WAVE EDITOR / RECORDER
Edison 
Edison is a fully integrated audio editing and recording tool. Edison loads into an effect
slot (in any Mixer track) and will then record or play audio from that position. You may load as many instances of Edison as you
require in any number of Mixer Tracks or Effects slots. To open Edison press Ctrl+E in a Sampler Channel, or load from the
effects menu into Mixer track/s.
2. Recording Options
These options take effect when Record (1) is selected from the Edison transport controls.
Load Edison into one (or more) effects slot/s in any number of Mixer tracks and each instance will then record from that position. Alternatively it is
possible to record directly into the Playlist.
- Now - Audio recording begins when the option is selected. To stop recording, de-select record mode
(1).
- On input - Recording begins when an audio signal is received. To set the trigger level, left-click on the Peak Meter
(6) and move the mouse up/down. NOTE: Edison uses a pre-record buffer so that transients
will not be lost when a signal is received. In other words, you do not need to make a 'triggering' sound to guarantee early transients that may be
below the trigger threshold.
- Input - Recording automatically pauses during silence and resumes on audio input. To set the trigger level, left-click on
the Peak Meter (6) and move the mouse up/down.
- On play - Recording starts when playback is started from the main transport controls.
'On play' mode will also place accurate song start markers when Play starts/stops or the Playlist loops back to the start of the song. This is useful for recording
multiple takes so that you can easily select the region/s you wish to export to wave files and include in your song.
- In new project - Each new recording will replace, rather than append to, existing audio in the Edison project. NOTE: Undo can be used to recover
overwritten data.
- Max - Sets the maximum recording time (in minutes). When the time is exceeded, Edison will wrap and overwrite the previously
recorded sample. NOTE: The Max feature is useful for continuous background recording (in conjunction with the
RAM-sparing Input mode) so that you don't miss stellar performances while jamming. However, be aware that recordings
longer than 5 minutes use progressively more CPU during the wrap phase, slowing the user interface considerably.
Note on Bit-depth: Edison records audio using 32-bit float quantization and preserves the full quality of soundcard quantizations above 16-bit.
FL Studio receives audio from the soundcard as a pre-digitized stream. Bit-depths set in Edison have no effect on the original bit-depth of the recording
(set in the soundcard options) and affect only the stored and saved bit-depth of the sample.
Note on Memory: Edison operates exclusively in RAM (memory) and so is designed for working on samples or small songs, not recording hours
of audio. With RAM in mind, edit functions can require 4X the original sample space, so we recommend limiting samples to approximately 1/4 of free
memory. If you don't heed this warning your PC may explode, injuring bystanders, don't say we didn't warn you. Editing operations that require
sample processing convert the source sample/s into 32-Bit float and at the samplerate of the highest wave in any group processed. This means that
processed wave files are unlikely to be in the same format as the source samples, although you can set the sample format after you have edited the
sample (as described below).
Exporting recorded audio to the Playlist
Three alternatives for exporting audio from Edison to FL Studio are:
Tools > Sequencing
- Send to Playlist as audio clip (
Shift+C)
- Dumps the selection to the Playlist as an Audio Clip.
- Send to selected Channel - Dumps the selection to the selected Channel.
Drag / copy sample / move selection - Left-click on the button and drag to the desired
location. The selected region in the Sample Edit Window (or whole sample if no selection is made) will be copied and moved to any compatible location in FL Studio, e.g. Sampler channels, Fruity Slicer,
DirectWave, the Playlist, etc. Right-click to copy the selection to the clipboard.
Save and load - Save the audio/selection to a file and re-import it through the Browser.
NOTES: Prior to exporting your audio to the Playlist use the Edit properties (F2) dialog so that
Audio clips behave as expected:
- Clip auto-naming - Edison will use a default naming system, unless the audio clip is named in the sample properties dialog.
- Tempo sync - To set the Audio Clip so that it will be automatically stretched if the project tempo is changed (useful to keep rhythmic samples in time), click the 'default' button in the
tempo settings panel. If the file is not set as 'tempo-sync' or has no tempo (0), it will not be stretched.
- 16 or 32-Bit? - If your soundcard was set to record at 16-Bit then it is reasonable to convert the file to 16-Bit prior to saving to disk, otherwise leave the file at 32-Bit float.
Loop Recording
While it is possible to Loop Record in the Playlist, the best method is to use Edison as follows -
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- Load Edison in a Mixer track that will receive the audio - Select a Mixer track and press ( Shift+E). This loads Edison
in the first empty FX slot ready to record with 'Slave playback to host' and Record 'On play' enabled.
- Select your input - Select your live audio input from the Mixer INPUT menu.
- Make a Playlist selection - If you only want to record a section of the song, highlight the section of time in the Playlist, hold ( Ctrl)
and then click and drag along the bar-count at the top of the Playlist. If you don't make a selection then the whole song will loop-record.
- Start recording - Press Play in FL Studio and record as many takes as you need into Edison. Each time Edison loops section Markers ('Song jump') will be placed in the recording
(these are useful for later).
- Stop recording - Press stop on the main FL Studio transport panel and click on the record button in Edison to disable it.
- Start playback - Press Play in FL Studio and the first take in Edison will play in sync with the Playlist (slave mode is on), looping when the Playlist does.
- Audition takes - With Edison focused use the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to select a different takes in Edison. Each left/right click will jump to the next/previous section.
- Send the perfect take to the Playlist - Press ( Shift+C) to send the
current selection in Edison to Playlist. You can also use Drag/drop to the Playlist using the drag-sample button. NOTE: Edison will automatically set the sample
properties to the current project tempo so that the recording will stretch as the project tempo is changed.
Memory Considerations
Edison operates exclusively in RAM (memory) and is designed for working with samples or small songs, not for recording hours of audio. 44.1 kHz, 32-bit samples consume RAM at the rate of approximately 20 Meg per
minute (1.2 Gig per hour) and edit operations can easily consume 4x the original sample size while processing the sample.
