Figure 5-1 The main screen of the Playlist Editor.

1. The main screen of the Playlist Editor has 3 major sections.
2. The upper left-hand corner of the screen shows the Playlist. This is the list of sounds that will be played in order. For each sound on the list, the Start Time, End Time, and Duration are given.
3. In the upper right-hand corner is the Region Library. This is the list of sounds that are available to place onto the Playlist.
4. At the bottom of the screen is the Waveform Display. The Waveform display is used to mark the sections of Soundfiles or Editlists that will make up a region.

Making regions

1. Before a Playlist can be made, a Region Library must be created. This is the list of sounds that can be put on the Playlist.
2. The sounds in the Region Library can be either a complete Soundfile or Editlist, or a part of a Soundfile or Editlist. Complete Soundfiles and Editlists can be added to the Region Library by selecting the Add Soundfiles/Editlists command from the Region menu.
3. Parts of Soundfiles or Editlists can be added to the Region Library. First you open a Soundfile or Editlist into the Waveform Display, by using the Open Soundfile/Editlist in the Waveform menu. Then you select the portion of the sound that you want to save, using the Select feature of the Waveform Display window (see See Making Selections in the Waveform Display Area.). Then you name this portion of sound and place it onto the Region Library, using the Create/Modify command in the Region menu.

Making a Playlist

1. Once you have a Region Library of sounds, these sounds can be placed onto the Playlist.
2. To place sounds onto the Playlist, first highlight the sound on the Region Library that you want to place on the Playlist. Then click on the "Add" button in the Playlist window. Your highlighted item will be added to the bottom of the Playlist.
3. If you want to add a sound in the middle of the Playlist, click on the Playlist item immediately after where you want your new sound to be. Then click on the "Insert" button. The highlighted sound in the Region Library will be inserted immediately above the highlighted Playlist item.
4. If you want to remove a Playlist item, highlight that item and then click on the "Delete" button.
5. You can also replace a Playlist item with a new sound. Highlight the new sound that you want in the Region Library, and highlight the Playlist sound that you want to replace. Then click on the "Replace" button.

Playing your Playlist

1. The Playlist can play in one of three modes:

1) Play (play list sequentially), or

2) Play One (play a single line), or

3) Chase (SMPTE triggered).

1. Sequential play can be started by clicking on the "Play" button under the Playlist. The Playlist will start playing from the highlighted line, or if there is no line highlighted, it will start playing from the top of the Playlist. As each item plays, it will be highlighted. The time counter, in the lower right-hand corner of the Playlist screen, will be counting to indicate the playback time relative to the Start and Stop times listed in the Playlist. Play will continue until the entire Playlist is played, then playback will stop. If you hit the Play button again, it will start playing from the top of the list.
2. If you highlight a line, and then hit the Play button, playback will start from that line. If you hit the "Stop" button during play, the play will stop. The "Fwd" and "Rew" buttons can fast-forward and rewind the time counter to start playback of the Playlist at any time.
3. The start time of each event can be manually adjusted to allow a gap of time from the end of the previous sound on the Playlist. If you double-click on the Playlist item you want to change, a "Change Time" Dialog Box will appear, to let you adjust the start time. If you adjust it so that there is a time gap from the end of the previous sound to the start of the selected sound, the start time for that sound will be tagged with a "*".
4. Single-line play can be started by clicking on the "Play 1" button under the Playlist. After each playlist is played, the next playlist is highlighted but the playback is paused until the "Play 1" button is clicked.
5. SMPTE triggered play can be activated by choosing the SMPTE function in the Options menu. When SMPTE is selected, all items in the Playlist can be given specific SMPTE start times. Then, you start SMPTE playback by clicking on the "Chase" button. When SMPTE time codes are received by your SMPTE timecode reader card, the timecodes received will be shown in the time display in the lower right-hand corner of the Playlist window. When an incoming timecode matches the number assigned as the Start Time for a sound, that sound will begin playing.
6. The Playlist does a Chase-Trigger, which is to say that the timecode stream can start at any randon time, and the Playlist will know which is the next sound on the Playlist to be triggered.