ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

PROJECT 8-ACw: Basics of Loop-based Composition Software (ACID Music Studio 5.0 for Windows)

Objectives

Learn how to create loop-based compositions using pre-existing audio clips. Learn how to integrate MIDI and software instruments into loop-based compositions. Learn how to integrate live audio recording into loop-based compositions. Learn how to save and export compositions made with looping software.

Directions

To use the MIDI recording and editing features in ACID Music Studio, connect a MIDI instrument to your computer through a MIDI interface. To use the audio recording functions in ACID Music Studio, connect an instrument such as a keyboard or electric guitar to your computer through an audio interface, or plug a microphone into the microphone port. Complete the tasks in the tutorial Use the worksheet for Project 8 to record your work.

Resources Needed

The Worksheet for Project 8 is available in several formats which you can use to fill in the requested information: a Microsoft Word file (p8-ACID_wksheet.doc) or an RTF file (p8-ACID_wksheet.rtf) accessible from word processing software; or an Adobe Acrobat file (p8- ACID_wksheet..pdf) that can be displayed and printed if you wish to fill in the responses by hand.

These ﬁles are all located in the actvSoft_vp8 folder with this project.

Also located in actvSoft_vp8 is the "acid" folder that contains ﬁles that are used for this tutorial.

You will need ACID 5.0 software for Windows.

Project 8 Tutorial

Introduction

Project 8 is designed to introduce you to ACID Music Studio 5.0, software that allows you to compose music using pre-existing audio and MIDI clips or "loops," and to record audio and MIDI as part of those compositions.

ACID is currently available in three versions that each offer different levels of functionality. ACID Express is a free version of the software, and ACID Pro is the professional version of the software which offers the greatest number of tools. ACID Music Studio is the middle level version, and offers excellent functionality for the price. This version will be more than adequate for use in most music classrooms. Throughout this tutorial, certain parts of the program will be noted for their limited functionality, and the extended functions of the Pro version of ACID will be explained. Sony has published a table on their web site which makes it easy to compare the features of the three versions. Visit http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/products/ for more information.

We have supplied some pre-existing clips for use during this tutorial. These are royalty-free files that come with ACID when you purchase the software. Find the folder called "Acid" within the "actvsoft_p8" folder , and copy the files to your local computer. You may want to create a special folder on your desktop to store these sound files while you work.

There are several parts to this project:

Table of Contents

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 1 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

1. Finding Your Way Around the ACID Screen. 2. Locating, Adding, Positioning, and Extending Loops. 3. Types of Tracks and Adjusting Track Properties (mute, solo, volume, pan, fade). 4. Using MIDI and Software Synthesizers. 5. Using Live Audio. 6. Adding Effects. 7. Saving and Exporting.

1: Finding Your Way Around the ACID Screen (return to top)

Let's begin by examining the three major areas of the ACID screen: the browser, the edit pane, the mixer. Open ACID Music Studio and load the sample file that comes with the software, "TimetoFly.acd-zip" or any ACID file. This section of the tutorial will serve only to get your bearings, so it doesn't matter what file you view. Your screen should look something like this:

The bottom left portion of the screen is the browser pane.

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 2 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

This type of pane is familiar to most Windows users. You will use this area to locate clips to be used in your ACID compositions. Locate the few clips that you have copied from your DVD CD to your computer. When you click on a sound clip in the browser pane, ACID will automatically begin to play the clip in "preview mode." The play and stop buttons on the top right of this pane control the preview playback, so you can turn it off if you want to. Notice that at the bottom of this pane there are several tabs that reveal other windows. We will revisit the bottom right area of the screen at a later time and discuss its uses to display track properties, select sections of a clip, and apply effects.

The top portion of the screen is the edit pane. This is the physical space where you assemble your composition from pre-existing loops that you have located in the browser pane.

This window can be broken down into ﬁve separate areas as numbered above. 1. The Main toolbar provides one-click access to some of the most common functions you will use in ACID Music Studio. The Snapping button

sets the program so that all clips that you insert into a composition start on a beat, rather than at some point during the beat. This is a very

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 3 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

useful tool that you may want to leave enabled until you have a good reason to turn it off. The metronome button enables the use of a click- track for live recording. The pencil tool allows you to draw areas of sound into your composition. We will see the use of this tool in Activity 2 of this tutorial.

