Antares Infinity user manual

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The dialog gives information about what data is currently in the Clipboard.
Source Sound File: The name of the soundfile from where the current
Clipboard contents originated.
Selection Size: The size of the selected region in terms of the currently
selected units used in the Horizontal Annotation. (in this case, samples)
Track Count: The number of tracks in the Clipboard.
Sample Rate: Expressed in Hertz
Begin Blend Size: The number of samples (or duration) before the
selected region which will be used to blend the region when pasting or
mixing.
End Blend Size: The number of samples (or duration) after the selected
region which will be used to blend the region when pasting or mixing.
Sound data which has been copied into the Clipboard in Infinity cannot be
shared with Sound Designer or Alchemy, as these programs have incom-
patible Clipboard formats.
USING EDIT BLENDING
Enabling the Blending function causes Infinity to blend the edges of data
segments that are moved during Cut, Paste, Clear, Mix, Invert, Reverse,
Silence, Normalize, and Change Gain operations. This smooths the transi-
tion so that abrupt changes in the sound are avoided. The following figures
show the effect of blending as used with the Cut and Clear functions.
BLEND TAPER SELECTED
REGION
BLEND TIME
1. Select a region of data.
2. Choose either Cut or Clear
from the Edit menu.
3. Data on both sides of the
selection boundaries are
tapered. The remaining
selected data are removed
from the soundfile.
4. The data on the right are
moved to close the gap and
are crossfaded with the data
on the left. 
						

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The illustration below describes the effect of Blending on the Paste function.
1. Place the insertion point at
the location where data is
to be pasted.
2. Select Paste from the Edit
menu.
3. Data on either side of the
insertion point is tapered.
The data on the right are
movedto create a gap to fit
the Clipboard data.
4. Clipboard data are tapered
and crossfaded with the
soundfile data.
INSERTION POINT
CLIPBOARD SELECTION SIZE
CLIPBOARD DATA
Cut or Copy will put the selected data in the Clipboard. If blending is
enabled and the blend time is greater than zero, the leading and trailing
samples will also be put on the Clipboard. If the selected region is at the
end of a file, fewer or no trailing samples will be captured. If the selected
region is at the beginning of a file, fewer or no leading samples will be
captured. You can see how many leading and trailing samples are captured
with “Show Clipboard”. These are labeled “Begin Blend Size” and “End
Blend Size”, respectively.
Paste will similarly identify independent leading and trailing blend regions
around the selection or insertion point. Paste will then compare its leading
blend region with the leading blend region of the Clipboard and choose
the smallest. Similarly, for the trailing blend time. The Paste is then per-
formed with these new blend times. Note that blending occurs outside of
the original selection and outside of the Paste’s selection.
Cut removes precisely the number of samples selected in the file. In order
to blend the result, samples on both side of the beginning of the selection
are merged with samples on both sides of the ending selection, provided
that blending is enabled and there is a non-zero blend time. The size of the
merge is given by the blend time. It must be noted, therefore, that cutting
some samples does not necessarily completely remove them. To completely
remove the center-most samples, the selection size must be larger than the
blend time.
Clear Unselected does no blending.
Clear is the same as Cut, except no samples go to the Clipboard. Blending in
Clear works the same as blending in Cut. 
						

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Normally, when Pasting or Mixing with an insertion point, the new data is
inserted before the first sample of the group of samples represented by the
pixel under the insertion point. The exception to this rule is when the
insertion point is on the last pixel in the soundfile window. In that case, the
new data is added after the last sample in the soundfile. Blending occurs
between the end of the original sound and the pasted data.
ADJUSTING THE BLEND PARAMETERS
Infinity allows the length and taper of the crossfade used in edits to be
adjusted. Clicking on the Blend… command button in the Preferences…
dialog will evoke the Edit Blend Settings dialog shown below.
Blend Time: To change the length of the crossfade, use the Blend Time
scroll bar or type directly into the text box to adjust the duration. The
initial setting is 10 milliseconds. The range is from 0 milliseconds to 2,000
milliseconds. The most useful range for normal editing functions is from 10
to 50 milliseconds. (The scroll bar has exponential scaling so there is plenty
of resolution around the most useful settings.) The illustration below shows
the effect of changing the Blend Time control.
BLEND TIME = 0 MILLISECONDS
BLEND TIME = 10 MILLISECONDS
BLEND TIME = 25 MILLISECONDS 
						

