Notes 2013

Acid Music Studio How-To

Katie WardrobeMidnight Music

Acid Music How-To 5

Starting a new project 5

Getting Started 5

Project Properties 5

Save and title your project 5

Acid screen 5

Project tempo, time signature and key 6

Zooming 6

Using loops 6

Searching for loops 6

Adding loops to your project 7

Adding sound effects 7

A word about snapping 7

Adjusting the snap setting 7

Playback 7

Transport controls 7

Playback shortcuts 8

Playback from a speci"c place 8

Recording a speaking, singing or live instrumental track 8

Add a new audio track 8

Editing clips 9

Snapping 9

Adjusting the snap setting 9

Turn snapping off 9

Shortening the beginning or end of a clip 9

To delete a section in the middle of a clip 9

Moving multiple clips on a track 9

To split a clip 9

Transpose a clip 9

Fade-ins and fade-outs (track and project volume) 10

Fade in/out a single clip 10

Varied volume on a single track 10

Overall volume of a single track 11

Overall volume of the project 11

Panning 11

Varied panning on a single track 11

Changing tempo or key during a project 11

Recording a MIDI track 11

Set up your MIDI device 11

Adding a new MIDI track 12

Change instrument sound 12

Prepare to record 12

Record some music 12

Quantize 12

Editing MIDI 13

Viewing the Piano Roll editor 13

Editing existing notes 13

Adding notes 13

Transpose 13

Deleting tracks 14

Delete a track 14

Using the Chopper 14

Open the Chopper window 14

Creating an event from the Chopper 14

Video 15

Add a video to your project 15

Preview the video 15

Adding hit points 15

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Exporting a project 16

Save a "le as an MP3 or WAV "le 16

“Save as type” options 16

Finding extra loops 16

8-packs 16

Getting help 17

Show Me How 17

Help/Reference 17

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Acid Music How-ToStarting a new project

Getting Started

Before you start Acid, make sure you’ve plugged in any peripheral gear you might be using such as:

• Audio interface

• Microphone

• MIDI keyboard

If you forget to plug any of these items in before starting Acid, you may need to restart the program once they are plugged in.

Project Properties

In Acid, go to File > New. The Project Properties window will open and you can enter information about your project and choose your project audio settings.

If you want to skip the Project Properties dialog and use your previously selected project settings, you can click on the New button on the toolbar.

Save and title your project

Go to File > Save, give your project a title and choose a saving location.

Acid screen

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The Acid screen is made up of the following areas:

• Track list area

• Timeline area

• The Explorer Window

• To the right of the Explorer Window there is an area which shows one of three windows: the Mixing console, Soft Synth Properties or Video Preview (all accessed via the View menu)

Project tempo, time signature and key

Underneath the Track list area you can see the Project settings:

• tempo - use the slider allows you to increase or decrease the project tempo

• time signature - click to edit

• key - click to edit

Zooming

When the timeline area is in focus, you zoom in and out using the following options:

• Use your mouse scroll wheel

• Click on the zoom in/out buttons at the bottom right corner of the Timeline area

• Press the + or - buttons

Using loops

Searching for loops

You can browse for loops or sound effects in the Explorer window at the bottom of the Acid screen.

To audition a loop:

• Turn on the Auto preview button is on (see right)

• Click on a loop name to “audition” it. It will play back automatically

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The  loop  informa.on  (original  tempo,  key  and  length)  is  displayed  at  bo9om  of  the  window.

Adding loops to your project

There are a couple of ways to add a loop to your project:

• Drag the loop from Explorer Window straight up to timeline area. A new track header will appear automatically

• Double-click on the loop in the Explorer window. A new empty track will appear and you can draw the loop in to your project using the Pencil tool

Adding sound effects

A word about snapping

Snapping is a feature that causes loops or recorded audio to “snap” to the beginning of a bar, or to a speci"c beat. This is highly useful when you’re doing a music project since you’ll nearly always want the music to adhere to bars and beats in a song.

