Acoustica Mixcraft 7 User Manual

USER MANUAL

46. If you don’t have Vista or an ASIO option enabled, select Wave. To reduce latency, decrease the Number Of Buffers and reduce the Buffer Size.

94 Adjust By Adjusts notes durations by a percentage. Force To Note values are:  Whole notes  1/32 notes  1/2 notes  1/64 note

95Before doubling:After doubling:PIANO, STEP, AND SCORE MIDI EDITORSThese editors allow precise creation and manipulation of MIDI note and controller

96PIANO ROLL TOOL BARThis how the Tool Bar appears when the Piano Roll Editor is selected:There are three main editing tools on the Piano Roll Editor

97 TAB and SHIFT+TAB select the next note and the previous note, respectively. Note: After selecting a note, if new notes are added, they will tak

98SNAPThe Piano Roll has a dedicated Snap control, allowing editing and movement of notes to exact measure and beat positions. All piano roll note siz

99Once you're satisfied with the loop, you can extend the clip in the Main Grid to loop it as many times as desired.CONTROLLER INFORMATIONMIDI con

100If the clip contains controller information for a specific controller, the controller number appears in bold in the pop-up list. You can also click

101Note that only the velocities of the selected Ab notes are being edited.PRECISE EDITING OF CONTROLLER INFORMATIONRight-clicking in the controller d

102STEP EDITORMixcraft’s Step Editor is a grid-based editor that should be familiar to users of classic Japanese “X0X” drum machines, but it’s far mor

103 Arrow Tool Notes can be selected by choosing the Arrow tool in the toolbar and clicking on them. Use this to delete notes, drag to new l

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104 Performance Panel set location. The exported region will be between the Loop Start and Loop End markers, so make sure these are in the desir

105  Select Mode This limits note selections to a specific key signature, scale, or mode. If notes outside of the chosen key or scale are

106  Add Voice This opens a keyboard and lets you add new voice(s) by clicking a key (or multiple keys) on the displayed keyboard.  Voi

107For example, if you had a virtual instrument called Big And Dumb Drums with a sound called Mega Kick on MIDI note 54, you would add the following l

108SCORE EDITORMixcraft allows editing, viewing, and printing in notation or sheet music form. Virtual Instrument Clips may also be viewed in the Scor

109There are three main editing tools on the Score Editor toolbar:  Arrow Tool Used for note selection, moving, and editing note durations. It can

110To remedy the situation, set the Tidy Note level to an 8th note or less.After changing the Tidy Note level, the note looks like a quarter-note.The

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113MIDI BASICSMIDI is an acronym for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is a series of messages that keyboards and synthesizers use to play note

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114MIDI CONTROLLERSA controller is another type of MIDI message that controls other parameters. The most commonly used controllers are Modulation and

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117PROJECT TABThe Project tab is primarily used for information and notes about the project. All fields are can be clicked and filled in with any text.

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119RECORDING AUDIOThere are two main ways to hook up recording hardware to your computer. Analog Mixer With Sound Card The outputs of an analog mi

120fader will turn red as shown in the picture above. If you’re using the ASIO audio driver, the track volume fader will disappear. This is normal, a

121 the track is armed for recording. This is because ASIO recording drivers do not support input level adjustment in software. To set the proper

122Once you have armed a track, you can record clips.1. Position the Caret for recording by clicking on the track.2. Click the Record button on the

123 and stopping each time. It’s generally used in conjunction with Loop Mode wherein a section is looped and each cycle records a new “take” (see

7QUICK STARTWe know what you’re thinking … “I don’t wanna read this big ol’ manual now, I wanna rock!” (or thereabouts). Don’t worry, we’ve got ya cov

124Be a Loop Mode Ninja!A faster way to set loop points is to drag a purple highlight area either in the Timeline or Main Clip Grid, then click the Lo

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127LOOP AND SOUND EFFECTS LIBRARYThe loop library contains a number of song kits and sound effects for royalty-free use within your own projects! Fee

128The list beneath changes dependent upon the currently selected Sort By category. The large sound list to the right will display all sounds meeting

129SORTING & COLUMNSSounds can be sorted by clicking on the column headers. To sort the column in descending order, click the column a second time

130To resize the width of columns, move the mouse over the black separator lines. The cursor will turn into a left/right arrow; click and drag to res

131IMPORTING FROM HARD DRIVE AND CDSSounds can be imported from a hard drive or loop CDs. To import sounds, click the +Import... button on the Librar

132 Default Song Kit Select or type in a name for a song kit if the imported sounds are to be associated with a specific Song Kit. This can be ea

133IMPORTING VIA DRAG AND DROPTo add a single audio file or folder, drag the files and/or folders into the Library window from Windows Explorer. After d

8The Main Grid window should look something like this:Click the green play arrow button in the transport section to hear the bass clip play; click a s

134 Default Song Kit Select or type in a name for a song kit if the imported sounds are to be associated with a specific Song Kit. This can be e

135 Import To Choose or type in the library name to import to. To create a new library, type in a name. Default Song Kit Select or type in

136LIBRARY FILE FORMAT (ADVANCED)User library files are stored in %programdata%\Acoustica\Mixcraft\UserLibrarySounds\ as .mldb files. Mixcraft reads al

137MLDB FIELDSMLDB files contain a number of columns:Field Name Description Valid ValuesGenre This is the genre "Rock", "Jazz", etc

138Acoustica Sound ID This is a special sound ID used internally for Mixcraft projects. It is a way of allowing projects saved on any computer to be

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141PERFORMANCE PANELMixcraft’s Performance Panel allows fast and fun creation of entire tracks using MIDI and audio clips. Though it can be “played” w

142 To rename a set, double-click on the text, type a new name, and press return (or click outside of the text box area). Performance Panel Grid

