Revision History

What's new in Studio Recorder™

The following enhancements and corrections were made to Studio Recorder.

Version 4.6.2, July 2022

• Fixes the handling of breath marks when overwriting or inserting data. All breath marks in the path of an overwrite action are now deleted.
• Fixes a bug when using ASIO which caused Studio Recorder to report that the ASIO device was not present when it was. This error message was rare on some systems, and more common on others.
• Fixes a package signing issue which made it appear that the application was not signed when installing or upgrading.
• Adds the hotkey for Clear All Breath Marks, Ctrl+Shift+C, to the manual.

Version 4.6.1, February 2022

• Adds support for attenuating breaths in recordings.
• Adds the Paste To Fit command to the Edit menu. This command requires a selection, and pastes only as much of the clipboard which is needed to replace the selection.
• Adds support for multiple instances of Studio Recorder to run at the same time if desired.
• Adds the ASIO Record Monitor feature.
• Adds the ability to create and begin recording a new document by pressing Record when no documents are open.
• Reports the number of pauses which were compressed after using the Compress Pauses command on the Process menu.
• Adds the Restore Defaults option to the Advanced tab of the Settings dialog. This will reset all Studio Recorder options to their defaults.
• The Any Solo light on the Frontier Design TranzPort remote control is now used as a Play light.
• Fixes a bug which could cause random crashes after issuing a command.
• Fixes the size of toolbar icons -- they were smaller than normal in the previous version.

Version 4.5.1, March 2021

• Adds messages related to changing the selection. When selecting either the left, right, or both channels, a message is given. A message is also given if it is not possible to change which channels are selected, because the document is mono. If you accidentally set the start of the selection passed the end, or the end of the selection before the start, a message is also given indicating the change in the selection.
• Adds spoken messages when activating the Time view or the Wave view.
• Adds a message when the Delete or Cross Fade Delete commands delete to the beginning or the end of the document.
• Adds a message when a fade longer than 20 seconds is performed.
• Adds a message when pasting over a selection.
• Adds the What's New option to the Help menu.
• Renames the Help Topics option to User's Manual on the Help menu.

Version 4.5.0, February 2021

• Adds support for Steinberg ASIO (Audio Stream Input/Output.) ASIO is another way of accessing Windows audio devices, which can provide more accurate recording and playback, and give access to more channels on some devices. For more information, see Select Wave Devices.
• Adds the Preview Delete command to the Transport menu. This command, quickly accessed by pressing the question mark (?), pre-rolls before the selection and post-rolls after the selection, letting you hear how audio would sound if the selection were deleted.
• Adds the ability to specify which channels of a stereo input pair should be used when recording in mono.
• The zoom ratio in the wave view is now displayed and spoken when it is changed.
• The sound that plays when a long-running function completes is no longer bin 0. The sound is the same as the original bin 0 sound, and its level may be adjusted in the Advanced tab of the Settings dialog.
• Adds the ability to adjust the number of threads used for background processing in the Advanced tab of the Settings dialog.
• A new status bar pane, selection length, has been added. This pane is off by default, but may be turned on in Status Bar Settings.
• Fixes a bug where pressing A to hear the peak hold for the left and right channels did not speak "clipped" if the transport was stopped, and clipping occurred during recording.

Version 4.0.1, November 2020

• Adds the Preview Recording In Progress command to the Tools menu. This command opens what has been recorded so far in a new document, allowing you to treat it like any other document.
• We now leave the audio device open for a short while after playback completes to avoid cutting off material in some situations.
• Fixes a bug where the Stop At Start command could give an error if used while recording.
• Fixes a bug where the peak hold on the peak meter could get stuck when metering two channels where one channel was at a consistently low value.

