Hello, welcome to this video! Let's get a quick and complete
overview on how to use the newest MAGIX ACID Pro 8!
Please leave us comments and suggestions below this video to improve
our next video guides dedicated to ACID Pro!
MAGIX ACID Pro is a Digital Audio Workstation software, used to realize
your own audio projects, compositions and loops, with anything you need
to apply adjustments and effects with a very simple and immediate
user interface.
When opening ACID, its interface shows up, divided in two: on top you
have the main timeline, where sound files are imported, edited and
adjusted; at the bottom you have several useful windows collecting most
of the features inside ACID, such as the Explorer, the Mixing Console,
or the Plug-In Manager. In case you miss important panels from the
workspace, you can open and recover them from the View tab.
To start with a new ACID project go to New, and then start importing
files on the timeline, such as samples, MIDI or visual files.
Audio samples are sound files complete with their own mono or stereo
sound waveform and a defined instrument. These are all contained inside
Audio Tracks.
MIDI files are not rendered, with defined notes on the timeline, but
with tone and output sound fixed by an external synthesizer chosen.
MIDI Tracks are provided for these files.
All visual files, such as pictures and videos, are contained inside a
single Video Track on top. ACID Pro has very limited options for these
files, so you may need to use video editing products such as Vegas Pro
or Movie Studio to modify these.
Check out our channel to discover more about Vegas Pro or Movie Studio!
All these files can be imported by clicking and dragging these into the
timeline, from either the Explorer panel at the bottom, or from any
folder you have open. Once added, these files are shown as colored
events called clips. Audio samples and MIDI show their own waveform or
notes on the timeline; whereas videos show thumbnails and their
progressive frame number on themselves.
You can check these better by zooming the timeline in and out with your
mouse wheel. To move in time quickly, just hold down the Shift key and
use the mouse wheel instead.
To playback the whole content you can use the player at the bottom, or
the Enter and the Space keys. These play and stop with the difference
that, with the Space key, you still have the starting point of the
time marker.
In case of visual clips, don't forget to open the Video Preview window,
in order to check also the visual frames of the project.
The time placement of the marker is measured in two ways on the left.
The first one shows hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds; the
second one uses the standard music format in Bars, Beats and Ticks,
according to the Time Signature chosen at the bottom. Then, Bars and
Beats are rendered into the seconds according to the Tempo at the bottom,
indicated in beats per minute (BPM). A higher Tempo increases the
speed rate of all the audio and visual files, although these seem to
get stretched since the timeline on top is still measured in bars and
beats.
To learn more about the Time Signature and the Tempo, check out our
links inside the video description!
Now let's see how to edit the timeline clips by using the Draw Tool.
To move each clip in time or between Tracks, just click and drag it.
To adjust the clip duration just click and drag from its edges. By
default the clip snaps to the grid columns of the timeline, but you
can avoid this by disabling the Snapping button on top.
As you stretch and shorten audio clips, these behave differently
depending on their ACID Type, represented by a dedicated icon beside
the clip file name. You can find and change this option by
right-clicking on the clip and going to Clip Properties....
If you choose One-Shot, the audio clip content is preserved, so it is
not looped or changed in length. You can still adjust its pitch with
Pitch shift below.
When choosing Loop, the audio clip will be put in a continuous loop as
you stretch, restarting every time you see a grey arrow on it.
Moreover, under the Stretch tab, you can stretch or shorten the clip
waveform in time by setting the total number of beats for each loop.
For example, if you increase the beats number, the clip length will be
extended, and so its content will be played slower.
More below you can fine the way to stretch the clip, adjusting the time
placement of each single beat by moving the green markers on the big
graph.
If you choose Beatmapped, you will stretch and shorten the clip content
without loops by acting on the sound waveform shape, instead of the
number of beats. Under General, decide the way to stretch the waveform
under Method and Mode; under Stretch, click and drag the orange markers
to act on the waveform.
To cut, copy or paste a clip, just right-click on it. You can make
copies of a clip quickly by holding down the CTRL key and moving it.
To delete a clip, just click on it to select it and use the Delete key.
To add time offset, just hold down the ALT key and slide on the clip.
Whereas, to split a clip into pieces, click on the point where you
want to split and use the S key. Pay attention to snappings if they
are enabled.
If you make any mistake, you can use CTRL+Z to undo.
You can also select multiple clips to edit all of them at the same time.
If you hold the Shift key and hover over the clips, you will select all
of them, and then you can move and edit them in the same way.
ACID Pro has several options to adjust the output sound.
On each audio clip, you can click and pull up or down its Gain line
to adjust its volume. You can also click and drag from its corners on
top to add fade-in and fade-out volume transitions. To change their
envelope in time, right-click on these and choose from the Fade Type
list.
