bpm studio online-manual - conrad€¦ · bpm studio user manual - version 3.4 (about this...

BPM Studio V. 3.4

Introduction system requirements Contents of Box History

Installation software installation first start

Basic modules basic modules Player Playlist BPM File Archive Loop Sampler Sample Player Sample Editor Cross Fader BPM Counter File Editor Mixer MP3 Stream Module File Info Box CD Player Remote Control

Program Options Preferences Options Audio I/O File Storage CDDA-Copy Remote Control User Administration

Additional Functions Normalize function Search function Monitor functions Preview player BPM Database Pre-Amp function Backup and Update Visualisation Plugins

Hints Technical Information Key assignment

Extended Functions User Management Network Functions

Support, Contact

BPM Studio User Manual - Version 3.4(about this documentation)

please check out also our FAQ-List and our NEW's section!

Congratulations for purchasing the latest version of BPM Studio!

You now have an exceptional software program for audio processing and management. By buying this youhave decided to tread an entirely new path in multimedia applications. BPM Studio is the next generation of

audio players, opening up new opportunities for playing, archiving and processing. This software wasdeveloped especially for discos and DJs, but its range of functions enables it to be used in many other areas.BPM Studio is the only software currently available which can securely manage and play audio data in various

formats. And its 19" remote control is absolutely unique! An experienced team of DJs tested the software inprofessional use during the development period, and it is continually being checked and improved. Modern

design and simple construction of the program surface ensure secure handling in difficult conditions. Sowhether you're a beginner or a pro you'll be amazed at what BPM Studio can offer. Even though we have

worked very hard to ensure that BPM Studio is very easy to use, in order to fully appreciate the extent of theprogram's wide range of functionality and use it effectively, it is advisable to read this manual carefully.

BPM Studio is available in 3 different versions:

BPM Studio (Light)BPM Studio (Home)

BPM Studio (Professional)

The functions available differ from version to version. You can see from the sticker on the package whichversion you have acquired.

Likewise to the product family belongs BPM Studio Gastro, (a MP3-6x-Player that allows you to play sounds ofup to 6 different building areas), as well as a "private" edition. Closer information you will receive on our

homepage or from your specialist dealer.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about this manual, please send us an e-mail.

&COPY; 1999 - 2002 ALCATech GmbH. Rights reserved.

BPM Studio User Manual for Windows

This manual and the software described therein is part of a license contract and may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of thecontract and is not to be regarded as an obligation of ALCATech. ALCATech Gmbh gives no guarantees regarding the accuracy and exactitude of

details in this manual. Unless expressly permitted by the license contract, no part of this license may be reproduced, saved in data banks ortransferred electronically, photo-mechanically or in any other way to another data carrier without first receiving written permission from ALCATechGmbH. Intel is a registered trademark of the Intel Corporation. Microsoft, Windows, Windows 95, Windows NT and Windows 2000 are registeredtrademarks of Microsoft in the USA and other countries. Pentium, Pentium II and Pentium Pro are trademarks of the Intel Corporation. All further

trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Copyright &COPY; 1999-2002 ALCATech GmbH, D-96515 Sonneberg, Otto Bergner Straße 30, Germany,Internet: www.alcatech.de • www.alcatech.com

BPM Studio Online-Manual

http://www.alcatech.com/help/index.html [29.11.2000 13:06:23]

http://www.alcatech.com/support/faq.html

http://www.alcatech.com/news

http://www.alcatech.com/

mailto:[email protected]

BPM Studio User Manual - Version 3.4(about this documentation)

please check out also our FAQ-List and our NEW's section!

Congratulations for purchasing the latest version of BPM Studio!

You now have an exceptional software program for audio processing and management. By buying this youhave decided to tread an entirely new path in multimedia applications. BPM Studio is the next generation of

audio players, opening up new opportunities for playing, archiving and processing. This software wasdeveloped especially for discos and DJs, but its range of functions enables it to be used in many other areas.BPM Studio is the only software currently available which can securely manage and play audio data in various

formats. And its 19" remote control is absolutely unique! An experienced team of DJs tested the software inprofessional use during the development period, and it is continually being checked and improved. Modern

design and simple construction of the program surface ensure secure handling in difficult conditions. Sowhether you're a beginner or a pro you'll be amazed at what BPM Studio can offer. Even though we have

worked very hard to ensure that BPM Studio is very easy to use, in order to fully appreciate the extent of theprogram's wide range of functionality and use it effectively, it is advisable to read this manual carefully.

BPM Studio is available in 3 different versions:

BPM Studio (Light)BPM Studio (Home)

BPM Studio (Professional)

The functions available differ from version to version. You can see from the sticker on the package whichversion you have acquired.

Likewise to the product family belongs BPM Studio Gastro, (a MP3-6x-Player that allows you to play sounds ofup to 6 different building areas), as well as a "private" edition. Closer information you will receive on our

homepage or from your specialist dealer.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about this manual, please send us an e-mail.

&COPY; 1999 - 2002 ALCATech GmbH. Rights reserved.

BPM Studio User Manual for Windows

This manual and the software described therein is part of a license contract and may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of thecontract and is not to be regarded as an obligation of ALCATech. ALCATech Gmbh gives no guarantees regarding the accuracy and exactitude of

details in this manual. Unless expressly permitted by the license contract, no part of this license may be reproduced, saved in data banks ortransferred electronically, photo-mechanically or in any other way to another data carrier without first receiving written permission from ALCATechGmbH. Intel is a registered trademark of the Intel Corporation. Microsoft, Windows, Windows 95, Windows NT and Windows 2000 are registeredtrademarks of Microsoft in the USA and other countries. Pentium, Pentium II and Pentium Pro are trademarks of the Intel Corporation. All further

trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Copyright &COPY; 1999-2002 ALCATech GmbH, D-96515 Sonneberg, Otto Bergner Straße 30, Germany,Internet: www.alcatech.de • www.alcatech.com


http://www.alcatech.com/help/html/main.html [29.11.2000 13:06:25]

http://www.alcatech.com/support/faq.html

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About This Documentation

In this manual you will find comprehensive informationabout how to use the software and hardware. It willhelp to simplify daily use with the program, and provideanswers to the most frequently asked questions.Before reading this manual it is advisable that you firstinstall the program. To do this, read the instructions inthe following chapter. In this chapter the systemrequirements and contents of BPM Studio aredescribed.

It is assumed that you are familiar with the mostimportant functions and conventions of your operatingsystem, as well as being familiary with using a mouse.For the sake of better clarity and understanding, "mp3"or "wav" data will from here on be referred to as "audiodata", if the original data on the hard disk is inquestion. A "track" is then the link to this data via oneof the playlists, the BPM File Archive, or the players.

Although this manual describes all program modules and functions of BPM Studio, please rememberthat the exactl functionality available to you will depend upon which version of BPM Studio you areusing.


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System Requirements

The following are the minimum hardware requirements for BPM Studio:

• IBM PC or 100% compatible with Pentium-II Processor with min. 350Hz• 128 MB memory• 10 MB harddisk space for installation. Additional space is required for storage of audio files• SVGA video card with resolution of 800 x 600 pixels• 1x 16 bit sound card (2 sound cards recommended)• 32 speed CD-ROM drive• Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT version 4.0• DirectX 5.0 or higher• An Internet connection for streaming audio via the Internet.


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Contents of Box

Please ensure that the following parts are included:1. BPM Studio CD2. Manual3. Registration Card4. Hardware Dongle

If you have purchased the professional version:- 19" Remote Control Unit- Mains Adaptor- Connector Lead


http://www.alcatech.com/help/html/package.html [29.11.2000 13:06:26]

Version History BPM Studio light, home and professional

Version 1.5.0 / release date: 12.08.1999Version 2.0.0 / release date: 18.11.1999Version 3.0.0 / release date: 20.04.2000Version 3.0.5 / release date: 03.05.2000

Version 3.2.0 / release date: 23.08.2000Version 3.2.5 / release date: 04.09.2000Version 3.3.0 / release date: 12.10.2000Version 3.4.0 / release date: 06.11.2000

Version 3.4.0 / release date: 06.11.2000Important ! The file archive is now no longer downward compatible, but there will be nolimitations to the number of files

3.4.0 / New Features:

In the new generation of remote controls the faderstart function was implemented. To activate checkthe "Fader Start" box in the remote options. Caution: Fader start only works with remote controls withthe firmware version 3.00B and up. The fader start has been made available in the software now andcan be used with new RC units.

AutoUpdate for sound card drivers: In BPM Studio an automatic upgrade function for audiodrivers is implemented. ALCATech receives the latest driver versions from selected sound cardmanufacturers and make the accessible on the ALCATech server for download. By the AutoUpdatefunction you not only get informed about new versions of BPM Studio, even about the latest driversfor your soundcard. To make this possible, BPM Studio recognizes the existing audio hardware andits driver versions and compares them to the driver data on the ALCATech server. Whenever there isa new version you will receive a notification including the corresponding link.

3.4.0 / Gimmicks:

New hotkeys in the lists. By this some shortcuts have been changed. Selected track can be loadeddirectly into the playlists now. Further Windows- compatible clipboard function were implemented(CTRL-C, CTRL-V etc.) See details here

3.4.0 / Bugfixes:

Because of the design of Winx the list size was limited to 32768 entries. By the development of areplacement of the Windows listbox control this limitation no longer exists.

Sometimes the ripper wasn't able to read the last frame of a track correctly.

The system froze when searching and setting a position in the CD player.

The set auto cue level didn't get assigned.

BPM-Studio could be started twice that wasn't wanted that way...

Under W2K shutdown/restart didn't work correctly. Fixed

The AutoStart Funktion (/AUTO) didn't work correctly.

When the audio buffer was set to 2 sec in the audio options the current track quit playing afterSearch--> Play.

BPM Studio - News

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Also with a 2 sec. preload buffer and instant cue short loops and skips occured after Search --> Play.

When playing a song in the monitor and starting another track blue screens appeared in a few cases.

Some genres of older versions did not get adapted correctly.

Some small troubles with the Kernel Driver and Delta soundcards got fixed.

AutoPlay, in the wait list mode witha hard fade were played back delayed and the first 500 ms werecut off.

Very small files, although already normalized, got normalized over and over again.

A problem occuring with sector synchronisation and block sizes above 13 on some CD-ROM drivesgot fixed.

At tracks over 60 minutes length the time is now displayed correctly (at least till 99:99.0 minutes).

When using the Kernel driver in some cases the allocated memory wasn't freed which could lead to arapid loss of free memory. In this case some malfunctions as dropouts or jittering after some hourscould occur.

Version 3.3.0 / release date: 12.10.2000

3.3.0 / Gimmicks:

The kernel driver now got its own entry in the system settings.When there are any problems with the Kernel driver it can be easily deactivated.

In the BPM Studio audio options the latency of the kernel driver can be set now.This can be useful when playback stutters on sounds not tested by us, for instanceCaution: Anyone who does not know what he should do should keep his hands off this !!!

Instant cue function: The audio engine got reviewed and is now capable to jump from anyposition back to the cue point within 4 ms (depending on the audio driver).Especially interesting is this feature at the cue play function (normal or alternative)which can work as a sampler now.

Complete Windows ME support. ME now works as fine as Win 98, the known disadvantages ofWin 2000 and and Windows NT do not exist and we can recommend Windows ME as well asWindows 98 without any limitations.

3.3.0 / Bugfixes:

A "small" bug in the user options got fixed. In some cases the passwords were visible to allusers. (sorry ;-))

Hybrid CD's where the last track is a data track are now being processed and read correctly

The communication with the control unit got improved so that less commands have to be transmitted.

An error (Invalid driver ID) when opening the options under Windows 95C got fixed

A problem with the kernel driver and some driver versions of the SB PCI got recovered. The drivercould be selected but the player did not run.

BPM Studio - News


At stop and restart of a player there is no "rough" stop but a short fading of 25 ms is executed toavoid clicks.

Unfortunately the system sounds were not switched off at properly the start of BPM Studio which ledto troubles sometimes. All system sounds are now being disabled completely and restored aftershutdown of BPM Studio.

As soon as the kernel driver was installed it was not possible to switch the comuter to suspendedmode which was especially annoying withn notebooks. The kernel driver now supports suspendedmode and does not have to be deactivated.

Some customers pointed out that the MP3 codec of the newer versions sounds worse. The reasonwas the new encoder library we received from Fraunhofer. Tests confirmed this so we returned tothe previous version which never caused problems.

At some installations the playback was spoiled by noise - fixed

Some small bugfixes in the kernel driver

Lots of trifles and clean ups not interesting for the normal user



In the list menus there is now a entry "Export" by which selected Titles can be copied or decoded.

