Monday, May 30, 2011

Give Your Music a Boost: The WavePad Equalizer

WavePad Music Boosting Sound Equalizer I have noticed a lot of questions on our YouTube channel about enhancing the bass in a song using WavePad audio editor. How is it done? Since the graphical interface of WavePad's equalizer was recently updated, now is the perfect time to review how to use it.

The first thing you want to do is load your music into WavePad. Do this by clicking the Open File icon on the toolbar, browse to your music file, and click Open.

Next, click the Effects menu and select Equalizer. This will open the Equalizer dialog, which might not be what you expect if you were looking for knobs and dials. This equalizer still weakens and strengthens frequencies like knobs on a mixing board, but represents the frequencies in graph form. The graph works logically enough; the low frequencies are represented on the left of the graph, the high frequencies on the right. If there is a point on the graph line that is higher, that frequency will be stronger. If the graph point is lower, the frequency will be weaker.

The easiest way familiarize yourself with this equalizer is to make use of the presets. Don't be afraid to play around with them and to adjust their settings to see how they affect your music--you don't have to commit to any changes until you click Apply.

Let's boost the bass as an example. Click the Play button and then select the Low Pass filter from the list of presets. You'll hear the higher frequencies drop down, giving a boosted effect to the bass. The result probably isn't exactly the sound you imagined, so you can make adjustments based on this starting place to even out the sound how you want. You can do this using the Low Pass Options dialog that opened when you selected this preset, but you'll have more control if you close the dialog and move around the graph points yourself. You can also add graph points by clicking on the graph's line.

For more information about how to use the different equalizer presets, view the Effects topic in the help manual. For more information about frequencies, view the General Audio Concepts topic, also in the help manual. The help manual is accessed by pressing F1 from the program.

To try WavePad and boost your bass, download the program from our website. You'll also want to see the other audio software we have for maximizing your audio production.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Record DJ Mixes Live

Record DJ Software Audio Mixes LiveThe ability to not only save a playlist but record a DJ mixing session to an audio files was a highly requested feature for Zulu DJ Software for a long time running. Now that this feature has been added, we want to give you a quick look at how you can put it to good use for recording your DJ mixes:

Between the two decks there is a Recording indicator, just above the cross-fader. If you click on this indicator with nothing queued in the deck it opens the Recording Options dialog where you can set the output format, destination folder and file name. With your options set once you are ready to start recording click the indicator again to start or stop recording. The recording indicator will blink while recording is in progress. Note if you don't use the date-time stamp to name your recordings you will need to specify a new format, folder, or file name to avoid overwriting your previous recordings.

That is all there is to it. For quick access to your recordings you can open the destination recording folder from the file menu. Then you will be all set to share, save or edit your recorded DJ mixes with WavePad.

Monday, May 23, 2011

More Software, More Languages

NCH Software localized Japanese audio softwareIn addition to the new products and new features and releases you have seen coming from NCH Software, you might not have noticed that our localized software of translated NCH favorites into other languages for users worldwide has also been expanding. Our translators have been busy working on releasing versions of our popular software programs in Spanish, French, German and now Japanese as well.

Going back to our roots in audio, the first releases in Japanese that are now available for download are Switch, Express Rip and MixPad, with more to follow. So you will now notice that from all of our home pages you can select Japanese (日本語). So if you are looking for software in another language or if you have friends or family in other countries who could benefit from our easy-to-use software utilities, be sure to spread the word. And if you want to receive updates on software releases in a a particular language you can sign up for our newsletter(s) at:

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Inventory Management from a Mac or PC

A new addition to our Mac business software is Inventoria inventory management software. Inventoria has already proven itself to be a useful application for helping businesses manage and track their stock as evidenced in the Salem Health Case Study on Inventory Software Freeing Up Time for Other Tasks, and by being named a top inventory software program by TopTenReviews. Now the flexible and efficient tools Inventoria provides are available to businesses no matter which operating system they prefer.

Other business software available for both Windows and Mac platforms include Express Accounts accounting software and Express Invoice invoicing software, providing all the utilities businesses need to design a customized software solution to tailor fit their individual needs.

Monday, May 16, 2011

The Sound of Learning: Using WavePad in the Classroom

WavePad Audio Editor in the classroomWe recently cited some tutorials made by a WavePad audio editor user who uses music in language lessons. Now here is another example of WavePad helping in the classroom. This time, in her post The Two Faces of Technology, Kathy talks about using the iPad version of WavePad to record and playback a student's reading to help the student see and hear where they are making mistakes to help them improve their reading skills.

Reading her post actually reminded me of being forced to make audio recordings of oral exams in high school for my Spanish classes. I always found these assignments rather stressful, but I have to admit that it did force me to listen to what I was saying much more closely, and I would go back myself and listen to what I had said and rerecord multiple times before I was happy enough with the final result to turn it in. Kathy mentions that she thinks this would also "be great for teaching storytelling." Can you think of any other places where audio recording or audio editing might be beneficial in the classroom?

WavePad has several applications in the classroom, aside from its recording capability. We have found that instructors and professionals alike use it to create sound clips and soundtracks for their presentations. See how WavePad enhances your teaching, interviewing, and presentations, and download it today.

