This section explains how to use Peak’s Playlist feature to sequence audio events. A Playlist is a list of Regions strung together in a specific order. Because audio is recorded on hard disk, it can be freely manipulated, unlike recording tape. Therefore, the Playlist is merely a set of instructions that tell the hard disk which playlist regions to “read” in what order. Playlist editing does not permanently alter the original audio data on your hard disk. No matter how many changes you make, your original recordings remain intact. This type of nondestructive editing is one of Peak’s most important features. When you edit an audio file within Peak’s Playlist window you are not really cutting and moving chunks of sound as you would if you were editing analog tape. Instead, Peak is merely creating a “map” of your audio file. This map, or “playlist,” simply describes the order in which you want portions of the recording to be played. If you’d like to hear the middle of a song first, the end next and the beginning last, then so be it. Peak will tell the hard disk (where the information is stored) to go to the middle of the recording and play that portion first, followed by the others. With nondestructive editing, you are free to experi-ment with music and sound in ways never before possible. You can move and rearrange “pieces” of audio, or Regions, with total freedom. Edits can be heard as soon as you perform them. In addition, Power Macintosh users can apply Premiere™ audio plug-ins to playlist events in real-time. Peak offers a fast, flexible, and powerful approach to recording, editing and processing digital audio. In Peak, you can also burn DAO (“Disk At Once”) audio CDs from Playlists using Adaptec Toast, which is bundled with Peak. You can also use Peak Playlists to create a Jam Image file to create TAO (“Track At Once”) audio CDs using Apatec’s JAM. (Jam is sold separately.) Most CD burners are supported.
Creating a Playlist
To create a new Playlist:
1. Select Playlist Document from the New... submenu under the File menu, or click Command-Shift-P. An empty playlist document will appear. The top of the playlist has category titles for each column of information. The bottom of the playlist shows total duration of the playlist.
To add an item to the playlist:
1. Make sure the playlist is the frontmost document in Peak. Select the Contents Palette from the Window menu, if it is not already open.
2. Drag and drop to add Regions to the playlist. Each Region you add to the playlist becomes a playlist event. The center of the playlist window shows playlist events in a list. You may use Regions from more than one audio document. However, the audio document with the Regions you wish to use in the playlist must be open in Peak to be available. The controls along the top of the Playlist window give you access to most of the Playlist functions. There are transport controls at the right of the window that allow you to audition the Playlist from the currently selected Region, or Playlist Event. There is a time display in the middle of the window. From left to right, the icons in the upper left of the Playlist window are Crossfade Select, Trash Can, Nudge Regions, Burn CD, and Bounce Playlist.
A playlist event has several properties that can be modified–crossfade in, gap time, crossfade out, gain, and up to four plug-in DSP effects. Since the transi-tions between one audio event to another can be abrupt, a playlist crossfade can be used to smooth the transition from one audio event to another. The crossfade fades out the first region while fading in the next region. Each playlist event has separate controls for crossfade in, crossfade out, crossfade in time, and crossfade out time. The curve stored in crossfade in is used to fade in the current region. The curve stored in crossfade out is used to fade out into the next region. Crossfades are stored on disk and are computed before playback. When a crossfade is being calculated, the watch cursor may appear.
The audio material from each region overlaps beyond the region boundaries. As the first region ends, the next region’s audio material begins to fade in. When the next region begins playing, the first region continues to fade out. Using the separate crossfade in and crossfade out curves, Peak provides you with the flexibility to create all common crossfade types. These include “Linear Crossfade,” “Equal Power Crossfade,” “Slow in but fast out Crossfade,” “Fast in but slow out crossfade,” and “Overlap transition.” Peak is also flexible in allowing you to control crossfade in and crossfade out durations separately. All crossfades are based on overlapping audio from the previous or subsequent regions and then mixing the overlapping material after applying the crossfade curves. Linear is actually equal power, since Peak crossfades are calculated logarithmically. A Playlist event’s gain setting can be used to control the balance of the event in a Playlist. You may need to raise the volume or lower the volume of some Playlist events to maintain a proper balance of volume levels. You can make adjustments to the volume levels as you listen to playback in the Playlist. occur. You may also introduce clicks between Playlist events if the difference in gain between the two playlist events is too large. Crossfades can help smooth these transitions.
To select items in the Playlist:
Click on the item in the Playlist that you wish to select. You may use the Shift key to select several items in the Playlist.