143 drums or sound effects with an external pad controller, for example), but since the Cue button affects all clips in the Performance Panel, it’

9RECORDING AN AUDIO TRACKSelect a blank audio track in the Track List at the left side of the screen. Existing blank audio tracks will already be name

144 Trigger Mode – This lets you customize how loops trigger when their play button is pressed.  Retrigger – Clip will repeat from its start

145  Toggle – This works like an on/off switch: press play to start a clip, and press again to stop it. Note that the Cue setting affects the

146USING THE PERFORMANCE PANELTo use to the Performance Panel, simply drag clips into individual grid locations. You can drag in loops from the Mixcra

147CONFIGURING THE LAUNCHPAD CONTROLLERThe Novation Launchpad doesn’t need any special drivers. Here’s how to get it up and running in a jiffy:1. Plu

148 A – D Buttons – Though there are Launchpad’s main grid buttons “only” comprise an 8x8 grid, Mixcraft’s onscreen grid has no size/cell number

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151AUDIO MIXERBy now you’ve probably used the channel volume and pan controls in the track list. Basic mixes can be created this way, but the Mixer wi

152CHECK ALL/CHECK NONECheck All/Check None lets you rapidly show or hide all mixer channels. Chekov, on the other hand, is that guy on Star Trek.SEND

153Notes ButtonSolos the audio on the track and mutes other non-soloed tracks.Mutes the track's audio.Selects the channel input source for Audio

10Important Note: If you’re using an audio device with an ASIO driver (you can check in File>Preferences>Sound Device), the volume slider will d

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155VIDEO EDITINGMixcraft includes powerful video editing features that let you: Add a musical soundtrack to a video. Add sound effects to a video.

156VIDEO PREVIEW WINDOW This Video Preview window displays the video at the current playback position, including text and any currently active effect

157 ADDING PHOTOS/IMAGESPhotos or images can be added by clicking Video>Add a Video File... in the Main Window menus. This opens a file dialog which

158EDITINGThe amount of time a photo is displayed can be altered by moving the mouse to the left or right edge of the clip and dragging horizontally t

159In Time mode: If in Beats mode:

160DURATIONSets the length of clips. Fitting To Audio Length If you have a lot of audio, such as a song or several songs, and you’d like the i

161 VIDEO EFFECTSVideo effects can be added to alter a video’s appearance over time. You can fade in and out, add blur, transition to gray scale and m

162VIDEO EFFECTS AUTOMATION DISPLAYAdding Mixcraft’s video effects is very similar to automating audio parameters. Multiple video effects lanes can be

163SELECTING A VIDEO EFFECTTo choose an effect, click on the drop-down menu in the tracklist.VIDEO EFFECTS LISTLightness Lightness (High CPU) Grayscal

11Here we go. click the red Record button in the transport (the one with the red dot), wait four clicks for recording to begin and record something! W

164Emboss XOR (Invert/Negative) Sepia Antique (Light) Antique (Heavy) Red Channel Strength Green Channel Strength Blue Channel Strength Red Filter Gre

165FINE TUNING AND DELETING AUTOMATION POINTSEDIT EXACT VALUETo precisely set automation point values, right-click it and choose Edit Exact Value. The

166ADDING AND EDITING TEXTUse the Text feature to add titles, lyrics, captions, and more.To open the Edit Text window, click Video>Add Text… in the

167THE TEXT OBJECTThe Text Object is the field within the red rectangle where text will be contained. To resize the Text Object, click and drag on the

168OPACITY TABThe Opacity Tab changes the text and background colors, as well as the transparency level.  Text/Background Opacity Sliders Movin

169  Orientation Choose whether the text justifies left, center, or right, and top, center, or bottom.  Margins Percentage setting for verti

170FADE TABText can be faded in and out over time using the Fade tab. Check the Fade In or Fade Out checkboxes, then set the desired fade duration. As

171EDITING TEXT CLIP SIZEResizing a Text Clip alters how long the text is displayed. To change the the size a text clip, click on the clip’s left or r

172All editing functionality and tabs work the same as when editing static text, but because Scrolling Text inherently moves from the bottom to the to

173RENDERING EDITED VIDEOSOnce the editing of a video is completed, it needs to be output to a single file for playback. Because videos typically conta

12First, create a new virtual instrument track. Click the +Track button at the top left, and select Insert Virtual Instrument Track. Now click the tra

174Dimensions The Dimensions drop-down menu allows selection of the most common standard definition and high-def (HD) sizes. The Set Custom Dimensions

175FRAME RATEThe Frame Rate drop-down menu allows selection of the most common frame rates used in video, film, and TV. The Set Custom Frame Rate check

176WMV ADVANCED SETTINGS DIALOGFor more detailed control over WMV compression characteristics, select Specify Settings and click Settings... Now woul

177Should I change the default frame rate?Probably not. Increasing the frame rate to one higher than any of the project’s video clips won’t improve fin

178  Variable Bit Rate with Bit Rate Ceiling This two-pass method uses a variable bit rate, which means that it’s likely (but not guara

179720x480 NTSC - Remember that big heavy thing with a glass screen that used to reside in your living room? Me neither. Before high-def, 720x480 was

180How can I create the smallest video files?Video dimensions and bit rate will usually impact file size the most, with smaller dimensions and lower bi

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183LOADING AND SAVING PROJECTSThe New Project Settings window is displayed when the Mixcraft program icon (or a shortcut) is double-clicked. It lets y

13and MIDI keyboard are really far away from each other, choosing 1 bar should give you plenty of time to get those fingers poised. Hit OK when you’re

184INSTRUMENT TRACKSDefines the number of virtual instrument tracks automatically created by Mixcraft. Either click the number and enter a number on th

185LOAD AN EXISTING PROJECTMixcraft can load Mixcraft project files (mx7, mx6, mx5, mx4, or mx3) by clicking the File menu and choosing Open Project...

