Sonic Foundry SOUNDFORGE 6 User Manual

After you start Sound Forge for the first time, the registration wizard appears. This wizard offers easy steps
that allow you to register Sound Forge online with Sonic Foundry. Alternately, you may register Sound Forge
online at www.sonicfoundry.com at any time.

Registering your product provides you with exclusive access to a variety of technical support options,
notification of product updates, and special promotions exclusive to Sound Forge registered users.

Registration Assistance

If you do not have access to the Internet, registration assistance is available. Please contact our Customer
Service Department.

Registration assistance is currently available Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central
Standard Time (CST) by dialing the following numbers:

Telephone/Fax Country

1-800-577-6642 (toll-free) US, Canada, and Virgin Islands

[phone] (toll-free) Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, UK,

Netherlands, and Japan

[phone] for all other countries

1-608-250-1745 (Fax) All countries

Customer Service/Sales

For a detailed list of Customer Service options, we encourage you to visit www.sonicfoundry.com. Use the
following numbers for telephone support during normal office hours:

Telephone/Fax/E-mail Country

1-800-577-6642 (toll-free) US, Canada, and Virgin Islands

[phone] (toll-free) Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, UK,

Netherlands, and Japan

[phone] for all other countries

1-608-250-1745 (Fax) All countries

customerservice@sonicfoundr y.com

Technical Support

For a detailed list of Technical Support options, we encourage you to visit www.sonicfoundry.com/support.

• To listen to your support options, please call 608-256-5555.

• Customers who have purchased the full version of Sound Forge receive 60 days of complimentary phone
support. This complimentary support begins when the product is registered. (Registration is required to
receive this complimentary support.) Please call [phone] if you need assistance with your full
version of Sound Forge. This offer does not apply to Sound Forge Studio users.

Sonic Foundry, Inc.

1617 Sherman Avenue
Madison, WI 53704
USA

The information contained in this manual is subject to change without notice and does not represent a
commitment on the part of Sonic Foundry. The software described in this manual is provided under the
terms of a license agreement or nondisclosure agreement. The software license agreement specifies the terms
and conditions for its lawful use.

Sonic Foundry and Sound Forge are trademarks of Sonic Foundry, Inc. The brands and products named here
are the trademarks or registered trademarks of Sonic Foundry, its affiliates, or their respective holders.

Copyright © 2002-2003 Sonic Foundry, Inc. This user guide can be reproduced for noncommercial reference
or personal/private use only and may not be resold. Any reproduction in excess of 15 copies or electronic
transmission requires the written permission of Sonic Foundry.

Table of Contents

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Introducing Sound Forge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Sample files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Full version of Sound Forge versus Sound Forge Studio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Installing Sound Forge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Getting help within Sound Forge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

1

Online help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

What’s This? help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Help on the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Sending feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

What’s New?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Nondestructive editing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Improved audio plug-in management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Improved Audio Plug-In Chainer with easier previewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Plug-In Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Customizable DX Favorites menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Multitask background rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Tabbed docking windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Updated playbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Looped Playback mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Play Plug-In Chainer mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Play as Sample mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Customizable toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Play Device toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2

Updated file support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Support for files larger than 4 GB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Support for QuickTime, MPEG 1 and 2, and Windows Media Video files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Support for 32-bit/192 kHz files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Enhanced Preset Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Enhanced zoom capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Greater than 1:1 time zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Customizable zoom settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Improved video handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Video properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Video Preview window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Frame numbering options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Options for saving video files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Rendering preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

External monitor preview setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Optimizing for Sound Forge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Defragmenting your hard drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Checking Windows 98SE and Windows Me default settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Increasing total buffer size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Increasing preload size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Turning off the playback cursor and record counter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Turning off meters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Turning off the play (output) meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Turning off the record meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Turning on passive updating for video and time displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Turning on passive updating for time displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Turning on passive updating for video displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Learning the Sound Forge Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Using the mouse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Using the mouse wheel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

The main screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Main screen components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Floating and docking windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

The data window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Displaying data window components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Playbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Toolbars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Docking a toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Floating a toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Displaying a toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Customizing a toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Standard toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Transport bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Navigation toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Views toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Status/Selection toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Regions/Playlist toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Process toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Effects toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Tools toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Levels toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

ACID Loop Creation Tools toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Play Device toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

ToolTips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

3

Turning off ToolTips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Command descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Meters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Scaling meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Showing labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Holding peaks and valleys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Resetting clipping indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Faders and sliders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Envelope graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Displaying the waveform on an envelope graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Stereo files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Working with stereo files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Selecting data in stereo files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Getting Started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Opening a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Peak files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Using the Open dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Playing a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Viewing the current position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Playing a file from a specified point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Playing in Loop Playback mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

TABLE OF CONTENTS

4

Playing a selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Viewing selection status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Viewing selection statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Creating a new data window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Active data windows vs. inactive data windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Copying data to a new file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Saving a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Using the Save As dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Creating custom templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Saving all open audio files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Saving files as a workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Editing audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Pasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Deleting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Trimming/Cropping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Using undo and redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Using the Undo/Redo History window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Selecting status formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Experimenting with status formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Configuring the Measures & Beats format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Recovering files after a crash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Recovering files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Deleting recovered files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Navigating, Zooming, and Selecting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Setting the cursor position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Previewing audio with pre-roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Using the overview bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Understanding the overview bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Navigating in the overview bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Playing audio in the overview bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Navigating with the audio event locator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Zooming and magnifying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Zooming the time ruler (horizontal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Zooming the level ruler (vertical) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Using custom zoom settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Using zooming shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Using the Magnify tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

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Selecting audio using start and end values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

Using the Set Selection dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Selecting audio during playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Fine-tuning a selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Adjusting a selection with the mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Adjusting a selection with the keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Restoring a selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Understanding snapping. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82

Snapping to time divisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Snapping to zero-crossings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Snapping the current selection to time divisions or zero-crossings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Disabling Auto Snap to Zero at high magnifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Creating and using views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82

Displaying the Views toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Creating views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Changing File Attributes and Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

5

Editing file attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Editing attributes in the Properties dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Editing attributes in the status bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Changing the sample rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Changing the bit depth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Increasing bit depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Decreasing bit depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Understanding dither and noise shaping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Minimizing quantization error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Converting mono/stereo channels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Converting from mono to stereo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Converting from stereo to mono . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Using the Channel Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Converting file formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Save as type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Adding summary information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Viewing and editing summary information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Viewing extended summary information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Editing extended summary information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Saving summary information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Including additional embedded information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92

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6

Using Markers, Regions, and the Playlist/Cutlist. . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Why use markers, regions, and the playlist?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Rapid navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Added effects for streaming media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Multiple versions of edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

MIDI synchronization and triggering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Using markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Inserting markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Naming markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Changing the marker position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Using markers to create regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Using command markers in streaming media files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Defining streaming media commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Defining Scott Studios data commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Inserting command markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Using regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Inserting regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Inserting regions automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Editing regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Using the Regions List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Displaying the Regions List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Working with the Regions List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Creating new files from regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Using the playlist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Displaying the playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Adding regions to the playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Understanding the playlist display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Customizing the playlist display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Repeating a region during playlist playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Playing from the playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Arranging the playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Replicating a region in the playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Using stop points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Deleting a region from the playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Creating a new file from the playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Configuring the playlist as a cutlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Saving a playlist/cutlist file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Opening a playlist/cutlist file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Recording, Ripping, and Burning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Recording audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115

Recording into a new data window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Recording a specific length (punch-in) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Choosing a recording mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Adjusting for DC offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Playing back recorded audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Using remote recording mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121

Synchronizing with other devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122

Viewing recording levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Inserting markers while recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124

Configuring gap detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124

Automatically labeling windows and regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Changing blinking status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Ripping audio from CDs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125

Previewing CD tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Refreshing the Extract Audio from CD dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125

Burning CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126

7

Correcting the sample rate for CD burning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126

Writing mono tracks to a CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126

Adding tracks to a CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Closing a CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Editing, Repairing, and Synthesizing Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Crossfading, overwriting, and replicating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129

Crossfading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Overwriting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Replicating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130

Repeating an operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132

Using drag-and-drop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132

Dragging mono selections into stereo destinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132

Snapping to events in drag-and-drop operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Pasting, mixing, and crossfading with drag-and-drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133

Creating new windows with drag-and-drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135

Finding and repairing audio glitches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136

Locating glitches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136

Repairing audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Synthesizing audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139

Generating DTMF/MF tones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139

Generating audio with frequency modulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140

Generating simple waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142

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Processing Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Applying presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Using presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Creating presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Deleting presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Resetting parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Managing presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Previewing processed audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Setting custom preview parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Preview parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Bypassing a process while previewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Sound Forge processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Auto Trim/Crop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Using Auto Trim/Crop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Auto Trim/Crop controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Bit-Depth Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Converting a file’s bit depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Channel Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Using the Channel Converter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Channel Converter controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

DC Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Estimating DC Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

DC Offset controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

EQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Fade - Graphic fade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Creating a graphic fade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Creating a custom graphic fade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Graphic Fade Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Fade - Fade In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Fade - Fade Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Insert Silence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Inserting silence into a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Insert Silence controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Invert/Flip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Mute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Muting an audio selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Normalize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Normalizing Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Normalize Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

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Pan/Expand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159

Creating a pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Creating a custom pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Pan/Expand controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Resample. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161

Downsampling audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162

Upsampling audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162

Resample controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162

Reverse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163

Smooth/Enhance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163

Swap Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164

Time Stretch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164

Volume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164

Increasing the volume of a selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Volume control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

9

Applying Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Adding an effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167

Saving effect settings as a custom preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168

Adding a chain of effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168

Applying effects using the Audio Plug-In Chainer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169

Adding plug-ins to a chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Selecting the processing mode for audio tail data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Arranging plug-ins on a chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171

Bypassing effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171

Removing plug-ins from a chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171

Configuring chained plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Saving individual plug-in settings as a custom preset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172

Saving plug-in chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Loading plug-in chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Adjusting settings for multiple data windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173

Managing effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173

Using the Plug-In Manager window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173

Organizing effects in the DX Favorites menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174

Using the Preset Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Using Acoustic Mirror and Wave Hammer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

What is Acoustic Mirror? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175

The acoustic signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175

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Adding an acoustic signature to an audio file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Adjusting the acoustic signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

The Acoustic Mirror dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

General tab controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Envelope tab controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Summary tab controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Recover tab controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Creating impulse files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

What you need to create custom impulses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Recording the impulse in an acoustic space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182

Recording the impulse through an electronic device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Recovering the impulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Trimming the impulse file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Adding summary information to your impulse file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Using the new impulse file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Using impulse files in creative ways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Processing individual audio elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Adding realistic stereo to mono recordings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Creating special effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Recreating spaces for foley effects and dialog replacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Panning with head-related transfer functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186

Troubleshooting Acoustic Mirror. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Stuttering during real-time previewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Impulses do not recover properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Recovered impulse is too noisy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Error message explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

What is Wave Hammer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Displaying Wave Hammer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

The Wave Hammer dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Compressor tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Volume Maximizer tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Working with MIDI/SMPTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

What is MIDI? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

MIDI triggers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Playback versus triggered playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Triggering file playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Triggering region playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Triggering playback from additional internal/external MIDI devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Advantages of external MIDI controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

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Sound Forge and MIDI timecode synchronization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .198

Playing regions using MTC from a sequencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .198

Playing regions using MTC from an external device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Using Sound Forge to generate MTC for a MIDI sequencer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Using Sound Forge to generate MTC for an external device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .200

Sampling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Samplers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201

External samplers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201

Internal samplers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .202

Configuring the Sampler Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .202

Creating a sampler configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .202

Open loop versus closed loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Saving sampler configurations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .204

Sending and receiving samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205

Sending a sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Receiving a sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

MIDI unity note and Fine tune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Using the MIDI Keyboard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206

11

Displaying the MIDI Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206

Turning on the MIDI Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Configuring the MIDI Keyboard output port and channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Troubleshooting the MIDI Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Specifying instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Generating chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207

Setting up MIDI/SDS hardware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207

Troubleshooting MIDI/SDS with open loop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207

Setting up SCSI/SMDI hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208

Troubleshooting SCSI/SMDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208

Conflicting SCSI IDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208

Periodic transfer failures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208

Sampler is recognized but does not transfer reliably . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Looping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211

Sustaining and release loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Creating a sustaining loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212

Creating a sustaining loop with a release loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212

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12

Looping techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Match endpoint amplitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Match endpoint waveform slope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Match endpoint sound levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Avoid very short loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

Editing loops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Editing a loop without the Loop Tuner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Editing a loop with the Loop Tuner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Crossfading loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Using the Crossfade Loop tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Creating loops for ACID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Creating an ACID one-shot file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Creating an ACID loop file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Creating an ACID 2.0 disk-based file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Creating an ACID 3.0 beatmapped file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Using the ACID Loop Creation Tools toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Editing loops for ACID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Halving or doubling a loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Shifting a selection left or right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Rotating audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Setting loop tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Saving loop points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

Working with Video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Viewing video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Using the video strip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Using the Video Preview window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Using an external monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Attaching video to an audio file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Setting video options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Video file properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Video preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Saving a video file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Using Spectrum Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Working in the frequency domain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Fast Fourier Transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Using a spectrum graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Displaying a spectrum graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Monitoring playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Monitoring an input source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Displaying frequency and amplitude values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233

Displaying frequency and pitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233

Working with stereo files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Updating a spectrum graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Viewing multiple spectrum graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Adjusting spectrum graph settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Saving spectrum graph settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Navigating a spectrum graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237

Using Grab/Pan mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Using the overview window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Using a sonogram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .240

Displaying a sonogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Displaying frequency and amplitude values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .240

Updating a sonogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Tuning a sonogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .240

Returning to a spectrum graph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

13

Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243

Waveform display keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Navigation and playback keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Record dialog keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Regions List and playlist keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .248

ACID loop creation tools keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .248

Audio Plug-In Chainer keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Mouse shortcuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249

Mouse wheel shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249

Additional mouse shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249

Microsoft Audio Compression Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Audio data compression and decompression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .251

Transparent playback and recording of non-hardware supported audio files. .251

SMPTE Timecode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

SMPTE 25 EBU (25 fps, Video) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .253

SMPTE Drop Frame (29.97 fps, Video) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .253

SMPTE Non-Drop Frame (29.97 fps, Video). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .253

SMPTE 30 (30 fps, Audio). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .254

SMPTE Film Sync (24 fps) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .254

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14

Using CSOUND, MTU, IRCAM, BICSF, and EBICSF Files . . . . 255

About IRCAM files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

About BICSF and EBICSF files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Opening files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

BICSF and EBICSF files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

IRCAM, CSOUND and MTU files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Saving files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

Introduction

1

1

Introducing Sound Forge

Thank you for purchasing Sound Forge and for your continued support of the Sonic Foundry family of
products. Sound Forge provides you with the powerful features you have come to expect, as well as a number
of new features designed to make digital audio editing quick and easy.

Sample files

Throughout the manual, you will find references to six sample audio files. The manual directs you to use
these files as you experiment with different Sound Forge features. These files are installed in the same folder
as the application:

15

• Drumhit.pca

• Fill.pca

• Loop.pca

• Musicbed.pca

• Saxriff.pca

• Voiceover.pca

The files are in Perfect Clarity Audio (PCA) format, a Sonic Foundry proprietary lossless audio compression
format.

Full version of Sound Forge versus Sound Forge Studio

This manual is provided to assist users of the full version of Sound Forge as well as Sound Forge Studio users.
For this reason, product features exclusive to the full version of Sound Forge are identified throughout the
manual using the following icon:

In addition, Sound Forge Studio-only issues are identified and described where appropriate.