3.2.5 / Bugfixes:

Lots of trifles and clean ups not interesting for the normal user



Extremely exact Realtime BPM counter working between 50 and 300 BPM with 99% accuracy. Thefollowing ranges are available: 50...100, 75...150,100...200, 150...300 BPM.The value is being calculated directly in the player and does not requier a separateBPM counter. Once calculated the value can be transferred directly to the ID3 tag.

In the BPM Studio Audio Options a new driver type can be selected, the Kernel driver. This driverdeveloped by ALCATech adresses the soundcard at an extremely low level and offers extremelyahort latency times (4-10 ms) by high stability because of its high priority. The driver gets back onexisting driver functionalities as e.g. DirectSound and works on almost all cards even those thatproduced dropouts because of their missing Direct sound drivers. The kernel driver only works withwindows 95/98, NT and W2K are NOT suppoted until now because of the limitations of the operatingsystem.

CDDB batch query: After inserting several CD's the CDDB query for these CD'scan be done in one go.

BPM Studio - News


Loudness adjustment: The normalize function was reviewed completely and works now as aloudness adjustment. The file archive menu now contains a new option „Normalize“ with which thewhole file archive will be normalized in one go. At large archives this process might take severalhours but has to be done only once for each song. When adding new files and normalzing filesalready scanned will not be scanned again and will therefore go faster. When normalizing peak andRMS levels of all songs are being scanned and the value of the average loudness is being detected.When finished the song with the highst and the lowest loudness level is detected and all songs willbe adjusted based on these values. Songs with a high volume level will be damped and songs with alow level will be amplified, the dynamics remain widely untouched because only one amplificationfactor is used for each track and no dynamics adjustment is applied.

Internet connection can be established/terminated manually right click on CDDB button

New driver interface for EASI drivers (eMagic)

Pro version only: Calibrate Sliders: The control unit options now have the button „Calibrate“. In casethe sliders don't reset to the middle position this can be calibrated by clicking on this button.

3.2.0 / Gimmicks:

Low level audio engine reviewed and optimized completely. Parallel processing of Data by MMXoptimizing improved. Memory comsuption of the audio engine reduced.

3.2.0 / Bugfixes:

At times BPM Studio did not recognize the change of a CD, fixed

Blue screen in Dsound.vxd caused by some DirectSound drivers e.g. Midiman 2044 avoided

When more than 999 songs were loaded in a playlist the track number was cut off, fixed

When player is stopped you can toggle between the recent cue-point and the song start. Whenjumping back to the start of song silence is being skipped

Some genres are no longer being stored in the registry and will therefore not erased when theregistry is cleared

In the file options folders in several levels are displayed correctly

Troubles with the bitmap drawing on some graphic cards were fixed

Smaller problems with ASIO drivers were fixed

New Spline interpolation filter offering better pitch quality with ASIO, EASI, WAVE and Kernel drivers

Master tempo algorithm completely reviewed. Much better quality and MMX optimized.


3.0.5 / Neue Features:

The same track can be loaded to the playlists several times

„agressive refresh“ option - It's possible to deactivate the aggressive refresh (all displays are redrawnat slower speed). This function improves the performance up to 10% per player on slower computers(Celeron(TM) Notebooks etc.)

BPM Studio - News


3.0.5 / Gimmicks:

Improvement of performance from 7 to 10% by optimizing

New keyboard shortcut Alt+V = Visualization

3.0.5 / Bugfixes:

An error by changing the preload buffer size in the audio options was fixed

The last 2-3 seconds were cut off, this error was fixed

An error at the „Silent Detection“ (Auto-Cue) was fixed

Access Violation by using front/rear outputs was fixed


3.0.0 / Neue Module:

Several users can work without influencing each other by using the user administration

Skin support


„Master Tempo“ (time stretching, changing playback speed without changing the pitch)

WinAmp Visualization PlugIn support

Full Screen mode 800x600 and 1024x768 supportet, at higher resolutions several modules are beingdisplayed additional

Several tracks can be selected and edited in the File Info Box. So an artist or album entry can beassinged to a hole group of tracks

3D soundcard support, so with a Terratec DMX sound card e. g. a two-channel-solution can beobtained. Hint: Due to the fact that the front and rear output are offer a different quality of playback,this solution is not suitable for professional use. Terratec DMX and SB Live were tested successfully,but the SB live does not offer enough hardware buffer space to work as monitor for BPM Studio.

BPM Studio now comes with extended networt support. A system can consist of one server andseveral clients. The servers File Archive is displayed on all clients, but changes can only be made onthe server. Changes in the servers File Archive are automatically detected by the clients.

BPM Studio can be run as an exclusive shell application. This feature is useful for applicationswere users should only be allowed to have access only to BPM Studio and no other programs on thesystem.

BPM Studio was optimized for multiprocessor systems running under NT or W2000.Each player can use seperate processor, if present, which improves the systems stability and playerperformance.

BPM Studio - News


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For the CDDB query BPB Studio either uses an existing internet connection or the automatic dialfunction of Windows and terminates the connection correctly.

The settings of the CDDB query are being expanded, to use alternate CDDB servers you can enterURL and port number of the server

Advanced CDDA parameters can be setup for each CD-ROM drive

3.0.0 / Bugfixes:

In some configurations BPM Studio lost the File Archive. This bug is fixed now

Temp files are being delete completely now

The ID3 tag was not written on write protected files, This has now be changed

No temp files are generated on writing ID3 tags

Sometimes the group "SEARCH RESULTS" were deleted by the autosave function

Access violation occured when exiting the BPM Counter

A problem in the whole system when using DirectSound at W2000 was avoided.(With a start of a player the last 0,5 seconds of the previous song was repeated)


2.0.0 / New Modules:

A new module called Loop Sampler was insert

By using the MP3 Streaming-Modul the master output can live streamed in a network or theInternet. BPM Studio supports the Shoutcast/Icecast protocols, and no other external modules areneeded. In our check outs we streamed with 128 kBit, and the system load was smaller than 30%

Language Modul: BPM Studio supports now different languages. (in this time are available thelanguages english and german and we work on italian, france and dutch)

Backup Modul for the file archive


Every modul that could save the titles in WAVE till now can save now directly in MP3. So therecorder can now record MP3's in realtime.

The monitor-function has been completly redone. The different sample frequencies of thesoundcards will be corrected, so drifting apart of the output signals between monitor and master willbe avoided

MP3 to WAVE decompressing

Presets for the equalizer settings

Displaying pitch and pitch area in the display of the remote control

BPM Studio - News


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NEW: fulltext search (wildcards *, ?)

Now you can seach for BPM areas e.g. 120..130 BPM

You can drag titels from the playlists to the cd-player, so the cd-player is a 3rd player or acomfortable preview player.

Autosave feature: every 5 minutes the whole state of BPM-Studio is saved to disk. Even when thesystem crashes you wont lose your archives or other data.

With the buttons A,B,C you can set the pitch area for each player, even from the remote control.

2.0.0 / Gimmicks:

When autoplay-mode was active while program shut down, it will be activated when you startBPM-Studio again.

AutoCue (skip silence at the beginning)

The CPU usage was reduced about 5%, this means again more performance

The options of the ASIO drivers can be changed directly from the options of BPM Studio

The wave out drivers have been optimized. Buffers of 3x8192 are no problem on fast computers (PIII 500), this reduces the delay that is always higher than the delay of the other drivers.

A lot of customers, who work with the Digital SL, could not change to BPM-Studio when they hadbigger filearchives created with visiosonic software. Because Digital SL encoded all MP3 files.Wetook a closer look at the encoded files and we determined that this encoding is not for protectingcopyrights. The encoding only prevents the users of Digital SL to change to another system, likeBPM-Studio. Because in our opinion all software should be compatible as possible, we implementeda function that can read the encoded Digital SL files, without changing them. Welcome toBPM-Studio and much greetings to Visiosonic ;-)

A new command line parameter has been added. With /auto your can start BPM-Studio in auto-playmode. A playlist called 'auto.lst' will be loaded an played. When you install BPM-Studio in an autorun folder of windows you only have to turn on the computer an it will start to play. This is usefull forcafes, bars, etc. when there is no DJ. Additionally you can use the parameter /SHUFFLE.

There is a new Hot-Key: with [Control]-[Shift] or [Alt]-[P] you can the play selected track in the player

2.0.0 / Bugfixes:

The „List Index out of bounds“ error was fixed.

Errors while saving the settings of the sampler were fixed.

„Unable to create file“ error was fixed. BPM-Studio now checks the filenames for illegal chars (like "\/:*?"<>|. ") replaces them with a blank char.

An error with the CD-Text informations was fixed

A memory leak that could crash your system was fixed

ASPI driver (NT) initializing error was fixed

The noise problem in cobination with newer versions of Windows 95 was fixed

You can now disable the ASPI Driver that could cause problems under NT

BPM Studio - News


The long-term stability has been improved

Internet problems on startup were fixed

An error while parsing the ID3 Tags was fixed.

webmaster | ALCATech | SWIFTSOFT | copyright

BPM Studio - News



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New key shortcuts in Version 3.4.0CTRL-P, SHIFT-P, ALT-P:loads a track from the focussed list in thecorresponding player (CTRL for player A, SHIFTfor Player B, ALT for CD player) and inserts itafter the selected track in the playlist.

CTRL-Q, SHIFT-Q:loads a track from the file archive in the left orright playlist (after the selected track in theplaylist)

ALT-Q:loads a track from the file archive in the waitlist(after the selected track in the playlist)

Clipboard Functions (Windows-like):CTRL-A: Select allCTRL-C (CTRL -insert): copyCTRL-V (SHIFT-insert): insertCTRL-X (SHIFT-delete): cut

Changes made to version Version 3.4.0:

Player Pitch Functions:CTRL-Insert, SHIFT-Insert, ALT-Insert (formerlyPitch on) are being removed because of theclipboard functions and are being replaced by:CTRL-Z, SHIFT-Z, ALT-Z: Pitch on/off

CTRL-Delete, SHIFT-Delete, ALT-Delete(formerly Pitch on) are being removed because ofthe clipboard functions and are being replaced by:CTRL-Y, SHIFT-Y, ALT-Y: Pitch Reset

ALT-Y: (Select all) is being replaced by CTRL-A

ALT-Z: (Invert selection) removed

BPM Studio - News

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Software Installation

To install BPM Studio, please follow these instructions. Please note that the program must be installed ontoyour hard disk from the application CD. It cannot be started from the CD or without the hardware dongle.

1. Connect the hardware dongle to a parallel port on your PC. (printers already connected may also be used)

2. Insert the installation CD into your CD-ROM drive.

3. If your computer is programmed to recognize CD changes then the installation program will startautomatically. If not, click on "RUN" in the Windows 95/98 start menu and type "D:/setup.exe", where 'D' is theletter of your CD-ROM drive.

4. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete your installation.


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First start

During the installation process, a shortcut to BPM Studio was installed on your desktop, as well as under theStart menu. Simply double click on either the program icon on your desktop (or the start menu (PROGRAMS)(ALCATech) (BPM Studio)). When the program first starts, it will automatically check your system to ensureproper operation is possible, and if you have purchased the professional version, a check will be performed tosee if the remote control unit is connected. If BPM Studio is not currently your default player, you will be giventhe opportunity to do so here.

That's it. Now you can start having fun with BPM Studio.


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The basic modules

BPM Studio is consists of 7 different modules:1 Player A2 Player B3 Playlist for Player A4 Playlist for Player B5 Sample Player6 Cross Fader7 BPM File Archive

The middle and lower screen area (3, 6, 4 and 7) ismultifunctional. The middle program area can beoperated with a single-list or dual-list. You can switchbetween these views by simply pressing and

in the cross fader. In the lower field the BPM filearchive, the mixer or the CD player can be faded in by

pressing , and .

By clicking next to any slider, it will automatically move slowly in the respective direction.


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The Player

As both audio players are identical infunctionality, only one will be describedhere. The player controls the output ofaudio, whether that audio resides on yourhard disk or on a CD-ROM. Aside from thenormal functions you are used to withvirtually any analog CD player, there aremany more extra features which are onlymade possible by processing audio data ona PC. Using drag & drop all tracks can betransferred from the playlists or the BPM filearchive and played. A track can also beloaded and started by double-clicking on therelevant playlist.

And, you can also load a track from the hard disk via the contextmenu.

Starting from version 2.0 a Loop Sampler is available.You can start it by click on the 'LOOP' button as shown here.