2. The Transport controls work just like those on a CD player or a digital jukebox.

The far left button is used to initiate audio recording, which will be discussed in Activity 5 of this tutorial. The next button from the left puts playback in a loop state. Be careful not to confuse these controls with the preview controls in the browser pane; these controls are for the composition represented in the edit pane.

3. The magniﬁcation controls allow you to zoom in or out of the edit pane. These are useful so that you can expand or compress the view of your composition both horizontally and vertically. To get an instant view of your whole composition, choose Zoom-->Overview from the View menu, or press Ctrl+F9.

4. When a sound is added to the composition, either from the browser pane or via recording, a new track is added to the track list. Each horizontal track contains only one sound, although the sound can occur as many times as you want (thus the foundation of loop-based recording). The track list allows for control of the global features of each track. This will be discussed further in Activity 3 of this tutorial.

5. The Track view shows visual representation of the times in a composition when a particular track is producing sound. If an area of a track is

empty, no sound is attached to that track at that time in the composition. Blocks with waveforms in them indicate that a sound clip is present in the track.

The ﬁnal major section of the ACID Music Studio screen is the mixer pane.

This area acts just like a standard mixing console or a mixer that you might find in a sequencing program. Notice that there is a channel for the preview playback. Use the fader to adjust the volume of clips that play back in preview mode. The other channels refer to the instruments included in the demo file, and can be used to balance them before exporting the composition file. Just as we saw with the browser pane, there are tabs at the bottom that reveal other windows. We will revisit this area in Activity 4 during our discussion of software synthesizers.

Worksheet Activity 1. On your Worksheet, check off that you completed this step. Note any questions that you might have about the overall design of the program and describe any problems you had in following this activity.

2: Locating, Adding, Positioning, and Extending Loops (return to top)

Now that you have an understanding of the parts of the ACID Music Studio screen, let's begin a new project. A sample of this project in completed form has been included on your DVD CD, so feel free to examine it before you start building a new project.

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 4 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

Choose New from the File menu, or press Ctrl+N. The dialog box that appears has two tabs at the top.

Here you can choose the sample rate and bit depth for your project. In this tab, you can assign a title to your project as well as other Keep in mind that higher settings increase sound quality and ﬁle information. Notice the optional check box that allows you to start size, while those properties are reduced with lower settings. Click all projects with the settings you enter. OK when you are happy with your settings.

Before you begin adding loops to your composition and manipulating them, you may want to set the project tempo. The tempo slider is located under the track list.

Move the slider left or right to increase or decrease the tempo. When you click a clip in the browser window, assuming it contains the necessary types of data that ACID can understand, it will play back at the tempo you have set for your project. You can also use this area of the screen to adjust the time signature, although the rhythmic feel of your project will ultimately be determined by the clips that you choose. The time signature setting will affect the sound of the metronome when you record live audio. The key signature tool is a bit trickier. Most clips that you use in your project will not actually have key data attached to them. In Activity 3 , we will examine how you can transpose the key of sound clips without affecting their length.

Use the browser pane to find the clips that you copied from the DVD CD. When you find them, click on one in the browser pane to hear it play in preview mode. When clicked, a clip will play back in a loop until you click the stop button or another clip. The spacebar acts as a play button and a stop button in both the browser pane and the edit pane, so you can use it as a convenient alternative. Locate the clip called "METAROCKloop" Click the name of the file and drag it into the edit pane. ACID will establish a new track that shares the name of the file. Your screen should look like this:

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 5 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

If you were to push play right now, there would still be no sound produced. Notice that the track that has been created has no waveform clips in it. You must draw them in using the pencil tool. Click and drag along the track in the track view starting from the left under the "1.1" (which indicates measure 1, beat 1) all the way to the beginning of the 25th measure. The resulting track view will look like this.

