WaveShop is a free, open-source audio editor for Windows XP/Vista/7/8. Unlike many similar apps, WaveShop is bit-perfect, meaning samples aren't altered unless they need to be. Editing a portion of an audio file only affects that portion; the rest of the file is untouched. Blocks of audio can be cut and pasted without changing their contents at all. This is especially useful for patching a finished master without corrupting its dither.

License

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111 USA.

Requirements

It is strongly recommended to use 64-bit Windows, because the 64-bit version of WaveShop can load bigger files and/or more files at once without running out of memory.

Recommended:

Windows 7 SP1 64-bit
DirectX 11.0
WaveShop 64-bit
8GB memory or more
Dual-core or quad-core CPU
SATA3 hard drive with at least 100GB free
Professional-quality sound card

Minimum:

Windows XP SP2
DirectX 9.0
WaveShop 32-bit
4GB memory

Installing

Installing for the first time:

WaveShop is distributed as a zip file containing an installer. Unzip the distribution file, using WinZip or an equivalent program, and then double-click on WaveShop.msi to launch the installer. The installer is about as simple as an installer can be: just keep hitting "Next." Note that on the "Select Installation Folder" page, you have the option to install for all users, but the default is to only install for the current user.

Upgrading a previous installation:

Unzip the distribution file to a folder, if you haven't already.
In that folder, double-click Upgrade.bat to launch the installer.
In the installer, select the "Repair" option.

Note that double-clicking WaveShop.msi won't work: you will get the message "Another version of this product is already installed". If you're connected to the Internet, you can upgrade to the latest version via Help/Check for Updates.

Uninstalling

To uninstall WaveShop, use Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel, or double-click on WaveShop.msi and select the "Remove" option, or in the Task Bar, select Programs/WaveShop/Uninstall.

Getting help

WaveShop has context-sensitive help, which means that pressing F1 shows different topics depending on the situation. Context-sensitive help is available for the following types of user-interface objects:

Object type	To get help:
Menus and context menus	Highlight a menu item and press F1.
Toolbar buttons	Hover over a button and press F1.
Other toolbar controls	Left-click the control and press F1.
Modal dialogs	Press F1 while the dialog is displayed.

If none of the above cases apply, or if help is accessed via Help Topics, a default topic is shown.

Navigation

Audio cursor

The audio cursor indicates the current position within an audio file. It's shown in the view as a vertical line running through each channel. It's also shown numerically in the leftmost field of the navigation bar. To move the cursor via the mouse, left-click within the view. It's also possible to move the cursor via the menus or the keyboard:

Edit/Goto/First Frame (Ctrl+Home) moves the cursor to the beginning of the audio.
Edit/Goto/Last Frame (Ctrl+End) moves the cursor to the end of the audio.

To move the cursor numerically, left-click in the leftmost field of the navigation bar, type the desired position, and press Enter or Tab. The position must be entered in time format. Note that Find Zero Crossing moves the cursor to the nearest zero crossing, so it's not necessary to do this manually.

Time format

Time is normally shown and entered in h:m:s.f format, where h = hours, m = minutes, s = seconds, and f = fractional seconds. Places on the right may be omitted, in which case they default to zero. For example:

1	one hour
1:2	one hour + two minutes
1:2:3	one hour + two minutes + three seconds
1:2:3.5	one hour + two minutes + three and a half seconds
1:2:3.456789	one hour + two minutes + three seconds + 456789 microseconds
0:2	two minutes
0:0:3	three seconds
0:0:0.4	four hundred milliseconds

Time can alternatively be shown and entered in sample frames, by enabling the Show time in sample frames option. Sample frames are zero-origin, i.e. the first frame is frame zero.

Zooming time

Time can be zoomed via the mouse wheel (Ctrl+wheel), time ruler (above the view), menus, or keyboard shortcuts.