Track - buttons

rewinds the current audio file to the beginning ofits track. If the track has been playing less than 2

seconds, the previous track will be loaded.

loads the next track into the current player.

is a position slider that canbe used for adjusting the current playback position.

Main Functions

Play / Pause. When switching from Pause toPlay, the default-cue point is automaticallyreset.

returns the play position to saved cue point.

plays the current audio track from last savedcue point.

Loop / Search buttons

Using the left mouse key:The player goes into loop mode. If you keep the mousekey depressed, there will be a smallerincrease in search speed.

Using the right mouse key:The player goes into loop mode. If you keep the mousekey depressed, there is a largerincrease in search speed.

If play mode of the search keys is stopped by clickingthe right mouse button, the buttons operate as normalfor fast forward or rewind.

Play modes (Switch)

Single Play, stops at next track.

Loop, continually repeats the current playlist.

randomly plays tracks from current playlist.

switches between Pitch andMaster Tempo


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By clicking next to the Pitch slider (on the scale itself), the pitch area is altered in 0.1% steps.

Extended Cue Functions

Using the file editor, an additional 9cue points can be set in addition tothe standard cue points. The exactprocedure is described in thechapter on the file editor. If the fileeditor is invoked from the playlist viathe context menu, the cue points aresaved in the playlists; if the file editoris invoked from the BPM FileArchive, the cue points remain

pertaining to the track, similar to BPM data. Trackswhich have been given additional cue points aremarked with a green square in the playlist. If such atrack is loaded into the player, the cue points may beselected via the context menu of the CUE and CUPkeys.

Pitch Functions

Pitching means altering the playing speed of an audiofile, and thus the Beats Per Minute (BPM) of the sametrack. Using this function the playing speed of trackscan be mixed to match each other. The universal

buttons can be programmed for3 pitch ranges as follows (default setting)via program options: A for +/- 8%, B for +/-16%, C for +/-24% (or if you use mastertempo: 4, 8 and 12%).

switches the pitch functionon or off for the selected player.

decreases the pitch of the current audio file.

increases the pitch of the current audio file.

matches the pitch to the BPM valueof the other player.

With the right mouse key:Adjusts the track pitch graduallyto 0 and starts the next trackfrom the playlist (if not in singleplay mode).

5 seconds before the end of playing time, this display flashes red as a warning signal.

The Displays

The display isdivided into twoareas. In the upperarea, the positionof the track in the

playlist is displayed on the left (TRACK). The middlearea displays either the elapsed time (ELAPSED) orthe remaining time (REMAIN). To switch betweendisplays, simply click directly on the area or on theTIME key.

The upper right area serves to display either theBPM of the track (data taken from the BPM

32 frequency analyzer with peak display

32 frequency analyzer without peak display

64 frequency analyzer with peak display

64 frequency analyzer without peak display



database) or the pitch value. Switching betweenthese displays is again carried out by clicking on thearea. In the lower area on the left there is a resourcedisplay (audio data buffer memory). Next to this is aVU meter with the following modes which can beselected by mouse click.:

OFF (Saves Resources)

Standard Tuning Display

Amplitude (time dependent)

Scrolling display of track and artist

Player Context MenuRemove current track from the Player●

Load an audio track into the Player●

Display File Info Box for the current track●

Start the File Editor●

Start the BPM Counter●

Open the search window●

Carries out normalize function for the current audio track●

Decompress the current audio track to a wave file●

Delete cue points, fades and play counters●

Displays the program options●

Realtime BPM Counter:

(In the light version the BPM Counter is only available in a limitedfunction range!)The both players automatically detect the BPM value of the currenttrack with an extremely high accuracy, when no value is stored in theID3-Tag yet. The following ranges are available: 50...100,75...150,100...200, 150...300 BPM. By using the context menu in theBPM value display this value can be stored directly into the ID3-Tagat the current track. BPM detection by the separate BPM Counter isno longer nessecary.You can restart the detection by the RESETfunction in the context menu. This enables you to check and changean already stored value in the ID3-Tag.



The Sample Player

The sample player is responsible formanaging up to 9 audio samples,which are ready to be played at thetouch of a button. Using the sampleeditor various sample blocks (ingroups of 9) can be saved.

The current operating status of thesample player can be seen by lookingat the LED at the top middle of theplayer. Green indicates standbymode, red an audio file is currentlybeing loaded into the sample player.

The sample player itself has nine digital keys whichcan each be allocated a sample. The length of samplethat can be loaded depends on the size of the mainmemory, as well as the version you have purchased. Ifa button already contains a sample, that buttonappears dark. When the button is clicked, the sampleis played. If SINGLE PLAY mode is deactivated via thecontext menu, several samples can be playedsimultaneously.

There are two play modes. In "start/stop" mode, thesample is played by clicking the button, and stoppedby pressing it again (on/off). In "scratch" mode, thesample is always played from the beginning. Allsamples can be stopped by clicking the 0 button on thekeyboard. To switch between the two modes, select"SCRATCH MODE" in the context menu or the scrollkey on the keyboard. The volume slider of the sampleplayer is the same as that of the mixer-channelSAMPLE, they function synchronously.

Using the PITCH adjuster, the playback speed can begradually altered. By clicking the right mouse key onthe slider, the setting returns to normal.

Using the and keys, the sample player canbe allocated to either player A or B. This works only ifboth players are assigned to separate sound cards. Ifboth players use the same sound card, these twobuttons are meaningless. Via the context menu, youcan activate a "loop" function which continues to playthe sample until the digit key is repressed. By clicking

the right mouse key on the digit buttons from to

the sample player context menu is opened.

Processing Samples and Assigning ButtonsTo assign a sample to a particular button in the sampleplayer, there are several different methods: Via thecontext menu, by drag & drop from one of the playlists,BPM File Archive, or via the sample editor. If a fileexceeds the permissible length of it is automatically

reduced on loading. Using the sample editor youcan manage samples and edit them using the fileeditor, which can be accessed from the context menuor the sample editor itself.

Sample Player Context MenuPlays the selected sample (click on button)●

Activates/Deactivates the loop function for the selected sample●

Assigns an audio file directly to this button●

Cancels assignment to this button●


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Deletes the entire sample block 1 to 9●

Displays the File Info Dialog for the selected file●

Displays the File Editor, useful for editing samples●

Displays the Sample Editor●

Prevents simultaneous playing of several samples●

Switches between scratch and start/stop mode●

Displays the Program Options●


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The Playlists

By default, the dual-playlist screen isdisplayed. Each playlist in this mode isidentical. By clicking on either or in the cross fader, you can choose betweenthe dual list screen (playlist mode) or asingle list (waitlist mode). When you switchfrom dual list to single list, both trackdisplays are listed together, first fromplaylist A, then from playlist B. Whenswitching back to dual list, the songs arereturned to their original playlist.Playlists make it extremely simple to puttogether a complete set or entire evening'sworth of music. The name of the track,artist, BPM and playing time of each track isdisplayed in the playlist. The track currentlybeing played is marked in white.

The blue bar marks an audio file. All playlists can be saved asplaylist data. (*.LST). All data pertaining to a track such as pitch,cues etc. are saved in this file. The stored lists of both playlistdisplays are compatible.

If the file has been processed in the file editor youwill see a green square next to the BPM.

Audio files already played (min. 1 minute in player) are marked with a red square nextto the BPM.

There are three basic methods of adding audio files toplaylists: via the context menu directly from your harddisk, by dragging & dropping from the other list or the

BPM File Archive, and by using the button. Theorder in which audio files are played back can also bealtered by simply dragging & dropping each file into itsnew place. A red arrow next to eachfile makes sorting much easier. You can also transfertracks to a player with drag & drop, context menu ordouble clicking on the file. Depending on the basicprogram setting, the track will then either be playedimmediately or paused at the beginning of the track.The following functions are also available:

Creates an empty playlist

Loads a saved playlist

Saves the current playlist

Adds an audio file to the current playlist

Removes the currently selected audio file fromthe current playlist

Selects all tracks in the current playlist

Displays the file info box for the currently selectedaudio file

The lower right field contains the status window as wellas a monitor player. The following displays of thestatus window can be changed by mouse click:

Displays the number of tracks in the current playlist

Displays the total playing time of the current playlist

Displays the remaining playing time of the currentplaylist


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Tip: Use the single list mode display (waitlist) if you use Auto-Fading often.

By combining saved playlists with crossfade effects,you can very quickly put together complete programsets for various events, differing musical styles, showsand much more. The original track files are only savedonce in the system even if they are allocated to severalplaylists. In the chapter about the cross fader there isan

explanation of how to allocate pre-configured crossfades, as well as how to generate your own playingsequences. It is also possible to import playlists fromother systems and players such as WinAMP. Pleasenote that BPM Studio version 1.5 imports both *.m3uand *.pls formats.

Playlist Context Menu:Loads an audio track into a Player●

Plays a selected audio track in the Preview Player●

Removes the selected audio track from the Playlist●

Deletes the selected audio track from the hard disk●

Adds audio file(s) to the Playlist●

Displays the File Info Box for the current audio file●

Displays the File Editor for the current audio file●

Displays the BPM Counter for the current audio file●

Displays the search window●

Begin Normalization on the current audio file●

Decompresses the current audio file to a wave file●

Resets track (cues, fades, play counter)●

Displays the program options dialog●


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The Cross Fader (Home and Professional Version only)

The cross fader allows you to fadebetween player A and player B. Inorder to provide the maximum amountof flexibility, there are two cross fademodes provided; Manual andAutomatic.

To switch automatic mode on and off,simply click on . If automaticmode is activated there is then a crossfade at the end of the track currentlybeing played, to the track loaded on

the opposite player. You can alter the cross fade byusing the mouse to move the red or blue curve, or usecan use one of the several pre-programmed crossfades provided via the context menu. With drag &drop, the cross fade set is allocated to a particulartrack, but that effect is only used at the end of the trackitself. All following tracks on the playlist automaticallyreceive the same cross fade until another fade isallocated. A track with an assigned effect is markedwith a green line in the playlist.

To change assigned cross fades, the altered crossfade must be re-assigned by drag & drop to confirm.This prevents unwanted alteration of assigned fades.All fade effects are saved within the playlist file itself. Aflashing red light in the top left corner indicates thatautomatic mode is activate. It is deactivated wheneverthe CUE, CUE/PLAY or START/STOP buttons areclicked in any of the players. Using the key, thefade can be cancelled in advance in automatic mode.If automatic mode is not active, a cross fade is startedby activating the key with the preset anddisplayed fade mode. The currently displayed fade isnow used, but the fade is not assigned to the trackitself. Using the button switches to the single listscreen.

Use of the manual fade slider overrides any preset fade mode.

The fade time is set by the FADE TIME slider. Pleaseremember that this is the time for the "complete" timewindow. If the fade effect does fill the entire window,the real time is shortened accordingly.

This slider allows for setting the fadetime

Direct cross fading by hand is also possible by usingthe MANUAL FADE slider.

This slider allows fading betweenplayers A and B

At the top right of the display, the tuning of the twochannels during the fade can be seen. The whitevertical line shows the current position of the fade onthe time axis.

In the single list screen,the cross fader appearsin an adapted layout. Asthis mode is often usedfor autofading, you havedirect access to 6 presetfades. The sliders alsofacilitate more precisesetting, if required. Toswitch to a dual listscreen, simply click onthe buttonlocated at the lower partof the cross fader.


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Cross Fader Context Menu:Default cross fade mode●

●

●

Preset fade modes 1 to 6●

●

●

●

Locks the display/editing field●

Switches between clock and fader displays●


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The BPM file archive

The BPM File Archive facilitates easy import andmanagement of audio files. There are 2 different

screen modes which can be selected with the button. In the first mode there is a display with allloaded tracks which contains information for each tracksuch as track name, artist, version, format, BPM (ifavailable in internal database) and playing time. In thesecond mode, the BPM file is divided into 2 lists. Onthe left you can set up your own list categories. On theright the contents of that category is displayed. Using

the and buttons you can import audio filesinto these categories. This function can also beaccessed via the BPM File Archive's context menu.

The difference between and is that theformer is used to import individual files, whereas thelatter can be used to import entire directories or evenan entire hard disk. At the time of import, the programimmediately checks whether the file can be played.

