Samplitude V8 SE

[Carrera2]

OK, I bit the bullet and sprung for a copy of Samplitude V8 SE to supplement my long-term use of Audacity.

This is the first time in a very long time that I am having a hard time plunging into a program.  There must be 1,000 icons (ok, maybe 60) all about the desktop.  I don't see a pdf manual, just the help files. 

Any suggestions for how to get jump started?  Just as I wrote that, I could hear one of our comrades writing back "google is your friend."  So perhaps perusing the full version manual will light the way.

http://www.samplitude.com/eng/pdf/samplitude8_manual_eng.pdf

Still open to suggestions.  Thanks.

[boojum]

I just bought that version, too, and for the same reasons.  I had also been using CoolEdit.  Samplitude looks like the way to go, but there is going to be a steep learning curve.  On the other hand, we are all smart people here, right?, so we will be able to make this software sing.  I hope the software learns to sing pretty quickly.   

I did some post on a local group yesterday and would have used Samplitude but wanted to get it done quickly.  I may still restore the FLAC files to WAV and merge them into one file and play with them in S SE.  Gotta start somewhere.  I have a bluegrass group I like to record on Thursday so theirs might be the first start to finish post I do. 

Gotta stay challenged and learning.   

Cheers     

[live2496]

I did some post on a local group yesterday and would have used Samplitude but wanted to get it done quickly.

That's funny in that I would use Samplitude to get it done more quickly. 

The main strength of Samplitude is in doing things virtually. By that I mean using objects instead of the conventional way which is destructive processing for each step.

To get started, do everything in the context of a VIP project. So create a new project, and then import files into the project. Each file will become an object that you can perform processing on or have different settings for during playback or bouncing. Objects can be split, moved around, etc.

As far as I know, you can still drag files into a project from windows. So this is another way to get files into a project. However, the key to getting started is to create a project.

I will watch this thread for specific questions and maybe some other samplitude users will chime in as well.

[Brian Skalinder]

live2496 is spot on in that you should work within a Virtual Project (VIP).  Other than that...you may receive more assistance if you pose specific questions about what you're trying to accomplish.  In other words, I'm not going to take the time to spell out everything I know about Samplitude in the hopes it address your need, and I doubt others will, either.  So...what, exactly, are you trying to do?  FWIW, once I learned even a little bit of how to use SSE, I found it much faster than the other apps I'd used previously.

[Carrera2]

live2496 is spot on in that you should work within a Virtual Project (VIP).  Other than that...you may receive more assistance if you pose specific questions about what you're trying to accomplish.  In other words, I'm not going to take the time to spell out everything I know about Samplitude in the hopes it address your need, and I doubt others will, either.  So...what, exactly, are you trying to do?  FWIW, once I learned even a little bit of how to use SSE, I found it much faster than the other apps I'd used previously.

I apologize if I intimated that I was looking for a treatise.  I began writing my post out of frustration, and while composing it occured to me that I had read all of the posts here with the word "samplitude", but had failed to google at large.  I discovered the pdf guide, and probably should have deleted the post.

I took the pdf for the full version to the office today and printed it out.  Page 17 is the beginning of the Beginners Quick Start Guide.  I'm guessing that the full versions have at least the basics in common with the lite version, so this will probably be a good starting point, combined with the tips you have shared.  When I can figure out how to get grounded with the basics, I'll take your counsel and put up some specific questions.

+T to everyone for taking the time.

[boojum]

That's funny in that I would use Samplitude to get it done more quickly

I did some post on a local group yesterday and would have used Samplitude but wanted to get it done quickly.

I would have but, I know CoolEdit enough to get around for the few small mods I needed to make.  As I said, I may just decompress all the FLAC's into one WAV file and work on it in SSE.  The guitar player who lives across the street whom I recorded, and his band buddies, was thrilled to learn I can cut the file into tracks now, do fades and so on.  All of use get better through practice.  Also I have better mics and am learning where those mics hear best.

