Samplitude V8 SE

[live2496]

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.

Yes, the key is turning the section of audio into a separate object. That's what I would do. Then you have total control over what happens to that segment. (You won't be altering the original file, but an object that represents it. Your changes won't be rendered until you bounce. So things are very easy to undo.)

Double click on the object and it gives you the object editor. The settings here are not global; they are for this object only. You can choose to mute left/right, or grab the volume slider and set the volume level to zero. Or you could apply fades. Fades can be applied by going back to the object itself. On the object you will see a horizontal line with three transparent squares, one on the left, one in the middle, and one on the right. The one in the middle is for the object volume. This acts like normalize. Drag it up or down to set the objects volume. This is also the same control as the slider in the object editor. The square on the left is for fade in. Drag it to the right to apply a fade-in. The square on the right is for fade-out. Drag it to the left.

Another option is to delete the object entirely. Select the object by pressing clicking on the lower part of the object with the mouse. Then select the delete key. Objects to the right can be moved over to the left now if you choose to do so. If you have set "snap" on, the object will snap into position as you move it to the left. (Snap is the icon on the toolbar with the magnet). Objects will snap to the cursor, or to the object as you move an object from right to left.

[live2496]

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

Yes, you can do that. But that is destructive normalization and alters the original.

Virtual processing is a different way of working. It uses objects and lets you visually make changes to the objects attributes. It makes it very easy to make a change and undo changes later.

You don't actually alter the original. It applies the processing realtime during playback so that you can preview the audio to listen to your changes in context. Once all of your changes are completed, you can commit those changes to a rendered (bounced) file.

[boojum]

Guys, thank for the tutorial.  I am going to get a bite to eat and rework the file I recorded Saturday as a practice exercise.  I have a live gig, bluegrass, to catch Thursday at 8:00 so I will have clean new files to play with.  Thuis just keeps getting funner and funner.   ;o)

Cheers

[Brian Skalinder]

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.

Ahhhh...re-reading, now, it's quite obvious.  Sorry I missed it earlier!  First, a quick navigation tip:  moving the pointer over the top half fo the waveform allows one to place the cursor at a specific point in the waveform, select regions (start point + end point), etc.  Moving the pointer over the bottom half of the waveform allows one to select and de-select objects.  As for edits in your situation, you have at least a few options:

Apply Hard Limiting / Compression

• Isolate the problem area as it's own object (as LKIJ noted in a separate post; also remember to turn off the Auto Crossfade)
  
• CTRL-O or Right-Click to access the Object Editor
  
• In the Plugins section, select FX Inserts | Dynamics
  
• In the Mode section of the Compressor / Expander / Noise Gate / Limiter window, select Limiter and set the Attack, Release, Ratio, and Threshold accordingly
  
• Preview by pressing the Play/Stop button
  
• Once you have it the way you want it, simply click OK
  
• Note:  you can go back to this object and edit these settings at any time without undoing or changing any of your other edits
  
  

Apply a Volume Envelope

• First, to ensure you're seeing the same options as I am, confirm you're in VIP Display Mode 1:  View | VIP Display Mode | Mode 1
  
• Press the Vol button in the control panel to the left;  you'll see a yellow created along the top edge of the waveform display area
  
• Highlight (by selecting the region in the top half of the waveform view) the area you wish to edit and zoom in
  
• Set the cursor mode to Draw Volume or Object and Curve Mode
  
• On the yellow Volume line, drop a couple points by simply clicking once
  
• Move the Volume points by clicking and dragging (this will change the way the volume changes over time - for example, allowing one to drop volume swiftly and deelpy in one area, raise it up slowly afterwards, drop more slowly for a second dip, raise it back to full volume very quickly or over a longer curve, etc.)
  
• Adjust accordingly til you get it sounding the way you wish
  
  

Delete and Crossfade

• Not going to get into this one unless you're interested...I'm a bit wiped out at the moment, past my bedtime.
  

FWIW, I've reduced the icons in my default VIP template to those I use regularly;  see the attached image for details.  Simply open a new VIP, arrange the toolbar as you wish, save the session (File | Save Session) and name it startup.sam, and place it in the SSE home directory (c:\magix\Samplitude_V8_SE for me).  I've also attached my startup.sam as startup.zip - simply rename to startup.sam.

