Introduction
Product Abstract
Sound Mill is a sound effects player, manager, and automation tool that can transform your wildest ideas into sound design that works. Typical applications include: theater and radio; in-store and public venues with music and announcements; amusement attractions such as haunted mansions or museum displays; mobile entertainers such as magicians; sound scapes to accompany computer screen shows or presentations; or really any audio production or project. Create basic projects in minutes or use the flexible automation capabilities to time intricate sequences of simultaneous sounds down to the millisecond. Whether you are a sound designer (from expert professional to aspiring amateur), a business owner (large to small), a mobile entertainer or presenter needing a custom sound track, or an audiophile hobbyist, Sound Mill offers the simplicity and flexibility you need.
For Theater, Radio and Mobile Entertainers/Presenters
Organize a complete sound plot for a show to execute sound cues. The automation manager allows you to play multiple sound cues concurrently and fire them at timed offsets with precision in the milliseconds. Pipe sound automation to one or more different venue zones -- a lobby PA, stage speakers, and 3D speaker systems. Automatically generate detailed sound plots to print or view on screen. Automation allows you to create reusable sound modules. Just create the automation sequence once and import the module into any new project.
Magicians, presenters and other mobile entertainers: Accompany your act or presentation with a music track and surprise sound effects at precisely timed moments. A low volume signal sound (ex. a soft click) could fire a few seconds before each key event sound allowing you to time your presentation with the sound design. Keyboard keys can start, stop, pause and resume your sound script for mouse-free operation if desired.
For In-Store, Business and Public Venue - Music with Announcements
As the sales mantra goes, "Always be selling!". There is no better time to bring your sales promotions to the attention of your customers then while they are actually in your store or venue. Sound Mill makes it a snap to combine music and announcements. Insert announcements automatically after every music selection. Schedule an announcement by time of day and/or date. Or time announcements to repeat at timed intervals (ex. every 3 minutes). A timed announcements will suspend the music track until it finishes. And there are no expensive music subscriptions to buy -- use the music ripped from your own CDs. (the program Help has easy rip instructions).
Announcement examples: Announce sales promotions, public service messages, upcoming event dates, news items, your business Web site address and business hours or 'store closing soon' warnings. Or simply sound a bell or chime at specific times to mark time periods (ex. employee break periods, classroom period begin and end). Record your own messages as an MP3 file with your computer and microphone or use pre-recorded, professionally produced announcements.
For Haunted Mansion Walk-through and Amusement Attractions
Whether you are a sound designer for an amusement park attraction or museum display, or you just want to create a spooky walk-thru for Halloween at your home or school, Sound Mill automation has the flexibility needed for complex sound scenarios. Play a constant background sound in a continuous loop (ex. wind howling and rain) and time other sounds to repeat at regular intervals (ex. ghost calls, wolf howls, foot steps, etc.) . The possible scenarios are limited only by your imagination. Create sound automation that changes over time.
No special hardware required
Your setup can be as simple and mobile as a laptop computer with computer speakers connected to the headphone jack. Or as sophisticated as a desktop powerhouse or server with multiple soundcards. Or a professional quality output device with multiple I/O channels and a 3D speaker system. Note: multi I/O channel devices must have DirectX drivers. If the I/O channels are listed in the Windows Sound Playback devices list, it will likely work. (see Windows Control Panel -- Sound and Audio Devices -- Audio tab)
Audio file formats supported
Sound Mill will play virtually any standard format audio file. Record your own, download thousands from the Web ( Google "sound effects download"), or visit your local library and ask about sound effects CD collections.
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Standard Supported Formats -
Now supporting more formats. Sound Mill supports these formats out-of-the-box: WAV, MP3, WMA, MIDI (MID), AU, AIFF (AIF), MPEG (MPG), and WMV -- Virtually any size file. For video formats, only the audio portion will play, video is ignored.
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WMP Plugin support - Also use Windows Media Player (WMP) plugins to add support for extended audio types like FLAC, OGG, AAC and more. Many plug-ins are available free. See Help "Adding More Audio Types" for links to some free plugins.
Key Features
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Use with other audio programs - Use Sound Mill and other audio software (ex. WMP) simultaneously.
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Automation Manager - Build automation Scripts to play sequences of sounds sequentially or at timed intervals.
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Scheduler - Schedule automation Scripts to start at a given time of day for pre-show and intermission music and announcements.
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Flexible date scheduling - Create schedules to run by date: daily, weekly by day of week, monthly by date, and limited to a date range and more.
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3D Sound
- Full 3D Sound capability when a venue has a 5.1 or 7.1 sound system. Simulated 3D Sound with 2.1 sound systems. Fully configurable.
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Fx Effects
- Fx effects including: Chorus, Compressor, Distortion, Echo, Flanger, Gargle, Waves Reverb, and Parametric Equalizer. Fully configurable and use in any combination.
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Select Output Devices
- Play music on the lobby PA and production sound cues on the stage tower speakers.
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Sorting/Merging - Sort your sounds by Name, Category or Act/Scene. Merge lists together with one click.
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Drag and drop - Use Windows Explorer or other file manger to drag and drop audio files into your Sound List.
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Manual play mode - Oversized buttons for play, stop, pause and resume. Adjust volume, pan left/right.
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Start and Stop Play Markers - Markers allow you to start and/or end play at any position in the sound file.
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Fade In and Out Marker - Fade markers allow you to fade the sound in or out at any position in the audio file. You can set the fade speed (faster or slower) and the target volume level to which it will fade to.
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Auto Volume and Pan - Fade or gain volume at a set speed. Pan left or right at a set speed. Loop back in the other direction automatically.
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Preemptive play mode - Play causes all playing sounds to suspend while a preemptive sound plays. (useful for injecting timed announcements into a music program).
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Loop play - Play one sound in a continuous loop. For example, put a short clip of rain falling into a loop, then play thunder claps randomly.
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Delay - Set a time to delay before and/or after playing a sound (Pre/Post Delay). Useful for separating sounds in automation Scripts.
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Multi-Play - Set the number of times to repeat a sound.
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Copy and Paste Editing - You can copy a sound with all of its configurations and paste as a new sound. Move sounds up or down in sequence with one click.
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Mass Updates - Save time by making mass edits to a selection of Sound Items in one operation.
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Find - Advanced searching on various fields (name, description, audio filename).
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Default Values - Save default values used when creating new Sound Items.
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View/print reports - View a report (a.k.a. sound plot) showing the list of sounds and configurations applied to each sound. You can save as a file and print the report. Set the level of information and detail to include.
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Custom Skins - Prevent eye strain in a darkened theater or venue by using a dark program skin. Create your own with your preferred colors.
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List Sorting - Sort your list by sound name or by act/scene. Auto number the list.
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Repair - It is common to move audio files to new folders. The repair feature can reset audio file paths when files get moved.
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Password Protection - Password protect your work from tampering or unauthorized use.
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More... - This is the short list of features. Browse the help files for a complete tour.
= New in Version 2
DirectX Advanced Features - Advanced program features marked with the Microsoft DirectX® emblem are only available for audio files in WAV format.
DirectX is a free Microsoft download (see program prerequisites for required version). DirectX will use advanced functions of your soundcard hardware (when available) or simulate hardware effects in software.
Figure 1. Sound List Editor and Play Console
Sound Mill User's Guide
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