Sony Acid Music Studio Quick Start Manual

Revised July 12, 2012

This quick start manual provides you with a brief introduction to ACID® Music Studio™ software. For more details on using the software, see the online help. To access the online help, choose Contents and Index from the Help menu, or press F1.

After ACID Music Studio software is installed and you start it for the first time, the registration wizard appears. This wizard offers easy steps that allow you to register the software online with Sony Creative Software Inc.

Registering your product will provide you with access to a variety of technical support options, notification of product updates, and special promotions exclusive to registered ACID Music Studio users.

Registration assistance

Registration assistance is available online at http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/reg/faq, or by fax at (608) 250-1745.

Customer service/sales

For a detailed list of customer service options, we encourage you to visit http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/support/custserv.asp. Use the following numbers for telephone support during normal weekday business hours:

Tel ep ho ne /F ax Country

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

(608) 203-7620 for all other countries

(608) 250-1745 (Fax) All countries

Technical support

For a detailed list of technical support options, we encourage you to visit http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/support/default.asp. To listen to your support options by telephone, please call (608) 256-5555.

About your rights in ACID software

ACID software is licensed to you under the terms of the End User License Agreement. The End User License Agreement is first presented to you when you install the software. Please review the End User License Agreement carefully as its terms affect your rights with respect to the software. For your reference, a copy of the End User License Agreement for ACID software is located at

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/corporate/eula.

About your privacy

Sony Creative Software Inc. respects your privacy and is committed to protecting personal information. Your use of the software is governed by the Software Privacy Policy. A copy of this policy is incorporated into the registration process and you are asked to agree to its terms prior to accepting the terms of the End User License Agreement. Please review its contents carefully as its terms and conditions affect your rights with respect to the information that is collected by the software. For your reference, a copy of the Software Privacy Policy is located at

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/corporate/privacy.asp.

Proper use of software

ACID software is not intended and should not be used for illegal or infringing purposes, such as the illegal copying or sharing of copyrighted materials. Using ACID software for such purposes is, among other things, against United States and international copyright laws and contrary to the terms and conditions of the End User License Agreement. Such activity may be punishable by law and may also subject you to the breach remedies set forth in the End User License Agreement.

Legal notices

ACID, ACIDized, ACIDplanet.com, ACIDplanet, the ACIDplanet logo, ACID XMC, Artist Integrated, the Artist Integrated logo, Beatmapper, Cinescore, CD Architect, DVD Architect, Jam Trax, Perfect Clarity Audio, Photo Go, Sound Forge, Super Duper Music Looper, Transparent Technology, Vegas, Vision Series, and Visual Creation Studio are the trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Creative Software Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners in the United States and other countries.

Sony Creative Software Inc. may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Sony Creative Software Inc., the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property.

Apple Macintosh Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) file format

Apple® Macintosh® Audio Interchange™ File Format (AIFF) is a trademark of Apple, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

Apple QuickTime

Apple® QuickTime® application is a trademark of Apple, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

AT RA C

“ATR AC,” “AT RAC3,” “ATRAC 3pl us,” “AT RAC Advanc ed L oss les s,” and the ATRAC logo are trademarks of Sony Corporation. http://www.sony.net/

Products/ ATRAC3/

Dolby, Dolby Digital AC-3, and AAC encoding

This product contains one or more programs protected under international and U.S. copyright laws as unpublished works. They are confidential and proprietary to Dolby Laboratories. Their reproduction or disclosure, in whole or in part, or the production of derivative works therefrom without the express permission of Dolby Laboratories is prohibited. Copyright 1992 – 2009 Dolby Laboratories. All rights reserved.

Dolby®, the double-D symbol, AC-3®, and Dolby Digital® are registered trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. AAC™ is a trademark of Dolby Laboratories.

élastique Pro

Portions of this product use zplane élastique Pro V2 audio time-stretching technology.

Gracenote

CD and music-related data from Gracenote, Inc., copyright © 2000-2009 Gracenote. Gracenote Software, copyright 2000-2009 Gracenote. This product and service may practice one or more of the following U.S. Patents: #5,987,525; #6,061,680; #6,154,773, #6,161,132, #6,230,192, #6,230,207, #6,240,459, #6,330,593, and other patents issued or pending. Services supplied and/or device manufactured under license for following Open Globe, Inc. United States Patent 6,304,523.