Shortcuts

As experienced users of Sound Forge products know, there are often several methods of executing a
command, including menus, shortcut menus, and keystrokes. Throughout this manual, the typical method of
executing a command is identified in the procedure, and alternate methods are identified in a section
indicated by the following icon:

A full list of keyboard and mouse shortcuts appears in the first appendix to this manual. For more information,

see Shortcuts on page 243.

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

16

Installing Sound Forge

The install utility, setup.exe, located on the Sound Forge CD-ROM, creates the necessary folders and copies
all files required to operate Sound Forge.

Note:

Sound Forge requires Microsoft
DirectX 8.0 or later and Internet Explorer 4.0
or later. The setup program alerts you if either
is not detected on your system and prompts
their installation from the Sound Forge
CD-ROM.

1.

Place the Sound Forge CD-ROM in your system’s CD-ROM drive. AutoPlay launches the Setup menu.

Note:

Start button and choose Run. Type

If AutoPlay is not turned on, click the

“D:\setup.exe”, where D is the drive letter of
your CD-ROM drive.

2.

Click Install, and follow the instructions in the dialogs to complete the installation.

Getting help within Sound Forge

You can access two varieties of help within Sound Forge:

• Online help

• What’s This? help (also referred to as context-sensitive help)

Online help

To access online help, choose Contents and Index from the Help menu.

Press .

Note:

Explorer 4.0 or later must be installed on your
system.

F1

To view online help, Internet

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

17

Toolbar

Tabs

Information
pane

The Contents tab provides a list of available help topics. Double-click a closed book ( ) to open the pages,
and then click on a topic page ( ).

The

Index tab provides a complete listing of the help topics available. Scroll through the list of available

topics or type a word in the

Type in the keyword to find box to quickly locate topics related to that word. Select

the topic and click the button.

The

Search tab allows you to enter a keyword and display all of the topics in the online help that contain the

keyword you have entered. Type a keyword in the

Type in the word(s) to search for box and click the

button. Select the topic from the list and click the button.

The

Favorites tab allows you to keep topics that you revisit often in a separate folder. To add a topic to your

favorites, click the button on the

Favorites tab.

What’s This? help

What’s This? help allows you to view pop-up descriptions of controls in dialog boxes.

1.

Click the question mark ( ) in the upper-right corner of the dialog box. The cursor changes to a
question mark icon ( ).

2.

Click a control in the dialog box. A pop-up description of the item appears.

Click a control in the dialog box and press + .

Shift F1

Help on the Web

Additional Sound Forge information is available on the Sonic Foundry Web site. From the Help menu,
choose

Sonic Foundry on the Web, and choose the desired location from the submenu. Sound Forge starts

your system’s Web browser and attempts to connect to the appropriate page on the Sonic Foundry Web site.

Sending feedback

We welcome your suggestions about the Sound Forge documentation. Please send any suggestions for
enhancements, clarifications, or corrections to us in an e-mail at [e-mail].

CHP. 1 INTRODUCTION

18

INTRODUCTION CHP. 1

CHAPTER

What’s New?

2

2

This chapter is intended for experienced Sound Forge users. It simply addresses the question on everyone’s
mind: “What’s new in this version of Sound Forge?”

Nondestructive editing

With this release, Sound Forge moves to a nondestructive editing model. Nondestructive editing eliminates
the bottleneck of waiting for each edit to complete processing because moving and deleting audio data is
instantaneous. When you save the file, Sound Forge renders all your edits out to a physical file on disk.

Improved audio plug-in management

19

This release includes several improvements relating to DirectX plug-ins.

Improved Audio Plug-In Chainer with easier previewing

Sound Forge 6.0 makes it easier to preview the result of applying a DirectX plug-in on different sections of an
audio file. The Audio Plug-In Chainer window allows you to reposition the cursor or make selections in the
data window without closing the chainer. Preview one section of the file, make adjustments in the Audio
Plug-In Chainer window, and preview a different section of the file—all without closing the window.

The playbar on each data window now has an
Chainer window. Once you open the chainer, the

In Chainer

Chainer window.

For more information, see Adding a chain of effects on page 168.

Plug-In Manager

Sound Forge 6.0 improves access to audio plug-ins by providing a new Plug-In Manager. This window allows
you to see a Explorer-style view of your audio plug-ins and plug-in chains. You can use the Plug-In Manager
to manage your plug-ins—to rename plug-ins, hide plug-ins, create folders, add plug-ins to the
menu, and perform other standard file management tasks. For more information, see Using the Plug-In Manager

window on page 173.

The Plug-In Manager also makes it easier to apply a plug-in to an audio file. To use a plug-in, simply drag it
onto a data window. To add a plug-in to an existing plug-in chain, drag the plug-in onto the Audio Plug-In
Chainer window. For more information, see Adding a plug-in to a chain from the Plug-In Manager on page 170.

button selected, you can preview audio through the plug-ins shown in the open Audio Plug-in

Open Plug-In Chainer button ( ) that opens the Audio Plug-In

Play Plug-In Chainer button ( ) appears. With the Play Plug-

DX Favorites

CHP. 2 WHAT’S NEW?

20

Customizable DX Favorites menu

When you add any DirectX plug-in to the DX Favorites folder, Sound Forge adds the plug-in to the DX

Favorites

much easier. You can create folders to organize the plug-ins in the

menu in the workspace. The DX Favorites menu makes accessing the plug-ins you use most often

DX Favorites menu or allow Sound Forge

to automatically organize your plug-ins for you. For more information, see Organizing effects in the DX Favorites

menu on page 174.

Multitask background rendering

In earlier versions of Sound Forge, you were forced to go do something else as your computer chugged away
processing that two-hour file. In Sound Forge 6.0, you can continue to perform many common tasks on other
data windows. The secret is multitask background rendering.

When you save or process a data window, the data window becomes inactive while it waits in the queue to be
processed. While this data window is inactive, all other windows not pending processing are available for
use.

You can perform the following actions on other data windows while background processing is underway:

• Open

• Play

• Preview

• Cut

• Copy

• Paste

• Delete

If you need to perform any other processing or saving actions, the data window is queued and becomes
inactive.

Tabbed docking windows

In Sound Forge 6.0, windows such as the Regions List and Time Display can be docked in a stack in the
workspace. Docking windows allows you to keep more windows open while maintaining a greater degree of
organization.

You can dock windows individually or in a stack. When stacked, each window has a tab at the bottom with
its name on it. Click the window’s tab to bring it to the top.

The following windows can be docked:

• Regions List

• Playlist

• Keyboard

• Video Preview

• Tim e Di sp lay

• Play Meters

• Undo/Redo History

• Plug-In Manager (available only in the full version of Sound Forge)

• Audio Plug-In Chainer (available only in the full version of Sound Forge)

You can also quickly hide and display the window docking area using shortcut keys or the mouse. For more
information, see Floating and docking windows on page 31.

WHAT’S NEW? CHP. 2

Updated playbar

The playbar that appears at the bottom of each data window has been updated to streamline and simplify
Sound Forge playback options.

Looped Playback mode

In previous versions of Sound Forge, you used the Play Looped button ( ) to play a file or a selection in a
continuous loop. In this release, you can play audio in Looped Playback mode regardless of which playback
mode (Play Normal, Play Plug-In Chainer, Play as Cutlist, or Play as Sample) is selected in the playbar. Click

Loop Playback button ( ) on the transport bar to turn Looped Playback mode on and off. For more

the

information, see Playing in Loop Playback mode on page 56.

21

Note:

in Sound Forge Studio.

Play Normal is the only mode available

Play Plug-In Chainer mode

The playbar now has an Open Plug-In Chainer button ( ) that opens the Audio Plug-In Chainer window.
Once you open the chainer, the

selected, you can preview audio through the plug-ins shown in the open Audio Plug-in Chainer window. For

more information, see Adding a chain of effects on page 168.

Play Plug-In Chainer button ( ) appears. With the Play Plug-In Chainer button

Play as Sample mode

The Play as Sample button ( ) now appears only when a sample loop is defined. For more information, see

Creating a sustaining loop on page 212.

Customizable toolbars

The many toolbars available in Sound Forge 6.0 are now customizable. You can add any available button to
any toolbar in any order. For more information, see Customizing a toolbar on page 35.

Play Device toolbar

Now you can choose a playback device on the fly using the Play Device toolbar. For more information, see

Play Device toolbar on page 44.

Updated file support

Support for files larger than 4 GB

While Sound Forge 5.0 supported formats that supported greater than 4 GB files, its data windows still had a
limit much smaller than that. Sound Forge 6.0 now truly supports files of all sizes (using NTFS file system).

CHP. 2 WHAT’S NEW?

22

Support for QuickTime, MPEG 1 and 2, and Windows Media Video files

Sound Forge 5.0 could only open AVI files and save them to QuickTime, MPEG or Windows Media Video.
Using Sound Forge 6.0, you can now open these files and save them to other formats.

Note:

purchase of the MainConcept MPEG plug-in.

MPEG 1 and 2 support requires the

Support for 32-bit/192 kHz files

Sound Forge 6.0 supports full resolution 32-bit files for pristine audio quality. You can now open, record, and
save 32-bit files.

Note:

a 32-bit capable audio interface. However,
you can open, edit, and save 32-bit files even if
your device doesn’t support them.

In order to record 32-bit files, you need

Enhanced Preset Manager

Sound Forge 6.0 expands the functionality of the Preset Manager. The Preset Manager can back up, transfer,
and delete user-defined presets for Sound Forge, ACID, and Vegas. The Preset Manager is designed to work
with existing plug-in presets and packages only; you create your presets and preset packages in Sound Forge,
ACID, or Vegas, but use the Preset Manager to manage them. For more information, see Using the Preset

Manager on page 174.

Enhanced zoom capabilities

Greater than 1:1 time zoom

Sound Forge 6.0 removes the horizontal zoom limitation of one pixel per sample. You can now zoom in to a
ratio of 24:1 (24 pixels = 1 sample). This increased zoom ratio allows for more precise editing, especially with
the Pencil tool.

Customizable zoom settings

You can create two custom time magnifications for zoom settings that you use often. You can access the
custom zoom settings through menu commands, toolbar buttons, or keyboard shortcuts. For more information,

see Using custom zoom settings on page 77.

Improved video handling

Sound Forge 6.0 has a number of new or updated features to better handle files with video streams.

Video properties

For files with a video stream, the Video tab in the Properties dialog now provides user-editable settings for

Field order and Pixel aspect ratio. For more information, see Video file properties on page 228.

WHAT’S NEW? CHP. 2

Video Preview window

The Video Preview window provides a new option to compensate for non-square pixel aspect ratios. Right­click the Video Preview window and select

Display Square Pixels to compensate for any spatial distortions

due to non-square pixel aspect ratios. For more information, see Adjusting Video Preview window settings on page

227.

Frame numbering options

Sound Forge 6.0 provides several options for frame numbering on the video strip. For more information, see

Viewing frame numbers on page 226.

Options for saving video files

Sound Forge 6.0 also provides two new options when saving a file with a video stream:

•

Stretch video to fill output frame (do not letterbox): Stretches the source video frame if the destination frame

size differs. When this option is turned off, Sound Forge uses letterboxing or pillarboxing to keep the
frame aspect correct.

•

Fast video resizing: Speeds the process of saving video. When this option is turned off, video quality

increases slightly, but the time required to save the file can increase dramatically.

For more information, see Saving a video file on page 229.

23

Rendering preferences

By selecting the Resample source video check box in the Video tab of the Preferences dialog, you can make
Sound Forge interpolate frames when you save a file where the destination frame rate is greater than the
source frame rate. You can also choose an option from the

Deinterlace method drop-down list to determine

how Sound Forge separates the two fields that make up a video frame when you render to a progressive
format. For more information, see Video preferences on page 229.

External monitor preview setup

Previously, Sound Forge scanned for an external monitor each time you opened an AVI file. With Sound
Forge 6, you can designate an external monitor device in the
feature, you must have an OHCI-compliant IEEE-1394 DV interface and a device to convert the DV signal
to video, such as a DV camcorder, deck, or media converter. For more information, see Using an external

monitor on page 227.

Video tab of the Preferences dialog. To use this

CHP. 2 WHAT’S NEW?

24

WHAT’S NEW? CHP. 2

CHAPTER

Optimizing for
Sound Forge

3

3

This chapter contains information on configuring your system to optimize the performance of Sound Forge.

Defragmenting your hard drive

Sound Forge is a disk-based digital audio editor that allows editing operations to be performed on the
system’s hard drive rather than in memory. Because of this, Sound Forge is able to edit large files as well as
retain extensive undo/redo information and clipboard data.This also means that the hard drive specified for
temporary storage must have sufficient free space to store large quantities of data.

With time and usage, hard drives become fragmented, leading to discontiguous files and slow access. This is
particularly true for older hard drives. Since Sound Forge is hard drive intensive, faster disk access equates
better performance. Therefore, the initial step in improving system performance is hard drive
defragmentation. The computer’s operating system is typically equipped with a defragmenting program that
should be run prior to using Sound Forge.

25

Checking Windows 98SE and Windows Me default settings

System configuration settings deviating from Windows 98SE and Windows Me defaults may result in
reduced performance from Sound Forge.

1.

From the Start menu, choose Settings, and then choose Control Panel from the submenu.

2.

Double-click the System icon. The System Properties dialog appears.

3.

Click the Performanc e tab and verify that File System and Virtual Memory are set to 32-bit.

4.

In the Advanced settings window, click the File System button. The File System Properties dialog appears.

5.

Click the Hard Disk tab and verify that the Read-ahead optimization slider is set to Full.

6.

Click the Troubleshooting tab and verify that all check boxes are cleared.

7.

Click OK to return to the System Properties dialog.

8.

Click the Graphics button in the Advanced settings window. The Advanced Graphics Settings dialog
appears.

9.

Verify that the Hardware acceleration slider is set to Full and click OK.

Note:

experiment with different

acceleration settings.

If you detect dropouts in playback,

Hardware

CHP. 3 OPTIMIZING FOR SOUND FORGE

26

Increasing total buffer size

The total buffer size value determines the amount of RAM used for recording to/playing from the hard drive.
A total buffer size of 512 KB is recommended, but increased buffering may be necessary if you detect gaps
during playback.

Increasing the total buffer size

requires additional memory. Combined with a large preload size, this may

result in a delay when starting and stopping playback. For more information, see Increasing preload size on page

26.

1.

From the Options menu, choose Preferences. The Preferences dialog appears.

2.

Click the Wave tab.

3.

Use the Total buffer size slider to configure an appropriate buffer size value and click OK.

Increasing preload size

The preload size value determines how much sound data Sound Forge prepares and loads into the sound card
driver prior to starting playback. Preloading occurs between the time you click the

first sound of playback.

Increasing preload size may eliminate the dropouts evident at the beginning of playback that are
characteristic of slow and/or fragmented hard drives. The trade-off for increasing the preload size is a delay
prior to the start of playback. The length of the delay is proportional to the size of the preload.

1.

From the Options menu, choose Preferences. The Preferences dialog appears.

2.

Click the Wave tab.

3.

Use the Preload size slider to configure an appropriate preload size value and click OK.

Note:

Certain Windows sound drivers do not
support this option. If you detect noise or
dropouts at the start of playback and the
system’s sound drivers do not support
preloading, turn off this option by setting the

Preload size to 0.

Play button ( ) and the

Turning off the playback cursor and record counter

The playback cursor and record counter options determine whether these displays are updated during
recording and playback. If you detect dropouts and skipping at high sample rates (greater than 44,100 Hz),
turn these displays off to minimize processing overhead.

1.

From the Options menus, choose Preferences. The Preferences dialog appears.

2.