Once the files have been loaded into the BPM FileArchive, they can be easily moved from category tocategory using drag & drop (whereby only the link tothe data is altered, not the actual position on the harddisk!). This makes sorting and archiving of audio tracksvery simple. Drag & drop can also be used to transferand add audio files to the playlists. The audio files alsoremain in the BPM File Archive. The followingadditional functions can be performed by using thesebuttons:

Removes selected audio files

Selects all audio files within the list

Inverts selection

Deletes the selection

Sort according to track or artist

Displays File Info dialog

Searches for audio files

The Monitor button (available for bothplayers), provides a very powerfulfunction. If the monitor player has been

allocated its own sound card, and the monitor functionsare activated in the program options (register cardaudio I/O), you may switch player A and/or B to themonitor output. This allows monitoring of selectedaudio files without actually playing them out the soundcard used for distributing your program.

In the bottom right-hand corner of theBPM File Archive there is a statusdisplay as well as a preview player.

The number of tracks in the selected group isdisplayed in the status display.

Please avoid the use of special charakters such as / or \ because Windows defines them assubdirectories and leads to malfunctions.


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Context Menu Within The Group List:Add a Group●

Add a Sub-Group●

Remove a Group●

Rename a Group●

Delete Contents of a Group●

Display All Sub-Groups●

Close all Sub-Groups●

Open Search Window●

Add Audio Files●

Filearchive Update (see Additional Functions)●

Save Backup / Restore Backup●

Start the normalize function for the complete archive●

Display Options Dialog●

Context Menu Within The Track List:Play Selected Track in Preview Monitor●

Remove Selected Tracks●

Delete Selected Tracks from Hard Disk●

Add Tracks●

Display File Info Dialog for the Selected Track●

Display File Editor for the Selected Track●

Display BPM Counter for the Selected Track●

Display the Search Dialog●

Start the Normalize Function●

Decompress Selected Audio File to a Wave File●

Reset Track (cues, fades, play counter)●

Display the Options dialog●


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The Mixer

The mixer consists of two components, the audiochannels and the equalizer/recorder. Internal andexternal audio sources are all controlled via the mixer.The equalizers can be made to make frequencyadjustments for both players and the CD-ROM drive.

Using the recorder, you can edit an external audiosignal (via MIC or LINE IN), or edit the audio trackcurrently playing in the two players or sample player,as well as save the track as a wave or MP3 file. Youcan also send the track as an MP3-Stream to anexternal streaming server.

In Program Options the peak display can be switched on or off to saves system resources.

The Audio ChannelsThe mixer has four internal stereoinputs (player A, player B, CD playerand sampler), as well as two stereooutputs (master, monitor). In therecorder you can select a MIC and aLINE IN input from a sound card. Withthe level slider the volume level of eachstereo channel can be individuallyadjusted. The level is displayed as abar to the left of the slider. A dB display(per channel) is visible at the top right.With the panning field top left thebalance of a single channel can bemoved. You can use the right mouse

key to reset this value. The MUTE button switches offthe sound.

Using the MONITOR button of the input channels(player A, player B, CD player and sampler) therespective audio signal is transmitted to the monitoroutput channel so it can be played independent of thetracks currently playing (if monitor functions have beenactivated in program options and are allocated to aseparate sound card. Left of the channel descriptionthere is a beat display for each input channel. Insteadof MONITOR buttons there are reset buttons in the twooutput channels (master and monitor) which are usedto reset the volume level to -1.0 dB. The same appliesfor all channels by pressing the right mouse key on theslider scale. The MASTER output sets the overallvolume of all four input channels irrelevant of thenumber of sound cards used.

The Equalizer


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The equalizer is used to correct frequencies in either ofthe two or the CD player.

With the buttons, the equalizer

settings of the two players and the CD player can bere-called, and activated or deactivated using the button. You can adjust individual frequencies byadjusting the respective slider. The resulting curve isdisplayed above in graph form. By clicking the button, or the right mouse key on the display, thefrequency curve is reset to a linear shape.If the red OVERFLOW-LED is continually lit,the buffer memory of the sound card is overloaded. Inthis case, the dynamics scale is too great and will yielddistortion during playback. It is advisable to switch tothe PREAMP function (limiter) using the context menu.

Clicking with the mouse on the scale next to the slider will automatically move the slider slowly in thedirection required.

Equalizer Display Context Menu

Limiter function●

Areas for frequency curve correction●

●

●

Displays the equalizer settings window●

Resets current settings●

Displays the Options dialog●

Saving and Loading of Equalizer Settings



BPM Studio allows you to save and load equalizer settings.Pre-defined settings are also available. You can manage the settingsby using the context menu in the equalizer display and selecting"Presets", as shown below.

The Recorder (not included in the Light version)

The button is used to switch to the recorderdisplay. The two sliders (MIC and LINE IN) are for

setting the input signal from the two input channels ofa sound card. Sound card selection is made via theslider context menus. The RECORD IN slider controlsthe overall volume of the recording.

Press to start recording / sending.

Via the button, the record level can be set inadvance.

ends recording. When recording has ended,you will be prompted for the file name and directory tostore the recording.

If autostart is activated ( ) recording startsautomatically as soon as an audio signal has beendetected at one of the defined sources. Press

to return to the equalizer display.

With the or buttons you can return tothe BPM explorer or the CD ripper.

If the audio track currently playing is to be recorded, all virtual devices must be allocated to the sameduplex sound card, the WAVE or LOOP function (or similar) must be active in the Windows Mixer panel,and the card must have been selected as record device in the RECORDER area.

Recorder/Equalizer Context Menu



Select sound card for recording●

Select recording format●

Displays the Program Options dialog.●

Saves current settings●

Opens the search window●

Exits BPM Studio●

Using the "Record Format" menu, you canselect between 4 different options: recording asa WAVE file (ressources-saving), recording asa MP3 file (disk space-saving), send therecorded audio as MP3-Stream to an externalMP3 streaming server or to the VisualisationPlugin. Please see the section MP3 StreamingModule and Visualisation Plugins for moreinformation.



The CD Player (Home and Professional Version only)

The CD player can be used to play audio CDs, copyCDDA files onto the hard disk as wave files, as well asto compress wave files into MP3 format, or compressCDDA files directly into MP3 format. In future versionsit will also be possible to decode to a wave file andcopy onto an audio CD as a CDDA track.

There are 3 different modes available:, (future version), and

The playlist and the player module of the CD areidentical to the two main players and playlists. Use thebuttons in the middle area of the CD player display toswitch between the three operating modes, to startcopy or compression procedures, or to switch to themixer / BPM explorer.

Basically, encoding (compressing to MP3 format) canbe done in 2 different ways. Either copy the

audio CD onto the hard disk as a wave file for latercompression, or compress directly into MP3 formatwhile copying the CD. Selection is made in ProgramOptions under Register Card CDDA-Copy /

configuration / .

For compressing large numbers of audio tracks, it isadvisable to quickly copy all audio CDs as wave files,and then to compress in encoder mode in one session,overnight for example.

Eject button, opens or close the selected CDROMdrive

CD-ROM selection. You can choose whichdrive you want to display.

The CD Player supports both MP3 and WAVE files, so you can use it as third MP3 player or previewplayer if desired.

CD Reader Mode


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Audio CDs are copied in CD Reader mode. Tracksappear in the playlist as numbered tracks.

A klick at the button starts the CDDBquery. When your system is configurated properly,your PC will be connected to the internet and BPMStudio will retrieve all CD data which are

not yet available on your system. Subsequently theconnection will be terminated. You can etablished aninternet connection manually by clicking on the contextmenu at the CDDB Button. The track list will beretrieve from the CDDB Server, shown in the playlist,stored and will be available if you re-insert the CD. Inthe program options at the tab CDDA Copy you canenter several CDDB Servers.

You can also insert all CDs one after another andexecute the CDDB query in one go.

To copy audio tracks, simply mark the tracks to be

copied, and click on the Copy button .

All selected tracks will now be copied (or immediatelycompressed if the "Encode During Copy" option hasbeen selected), and transferred to the default file of theripper, which can also be set via Program Options.

If an audio track is loaded into a player, the CD-ROM drive is automatically locked.Before you can remove the CD, you must select "Remove" via the context menu of the player, or clickon the EJECT button.

Encoder Mode Here you will find the copied CDDA tracks. If you didnot activate the compression option, these files will beavailable in WAVE format.

The tracks can be played on any player, as well aschecked or processed using the File Editor. Availablewave files may also be added here. Subsequently, theselected tracks are compressed into MP3 format by

clicking on button.

After compression, you will find a new entry in theBPM file archive under the "NEW FILES" section,containing the current date the compressed trackshave been copied on. This directory can be renamedusing RENAME, or you can sort and archive the tracksunder the available categories.



Data loaded from the CDDB server via an Internet connection are saved in BPM Studio, and remainavailable online for use at a later date. CDDB enquiry need only be carried out once for each CD.



The Loop Sampler (Home and Professional Versions Only)

The Loop Sampler allows you toeasily record sections from thecurrent audio file playing in theselected player. This can be doneusing very small time ranges. Theseloop samples can be changed,played or stored range for futureuse.

A Loop Sampler is available foreach player, and can be accessedby clicking on the button. The Loop

Sampler runs as its ownmodule, and while it is running,BPM Studio retains its full

range of functionality.The operating statistics of the LoopSampler is displayed by a blinkingdot within the display of the player,between the Time and Pitch/BPMdisplays. This dot is also displayedin the ressource display of the LoopSampler itself.

If you are in the process of recording a sample, this dot will continuallyblink red. If you are playing a sample, this dot will continually blink green.

In the Remote Control section of the Program Options dialog, you can set

up the universal buttons , such as record, stop and play of theLoop Sampler. By using this configuration it is possible to control theLoop Sampler without an active sampler display.

By using drag & drop, you can assign the current sample to any of the 9 sample entries within theSample Player for easy playback.

Buttons for Operating the Loop Sampler

Play the sample in the recorded direction

Playing the sample in the reverse direction

Playing the sample alternating forward andreverse

Switch the output channel of the Loop Samplerbetween the monitor and the current player

Begin recording

Stop recording or playing

Play the sample

Display the "Save As" dialog

Note: When using the "Save As" function, you cansave the audio file as either a WAVE or MP3 file.


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Adjusts the starting point

Adjusts the stopping point

Adjusts the output level from -99.9 db up to 0db

Adjusts the play speed (pitch) between-20% and +20%

The "+" and "-" buttons allow you to control the respective values by an accuracy of one millisecond. You canalso control the values by using the keyboard. The TAB key switches between each of the 4 controls. With thecursor keys you can change the values in steps of milliseconds, and with page up / page down keys you canchange the values in 10-millisecond steps.

The Loop Sampler Display

The Loop Sampler display is divided into 3 areas. In the far leftportion of the screen, the resources for the sample buffer aredisplayed. This is a reserved range in the RAM with an limitedlength. If the resource display reaches the 100% marking, thesample "walks thru", and only the last range is stored.

In the upper right corner, a graphicalrepresentation of the sample is displayed.Directly underneath that graphicalrepresentation, the following additioninformation will be displayed:- Adjusted Volume- Adjusted Pitch- Time difference between the beginning ofthe sample and the adjusted start point(P-IN)- Time difference between the beginning ofthe sample and the adjusted end point(P-OUT)

In order to re-use the sample later, you must store it. Dragging the sample and dropping it on a key inthe Sample Player only temporarily links this sample to this key, and will not be saved betweensessions.


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The File Editor (Home and Professional Version only)

The file editor makes it possible to edit individual sequences of an audio file, or to set up cue points exactlyupon an individual beat. Up to 9 different cues can be saved per track and called up in a player. All settingssuch as volume, pitch, cue-in and cue-out are recognized by the players and can be saved via the playlists.

Loading a Track and DisplayThe first time an audio file is loaded peaks are formedand saved, as shown below.

When this happens, no alterations are being made tothe file itself, it remains in its original state. The peaksare saved separately on your hard disk, and in theProgram Options, you can decide whether or not todelete these peaks at the end of the

program, or to keep them on the hard disk. By keepingthis information, you will save time later on. Afterloading, the audio file is shown in graph form. The fileeditor has 2 working windows. In the lower window thefile is always displayed in its full length. This helps tomaintain transparency and helps you to quickly locateany position within the file. The upper window is usedfor editing of files, setting cues, beginning and endpoints, or selecting an area for export to a new file.

Altering the Display Range


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There are two ways of altering the display of the upperworking window:

By changing the widthor moving the positionof the area barbetween the upperand lower windows. Inthe upper window, thearea which is markedby the area bar abovethe lower window is

always displayed. In the area bar, the playing time isdisplayed if the bar is wide enough.

By activating the zoom

function anddragging the mouse(right key) across anarea in the upper orlower window. Theselected area is thenmagnified. By doubleclicking on the areabar, you can now selectbetween zoom view

and total view.