To insert items into the playlist:
To hear your playlist, use the Play button in the Playlist window. The Playlist will begin playback from the current selected playlist event.
To preview transitions between playlist regions
1. Select the playlist event in which you wish to hear the transition.
2. Use the Playlist’s Play button or press the Spacebar while holding down the Command key. The preroll setting from the Auditioning... dialog under the Preference menu will be used to audition from the end of the previous playlist event into the selected playlist event.
To scrub in the Playlist window:
While playing audio in a Playlist, hold down the control key and press the forward or reverse buttons in the playlist. The audio will advance "CD-style" in larger increments. Release the mouse when you find the spot you wish to hear. This is useful for moving around quickly in the Playlist's audio to test gain levels and DSP effects for potential clipping. Also, click and drag right or left in the Playlist Window’s time display.
To select next or previous Playlist event:
With the Playlist frontmost, you can use the arrow keys (up and down arrows) to select the next or previous playlist event. While playing audio in a Playlist, you can use the arrow keys to move playback to the next or previous event in the Playlist during playback. Note that the arrow keys don't work with the control key to scrub during playback. You can also use the Tab key to select the next Playlist event, even during playback.
Modifying Playlist Events
To move items in the playlist:
Click and drag the Playlist event to the new location. A green line will indicate the new position for the playlist event. Release the mouse button when the green line is at the location you wish to place the event.
To delete items in the Playlist:
1. Select the Playlist event you wish to delete by clicking on it.
2. Press the Delete key on your keyboard, or click on the Trash Can icon in the Playlist window. The event will be removed from the playlist, and the audio events below the event will move up. Obviously, this operation will affect the length of the Playlist.
To edit a crossfade in or out:
Double-click on the Playlist event’s Crossfade In or Crossfade Out icon. The Envelope Editor dialog will appear, where you may edit the points making up the Crossfade In or Out.
To change Crossfade In or Out duration
Double-click on the Playlist event Crossfade In time or Crossfade Out time. A dialog will prompt you to enter the time for the Playlist event’s Crossfade In or Crossfade Out duration. LE Crossfades are not available in Peak LE Playlists . The default setting for crossfade duration in Peak Playlists is 0.
To modify the gap time:
Double-click on the Playlist event Gap Time. A dialog will prompt you to enter the desired Gap Time for the Playlist event.
Applying Plug-In Effects to Playlist Events
You may apply up to four Premiere‚Ñ¢ plug-in effects processes per Playlist event. This powerful feature allows you to place different effects on different events that are processed in real-time. This is very useful if you are creating remixes. Please note the number of effects you can use is limited to the speed of your Power Macintosh. Some effects, such as Waves TrueVerb ‚Ñ¢ , may not be able to run in real-time on your processor. In addition, performance of Playlist effects is reduced when other applications are open, or if File Sharing is in use during playback. Playlist DSP is compatible with PowerPC Native plug-ins only. Check with the manufacturer of your plug-ins to ensure compatibility.
To add a Plug-In DSP effect to a Playlist event:
1. Click on first unused DSP effect box on the playlist event. You may select DSP effect boxes on multiple events by holding down the Shift key while you select DSP effect boxes.
2. Choose a desired plug-in from the Plug-In menu.
3. Configure the plug-in settings, and click OK or Process, depending on the plug-in.
4. Peak will turn on the orange LED light for each selected DSP effect box, indicating that they are enabled.
To remove a DSP effect to a playlist event:
1. Click on the DSP effect box in the playlist event that you wish to remove. You may select multiple DSP effect boxes on multiple events by holding down the shift key while you select DSP effect boxes.
2. Press the Delete key on your keyboard. Peak will turn off the LED lights for the selected DSP effect boxes indicating that they are disabled.
To change the settings of a DSP effect on a playlist event:
1. Double-click on the DSP effect box in the playlist event that you wish to reconfigure.
2. Configure the plug-in settings and click OK or Process, depending on the particular plug-in.
Creating a New Audio Document from a Playlist
After you have created a finished Playlist “remix,” you may wish to permanently transform the Playlist into a new audio document of its own, including all the Playlist’s DSP effects and crossfades. In other words, the new audio document will be the equivalent of digitally recording the output of a playlist into a new document. Additionally, Peak automatically places markers or regions into the new document that correspond to each Playlist event boundary with names that match the name of the source region.