Click the Pe r for m tab.

3.

Clear the Show the position of the playback cursor and Show the record counter while recording check boxes and
click

OK.

Tur ning off meters

Sound Forge’s play and record meters use a small amount of processing overhead during recording and
playback. However, if you detect dropouts during recording or playback and previous fixes have failed, try
turning off these meters.

OPTIMIZING FOR SOUND FORGE CHP. 3

Turning off the play (output) meters

From the View menu, choose Play Meters. The check mark adjacent to the command is cleared, indicating
that the play meters are turned off.

Turning off the record meters

1.

From the Special menu, choose Transport, and choose Record from the submenu. The Record dialog
appears.

2.

Clear the Monitor check box and click OK.

Turning on passive updating for video and time displays

Passive update options lower the priority of redrawing the video and time displays during playback. When
these options are turned on, the displays update only if there is ample time. Frequently this goes unnoticed,
and enabling these options minimizes playback overhead with little or no inconvenience.

Turning on passive updating for time displays

From the Options menu, choose Time Display, and choose Passive Update from the submenu. A check mark
appears next to the command to indicate that this option is turned on.

Turning on passive updating for video displays

27

From the Options menu, choose Video, and choose Passive Update from the submenu. A check mark appears
next to the command to indicate that this option is turned on.

CHP. 3 OPTIMIZING FOR SOUND FORGE

28

OPTIMIZING FOR SOUND FORGE CHP. 3

CHAPTER

Learning the Sound
Forge Workspace

4

4

This chapter provides a detailed overview of Sound Forge toolbars and controls.

Using the mouse

The following table defines the mouse-related terms used throughout this manual.

Pointing Moving the mouse pointer over an item.
Clicking Pointing to an item and quickly pressing and releasing the left mouse button. If there is no left or

Right-clicking Pointing to an item and quickly pressing and releasing the right mouse button. Right-clicking is

Double-clicking Identical to clicking, but instead of pressing and releasing the mouse button once, it is done twice

Triple-clicking Identical to clicking, but instead of pressing and releasing the mouse button once, it is done three

Toggle-clicking Clicking the right mouse button while holding down the left mouse button. This is used to toggle

Shift-clicking Holding down the Shift key while clicking the mouse. Shift-clicking is typically used to skip

Ctrl-clicking Holding down the Ctrl key while clicking the mouse. Ctrl-clicking is used to modify the operation

Dragging Holding down the left mouse button while moving the mouse pointer and releasing the mouse at

Slow-dragging Holding down the right and left mouse buttons while adjusting sliders and faders increases the

right specification, left-clicking is implied.

frequently used to display shortcut menus.

in quick succession. Double-clicking always indicates the left mouse button.

times in quick succession. Triple-clicking always indicates the left mouse button.

options and is a shortcut for drag-and-drop editing and using the Magnify tool.

dialogs and quickly repeat operations.

of a normal click.

the desired location. Dragging is used to quickly move sections of data between windows, as well
as to adjust sliders, scrollbars, and faders.

resolution of the movement. This is useful when making fractional adjustments to parameters.

29

Note:

Forge basics, you may want to use mouse and
keyboard shortcuts. For more information, see

Shortcuts on page 243.

CHP. 4 LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE

Once you are familiar with Sound

30

Using the mouse wheel

Sound Forge allows you to use your mouse wheel to navigate audio files. The following table briefly describes
the available mouse wheel functionality.

Wheel Up Zoom in horizontally
Wheel Down Zoom out horizontally
Ctrl+Wheel Up Zoom in vertically
Ctrl+Wheel Down Zoom out vertically
Shift+Wheel Up Scroll left (in 10ths of screen width)
Shift+Wheel Down Scroll right (in 10ths of screen width)
Ctrl+Shift+ Wheel Up Cursor left or current selection point left (if there is a selection)
Ctrl+Shift+ Wheel Down Cursor right or current selection point right (if there is a selection)

The main screen

When you start Sound Forge, the main screen appears. The main screen’s workspace is where you perform all
audio editing.

Menu bar

Standard toolbar

Transport bar

Workspace

Main screen components

The following table describes the major components of the main screen.

Menu bar Displays the menu headings for the available functions.
Standard toolbar Provides quick access to some of the most common tasks in Sound Forge (pg. 36).
Transport bar Provides quick access to basic audio transport functions (pg. 37).
Status bar Help and processing information appears on the left side. The boxes on the right side display the

playback sample rate, bit depth, channel configuration (mono/stereo), length of the active data
window, and total free storage space (pg. 85). With the exception of the free storage space box,
you can edit these boxes by double-clicking or right-clicking them. When no data windows are
open, only the free storage space box contains a value.

Workspace This is the area located behind the data windows. Audio selections dragged to the workspace

automatically become new data windows. Windows such as the Regions List and Playlist can be
docked along the edges of the workspace.

Play Meters Displays the level of the output audio signal. These meters can be toggled on/off by choosing

Play Meters from the View menu. Right-clicking the play meters displays a shortcut menu
that allows you to precisely configure the appearance of the meters.

Play Meters
(docked)

Status bar

LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE CHP. 4

Floating and docking windows

With the many features in Sound Forge, it is easy for the workspace to become cluttered. Docking windows
allows you to keep more windows open while maintaining a greater degree of organization. You can choose
to float or dock the windows listed in the
the full version of Sound Forge), and Time Display (available only in the full version of Sound Forge)
windows.

You can dock windows individually or in a stack. When stacked, each window has a tab at the bottom with
its name on it. Click the window’s tab to bring it to the top.

View menu, including the Regions List, Playlist (available only in

Docked
Play
Meters

31

Stacked
windows
with tabs

Docked
Keyboard

Docking a window

Drag a window to the edge of the workspace. The outline of the window changes shape as you approach

1.

the edge.

2.

Release the mouse. The window docks against the edge of the workspace.

Preventing a window from docking

Ctrl

Press while dragging a window to prevent it from docking in the workspace.

Note:

You can choose to reverse this behavior

so that windows will not dock unless you press

Ctrl

. From the

Preferences, and clear the Allow floating
windows to dock check box on the General tab.

Options menu, choose

CHP. 4 LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE

32

Floating a window

Drag the handle on the left side of a docked window away from the edge of the workspace.

Close window
Expand window

Drag the handle
away from the edge
of the workspace
to float the window.

Hiding the window docking area

You can double-click the separator between the workspace and window docking area to hide (or show) the
docking area. You can also use shortcut keys to manage the workspace.

Shortcut key Description

F11

Shift F11

+

Ctrl F11

+

Show/hide window docking area at
bottom of workspace.

Show/hide windows docked on
left/right sides of workspace.

Show/hide all docked windows.

The data window

Data windows contain audio data (as a waveform) as well as a number of controls and commands used to edit
and process audio.

Title bar

Edit Tool

Selector

Level ruler

Waveform display

Level zoom in/out

Component Description

Title bar Displays the file name. If title information is included in the summary of a file, it appears here

Level ruler Displays the amplitude of the waveform. Right-click to display the level ruler shortcut menu.

Time ruler Displays the current location in the data window as well as ruler tags. Right-click to display the

Time ruler

Playbar Selection status boxes

instead of the file name. Double-click to maximize and restore the window.

Drag to shift the view up/down when zoomed in vertically.

time ruler shortcut menu. Drag to scroll the data window.

Position

scroll bar

Overview bar

Ruler tags

Time zoom resolution
Time zoom in/out
Maximize width

LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE CHP. 4

Component Description

Ruler tags Indicates the position of region end points, loop end points, and markers. Right-click a tag to

display the ruler tag shortcut menu. Drag to edit a tag’s position. Double-click anywhere within a
region to select it.

Edit Tool Selector Toggles through the Edit, Magnify, and Pencil tools. Right-click to display a shortcut menu that

allows you to display or hide data window elements.

Playbar Contains audio transport buttons, including Go to Start, Go to End, Stop, Play Normal, Play

Plug-In Chainer (available only in the full version of Sound Forge), Play as Cutlist (available only
in the full version of Sound Forge), and Play as Sample (available only in the full version of Sound
Forge. For more information on the playbar, please see page 34.

Selection status boxes Displays the beginning, end, and length of a selection. If no selection exists, only the cursor

position displays. Double-click the leftmost box to display the Go To dialog. Double-click either of
the other two boxes to display the Set Selection dialog. Right-click to display the status format
shortcut menu.

Waveform display Displays a graphical representation of an audio file. The horizontal axis represents time, and the

vertical axis represents amplitude. Right-click within this display to open the waveform display
shortcut menu.

Position scroll bar Scrolls forward/backward through an audio file to display sections of the file not visible in the

current area of the waveform display.

Overview bar Allows for quick navigation and playback of any part of an audio file. The overview bar also

indicates the portion of the waveform currently depicted in the waveform display, as well as the
selected region. Click to move the cursor. Double-click to center the cursor in the waveform
display. Right-click to start or pause playback. Drag to activate the audio event locator.

Time zoom resolution Specifies the number of samples of data represented by each horizontal point on the screen. This

determines the length of time displayed in the data window. Smaller resolution values display

less time.
Time zoom in/out Changes the zoom resolution for the time (horizontal) axis.
Level zoom in/out Changes the zoom resolution for the level (vertical) axis.
Maximize width Resizes the data window to maximize its size within the workspace.

33

Displaying data window components

Sound Forge allows you to customize the appearance of individual data windows.

Alt

1.

From the File menu, choose Properties or press + . The current file’s Properties dialog appears.

2.

Click the Display tab.

3.

Display/hide specific components by selecting/clearing the corresponding check boxes.

4.

Select the Save as the default for all new windows check box if you want to set the new configuration as the
default data window display.

5.

Click OK.

Right-click the Edit Tool Selector (upper-left corner of data window) to display or hide
components for the selected data window.

Enter

CHP. 4 LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE

34

Playbar

The playbar is located in the bottom-left corner of a data window. You can use the playbar to navigate and
play audio files in a variety of ways.

Play as Sample (full version of Sound Forge only)

Play as Cutlist (full version of Sound Forge only)

Play Plug-In Chainer (full version of Sound Forge only)

Play Normal

Stop

Go to End

Go to Start

.

Moves the cursor to the
start of the file.

Moves the cursor to the end
of the file.

Stops playback and returns
the cursor to its position
prior to playback.

Plays from the cursor to the end of the file.

If there is a selection, plays from the beginning of the selection to the
end of the selection.

Previews the audio processed through plug-ins when the Audio Plug-In
Chainer window is open. Available only in the full version of Sound
Forge.

If there is a selection, plays from the beginning of the selection to the
end of the selection.

If the Audio Plug-In Chainer window is not open, the Open Plug-In

Chainer button ( ) appears instead.

Adding a chain of effects on page 168

Plays the file with the regions in the cutlist omitted. Available only in the
full version of Sound Forge. This button appears only if you treat the
playlist as a cutlist.

as a cutlist on page 113

Plays the file with the sustaining and release loops repeating the
specified number of times. Available only in the full version of Sound
Forge. This button appears only if you have defined a sample loop.

more information, see Looping on page 211

For more information, see Configuring the playlist

.

For more information, see

.

For

.

Current playback mode

When you play a file from the playbar, a small horizontal line appears beneath the selected Play button’s icon
( ). This indicates Sound Forge’s current playback mode, which is the mode used when you click the
transport bar

Play ( ) button. For more information, see Transport bar on page 37.

Changing the current playback mode

To change the current playback mode, click a playbar button or press + .

Ctrl

Space

Optional Backward and Forward buttons

You can choose to display Backward () and For ward ( ) shuttle controls on the playbar. From the Options
menu, choose

General tab.

LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE CHP. 4

Preferences, and select the Show shuttle controls on Data Window transport check box on the

To o l b a r s

Sound Forge’s toolbars contain buttons used to quickly execute many of the program’s commands and
functions. Toolbars can be dragged throughout the workspace, docked, resized, hidden, and customized.

Docking a toolbar

When you drag a floating toolbar to any edge of the main screen, the toolbar docks on that edge.

Floating a toolbar

When you drag a docked toolbar away from an edge, the toolbar becomes a floating toolbar.

Displaying a toolbar

1.

From the View menu, choose Toolbars. The Preferences dialog appears with a list of available toolbars.

2.

To display a toolbar, select the corresponding check box and click OK.

35

Select a check box to
display a toolbar.

Click Customize to add, remove,
or rearrange buttons on a toolbar.

Note:

The dialog box pictured above is from
the full version of Sound Forge. If you have
Sound Forge Studio, you will not have all of
the tabs and options pictured above available to
you.

Customizing a toolbar

1.

From the View menu, choose Toolbars. The Preferences dialog appears with a list of available toolbars.

2.

Select the check box for a toolbar and click Customize. The Customize Toolbar dialog appears.

3.

Use the controls in the Customize Toolbar dialog to add, remove, or rearrange the buttons on the selected
toolbar. Click

CHP. 4 LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE

Reset to restore the toolbar to its default setting.

36

Standard toolbar

The Standard toolbar displays by default when you start Sound Forge. The buttons on this toolbar provide
quick access to many common commands.

Pencil Tool

New

Open

Save

Save As

Cut

Copy

Paste

Creates a new data window. Plays the audio on the clipboard.

Displays the Open dialog. Removes all data from the file that is not

Saves the current audio data. Reverses the last edit operation.

Saves the current file with a new name or
format.

Removes selected audio data and places it on
the clipboard. This command has no effect if
there is no selection.

Copies selected audio data to the clipboard.
This command has no effect if there is no
selection.

Inserts a copy of the clipboard data at the
current insertion point. If there is a selection,
this command replaces the selected data with
the clipboard data.

Mixes a copy of the clipboard data with the
current audio file. The mix start point is either
the cursor point or the start or end of the
selection in the destination data window.

Play Clipboard

Mix

Undo

Trim/Crop

Repeat

Redo

currently selected. This command has no effect
if there is no selected data. This command does
not copy data to the clipboard.

Reverts the previously undone edit operation.

Repeats the last operation. This command can
be used with most processing functions. The
previous operation’s parameters are repeated.
To specify new parameters, hold Shift and click
this button,

Selects the Editing tool.

Selects the Magnify tool.

Selects the Pencil tool.

Magnify Tool

Edit Tool

LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE CHP. 4

Transport bar

The transport bar also displays by default and contains basic audio transport buttons.

Go To End

Fast-Forward

Rewind

Go to Beginning

Stop

Pause

Play

Play All

Loop Playback

Record

37

Records data to a new or existing data
window.

Toggles Loop Playback mode on and off. Moves the cursor to the start of the file.

Plays the entire file from beginning to end,
regardless of cursor position, selection, or
playlist.

Plays the file in current playback mode (Play
Normal, Play Plug-In Chainer, Play as Cutlist,
or Play as Sample).

Pauses playback and maintains the cursor at its
current position.

Stops playback and returns the cursor to its
prior position.

Moves the cursor backward in the current file.

Moves the cursor forward in the current file.

Moves the cursor to the end of the file.

CHP. 4 LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE

38

Navigation toolbar

The Navigation toolbar contains buttons used to navigate within the current data window.

Center Release End

Center Release Start

Center Sustaining End

Center Sustaining Start

Cursor to Selection End

Cursor to Selection Start

Cursor Center

Go To

Mark Out

Mark In

Drop Marker

Custom Zoom 2

Custom Zoom 1

Zoom Selection

Zoom Normal

Zoom In Full

Magnifies the selected area to a 24:1 ratio. Displays the Go To dialog and allows you to

quickly move the cursor to a specific point in a
file.

Resets the audio data to its original
magnification.

Maximizes the selection vertically and
horizontally.

Sets the audio data to a custom time
magnification level.

Sets the audio data to a custom time
magnification level.

Drops a marker at the current cursor position. Moves the cursor to the end of the sustaining

Marks the “in” point of a new selection. Moves the cursor to the beginning of the

Marks the “out” point of a new selection. Moves the cursor to the end of the release

Centers the display with the cursor displayed in
the center of the data window.