Moreover, for each Audio Track you have several options available on
the left side, which affect all the clips contained within it. These are
shrinked by default, but you can extend them by dragging the edges of
the Track.
Use the Volume bar to adjust the track volume, according to the deciBel
meter color next to Out. Make sure not to have any red color on it, or
you may get distortion and saturation on the output.
Whereas use the Panning bar to balance the left and the right stereo
channels.
The Mute button disables the whole Track, muting all its clips inside.
It is different than the Solo button, that disables all the other Tracks
except the interested one.
To delete a Track and all of its clips, just right-click on it and go
to Delete.
All the Tracks with their bars and buttons can be found inside the
Mixing Console at the bottom. Here you can also manage the Master
Track, which is the Audio Track that collects together all the sound
from your project.
MIDI clips are the most suitable files to realize compositions and
percussions. These are made by defined notes and then rendered through
audio instruments called Synthesizers (or Synths). You can import these
.mid files directly on the timeline, or simply create one from scratch.
Let's see how to create and compose a new MIDI clip.
First of all, create a new MIDI Track by right-clicking on the workspace
and then going to Insert MIDI Track. Then, with the Draw Tool enabled,
click and drag on the MIDI Track to create a new empty MIDI clip. At
this point, right-click on the MIDI clip and go to Clip Properties...
to open the Piano Roll interface, used to drop and edit notes on the
clip. With the Draw Tool enabled, just click and drag on the Piano Roll
to create your own notes. You can also listen to each note by clicking
on the Piano Roll on the left.
You can also leave notes directly on the timeline by using the G key.
All the MIDI Tracks will show up as integrated Piano Rolls.
By default the new MIDI Track starts with a Piano instrument, realized
by the DLS Soft Synthesizer, as you can see from the MIDI Track options.
If you click on it, you can change the synth to use, or add a new one
with Insert Soft Synth.... Let's check these out quickly.
DLS Soft Synth collects several ready presets (or 'voices') which
realize pianos, guitars, organs and even drum kits.
VITA is a new Synth that generates patterns from the pieces of sound
waveform selected from the top.
DN-e1 is a very advanced synth. Choose a Preset on top, and then fine
the output sound by adjusting each of the audio properties directly
from its interface.
Depending on the Synth chosen, the Piano Roll renders audio notes or
different kinds of percussions and drums. The way to place, move,
adjust and delete each note is identical to what we have seen for the
clips on the timeline.
On the left side of the MIDI Track you can change the synth preset to
use, and adjust any Volume, Panning or use the Mute/Solo buttons.
MIDI Tracks are also listed inside the Mixing Console, with all the
synthesizers added, here shown as Bus Tracks, complete with
Volume/Panning bars, and Mute/Solo buttons. These act on the MIDI
Track they are referred to. In case of Bus Tracks using the same synth,
take a look at the Bus Track number associated to the MIDI Track
interested.
To retrieve the main Synth interface, just right-click on the Bus
Track interested, and go to Soft Synth Properties....
You can also get extra samples, loops and synthesizers from Contests
and Downloads, by using the MAGIX Download Manager. Check it out!
If you click and slide above the timeline, you create a yellow Loop
Region, used to select limited portions inside the timeline. For
example, if you enable the Loop Playback button, you playback just the
yellow region continuously, very useful in case you are editing it.
Inside ACID Pro you can browse and import special audio effects, such as
the new eFX, the VANDAL and the AM-Track effects.
From the Plug-In Manager window browse for the right effect, and drag
and drop it on the audio clip interested. You can also use the fx icon
on the clips to look for the right effect, and import it through the
Add button.
As you add effects on the clip, the Plug-In chain is built, with all
the effects applied in order from left to right. You can click and
slide each effect to change its position, and use its square button to
enable or disable it.
You can edit and adjust the effect properties by clicking on its name
and using its interface at the bottom.
To remove the effect from the chain, just select it and use the Remove
Selected Plug-In button.
You can also apply effects on a whole Audio Track by using its fx icon.
If you add effects to the Master Track, these will affect all the clips
inside your project.
You can also add effects to a MIDI Track by using the fx icon on the
Bus Track that is realizing its output sound.
Now, let's see how to save and export your project on ACID Pro!
To save the project with all its clips and options, just use Save As....
ACID projects are saved as .acd project files.
To render and export the whole project content, just go to File and then
to Render As.... Then define where to save the file and its name. Under
Save as type select the correct audio format, and advanced options under
Template. In case you have visual clips on your project, you can also
export as a .avi video file.
Moreover, if you enable Render loop region only, you will export just
the part of the timeline that is under the Loop Region.
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