Getting Started How Do I... |

Quick-Start tips for the most common Beatnik Editor tasks.
Topics:
How Do I... ...Get some Help? ...Make an RMF File from a WAV or AIFF file? ...Make an RMF File from a MIDI file? ...Link the Beatnik Editor with my MIDI Sequencer? ...Make my own Instruments? ...Change the Built-In Instruments? ...Change the Built-In Samples? ...Get my MIDI and Digital Audio Files into my Session? ...Make my Samples Smaller? ...Enter my Copyright Notice? ...Enter the Song Title and Performer Credits? ...Encrypt / Protect my Music? ...Get some Help? If you run into difficulty installing, registering, or using the Beatnik Editor, and can't find an answer in the Online Help or User's Guide, then contact Beatnik Customer Support via the Beatnik Web site: http://www.beatnik.com/?editor-support ...Make an RMF File from a WAV or AIFF file? Follow the steps above, under Basic Operation: Converting a Sample File to RMF. ...Make an RMF File from a MIDI file? Follow the steps above, under Basic Operation: Converting a MIDI File to RMF. ...Link the Beatnik Editor with my MIDI Sequencer? Follow the steps for your sequencer in the Linking to Your Sequencer section. ...Make my own Instruments? Create a new Custom Instrument in the Instruments tab of your Session document, then edit it with the Instrument Editor (select the Instrument, then select Edit Instrument from the Instrument menu). For advice on making better Instruments, see Editing Instruments. To use your own Samples in the Instrument, you'll first have to import them into the Samples tab of your Session document. ...Change the Built-In Instruments? Strictly speaking, you can't edit the built-in Instruments - but you can do something almost as good. Just copy any built-in Instrument to your Custom Instrument bank, then make your changes to the copy, and include the instrument in your exported RMF file. You'll be starting from the exact same high-quality Instrument used in the Beatnik Bank files for the Beatnik Player, Beatnik Xtra, and the other Beatnik Playback player software. This is a good way to keep your RMF files small - your Instrument can use the built-in Samples, without having to include them in your RMF file. ...Change the Built-In Samples? Sorry, you can't copy or alter the built-in Samples - although you can create your own instruments that use them in ways different from the built-in Instruments (see previous item). ...Get my MIDI and Digital Audio Files into my Session? There are several ways to import MIDI and audio files into your Session: Drag any number of MIDI files and/or audio files from the desktop into the Session window. (To import MIDI, the Songs tab must be showing.) Go to the File menu and select the Import command, the use the dialog box to navigate to any directory and open any number of MIDI and/or audio files. Drag a Song, Instrument, or Sample from one Session window to another Session window. Copy a Song, Instrument, or Sample in one Session window, then Paste it into another Session window. Importing a file creates one or more new items in your Session document: Importing a MIDI file into a Session produces a new Custom Song. Importing an RMF file into a Session produces an Imported RMF Song - a special kind of Song that can only be played, not edited, due to the security of the RMF format. This is useful mainly for testing exported RMF content. Importing an audio file (MP3, WAV, AIFF, or AU) into a Session produces a new Custom Sample. If the Instruments tab of the Session window is showing at the time, the import also produces a new Instrument that uses the newly imported sample. If the Songs tab of the Session window is showing at the time, the import also produces both an Instrument that uses the newly imported sample and a Song that plays that Instrument at the Sample's natural pitch for the duration of the sample. This makes it easy to convert a sample to RMF: to hear the sample at its natural pitch, all you have to do is play the RMF file. ...Make my Samples Smaller? You can make a Sample smaller by: Using the Compression... command in the Sample menu. Using the Sample Editor window to reduce the Sample length by trimming away unnecessary material from your sample's attack, loop and release segments. Converting stereo Samples to mono in another sample editor program. Reducing the sampling rate in another sample editor program. Although Beatnik supports sample playback rates as high as 44.1 kHz, in many cases you can get acceptable results with 22kHz or lower rates. Limiting the number of Custom Samples used in each Song. Note: Reducing the number of bits from 16 to 8 isn't recommended, unless you really like junky sound. Data compression (see above) will give you far greater space savings and much better sound than linear 8-bit audio provides. ...Enter my Copyright Notice? ...Enter the Song Title and Performer Credits? In the Songs tab of your Session document, select your Song and then select Song Info... from the Song menu. The Song Info dialog box will appear, where you can enter your text information for the exported RMF file. ...Encrypt / Protect my Music? You don't have to take any extra, special steps to protect your music - whenever you're working in Beatnik, that's automatic. Every RMF file you create is always encrypted.

Getting Started / How Do I... top |