Moves the cursor to the beginning of the
selection.

Moves the cursor to the end of the selection.

Moves the cursor to the beginning of the
sustaining loop.

loop.

release loop.

loop.

LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE CHP. 4

Views toolbar

The Views toolbar contains buttons used to store and retrieve data window views.

View #

Set

39

Toggles views 1-8 between setting and
restoring.

Stores and recalls specific selection views.

Status/Selection toolbar

The Status/Selection toolbar contains buttons used to specify a file’s status format and control snapping
functions.

Auto Snap to Zero

Auto Snap to Time

SMPTE 30 (30 fps, Audio)

SMPTE Drop (29.97 fps, Video)

SMPTE Non-Drop (29.97 fps, Video)

SMPTE EBU (25 fps)

SMPTE Film Sync (24 fps)

Measures and Beats

Absolute Frames

Time and Frames

Seconds

Time

Samples

.

Changes the status format to Samples. Changes the status format to SMPTE Film Sync

Changes the status format to Time. Changes the status format to SMPTE EBU

Changes the status format to Seconds. Changes the status format to SMPTE Non-

Changes the status format to Time and
Frames.

Changes the status format to Absolute Frames. Changes the status format to SMPTE 30

Changes the status format to Measures and
Beats.

CHP. 4 LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE

(24 fps). Available only in the full version of
Sound Forge.

(25 fps). Available only in the full version of
Sound Forge.

Drop (29.97 fps, Video). Available only in the
full version of Sound Forge.

Changes the status format to SMPTE Drop
(29.97 fps, Video). Available only in the full
version of Sound Forge.

(30 fps, Audio). Available only in the full
version of Sound Forge.

Forces the ends of selections to the nearest
zero-crossing. Available only in Sound Forge
Studio.

Forces the ends of selections to the nearest
whole time division on the time ruler. Available
only in Sound Forge Studio.

40

Regions/Playlist toolbar

The Regions/Playlist toolbar contains the Regions List and Playlist buttons as well as buttons corresponding to
synchronization commands and status displays.

Playlist Position Sync Status

Pre-Queue for MIDI Timecode

Generate MIDI Timecode

Trigger from MIDI/MTC

Playlist

Regions List

Displays the Regions List. Configures Sound Forge to send MIDI

Displays the playlist. Opens the wave device and preloads data for

Configures Sound Forge to be triggered by
MIDI commands received through the MIDI
input port. The MIDI input port is specified on
the MIDI/Sync tab in the Preferences dialog.

For more information, see Turning on MIDI

input synchronization on page 194

.

timecode through the MIDI output port. The
MIDI output port is specified on the MIDI/Sync
tab of the Preferences dialog.

the next region to be played from the playlist.

Playlist Position display

Displays the current playback position of an audio file being played from the playlist. Right-clicking this box
displays a shortcut menu that allows you to specify a new format.

Sync Status display

Allows you to monitor the status of incoming/outgoing MIDI commands.

LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE CHP. 4

Process toolbar

The Process toolbar contains buttons corresponding to all commands located in the Process menu.

Volume

Time Stretch

Smooth/Enhance

Reverse

Resample

Pan/Expand

Normalize

Mute

Invert/Flip

Insert Silence

Fade - Fade Out

Fade - Fade In

Fade - Graphic Fade

EQ - Parametric EQ

EQ - Paragraphic EQ

EQ - Graphic EQ

DC Offset

Channel Converter

Bit-Depth Converter

Auto Trim/Crop

41

Removes silence and automatically fades in/out
the end-points of each phrase.

Converts a file to a different bit depth. Inverts (or flips) the polarity of the current

Converts between mono and stereo formats.
Can also intermix the left and right channels of
a stereo file to create panning effects.

Changes the baseline of an audio file. Normalizes the loudness of an audio file.

Opens Sonic Foundry’s XFX Graphic EQ. Creates custom pans, expands, and mixes.

Opens Sonic Foundry’s XFX Paragraphic EQ. Creates a copy of the audio file with a new

Opens Sonic Foundry’s XFX Parametric EQ. Reverses the current selection.

Creates user-configurable fades. Opens Sonic Foundry’s XFX Smooth/Enhance

Fades-in the selection. Opens Sonic Foundry’s XFX Time Stretch tool.

Fades-out the selection. Adjusts the volume of an audio file.

Inserts user-configurable silence into audio
files.

selection.

Mutes the current selection.

sample rate.

tool.

CHP. 4 LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE

42

Effects toolbar

If you are using the full version of Sound Forge, the Effects toolbar contains buttons corresponding to all
Sound Forge’s built-in XFX.

Wave Hammer

Vibrato

Reverb

Pitch Shift

Pitch Bend

Noise Gate

Gapper/Snipper

Flange/Wah-Wah

Envelope

Dynamics - Multi-Band Dynamics

Dynamics - Graphic Dynamics

Distortion

Delay - Simple Delay

Delay - Multi-Tap Delay

Chorus

Amplitude Modulation

Acoustic Mirror

Adds environmental coloration to your existing
recordings.

Applies a sinusoidal or square-shaped periodic
gain to the input signal.

Simulates multiple audio sources from a single
sound.

Creates a delay with up to eight delay-taps
spaced anywhere within 2.5 seconds of the
original sound.

Adds a delayed copy of the audio signal to the
file.

Simulates the overloading of an amplifier. Simulates the acoustics of different

Applies compression, expansion, and limiting to
affect the dynamic range of an audio file.

Allows compression and limiting to be placed
on up to four different frequency bands.

Forces the amplitude envelope of a waveform
to match a specified envelope shape.

Mixes a modulated delay signal with the
original signal.

Removes/inserts sections of silence at regular
intervals to create unusual effects.

Removes signals below a set amplitude
threshold.

Creates a modified sound envelope that
corresponds to increasing or decreasing the
pitch of a sound file over time.

Changes the pitch of a selection with or
without preserving the duration of the file.

environments.

Creates periodic pitch modulation in an audio
file.

Acts as a classic compressor and volume
maximizer.

LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE CHP. 4

Tools toolbar

The Tools toolbar contains buttons corresponding to commands in the Tools menu.

Synthesis - Simple Synthesis

Synthesis - FM Synthesis

Synthesis - DTMF/MF Tones Synthesis

Statistics

Spectrum Analysis

Sampler

Repair - Interpolate

Repair - Replace

Repair - Copy Other Channel

Preset Manager

Find

Extract Regions

Crossfade Loop

Auto Region

Extract Audio from CD

Burn CD

43

Writes the selected audio track to CD. Replaces selected audio data with previous

adjacent data.

Extracts audio from CD and opens in Sound
Forge for editing.

Creates regions in an audio file according to
rapid sound attacks or a specified time interval.

Mixes audio occurring before the loop start
point into the end of the loop to smooth
transitions.

Extracts all file regions and saves them as
individual files.

Searches for clicks and pops, volume levels, or
silent breaks in an audio signal.

Backs up and transfers user-configured presets
from effects, processes, and plug-ins.

Replaces selected audio with a corresponding
selection from the opposite channel.

Replaces selected audio with interpolated audio
data based on the selection’s beginning and end
samples.

Allows you to transfer samples to/from Sound
Forge.

Performs spectrum analysis on the current file
or selection.

Displays statistics corresponding to the current
file or selection.

Generates dial tones used by telephone
companies.

Uses frequency modulation and additive
synthesis to create complex sounds from
simple waveforms.

Generates a simple waveform of a given shape,
pitch, and length.

Levels toolbar

The Levels toolbar displays the audio levels in the left and right channels in the user-specified format.

Left Right

channel level channel level

CHP. 4 LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE

44

ACID Loop Creation Tools toolbar

The ACID Loop Creation Tools toolbar contains buttons corresponding to commands used when creating
audio loops for Sonic Foundry’s ACID products. For more information, see Creating loops for ACID on page

218.

Tempo Window

Selection Grid Lines

Rotate Audio

Shift Selection Right

Shift Selection Left

Halve Selection

Double Selection

Edit Tempo

Edit ACID Properties

Displays the Edit ACID Properties dialog. Shifts the current selection to the left so the

Calculates the musical tempo (beats per
minute) based upon the current selection.

Doubles the size of the current selection. Moves the current selection to the opposite

Divides the current selection in half. Toggles the selection grid line display on/off.

current start point becomes the end point.

Shifts the current selection to the right so the
current end point becomes the start point.

end of the file.

Tempo window

The ACID Loop Creation Tools toolbar also contains a Tempo window. This window calculates and displays
the ACID project’s tempo as if the current selection represents a complete measure.

Play Device toolbar

The Play Device toolbar allows you to choose a playback device on the fly.

Play Device drop-down list

Play Device drop-down list

Choose a playback device from the drop-down list. Use the Play Device drop-down list as a shortcut for
choosing

Preferences from the Options menu and choosing a Playback device on the Wave tab.

LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE CHP. 4

ToolTips

Hovering the mouse pointer over a button or status bar box for longer than one second displays a small text
box adjacent to the pointer. This text, called a ToolTip, is a brief description of the item’s function. Using
ToolTips is an effective way to quickly familiarize yourself with Sound Forge.

ToolTip

Turning off ToolTips

1.

From the View menu, choose Toolbars. The Preferences dialog appears.

2.

Clear the Show ToolTips check box and click OK.

Command descriptions

When you click and hold a menu item or a button in a toolbar, a brief description of the command appears
in the lower-left corner of the status bar. If you release the mouse button outside of the menu item or toolbar,
Sound Forge does not execute the command.

45

Meters

Meters display audio levels in a number of different places in Sound Forge: the Play Meters show audio file
levels; meters in the Record dialog help you adjust levels for recording; and meters in the Wave Hammer
dialog help you adjust levels when applying this effect. Regardless of where the meters appear, you can
control them in much the same way.

Scaling meters

Meters can be scaled to various dynamic ranges by right-clicking the meters and
choosing the desired range from the shortcut menu.

Showing labels

Right-click the meters and choose Show Labels from the shortcut menu to toggle
the meter dB markings on and off.

Holding peaks and valleys

Right-click the meters to access the Hold Peaks and Hold Valleys commands in the
shortcut menu.

• Choose
reading.

• Choose
reading.

Hold Peaks to display a marker on the meters indicating the highest

Hold Valleys to display a marker on the meters indicating the lowest

CHP. 4 LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE

46

Resetting clipping indicators

When audio levels are too high, clipping can occur. A red indicator appears at the top of the meter to show
when audio is clipping. Click to reset the indicator, or right-click the meters and choose
shortcut menu.

Reset Clip from the

Clipping
indicator

Click the clipping
indicator to reset it.

Controls

A major step in mastering Sound Forge is becoming familiar with the controls used to set and adjust feature
parameters, including faders, sliders, and envelope graphs.

Faders and sliders

Faders and sliders are frequently used to edit effect and process parameters. To use either control, drag the
control to the desired position and release.

Fader

Drag to set value

Slider

Resetting fader and slider values

Double-click to return the control to its default value.

Fader and slider shortcuts

There are numerous keyboard shortcuts available when using faders and sliders.

• , , , and change the value in small increments.

Page Up Page Down

• and change the value in larger increments.

Home

• and set the control to its maximum and minimum values respectively.

End

• Hover the mouse over the fader or slider control and move the mouse wheel to change the value in larger
increments. Press while using the mouse wheel to change the value in small increments.

Ctrl

LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE CHP. 4

Envelope graphs

Envelope graphs are used to configure the shape of frequency or amplitude envelopes applied to audio
waveforms.

Envelope point

Envelope

Time axis

Amplitude or frequency axis

Understanding the envelope graph

To use the envelope graph, you must first understand what it represents. In the previous example, the
horizontal axis represents time, with the leftmost point representing the start of the selection and the
rightmost point representing the end of the selection. The vertical axis represents either amplitude or
frequency, depending upon the operation.

47

Moving an envelope point

Drag an envelope point to a new position.

1.

2.

Release the mouse button. The point is repositioned and the envelope adjusts.

Moving multiple envelope points

Starting in an unused area of the envelope graph, drag the mouse to create a selection box containing all

1.

points to be moved.

Select the envelope points

2.

Release the button. The selected envelope points are display in red.

3.

Drag any of the selected envelope points to the desired position. The pointer displays as a multi­directional arrow and the selected points move together.

CHP. 4 LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE

48

4.

Release the mouse button. The entire envelope graph adjusts.

Reposition multiple envelope points

Selecting all envelope points

Ctrl + A

Press to select all envelope points.

Adding an envelope point

Hover over the envelope. The pointer displays as .

1.

Place the pointer on the envelope
and click to add a point.

2.

Click the mouse. A point is added to the envelope graph and can be positioned as needed. For more
information, see Moving an envelope point on page 47.

Deleting an envelope point

Double-click or right-click the point to be deleted. The point is deleted and the envelope adjusts.

Place the pointer on the point to be
deleted and right-click or double-click.

Delete all points

Delete all envelope points by clicking the Reset or Reset Envelope button.

LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE CHP. 4

Displaying the waveform on an envelope graph

Certain envelope graphs (such as in the Graphic Fade dialog) allow you to view the audio waveform on the
graph. If the selection is small, the waveform automatically displays. Otherwise, selecting an option from the

Show wave drop-down list displays the waveform.

Displaying stereo waveforms

The Show Wave drop-down list allows you to specify how stereo files display in the envelope graph.

Specify the channel
to be displayed

Stereo files

49

When a data window displays a stereo file, the upper half of the data window shows the left channel and the
lower half shows the right channel.

Working with stereo files

When playing, editing, or processing stereo files, you can select the left channel, the right channel, or both
channels. However, certain processing tasks cannot be performed on an individual channel of a stereo file.

For more information, see Single-channel editing on page 51.

Selecting data in stereo files

When editing a stereo file, the waveform display is divided into three sections. The mouse pointer location
determines which channel (or channels) is selected.

• The upper quarter of the data window selects the left channel.

• The lower quarter of the data window selects the right channel.

• The middle half of the data window selects both channels.

Left channel only

Both channels

Right channel only

CHP. 4 LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE

50

1.

Open a stereo file.

2.

Select the Edit tool by choosing To ol from the Edit menu and Edit from the submenu.

Press + or click the

3.

Position the tool near the top of the left channel and notice its appearance. The tool displays as . This

Ctrl D

Edit Tool button ( ) on the Standard toolbar.

indicates that only audio data in the left channel will be selected.

4.

Position the tool in the middle portion of the data window and notice its appearance. The tool displays as
a standard cursor. This indicates that it will select a mono file or both channels of a stereo file.

5.

Position the tool near the bottom of the right channel and notice its appearance. The tool displays as .
This indicates that only audio data in the right channel will be selected.

Cursor selects only the
left channel

Cursor selects
both channels

Cursor selects only the
right channel

Toggling channel selections

Once you place the cursor or create a selection in a stereo file, you can cycle through channel options (left,
right, both) by pressing .

Previewing channels

Tab

The single channel selection option allows you to preview channels in a stereo file individually.

1.

Open a stereo file and select all data.

2.

Click the Play button ( ). The file plays in stereo.

3.

4.

5.

6.

LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE CHP. 4

Tab

Press . The left channel is selected.

Click the Play button ( ). Only the mono left channel plays.

Tab

Press . The right channel is selected.

Click the Play button ( ). Only the mono right channel plays.

51

Single-channel editing

Stereo files are held together by the nature of their stereo format. Because of this, you cannot perform certain
editing operations (such as cut or paste) on a single channel of a stereo file.

Channel lengths must remain equal in stereo files. Frequently, this issue can be side-stepped by copying a
single channel of a stereo file to the clipboard. Once this mono selection is located on the clipboard, you can
do any of the following:

• Paste it into a mono file.

• Paste it into both channels of a stereo file.

