High Resolution Audio Restoration & Enhancement Tool
Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade User Manual Table of Contents
1.1 RepairTool Pro Options Installation — 5
1.2 Scope of this User Manual 6
1.3.5 User Interface Details 13
1.3.6 ReSynthesis Parameters 16
1.3.7 Spectrogram Parameters 17
Chapter 1 Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade
The Spectral Repair Tool™ option for soundBlade allows visual localization, identification and very precise removal of unwanted audio events without affecting the audio material you want to keep. The removed sound is replaced by a signal re-synthesized from the surrounding material. Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade does not make deep gaps in your sound track when eradicating a disturbing sound event. Rather, it’s an exactly tailored hole in the spectral representation of the processed signal that can be removed and replaced. The interpolation may even be restricted to certain gain ranges within the selected area, which is very useful if only a certain part of the signal needs to be treated (e.g. one specific harmonic). The Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade window is fully re-sizable for increased accuracy and optimal compatibility with all screen resolutions.
Unlike work–alike products, Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade is able to dig into recordings with very low signal–to–noise ratios and pull out usable program. Plus, the ability to cut and paste time and spectral patches and its harmonic noise reducer functions all add to its amazing usefulness
1.1 Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade Options Installation —
Minimum Software Requirements
soundBlade 2.3 or later
Intel Apple Macintosh
Mac OS 10.6.8 or newer
Spare USB port for iLok Smart Key
Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade requires the installation of both 1) an iLok license delivered as part of your purchase or trial and 2) a Sonic Studio Option File to be enabled for use in soundBlade.
Running the ‘Spectral_Repair_Tool_for_soundBlade_Installer.pkg’, installs the necessary software.
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LEARN: Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade requires an iLok2 or later. The ARTOptionBundle.bundle is installed here: /Library/Application Support/Sonic Studio/Sonic Options |
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NOTE: Only install options that you have licenses on your iLok for. Installing options that are not on your iLok will make soundBlade launch very slowly. |
1.2 Scope of this User Manual
This User Manual describes the functionality of the Sonic Studio’s Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade option for use in soundBlade.
The 
and 
symbols provide more specific information about a topic or subject.
1.3 Using Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade
Working with Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade is easy and intuitive. Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade loads the requested part of audio material you’ve chosen and analyzes it. The result is displayed as a 3D spectrogram with time on the horizontal axis, frequency on the vertical axis and amplitude of the spectral components color-coded. The color assignment follows the order of the rainbow: red and yellow for low energy; green and blue for middle energy; and finally purple and white for high energy. After getting some experience, this 3D spectrogram representation allows a good feeling for localization and identification of sudden unwanted acoustical events. The spectral area of interest can be precisely marked with a resizable rectangular window. A Play button allows you to hear selected parts of the processed signal.
Basic workflow:
selected areas, then ‘
to finalize your fixes back to soundBlade.1.3.1 Main Features
1.3.2 Typical Applications
1.3.3 Getting Started
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LEARN: Always work on a copy of your file! Make sure to duplicate your original file in the Mac Finder. Use that copy to perform your restoration. |
Start Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade by click–dragging a time region selection in a Project’s Panel. Make sure the section is bigger than the actual noise.
Segment selection for repair: Make sure the selection is larger than the event.
Then, select NoNOISE II > Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade… to start the processor. After you have selected a file to be processed, the Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade window pops up and shows the spectrogram of both the left and right channel.
Coughs clearly displayed in Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade.
Typically, files up to 10 minutes can be loaded all at once. The maximum length of audio files is dependent on your host’s computational power and RAM complement, the required spectrogram resolution and sample rate for the source sound file. If you experience any performance problems with long files, cancel out of Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade and shorten the time region selection.
Before you begin, remember that “tool tips” are available at any time to remind you of the function of a particular control. To see a tip for any control, simply locate your cursor over a control and hover there for a moment. A contextually appropriate tool tip will then pop up with a brief description of that control or feature.
To adjust the display color range to the material, click–drag on the Range field and move the mouse. Mouse movement along the y-axis, up and down, adjusts the middle position of the gain while movement along the x-axis, left and right, adjusts the overall gain range. As with all numeric fields in Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade, a double click in the field resets the gain parameter to the default value. In this case, -35 ± 35 dB.