[live2496]

I really like that volume envelope thing that they did. (I call it the yellow rubber band).
I have used that for lowering sections of applause by a few db, and then that allows me to raise the overall level. It's a less drastic measure than applying compression, but a bit of work to go through a whole concert.

[flipp]

Do any of the retail versions of Samplitude include video tutorials? I doubt the downloadable versions have any but an old version - 4.5 - that came with a SEK'D ProDIF24 soundcard I bought came bundled with Samplitude and it had a Tutorial folder with .avi files that have about 52 minutes of how to do things using Samplitude. I know there are newer options that the old version doesn't have but I find myself still referring to the tutorials on occassion and I still use version 4.5. One of these days I'll seriously consider upgrading.

[live2496]

Do any of the retail versions of Samplitude include video tutorials? I doubt the downloadable versions have any but an old version - 4.5 - that came with a SEK'D ProDIF24 soundcard I bought came bundled with Samplitude and it had a Tutorial folder with .avi files that have about 52 minutes of how to do things using Samplitude. I know there are newer options that the old version doesn't have but I find myself still referring to the tutorials on occassion and I still use version 4.5. One of these days I'll seriously consider upgrading.

I checked the version 7 and 8 product disks and they both have a couple of .wmv files. Getting Started and New Features. It's a good bet that SE has that also, but I don't have a way to confirm that.

[Carrera2]

Do any of the retail versions of Samplitude include video tutorials? I doubt the downloadable versions have any but an old version - 4.5 - that came with a SEK'D ProDIF24 soundcard I bought came bundled with Samplitude and it had a Tutorial folder with .avi files that have about 52 minutes of how to do things using Samplitude. I know there are newer options that the old version doesn't have but I find myself still referring to the tutorials on occassion and I still use version 4.5. One of these days I'll seriously consider upgrading.

I checked the version 7 and 8 product disks and they both have a couple of .wmv files. Getting Started and New Features. It's a good bet that SE has that also, but I don't have a way to confirm that.

I searched my hard drive for .wmv files and there are none.  When starting the program, there is a "button" to press to invoke the video tutorial, which prompts one/me to insert the CD/DVD, of which there is none for the downloaded SE version.

+T to all for such an elaborate tutorial.

[alienbobz]

So I am thinking about moving to this since Audition doesn't want to work for me at all, and I was curious if it can open avi files so I can look at the audio. That is the biggest thing for me right now since I just moved to doing videos. I did look at the tutorial, but the way that they worded made me unsure of whether or not it can do it.

[Brian Skalinder]

I was curious if it can open avi files so I can look at the audio

Not sure about broader feature options, but if I drag/drop an AVI file in Samplitude SE, it opens a WAV with the same filename as the AVI and I'm able to edit the audio as a normal WAV.  Don't know if it saves the edited WAV back to the AVI, etc.

[alienbobz]

You pretty much answered my question right there. Don't care about saving the wav for the avi, just want to be able to sync my audio with the audio from the video for post work. I can switch the audio in a different program. Thanks Brian.

[alienbobz]

Well I downloaded it and so far I haven't been able to open a wav from an avi. It keeps on crashing. Right now I am trying to do just audio, but I will try the avi,wav thing again. Anyone else had this happen?

[alienbobz]

Ok I tried it again last night and the same thing happened with the video. Decided that I just need a work around when I do video, so I decided to extract the WAV from the AVI using VirtualDub. Seems like the only option for now (unless I want to buy a new audio program, which I don't ). Thanks Brian for the help last night. I am starting to get this program, but it is definitely going to take a while.

[Brian Skalinder]

From what I've read in this thread, the corresponding workflow in samplitude could be more labor intensive?

I don't find it more labor intensive than AA/CEP or WaveLab.  In fact, while I found the learning curve a bit longer, I find it's object-oriented model less labor intensive and more powerful and flexible.

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

From what I've read in this thread, the corresponding workflow in samplitude could be more labor intensive?

What Brian said,  I've used wavelab and the workflow is no more labor intesive. 

The thing about samplitude that is superior is the ability to store the original files and the project methods so that you can exactly recreate the previous work.  So if you listen to your edited version a few times and then decide to tweak a parameter, you can go back to exactly what you did before and tweak that one parameter wihtout having to recall the order in which different operations were applied.   

I havent' done it yet but i assume that you can save multiple copies of the vip file, each with unique editing parameters.