Tweet
Testing Your System
By now you should have installed the software and connected your speakers to the sound card output and some audio playback device (such as a tape player) to the sound card input. It’s time to make sure your efforts have borne fruit.
The first thing we’re going to do is run the DCArt10/DC Forensics10 program. Do this by double clicking the new DCArt10 or the DC Forensics10 icon on your desktop. Put away the tips screen and click on File/Open Source. You’ll now see a familiar Windows file selector box. Navigate to C:/program files/Diamond Cut Productions/DCArt10/Wavefiles (or wherever else you chose to install the program). If you are using Forensics10, the demo files are located as shortcuts in the Start menu. Alternatively, simply go to the File menu (left-most menu column) and use the Open Demo Wavefiles feature. Select the file called “Getting Started Demo” (demo1.wav) can be found under the Open Demo Wavefiles). This is a standard .wav file and was included with the program. We’ll actually clean up this file in the next section, but for now we just want to play it. After the file is selected, it will open in the program and you’ll see the graphic drawing of the audio waveform on your display. It will look something like this:
A Monophonic File is opened
The small band of waveforms above the main waveform is your waveform overview display. It will show you where you are zoomed-in (on the main file) with respect to the overall file via a highlight. Note the zoom-in and zoom-out icons near the left-hand side of the waveform overview display. You can drag the highlighted area left and right and that action will be reflected in the primary waveform display below.
Notice all the nice icons at the top of the display. If you move your mouse over any one of them and leave it there for a second, a little box will open telling you what that icon does. To play our file, we need to find the little icon that looks like a right pointing triangle. This is the standard symbol for “play” that you’ll find on any tape deck. Click on this icon and you should hear audio and see the cursor move.
The Diamond Cut Play Toolbar
Note: If you aren’t getting audio at this point, check out our Troubleshooting steps found later in the user’s manual.
Let the audio play to the end of the file and it will stop automatically and reset itself so you can play it again. Let’s play it again using a keyboard shortcut. Shortcuts are simply keys on your keyboard that perform a function without having to use the mouse. Power users love shortcuts and the Play shortcut is the easiest of all. Just hit the spacebar now and the audio starts playing. Hit the spacebar again to stop the audio from playing. Easy, isn’t it? Many beginners like to spend hours doing this, but let’s move on to test the recording capability of your system.
For our recording test, we’re going to assume you have a tape recorder connected to the input of your sound card. A CD player or even a turntable with a preamp uses exactly the same process, so just make sure you’re hooked up correctly.
To record, start your tape recorder playing a pre-recorded tape (or start playing an LP, etc.). You should hear the audio coming from your speakers. Now click the red Record button on the toolbar in DCArt10 / DC Forensics. A nice record screen comes up which looks like this:
The DC Forensics10 Record Window
This screen will allow you to set the recording parameters and make sure the recording is happening correctly. Let’s start by making sure we are set to record a stereo file at 44.1 kHz, 16 bit. Just use the drop down boxes to select these parameters. Note the Recording Device box. Your sound card should be listed here. If not, drop the box down and choose the sound card that has the audio being fed to it. If you click on the “Set Levels” button, something like the following drop-down will appear which will allow you access to the Windows Mixer controls.
Windows Sound Card Mixer Control
Now click the Pause button in the Record Window. This puts the program into what is called Record/Pause mode. The VU meters on the left should now start dancing as the program is actually seeing the audio from your tape recorder.
If those meters are dancing, adjust the input level until they are reasonable (not too high or clipping and not too low) and you are now done with testing your installation. Click “Stop”, and then click “Close”. Answer “yes” when the program asks if you want to discard this recording. You now have a perfectly working audio restoration workstation and you can go on to the next section where we’ll teach you to use this powerful tool.
If you found that your meters didn’t jump when you hit the Pause button, the problem is very likely caused by your sound card being set to the Mic input and not the Line Level input. Full troubleshooting help is included later in this manual, but this common problem is easily and permanently solved by double clicking the little yellow speaker icon in your Window tray – just to the left of the clock on the bottom of your screen. Now choose Options and then Properties. Click the record button and then click OK. Now click the check box under Line Input and your meters will start to jump in DCArt10/DC Forensics10 indicating that all is now well. You just turned on the Line Level input – which is where our audio is, after all.
Now that your system has been installed and checked, it’s time to get to the software and perform an actual restoration project.
