Playing Sound Files

  1. Fast Edit provides many ways to playback sounds from the sound display windows. All playback functions work the same for the Read Only window and the Modify window. Keyboard and menu playback functions play from whichever window is active.
Methods of Sound Playback
  1. To playback the entire sound in a window, place the mouse pointer inside that window and click the right mouse button. The sound in the window will play, as a thin vertical line moves across the window to indicate the part of the window that is being played. This vertical line is the Play Cursor.
  2. The entire sound in the window can also be played with the "p" or the "F4" key on the keyboard. A major difference is that, if a part of the sound is Selected, only the selected sound will play. You can also play a Selected area by right-clicking inside the Selected area.
  3. The "f" key will play the entire soundfile, even if the window is zoomed-in, and not all of the soundfile is displayed.
  4. Anytime during playback, the playback can be stopped by hitting the "Enter" key on the keyboard. Clicking the right mouse button during playback has the same effect.
  5. Also, anytime during playback, the playback can be paused by hitting the "Space" bar on the keyboard. The Play Cursor will stop on the screen, at the point where the playback was paused. Playback can be resumed by hitting the "Space" bar again.
  6. If the "Enter" key is hit while playback is paused, the Edit Cursor will jump to the location of the Play Cursor. This can be very useful in locating points for editing.
  7. The Edit Cursor can be used to indicate where to begin playback. To play from the Edit Cursor, place the mouse pointer over the Edit Cursor (the mouse pointer will change to a single or double side arrow). Then click the right mouse button. The Play Cursor will start from the location of the Edit Cursor.
  8. Fast Edit has a feature called Audition Play, which helps you fine-tune your edits. If a region is Selected, you can use audition play by placing the mouse cursor on the edge of the Selected region. If you are on the left edge of the selected region, playback will start at the beginning of the Selected region and play for a short time, and then stop. If you are on the right edge of the Selected region, playback will start a short time before the end of the Selected region, and play up to the end to the Selected region, and then stop. The time of the Audition Play is set in the Record/Playback page of the Options window, which you will find at the bottom of the Display menu (see section 2.8.2).
  9. If a region is Selected, the Audition Play can also be performed with the "Alt-p" key on the keyboard. It will also play from the left side of the Selection, or up to the right side of the Selection, depending on which side of the Selection has the active Edit Cursor.
  10. "Alt-p" will also do an Audition play at the Edit Cursor, if there is no region Selected. Playback will go from a short time before the Edit Cursor to a short time after the Edit Cursor.
  11. The contents of the 5 Clipboards can be played. Just point the mouse to the desired Clipboard button, and click on the right mouse button.
  12. Playback can also be looped indefinitely by selecting Loop Playback (select Loop Playback by clicking on the button marked "L" at the bottom of each window). The entire waveform or a selected area may be looped. When looping a selected area, sides of the selected area can be adjusted during Playback
Looped Playback
  1. Fast Edit can do a continuous repeating playback of a section of audio. To do looped playback, you must first do a Selection of the sound to be looped.
  2. Next, click on the Loop Playback button (marked "L") at the bottom of the window you want to play.
  3. Then right-click inside of the Selected area. Playback will start at the beginning of the Selected area, and will play the entire Selected area. The Playback cursor will then immediately jump back to the beginning of the Selected area and play it again.
  4. To turn off Looped Playback, click on the Loop Playback button again.
Scrub
  1. Fast Edit lets you Scrub a section of the waveform, using the mouse, in order to audibly locate the beginning of any particular sound.
  2. To use Scrub, first place the Edit Cursor in the approximate location of the sound you want to Scrub. Then call up the Scrub funtion by selecting it from the Play menu, or by hitting F2 on the keyboard. The window will zoom in or out to show a few seconds of sound around the Edit Cursor. To perform the Scrub, grab the Edit Cursor with the right mouse button, and slide the cursor horizontally. Fast Edit will play the waveforms as the cursor moves over them. It can play in real time, faster than real time, and slower than real time, depending on how fast you move the cursor. It can also play forwards and backwards.
  3. The amount of time displayed during Scrub is set by the Scrub Time Option, in the Record and Playback section of the Options window, which you will find at the bottom of the Display menu (see See Record and Playback Options.).
  4. When you have finished Scrubbing, you can return to the normal display by hitting the left mouse button.