File menu

Click any menu item below to display more help:

This is the Gear Audio File menu.

Use this menu to open, save, close and delete new or existing projects, to print a CD index, to specify print settings, to open a recent project and to exit Gear Audio.

See also

Button bars

Status bar


Edit menu

Click any menu item below to display more help:

This is the Gear Audio Edit menu.

Use this menu to cut, copy, paste and clear selected tracks and to specify properties for selected tracks.

See also

Button bars

Status bar


View menu

Click any menu item below to display more help:

This is the Gear Audio View menu.

Use this menu to specify display settings for the currently active project for the Gear Audio Tool bar, Status bar and Project View.

See also

Button bars

Status bar


View menu

Click any menu item below to display more help:

This is the Gear Audio View menu.

Use this menu to specify display settings for the currently active project for the Gear Audio Tool bar, Status bar and Project View.

See also

Button bars

Status bar


View menu

Click any menu item below to display more help:

This is the Gear Audio View menu.

Use this menu to specify display settings for the currently active project for the Gear Audio Tool bar, Status bar and Project View.

See also

Button bars

Status bar


View menu

Click any menu item below to display more help:

This is the Gear Audio View menu.

Use this menu to specify display settings for the currently active project for the Gear Audio Tool bar, Status bar and Project View.

See also

Button bars

Status bar


Insert menu

Click any menu item below to display more help:

This is the Gear Audio Insert menu.

Use this menu to grab tracks from CDs or your hard disk.

See also

Button bars

Status bar


Project menu
CD Project menu

Click any menu item below to display more help:

This is the Gear Audio Project menu.

Use this menu to create a list of the tracks in your project, to write your project to CD-R and to specify settings for the currently active project. The settings you specify for your project via this menu override the default settings specified via the General preferences menu.

See also

Button bars

Status bar


Recorder menu

Click any menu item to display more help:

This is the Gear Audio Recorder menu.

Use this menu to erase a CD-RW.

See also

Button bars

Status bar


Tools menu

Click any menu item below to display more help:

Use this menu to play tracks, to improve track quality, to edit or sample tracks using a linked external wave editor, to specify default settings for Gear Audio and to undo changes

See also

Button bars

Status bar


Player menu
Tools menu

Click any menu item below to display more help:

This is the Gear Audio Tools menu.

Use this menu to play tracks, to improve track quality, to edit or sample tracks using a linked external wave editor, to specify default settings for Gear Audio  and to undo changes

See also

Button bars

Status bar


Help menu

Click any menu item below to display more help:

This is the GEAR Audio Help menu

•	Click Help topics to access the Gear Audio on-line help index

•	Click About Gear Audio to view version and copyright information for the Gear Audio application.

See also

Button bars

Status bar


How to create a collection CD..
How to create an Audio CD: the basic steps..

1.	Click [image] to open a new project.
The ‘New project’ dialog appears.

2.	Select a directory and specify a name for your project.

3.	Click New to open your new project.

4.	Add tracks to your new project by clicking [image] or [image].

5.	Edit your project.

6.	You can check your project by clicking
GEAR Audio will play the first seconds of each track in the project.

7.	Write your project to CD-R.


How to copy a whole CD..
How to copy an entire CD..

1.	Click [image] to open a new project.
The New project dialog appears.

2.	Select a directory and specify a name for your project.

3.	Click New to open your new project.

4.	Click [image].
GEAR Audio will prompt you to wait while it retrieves information about the current CD.
The Add CD track(s) dialog appears.

5.	If necessary, click Destination to check which drives have been selected for storage of the tracks.

6.	Click Add all tracks .

7.	If prompted by GEAR Audio, select additional free space.
The Copying CD track(s) dialog appears, displaying copying progress and information on the tracks you are copying. Once the copying process has been completed, the tracks appear in the GEAR Workbench Project view.


How to copy .WAV files into my project..
How to copy .WAV files into a project..

1.	Click [image].
The Add wave file(s) dialog appears.

2.	Find the appropriate directory and select the .WAV file or files you wish to add to your project.

3.	Click Create link(s) to link the file(s) to the project without actually copying them (this saves storage space
  or
Click Copy file(s) to create a physical copy of the file(s), for instance if you want to edit the file without affecting other projects.


How to edit a track..

Before you begin to edit tracks, you will need to link an external wave editor to GEAR Audio as follows:

1.	Click General preferences... in the File menu.

2.	Click the Application tab.

3.	Enter the path and file name of your external wave editor.

4.	Click OK.

Now that you have linked your external wave editor to GEAR Audio, you are ready to edit tracks:

1.	Select a track in the Workbench Project view and click [image].
(Refer to the documentation for your wave editor for specific editing instructions).

2.	Once you have finished editing your track, exit your external wave editor.
Your track will automatically reappear, in edited form, in the GEAR Audio Project view.


How to move tracks..

1.	Select the track or tracks you wish to move from the Workbench Project view.

2.	Drag and drop the selected track or tracks to the desired insertion point, based on the position of the blue insertion line, which moves up and down in the Workbench Project view with the selected tracks as you move your cursor.


How to copy tracks from a CD..
How to copy selected tracks from a CD..

1.	Click [image].
GEAR Audio will prompt you to wait while it retrieves information about the current CD.
The Add CD track(s) dialog appears.

2.	Select the track or tracks you wish to copy into your project.

3.	If necessary, click Destination to check which drives have been selected for storage of the tracks.

4.	Click Add tracks .

5.	If prompted by GEAR Audio, select additional free space.
The Copying CD track(s) dialog appears, displaying copying progress and information on the tracks you are copying. Once the copying process has been completed, the tracks appear in the GEAR Workbench Project view.


