Maud Help

How do I ... ?
Create CD quality recordings.
Set recording options.
Select a track for recording.
Delete a track.
Merge two tracks.
Save as a wave file.
Save to edit later.
Play with effects.
Adjusting volume and Pan.
Save as a CAB file.

Creating CD quality recordings

You've come to the right place! Maud (multitrack audio) allows you to use your computer as a multitrack digital recording studio. You can record 16 bit samples at 44100Hz for a CD quality sound. All you need is a sound card, a microphone and all the ram in the free world. A 3 minute recording will require 96MB! Short songs are good! You can record up to 16 tracks which should all you really need to create rich layered sounds. Remember this is digital. Tracks can be merged endlessly with NO loss of data!

Set Recording Options

Set the recording options by selecting File and then New. You can choose how much memory will be reserved for record, play and edit buffers. It is important to keep this option in line with what your computer can reasonably handle. The dialog will tell you exactly how much memory is required and how long you will be able to record. YES you have to select the length of the song BEFORE you start recording. This is to ensure no drop outs and prevent the disk drive from running while you record. If you select more than the installed RAM on your machine Maud WILL crash.

Selecting a Track

To select a track just click on the track drop down list on the menu button bar. You can add and delete tracks at any time with the buttons to the right of the dropdown. Name your tracks something meaningful.

Deleting a Track

To delete all tracks just select File - > New. To delete the selected track click the X button next to the track selector.

Merging two Tracks

To merge two tracks click Edit - > Select All then Edit - > Copy (or cut). Next select the track to merge to and click Edit - > Select All and the Edit - > Merge.

Saving a Wave

To save your masterpiece as a wave click File - > Save as. You will be asked to give the file a name MAKE SURE IT ENDS WITH .WAV and then click OK. You will probably want to do some more editing with a .wav editor before releasing it to the public. You can use a program as simple as Windows Sound Recorder to crop the file and save it with mp3 compression.

Saving for Editing

To save the file for editing in Maud click on File - > Save (as). These *.mau files will be quite large! You can compress them into a CAB for long term storage.

Creating Effects

There are a number of built in effects that you can apply to your recording like echo and reverse that work as you would expect. Just highlight the area to be effected and click FX - > Resonate - > Echo. Most effects use similar parameters like rate, depth, mix, pan and blend. Blend determines how quickly the effect is mixed with the original to create a smooth transition. If you are running the effect over the entire track blend will be ignored. Mix determines the relative volumes of the original and the effect. Pan determines the right/left position of the effect.

Volume and Pan

The Volume and Pan sliders adjust the volumes of the right and left channels of each track. These settings only effect playback and the final mix for exporting to a wave. They do not effect recording. To set the recording volume use the windows mixer which is accessable from the Add Ins menu.

CAB File

At 32mb per track for a 3 minute recording your files may start to fill up your disk. MP3 is an excellent compression algorithm but not if you need to decompress, edit the file, and compress again! Zip programs are also quite useless on wav files. Maud uses a third party freeware app to compress the wave files to about 1/3 size and then Microsoft's CAB file routines to combine the tracks into a single file for easy storage. Click on File->Create Cab.

Effect	Description	Inputs
Echo	Echo is created by cycling the output back into the input with a significant delay.	Rate=Length of delay Decay=How quickly the sound trails off.
Distortion	Distortion is created by cycling the output back into the input with almost no delay.	Gain=Volume of added signal Cut=Maximum amplitude.
Chorus	Chorus is created by adding a pitch shifting copy of the output. (Variable Delay) Flanging is created just like chorus only the rate is slower and the depth is broader.	Rate=Speed of shift change Depth=Maximum pitch change.
Ring	Ring is created by multiplying two waves. It can be a rather disturbing sound but it has its uses with distortion and creating metallic effects.	Pitch=Frequency of sin wave Volume=Amplitude of sin wave.
Harmonics	Harmonics are created by adding a copy which is pitch shifted up or down. When the pitch is shifted up data is repeated. When shifted down data is lost.	OV=Signal Volume HV=Harmonic Volume Harmonic=3rd, 5th, 7th etc
Schunk Noise Reduction	Schunk noise reduction is proprietary. The general algorithm is to decrease the high frequencies when the overall volume is low.	Level=Volume cutoff at which noise reduction kicks in
Vibe	Vibrato produces an oscillating amplitude.	Rate=Speed of oscillation Depth=Lowest Amplitude
Band Pass	The hi/low and band pass filters remove certain frequencies.	Freq=Center frequency Gain=Boost/Cut volume Width=Frequency range effected

For more information, updates, help or suggestions you can contact the author at [email protected]