Zoom via mouse wheel: Position the mouse cursor over the point of interest, and while holding down the Ctrl key, spin the wheel up to zoom in (increase time magnification), or down to zoom out (decrease time magnification).
Zoom via time ruler click: Left-click on the time ruler to zoom in, or right-click on the time ruler to zoom out. The mouse cursor's horizontal position on the time ruler specifies the point to zoom into or out of. The amount of zoom is determined by the horizontal zoom step size.
Zoom an area via time ruler drag: Position the mouse cursor over the time ruler, at one vertical border of the area of interest. Now press the left mouse button, and while holding it down, drag the cursor to the area's other vertical border. Release the left mouse button to zoom into the specified area. To zoom out of the specified area, hold down the Shift key while releasing the left mouse button. Selecting a smaller area causes a bigger jump in magnification. The drag direction can be left-to-right or right-to-left. During dragging, the cursor changes to a magnifying glass, and vertical dotted lines indicate the specified area. To cancel a drag, press Esc.
Zoom via menus and keyboard: To zoom into the audio cursor, select View/Zoom In, or press Ctrl++ (hold down Ctrl and press the "plus" key). To zoom out of the audio cursor, select View/Zoom Out, or press Ctrl+- (hold down Ctrl and press the "minus" key). The amount of zoom is determined by the horizontal zoom step size. To reset time zoom so that all the audio fits in the window, select View/Fit in Window, or press Ctrl+0.

Zooming amplitude

Amplitude can be zoomed via the mouse wheel (Shift+wheel), channel rulers, menus, or keyboard shortcuts. Amplitude zoom normally affects all channels at once, but it's also possible to zoom each channel independently, by unchecking the Vertically sync channels option.

Zoom via mouse wheel: Position the mouse cursor over the point of interest, and while holding down the Shift key, spin the wheel up to zoom in (increase amplitude magnification), or down to zoom out (decrease amplitude magnification). By default the zoom centers on the mouse cursor's vertical position, but it can be configured to center on the origin instead, in which case the origin remains stationary and the mouse cursor position is ignored.
Zoom via channel ruler click: Left-click on a channel ruler to zoom in, or right-click on a channel ruler to zoom out. The mouse cursor's vertical position on the channel ruler specifies the point to zoom into or out of. The amount of zoom is determined by the vertical zoom step size.
Zoom area via channel ruler drag: Position the mouse cursor over a channel ruler, at one horizontal border of the area of interest. Now press the left mouse button, and while holding it down, drag the cursor to the area's other horizontal border. Release the left mouse button to zoom into the specified area. To zoom out of the specified area, hold down the Shift key while releasing the left mouse button. Selecting a smaller area causes a bigger jump in magnification. The drag direction can be top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top. During dragging, the cursor changes to a magnifying glass, and horizontal dotted lines indicate the specified area. To cancel a drag, press Esc.
Zoom via menus and keyboard: To reset amplitude zoom so that all the audio fits vertically in the window, select View/Fit Vertically, or press Shift+0. This also resets the channel heights.

Scrolling

If the audio is sufficiently time-zoomed so that it doesn't fit in the window, a horizontal scroll bar appears in the view. To scroll the view, drag the scrollbar thumb, left-click in the scroll bar, or use the mouse wheel. The usual scrolling shortcuts also apply, as listed below. Note that scrolling doesn't move the audio cursor.

Home scrolls to the beginning of the document.
End scrolls to the end of the document.
Page Down scrolls forward a page at a time.
Page Up scrolls backward a page at a time.
Down and Right scroll forward a line at a time.
Up and Left scroll backward a line at a time.
Edit/Goto/Cursor or pressing Ctrl+\ scrolls as needed to make the audio cursor visible.
Edit/Goto/Selection Start or pressing Ctrl+[ scrolls as needed to make the selection start visible.
Edit/Goto/Selection End or pressing Ctrl+] scrolls as needed to make the selection end visible.

Selecting audio

The selection determines what portion of the audio is affected by a subsequent command. Audio can be selected via the mouse, navigation bar, menus, or keyboard shortcuts. Note that Find Zero Crossing moves the selection start and end to the nearest zero crossing, so it's not necessary to do this manually.