186MIXING DOWN A PROJECT TO AN AUDIO FILETo save the project as an MP3, WAV, OGG or WMA file, use the File>Mix Down To Audio File command in the Mai

187COPY PROJECT FILES TO...A project and all sounds, videos and/or recordings used within it can be easily saved to a single folder or zip file. This i

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189EXPLORING THE MAIN WINDOWThough much of this is covered in the Mixcraft Reference section at the beginning of the manual (see pg. 19), here we’ll g

190MAIN WINDOW TOOLBARThe Main Window Toolbar contains button shortcuts for many frequently used functions and parameters. Here, we’ll go over its fun

191UNDOCancels the last operation. The same as pressing CTRL+Z.REDORestores the last operation. The same as pressing CTRL+Y.ZOOM INWidens the horizont

192REGISTERUse this to register your copy of Mixcraft.Note: The Register button disappears once Mixcraft has been properly registered. (See Registrati

193To set the Snap level, click on the Snap Setting drop-down menu and a click a time division setting.  Snap Settings Off Grid Grid (Tr

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14At this point, you could just click the X in the top-right corner and be off on your delayin’ way, but most likely you’ll want to change the default

194TIME MODE/BEATS MODEIn Time mode, all controls and the timeline display time in minutes:seconds:milliseconds format.In Beats mode, all controls and

195Shortcut Key Function ControlLLoop ModeToggles loop mode for recording or playback.MMetronomeToggle the playback, recording, or count-in metronomes

196PLAYBACK TIME READOUT/DISPLAYThis is the green readout that shows the current playback indicator time or measure and beat position. It also shows t

197LOOP MODE & PUNCH IN/OUTMixcraft can be set to play or record in loop mode. Punch In/Out lets you record at a specific time section. These modes

198Markers' Eect On Tempo, Key, and Time Signature!Keep in mind that using Markers to set tempo, key, and time signature always overrides any se

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201MIXING DOWN TO AUDIO AND VIDEO FILESProjects can be mixed down to any of the following audio file types:  MP3  WAV  WMA  OGGClick the Mix

202  Edit Details... This opens a window where you can set the audio quality for MP3, WAV, and OGG format files. Higher quality settings wi

203 such a thing, but suit yourself.)  Mix Down To Video Projects containing video can be mixed down to a new video file. Mixcraft suppo

15This opens up the Acoustica Delay interface and lets you set its parameters to your liking. You can press the play button in the transport and hear

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205BURNING AUDIO CD’STo burn an audio CD, click the Burn CD icon on the toolbar, or select File>Burn CD... (CTRL+B) from the Main Window menus.Inse

206  Convert To WAV First This converts the mix to one or more WAV files on your hard drive. CD- quality WAV files require around 8 MB for eve

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209MARKERSMarkers serve a variety of purposes. They can be used simply for adding notes such as “Chorus Here!” or “fix the guitar effects at mix time,”

210If Snap is on, Marker placement will conform to the current Snap setting. (Remember this if the Marker doesn’t seem to be landing where you want it

211  Create Track For CDs or Audio Files Creates track numbers if the project is to be burned to an audio CD using Mixcraft’s Burn Audio CD fun

212INSERTING TIMERegions of time may be inserted into the project. This automatically repositions all markers, automation, and clips. This is useful,

213 Select Edit>Delete Selected Time in the Main Window menus, or by right-clicking in the Timeline. Here’s the project after time deletion:All cli

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214  Automatically Create Track Markers: At Intervals Of This creates Markers at the specified intervals. Select the number of minutes betwe

215  Remove and Trim Silence This automatically cuts out silences between audio content. It’s good for getting rid of long pauses in conti

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217EFFECTSMixcraft includes a large suite of real-time audio effects that can be applied to audio clips or virtual instruments. These are usually refe

218  Active/Inactive Checkbox Effects can be toggled on or off by clicking the green check mark to the left of the effect name. The check m

219  Active Checkbox Exactly the same as the Active/Inactive checkbox in the Effect List window, just replicated in the effect interface

220EFFECTS CHAINSA series of effects can be configured in the Effect List window by adding effects using the <Select An Effect> dialog.To rearran

221The icons to the right of the Effects Chain drop-down menu perform the following operations:  Save A New Preset Saves the current Effects Chai

222Master FX can also be edited by clicking the Main Mix FX button in the Mixer tab:... or by clicking the FX button in the Master Track in the track

223Click the Add... button, navigate to the VST effect in Windows Explorer, and click OK. If you’re not sure where the new VST plug-in is, click the

17REGISTRATIONFollowing installation, Mixcraft runs in trial mode for 14 days, so you’ll want to register as soon as possible for full functionality.

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225INCLUDED EFFECTSAll Mixcraft editions include the following effects:ACOUSTICA CHORUS Chorus is used to thicken up a sound, by adding tiny variation

226Compressors reduce the difference in volume between quiet sounds and loud sounds in a recording. This effect is often used on vocals and drums, whe

227Acoustica Distortion adds audio distortion similar to that used on electric guitars. This effect can range from subtle grit to extreme destruction

228ACOUSTICA FLANGERFlangers delay the signal by a small amount while slowly varying the delay time, producing a swept comb-filter effect, commonly ref

229Used to recreate the subtle echoes and reverberation of a natural room, reverb effects are some of the most useful in music. A single violin or pia

230CLASSIC CHORUSSimilar to the Acoustica Chorus effect, but with some additional features and a unique sound.CLASSIC COMPRESSORSimilar to the Acousti

231Like the Acoustica Delay effect, this offers echo and delay effects, but goes much further with several outstanding features. Most exciting is Sync

232CLASSIC MASTER LIMITERSimilar to the Acoustica Compressor in function, the Classic Master Limiter is intended to be used in the Master Effects bus

233unique audio “fingerprint,” so it’s often good to have a few different types for different characters.VOXENGO AMP SIMULATORVoxengo Amp Simulator is

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234VOXENGO SPECTRUM ANALYZER Voxengo Spectrum Analyzer is a supremely powerful tool for viewing the frequency spectrum of audio content. This is great

235There's no easier way to EQ tracks! Instead of adjusting numeric parameters or spinning virtual knobs, EZQ lets you move a dot within a 2D pla

236MIXCRAFT 7 ADDITIONAL PLUG-INSMixcraft 7 (Standard Edition) adds the following plug-ins:VOCALZAPVocalZap removes vocals and other center-panned con

237G-Sonique’s Pultronic Tube EQ is a detailed recreation of a classic vintage vacuum-tube based equalizer found in top studios throughout the world.

