MultiTrack DAW Help


Adding Tracks

The Hotbox

Recording

Regions and Bins

Bin Browser

Copy and Paste

Bounce

Loop Markers

Bus FX(new)

Master FX(new)

The Menu

Metronome

Wi-Fi

Sharing

Help

 

 


Adding Tracks

To add a Track Rail, press the + button.

AddTrack.png

The Track Rail is an empty shell which contains the Track Header (VU Meter, Volume and Pan controls, and Mute, Solo and Arm buttons), and the Waveform Display, which will contain the Regions. The number of channels (1 or 2, mono or stereo) is determined by the first Region to be pasted or recorded onto a Track Rail.

TrackHeader.png

 

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The Hotbox

To open the Hotbox, Touch Hold over a Region or empty area in a Track Rail in the Waveform display.

HotboxRegion.png

The Hotbox is a feature which pops up a context sensitive group of buttons surrounding the touch area. The non-linear editing features of MultiTrack DAW can be accessed by using the Hotbox. You can open the Hotbox by Touch Holding an area over a Track Rail or over a Track Header. For example if you Touch Hold over a Region, you get a Hotbox which includes the option of copying the Region. And if you Touch Hold over empty space on a track, you get a Hotbox which includes the option of pasting if the Pasteboard contains compatible data.

To select a Hotbox button, just slide over it and release. The Hotbox allows for overshoot, to make workflow faster and allow for easier button reading.

The Hotbox can be used to rename, copy, paste, edit, erase, slice, and open the Bin Browser.

NEW: The Edit tool when used on a single Region allows changing the start and end locations using the outer handles, and the fade in and fade out locations using the inner handles. When using the Edit tool on multiple Regions, they can be moved forward and backward through the timeline.

NEW: The Slice tool will split the selected region at the Hotbox location. If the Playhead is close to the Hotbox location, the Playhead location will be used instead.

 

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Recording

Important Note: Please disable the "Input Monitor" in the Menu if you are using the internal microphone (iPad) or have "Speaker Out" enabled (iPhone) and don't have headphones plugged in, as feedback can result.

Start by arming a track for recording. Tap the Button Group just below the track name, and a larger set of buttons will pop up for easy selection. Tap the Arm button to enable that track for recording. The button will light up in red to indicate the Track is armed.

ArmingTrack.png

Note that if you have "Input Monitor" checked in the Menu and are using the internal microphone, you will get feedback because of the close proximity of the speaker and microphone. Please be careful with the Input Monitor as feedback can result from an incorrect setup.

Now that a track is armed for recording, simply press the play and record buttons located in the Toolbar. To stop recording, press the play or record button again. The resulting Bin will be placed in the songs audio file library, viewable in the Bin Browser. The recorded Region will be latency compensated and placed in the Track Rail that was armed for recording.

ToolbarRecording.png

 

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Regions and Bins

In a non-linear editing environment, Regions and Bins are used to save filespace. A Bin is just an audio file, and a Region is simply pointers into that Bin. Many different Regions can share the same Bin, and because a Region only uses a small amount of memory, a huge amount of filespace can be saved.

Region.png

The Regions of a song are visible in the main waveform display on the Track Rails. The Bins of a song are visible in the Bin Browser.

To select and deselect Regions, touch and release without moving. A selected Region will be slightly darker in color.

To move Regions, select one or more Regions and then select Move from the Hotbox. A ghost region will appear for each of the selected Regions, which can then be dragged forward and backward through the timeline. To commit the changes, tap once without moving.

To trim a Region, select a Region and then select Trim from the Hotbox. A ghost Region will appear with circular drag handles. Use the handles to adjust the start and end points of the Region. To commit the changes, tap once without moving.

 

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Bin Browser

To open the Bin Browser, Touch hold to open the Hotbox and select the button labeled Bins...

The term "Bin" originally comes from the field of video editing. A digital audio workstation uses audio files as Bins. In MultiTrack DAW, the Bins of a song are visible in the Bin Browser.

BinBrowser2.png

There are three tabs accross the top, labeled "Song", "Shared", and "iPod".