Gracenote and CDDB are registered trademarks of Gracenote. The Gracenote logo and logotype, MusicID, and the “Powered by Gracenote” logo are trademarks of Gracenote.

Macromedia Flash

Macromedia and Flash are trademarks or registered trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Main Concept encoder

Microsoft DirectX programming interface

Microsoft Windows Media 9

Ogg Vorbis

PNG file format

Copyright © 2009. World Wide Web Consortium (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics, Keio University). All rights reserved. This work is distributed under the W3C Software License in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTIBILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Consortium/Legal/2002/copyright-software-20021231

Real, RealMedia, RealAudio, and RealVideo applications

2009 RealNetworks, Inc. Patents Pending. All rights reserved. Real®, Real Media®, RealAudio®, RealVideo®, and the Real logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc. in the United States and other countries.

Steinberg Media Technologies

Cubase®, VST®, and Nuendo® are registered trademarks of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.

ASIO™ is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.

Tagged Image File Format (TIFF)

Targa file format

The Targa™ file format is a trademark of Pinnacle Systems, Inc.

http://www.w3.org/

Thomson Fraunhofer MP3

MPEG Layer-3 audio coding technology licensed from Fraunhofer IIS and Thomson.

Supply of this product does not convey a license nor imply any right to distribute content created with this product in revenue generating broadcast systems (terrestrial, satellite, cable and/or other distribution channels), streaming applications (via internet, intranets and/or other networks), other content distribution systems (pay-audio or audio on demand applications and the like) or on physical media (compact discs, digital versatile discs, semiconductor chips, hard drives, memory cards and the like).

An independent license for such use is required. For details, please visit: http://mp3licensing.com.

Sony Creative Software Inc.

8215 Greenway Blvd. Suite 400 Middleton, WI 53562 USA

The information contained in this manual is subject to change without notice and does not represent a guarantee or commitment on behalf of Sony Creative Software Inc. in any way. All updates or additional information relating to the contents of this manual will be posted on the Sony Creative Software Inc. web site, located at

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/. The software is provided to

you under the terms of the End User License Agreement and Software Privacy Policy, and must be used and/or copied in accordance therewith. Copying or distributing the software except as expressly described in the End User License Agreement is strictly prohibited. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express written consent of Sony Creative Software Inc.

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Welcome to ACID Music Studio software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

System requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Installing ACID Music Studio software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Using online help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Online help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Show Me How tutorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Help on the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Learning the ACID Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Overview of ACID Music Studio software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Main window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Track list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Window docking area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Starting Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Setting project properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Opening existing projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Getting media files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Previewing media from the Explorer window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Adding media to the project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Working with Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Adding and editing events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Painting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Changing the length of events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Erasing sections of events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Moving events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Making selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Selecting an event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Selecting multiple events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Working with events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Copying events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Pasting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Cutting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Deleting events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Working with tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Understanding clip types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Reordering tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Renaming tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Duplicating tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Deleting tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Copying, cutting, and pasting tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Adjusting the mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

TABLE OF CONTENTS | 1

Working with tracks (continued)

Muting tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Soloing tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Working with groups of tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Using undo and redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Using undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Undoing all edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Using redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Clearing the undo history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Playing the project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Using the transport bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Using playback options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Using the metronome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Using the Mixing Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Viewing the Mixing Console window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Mixing Console toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Channel List pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

View pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Channel strips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Recording audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Preparing to record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Recording into an empty track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Monitoring audio levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Recording MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Setting up a MIDI controller for recording into a track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Recording MIDI in real time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Using MIDI step recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Saving and Rendering Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Saving a project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Specifying locations for saved media files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Rendering projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

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

2 | TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter

Introduction

Welcome to ACID Music Studio software

Congratulations on purchasing ACID® Music Studio™, a revolutionary software application for Microsoft® Windows®. With ACID Music Studio, you can create great music by simply picking, painting, and playing.

System requirements

The following lists the minimum system requirements for using ACID Music Studio software:

• Windows Vista® (Service Pack 2) or Windows 7

• 1 GHz processor

• 200 MB hard-disk space for program installation

•1 GB RAM

• Windows-compatible sound card

• DVD-ROM drive (for installation from a DVD only)

• Supported CD-recordable drive (for CD burning only)

• Microsoft DirectX® 9.0c or later

• Internet connection (for Gracenote MusicID Service)

You must provide your registration information to Sony Creative Software Inc. to activate the software.