238BROADCAST MULTIBAND COMPRESSORBroadcast Processor is a multiband compressor/limiter designed to impart maximum overall volume to a mix by breaking

239GSnap is a state-of-the-art pitch correction plug-in that’s ideal for subtly (or not-so-subtly) tuning vocal performances in real-time (i.e. as the

240Acoustica Pro Studio Reverb takes the lush, crystal-clear reverb used in our award-winning Pianissimo grand piano and expands it into a flexible, gr

241FAT+ mixes all of the essential ingredients for truly huge sounds into one powerful plug-in, combining analog warmth, vacuum-tube distortion, and t

242FSQ1964 TRANSIENT VITALISERThis powerful mastering tools adds sweet high frequencies, analog colors, crystal and transparent transients, and boldne

243IZOTOPE MASTERING ESSENTIALSMastering Essentials delivers Izotope’s world-class mastering tools to Mixcraft with a gorgeous-sounding parametric EQ,

19MIXCRAFT REFERENCEA visual guide to the individual sections of the Mixcraft 7 user interface.MAIN WINDOWThis is where you’ll spend most of your time

244MID-SIDE ENVELOPE FOLLOWER+An envelope follower using the dynamics and amplitude of the incoming audio to modulate the cutoff frequency of a filter…

245Mid-Side Harmonic Vitaliser+ is a stereo enhancer featuring a new technology for vitalizing, coloring, controlling, adjusting, and widening stereo

246TB GATEA good gate effect is critical for removing noise and mud from a mix. Gates remove hiss and noise from areas of a track containing no desira

247TB PARAMETRIC EQUALIZERThe key to a good mix is proper EQ’ing, and this graphic parametric equalizer has a gorgeous interface, six color-coded band

248TIMEMACHINE BIT CRUSHERRecreate the sound of 8-bit video games, 12-bit samplers, or trash audio by turning it into 2-bit noise! TimeMachine simula

249TWISTHEAD VS-206 PREAMP Adds subtle analog warmth or fierce overdriven tube grit to tracks. This vintage tube preamp adds 1960's charm and char

250XBASS 4000L BASS ENHANCERXBass 4000L adds the warm, fat bass tone found in vintage tube circuits to your projects. XBass 4000L combines two unique

251DUBSHOX Multi-Band Distortion is a multi-band distortion and waveshaping unit with over 40 types of distortion and shapers, from analog, transistor

252PSEQ-1 VACUUM TUBE PASSIVE EQThe PSEQ-1 Vacuum Tube Passive EQ faithfully replicates the sweet and warm “undoctored” tonality of passive EQ circuit

253TrebleCream is a unique new master bus plug-in intended to minimize the effect of screaming or distorted mid-treble frequencies and transients resu

20MAIN WINDOW TOOLBARContains button shortcuts for frequent Mixcraft functions and parameters.TRACK HEADERButton shortcuts atop the Track List allowin

254VTC-1 VACUUM TUBE COMPRESSORPentode Audio VTC-1 Vacuum Tube Compressor is an analog-modeled virtual VST compressor with a warm analog and transpare

255FUSION FIELDFusion Field is a smooth diffusion reverb that sits beautifully in a mix. Designed to imitate complex, natural spaces, it’s also very e

256SIDEKICK6SideKick 6 Extended is the easiest, yet most comprehensive sidechain compressor available. Sidechaining lets you compress one sound with a

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259VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTSVirtual instruments are like having a keyboard instrument within Mixcraft. They can be played and recorded using a USB or MIDI k

260 FAVORITES Frequently used and favorite Instrument Presets can be tagged by simply clicking on the star to the left of Instrument Preset. Once you’

261REWIRE DEVICESThis section displays available ReWire applications. Selecting a ReWire application automatically creates a ReWire track for that app

262EDITING VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT PRESETSCustom Virtual Instrument presets featuring multiple layered synthesizers, edited presets, custom key ranges and

263After selecting an instrument, the following parameters can be set:ADDING EFFECTS TO INSTRUMENT PRESETSTo add effects to Instrument Presets, click

21MAIN CLIP GRIDThis is the playback and recording area where audio, MIDI, and video clips can be created and moved.PLAYHEADWhen playback is stopped,

264Effects chain can be created with as many effects as desired.SETTING AN INSTRUMENT PRESET ICONTo add a custom icon to an Instrument Preset, click t

265installed. Custom presets will be saved under %appdata%\Acoustica\Mixcraft\InstPresets\( %appdata% is a Window's shell variable that is expand

266VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT PRESET MANAGEMENTThough each Virtual Instrument will have a unique user interface, they share the same controls on the top of th

267ADDING THIRD PARTY VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTSIf a VSTi instrument has been installed and it’s not visible in the Instrument List, you'll need to add

268Click the Edit VST/VSTi Folders button and navigate to the folder containing the Virtual Instrument, and add the folder by clicking the Add… button

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271INCLUDED VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTSThe following virtual instruments are included with all versions of Mixcraft.ACOUSTICA INSTRUMENTSA huge library of car

