Interactive Tools - RX 8 Help

Table of Contents

Overview

Below the Spectrogram display is a toolbar that includes several options for working with the spectrogram/waveform display. The toolbar is split into three main categories, Navigation, Instant Process, and Selection.

You can zoom in horizontally and vertically on both the waveform and spectrogram views.

Zoom Selection Tools

The following zoom selection tools are available in the RX Audio Editor:

  • Zoom in: zooms in on the time ruler.
  • Zoom out: zooms out on the time ruler.
  • Zoom to selection: zooms to fill the spectrogram/waveform display with the current selection.
  • Zoom to whole file: resets zoom time and frequency zoom levels to default.
  • Zoom tool: When enabled, the zoom level will update to fit the selection to the window when using the Time, Time-Frequency, or Frequency Selection Tools.

Zoom Sliders

Magnitude Ruler Zoom Slider

The vertical slider in the lower right-hand corner of the spectrogram/waveform display controls the zoom level for the spectrogram or waveform amplitude ruler(s). The buttons above the vertical slider select which ruler it will affect when adjusted.

Time Ruler Zoom Slider

The horizontal slider in the lower right-hand corner of the spectrogram/waveform display controls the zoom level of the time ruler.

Grab & Drag Tool

When zoomed in on an area, the Grab & Drag Tool [G] can be used to move through the time range by clicking and dragging on the Spectrogram.

Dragging Rulers and Using the Mousewheel

  • The rulers to the right and below the Spectrogram display can clicked and dragged to reposition the spectrogram and waveform to show a different time range, amplitude range or frequency range.
  • In addition the range shown can be adjusted with your mouse wheel, just place your cursor on top of a ruler and the mouse wheel will adjust the zoom for that ruler.
  • To reset any of the rulers to the default display range, double click on the ruler.

Note

All active selections will be accurately preserved and scaled when zooming the main display.

Channel Selectors

Channel Selectors appear on the left hand side of the spectrogram/waveform display when a file is loaded. Channels can be enabled or disabled individually by clicking on the channel selector buttons. Deselecting a channel will exclude it from playback, selections, and processing.

  • If all channels are enabled, single-clicking on a channel selector will disable all other channels, only the channel that was clicked on will remain enabled.
  • When some of the channels are disabled, single-clicking on a disabled channel selector will enable that channel without affecting the enabled disabled state of other channels.
  • When any channel number of channels are disabled, double-clicking on any channel selector will quickly enable all channels.

Keyboard Shortcuts: Stereo File Channel Selectors

  • Select Left Channel Only: Command+Shift+L (Mac); Ctrl+Shift+L (Windows)
  • Select Right Channel Only: Command+Shift+R (Mac); Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows)
  • Select Both Channels: Command+Shift+B (Mac); Ctrl+Shift+B (Windows)
  • These commands only apply to stereo files, they do not apply to files with more than 2 channels.

Channel Order (Multichannel)

When working with multichannel files, the channel selector label order can be configured by right-clicking on the time ruler or by clicking on the arrow to the right of the time format display. The channel order options will update based on the number of channels in the active file tab. The “Discrete” option will label all channels as “M” (mono).

Instant Process

Instant Process [I] is a selection tool modifier. Instant Process is only available in RX Standard and Advanced.

When Instant Process is enabled, any new selection made will be immediately processed with the selected module in the Instant PRocess menu. The module settings applied by instant process reflects the current settings in the selected module.

When Instant Process is disabled, processing, editing and selection tools will function as they normally do.

Note

If you hold Shift while using Instant Process, this will allow you to build up additional selections. Once you release Shift, processing will occur. This is especially useful for tools such as the Magic Wand, which will pick up additional harmonics upon second click. If you don’t like that selection, also hold Alt, and start redrawing a new selection. Release Shift once you’re ready to process.

