Copyright: COPYRIGHT ® Singing Electrons, Inc. 1999.


Welcome to Wave Creator™
Welcome to Wave Creator™!

For help with Wave Creator™ features, try clicking on the corresponding area of the picture below.


Requirements

Wave Creator™ requires an IBM compatible computer running Windows 3.1, 95, or NT with a working Soundblaster® compatible sound card.


Installing Wave Creator™

To install Wave Creator™ run the Setup.exe program.  You will be asked to select the directory into which you would like to place Wave Creator™, and  where in the Start Menu you would like the Wave Creator™ icon.


Mixing Two Sounds
Mix Button

This button allows you to mix two separate sound files (of the same type) together.

To mix two sounds together, open the first wave file in Wave Creator™ and then move the blinking cursor to the point where the second wave file will be mixed.  Then push the Mix button and select the second sound.  The files will automatically be mixed together, beginning at the cursor.

Wave Creator™ supports the mixing of stereo and mono sounds.  If you would like the mixed sound to be in stereo, open the stereo file first and then mix in the mono sound – the mono sound will be spread to both channels and the resulting mixed sound will be in stereo.  If you would like the mixed sound to be in mono, open the mono file first and then mix in the stereo sound – the stereo sound will be “compressed” into a single channel and the resulting mixed sound will be in mono.


Reverse Button

This button reverse the order of a sound, effectively playing it backwards.  If the wave file is in stereo, you may select which channels to reverse.


Amplify Button

This button controls the amplification of a sound.  The Amplification Factor controls the amount of amplification – a factor of 1 leads to no amplification, a factor of 2 doubles the sound’s amplitude, a factor of 0.5 reduces the amplitude by half, etc.  If the sound is in stereo, you may also select which channels to amplify.

This button is particularly useful in amplifying a weak sound so that it may be better heard, but be careful:  amplify the sound too much and it will become distorted.


The Recording Panel
Recording Panel

The Recording Panel controls Wave Creator's audio recording capabilities.  In order to record a sound, you must first select a source for the incoming audio.  Possible sources include the microphone, the CD-ROM drive, or a line into the computer from an external audio source, depending on your system configuration.  By pressing the “Recording Source” button in the Recording Panel, you cycle through these options, which are displayed by their corresponding volume control at the top left of the Wave Creator™ window.

Next, you may choose different levels of recording “accuracy”.  The 8 and 16 bit buttons control the detail level at which Wave Creator™ samples audio – 16 bit audio generally sounds better, but takes up more disk space when stored.  The 11, 22, and 44 KHz buttons control how often Wave Creator™ samples audio – 11 KHz means that Wave Creator™ “listens” to the incoming audio signal approximately 11,000 times per second, while 44KHz audio is sampled 44,000 times per second.  A sound recorded at 44KHz sounds better, but again, takes up more disk space.  Generally, a recording of a human voice would sound fine at 8 bits and 11KHz, while music would be of poor quality.  Try 16 bits and 22KHz for most music, and reserve 44KHz for very high-quality recording.  Generally, it’s best to experiment and adjust these settings to the lowest possible levels that give acceptable results, in order to save disk space.

The “Stereo” button determines whether or not Wave Creator™ will record separate left and right channels for your sound.  Stereo sounds good, but takes up considerably more disk space, so use it accordingly.

Once you have chosen the proper settings, pressing the “rec” button turns recording on and off.


Playback Buttons

These buttons function similarly to the buttons on most VCRs.  Click on a button for more specific help.


Stop Button

This button stops playback.


Play Button

This button begins playback of the sound file.


Pause Button

This button pauses playback, and if pressed again, resumes it.


Rewind Button

This button moves the playback cursor backwards a fixed amount of time.  It functions only during playback or while playback is paused (not stopped).


Start Button

This button moves the cursor to the start position.


Fast-Forward Button

This button moves the playback cursor forward a fixed amount of time.  It functions only during playback or while playback is paused (not stopped).


End Button

This button moves the cursor to the end position.


Volume LEDs

During playback, these lights indicate the loudness of the sound being played; during recording, they indicate the loudness of the sound being recorded.  If the sound is in stereo, the loudness of the left and right channels may differ.  Note: these lights display the inherent loudness of the sound, not the volume of your computers speakers.


Playback Volume Control

This slider controls the volume at which Wave Creator™ plays sounds.  It does not affect the inherent loudness of the sounds themselves, and thus does not affect the display of the Volume LEDs.  The horizontal slider above the volume control affects the left and right balance of the sound, if it is in stereo.


Recording Volume Control

This slider controls the sensitivity of Wave Creator's “ear” as it records sounds.  When properly adjusted, it will result in clean-sounding, distortion free audio.  Such audio will produce a waveform neither too small in amplitude to be properly recorded, or so large that it does not fit in the waveform window. The horizontal slider above the volume control affects the left and right balance of the sound.


Waveform Window

This window is Wave Creator's way of visually displaying the sounds it plays.  The horizontal red line (or two lines, for stereo sound’s left and right channels) represents absolute silence.  Deviation above and below this line indicates increasing sound intensity.  The far left point of the window indicates the beginning point of the sound, with time increasing to the right.  The flashing green cursor thus represents a precise point in time – while playing back a sound, you can see the cursor move to the right as time progresses (this cursor may also be moved manually, by clicking within the window, or may be used to select a portion of the sound for editing by clicking and dragging).