Now click play. The sound will play back and a scroll bar will travel across the track view. Note that the sound we just added begins at measure 1, beat 1 of the composition. It is possible, however, to begin a sound at another position. Just use the drawing tool at the spot where you want the sound to begin. Once a clip is added, you can also use your cursor to re-position it earlier or later in the composition. Click and drag a waveform block to accomplish this. Continue adding sounds to the track view in this conﬁguration:

- Add "MICKloop" as track 2. Draw from measure 2 to measure 25. - Add "MACMONEYloop" from measures 4 to 25. - Add "RUDYloop", also from measures 4 to 25. - Add "HORNCRAFTloop" from measure 12 to the beginning of measure 16.

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 6 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

If you accidentally release the mouse button early or extend a clip too far, hold your cursor over the end of the clip until an arrow appears. Drag the end of the clip left or right to shorten or extend it.

After adding all of these tracks, depending on the size of your computer monitor, you may not be able to see all of them at the same time. Press Ctrl+F9 to display an overview of all tracks. The track view should look like this:

When you play back the composition, you will hear all of the sounds layered on top of one another.

ACID Music Studio comes with a collection of pre-existing audio loops and there are many ways to obtain more loops. The two simplest are these:

1. Extract loops from your own CD music collection. Use the "Extract audio from CD" command in the ﬁle menu to import audio on to your computer and use it as material for ACID project. Of course, if you plan to sell your work, you must obtain copyright permission to use samples from commercial recordings.

2. Use ACID Music Studio's "Get Media" button. This button will connect you to the Sony web site where you can download packs of loops. There are also many areas on the World Wide Web where you can ﬁnd loop material, some free, some for a small fee.

Worksheet Activity 2. On your Worksheet, check off that you completed this step. Note any questions that you might have about locating, adding, and positioning clips, and describe any problems you had in following this activity.

3: Types of Tracks and Adjusting Track Properties (mute, solo, volume, pan, fade) (return to top)

All tracks that are used in an ACID project can be assigned a "root note" that represents the key of that track. Each time you add or record a track of any kind, assign it a key by selecting the track and using the Track properties pane at the bottom left of the screen.

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 7 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

The track displayed here has been assigned the root note D. If you leave the key of your project as C, this track will be shifted by one half-step so that its key matches the project key. If you add a track at any time and the key is wrong, you can use its properties window to adjust the key.

There are four types of tracks that can be used in combination in an ACID project:

The tracks we have already created are loop tracks. They use pre-existing audio. It is important to understand that the representations of loops in the track view simply point to clips that are stored on your hard drive. If you move a clip to a new place on your hard drive, ACID will not be able to find the clip and will generate an error message. For this reason, you should think about creating a folder on your hard drive where you store all of the audio files you use in your ACID projects. When you render a project as a finished mix (which you will do in Activity 7), the audio clips become part of the finished product.

A one-shot track also uses audio clips, but the clips that play back in these tracks are not affected by tempo or key changes you might add. This kind of track is often used for single percussive sounds like cymbals, sound effects, or voice-overs.

A MIDI track is used for two purposes: 1) to record MIDI into ACID, or; 2) to import an existing MIDI ﬁle into a track in ACID. This will be discussed in detail in Activity 4.

A Beatmapped track represents a unique feature of ACID. When you insert a sound clip that is longer than 30 seconds, ACID launches an application called the Beatmapper that allows you to examine the file and use its tempo information to establish the tempo for a project. This is used in situations when you want to employ a long audio file as a bed for the rest of your composition. When ACID was first published, the Beatmapping technology (sometimes referred to as "ACIDizing") was a revolutionary tool, and it remains to be a very powerful feature of the program. Let's walk through this process.

Use your favorite jukebox application (like iTunes, WinAmp, or Windows Media Player) to rip a song from a CD. Make sure the song is longer than 30 seconds. Navigate to the file in the browser pane and add the file to your project. Here, we have used a file called "04 My Spine.wav" which is a very long file. ACID will automatically launch the Beatmapper.

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 8 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

If you want to use the tempo of this ﬁle as the tempo of your project, choose "Yes" and click Next. The Beatmapper wizard will continue through a series of steps that allow you to ﬁnd the tempo of the song with tremendous accuracy.

In order to establish the tempo of the song, the Beatmapper needs you to indicate where the downbeat occurs in the ﬁle. Click and drag the "Downbeat" ﬂag to the left or right until it is lined up with the downbeat. Use the play and stop buttons to check that you have located the right spot. Click next when you've found it.

