<b>Welcome to VinylStudio, the easy way to digitise your vinyl albums and cassettes.</b>\n\nThe first time you run it, VinylStudio will lead you through the steps you need to get started.\n\nAlternatively, if your turntable is not hooked up yet, you can download a set of sample files from <l>www.alpinesoft.co.uk/VinylStudio/VSSample.exe</l>.\n\nYou can download the samples at a later date by selecting <b>Download Sample Files</b> from the <b>Help</b> menu.
It is worth spending a little time deciding which recording format to use (MP3 or WAV) before recording a large number of albums. Refer to the <b>MP3 or WAV?</b> topic in the online help for more details.\n\nTo return to the welcome screen, click on <b>Previous Tip</b>.
Position the cursor (the vertical black line) to the area of interest before zooming in, as VinylStudio centres this in the zoomed display.
Click on the 'Cursor:' region of the status bar at the bottom of the window to centre the display on the current cursor position.
If you are working on a laptop, invest in a mouse with a scroll wheel! This is the much quickest way of zooming in an out.
If you find the text boxes that pop-up as you move the mouse around distracting, uncheck <b>Show Tooltips</b> in the Options menu.
If nothing happens when you try to zoom in, click to the right of the toolbar below the waveform display and try again.
To use the <b>Scan for end of track</b> feature, first click anywhere to the right of the last trackbreak in the waveform display.
Check out the <b>undo</b> and <b>redo</b> buttons in the toolbar. Most actions in VinylStudio can be undone.
We recommend inserting trackbreaks before declicking your recordings; this makes it easier to find your way around the waveform display in the <b>Cleanup Audio</b> screen.
If <b>Scan</b> does not appear to do anything, try it again. Scan is sometimes fooled by tracks with a quiet introduction. And keep your eyes on the red end-of-track marker!
To get the best out of the <b>Scan</b> feature, you may need to adjust the scan settings. If Scan skips too many tracks, decrease the <b>gap length</b> or increase the <b>threshold level</b>. If it treats too many quiet passages of music as track breaks, do the opposite.
To change the vertical zoom, hold down the shift-key and use your mousewheel (or the + and - keys).
If you have an alternative recording device, such as a USB turntable, you can select it in the <b>Recording Options</b> dialog.
There is a 'splitter' immediately above the waveform control to adjust the height of the waveform display within the window.
To be able to select clicks in the waveform display in the Cleanup Audio window, ensure that the <b>Show clicks<b> box is checked.
To adjust the width of a click manually, you need to zoom in until the display background colour changes. You also need to ensure that the <b>Show Clicks</b> box is checked.
Click on one correction in the Corrections List and and then shift-click on another to select all the corrections in-between.
If you cannot find a track listing for a particular album, try changing the lookup site in the Configuration dialog (from the toolbar or under the Options menu).
If you are recording from cassette tape, you might find it helpful to set a maximum recording time in the <b>Recording Options</b> dialog under the Options menu.
To change the order of the track listing, click on a track and drag it to the desired position in the list.
You can do other things (such as editing a previously recorded album) while recording an album or burning a CD.
To insert trackbreaks on live albums, play the portion of the album leading up to the trackbreak and then press 'B' (or click on the <b>Insert trackbreak</b> button) at the critical moment.
If you know the duration of the tracks for a particular album, you can append them (in brackets) when editing the track title. This is particularly useful for classical music, where the boundaries between tracks can be hard to locate.
To adjust the start time of a track independently of the end time of the previous track, hold down the shift key and then click on and drag the green start-of-track marker.
To locate an album quickly, drop down the list and then type in the first few characters of the album artist.
Click on (but do not drag) any marker in the waveform display to position the cursor to that marker; then zoom in for pin-point accuracy.
Shift-click in the waveform display to define a <b>Selection</b> (shown with a yellow background). You can then zoom in on or play the area defined. You can adjust the area selected by dragging either edge. To clear the selection, press <b>Esc</b>.
To play the current selection, type S (or shift-space). To zoom in on the current selection, press Z.
To play a brief section of music either side of the cursor, press '1'.
Use the <b>Stop at end of track</b> button to check that you have located the end of the track accurately.
If you are fading tracks in and out and you can't hear a track playing, check that you have selected it (you may need to close the Adjust Faders or Track Details dialog first); if a section of the waveform display is greyed out, you won't be able to hear it.
Backup your 'raw' recordings (and your music collection files!), but not the split-up tracks generated by VinylStudio - these can be regenerated on demand. You should also back up your .CRD files - these hold your click repairs.
You can create playlists for Windows Media Player from the File menu. These make it easy to play an entire album at a time.
If you want to know how much space is left on your MP3 player while copying tracks across, right-click in an empty part of the right-hand pane and select <b>Properties</b>.
If you want to delete files without sending them to the recycle bin (i.e. to permanently delete them), hold down the shift key when deleting.
If you want to see the files you have recorded, or your split-up tracks, open the Configuration dialog (from the Options menu) and click on <b>Explore</b>.
If you plan to edit your recordings outside VinylStudio, please refer to the <b>Editing your Recordings in Other Programs</b> topic in the online help first.
If you encounter problems writing CD's, ensure that there are no other CPU-intensive applications (such as games) running. You may also find it helpful to reduce the Write Speed in the CD Burning Options dialog.
To toggle the Windows Volume Control between normal and compact view, press Ctrl+S.
Please let us know how you feel about VinylStudio. You can contact us at:\n <l>www.alpinesoft.co.uk/VinylStudio/contact_us.aspx</l>
