Waveform Display Settings
This page, the Waveform tab of the Analyzer View settings, controls the Waveform and the Timeline: whether each view and its scales are shown, how the recording is drawn on them, and how the two channels of a stereo file are shown.
Every change on this page takes effect at once. The same options can also be changed from the View menu and by right-clicking the Waveform, the Timeline or the amplitude scale. This page always shows the current choice, wherever it was made.
Waveform
- Waveform
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Show the Waveform. It always shows the same time range as the spectrogram. This is the same switch as .
- Time Scale
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Show a time scale below the Waveform. This is the same switch as , which the Waveform shares with the EGG History and the Vibrato view: unless Show all secondary time scales is checked in Advanced Settings, the time scale appears only below the lowest of these views.
The Time Scale check box is unavailable while the Waveform is hidden.
Timeline
- Timeline
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Show the Timeline, an overview of the whole recording that you can use to navigate it. This is the same switch as .
- Amplitude Scale
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Show the amplitude scale to the left of the Timeline. The Timeline’s context menu has the same switch, Timeline Amplitude Scale.
- Time Scale
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Show the Timeline’s time scale. This is the same switch as .
The two scale check boxes are unavailable while the Timeline is hidden.
Waveform Layout
The layout applies to both the Waveform and the Timeline. The four pictures combine two layouts (the rows) with two amplitude scales (the columns). Click the one you want.
- Symmetric
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Draw the waveform above and below a center line.
- Skyline
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Draw the waveform upwards from the bottom edge, so that it uses the whole height of the view.
- Linear
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Show the amplitude on a linear scale. Quiet passages stay visible.
- Decibel
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Show the intensity in decibels, which is closer to how loud the recording sounds. Very quiet passages drop below the bottom of the scale. How far down the scale reaches depends on the amplitude scale: zoom or drag it to show more or less of the quiet end.
The context menus of the Waveform, the Timeline and the amplitude scale offer the same four choices, as Symmetric Layout + Linear Amplitude, Symmetric Layout + Decibel Amplitude, Skyline Layout + Linear Amplitude and Skyline Layout + Decibel Amplitude. For a comparison of the two amplitude scales, and for zooming the amplitude scale, see Timeline and Waveform.
Stereo Channels
These choices apply to files with two channels. A mono file always has one lane.
- Combined
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Show both channels of a stereo file together, in one lane.
- Separate
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Show the left and the right channel in lanes of their own, one above the other, on both the Waveform and the Timeline.
The two pictures are drawn in the current waveform layout, so they show what each choice will look like. The context menus of the Waveform and the Timeline have the same switch, Show Stereo Channels as Separate Tracks.