To reposition a Bar in a document window, click and hold on the textured strip at the left of the Bar and drag the Bar up or down to a new position. All Bars may be removed at any time with the exception of the Waveform Bar.
When magnifying the waveform in document, resizing the window while holding down the Option key "reveals" the document instead of resizing it.
The Waveform Bar displays the waveform (or combination of waveforms) in an audio file. The Waveform Bar also shows the position of the Playback Head, Labels, rulers, grid, range handles, Bezier Fades and SmartEdits.
Zoom and scroll controls are located at the bottom and right of the Waveform Bar. The sliders control the amount of zoom. Scroll bars appear when the waveform is magnified.
The Playback Head indicates the current playback position. Clicking on the Playback Head and dragging it moves the playback position. Clicking in the empty area above the waveform moves the Playback Head to that position. To magnify the waveform while centered on the Playback Head, press the Command key, click on the Playback Head, then drag the mouse up or down.
Labels are displayed with a head in the area above the waveform and the Label itself is drawn vertically over the waveform. Markers are green, Slices are orange, Regions are red, Loops are blue and Tracks and Indexes are black/yellow. To move a Label, click on the Label head and drag it to a new position. When you click or drag a Label, a "Location Tip" floats along with the Label and displays basic details about it. Labels exist separately for each Layer. Labels that are on an inactive Layer are dimmed and cannot be selected. Any Label can be added to the Master Layer. Track and Index Labels exist only on the Master Layer. They are automatically added to the Master Layer regardless of what Layer is active when added to a document. To magnify the waveform while centered on the Label, press the Command key, click on the Label head, then drag the mouse up or down. To invoke the contextual menu for a Label, Control/right-click on the Label head.
Rulers are displayed above (time) and to the left (range) of waveform. The grid is displayed behind the waveform. The rulers and grid are displayed using the current time units. To change the time units, choose View > Time Units.
Range Handles are displayed above the waveform. When you drag a Range Handle, a "Location Tip" floats along with the Range Handle showing its position using the current time units.
To turn on the rulers, grid or Range Handles, choose View > Options > Waveform... to view the Waveform Bar Options and select the appropriate checkboxes.
The "Label Well" is located at the upper right side of the Waveform Bar. To add a Label, select a Label type in the pop-up menu under the Label Well, then click and drag a Label from the well onto the waveform.
To view advanced display options for the Waveform Bar, choose View > Options > Waveform... or Control/right-click on the edge Waveform bar (outside of the waveform area) and choose "Options..." from the contexual menu. The contextual menu also lists basic view options.
The waveform is a visual representation of audio in a document. If a document has many Layers, the active Layer is displayed in a solid color while the other Layers are dimmed. You can change which Layer is active by clicking on it in the Layers drawer (see "Layers Drawer" below).
| Place the insertion point | Click anywhere on the waveform. The insertion point will be moved to the click location. |
| Create a new selection | Click and drag across the waveform to create the new selection. |
| Modify selection from closest edge | Hold down the Shift key and click, or click-drag, on the waveform display. The existing selection will be extended or shortened from whichever edge was closest to the mouse pointer. |
| Modify selection from furthest edge | Hold down both the Shift and Option keys, then click or click-drag on the waveform display. The existing selection will be extended or shortened from whichever edge was furthest from the mouse pointer. |
| Create new selection between Labels | Double-click directly on the waveform between any two Labels, whether or not they are of identical type, and a new selection will be created exactly within the two label boundaries. |
| Select entire channel | Triple-click anywhere on the waveform. |
| Slide selection only | Hold the Command key and click-drag an existing selection to move it independently of the audio. |
| Move selected audio | Click-hold an existing selection then drag it in order to move the selected audio. A vertical placement bar appears while dragging to make it clear where your audio will be placed after releasing the mouse button. This is like a visual cut and paste function. |
| Drag selected audio to Desktop | Press the Command key, then click-hold and drag a selection to the desktop to create a new audio file. |
To scroll a document when magnified, press the Command key and drag the waveform (your cursor will turn into a hand). To magnify an area within a document, press the Command and Option keys and drag over the area. To zoom out, press the Command, Option and Shift keys and click on the waveform. To zoom out completely, press the Command, Option, and Shift keys and double-click on the waveform.