How to change the pause between tracks
How to change the pause between tracks..

1. 	In the Workbench Project view, double-click the track you want to change the pause in front of.
GEAR Audio displays the Track properties dialog.

2.

Enter a new value in the ‘Pause before’ field and click OK.
Note that the pause before the first track is permanently set at 2 seconds. Audio players are designed to detect the beginning of the first track 2 seconds into the audio CD.


How to play the tracks in my project
How to play the tracks in a project..

To listen to selected tracks:

•	Select the tracks you want to hear and click [image].

To play all tracks:

•	Without any tracks selected, click [image].

Introscan:

•	Click [image] to have GEAR Audio play only the first seconds of each track.


How to write to CD..
How to write to CD-R..

Once you have finished editing and checking your project, you are ready to actually write your project to CD-R:

1.	Insert the appropriate size recordable CD in your CD recorder.
GEAR Audio automatically totals up the times for the tracks in your project and generates a warning if the inserted CD-R is not large enough to record your project.

2.	Click [image].
The About to write CD-R dialog appears.

3.	Click the ‘Test and write’ button to test your system, your CD recorder and your CD-R prior to actually writing your project to CD-R.
  or
Click Write to immediately start writing your CD-R.

During testing and writing status dialogs appear to keep you informed.


How to delete tracks..

1.	Select the track or tracks you wish to delete from the Workbench Project view.

2.	Click [image].
The Delete wave file confirmation dialog appears.

3.	Select the appropriate option:

•	Click ‘Yes to all’ to delete the selected tracks from the Project view and to delete all associated wave files from disk.
Any other tracks in your project which may be based on deleted wave files will also be deleted.

•	Click ‘No to all’ to delete the selected tracks from the Project view and to retain all associated wave files on disk.

•	Click ‘Yes’ to delete a single track from the Project view  and to delete the associated wave file from disk.
Any other tracks in your project which may be based on the deleted wave file will also be deleted.

•	Click ‘No’ to delete a single track from the Project view and to retain the associated wave file on disk.

The options ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ have a slightly different effect when they are clicked in conjunction with multiple track selections. After you have clicked ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ for the first track in your multiple selection, GEAR Audio displays the name of each subsequent wave file in the Delete wave file dialog and waits for you to click ‘Yes’ if you wish to delete the wave file or ‘No’ if you wish to retain it before taking the corresponding action.


How to copy tracks..

1.	Select the track or tracks you wish to copy from the Project view.

2.	Click [image] to copy the selected tracks to the clipboard.

3.	If necessary, open another project.

4.	Drag and drop the blue insertion line in the Project view to the desired insertion point.

5.	Click [image] to paste the selected tracks back into your project.


How to improve GEAR Audio performance..

You can improve the performance of GEAR Audio and resolve certain problems by:

•	closing other applications to make more memory available to GEAR Audio

•	defragmenting your hard disk to maximize the space available for use by GEAR Audio

•	disabling your screen saver to make more memory available for GEAR Audio functions

•	disabling all applications which may be scheduled to start automatically before writing to CD-R, e.g. virus checkers, fax applications, Windows 95 System Agent, etc.

•	increasing the Total buffer size in the Advanced write settings screen

Contact your local supplier or our Technical Support if you encounter problems which cannot be resolved as described above.


How to change the appearance of the GEAR Audio Workbench..

The appearance of the GEAR Audio Workbench can be changed in a variety of ways:

•	Via the Options in the Tools menu..
In the View tab you can change a number of display parameters at once.

•	Via the Properties under the CD project menu.
This option is very efficient if you wish to change a number of display parameters at once for the currently active project.

•	Via the GEAR Audio popup menus (right mouse button).
This option is very efficient if you wish to quickly change only a few display parameters.

•	Via the View menu.
This option is very efficient if you wish to quickly gain immediate access to all display parameters.


How to remove scratches and clicks from tracks..

Wave files recorded from non-digital sources may contain irritating scratches and clicks. GEAR Audio contains a built-in declick and descratch utility which helps to remedy this problem, providing you with the ability to create audio discs with higher, more consistent quality levels:

1.	Right-click a wave file in the Workbench Project view.

2.	Click Declick track.

The following screen is displayed while clicks and scratches are automatically filtered out of your track.


Workbench popups


Menu bar

This is the GEAR Audio Menu bar. The Menu bar provides you with access to all of the functions of GEAR Audio via Menus. The menus can be can be accessed by clicking or by pressing the Alt key on your keyboard in combination with the underlined letter from the menu you wish to access.


Status bar

This is the Gear Audio Status bar. This bar displays status information on the currently active project. The Status bar can be displayed or hidden by enabling or disabling the Status bar option in the View menu. Various Status bar display options can also be set via the View menu.


Tool bar

This is the Gear Audio Tool bar. This bar offers quick access to various file and editing functions, print settings, version information and context-sensitive help. The Tool bar can be displayed or hidden by enabling or disabling the Tool bar option in the View menu. It can also be dragged and dropped to any location on your desktop.


Project bar

This is the Gear Audio Project bar. This bar offers quick access to various project functions. The Project bar can be displayed or hidden by enabling or disabling the Project bar option in the View menu. It can also be dragged and dropped to any location on your desktop.


Player bar

This is the Gear Audio Player bar. This bar offers quick access to various CD player functions. The Player bar can be displayed or hidden by enabling or disabling the Player bar option in the View menu. Various Player bar display options can also be set via the View menu. The Player bar can also be dragged and dropped to any location on your desktop.


