Apple Soundtrack - Manual (Page 22)

22 Chapter 2 Setting Up Your System
Hard Disk Space
It’s also a good idea to have a large hard disk with plenty of available space to store the
media (audio and video) files you use with Soundtrack. As you work with the
application, you’ll likely want to acquire a large collection of sounds to use in your
Soundtrack projects. You can use audio files stored on a CD-ROM disc or other external
media, but playback performance may not be as good as when the audio files are
installed on a local hard disk, especially when using a large number of files.
If you store media files on an external hard disk, make sure the disk has a fast enough
seek time and a high enough sustained data transfer rate for use with multimedia files.
Consult the manufacturer’s specifications.
Dedicated Hard Disk
If you plan to record your own audio in Soundtrack, remember that every minute of
stereo digital audio (recorded using a 44.1 kHz sample rate and 16-bit depth) requires
roughly 10 MB of hard disk space. If you plan to record large amounts of audio, you
may want to record to a dedicated hard disk.
Setting the Audio Input and Output
By default, Soundtrack uses the input and output devices set in your computer’s
System Preferences for audio input and output. You can set the default input and
output (for monitoring) devices for Soundtrack in the Recording pane of the
Soundtrack Preferences window, and change them for individual recording sessions in
the Recording tab. For information on changing the default input and output devices
Soundtrack uses, see “
Setting Soundtrack Preferences ” on page 73.
Adding Audio Units Plug-Ins to Your Computer
Soundtrack includes an extensive set of professional-quality effects plug-ins. Soundtrack
uses effects in the Audio Units plug-in format, the native plug-in format of Mac OS X.
Audio Units plug-ins are also available from third-party manufacturers. When adding
third-party effects to your computer, be sure to read the documentation, including any
Read Me and installation files, that came with the plug-in. Supported Audio Units
effects plug-ins appear in the Effects window under the manufacturer’s name.
Soundtrack does not support VST, ASIO, MAS, or RTAS effects plug-ins.