Why doesn't SAW Studio Lite remember my audio hardware?

[Dave Labrecque]

They are buttons on the upper left edge of the multi-track that let you jump the scroll to various portions of the Zmixer: Eq, Dynamics, fader....

I just alt-h(ed) on them. They are actually called mixer-link-zones.

And the top button is called "Multitrack Link Zone," so I guess TLZ in my shade is meant to stand for " 'track Link Zone." Looks like an M was going to take up too much space.

...and in answer to Dave, I just hit one of the Fkeys if I want to display more or less tracks I go one to the right or left. So no, I don't know which one is which I just sort of have my core fkeys toward the left and it kind of goes in graduations of difference (and frequency of use) toward the right. Also my views are very multi-track centric, so this arrangement works for me

Actually, I use the F keys in pretty much the same way. So why wouldn't the same approach work for you for accessing different portions of the Z Mixer?

[Dave Labrecque]

Ok, I get it now!

My version of Sawstudio has an Up and Down Arrow in that Button, same functionality though!

Thanks for the heads up!

Robert V.

Yeah, my bad. It hadn't occurred to me that it was a shade-specific label.

[UpTilDawn]

Must be differences in the shades we're using. That hadn't occurred to me.

Do you have your F-key Views programmed to show different channel strip sections on the Z Mixer? If not, how do you get to them? That's what I use these buttons for.

Yeah must be a shade thing - I'm using the default...... and I'm sure those must be arrows in my shade, as RoberV has pointed out.

I don't generally need to fast track to areas of the channel strip when I'm editing and mixing, but I do have f-keys assigned to specific channel strip sections in SAC. In SAW, I mostly focus on MT track counts, libraries and effects for f-keys and use the alt f-keys for things like the wide mixer, strips of z or f mixer and soundfile views.

[Rod Pullman]

FWIW, I think Bob's right that in the long run you'd prefer SAWStudio. There's always that learning curve, though. SS is plenty fast for me on voice-over editing. I create an F-key view that's one big MT track and one big SF view window. When I edit I have my left-hand fingers on the D, U, and K keys (pinky, middle, index, respectively) and the other hand on the mouse. Goes really fast. After the initial editing, I'll then do a run down the entire voice-over to take out breaths without even doing any playback (with the vertical zoom pumped up a bit). It's rare that one of those edits needs a tweak afterward.

RE: SAWPro graphics issues... be sure you've done Bob's Windows tweaks. There are definitely some tweaks that need to happen for graphics to work right. I'm not guaranteeing it'll fix your issue, but it's worth a shot if you really want to stick with SAWPro. I just opened SAWPro and toyed with the remote transport and vari-speed interfaces, and had no issues. Not that it's a complete test, but it may bode well for you. (I've done the tweaks Windows tweaks to my Win10 system. I think.)

Dave, I'm unaware of the tweaks of which you speak (SAW Pro).

One issue I just ran into was the need to cut a single sample from a wave form to eliminate a click. In SAW Pro, one could highlight that section and cut it (destructively, of course). I don't see that option in Studio. How do I remove just a tiny sample from a single word, to get rid of the click? (Sorry, I'm sure this is a rank newbie question.)

[jmh]

How do I remove just a tiny sample from a single word, to get rid of the click? (Sorry, I'm sure this is a rank newbie question.)

There are a lot of things you can do. One is get just in front of the sample hit z then k. Do same just after then you can shift drag the regions together. There are a variety of keystrokes that let you do it with less steps. I rarely do these type of edits I think they are the keys that dave's finger are poised over.

Edit: I forgot to mention there are things like auto crossfades and softedges... that may or may not be defaulted to 'on' that might interfere with this method particularly if you skip using the z (finds the nearest zero crossing) and tightly cut out your click. Those features have adjustments as well for slope... I would not go down that rabbit hole at this point, its just something to be aware of if your edit is real close to the click and you still hear it.

That is non-destructive.

Destructively, at full horizontal zoom soundfile view (play with your number keys), you can drag the individual samples around. I have successfully gotten rid of clicks this way too. You can also mark some portion of the offensive track select it and build to new soundfile and safely experiment on that.

I don't remember if pro had the Fkeys - but as this thread suggests, everybody finds them a great feature. Also, some of the important hot keys are highlighted in the pulldown menus (I think) and try using alt-h - very helpful.

We'll have you up to speed in no time...

[Dave Labrecque]

Dave, I'm unaware of the tweaks of which you speak (SAW Pro).