Project view

This is the Gear Audio Project view. The tracks you add to your project are displayed in the Project view, along with relevant information on each track, including the track number, track title or file name, track length, start/stop and pause before.

Change Project view display properties by clicking in the Project view with the right-hand mouse button and then enabling or disabling the appropriate display options.

The Project view is also used to create and modify projects. Tracks can be dragged and dropped to new locations in the Project view, for instance, as well as added or deleted. A blue line appears in the Project view as you drag tracks to new locations in your project or add tracks from an audio CD or your hard disk. The line serves as an insertion point indicator.


General preferences... (Application tab)


Show welcome dialog at start-up

Select this option to have the Gear Audio welcome screen displayed each time you start Gear Audio. The welcome screen allows you to quickly and easily open a new project, open an existing project or open your last project.


Save windows positions on exit

Select this option to have your current Workbench screen-size saved when you exit Gear Audio. The next time you start Gear Audio, the Gear Audio Workbench will be displayed the same way it was when you closed the program.


Sampler

Use the Sampler field to link Gear Audio to an external sampling application. Type the path and filename of your sampling application in the text box or click Browse to select the appropriate application.


Wave editor

Use the Wave editor field to link Gear Audio to an external editing application. Simply type the path and filename of your editing application in the text box or click Browse to select the appropriate application.


General preferences... (Recorder tab)


Current CD recorder

During installation GEAR Audio automatically identifies your CD recorder hardware and software.

This information is displayed here and cannot be edited.


Read strategy

Specify the speed at which you wish Gear Audio to read your source CD here:

•	Select Lowest speed if Gear Audio encounters problems when reading at maximum speed.

•	Select Highest speed to have your source CD read at maximum speed.

•	Select Advanced to specify a given reading speed in the dialog box that appears when you click Advanced


Write strategy

Specify the speed at which you wish Gear Audio to write to your CD-R here:

•	Select Lowest speed if Gear Audio encounters problems when writing at maximum speed.

•	Select Highest speed to have your target CD written at maximum speed.

•	Select Advanced to specify a given writing speed  and the required buffer size. Always try to use as large a buffer as possible.
Click Advanced to specify the settings.


Default CD-R size

Type the length of your recordable CD, in minutes, in the text box or click the drop-down list button to select the required value from a list. This value is used by Gear Audio when recording projects on your hard disk. The most commonly available CD-Rs are 74 minutes long.


Advanced reading strategy/Advanced write strategy

Select a Reading speed and a Write speed from the drop-down lists to optimise read and write performance. Lower speeds may improve performance in cases in which your system is unable to process information quickly enough.

Use the Maximum buffer size scroll bar to adjust the size of the buffer used by Gear Audio.

Buffer size has no impact on the speed at which Gear Audio writes to your CD-R, but does have an impact on reliability. Increase the size of the buffer to decrease the risk of losing valuable information.


General preferences... (View tab)


Show toolbars

Specify the tool bars you wish to have displayed on your Workbench by clicking the corresponding check boxes.


Track played / Total number

Set the Player bar to display either the number of the track currently being played or  the total number of tracks in the project.


Space - Mode

Set the Space display mode for the Status bar to either Used space or Free space by clicking the appropriate selection button. Used space indicates the amount of space used on your CD-R. Remaining space indicates the amount of space available for recording.


Space - Unit

The amount of Used space or the amount of Remaining space can be expressed in MB, Time or %. Select the desired units by clicking the appropriate value in the drop-down list.


Track time - Mode

Track time can be displayed on the Player bar in:

•	Track time, which is the total time for the current track

•	Remaining track time, which is the remaining time for the current track

•	Total time, which is the total time for all tracks

•	Remaining total time, which is the total remaining time for all tracks.

Select the desired mode by clicking the appropriate value in the drop-down list.


Track time - Format

Track time can be displayed in various combinations of hours (hh), minutes (mm), seconds (ss), frames (ff) and double decimals (1/100 sec.) (dd).

Select the desired format by clicking the appropriate value in the drop-down list.


Total playing time - Format

Total playing time can be displayed in various combinations of hours (hh), minutes (mm), seconds (ss), frames (ff) and double decimals (1/100 sec.) (dd).

Select the desired Format by clicking the appropriate value in the drop-down list.


General preferences (Project tab)


Title/Filename

Click the Track title selection button to have the titles of your tracks displayed in the columns of the Workbench Project view.

Click the Filename selection button to have the file names of your tracks displayed in the columns of the Workbench Project view.


Default pause before

Specify the amount of time between the tracks on your CD-R by typing the desired value in the entry box or clicking the up/down arrows .

The pause before the first track on your CD-R must be at least 2 seconds.


Length

Enable the Length check box to have the length of your tracks displayed in the columns of the Workbench Project view.


Start/Stop

Enable the Start/Stop check box to have the starting time and stopping time of your tracks displayed in the columns of the Workbench Project view.


Pause before

Enable the Pause before check box to have the pause between each of your tracks displayed in the columns of the Workbench Project view.


Time format

The time values in the columns of the Workbench Project view can be displayed in various combinations of hours (hh), minutes (mm), seconds (ss), frames (ff) and double decimals (1/100 sec.) (dd).

Select the desired format by clicking the appropriate value in the drop-down list.


General preferences (CD Index)


Index columns - Track number/Title

The Track number and Track title always appear on print-outs of the CD index and in the CD index text files generated for use in an external word-processing program.


Index columns - Length

Click the Length check box to have the length of your tracks printed on the CD index or included in a text file for use in an external word processing program.


Index columns - Start/Stop

Click the Start/Stop check box to have the starting time and stopping time of your tracks printed on the CD index or included in a text file for use in an external word processing program.


