User Manual

MOTU AUDIO TOOLS
77
Trig ger mo de s
The Trigger menu (Figure 9-12) provides four
modes:
Trig ger indicator
The Trigger indicator (Figure 9-12) displays the
state of the trigger, and also provides a way to
manually interact with it. The Trigger indicator
always displays one of three colors:
You can also click on the Trigger indicator to force
certain actions, depending on the Trigger mode. In
Auto and Normal modes, clicking on the Trigger
indicator causes the display to run freely; you may
click & hold to force this to occur for as long as
you’d like. In Single Sweep mode, clicking on the
Trigger indicator re-arms the trigger. When the
Trigger mode is None, clicking on the Trigger
indicator has no effect.
Measurement information
You can view detailed information about a
particular time range by using the measurement
bars (Figure 9-9).
To adjust the left and right edges of the
measurement area, click and drag the blue bars in
the graph (Figure 9-9), or click and drag the blue
numbers in the upper left or right corners. To reset
them to the default value, double-click the
numbers.
Information about the measured area is displayed
at the center of the top ruler: the duration (in
seconds and samples), the approximate frequency,
and the scientific note name. If the measured area is
long enough, the approximate beats per minute
(bpm) is displayed.
Ideas for using the Oscilloscope
The Oscilloscope can be used in many useful ways
during the routine operation of your recording
studio. Here are just a few examples.
Analyzing and comparing harmonic content
The oscilloscope lets you “see” the nature of the
harmonic profile in any audio material. You can
also view two signals side by side (in stereo mode)
to compare their profiles and, if necessary, make
adjustments to the source of each signal and view
your changes in real time.
Viewing transients such as drum hits
If you loop a snare hit or other similar transient
audio clip and feed it through the oscilloscope, you
can more or less “freeze” the transient waveform in
the oscilloscope frame. This can be useful, for
example, for viewing the results of real-time
compression that you are applying with an effects
plug-in. For example, when you are compressing a
Trigger mode What it does
None The Trigger is not active; this is the default mode.
The incoming audio signal will be displayed con-
tinuously as audio is received.
Auto The display is always updating, but when the con-
dition is met, the trigger event will be displayed
centered around the line marking time equals
zero.
Normal The display updates only when the condition is
met; the last trace will be displayed until the next
matching event is found.
Single
Sweep
Similar to Normal mode, but the last trace will be
displayed until you manually arm the trigger by
clicking the Trigger indicator (Figure 9-12 on
page 76) or by pressing the spacebar.
Color Status
Green When the current Trigger criteria has been met (includ-
ing when the Trigger mode is None).
Yel-
low
When the Trigger is armed, but has not yet found an
event which matches its criteria. Yellow can also indi-
cate that the graph has been manually paused using the
Pause button in the View section (see “Pausing the dis-
play” on page 75).
Red When the Trigger is being held off, either because the
Trigger mode is set to Single Sweep or the Holdoff time
is not set to zero.