Version 4.0.0, September 2020

• Adds support for RF64 files. An RF64 file is a file with a .wav extension which supports large amounts of audio data, as opposed to the typical RIFF/WAVE file, which has a 2GB limit. Studio Recorder saves a normal RIFF/WAVE file before the 2GB limit is reached. If the data are larger than 2GB, the file is automatically saved as an RF64 file.
• Adds support for Sony Wave64 files. These are files with a .w64 extension which support large amounts of audio data.
• Adds support for opening larger MP3 files. The maximum MP3 file size which can now be opened is 2 GB.
• Adds support for 32-bit float files.
• Adds support for background processing of commonly used long-running functions. This feature, for example, allows one to work on one document while normalizing another. It also gets rid of most "Studio Recorder not responding" messages from Windows. If an operation is attempted on a document on which background processing is running, the message "Busy" is shown on a small popup box in the middle of the screen. It is possible to perform minimal operations on a busy document, such as navigating and playing. Background operations may be canceled with the Cancel Background Processing item on the File menu, or by pressing Ctrl+Shift+F4.
• Adds the Recording tab to the Settings dialog. This tab contains the recording-related settings previously found on the Advanced tab, and adds the ability to control how much free disk space to leave when recording to prevent filling up your hard drive.
• Adds support for commonly used multimedia commands on multimedia keyboards and headsets. The Next Track and Previous Track commands can be used to move in the active document. Use the Multimedia Time field in the General tab of the Settings dialog to control how far these commands move in the document. Note that Studio Recorder must have focus to respond to multimedia commands.
• Improves responsiveness when using navigation commands with a Bluetooth device selected as the play device.
• Improves responsiveness for play and record functions, making dropouts less likely.
• Adds an option to show the full path of the current document on the title bar. This option is in the Paths tab of the Settings dialog.
• The "Open With Studio Recorder" item now appears on the "Open With" submenu of the context menu for supported files.
• When only one channel is selected in a document, playback now plays only the selected channel.
• Adds a new hotkey, Ctrl+Shift+A, to invoke the Save As command on the File menu.
• The app now restores the main window's previous size and position when starting as a "normal" window (not minimized or maximized.)
• Adds the Insert File Pair command to the File menu, allowing a pair of mono files to be inserted into a stereo document.
• The dialog used for the Change Volume command is now modeless, meaning you can leave the dialog open and continue editing. To make the dialog stay open upon clicking OK, the option, "OK closes modeless dialog boxes" must be unchecked in the Advanced tab of the Settings dialog. You may use Alt+F6 to toggle between the dialog and the main app window.
• Changes the maximum playback volume for the Increase Volume command from +18 dB to +36 dB.
• Ctrl+P may now be used to toggle the Pre-roll Record feature. As a result, the Pre-roll Record setting is now duplicated on the Options menu.
• The Compress Pauses feature can now be set to ignore pauses as long as five seconds.
• Help now uses the default web browser, instead of always using Internet Explorer.
• The completion sound is now played after the Mute command finishes.
• Items in the Properties dialog in the File menu are now on their own line to improve accessibility.
• Fixes a bug where completely full files recorded with other recorders could not be edited properly.
• Fixes a bug where marks were not visible in files recorded on some other recorders.
• AES17 support was added for the RMS calculation reported by the Measurements function on the Tools menu. This is a fancy way of saying that if the "Use AES17 for RMS calculations" option is checked in the Advanced tab of the Settings dialog, the RMS value reported will be 3.0103 dB higher then when this box is unchecked.
• Improves multimedia related error messages.
• Miscellaneous bug fixes.

Version 3.8.3, November 2014

• Changes the hotkey for the Bleep command from B to Ctrl+Shift+B.

Version 3.8.2, May 2013

• Adds NVDA to the list of supported screen readers for self-voicing functionality.

Version 3.8.1, May 2013

• Corrects a problem that caused some files to open slowly.