To the right of the Spectrogram label, there are four buttons. The second button 
toggles between three color mapping schemes:
To zoom in on an area of interest, first select the portion of the spectrogram by holding the left mouse button and drawing a selection or marquee. Then right-click to open the popup menu, as shown below. Finally choose one of the zooming operations (see Quick Reference for details).
The selected area can be moved or re-sized as indicated by the mouse cursor. Its length in seconds and milliseconds is displayed inside. The shading grade of the area can be controlled by the Bright parameter in the Spectrogram Parameter Group from darkening (as shown above) to brightening. A double left-click on the Bright resets it to the neutral position (192).
Another way to select the visible spectrogram portion is by re-sizing and moving the scrollbars beside the display. By left-clicking and moving the edges of the horizontal or vertical scrollbar, the visible spectrogram region can be zoomed in or out and moved. When the SHIFT-key is also held down, zooming is performed symmetrically. The length of the displayed signal is indicated in the upper part of the spectrogram.
The displayed audio channel can be toggled by left-clicking on the channel field (left, right, l+r). Block size applied to the spectrogram and interpolation is accessed by left-clicking on the Blocksize field, holding the button and selecting the value from the pop-up list (selectable values: 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384 and 32768). In general, interpolation of short disturbances (like clicks) requires smaller block sizes, while a frequency selective interpolation (like removal of discrete tone) requires larger block sizes.
The whole loaded audio material or any portion can be replayed at any time by positioning the white play cursor at the desired position and clicking the Play button. To place the play cursor, left-click at the bottom (black) end of the spectrogram where the mouse cursor changes to the play cursor , or --while holding ALT-key-- just click on any position in the spectrogram. A left-click on the Stop button stops the audio playback. After stopping, the play cursor returns to its initial position.
Click And Drag Across An Area To Be Repaired, Then Click ‘PROCESS’.
You can select and repair multiple areas in the same window.
To remove an unwanted disturbance, select an area around it and set up the desired parameters in the ReSynthesis Parameter Group. These are Accuracy, Channel, Type and Gain (see in Quick Reference for all setup possibilities). To remove clicks as shown in the example above, you will usually use the hor interpolation type to replace the selected area containing respective click with a new signal re-synthesized from the material surrounding the click along the time lime.
The interpolation types left or right can be used, if one side of the click is not suitable for proper interpolation (e.g., it includes strong percussive beats). However, the results in case of one-side interpolation are less accurate.
To perform the interpolation in a selected area, hit the Process button or select Process from the drop-down menu. After processing has been done, you can immediately listen to the result by resetting the play cursor and hitting Play button. The lower screen shot from the previous page shows the audio piece from the upper screen shot after click removal.
If you are not satisfied with the result, you may undo the interpolation with the button or by pressing ctrl-z. The maximal number of undo steps is limited only by the available computer memory. If you reach the memory limit you can clear the undo buffer by hitting the button. Once an undo step is performed, it can still be re-done by hitting the button or ctrl-y on the keyboard. However, after the Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade has been closed with Accept or Cancel, all pending re-do steps are no longer accessible.
Coughs Have Been Removed.
To finish your Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade session, hit the ACCEPT button to accept the changes and write them back to the track or hit CANCEL to exit the process and discard all changes.
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LEARN: For precise spectrum analysis the numerical display in the middle below the spectrogram is provided. It shows spectrum properties at the current cursor position: time, frequency and amplitude.
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All parameters, their settings, and remaining buttons are precisely described later in the Quick Reference.
1.3.4.1 Spectrogram Setup
To adjust the spectrogram color range of the material, click–hold in the Range field and move the mouse. Movement along the y-axis, up and down, adjusts the middle position of the gain while the movement along the x-axis, left and right, adjusts the gain range.
The Color pull-down menu 
toggles between four color mapping schemes:
The grayscale or monochrome settings provide a traditional view favored by the forensics community and the inverse grayscale is particularly useful when a hard copy printout is desired.
