User Guide

CHP. 3 GETTING STARTED

Getting media files

Now that you’ve created a new project or opened an existing project, the next step is to add media to the

project. You can use the Explorer window to locate, preview and add media to your project. You can also

extract audio from a CD or download media from the Web.

Previewing media from the Explorer window

The Explorer window allows you to preview files in looped playback at the current project tempo before

adding them to your project. You can also preview files in the Explorer in conjunction with playing your

project, thereby allowing you to preview how a file will sound in the project.

To preview files, use the

Start Preview ( ), Stop Preview ( ), and Auto Preview ( ) buttons at the top of

the Explorer window.

Previewing a media file

Select the media file in the Explorer window that you want to preview.

Click the Start Preview button ( ). The media file begins looped playback. You can monitor its levels on

the preview bus.

Click the Stop Preview button ( ) to end playback.

Previewing multiple media files

You can use the Explorer’s multiple-selection preview feature to preview a group of files in the order that you

select them.

From the Options menu, choose Preferences, and on the Other tab of the Preferences dialog, select the

Enable multiple-selection preview in Explorer window check box.

If you want, you can enter values in the

Number of times to repeat each Loop box, Seconds of each One-Shot to

play

box, and Number of Beatmapped measures to play box to specify how ACID previews different file types.

Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.

In the Explorer, select the media you want to preview. Hold while clicking to select multiple,

adjacent files or hold while clicking to select multiple, nonadjacent files.

Click the Start Preview button ( ). ACID previews the first selected file in the list and continues through

the list of selected files. ACID changes a file’s icon to a

Play icon ( ) to indicate which file is currently

previewing.

Note:

To add the currently previewing file to your project,

press +. Press to add all selected files to your

project.

Using Auto Preview

The Auto Preview button ( ) sets ACID to automatically play back media files when you select them in the

Explorer. If your project is currently playing when you select a new file, the new file plays back along with

your project. This feature allows you to listen to the media file in the context of your project.

Click the

Auto Preview button ( ) to toggle auto preview on or off.

Shift

Ctrl

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