Index columns - Pause before

Click the Pause before check box to have the length of the pauses between your tracks printed on the CD index or included in a text file for use in an external word processing program.


Use current settings

Click the Use current settings check box to disable your Index column settings and to have the information currently displayed in the Workbench included on your CD index printout or  in a text file for use in an external word-processing program.


Index header - Total time

Click the Total time check box to have the total playing time of your CD-R printed in the header of your CD index or included in a text file for use in an external word-processing program.


Index header - Number of tracks

Click the Number of tracks check box to have the total number of tracks on your CD-R printed in the header of your CD index or included in a text file for use in an external word-processing program.


Print format - A4/Inlay

Set the format used to print your CD index here. This list of tracks can be printed on A4 format paper or in Inlay format for use in a standard CD jewel box.


Popups for Menu bar.shg


Popups for File menu.shg


New project

Click here to open a new project.


Open project

Click here to open an existing project.


Close project

Click here to close the currently active project. If you have not already done so, you will be prompted to save your work.


Save project

Click here to save the currently active project. If no changes have been made to your project since the last time you saved it, this menu option will be unavailable.


Delete project

Click here to delete a project. Gear Audio will ask you if wave files (tracks) not used in other projects must be deleted as well.


Print CD index

Click here to print a list of the tracks recorded on your CD-R.


Print setup

Click here to select a printer, to configure paper sizes and to specify print orientation via the

standard Windows Printer settings screen.


1 C:\My last project..
1 C:\My last project…

This area enables you to quickly and easily recall projects which were saved and closed recently. Click on the file name of the project you wish to open.


Exit

Click here to exit Gear Audio. You will be prompted to save any unsaved work before the system is closed down.


Popups for Edit menu.shg


Undo

Click here to reverse the most recent change made to your project.


Cut track(s)

Click here to cut a selected track or tracks to the clipboard.


Copy track(s)

Click here to copy a selected track or tracks to the clipboard.


Paste track(s)

Click here to paste a selected track or tracks from the clipboard into your project.


Clear track(s)

Click here to delete a selected track or tracks from your project.


Select all tracks

Click here to select all of the tracks in your project.


Properties

Click here to view and change the properties of a selected track.


Popups for Project menu.shg


Add CD track(s).

Click here to add one or more tracks from an audio CD to your project.


Add wave file(s).

Click here to add one or more wave files from your hard disk to your project.


Erase CD

Click here to erase the CD-RW currently placed in your recorder. All data on the CD-RW will be deleted and cannot be recovered.


Popups for Tools menu.shg


Play

Click here to play a selected track or tracks.


Pause

Click here to temporarily stop playing tracks.


Stop

Click here to stop playing tracks.


Previous track

Click here to skip back to the previous track.


Next track

Click here to skip forward to the next track.


Intro scan

Click here to play a short sample of every track. This way you can quickly identify the tracks by their sound.


Declick track
Improve track quality

Click here to improve track quality:

•	Declick tracks – filter clicks and scratches out of sampled wave files.

•	Normalize tracks – filter extremes out of sampled wave files.

•	Track effects – information about Algorithmix software.


Edit track

Click here to edit a selected track. If an external editing application has not been configured, this menu option will be unavailable. Specify your external editing application by clicking Options, General preferences and then entering the file name and path of the application on the Application tab.


Sample track

Click here to activate your external sampling application. If an external sampling application has not been configured, this menu option will be unavailable. Specify your external sampling application by clicking Options, General preferences and then entering the file name and path of the application on the Application tab.


General preferences

Click here to view and modify general settings for working with GEAR Audio projects.


Refresh

Click here to check the validity of the tracks in your project, for instance after deleting tracks from other projects.


Create CD index

Click here to create a printable list of the tracks in your project.


Preferences

Click here to specify preferences for the currently active project.


Write to CD

Click here to start writing your project to CD-R.


Popups for View menu.shg


Tool bar

Click here to show or hide the Tool bar.


Project bar

Click here to show or hide the Project bar.


Player bar menu (3 items)


Hide/Show

Click here to hide or show the Player bar.


Time

Click here to display additional menu options to specify time display preferences.

You can choose between 4 display modes:
   Track time: the total time for the current track
   Remaining track time: the remaining time for the current track
   Total time: the total time for all tracks
   Remaining total time: the total remaining time for all tracks.

You can also set the time format, where
   hh	= hours
   mm	= minutes
   ss	= seconds
   ff	= frames
   dd	= double decimal (1/100 second)


Playing time

This indicator shows you the playing time. This can be:

•	Track time: the total time for the current track

•	Remaining track time: the remaining time for the current track

•	Total time: the total time for all tracks

•	Remaining total time: the total remaining time for all tracks.

Use the View menu to set the preferred display mode.


Track number

This indicator shows you either the number of the track now playing or the total number of tracks, depending on the settings specified in the View menu.


Number menu

Click here to display additional menu options to set the track number display mode.

•	Track now playing: number of the track currently playing

•	Total number of tracks: total number of tracks in your project.


Status bar menu


Hide/Show

Click here to hide or show the Status bar.


Space

Click here to display additional options to specify recording time display preferences.

You can set the display mode to

•	show either the used part or the free part of your CD-R

•	display the free or used part as a percentage, in Mb or in units of time.


Project view preferences

Click here to specify which information must be displayed in the Project view:

•	Either track title or file name

•	Length of the track

•	The time at which the track starts and stops

•	The length of the pause before each track

Click Show all to activate all items at once.