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 9 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

Next, you will need to indicate the length of a full measure (four beats). Use the yellow handles above the waveform to adjust the section so that it covers a complete measure. This means that the yellow handle on the right will be positioned just before the downbeat of the next measure. We recommend that you use the optional metronome to help you hear the alignment. When you have found the correct length, click Next.

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 10 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

Next, use the Beatmapper to ensure that each measure is correct.Use the left and right arrows or the number box to move between measures. If the Beatmapper has not located tempo information to your satisfaction, click the Back button and start again. If you feel that the track remains consistent, you may wish to skip this step. Also, tracks that use odd time signatures or extremely syncopated rhythms may present problems when you try to use the Beatmapper. Click next when you are ﬁnished.

Finally, choose the options that you want to use from this box. When you click Finish, you will return to the main ACID application and a track will be added for your long ﬁle. If you chose to change the project tempo to match the Beatmapped track, the tempo will be adjusted accordingly. You will still need to use the draw tool to add sound to the track.

Whether you use a Beatmapped track or any of the other three types of tracks described above, all tracks have parameters that can be adjusted to change their volume and panning in stereo ﬁeld (left/right speakers). You can also mute a track, or solo it so that all other tracks are muted.

Each horizontal track has a mute button and a solo button . Click a track's mute button to silence that individual track. Click its solo button to silence all other tracks and still hear that individual track.

Each track also has a slider that controls its volume relative to the rest of the tracks in your composition. Slide this control left or right to adjust the volume. In fact, this slider serves several purposes. Click on the word "Vol" and a drop- down list will appear. You will be able to choose to make the slider effect the pan setting rather than the volume.

The adjustments that are made to volume and panning using these controls are global; that is, they effect the entire track without exception. But to be more musical in applying these settings, you may want volume and panning to change over time. To do so, you need to insert envelope changes directly into the tracks. To begin, use the magniﬁcation controls to expand the size of your tracks vertically. You will need to be able to see the waveform blocks clearly,

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 11 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

so click the "+" a few times. Select the ﬁrst track in your project by clicking on the track name ("METAROCK VISIONS...") Then, click the Insert menu and choose Envelopes-->Volume. Notice that a horizontal line appears through the waveform block in that track. Your track should look something like this:

When you place your cursor over the volume envelope line, it will turn to a hand, indicating that the line can be dragged. Try pulling the line up and down. Moving it up will cause the track volume to increase, down will cause a decrease in volume. Still, though, we have not seen the technique for changing this parameter over time. So here goes... Double click the volume envelope line at about the beginning of measure 2. A square handle will appear on the line. These handles serve as pivot points for making adjustments to the line. ACID automatically inserts a handle at the beginning of the track. Grab that ﬁrst handle and drag it all the way down. ACID will indicate that the volume at that point (measure 1, beat 1) is now "-Inf. dB". Your track should now look like this :

Play back your composition and you will hear the track fade in over the course of the first measure. This same procedure can be repeated anywhere in any track to insert volume adjustments that occur over time. The same process is used for inserting pan changes that adjust a track's placement in the stereo field over time. Use Insert-->Envelopes-->Pan to accomplish these adjustments. The process of adding fade-ins and fade-outs is a fairly common practice, so the writers of ACID Music Studio decided to automate this particular task and make it a bit more convenient. Place your cursor at the end of the waveform block in track 1 (it ends at measure 25), on the top corner of the block. It is a bit tricky, but when placed in just the right spot, the cursor turns to an arched figure. Click and drag from right to left on the waveform and a "Quickfade" will be applied to the track. The resulting track appear with a drop in volume like this:

Play your project back and you will hear both the fade in you inserted at the beginning, and the new fade out at the end. You can repeat this process for each track and have your entire composition fade out at the end.

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 12 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

Take a moment now to save your project. Use the File-->Save command or Ctrl+S and save somewhere convenient on your local computer. We will return to this project later when we discuss exporting in Activity 7.

Worksheet Activity 3. If you have not already done so, try to import a long audio ﬁle so that you can experiment with the Beatmapper. Also, try adjusting global track properties and adding fades to the other tracks in the project. On your Worksheet, check off that you completed this step. Note any questions that you might have about adjusting track properties and describe any problems you had in following this activity.

