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SGI Desktop Special Edition 1.1
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SGI Desktop Special Edition 1.1.iso
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dmedia_tools
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1995-11-13
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4. _S_o_u_n_d__E_d_i_t_o_r
Sound Editor (invoked from the command line as
_s_o_u_n_d_e_d_i_t_o_r(1)) is a Motif application for recording and
editing soundfiles that use AIFF format soundfiles.
Although AIFF or AIFF-C files may be opened, all files are
saved in uncompressed AIFF format. Use the _s_o_u_n_d_f_i_l_e_r
utility to convert soundfiles in other formats to AIFF for
use with Sound Editor.
This program requires a Silicon Graphics system with digital
audio hardware components (Iris Audio Processor) in order to
capture and audition sounds. On systems without audio
hardware, the record and play functions will be disabled,
but soundfiles may still be viewed and edited.
A graphical display of the audio stream data is presented
for editing. Familiar word processor-style commands are
available for manipulating the audio content. Sound segments
can be cut, copied, pasted, or mixed by marking a region
with the mouse and invoking the proper command. Additional
functions are provided to modify levels and to perform fades
and special effects.
Sound Editor accepts a command line option, "-nofork", which
will force the program to run in the foreground. Without
this option, the standard behavior is for Sound Editor to
fork and run in the background.
Also, you may provide a soundfile name when invoking Sound
Editor from the shell. This file, if it exists, will be
loaded on startup. Otherwise, the file name will be used
for a new file.
You can customize the appearance of Sound Editor by altering
its Motif application defaults file, _S_o_u_n_d_E_d_i_t_o_r, in the
directory /_u_s_r/_l_i_b/_X_1_1/_a_p_p-_d_e_f_a_u_l_t_s.
See your Motif/X11 documentation regarding use of the
application defaults file.
See the man page _s_o_u_n_d_e_d_i_t_o_r(1) and Sound Editor's on-line
help for additional information about the tool.
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4.1 _B_u_g__F_i_x_e_s
The version of Sound Editor included in the Digital Media
Tools 5.5 release includes the following bug fixes made
since the 5.4 release.
+o The file browser dialog box now returns to the last
browsed directory when next invoked.
+o The 'Trim' function has been reassigned a new
accelerator key ('r') since the old one conflicted with
the 'Cut' command ('t').
+o Hitting the "Selection" button to zoom the waveform
window to fit the current selection now accurately
displays the full selection range.
+o The selection time range correctly updates after
hitting the arrow buttons to nudge the selection. Also,
the played selection range now correctly matches the
marked selection after using the arrow buttons to
adjust the selection.
+o The display field showing the cursor position (as text
string) no longer flickers or disappears.
+o The program now catches the window manager's close
command when activated from the window's system menu.
Previously, the program would exit without prompting
for file save operation.
+o There were situations where a saved file would be
inadvertently removed when the program exited. This has
been fixed.
This section lists bugs which were fixed between the 5.2 and
5.3 releases.
+o Files are correctly saved across file systems (multiple
disk drives).
+o Original file data no longer lost when saving to full
disk.
+o Waveform display clipping, overlapping and other
artifacts have been fixed.
+o Program will now run on machines without audio
hardware.
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+o Program does not set hardware sample rates until user
selects play or record.
+o Program handles reading of hardware sample rates
better.
+o Program no longer dumps core when playing and scrolling
the wave display.
+o Fixed problem of file mask getting set improperly on
save operations.
4.2 _C_h_a_n_g_e_s__a_n_d__A_d_d_i_t_i_o_n_s
The version of Sound Editor included in the Digital Media
Tools 5.5 release includes the following changes made since
the 5.4 release.
+o Before saving over an existing file, the program puts
up a warning dialog and prompts the user to indicate
that it's OK to replace the file.
+o The type-in field for setting the amount of time in the
waveform display has been replaced. Now there are two
type-in fields which allow setting the selected range
to a start and end time value (as a floating point
value representing seconds). Use the "Zoom Selection"
command to display this range if desired.
+o Some menus have been rearranged to conform to the SGI
Style Guide. The Options menu has been replaced with a
Settings menu which contains the Overdub Record toggle.
A Utilities menu has been added which contains the
command to launch the system Audio Control Panel. The
File:About... menu command has been moved to
Help:Product Information.
+o The keyboard focus policy default has been changed. You
will now need to click within a text field first to
give focus for typing. This also means that you don't
have to leave the cursor within the text field while
continuing the type.
+o The Delete and Backspace keys are no longer used as
accelerators for the Edit:Delete command. This command
must be invoked from the Edit menu.
+o Animators or others working with the 24 frames-per-
second film format may invoke the program with a
display option: '-24fps'. This argument should be
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typed prior to the filename command line option. This
will cause the display of time to be divided into 24
fps marks. Frames falling on a 16th frame boundary will
be shown with an emphasized tick mark (16 frames/foot).
Frame numbers are shown consecutively for the duration
of the file. Type-in fields expect whole frame numbers
as input, although fractional settings can be made by
dragging the mouse to select a range.
The version of Sound Editor included in IRIS Digital Media
Tools 5.4 is the same as the version that was shipped with
IRIS Digital Media Tools 5.3.
This section lists changes/additions to Sound Editor between
the 5.2 and 5.3 releases.
+o Support for OSF/Motif compliant cut-and-paste and
primary selection transfer has been implemented. You
can now use these operations among multiple instances
of Sound Editor and other applications which support
the SGI Soundfile target.
+o New effect functions added: Set Level and Set Pitch
allows scaling the amplitude or frequency of a region
to a specific ratio.
+o File Save Selection function added to simplify saving
selected regions into individual files.
+o Program can open AIFF and AIFF-C format soundfiles. 8,
16 and 24 bit sample widths are all acceptable. All
files are saved in uncompressed AIFF format.
+o File Insert command allows files of differing sample
bit-widths to be inserted. Sample rate and number of
channels must still match, however.
4.3 _K_n_o_w_n__P_r_o_b_l_e_m_s__a_n_d__W_o_r_k_a_r_o_u_n_d_s
This section lists problems in Sound Editor and ways to work
around them.
+o Under certain conditions, the keyboard accelerators can
become disabled. Bringing up the menu containing the
desired command usually corrects this situation.
+o Although the program can open either AIFF or AIFF-C
files, there is no way within Sound Editor to export
files in a particular format. Use the _s_o_u_n_d_f_i_l_e_r
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utility program to convert a file to another format.
+o The cut-and-paste operations do not work correctly
between different host machines. To work around this,
copy all files to be edited to the same host.
+o When altering the selected region during repeat play,
it is possible for the play region to lag behind the
user's input or sometimes play material outside the
marked region. This behavior normally corrects itself
after cycling through the marked play region.
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