Popup for Help from menu bar


Help menu

Click Help topics to access the Gear Audio on-line help index


Popup for Status bar Help field


Message field
Message area

This area of the Status bar displays concise information on the various functions and components of Gear Audio. As you navigate through the various screens of Gear Audio with your cursor, the message shown in this field changes, displaying information on menus, menu options, settings, etc..


Project view

This area of the Gear Audio Workbench displays various types of information on the currently active project, including track numbers, track names and times, etc..

The width of the columns in the Project view can be decreased or increased by dragging and dropping the left and right-hand edges of the column headings. Display mode can be set by right-clicking a column header and then selecting the required display options. A right-click in the center of the Project view displays a pop-up Edit menu which can be used to change your project.


Advanced reading strategy

Select a reading speed from the drop-down list box to optimise read performance.

If your computer is unable to process information quickly enough at high speed, select a lower speed to improve performance.

(Advanced reading strategy.bmp)


Advanced write strategy

Select a writing speed from the drop-down list box to optimize writing performance. If your computer is unable to process information quickly enough at high speed, select a lower speed to improve performance.

You can also select the buffer size to be used. Always try to use as large a buffer as possible in order to prevent writing is interrupted by a buffer under-run, which would mean the loss of your CD-R.

(Advanced write strategy.bmp)


Help for status bar (bottom of screen)


Number of tracks

The total number of tracks for the current project.


Free space / Space used

This indicator displays either the remaining space on your disc or the space occupied by the tracks in your project.

Use the View menu to determine if Free space or Used space must be displayed


Total playing time

Here you can read the total playing time for your project

Use the View menu to set the preferred time format.


hh:mm:ss

Hours, minutes, seconds.


hh:mm:ss:ff

Hours, minutes, seconds, frames.


hh:mm:ss.dd

Hours, minutes, seconds, double decimals (1/100 sec.).


mm:ss

Minutes, seconds.


mm:ss:ff

Minutes, seconds, frames.


mm:ss.dd

Minutes, seconds, double decimals (1/100 sec.).


Time

Click here to set the time format to be displayed

hh	= hours
mm	= minutes
ss	= seconds
ff	= frames
dd	= double decimal (1/100 sec.)


About GEAR Audio

Click About Gear Audio to view version and copyright information for the Gear Audio application.


What is ...?

Click here to get information on any item on your screen.

Just move the cursor to the item in question and click to display context-sensitive help.


Select wave files

Locate the required wave files and select them by clicking (in combination with the SHIFT or CTRL keys). Once you have selected the files you need, you can click Create link(s) or Copy file(s) to add them to your project.


Create links

The wave files you add to your project are not actually physically copied into your project or into another directory when you select this option. Instead, GEAR Audio copies information on the files, e.g. physical location and file type, into your project. This saves disk space when working with several projects which contain one or more tracks which are the same.

Be careful when physically deleting the wave files for such tracks, since deleting a wave file from one project will result in deletion of that file from all projects which use that file.


Copy files

Click Copy file(s) to make physical copies of the wave files you wish to add to your project, eliminating the risk of inadvertent deletion of the files when working with another project and providing you with the ability to edit the files using a linked external wave editor without affecting other projects which use the same track.

GEAR Audio will automatically attempt to select disk drives with sufficient space to store the wave files for the selected tracks. If GEAR Audio is unable to select the necessary space, it will display the ‘Select destination drive(s)’ screen, enabling you to specify the disk storage locations manually. After selecting files, you may also click Destination before clicking Copy file(s) to view the selected destination.


Destination

As you select files from the Add wave file(s) screen, GEAR Audio automatically searches all of the hard disks connected to your system for free space. Click the Destination button to view the selected disks, disk types, total space and free space and change the selected disks if desired.

Avoid selecting network disks to prevent problems related to network availability or transmission problems when writing to CD-R.


Available drives

Use the checkboxes to indicate which drive(s) you want to use to store the files or tracks.


Hard disk space

In the Needed field GEAR Audio indicates the disk space required to store the selected files or tracks. The free space for the selected drives is totalled after Selected. In this way you immediately know when you have selected sufficient free space.


Number

This number indicates the position of the selected track in your project.


Title

When you add a track from a CD or a wave file from your hard disk to your project, the name of the file is displayed in this entry box and in the GEAR Audio Project view. Type the name of the track in this box to have the name of the track displayed in the Project view and to make the name available for the creation of a CD index once you have finished your project.


File name

This box displays the name and physical location of your wave file.


File size in Mb

This box displays the size of your wave file in Mb.


Length

This box displays the length of your wave file in minutes and seconds.


Pause before

This box displays the pause before your wave file. The pause before any wave file except for the first one in your project can be adjusted by typing the desired value in seconds into the entry box or by selecting a value by clicking the arrow buttons next to the box.


Add track(s)

Click here to add only selected CD tracks to your project.


Add all tracks

Click here to add all tracks from the CD to your project.


Destination

As you select tracks from the Add CD track(s) screen, GEAR Audio automatically searches all of the hard disks connected to your system for free space. Click the Destination button to view the selected disks, disk types, total space and free space and change the selected disks if desired. Avoid selecting network disks to prevent problems related to network availability or transmission problems when writing to CD-R.


CD Reader

If there is more than one CD reader connected to your system, for instance a CD-ROM drive and a CD recorder, you can use this box to select the appropriate CD reader.


Available tracks

A list of the tracks on the CD.

Click to select the tracks you wish to add to your project.


Track type

Use this box to specify if all tracks must be displayed, or audio tracks only.


Playing time

The playing time of the selected tracks is indicated here, together with the total playing time for the whole CD.


