo sounds, you will be able to choose whether to record from the left, right, or both channels.
The following table shows how the various combinations of the settings of the “Active Channels” and “Use” (Mono/Stereo) controls affect recording. Use a monospaced font such as Monaco or Courier to view this table correctly.
