1: Review | Areas/Controls You Want to Know

Top left corner of the S1 window on Windows.

Top left of computer screen on Mac. (All Mac menus are top left of the SCREEN, and switch to the active application.)

Worth exploring to get a feel for some of the options in S1. Often there are mouse shortcuts for most popular commands, so menus are NOT comprehensive.

BONUS: S1 is also famous for “context menus,” which are “right-click” menus. Those menus are location/context sensitive, containing commands/options applying to the location where the right-click occurred.

Focused, productive, worth exploring.

In the vast majority of the cases, we have the first three tools turned “On” (blue). Click on the bracket to the far left to get all three on.

Known as the “Smart Combo” tool, the mouse cursor changes based on where your mouse is in the track.

Snap to Events/Grid and more, Ripple Edit, and Autoscroll. 

Like most interface elements, blue if turned “On”.

When the cursor gets to the right side of the screen, the display moves over so the cursor starts on the left again. If the cursor ever goes off the screen, audio is still playing, but the screen isn’t changing, check the  “Autoscroll” button to make sure it’s “On”.

Set of icons above the “Track Control Area”.

Each one shows/hides different tracks, sections, or turns specific features on/off.

Each icon has a tooltip when you hover over it, with some details of what it does. 

In S1 5.1 or higher, there are more icons than space if you have the Track Control Area too narrow.

If too narrow (first screen above), one icon shows a set of additional icons that display/hide features. (2nd icon from the right, looks a little like a “fence”.) You’ll find the “Marker Track” under that icon.

Try clicking on them; you can’t break it. Click it again if you don’t know what it does. Some are focused on music production, and hidden by default.

Timeline is at the top, always showing/visible. The Baarns Templates default to Seconds in the Timeline, but you can switch it to Bars, Samples, Frames (video) if you want something else. 

Right click the Timeline and select “Timebase” to switch between the options.

Marker Track – Can be hidden or displayed.
(Icon to show/hide Marker Track is in Peek-a-boo area.)

Start/End Markers are the default, and you can add other markers by pressing “Ins” or “Y”.

Many transitioning from other products use Markers where Event labels are often more effective, since they can be longer, AND color coded. (Outside the scope of this session.)

To the Left of every track is the rectangle containing specific controls for that track. Mute, Solo, Arm are examples of the controls for each track.

Right click in the Track Control Area where there isn’t a control, and you’ll see a wide set of options for that specific track.

BONUS: Below the existing tracks is a “Blank” track control area. Right click there to add new Mono or Stereo tracks.

You may have one track of audio, or hundreds of tracks if needed. Most VO/Narration/Podcasting uses 1-10 tracks.

Tracks can be visible, hiden, disabled (no CPU used), duplicated and more via a right click in the Track Control Area for that track.

Buttons/icons to Record, Start, Stop recording and/or playback.

These controls can be used with your mouse, but most often we use keyboard shortcuts. As a rule, it’s faster, more convenient to use the keyboard shortcuts…worth exploring, but you can use the mouse if desired.

The Baarns Gold toolbar contains a duplicate Record button if you want to use the mouse.

The Preroll is set via the Wrench icon above the word “Metronome” in the bottom center of the screen.

For most, a value of 4 is the ideal starting point for P&R, although longer is very popular too.

Too short, and the timing/match is often not as clean.

Lower right corner, three additional windows available. Each button shows/hides the optional windows, each providing different functionality for audio production.

“Mix Console” is the most popular, where we find our Effects, meters, and inputs/outputs for our audio.

“Roboguy” needs to be turned “On”, then the Macro Toolbar displays.

The “Macrobar” contains a set of shortcuts kicked off via buttons (keyboard shortcuts optional).

You can use the buttons (macros) provided with this package AND customize and/or add your own macros. (Customization covered in the Baarns S1 Advanced courseware.)