The Smoothing button 
activates smoothing of the spectrogram. Smoothing trades off accuracy of data representation, the blocky view, against better visual cognizance or expectation from the smoothed view.
The Linear / Log button 
switches between linear and logarithmic frequency axis. The log setting provides better visual resolution below midband frequencies, whereas the lin setting provides better visual resolution above midband.
1.3.4.2 Spectrogram Resizing
In general, the entire Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade window is resizable. The spectrogram itself can be zoomed in or out. It can also be moved independently in both directions, horizontally and vertically, by resizing and moving the associated scroll bars. With the shift key held down, zooming is symmetrical. The length of the program portion actually displayed is indicated in the upper part of the spectrogram.
When clicking in the scroll bar area, but outside the bar, the zoom area moves 1/3 display toward the direction clicked. This can be useful for tracking the play cursor during playback.
1.3.4.3 Marking an Area to Repair
An area of interest can be click–dragging on the spectrogram and drawing a marquee or selection around it. The selected area can be moved or resized as indicated by the mouse cursor. Its length in seconds and milliseconds is displayed inside. The contrasting shading of the area can be controlled by the Bright parameter in the Spectrogram Parameters.
To move a marquee to another location, move the cursor to the center of the selection. The cursor changes to the Move cursor, a four quadrant arrow shape.
Figure 1.13: The Move cursor
Once you see the Move cursor, you can click–drag the marquee around the spectrogram. By holding down the shift key before dragging, you can constrain movement to only the horizontal or time axis.
1.3.4.4 Zooming a Selected Area
Zooming in a selected area can be performed in one of two ways. First, from the pop-up menu that opens after control–clicking in the spectrogram or by using shortcuts, see section 3.3.10 below. The second way is to place your curson in the black, horizontal time scale or the vertical, frequency scale. The cursor changes to a magnifying glass, allowing you to zoom in on that axis. Holding down the shift key allows you to zoom out.
Note that re-sizing the spectrogram with scroll bars respectively changes the size of the selected area in the spectrogram, but its absolute length, in seconds and milliseconds, remains unchanged.
A option–clicking inside the spectrum display enters the zoom/move mode. Moving the mouse up and down zooms out and in. Move left or right to scroll. With this feature, it is possible to click into an area of interest and move the mouse down in order to zoom the spectrogram around the mouse cursor.
Additional zooming possibilities are provided by key equivalent. See section 3.3.10 below for more information
The whole loaded audio material or part of it can be played back at any time by clicking in the spectrogram to position the white play cursor at the desired position. Clicking the Play button or tapping the space bar start playback. After playback has stopped, the play cursor returns to its initial start position.
Additional playback possibilities are provided by key equivalent. See section 3.3.10 below for more information.
A selected area can be copied to another spectrogram position. After clicking the Copy button or selecting Copy Area from the contextual menu, it can be moved around with the mouse to the desired destination. As long as the copy mode is active, the field Type shows copy.
To paste the selected area into the desired location, click the Process button or, select Process from the contextual menu. The marquee changes from white to blue.
To exit the Copy mode, simply click outside the marquee. The ReSynthesis Type will switch back to its previous selection and the marquee changes back to white.
The copy and paste function can be restricted to the original position in frequency if the shift key is held down while relocating the marquee. This is very useful, when the area to be copied contains material, such as harmonics, that needs to be placed in exactly the same frequency region.
1.3.5 User Interface Details
- Undoes the interpolation (or ctrl-z).
The maximum number of undo steps is limited only by the available computer memory.
- Redoes the last undo step (or ctrl-y); be aware that after the Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade has been closed with Ok or Cancel all pending re-do steps are no longer accessible.
- Introduces the Automatic Selection of Harmonics mode, see section 1.3.8.2 below. It allows selecting multiple harmonics belonging to a marked fundamental frequency. The fine tuning of the fundamental frequency and enabling or disabling each individual harmonic selection can be done in the Harmonics Selection window that pop-ups after clicking the harmonic selection icon.