The scroll wheel of the mouse can also be used for scrolling and zooming the waveform. To scroll the waveform left or right, move the scroll wheel up or down. To zoom the document horizontally, press the Command key and move the scroll wheel up or down. To zoom the document vertically, press the Command and Option keys and move the scroll wheel up or down.
To move a Layer relative to the other Layers in a document, hold the Command-Shift and drag the active Layer. You will notice that your cursor turns into a hand.
To edit a waveform using the pencil tool, hold down the Option key then click and drag on the waveform. Note that this is only possible when the waveform is magnified to sample level or greater. The waveform is magnified to sample level when it appears as a line rather than a filled area.
The Overview Bar displays the combined waveform of a file. It is the sum of all of the channels and Layers (with respect to the strength of the Layer).
The vertical gray line indicates the position of the Playback Head.
When the waveform is magnified, the Overview displays the viewable range with a gray box. To display a different area of the waveform in the Waveform bar, drag the box or click in a different area of the Overview Bar and the viewable area shifts to that point. To play a document from a specific point, press the Command key and click on the waveform in the Overview.
To adjust the vertical size of the Overview Bar, drag the dimple at the bottom edge up or down.
To view advanced display options for the Overview Bar, choose View > Options > Overview... or Control/right-click on it and choose "Options..." from the contexual menu. The contextual menu also lists basic view options for the Bar.
The Playback Bar contains controls and playback properties for a document.
On the left is the transport. It contains four buttons which are, left to right, "Back," "Rewind," "Play/Stop" and "Forward." The "Back" button moves the Playback Head to the start of the document. The "Rewind" and "Forward" buttons quickly move the Playback Head earlier or later in time as the buttons are held. The "Play" button begins playback from the current Playback head position. It becomes "Stop" during playback.
The next field to the right of the transport displays the current position of the Playback Head using the current time units. You can edit this field and the Playback Head moves to a given position when you enter a new value.
The next menu is the "Repeat Mode." It controls if and how a file repeats upon playback. The default setting is "Off". To repeat a current selection during playback, choose "Selection" from the menu. To repeat a selected Loop in the Layers Drawer, choose "Playback Loop" from the menu. You can choose only one Loop for repeat at any time. A small speaker icon in the Labels drawer designates the selected Loop (see "Labels" for more information). Select "Entire File" to repeat the entire document from beginning to end.
Next is the "Roll" menu. Choose options for pre-roll and post-roll in this menu. To configure advanced options for pre/post-roll behavior, choose "Options" from the menu (see figure below).
The next menu "Varispeed." Click the button to display a slider that adjusts the speed a document by up to one octave (1200 cents) in either direction. To snap to semitones, holding down the Shift key while dragging the slider. To snap to zero, hold down the Command key and click the slider.
The final button "Volume." Click the button to display a slider that adjusts the output volume of a document.
To view advanced display options for the Playback Bar, choose View > Options > Overview... or Control/right-click on it and choose "Options..." from the contexual menu. The contextual menu also contains basic "on stop" behavior options for the Playback Bar.
The options panel for the Playback Bar contains advanced MIDI options: MIDI channel, Override Base Note, Key Mode, and Note Mode. Key Mode may be either Gated (key must remain pressed to continue playback) or Triggered (press key once to start, once to stop). Note Mode has two options: Speed and Position. Speed mode initiates playback from the beginning of the file, current position, or the current selection. Position mode plays Markers, Slices, Regions or Loops by position relative to the base note.