Version 3.8.0, January 2011

• Makes the peak meter dockable.
• Adds many more segments to the peak meter.
• Adds the visual peak hold feature to the peak meter. This makes the highest peak stay lit on the meter for 1.5 seconds. The peak hold is also displayed on the meter for 1.5 seconds when using the Find Next Highest Peak and Find Previous Highest Peak commands. Note that this new visual peak hold is different than the textual peak hold values which are displayed as a level in Decibels.
• Adds the Toggle Pitch command to the Playback menu.
• Adds three custom mark types to help with notes and other narration tasks.
• Removes the Enable Undo and Enable Redo checkboxes from the Options dialog. Undo and Redo are now always available.
• Adds the Prevent CardDeluxe Hang option to the Advanced tab of the Options dialog.
• Adds the Noise Threshold parameter to the Compress Pauses dialog to help fine tune how the software identifies pauses in narration.
• Adds the cut, copy, and paste commands to remote controllers.
• Adds the Export All Correction Marks option to the File menu.
• Adds the Larger Font option to the Status Bar tab of the Options dialog to increase the size of the font used in the status bar by 50%.
• Changes the Mix dialog to use vertical sliders instead of horizontal sliders, making it look more like a mixer.
• Increases the size of the Open File path buffer. This permits much longer file names on those commands that take multiple file names.
• Corrects a problem that prevented windows from appearing when opening mp3 files from the command line while the Allow Wave View in MP3 Files setting was checked.
• Adds support for encoding MP3 files to a folder that does not yet exist in the Batch Encoder. The folder is created when encoding starts. It is also possible to create a new folder from the Brows For Folder dialog in the Batch Encoder dialog.
• Preserves the position when playing a selection. This allows easier modification of the selection.
• Fixes a bug where unaffected index tones were sometimes removed when using the Cross Fade, Cross Fade Delete, and Mix commands.
• Encoding stereo MP3 files at bit rates less than 32 KPS is no longer permitted as this causes a crash in the LAME encoder.

Version 3.7.2, October 2009

• Removes the drive space checking that occurred before saving a file.
• The Bleep command now requires a selection.
• Adds a complete sound when the process of calibrating phrase parameters completes.
• Adds Previous Window and Next Window commands to the Window menu.
• Renames the command to switch between the last two open windows "Last Window".
• Adds the following commands to external controllers:
  • Previous Window
  • Next Window
  • Save
  • Save All
  • New Window
  • Alternate Rewind
  • Alternate Forward
  • Stop at Start
  • Mute
  • Pre/Post-roll
• Removes the Last Window command from external controllers. Note this command was formally called Previous Window. The Previous Window command now moves backward through all open windows and complements the Next Window command.

Version 3.7.1, April 2009

• Adds support for the System Access API so Studio Recorder provides appropriate feedback for peak meters and status information upon request while using System Access screen reader. (The keys "S" and "A" speak the status and peak information respectively.)
• Improves the behavior of changing Wave in or wave out devices while playing or recording. The program no longer stops the transport when a change is made, but instead uses the new device the next time one plays or records.
• Minor bug fixes.

Version 3.7, February 2009

• Adds Change Pitch command.
• Adds an optional beep sound to indicate that recording started or stopped. Adds the ability to replace a selection with a bleep sound or to bleep .25 seconds if there is no selection.
• Adds a hot key, U, for the Mute command.
• Disables Mute if there is no selection.
• Adds the ability to move to a percent of the file.

Version 3.6.1, April 2008

• Corrects issues with marks when using just-in-time editing.

Version 3.6, February 2008

• Adds the Background Processing pane to the Status bar.
• Adds just-in-time editing for mp3 files.
• Adds the Decode option to the File menu to decode mp3 files for quick editing.
• Adds Batch Encoding.
• Improves speed of saving wav files.

Version 3.5.3, October 2006

• Corrects a bug where the Stop at Start feature did not work while recording.

Version 3.5.2, August 2006

• Corrects a bug that prevented Windows 98 and ME users from inserting an mp3 file with the Insert File function.

Version 3.5.1, August 2006

• Changes the condition of the Toggles option. It is on by default for new installations.
• Modifies the Stop at Start command to begin playing if toggles are on and the document is stopped.
• Adds E to move to the end of the document. You can also use W to move to the beginning of the document.
• Adds the Overwrite marks while recording checkbox to the Advanced page of the Settings dialog. This item is checked by default.
• Adds support for exporting any PCM document to an MP3 file, not just 16-bit PCM documents.
• Adds the inserted file name to the <Insert File Begin> milestone.
• Enhances the "S" status command so that it functions even while the program is busy.
• Corrects a bug where it was not always possible to undo changes made before a background save.

Version 3.5, June 2006

• Adds the ability to save a document and continue working with that document during the saving process (background saves).
• Adds 24-bit support.
• modifies the Cross Fade command to remove time limitations.
• Adds the "Announce Peak Meter" command accessed with A. This works through your screen reader's interface to announce the peak levels.
• Adds the "Announce Status Line" command accessed with S. This command makes Studio Recorder announce the values on the status bar through the screen reader's interface.
• Adds raw file support.
• Adds the Resample command to the process menu.
• Automatically resamples when pasting or mixing two files of different sample rates.
• Always plays internal sounds such as audio cues and tone confirmation at normal volume with no speed or pitch modifications.
• Saves external marks for existing MP3 files. This was broken a few releases ago.
• Fixes Stuttering playback while navigating large distances with the wave view active.
• Uses the folder of the last opened file as the default folder for the Open dialog.
• Removes the Change Sample Rate command from the Special menu. This function is now performed through the Select Format dialog.