• Mix it into a single channel of a stereo file.

• Mix it into both channels of a stereo file.

Note:

When mixing mono clipboard data to a
stereo file, the Mono to Stereo dialog prompts
you to mix it to the right, left, or both
channels.

CHP. 4 LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE

52

LEARNING THE SOUND FORGE WORKSPACE CHP. 4

CHAPTER

Getting Started

5

5

Sound Forge is a state-of-the-art digital audio editing tool with users from all musical backgrounds. It is an
extremely deep program, containing features that may only be required by the most advanced or specialized
users. Nonetheless, a firm grasp of Sound Forge basics is essential. This chapter is designed to provide you
with information on Sound Forge fundamentals.

Opening a file

1.

From the File menu, choose Open. The Open dialog appears. For more information, see Using the Open

dialog on page 54.

53

Click the

2.

Select the Voiceover.pca file.

Note:

the application.

3.

Click Open. Sound Forge opens the audio file and displays a data window containing the waveform.

This file is located in the same folder as

Open button ( ).

File displays in the data window

Peak files

When you first open a file, Sound Forge scans the entire file and creates a peak file. The peak file is stored
with the same name and in the same location as the audio file, but it is given an .sfk extension. Sound Forge
automatically updates this peak file whenever the original file is edited.

If you modify a file in an application other than Sound Forge, you can regenerate the peak file by choosing

Rebuild Peak Data from the Special menu.

CHP. 5 GETTING STARTED

54

Using the Open dialog

The Open dialog contains several features that allow you to locate audio files.

File Information Display

Select to Preview Files

Files of type

The Files of type drop-down list specifies the file format that Sound Forge displays in the system. Sound Forge
supports a variety of file formats.

Recent

The Recent drop-down list contains recently accessed folders.

Auto play

Selecting the Auto play check box configures Sound Forge to automatically preview files as you select them in
the Open dialog.

Note:

You can also preview files by selecting

the file and clicking Play.

File information display

If Sound Forge recognizes the format of the selected file, information regarding its format, length, and
attributes displays in the lower pane of the Open dialog. The following table describes each of these values.

File type Indicates the type of the selected file.
Format Indicates the format of the selected file.
Audio Indicates the sample rate, bit depth, and channels value of the selected file.
Length Indicates the length of audio. The length is expressed in

Video Indicates the frame size and frame rate of video (when present).
Length Indicates the length of video (when present). The length is expressed in

Unity note If the selected file is a sample, this is the MIDI note that triggers a sampler to

Loop(s) Displays information about loops that have been defined in the selected file.
SMPTE Displays the SMPTE offset for the selected file if an offset has been defined.
Rgns/Play/ACID Indicates whether the file contains Regions List, playlist, or ACID properties

Comments Displays any comments included in the file. You can enter comments for a file

GETTING STARTED CHP. 5

hours:minutes:seconds, with seconds shown to three decimal places.

hours:minutes:seconds, with seconds shown to three decimal places.

play the sound file at its original pitch.

information.

by choosing Properties from the File menu and entering information in the
Comments box on the Summar y tab.

summary information on page 91

For more information, see Adding

.

Playing a file

After you open a file, you can play it by clicking the Play All button ( ) on the transport bar. For more
information, see Transport bar on page 37.

Viewing the current position

As a file plays, Sound Forge indicates the current playback position in the data window in three ways:

• A cursor travels across the visible portion of the data window.

• The current playback position in relation to the entire file appears in the overview bar.

• The first selection status box in the playbar displays the current position in the user-specified format. For

more information, see Selecting status formats on page 68.

55

Cursor position

Overview bar current position

Status box value

Playing a file from a specified point

Sound Forge also allows you to begin playback from any point in a file.

1.

Click to position the cursor in the data window. A flashing cursor (spanning the height of the waveform
display) displays.

2.

Click the Play button ( ) on the transport bar. The file plays from the cursor position.

If you do not hear playback, you may have inadvertently created a small selection. To determine if you
created a selection, examine the status boxes in the bottom-right corner of the data window.

Status boxes

• If only the first box contains a value, there is no selection.

• If all three boxes contain values, a selection has been created. Clear the selection by clicking anywhere

in the data window.

For more information, see Viewing selection status on page 56.

CHP. 5 GETTING STARTED

56

Playing in Loop Playback mode

You can play an entire file or a selection in Loop Playback mode. In Loop Playback mode, Sound Forge plays
the audio in a continuous loop.

Click the

Loop Playback button ( ) on the transport bar to turn Loop Playback mode on and off.

Press .

Q

Playing a selection

You can play specific portions of audio data by creating selections in the waveform display.

1.

Drag the mouse within the data window. Notice that the waveform is selected as the mouse is dragged.

2.

Click the Play button ( ). Only the selection plays.

Selection status boxes

Create a selection on the waveform

Viewing selection status

When a selection exists, the selection status boxes in the bottom-right corner of the data window contain
values. These values indicate the start, end, and length of the selection.

No selection Selection

Cursor Position

Selecting the status format

Beginning Value End Value Selection Length

You can display status values in any format supported by Sound Forge. For more information, see Selecting

status formats on page 68.

GETTING STARTED CHP. 5

Viewing selection statistics

Choosing Statistics from the Tools menu displays a Statistics dialog showing information about the current
selection or, if there is no selection, on the entire file. The following table describes all statistical categories
displayed in the Statistics dialog.

Cursor position The cursor position (in samples) from the start of the audio file.
Sample value at cursor The actual number stored by a single sample. The maximum allowed sample value is

Maximum/minimum
sample position and
sample value

RMS power The Root Mean Square of the sample values relative to the RMS value of a maximum-

Average value (DC Offset) The sum of all sample values in the selected region divided by the number of samples. If

Zero crossings The number of times per second that the waveform fluctuates from a negative to a

often referred to as 100% or 0 dB.
The maximum and minimum sample values and the locations (in samples) where they

occur.

These values may help determine if clipping will occur in the audio file. These values can
also be used to determine the noise level of a signal for use with Noise Gate. For
example, to determine the noise amplitude of a file, run Statistics on a region of noisy
silence.

amplitude square wave (the loudest possible recording).

On short intervals, this value relates to the volume level of the audio file. If used on a
large selection with large volume variation, this value becomes less meaningful.

this value is not zero, it usually indicates a DC offset in the recording process.

positive value.

This value can be used as a rough estimate of the frequency of the audio data for very
simple waveforms.

57

Creating a new data window

1.

From the File menu, choose New. The New Window dialog appears.

2.

Complete the New Window dialog:

• From the

• From the

• Select the desired

For more information, see Editing file attributes on page 85.

3.

Click OK. A new data window with the specified attributes appears.

Note:

windows. You can customize this automatic
naming feature to suit your needs. For more
information, see Customizing automatic

labeling on page 96.

Sample rate drop-down list, choose a sample rate.
Bit-depth drop-down list, choose a bit depth.

Channels radio button.

Sound Forge automatically names new

New Window dialog

CHP. 5 GETTING STARTED

58

Active data windows vs. inactive data windows

When multiple data windows are displayed on the workspace, only the window currently being edited is
active, and all operations affect this window exclusively.

Activating a window

To activate a data window, click anywhere within it. The title bar changes to the color defined as the active
window color and the previously active window is deactivated.

Note:

the

Choosing Focus to Data Window from

View menu also results in the focus being

returned to the current data window.

Copying data to a new file

You can create new audio files by copying data to a new data window.

1.

Open an audio file and create a selection.

2.

From the Edit menu, choose Copy. The selection is copied to the clipboard.

Click the

3.

Create a new data window. For more information, see Creating a new data window on page 57.

4.

From the Edit menu, choose Paste. The selected data is pasted in the new data window.

Click the

Copy button ( ) in the Standard toolbar.

Paste button ( ) in the Standard toolbar.

Saving a file

You can save a file in a variety of formats, including popular audio formats such as WAV and AIFF, and
streaming media formats such as Windows Media Audio (WMA) and RealMedia (RM). You can save a file
using a standard template, or you can customize the settings to suit your needs. Once you create custom
settings, you can save those settings as a template.

Sound Forge also provides an option to save all open files at once or to save all open files as a workspace file.

1.

From the File menu, choose Save.

When saving a new file, the Save As dialog appears. If the file was previously saved, choosing

Save

automatically saves the file without your input.

2.

From the Save as type drop-down list, choose a file format.

3.

In the File name box, enter a name for the file.

4.

Select other options in the Save As dialog as needed and click Save. For more information, see Using the

Save As dialog on page 59.

GETTING STARTED CHP. 5

Using the Save As dialog

The Save As dialog allows you to save an audio file with a new name, in an alternate format, or with new
attributes.

Select file type

Select recent directories

Select template

Template description

Select saving metadata option

Select video options

59

Save as type

The Save as type drop-down list allows you to choose any format supported by Sound Forge.

Recent

The Recent drop-down list allows you to access frequently used folders.

Te m p l a t e

The Te mp l at e drop-down list provides a list of standard templates for saving your files. Select a template from
the list, or click

Custom to customize the settings. For more information, see Creating custom templates on page

60.

Description

The Description box displays the attributes of the selected template.

Save metadata with file

Select the Save metadata with file check box to save marker, region, playlist, sampler, loop, and summary
information with the file. If the file type selected in the

Save as type drop-down list doesn’t support metadata,

Sound Forge prompts you to save the metadata in an external file with an .sfl extension. For more
information, see Using Markers, Regions, and the Playlist/Cutlist on page 95, Adding summary information on page

91, and Saving loop points on page 223.

For file formats that don’t support metadata,
Sound Forge prompts you to save the
metadata in an external file.

CHP. 5 GETTING STARTED

60

Stretch video to fill output frame (do not letterbox)

This option applies to file types that contain a video stream. Selecting the Stretch video to fill output frame (do

not letterbox)

check box stretches the source video frame if the destination frame rate differs. When this

option is turned off, letterboxing or pillarboxing occurs. For more information, see Saving a video file on page

229.

Fast video resizing

This option applies to file types that contain a video stream. Selecting the Fast video resizing check box speeds
the process of saving video. When this option is turned off, the time required to save the file can increase
dramatically. Clear this check box only when you have critical material where nothing but the highest
quality video rendering will do. For more information, see Saving a video file on page 229.

Creating custom templates

If the file type you select supports it, you can create custom settings for saving files by clicking the Custom
button.

Note:

templates, a
the

If a file type supports custom

Custom button displays next to

Te mp l a te drop-down list after you choose

the file type.

When you click the
template properties as needed. For help on the different settings, click the
click a control, or click a control and press + .

When you are finished editing the template properties, click the

Saving custom templates

Custom button, a Custom Settings dialog appears. Adjust the settings for the different

What’s This Help button ( ) and

F1

Shift

OK button.

You can save a custom template to use again by entering a template name in the Te mp l at e box (in the Custom
Settings dialog) and clicking the

Deleting custom templates

Save Template button ( ).

You can delete a custom template by selecting the template from the Te m pl a t e drop-down list (in the Custom
Settings dialog) and clicking the

Delete Template button ( ).

Saving all open audio files

Choosing Save All from the File menu automatically prompts you to save all open audio files on the current
workspace.

Note:

All

Pressing while choosing the Save

command automatically saves all open files

Shift

without prompting you to approve each save.

GETTING STARTED CHP. 5

Saving files as a workspace

To accommodate large projects, Sound Forge allows you to save the entire workspace as an alternative to
saving individual files. Workspaces are saved as Sound Forge Workspace (SFW) files. When you open a
workspace file, Sound Forge restores all files to their previous sizes, positions, and magnification. Sound
Forge also restores each file’s current cursor position, custom views, and plug-ins in the Audio Plug-In
Chainer. For more information, see Creating and using views on page 82 and Adding a chain of effects on page 168.

61

Note:

Sound Forge only saves Audio Plug-In
Chainer information with the workspace when

Share Plug-In Chainer command on the

the

Options menu is not selected.

Saving the current workspace

From the File menu, choose Workspace , and choose Save As from the submenu. The Save Workspace

1.

dialog appears.

2.

Browse to the folder where the file will be saved.

3.

Enter a name for the file in the File name box and click Save.

Opening a workspace

From the File menu, choose Workspace, and choose Open from the submenu. The Open Workspace dialog

1.

appears.

2.

Browse to the folder containing the desired SFW file.

3.

Select the desired file and click Open.

Editing audio

New Sound Forge users should remember that even the most complex editing is derived from a few simple
operations: copy, paste, cut, delete (clear), trim/crop, and mix. The following table provides a brief
description of Sound Forge’s basic editing operations.

Copy Copies data from the window to the clipboard.
Paste Inserts the contents of the clipboard into the window at the current cursor position. If a

Cut Deletes data from the window and copies it to the clipboard.
Delete (Clear) Deletes data from the window, but does not copy it to the clipboard.
Tri m/C ro p Deletes all data in the window with the exception of the selection.
Mix Mixes data from the clipboard with the data in the current window, starting at the

selection exists in the data window, the pasted data replaces the current selection.

current cursor position or the start of the current selection.

Copying

You can copy audio data from a data window to the clipboard without changing the original file. Once audio
data is on the clipboard, you can paste it into existing files or use it to create new files.

Copying data to the clipboard

Open the Voiceover.pca file.

1.

Note:

the application.

CHP. 5 GETTING STARTED

This file is located in the same folder as

62

2.

Create a selection containing “Wow.”

3.

From the Edit menu, choose Copy. The selected data is copied to the clipboard.

Click the

Previewing clipboard contents

Copy button ( ) or press .

Create a selection in the waveform

Copy the selection

Data is copied to the clipboard,
but the waveform is unchanged

Ctrl + C

To preview the contents of the clipboard, choose Clipboard from the View menu, and choose Play from the
submenu.

Note:

You can display detailed information on
the size and attributes of the clipboard contents
by choosing

Clipboard from the View menu

and Contents from the submenu.

Recycling clipboard contents

Once audio data is on the clipboard, you can paste or mix it into an infinite number of windows. Data
remains on the clipboard until you replace it with new data.

Pasting

Once audio data is on the clipboard, you can paste or mix it into an existing data window or use it to create
a new data window.

Pasting data in an existing data window

Move the cursor to the beginning of the Voiceover.pca file by clicking the Go To Start button ( ) in the

1.

playbar. For more information, see Playbar on page 34.

2.

From the Edit menu, choose Paste. Sound Forge inserts the clipboard data into the file and the data for
“Wow” appears on the left side of the waveform.

Click the

Paste button ( ) or press .

Ctrl + V

GETTING STARTED CHP. 5

Clipboard contents
are pasted Into
the data window

3.

To confirm that the data has been pasted into the file, click the Play All button ( ). “Wow. Wow. Sound
editing just gets easier and easier” plays back.

Pasting in a new data window

To use data from the clipboard to create a new data window, go to the Edit menu, choose Paste Special, and
choose

Paste to New from the submenu. Sound Forge creates a new window containing the clipboard data in

a single step.

Cutting

Cutting allows you to remove a section of audio data from a data window and store it on the clipboard until
you paste or mix it into another file. When deciding between cut and copy, consider the following:

• Copying data has no effect on the original file.

• Cutting data modifies the original file.

63

Cutting data from a window

Create a selection containing the second “Wow” (there should be two if you are following the examples)

1.

in Voiceover.pca.

2.

From the Edit menu, choose Cut. Sound Forge removes the selected data from the file and places it on the
clipboard.

Click the

3.

Click the Play All button ( ). “Wow. Sound editing just gets easier and easier” plays back.

Cut button ( ) or press .

Ctrl + X

Create a selection

Cut the selection

Selection is removed
from the data
window and placed
on the clipboard

CHP. 5 GETTING STARTED

64

Previewing a cut

Sound Forge allows you to preview cuts prior to performing the edit. This allows you to determine if you
made the selection accurately and if the results are desirable.

1.

