3 Tutorial

3.1 Main window

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Screenshot Main Window Screenshot Main Window
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Menu

This is the menu of Soundpad.

Play

Plays the currently selected sound file on speakers and microphone.

Playing on speakers and microphone is the default behavior, but it can be changed by setting the Play mode to speakers only or to microphone only.

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 on
,
or
.

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 special hotkey for this function.

Play previous file

Play previous sound file in the list. Starts to play the previous sound file even if no sound 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 sound file in the list. Starts to play the next sound file even if no sound 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.

Track timer

Shows how far the current sound file has been played back in seconds.

Double-click the timer to select the currently played sound file in its category (or the previously played one if none is being played at the moment).

Seek slider

Shows the playback position of the currently played sound file and allows you to jump to another position in the track.

The seek slider indicates if sounds are played to others.

It is filled

  • Red: The sound is played on the microphone and others can hear it as well.
  • Blue (or the configured icon color): The sound is played on the speakers only.

Right-click the slider ▶ Select file to select the currently played sound file in its category (or the previously played one if none is being played at the moment).

Volume icon

Shows if the sound output on your speakers is muted.

You can click that icon to mute or unmute the output on the speakers.

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 to the Windows Audio Session Volume Control, which can be accessed by right-clicking the sound icon in the taskbar ▶ Open Volume Mixer. If you change the volume in the volume mixer, Soundpad will show the change immediately and vice versa.

Microphone volume

This panel shows the current peak volume of your microphone. As soon as you speak or play sounds on the microphone, it will start to move.

It can be toggled at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Interface ▶ Toolbar ▶ Display microphone level on toolbar.

You can click the microphone icon to start the measurement of your voice volume. Sounds will be played as loud as your voice after you finish the measurement.

Categories

Toggle categories
Window ▶ Categories ▶ Close categories / Open categories.

Add category
Right-click a category or the category area ▶ Add.

Set random hotkey
You can define a hotkey to play a random sound from a category. Double-click a category or right-click a category ▶ Edit. Expand More options at the bottom of the upcoming dialog and click on Set hotkey.

Change icon size
Window ▶ Categories ▶ Smaller / Small / Medium / Large.

Move sounds
Move sounds by drag and drop or with Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V from one category to another.

Move categories
Change the order of categories by drag and drop. You can also move categories into other categories.

Category info panel

Displays additional information about the selected category. It can be toggled at Window ▶ Categories ▶ Show info.

Double-click the info panel or click on
to edit the selected category.

Hotbar

Toggle hotbar
Window ▶ Hotbar ▶ Open hotbar / Close hotbar.

Add a sound
Drag and drop a sound file from the sound list or from the file explorer onto the hotbar.

Play a sound
Left-click the hotbar entry, or assign a hotkey by right-clicking an entry ▶ Set hotkey.

Change grid size
Window ▶ Hotbar ▶ Set hotbar format.

Change color
Right-click an entry ▶ Color.

Move entries
Drag and drop hotbar entries to change their position. Press Ctrl while moving entries to also move their hotkey and color.

Hotbar pages

Hotbar pages share the same hotkeys. It means Alt+Y will play the first hotbar entry of the selected page.

Hotbar pages also share the same colors by default. That behavior can be changed by unchecking Window ▶ Hotbar ▶ Same colors on all pages. You can quickly access that option by clicking
.

Sound list header

Sort sounds
Left-click on a column to sort the sounds by that column. Click again to sort the sounds in opposite order.

Change column width
Drag the separator between two columns.

Move column position
Drag and drop columns from one position to another.

Hide or show columns
Right-click a column to choose which columns to show.
Sound list header context menu

Sound entry

Select a sound entry by left-clicking or right-clicking it. You can also select multiple sounds to move them to another position in the list, or to move them into another category, or to remove 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 context menu

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.

Subdirectories are also imported.

There are also default list functions, e.g. select, remove, 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, e.g. how many sound files were imported when importing a directory, or that a long-running task, like exporting all sound files to a directory, completed.

Certain warnings are also shown there, e.g. if you try to play a sound by hotkey and the sound doesn't exist 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 it to disable or enable hotkeys. Right-click it to show a context menu with further options.

Auto Keys

This feature automatically presses keys for you 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.

Can be enabled or disabled by sole left-click or from the menu at Play ▶ Repeat playback of current file.

If you play a sound by hotkey, then the sound won't be repeated! You can change this default behavior by disabling File ▶ Preferences ▶ Hotkeys ▶ Misc ▶ Auto stop.

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.

If you play a sound by hotkey, then the playback won't be continued! You can change this default behavior by disabling File ▶ Preferences ▶ Hotkeys ▶ Misc ▶ Auto stop.

Notifications

This is the notification area. When there is a notification, e.g. a new version of Soundpad is available, or there's a hint because you used certain options for the first time, then you'll see further information here.

Right-click the notification icon to display already confirmed notifications again.

◁ Point at screenshot

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 metadata 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.
  • Click on
    in the toolbar.
  • Right-click the sound and select Play from the context menu.
  • Select Play ▶ Play selected file from the menu.
  • By using a Hotkey.
All of the above play the sounds on the speakers and the microphone simultaneously. 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Play ▶ Play random file on speakers only.
  • 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.

Playing random sounds from a category

You can define a hotkey to play a random sound from a category. Double-click a category or right-click a category ▶ Edit. Expand More options at the bottom of the upcoming dialog and click on Set hotkey.

3.1.6 Playing entire sound list

You can toggle continuous playback:

  • by selecting Play ▶ Continue playback after current file from the menu, or
  • by clicking
    in the status bar.

The play mode is maintained in continuous playback. It means, if you start the 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.

To have your sound list being played over and over again, select Play ▶ Repeat playback of sound list from the menu.

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 be shown, 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 from your file explorer onto the sound list to add them. You may also copy and paste sound files to Soundpad with Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V or by selecting Edit ▶ Paste from the menu.

Subdirectories are also imported.

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.
  • 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.

This only works for m4a and wav files.

Other files like mp3s cannot be renamed, because Soundpad isn't able to write mp3 tags. Confusions may arise when you rename a file, but the Tag column still displays the author and title of the mp3 tag information.

3.1.9 Removing sounds

Select one or more sounds and then do one of the following:
  • Press Del.
  • Right-click one of the selected sounds and choose Remove from the context menu.
  • Select Edit ▶ Remove selected entries from the menu.
The files are only removed from the list. They are not deleted from your hard drive.
To remove the files from the hard drive as well:
  • Select one or more sounds and then press Shift+Del.
The files are not deleted permanently, but just moved to the recycle bin.

3.1.10 Select sounds in explorer

Right-click a sound and choose Select in explorer.

This will open up the Windows file explorer and select the sound file there.