SmartEdits are intelligent "blocks" of audio. A SmartEdit, like a Region, has a start and end time. However, SmartEdits have additional properties including fade in and out, fade length and shape, name, color, and much more.
By default, common audio files such as AIFF and WAV consist of one SmartEdit per channel, from the start to the end of each channel in the file. You can "splice" a SmartEdit into smaller SmartEdits. To create a Splice, make an insertion point or selection in the waveform view and choose Edit > Splice. SmartEdits are analagous to magnetic tape editing. Consider SmartEdits to be splices of audio tape that happen to be smart.
SmartEdits can be moved, dragged and resized. They are channel-independent and can be moved between channels. SmartEdits can also be dragged between documents. A document can hold SmartEdits where the source of the audio comes from another document, similar to a playlist. SmartEdits are an extremely flexible and powerful way to edit audio files.
SmartEdits and their states are unique to native Wave Editor files. All other file formats are saved "flat" with no Layers and one SmartEdit per channel.
To splice an audio file, click on the waveform to create an insertion point or a select range of the audio in the waveform and choose Edit > Splice. This will create a SmartEdit at the insertion point or at the bounds of the selection. A SmartEdit has four "handles" at each corner. To make changes to a SmartEdit, simply drag on one of the four handles.
| Upper left handle | Modify the SmartEdit start point |
| Upper right handle | Modify the SmartEdit end point |
| Bottom left handle | Modify the SmartEdit fade in length |
| Bottom right handle | Modify the SmartEdit fade out length |
Use modifier keys to add additional effects:
To set the anchor at a fade start or end point, hold down the Shift key and drag a SmartEdit start or end handle. Drag a SmartEdit's fade in or out handle while holding down the Shift key to set the anchor at the "halfway" point of the fade.
Some examples of using modifier keys while dragging SmartEdit handles:| Linear | a linear volume change, creating -6dB at the halfway point |
| Power | a power-based volume change, creating -3dB at the halfway point |
| -3dB | the fade range is reduced by 3dB |
| -6dB | the fade range is reduced by 6dB |
| Full | the fade range volume is unchanged |
Modifying a single SmartEdit in a selection of SmartEdits simultaneously applies those changes to the selected SmartEdits.
To move a SmartEdit earlier or later in time, click its title bar and slide it left or right.
To drag a SmartEdit, click the title bar and drag. You will see a transparent version of the SmartEdit under the cursor. To copy the SmartEdit within a file instead of moving it, hold down the Option key and drag. A vertical black line will indicate where the SmartEdit will be moved or added when it is dropped.
To change the name of SmartEdit, hold down the Option key and click on the name in the title bar. Press the Return key when done.
SmartEdits can also be modified using a contextual menu. To invoke the contextual menu, control-click or right-click on the Title Bar. The contextual menu lists the following commands:
| Cut | cut the selected SmartEdit(s) to the Pasteboard |
| Copy | copy the selected SmartEdit(s) to the Pasteboard |
| Remove | remove the selected SmartEdit(s), leaving silence in their place |
| Delete | delete the selected SmartEdit(s), collapsing the empty space |
| Merge | merge the selected SmartEdit(s) into a single SmartEdit |
| Active | activate or deactivate of the selected SmartEdit(s) |
| Locked | lock or unlock the selected SmartEdit(s) |
| Color | change the color of the selected SmartEdit(s) |
| Fade In | change the fade in shape of the selected SmartEdit(s) |
| Fade Out | change the fade out shape of the selected SmartEdit(s) |
| Gain | set the gain of the selected SmartEdit(s) |
| Localize | make a local copy of linked SmartEdit(s) |
While locking a SmartEdit will prevent it from being moved or modfied, the underlying audio can still be processed.
You can copy a SmartEdit as a link where the audio is not copied, but simply linked to the source audio file. This is similar to the way Quark XPress or Adobe InDesign link to TIFF or EPS image files. To copy a SmartEdit to another document as a link, hold down the Option key and drag a SmartEdit into the SmartEdit list in a new document. The name of a linked SmartEdit is italicized.
Linking is only possible between native Wave Editor files. Make sure your source file is saved as a native Wave Editor file (.wedt) before creating links.
Linked SmartEdits can be "Localized" at any time. To Localize a SmartEdit, Control/right click on its title bar and choose "Localize" from the contextual menu. The audio from the SmartEdit in the source file will be copied to the document containing the link and the title will no longer be italicized.
This method of working with SmartEdits is very similar to source/destination editing which is often used for editing Classical recordings or creating remixes.