One issue I just ran into was the need to cut a single sample from a wave form to eliminate a click. In SAW Pro, one could highlight that section and cut it (destructively, of course). I don't see that option in Studio. How do I remove just a tiny sample from a single word, to get rid of the click? (Sorry, I'm sure this is a rank newbie question.)

I don't remember any tweaks specifically for SAW Pro. I'm suggesting you use one of the later tweaks guides (for SAWStudio) to tame the graphics behavior of OSs that didn't exist in the SAW Pro days. Use a guide specific to your OS. Though I don't know that there's been much evolution to them since Windows 7.

It's been so long since I've tweaked Windows 10 for SAW that I honestly don't even remember if graphics tweaks (like border padding) is still a thing. Maybe somebody else around here can tell you? Sorry.

RE: removing clicks...

Destructively: open the WAV file in Sound File View, zoom in far enough that you can see individual samples. Now shift-click on any one and drag it vertically to wherever you like. You can also shift-drag to re-draw the waveform (better than one sample at a time, sometimes).

Non-destructively: go to the region entry of interest in the MT view. Make the track nice 'n' tall. Zoom in as far as you need to to see the detail you want to cut out. Use the SF view to inspect the details and the precise location, if you like. Use the edit shortcut keys (mostly K, I'd think) to cut around the offending click. Then delete it. Close up the space by moving one of the regions to close the void and create a butt splice. Or if audio sync is critical, fill in the space by duplicating some data from either side. All kinds of options.

[jmh]

>removing a click
One is get just in front of the sample hit z then k. Do same just after then you can shift drag the regions together. There are a variety of keystrokes that let you do it with less steps.

I forgot to mention deleting the new middle region. Not only that, I would realize that I wasted an extra two seconds nudging the cursor left and hitting delete, so the second time I did it, it would be:

Get just in front of the sample hit z then k. Just after the click, hit z then u, then you can shift-drag the regions together. Also if the automatic crossfade feature (softedge) is turned on, skip using the z(s) (but chop out a few extra miliseconds on either side of the click). I think if this were a frequent edit for me, I would keep softedge on and you could do this carelessly and get good results.

Also if I were a power-user who remembered a larger subset of commands there would be even quicker ways. I think you can mouse the time line to mark an area and hit delete (In my case, I usually stay on the multitrack waveform and use b & e for marking rather than mousing the timeline).

Also, if memory serves me, I think there may be an auto-zero-cross menu item that if on makes the z key unneeded. But I like the z key. It always depends on the context. There is so much minutia you often don't need to bother with if it is inaudible within a mix. This was a speech, so there are different considerations. Regarding preserving the timeline (if needed), I would hit z then k in the first silence following the click infested word before you did the above edit and maybe later alt dragging that region edge to fill in the gap.


Now for my own minor question. More than I like, I accidentally doubleclick on a region which opens the soundfile - which then I close clicking on the upper right corner. I know there is a pulldown menu item you can de-select this functionality, but sometimes I use the doubleclick. Is there a keystroke to close the soundfile view?

[Dave Labrecque]

Is there a keystroke to close the soundfile view?

Only one I know of is to create an F-key view with the SF view closed. Or perhaps that is already the case for you. If so, just refresh your view with an F-key tap.

Another option would be to turn off that double-click-transfer-to-SF-view functionality and use the T keystroke when you want to have that same action happen. It works both ways, BTW: from MT to SF and vice-versa.

Yet a third option is to speed up the double-click speed in your mouse control panel. Not a great solution for slow-double-click aficionados, though.

[RobertV]

Only one I know of is to create an F-key view with the SF view closed. Or perhaps that is already the case for you. If so, just refresh your view with an F-key tap.

Another option would be to turn off that double-click-transfer-to-SF-view functionality and use the T keystroke when you want to have that same action happen. It works both ways, BTW: from MT to SF and vice-versa.

Yet a third option is to speed up the double-click speed in your mouse control panel. Not a great solution for slow-double-click aficionados, though.

Wow! never stop learning new things, Glad JMH mentioned that, it catches me out very often and I find it really annoying, never realized it was so easy to turn this off!

Thanks Guys!

Isn't SS the BeezKneez!

Cheers...

[Richard Rupert]

<SNIP>
Now for my own minor question. More than I like, I accidentally doubleclick on a region which opens the soundfile - which then I close clicking on the upper right corner. I know there is a pulldown menu item you can de-select this functionality, but sometimes I use the doubleclick. Is there a keystroke to close the soundfile view?

Unless your Soundfile View takes up the whole screen, simply clicking outside it is the quickest way to close it IMHO. Much easier than finding the corner X or an F Key. But as always, Bob has provided many choices to allow for personal preference.