Create a selection anywhere in Voiceover.pca.

2.

From the Edit menu, choose Preview Cut/Cursor. Sound Forge ignores the selection and plays the audio
before and after the selection to allow you to preview the cut.

Press + .

Configuring cut pre-roll and post-roll lengths

Ctrl K

Frequently, the default pre-roll and post-roll lengths are insufficient to evaluate the accuracy of an edit. For
this reason, Sound Forge allows you to configure pre-roll and post-roll lengths.

1.

From the Options menu, choose Preferences. The Preferences dialog appears.

2.

Click the Other tab.

3.

Configure the Pre-roll and Post-ro ll values in the Cut preview configuration area of the dialog and click OK.

Deleting

Deleting a selection permanently removes it without replacing the data currently residing on the clipboard.
To delete data, choose

Delete

Press .

Note:

If the Treat as Cutlist command

(available in the

Cutlist

submenu) is selected, deleting a
selection creates a region in the Cutlist
window, but does not remove the selection.
For more information, see Configuring the

playlist as a cutlist on page 113.

Delete (Clear) from the Edit menu.

Special menu, Playlist/

Trimming/Cropping

Trimming allows you to retain a selection while deleting all surrounding data.

1.

Create a selection containing “Wow, sound editing just gets easier” in Voiceover.pca, but do not select the
second “and easier.”

2.

From the Edit menu, choose Trim/Crop. Only “Wow, sound editing just gets easier” remains in the data
window.

GETTING STARTED CHP. 5

Create a selection

Trim/Crop the selection

Only the selected audio remains

Mixing

Mixing is a powerful editing function that allows two sounds to be combined into a single waveform.

65

1.

Open and play the Drumhit.pca file. The file contains a snare drum and crash cymbal sound.

2.

Verify that the Drumhit.pca window is active and choose Select All from the Edit menu. The entire
waveform is selected.

3.

From the Edit menu, choose Copy.

Click the

4.

Activate the Voiceover.pca data window and click the Go To Start button ( ) on the playbar. The cursor

Copy button ( ) or press .

Ctrl + C

moves to the start of the file.

5.

From the Edit menu, choose Paste Special, and choose Mix from the submenu. The Mix dialog appears.

Click the

Mix button ( ).

Set both faders to 0dB

CHP. 5 GETTING STARTED

66

6.

Verify that the Source and Destination volume faders are set to 0 dB and click OK. The drum hit is mixed
equally with the spoken passage.

Both waveforms are combined

Preview the file and notice that, unlike pasting, mixing does not change the length of the file.

Using undo and redo

Sound Forge encourages experimentation by allowing you to easily undo/redo edit operations.

• You can undo any edit operation by choosing

• You can redo any undone edit operation by choosing

Click the
on the Standard toolbar or press .

Undo ( ) button on the Standard toolbar or press . Click the Redo () button

Ctrl + Shift + Z

Undo from the Edit menu.

Redo from the Edit menu.

Ctrl + Z

Using the Undo/Redo History window

The Undo/Redo History window may seem confusing at first, but you will find it invaluable once you have
mastered it. This window allows the audio file to be auditioned in various versions by undoing/redoing
multiple operations.

To display the Undo/Redo History window, choose

Alt + 7

Press .

Undo/Redo History from the View menu.

Play
buttons

Performed operations

Undone operations

GETTING STARTED CHP. 5

Undoing and redoing

Verify that the Voiceover.pca data window is active and choose Undo/Redo History from the View menu.

1.

The Undo/Redo History window appears. If you have performed the previous procedures, the window
should look like the figure below:

Current Undo/Redo History window

67

Notice that the

Mix operation appears at the top of the Undo pane. The most recent operations always

display at the top of the appropriate list.

2.

In the Undo pane, click the corresponding to the Mix operation. The audio file plays without the drum
track.

Play the pre-mix file

3.

Select the Mix operation and choose Undo from the Edit menu. The drum track is extracted from the
Voiceover.pca data window and the

Choose Undo from the Edit menu

Mix operation moves to the Redo pane.

4.

In the Redo pane, click the corresponding to the Mix operation. The audio file plays with the mixed
drum track.

5.

Select the Mix operation again and choose Redo from the Edit menu. The drum track is remixed into the
Voiceover.pca waveform and the

6.

Select the Tr i m/ Cro p operation in the Undo pane and click . Only the Mix operation is undone and
moved to the

Redo pane. This is due to the fact that operations can only be undone or redone in the order

Mix operation is returned to the Undo pane.

originally performed.

CHP. 5 GETTING STARTED

68

7.

Double-click the Cut operation in the Undo pane. The Cut and Trim/Crop operations are both undone in
the waveform and moved to the

Redo pane.

Double-click the Cut operation

To quickly undo/redo operations in the

Undo/Redo History window, double-click the operation.

Clearing the Undo/Redo History for the current file

Clearing the current file’s Undo/Redo History frees up disk space by deleting the file’s temporary undo/redo
files. However, deleting these temporary files prevents you from undoing changes made to the file since it
was last saved. To clear the undo/redo history for the current file, go to the

History

, and choose Clear from the submenu.

Clearing the Undo/Redo History for all open files

Special menu, choose Undo/Redo

Sound Forge also allows you to simultaneously clear the undo/redo history for all open files. Once again,
however, you cannot undo any previous changes once these histories are deleted. To clear the undo/redo
history for all open files, go to the

Special menu, choose Undo/Redo History, and choose Clear All from the

submenu.

Selecting status formats

The status format determines how Sound Forge displays a file’s position and length information. The
following table briefly describes status formats that Sound Forge supports (hh=hours, mm=minutes,
ss=seconds, and ff=frames).

Format name Description Format

Samples Number of samples Numbered (starting with zero)
Time Hours, minutes, seconds, and milliseconds hh:mm:ss.sss
Seconds Seconds and fractions of seconds sssss.sss (to three decimal places)
Time & Frames Hours, minutes, seconds, and frames. hh:mm:ss.ff
Absolute Frames Frames and fractions of frames Numbered (starting with zero, to

Measures & Beats Measures, beats, and quarter beats measures:beats.quarters
SMPTE Film Sync (24 fps) SMPTE at 24 frames per second for

synchronizing with film

SMPTE EBU (25 fps, Video) SMPTE at 25 frames per second for

European Broadcasting Union
SMPTE Non-Drop (29.97 fps, Video) SMPTE at 29.97 frames per second hh:mm:ss:ff
SMPTE Drop (29.97 fps, Video) SMPTE at 29.97 frames per second using

dropped frame numbers
SMPTE 30 (30 fps, Audio) SMPTE at 30 frames per second hh:mm:ss:ff

three decimal places)

hh:mm:ss:ff

hh:mm:ss:ff

hh:mm:ss:ff

For more information, see SMPTE Timecode on page 253.

GETTING STARTED CHP. 5

Experimenting with status formats

You can experiment with the Voiceover.pca file to see how status formats affect values in the status display
boxes.

1.

Open the Voiceover.pca file.

2.

From the Options menu, choose Status Format, and choose Samples from the submenu.

3.

Select all data in the Voiceover.pca window by choosing Select All from the Edit menu. Notice the
selection status boxes.

• The first selected sample is sample 0.

• The last selected sample is 220,506.

• The total number of samples in the selection is 220,507.

4.

From the Options menu, choose Status Format, and choose Time from the submenu. Notice that status
values change from samples to hours, minutes, and seconds.

5.

From the Options menu, choose Status Format, and choose SMPTE Non-Drop (29.97 fps, Video) from the
submenu. Notice that status values change to hours, minutes, seconds, and frames.

69

6.

Experiment with each status format and make note of how each format displays.

Note:

Selecting a new format changes the
status format for the current data window
only.

To quickly change a file’s status format, right-click any of the data window’s status boxes and
choose a new format from the shortcut menu.

Choose a format from the shortcut menu

CHP. 5 GETTING STARTED

70

Configuring the Measures & Beats format

Choosing the Measures & Beats format allows you to specify the beats per minute and beats per measure
values used to calculate measures and beats.

Changing a file’s beat values

From the Special menu, choose Edit Tempo. The Edit Tempo dialog appears.

1.

2.

Enter an appropriate value in the Tempo in beats per minute box.

3.

Enter an appropriate value in the Number of beats in a measure box and click OK.

Alternately, you can make a selection in the file equal to one measure, and then enter the number of beats in
the sample measure in the

Beats per minute

Changing the default beat values

value based on the selection length and number of beats.

The previous procedure changes the beat values for the current audio file only. Use the following steps to
change Sound Forge’s default beat values.

1.

From the Options menu, choose Preferences. The Preferences dialog appears.

2.

Click the Status tab.

3.

Enter an appropriate value in the Default beats per measure box.

Selection Length in Beats box. Sound Forge automatically calculates the Temp o in

4.

Enter an appropriate value in the Default beats per minute box and click OK.

Recovering files after a crash

If Sound Forge terminates improperly, you can recover all open and unsaved audio files not opened in read­only mode. When Sound Forge opens a file, it automatically creates temporary files that it uses to save any
changes made to the file. The original file remains unchanged until it is saved. If Sound Forge terminates
improperly, the temporary files remain on your hard drive and can be used to recover any unsaved changes
made prior to the crash.

Note:

temporary files by choosing
the

Temporary storage and record folder location on

the Perfor m tab.

Recovering files

Click the Recover button to restore the changes and undo history
for the files listed in the

Deleting recovered files

You can specify the folder used to store

Preferences from

Options menu and designating a

Files to recover list.

Click the Cancel button to delete the temporary files. The original
media files remain unchanged.

GETTING STARTED CHP. 5

CHAPTER

Navigating,
Zooming, and

6

6

Selecting

This chapter introduces some of Sound Forge’s navigation and selection features.

Setting the cursor position

While you can click anywhere in the waveform to position the cursor, there are times when you may need to
position the cursor more precisely. You can use the Go To dialog to move the cursor to a specific point in an
audio file and center it in the data window.

71

Note:

shortcuts to position the cursor. For more
information, see Cursor movement on page

245.

1.

Choose Go To from the Edit menu.

2.

Set the cursor position using one of the following methods:

• From the

• From the

You can also use a variety of keyboard

Go To dialog

You can also use the following methods:

•Right-click the waveform, choose

•Double-click the leftmost selection status box.

•Press .

Ctrl + G

Go To drop-down list, choose a preset.
Input format drop-down list, choose a format and enter an appropriate value in the Positi on box.

Cursor, and choose Go To from the submenu.

3.

Click OK. The cursor is placed at the specified position in the data window.

CHP. 6 NAVIGATING, ZOOMING, AND SELECTING

72

Previewing audio with pre-roll

Many audio editing operations depend upon accurate placement of the cursor in the data window. The Pre-

roll to Cursor

command allows you to preview audio data leading up to the current cursor position. This

command is extremely useful when recording punch-ins. For more information, see Recording a specific length

(punch-in) on page 116.

Sound Forge designates a 1.5 second pre-roll. However, you can change this value if necessary. For more
information, see Configuring cut pre-roll and post-roll lengths on page 64.

1.

Place the cursor anywhere in the data window.

2.

From the Edit menu, choose Pre-roll to Cursor. Sound Forge plays the audio leading up to the cursor and
stops at the cursor.

Ctrl + Shift + K

Press .

Using the overview bar

When navigating or editing a file, the overview bar changes to reflect the current position in the file.

Title bar

Overview bar

Time ruler

The overview bar represents the length of the entire file zoomed out to its maximum position. By observing
the overview bar, you can determine the following:

• The section of the audio file currently displayed in the data window.

• The location and size of a selection in relation to the audio file and data window.

• The current cursor location.

Understanding the overview bar

1.

Open the Voiceover.pca file and verify that the waveform display is zoomed completely out (1:512 in this
case).

The entire overview bar is bracketed

Notice that the entire overview bar is bracketed, indicating that the entire file appears in the data
window.

NAVIGATING, ZOOMING, AND SELECTING CHP. 6

2.

Place the mouse pointer over the word “Wow,” and click. A small vertical marker, representing the
cursor, appears in the overview bar.

Small marker in the overview bar

3.

Create a selection containing the word “Wow.” A shaded block, sized in relation to the size of the
selection within the entire audio file, appears in the overview bar.

A shaded block in the overview bar

73

4.

Click the Zoom In button ( ) twice. The bracketed area in the overview bar becomes incrementally
smaller as less of the waveform appears in the data window.

Zooming in on a selection
decreases the size of the
bracketed area

However, the selection remains the same size and does not move. This allows you to quickly locate a
selection, even when another section of an audio file is displayed.

Navigating in the overview bar

1.

Open the Voiceover.pca file.

2.

Click the Zoom In button ( ) until you reach a 1:32 zoom ratio.

3.

Click outside the bracketed region in the overview bar.

Clicking in the overview bar
outside the bracketed area
places the cursor beyond the
visible data window

The cursor position changes, but the cursor is located beyond the scope of the data window.

CHP. 6 NAVIGATING, ZOOMING, AND SELECTING

74

4.

Double-click anywhere in the overview bar.

The cursor is centered
in the data window

The cursor position updates and centers in the data window.

Playing audio in the overview bar

To make navigating a file from the overview bar easier, Sound Forge allows you to start audio playback from
the overview bar.

1.

Open the Voiceover.pca file.

2.

Right-click the overview bar. Playback of the file begins from the cursor location.

3.

Right-click the overview bar again. Playback pauses.

4.

Right-click the overview bar once more and immediately left-click at several random positions in the
overview bar. Each time you click the mouse in the overview bar during playback, the cursor jumps to the
new location and playback continues. The feature is useful for quickly navigating a file and locating
general events.

Navigating with the audio event locator

Dragging the mouse within the overview bar initiates playback of small audio loops adjacent to the cursor
position. This is not technically a scrub function, but it serves a similar purpose. It allows you to audition
brief audio segments and quickly locate specific events within a file.

Configuring the audio event locator

From the Options menu, choose Preferences. The Preferences dialog appears.

1.

2.

Click the Other tab.

3.

In the Audio event locator section, edit the Pre-roll and Loop time values as desired and click OK.

Zooming and magnifying

Since there are considerably more samples in a sound file than horizontal points (pixels) on the screen, many
data samples must be represented by each horizontal point when audio data displays in the data window.
Depending upon the editing operation, you may want to view the entire file at once or a small portion of
data in greater detail. For this reason, Sound Forge allows you to utilize two varieties of zooming: time ruler
zooming and level ruler zooming.

NAVIGATING, ZOOMING, AND SELECTING CHP. 6

Zooming the time ruler (horizontal)

The current time ruler magnification ratio appears in the lower-right corner of the data window above the
status boxes.

Time ruler zooming controls

Zoom ratio

Zoom Out

Zoom Spinner

Zoom In

Understanding the zoom ratio

The zoom ratio determines the number of samples represented by each horizontal point on the screen. The
zoom ratio is a value of X:Y, where X is the number of horizontal points and Y is the number of samples. If
the ratio is 1:1, each point on the screen represents one sample. At this zoom ratio, a brief but detailed
selection of time displays.

75

Waveform at 1:1 zoom ratio

Conversely, if the zoom ratio is 1:1024, 1,024 samples are represented by each point on the screen and a
greater length of time displays.

For very precise editing, you may want to zoom in more tightly than a 1:1 ratio. The full version of Sound
Forge allows up to a 24:1 ratio, where 24 points on the screen represent one sample. This high level of zoom
may be useful when editing with the Pencil tool. For more information, see Repairing audio glitches manually

with the Pencil tool on page 139.

Sample

Waveform at 24:1 zoom ratio

CHP. 6 NAVIGATING, ZOOMING, AND SELECTING

76

Changing the zoom ratio

To edit the zoom ratio, use the Zoom In/Out spin control located adjacent to the zoom ratio display.

• Clicking the magnifying glass buttons increases/decreases the zoom ratio by single-step increments.

