Information about new functions of Samplitude can be found in the Sam2496.doc file in the Samplitude installation directory!
Samplitude V5.20 contains a new MIDI playback and recording engine. Please read all details in the Sam2496.doc file!
Samplitude can be controlled by several hardware controllers, e.g. the Peavey 1600, Yamaha 01V and CM Automation Motormix. You can download these Control Panel applications from www.sekd.com.
Samplitude 2496 contains object oriented real-time effects, which can be configured in the Object Editor (Double click on an object).
Samplitude V5.20 contains highly optimized EQ routines for the new Intel Pentium III processor giving you about twice the performance of a Pentium II at the same clock speed!
The Mixer contains new and powerful mastering effects such as the Multi-band Dynamics, FFT Filter, Dehisser, and the Multi-band Stereo Enhancer.
DirectX Plug-Ins from all leading manufacturers can not only be used as offline effects (Menu 'Effects'), but also as real-time effects for the Mixer Channels, Master, AUX Sections of the Mixer.
The integrated CD creation function of Samplitude allows you to burn audio CDs of your multi-track VIPs directly from within the program, including real-time effects and non-destructively!
The internal 32-bit precision setting File->Preferences->Internal Precision)also benefits 16-bit projects. It prevents internal distortion in the real-time Mixer.
The Master Normalize function in the Mixer allows you to set the main output signal of a multi-track VIP to 0dB. This includes any real-time effects and is ideal as the last step before a CD is burned or track bouncing is preformed!
The keyboard shortcut 'm' opens and closes the real-time Mixer window.
The keyboard shortcut '0' in the numeric keypad stops the playback at the current Play Cursor position without moving it to the original playback start position. In addition, you may use the mouse while holding the '0' key to scrub through your project!
The real-time Mixer offers a 3-band parametric EQ, compressor, limiter, gate, distortion, and echo/delay for every track or channel.
A right click on the effect control knobs opens the corresponding effect dialog in the Mixer window. This can also be performed during playback of the VIP.
To use external AUX Sends in the Mixer window, activate the Properties dialog with the '?' button in the AUX section and select a second Wave device. Next, activate the desired AUX channel!
The 'Return' key tiles all open windows on the screen.
Ranges can be selected track related in virtual projects. Use the generic shortcuts for cut, copy, delete, and insert to manipulate the range.
When the Crossfade button in activated in the toolbar, all cuts performed in the VIPs will create soft crossfades between the cuts. The length and the curve form can be edited with the Crossfade Editor and 'Get/Set Global'.
When the Play Cursor is located on a selected object, the shortcut 't' will separate the object at the cursor position. When a range is selected, two cuts will be performed at the beginning and end of the range.
The shortcut key 'a' selects 'All'. This means that a range is selected, which includes the complete length of the project.
The Record window can be displayed with the shortcut 'r'. The shortcut 'a' starts the recording. The key 's' stops the recording.
To set a range from one marker to the next: Click on the first marker (handle above track pane), hold the Shift key and click on the second marker.
Holding the Shift key and moving the mouse, a range can easily be moved.
To flip a range to the left or right, hold the keys Shift + Control and press one of the cursor keys. Use this method to test loops.
Use the Tab key to switch VIPs between two display modes for objects. Shift + Tab lets you choose between the modes and make preference settings. The setting 'Background' turns the background color for an object off or on.
Use the Ctrl + left mouse button to copy objects in VIPs.
The function 'Lock Object' locks the selected objects to prevent moving or other attributes. This is especially useful for multi-track productions where multiple objects need to maintain their relative position across multiple tracks.
To determine the tempo of a selected range in BPM, follow these steps: Open the Snap Definition dialog with the key combination Shift + 'r'. In the section 'Free Bar Snap' specify how many beats the selected range contains, for example '4'. Next, click on 'Get Range'. The exact tempo is displayed in the box BPM.
Use the horizontal cursor keys to scroll quickly through a project. Combined with Ctrl, the same keys will zoom in and out of a project window.
The vertical cursor keys will scroll through VIPs with a large number of tracks. Holding the Ctrl key while using the same cursor keys will vertically zoom in and out of the VIP.
The current scroll and zoom levels can be stored when holding the Shift key pressed and clicking on the buttons 'S' and 'Z' in the lower left-hand corner of the VIP.
Object volume and volume automation curves can be set to higher values than 0 dB. (To properly display the higher settings use the Ctrl + vertical cursor keys to zoom into the track display!)
Selected objects can be normalized virtually (non-destructively) to 100% by pressing the shortcut 'n'.
Most of the functions in the menu 'Effects' (from Normalize to Stereo Enhancer) can also be used with objects that are currently selected. In fact, this is the suggested use for effects not used in the Mixer window.
The Declipping function is an algorithm that can be used to remove minor distortions and clipping.
The function FFT Filter/Spectrum Analysis is available to filter audio with the characteristics of a different audio signal! Perfect to adjust room characteristics.
The Room Simulator allows you to make use of an unlimited pool of impulse responses to recreate the reverb effect of your favorite natural room reverb or an electronic studio reverb!
Use the right mouse button functionality on various components of the VIP window. Context sensitive menus are displayed with the most logical functions and commands regarding the current window component. For example, right click on objects, Record button, Mute button, or the scrollbars.
The Delete key can be used to delete markers when the Play Cursor is located directly on a marker. This also works with any selected object. When a range is selected, it is also deleted.
Holding the Shift key and clicking on two objects will also select all other objects that are located between the two objects.
The menu option Object->Edit Objects / Crossfades is available to edit a number of object attributes such as object borders and object crossfades. All of these functions have keyboard shortcut assignments and can be quickly recalled.
Drag and drop WAV, HDP, and RAP files directly from the Windows Explorer into virtual projects. The Windows Explorer can be opened from within Samplitude with Tools->Explore the HD Wave Project Folder.
The menu functions Edit->Edit Tracks can be used to rearrange the tracks in a VIP, insert new tracks, or delete tracks.
The volume and panorama curves can be linked to their objects by activating the 'Link Curves to Objects' button in the Mouse Mode Toolbar. This allows you to move the curve events with objects.
Use a double click of the left mouse button on the middle of a Mixer control knob to return it to its default state. Another double click resets the knob to the previous setting.
Clicking on the left and right outer limits of a Mixer control knob will increase or decrease the knob setting in small steps.
The Mixer window allows you to Solo multiple tracks. Use the Shift + Left Click to return Solo activation to only one channel.
Use the Master Normalize function in the Mixer Master section to quickly set the output gain to 0dB. When the Limiter in the Master section is active, the output signal is also monitored for any possible clipping.
The Mixer function 'Mix to File' (lower right) writes the master output signal of the Mixer to a WAV file (HD Wave Project). Caution! Every time the playback is started, the previous contents of the WAV file will be overwritten. Save the resulting HD Wave project to a new file if you want to preserve the mix.
In Windows NT the playback performance of the hard drive subsystem is often especially good when the audio files are played back for the first time. If you run into a problem playing back a VIP with many tracks, simply save the VIP, close it (Shortcut: 'h'), and open the VIP once more!
It is often helpful to start two instances of Samplitude. For example, one instance of the program can be used to record a long audio file or write to a CD, while the other is used to work on other material.
By default, Samplitude 2496 uses an internal precision setting of 32-bit Float. If a maximum number of tracks are needed, you may want to reduce the precision to 16-bit to slightly cut down the CPU load. (File->Preferences->Internal Precision)