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Blend Taper: The slope of the crossfade can be changed by using the Blend
Taper scroll bar or text box. The range of settings is from 0 (linear) to 100
(equal power). The initial setting is 0 (full linear). The illustration below
shows the effect of changing the Blend Taper control.
BLEND TAPER = 100 
EQUAL POWER
BLEND TAPER = 0 
LINEAR
Linear taper should be used for editing simple periodic waveforms like solo
instruments. Equal power taper should be used when editing complex non-
periodic waveforms like string sections or noise.
SAVING THE SOUNDFILE
SAVE
Because Infinity uses disk based documents, changes to the soundfile are
saved as they occur. The Save command in the Edit menu updates the
backup file (if one exists) so that a Revert to Backup command will revert
the soundfile to the most recently saved backup. The Save command in the
Edit menu is selectable after a change has been made in the soundfile.
If the soundfile has been changed and a backup file exists, closing the
soundfile will cause the following dialog to appear.
SAVE A COPY…
Use the Save a Copy… command to save the soundfile in a different folder,
with a different file name, or in a different file format. This command is
useful to make a series of samples for later comparison. 
						

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To use the Save a Copy… command:
1. Choose Save a Copy… from the File menu. The Save a Copy dialog box
appears.
2. Type a new file name in the Save Soundfile As text box.
3.  Choose a file format from the four options listed.
USE THIS FORMAT: TO SAVE AS A:
Audio IFF Apple Audio Interchange File Format
document
Audio IFC Apple Audio Interchange File Format-C
document
Sound Designer I Digidesign Sound Designer I mono
soundfile
Sound Designer II Digidesign Sound Designer II mono or
stereo soundfile
4. Click on Save. A copy of the active soundfile will be stored on disk with
the name and file type specified.
REVERTING TO THE LAST SAVED VERSION
Choosing Revert to Backup from the File menu causes the soundfile to
revert to the version last saved with the Save command. This command is
enabled only if a backup file has been created for the active soundfile. 
						

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CUSTOMIZING YOUR ENVIRONMENT
When Infinity is first started, the look of the soundfile windows is prede-
termined. The appearance of the soundfile windows can be customized and
some of Infinity’s behaviors can be modified by using the Preferences…
dialog in the Display menu.
BLENDING
Checking this item enables the Blending function.
CREATE BACKUP FILES
When this item is checked, opening or saving a soundfile will create a
temporary backup copy of the file. This allows the Revert to Backup
command in the File menu to be used.
Files that are opened with Create Backup Files checked will display the
phrase “Backup Created” in their title bar. This indicates that there is a
copy of the last saved version of the soundfile. Each time Save is used, this
backup copy is deleted and the current sound is used to create a new
backup file.
Creating backup files can take an inconveniently long time when working
with large soundfiles. Also, there may be insufficient space on your hard
disk to store the backups. If either of these conditions apply, uncheck the
Create Backup Files item. The title bar for a file opened in this condition
will display the phrase “No Backup”.
NOTE: Be forewarned that when “No Backup” is displayed in the title
bar, any changes you make to the soundfile will be permanent unless
Undo is enabled.
PLAYBACK AUTO-RESET
If this item is checked, playback will occur from the beginning of the
soundfile unless a region is selected. If this item is not checked, playback
will begin from the point where it stopped the last time. This item should
remain checked for most applications. 
						

