Track controls

At the far left of each track in the KRISTAL Waver window, you'll find an identical group of Track Controls.

Track Name

A simple text field, where you can enter a descriptive name for the track.

Double-click on the default text (e.g. 'Waver 1') to enter a new name.

Import File button

Clicking the 'Import File...' button allows you to import an existing audio file into the Arrangement.

The 'Open Audio File...' dialog allows you to browse your computer's disks for audio files. You can audition files directly from the dialog, by clicking the 'Play' button.

Audio files in the following different formats can be imported:

When an audio file is imported, it is added to the Waver Pool, and a new audio part is created in the Arrangement.

A special 'peak' file (*.peak) is also created for each imported file, containing the 'waveform' data of the audio file.

To import multiple audio files at once to a track, simply drag the files from Windows Explorer to the KRISTAL Waver window.

Mono/Stereo button

The Mono/Stereo button toggles the track's Mono and Stereo modes.

In Mono mode, the track supports mono audio files, while in Stereo mode it supports...stereo files!

When you import an audio file, KRISTAL will automatically choose the appropriate mode for you. If you want to, you can over-ride this choice - although this may have some undesirable side-effects:

Connect button

When the Connect button is activated, the track's output will be connected to the next available channel in the mixer window, so that you can hear it in the final mix.

Tracks that aren't connected won't be heard.

You can easily tell which track is connected to which mixer channel, as the Track Name will appear in the label field at the bottom of the relevant channel strip.

Tracks are automatically connected when Record is enabled (see below).

Record button

The 'Record' button 'arms' a track, ready to make a new recording.

Recording in KRISTAL is covered in more depth in the Recording tutorial.

The basic procedure is as follows:

  1. Select either Stereo or Mono mode for your chosen track, as required.

  2. Select an appropriate recording source from the pop-up menu (see below), or

  3. activate the track's Record button

  4. Activate the 'Monitor' button, if required (see below).

  5. Click the Record button on the Transport Panel to begin recording.

  6. Click the Stop button (or hit the Space bar) to finish recording.

A new audio part representing your recording will appear on your chosen track.

Audio files created by recording in this way are stored in a 'Media' sub-directory, automatically created in the same folder as the current Project file (*.kristal).

Monitor button

The Monitor button activates 'direct monitoring', allowing you to monitor (i.e. hear) a recording source connected to your computer 'live' via your computer's audio output, during playback and recording.

For example, if you had an electric guitar connected directly to your computer's audio input (see also KRISTAL LiveIn), you'd probably want to be able to hear the guitar sound 'live' while you were rehearsing or recording a take. Direct monitoring makes this possible.

Note: in order to be able to monitor in this way, you'll need to be using an audio card with an ASIO driver. Monitoring via an MME audio device would not be practical, since the 'latency' (the delay between the signal entering the computer's audio input and arriving at its output) would make 'real-time' playing extremely difficult.

Recording source selector (Track Input)

 

A simple pop-up menu, in which you can choose which input device you want to record from.

The list of available devices will depend on the hardware and drivers installed in your computer, and the settings you make in the 'Devices' section of the Preferences dialog.