Marking of an Area, and Exporting Part of an Audio File

De-activate the zoom function and drag theright mouse key across an area in the upper or lowerwindow. The area is now shown in red. With the rightmouse you can alter this area, or display the contextmenu which you can use to zoom in,

play the selected area, orcopy the selected area ontothe hard disk as a new .WAVor .MP3 file. This saved filecan then be used later as asample, for instance.

Altering the Volume and PitchUsing the volume slider, you canalter the volume from -inf to 0dB, thus allowing easy alignmentto the volume of other audio

tracks.

The pitch can be alteredby +/-20%.

Using the + and - keys, each of these values can befinely tuned. This changes are saved and used whenthe audio file is loaded into the player. The pitch valueset here is added to the pitch value in the player.

The Tool BarSTOP - Stops play in the file editor

PLAY - Starts play in the file editor

REWIND - Goes to thebeginning of the marked areaduring play, to the start of a track

if no area is marked, or sets the locator (at STOP)back to the starting point.

LOOP Plays the marked area (blue marker) orthe complete track continuously.

ZOOM Switches the right function mousebetween zoom and marking.

Displays the wave form of the audio file.

Displays the audio file in the formof points.

Markers and Their Functions



The file editor recognises 4 different types of markers.Each of these markers can be used for marking certainpositions or sections of a track. All markers can beedited by using context menus in the marker bar, ormoved by using the mouse.

The red locator marks the current play or pauseposition, and is identical to the position sliders ineach of the players and preview players. By clickingthe left mouse key, the position of each marker is

defined.

The blue cue-in and cue-out marker mark thebeginning and end of a track. They can bemoved with the mouse, and the position slider ineach player recognizes them as new beginnings

and endings.

The yellow cue marker marks cue points. They canalso be moved by the mouse and positioned exactlyto the beat. Use the context menu of the marker barto add new cue points.

The blue cue marker represents the active cue.This is defined in the cue list at the top right, via thecontext menu of the player's CUE or CUP keys, orusing the context menu of the marker bar.

Working with Cue PointsA cue is a position within a track that the playerrecognizes as a beginning point. With the CUE key ofthe player you can move the track to this position, withthe CUP key you play the track from this position (likeCUE and PLAY). With the file editor, up to 9 cue pointscan be set per track. As each player has only one CUEkey and CUP key, one of these cues will be taken as astandard cue which can be reached using CUE andCUP key. The file editor has a cue list in the top righthand corner for easy cue management.The positions of the cue points are displayed to withinone thousandth of a second, as shown below

The current cue is marked by a blue bar. Duringplaying in the file editor, this marker moves and marksthe last cue reached by the locator.

Adds a cue point at the positionwhere the locator is currently

Deletes the marked cue point

Defines the marked cue pointas a standard cue

Plays the track from this cue point /returns the locator back to this point

Marker Bar Context MenusWithin the marker bar, the following menus are available:

Adds a cue point at the current position●

Sets the beginning marker at this point●

Sets the end marker at this point●

For the cue point markers, the menu changes as follows:

Defines this cue as a standard cue point●

Deletes the selected cue point●

Sets the beginning marker to this point●

Sets the end marker to this point●



Context menus are only available when the file editor is in pause mode



The File Info Display

In this display you can view and edit complete ID3 taginformation. Use Program Options to define whether theseshould be written in the new ID3v3 format, or using the olderID3 format.

The checkbox list is shown if you haveselected more than one title in the FileArchive. If you want to change an entry for allselected titles mark one of these checkboxes.

In the GENRE area there is a pop-up menuthat is used to assign the track a particularmusical style. You can then use the SearchDialog for rapidly locating tracks of a certaingenre.

Starts the BPM counter for this track

Starts the File Editor for this track

Closes the File Info display and saves thecurrent settings

Closes the File Info display without savingthe current settings

The File Info display works with BPM Studio's own BPM database. A new determined BPM value will bestored in the ID3 Tag as well as in the database. When a new audio file is copied to the system and thedatabase is aware of it, the BPM value from the database will be stored in the ID3 Tag of that audio file.


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The BPM Counter (Home and Professional Version only)

This module allows for exact determiniation anddefinition of the BPM (beats per minute) of aselected audio track. This definition is saved inthe program's own BPM database. There are 2different modes that can be used.

In the "automatic mode", the bass beat of atrack is defined using a special filter. Theprogram then measures these frequencies andanalyzes them accordingly. The measurablefrequency is freely editable just like with achannel of a parametric equalizer.In "manual mode", the BPM is defined by keybeat.

BPM Manual Mode Definition

Press the Manual button to switchthe BPM counter into manualmode.

To begin, press the start button, or start the track in themonitor player itself. The start button now becomes atrigger. Next, tap the trigger key to the bass beat (orthe space bar on the keyboard).

The BPM module counts everybass beat and displays it with ared flashing light. If no input ismade for longer than 2 seconds,

the BPM counter is reset.

Observe the displayed BPM value. When it no longerchanges you can leave the BPM counter by pressing

the button. The measured BPM value isthen saved in the BPM data bank and displayed in theplaylists.

In order for the Pitch-To-Functions of each player to function properly, the BPM information in the

program's internal BPM database for each track is required.

BPM Automatic Mode Definition

Press the Automatic button toswitch the BPM counter intoautomatic mode.

Next, press the start button, or start the track in themonitor player.

The BPM counter module now analyzes the track byusing the same algorithm as the real time BPM counterin the both players. The beats of the track are filteredand displayed independently. Observe now the BPM

To do a manual filter adjustment, activate the manualfilter corrector in the bottom left corner of the filterwindow. Once the analysis has started, you can nowadjust the frequency of the filter in automatic mode sothat the display area allows for a clean evaluation. Youwill know when this happens by noticing that the redLED light only lights up to every bass beat once.

The position and widthof the horizontal barcan be adjusted asrequired. This willcause a change in thecurve of the filter. Thevertical slider alters theintensity (amplitude) of

the filter. The wave frequency generated by the two


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value and the red display carefully. If the red displaymatches the beat of the track exactly and the BPMvalue will be changed no longer, the exact BPM valueis detected.

If the red LED indicator remains lit, this means that theBPM cannot be exactly tuned to the filters standardsetting. This can happen depending upon the audiotrack being analyzed. If this happens, the filter can bemanually adjusted.

sliders is displayed in graph form. If the previewfunction is activated, only the audio signal is nowaudible at the filter output. Having successfullycompleted the evaluation, just as in manual mode, theBPM value is saved in the BPM data base anddisplayed in the playlists.

The BPM Counter Monitor PlayerThe BPM Counter Monitor plays thetrack to be measured. By using theposition slider, any position within atrack can be quickly located. At thetop, the playing time and signal levelare displayed. The lower three keys

are used to control the playback itself.

If a value of 20 has been achieved in the beat counter, but evaluation has not been successful, theentire analysis must be restarted.


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Search Window

The Search dialog can be displayed using thecontext menu inside of the BPM File Archive or the

playlists, or by using the button.

In this dialog, you can search according to thefollowing track features: BPM range, artist, title,version and album. The search word or text string isalways compared exactly as entered, i.e., casesensitive.

You can also use wildcards (*,?). Here a fewexamples: WEST* finds all titles with WESTBAM,WESTERNHAGEN and so on. *HAGEN finds alltitles with WESTERNHAGEN, NINA HAGEN, and soon. *EN* finds all titles, whitch includes a EN, e.g.DEN HARROW or X-PERIENCE.

If the search has been successful, a new SEARCH RESULTS directory is set up in the BPM File Archive listingall the results. If the directory exists, the entries are updated.

If the directory already exists, all previously stored audio files will be automatically removed.


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The Normalize Function

Via the context menu, used inside of the BPM File Archive and various playlists, you canaccess the normalize function. This function you can use if a track is played with a to high orto low volume level. If you select this function about the context menu at the GROUPSwindow the whole File Archive will be normalized in one go. At large archives this process

might take several days (!) but has to be done only once for each song. When adding new files and normalzingfiles already scanned will not be scanned again and will therefore go faster.When normalizing peak and RMS levels of all songs are being scanned and the value of the average loudnessis being detected. When finished the song with the highst and the lowest loudness level is detected and allsongs will be adjusted based on these values. Songs with a high volume level will be damped and songs with alow level will be amplified, the dynamics remain widely untouched because only one amplification factor is usedfor each track and no dynamics adjustment is applied.


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The Program Options

You can access the global Program Options by using the context menu ("OPTIONS") from any display.These options are divided into 7 different categories. Please select any option below for additional information.

PREFERENCES - Languages / Internet OptionsOPTIONS - General SettingsAUDIO I/O - Sound Card ConfigurationFile Storage - Storing File DirectoriesCDDA-Copy - Setting CDDA and Compression ParametersRemote Control - Remote Control ConfigurationUser Administration


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The Preview Players

The preview players are used to preview audio tracksin the playlists. The track marked with a blue bar in theplaylists is always the one that is played. If the "DoubleClick Loads Player" option has been de-selected(under Program Options), you can start or stop a trackimmediately by simply double clicking on any list entry.

Panel facilities of the Preview Player:

Load the previous track from list play stop Load the next track from list

Position Slider Current Playing Time

In the right corner of the preview player is a smalllevel meter indicating the playback level of theplayer.


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The Backup and Update Functions

By using the context menu in the groups window of the File Archive you get to the Backup- and Updatefunctions.

The Backup Function allowes you to create a backup of the whole File Archive in a previously created folderon your harddisk or restore it from there. This way a copy of the File Archive can be transferred to another PCalso.

The Update Function incudes 2 options:"Search Disk for Files" scans the whole system including connected network drives for playable files anddisplays them in the group NEW FILES + date."Archive Update" removes songs that are not longer present from the File Archive and displays all new songson the NEW FILES section


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Sample Editor (Home and Professional Versions Only)

The Sample Editor provides for processing of up to 9samples, each assignable to any one of the 9 samplebuttons. Each sample can be altered individually interms of LOOP, VOLUME, PITCH, FADE IN andFADE OUT.The nine channels each form what is known as a"sample block", of which, as many as required,including all individual settings, can be saved as *.SMP

files using .

Sample Block FunctionsThe buttons at the bottom of the window refer to theentire sample block.

Displays an Open dialog for loading apreviously saved sample block.

Displays the Save dialog for loading asample block as a *.SMP file.

Deletes all files in the open sample block

Saves settings and closes the sampleeditor window

Closes the sample editor without savingsettings


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Sample Channel FunctionsThe following settings can be performed on eachindividual sample:

By activating the loop function (please also seecontext menu in sample player), the sample isplayed in a continuous loop.

Sets the sample volume

Sets the sample pitch valuebetween -20% and +20%

Defines the fade-in time of thesample, between 0 and max. 5seconds (depending on sample

length)

Defines the fade-out time of the sample,between 0 and max. 5 seconds (depending onsample length)

All these functions can be reset to their normalpositions by clicking the right mouse key on the greendisplay or the slider. The settings can also be adjusted

made while the file is playing.

Plays the sample in the monitor channel

Displays the Open dialog for loading any audiofile as a sample in the appropriate sample channel.Any previously loaded sample is overwritten

Starts the file editor, in which the sample canbe more extensively processed (see processing ofMP3 files in file editor)

Sample Editor Context Menu:Play the sample (click on play button)●

Activates/Deactivates the loop function for this sample●

Loads an audio file directly from hard disk for this channel●

Deletes all settings for this channel●

Displays the File Info Dialog for the selected sample●

Displays the File Editor for the selected sample●


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The MP3 Streaming Module (Home and Professional Version only)

New in version 2.0, the MP3 Streaming Moduleenables direct transmission of a MP3 audio stream toan internal network or to an external MP3 streamingmedia server for distribution across the Internet.To use this module, choose the "Streaming" menu byusing the context menu of the recorder. A click in the

upper right corner fades outthe module, it can be faded inagain by click on it's icon in thetask bar. The streaming

module is active in the background as long as it isselected in the context menu.

You can use the two "SET" buttons tochange the settings for server and kindof streaming you wish to do. Thesevalues must be the same as thoseused on the stream server itself. At themoment, the Shoutcast and Icecaststreaming media protocols aresupported. BPM Studio will log intoboth of these types of servers as anaudio encoder, thus providing audio forre-distribution.

To change the actual server settings,you can click the "SET" button next tothe above display.

To change the format of streamingmedia, click on the "Set" button next tothe above display. The settings youshould use depend on your availablebandwidth for the stream.


