This file is part of SoundScriber.

SoundScriber 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.

SoundScriber 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 SoundScriber; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA

# SoundScriber Help

Menu commands

File MenuIDH_FILEMENU

Options MenuIDH_OPTIONSMENU

Play Menumenu_play

Bookmark MenuIDH_BOOKMARK

Help MenuIDH_HELPMENU

Main window controls

Main sliderIDH_MAINSLIDER

Backspace sliderIDH_BACKSPACE

Walk cycle length sliderIDH_WALKCYCLELENGTH

Walk pause sliderIDH_WALKPAUSE

Speed sliderIDH_SPEED

Number of walk loopsIDH_NUMLOOPS

Rewind after UnPause sliderIDH_UNPAUSEREW

Status barIDH_STATUSBAR

Toolbar buttonsIDH_TOOLBAR

Miscellaneous

Button/Hotkey Functionsbuttons_and_hotkeys

User Save FilesIDH_USERFILES

TroubleshootingIDH_TROUBLESHOOTING

UninstallingIDH_UNINSTALL

Licenselicense

# File menu

The File menu contains commands for opening and closing sound files.

Open... Opens a new multimediamultimedia file.

Close Closes the currently open multimedia file.

Exit Exits the program.

# SoundScriber can open any Media Control Interface (MCI) file, including wave audio files (.WAV), Microsoft Video for Windows files (.AVI), MPEG Layer 3 audio files (.MP3), and CD audio. Theoretically it ought to be able to use any MCI device as well, such as a VCR, or VideoDisc player. At the present time, this additional functionality has not been implemented. If sufficient interest arises, it wouldn't be too hard.
# Play menu

The Play menu contains commands for controlling playback.

WalkIDH_WALK

PauseIDH_PAUSE

PlayIDH_PLAY

JumpIDH_JUMP

# Bookmark menu

The Bookmark menu contains the Add Bookmark command, which creates new bookmarks in the file. You will be prompted for a name for the bookmark, and then it will be added to the Bookmarks menu. If you choose the name of an existing bookmark, it will overwrite that bookmark.

Choosing a bookmark from the menu jumps back to that place in the soundfile. To delete a bookmark, highlight it in the menu, and press the Backspace key.

Bookmarks created for a given sound file will be saved when that file is closed. Bookmarks are saved separately for each sound file, in the program directory, in files with the extension .BMK.
# Jump

This command allows the user to choose any location in the file by minutes:seconds, and jump there directly.
# Options menu

The Options menu contains commands for handling user options.

Save Options Saves the current user option fileIDH_USERFILES.

Save Options As... This menu option saves the current user file under a different name.

Open Options... Loads a user option file.

Open Default Options Reloads the default settings saved at last program exit.

Change HotKeys... Opens the Change HotKeys dialog box to set hotkeysIDH_HOTKEYS.

# Help menu

The Help menu presumably got you here. Context-sensitive help is also available in most parts of the program by pressing F1.
# HotKeys

HotKeys allow the user to control the transcriber while working in another window (such as a word processor). HotKeys exist to perform five transcribing actions:

PlayIDH_PLAY

WalkIDH_WALK

PauseIDH_PAUSE

Fast ForwardIDH_FFREWIND

RewindIDH_FFREWIND

# Main trackbar

The main trackbar allows random access throughout the multimedia multimedia file. It also shows progress visually through the file. The ticks below the trackbar are currently meaningless.
# Backspace trackbar

The backspace trackbar shows the current setting for backspace in the walkIDH_WALK. The ticks are marked one per second, and the thumb can be placed at any half-second interval.
# Rewind after UnPause trackbar

This trackbar shows the current setting for the amount of time to rewind after pauseIDH_PAUSE is removed.
# Walk cycle length trackbar

The walk cycle trackbar shows the current setting for the cycle length of the walkIDH_WALK. The ticks are marked one per second, and the thumb can be placed at any half-second interval.
# Number of walk loops control

This control shows and sets the current number of loops of one walkIDH_WALK cycle.
# Status bar

The status bar currently shows the following five pieces of information: length of file (minutes:seconds:milliseconds), current file position (minutes:seconds:milliseconds), current playback state (walking vs. playing), pause or not, and the current loop number.
# Toolbar

The toolbar has tooltip help to explain the button pictures.
# Playback

Simple playback (as opposed to walkingIDH_WALK), plays the multimediamultimedia file.
# The Walk

This is the feature (borrowed from Gary Holton's Soundwalker / Voicewalker / Mediawalker) which makes transcribing much easier. The transcriber plays one chunkIDH_WALKCYCLELENGTH of the file several timesIDH_NUMLOOPS, then advances to a new chunk which overlapsIDH_BACKSPACE with the previous, plays that, and so on. In this way, the user can have several chances to hear each word in context, without the need for foot pedal control.
# Seeking

Fast Forward and Rewind are used to advance or retreat through the length of the file.

The seek buttons and hotkeys operate while they are held down, and cease operation when they are released. They should advance at the rate of approximately 4 seconds for every 1 second they are held down. If they are held down for approximately 10 seconds, they should begin advancing at the rate of 10 seconds for every 1 second held down. These numbers are figured for a 300 MegaHertz Pentium-II; your mileage may vary.

# How the buttons & hotkeys behave

There are different expectations for how buttons on a tape deck will behave depending on what media is being used, and the manufacturer. SoundScriber behaves like most tape decks, and some VCRs.

The Fast Forward and RewindIDH_FFREWIND keys and buttons advance while held, and stop immediately when released, picking up playback at the new position if and only if the program was playing back when the button or hotkey was first depressed.

The PauseIDH_PAUSE button halts playback at the current position, and resumes it when it is pressed again. Note that the Rewind after UnPauseIDH_UNPAUSEREW feature only applies when the Pause button or hotkey is pressed while paused. It is also possible to resume playback by pressing Play or Walk again, but in this case, the program will not rewind before playback.

# Pause

Pause halts playback at the current position. Since the recording is digitized, there need be no fear of leaving the transcriber paused indefinitely.

Pause remembers whether the transcriber was last walking IDH_WALK or playingIDH_PLAY, so when playback is resumed (by pressing pause again) it will take the same form. The transcriber will automatically rewind a certain number of secondsIDH_UNPAUSEREW before resuming playback of either sort.
# Speed Control

The speed control adjusts playback speed. When at the 0 mark, it runs at normal speed. Move it to the right for higher speeds, to the left for lower ones.

This does not work on all file types. This is not my fault. It works on MPEG Layer 3 (.MP3) audio files, and probably on others.
# Walk Pause

Between cycles of the walkIDH_WALK, playback pauses for a length of time according to this trackbar. This is to give the user time to finish typing the segment just heard.
# User Save Files

The following user-controllable options are saved in .USR files:

The position of the following trackbars:

Walk Cycle lengthIDH_WALKCYCLELENGTH

Walk Backspace lengthIDH_BACKSPACE

Walk Pause lengthIDH_WALKPAUSE

amount to rewind after unPauseIDH_UNPAUSEREW

The 5 HotKeys

The number of loops in a walk

The last file accessed (note that while it won't be loaded immediately, it will appear as the first choice in the File-Open dialog box).

The data is saved in a text format akin to an .INI file. The settings in the file DEFAULT.USR (located in the same directory as the .EXE file and the .HLP file) are loaded when the program is run, and saved when the program exits. It's also possible to save the settings to another .USR file, with whatever name the user likes.