4: Using MIDI and Software Synthesizers (return to top)

A discussion of the use of MIDI in any application must begin with the disclaimer that every physical MIDI setup is different. Each depends on the hardware and driver software you are using, so the settings that are used in this tutorial may differ greatly from those that bring you success. It is important to experiment with your MIDI equipment to make sure that it is connected properly and functioning as you expect. For the purposes of this tutorial, the settings we use will be as generic as possible.

There are two ways to use MIDI tracks in ACID Music Studio:

You can import existing MIDI ﬁles into MIDI tracks. This is an effective way to combine MIDI tracks that you may create in a basic sequencer or notation program with audio tracks and produce a mixed ﬁnal product. You can record MIDI sequences directly into the application.

To import an existing MIDI track into ACID Music Studio, follow the same procedures as you would for adding an audio clip, as described in Activity 2. Simply locate a MIDI ﬁle in the browser pane and drag it into the track view. ACID will create a new MIDI track in the track listing. You will need to use the draw tool to get sound from the track. Open a new project and try dragging a MIDI ﬁle into the track view. We have done so in this picture:

Try to play back your ﬁle. If you do not hear sound, you may have to route your MIDI output to a device that will produce it. ACID comes with a software synthesizer that will produce standard MIDI sounds. In the track list, click the Device Selection button to display a list of the possible destinations for your MIDI signals. Most computers will offer you the option of using their internal sound cards. That set of sounds is often represented by an entry in the list that reads something like "Microsoft Wavetable Synth." The software synthesizer that is included in ACID, the DLS soft synth, is a better choice because you have more control over the parameters of the synthesizer. When you choose that option, the mixer pane in the bottom right will become the Soft Synth properties pane.

The DLS Soft Synth that comes with ACID Music Studio is quite limited, so there are very few things you can do to change the sound of your MIDI track. If the track is only a single voice, you can experiment with changing the patch in the "Available voices" section. It is worth noting that the Music

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 13 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

Studio version of ACID does not support software synthesizers other than the DLS Soft Synth that is included with the program. The full version, ACID Pro, allows for installation of other software synthesizers (in VST format) so that additional sound sets can be used. In this version, you are limited to the General MIDI sounds of the DLS Soft Synth.

To record MIDI directly into ACID Music Studio, you will need to add a track to the track list. Choose "MIDI track" from the Insert menu, or right click in a blank space in the track list and choose Insert MIDI track from the pop-up menu. A blank MIDI track will be added to your project. Press the record button to open the Recording dialog.

We will see this box again when we record audio in section 5, but for now, make sure that the MIDI radio button is selected at the top of the box. You can supply a name for the track and the location where you would like it stored on your hard drive. You can also select to start recording from the beginning of the project or from a certain measure and beat. Especially if this is your first track, make sure the metronome is turned on, and adjust its volume using the slider. As mentioned above, the MIDI settings chosen here may not be the ones you use. These settings indicate that MIDI will be generated using an M-Audio Ozone MIDI controller, and will be sent out using the Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth. The Record device selection should reflect your particular MIDI interface or controller, and the MIDI Thru selection should indicate the destination device for MIDI signals. These are individualized settings, so experiment to see what works for you. You can use the meters on the left of this box to tell if MIDI signals are flowing into the computer. If the MIDI Thru setting

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 14 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

is correct, you will hear synthesized sounds coming back out.

When you click the Record button, ACID will start rolling and record what you play on your MIDI instrument. Click Stop (which will replace the Record button while recording) when you are finished with your recording. ACID will actually create a MIDI file and store it on your hard disk. This file can be opened in other MIDI-capable applications such as editors or jukeboxes. When you return to the main ACID screen, the MIDI sequence will appear in the track view in a new track. With the track selected, you will notice that the browser pane displays a MIDI editing pane. There are three tabs on this pane, which each represent a different way of editing MIDI data. If you make a mistake while recording a MIDI track, it may be more efficient to edit it using these devices than to re-record it completely.

The Piano Roll editor presents MIDI data that looks like the paper scroll inside a player piano. Colored bars indicate the onset, duration, and release of each note. You can use your cursor to edit individual notes in this view.

