Mixcraft-8-Manual.Pdf
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USER MANUAL Written by Mitchell Sigman and Joseph Clarke Design and layout by Mitchell Sigman and Alan Reynolds TABLE OF CONTENTS Getting Started . 6 Mixcraft 8 Home Studio Limitations . 7 Important Sound Setup Information . 8 Quick Start. 10 Registration. 18 Mixcraft Reference .. 19 Tracks and Track Controls .. 32 Using Clips And The Main Clip Grid . 50 MIDI Basics . 60 MIDI Editing: Clips . 62 MIDI Editors: Piano Roll Editor . 71 MIDI Editors: Step Editor . .. 78 MIDI Editors: Score Editor . 85 Sound Tab . 88 Project Tab. 106 Recording MIDI Tracks . 107 Recording Audio . 114 Loop and Sound Effects Library . 122 Performance Panel . 143 Audio Mixer . 157 Video Tracks and Editing . 164 Loading and Saving Projects . 188 Automation and Controller Mapping . 193 Mixing Down To Audio and Video Files . 212 Burning Audio CD’s . 218 Publishing Mixcraft Projects Online . 220 Markers . 228 Effects . 234 Included Effects . 244 Virtual Instruments . 271 Included Virtual Instruments . 284 Alpha Sampler . 293 Omni Sampler . 298 Plug-In Management .. 307 ReWire . 309 Using Natively Supported Hardware Controllers . 311 Using Generic MIDI Controllers and Control Surfaces . .. 318 Musical Typing Keyboard (MTK) .. 321 Preferences . 323 Main Window Menus . 339 Keyboard Shortcuts . 350 Cursors . 356 Troubleshooting . 359 Glossary . 371 Appendix 1: Using Melodyne For Basic Vocal Tuning. 376 Appendix 2: Backing Up Mixcraft Projects and Data . 382 Appendix 3: Nifty Uses For Output Bus Tracks . 384 Appendix 4: Freesound Org. Creative Commons License Terms . 388 Appendix 5: Natively Supported Hardware Controllers . 390 Appendix 6: Copyrights and Trademarks . .. 391 GETTING STARTED Welcome to Mixcraft 8, a powerful recording DAW software offering the tools and performance power to create professional music and video projects... easily! ABOUT THE MANUAL This manual was written to provide a basic walkthrough of some of the steps that an artist may encounter when using Mixcraft. This manual provides a range of step-by-step instructions and explanations of features in the software. We’ll also throw in some helpful tips from time to time. We recommend viewing in Adobe Acrobat Viewer. If you don’t have already have it, you can download it free from Adobe (a quick Google search will find the correct installer for your system.) Blue underlined text are links to other sections of this manual. You may want to jot down the page you’re on prior to clicking these links as most PDF viewers don’t have a “go back to where I was” function. CHECKING FOR UPDATES Acoustica periodically provides updates to software. You can easily obtain these updates through Acoustica’s website,with an active Internet connection. To check for updates, go to the Help menu at the top of the screen and choose Check For Update... ADDITIONAL HELP We’ve made a heck of an effort to include as much Mixcraft 8 information as possible in this manual, but if you get stumped, contact Acoustica tech support online at www.acoustica.com and click the Support link. Mixcraft also has a lively online forum with tons of useful archived information and support not only from the Acoustica tech support staff, but seasoned Mixcraft users as well. Find it at www.acoustica.com, click Support, then Discussion Boards. Welcome to the Acoustica family... we hope you’ll enjoy Mixcraft 8 and make some great music (and video) along the way! 6 MIXCRAFT 8 HOME STUDIO LIMITATIONS Mixcraft is available in three different versions: Mixcraft 8 Home Studio, Mixcraft 8 Recording Studio, and Mixcraft 8 Pro Studio. In order to bring Mixcraft 8 Home Studio to you at such an affordable price point, it sacrifices some features compared with its big brothers. Below is a summary of its reduced feature set: Feature Limits System bit-depth compatibility 32-bit compatible only Tracks sixteen total audio and instrument tracks Performance Panel eight sets Automation pan and volume only Sound Library 6500+ loops and sound effects Virtual Instruments Acoustica Instruments, Impulse, Messiah, MiniMogueVA, VB3 Organ Samplers Alpha Sampler (Omni Sampler not included) Effect Plug-ins Acoustica Chorus, Acoustica Compressor, Acoustica Delay, Acoustica Distortion, Acoustica EQ, Acoustica Flanger, Acoustica Reverb, Classic Auto-Filter, Classic Chorus, Classic Compressor, Classic Delay, Classic EQ, Classic Flanger, Classic Master Limiter, Classic Phaser, Classic Reverb, EZQ Equalizer, GTune Guitar Tuner, Voxengo Amp Simulator, Voxengo Spectrum Analyzer Submix, Send, and Output Tracks no Audio Mixdown Formats MP3, WAV, WMA, OGG Video Mixdown Formats MP4, WMV, AVI CD Burning yes MIDI/Audio FX Routing no ReWire Hosting no Import To Library no 7 IMPORTANT SOUND SETUP INFORMATION When Mixcraft is first launched, it’s important to ensure that the audio latency is set optimally. Ideally, using a very low latency setting is best, as it results in little or no audible delay when playing virtual instruments or recording using software monitoring. Your computer’s processor speed and amount of RAM, as well as your audio system or sound card all affect audio playback and recording performance. Optimally adjusting your sound device will be a balancing act between latency versus gapping or breaks in continuous sound. If you are recording audio using Mixcraft’s built-in monitoring or playing virtual instruments, you’ll need to adjust your latency response properly. CHOOSING AN AUDIO DRIVER TYPE 1. Click File> Preferences... 