This command creates a new Sound file (AIFF in fact),
being a copy of all
or part of the current Sound file. It is similar to what can be done with
the Split to Files command,
but is quicker and simpler if all you want is a copy of the whole file or just one part of it.
Its main use is format conversion, since the Sound file you are working
on might be any of the formats which Transcribe! reads, but the copy is always
AIFF format. This can be useful if you have a slow machine and you have a
high-bitrate MP3 file which Transcribe! is unable to decode in real time.
Create a AIFF copy and work on that instead.
You should first select
(highlight) the region you want to copy (unless you want to copy the whole file).
The Copy to File command brings up a dialog offering a choice of "Whole File" or
"Current Selection". When this is selected, hit OK. You will be asked where to
put the generated Sound file. A large MP3 file on a slow machine will take some
time : if you "Cancel" the operation then you will still get a valid Sound file,
complete up to the point where you cancelled.
This command creates a new Sound file (AIFF in fact), being a slowed-down
(without pitch change) copy of all or part of the current Sound file.
The usual way of slowing the music down is to use the
Faster/Slower
command (Play menu) but if your computer is slow then you may want to create
a new file containing the slowed-down version of the part you are interested
in, and then load this file for transcription. The Slowdown to File command
is also useful if you want to load the slowed-down version into any other software.
Obviously, the slowed-down file will be bigger than the original by the
same factor that you slow it down by, or even more if the original is compressed (MP3),
and this can make
it a good idea only to slow down the part you are interested in rather than
the whole file. The sample format (mono or stereo, sample rate, etc) will be
the same as the original.
You should first select
(highlight) the region you want to slowdown (unless you want to do the whole file).
The Slowdown to File command brings up a dialog offering a choice of "Whole File"
or "Current Selection" and a choice of slowdown factor. When these are selected,
hit OK. You will be asked where to put the generated Sound file.
A large file on
a slow machine will take some time : if you "Cancel" the operation then you will
still get a valid Sound file, complete up to the point where you cancelled.
This function will create new Sound files (AIFF in fact)
on your hard disk, extracted
from the Sound file you have loaded. Its primary use is for dividing very long Sound
files into separate tracks. It creates new Sound files and will not modify the source
Sound file in any way.
The source file may be any of the audio sound formats supported, but the output
files will always be AIFF format.
The sample rate and sample format will be the same as the source.
This command is not all that strongly related to transcription, however I wanted
the feature, and it made sense to include it in Transcribe! rather than write a
separate application, as Transcribe! already contains 90% of what is needed to
support this feature.
I sometimes copy old vinyl records, tapes of live gigs, etc. to hard disk
and thence to audio CD using the CD burner on my computer. This means I regularly
have audio files of perhaps 500MB to work through, locating the beginnings and
ends of tracks, and saving individual tracks as Sound files. I have not found
any tool which does this job quickly and easily. With Transcribe!, it's a pleasure.
The Use Of Markers
Obviously, we are not using markers here for their normally intended purpose,
but they work fine nevertheless. Beat markers are entirely ignored. The opening
section of the source file, up to the first section marker, will be deleted. If
you want to keep the beginning, place your first section marker at the very start.
If you place a measure marker at the end of a track then the source from here to
the next track start (section marker) will be lost. If you want to keep the entire
source then don't use a measure marker at all. A section marker not only starts a
new track but also ends the last one, if it has not already been ended by a measure marker.
Naming Of Tracks
The "File Prefix" display shows the location on disk for the new files, including
the first part of the file name but not the
suffix. You can use the Select button to select a different location.
The AIFF file names
will be constructed by appending suffixes to this. The suffix will normally be the
number of the track as listed in the list box, but if you edit the section marker
which begins the track, and give it a non-default label (the track name) then this
will be used as a suffix instead.
Note that if a file with the same name already exists, it will be erased without warning.
This command is a straight forward recording facility, where you feed sound into your
computer either from a microphone or (more likely) an audio cable from your CD or cassette
player or directly from the machine's built-in CD player, and use this command to record
the result to disk as a Sound file (AIFF in fact) suitable for transcription.
AIFF files are large : about 10MBytes per minute at CD quality.
Keep an eye on your
disk space and delete old AIFF files when you don't need them any more.
Note that if you have an audio CD and your computer has a CDROM drive then it may
be preferable to copy digitally instead of "recording". See
Audio Formats for discussion of how to do this.
Most soundcards can receive audio input from a variety of sources which can
include "mic", "line" and perhaps "digital i/o" (these three usually mean mini-jack
connector sockets at the back of the machine) and also perhaps "CD audio" meaning a
direct audio feed (connected internally) from your CDROM drive.
You can select the source used for recording from "Apple menu" - "Control Panels"
- "Monitors and Sound" - "Sound Monitoring Source". When the correct source is selected
you will see the VU meters at the lower right of the Record to File dialog jumping up
and down with the dynamics of the music playing.
If you are using the machine's CDROM drive to play the audio then you can use
"Apple CD Audio Player" on the "Apple" menu. You can also find simple CD audio controls
on the control strip. Yet another option, if you are running OS 9.0.4 or later, is to
use Apple's "iTunes" application. You can download this for free from
www.apple.com/itunes if you don't already have it.
Then use the controls in the usual way to play CD audio tracks, while using
Transcribe! to record them to disk.
The options offered in the "Record to File" dialog are as follows :
If It Doesn't Work
If you have an audio CD and your computer has a CDROM drive then it may be preferable
to copy digitally instead of "recording". See Audio
Formats for discussion of how to do this. This means you don't need "Record To File" at all.
However if you do want to make "Record To File" work, then by far the most common
problem is that you must select the appropriate recording source, or else you
will just record silence. Instructions for doing this are above. Even though the CD
is playing while you "Record to File", if you have selected "Mic" or "Line" input
for recording then you will record silence (unless there is something plugged into
the "Mic" or "Line" inputs).
Are the VU meters jumping up and down while the music plays? If not then Transcribe!
is not "hearing" the sound, probably because the correct source has not been selected.
As a double-check you could try recording with SimpleSound - a simple app for
recording/playing sound which is provided with the Mac. Run
SimpleSound (use Sherlock to find it if necessary), select File - New
and hit the Record button. Does this successfully record your sound? (Is
it there when you play back?). There should also be an animated
"soundwaves" graphic in front of the little loudspeaker icon, if it is
hearing anything.
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