272MESSIAHThis incredibly accurate recreation of the famous Sequential Circuits Prophet-5™ synthesizer takes the concept even further, with increased

273The Moog Minimoog™ is the most famous analog monophonic synthesizer in history. Invented by the late Dr. Robert Moog, this instrument took the inte

22AUDIO AND MIDI CLIPSClips can contain either MIDI data or audio. Clip automation can edited as well.Tip: Zoom in and out by spinning your mouse whee

274MIXCRAFT 7 ADDITIONAL INSTRUMENTSMixcraft 7 (Standard Edition) adds the following instruments:ACOUSTICA EXPANDED INSTRUMENTSA rich addition to the

275The Rhodes™ and Wurlitzer™ electric pianos defined much of the sound of the 1970s. Featured in songs like Billy Joel's “Just The Way You Are”,

276COMBO ORGAN MODEL VA recreation of the classic Vox Continental™ transistor combo organ. Great for 60s rock, surf rock, and more! (Especially the f

277Renegade combines the warm and organic sound of vintage analog synths with the sharpness, toughness, and precision of modern digital synths. With a

278the ancient centuries to modern times, from Asia to Africa, and everything in between. Truly inspiring and totally unique!MIXCRAFT PRO STUDIO 7 ADD

279MEMORYMOON ANALOG SYNTHESIZERNo synthesizer in history has ever sounded more massive than the legendary Moog Memorymoog, and Memorymoon perfectly c

280High quality, award-winning grand piano featuring 250MB of Steinway Model D piano samples combined with powerful piano modeling technology.GLASS VI

281Also new in Mixcraft Pro Studio 7 is ME80 Version 2, a fantastic update of the ME80 virtual analog polysynth. Now with 64- and 32-bit modes, a gorg

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283ALPHA SAMPLERNew for Mixcraft 7 is Alpha Sampler, an easy-to-use basic sampler that’s fast and fun. It’s so easy, it almost doesn’t need any instru

23ADDING/MOVING/SIZING/DELETINGDrag, right-click, or use key shortcuts to add, delete, move, and duplicate tracks.MOVING TRACKSTracks can be moved by

284SAMPLE DISPLAY WINDOW Load Sound. Opens the dialog box letting you select a sample to load into Alpha Sampler. Since Alpha Sampler can only have o

285Fine Tune. Allows adjustment of the sample’s pitch + or - 100 cents. You can quickly restore the Fine Tune control to zero by double-clicking the k

286Mod Wheel. Consists of a low-frequency oscillator (LFO) capable of controlling Alpha Sampler’s pitch or filter cutoff frequency, resulting in vibrat

287Lo-Fi. Processes Alpha Sampler’s output down to an 8 kHz sample rate and eight-bit word depth for a crunchy, aggressive sound similar to classic vi

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289OMNI SAMPLEROmni Sampler expands Alpha Sampler simple drag-and-drop concept to a familiar 16-pad drum machine grid sampler with easily switchable “

290If you’d like to play the same sample on separate pads, simply re-load the sample at a different pad location. Be aware that Mixcraft 7 automatical

291PERFORMANCE CONTROLSOmni Sampler’s performance controls include Pitch, Filter, Envelope, and Output settings and are set separately for each pad in

292Resonance. Emphasizes frequencies close to the cutoff frequency. The higher the setting of the Resonance knob, the greater the emphasis, resulting

293GLOBALThe Global button makes the Performance Controls (Pitch, Filter, Envelope, Output, Loop, Reverse, and Lo-Fi) affect all currently loaded soun

iiiTABLE OF CONTENTSMixcra Home Studio 7 Limitations ...1Important Sound Setup Information ...

24FREEZE TRACKIf your computer is slow or you’re hearing gapping or stuttering as a result of many effects or time stretching, tracks can be frozen to

294Triangle/Square Wave Switch. Toggle between triangle and square LFO waves. The triangle waveform cycles up and down in a smooth and uniform fashion

295Renaming a sample pad To rename a sample pad, right-click and choose Rename. The current name will be highlighted; type a new name and hit the retu

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297PLUG-IN MANAGEMENTMixcraft lets you enable and disable virtual instruments and plug-ins, as well group and sort plug-ins when loading using Collect

298To create a new collection, click the + sign button, then type a name for the collection and hit return. Now select a category above, and drag the

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301USING NATIVELY SUPPORTED HARDWARE CONTROLLERS Mixcraft 7 features native support for the Mackie Control Universal (formerly known as “Logic Control

302 If the device is USB, select it in the Input and Output columns to the right. If the device is MIDI, select the name of the MIDI interface in th

303MACKIE CONTROL DISPLAYThe Mackie Control display shows the following information for each of the current tracks: Track panning percentage, left o

25The Choose A Track Image window will open:1. Select a new image and click OK.2. Add Your Own Image Or Photo3. Custom images can be added as well.

304OVERWRITE AND TOUCH FADER AUTOMATION MODESWhen used in conjunction with a Mackie Control Universal, automation data can be written in real time by

305Record transport control initiates recordingJog wheel moves playhead forward or back by snap valueJog wheel+Shift button adjusts volume of currentl

306CONFIGURING THE MIXCRAFT REMOTE MOBILE APPMixcraft Remote is a free mobile app for iOS and Android that lets you control the transport and other fu

307Fast-forward transport control moves playhead forward by 4x snap valueFast-forward to end transport controlmoves playhead to end of projectUndo can

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309USING GENERIC MIDI CONTROLLERS AND CONTROL SURFACESA MIDI keyboard or other MIDI device with knobs, sliders, or buttons can be set up to control Mi

310 Click on the command to learn. Command categories can be chosen using the Category menu on the left side. Move the knob, button, slider or pus

311SAVING AND LOADING CONTROL SURFACES ASSIGNMENTSControl surfaces assignments can be saved and loaded if you have multiple keyboards or want to reuse