The List Editor view presents MIDI data in the form of a text list. You can use this view to eliminate or insert MIDI messages, or adjust the parameters of a certain message.

Finally, the General view allows for adjustment of global track properties. Here you can transpose an entire track.

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 15 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

Worksheet Activity 4. Try using one of the MIDI editors (either the list view or the Piano roll view) to manipulate a MIDI track. Experiment with extending or cutting the duration of notes or adding and deleting them using these views. On your Worksheet, check off that you completed this step. Note any questions that you might have about using MIDI and software synthesizers and describe any problems you had in following this activity.

5: Using Live Audio (return to top)

Yet another powerful feature of ACID is its ability to record live audio sources into tracks and combine them with loop tracks, beatmapped tracks, and MIDI tracks. All of these can be mixed together to produce a ﬁnal project of impressive complexity. You may continue to use an easier project that you started in earlier sections, or start a new project (Ctrl+N).

In order to record audio into your computer, you will need to connect an audio capture device to it in some way. This can be as simple as using an inexpensive microphone that might have come with your computer. Most computers have 1/8-inch microphone jacks where the microphone is plugged in. These jacks can also accept cables from instruments such as guitars and keyboards, but you will probably need an adapter that transforms a 1/4-inch plug into the 1/8-inch size. Adapters tend to add a bit of extraneous noise to the signal and can be inconvenient. For better quality of sound in your recordings, and greater ﬂexibility of audio sources, you can buy internal or external audio interface devices that connect to your computer via the USB or Firewire ports. An audio interface is more likely to accept 1/4-inch, RCA, and XLR (microphone cable) plugs, which would eliminate the need for adapters. For this example, the M-Audio Ozone is serving as the audio interface, but this task could just as easily be accomplished by plugging the instrument directly into the computer using an adapter.

Click the record button in the track view transport controls. The same dialog box that you saw during your MIDI recording will appear. This time, choose the Audio radio button at the top of the box.

You can give the recording you are about to make a name in the File name ﬁeld, choose when in the project you want your recording to begin (although you can move it later in the track view), and turn

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 16 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

the metronome and monitor lights on or off.

For most computers, choose the Microsoft Sound Mapper as the Record device. Again, this is an individualized setting. If you are not getting sound when you play your source, try a different setting.

When you click record, ACID will begin rolling and recording the audio as you play. Click Stop when you finish (which will replace the Record button while you are recording). ACID has actually created an audio file (in .wav format) and stored it on your hard disk. It is possible to open this file in other audio applications such as sound editors or jukeboxes. When you return to the track view, there will be a new audio track with the name you have assigned it, and a waveform that represents your new audio recording. The track view should look like this:

Notice that this track allows the same global transformations (volume, pan, etc.) as tracks created with pre-existing loops. When you recorded a MIDI track, you were able to edit individual notes at this point. Audio tracks do not allow this, although some editing is possible. If you have an audio editing program such as Sound Forge or Audacity, you can open the audio recording in that program and take advantage of all of its capabilities. ACID offers some audio editing tools. With the audio track selected, the bottom left pane of the screen should display the Track properties window, which has two tabs.

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 17 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

The general tab allows you to choose what kind of track this audio track will be (Loop, One-shot, or Beatmapped). You can shift the pitch of the audio track up or down. If you choose "Preserve pitch when stretching," options in the second tab may be effected.

Here you can assign the key of this audio clip as described in section 3. You can also launch the Beatmapper to have ACID examine the audio track for tempo information. Downbeat offset will shift the beginning of the clip by any number of beats after the original downbeat.

Take a moment to experiment with the track properties for several different tracks. Available settings are different for each type of track, so explore the possibilities with Looped and Beatmapped tracks (we have examined the track properties for MIDI tracks in Activity 4). Listen to how transposing, changing tempo, and offsetting downbeats effects the way a clip sounds. For instance, changing a tempo drastically may cause the sound quality of a clip to deteriorate. If this is the case, you may be better off re-recording the clip at the tempo you really want, rather than relying on ACID's stretching abilities.

Another editing tool built in to ACID Music Studio is the Chopper. This tool allows you to select certain portions of an audio clip and insert them into the project as new clips. Select the audio track you have been working with and choose the Chopper tab in the lower left pane (which is currently displaying the Track properties).