- Toggles between four color mapping schemas: (1) physical with red representing the lowest energy, over yellow, green, blue to white representing the highest energy; (2) “standardized” with blue representing the lowest energy, over green, red to white representing the highest energy and (3) monochrome from black representing the lowest energy, over gray to white representing the highest energy and, (4) an inverse monochrome mode.
- Activates smoothing in the spectrogram; it should normally be on; to switch it off makes sense if we need to precisely see the borders of very sharp spikes.
- Toggles between linear and logarithmic frequency axis.
if the mouse cursor is located within the spectrogram, the cursor callout indicates the properties of the spectral component at the current cursor position: time, frequency and amplitude.
Figure 1.14: The cursor callout
1.3.5.3 Menus
A contextual menu opens after control-clicking on the spectrogram.
Figure 1.15: The spectrogram’s contextual menu
– Starts playback from the current cursor position
– Stops playback and returns the play cursor to initial position
– Carries out the interpolation in the selected area
– Discards all signal modifications and exits the option
– Accepts all signal modifications and modifies the source sound file with a processed region
Accuracy, Channel and Type can be selected from their respective menu that appears after clicking in the field. Gain can be adjusted by click–dragging the mouse up or down in the field.
Accuracy – Accuracy [1, 2, 4, 8] sets up the time resolution of the interpolation process and the spectrogram while maintaining the frequency resolution determined by the Blocksize field. The higher the number, the greater the accuracy in time. This doesn’t mean that the highest number is always best, since it depends on your audio material.
Normally, for vertical interpolation, 1 or 2 works optimally. For horizontal interpolation, higher values might be more advantageous. Changing the Accuracy parameter results in recalculation of the whole spectrogram, which can take considerable time and memory. Therefore, make changes only when a smaller piece of audio is loaded, no more then a few minutes.
Channel – Channel [all, current, left, right] selects the channel on which the interpolation will be performed.
Use all if you want to interpolate all channels at once, independent of the channel setting in the Spectrogram Parameter Group. Use current if you want to interpolate the same channel that is currently displayed in the Channel field of the Spectrogram Parameter Group.
Type - Type [hor, vert, left, right, top, bottom, 2-dim, Gain, Copy] selects the kind of interpolation to be applied to your selection.
All interpolation types, with the exception of Gain, perform a two step operation. First, they remove the signal from the marked area and subsequently fill the spectral hole with a replacement re-synthesized from the surrounding audio material. The name of the interpolation type explicitly describes the “context,’ what part of the surrounding audio material is used for the re-synthesis.
The Horizontal (hor) interpolation type is most suitable for removing transient disturbances like clicks while Vertical (vert) is recommended for removing longer tones or harmonics. The interpolation types Left or Right are a special form of Horizontal, and should be used if one side of the impairment is not suitable as interpolation context. An example would be a strong percussive beat just after an impairment. A left interpolation would use only earlier material as the re–synthesis context, avoiding a flam effect or partial duplication of the later percussive event from inclusion in the resynthesis.
Similarly, the top and bottom are special forms of vertical interpolation and should be used if one “side” adjacent to the impairment includes strong tones or harmonics. However, be aware that the results of one-sided interpolations are not as accurate as in symmetrical Horizontal or Vertical choices.
The 2-dim or Two Dimensional interpolation is a special combination of both horizontal and vertical interpolation and is recommended for removing small “square” shaped disturbances.
The Gain interpolation type, see below, does not remove the original material from the selected area like all the other interpolation types. It simply reduces or amplifies existing spectral components in the selection, according to the Gain parameter in the ReSynthesis Parameters.
After selecting either Copy Area in the conxetual menu by control-clicking on the spectrogram, Copy is enabled in the Type field and persists during the copy procedure. It can not be selected directly from the Type field.
Gain – The Gain field provides two functions. For the Gain interpolation type, it controls the gain applied to the signal components in the selected area and, for all other interpolation types except copy, the value acts as an intelligent threshold. The range is -60 +20 with a default value of 0 dB. As with all numeric fields, a double click on the field resets the value.
For the interpolation type Gain selected in the Type field, the Gain adjustment controls the gain or loss of the audio material within the selection.