I will be hanging out here with questions and watching what is stumping other folks.  SSE really does seem the right way to go.

Cheers     

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

I've had the link for a while and decided today to download it.

Does this program support a 4G wave file? 

Nevermind.  I found everything I needed to know in Brian Skalinder's workflow post.

But just for those who like me might not read directions before jumping into the deep end:

I opened a 3.5GB file but there are no levels shown beyond the 1h mark even though the editing window shows 1h42m recording time.  Also, I just went to open the original file in CD wave editor and windows explorer shows that the original file has been resized to 2GB.  Luckily I still have the original on the 722 HD and with the V2 update the FW transfer takes less time. 

[Carrera2]

OK.

I spent several hours fiddling with a file last night.  I never got to square one with Samplitude even though reading the manual and searching for commands.  I managed to accomplish something reasonable and track my file in just a handful of minutes with Audacity/CDWave.

This is particularly frustrating because I am generally very good with software and many things computer.

So I have a wart on my recording, some e-noise. I am not sure how it happened, but thought I would try a partial fix to improve listenability. It can be seen in the Audacity screen print before editing.  My thought was to reduce the volume there rather than delete the offending moment, which would have caused a noticeable "skip."  A short sample of the blip is also attached.

The same spot is illustrated after I imported the wav file into a vip file.  I could not figure out for the life of me how to select that section and reduce its volume.  I went around and around and around.

Any direction would be appreciated.  Or a point to a section in the manual.  Thanks.

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

I'm just starting but I'm finding it much more intuitive than at first.

To select a region in the project, you do the selection point and drag on the time bar above the wave image.

The key macros are nice, up/down = zoom in/out and left right to position the cursor, space bar plays and pauses.

I am using split object to set track marks.  I guess I'll know if that works when I get this thing tracked out.  No sense in trying to read directions this far in 

[Brian Skalinder]

I managed to accomplish something reasonable and track my file in just a handful of minutes with Audacity/CDWave.

If you share what you mean by "something reasonable", I can probably provide some direction.

I am using split object to set track marks.

Try CD/DVD | Set Track, or CTRL-ALT-I.

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Try CD/DVD | Set Track, or CTRL-ALT-I.

AH!  Thank you!

Now to redo those splits.

One thing I really like about this over using CDwave editor is the ability to zoom out, sweep acros the track, then zoom in and precisely position the index mark, zoom out and repeat. 

and the little fader tool in the display is sweet.  This is cutting my editing effort in half.

[Carrera2]

I managed to accomplish something reasonable and track my file in just a handful of minutes with Audacity/CDWave.

If you share what you mean by "something reasonable", I can probably provide some direction.

That "something reasonable" was to reduce the volume in the section of noise, graphically depicted in the screen shoots, and which is illustrated before and after in the attached sound files.   I selected the noise in Audacity, and applied the hard limiter.  There are undoubtedly many different, and likely better ways to improve that glitch. I would repeat that procedure in Samplitude, or use any other technique that would soften the offending glitch.

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

I have a similar situation in the file I'm trying to repair.  I am not happy with my skill level but I'm getting closer.

The way I approached the problem was to isolate the area I wanted to affect into a discrete object and then operate on that object.  I did it by placing the position cursor at the start of the target and splitting the current object (T), then positioning the cursor at the end of the target region and again splitting the object.  This results in a three objects: the one you want to edit and the ones preceeding and following.   

Then you can select that specific object and apply normalization (offline effects>amplitude normalize).  If you prefer to apply a unique setting to each channel, you can isolate either the left or right channel by enabling the controls at the very bottom of the offline effects menu and then apply the operation to each.

[dorrcoq]

Can't you just hi-light the section you want to work on, rather than doing actual splits?

[boojum]

Reminds me of the story of six blind men groping an elephant and all "seeing" something different.  I guess we are study cohorts on SSE.