These are the local Bins of a song. As you add audio to a song by recording, importing, or pasting, the audio will always be visible in this tab. The Bin Browser can be used to create Regions and copy them to the Pasteboard for later pasting into a song. To create a Region and copy it to the Pasteboard, select the button labeled Region Copy. For previewing the Region prior to copying, touch the Play button. The Loop toggle button can be used to help preview a region that will be used for Region Tiling within a song. The circular Drag Handles can be used to adjust the start and end points of the Region yet to be copied. After pressing the "Region Copy" button, close the Bin Browser and try pasting into a song using the Hotbox Paste button.

This is the shared documents folder of MultiTrack DAW, and is shared with all songs. It is also shared in iTunes, using iTunes File Sharing, on iOS3.2 or later. You can also create mixdowns and have them rendered into this folder.

On iOS4 or later, this tab will read your iPod library and allow you to copy Bins out of the iPod and into a song. Use the Play button for song preview, and the "Import Copy" button to export the track from the iPod library and copy it onto the pasteboard.

 

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Copy and Paste

To use the copy and paste functionality of MultiTrack, Touch hold to open the Hotbox and select the copy or paste button. The copy button will only be visible if one or more regions are selected, and the paste button will only be visible if data is in the Pasteboard.

MultiTrack DAW supports the system copy and paste of general audio files using Intua's system of handling large files copied to the Pasteboard. Supported applications include all of the apps that Intua's BeatMaker supports.

A multiple Region copy when the selected Regions are on different tracks will Bounce all the selected Regions into a new Bin, create a new Region, and copy that Bin and Region to the system Pasteboard. Pasting will result in the new Region at the paste point, and the new Bin in the Bin Browser.

 

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Bounce

A Bounce can be achieved by selecting Regions from more than one track, and then copied using the Hotbox. During the copy, the selected Regions will be mixed using 32 bits, using the volume and pan settings in the corresponding tracks. The mix is then normalized if it would have clipped 16 bits, and placed on the system Pasteboard. The resulting Region can then be Pasted onto a track.

When making the copy, if the Hotbox is opened within the Loop Markers, the copy will be trimmed to the Loop Markers.

 

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Loop Markers

The Loop Markers select an area used for previewing and adjusting a loop. To open the Loop Markers, touch the Ruler and drag right. To close the Loop Markers, touch the Ruler and drag left. After the Loop Markers are visible, the start and end points can be adjusted by dragging the small circle handles in the Ruler.

LoopMarkers.png

When Regions are copied within the selection area, the copied Regions will be trimmed to that area.

 

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Bus FX

To add Bus FX to a track, tap the Button Group just below the track name, and a larger set of buttons will pop up. Now tap the FX button, and then the FX Bus tab, and turn up the Send knob to feed signal to the FX Bus.

Tapping the OUT button in the Toolbar will bring up the output volume fader along with a button for opening the Bus FX control panel.

Reverb and Delay are available in the Bus FX control panel and Reverb is on by default. To turn on and off the Bus FX, use the power button in the upper left corner of each effect. Controls are also available to change the mix for each effect.

To change the order of effects, simply drag the Tab itself left or right. The signal flow is from left to right, so rightmost effects will get the signal after effects to the left.

 

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Master FX

Tapping the OUT button in the Toolbar will bring up the output volume fader along with a button for opening the Master FX panel.

Effects in the Master FX panel will be applied to the entire signal as a final step, use these effects for mastering. EQ and Compression are available as mastering effects.

To change the order of effects, simply drag the Tab itself left or right. The signal flow is from left to right, so rightmost effects will get the signal after effects to the left.

 

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The Menu

To open the Menu, touch and hold the Menu button located in the Toolbar.

Menu.png

1. Close Song - use this option to close the current song and return to the Song List.

2. Input Monitor - when enabled, audio from the input will be echoed through to the output for live monitoring of the recording. Use this with headphones for best results.