To create a new Audio Document from the playlist:
1. Shift-click to select the playlist events you wish to turn into a new audio document, or use the Select All command from the Edit menu.
2. Choose New Document from Playlist under the File menu’s New submenu, or click the Bounce Playlist button in the Playlist window. The following dialog will appear:
3. In the resulting dialog, select whether you want to bounce the playlist to a new AIFF file, a new Sound Designer II file, or a Jam Image file. Use the radio buttons to select whether you want Playlist events to appear in the new document with Regions, Markers, or Nothing.
4. A new audio document, with DSP effects and crossfades will be generated from the selected playlist events. Peak automatically places markers into the audio document that correspond to each playlist event boundary. The markers have names that match the name of the source playlist region. For full JAM compatibility, choose “Regions.”
Exporting the Playlist as a Text Document
you wish to keep a text record of your playlist, you may export the playlist into a new text document. The text document will show the playlist events, times, crossfade times, and gain levels.
To export a playlist as text:
1. Open the playlist document you wish to save as a text file.
2. Choose Export as Text from the File menu. The following dialog appears.
3. Enter a name to save the playlist under and a location to store the file, and click Save.
Saving and Opening Playlists
If you remove the regions used in a playlist, you may not be able to use the playlist that refers to those regions. If you delete a file that a playlist refers to, you also will not be able to use the playlist. Playlist edits that have been Saved cannot be Undone.
To save a playlist:
1. Choose Save from the File menu. If the playlist has not been saved yet, you will be asked to enter a name to save the playlist under, and a location to store the document.
2. Alternatively, you can save a copy of the playlist with the Save As... command.
To open a playlist:
1. Choose Open from the File menu. Select the playlist you wish to open with the Open File... dialog. Peak will automatically open any audio documents that the playlist refers to. If the audio documents that the playlist refers to are deleted, you will be unable to use the playlist document.
Burning Audio CDs from Peak Playlists
Using Peak Playlists you can burn audio CDs from Playlists using Adaptec Toast, which is bundled with Peak. You can also use Peak Playlists to create a Jam Image file to create DAO (“Disk At Once”) audio CDs using Apatec’s JAM. (Jam sold separately.) Most CD burners are supported.
Regions and the JAM file format
A JAM image file represents an entire CD to the CD-writing software JAM from Adaptec™. When you create a JAM image with Peak, JAM wil interpret the regions you create in the JAM image file as tracks. Any audio beweeen one region’s end and the next region’s start will be interpreted as gap times. Finally, any markers you create in a JAM image file will become indexes in JAM. By using these features, assembling and editing a CD in Peak prior to burning with JAM is a snap. Be sure that you have Adaptec Toast installed, and that you have a working CD burner attached to the SCSI chain of your computer. Consult the documentation that came with your CD burner.
To burn an audio CD from a Peak Playlist:
1. Create a Playlist with the tracks as you want them to appear on the CD.
2. In Peak, click on the Burn Audio CD button in the Playlist window.
3. Peak will bounce the playlist with your effects and launch Toast. If Toast is not found, Peak will prompt you to find Toast.
4. Once Toast has been informed by Peak about the CD tracks to burn, a dialog appears instructing you to insert a blank CD into your recorder.
5. Insert a blank CD and click OK. Toast will burn your Peak playlist to CD. (Press Cancel, then click the “Audio” button to change the pause between tracks, click Done and Write CD to resume. Playlists burned from Peak using Toast should not use crossfades between playlist events since Toast burns CD tracks one-at-a-time with a predefined gap between tracks. If you need seamless transitions between tracks, use the instructions below for burning playlists with Jam.
To burn an audio CD from a Jam Image File:
1. Create a Playlist with each track as you want them to appear on the CD.
3. Use the Select All command from the Edit menu or Toolbar.
2. Choose New Document from Playlist under the File menu’s New submenu, or click the Bounce Playlist button in the Playlist window. The Bounce Playlist dialog will appear.
3. In the pop-up at the top of the Bounce Playlist dialog, select Jam Image . Use the radio buttons to select Playlist events to appear in the new document as Regions.
4. A new audio document, with DSP effects and crossfades will be generated from the selected playlist events. Peak automatically places regions into the audio document that correspond to each playlist event boundary. The regions have names that match the name of the source playlist region.
5. Close the new audio document and open it with Jam.
