Hi Matt Amadeus Pro is a rather complex beast, though powerful once you master it. It's not like any other audio editor I'm familiar with in the way it handles some of the concepts and editing functions. I'll try to answer your questions as clear as I can, though I've used Amadeus for a while so if I get ahead of myself let me know.
> 1. How do you select portions of audio to edit? There are several ways to select audio. The first method, and the one I use most often, is to place markers at the beginning and end of the part I wish to select and then placing the selection between them. There are a few commands you need to know: p - places a marker at the current playing position, i.e. where you are right then while playing m - places a marker at the current insertion point position option-left and option-right - moves the insertion point to the previous or next marker command-left and command-right - extends the selection from the insertion point to the marker in that direction command-shift-y - moves the insertion point to the currently playing position Think of the play head and the insertion point as being similar to the VO cursor and the keyboard focus, you can be playing one part of the file and yet have your editing cursor in another. This is one of those concepts that Amadeus takes differently than other editors, most have only one cursor. I wouldn't even bring it up except that it is essential to Amadeus's editing features that you understand it. So, an example: Start playing the audio. When you get to the part you wish to start selecting, press p. At the end of that part, press p again. You now have two markers. While still playing, press command-shift-y to move your insertion point. Now, stop playing. Press option-left, this will move your insertion point to the second of the two markers. Press command-left and a selection will be extended from the current marker which is where you are positioned to the previous marker. Your audio is now selected, and you can do whatever editing you need. There are other keystrokes you can use to move the selection edges and can also be used to define a selection without using markers, but play around with this first so you get familiar with selecting in general. > 2. How do you go to the beginning or end of a file? Press home for the beginning (fn+left on a laptop) and end for the end of the file (fn+right on a laptop). Note that these move the insertion point and not the play position, so will have no effect on the play head.. > 3. Can you append to a file, or do you have to record a new file every time > you need to pause the recording? Recording happens at the current insertion point position. Press end before restarting recording if you've stopped it and you will append. > 4. How do you mark the beginning and end of a section you want to delete? See question 1 above on selecting audio. Once selected, simply press delete (backspace for former Windows users). You may also want to press command-option-x before deleting, this will extend the selection just a bit to the nearest crossing point which will avoid those clicks and pops you can get when deleting audio. Also, to here how a delete will sound, select the audio and press e for edit preview. This will play the first couple seconds before and after the delete point as if you had deleted the audio. One note: to make editing easier, you may wish to open Amadeus's preferences and, under general, set the "when selection is empty" option to "play from insertion point." This will effectively make the play head follow your insertion point's movements as long as there is no audio selected or no audio currently playing. This is the first thing I do when installing Amadeus on one of my machines. I hope I didn't confuse you :). Amadeus can take a lot of getting used to before the concepts click. I've used it since it was Amadeus II, and it was confusing to me at first. I was new to the Mac at the time though and it was the only audio editor I knew about, so I stuck with it and to be honest I've really grown to appreciate the power it offers. > > I want to use my Mac to record my classes in college, and then edit out the > stuff I don't need to hear again. > > Matt Roberts [email protected] -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