Selecting via mouse: Within the view, position the mouse cursor over the point where the selection should start. Press the left mouse button, and while holding it down, move the cursor horizontally to where the selection should end, and release the left mouse button. The drag direction can be either left-to-right or right-to-left. During dragging, the mouse cursor changes to a double-pointed horizontal arrow.
Adjusting a selection via mouse: Position the mouse cursor over the starting or ending edge of the selection. The mouse cursor changes to a double-pointed horizontal arrow to indicate drag mode. Press the left mouse button, and while holding it down, move the cursor horizontally until the selection edge is in the desired location, and release the left mouse button.
Selecting numerically: The navigation bar's second and third edit boxes are the start and end of the selection, or in Show Length mode, the start and length of the selection. To enter or adjust a selection, click on the appropriate edit box, edit the value, and press Enter or Tab. Values must be entered in time format. To enable Show Length mode, press the Show Length button at the far right of the navigation bar.
Selecting via menus or keyboard: To start a selection at the audio cursor, use Edit/Start Selection or press the [ key.
To end a selection at the audio cursor, use Edit/End Selection or press the ] key.
To scroll to the selection start, use Edit/Goto/Selection Start or press Ctrl+[.
To scroll to the selection end, use Edit/Goto/Selection End or press Ctrl+].
To select all audio, use Edit/Select All or Ctrl+A.
To cancel the current selection, use Edit/Deselect or press Esc.

Channel height

Initially all the channels in a view have equal heights. To make a channel taller, drag the gutter between it and a neighboring channel. The gutter is the horizontal empty space that separates a pair of channels. Position the mouse cursor over the gutter, so that the cursor changes to a double-pointed vertical arrow. Now press the left mouse button, and while holding it down, drag the gutter vertically until the channels have the desired heights, and then release the left mouse button.

To restore a pair of channels to equal heights, double-click the gutter between them. To maximize one channel while minimizing all others, right-click the desired channel and select Maximize Channel in the context menu; this is useful for files with more than two channels. To restore all channels to equal heights, use View/Fit Vertically (Shift+0).

File menu

New

Use this command to create a new, empty document. To open an existing document, use Open. A new document disallows most operations until you paste or insert audio into it, or insert channels.

Open

Use this command to open an existing document in a new window. You can open multiple documents at once. Use the Window menu to switch among the multiple open documents. To create a new, empty document, use New.

Close

Use this command to close all windows containing the active document. If the document has been modified, you will be prompted to save your changes.

Save

Use this command to save the active document to its current name and directory. When you save a document for the first time, WaveShop displays the Save As dialog box so you can name your document and/or specify its file format. If you want to change the name, directory, or file format of an existing document before you save it, use the Save As command instead.

Save As

Use this command to save and name the active document, or to save the active document in a different file format. WaveShop displays the Save As dialog box so you can name your document, and/or specify its file format via the "Save as type" drop-down list. To save a document with its existing name and directory, use the Save command instead. For many file formats, the Export command gives more precise control over the format details, letting you save the document with a different bit depth, or in a floating-point or compressed subtype. Some compressed formats display a configuration dialog that lets you specify encoding parameters.

File Info

This command displays information about the active document, including its duration, audio format, and size.

Export

This command lets you save audio in other file formats. Unlike the File/Save As command, File/Export gives you precise control over the format details, via the Export dialog. The Export dialog contains three drop lists, which let you specify the major format, subtype, and endianness. The list of subtypes varies depending on which major format is selected, and on the number of channels in the audio. Note that some combinations of major format and channel count have few or no subtypes.

You can also use File/Save As to save audio in other formats, by selecting the desired format in the file dialog's "Save as type" drop list. In this case WaveShop tries to find an integer PCM subtype with the correct sample size, so that no precision is lost. If no suitable subtype is available, the save fails with the message "Format not recognized."

The Export command is more powerful than Save As, but also more dangerous: it lets you save audio in any supported combination of format and subtype, regardless of whether precision is lost. Note that if you reduce the sample size, or select a floating point or compressed subtype, the resulting file will not be a bit-perfect copy of the audio.

Exit

Use this command to end your WaveShop session. You can also use the Close command on the application Control menu. WaveShop prompts you to save documents with unsaved changes.