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 18 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

Let's assume that you like the initial attack of this clip and you want to use it in another place in your composition. Use your cursor to select that section of the clip in the Chopper window. The areas of the grid that you click and drag over will highlight.

Use the Insert button to add that portion of the clip to the spot in your project where the scroll bar is currently positioned. If you want to place the clip somewhere else, right-click on the selection and choose "Chop to new track" from the pop-up menu that appears (or press Ctrl+M). You will be able to save the new clip as a separate audio ﬁle and drag it into the track view from your Browser pane.

Worksheet Activity 5. If you have not already done so, try recording some audio into ACID Music Studio with your voice or an electric or acoustic instrument. Use the Chopper to grab the initial attack of the audio you record and insert it into a new track. On your Worksheet, check off that you completed this step. Note any questions that you might have about using live audio and describe any problems you had in following this activity.

6: Adding Effects (return to top)

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 19 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

ACID Music Studio 5.0 has a limited set of effects that can be added to tracks to enhance the way they sound. The full version, ACID Pro, has a much larger set of available effects and is capable of hosting plug-ins in the VST format so that the number of available effects is practically inﬁnite. The effects that come with ACID Music Studio are a few of the most common ones, and you might want to experiment with them when producing your own music.

Open the ﬁle you began at the beginning of this tutorial, which should have ﬁve tracks, all based on loop clips. If you would like to add more tracks (either using loops, MIDI, or live audio), you can do so at this time. You can also add envelope effects or change some of the global track settings if you wish. Refer to previous sections if you have forgotten how to execute any of these techniques.

Select the track that contains the guitar loop ("MACloop") by clicking on the name in the track list. In the bottom left pane of the screen, select the tab that says "ACID FX," which is the control panel for adding effects. This window is also accessible by clicking the Track FX button in the track list.

ACID Music Studio's five built-in effects are all accessible from this panel. Since the guitar track is selected, the effects that you enable will be applied to that track. You can apply effects to other tracks by selecting them individually. Notice first that there is a drop-down list of preset effects combinations. It is possible that the type of effect you are looking for has been pre- defined, so try out the effect sets in this drop-down list. Alternatively, you can apply individual effects, or custom groups of effects using the lower part of the panel. A nice feature of ACID is that effects can be applied in real-time; that is, they can be engaged and disengaged while a project is playing back so you can hear how an effect sounds. The computer does not stop and render the track with the effect as you would find in some sequencing programs. Press play on the main transport controls. While the project is playing back, click the checkbox next for the Distortion effect. Move the slider left and right to experiment with the saturation of distortion that is applied to the guitar sound. If the project ends, just rewind and play it again. If you are having trouble distinguishing the guitar sound from the rest of the mix, you can solo the track using the solo button so that the guitar sound is the only one playing back. If you like the distortion sound, leave it in, but if not, un-check the box. Experiment with the other four available effects to find a sound that you like for the guitar track.

In this effects panel, the distortion, EQ, LFO (low- frequency oscillator) and reverb effects are all on. The distortion is completely saturated with the slider all the way to

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 20 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

the right. The EQ effect has been used to boost the Mid and Bass frequencies slightly. The LFO is set to a Wah-Wah effect, and the Reverb is simulating the acoustic properties of a room you might ﬁnd in a club.

If you have soloed the guitar track so you can hear it independent of the other sounds, you should now listen to it with the rest of the mix. You may want to make adjustments to your effects choices based on how the track sounds in the mix. You can then move on to adding effects to the other tracks if you wish.

Worksheet Activity 6. Use the tools you learned about in section 5 to record some audio into ACID Music Studio. This activity may work well recording your own voice through a microphone. Experiment with applying effects to the audio you record. On your Worksheet, check off that you completed this step. Note any questions that you might have about using effects and describe any problems you had in following this activity.

7: Saving and Exporting (return to top)

If you work with ACID software often, you should think about developing a system for storing your media ﬁles in folders that impose an organizational structure on them. Perhaps sounds could be stored in folders by instrument groups or genres. In the Pro version of ACID, Sony has included a database feature called the Media Manager in the application that allows you to apply "tags" to your media ﬁles so that they belong to searchable groups.