Friday, May 13, 2011

PhotoStage: The Best Slideshow Software

Best Slideshow SoftwarePhotoStage photo slideshow software is an excellent and easy way to take your photos and create stunning movies of your cherished memories and events. You don't have to take our word for it: TopTenReviews just awarded PhotoStage the Gold award, proclaiming it the best slideshow software. They describe PhotoStage Slideshow Producer as "intuitive and savvy photo slideshow software that enables you to assemble artistic, personalized picture slideshows with total ease," going on to say:

"PhotoStage really does an outstanding job of bridging the gap between ease of use and multifaceted functionality. The photo slideshow application delivers a well-supplied feature set that is easy to utilize, and we were able to create an entire slideshow without any difficulty. Furthermore, we loved how clean and sophisticated the user interface is; it seems more akin to a sleek graphic design tool than a basic slideshow maker. Such a seamless melding between ease of use and an advanced appearance and feature set makes the photo slideshow software a viable option for both casual and tech-savvy users."
TopTenReviews
Read the complete review of PhotoStage slideshow software on the TopTenReviews website. Or download a copy of the software today and get started making photo slideshows right away. As TopTenReviews pointed out, the "easy drag-and-drop functionality make the software simple to use and it delivers high-definition output quality," so you won't regret having this application on hand for turning your digital photos into stunning movie slideshows to share with family and friends.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Record Video from Anywhere

Debut Video Capture Software records and captures video from webcams, recording devices, and from your computer screen. It’s great for recording tutorials you can post to online sites such as YouTube, for making company messages, for recording streaming video, and more. See for yourself how easy it is to get started capturing and recording videos in this Debut video tutorial:

Friday, May 6, 2011

Make Employees Happy with Flexibility and FlexiServer

FlexiServer for attendance tracking and remote employee management - make employees happier by allowing flexible schedulesI recently read a study on BNet looking at What makes people happy at work. The first thing on the list? Flexible work schedules. When I think about it this seems like an obvious answer. Being able to easily accommodate appointments, or working around class schedules or kids activities; I can quickly come up with a long list of reasons why a rigid 9-5 schedule just isn't the best solution for many employees out there.

So why aren't more offices allowing their employees a flexible work schedule? There are some where it might be difficult, like at a bank, a teller really can only work banking hours when the doors are open for customers to come in. But in an office environment it is more likely that there is resistance from management because having everyone at their desks at the same time makes it easier to ensure that work is getting done and everyone is putting in their hours. If that is the only thing holding managers back from letting someone work, say, Sunday through Thursday instead on the typical Monday through Friday, then there is an easy solution. Using a software program like FlexiServer attendance software for logging information about computer activity and monitoring hours worked based on computer logon and logoff times, managers can more confidently allow employees to work flexible schedules or from remote locations. FlexiServer also provides reports to help management gauge productivity without needing to be a first hand witness to an employee's time spent at their desk. So why not let a software program monitor employee hours for you instead of watching the clock and filling out timesheets?

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Convert your Favorite Movie Line to a Ringtone

WavePad Ringtone Creator Audio SoftwareDo you ever hear famous lines from movies as ringtones and get secretly jealous? Or even obviously jealous? Lucky for you, any line can become a ringtone in just a few short minutes...and you can do it yourself.

What you'll need:
Switch Audio File Converter
WavePad Audio Editor

Nope, that is not a typo—using Switch audio file converter, you can extract the audio from any video file and convert it into a workable audio file format. However, if you think you'll get more use out of video file conversion software, Prism Video File Converter also allows you to extract audio from video files and convert to mp3 or wav files.

Step One:
Extract the audio. Load the video file into Switch, select the format you want to convert to (wav will work fine for now), and click the Convert button. Whew! That was too easy.
Tip: If you don't want to convert such a long audio file, you can trim the video file to a smaller size, isolating the clip you want using VideoPad Video Editor first.

Step Two:
Edit the audio. Now that you have an audio file, load it into WavePad using the Open File icon in the toolbar, browse to your new audio file and open it. Now, isolate the movie line by clicking and dragging to highlight the audio you want to keep in the file. You can make adjustments to the edges of the selected portion by clicking and dragging the edges of the selection. Don't be afraid to preview how the line sounds by pressing the spacebar to play the selection. When everything is just as you want it, press Ctrl+T to trim away everything but your selection. Now save the file in a format appropriate for your phone, load it on your phone and set it as your ringtone.

Voilà! Now who's jealous of your movie ringtone?

Monday, May 2, 2011

Axon Windows PBX Tutorial

Putting together a phone system can be a daunting task. When you need to figure out phone lines and extensions, plus extras like on-hold music, things can quickly spiral out of control, especially if aren't well versed in Linux—which many PBX systems require. Fortunately, there is another option. With Axon, a Windows PBX system, as with all of our telephony software, we have done our best to keep everything simple and straight forward. Plus we have just finished a new quick start video tutorial to further guide you through the process of setting up your new PBX telephone system.



So if you are looking for a way to manage telephone calls and extensions across your business, and you don't have an IT team to do the grunt work for you, take a look at Axon virtual Windows-based PBX software. It will make getting your phones up and running as painless as possible, and you don't even need to learn a new operating system.