User Manual

WAVEFORM EDITOR
506
WAVEFORM EDITOR MINI-MENU
New Audio File: Creates a new, empty mono, stereo
or surround audio file.
New Audio File from Selection: Creates a new
audio file based on the current selection in the
waveform editor or soundbite list.
Import Audio: Imports audio files and their
soundbites into Digital Performer.
Export Selected Soundbites: Lets you save the
currently selected soundbites as a separate audio
files in one of several different audio file formats,
including interleaved, AIFF, WAV and MP3 files.
Columns Setup: Lets you show and hide the
columns in the Soundbites list.
New Soundbite Folder: Adds a folder in the
Soundbite List. This is unavailable when using the
Waveform Editor (and is only available when you
are viewing Folders in the Soundbite list).
Wavefor m Editor Preferences: Lets you choose
how stereo files are displayed in the overview. Also
lets you make several settings regarding how edits
are handled.
Remove from list: Deletes the soundbite from the
Soundbites window list without deleting its
corresponding region in the audio file region list.
Delete: Removes the selected soundbites from the
list. This command does not delete audio data on
the hard disk. It removes Digital Performer’s
reference to the data from the Soundbites window.
If the soundbite is the last one in the parent audio
file to be deleted, Digital Performer asks if you
would like to delete the parent audio file entirely.
‘DESTRUCTIVE’ EDITING
The phrase destructive editing has been adopted by
the audio industry as a way of referring to the
process of permanently altering the audio data in
an audio file. The Waveform Editor window allows
you to apply all of Digital Performer’s editing
capabilities ‘destructively’ to an audio file,
permanently modifying the original audio data.
In all other Digital Performer windows, audio
editing is non-destructive. The original audio data
remains unaltered, and you merely modify
pointers (references) to the original audio data. For
example, if you cut a portion of a soundbite in the
Tracks window or Sequence Editor, you are simply
modifying pointers to the original audio data, but
the original audio data remains unaltered.
On the other hand, if you cut a portion of a
soundbite in the Waveform Editor, you are
removing the actual audio data itself from the
audio file. This will affect any soundbites that refer
to the removed portion of the file. In some cases,
this is a good thing, such as when you are removing
a click or pop with the Pencil tool (you want the
click to be removed in all cases where the audio is
being used). But in other cases, you could alter
soundbites that you didn’t intend to. So keep this in
mind when making destructive edits.
If you find yourself in a situation where you made a
destructive edit that you wish you could “take
back”, Digital Performer has a powerful unlimited
undo history feature, discussed later in this
chapter, that allows you to remove destructive edits
and restore the audio file to its original state.