If you would like to add sound to your website or edit digital sound effects for your production, you’ll want to explore Sonic Foundry’s new suite of audio tools.  I’m working on project now using Sound Forge XP 4.5 to create an audio glossary of names and terms for my Caribbean Theatre class on a web page with sound recordings made by Haygan Bethel, a West Indian actor. We’ve recorded and edited audio clips of all of the words on Sound Forge software using a microphone connected directly to the computer’s sound card.

This product includes two software programs with over 800 free music tracks and sound effects.  You can record and edit your audio files with a superb PC audio editing program, Sound Forge XP 4.5.  Then you can combine, overlay and create multiple track recordings with the second program, Acid Style.  The package comes with a “Quick Start” manual, but getting the program up and running is so easy you may not need it. Just in case, there is a full manual on the CD-ROM as well as a Help utility in the software.  You can always use the Windows feature that lets you click on a button to discover “what’s this?”  

The software is extremely easy to use.  It features the familiar Windows toolbars and simple click-and-drag commands.  If the AutoPlay feature is active on your PC, you’ll see a screen when you boot the Sound Forge CD-ROM.  Otherwise, you must run Setup from the Run option in the Windows Start menu.  Acid Style installs in a similar fashion. 

When you start Sound Forge XP, you will see the main screen where you do your editing.  You can open an existing sound file or record a new one. Each time you open a sound file it has its own window with Process, Effects and Tools menus for editing. There are two main toolbars, the Standard toolbar provides access to the common functions and the Transport toolbar contains the Record, Play, Rewind and other control buttons.  The status bar displays help, playback sample rate, sample size, mono/stereo and total length of the active data window and total free storage space.  As you would expect in the Windows interface, you can move the toolbars anywhere on the screen.  The data window displays the waveform along with a time ruler, level indicator, status and controls. 

Once you open a sound file you can play it by selecting the Play button on the Transport toolbar.  While the file is playing, a pointer will move along the waveform showing the current position.  You can play from any point by simply moving the cursor.  You can also play portions of the wave by clicking and dragging.  There is a playbar in the data window which may be used instead of the transport tools.  You can magnify or zoom to view portions of the file.  The cut, copy and paste functions let you trim and crop a section of data to customize your effect or eliminate pops and clicks that come from switching on an off the microphone for instance.  You can mix or combine two sounds together into one window so you can create complex sound effects.  

The second program in this software suite, Acid Style, makes it easy to make loop based music.  You can select pre-recorded sound clips and combine them as you wish on a maximum of eight tracks.  If that is not enough, you can upgrade to Acid Music, which allows you to add an unlimited number of tracks.  Acid Style consists of a library of pre-recorded loops and an editing screen that allows you to select and manipulate the loops, assembling them into a piece of music and then save and playback the results.

There are two ways to add loops to the Track List, you can double click or drag and drop.   Once you’ve established your loops in the track list, you then create events on each track.  An event is a loop that you place on a track programmed to repeat at a specific time at a specified volume.  The track view will show the waves inside of color rectangles.  The length of the rectangle indicates the duration of the event.  You use the Pencil tool to click in the track, then hold the mouse and drag the cursor, placing the loop on the track.  You can use the Erase tool to remove sections of the track.  Then press the Play button to listen to it.  Then you can use the individual controls for that track, including level and pan.  You’ve got a fader and two arrow buttons.  I was amazed at how easy it was to create music and I was anxious to make sound effects with it.  The Paint tool is used to insert events across multiple tracks. Press the Play button in the Toolbar above the Track View, and ACID Style begins playback from the current cursor position. To play the entire project, regardless of where the cursor is positioned, press the Play All button.

If you want to change the tempo of the project, move the Tempo slider in the lower left corner of the Track View. You can do this in “real time” as the project is playing. The software uses time compression and expansion on all of the loops to match your selected tempo. While the algorithm is very good, there are still some limitations. You probably will not be able to get a 120 bpm Loop to sound great at 60 bpm. After you add some Events, you will undoubtedly want to hear them. To play the project from the beginning at any time, press the Play All button. Pressing this button starts playback of the project from the very beginning of the project, no matter where the current cursor position is.

To play from a specific point in the project, click anywhere on the Track View with the Draw tool selected and press the Play button. The cursor moves to that location and begins playing. To stop playback, press the Stop button. The Stop button differs from the Pause button in that it stops playback and brings the cursor back to its starting position. The Pause button stops playback, but leaves the cursor at its current position.

Other buttons are provided for playback navigation as well. The Go to Start and Go to End buttons bring the cursor back to the start and end of the project, respectively. The Previous Marker and Next Marker buttons move the cursor to Markers that are defined in the project.

Once you master Sound Forge XP, you can upgrade or download the ExpressFX which provides you with easy to use special effects for your audio projects. There are many libraries with additional audio clips available for you to purchase.

Technical Requirements:

Pentium 133 MHz (Pentium II recommended) or Alpha AXP
Microsoft Windows 95 or NT 4.0 or later
Windows-compatible sound card
VGA color monitor
CD-ROM drive
32 MB of RAM
5 MB hard disk space for Acid Style program files
10 MB hard disk space for Sound Forge program files

Technical support is available if you register online or sent in the registration card.

Sonic Foundry
754 Williamson St.
Madison, WI 53791-8062 

Phone: (608) 256-5555
Fax: (608) 256-7300

Email: support@sonicfoundry.com

Web: www.sonicfoundry.com

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