The Information Bar displays specific details about audio in a document. By default, the bar lists type, bit range and sample rate. To modify items displayed in the Information Bar, Control/right-click on it and choose options from the contextual menu. A checkmark next to an item in the list indicates that the item is displayed. Items without a checkmark are not displayed. Select "Options..." from the contextual menu to display the view options panel for a full list of options.
To reposition an item in the Information Bar, click on it and drag it to a new position. The other items in the list move automatically to make room for the item being moved. You can drag an item off of the Information Bar to remove it.
To view advanced display options for the Information Bar, choose View > Options > Overview... or Control/right-click on it and choose "Options..." from the contexual menu. The contextual menu also lists basic view options for the Bar.
The Location Bar displays details about the position of the cursor and selection in the waveform view.
"X" and "Y" indicate the cursor position using the current time units. "S", "E" and "L" indicate the start, end and length of the current selection using the current time units.
To view advanced display options for the Location Bar, choose View > Options > Overview... or Control/right-click on it and choose "Options..." from the contexual menu. The contextual menu also lists basic view options for the Bar.
The SmartEdit List Bar contains the SmartEdit List. The SmartEdit List is covered in detail in the SmartEdit List chapter, so only basic information is included here.
To modify columns in the SmartEdit List, click the pop-up menu in the upper right corner of the SmartEdit List. Columns can also be modified via the SmartEdit List Bar view options.
To view advanced display options for the SmartEdit List Bar, choose View > Options > SmartEdit List... or Control/right-click on the edge of the SmartEdit List and choose "Options..." from the contextual menu. The contextual menu also lists basic view options for the Bar.
The Channels Bar displays all information regarding the channels in a document. All channels appear in this list. Channels may be turned on or off using the checkboxes to the left of each channel. The "+" and "-" in the lower left-hand corner may be used to add or delete channels from the document.
Pertinent channel information is displayed in columns. Columns may also be rearranged within the list.
All columns may be turned on or off via the pop-up menu at the right-hand side of the column headers.
To enable "Autoselect" functionality for Channels, Control/right-click on the outside edge of the Channels Bar and choose "Follow Channels" in the contextual menu.
The Layers Drawer displays all Layers in a document and their Audio Units and Bezier Fades.
The pop-up menu at the top indicates the type of audio combination method for a Layer. See the Layers chapter for a detailed description of each method. The slider adjusts the combination strength of the current Layer.
The Master Layer is always first in the list and is italicized. You cannot move or remove the Master Layer. As the Master Layer contains no audio, you cannot modify its combination method.
The checkbox to the left of a Layer enables or disables it. Disabled Layers are not displayed in the waveform or heard during playback. To enable a Layer and disable all other Layers (also called "soloing"), hold down the Option key and click the checkbox next to it. To change the color of a Layer, click the color box next to it to display the Color Picker. The color box is not available if there is only one Layer with no effects or fades in the document.
To reveal or hide Audio Units and Bezier Fades on a Layer, click the disclosure triangle next to it. You can change the order of Audio Units and Bezier Fades within a Layer via drag-and-drop. To display the user interface for an Audio Unit, double-click it in the list.
To change the name of a Layer, effect or fade, select it and press the Return key.
The Labels drawer displays all Labels in a document. The term "Labels" is a general categorization for Markers, Slices, Regions, Loops, Cues, Chapters, Tracks, and Indexes. Markers are displayed in green, Slices in orange, Regions in red, Loops in blue, Cues in magenta, Chapters in cyan and Tracks and Indexes in black/yellow.
To enable or disable Label types visible in the list, select the "Options..." button to view the Labels Drawer Options:
Columns are also toggled within the Labels Drawer Options. Or, you can select which Columns are displayed with the pop-up button at the top right of the Layers Drawer table.
To edit a position, name or other item, double-click on the item you wish to change. To change the lock status of a Label, click the "lock" column next to it.
To select a Loop for repeat during playback, click the "speaker" column next to it in the List. Only one Loop can be selected for repeat at any time.