Levelizer-Split Silence

[Studio de' Lara]

Ok, I am trying to figure out how to use the split silence feature in the Levelizer. I have had ZERO success. I have read the help twice, but to no avail (I have a brain lock :rolleyes: ).
Could someone please talk me through the proper setup?
Regards,
Rich

[Bob L]

You can remove silence directly in SAWStudio also, without the use of the Levelizer plug-in.

Popup the global Track Properties menu by right-clicking in the track's label... the Remove Silence options are there.

To use the Levelizer, you would patch it into the track in a Pre patch point, since you want to work directly against the original source data.

I also recommend selecting just the track or tracks you are doing by left-clicking on the track number to turn it black.

In the Levelizer, turn ON the Gate and adjust the Threshold and Attack and Release to sound the way you want as it plays through the track. Then simply activate the Remove Silence command. The automatic version will actually do the splits immediately... the Split Mark, will place you in Select Mode with all the split points selected allowing you to see what decisions it made before actually removing the strip sections... if satisfied, simply press the delete key after that to remove all selected regions areas at once.

A quick Undo will take you back in one step if things did not come out as desired.

Of course, even after the splits any region boundary can be tweaked very easily if you need more release or an earlier attack on any specific portion of the track.

The Gate Attack setting actually works as a negative value when using it for Remove Silence... so if you leave it at zero, the split happens at the exact point where the signal reaches the threshold level... if you set it for .002ms, then the split happens 2ms before it reaches the threshold to make sure to include the entire rising attack of the transient.

Bob L

[AudioAstronomer]

When doing this kinda of "region splitting"... is there extra cpu or disk load when each new region is loaded as playback moves along?

I can certainly see some great things you could do with this (that I had not know existed in saw yet)... Just want to know before hand if I can expect increase usage so I dont go searching for another reason.

[MMP]

By removing silent or near silent wave data from regions you gain back CPU and hard disk bandwidth.

MM

[Oz Nimbus]

Don't forget "auto track FX bypass" either. Talk about a life saver!

-0z-

[AudioAstronomer]

By removing silent or near silent wave data from regions you gain back CPU and hard disk bandwidth.

MM

Im talkin if I happen to have many of these regions splits in a single or multiple tracks... Just curious :) I know if you do this in any other host, they go bonkers. My suspicion is SS of course does it flawlessly.

[MMP]

Flawlessly, in my experience. I do believe there is a finite number of regions available, though I have never reached the limit.

Bob will probably chime in with this number.

My guess is that the more a software depends on Windows to track files, the quicker things get bogged down. And, my understanding is that more individual files open could slow down things, but not more regions built within the number of files you are addressing..if this makes sense.

To be honest, I have never done a scientific test...just seen the results of clearing data result in less load.



MM

[Carlos Mills]

Im talkin if I happen to have many of these regions splits in a single or multiple tracks... Just curious :) I know if you do this in any other host, they go bonkers. My suspicion is SS of course does it flawlessly.

I had never seen any extra CPU load, even with hundreds of split regions in a single or multiple tracks (even with a P III).

[AudioAstronomer]

Thanks carlos. that's all I need to know :) If it works, it works.

[Bob L]

Anytime blank space is created on tracks, the cpu load in SAWStudio should go down.... meaning you should acheive better performance.

Linking to thousands of regions should not cause a problem... linking to thousands of Files... is not good.

So, when creating sound effects... record many of them in a single long file... and region the individual effects out... I keep thousands of regions of sound effects in one SFX file... the beauty of that is in the ease of access in the Library views... an incredible way to do sound design. :)

There currently is no limit on the number of regions in SAWStudio... only your ram limitations.

Bob L

[MMP]

There currently is no limit on the number of regions in SAWStudio... only your ram limitations.

Bob L
Cool...I didn't know that.

MM

[Naturally Digital]

... the beauty of that is in the ease of access in the Library views... an incredible way to do sound design. :)

Bob L

Hi Bob. :)

Learning new stuff about SAWStudio every day, thanks to this forum. Thank you!

Um... Did you mean to say "...ease of access in the Regions views..." here, or am I not quite understanding the concept you're presenting?

Just wondering,
Dave.

[Bob L]

I was referring to the Library Views. Very powerful way to utilize these types of SFX libraries I was talking about creating.

If you haven't fooled around with the Library Views yet... you should take a test drive... you may find it to be a pretty fun ride... especially if you have some sound effects work to do. :)

Bob L

[Naturally Digital]

Ok. I'm a little confused then. You were talking about creating 'one large wav file' with the sfx in it and creating regions for each of the sounds. Since the large file(s) is what would show up in the Library views, I thought the Regions view would exploit the potential. Sorry.

Dave.

[Bob L]

You may want to read the helpfile about how to use the Library Views.

Library Views not only allow you to list and manipulate wav files, but also SAWStudio session Edls.

They act similar to the Regions View in that they can display all the individual Regions in an EDL that you open as a Library.

You can link across network drives to stored SFX data and import directly from the stored SFX wav files into the current session. The use of Library files for sound design video or movie work is an incredibly fast and efficient way to utilize thousands of sound samples in any session.

The Library views not only allow you to instantly audition and see any SFX region from any stored Library edl, but then you can drag and drop the link into the session or actually copy and import the wav data itself into the session breaking the dependence on the original Library file from that point on.

Fun stuff.

Bob L