SAWStudio / SAC User Group

Hello!


New here, kind of new to SAWStudio too but not totally, been using it a fair few years now but not power using daily, so some fundamentals still not locked in.


I had some Qs for Bob who I usually talk to via email but didnt get a response this time so thought I would register here.


Would appreciate any info you cool dudes might have on these three points (and if its not possible to do these things, thats totally fine too):

• How do I quickly zero a fader? For example I am at -6dB on a channel and want it to be at 0dB/unity gain. Is there a key combination for this or some other way to do it without having to slide the fader?
• How do I move in the timeline without affecting playback? When the MultiTrack is in Play, I cant figure out where to click/how to scroll around without engaging a new point in playback and losing my original playback position.
• When a plugin GUI is active and Im manipulating the controls, playback does not start using the Space Bar or Enter key, I have to click out of the plugin and in to the MultiTrack window with the mouse to start playback with the Space bar (even though the MT window appears to be selected, text is highlighted yellow)

Probably some obvious answers to these questions as Im kind of new to SAW, although I couldnt find much in the manual.

Cheers!
Mark

PS I couldnt use apostrophes in this post for some reason

Mark R wrote: ...

• How do I quickly zero a fader? For example I am at -6dB on a channel and want it to be at 0dB/unity gain. Is there a key combination for this or some other way to do it without having to slide the fader?
• How do I move in the timeline without affecting playback? When the MultiTrack is in Play, I cant figure out where to click/how to scroll around without engaging a new point in playback and losing my original playback position.
• When a plugin GUI is active and Im manipulating the controls, playback does not start using the Space Bar or Enter key, I have to click out of the plugin and in to the MultiTrack window with the mouse to start playback with the Space bar (even though the MT window appears to be selected, text is highlighted yellow)

...

1- Left/Right click on the fader with the mouse will zero the fader (or faders when part of a group).
2- Scrolling, while in playback can be done with Alt/mouse wheel (depending on your default preference setting), or by using the down/up arrows on the keyboard.
(I can't think of a way to cursor around the timeline, without affecting where playback is happening)
3- When a plugin gui is active, right-click on the upper boarder of the plugin window to start and stop playback, without having to click out of the plugin window.

Hope this helps.

UpTilDawn wrote:1- Left/Right click on the fader with the mouse will zero the fader (or faders when part of a group).
2- Scrolling, while in playback can be done with Alt/mouse wheel (depending on your default preference setting), or by using the down/up arrows on the keyboard.
(I can't think of a way to cursor around the timeline, without affecting where playback is happening)
3- When a plugin gui is active, right-click on the upper boarder of the plugin window to start and stop playback, without having to click out of the plugin window.

Hope this helps.

Hello mate,

That is really helpful, thanks for your quick reply.

1 Left/right click on the fader is a classic, so simple, I always thought there should be a simple answer for this but couldnt quite pin it down!

2 Ill have to play with this a little more, Alt/mouse and Up/down arrows seems to scroll vertically up and down tracks rather than horizontally in time

3 Nice, I didnt know that, but this works for SAW plugs like Levelizer etc but not as far as I can tell for 3rd party plugins

Anyway thats a great help
Cheers for now
Mark

Mark R wrote:....
2 Ill have to play with this a little more, Alt/mouse and Up/down arrows seems to scroll vertically up and down tracks rather than horizontally in time

3 Nice, I didnt know that, but this works for SAW plugs like Levelizer etc but not as far as I can tell for 3rd party plugins

Anyway thats a great help
Cheers for now
Mark

2- Yes, that's what I meant, if not clearly stated - vertical scrolling........ I don't think I know of a horizontal (across the timeline, while playing).
You can, however, keep the cursor "in place" while playing, so that when you stop, the cursor hasn't moved (even if the timeline has during playback).
This is accomplished by zooming in horizontally as close as possible in the MT view. Playback will go until you stop and the cursor remains in the original position - if that's helpful to you (I often do this, myself).

3- I only have native and old SoundForge plugins available on my office pc, so can only confirm that my suggestion does work. It's necessary to right-click on the very top edge border of a 3rd party plugin window (which would actually be the border of the SAW frame around the plugin. I'm probably not being clear, but I can't recall when it hasn't worked for me in the studio. Maybe I'm wrong...

2 - The cursor is bound to playback time - so it is always as you describe. The philosophy of sawstudio's recording of automation events is kind of tied to that. That said, you have the liberty to zoom in and out and switch F-key view during playback, so you can see the big picture of things during playback. But detailed view of the waveform is tied to Saw's notion of 'now'.

I'm not sure about this (as I have no need for it), but you might be able to scroll around in soundfile view while the multitrack is playing back (probably an invitation to trouble).

________________________________________________________________________________
This is kind of a lurch off topic (but kind of not):

Another funny exception of note to the cursor being bound to the current moment on the timeline, is there is the 'initial' value for every parameter that dominates and you can adjust if you are NOT in automation - AND you are preceding the first automation entry on the timeline for THAT parameter that you are adjusting. If you are beyond any automation events on the timeline, a fade (for example) adjustment will impact current playback level (until any underlying automation for that parameter is encountered) - but that adjustment will be gone if you rewind and playback (because it will be superseded by the automation if there is any).

Any time I have fader automation on a particular track, I usually go back and put single a gain automation entry prior to the first audio on that track - usually by nudging the fader up and down a quarter dB with the <> keys. This is not to change the volume, but to keep things consistent if any subsequent automation adjustments are made in offset mode down the road.

(These two paragraphs are a bit confusing - but it will make sense one day when you encounter the situation that this adjustment aims to circumvent....)

Hi,

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Right clicking in the top portion (or any free space) of SAW plugins definitely works, playback starts. However, here at least, it doesn't work with various VST plugins I tried. I'm in SAWStudio64 on Win 8.1 Pro if that makes any difference. Even clicking the very top frame of a VST plugin does not engage playback here.

This is not really a problem as I can get used to clicking in the MT window to start playback, even though it's a bit cumbersome, but if this is not the expected behaviour it would be nice to work out why I'm seeing it here.

Just as an example to show what I mean with the timeline/cursor playback problem, if I start playback and I'm 'zoomed out full' so I can see the whole waveform, when clicking somewhere else along the timeline the cursor will jump there and play back from there. Good. However if I am zoomed in to the timeline/waveform any amount, and let it scroll through a few pages (probably using the wrong SAW terminology here), then clicking anywhere in the timeline will not take me to that place but will start back somewhere around the original playback position.

It appears like the original 'page' of the waveform where I begin playback is still 'active' underneath even after the timeline has scrolled through several pages; when clicking the timeline, even if it is a minute or two after the original play position (and says so in the timeline) it will jump playback to the original position.

Kind of easier to see it than to describe it in words.

An example of usage would be I am looking for a piece of dialogue to edit, I play through, and when I find the part I want I click there and instead of playing back from there it goes back and plays from the previous play position, or nearabouts, and I lose both the position of the new dialogue and the original playback position.

Cheers
Mark

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mr_es335 wrote:Mark,

You stated, "...but not as far as I can tell for 3rd party plugins..."

I have tested hundreds of plug-in in SAW|SAC, and all 3rd party plug-ins "application-wise" function as do the Native Plug-ins.
* May I ask what plug-in(s) you are experiencing issues with?

Hello,

Yes I've tried a lot but for example Oxford Inflator, MAAT EQ Blue, Gullfoss, DDMF LP10, Flux plugins, Lexicon Native, Harrison AVA etc. None of these start playback with a right click on the top frame or anywhere else. SAW Echo/delay, Graphic EQ and Levelizer work every time though.

Cheers