By now you should have installed the software and connected your speakers to the sound card output and some audio playback device (such as a tape player) to the sound card input. It’s time to make sure your efforts have borne fruit.
The first thing we’re going to do is run the DCArt10/DC Forensics10 program. Do this by double clicking the new DCArt10 or the DC Forensics10 icon on your desktop. Put away the tips screen and click on File/Open Source. You’ll now see a familiar Windows file selector box. Navigate to C:/program files/Diamond Cut Productions/DCArt10/Wavefiles (or wherever else you chose to install the program). If you are using Forensics10, the demo files are located as shortcuts in the Start menu. Alternatively, simply go to the File menu (left-most menu column) and use the Open Demo Wavefiles feature. Select the file called “Getting Started Demo” (demo1.wav) can be found under the Open Demo Wavefiles). This is a standard .wav file and was included with the program. We’ll actually clean up this file in the next section, but for now we just want to play it. After the file is selected, it will open in the program and you’ll see the graphic drawing of the audio waveform on your display. It will look something like this:
A Monophonic File is opened
The small band of waveforms above the main waveform is your waveform overview display. It will show you where you are zoomed-in (on the main file) with respect to the overall file via a highlight. Note the zoom-in and zoom-out icons near the left-hand side of the waveform overview display. You can drag the highlighted area left and right and that action will be reflected in the primary waveform display below.
Notice all the nice icons at the top of the display. If you move your mouse over any one of them and leave it there for a second, a little box will open telling you what that icon does. To play our file, we need to find the little icon that looks like a right pointing triangle. This is the standard symbol for “play” that you’ll find on any tape deck. Click on this icon and you should hear audio and see the cursor move.
The Diamond Cut Play Toolbar
Note: If you aren’t getting audio at this point, check out our Troubleshooting steps found later in the user’s manual.
Let the audio play to the end of the file and it will stop automatically and reset itself so you can play it again. Let’s play it again using a keyboard shortcut. Shortcuts are simply keys on your keyboard that perform a function without having to use the mouse. Power users love shortcuts and the Play shortcut is the easiest of all. Just hit the spacebar now and the audio starts playing. Hit the spacebar again to stop the audio from playing. Easy, isn’t it? Many beginners like to spend hours doing this, but let’s move on to test the recording capability of your system.
For our recording test, we’re going to assume you have a tape recorder connected to the input of your sound card. A CD player or even a turntable with a preamp uses exactly the same process, so just make sure you’re hooked up correctly.
To record, start your tape recorder playing a pre-recorded tape (or start playing an LP, etc.). You should hear the audio coming from your speakers. Now click the red Record button on the toolbar in DCArt10 / DC Forensics. A nice record screen comes up which looks like this:
The DC Forensics10 Record Window
This screen will allow you to set the recording parameters and make sure the recording is happening correctly. Let’s start by making sure we are set to record a stereo file at 44.1 kHz, 16 bit. Just use the drop down boxes to select these parameters. Note the Recording Device box. Your sound card should be listed here. If not, drop the box down and choose the sound card that has the audio being fed to it. If you click on the “Set Levels” button, something like the following drop-down will appear which will allow you access to the Windows Mixer controls.
Windows Sound Card Mixer Control
Now click the Pause button in the Record Window. This puts the program into what is called Record/Pause mode. The VU meters on the left should now start dancing as the program is actually seeing the audio from your tape recorder.
If those meters are dancing, adjust the input level until they are reasonable (not too high or clipping and not too low) and you are now done with testing your installation. Click “Stop”, and then click “Close”. Answer “yes” when the program asks if you want to discard this recording. You now have a perfectly working audio restoration workstation and you can go on to the next section where we’ll teach you to use this powerful tool.
If you found that your meters didn’t jump when you hit the Pause button, the problem is very likely caused by your sound card being set to the Mic input and not the Line Level input. Full troubleshooting help is included later in this manual, but this common problem is easily and permanently solved by double clicking the little yellow speaker icon in your Window tray – just to the left of the clock on the bottom of your screen. Now choose Options and then Properties. Click the record button and then click OK. Now click the check box under Line Input and your meters will start to jump in DCArt10/DC Forensics10 indicating that all is now well. You just turned on the Line Level input – which is where our audio is, after all.
Now that your system has been installed and checked, it’s time to get to the software and perform an actual restoration project.