Kai Vehmanen

22032001

Table of Contents

1: What is ecawave?

2: Ecawave interface

2.1: Session management

2.1.1: New session <ctrl-n>

2.1.2: New file <ctrl-f>

2.1.3: Open <ctrl-o>

2.1.4: Close <ctrl-c>

2.1.5: Save <ctrl-v>

2.1.6: Save as <ctrl-a>

2.2: Processing

2.2.1: Start <ctrl-t>

2.2.2: Stop <ctrl-s>

2.2.3: Effect <ctrl-e>

2.2.4: Fade-in <ctrl-i>

2.2.5: Fade-out <ctrl-d>

2.2.6: Copy <ctrl-y>

2.2.7: Cut <ctrl-u>

2.2.8: Paste <ctrl-p>

2.3: Waveform view

2.3.1: Zoom in <ctrl-z>

2.3.2: Zoom out <ctrl-m>

2.3.3: Mark all <ctrl-r>

2.3.4: Unmark <ctrl-u>

2.3.5: Redraw <ctrl-w>

3: Configuration

4: Ecawave internals

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1: What is ecawave?

Ecawave is a simple graphical audio file editor. The user-interface is based on Qt libraries, while almost all audio functionality is taken directly from ecasound libraries. As ecawave is designed for editing large audio files, all processing is done direct-to-disk. Simple waveform caching is used to speed-up file operations. Ecawave supports all audio file formats and effect algorithms provided by ecasound libraries. This includes ALSA and OSS soundcard support and common file formats like wav, cdr, raw, aiff, mp3, etc.

2: Ecawave interface

Ecawave's user-interface is designed to be intuitive to use. There is no hidden functionality. I guess you could call this WYSIWYCD - what you see is what you can do. You should able to do most tasks using shortcut keys (CTRL + key combinations).

2.1: Session management

2.1.1: New session <ctrl-n>

Opens a new session window.

2.1.2: New file <ctrl-f>

Creates an empty file for editing.

2.1.3: Open <ctrl-o>

Opens a new file replacing currently edited file. Ecawave handles files in the same way as ecasound. File type/format is determined from file name extension. This may seem a bit clumsy, but it is simple and it works. As an added bonus, support for new file formats can be added seamlessly to ecasound library.

So most of the time, ecawave doesn't care about file types. As an exception, only RIFF wave files (.wav) and raw files (.raw) can be used in direct-mode, in which all processing and editing is done without temporary files.

Ecawave also recognizes some formats (like for example raw audio files) that require additional audio format info. When you select these files, audio format input fields are enabled.

When opening files, you can also specify whether to use waveform cache and whether to do a forced cache-refresh. Cache data is stored in separate files - filename + ".ews".

2.1.4: Close <ctrl-c>

Close currently edited file. If this was the last session, ecawave exits.

2.1.5: Save <ctrl-v>

Saves the currently edited file. Only needed when file has been modified (marked by * in the statusbar).

2.1.6: Save as <ctrl-a>

Save the currently edited file to another file.

2.2: Processing

2.2.1: Start <ctrl-t>

Starts processing from current position. If there is a marked area, processing will only affect it.

2.2.2: Stop <ctrl-s>

Stop processing. Current position is resetted to begin.

2.2.3: Effect <ctrl-e>

Process marked area with ecasound effects. It's also possible to preview effects before processing.

2.2.4: Fade-in <ctrl-i>

Apply a fade-in effect to the currently selected area.

2.2.5: Fade-out <ctrl-d>

Apply a fade-out effect to the currently selected area.

2.2.6: Copy <ctrl-y>

Copy marked area to ecawave's clipboard.

2.2.7: Cut <ctrl-u>

Copy marked area to ecawave's clipboard, and then remove it from the edited file.

2.2.8: Paste <ctrl-p>

Paste the contents of ecawave's clipboard into the current file starting from the current position.

2.3: Waveform view

2.3.1: Zoom in <ctrl-z>

Zoom to marked area.

2.3.2: Zoom out <ctrl-m>

Zoom out so that the whole file is visible.

2.3.3: Mark all <ctrl-r>

Mark the entire file. Note! Not just the visible area.

2.3.4: Unmark <ctrl-u>

Unmark currently marked area.

2.3.5: Redraw <ctrl-w>

Redraws the waveform data.

3: Configuration

The most important configuration files are ~/.ecawaverc and ~/.ecasoundrc.

Currently following ~/.ecawaverc variables are used:

default-output

Output device to use. Defaults to /dev/dsp.

clipboard-location

Location of ecawave's clipboard file. Special value default indicates that clipboard shold be treated as a normal temporary file (usually this means $TMPDIR/ecawave-user/clipboard.wav).

~/.ecawaverc uses the same format as ~/.ecasoundrc. One line consists of a configuration variable and its value. Variable and value are separated with either '=' or ' '. Lines beginning with a "#" are ignored (comment lines).

Also take a look at, ecasoundrc(5) manual page.

4: Ecawave internals

Under the hood, ecawave is just another ecasound user-interface. Based on what user wants to do, ecawave creates a suitable chainsetup and passes it to ecasound.