Nondestructive Editing and Pointer-Based Playback

The VS-2480 remembers everything it records ”well, technically, everything that has not been undone. For playback and editing, the VS-2480 "points" to different sections of the original audio track. For the sake of illustration, let's imagine that you've just recorded a guitar track, and everything was great except the second verse. You played to a click track, so both the first and the second verse are the same tempo. Why not copy the first verse to the second verse? When you copy the first verse guitar track to the second verse, you don't really move audio on the hard disk. For each track, the VS-2480 keeps a playlist of beginning and end points. In the example of copying the guitar verse, the playlist might be something like:

• Play from the start of the track to the start of the second verse.

• Play from the start of the first verse to the end of the first verse.

• Play from the end of the second verse to the end of the song.

After the edit, the original guitar track for the second verse remains on the hard drive and is available for use later on, just in case.

Phrase Trim Demo

OK, how about a quick demo of the power of nondestructive editing? We'll look at the Phrase Trim functions.

Hook up a mic and record a simple count ”just "one, two, three, four" will be enough. For discussion, let's say we've recorded to V-Track 1.1. Select WAVE DISP so you can easily see to edit the phrase. Position the track so the timeline is before the word "three." Press the IN button. The FROM button will automatically be set to the same time. Now move the track forward so the timeline is past the word "three," as shown in Figure 17.7, and press the OUT button.

Figure 17.7. IN/FROM and OUT lines before and after the word "three."

Now, move the timeline out several seconds past the original recorded phrase and press the TO button. Now select TRACK REGION COPY from the menus , and select V-Track 1.1 as your source and destination. Go ahead and copy the region, as shown in Figure 17.8.

Figure 17.8. The phrase containing the word "three" has been copied

Now let's go look at the copied phrase. If you play that phrase, it is only the word "three." Now, make sure that you have Phrase Editing selected (as opposed to Region Editing), and move your mouse to the start point of the phrase. The mouse pointer becomes a square bracket , as shown in Figure 17.9. You can now drag the start point of the phrase either way, making the phrase longer or shorter.

Figure 17.9. A square bracket lets you know the VS-2480 is in Phrase Trim mode

If you move it far enough to the left, you can uncover the words "one, two" from the copied phrase.

In Figure 17.10 above, the word "two" has already been recovered. To uncover the word "four," click on and adjust the end point of the phrase.

Figure 17.10. Phrase Trim In completed

If you move the mouse past the end of the phrase, the display will indicate the actual length of the phrase. Figure 17.11 shows that the mouse has been dragged past the end of the phrase. Figure 17.12 shows the final result of the Phrase Trim Out procedure.

Figure 17.11. Phrase Trim Out function, showing phrase length

Figure 17.12. Phrase Trim Out result

This same Phrase Trim adjusting theory also works when you are punching in during tracking or copying regions during editing. Understanding this concept lets you adjust edit points after the data has been edited.

Watch that Mouse Pointer

When using the Phrase Trim In or Phrase Trim Out function, keep an eye on your mouse pointer. It is a little tricky to grab just the edge of the phrase. Make sure you have a square bracket, not a hand, when you go to drag the edge, or you may mistakenly move the entire phrase instead of just adjusting the IN/OUT point. When (not if) this happens to you, don't panic. Simply undo the Phrase Move and try again.

Also, if you are adjusting the point where two phrases meet, make sure you have the desired phrase selected, not the adjacent phrase.