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PROFILE: define a name for your profile here. If youtype in a new name, then select OK, all of theinformation entered will be saved under this newprofile name.SERVER: the URL or IP adress of the streamingserverPORT, PASSWORD: the port and password thestreaming server is using to allow connections

Choose the transfer protocol here.Shoutcast is a protocol that can be used for serverssupporting the non-commercial streaming serverwww.shoutcast.com protocol. Icecast is used forservers supporting the www.icecast.com streamingprotocol. You can find out additional information byvisiting the web sites listed above.

The following entries will be need if you wish to makeyour "Radio Station" public for all to use. You canmake your system public by selecting the "PublicServer" checkbox as shown below.

If you activate the "Send Meta Infos" checkbox,additional information concerning your system will besent to each client logging on.

The contents of these two fields will be sent asadditional information to the MP3 streamming server.Here you can type the topic of your program as well asthe URL of the web site hosting your service. Whenyou activate the "Auto" checkbox , the currentinformation will be taken from BPM Studio.

Starts the web browser and shows thestate of the streaming server

Establishes the connection to thestreamming server

Disconnects from the streamming server(The connection should be closed before

you exit BPM Studio)


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http://www.shoutcast.com/

http://www.icecast.com/

Visualisation plugins

The WinAMP visualisation plugis can be activated by the recorders context menu. A box with the in the folder...\BPM Studio\Plugins installed plugins will be shown. Some of the plugins can be configurated within theirperformance range. To do this, click on the button "CONFIGURE" and enter the desired settings there. Theslider "PRIORITY" can be used to compensate resource conflicts.ALCATech does not guarantee the proper function of BPM Studio together with these plugins.


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The Remote Control

The basic functions of the remote control are identical to those of the upper area of the server screen. If theremote control is registered under Program Options, the program checks at the start whether or not the remotecontrol is connected and fully functional.

InstallationThe control is connected to a serial interface (COM1 orCOM2) using the cable provided. Mains supply isprovided by the mains lead, which are also provided.

Next, start BPM Studio, and open the Program Optionsdialog, and select the Remote Control tab. Thefollowing settings must be made:

COM1 / COM 2Select the COM port the remote control is connectedto.

RC ActiveSelect this check box if a remote control unit isphysically connected. The program will now check andverify each time it is started that the remote control unitis connected and fully functional.

OperationThe remote control unit is divided into control areas foreach of the players as well as the sample player. Thebasic functions are identical to those described in themodule descriptions pertaining to the players andsample player.

There are the following differences to the playerson the screen:

If the program locates a remote control at startup, andthe remote control sliders are configured to pitch, thepitch sliders on the screen are automatically locked.Alterations in pitch can now only be made using theremote control. The sliders on the screen merely showthe position of the sliders.

*If the sliders of both players are set to pitch and theremote control is connected, the pitch-to key is onlyallocated the pitch-to-0 function.

The functions of the sliders and the programmableuniversal buttons can be defined under ProgramOptions, using the Remote Control tab. Please seealso the tips on section Program Options.

The slider in the sample player (slider C underProgram Options), can be configured to control samplevolume, sample pitch or manual fading between A andB players.

The universal buttons top right inboth players are also freelyconfigurable. In version 1.5 ofBPM Studio they are switchedparallel in both players and can

be allocated as follows:

Button A:- Pitch area 1- Monitor to player A- Loop Sampler record

Button B:- Pitch area 2- Monitor to player B- Loop Sampler stop

Button C:- Pitch area 1- Monitor to CD player


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The sliders of the two players (A and B sliders inProgram Options) can be set to control either pitch orvolume. For the notebook version, this enables mixingto be done without an external mixer. Pitch settings aremade with the software itself.

- Loop Sampler play

If the sliders of both players are set to pitch and the remote control is connected, the pitch-to key is onlyallocated the pitch-to-0 function.


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Remote control - Remote Control Configuration

In this section you can configure the remote control tosuit your own requirements. The sliders and universalbuttons can be allocated to perform various functionsdepending on the application (stationary PC/DJ case,mobile PC or notebook), and the hardware (number ofsound cards, audio hardware equipment)

Slider A, Slider BHere you can select the function assigned to thesliders in the two players. In BPM Studio version 2.0you can select playing volume or pitch value.

Slider Cis the sample player slider. In version 2.0 threefunctions are available: sampler pitch, sampler volume,and manual fade A/B.

Adjust Slidersactivate this option if you experiencee problems withthe end points of the sliders

Text Scrollingactivates text scrolling in display (requires a lot ofsystem resources).

Level Metersactivates the level display (requires a lot of systemresources).

Fader Start(at Hardware Rev. 3.00B and mixer with fader start)


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Button A, B, CSet the function of thesoft keys of both players. Thesesettings apply to the switches in the program, too.

COM1 / COM 2This defines which COM port the remote control isconnected to when first installing.

RC Activeshould always be selected if a remote control isphysically connected. If selected, BPM Studioautomatically checks at startup whether the remote isconnected and is functioning correctly.

With this box checked the player starts when the faderon the external mixer is being pushed up.

Fader Stop(at Hardware Rev. 3.00B and mixer with fader start)With this box checked the player will stop when thefader on the external mixer is pulled down

This button calibrates the sliders of theremote control. Therefore please make

shure that the sliders are in the correct middle positionand click this button. The current position of the sliderswill be defined as 0.



Preferences - Language and Internet Options

Language pack:Here you can choose the language which you prefer

Skin PackHere you can choose your prefered skin. The listshows you all skins from the folder ...\BPMStudio\Skins which are compatible with thecurrentversion of BPM Studio. Information about new skinsyou can get at the download area atwww.alcatech.com.

Pitch Range

defines the pitch area of the slider. This value isoverwritten by activating one of the three pitch rangebuttons

Bend Speed

defines pitch-bend range

Pitch To - Speed

defines time for pitch-to-0


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OPTIONS - General Settings

Load Wave Filesat startup, BPM Studio will scan for wave files and loadthem automatically

Load Sub DirectoriesIf a directory is selected for loading, all sub directorieswill also be loaded

Soft Pitch and Bend changesfacilitates soft pitch and bend changes, helping tosimulate the sluggishness of an LP

Start Player after loading a filestarts player after loading an audio file

Double Click Loads Playera double click on either playlist does not start previewplayer, but loads track into the main player

Ask before load a playera confirmation query will be shown before loading thenext title

Automatic BPM Counteractivates the automatic BPM counter in the players

Auto SaveAll options, as well as the settings of the File Archive,will be stored each 5 minutes

Alternate Bitmap Drawinguse this function if you experience display problems,such as with bitmaps, sliders, etc.

Change Screen Resolution on Startupat startup, the resolution of Windows is automaticallychanged to 800 x 600 mode

Delete Cutter Peakfilesat program exit, peakfiles generated by the file editorare deleted

Scan VBR FilesSelect this option to facilitate exact positioning of fileswith a variable bitrate



Reload File in Single Play ModeIf single play and loop is activated, the track isrepeated. If not, then the entire playlist is activated

Blink Display Before File is Done5 seconds before the end of the current track, the timedisplay turns red and flashes

Use Normalization If File is NormalizedIf this checkbox is selected, the settings of thenormalized audio file are used. If not, they are ignored

Check Playlists When Loadingchecks playlists when loading to ensure that all tracksare still available in the system

Show Playlist Columnsswitches on vertical columns in the playlistand explorer (uses a lot of system resources)

Show Mixer Levelsswitches on levels display in the mixer

Show beats in mixertoggles the beat display in the mixer

Remove files from PlayList if Playedtrack is automatically removed from playlist after it isplayed

Auto Cue (Skip Silence)If a title has a few seconds of silence at the beginning,that silence will be automatically skipped

Save ID3 Tagsthe program writes the ID3 tag of the original MP3 files

Write ID3-V3 Tagsthe program writes the ID3 tag of the original MP3 filesas version 3 (the ID3 tag is no longer readable forolder players)

Lock Main Window Positionthe main window position is locked

Show Tooltipsactivates tool tips (uses a lot of system resources)

Alternative Cue Play FunctionBy pressing the cue key there will be switchedbetween the recent cue point and the song start

Start as exclusive shell applicationUse this function if you want start BPM Studio as asingle application in Windows. After activating yoursystem will be restarted without the Windows Explorerand BPM Studio as single application.

Aggressive RefreshThe option forces a faster drawing of the level meters,the spectrum analyzer and the title scrolling. On lowperformance systems this can save ressources.



AUDIO I/O - Sound Card Configuration

Driverselect sound driver (DirectSound, Kernel Driver, Wave,ASIO or EASI). By using the button, you can change

the settings for the ASIO driver. (In the lightversion only the Direct Sound driver is

available)

Monitordefines the channel for output of the preview player'saudio signal

Player A, Player B, Sampler,CD-Player:Using the pulldown menus, each player can beallocated a sound card or stereo channel of amulti-channel sound card

Underneath each selected output channel the latencytime is displayed.

Default Buffer Sizesets the buffer size of the playback buffer. The higherthe value, the greater the program stability, but it takeslonger to analyze the audio data in the buffer. This canbecome noticeable as a delay when switching fromcue to play and back.

Instant Cueactivates the quick start of a player when clicking thecue play key or the play key in the loop sampler (< 5ms). Deactivate this option when skipping occurs.

Auto Cue levelhere the trigger level of the auot cue function (skipsilence on start of track). The value varies between -inf(absolute silence) and -30 dB (quite low volume).

Soft Fadesfacilitates soft fade using the sliders in the mixer.

Monitor Enabledactivates the mixer-monitor function for the soundcards

Lowest LatencyThe kernel driver works with a very small buffer sizeand shortest latency. Uncheck this box if youencounter dropouts during playback or soundcardproblems.



Preload SizeLength of the internal playback buffer. Change thisvalue if you encounter dropouts or improper start of theplayers.

Starts a test on your sound card. For additionalinformation on this test and what it covers, please seethe section on Monitor Functions

Opens the dialog for setting thelatency of the kernel driver (only active when theKernel driver is selected)

Dialog for latency settings

Here the latency for each soundcard/channel. Vary the settings when you have troubles with stability andplayback quality. A higher value delays the functions a little but provides higher stability.



File Storage - Storing File Directories

Data directoryIn this directory all relevant application data is beingstored. These are for example the default playlists, thegroups and the subgroups of the BPM file archive, thesample block data, the equalizer presets and theCDDB data from ripped CD's. It is stronglyrecommended not to change this folder. If you want Toaccess the file archive of this PC with a second versionof BPM Studio the DATA directory has to be madeaccessible.

Ripper directoryIn this directory all WAV files to be compressed arestored temporarily. This path can be set to a second(larger) harddisk e.g. when you rip several CD's andrip them afterwards in one go. (See alsoCDDA-Options- encode during copy)

MP3 encoding directoryThe MP3 files are being stored there after encoding. Itis recommended to create a separate

directory (e.g. C:\mp3) or on separate hard drive (e.g.D:\mp3)= where all tracks are stored. This facilitatesexpanding the system with more harddisks at latertimes. BPM Studio searches all logical drives when theoriginal data path is missing (see also title search onload)

Directory for recorded filesstandard directory for the wave and MP3 recorder.When a longer mix is recorded in the WAVE format itmight consume several MB of hard disk space. For thisreason you can redirect the path to a larger harddisk.

File namesHere the filename generated automatically by theprogram is set. It is recommended to keep the defaultsettings.In case you want to load a large archive of untaggedexisting tracks you can change the assignmenttemporarily.


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CDDA-Copy - Setting CDDA and Compression Parameters

Block CountNumber of blocks on the CD which are copied toCD-ROM per access

Read CD-Text Infosaudio CDs with text info are read (does not functionwith older CDs or in connection with old CD-ROMdrives)

Force Generic (NT)activate this option if you are having trouble readingCDDA Data

Encode During CopyActivate this option if you want to rip audio CD'swithout temporary storage to the MP3 format.Otherwise the audio data will be saved in the WAVEformat int the designated directory. Compessing intothe MP3 format is done in the encoder mode of the CDplayer/ripper. This is useful when the CD-Rom drivecan read faster than the processor can compress. Youcan rip the CD'S first and compress it later (overnight,for instance). Please note that the CDDB query has tobe executed BEFORE the ripping.

CDDB ServerHere you can enter the desired CDDB server. Byclicking on GET LIST the mirror server list will be

Copy Mode: NormalThe CD is copied by alternatively writing and readingblocks of data

Copy Mode: Burst-Copyreading and writing takes place simultaneously

Copy Mode: Sector SynchronizationIn the case of an interruption in data flow, this modeguarantees an exact repositioning of the reading head.This is the safest method, but also the slowest.

Write RIFF-Filewrites a MP3 wave file which has been compressed.This file can them be played by players who supportMP3 audio playback

Select the FormatIn this field, you can select from a the list of audiocompressor codecs currently available on your system.The default is the MPEG Layer3 supplied with BPMStudio.