For all other interpolation types, except Copy and Gain, the value in the Gain field acts as an intelligent threshold. The higher the Gain value, the more of the original signal is preserved. This means that a deep interpolation can be carried out only with a low Gain setting (e.g., - 40 dB), while Gain (or actually threshold) above 0 dB preserves some parts inside the selected area which might be a useful material. With Gain being too high, however, even the disturbances may partially remain. In those situations, lower the Gain setting until the interpolated result become acceptable.
1.3.7 Spectrogram Parameters
As with the ReSynthesis Parameters, these parameters are either menus or numeric fields. As with all numeric fields, a double click on the Brightness or Range fields resets the value to the default.
Blocksize – Block Size [32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384, 32768], even though it resides in the Spectrogram parameters section, selects the signal analysis resolution for both the spectrogram and interpolation algorithm. In general, interpolation of short disturbances, like clicks, require smaller block sizes, while a frequency selective interpolation, like removal of discrete tones or harmonics, requires larger block sizes.
Block size allows you to locate specific impairments prior to effecting a repair. Because larger block sizes tend to visually isolate and repair areas at low frequencies, it allows you to avoid touching areas that should be left intact.
Channel – The Channel setting [left, right, l+r] shows the spectrogram of left, right, or a sum of both. The sum [l+r] allows the identification of all disturbances regardless of the channel in which they occurred.
Bright – Brightness [0 – 384] controls the contrasting brightness of the selected area from bright (192 – 384) to dark (191 to 0). It can be adjusted by click–dragging up or down on the field. A double click in the field resets the brightness to neutral.
Range – Range adjusts the spectrogram colors to the dynamic range of the audio material, with a middle value of -100 dB to + 40 dB, and a range of ± 10 to ± 70. A double click in the field resets the Range to the default values of -35 dB ± 35 dB.
Range can be adjusted by click–dragging vertically on the field, with up equating to higher sensitivity and down lower sensitivity for controlling the middle value. Click–dragging horizontally on the field controls the mapping range.
Be aware that the Range values are related to spectral components of the processed signal and not to the overall signal level. Therefore, prior to processing, they may look unusual.
1.3.8 Interpolation Alternatives
While interpolation is the preferred method of removing isolated artifacts from complex audio material, there are situations where this method suffers from adequate material around the artifact that could be used as context for the interpolation. An example of this would be where the artifact itself is surrounded by strong transients. In such cases, the copy and paste method can produce far superior results. With copy and paste, you can simply find another area that looks like it could “fit into the space” you want to interpolate and insert it. Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade copies an spectrum from one region to another.
To perform the area copy operation, click–drag to select a source area and click the Copy button. The selection can now be moved around with the mouse to the desired destination. As long as the Copy Mode is active, the Type parameter will show Copy. To paste the selected area into the destination location, either click the Process button or select Process from the contextual menu. To leave the copy mode, simply click somewhere outside the selection. The Type parameter switches back to its previous value.
Copy and paste can, in desperate situations, be used to pitch correct material. First, locate and mark the fundamental. Then, copy and paste that region and test the result. If it acceptable, then move up the “chain” of harmonics, pasting them in at the desired locations. Once you have achieved the desired result, localized in time, then you may want to perform a more global horizontal or 4-dim repair to smooth the result.
1.3.8.2 Automatic Selection of Harmonics
To accelerate removal of heavy hum or buzz as well as removal or shift of complete instrumental tones including thier fundamental and harmonics, Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade provides an automatic selection of harmonics associated with a selected fundamental. Of course, it’s possible to remove an instrument tone just by drawing one big selection around the whole region covering both fundamental and harmonics. For longer tones, however, that approach will produce artifacts and reduce the integrity of your ambience. Using selection of harmonics, you keep much more of the spectrum surrounding your harmonics unprocessed. In case of continues and extremely heavy buzz, this is the only method to preserve at least a part of wanted signal. It is extremely useful in forensic applications, especially if the desired signal is so strongly masked by buzz that the signal-to-noise ratio drops even below zero. Also in a case when you need to distinguish two or more overlapping or mixed instruments playing different tones, the only chance to remove or delete individual tones is by using the Automatic Selection of Harmonics mode.
