FILE MENU


(Command - N) Record New...

If you have an input device, this will allow you to record an AIFF soundfile. You should first set your desired sample rate, sample size and number of channels, and then click Create File... to initialize the soundfile. Once you have initialized the soundfile the pop-up menus will no longer be accessible. Options... allows you to change settings peculiar to your input device. You will then be able to start recording by clicking Record. Stop will stop the recording, open the soundfile and add it to the SoundFile menu. Some slower hard disks may have problems glitching while recording at 44.1k, stereo, 16-bit.


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(Command - O) Open...

Opens soundfiles with the following file types:

AIFF
Audio Interchange File Format
AIFC
Audio Interchange File Format - Compressed
DSPs
DSP Designer
IRCM
BICSF/IRCAM
MSND
MacMix
NxTs
NeXT .snd/Sun .au
RIFF
.WAV
Microsoft WAVE
Sd2f
Sound Designer II
Audiomedia
If the file doesn't have a Macintosh 4 character file type, it will still appear in the open file dialog box provided it has one of the following name extensions:
.aifc .aiff .au .irc .sf .snd .wav .WAV

Clicking "Open All" will open all of the soundfiles in the current folder. Clicking "Play" will play the soundfile.

Once the file is open the soundfile information dialog box appears and the soundfile is added to the SoundFile menu. The dialog box gives the name, sample rate, length in seconds, number of channels, type and numeric format of the soundfile. You are no longer restricted to having only one soundfile open at a time. The file with the front-most dialog box (which I will refer to as the "selected soundfile") is used as the input soundfile to the processes under the Hack menu.

Files can be opened with the open document Apple Event ('ODOC') in SoundHack version 0.860 and later.


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(Command - A) Open Any...

This does the same as above, but makes no attempt to read the soundfile header. This is useful when opening headerless, damaged and text soundfiles. Text soundfiles should be formatted so that each line is a fixed point sample. Here is an example of how the text should look:

-0.054688
-0.015625
-0.007812
0.015625
0.000000
-0.117188

Soundfiles opened with Open Any... must be saved to another format before being processed. You should set the proper sample rate and data format with the Header Change... dialog before making this conversion.


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(Command - W) Close

Closes the selected soundfile.


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Close & Edit

This is available if you have selected a soundfile editor in Preferences.... It closes the selected soundfile, sets its file type to be the same as the selected editor and sends an AppleEvent to the Finder to open the document. Occasionally this does not work (it just reopens in SoundHack), because it the Finder does not always catch that you have changed the file type.


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(Command - S) Save A Copy...

Saves a copy of the selected soundfile in any supported soundfile format. This is the main command for those of you who are just copying one soundfile format to another.


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Split Into Mono Files...

This will divide a stereo or quad soundfile into multiple monaural soundfiles. This will be useful to those users who create quad soundfiles with Csound or Cmix and need to get the files into a more portable format. This may also be useful to those who are using Pro-Tools, Deck or Sonic Solutions (which currently imports only monaural AIFF files). Soundfile splitting does not currently work with 24-bit soundfiles.


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(Space) Play File

This will play the selected soundfile if it is 16-bit linear, 8-bit linear, unsigned, µlaw encoded or ADPCM. You cannot play soundfiles while processing sound. However, if you pause the processing (Command - ,), playback will be enabled. This is so you can periodically listen to the output file you are creating. You can start playback from any point in the file by using the slider in the process window (shown below). Space both starts and stops playback, return stops playback and returns the slider to the beginning of the soundfile. SoundManager 3.0 or an AV machine is required for sound playback to work properly.

File playback can be triggered through the print document Apple Event ('PDOC') in SoundHack version 0.863 and later.


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(Command - I) Import SND resource...

This will allow you to convert an Apple sound resource ('snd ') to a soundfile. This does not yet work with compressed 'snd ' resources.


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(Command - =) Import CD Track...

This allows you to import a CD audio track to an AIFF soundfile. After selecting the track from the standard file dialog (make sure you know the one you want before hand!), the QuickTime Audio CD Import Options dialog box will appear. From this box you can set the sample rate, sample size, number of channels and the portion of sound to import for the AIFF soundfile. You can also preview the sound (though with only 8-bit quality). Importing sounds takes a long time, so be prepared to wait. QuickTime 2.0 and a CDROM drive is required for this feature.


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(Command - E) Export SND resource...

This will allow you to write part of the selected soundfile into an Apple sound resource. The length of the sound resource is limited to the amount of memory allocated to SoundHack.


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(Command - Q) Quit

Why?


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