However, if you are working on podcasting, storytelling, or adding sounds effects to a "lm scoring project, it’s unlikely that you’ll want snapping enabled since dialogue and sound effects don’t conform to bars and beats.

Adjusting the snap setting

You can turn snapping off by clicking on the Enable Snapping button in the toolbar. If you would like to turn off snapping temporarily, you can hold down Shift to override it.

You can also adjust the snapping increment (for use in a music project) by selecting an option from the drop-down menu (see right).

Playback

Transport controls

Use can the transport controls to play back your project:

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Playback shortcuts

You can also use these shortcuts:

• Space bar = start and stop

• Enter = pause

Playback from a speci!c place

The Playback line shows you where playback will start from.

• Click in the timeline area to place the playback line in a speci"c position

• You can nudge the playback line back and forth using the left and right arrow keys on your computer keyboard

Recording a speaking, singing or live instrumental track

Add a new audio track

• Right-click in Track area and select New audio track or go to Insert > Audio track

• Click in the Timeline area to move the playback line to the place you would like to start recording. If you want to start recording at the beginning, click on the Rewind button

• Click the Arm for Record button in the track header (see below)

• If you are recording a music track and you’d like to hear the metronome while you record, click on the Metronome button on the main toolbar (see below)

• Place the playback line where you’d like to start recording and press Record. Play your song, or record your dialogue if creating a podcast

• Press space bar (or the stop button) when you’ve "nished

• A dialogue box will appear asking whether you want to keep the recording. Click Done if you’re happy with the recording.

• De-select the Arm for Record button in the track header when you’ve "nished recording that track

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Editing clips

Snapping

As mentioned in the Adding Sound Effects section above, snapping is a feature that causes loops or recorded audio to “snap” to the beginning of a bar, or to a speci"c beat. This is highly useful when you’re doing a music project since you’ll nearly always want the music to adhere to bars and beats in a song.

Adjusting the snap setting

It’s important to know that the snap setting will affect how you can move or edit Events (loops and other snippets of music) on the Timeline.

You can adjust the snapping increment by choosing an option from the Enable Snapping drop-down menu. If you’re not sure what the snap setting should be, it’s probably best to stick with 8th-note or 16th-note. You can always adjust it again if you need to.

Turn snapping off

If you are working on podcasting, storytelling, or adding sounds effects to a "lm scoring project, it’s unlikely that you’ll want snapping enabled since dialogue and sound effects don’t conform to bars and beats. You can turn snapping off by clicking on the Enable Snapping button on the toolbar.

Shortening the beginning or end of a clip

• To shorten a clip (delete material at the beginning or end): hold mouse over right end of clip in the middle until you see the Trim tool (it looks like a square bracket with an arrow) and drag to the left or right

To delete a section in the middle of a clip

• Click on the Eraser tool and erase the unwanted audio

• Move the remaining audio if necessary by selecting the Pencil tool and dragging it with the mouse

Moving multiple clips on a track

• You can select multiple clips on a track by clicking on the Lasso tool (to the right of the pencil) and clicking/dragging over the clips you want to select

To split a clip

• Place playback line at the place you’d like to split the clip and go to Edit > Split

Transpose a clip

• Select the clip and press the + button on the numeric keypad to transpose a clip up by semitones

• Press the - button on the numeric keypad to transpose down by semitones

• You can also right-click on the clip and choose Clip Properties. In the dialog that opens, adjust the number under Pitch shift

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Rhythmically stretch (or contract) a clip

You can make a clip play back faster or slower by adjusting the stretch setting:

• Right-click on the clip and choose Clip Properties

• Click on the Stretch tab and change the setting under Number of beats

Fade-ins and fade-outs (track and project volume)

Fade in/out a single clip

• Hover your mouse over top left or right corner of the clip until your cursor changes to rounded triangle

• Click and drag mouse down and across to create fade-in or fade-out

Varied volume on a single track

• Create a volume envelope by selecting the track and pressing V. A blue line will appear on the track

• Double-click on the line to add “points”. You can drag the points up or down to adjust the volume.