To activate Automatic Selection of Harmonics mode, mark the fundamental tone drawing a horizontal rectangular around it and press the the Automatic Selection of Harmonics button. The Harmonics Selection window pops up, allowing switching on or off each individual harmonic.
The Harmonics Selection Window
This selection function automatically draws rectangles around each harmonic enabled in the interface. There are up to 19 individual harmonics and one fundamental which can be considered in the interpolation process. The Harmonics Selection window monitors levels of each individual harmonic belonging to the marked fundamental. The levels of harmonics, related to their energy, can be displayed in dB or in % relative to the level of fundamental. Observing these levels you can get a good feeling about weight of each harmonic. This helps also to estimate the correct position of the rectangles marking the harmonics. If only part of a harmonic is bordered, the displayed level is smaller.
The fundamental frequency originally selected on the spectrogram is numerically displayed in the Freq or Frequency field of the Harmonics Selection window. It can be fine tuned by click–dragging in this field up or down. This is a very important adjustment, because even small changes of the fundamental frequency determine the proper position of the resulting marking rectangles for harmonics. Alternatively, the frequency can also be fine-tuned by holding down the shift key while resizing the rectangle defining the fundamental. Each individual harmonic, and the fundamental, can be enabled or disabled with their respective button. Also, all odd or even harmonics can be simultaneously switched on or off by using the buttons All EVEN or All ODD.
To the left and right of the Freq field, there are two additional fields. Amp or Amplitude shows the amplitude of the fundamental frequency, while ∑rms shows the RMS energy of harmonics plus fundamental covered by all active selected areas.
The amplitudes of spectral components are normalized in such way that ∑rms shows 0 dB when processing white noise having a maximum line level of 0 dBFs, and the marking rectangles covers the whole frequency range from 0 to maximum.
The “Process between marked areas” check box, at the bottom of the Harmonics Selection window, allows an interpolation which is complementary to the harmonic removal process. In this case harmonics are preserved and the space among them is cleaned. It is especially useful for cleaning sound samples used for keyboards and sequencers.
Note that the Automatic Selection of Harmonics tool can also be used for the Copy & Paste function. This is especially advantageous if you want to shift a tone, a fundamental with accompanying harmonics, while keeping the ambience integrity untouched. It also helps to correct the beginning of a tone if it has been not precisely played.
1.3.9 Application Tips
Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade is an easy to use tool, even if, at first glance, you may feel uncertain because of the unusual interface. However, after reading the Getting Started chapter, you will be able to carry out repairs with speed and quality you have never experienced before.
This manual gives you just an overview of the Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade functionality, but there are still a lot of tricks and “secrets,” allowing previously impossible sound repair operations. Indeed, it is very difficult to formulate general statements on how to proceed. Every impairment, in connection with specific audio material you want to retain, creates a unique situation. We recommend you spend some time trying to localize and remove certain audible features, or copy audio events to other destinations. Together with all zooming, resizing and precise playback cursor-placing possibilities, you’ll get a good feel for controlling Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade in a short time. Below are some additional remarks which may help to speed your learning process.
Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade repairs are always undo–able at any time by selecting NoNOISE II > Restore Click. However, before loading a sound file to be processed, we recommend you always make a backup of your original audio material to have the opportunity to start again if, for any reason, the NoNOISE metadata, the “.cd” and “.rl” files, are lost.
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LEARN: For removing transient disturbances like clicks, use the hor (horizontal) interpolation type |
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LEARN: For removing longer tones or harmonics, use vert (vertical) interpolation type. |
Be aware of the proper selection of the blksize parameter. In general, interpolation of short disturbances, like clicks, requires smaller block sizes, while a frequency selective interpolation, like removal of discrete tones or harmonics, requires larger block sizes. In difficult cases, such as with loud, short duration sounds mixed with low-frequency reverberation, a step–by–step removal process works better. Instead of a wide, vertical area selection, begin with a narrow one to concentrate on the main energy and then a wider horizontal but vertically smaller selection to remove the reverberation part. In addition, for the first step select a smaller block size, such as 256, and for the second step, a larger one like 2048.