312 Solo/Unsolo Selected Track  Arm/Disarm Selected Track  Monitoring For Selected Track Toggle  Guitar Tuner For Selected Track Toggle  EQ

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26Track colors can be individually set by selecting Track>Properties>Track Color in the main window drop-down menus or by right-clicking a track

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315MUSICAL TYPING KEYBOARD (MTK) If you do not have a MIDI keyboard attached to your computer, you can use your computer's standard QWERTY keyboa

316Need More Keys, Please!Musical Typing functionality will depend upon your computer's keyboard. Many computer keyboards do not allow more than

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319PREFERENCESPreferences are options that are changed infrequently and allow you to customize how the software behaves. To open the Preferences, sele

320It’s All About The DriversAlways make sure that you’ve downloaded the latest audio drivers for your sound device or audio system. Not only are aud

321device and will need to be restarted after Mixcraft is either shut down or out of Exclusive Mode.ASIO-SPECIFIC PREFERENCESThese are the preference

322  Bit Depth This is the number of bits per sample. 16-bit is the default for CD quality. Mixcraft supports bit depths up to 24-bit for u

323editor.DISPLAYDRAW AUDIO AND MIDI DATA ON CLIPSDetermines whether or not the audio and MIDI data is displayed on the clips. Turning this off could

27NOTE ON ARMED TRACKSWhen using Core Audio/Wave RT or Wave audio drivers, if an audio track is armed for recording (Arm button will be red), the volu

324Places the Playhead at the click location. Also restarts playback from this location if the project is playing back.AUTO-REWIND TO START POSITION W

325These settings affect how the mouse wheel controls zooming and scrolling. Choose combinations to custom configure the mouse wheel behavior.The defau

326DELETE UNUSED RECORDINGS DURING SAVE OR ON EXITIf this option is checked, Mixcraft delete any recordings made that are not currently on any tracks

327MIDISet MIDI preferences here.DEFAULT MIDI INPUT DEVICEIf you have MIDI interfaces or MIDI keyboards, choose the interface that you'd like to

328CONTROL SURFACESAs of the initial release of Mixcraft 7, natively supported Control Surfaces include the Novation Launchpad, Mackie Control (aka MC

329UP/DOWN ARROWSIf you’re using more than one of the same fader controller, these let you move devices up and down in the list. This effectively lets

330PLUG-INSLOAD VST EFFECTS AND INSTRUMENTS (VST/VSTI)Mixcraft will load VST effects and virtual instruments upon launch when this box is checked.EDIT

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332

333MAIN WINDOW MENUSFILE MENUNEW PROJECT (CTRL+N)Creates a new project and shows the New Project Settings dialog.OPEN PROJECT... (CTRL+O)Opens or load

28CARETThe Caret is a line and two triangles indicating the precise point on the Main Clip Grid where edits happen, and where playback or recording be

334RECENT PROJECTSDisplays the ten most recently loaded or saved projects for quick access. To load a recent project, click on it. EXITThis closes Mix

335MERGE TO NEW CLIPS (CTRL+W)This merges the selected clips into a new clip. This functions on a per-track basis and does not combine clips from diff

336SET MASTER VOLUMESets the master volume to an exact amount or from 20% to 200%.MIDI RESET!Sends a panic message to all virtual synthesizers and ext

337  Touch Mode When used with a control surface with touch-sensitive faders Touch Mode overwrites automation data only when the fader is b

338  Track Height Opens a submenu for setting the selected track height to Small, Normal, or Large.  Choose Image... Opens the Track Imag

339MIX TO NEW AUDIO TRACKMixes the selected track to a new audio track with current effects applied. The original track is retained and muted after th

340  Normalize (CTRL+K) This sets the volume of all selected sounds to the normalized level. Normalized level is based on the highest peak in the

341Linked clips will have the button in the title bar. Click the button to unlink clips. SPLIT (CTRL+T)This splits selected clips at the current Care

342SET NON-CLIP BACKGROUND COLOR...Sets the color of the background if no video or image clips are present.SHOW/HIDE VIDEO WINDOWShows or hides the vi

343ZOOM OUT (-)Zooms out for a wider view. ZOOM TO PROJECT (0)Fits the entire project to the screen.HELP MENUHELP FILE...Opens the Help File. CHECK FO

29Audio tracks contain audio clips. Audio clips can be recorded by the user or loaded from pre-existing libraries.LOADING AUDIO FILESTo load an audio

344

345KEYBOARD SHORTCUTSNAVIGATION, PLAYBACK, AND RECORDINGFunction Keyboard ShortcutPlay / Stop [SPACE]Play From Next Marker CTRL+[SPACE]Play From Previ

346Moving the Caret If snap is on, the caret will move at the current snap setting.CTRL + arrow keys moves the caret +/- 20 milliseconds. CTRL + SHIFT

347SNAP ADJUSTMENTS Function Keyboard ShortcutOff ~Measure 11/2 Notes 21/4 Notes 31/8 Notes 41/16 Notes 51/32 Notes 61/64 Notes 7MIDI EDITINGFunction

348SELECTING CLIPSFunction Keyboard ShortcutSelect All CTRL+ASelect All On Track CTRL+SHIFT+ASelect All On Lane CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+ASelect Next Clip [TAB]

349ZOOMING AND SCROLLINGFunction Keyboard ShortcutZoom To Project 0Zoom In -Zoom Out +Scroll Up/Down Mouse WheelScroll Horizontal SHIFT+Mouse WheelScr

350Function Keyboard ShortcutBoost Clip 5% ALT+CTRL+WReduce Clip 5% ALT+CTRL+SBoost Clip 25% ALT+CTRL+EReduce Clip 25% ALT+CTRL+DBoost Clip 50% ALT+CT