Create new project

Click here start a new project.
The New project window will appear where you can select a folder and enter a file name for the project.


Open an existing project

Click here to open a project created earlier.
The Open project window will appear where you can select the project you want to work with.


Open your last project

Click here to automatically open the last project you worked with.


Show this dialog next time

By default the Welcome dialog is opened each time you start GEAR Audio.

Disable this checkbox if you do not want this dialog to appear.


The total time for the current track.


The remaining time for the current track.


The total time for all tracks.


The total remaining time for all tracks.


The number of the track currently playing.


The total number of tracks in your project.


Show either the used part or the free part of your CD-R.


Display as a percentage of total CD contents.


Display used or free space in Mb.


Display used or free space in minutes.


Hours, minutes, seconds.


Hours, minutes, seconds, frames.


Hours, minutes, seconds, double decimals (1/100 sec.).


Minutes, seconds.


Minutes, seconds, frames.


Minutes, seconds, double decimals (1/100 sec.).


Click here to display either track title or file name.


Click here to display the length of each track.


Click here to display the start and stop time of each track.


Click here to display the length of the pause before each track.


Click here to show all track information in your project view.


General preferences - Application tab

The five tabs in the General preferences screen are used to specify default settings for GEAR Audio. These settings are activated each time you start GEAR Audio and each time you open a new project. Settings specified for the currently active project via the Project menu, Player menu and View menu override these defaults.

Move your cursor over the window below and click to display more help.

Click on the tabs to display the Preferences tab of your choice.


General preferences - Recorder tab

The five tabs in the General preferences screen are used to specify default settings for GEAR Audio. These settings are activated each time you start GEAR Audio and each time you open a new project. Settings specified for the currently active project via the Project menu, Player menu and View menu override these defaults.

Move your cursor over the window below and click to display more help.

Click on the tabs to display the Preferences tab of your choice.


General preferences - View tab

The five tabs in the General preferences screen are used to specify default settings for GEAR Audio. These settings are activated each time you start GEAR Audio and each time you open a new project. Settings specified for the currently active project via the Project menu, Player menu and View menu override these defaults.

Move your cursor over the window below and click to display more help.

Click on the tabs to display the Preferences tab of your choice.


General preferences - Project tab
General preferences – CD project tab

The five tabs in the General preferences screen are used to specify default settings for GEAR Audio. These settings are activated each time you start GEAR Audio and each time you open a new project. Settings specified for the currently active project via the Project menu, Player menu and View menu override these defaults.

Move your cursor over the window below and click to display more help.

Click on the tabs to display the Preferences tab of your choice.


General preferences - CD index tab

The five tabs in the General preferences screen are used to specify default settings for GEAR Audio. These settings are activated each time you start GEAR Audio and each time you open a new project. Settings specified for the currently active project via the Project menu, Player menu and View menu override these defaults.

Move your cursor over the window below and click to display more help.

Click on the tabs to display the Preferences tab of your choice.


Advanced reading settings

Select a reading speed from the drop-down list box to optimise read performance.

If your computer is unable to process information quickly enough at high speed, select a lower speed to improve performance.


Advanced writing settings

Select a writing speed from the drop-down list box to optimize writing performance. If your computer is unable to process information quickly enough at high speed, select a lower speed to improve performance.

You can also select the buffer size to be used. Always try to use as large a buffer as possible in order to prevent writing is interrupted by a buffer under-run, which would mean the loss of your CD-R.


What is an audio CD?

A mass produced audio CD, which is recognizable by its silver color, is a non-magnetic, polished metal disc which is used to store digital information. Tiny indentations called pits are pressed into the disc. The disc is scanned by a laser beam in your CD player. The CD player is able to interpret the disc surface and pits as binary information, i.e. ones and zeros, because the pits reflect the light differently from the rest of the surface. The information on audio CDs can only be read. Once the disc has been pressed, no data can be added or deleted.


What is a CD-R?

A CD-R is recordable compact disc. The CD-R has a perfectly smooth, reflective surface which is coated with an organic dye. In the CD recorder, a laser beam is used to burn a pattern in the organic dye. These burns cause changes in the reflection of the laser light in much the same way as do the pits on mass-produced audio CD do when placed in a CD recorder. Any CD-ROM drive or CD recorder can therefore read the information you write on a recordable disc. Once written, the burns cannot be deleted, which is why the CD-R can only be recorded on once.


What is a track?

Audio is written to the CD-R in tracks. Each track contains a single audio file. A CD-R can contain a maximum of 99 tracks.

A track is also a line in your GEAR Audio Workbench Project view. Each track represents a single wave file on your hard disk. GEAR Audio allows you to edit tracks, i.e. wave files, using a linked external wave editor. It also allows you to add, delete and move tracks, and ultimately, to record tracks on a CD-R.


What is a GEAR Audio project?

A GEAR Audio project is actually a virtual image of the physical data required to create a CD-R. The information in the virtual image includes Workbench display settings, information on the physical location of the wave files displayed as tracks in the Workbench Project view, settings for your CD recorder and CD player, e.g. write and read strategy and buffer size, and information on the titles of the various tracks in the Workbench Project view, e.g. the CD Index, which can be exported to a word-processing appplication or printed. GEAR Audio automatically retrieves the wave files upon which the tracks in the Project view are based from their storage locations on your hard disk each time you edit your project. GEAR Audio displays a message when it detects missing wave files.


Terminology

Click below to view brief explanations.

AIFF

Buffer

CD standards

CPU

Firmware

Fragmentation

Mb


AIFF

Audio Interchange File Format is a full-featured audio file specification that allows a wide variety of programs on multiple platforms to share standards for audio storage. Electronic Arts published the AIFF specification in 1985. It started as a set of digital specifications for musical instruments, but has been enhanced to include specifications for compressed digital sound over the years (AIFC).