Select the Format OptionsHere you can set the compression quality, whichdepends upon your data format. You should select atleast 128 kBit/s, 44, 100 Hz, stereo for the highestquality. If you are going to be using the streamingmodule to stream these files over the Internet to



http://www.cddb.com/

loaded and the desired mirror server can be selected.

E-Mail SettingsTo register at the CDDB server will require you toprovide your e-mail address.

listeners who may not have large amounts ofbandwidth, you should select a format that is muchlower. A rough guideline here is to select sampling ratethat is approximately 60% less than the lowest dial upconnection you think your listeners may use. Forexample, if the lowest dial up Internet connection yourlisteners will have is 36.6, then using a sampling rateof 24kbps will ensure that the audio streams downclose to or in real time.



User Administration (not included in the light version)

You can find a detailled description of the differentfunctions in seperate chapter.

By the user administration several useres can work onthe same system at different times without influencingeach other. Each user gets his own program settingsas for example playlists, file archive, skin (programgraphics surface), program options or the assignmentof the virtual devices to the soundcard channels.Further on there is a possibility to activate/deactivatethe program modules according to the user. Each usercan be assigned to his own file archive or tothe (write protected) master file archive.The user administration gets activated by setting upthe first new user or by entering a password for theadministrator. From this moment on a password queryappears with every program start where the passwordfield can also be left blank.

Separate SettingsSeparate settings of the program options can beassigned to the specified user.

File Archive read-onlyThe user is not licensed to change the file archive(regardless to trying to change his own or theadministrators file archive)

Playlists read-onlyThe user is not allowed to save playlists

Allow Delete FilesThe user can execute the function "Delete Files"

Allow Program TerminationThe user can exit the software (if not active theadministratior password will be requested)

Ripper/Encoder up to Recorder:By checking these boxes the BPM Studio modules canbe activated/deactivated

Options



User Defined File ArchiveThe user gets his own file archive (By setting up a newuser with an own file archive a previously saved filearchive can be taken over afterwards)

The user can change the program options (regardlessto if trying to change his own or the administratorsoptions)



Monitor Functions

For professional use of BPM Studio, the monitorfunctions are indispensable. While a track is beingplayed over the PA in via one of the players, thesample player or the CD player, any other internal orexternal signal source can be listened to so as topreview a track, set a cue point, define the BPM of atrack or to carry out BPM adjustment. In order to dothis, a second sound card (or multi-channel soundcard) is necessary for moving the BPM Studio monitorchannels to a separate audio channel.Monitor functions have to be activated under the AudioI/O section in Program Options.In the monitor area, a separate sound card is allocatedto the monitor channel.

The following virtual devices use the monitorchannel:

- all preview players in the playlists as well as the BPMFile Archive

- the preview player in BPM counter

- the monitor switch in the main program

- the monitor buttons in the mixer

The volume of the monitor channel can be set in themixer with the MONITOR slider.

Before you can activate the monitor functions, thesound cards must be checked and synchronized. If thisdoes not happen, you may experience runtimedifferences between the player and the monitorchannel, based on the different sample frequences ofthe sound cards.

For the synchronization of your sound cards dothe following:First, select the sound driver you want to use.(synchronization is only needed for the Direct Sound orWave driver). Next, click on the "Soundcard Test"button. Each sound card that is detected on yoursystem will be tested for a period of one minute. BPMStudio will use these results to synchronize the soundcards. The test must be done for each driver you wantto use.


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Network Functions

GeneralThis chapter describes the advanced network functions of BPM Studio. The first two parts are explaining thesingle functions separately. In the following part various suggestions for the use and setup examples and theirfunctions are explained. Due to the fact that the network functions and the user management are closelyworking together it is highly recommended to refer to Chapter User Management as well.The working with BPM Studio in a network generally based on the central supply of the MP3 files for everyclient on one server or a client havingthis function. Additionally a network wide use of file archives is possible.

Adressing the mp3 filesJoined use of the MP3 files on several client PC'sYou can install BPM Studio on several client PC's and use a common pool of MP3 files. This is the requirementfor the work with network file archives. Although we recommend 100 Mbit networks we did not encounterproblems wit 10 Mbit networks with up to 5 clients. The folder(s) including the MP3 files are made accessible onthe server PC. On the client PC's access is possible by a connected network drive (recommended) or theWindows 98 network client.Adressing the MP3 files by drive letterThis adressing is preset in the program options by entering a logical drive letter in the entries of the tab„Storage“. It is also a basic requirement for the correct functionality of the network in common and the „Refresh“function in the file archive. When you add MP3 files to the file archives by clicking „+FILE“ or „+DIR“ you haveto select by Desktop\My Computer\[Drive]:\[Folder].The adressing is done by Drive:\[folder]\[subdirectory]\*.mp3

See two example entries below. In the first part the link to the location of the MP3 file is obvious.At the first start only logical drives, i. e. harddisks and connected network drives, are being searched. A networkdrive can be connected in the windows explorer by clicking on EXTRAS->network drive.Adressing by drive letter:Example entry from a *.grp-File of the File Archive(displayed with line break here, the original file don't contain this line break):Track0=C:\PROGRAMME\ALCATECH\BPM-STUDIO PROFI\DATA\A-HA - EARLYMORNING.MP3|TAG|A-HA|EARLY MORNING||HEADLINES AND DEADLINES THE HITS OFA-HA|||OTHER|MP3|0|179696|0|327680|0|0|-1|0|0|0|3|128|7|-1|0|0|0|-1|||0|

Example entry from a Playlist(displayed with line break here, the original file don't contain this line break):C:\MP3\EIFEL 65 - BLUE DABADI.MP3|TAG|EIFEL 65|BLUE DABADI||||HTTP://WWW.BPMSTUDIO.DE||MP3|0|221152|0|327680|0|0|-1|0|0|0|3|128|8|-1|0|0|0|1019794890|||0|

Adressing th MP3 files by computer nameWhen there should be no network drive connected to the client PC e.g. if the client is seldom connected tocertain servers there is a possiblity to load the data via the Windows network client.To do this you have to loadthe files/folders by clicking „+FILE“ and „+DIR“ but this time from the network environment and not by „Mycomputer“. The adress of the MP3 file has got the following format:\\[computername]\[Folder]\[subdirectory]\*.mp3An example for a line in the file archive by which the adressing is done by the computer name is shown below.In place if the drive letter you find \\HOLI\ (computer name) and the name of the assigned directory DATA1.With this way of adressing a Windows name resolution will be executed which can lead to timing problem incertain cases when the adress of the WIN-S-Masterbrowser is changing currently, for instance. Up till now nodrop-outs were encountered because of this way of adressing. Please note that the BPM file archive functionsunder „Refresh“ do not work correctly then. In mobile use with local server connection it is recommended to setup a separate user with an own file archive on each perfomance location and to load the files present onlocation via the network client.


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Adressing by network client:Examle Entry from a *.grp-File of the File Archive,(displayed with line break here, the original file don't contain this line break):Track620=\\HOLI\DATA1\MP3\RUBRIKEN\HOUSE\WATERGATE - MADE OFORLEANS.MP3|TAG|WATERGATE|MADE OF ORLEANS||DREAM DANCE - VOL.13 - DISC1||||MP3|0|230400|0|327680|0|0|-1|0|0|0|3|128|8|-1|0|0|0|-1|||0|

Network file archivesA BPM file archive consists of a group of text files stored in the DATA folder of the BPM Studio version. Thefiles groups.gps and groups.idx contain the dirctory structure of the file archive.The *.grp files conain the pathsto the MP3 files.These files can be located on a local drive, a connected network drive or on a PC within the network which canbe adressed by \\[computername]\ (see adressing by computer name). Independently from the sort of filearchive only the MP3 files on the server are being accessed.Basically there are two sorts of file archives: The master file archive and the user file archive.A master file archive is located on the server and can only be edited there. This one can be shown to the clientswrite protected. Any user can access this file archive without having to care about refreshing or structure. Thisis the duty of the administrator.An user file archive can be set up either on each client or, like the master file archive, on the server. If the userfile archive is located on the client there is no way to access this archive from another client. Changes to thisarchive would have to be done by each user on all clients. Therefore there is a possibility to store the user filearchives on the server.All these settings are made in the user management and the tab „Storage“. Which sorts of network file archivescome in use is depending on the structure of the network, the number of users, the way of data maintenanceand other local conditions. It is recommended to analyze the data before the installation and to refer to theprovider of the network.

Creating a master file archiveWith the initial installation of BPM Studio on the server (or the client PC which will handle the server service) afile archive is created in the folder DATA. This remains even when new users are being set up and can beedited from the administrator account.The path to this file archive is entered in the program options-> file storage (path for the data folder). Furtherthe files for the equalizer presets( eq.eqp) and the locally stores CDDB query results (cdda.cdb) are locatedthere. At the initial installation the default path for the MP3 files is stored there which should be changed to thefolder for joined access. To use this file archive from A BPM Studio client on other PC's some settings are to bemade.First the DATA-folder of BPM Studio has to be made accessible by the windows explorer (It is possible to makethe complete c: drive of the server accessible but it is not recommended for security reasons).On the client PC's a new drive letter will be created and connected to the DATA folder. Subsequently this foldercan be selected by the drive letter from all client PC's. By shutting down the program options BPM Studio nowreports the presence of a file archive. After confirming a security query this master file archive will be usedinstead of the local client file archive.



Access protection on network file archivesTo make sure that on all clients the latest data areavailable, BPM Studio offers two backgroundfunctions:

1) The file archive can only be edited on the server, onall clients it is shown read-only. BPM Studio detectsautomatically if the file archive is located on the serveror on a client.

2) Each client is checking from time to time forchanges in the file archive and updates his own filearchive then.

Title search function when loadingIn a file archive used on several PC's it cannot beguaranteed that the MP3 files can be found on thesame drive letter but in the same folder or the samedirectory structure. For this reason BPM Studio isscanning automatically all logical drives when loading.This function is helpful on stand-alone systems too.When expanding the system with additional harddisksBPM Studio searches for the same directories on alldirectory.

Example configurationWith this example configuration the network functions will be explained more detailed.A discotheque with 1 server in the office and 2 clients in 2 areas, all Dj's are working with the same file archivesupplied by the discotheque and can use with their own settings in their areas. The ripping of CD's and themaintenance of the file archive is done on the server.

Configuration:MP3 files and a master file archive are being stored on the server. The clients access the file archive and theMP3 files via network read only.

Server:The server consists of a system drive C:\, two data drives D:\ and E:\ and a CD-ROM drive F:\. The ripping ofthe CD's is done in the office which is possible during a running performance without any troubles. For thisfunction Win 98 and a BPM home version has to be installed on the server.The user management remains untouched on drive C:\ the BPM Studio/DATA folder and the drives D:\ and E:\are made accessible.

Client:The client PC's are configurated as follows:

A system drive C:\Win98, BPM Studio home or professional,Soundcards as required,CD-ROM drive D:\

Three network drives connected to the server:E:\ containing the data directory of the serverF:\ and G:\ with D:\ and E:\ of the server

Now in BPM Studio the data path will be redirected from C:\program files\Alcatech\BPM Studio\data to theserver (D:\ because this logical drive is connected directly to the data folder). So the administrator uses themaster file archive of the server on the client PC. Changes can only be made on the server.After restarting BPM Studio the master file archive will be loaded fro the server and the client automatically logson to the server. When a track is loaded from the file archive BPM Studio searches both connected networkdrives.

Expanding options for two users:Now you can set up some more users on each client allowed to make their own setting and to find the lastloaded playlists when logging on but can access the master file archive. For this purpose the two new users arebeing entered in the user management, assigned a new password and the option „Seperate file archive“ getsdeselected. Additionally „file archive write protected“ should be selected.



User Management

General:This chapter describes the function of the user management of BPM Studio. Example setups can be found onthe end of the chapter. The user management allows independent work of different users on a single system.Additionally it is possible to set up user related limitations. With the use of several installations of BPM Studionumerous setup possibilities can be created by the cooperation of network funtions and user management. Formore informations please see „Network functions“.

Activating the user managementThe user management will be activated by entering anew user name after clicking the „New“ button. Fromthis moment on a user name and a password will berquested with every program start. The passwordfieldcan also be left blank.

Setting up login and logout passwordsIn the fields „Login Password“ and „Logout Password“the passwords for the program start

and the program termination are being set up. Apassword for program termination is not necessary inmost cases. If this field is left blank there will be nopassword request when exiting the program.

