Display

Zooming in the Waveform Display Area
  1. When a sound file is opened, the entire sound file is displayed from beginning to end. The zoom operations adjust the time scale along the bottom of the waveform display area, changing the amount of the sound file that is being viewed and the level of detail in the displayed waveform. Maximum zoom gives the greatest detail and the least amount of displayed sound.
  2. Zooming in or out by a factor of two is accomplished by clicking on the `+' and `-' buttons on the bottom of a sound display window. Zooming in or out by a factor of two can also be done with the `+' and `-' keys on the keyboard, and by a factor of ten with the `~' and `_' keys.
  3. The `z' key toggles between Zoom Out Completely and a zoom level determined by the Zoom-In Time, a preset time measured in seconds (see See Sound File Display Options.). The `z' key Zooms Out Completely if the waveform is Zoomed In to any level. Zooming Out Completely with the `z' key also recalculates the waveform display amplitude scale (see See Setting the Amplitude Scale of the Waveform Display Area.).
  4. If a region is Selected, typing the `v' key zooms the waveform display so that the Selected region fills nearly the entire window.
Scrolling the Waveform Display Area
  1. Unless a file is completely zoomed out, portions of it are hidden because they are past the edge of the waveform display area. These regions are viewed by any of three scrolling methods: normal Edit Cursor movement, the scrolling keys, or the scroll bar.
  2. Normal Edit Cursor movement will scroll the waveform display area in the direction of the movement when the Edit Cursor approaches the edge of the display area.
  3. The scroll bar at the bottom of a display window provides a convenient method of scrolling (see Figure 2-33).
Figure 2-33
  1. By clicking in the area to the left of the scroll button, you cause the waveform to scroll once to the left. By clicking in the area to the right of the scroll button, you cause the waveform to scroll once to the right.
  2. Also, the F5 and `l' keys scroll toward the left, and F6 and `r' keys scroll the waveform display to the right.
Setting the Amplitude Scale of the Waveform Display Area
  1. When a soundfile is opened, it's display is adjusted so that the highest peak reaches the edge of the waveform display window. The relative level of the highest peak is displayed in the upper right corner of the window.
  2. Fast Edit lets you define the nominal clipping level in dB's. Most DAT recorders define clipping level to be 0 dB. If you set the nominal clipping level of Fast Edit to be 0 dB, and a newly opened soundfiles reads "-5dB" in the upper right window, it means that the highest peak level in the soundfile is 5 dB below the clipping level.
  3. Fast Edit lets you adjust the amplitude scale of the display window.
  4. Hitting the "!" key stretches or shrinks the waveform vertically so that the highest peak of the sound displayed in the window just barely reaches the edge of the window. The amplitude display can now be used to read the relative level of the peak.
  5. The display level can also be manually changed in steps of 3 dB. The "Ctrl-PgUp" key increases the display scale by 3dB, and the "Ctrl-PgDn" key decreases the display scale by 3 dB.
  6. The nominal clipping level is discussed in See Sound File Display Options..
Undo and the Edit History
  1. Each time an editing action is performed or a tool is used, a record is made of the previous state of the sound file, including zoom, scale, selection and markers. Fast Edit saves the ten most recent states of the Modify window's sound file and lists them in the Edit History, as in Figure 2-34.
Figure 2-34 Edit History Dialog Box
  1. The Edit History dialog box comes up when you hit the `h' key. Each line of the edit history consists of the time sequence of the edits performed. The time sequence is in order of operation, with the last operation at the top, labeled "Current." If an operation has been undone, it has the label "undo."
  2. The edit history line that is highlighted is the one that reflects the current state of the sound file. Usually this is the top line. You can change which line is highlighted by using the Up and Down arrow keys on the keyboard, or by pointing at a line with the mouse and clicking the left button.
  3. You can return the Modify window to the state that it was in during any of the last 10 edit operations. Just highlight that line of the Edit History, and click on the "Select" button. You can also double-click the line of the Edit History.
  4. The Edit History can be used to audition and compare different edits. It can also be used to go back several steps, and start over; in effect, this gives you a multiple "undo" up to 10 deep.
  5. Clicking on the Clear button removes all but the top line of the Edit History. When the edit history is cleared, temporary soundfiles which are no longer needed are erased from the hard disk. Clearing the edit history can sometimes free up some disk space when you run short during editing.
  6. The operation of the undo command is related to the edit history. Typing the Ctrl-z key sequence or the F10 key undoes the last edit operation (which is the same as selecting the second line of the edit history). If the most recent operation has been undone, or if an earlier line of the edit history has been selected, an undo redoes all the operations up to and including the most recent one.