If the disturbance is a wideband signal that strongly overlaps with the signal you want to retain, it helps to mark and process carefully selected small regions, step–by–step, instead of drawing one big selection around the critical area.
In extremely difficult situations, especially if you do not have enough clean material surrounding the unwanted noise, we recommend using the copy and paste technique. This method is also ideal for correcting timing problems in instrumental or vocal performance. You can grab a whole tone and shift it a little bit backwards or forwards.
Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade is also a perfect tool for improving distorted signals. It can remove distortions caused by overdriving analog equipment and works as an excellent de-esser.
If you cannot locate the disturbance you hear, switch the spectrogram to a different Channel if possible. Also, try a different Blocksize and adjust the Range parameter to get proper amplitude-to-color mapping. It may also help to increase the Accuracy, since this will lead to a higher time resolution of the spectrogram while maintaining its frequency resolution, as determined by Blocksize.
1.3.10 Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade Key Equivalents
General
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space bar |
play |
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shift-p |
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command-z |
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shift-command-z |
redo |
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shift-c |
copy selection |
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shift-v |
paste selection |
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shift-drag |
constrain selection in ƒ (frequency) |
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` (accent grave) |
toggles smoothing |
Zoom
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0 |
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1 |
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2 |
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3 |
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4 |
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5 |
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up arrow |
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down arrow |
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< |
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> |
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, (comma) |
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. (period) |
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; (semicolon) |
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/ (forward solidus or slash) |
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Presets
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^ (accent circumflex) |
set preset 1 |
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& (ampersand) |
set preset 2 |
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* (asterisk) |
set preset 3 |
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( |
set preset 4 |
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6 |
load preset 1 |
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7 |
load preset 2 |
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8 |
load preset 3 |
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9 |
load preset 4 |
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y |
set play cursor before selection, 6 sec. |
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u |
set play cursor before selection, 3 sec. |
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i |
set play cursor before selection, 1.5 sec. |
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o |
set play cursor before selection, 0.5 sec. |
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} |
select next accuracy |
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{ |
select previous accuracy |
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shift-l |
select left channel |
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shift-r |
select right channel |
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c |
select current channel |
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a |
select all channels |
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h |
horz |
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v |
vert |
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l |
left |
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r |
right |
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t |
top |
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b |
bottom |
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d |
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g |
gain |
Block Size
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= |
select next block size |
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- |
select prev block size |
© 2017 Sonic Studio, LLC • Fairfax, CA 94978 • 1-415-944-7642
Spectral Repair Tool For soundBlade, soundBlade, soundBlade HD, soundBlade SE, soundBlade LE, sonicstudio.com, the Sonic Studio logo and type are trademarks of Sonic Studio, LLC in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies..
Comments, corrections and suggestions regarding this manual are always welcome. Please contact us at <support@sonicstudio.com>. RepairTool Pro_UM_v02r02
©2006-2017 Sonic Studio, LLC — All rights reserved
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RepairTool Pro Legal Notice
This document may not, in whole or in part, be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, transmitted, or recorded to other media without prior written consent of Algorithmix® GmbH. The information in this document is subject to change without notice.
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Algorithmix® End User License Agreement
This End User License Agreement (“License”) is a legal agreement between you (either an individual person or a single legal entity) and Algorithmix GmbH (“Algorithmix®”) regarding Algorithmix® software and the accompanying documentation (collectively, the “Software”). The Software also includes any software updates, add-on components, web services and/or supplements that Algorithmix may provide to you or make available to you after the date you obtain your initial copy of the Software to the extent that such items are not accompanied by a separate license agreement or terms of use.
PLEASE READ THIS LICENCE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE SOFTWARE. BY INSTALLING, COPYING, DOWNLOADING, ACCESSING OR OTHERWISE USING THE SOFTWARE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT OR UNDERSTAND THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE, YOU SHOULD NOT INSTALL, ACCESS OR USE THE SOFTWARE.
