Editing Audio Clip Properties

Each track in your Acid project can contain multiple, distinct media files, called clips. Use the Clip Pool tab in the Track Properties window to add, remove, and preview clips.

For more information about using clips with tracks, please see Using Clips with Tracks.

The General tab displays information about the file associated with a track and allows you to change the Acid type, apply pitch shifting to all events on the track that use the same clip, and adjust time-stretching for Beatmapped clips.

Changing Acid type

Choose a setting from the Acid Type drop-down list to change how the clip's media is handled in your Acid project.

Adjusting pitch shift

Enter a value in the Pitch shift box (or use the spinner control) to adjust the pitch of all events that use the same clip.

NOTE Track pitch shifting is not saved to the media file when you click the Save button .

Adjusting time-stretching (Beatmapped tracks only)

Acid provides two time-stretching methods for Beatmapped tracks: Classic and élastique. Classic is the standard time-stretch method used by Acid.

1. Select the Preserve pitch when stretching check box if you want your track to maintain its pitch when your project tempo changes.

   When the check box is cleared, the clip's pitch will raise and lower with tempo changes. When the check box is cleared, you cannot change the pitch of a Beatmapped event.

2. Choose a setting from the Method drop-down list to determine the time-stretch method to use.

   Method	Description
   Classic	Classic is the standard time-stretch method used by Acid.
   élastique	The élastique method uses technology from zplane.development, and provides enhanced real-time time stretching and pitch-shifting capabilities. The élastique method also allows you to preserve and shift a track’s formants, which are the characteristic resonant frequencies of a sound.

3. Choose a setting from the Mode drop-down list to choose the stretching method best suited to your media.

   TIP The élastique Pro mode provides the highest quality stretching but requires more RAM usage and CPU power. The élastique Efficient mode uses fewer resources while still producing great time-stretching quality for polyphonic audio. The Soloist (Monophonic) and Soloist (Speech) provide good quality for monophonic audio with little effect on system resources.

4. Select the Preserve formants when stretching check box if you want your track to maintain its characteristic resonance when your project tempo changes. Formant preservation is most often used to avoid the "chipmunk effect" in vocal performances.

   This option is only available for élastique Pro and Soloist (Monophonic) modes.

5. Type a value in the Formant shift (semitones) box (or use the spinner control) to adjust the formants of all events that use the same clip.

   Formant shifting can be used to deepen the tone of a vocal performance without changing the pitch.

   For élastique Pro mode, this amount represents the number of semitones to shift the timbre in addition to the offset required to compensate for any pitch shifting. For example, a setting of 0.000 applies formant correction with no additional shifting, while a setting of -7.000 will apply formant correction and deepen a sound by 7 semitones.

   This option is only available when the Preserve formants when stretching check box is selected.

Adjust clip offset for looped recordings

When you perform looped recording, multiple clips are created in your recorded file. You can use the General tab of the Clip Properties dialog to adjust which portion of the recording is used for each clip (clip take offset).

A green region marks the clip's location in the recorded file. Drag the region markers to adjust the clip:

The Stretch tab allows you to specify how to handle pitch shifting and time stretching for loops or Beatmapped tracks.

TIP Click the Redetect Beats button to apply the Acid beat-detection algorithm to existing media.

You'll notice that the Stretch tab looks similar to the Groove Editor window. Both windows contain beat anchors and markers; however, the markers on these windows perform complementary functions:

• On the Stretch tab of the Clip Properties window, the beat markers indicate beats in the media, and the beat anchors indicate the adjustment that is required to quantize the media to straight time before applying a new groove.

• In the Groove Editor window, a beat anchor represents the beat that will be adjusted, and a groove marker represents the point in time when that beat will be played when the groove is applied. A groove marker can occur before or after the beat anchor. A line connects a groove marker to its associated beat anchor.

If you want to hear the results of editing beat anchors and markers, select the Play Quantized button at the bottom of the Clip Properties window and use the Clip Properties transport controls to preview the loop. Playing the clip in Play Quantized mode demonstrates how the track sounds when the Quantize to Straight groove is applied. Click the Play button to hear the original loop.

After you've edited a clip's properties, click the Save button to embed Acid information in the file.

TIP Hold Ctrl while clicking the Save button to save your changes to a new file.

NOTE If you save stretching properties to a new file, the changes will also be applied to the current clip and saved with the Acid project; the changes are not saved to the original file.

NOTE If you edit a file in another audio-editing program, it is possible that the Acid data will be removed. Simply edit the settings on the Stretch tab to optimize the file again.

Use the Stretch tab to quickly edit Beatmapper information for a clip without starting the Beatmapper Wizard. After you've edited a clip's properties, click the Save button to embed Acid information in the file.

TIP Hold Ctrl while clicking the Save button to save your changes to a new file.

NOTE Notes:

• If you save stretching properties to a new file, the changes will also be applied to the current clip and saved with the Acid project; the changes are not saved to the original file.

• If you edit a file in another audio-editing program, it is possible that the Acid data will be removed. Simply edit the settings on the Stretch tab to optimize the file again.

• Support for multitempo clips is available for clips that are recorded or rendered in Acid or by adding Beatmap markers on the Clip Properties dialog.

• The ruler on the General tab is fixed, and the ruler on the Stretch tab is stretched to represent measures of varying lengths. In the following image, you can see how the beat ruler has been compressed to change the lengths of the measures as we switch from the Stretch to the General tab:

  

The waveform display shows tempo changes and measures:

• The blue marker represents the first downbeat.

• Tempo changes are indicated with Beatmap markers . These markers can be added manually or are added by Acid when recording or rendering.

• Orange markers represent measures.

You can adjust tempo by dragging measure or Beatmap markers:

You can add Beatmap markers to signal a tempo change: just double-click a measure marker or a blank area of the Beatmap marker bar to add a marker.

To remove a Beatmap marker, double-click an existing marker.

To edit a Beatmap marker, right-click it and choose a new setting from the Root Note or Time Signature submenu.

For more information about using the Stretch tab to add Beatmap information to a clip, please see Fine-Tuning Beatmapped Clips.

Click the Reload button in the Clip Properties window to reload the last-saved version of a media file. All events remain in the timeline, but changes made in the Clip Properties window since the file was last saved are discarded.

NOTE When you edit a clip in an external editor, changes to the sound file will be reflected immediately after you save the file in the external editor.

Click the Replace button to replace the current clip with another file. The events and envelopes in the timeline remain intact, but the audio will be replaced with the new file.

TIP Drag a file from the Explorer to the track name in the track list to quickly replace the active paint clip with another file.

If a clip's media was created from an Acid project and rendered with the project path reference in the file, you can click the Edit Source Project button to open the source project in a new Acid window.

If you render the edited file using the same file name and location as the track's original media, your project will automatically be updated to use the latest rendered media file.

Click the Add to Groove Pool button to make the selected clip available in the Groove Pool so you can apply its timing to other tracks.

NOTE Groove cloning can extract grooves from loop tracks only.

Click the Save File button to save the current clip and clip properties.

Click the Save File As button to save the current clip and clip properties to a new file. The clip is updated to use the new file.

NOTE Clip pitch shifting is not saved to the media file.