2. Click on the Sound Device tab. 3. Wave RT was introduced in Windows Vista and is part of every newer version of Windows; this the default audio driver. If you have a slower computer, you may need to increase the latency setting. 4. If you’re using Windows 7 or 8, you may be able to click WaveRT Exclusive Mode. Depending on your computer’s speed and power, this mode will allow down to three milliseconds of latency. In this mode, other programs will lose audio capability when Mixcraft is running. You may need to restart other programs to get their audio back. WaveRT exclusive mode is the best way to use every last ounce of computing power. 5. If you don’t have WaveRT, the next best option is ASIO. If it’s grayed out, go to your sound device or sound card manufacturer’s website and install the latest drivers. Click on the ASIO Device flip menu and choose the sound device or sound card you wish to use. You can adjust the settings of the ASIO device by clicking “Open Mixer.” Each ASIO driver is implemented differently; consult the manual or help for your sound device in order to optimize the latency setting. Ensure that Default Output (Playback) is set to the correct device so you’ll hear audio properly. 8 6. If you don’t have Vista or an ASIO option enabled, select Wave. To reduce latency, Right On Track decrease the Number Of Buffers and reduce the Buffer Size. The Latency field will You may notice that update – this will entail a bit of trial and error as adjustments are made. Click OK, Mixcraft won’t allow then check the quality of audio playback. A setting of 100 milliseconds or less is you to drop the loop tolerable; lower settings of 20 milliseconds or less are preferred. on a track with a little keyboard icon; that’s because these QUICK GLANCE CHART are MIDI tracks. Make sure to drag audio Type Windows Version Notes loops to audio tracks, WaveRT Windows 7,8 The default option. Latency i.e. tracks with a little and Vista down to 20 milliseconds. speaker icon. Mixcraft actually has a number WaveRT EXCLUSIVE Windows 7,8 Takes over the computer’s of different track audio, but will work down to types optimized for three milliseconds of latency. different purposes, but This option is available when while we’re in “quick startville,” we’ll just WaveRT is selected. Audio from concern ourselves with other programs and Windows Audio Tracks, that play will not work at the same time digitized audio, and that you are in this mode. MIDI Tracks, that play note on/off messages. ASIO XP, Vista, Win 7, Best for playback and recording Win 8 synchronization. Must have a supported ASIO driver for your sound device. Wave XP, Vista, Win 7, Only use if absolutely necessary. Win 8 COMPUTER SPEED CONSIDERATION If you have a slower computer and experience audible breaks in audio recording or playback, you may need to increase the latency setting. Alternatively, you may need to purchase a higher performance sound card or audio system designed with music recording and playback in mind. Changing the latency will depend on what type of audio driver is being used. See the Choosing An Audio Driver Type section above for more information. Another effective speed enhancement is to defragment your hard drive, or purchase a new hard drive. (Old hard drives can get slow with age.) Notice the CPU meter on the lower right corner of Mixcraft.This indicates the amount of CPU resources used by Mixcraft compared to the entire computer’s CPU usage. 9 QUICK START We know what you’re thinking … “I don’t wanna read this big ol’ manual now, I wanna rock!” (or thereabouts). Don’t worry, we’ve got ya covered. In this section, we’ll show how to play audio clips from Mixcraft’s huge included library, record audio and MIDI tracks, and add effects. LOAD AND PLAY AN AUDIO CLIP To launch Mixcraft, double-click the Mixcraft 8 icon on the desktop. We’ll begin by dragging an audio clip of a bass line into the Main Window – that’s the big gray grid where clips of audio, MIDI, and video playback. Click the Library tab at the bottom of the arrange window, then click the Library pop- menu and and select Loops.