• Dragging the spin control increments the zoom ratio quickly in the corresponding direction.

Right-clicking the waveform display allows you to quickly access time ruler zoom commands from
the shortcut menu.

Using the time zoom shortcut

Note:

When Sound Forge opens a file, the
horizontal magnification is set to the value
specified by the

Display tab in the Preferences dialog.

Using zoom time commands

Normal zoom ratio setting in the

If you prefer using commands, you can control the time magnification from the View menu. The following
table briefly describes the available time zoom commands. You can access these commands from the
menu by choosing

Zoom In Full If you are using the full version of Sound Forge, this command increases the zoom ratio

Normal Returns the file to its default zoom ratio.
Out Full Changes the zoom ratio to display the entire file within the data window.
Selection Changes the zoom ratio to maximize the display and center the selection within the data

Custom Zoom X:Y Sets the zoom ratio to a custom setting.

Zoom Time and choosing the desired command from the submenu.

to represent each audio sample with 24 screen pixels (24:1 zoom ratio). If you are using
Sound Forge Studio, this command increases the zoom ratio to represent each audio
sample with 1 screen pixel (1:1 zoom ratio).

window.

For more information, see Using custom zoom

settings on page 77

.

Zooming the level ruler (vertical)

Zooming along the level ruler displays a larger vertical waveform and allows for more precise editing at low
audio amplitudes.

View

Level ruler zooming controls

Zoom In

Zoom Spin Control

NAVIGATING, ZOOMING, AND SELECTING CHP. 6

Zoom Out

Changing the level zoom

To edit the level ruler zoom, use the Zoom In/Out spinner control located above the playbar.

77

• Clicking the magnifying glass buttons increases/decreases the level ruler

zoom by single-step increments.

• Dragging the spin control increments the level ruler zoom quickly in the corresponding direction.

At high zoom levels, only low-level samples are visible because the peaks of the waveform move beyond the
vertical scope of the data window. Consider the following data windows.

Level zoom out maximum Level zoom in maximum

Both data windows display the same audio file at a 1:1 zoom ratio. The window on the left shows the level
ruler zoomed to its maximum out position. The window on the right shows the level ruler zoomed to its
maximum in position. Notice that wave peaks clearly visible in the left window are out of display range in
the right window.

Using zoom level commands

If you prefer using commands, you can control the level magnification from the View menu. The following
table briefly describes the three available zoom level commands. You can access these commands from the

View menu by choosing Zoom Level and choosing the desired command from the submenu.

Out Full Decreases the zoom level to minimize the display of the file’s amplitude.
Window Changes the level zoom to display the entire waveform amplitude in the data window.
Selection Maximizes the display of the selection (vertically and horizontally) in the data window.

Formatting the level ruler

You can configure the level ruler to display in decibels or percent by right-clicking the ruler and choosing

Label in Percent or Label in dB from the shortcut menu.

Using custom zoom settings

You can create two custom time zoom settings for quick access to time magnification levels that you use
frequently.

Creating custom zoom settings

From the Options menu, choose Preferences. The Preferences dialog appears.

1.

2.

Click the Display tab.

3.

Select time magnification settings from the Custom zoom ratio 1 and Custom zoom ratio 2 drop-down lists.

4.

Click OK.

Zooming to custom settings

From the View menu, choose Zoom Time, and choose a custom zoom setting from the submenu.

Click a
keypad.

Custom Zoom button ( or ) on the Navigation toolbar or press or on the numeric

1 2

CHP. 6 NAVIGATING, ZOOMING, AND SELECTING

78

Using zooming shortcuts

Zooming to a selection

Create a selection. If no selection is created, this function is not available.

1.

2.

Right-click the waveform and choose Zoom Selection from the shortcut menu. Sound Forge calculates the
minimum zoom ratio that allows the full selection to display in the window, then zooms and centers the
selection in the data window.

To reverse this function, right-click the waveform, choose

Zooming the window

Zoom, and choose Out Full from the submenu.

Right-click the level ruler and choose Zoom Window from the shortcut menu. Sound Forge calculates the
maximum zoom level that allows the loudest portion of the selection to display in the window and adjusts
the entire sound file.

To reverse this function, right-click the level ruler and choose

Zooming out full

Zoom Out Full from the shortcut menu.

To quickly display all data in a data window, right-click the waveform, choose Zoom, and choose Out Full
from the submenu. This command sets the zoom ratio and zoom level to the lowest values required to display
all data in the window.

To reverse this function, go to the

Zooming in full

View menu, choose Zoom Time, and choose Normal from the submenu.

To quickly set the zoom factor to its maximum magnification, right-click the waveform and choose Zoom In

Full

from the shortcut menu. The maximum magnification available is 24:1 in the full version of Sound Forge

and 1:1 in Sound Forge Studio.

To reverse this function, right-click the waveform and choose

Optimizing time and level ruler scaling

Zoom Normal from the shortcut menu.

To optimize both the time ruler and level ruler display of a selection, double-click the level ruler. Double­clicking the level ruler a second time restores both displays to their default levels.

Using the Magnify tool

The Magnify tool provides an additional way to magnify a section of an audio file. You can access the
Magnify tool in three ways:

• From the

• Click the Magnify Tool button ( )on the Standard toolbar.

• Click the Edit Tool Selector in the upper-left corner of the data window until the Magnify tool appears.

When you select the Magnify tool, the cursor displays as . You can use this tool to create a selection box
indicating how audio data is magnified. By using the Magnify tool and toggle-clicking the mouse, you can
toggle between time zoom, level zoom, and simultaneous time/level zoom.

For more information, see Using the mouse on page 29.

NAVIGATING, ZOOMING, AND SELECTING CHP. 6

Edit menu, choose Tool, and choose Magnify from the submenu.

To temporarily use the Magnify tool, hold while creating a selection.

Ctrl

Zooming the time ruler with the Magnify tool

Drag the Magnify tool on the waveform to make a small selection box.

1.

2.

Toggle-click the mouse until the selection box is the same height as the data window.

3.

Drag the Magnify tool to create a time zoom selection and release the mouse button. The zoom ratio of
the selection increases.

Selection box spans the height of the window The selection is time zoomed

Zooming the level ruler with the Magnify tool

Drag the Magnify tool on the waveform to make a small selection box.

1.

2.

Toggle-click the mouse until the selection box is the full width of the data window.

3.

Drag the Magnify tool to create a level zoom selection and release the mouse button. The zoom ratio of
the selection increases.

79

Selection box spans the width of the window The selection is level zoomed

Zooming both time and level with the Magnify tool

Drag the Magnify tool on the waveform to make a small selection box.

1.

2.

Toggle-click the mouse until the selection displays as a box.

3.

Drag the Magnify tool to create a time/level zoom selection and release the mouse button. The level zoom
and time zoom of the selection increase.

Selection displays as a box The selection time and level are zoomed

CHP. 6 NAVIGATING, ZOOMING, AND SELECTING

80

Selecting audio using start and end values

You can select audio by dragging the mouse or by using keyboard shortcuts (pg. 246). For the sake of accuracy,
however, it is often useful to create selections by entering specific start and end point values. The Set Selection
dialog allows you to create selections in this way or by choosing a preset selection from the
down list.

1.

For users of the full version of Sound Forge: from the Edit menu, choose Selection, and choose Set from
the submenu.

Selection drop-

For users of Sound Forge Studio: from the

Edit menu, choose Selection.

The Set Selection dialog appears.

Shift

Ctrl

Press + + .

2.

From the Input format drop-down list, choose the format to be used for creating the selection. The values in
the

Start, End, and Length boxes change to reflect the specified format.

3.

Configure the selection by entering appropriate values in the Start and End or the Start and Length boxes.

4.

If you are working with a stereo file, choose Left, Right, or Both from the Channel drop-down list.

5.

Click OK.

D

Using the Set Selection dialog

The following sections briefly describe additional controls located in the Set Selection dialog.

Set Selection dialog

Play

Clicking Play plays the current selection.

Play looped

Selecting the Play looped check box allows you to play the selection in Looped Playback mode.

Snap Zero

Clicking Snap Zero forces the Start and End values of the selected area to the next zero-crossing.

Snap Time

Clicking Snap Time forces the Start and End values of the selected area to a whole time division as designated
by the markings on the data window’s time ruler.

NAVIGATING, ZOOMING, AND SELECTING CHP. 6

Zero-crossing preference

When using a Snap-Zero command, you can configure Sound Forge to snap to positive slope, negative slope,
or either slope zero-crossings.

1.

From the Options menu, choose Preferences, and click the Editing tab.

2.

From the Snap to zero-crossing slope drop-down list, choose the desired slope and click OK.

Selecting audio during playback

Sound Forge allows you to create selections during playback using the Mark In and Mark Out commands.
These commands place temporary markers in the data window, which are then used to create the selection.
While you can place these markers by choosing
equivalents are more useful.

1.

Play the audio file in the current data window.

Mark In and Mark Out from the Special menu, the keyboard

81

2.

During playback, press where the selection will begin.

3.

O

Press where the selection will end. Sound Forge creates a selection using the in and out points you

I

identified.

Fine-tuning a selection

After creating a selection, you may discover that the start or end point has not been positioned properly. In
cases like this, you can try to reselect the data, but it can be difficult to accurately create selection points. For
this reason, Sound Forge provides a number of tools designed to help you fine-tune selections.

If you find that the selection jumps unexpectedly as you fine-tune it, snapping may be turned on. For more

information, see Understanding snapping on page 82.

Adjusting a selection with the mouse

You can fine-tune selection start and end points by dragging the edge of the selection to a new location.

1.

Open a file and create a selection in the waveform.

2.

Position the mouse pointer over one of the selection edges. The pointer displays as a bi-directional arrow
().

3.

Drag the selection edge to a new position.

Drag the edge of the selection to a new position.

4.

Release the mouse button. The selection updates.

Adjusting a selection with the keyboard

Using the keyboard, you can quickly and accurately select data or update a selection. For more information,
see Selecting data on page 246.

CHP. 6 NAVIGATING, ZOOMING, AND SELECTING

82

Restoring a selection

If you lose a selection while editing, you can restore it by choosing Toggle Selection from the Special menu
or by pressing .

Backspace

Understanding snapping

If, when extending a selection, the end points seem to “jump” to a different position, an auto snap option is
turned on.

Snapping to time divisions

Auto Snap to Time ensures that all start and end points reside on whole time divisions. To turn this option

on, choose
indicate that the option is turned on.

Snapping to zero-crossings

Auto Snap to Zero ensures that all start and end points reside on zero-crossings. To turn this option on,

choose
indicate that the option is turned on.

Auto Snap to Time from the Options menu. A check mark appears adjacent to the command to

Auto Snap to Zero from the Options menu. A check mark appears adjacent to the command to

To turn

Auto Snap to Zero on and off, press .

Ctrl + B

Snapping the current selection to time divisions or zero-crossings

You can force a selection to snap to time divisions or zero-crossings. From the Edit menu, choose Selection,
and choose either
(the edge where the cursor flashes), choose either

Snap to Time or Snap to Zero from the submenu. To snap just the active edge of a selection

Snap Edge to Time or Snap Edge to Zero from the submenu.

Disabling Auto Snap to Zero at high magnifications

When editing an audio file displayed at a high magnification, you may wish to turn off the Auto Snap to Zero
option. This allows you to position a selection’s start and end points exactly where you choose.

1.

From the Options menu, choose Preferences, and click the Editing tab.

2.

Select the Disable auto-snapping below 1:4 zoom ratios check box and click OK.

Creating and using views

Views are used to save and recall selections, zoom ratios, and waveform display positions. Sound Forge can
retain eight different views for any audio file, each containing any or all of the following elements:

• Selection

• Cursor position

• Magnification

• Position scroll bar placement

Note:

Views are discarded when you close the
file. To save views with a file, save the file as
part of a workspace. For more information,
see Saving files as a workspace on page 61.

NAVIGATING, ZOOMING, AND SELECTING CHP. 6

Displaying the Views toolbar

1.

From the View menu, choose Toolbars.

2.

Select the Views check box and click OK. The Views toolbar appears.

Views toolbar

Creating views

1.

Open the Voiceover.pca file and create a selection containing “Wow.”

2.

Click the Set button ( ) on the Views toolbar. A view can now be created.

Click the Set button

3.

Click . The selection is saved as view 1 and is underscored to indicate that a view was created.

83

The 1 button is underscored
to indicate that a view was created.

4.

Create a new selection anywhere in the audio file, preferably at an increased magnification.

5.

Click the Set button ( ) followed by . The selection is saved as view 2.

6.

Click . The view 1 selection displays.

7.

Click . The view 2 selection displays.

CHP. 6 NAVIGATING, ZOOMING, AND SELECTING

84

NAVIGATING, ZOOMING, AND SELECTING CHP. 6

CHAPTER

Changing File
Attributes and

7

7

Formats

This chapter deals with the file attributes and formats Sound Forge supports. This chapter also discusses file
summary information.

Editing file attributes

When you open or create a file, its attributes display in the first three boxes of the status bar at the bottom of
the main screen. The file attributes are sample rate, bit depth, and channels (mono or stereo).

File attributes in the status bar

85

Sample rate Bit Channels File length Free storage

You can edit audio file attributes in the Properties dialog or in the status bar.

Editing attributes in the Properties dialog

You can edit file attributes in the Properties dialog.

1.

From the File menu, choose Properties. The Properties dialog appears.

2.

Click the Format tab.

3.

Edit the file attributes as needed and click OK.

depth available

You can also access the Properties dialog by doing any of the following:

•Double-click a format box.

•Right-click the waveform display and choose

Enter

•Press + .

Alt

Properties.

Edit attributes in the Properties dialog

Editing attributes in the status bar

You can quickly edit individual file attributes by right-clicking the status value to be changed and choosing a
new value from the shortcut menu.

CHP. 7 CHANGING FILE ATTRIBUTES AND FORMATS

86

Changing the sample rate

The sample rate is the number of samples per second, measured in hertz (Hz), used to record audio. When
creating a new file in the full version of Sound Forge, you can specify sample rates from 2,000 Hz to
192,000 Hz. When creating a new file in Sound Forge Studio, you can specify sample rates from 2,000 Hz to
48,000 Hz. Typical sample rates are stored as presets in the
Forge can increase or decrease the sample rate of an existing audio file.

1.

Open and play the Voiceover.pca file.

Sample rate drop-down list. In addition, Sound

Note:

This file is located in the same folder as
the application.

2.

Right-click the Sample Rate status box and choose 48,000 from the shortcut menu.

3.

Play the file. Notice that the pitch is higher and the duration is slightly shorter.

4.

Right-click the Sample Rate status box and choose 8,000 from the shortcut menu.

5.

Play the file. Notice that the pitch is lower and the duration is longer.

Changing the sample rate of a file also changes the pitch and duration. To change the sample rate of a file
while preserving its duration and pitch, use the

Resample command. For more information, see Resample on

page 161.

Changing the bit depth

Bit depth refers to the number of bits used to represent a sound. Sound Forge can increase or decrease a file’s
bit depth.

Increasing bit depth

Increasing the bit depth does not improve the quality of a
file, but it allows subsequent processing to be performed
with increased precision.

1.

Open a file with a small bit depth.

2.

From the Process menu, choose Bit-Depth Converter.
The Bit-Depth Converter dialog appears.

3.

From the Bit depth drop-down list, choose a larger value
and click

Note:

Dither and Noise shaping controls should be set

OK.

When increasing a file’s bit depth, the

to None and Off respectively.

CHANGING FILE ATTRIBUTES AND FORMATS CHP. 7

Decreasing bit depth

To maximize storage space, larger sound files (24- and 16-bit) are frequently converted to smaller (16- and 8­bit) files using Sound Forge. However, representing a sound file at a decreased bit depth results in audible
distortion referred to as quantization error.