Edit menu

Undo/Redo

Any operation that modifies the document can be undone via Edit/Undo or Ctrl+Z, and redone via Edit/Redo or Ctrl+Y. Undo is unlimited by default, but it can also be limited to a specific number of levels. Each document has its own list of previous states, or undo history, and these histories can become large, particularly when big files are edited. Consequently undo states are stored on disk by default, though they can alternatively be stored in memory to improve performance; see disk threshold. The undo history can be viewed and traversed via the history bar.

Clipboard

The clipboard is the destination for cut and copy, and the source for paste. WaveShop has a private clipboard, which differs from the Windows clipboard. WaveShop's clipboard is only accessible to the current instance of WaveShop, and can't be used to share audio with other applications. It's also non-persistent, meaning its contents disappear when WaveShop exits. It's stored on disk by default; see disk threshold.

Cut

This command deletes the selection after copying it to the clipboard. For smoother edits, you may want to do a Find Zero Crossing first, to ensure that both selection boundaries are zero crossings. To cut, use Edit/Cut, press Ctrl+X, or select Cut from the view's context menu or the Toolbar.

Copy

This command copies the selection to the clipboard. For smoother edits, you may want to do a Find Zero Crossing first, to ensure that both selection boundaries are zero crossings. To copy, use Edit/Copy, press Ctrl+C, or select Copy from the view's context menu or the Toolbar.

Paste

This command inserts the contents of the clipboard at the audio cursor position. For smoother edits, you may want to do a Find Zero Crossing first, to ensure that the insert position is a zero crossing. To paste, use Edit/Paste, press Ctrl+V, or select Paste from the view's context menu or the Toolbar.

Insert

This command inserts one or more audio files at the audio cursor position. A file dialog is displayed, and it allows multiple files to be selected, making it easy to concatenate many audio files at once. Files are inserted in alphabetical order, which is convenient when file names are prefixed with a track number. To insert audio, use Edit/Insert or press the Insert key.

Insert Silence

This command inserts a period of silence at the audio cursor position. A dialog is displayed, letting you specify the duration of the silence. To insert silence, use Edit/Insert Silence or press Alt+Insert.

Delete

This command deletes the selection. For smoother edits, you may want to do a Find Zero Crossing first, to ensure that both selection boundaries are zero crossings. To delete, use Edit/Delete, press the Delete key, or select Delete from the view's context menu.

Goto

To move the audio cursor to the first sample frame, use Edit/Goto/First Frame or Ctrl+Home.
To move the audio cursor to the last sample frame, use Edit/Goto/Last Frame or Ctrl+End
To scroll as needed to make the audio cursor visible, use Edit/Goto/Cursor or Ctrl+\.
To scroll as needed to make the selection start visible, use Edit/Goto/Selection Start or Ctrl+[.
To scroll as needed to make the selection end visible, use Edit/Goto/Selection End or Ctrl+].

Find/Find Next

This command searches audio for a particular sample value, or a range of sample values. To initiate a search, use Edit/Find or press Ctrl+F. The Find dialog is displayed, allowing you specify the range and other parameters, described below. The search begins at the current audio cursor. The search ends when a matching sample is found, or (depending on the options) when the end (or start) of the audio is reached, or the entire document has been searched. If the search is successful, the audio cursor is moved to the first matching sample. To find additional matching samples, use Edit/Find Next or press F3.

Range	The range of sample values to find. To find a single value, make Start and End the same.
Unit	Value	The range is interpreted as signed PCM sample values. The minimum and maximum values vary depending on the audio format.
	Percent	The range is interpreted as signed percentages.
	Decibels	The range is interpreted in decibels. Both start and end should be less than or equal to zero in this case.
Match	In range	Find samples that lie within the specified range.
Match	Not in range	Find samples that lie outside the specified range.
Direction	Forward	Search forward, towards the end of the audio.
Direction	Reverse	Search backwards, towards the start of the audio.
Wrap	If the end of the audio is reached (or the start if searching backwards), and this option is checked, the search wraps around and continues, otherwise it stops.
Channel	Use this option to limit the search to a particular channel; by default, all channels are searched.

For example, to find peaks of −3 dB or more, set Unit to "Decibels", Start to −3, End to 0, and Match to "In range". Note that it's easier to change the unit before entering the range. Peaks can also be located via the Find Clipping command, which has different parameters and presents the results as a report.