Version 3.0.3, March 2006

• Corrects a bug that caused the program to fault when using the Normalize command on a full hard disc.

Version 3.0.2, March 2006

• Adds the ability to customize the appearance of the Status Bar.
• Puts the word "busy" in parentheses after the documents title if the document is busy.
• Adds the ability to preview files in all the Save dialogs.
• Adds Free Disk Space as an option in the status bar.
• Puts the current peak value on the meter when using the Previous and Next Highest Peak commands.
• Adds the total number of all mark types on the status bar of the Marks dialog.

Version 3.0.1, March 2006

• Changes the default document format from mono to stereo. If you prefer to keep the default document as mono, use the Default Wave Format command on the options menu.
• Adds a Clip Indicator Settings button to the Advanced tab of the Settings dialog and moves the clip indicator settings that were formally on the Advanced page to this new dialog.
• Adds the Indicator level and brightness controls to control the sound of the audible clip indicator.
• The Save Selection command respects the channel selected in a stereo file.
• Adds the ability to name the last generic mark set while you are recording.

Version 3.0, February 2006

• Adds the Mix command to the Edit menu for mixing the clipboard into the current document.
• Adds the Arm for Synchronized Play command to the Transport menu for creating Sound on Sound mixes.
• Enhances the Normalize dialog to allow dynamic compression and use of peak or RMS level as a normalize reference.
• Enhances the Change Volume dialog to allow dynamic compression.
• Adds the Cross Fade command to the Process menu.
• Adds the Cross Fade Delete command to the Edit menu.
• Adds the ability to paste and insert files that differ in sample size and number of channels.
• Adds the ability to change the file format (excluding the sample rate) for existing documents.
• Adds background processing for mp3 encoding.
• Adds the Cancel Background Processing option to the File menu.
• Adds the Dip/Rise command to the Process menu to help gradually change volume levels over time.
• Adds the Fade tab to the Settings dialog to control the aspects of all commands that use fades.
• Lets you specify a fade type for the Cross Fade, Cross Fade Delete, and Fade In/Out commands.
• Adds the Find Previous and Next Highest Peak commands to the Tools menu.
• Adds the Swap Channels command to the Process menu.
• Adds the Trim Edges command to the Edit menu.
• Adds the Generate Click Track command to the Tools menu.
• Adds the Previous Window command to the Window menu.
• Adds progress percentages of long operations to the status bar.
• Adds the Use same folder for file functions checkbox to the Advanced page of the Settings dialog.
• Adds the Enable Milestones command.
• No longer requires a selection for the Fade and Mute commands.
• Adds support for additional remote controls.
• Adds a remote control key describer dialog.
• Changes the behavior of the Start Selection and End Selection commands.
• The keys ">" and "<" were used for the pre/post-roll feature. These keys are now officially "," and ".".
• Enhances the audible clip indicator by letting the user specify the clip threshold.
• Adds the Save External Marks control to the Advanced tab of the Settings dialog to control weather or not you wish to export marks when encoding mp3 files.
• Changes the behavior of the Record command when recording over existing marks. The program previously preserved these marks, but this version overwrites them.
• Changes The maximums for Source-up and Destination-down to 500 MS. This addresses concerns with controllers with very loud buttons.
• Changes the minimum allowable sample rate from 8000 Hz to 4000 Hz. This allows k7.net users to play their 6000 Hz files.
• Suppresses the "Not 16-bit PCM" message when attempting to use phrase navigation in documents which are not 16-bit PCM. Instead, a beep is heard.
• Corrects a problem when using the Compress Time function with named marks.
• Corrects the issue of destroying index tones when using the Compress Pauses function.

Version 2.4.3, July 2005

• Corrects a minor wave view problem.

Version 2.4.2, July 2005

• Improves the responsiveness of the wave view.
• Adds the Sum All Windows command to provide the total time of a multi-file project.
• Moves the phrase calibration commands to the Tools menu.
• Moves the Mark Filter command to the Options menu.
• Lowers the minimum supported sample rate to 4000 Hz.

