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/FaxCountry
1-800-577-6642 (toll-free)US, Canada, and Virgin Islands
+800-000-76642 (toll-free)Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, UK,
Netherlands, and Japan
+608-204-7703for 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-mailCountry
1-800-577-6642 (toll-free)US, Canada, and Virgin Islands
+800-000-76642 (toll-free)Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, UK,
Netherlands, and Japan
+608-204-7703for 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 (608) 204-7704 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.
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. 1INTRODUCTION
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
INTRODUCTIONCHP. 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 DocFeedback@sonicfoundry.com.
CHP. 1INTRODUCTION
18
INTRODUCTIONCHP. 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. 2WHAT’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. 2WHAT’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. 2WHAT’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 Advancedsettings 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. 3OPTIMIZING 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 FORGECHP. 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. 3OPTIMIZING FOR SOUND FORGE
28
OPTIMIZING FOR SOUND FORGECHP. 3
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