The horizontal scroll bar below the window allows you to move rapidly in time along a sound file.  It is active only when the entire sound does not fit in the Waveform Window.  The vertical scroll bar to the right of the window is basically a “zoom” control – by moving it upwards, you increase the magnification of the Waveform Window, allowing you to see finer detail in the waveform.


Position Indicator

These three panels indicate the position of the cursor within the sound file.  The first panel, “Pos,” indicates the precise location of the blinking cursor -- the format is minutes : seconds : tenths of seconds.  The second and third panels, “Start” and “Stop,” are active only when a portion of the wave has been selected in the Waveform Window.  Start indicates the beginning time of the selection, and Stop indicates its end point.


Echo Button

This button introduces an echo into your wave file.  You may specify a Repeat Delay (the amount of time between the sound and its echo) and a Repeat Strength (the loudness of the echo, in percent of the original sound’s loudness).  In addition, if the sound is in stereo, you may select which channels (left, right, or both) to which to apply the echo.


EQualize Button

This button gives you graphic-equalizer control over your wave file.  The different sliders correspond to different frequency bands – move a slider upwards to increase the loudness of that particular band, down to decrease its loudness.  The slider on the far left corresponds to the lowest frequencies, the slider on the far right the highest.

Note that this equalizer feature affects the wave file directly, not just the way your speakers respond to it, and any changes you make will directly alter your wave file.


Chorus Button

The Chorus button is particularly effective with speech-sounds – it adds a second voice at a slightly different time, resulting in an effect much like a chorus of more than one voice.


Flange Button

This button alters your wave file to produce an odd techno-space-age swooshing kind of sound.  The best way to learn about Flange is to experiment with it – remember that unwanted changes can be undone with Control-Z.

In practice, Flange works somewhat similarly to Echo – the original sound is mixed with a delayed version of the same sound.  But the delay is extremely small (Maximum Delay has a 6ms default), and it keeps changing – 0ms, then 6ms, then 0ms, then 6ms, etc.  The second parameter, Delay Step, controls the rate at which this delay changes.


Normalize Button

This button automatically increases the amplitude of a wave file, if necessary, so that its maximum loudness is actually “loud.”  For example, if you have recorded the sound of a distant train whistle and it barely registers in the Waveform Window  (it is too quiet), you may use Normalize to automatically increase the sound’s amplitude so that it really is loud.

In the Waveform Window, Normalize is visible as a “widening” of the sound’s waveform, to the point where it just fills the window.


Wave Overview Window

This window displays an overview of the entire wave file, even if it is too large to fit in the Waveform Window.

The two vertical gray bars represent (and can also control) the limits of what is displayed above, in the Waveform Window.  You may move these bars individually, by clicking on them and dragging, or you may move them together by clicking on the area between them and dragging.  This is an effective way of zooming along an extended wave file, and can also be accomplished by using the scroll bars of the Waveform Window.

Note:  If you do not see any vertical gray bars, they are probably hidden at the far left and right ends of the window.  Try clicking and dragging them more to the center.


Preferences

There are two options you may change in the preferences dialog box:  Silence (% of Maximum) and Extend Echo Result by Delay Size.

The first defines what exactly Wave Creator™ considers to be “silence”.  A number of 1.5 in this box means that anything quieter than 1.5% of the sound’s maximum loudness is considered silent.  This number is used by Wave Creator™ with the Trim Silence command to remove unwanted quiet periods from a recording.  Modify this number until Wave Creator™ makes an accurate distinction between background noise and true signal when trimming silence from your sounds.

The second option, Extend Echo Result by Delay Size, controls how Wave Creator™ treats your sound file lengths when used with the Echo command.  If this box is checked, Wave Creator™ may actually make your sound clip longer in order to accommodate the entire echo effect.  If it is not checked, your sound clip will remain the same length, but the echo effect at the end of the sound will be truncated.


Trim Silence

The Trim Silence command allows you to remove unwanted silence from your sound clip.  Wave Creator™ will automatically delete any portions of your sound quieter than a given threshold (see Preferences), leaving only the true signal.


Mute

The Mute function, as on the average television, suppresses output noise completely.  With Wave Creator™, however, it is not reversible (except with the undo command, Control-Z) – once you have muted a sound clip, it is quiet for good.

For this reason, Mute must be used only selectively to permanently remove unwanted portions of your sound clip.  You may select different parts of your clip in the Waveform Window.


Mute
Change Format

If you need to change the resolution (number of bits per sample), the frequency (number of samples per second), or the mode (stereo or mono) of the wave file that is currently in memory, select Change Format from the Edit menu.  Click on the desired settings and then OK to make the change to the file.


The Edit Commands

These commands work for the most part exactly as they would in a work processor.  In order to enable the commands, you must first select a portion of the sound clip in the Waveform Window.

Undo allows you to take back an unwanted change, while Redo allows you to repeat a command multiple times.

Cut removes the selection but stores it in memory for later Pasting.

Copy stores the selection in memory for later Pasting but does not remove it from the clip.

Paste inserts whatever has been cut or copied into memory directly into the sound clip.  It can be repeated multiple times.

Clear removes the selection entirely, without copying it into memory at all.

Crop removes everything but the selected portion.

For help with Trim Silence, click here.

For help with Mute, click here.

For help with Change Format, click here.


Menu Commands

Help is available for the following menu options and commands:

Preferences

The Edit Commands (cut, copy, paste, etc.)

Trim Silence

Mute


Clickable Help
Main Window Help

For help with Wave Creator™ features, try clicking on the corresponding area of the

picture below.