Buffer

A storage area consisting of temporarily allocated computer memory used to transfer data from one place in the computer system to another. GEAR Audio uses a buffer when reading from an Audio CD and writing .WAV files to your hard disk, as well as when writing tracks from a project to CD-R.


CD standards

Red Book

The Red Book standard is the standard format of commercial audio CDs. The standard was cooperatively developed by Philips and Sony and jointly published by the two organisations in 1983. Discs which conform to the Red Book standard usually have ‘digital audio’ printed beneath the disc logo. The Red Book standard serves as the basis for all subsequent standards. GEAR Audio automatically checks for Red Book compliance.

Orange Book

The Orange Book standard is the standard format for CD-Rs. The Orange Book standard, which is based on the Red Book standard, was also cooperatively developed and published by Philips and Sony. GEAR Audio writes projects to CD-Rs which conform to the Orange Book standard.


CPU

The central processing unit of the computer. The type of CPU installed in your computer system has an impact on how quickly GEAR Audio reads from audio CD and writes to CD-R.


Firmware

A frequently used microprogram or instruction stored in ROM (read-only memory). Usually refers to the ROM-based software that controls a drive. You will be asked for your Firmware version if you call Gear Software for technical support.


Fragmentation

With use over time, the sectors of a file are written in different areas across the storage surface of your hard drive. This slows access time because the drive head must move to non-contiguous locations to read the contents of a file. GEAR Audio may have problems writing .WAV files to your hard drive or reading files from your hard disk when writing your project to CD-R if your hard disk is overly fragmented.


Mb

GEAR Audio uses the megabyte as a measurement unit for disc capacity for display purposes, e.g. in the Status bar. In computing, one megabyte is generally equal to 1024 x 1024 bytes.


Add wave file(s)

There are two ways to add a wave file to your project:

•	by linking the files on your hard disk to your project

•	by making a separate copy of the wave file for use by GEAR Audio

Move your cursor over the window below and click any area to display more help.

See also

Audio file requirements

Destination


Select destination drive(s)

Select the storage location for your tracks or wave files in this screen by clicking the check boxes next to the appropriate disk drives in the selection area in the center of the screen. This area displays the drives connected to your system, drive types, the total space available on the drives and the amount of free space available on the drives.

Avoid selecting network drives as a storage location for tracks or wave files to prevent problems related to network availability or transmission speeds when writing to CD-R. Differences in data transmission speeds between your computer and CD recorder and your network may result in buffer problems. If network drives containing tracks or wave files for your project are disconnected while you are writing to CD-R, GEAR Audio will be unable to write your project to CD-R correctly.

Move your cursor over the window below and click any area to display more help.

See also

Add wave files

Add CD tracks


Invalid files in selection

This error dialog displays the files in your selection which do not conform with the Red Book standard along with files which do conform with this standard. The ‘All Files (*.*)’ and ‘Wave Files (*.wav)’ options are available in the ‘File type’ selection box in the ‘Add wave file(s)’ screen only to facilitate selection of appropriate wave files by providing you with a better overview of the files available in your directories, not as actual selection options.

GEAR Audio can only create CDs from files which conform with the Red Book standard. You may be able to edit the non-compliant files using an external wave editing application or sampling application and save them as Red Book compliant files for use in GEAR Audio. You will not be able to edit the files from within GEAR Audio, however. Instead, start your external application separately from GEAR Audio.

See also

Audio file requirements


Track properties

This window displays various parameters for a track in your GEAR Audio project.

Move your cursor over the window below and click any area to display more help.


Add track(s)

Use this screen to add a track or tracks from a CD to your project.

Move your cursor over the window below and click any area to display more help.

See also

Destination


Select wave files for deletion

In this window you select the files you want to remove from your hard disk. You can delete several files simultaneously.

Please note that the marked files will be removed from hard disk. Make sure the files are not used in any current project.


Invalid tracks

This error dialog displays the tracks in your selection which do not conform with the Red Book standard or which have been changed since they were added to the project. The displayed tracks will be removed from the project (but ot from hard disk). If you want to include the changed tracks on your CD-R, you must add the edited tracks (on your hard disk) once again to your project.

GEAR Audio offers you the option to create an index of the original tracks, so you can always check which files have been deleted.

After the files have been deleted you can proceed with writing the remaining files to CD-R. If not, the next window will allow you to abort writing.


Accept dropped wave file

There are two ways to add a wave file to your project:

•	Click Create Link to link the file on your hard disk to your project

•	Click Copy file to make a separate copy of the wave file for use by GEAR Audio.
You may select a destination for the copied file by clicking Destination.

See also

Audio file requirements


Edit track

When you want to edit a track, GEAR Audio allows you to edit make a copy of the selected track before editing. In this way you can al;ways recover the original file.

You may select a destination for the copied file by clicking Destination.


GEAR Workbench

The Gear Audio Workbench is displayed each time you start Gear Audio. The Workbench is used to grab tracks from audio CDs or your hard disk and include them in your project. It can also be configured to use a linked external sampling application and wave editing application. The Workbench also enables you to specify default settings for your Gear Audio application, as well as settings for individual projects.

Move your cursor over the window below and click any area to display more help.


GEAR Workbench

The Gear Audio Workbench is displayed each time you start Gear Audio. The Workbench is used to grab tracks from audio CDs or your hard disk and include them in your project. It can also be configured to use a linked external sampling application and wave editing application. The Workbench also enables you to specify default settings for your Gear Audio application, as well as settings for individual projects.