Version 2.4.1, February 2005

• Corrects minor issues.

Version 2.4, December 2004

• Improves the way marks get stored. Now, when you modify marks and save the file, only the marks get written to disc. This makes saves instantaneous when only marks are modified.
• Changes the times used by the Tighten Mark and Tighten Marks commands. Previously, the program tried to put the mark within 20 ms of the start of the audio. Now, the software moves the mark so that it falls within a range of 100-80 ms before the beginning of the audio.

Version 2.3.1, September 2004

• Minor bug fixes.
• Adds the Half button to the Change Sample Rate dialog.

Version 2.3, August 2004

• Adds preview capabilities to the Open dialog.
• Adds the Recent Folders control to all the File dialogs.
• Adds the Save Selection command to the File menu.
• Adds support for using the shift key with navigation commands.
• Adds the ability to perform timer recording with the use of the new /record command line switch.
• Adds several new command line switches to facilitate remote control of the program through a scheduling service such as Windows Scheduler.
• Adds the Mark Filter command to help with mark navigation.
• Adds the Close All command to the Window menu.
• Adds shortcuts to make moving to relative times easier.
• Changes the way Start Selection and End Selection work when there is no selection.
• Adds Compress Pauses to the Process menu.
• Adds Reverse to the Process menu.
• Adds Change Sample Rate to the Special menu.
• Audio cue 0 is now played after the following functions have completed:
  • Special/Remove All Tones
  • Process/Normalize
  • Process/Change Volume
  • Process/Reverse
  • Process/Compress Pauses
• Adds the Pre-Roll Record option to the Record command.
• Increases the range of functions that may be canceled by pressing Escape.

Version 2.2, April 2004

• Adds the Open with Studio Recorder item to Explorer's context menu for .wav and .mp3 files.
• Improves Studio Recorder's command line handling, so now it is possible to open another file from Explorer even with Studio Recorder already running.
• Changes the Tighten Marks command to give you more control on what marks are effected.
• Adds several minor internal improvements.

Version 2.1, February 2004

• Enhances support for variable bit rate mp3 files.
• Adds the ability to insert an mp3 file into a wave file.
• Adds a new wave ruler. The wave ruler is controlled by a check box in the Wave View tab of the Settings dialog, and displays a timeline for the current document.
• It is now very easy to select to either end of the document with the mouse. If you left-click, move the mouse slightly in the direction in which you want to select, then right-click while holding the left mouse button, a selection is made between the current mouse position and the corresponding end of the document.
• It is now possible to extend a selection by moving outside of the selection and shift-clicking. If shift-mouse click is used without a selection, material between the mouse pointer and the caret is selected.
• Studio Recorder now supports dragging and dropping a selection to create a new document containing the selection.
• The way selections are made and modified with the wave view has been totally redesigned. Following are the new specifications:
• If the user holds down the left mouse button and drags in a place where there is no selection, a selection is created starting at the point where the left button was pressed, and continuing to the point where the left mouse button is released. This is most like the old behavior.
• Dragging in a selection now does nothing; it used to create a new selection as described above.
• It is now possible to extend the selection in either direction by moving to an end and dragging. When the mouse is within 5 pixels of either end of the selection, the pointer changes to a left/right arrow, and dragging is enabled. Simply clicking without dragging when the pointer is a left/right arrow will change the end of the selection to the current pixel, allowing for very small modifications to the selection.
• Double-clicking within a selection now clears the selection.
• Double-clicking in an area where there is no selection now selects all data.
• The mouse wheel now zooms the document when using the program on Windows 98 or later.
• Corrects a problem with the Normalize command. It now stops reporting clipped samples when normalizing to 0 dB.
• Adds an audible alert when a Save, Save As, and Save All command completes
• Adds the Wave View for MP3 files
• Adds the Loop Pixels command to the Options menu
• Adds the Measurements command to provide statistics about the document
• Alters the way marks get displayed. Now, the length of the line representing a mark is proportional to the mark's level, so custom mark 1 is the longest line and 0 and generic marks are the shortest.
• Contains a new modular wave view. This view looks and acts like the old wave view, but it is contained in the audio navigation module. This helps get this view into other products that use this module.
• Adds additional settings to the way you can change the appearance of the Wave View. In addition to altering colors of the various parts of the Wave View, you may now turn on and off the appearance of the scroll bar, the mark bar, and the mark lines. The page's name is now Wave View to reflect the expanded functionality.
• Corrects an odd behavior with the Save All command. In earlier versions, the program prompted you when you used Save All and you had a document with no name. This is fine, and is what the program should do. The problem was that if you canceled the Save As dialog that prompts for the file name, the program did not actually cancel the entire Save All, it simply canceled the saving of that one document, so you could potentially get prompted for as many times as you had modified, unnamed documents. Now, when you cancel the Save As dialog, you cancel the whole Save All command.
• Moves the Playback menu to the Options menu as a submenu.
• Changes the wording of the Tighten All Marks results dialog. The Tighten All Marks command now reports that "0 out of x marks were tightened" when there are no marks which can be tightened. Before, the error "Search item not found" was displayed, which was fairly ugly.
• Remembers which page of the Settings dialog you last used and presents that page as the default the next time you access the Settings command.
• Changes the view context menus location. They now pop up at the top left of the document window when the Applications key is used. Before, they were generally popping up toward the bottom center of the program.