351

352

353CURSORSARROWThe default cursor. ENVELOPE POINT EDITThis cursor shows that an envelope point can be added or moved. ERASERThis cursor shows that not

30GUITAR TUNEREach audio track features a built-in tuner. Though we refer to it as a “guitar tuner,” it will work with any monophonic instrument signa

354 PENCILThis cursor shows that new notes or controller data can be drawn. PLAY SOUNDThis cursor shows that a sound from the sound library can be pl

355SHARP TOOLThis cursor is used to raise a note or piano roll bar by one half step/semitone in Notation View. Always excercise caution when using a s

356

357TROUBLESHOOTINGHere are some answers to common problems and issues. If you can't find a solution in this section, you'll find numerous supp

358 Another program may be using the sound card at the same time. (May happen with older versions of Windows.)  Update or install your sound card&

359SOUND IS DELAYED OR LAGGING (LATENCY)The opposite of sound breaking up or gapping is an audible delay of sound playback and/or latency from the tim

360SOUND PLAYS BACK TO SLOW OR FASTIf loaded sounds play back too fast or too slow, it's most likely because the sound is being tempo adjusted by

361If you have a Soundblaster LIVE, try recording in 48 kHz mode, by switching your Sound Device preferences to the 48 kHz sample rate.  Drift Wor

362NEW TRACKS ARE RECORDING SOUND FROM OTHER TRACKS (BLEEDING OVER)If newly recorded tracks are picking up parts of other tracks, your microphone or i

363If you're using an ASIO device or other external audio device, you won’t see an input level slider on armed tracks (this inherent to ASIO audi

31When activated, the layout shows the “mini music keyboard,” octave, transpose, velocity, and other relevant parameters. ARMING A MIDI TRACK FOR REC

364VIDEO IS NOT LOADINGIf the video fails to load, it’s likely because you’re missing the correct DirectX video codec. Do one of the following:Install

365Open or double-click the file, add the name of the effect, and set it to equal = 1. For example, if you had an effect you didn't want to load

366CD Burning Engine DetailsPrimo The default and preferred burning engine. Burns on-the-fly, CD-Text, and supports gapless tracks.IMAPI The drawback

367 Mix the project down to WAV files and then use a third-party burning program that supports the CD- or DVD-burner. In the Mix Down dialog, make su

368If one of the above is happening, it could be the DirectX video decoder. The best solution is to convert the video file to AVI or WMV format. AVI an

369 Verify that security software or an Internet firewall isn’t blocking Mixcraft’s access to the Internet. It may be necessary to reconfigure firewall

370ASIOASIO provides an interface between the audio application and sound card. It’s an acronym for Audio Stream Input/Output. It was developed by Ste

371DAODAO stands for Disc-At-Once. During the CD burning process, the entire CD is written continuously without the write laser being turned off. This

372MegabyteA megabyte is approximately one million bytes ( 1024 X 1024 bytes ). A typical hard drive stores around 40 GB (gigabytes). A gigabyte is

373PCMPulse-code modulation (PCM) is a digital representation of an analog signal where the magnitude of the signal is sampled regularly at uniform in

32Alternatively, you could split one MIDI keyboard into two sections, sending the first section or range of notes to MIDI channel 1 and the second rang

374Time StretchTime stretching is the process of changing the speed or duration of an audio signal without affecting its pitch. Virtual Instrument Cli

375

33Checking the Automatically add all instrument output tracks for Virtual Instruments box at the bottom will always enable all available individual ou

ivIncluded Virtual Instruments ...271Alpha Sampler ... 283Omni Sampl

34To toggle viewing of the video playback window, click the Show/Hide Video Window button. A video preview window will open, and the Show/Hide Video W

35A project has one Master Track. Think of this as the stereo master output the entire mix gets routed through. Volume, panning, and effects can be ad

36ROUTING AUDIO TO A SEND TRACKAdd a Send Track to the project by clicking the +Track button and selecting Add Send Track. You can also click Track>

37Once the Send Track is selected, a knob appears. This sets the amount of signal sent to the Send Track.The send level can be set by clicking and dra

38AUDIO SIGNAL FLOWTo reiterate, the send volume type determines whether audio from the track is routed to the Send Track before or after the track fa

39SUBMIX TRACKA SubMix track routes audio to an intermediate track before the Main Mix master volume. This is very useful as a master volume control f

40Volume, panning, solo, mute, insert effects, and automation remain independently adjustable for SubMix child tracks. Tracks may also be dragged and

41CREATE HEADPHONE CUE OR MONITOR MIXESWhen recording or performing live, each musician will likely need their own custom monitor mix. The keyboard pl

42REWIREReWire is an audio and MIDI protocol developed by Propellerhead Software allowing Mixcraft to access sounds, virtual instruments, and feature

43Once a ReWire track has been created, all transport controls, including play, rewind, and stop, as well as tempo changes and loop points, will be se

vGETTING STARTEDWelcome to Mixcraft 7, a powerful recording DAW software offering the tools and performance power to create professional music and vid

44TRACK LIST AUTOMATION CONTROLSToggle Automation This displays and hides automation lanes for individual tracks. If a track has no prior automation,

45 Lock Button This synchronizes the movements of lane automation with onscreen displays of channel volume and pan, as well as submix, send, out

46SELECTING PARAMETERS FOR AUTOMATIONTo select a parameter for automation, click a track’s Automation Parameter drop-down lane in the track list – by

47Dragging an automation point over other automation points will cause them to be “overrun” and deleted upon mouse release.FINE TUNING AND DELETING AU

48Automation data may be freely copied between tracks, and even to different parameter lanes. You can also copy multiple automation lanes or automatio

49 Reduce Lowers the value of automation data in the currently selected lane by 5%, 10%, 25%, or 50%. Clear All Automation Deletes all automa

50Remember to hit the Stop button when you’re done, and be careful not to enable Loop Mode, otherwise the movements you record may be instantly overwr