1. LICENCE GRANT: Subject to the restrictions set forth below, this License grants you a non-exclusive, perpetual license to (a) install the Software on only one computer; (b) use or authorize use of the Software on only one computer; (c) make one copy of the Software, in machine-readable form, solely for backup purposes; provided you include all copyright and other proprietary rights notices on the copy and (d) transfer the Software and this License to another party if the other party agrees to accept the terms and conditions of this License. If you transfer the Software, you must at the same time either transfer all copies to the same party or destroy any copies not transferred. If you transfer possession of any copy of the Software to another party, your License is automatically terminated.
2. LICENCE RESTRICTIONS: You may not, or allow any third party to, (a) rent, lease, sell, loan or otherwise transfer the Software or any of your rights and obligations under this License; (b) install the Software on a network for use by multiple users, unless each user has purchased a license; c) reverse-engineer, de-compile or disassemble the Software or hardware in whole or in part; (d) remove or destroy any copyright notices or other proprietary markings of the Software or any third-party software; (e) modify or adapt the Software, merge the Software into another program or create derivative works based on the Software; (f) make copies of or distribute, for profit or otherwise, the Software, except as expressly provided above; (g) make any alteration, modification, connection, disconnection, improvement or adjustment of any kind to or use the Software except as explicitly contemplated in the enclosed documentation and in this License and (h) sublicense, transfer or assign this License or any of the rights and obligations granted under this License, except as explicitly contemplated in this License. Any purported transfer or assignment will be void.
3. EXPORT RESTRICTIONS: The Algorithmix® Software may not be exported or re-exported to any country to which the European Union embargoes goods. By downloading or using Algorithmix® Software you are certifying that you are not a national of any country to which the European Union embargoes goods.
4. OWNERSHIP: The license granted hereunder does not constitute a transfer or sale of ownership rights in or to the Software. Except for the license rights granted above, Algorithmix® retains all right title and interest in and to the Software including all intellectual property rights therein. The Software is protected by applicable intellectual property laws, including European Union copyright laws and international treaties.
5. TERM AND TERMINATION: This License shall be effective upon installation of the Software and shall terminate upon the earlier of (a) your failure to comply with any term of this License; (b) return, destruction or deletion of all copies of the Software in your possession or (c) transfer of the Software and this License to another party in accordance with Section 1(d). Algorithmix® rights and your obligations shall survive termination of this License.
6. LIMITED WARRANTY: Algorithmix® warrants to the original licensee that the Software, as delivered, will perform in accordance with the accompanying documentation for a period of 30 days from the date of the original purchase (“Limited Warranty”). Algorithmix® entire liability and your exclusive remedy for breach of the preceding Limited Warranty shall be, at Algorithmix® sole option, repair or replacement of the Software that does not meet the warranty set forth herein and that is returned to Algorithmix®. This limited warranty shall be void if failure of the Software has resulted from any accident, abuse, misuse or misapplication by you. Any replacement Software will be warranted for the remainder of the original warranty period or 30 days, whichever is longer.
7. NO OTHER WARRANTIES: EXCEPT AS SET FORTH ABOVE, THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” BASIS. YOU ASSUME ALL RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ALGORITHMIX® DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD-PARTY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ALGORITHMIX® DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS CONTAINED IN THE SOFTWARE WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS, BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE.
8. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: YOU AGREE THAT IN NO EVENT WILL ALGORITHMIX® BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF INFORMATION), EVEN IF ALGORITHMIX® HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT SHALL ALGORITHMIX® LIABILITY EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF THE FEES PAID FOR THE SOFTWARE. Because some jurisdictions do not allow the limitation or exclusion of incidental or consequential damages in certain circumstances, the above limitations may not apply to you.
9. GENERAL: Any claim arising under or relating to this License shall be governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, without reference to conflict of laws principles. This License constitutes the entire agreement between you and Algorithmix® and supersedes any other communication with respect to the Software. No modification of or amendment to this License will be effective unless in writing signed by both parties. If any provision of this License is held invalid or unenforceable, the remainder of this License will continue in full force and effect.
RepairTool Pro is made by Algorithmix® GmbH, Germany. Copyright ©1998-2014 by Algorithmix® GmbH. All rights reserved.
RepairTool Pro for soundBlade copyright ©2006-2017 by Sonic Studio, LLC. All rights reserved.
