Mixer window

The Window Docking area at the bottom of the ACID window is a catchall area designed to conveniently organize many of the smaller windows in AQD. By default, two of the most important windows are visible the Explorer window and the Mixer window. The full list of windows that are associated with the Window Docking area can be found on the View menu. A checkmark next to a window s name indicates visibility clicking a window name on this menu changes whether it is visible or not. 

Notice that the Video Preview and the Mixer windows are in their own regions by themselves. This allows these windows to remain visible at all times for important previewing and monitoring of project playback. Windows in the docking area can be rearranged by dragging them by the handle on the left side of the window. 

The Mixer window is a critical window that allows you to monitor yom- project and route audio signals to various channels and effects. ACID s virtual Mixer is analogous to a real world mixing board and contains many of the same features and controls. Preview volumes, output volume, and FX routing are a few of the operations that are controlled in the Mixer window (see Fignre 1.17). 

The Mixer window. Usually, this window is more simply displayed, but it can be a powerful tool controlling complex hardware bus arrangements and effects sends, as shown. 

It is also important to monitor the mixing of all of the events and tracks in a project in an objective way by watching the Mixer window as a project is played back or as events are previewed. By visually monitoring the project in the Mixer window, you can prevent clipping errors that may ruin a song. The Mixer window (see Figure 2.28) is one of two windows that is visible by default when ACID is first run (the Explorer window is the other). If it is not visible, from the View menu, select Mixer or press Alt + 3. 

The Mixer window is subdivided into a number of master conbol panels, each of which has a fader and a small number of other controls. These control panels are used to control the mix and the routing of the audio signal through ACID. The controls correspond to similar controls found on physical mixers in the real world (see Chapter 7 on Mixers). By default, the Mixer window displays a Preview and Master control panel. 

The Preview control panel sets only the volume for media files as they are previewed from the ACID Explorer window. While this does not affect the mix of the project, the initial volume for a track is determined by the Preview volume. As with the other faders in the Mixer window, a numeric value for the volume is displayed below the fader. The Preview control displays both stereo channels, but you cannot divide the fader to control the volume of the chaimels independently. 

The initial volume of a track is determined by the volume of the Preview feder in the Mixer window at the time the track is created. 

The Master output controls the final volume. Final equalization and FX can be added to the mix at this point. The fader on the busses in the Mixer window have two halves, one for each stereo channel, left and right. 

The meters in the Mixer window let you visually monitor the volume. Real-world mixers may also have meters on every Input Module. 

No auxiliary busses are visible in ACID s default configuration. To add a bus to the Mixer window, click the Insert Bus button. 

Remember to periodically reset the Clipping Indicators in the Mixer window either by stopping and restarting playback (spacebar) or by clicking the indicators. After you have eliminated the clipping, delete the marker (right-click it and select Delete) and move on to the next section. It is best to leave the envelope between the two outside points at some angle so that the volume decrease and the return to the main volume level is not too abrupt. You can reverse this technique to briefly increase the volume for emphasis or for sections that are too soft. 

To fix a voiceover narration that is too quiet in some places, you d want to first reduce (compress) the peaks and then raise the Output gain or the volume of the track as a whole. Solo the track and play it back while adjusting the compression, all the while monitoring the Master meter in the Mixer window. 

Click the Master FX button on the Master bus in the Mixer window. 

There are two places that FX can be added in ACID into a track or into the Mixer window. Within the Mixer window, there are three places where FX might go into an Assignable FX, into a pre-existing bus, or into the Master bus (see Figure 7.1). 

To use effects at a bus level, you must first insert a bus into the project by clicking the Insert bus button in the Mixer window. Then assign specific tracks to the bus by clicking the Bus button (initially concentric squares and assigned to Microsoft Sound Mapper) in each track and assigning it to the bus (for example, Bus A). Finally, click the FX button on the bus in the Mixer window and select a plug-in. 

To use Assignable FX, click the Insert Assignable FX button in the Mixer window. Then select an effect from the Plug-In window that automatically opens. Paradoxically, you do not need to assign tracks to the Assignable FX bus the way you would a hardware or group bus. Instead, the Assignable FX is available to all tracks and you only need to click the Multipurpose fader mode button and select the FX from the list to adjust the volume of the effect in a particular track. 

Some FX are better used at tbe track level and some are better used in the Mixer window, but all ophons are possible for maximum flexibility. Specific recommendations are given after a brief discussion of FX chains in the next section and in the descriptions of the actual plug-ins. 

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