Peak supports all of the Macintosh’s essential editing functions such as cut, copy, and paste and provides several more specifically designed for audio editing. This section explains how to use each of these functions.
Because Peak allows you to have multiple audio documents open at the same time, it is possible to conveniently cut, copy, paste, and insert audio between documents. This makes combining material from several audio documents very fast and easy.
Because audio data can be very large, Peak utilizes a portion of your hard disk’s free space to hold audio data that has been cut or copied as well as for temporary or scratch files for undo purposes. If you have more than one hard drive attached to your Macintosh, the Scratch Disks command in the Preferences menu allows you to choose the drive (or “scratch disk”) that you wish to use for these temporary files. This feature automatically defaults to the drive with the greatest amount of free space currently connected to your Macintosh. If you are connected to a file server, you can utilize available storage on the server by clicking the Allow Servers checkbox. Any available servers will then appear in the Scratch Disks pop-up menu. This is recom-mended only if you have access to a high-speed Ethernet, Media Net or other fast server.
Clearing the Clipboard to Reclaim Disk Space
If you no longer need the clipboard contents, you can free up the disk space occupied by the clipboard by choosing the Clear Clipboard command from the Edit menu.
Cutting Audio
The Cut command allows you to cut a selected range out of a track. Audio that occurs after the cut slides over to fill in the gap. By cutting and pasting “pieces” of audio, you can freely rearrange material in an audio document. This can be a powerful tool for creating audio remixes for music-oriented applications, as well as an indispensable tool for general sound design tasks. When you cut a selection, The Macintosh holds the cut audio data in its internal memory (the Clipboard) in case you wish to paste it elsewhere. Because all real time editing you do with Peak is non-destructive, the audio isn’t actually removed from the original audio document until you finally save the file to disk with the Save command. At that time, all edits are saved to the audio document and any changes that you have made are permanently saved to the document.
To cut a selection:
1. Click the cursor at the desired location in the track and drag to select the desired range.
2. Choose Cut from the Edit menu (or press Command-X).
3. The selected range is removed from the track(s) and held on the Clipboard. Audio occurring after the cut slides over to fill in the gap.
Deleting Audio
If you wish to remove a section of audio from a track without using the Cut command, you can use the Delete key. As with the Cut command and other editing functions, the audio isn’t actually removed from the original audio document until you save the file to disk.
To delete a selection:
1. Click the cursor at the desired location in the track and drag to select the desired range.
2. Press the Delete key.
3. The selection is removed from the track. Audio occurring after the deleted section slides over to fill in the gap.
Copying Audio
The Copy command copies the current selection to the Macintosh’s Clipboard so that you can paste it, insert it, or use it with optional “Clipboard-based” processing such as Mix, Modulate, and Convolve. As with the Cut command, copying and pasting “pieces” of audio, allows you to freely rearrange material in a document. This can be a powerful tool for creating audio remixes for music-oriented applications, and an indispensable tool for sound design.
To copy a selection:
1. Click the cursor at the desired location in the track and drag to select the desired range.
2. Choose Copy from the Edit menu (or press Command-C).
3. The selection is copied to the Clipboard (the Mac’s internal memory buffer).
At this point, you can use either the Paste or Insert commands to place the copied audio into a track. Each of these commands are explained below.
Pasting Audio
The Paste command allows you to paste the contents of the Clipboard into a location that you choose by placing an insertion point. The audio that you paste will overwrite audio at the insertion point by the length of the pasted data. By cutting and pasting pieces of audio, you can freely rearrange material in an audio document. In musical applications, this gives you the freedom to entirely “rewrite” compositions by changing the order of things, repeating desired sections, and so on. In sound design applications, this gives you the power to “compose” with sound by creating sound pastiches.
To paste audio into a track:
1. Click the cursor at the point where you wish to paste the audio data in a track.
2. Choose Paste from the Edit menu (or press Command-V).
The Clipboard contents are pasted into the track(s), beginning immediately after the insertion point. The previous data at the location of the paste is overwritten when the pasted data is inserted into the track. If you wish to insert copied audio data into a track without deleting existing data, you can use the Insert command as explained below.
Inserting Audio
The Insert command allows you to paste audio data into a track without overwriting any existing data at the insertion point. When you paste data with the Insert command, all data to the right of the insertion point is pushed farther to the right (later in time) to accommodate the newly pasted audio. The Insert command is one of Peak’s most useful tools for restructuring the contents of an audio document. It is particularly good for “composing on the fly” since it allows you to cut and insert pieces of audio—musical phrases, riffs, or simply textural sounds—to create a composition or soundscape.
To insert audio into a track:
1. Click the cursor at the point where you wish to insert the audio data in a track.
2. Choose Insert from the Edit menu. All data to the right of the insertion point is pushed farther to the right (later in time) to accommodate the newly pasted range.
Cropping a Selection
The Crop command allows you to make a selection in a track and quickly and easily remove all other audio from the track except the selection. The crop command is a particularly useful tool for editing material to be used as samples or sound effects since it allows you to isolate and save just the desired portion of a recording.
To crop a selection:
1. Click the cursor at the desired location in the track and drag to select the desired range.
2. Choose Crop from the Edit menu (or press Command-`)
All audio but the selection is removed from the track.
Silencing a Selection
The Silence command replaces the selected audio in the audio document’s selection with silence. This feature is very useful for silencing nonessential portions of a recording that contain an unusual amount of noise. This can be used very successfully with spoken material such as dialog or narration to remove noise between words or during pauses in speech. It can also be used to remove pops or clicks that occur in such material.
To silence a selection:
1. Click the cursor at the desired location in the track and drag to select the desired range.
2. Choose Silence from the Edit menu (or press Command-E).
The selected audio is replaced with silence.
Inserting Silence into a Document
The Insert Silence command allows you to insert a specific amount of silence into an audio document at the current insertion point. This feature is very useful for inserting pauses of a desired duration into a recording and can be particularly useful in adjusting the timing or rhythm of spoken material such as dialog or narration. When you choose this command, Peak will prompt you to enter the amount of silence you wish to insert. You can enter this value in samples, milliseconds, or seconds. All audio occurring after the insertion point is moved later in time by the amount of the silence that you insert.
To insert silence of a specific duration into a document:
1. Click the cursor at the desired location in the track.
2. Choose Insert Silence from the Edit menu.
3. In the dialog that appears, enter the amount of silence that you wish to insert into the track.
Peak inserts the specified amount of silence into the document.