Move your cursor over the window below and click any area to display more help.


Menu bar

Move your cursor over the bar above and click to display more help.

This is the GEAR Audio Menu bar. The Menu bar provides you with access to all of the functions of GEAR Audio via Menus. The menus can be can be accessed by clicking or by pressing the Alt key on your keyboard in combination with the underlined letter from the menu you wish to access.


Status bar

This is the Gear Audio Status bar. This bar displays status information on the currently active project. The Status bar can be displayed or hidden by enabling or disabling the Status bar option in the View menu. Various Status bar display options can also be set via the View menu.

Move your cursor over the bar below and click to display more help.

See also

View menu

Button bars

Menu bar


Button bars

This is the GEAR Audio Button bar.

The Button bar provides you with access to the functions you will need most often when working with GEAR Audio. The three sections of the Button bar, the Tool bar, the Project bar and the Player bar, can be dragged and dropped to any position on your desktop.

The view menu enbles you to activate or deactivate the different bars and specify display preferences.

Move your cursor over any of the bars and click to display more help.

Tool bar

Project bar

Player bar

See also

View menu

Status bar

Menu bar


Technical support

GEAR Software offers a wide variety of information on our web site to help you fully benefit from your GEAR products. Please refer to our web site (www.gearcdr.com) for complete on-line help, support and contact information, or you are welcome to e-mail us at support@gearcdr.com (United States) or audio.support@gearcdr.nl (Europe).

Important: We recommend that you try contacting your local supplier for assistance before calling GEAR Software. Please have your Support form completely filled in and within easy reach before calling.


Support form
 Support form (Please fill in this form before calling for assistance.)

Customer information:

Name	:

Company	:

Tel.	:

FAX	:

Product:

Operating system	:	Win NT Server / Client   Win 95, 95a or 95b

Reg. no.	: G

Product version	: 	Click ‘About GEAR Audio…’ in the Help menu for version information

: v.A.          GA-           -OE  	Check the sticker on the back of the CD Box

Recorder:

Manufacturer	:

Model & type	:

Firmware	:

SCSI controller:	   (Controller card 1)	  (Controller card 2)

Manufacturer	: 	:

Model & type	: 	:

Driver version	: 	:

System information:

Mainbord type	:

CPU brand & speed	:

Project information:

Project size in Mb	:

No. of tracks / files	:

Recording speed	:

Reading speed	:

Error:

Error message text	:

Error code	:

Occurences	: 	How often the error has occurred

When did it occur	: 	GEAR function being performed when the error occured

Description	: 	Description of the problem.

CD-R brand & type	:

CD-R color	: 	Color of the unlabeled side (green, gold or blue)


Audio file requirements

GEAR Audio supports the following formats:

•	Red Book standard

•	.WAV

Audio files for use with GEAR Audio must meet the following criteria (Red Book standard):

•	Sample frequency of 44.1 kHz

•	Stereo audio (separate right and left channels sampled at 44.1 kHz)

•	Each sample must contain 16 bits.

A maximum of 99 audio tracks can be loaded in your project.

Disc sizes

CD-R	18 minutes	181 Mb
CD-R	63 minutes	635 Mb
CD-R	74 minutes	746 Mb
CD-R	80 minutes	807 Mb


Delete wave file

Select the appropriate option:

•	Click ‘Yes to all’ to delete the selected tracks from the Project view and to delete all associated wave files from disk.
Any other tracks in your project which may be based on deleted wave files will also be deleted.

•	Click ‘No to all’ to delete the selected tracks from the Project view and to retain all associated wave files on disk.

•	Click ‘Yes’ to delete a single track from the Project view  and to delete the associated wave file from disk.
Any other tracks in your project which may be based on the deleted wave file will also be deleted.

•	Click ‘No’ to delete a single track from the Project view and to retain the associated wave file on disk.

The options ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ have a slightly different effect when they are clicked in conjunction with multiple track selections. After you have clicked ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ for the first track in your multiple selection, GEAR Audio displays the name of each subsequent wave file in the ‘Delete wave file’ screen and waits for you to click ‘Yes’ if you wish to delete the wave file or ‘No’ if you wish to retain it before taking the corresponding action.


About GEAR Audio

In this dialog you can check version and copyright information for your Gear Audio version.


Copying tracks

While the selected tracks are being copied to your hard disk, GEAR Audio keeps you informed on the progress of the copying process.


About to write to CD-R

This dialog displays once more the contents of the CD you are about to write and the estimated time needed (test and) write your CD-R.

If you click Test and write, GEAR Audio will first perform a test. If any errors are encountered during the test, the CD-R will not be written.

If you choose Write, GEAR Audio will start writing your CD. If an error occurs, writing will be stopped and your CD-R will be useless.


Test writing CD-R

While the testing takes place, GEAR Audio keeps you informed on its progress.


Copying files

While the selected wave files are being copied to your hard disk, GEAR Audio keeps you informed on the progress of the copying process.


Writing CD-R

While the testing takes place, GEAR Audio keeps you informed on its progress.


Welcome to GEAR Audio

This dialog allows you to get started quickly when you start GEAR Audio.

Move your cursor over the window below and click any area to display more help.


CD Index

GEAR Audio allows you to create a printable CD index, a list of all the tracks in your project (and on the CD-R you have created).

Use the General Preferences option in th File menu to specify the contents of this list Besides the track number and title, you can also print the length of each track, the start and stop times and the pause before a track.

This list of tracks can be printed on A4 format or in Inlay format for use in a standard CD jewel box.

See also

General preferences - CD index