Changing the active userThe active user can only changed by exiting BPMStudio and restarting. After restarting the new username has to be entered.

User related settings:


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The tab „User“ is divided into global settings for the selcted user (left column) and access limitations of the userto the modules of BPM Studio ( right column).

Separate settingsWith this box checked, all settings of the six tabscontaining the program options of this user will bestored separately. This is done by the user logging inwith his name at the program startup and entering hisindividual settings in the program options menu. This isonly possible when the box „Options“ in the rightcolumn of the user management is checked. Furtheron it is possible that the user (or the administratorlogged in with this name) enters his settings once andthe administrator locks the access to the programoptions afterwards.Other possibilities of this option are the setup ofdifferent soundcard configurations (channelassignments or flexible configurations/notebookinstallations).

Separate file archiveWith this box checked an own file achive for this userwil be created. The user can set it up independentlyfrom the master file archive (managed by theadministrator) but is responsible then for backup andupdating. The function „File Archive Update“ in thecontext menu of the group window can be used forthis. In network installations the user's file archive canbe located on the server or the master file archive canbe shown to this user (read only), see chapter Networkfunctions. The setup is done by entering the specifieduser on the tab „Storage“ in the options menu.

The option „Separate file archive“ can only beselcted together with the option „SeparateSettings“ because the user gets assigned tohis own data paths (Tab „Storage“)

File archive read onlyThis option is widely self-explaining. With this boxchecked the user cannot make any changes to the filearchive. This relates to the group structure of thearchives and the title lists in the groups.Changes to the ID3 tag will be accepted. (To preventthis either the modules „BPM Counter“ and „File Info“have to be locked or the boxes „Write ID3 Tags“ and„Write ID3V3 Tags“ have to be unchecked in theprogram options).

Playlists read onlyThis checkbox deactivates the button „Save List“ in allplaylists. This way no playlists can be saved orprepared playlists can be overwritten. The user canonly access prepared playlists but can change themduring runtime. Saving these changes is not possible.

Files can be deletedThis checkbox activates the context menu entry in theFile Archive and the Playlists for deleting files from theharddisk. If its deactivated, tracks can only removefrom the File Archive without deleting from disk. ThisOption you can use also to prevent an occasionalerasure of files from disk.

Application can be terminatedWhen this box is checked BPM Studio can be closedby the user regularly. When a password is set up it willrequested then. When the box is not checkedgenerally the administrator password has to beentered. In case BPM Studio is running as anexclusive shell application and the computer itself isphysically not accessible you can prevent the accessto the system without permission by this function.

Checkboxes „ Ripper“ to „ Mixer“Here the different modules are enabled/disabled.

OptionsUser is allowed to change the options when checked.

With the checkbox „Separate Settings“unselected, the user has access to theadministrator options!

When a master file archive is shown vianetwork it will always be „read only“ even ifthe box „file archive read only“ is checked.

Example setting



The administrator and two DJ's are working on the system. The administrator maintains the file archive andadds new songs. Both DJ's are working with the songs present on the system. DJ1 works only with the filearchive supplied by the administrator, DJ 2 has set up his own file archive and maintains it.Both DJ's areworkind independently on the system at different times.

The settings are as follows:

( =active, =inactive, !=required, *= recommended, .= irrelevant)

DJ 1:

* Separate Settings

! Separate File Archive

* File Archive read-only

. Playlists read-only

* Enable delete Files

. Enable Program termination

* Ripper

. File Info

. BPM Counter

. File Editor

. Sample Editor

. Recorder

. Mixer

* Options

DJ 2:

! Separate Settings

! Separate File Archive

! File Archive read-only

. Playlists read-only

* Enable delete Files

. Enable Program termination

* Ripper

. File Info

. BPM Counter

. File Editor

. Sample Editor

. Recorder

. Mixer

* Options



BPM Database

BPM Studio has its own BPM data base in which alltrack BPM values are stored. When you first installBPM Studio, some BPM data is supplied for you.Further audio tracks can be entered either via the FileInfo dialog field, or the BPM counter. When you addnew audio tracks to the system, the program checks ifa BPM value is

already available for the track, and if so, allocates it tothat track. If a new MP3 file is loaded with a BPM valuealready in the ID3 tag, this information is transferred tothe internal BPM data base. If a value already existsfor this track, it is automatically updated.


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The PreAmp Function (Limiter)

A pre-amp function is available within the equalizer. This is recommended to prevent a buffer overflow, whichleads to distortion of audio, in the system. Buffer overflow is signalled by the OVERFLOW-LED ( ) lightingbeing illuminated continuously.


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Hints

General information: The 5 virtual devices of BPM Studio can be assigned to up to 5 different soundcards.The assignment is done on the tab Audio I/O in the program options. Generally BPM Studio works with allDirectSound capable soundcards installing a driver for all available channels. Further all cards with WAVEand/or ASIO/EASI drivers are supported but these card have a longer latency time than the ones withDiectSound drivers and because of their driver architecture they tend to produce dropouts when the systemressources are low.Generally it is recommended to download the latest drivers from the manufacturers website for troubleshooting. Usually these drivers are being updated frequently and being the most important component of BPMStudio the soundcard should always have the latest driver.ALCATech recommends and tests the latest soundcards under Windows 98. Test reviews are published atwww.alcatech.com. At present we cannot offer support for NT and Windows 2000 and recommend Windows98. Most soundcards do not offer suitable drivers for these systems anyway and these systems have somedisadvantages compared to Windows 98. They are designed to be server operating systems but offer poormultimedia capabilities.

Several soundcards in one PC: (This is concerning all „normal“ soundcards witha stereo output e.g.Soundblaster, Terratec) A sound card driver can ususally address only one soundcard. It is not able torecognize the presence of two equal soundcards in the PC. For this reason generally two different soundcardsmust be used.When the latest Terratec from November 99 are installed soundcards of different manufacturers must be used,e.g. Soundblaster live + Terratec DMX. In every way the use of a multichannel soundcard is to be preferredbecause they are much easier to install and are mostly cascadeable.

Assignment of the system ressources: BPM Studio processes all frames of the mp3 file and thereforerequires more ressources than other single MP3 players such as WINAMP(TM). Further BPM Studio offers awider range of functions than these players and a direct comparison to them makes no sense. For this reason itis essential that each soundcard is assigned to a separate IRQ which is not in use by any other card or PCcomponent. Also the other components like harddisk, CD-ROM drive and graphics card have a high influenceon the system's performance. For the professional use it is highly recommended to run BPM Studio solely onthe computer.

Latency of the drivers: Latency means the delay between a command such as play, pause or stop and themoment when the soundcard reacts on it e.g. starts playing. Generally these latencies depend on the useddriver model or the driver itself. The lower the driver latency is the better it is suitable for exact beat mixing.

- Kernel driver: 4...13 ms, this driver is definitely the fastest.- DirectSound drivers: 20...30 ms, 150...300 ms (!) with emulated drivers- MME Wave drivers: 70...180 ms, depending on the selected buffer size in the program options- ASIO/EASI drivers: 20...50 ms, the latency is generally set up in the ASIO driver options.

As you can see from the list above the kernel driver and the direct sound drivers are to be preferred becauseboth drivers work in the kernel mode of the operating system and are therefore relatively independent from thesystem resources. The ASIO and WAVE drivers are running quite stable too and are very suitable forbackground music as in dance schools, pubs a.s.o. BPM Studio supports WAVE drivers because they areavailable for almost any soundcard and work properly even with NT.

DirectSound driver: This is the fastest and most stable standard driver. Depending on the hardwareconfiguration toggling between cue and play takes less than 20...30 ms. The sophisticated DJ putting a bigweight on exact beat mixing and using the cue and play functions of BPM Studio will prefer this driver model. Ifthe kernel driver is supported by your soundcard it is recommended because of its even lower latency andstable playback.


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Kernel driver: This driver developed by ALCATech adresses the soundcard from a very low level in the kernelmode and provides an extremely high priority with a very short latency of 4...13 ms and highest stability. Thekernel driver utilizes the functionality of existing drivers such as Direct sound and therefore works on mostsoundcards, even on those which could only be run with ASIO or WAVE drivers because of the missingDirectSound drivers and tended to produce dropouts.The Kernel driver only works with Win/95/98/Milennium. NT and W2K are not supported because of theirlimitations.

ASIO drivers: This driver developed by Steinberg is designed as an interface for multichannel soundcards. It isa little slower than the direct sound drivers and tends to produce drop-outs as a user mode driver at highresource consumption. This driver is suitable for background music purposes and works quite well. The latencyis between 6 and 50 ms and can be adjusted usually on the driver options. For BPM Studio latencies from 20 to46 ms are recommended otherwise drop-outs can occur. The correct has to be detected by „trial-and-error“.On some of the tested cards ASIO drivers are running unstable.

EASI drivers: This driver developed by eMagic is equivalent in function and stability to the ASIO drivers and iseMagic's answer to Steinbergs ASIO. All statements made on ASIO are valid on EASI too because they differslightly only. EASI is rarely supported and threrefore almost without meaning.

Wave drivers (Wave out): This is a very stable driver which can be use alternatively to the wave driver butprovides hight latency times. On multichannel soundcards without DirectSound or ASIO drivers it is the onlyway to adress the differnt channels separately. It is very suitable for background music, but not for live DJ's.Latency is between 120...200 ms.

With /auto you can start BPM-Studio in auto-play mode. A playlist called 'auto.lst' will be loaded and played.When you install BPM-Studio in an auto run folder of Windows, you only have to turn on the computer and it willstart to play. This is useful for cafes, bars, etc. during times when there is no DJ facility. Additionally, you canuse the parameter /SHUFFLE.


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Key Assignment

Menu-Key: Opens a context menu

Insert:1. add entrys to the list that currently has the focus2. add a new group3. Alt+Insert: add a new sub group

Space:Play/Stop Monitor or Expand/Collapse Group

Cursor Left, Right:If the monitor player is playing, searches in a track

F1: Help

TAB: Change Focus

Clipboard Functions (Windows-like):CTRL-A: Select allCTRL-C (CTRL -insert): copyCTRL-V (SHIFT-insert): insertCTRL-X (SHIFT-delete): cut

Toggles:Control = Player AShift = Player BAlt = Player C

Functios:Toggle + F1: Cue-PlayToggle + F2: Cue (Default)Toggle + F3: Play/PauseToggle + SPACE: Play/PauseToggle + F4: Time DisplayToggle + F5: Seek backToggle + F6: Seek fwdToggle + F7: Track backToggle + F8: Track fwdToggle + F9: Pitch downToggle + F10: Pitch upToggle + F11: Bend downToggle + F12: Bend up

Toggle + Insert: Pitch on/offToggle + Back: Pitch toToggle + Delete: Reset Pitch

Toggle + 0: Jump to StartToggle + 1: Jump to Cue Point 1Toggle + 2: Jump to Cue Point 2Toggle + 3: Jump to Cue Point 3Toggle + 4: Jump to Cue Point 4Toggle + 5: Jump to Cue Point 5Toggle + 6: Jump to Cue Point 6Toggle + 7: Jump to Cue Point 7Toggle + 8: Jump to Cue Point 8Toggle + 9: Jump to Cue Point 9

Toggle + P: Load selected Track in PlayerToggle + Q: Load selected Track in PlaylistToggle + Y: Pitch resetToggle + Z: Pitch on/off

Toggle + Cursor: Move Slider Position


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Alt + A: AutoFade In/OutAlt + B: BPM CounterAlt + C: Clear List or Clear GroupsAlt + D: Load DirectoryAlt + E: File EditorAlt + F: Start Manual FadeAlt + G: Show Group-File ArchiveAlt + H:Alt + I: File Info DisplayAlt + J:Alt + K:Alt + L: Load list (load files in File Archiv)Alt + M: Show Mixer

Alt + N: NormalizeAlt + O: OptionsAlt + P: look at TogglesAlt + Q: look at TogglesAlt + R: Show RipperAlt + S: Search FilesAlt + T:Alt + U:Alt + V:Alt + W: Waitlist/PlayListAlt + X: ExitAlt + Y: Select allAlt + Z: Invert Selection


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http://www.alcatech.com/help/images/hand.GIF

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Technical Support, Contact Information

ALCATech offers technical support by eMail and fax.

Inquiries by eMail are to be sent to [email protected]

The fax no. is +49 3675 4201 20

For every inquiry it is necessary to state the registration number and the program version.You can also look for a ALCATech dealer close to you, our complete list of worldwide resellersyou can find at www.alcatech.com, section "RESELLER".

Hints to improve this manual are always welcome.

Last revised 07.11.2000


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