Instant Process offers several different modes, accessible via a drop down menu, which will instantly process the settings present in the named module/tab. The default settings are used, but if you define custom settings in that module, Instant Process will recognize and apply those custom settings. The modes are:

Instant Process: Attenuate

This mode will instantly apply the active settings from the Spectral Repair module’s Attenuate tab. This is particularly useful if you see anything in the spectrogram you don’t wish to remove entirely, but would rather quickly blend into the surrounding audio to make it less obvious or intrusive.

Instant Process: De-click

Applies the active settings from the De-click or Interpolate modules. De-click Instant Process will automatically remove all clicks present in your selection, which is particularly useful for editing a dialogue file, mismatching sample rate clicks and pops, and vinyl clicks.

If you make a selection under 4000 samples in length, this mode will automatically use the Interpolate module. Selection longer than 4000 samples will use the settings from the De-click module. The De-click module is effective on selections above 4000 samples in size, as it is able to identify clicks in relation to desirable audio, and then intelligently separate and remove the clicks. If a selection is less than 4000 samples in length, it is likely a small selection of an individual click, and Interpolate will fill the selection with audio information based on the surrounding audio.

Instant Process: Fade

This mode will instantly apply the active settings from the Fade module. This is particularly useful if you’d like to smooth over a transition or edit point within a complex audio file, especially if it’s a limited bandwidth selection, such as choosing to fade in a certain harmonic or audio event in an audio file without changing the volume of the rest of the audio.

Instant Process: Gain

This mode will instantly apply the active settings from the Gain module. If you want to quickly adjust certain audio events up or down in volume, you can simply paint over it to see the immediate gain adjustment. For overall volume adjustment, use the Clip Gain line [Cmd+G / Ctrl+G].

Instant Process: Replace

This mode will instantly apply the active settings from the Replace tab in the Spectral Repair module. This is particularly useful if you see anything in the spectrogram you wish to remove entirely, as it will use the audio information that surrounds your selection to instantly and intelligently fill the gap.

The following selection tools are available in the RX Audio Editor:

View Clip Gain

Quickly enable/disable the clip gain curve overlay.

Selection Modifiers

[Shift] - Add to selection

Hold down shift after making a selection in order to add another, separate selection. If any part of the new selection overlaps any other, the selections will be grouped into one. This can be especially powerful when combining several selection tools to create multiple selections of different size and shape.

Multiple selections made using the Shift modifier key with different selection tools

[Alt/Option] - Subtract from Selection

Holding down Alt/Option will allow you use the currently chosen selection tool to remove or erase any portion of an existing audio selection. This can be especially useful with the Lasso or Brush tools, allowing you to edit or refine any piece of an existing selection.

This is also useful for refining complicated free-form selections. First make your lasso, brush, or magic wand selection, and then hold alt while using the time, frequency, or time and frequency tools to exclude entire time and frequency ranges from processing. Holding Alt/Option effectively turns the Brush tool into a selection eraser for broad refinements and Lasso into a selection “X-Acto knife” for detailed selection revision.

Selections refined to perfection using the Alt key modifier

Linking Selection State to Undo History Events

Using Ctrl/Cmd-Z to undo any particular process will also bring back the previous audio selection exactly as it was before applying any processing. In order to make use of this feature, be sure that Store Selections with Undo History is enabled inside of RX’s Preferences > Misc menu.

[Ctrl/Cmd] - Move Playhead without affecting Selection state

Hold down Ctrl/Cmd to move the transport’s playhead to any position without erasing your current audio selections. This can be especially useful with previewing or comparing complex audio selections without having to remake these specific audio selections.

[Mouse Over] - Grab and Drag Selection

After using any of RX’s tools to select a portion of your audio, when the mouse is subsequently placed on top of any selection, a Grab and Drag hand cursor will be displayed automatically, allowing you to change the position of that selection.

RX 8.5.0

ncG1vNJzZmirY2Ourq3ZqKWar6NjsLC5jqKxqKyfpbKlu9ano6iZlKh8pbvCrGarsGhksq97yKernqqRmMGqwsRmq6innKh8qrrDnq9noKSiuQ%3D%3D