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Overall volume of a single track

A couple of options:

• To adjust the overall gain (volume) of a single track, hover at top of clip until it looks like a hand and drag gain (volume) down or up to adjust

• On the track header, move the gain slider to increase or decrease the overall track volume

Overall volume of the project

• To adjust the overall project volume (all tracks), use the Mixer controls to the right of the Explorer Window (select the Mixer tab "rst if necessary)

Panning

Varied panning on a single track

Adding a panning envelope allows you to vary the amount of sound that plays through one speaker (left or right) or the other. Panning can be particularly useful when you want to create an effect of footsteps or a car moving from one side to the other.

• Select the track

• Press P. A red line will appear on the track

• Double-click on the line to add “points”. You can drag the points up or down to adjust the pan

Changing tempo or key during a project

You can make a change to the tempo or key part-way through project:

• Place the cursor on the timeline where you want the tempo or key change to occur

• Press the T on the computer keyboard

• In the Tempo/Key/Time Signature Change dialog box, set the Tempo change and Key change to your desired values

• Click OK

Play back your project. As soon as the playback cursor reaches the T marker, the project's Tempo and Key shift to match the changes you made.

Recording a MIDI track

Set up your MIDI device

Before you start recording a MIDI track, you need to make sure your MIDI device is connected, turned on and set up properly. If you need help setting up your MIDI device, see the How To Set Up MIDI Devices section in the Acid Online Help.

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Adding a new MIDI track

• Go to Insert > MIDI track or right-click in the track header area and choose Insert MIDI track

• A new track will be created with the default Grand Piano sound

• Click on the MIDI Input button (see right) to select your MIDI input device. If you can’t see the MIDI Input button, resize the track header area using the splitter between the track header and timeline areas, or increase the track height

Change instrument sound

To change the instrument sound:

• Click on the keyboard icon on the track header (see right)

• Select an alternative sound from the menu that appears. You can audition each sound by playing on your MIDI keyboard

Prepare to record

• First, make sure your MIDI keyboard is set up (and reachable!)

• Click on the Arm for Record button on the track header (see right)

• If you would like to play along with a metronome, click on the Metronome button next to the transport controls

• You can also choose how many bars count-off (count-in) you would like by clicking on the Metronome Count-off button

Record some music

• Click in the timeline to choose where your recording should begin. Click on Go To Start if you want to start at the beginning

• Click on the Record button (see right), wait for the count-in bar (if applicable) and then record the part

Quantize

You can quantize your MIDI part to even-up any uneven playing (!):

• Right-click on the MIDI clip you recorded and choose Clip Properties

• In the window that opens, click on the Quantize button and select a Quantize Resolution from the drop-down menu (choose the smallest note value you played). You can choose whether to quantize the start times of each note and/or the duration of each note

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• Click Apply

Editing MIDI

Viewing the Piano Roll editor

• Press G to Enable Inline MIDI Editing (or click on the button of that name in the toolbar)

• Resize the MIDI track - hover your mouse at the bottom edge of the track header and then click and drag downwards to increase the track height (see below)

• The MIDI clip will show the notes you recorded. You may need to scroll up or down using the scroll buttons at the left edge of the track (just above and below the keyboard picture)

Editing existing notes

• Using the Draw tool, select a note and drag it up or down to change the pitch

• Drag a note left or right to change the rhythmic position

• Shorten or lengthen the note by dragging the end (see right)

Adding notes

You can draw or paint notes into the MIDI clip just the way you would create events in the timeline:

• Use the Draw tool to insert new notes: click and drag at the desired pitch

• Use the Paint tool to insert notes of a speci"c length: select the Paint tool and choose a rhythmic value from the Paint tool’s drop-down menu. Click in the grid to create a note of that length or click and drag the mouse to insert multiple notes at once

Transpose

Single notes or a group of notes can be transposed up or down in the Piano Roll editor:

• To transpose a single note, select a single note with the Draw tool and drag it up or down

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• To transpose a few notes at a time, click on the Select tool, select a group of notes and then drag them up or down

• To transpose all of the notes in a MIDI clip, click on the title bar of the clip and then use the + or - buttons to move the notes up or down by semitone

Deleting tracks

Delete a track

• To delete a track, select it by clicking on the track header and then press Delete.

