3 Tutorial
3.1 Main window
Play
Plays the currently selected sound file on speakers and microphone.
Play on speakers
Plays the currently selected sound file on speakers only.
Play on microphone
Plays the currently selected sound file on microphone only.
Pause/resume playback
Pause or resume the currently played sound file.
You may also change the play mode by pausing and then clicking the play on
speakers and microphone, play on speakers or play on microphone button.
To be able to change the play mode, you have to enable it in the preferences at
File ▷ Preferences ▷ Interface ▷ Allow resume in another play mode.
Stop
Stops playback.
You can also define a hotkey for this function.
Play previous file
Play previous file in the list. Starts to play previous file even if no file is
currently playing.
The play mode of the last played file is maintained. It means, if your last file was played
on speakers only, then the previous file will be played on speakers only as well.
Play next file
Play next file in the list. Starts to play next file even if no file is currently playing.
The play mode of the last played file is maintained. It means, if your last file was played
on speakers only, then the next file will be played on speakers only as well.
Played duration
Shows how far the current sound file has been played back.
Seek slider
Shows the current position of the played back sound file.
Allows you to jump to a certain position in the track.
The seek slider indicates if others can hear a sound.
On playback the slider is filled with
distinct colors.
Red means, that the file is played on the microphone and others can hear it as well.
Blue or the icon color you chose means, that the file is being played on the speakers only.
Volume icon
Shows if the sound output to your speakers is muted.
You can click on that icon to mute or unmute.
Volume slider
Shows the output volume of Soundpad and allows you to adjust it.
The volume slider only affects the volume of your speakers, but not the volume of the microphone.
To configure the microphone volume go to File ▷ Preferences and choose the Audio tab.
The volume slider is connected with the Windows Audio Session Volume Control, which you can access by right clicking the sound icon in your taskbar and selecting Open Volume Mixer. If you change the volume in Windows' volume mixer, Soundpad will show the change immediately and vice versa.
Sound list header
Sort sounds
Left click on a column to sort the sounds by that column. Click again to sort the sounds descending.
Change column size
Left click between two columns, keep the mouse button pressed and move the mouse to change the size of adjacent columns.
Move column position
Drag and drop columns from one position to another by left clicking on a column,
keeping the mouse button pressed and moving the column to the desired position.
Hide or show columns
Right click a column to choose which columns to show.
Sound entry
Select a sound entry by left clicking or right clicking it. You can also select multiple sounds to move them in the list or to delete them.
On right clicking a sound you will see a context menu showing you, what you can do with the selected sound(s):
Sound list
You can drag and drop sound files or directories containing sound files from your Windows' explorer onto the sound list to add them.
There are also default list functions, you can use:
e.g. select, delete, copy, cut, paste, move, undo or redo.
Most of these functions can be found in the Edit menu.
Status bar
The status bar shows additional information about operation outcomes, like how many sound files were imported when importing a directory or if an update of Soundpad is available.
Certain warnings are also shown there, e.g. if you try to play a sound by hotkey and the sound is not existing on your hard drive anymore.
Play mode
The play mode determines whether a sound is played back on speakers, microphone, or both when you play it by hotkey, double-click, Enter or Play icon.
Hotkeys
Double-click to disable or enable hotkeys. On right-click a context menu with further options is shown.
Auto Keys
This feature presses keys automatically when you play sounds. After setting it up, you can let Soundpad press the Push-to-Talk keys of your voice applications. It can be enabled or disabled by double clicking its icon.
Repeat playback of current file
Enable this option to have Soundpad repeat the last played sound file continuously until you pause or stop. Doesn't work when you play sounds by hotkey. Can be enabled or disabled by sole left click or from the menu at Play ▷ Repeat playback of current file.
Continue playback after current file
Enable this option to have Soundpad play one file after another like a regular media player. Can be enabled or disabled by sole left click or from the menu at Play ▷ Continue playback after current file.
Notifications
This is the notification or hint area. When there is a new notification, e.g. a new version of Soundpad is available or we have hints, when you use certain options for the first time, then this kind of information is shown in the notification area.
3.1.1 Tag column
One of the columns of the sound list is called Tag.