Find Zero Crossing

This command moves the audio cursor and selection boundaries to the nearest zero crossings. Doing this prior to cutting or pasting helps to avoid discontinuities and obtain smooth transitions. Only positive crossings (i.e. from negative to positive) are considered. The shortcut is the Z key.

Transport menu

Play/Pause

This command toggles audio playback between the playing and paused states. Playing starts or resumes playback from the audio cursor position. Pausing is similar to stopping except that the audio isn't rewound. The keyboard shortcut for Play/Pause is the Space bar.

Note that only one document can be played at a time. To play a different document, you must first pause the currently playing document if any. However it's not necessary to activate (i.e. switch to) the playing document in order to pause it, because pause always affects the playing document, whether it's active or not. To play a different document:

Activate the desired document, by left-clicking its caption bar, or via the Window menu.
If no document is currently playing, press the Space bar once to play the active document. If a different document is playing, press the Space bar twice: once to pause the other document, and once to play the active document.

Playback can be looped. Volume and pitch are controlled via the volume bar and pitch bar respectively. It's not necessary to pause before making an edit, because all editing commands automatically pause and resume playback if needed.

Stop

This command stops audio playback and rewinds the audio, i.e. moves the audio cursor back to the beginning of the audio. The shortcut for Stop is the S key. Stop always affects the playing document, whether it's active or not; see Play/Pause for details.

Rewind

This command moves the audio cursor back to the beginning of the audio, or if playback is looping, to the start of the loop. Unlike the Stop command, if the audio was playing, it continues to play. The shortcut for Rewind is the W key. Rewind always affects the playing document, whether it's active or not; see Play/Pause for details.

Loop

This command enables or disables audio looping. When looping is enabled, if a selection exists, the selection is repeated, otherwise the entire audio is repeated. When looping is disabled, reaching the end of the audio stops playback. The selection can be created, removed, or changed while the audio is looping, however note that this may cause audio artifacts, so it's recommended to lower the volume first. The shortcut for Loop is the L key.

Looping affects the behavior of the Rewind command: if looping is enabled and a selection exists, playback jumps to the start of the selection, otherwise it jumps to the beginning of the audio.

Audio menu

Amplify

This command boosts or attenuates audio, i.e. makes it louder or quieter. If a selection exists, only the selection is amplified, otherwise the entire document is amplified. The command displays the Amplify dialog, which lets you specify the desired gain in decibels. Enter a positive gain for boost, or a negative gain for attenuation. To see what the new peak level would be, press the Tab key. To do the amplify, click OK or press Enter. If you're boosting enough so that the audio would be clipped, an orange CLIP indicator appears, and a warning message is displayed.

Delete Channel

This command removes a channel from an audio file. The command is only available from the view's context menu. To delete a channel, right-click anywhere within the target channel to display the context menu, and select Delete Channel. Channels can also be removed via the Format command.

Extract

This command separates the channels of a multi-channel audio file, by writing each channel to its own mono file. A folder dialog is displayed, allowing you to choose a destination folder for the output files. Each of the resulting files will have the same name as the original document, but with the channel number and name appended to it. To do the opposite, i.e. combine multiple channel files into a single multi-channel file, use Insert Channel.

Fade

This command fades audio, i.e. smoothly gradates its volume from one level to another. If a selection exists, only the selection is faded, otherwise the entire document is faded. The command displays the Fade dialog, which lets you specify the type of fade:

In	Fade from silence to full volume.
Out	Fade from full volume to silence.
Custom	Fade from one arbitrary level to another: in this case the starting and ending levels must be specified, in decibels.

To make the fade logarithmic instead of linear, check the Logarithmic checkbox. To do the fade, click OK or press Enter.

Find Clipping

This command searches audio for clipping, i.e. peaks that were truncated to avoid exceeding the maximum level. If a selection exists, only the selection is searched, otherwise the entire document is searched. If any instances of clipping are found, they're reported in the results bar. Selecting an instance in the results bar moves the audio cursor to the start of the instance. This makes it easy to zoom into the instance and determine if it's problematic or not.

This option determines how many windows of audio are analyzed for each plot update in the spectrum bar. 123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 12345678901234567890123456789