Using the ChopperThe Chopper allows you to use small portions of a clip or create new loops.

Open the Chopper window

• Go to View > Chopper to view the Chopper window. It will show as a tab in the same area of the screen as the Explorer window

Creating an event from the Chopper

• Select the track you want to display in the Chopper window

• Place the Playback cursor where you would like to insert the event you will create with the Chopper

• Click and drag your mouse across part of the waveform that is showing in the Chopper window. The part you selected will be highlighted and when you look at the track, you can see how much space the event will take up (see right)

• You can use the playback controls at the bottom of the Chopper window to listen to your selection (see image below)

• You can adjust the length of the selection during playback by dragging either end. When you’re happy with the selection, click Stop

• Click on the Insert button located at the top of the Chopper window. The event you created will be inserted at the Playback cursor (see below)

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Video

Add a video to your project

You can add video to your Acid project by locating the video "le in the Explorer Window and dragging it into the timeline area (just the way you do with loops).

You’ll need to edit your video in a video-editing program before adding it to your Acid project (in Acid you can only shorten the end/s of the video).

You can move the video along the timeline, just the way you would with a music clip.

Preview the video

Open the Video Preview window by going to View > Video Preview.

Adding hit pointsWhen doing "lm scoring or podcasting, you can add hit points to keep track of different action points in your project.

To add a hit point, identify the exact moment that the hit point takes place:

• First of all, turn off snapping by clicking on the Enable Snapping button to deselect it

• Zoom in on the Timeline area

• Move the playback cursor to the exact position of the hit point. You can "ne-tune the position using the left and right arrow keys

• Press H. A hit point marker will be added to the bottom of the timeline area

• Double-click on the hit point to rename it

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Exporting a project

Once  your  project  is  complete,  you’ll  probably  want  to  convert  it  to  a  format  that  can  be  shared  with  other  

people  that  may  not  own  Acid.

Save a !le as an MP3 or WAV !le

• Go to File > Render As

• Name your "le and choose a saving location

• Under Save As Type, select a format. Most of the time you will choose MP3 (compressed audio "le that is suitable for iPods and iPhones) or WAV (a larger "le-size; not compressed)

“Save as type” options

• MP3  file:  This  creates  a  small-­‐ish  audio-­‐only  file  so  it’s  useful  for  projects  that  involve  music  or  

speaking  and  can  be  played  back  using  iTunes  or  Windows  Media  Player.    An  MP3  file  is  usually  small  enough  to  email  to  someone  else  and  is  the  right  format  to  play  back  on  iPods,  iPads  and  mobile  

devices.    

• WAV  file:  This  creates  a  large  audio-­‐only  file  which  can  be  played  back  using  iTunes  or  Windows  Media  Player.    It  can  be  burnt  to  CD,  or  shared  via  a  file-­‐sharing  service/website  (such  as  Dropbox)  but  

it  is  too  large  to  email

• WMV  file:  This  creates  a  large  video/audio  file  which  is  suitable  for  film-­‐scoring  projects.  Like  a  WAV  

audio  file,  it  would  be  too  large  to  email

Finding extra loops

8-packs

There are lots of free loops available for download from the internet (of varying quality). Sony’s ACIDplanet.com site has free weekly “8-packs” available for download.

An 8-pack is an Acid project "le that includes Sony loops arranged into a song. Download the 8-packs from http://www.acidplanet.com/downloads/8packs/

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Getting help

Show Me How

Acid has a series of useful “Show me how” tutorials which you can access by going to Help > Show Me How. Select a topic and you will be walked through how it works, step by step.

Help/Reference

Go to Help > Contents and Index to open the Acid Music Studio online help. You can do one of the following:

• Browse through the Help contents under the Contents tab

• Go to the Search tab to type in a speci"c word or phrase and press Enter. A list of topics and answers will display and you can double-click on any one of them to read more

• Go to the Index tab to view a list of topics in alphabetical order

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