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SCROLL AFTER PLAYBACK
This item is initially not checked when you start Infinity. Checking this item
causes the Mainview to automatically scroll to the position where playback
stopped. This feature is most useful when working with the Mainview at
high display resolutions.
CUSTOMIZING THE SOUNDFILE WINDOW
The appearance of the soundfile window can be changed by using the
soundfile window options in the Preferences… dialog.
To display the dotted zero crossing lines, check the box next to Over-
view or Mainview.
To display track divider lines, check the box next to Overview or
Mainview.
To change the units on the Horizontal Annotation, use the pop-up
menu. See the reference section for more information about these
options. 
						

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T
Chapter 4: Looping Tools
he looping tools in Infinity are easy to use and provide extraordinary
results. To use them most effectively requires some understanding of the
types of sound you are working on and the way the tools operate on the
sound data. The following chapter explains, in detail, the operation of
Infinity’s looping tools.
MANAGING LOOP POINTS
REAL TIME LOOP ADJUST
Infinity allows the location of the loop points to be changed during
playback. To move a loop point during playback, drag it to its new location
by pressing somewhere near the base of the loop point in the Horizontal
Annotation. The loop points can be dragged over each other. The loop
point which is on the left then becomes the Loop Start.
To move both loop points simultaneously, while preserving the loop
length, press the Option key while dragging either loop point.
The real time loop adjust feature can be used to rough set the loop points
when working with sounds that change over time. If you are working on a
stable loop, set the loop points around a region which is relatively stable in
pitch, timbre, and loudness. If you are making a loop which includes a
vibrato or tremolo, set the loop start and end to include several vibrato
cycles.
A more precise way to set the loop points is to use the Smart Auto-Scan
feature described below. 
						

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UNDO LOOP MOVE
Undo Loop Move is on the edit menu. Undo Loop Move is enabled only
after loop points have been dragged in the sound window or moved using
the crossfade dialog window. Pressing Undo Loop Move undoes the
previous loop move. Pressing a second time redoes the previous loop move.
Edits: cut clear, paste, clear unselected, and reverse, when they change the
loop positions, will disable Undo Loop Move. If the loop points are not
changed by edits, Undo Loop Move remains enabled. Please remember that
normal edit Undo recovers any loop points changed by the edit. Using any
of the looping tools (except the Crossfade Looper) will disable Undo Loop
Move.
LOOP POINTS AND CLIPBOARD
The loop points are copied onto the clipboard. This occurs with a cut or
copy if both loop points are included in selection. Valid loops points in
clipboard show up as at least one non-zero value for the begin or end loop
time (see the Show Clipboard option in the Edit menu). The values dis-
played in Show Clipboard are relative to the beginning of the selection
when the cut or copy was performed. When Paste is used and loop points
are in clipboard, they are always pasted into the document.
LOOP POINTS DURING EDITS
The loop points are moved only if all tracks are selected in Cut, Clear, Paste,
and Reverse operations. Loop points are always moved for Clear
Unselected. The loop points are never moved for Silence and Invert opera-
tions.
If both loop points are in an area that is cut from the data, they are
deleted. Undo restores the previous loop points.
During Cut and Clear operations, a loop point that is within the selection is
moved to the new insertion point. (If this happens to both loop points, the
loop is deleted.) Loop points after the selection end point are moved
forward, “stuck” to their respective sample.
During Paste operations, where there is a selection, a loop point in the
selected region stays at the same number of samples after the selection
start point unless the pasted region is smaller than that offset. In that case,
it is moved to the first sample after the new pasted region. Loop points
after the selection end point are “stuck” to their respective sample. During
Paste operations where there is an insertion point, loop points after the
insertion point are moved backwards, “stuck” to their respective sample.
During the Clear Unselected operation, loop points in the discarded regions
are moved to the first or last sample of the soundfile. Loop points within
the selected region are “stuck” to their respective sample.
During the Reverse operation, loop points in the selected region are
reversed as if “stuck” to their respective sample.