Dec 16, 2010

Beat-matching audio in energyXT

energyXT comes with built-in time-stretching and pitch-shifting, using the high-quality algorithm from http://www.zplane.de


This means you can beat- and tempo-match recorded audio tracks with the tempo of your current project. 


Here's an example of an audio file playing too slow. As you can see the length of the clip doesn't match the 130 bpm. 




Next, select Show object-bar from the Options menu. Or just press th 'o' key to open with shortcut. 




Now, make sure your audio file is highlighted (click to select), and then select Stretch from the Resample menu. 




Now that the audio file is in stretch mode, you can resize it to snap to the current tempo. Click and drag the end of the audio file to do this. 




Thats it. The file now plays in perfect sync even if you change the tempo of the project. 


http://www.energy-xt.com



Nov 18, 2010

Using downloaded samples (wav, aif, mp3) in energyXT

This tutorial will show how to use samples downloaded from the web inside energyXT. 


In energyXT you can use samples for the drum sampler, in audio tracks and in the synthesizer. Supported file formats are wav, aif and mp3 (require lame). 


First, create a folder on your disk to store the samples. In this example Im using c:\audio\samples but you may store the samples in a sub folder of energyXT or your documents folder. 




After unzipping and saving the sample its time to tell energyXT where to locate the samples. Select Setup from the File menu and click the Browser tab. Next select "Samples" and click the Add button. After adding the location of your samples it will look something like this: 






OK, the samples are now available in the main browser and can by dragged into the project. You can preview samples by click and hold with mouse or use the up/down arrow keys on your PC keyboard. 







Samples can be dragged into the track panel for use with drum tracks. Drag and drop below last track to create a new drum track loaded with the sample. You can open the drum editor and drag samples in there as well to add or replace the current drums. 






Samples may also be dragged into the the timeline. This will create a new audio track and works best for longer samples like vocal and guitar. 




The synthesizer in energyXT supports playback of samples. In the Zone view you can build presets of one or more samples. 


http://www.energy-xt.com

Nov 8, 2010

Using a MIDI keyboard in energyXT

In energyXT you can connect one or more MIDI keyboards and playback and record instrument and drum tracks.

Setup
energyXT usually will setup the first available MIDI keyboard by default. If not go to File > Setup > MIDI and make sure your MIDI keyboard is activated by a checkmark.


If your MIDI keyboard is working properly you can now see the MIDI indicator flash in the main toolbar.


Playback
Lets create some tracks to playback. Click the Quick-add button and select Synthesizer to add new track with an instrument. Playing the MIDI keyboard should now play the voices of the Synthesizer.


If you get no sound, double-check that the track is receiving data from MIDI in. Go to the Track > Input menu and make sure MDI in is activated by a checkmark.


Drum track
When using the MIDI keyboard to playback drum tracks, C1 is automatically mapped to the first drum, C#1 to the second, D1 to the third etc.


Velocity
You may change the sensitivity of your MIDI keyboard for each track in the Object-bar (see Options menu or press 'o' key to open the object-bar)



Nov 4, 2010

Installing LAME on mac - for mp3 import/export

This will show you how to install the LAME mp3 encoder for use with energyXT 2.5.3 on Mac OSX.

1) Open your web browser and visit http://www.thalictrum.com/ then go to the Products section
2) Download the LAME Audio Encoder 3.97
3) Run the installer to extract all files (/usr/local/bin)
4) Open the 'Terminal' application (type Terminal in spotlight)
5) In the Terminal type: 'cp /usr/local/bin/lame /Applications/energyXT/' to copy the lame binary into the energXT folder

energyXT should now find the LAME encoder. Note, we are working to improve this in future release.

http://www.energy-xt-com

Oct 1, 2010

Share your music online with SoundCloud

Do you have a song you want to publish online, or get some feedback on the current mix? Now you can easily share your tracks with energyXT and SoundCloud.


Once you have your tracks stored online on your Soundcloud account,  you can then share the URL's on facebook, twitter, email or even have an embedded player on your own website. 




Here's how to use the Share with SoundCloud feature:

1) Open the export dialog from the File menu (or press F5)




2) Set your preferred file format and click the Share button. First time you will be asked to download  the Soundcloud add-on. Click OK. 








3) Click connect to SoundCloud and loginRegister a free souncloud.com account if you dont have one already.








4) Enter the access code in energyXT




5) Enter song name and then click the Upload button




6) On success, the uploaded URL will be displayed. Copy the link to share your track on email, facebook or twitter.