51MAPPING A HARDWARE CONTROL TO A PLUG-IN EFFECT PARAMETERIn this example we’ll assume that an effect has already been inserted into the channel.1. C

524. Click the MIDI Learn button. If a knob or fader is being assigned, move it back and forth. If a button is being assigned, press it. You’ll be

53Instrument user interface. You can see the Edit button in the screenshot below, to the right of the instrument name.Super Helpful Tip: If a Virtual

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54To save current mapping assignments, click the Save or Save As buttons. (You may want to create a directory for these.) MIDI Mapping window assignme

55LANE MIDI CHANNEL ASSIGNMENTSeparate MIDI channels can be assigned to individual lanes when using Virtual Instruments. This is particularly useful w

56 Deleting Parts Of Clips If only a part of a clip is selected, only the selected part gets deleted selected. For example, if you’ve recorded

57 value to Off. Crop From A Selection A specific region can be cropped by making a selection over a clip, or a group of clips, and selecting E

58MERGETo merge two or more audio or virtual instrument clips on the same track, select the clips and then click Sound>Merge To New Clip in the Mai

59 Selecting An Individual Clip or Multiple Clips To select an individual clip, click on its title bar. The clip will have a white outline when

60CLIP-BASED AUTOMATIONEach audio clip has its own independent automation line for the following parameters:  Volume  Low Pass Resonance  Pa

61 Keyboard Modifiers  Add Points: Hold the CTRL key down and click to add points anywhere on the sound.  Move Line: Hold the SHIFT key do

62involves emphasizing frequencies at the filter’s cutoff point. So, if we imagine a filter with a cutoff frequency of 2000 Hz and a high resonance valu

63AUDIO CLIPSAn audio clip is a clip containing an audio recording. Audio clips always display a waveform in their lower section.Existing audio can be

1MIXCRAFT HOME STUDIO 7 LIMITATIONSMixcraft is available in three different versions: Mixcraft Home Studio 7, Mixcraft 7, and Mixcraft Pro Studio 7.

64These operations make it easier for Mixcraft to automatically match up timing and key signature in a project… in other words, they’ll make making mu

65 Normalize Normalizing a sound locates its loudest peak, raises it up to “full scale” (i.e. loudest level before clipping), and proportionate

66a sound and choose Edit In External Editor... or choose Sound>Edit In External Editor... from the menus in the Main Window. You’ll have the o

67FlexAudio™ works on audio and MIDI clips. For finer control of clip lengths, set the Snap value to Off.

68

69SOUND TABClick the Sound tab at the bottom left of the screen to edit and set parameters for audio, MIDI, and video clips with greater precision. Th

70 Lock/Unlock Clicking the Lock icon will prevent changes to the clip’s Loop Start, Loop End, and Snap Point. Lock also prevent clips from bein

71 Time Stretch In this mode, the sound is simply time stretched by a fixed amount. The sound will not adjust to the project tempo. You’ll most

72 Mixcraft adjusts the pitch by the shortest distance between two keys. For example, if the project key was G and the sound’s key was F, it will

73 Offset The offset setting defines a clip’s location in the Main Clip Grid. Length The length setting defines the size of the clip. If the len

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74SOUND TAB – AUDIO SUB TABHere you’ll find some useful extra parameters. Channels If the audio clip is stereo, the pop-up menu selects regular ste

75 The above image shows an example of a good noise sample. The noise is determined by the audio section between the Noise Start and Noise End con

76 Formant Preserve The Formant Preserve checkbox allows Mixcraft to maintain the harmonic “imprint” of a sound when transposing pitch up or

77 Snap Point Marker A red vertical line defining the position a clip snaps to in the Main Clip Grid. Set the Snap Point Marker by clicking and

78 The Copy Selection To command exports the currently highlighted audio wave region to one of the following:  Copy Selection To> Performance

79  Slice To… The Slice To… button cuts up audio regions and exports the “slices” to the Performance Panel, Omni Sampler, or directly to a M

80  Omni Sampler exports slices to individual Omni Sampler cells. If the pop-up menu to the right is set to New, Mixcraft creates a new track

81 3. Once Warp Markers are in place, they can be freely moved left and right to squeeze and stretch audio in time. It’s easiest to hear the eff

82  Strength Regulates how close hits will be moved in time toward the quantize values. 0% won’t move transients at all, whereas 100% woul

83 Mute /Unmute This silences the clip. All instances of the clip will turn gray. The Mute Sound button in the Sound tab is interchangeable wit

3IMPORTANT SOUND SETUP INFORMATIONWhen Mixcraft is first launched, it’s important to ensure that the audio latency is set optimally. Ideally, using a v

84  Use Project Key Mixcraft adjusts the pitch of the sound based on the difference between the project’s key and the sound’s key. (The project

85 Length The length setting defines the size of the clip. If the length value setting is longer than the entire audio clip, the clip will repea

86

87VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT (MIDI) CLIPSA Virtual Instrument Clip is made up of MIDI data and instructs a synthesizer to play notes (as well as how to play

88 Velocities Adjusts how hard notes are played (usually affecting volume or brightness). Offsets Adjusts note start times. Durations Adju

89  If the Note Ends box is checked, then the end times of each note will be quantized to this note type. Start Time Click the checkbox ne

90HUMANIZEHumanizing is the process of adding a random and more “humanized” feel. When entering MIDI data via the mouse and using snap, music can soun

91 Note Velocities Allows randomization of note velocities with following options:  Randomize by – A percentage of the original note value. 

92VELOCITIESThe Velocities dialog allows adjustment of all or selected note velocities. A MIDI velocity indicates how hard the note has been struck. T

93Right-click a MIDI clip or MIDI data in the Piano editor and select MIDI Editing>Offsets… Offset Direction Choose left or right. Offset Amo