87

Note:

The maximum bit-depth allowed for a

sound file in Sound Forge Studio is 16-bit.

1.

Open a 16-bit file.

2.

From the Process menu, choose Bit-Depth Converter. The Bit-Depth Converter dialog appears.

3.

From the Bit depth drop-down list, choose 8 bit.

4.

If desired, choose an option from the Dither drop-down list. For more information, see Dither on page 87.

5.

If desired, choose a Noise shaping type. For more information, see Noise shaping on page 87.

6.

Click OK.

Note:

There are no rules regarding
maintaining audio quality when decreasing bit
depth. Experiment with the

shaping

controls to determine the optimum

Dither and Noise

settings for each audio file.

Understanding dither and noise shaping

You can adjust Dither and Noise shaping settings when decreasing a file’s bit depth.

Dither

The Dither value determines the randomness of the dither (generated noise) used to mask quantization
distortion resulting from conversion to a lower bit depth. This drop-down list requires you to select from
several shapes, each of which roughly describes the pattern that would be produced if you plotted a graph
with the dither amplitude on the X-axis and the probability of the dither values on the Y-axis.

As is frequently the case when working with audio, you should experiment with dither values to yield the
best results. However, keep the following information in mind:

•

Rectangular eliminates distortion products caused by conversion to a lower bit depth, but the noise level is

more likely to be dependent on the signal.

•

Triangular eliminates the distortion products as well as any noise floor modulation, but results in a slightly

higher noise level. The option typically works well in conjunction with noise shaping.

•

Highpass Triangular behaves like triangular dither, but shifts its noise into higher frequencies. This is

typically the best option when used in conjunction with noise shaping.

•

Gaussian does not perform as well as Rectangular and Triangular dither, but may be suitable for certain audio.

Noise shaping

The Noise shaping value determines the aural positioning of quantization noise. Using this control, you can
shift the noise into audio registers that are less perceptible to human hearing. This lowers the perceived
noise floor and creates the illusion of cleaner audio.

High-pass contour noise shaping attempts to push all quantization noise and error into high frequencies.

•

•

Equal-loudness contour noise shaping attempts to push the noise under an equal-loudness type of curve.

CHP. 7 CHANGING FILE ATTRIBUTES AND FORMATS

88

Noise shaping dangers

Noise shaping places quantization noise near the audio’s Nyquist frequency, a value equal to one-half of the
file’s sample rate. Consider the following:

• A file with a sample rate of 44.1 kHz has a Nyquist frequency of 22.05 kHz (at the high end of human
hearing). Applying noise shaping to this file results in audio perceived to be cleaner than it actually is.

• A file with a sample rate of 22 kHz has a Nyquist frequency of 11 kHz (well within the sensitive range of
human hearing). Applying noise shaping to this file results in audio that is perceived to be noisier than it
actually is. Ironically, this defeats the entire purpose of noise shaping.

For this reason, we do not recommend using noise shaping on files with sample rates less than 44.1 kHz.

Minimizing quantization error

There are at least three methods of minimizing quantization error when decreasing a file’s bit depth: noise
gating, compression, and normalization.

Noise gating

Frequently, low-level signals become noise when a file’s bit depth is decreased. For this reason, it is preferable
to have complete silence between sounds in an audio file.

1.

From the Effects menu, choose Noise Gate. The Noise Gate dialog appears.

Specify a noise gate

2.

Choose a noise gate preset from the Preset drop-down list and click OK. A noise gate is applied to the
audio, negating its low-level signals.

Compressing

Decreasing the dynamic range of a sound file makes it easier to represent with decreased bit depth.

1.

For users of the full version of Sound Forge: from the Effects menu, choose Dynamics, and choose

Graphic from the submenu. The Graphic Dynamics dialog appears.

For users of Sound Forge Studio: from the

Effects menu, choose Dynamics. The Dynamics dialog

appears.

2.

Choose a preset with a small amount of compression (2:1 or less) from the Preset drop-down list and click

OK.

Normalizing

Normalizing a file prior to decreasing its bit depth ensures that the entire dynamic range is used. In addition,
normalization lowers the signal-to-noise ratio.

CHANGING FILE ATTRIBUTES AND FORMATS CHP. 7

1.

From the Process menu, choose Normalize.
The Normalize dialog appears.

89

Note:

The Normalize dialog pictured here is
from the full version of Sound Forge. If you
are using Sound Forge Studio, not all of the
controls pictured here will be available to you.

2.

Select the Pe a k level radio button.

3.

Set the Normalize to fader to 0 dB (peak) and
click

OK.

Applying compression and normalization
simultaneously

From the Process menu, choose Normalize. The Normalize dialog appears.

1.

2.

Select the Average RMS power radio button.

3.

Specify Apply dynamic compression in the If clipping occurs drop-down list and click OK.

Converting mono/stereo channels

The channels setting indicates whether a file contains one (mono) or two (stereo) channels. Sound Forge
can convert mono files to stereo or stereo files to mono.

Converting from mono to stereo

1.

Open the Voiceover.pca file.

Note:

This file is located in the same folder as
the application.

2.

Right-click the Channels status box and choose Stereo from the shortcut
menu. The Mono To Stereo dialog appears.

3.

Select the Left Channel radio button and click OK. Sound Forge places the
mono data in the upper half of the data window (left channel) and silence in
the right channel.

For more information, see Specifying the audio destination on page 90.

4.

Play the file. “Wow, sound editing just gets easier and easier” plays in only
the left channel.

Note:

If your sound card supports only mono
data, stereo files can be played by specifying
the Sound Mapper as the playback device. To
do this, choose
menu. Click the

Microsoft Sound Mapper from the Playback

Preferences from the Options

Wave tab and specify

drop-down list.

CHP. 7 CHANGING FILE ATTRIBUTES AND FORMATS

90

Specifying the audio destination

The Destination radio buttons in the Mono To Stereo dialog allow you to specify where the mono audio data
is placed in a stereo file. The following table describes the available data destinations.

Left Channel The mono data is placed in the left channel. The right channel is set to silence.
Right Channel The mono data is placed in the right channel. The left channel is set to silence.
Both Channels The mono data is copied into both channels.

Converting from stereo to mono

1.

Open the Saxriff.pca file.

Note:

This file is located in the same folder as

the application.

2.

Right-click the Channels status box (indicating Stereo) and choose Mono
from the shortcut menu. The Stereo To Mono dialog appears.

3.

Select the Mix Channels radio button and click OK. The left and right
channels combine into a mono channel.

For more information, see Specifying the audio source on page 90.

Specifying the audio source

The Source radio buttons in the Stereo To Mono dialog allow you to specify what stereo data is used to create
the mono file. The following table describes the available data sources.

Left Channel Mono data is taken only from the left channel of the stereo file.
Right Channel Mono data is taken only from the right channel of the stereo file.
Mix Channels Mono data is created by mixing both channels of the stereo file.

Using the Channel Converter

You can also use the Channel Converter to convert files between mono and stereo formats. Using the
Channel Converter provides the added flexibility of independent level settings for each channel, thereby
allowing you to intermix the channels of a stereo file to create pan effects. To use this tool, choose

Converter

from the Process menu. For more information, see Channel Converter on page 150.

Channel

Converting file formats

The previous sections have described changing a file’s sample rate, bit depth, and channel configuration.
Using Sound Forge, you can also convert a file’s format and compression settings.

To demonstrate this, open the Voiceover.pca file and choose

Ty pe

and Te m pl a te drop-down lists. For more information, see Using the Save As dialog on page 59.

Save as type

When the Save As dialog appears, the Save as type drop-down list defaults to the file’s original format.
However, using the

Save as type drop-down list, you can specify any file type supported by Sound Forge.

Te m p l a te

The Te mp l at e drop-down list provides standard settings for saving your audio file. If the templates do not
match your particular needs, click the

CHANGING FILE ATTRIBUTES AND FORMATS CHP. 7

Custom button to create custom settings.

Save As from the File menu. Notice the Save as

Adding summary information

Specific audio file types allow you to store text fields of summary information in addition to the audio and
video data. File types offering this feature include WAV, AVI, ASF, and RM. You can view and edit these
text fields using Sound Forge.

Viewing and editing summary information

The Summary tab is used to view and edit the summary
information stored in the file.

1.

From the File menu, choose Properties. The Properties dialog
appears.

2.

Click the Summary tab.

3.

Edit the summary information as needed and click OK.

Viewing extended summary information

1.

From the File menu, choose Properties. The Properties dialog
appears.

2.

Click the Summary tab. The Summary dialog appears.

3.

Click the Extended button. The Extended Summary dialog appears. The dialog is divided into two
sections: the

Fields pane and the Contents pane.

91

The Fields pane

The Fields pane displays the following components for each available field:

• A check box to turn the field on or off.

• The abbreviation of the field type.

• A short description of the field.

• An indication of the field’s current status.

Full field indicator

Field abbreviation

Field description

On/Off check box

The Contents pane

Empty field indicator

Located immediately below the Fields pane, the Contents pane displays the current contents of the selected
field.

Extended summary field contents

CHP. 7 CHANGING FILE ATTRIBUTES AND FORMATS

92

Editing extended summary information

1.

Select the field to be edited in the Fields pane. Its contents display in the Contents pane.

2.

Enter the new information in the Contents pane and click OK.

Turning summary fields on and off

Adjacent to each field in the Fields pane is a check box used to turn the corresponding field on and off when
saving files in applicable formats.

Note:

If a field is turned on but contains no

information, it is not saved with the file.

Setting new default summary information

Clicking the Default button in the Extended Summary dialog saves the text in the summary fields as a default
setting. Sound Forge uses this default summary information when you create a new file or when you click the

Load button in the Properties dialog for an existing file.

Note:

The Creation date field (ICRD) is
always filled with the current date for new
files.

Saving summary information

You can save files containing summary information that have been edited in Sound Forge with or without
summary information.

1.

From the File menu, choose Save As. The Save As dialog appears.

2.

Select the Save metadata with file check box and click OK.

Note:

support metadata, this check box is
unavailable.

If you save to a file type that doesn’t

Including additional embedded information

Some file formats allow non-text data (such as embedded bitmaps and metafiles) to be embedded in files. If
you use Sound Forge to edit a file containing data created in another application, Sound Forge tracks the
embedded data and places it back in the file when it is saved in its original format.

CHANGING FILE ATTRIBUTES AND FORMATS CHP. 7

93

Saving additional embedded information

To save additional embedded information, choose Save As from the File menu and select the Save metadata

with file

check box. If the file type does not support metadata, Sound Forge prompts you to save the metadata

in an external file with an .sfl extension.

For file formats that don’t support metadata,
Sound Forge prompts you to save the
metadata in an external file.

Removing additional embedded information

To save a file without additional embedded information, choose Save As from the File menu and clear the

Save metadata with file check box.

CHP. 7 CHANGING FILE ATTRIBUTES AND FORMATS

94

CHANGING FILE ATTRIBUTES AND FORMATS CHP. 7

CHAPTER

Using Markers,
Regions, and the

8

8

Playlist/Cutlist

This chapter describes the use of markers, command markers, the Regions List, and the playlist/cutlist. These
tools allow you to tag and organize audio data and make audio editing more efficient. Sound Forge can save
marker, Regions List, and playlist/cutlist information as metadata in most file types. You also have the option
of saving the Regions List and playlist/cutlist to an external file. For more information, see Save metadata with

file on page 59.

Why use markers, regions, and the playlist?

There are at least four reasons for you to master the use of these features:

• Rapid navigation

• Added effects for streaming media

• Multiple versions of edits

• MIDI synchronization and triggering

95

Rapid navigation

The most obvious use of the Regions List is for dissecting an audio file into multiple regions. Once created,
regions can be selected and played in the data window. You are also able to tag important time positions with
markers. This allows you to navigate large files and locate important audio events.

Added effects for streaming media

Command markers allow you to add interactivity to media streamed over the Internet by inserting metadata
into streaming media files. As your file plays, any number of other actions can be triggered, including
opening a Web page in a browser or displaying caption text.

Multiple versions of edits

The playlist and cutlist allow you to try out different edits before committing to them. You can add regions to
the playlist or cutlist and then rearrange and audition them endlessly without requiring Sound Forge to
perform an edit on the file.

Another advantage is that you can quickly save regions organized in the playlist or cutlist as a new file based
on the finished arrangement.

MIDI synchronization and triggering

You can trigger regions created in Sound Forge using MIDI or SMPTE timecode. This feature is used for
synchronizing audio files to sequencers, MIDI controllers, or any other time-based media. For example, a
MIDI trigger can be assigned to an audio file in Sound Forge and triggered by a sequencer along with other
MIDI instruments. For more information, see Triggering region playback on page 195.

You can also assign SMPTE times to special effect audio files. This allows you to match audio to the action
on the screen.

CHP. 8 USING MARKERS, REGIONS, AND THE PLAYLIST/CUTLIST

96

Th

Using markers

A marker is a tag placed in an audio file that is used as a reference point. Markers make navigating a file
easier and more efficient.

Inserting markers

1.

Click to position the cursor in the waveform.

2.

From the Special menu, choose Insert Marker. Sound Forge places a marker in the waveform at the exact
location of the cursor.

M

Press .

e marker is placed

in the waveform

Inserting markers using the ruler shortcut menu

The ruler shortcut menu allows you to insert and name a marker in a single step.

1.

Click to position the cursor in the waveform.

2.

Right-click the ruler and choose Insert Marker/Region from the shortcut menu. The Insert Marker/Region
dialog appears.

3.

Enter a name for the marker in the Name box and click OK. The new marker appears in the waveform.

Inserting markers during playback

To insert markers in real time during playback, press .

Inserting markers during recording

To insert markers during recording, click the Drop Marker button ( ) in the Record dialog or press . For

M

M

more information, see Inserting markers while recording on page 124.

Naming markers

When you insert a marker, Sound Forge automatically names it for you. You can customize this automatic
labeling feature, or you can name markers manually.

Customizing automatic labeling

You can customize the way that Sound Forge names new files, markers, or regions.

1.

From the Options menu, choose Preferences. The Preferences dialog appears.

2.

Click the Editing tab.

USING MARKERS, REGIONS, AND THE PLAYLIST/CUTLIST CHP. 8

3.

Click the Automatic Labeling button. The Automatic Labeling dialog appears.

Automatic Labeling dialog

4.

Adjust the labeling controls as desired. For help on the different controls in the dialog, click the What’s

This? Help

5.

Click OK to close the Automatic Labeling dialog.

button ( ) and click a control.

97

6.

Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.

Naming markers manually

You can name markers to make them easily identifiable.

1.

Right-click a marker and choose Edit from the shortcut menu. The Edit Marker/Region dialog appears.

Select Edit from
the shortcut menu

Enter a name
for the marker

2.

Enter a name or description for the marker in the Name box and click OK. The marker is named in the
waveform display.

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The marker is labeled in
the waveform

Changing the marker position

You can change a marker’s position by dragging it to a new location or by updating its position to the current
cursor location. You can also enter precise values to move a marker to a specific location.

Changing the marker position using drag-and-drop

Drag the marker to a new position on the data window ruler.

1.

Drag the marker to the new position

2.

Release the mouse button. The marker is dropped at its new location.

Changing the marker position using update

Position the cursor where you want the marker to be.

1.

2.

Right-click the marker and choose Update from the shortcut menu. The marker moves to the cursor
position.

Changing the marker position using the Edit Marker/Region dialog

Right-click a marker and choose Edit from the shortcut menu. The Edit Marker/Region dialog appears.

1.

2.

Enter a new marker position value in the Start box and click OK. The marker position updates.

Enter the marker
position value

Using markers to create regions

Once you have placed markers in a waveform, you can use them to create regions. For more information, see

Inserting regions based on marker positions on page 104.

USING MARKERS, REGIONS, AND THE PLAYLIST/CUTLIST CHP. 8