The tag is a set of information, which is used by many media file formats to store additional meta data like the author, title, track, album or similar in an audio file itself.
Soundpad shows the following in the tag column, according to the tag data of the file:
- Are author and title present? ⇢ Author - Title
- Is only the author present? ⇢ Author
- Is only the title present? ⇢ Title
- Is neither author nor title present? ⇢ Filename without extension
3.1.2 Playing sounds
Select a sound by a left click on a sound in the sound list.Now you have different options to play the selected sound:
- Press Enter.
- Double click the sound.
- Press the Play-Button in the Toolbar.
- Right click the sound and select Play from the context menu.
- Select Play ▷ Play selected file from the menu.
- Press and Hold Alt, then press P followed by P.
- By using a Hotkey.
This is the default behavior and it can be changed by setting the Play mode to speakers only or to microphone only.
3.1.3 Playing sounds on the speakers only
Select a sound and then do one of the following:- Click on in the toolbar.
- Select Play ▷ Play selected file on speakers only from the menu.
- Press and Hold Alt, then press P followed by S.
- Right click the sound and select Play on speakers from the context menu.
3.1.4 Playing sounds on the microphone only
Select a sound and then do one of the following:- Click on in the toolbar.
- Select Play ▷ Play selected file on microphone only from the menu.
- Press and Hold Alt, then press P followed by M.
- Right click the sound and select Play on microphone from the context menu.
3.1.5 Playing random sounds
You can let Soundpad play a random sound from your sound list.Select one of the following menu options:
- Play ▷ Play random file
or - Play ▷ Play random file on speakers only
or - Play ▷ Play random file on microphone only.
Another option to play a random sound is to define a Special Hotkey.
Using the special hotkey the sound is being played on speakers and/or microphone according to the configured Play mode.
3.1.6 Playing entire sound list
Check Continue playback after current file in the Play menu.The play mode is maintained. It means, if you start playback on speakers only, then the next files will be played on speakers only as well.
If you play a random sound with this option enabled, then the next sounds will be random as well.
If you want, that your sound list is played over and over again then check Repeat playback of sound list in the Play menu as well.
3.1.7 Adding sounds
There are three and a half ways to add sounds.Way 1
Select File ▷ Add sound files from the menu.
A file selection dialog will pop up, wherein you may select the sounds to be added.
On the bottom right of the dialog you can filter the files of the current directory to certain file extensions.
In this filter you can also see, which audio formats Soundpad supports.
Way 2
Drag and drop sound files or directories containing sound files from your Windows' explorer onto the sound list to add them.
Way 3
Record a sound with the built-in Sound Recorder.
The recorded sound is added to the sound list after the recording is finished.
Way 3½
Select sounds in your list, copy them and paste them in the list at a different row again.
You can do so by using the default shortcuts like Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V or by menu at Edit ▷ Copy and Edit ▷ Paste.
3.1.8 Renaming sounds
Select a sound and then do one of the following:- Press F2
or - Right click the sound and choose Rename file from the context menu.
You may now rename the sound file on your hard drive or even choose another location to move the sound file to.
Other files like mp3s cannot be renamed, because Soundpad isn't currently able to write mp3 tags. Confusions may arise when you rename a file containing tag information and the Tag column still displays the old value.
3.1.9 Removing sounds
Select one or more sounds and then do one of the following:- Press Del
or - Right click one of the selected sounds and choose Remove from the context menu
or - Select Edit ▷ Remove selected entries from the menu.
- Select one or more sounds and then press Shift+Del
3.1.10 Select sounds in explorer
Right click a sound and choose Select in explorer.
This will open up Windows' explorer and select the sound file there.
3.1.11 Instant search
Do one of the following to open up the search bar:- Start to type something
or - Press Ctrl+F
or - Select Edit ▷ Search from the menu.
The search begins when at least 2 characters are typed.
Every sound matching the search term will be flagged with a green background.
Do one of the following to cycle through the hits:
- Press Enter or Down for the next hit.
- Press Shift+Enter or Up for the previous hit
or - Use the two arrow buttons next to the search input field.
Do one of the following to close the search bar:
- Press Ctrl+F
or - Select Edit ▷ Search from the menu
or - Use the X-button next to the search input field.