Context Menu
The context menu provides actions related to the selected track including import audio, generate drums, apply effects and others.
All of these actions can be reverted and restored again (undo/redo functionality). Theoretically, the number of reversible actions is unlimited, but in practice it is limited by the memory size of your device.
The undo/redo history is deleted both when you close the app and when you open another project.
The context menu can be opened by a single-tap on a track. Double-tap works as well.
Clear
“Clear” deletes the audio data of the selected track and resets the mixer level and pan.
Undo
Undo the last action(s) on the selected track.
Redo
Redo the last undone action(s) on the selected track.
Normalize
In the pop-up window that opens, the current peak value of the audio signal is displayed first. Use the rotary knob to set a target peak value and perform the normalization by tapping the Normalize button.
The audio signal is amplified (or less often attenuated) so that the new peak value corresponds to the set target peak value. The peak normalization does not change the signal-to-noise ratio, but the noise in the signal is equally amplified together with the useful signal. It should therefore be taken during the recording that the signal is as high as possible.
Recording Gain
The gain control can be used to adjust the recording gain, i.e. the gain factor for the audio signal at the input. Technically, amplification is achieved through multiplication in the digital domain.
In principle, the audio signal on the microphone, for example the vocals, should be as loud as possible so that disturbing background noise is as quiet as possible relative to the desired signal. Accordingly, the recording gain should normally be set to 0\ dB, since amplification would increase the background noise to the same extent.
Conclusion: This option should be used with care.
Edit
The timing of the editing functions refer to the markers, which in turn snap to the metronome settings. From this it follows that, in order to accurately edit your tracks, the timing of your recording must be based on the metronome beat.
Cut | Cut the marked area and paste it to the clipboard. The two parts of the track are concatenated. |
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Copy | Copy the marked area to the clipboard. |
Copy+Silence | Copy the marked area to the clipboard and replace the marked area with silence. |
Insert | Insert the content of the clipboard at the play position (blue line in the center of the screen). |
Overwrite | Overwrite the audio signal, starting at the play position, with the content of the clipboard. |
Append | Append the content of the clipboard to the selected track. |
Import
Import an audio file with automatic sampling rate conversion.
Both MP3 and WAV format is supported by Aubade.
Touching “Import…” opens a file browser that shows the audio files on your device. In the top line the current folder path is displayed. The arrow in the right of the top line serves to navigate back in the folder structure. Touch a file to import it.
The audio can be imported either at the very beginning of the track or at the current play position (marked by the blue vertical line). You will be asked for the desired import position.
Note: As the WAV format is a container format it can hold various types of audio: compressed and uncompressed, fixed-point and floating-point representation. Aubade supports uncompressed fixed-point audio, namely 16-bit PCM.
Generate
Generate a synthetic audio signal on the selected track.
This can either be drums or metronome. Follow the links below to get to the description of these functions.
Effects
Apply an audio effect on the selected track.
Follow the links below to obtain information about the effects.
Timeshift
Shift the selected track in time to align it with the other tracks.
A positive value shifts the track to the right, a negative value shifts it to the left.
The timeshift function is intended for a fine alignment of the tracks. It should be obsolete now since the automatic play/rec latency adjustment runs perfectly on almost every device.
Rename
Rename the selected track.
Give the track a descriptive label like “Drums” or “Vocals”.