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 21 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

Here, the Media Manager is being used to search for media files that have been tagged as Acoustic Guitar sounds. It has located 160 loops that fit the category out of the 2,530 loops available on the hard disk in various folders. This is a very useful feature, especially when you begin to develop a large library of sounds. It is only available in the Pro version of ACID, and is one of the justifications for the difference in price between that version and ACID Music Studio.

Saving a project in ACID Music Studio stores a file in the program's proprietary format, .acd. This type of file contains the information that you have compiled in your project. Recall that when you created both MIDI and audio tracks from scratch (in Activity 4 and 5), separate files were created in .mid or .wav formats and stored on your hard disk. When you create a project in ACID, a simple "save" does not necessarily store all of the media files along with the performance data. A .acd file, in fact, is a very small file (the one you have been working on should be less then 200 kb) that contains placeholders that point to the media files on your hard disk. If one of the media files were to be moved to a different location on your hard disk, ACID would generate an error and ask you to locate the file manually. This applies to pre-existing loops and MIDI or audio that you record in any of the four kinds of tracks.

You may have already saved the practice project, but for the sake of explanation, choose Save as... from the File menu. You will see a standard Windows save dialog box, with a small twist.

Saving the project with the settings shown here will create the .acd file described previously which stores only placeholder information. None of the actual media files are stored with the project. This keeps the file quite small, but runs the risk of generating errors should a media file be moved before the next time the project is opened.

Clicking the checkbox at the bottom of the dialog will do exactly what it indicates - it will copy all of the media files you have used in the project into the file. The resulting file will be in .acd-zip format,

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 22 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

which compresses all of the media files in an archive. This file, as you might imagine, can be quite large. In the case of the sample project you have been creating, the file size will approach 6 Megabytes.

Still, neither of these file types (.acd or .acd-zip) can be played back using any application other than a version of ACID. In order to make that possible, the file must be rendered as an audio file. A nice feature of ACID is that it is capable of rendering (or exporting) projects in many usable file formats. The choice of which file format to use should be dictated by the means by which you intend to distribute your project. For example, if you plan to stream your project over the web, you may want to use MP3, but if you plan to burn the file to a CD, you would choose WAV.

Choose the Render as... command from the ﬁle menu.

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 23 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

Choose an appropriate ﬁle format from the drop- down list that reads "Save as type:" You can make alterations to the standard sample rate and bit depth for these presets by clicking the "Custom..." button.

When you click Save, ACID Music Studio will begin rendering the ﬁle and display its progress in a box like this:

The speed of this process depends on many factors including the power of your computer, the length of the project, the number of different clips in the project, and the ﬁle format you have chosen. Once complete, your project is ready to be listened to through other computer applications, burned to a CD, or transferred to a digital music player.

There are two additional possibilities for distributing your project.

First, ACID allows you to burn a project directly to a CD from within the program. This eliminates the step of rendering the project. Choose "Burn track-at-once audio CD" from the Tools menu. The following dialog box will appear.

This box provides additional options for dealing with rewritable compact discs, but once you insert a disc into your writable drive and click start,

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 24 of 25 ACID Music Studio 5.0 (Win) 7/17/15, 10:13 AM

ACID will burn an audio CD that can be played in a standard CD player. It's that simple!

Finally, it is possible to use ACID Music Studio to publish your work directly to the World Wide Web. A web site called ACID Planet acts as an uploading point for work done in ACID and allows people around the world to listen to and share work. It is necessary to establish an account to

have full access to this site, but the service is free. Click the Publish button in the main toolbar, or choose Publish... from the File menu and ACID will display a wizard that helps you establish your account and upload ﬁles.

Worksheet Activity 7. Use the Windows operating system (browse using Windows Explorer) to find the size of the file you have been working on when it is saved in .acd format. Then save the file as a .acd-zip and find the size of that file. Then render the file in two different formats and find the sizes of those files. Save one file format in a location specified by your instructor. On your Worksheet, record the sizes of these files in the appropriate spots. Check off that you completed this step. Note any questions that you might have about saving and exporting ACID projects and describe any problems you had in following this activity.

Project 8 is completed. Congratulations!

ﬁle:///Users/jaydorfman/Desktop/EMT_project_8win/emt_project8win.htm Page 25 of 25