3. Auto Input - use this in conjunction with the "Punch" option. When enabled, the armed track will be heard when the Playhead is outside the punch range, and input will be heard when the Playhead is inside the punch range.

4. Speaker Out - use this option to switch between the speaker and the receiver on an iPhone, or to switch between internal audio and external audio if external audio is connected. This option is only available on iPhone.

5. Help/Sharing/Upgrades - this option will open a browser which can be used to view this help file, to send the final mixed song as an email attachment and upload to SoundCloud, and to upgrade MultiTrack DAW.

6. Punch - this is used to automatically start and stop recording at a precise time. When enabled, two handles colored red will be available to adjust the start and end times. To use Punch, arm the track for recording and record as normal, but recording will not start until the first handle is reached, and will stop at the second handle.

7. Snap - when enabled, moving the Playhead, Punch handles, Loop Markers, or editing Regions will snap them to the nearest Ruler line.

8. Redo - redoes the last Region edit or record.

9. Undo - undoes the last Region edit or record.

 

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Metronome

To change Metronome settings, touch the upper left corner of MultiTrack.

Metronome-Small.png

The Metronome Controller will pop up.

Metronome.png

Use the Arrows on the right and left of the controller to change the display mode. Touching the right arrow will cycle the mode in the following order:

Metronome -> Measure Display -> Sample Display -> Time Display -> back to Metronome

Also, the Ruler will change its display mode whenever the Display changes to Measure Display or to Time Display.

To change the Time Signature, Touch drag the Time Signature up and down to cycle through 2/2, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 7/4, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, and 12/8.

To change the Tempo, Touch drag the Tempo up and down to adjust it from 40 bpm to 240 bpm.

The "Click in Play" and "Click in Rec." buttons can be used to enable and disable the Metronome in play and record.

NEW: The Rightmost spinner control is the metronome volume. Touch drag up and down to change the volume level.

 

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Wi-Fi

To transfer songs, tracks, and bins using Wi-Fi, use the Menu to close the current song, and then select the Wi-Fi button from the Toolbar. An IP address should be displayed. Type this address into a web browser on a computer which is connected to the same Wi-Fi network. Once connected to MultiTrack, the web browser will display a page "Songs on MultiTrack" with an icon for each song. You can now click on a song icon to see all the transfer options for that song. Additional help for each song is available in the browser.

If you are having trouble getting an IP address, please check your network configuration in your devices Settings. MultiTrack DAW requires a working Wi-Fi connection to transfer files using Wi-Fi. Please see our support forum for details.

 

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Sharing

To access the sharing capabilities of MultiTrack DAW, use the menu option "Help/Sharing/Upgrades", and tap the "Sharing" tab. Three options will be available: Email, SoundCloud, and Mixdown.

The current song will be mixed and added to an email attachment. Please note that email has file size restrictions at 15MB. Songs exceeding this limit will be truncated, so use compression to send songs that are longer than a minute.

SoundCloud is a free service for sharing music, or for simply getting audio from your device to somewhere other than your device. You will need a SoundCloud account to use this feature, please visit www.soundcloud.com for more information. Once you are logged in, simply press the "Upload" button to automatically create a mix and upload it to your SoundCloud account. It will be placed in your private folder on SoundCloud.

This option will create the mixdown and place the file in the MultiTrack Documents folder. This folder is accessible on iOS3.2 or later in the iTunes file sharing section on iTunes 9.2 or later. To find the iTunes sharing section, open iTunes and select your device on the left pane. Now select the "Apps" tab, and scroll down to the "File Sharing" section. MultiTrack should be listed, so click on it and the current files in the Documents folder should be listed. You can drag files into and out of this folder. Dragging files into this folder provides an easy way to import audio into MultiTrack over the USB connection, with no Wi-Fi required. In MultiTrack, the folder is available in the Bin Browser under the "Shared" tab.

 

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Help

If you need additional help not mentioned here, or are experiencing technical difficulties, we would be happy to help. We are confident we can solve any issue you may be having, or to answer any questions you may have. Please send a message to support@harmonicdog.com or visit our support forum at forum.harmonicdog.com.

 

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