Installing ACID Music Studio software

Insert the DVD-ROM. The setup screen appears (if DVD-ROM AutoPlay is enabled).

If DVD-ROM AutoPlay is not enabled, click the Start button and choose Run. In the Run dialog that appears, type the DVD-ROM drive’s letter and add :\setup.exe. Click OK to start the installation.

Click Install. The installation process begins.

Follow the on-screen prompts to install the appropriate version of the software for your computer.

Note:

Windows Installer is used for all versions of the Windows operating system. Windows Installer is installed and

then you are asked to restart your system.

INTRODUCTION | 3

Using online help

Toolbar

Tab s

Information pane

For the most extensive information on the ACID application, please refer to the help. You can access two varieties of help within the application:

• Online help

• Show Me How tutorials

Online help

To access online help, choose Contents and Index from the Help menu or press F1.

The online help window has four tabs that you can use to find the information you need.

Tab Description

Contents

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

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

Favo rite s Allows you to keep topics that you revisit often in a separate folder. To add a topic to

Provides a list of available help topics. Double-click a closed book ( ) to open the pages, and then click a topic page ( ) to view it.

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 Display button to view it.

contain the keyword you have entered. Type a keyword in the Type in the word(s) to search for box and click the List Topics button. Select the topic from the list and click the Display button to view it.

your favorites, click Add on the Fa vorit es tab.

Show Me How tutorials

You can learn more about many of the features in ACID Music Studio by using the interactive Show Me How tutorials installed with the software.

By default, Show Me How tutorials display upon startup of the application. However, you can access them at any time from the Help menu by choosing Show Me How.

Tip:

To turn off automatic display of the Show Me How tutorials, clear the Show at Startup check box at the bottom of the tutorial

window.

Help on the Web

Additional information is available on the Sony Creative Software Inc. Web site. From the Help menu, choose Sony on the Web, and choose the desired location from the submenu. The software starts your system’s Web browser and attempts to connect to the appropriate page on the Sony Web site.

4 | CHAPTER 1

Chapter

Track list

Explorer, Track Properties, and

Chopper windows

Dividers

Toolbar

Timeline

Transport bar

Marker bar

Mixing Console and

Video Preview windows

Window docking area

Learning the ACID Window

Overview of ACID Music Studio software

ACID® Music Studio™ music creation software is designed to be powerful and flexible, yet easy to use. Many of the ACID Music Studio operations, commands, and shortcut keys are common to other Sony Creative Software Inc. applications.

The following sections provide a tour of the ACID Music Studio work area.

Main window

The ACID Music Studio workspace includes three main areas: the track list, the timeline, and the window docking area. The other parts of the interface are tools and features used while creating and working with your project. You can resize the track list, timeline, and window docking area by dragging the dividers between them.

LEARNING THE ACID WINDOW | 5

Toolbar

The toolbar allows you to quickly access commonly used functions and features in ACID Music Studio software.

New Opens a new project. You will be prompted to save any changes to the current project.

Open Displays the Open dialog. From this dialog, you can browse all of the available drives to select an ACID project or audio file to open.

Save Saves any changes to the current project. The first time you save a project, the Save As dialog appears.

Publish Opens the Publish wizard so you can share your ACID creation on the Web.

ACIDplanet Profile Opens your profile on the ACIDplant Web site.

Get Media from the Web Opens a dialog where you can download media from the Internet.

Cut Clears the selected items from the timeline and places them on the ACID clipboard. You can then paste them to a new location.

Copy Creates a copy of the selected items from the timeline on the ACID clipboard. You can then paste them to a new location.

Paste Inserts the contents of the ACID clipboard at the current cursor position. The pasted items cover any existing events. To make room for pasted events, choose Paste Insert from the Edit menu.

Undo Reverses the last action performed. ACID supports unlimited undos, allowing you to restore the project to any state since the last save.

Redo Reverses an undo. Context-Sensitive Help Activates context-

Enable Snapping Turns the snapping

feature on or off. With snapping enabled, you can decide whether to snap to the grid or to all elements, such as markers and regions.

Automatic Crossfades Allows you to automatically create crossfades when you overlap two events.