Version 2.0.1, November 2003

• Corrects some minor issues with updating the Wave view after clearing marks
• Changes the Delete button to the Clear button in the Show Marks Dialog

Version 2.0, October 2003

• Adds support for fast open on the Windows NT/XP platform for wave files

  Wave files open instantly on all platforms.

• Adds pixel scrubbing in the Wave view
• Adds Magnify Up and Magnify Down commands for the Wave view in the Zoom menu
• Adds the Normalize command to the Process menu
• Adds the Change Volume command to the Process menu
• Adds the Insert File command to the File menu
• Adds the Check for Update command to the Help menu
• Adds the Redo command to the Edit menu and document context menus
• Adds the Redo All command to the Edit menu and document context menus
• Adds function names for the Undo and Redo menu items
• Adds better support for mp3 encoding including :
  • "Very High Quality" setting
  • Mono Down mixing
• Modifies the Save All command so the program no longer prompts you for each document it saves
• Improves speed of saving files under Windows XP
• Corrects other minor issues
• Adds a wave view scroll bar
• Adds visual Mark Indicators to the wave view
• Adds the Mark Bar
• Adds Move Mark by Dragging feature
• Adds the mark Bar context menu
• Replaces the Clear All Marks command in the Special menu with a submenu with the same name. This submenu contains the choices Generic, Custom, and All. This makes it possible to clear all custom marks, all generic marks, or all marks.
• The number of marks displayed in the status bar is now the total number of all marks in the document instead of just the total number of generic marks.
• Adds the Tighten Mark and Tighten Marks commands to the Special menu

Version 1.0.2, February 2003

• Changes the keys used to access the Audio Queues feature. Previously, the keys 1-0 inserted the audio queue into the recording. These functions are now accessed with alt+1-alt+0.
• Adds 10 different custom marks. Now, the keys 1-0 insert a custom mark that may be used for a variety of purposes. Book Wizard Producer can treat these custom marks as levels for Digital Talking Book level headings. The keys ctrl+1-ctrl+0 move to the next mark of the specified type and shift+ctrl+1-shift+ctrl+0 move back to the previous mark of that type. To clear a mark use shift+1-shift+0.
• Adds a Calibrate Phrase Detection parameters function.
• Adds a command to revert to the default phrase detection parameters.
• Makes the volume control independent of system volume and makes it possible to increase the volume above full scale.

Version 1.0.1, November 2002

• Adds an audible clipped peak indicator. This indicator makes Studio Recorder emit 2 short beeps when the incoming signal clips. This provides an audio indication that the levels are set too high for the incoming signal.
• Adds the space character as an additional time delimiter character in areas of the program that accept time input. This means that now, in addition to using "5:20", for instance, to move to 5 minutes, 20 seconds, you may now use "5 20" and "5;20".
• adds MP3 encoding and decoding support.
• Expands the peak meter. Previously, there were 13 segments in the meter, and now there are 19. This gives you more detail in the critical range (-20 dB to 0 dB).
• Makes the caret stay in the middle of the screen when scrolling the wave during playback.