Lock Envelopes to Events Locks envelope points so they move with an event when it is moved along the timeline.

Enable Inline MIDI Editing Allows editing of MIDI events directly on the timeline. In this mode, you can draw and erase notes in a piano roll or drum grid view.

Draw Tool Activates the Draw tool to add and edit events.

Selection Tool Activates the Selection tool to select multiple events.

Paint Tool Activates the Paint tool to insert events across multiple tracks. When used in conjunction with the Ctrl key, the Paint tool can paint an entire one-shot, MIDI, or Beatmapped media file to an event with one click.

Erase Tool Activates the Erase tool to erase events or parts of events. When used in conjunction with the Ctrl key, the Erase tool can erase an entire one-shot, MIDI, or Beatmapped media file to an event with one click.

Envelope Tool Activates the Envelope tool to select and modify envelope points.

Time Selection Tool Activates the Time Selection tool to quickly select all events within a range of time.

Show Me How Starts an interactive guide that shows you each part of the ACID Music Studio interface and teaches you how to create a project.

sensitive help to obtain information about a specific option, menu, or part of the ACID Music Studio window.

6 | CHAPTER 2

Track list

Track nameTrack number

Pan slider

Track FX Mute Solo

Volume slider

Arm for Record

Paint Clip Selector

MIDI Input MIDI Output

Minimize Track Height Maximize Track Height

Marker bar

Transport bar Time ruler (if displayed)

Loop bar

Zoom controls

Beat ruler

This list identifies the track order in your project and contains the track’s controls.

Audio tracks

MIDI tracks

Timeline

In the timeline, you can view and edit the events in a track.

Marker bar

The marker bar runs the length of your project and contains the tags for markers and regions positioned along the project’s timeline.

Beat ruler

The beat ruler allows you to place events in reference to the musical time of bars and beats. This ruler is fixed and is not updated when you change the tempo. This allows the events in the tracks to maintain their size when you adjust the tempo.

Time ruler

The time ruler provides a timeline for your project. This ruler can show real time in many different formats. The ruler changes with tempo, because the number of beats and beats per second of real time changes with tempo.

LEARNING THE ACID WINDOW | 7

Trans por t bar

Click a tab to view a window.

Click the handle to drag a window to a different location or dock.

Click the Maximize/ Minimize button to control the size of the window in the window docking area.

Click the Close button to remove a window from a floating dock or the window docking area.

The transport bar contains the playback and cursor positioning buttons frequently used while working on your project.

Zoom controls

To the right of the horizontal scroll bar are the time zoom controls. Clicking the Zoom In Time button ( ) increases the horizontal magnification of the project. To decrease the level of magnification, click the Zoom Out Time button ( ).

Directly below the vertical scroll bar are the dedicated track height zoom controls. Clicking the Zoom In Track Height button ( ) increases the vertical magnification of the project. To decrease the level of magnification, click the Zoom Out Track Height button (

Note:

Double-clicking the horizontal or vertical scroll bars adjusts the magnification so that as much of the project (either

horizontally or vertically) is displayed as possible.

Click the Zoom Tool button ( ) in the corner of the timeline to temporarily change the cursor into the Zoom tool. After you select an area of the timeline to magnify, the cursor reverts to the previously active tool.

Note:

Double-clicking the Zoom tool adjusts both the horizontal and vertical magnification so that as much of the project is

displayed as possible.

Window docking area

This area allows you to keep frequently used windows available while working on a project. Windows can be docked side by side or in stacks in the window docking area.

The default windows are displayed in the window docking area when you start ACID Music Studio for the first time. Additional windows can be displayed by clicking the window’s tab or by choosing the desired window from the View menu.

Tip:

You can quickly hide or show the window docking area by pressing F11.

The available windows can be docked anywhere at the bottom of the ACID window or floated over the ACID window or on a secondary monitor (this setup requires a dual-monitor video card). You can also create floating docks anywhere by dragging more than one window to the same area.

Explorer

The Explorer window works similarly to the Windows® Explorer. You can use the Explorer window to locate, preview and select media files to be added to your project. You can also use the Explorer window to perform common file management tasks, such as renaming files or creating folders. Display the Explorer by choosing Explorer from the View menu or pressing Alt+1. For more

information, see Getting media files on page 13.

8 | CHAPTER 2

+ 30 hidden pages