XO Wave: File Menu

XO Wave's File menu deals with sessions and audio clips, as well as QuickTime files for synchronizing audio to video.

• New
• New CD Mastering Session
• New Podcasting Session
• Open
• Revert
• Recent Items
• Versions
• Close

• Save
• Save As
• Save Version

• Import Audio
• Burn CD
• Export

• Movie

New

This command Closes the current session (prompting to Save first, if necessary), and opens a new session. XO Wave prompts for a name and location for the new session.

New CD Mastering Session

Use this to close the current session, open a brand-new session, and start the Create CD Mastering Session Wizard. The Wizard walks you through configuring your new session for CD Mastering.

New Podcasting Session

This command closes the current session and creates a new one that is pre-configured for podcasting, with tracks for dialog and music, and ducking, and compression ready to use with minimal tweaking.

Open

Use this to open an existing session.

Revert

Revert reopens the session from disk, discarding all changes since the last save; it requires confirmation.

Recent Items

XO Wave keeps track of the sessions it's worked on recently, and offers a list of them here for quick access.

Versions

If versions have been saved for the open session, this menu provides access to them. For more on versions, see Save Version below or our FAQ entry on copying sessions. Clicking on an item in this menu will restore a previously save version.

Close

Use this when done with the current session; XO Wave will automatically bring up the Select Task window so you can select or create another session to work on. If you are finished with XO Wave, Quit instead.

Save

The Save command updates the session file on disk with any changes made to the project.

Save As

Use this to save the current session into a new folder, without disturbing the old one. Note that Save Version makes it easier to save and keep track of multiple working iterations of a project in the same session directory, to help keep track of variations and save disk space.

As you create a session and import audio samples, they are typically included in the session folder; Save As does not duplicate the audio samples, so it's important to keep in mind that deleting the original session can affect any "child" sessions which incorporate audio from the deleted session. Each time you use the Save As command, XO Wave presents a warning explaining this; use the checkbox to avoid future warnings.

Save Version

Use this to save the session as it currently is without overwriting the current session file. This works by saving a file in the Versions folder. Each version file is given a name based on today's date and a number to uniquely identify it. You can recover a version by selecting the version you want from the Versions sub-menu.

Although not a substitute for a full backup of your entire session folder, versions are extremely useful for making quick backups as you work in case you decide to back out edits. Note that versions are deleted if you do something to the session that would cause problems with the version, such as removing files from the session, but you will always be prompted when the version files are deleted. For more info on versions, please see our FAQ entry on copying your session.

Import Audio

XO Wave can import a wide variety of audio file formats. On any platform, XO Wave can read WAV and AIFF files (both are very similar to raw CD Audio data). On Mac OS X, XO Wave Free & Pro can also import any file format QuickTime handles, read directly from audio CDs, and import playlists directly from iTunes.

In addition to drag-and-drop support in the Edit window on most platforms, XO Wave offers several menu items for importing audio:

Import Single File

Import one file at a time.

Import Multiple Files

Import several files with one operation.

Import iTunes Playlist

Import all the files specified in a playlist into an XO Wave Track.

When importing audio, XO Wave offers to either a) Move the input files into the session folder, or b) Copy them into the session, leaving the originals in place. As indicated in the dialog, selecting Move does not guarantee that the files will be moved. For example, if the file format requires conversion, or if the original file cannot be deleted or moved because it is write protected, the files will be copied.

When XO Wave is ready to finish importing a file, it offers to create a new track for it; select Just import, if you prefer to place the import onto a track manually. If you imported multiple items you will be given the option of importing the files sequentially onto a single track, creating a new track for each file, or just importing without adding any tracks. Inserting the files sequentially offers additional options, such as specifying the time between regions, the ability to add CD Track Markers, and more. The process is similar to dragging multiple regions from the Bin or Creating a CD Mastering Session.

Burn CD

Create CD Master

This command invokes the Create CD Master Wizard to walk through the process of creating a CD Master. The completed master can be burned to CD (once or many times), and is suitable for sending out to a professional CD duplicator.

Burn CD from Master

Once the master is created, you can use this command to start the Burn CD Wizard to burn your master onto CD, once or several times.

Manage Saved CD Masters

CD Masters tend to take up large amounts of space, since they contain all the uncompressed bits that go on the CD. The Manage CD Masters window makes it easy to work with them and delete old masters, to reclaim space.

Export

Export saves an entire XO Wave session (or section of a session) to a single file. There are several different Export commands, each with different options and capabilities. The various commands have many similarities, including a choice of whether to export the whole session or just a portion of it, which Audio Engine to use (in XO Wave Pro), bit depth (for file formats which offer multiple options), dithering, and of course file name and location.

XO Wave Pro can Export to a variety of QuickTime formats, making it suitable for use with software such as iTunes, Final Cut (both Pro and Express), and iMovie HD; or for posting on the web, sharing with friends, or podcasting. If you have synchronized a video to your session, you can even export the whole session -- audio and video -- to a QuickTime file. Users on Mac OS X have the option of opening the exported file in iTunes once the Export is complete. For more on exporting, see Importing and Exporting Audio.

Export to AIFF/WAV

Export to AIFF/WAV can also export CDDA -- raw "CD Audio", the format used on audio CDs. Audio CDs do not use "files" as such, but rather a continuous stream of CDDA data which normally contains quiet to create pauses between "tracks".

Export to AAC (for iTunes/Podcasting)

AAC is Apple's (and thus the iPod's) preferred audio format; it is intended to be higher quality than MP3 at the same bit rates, but is not compatible with as many players as the older MP3 format.

Export to QuickTime Movie

Use this command to export an XO Wave session to a QuickTime movie, which may be either your session's audio synchronized to a video track, or just your session's audio. For more information on working with video, see also the Movie submenu and our tutorial on Editing Sound for Video and Film. To control audio export, click Settings... under Sound; this provides access to the standard QuickTime audio controls, including format ("Compressor"). Note that QuickTime uses "MPEG-4 Audio" to refer to the same codec used in AAC encoded files used by the iTunes music store.

Export to iPod Video File (or Video Podcasts)

Use this to get a simplified video export workflow, optimized for the capabilities of Apple iPods (320*240, h.264 encoding, etc.).

Export to Any QuickTime Type

With this command, XO Wave exports to QuickTime, and QuickTime handles saving it to a file. The advantage here is that QuickTime provides a variety of file formats, and additional formats can be added. For instance, if you want to export to LAME or Windows Media (with a suitable Flip4Mac plug-in), this is the way to do it.

Movie

This menu contains two sub-menus which let you associate a movie file with the current session, or end the association. For more information on working with video in XO Wave, see our tutorial: Working with Film and Video.

Open Movie...

Allows you to select a movie file to associate and synchronize with your current session.

Open Movie and Import Audio...

Allows you to select a movie file to associate and synchronize with your current session, and import the audio associated with that movie into your session. This is the same as selecting File:Movie:Open Movie... followed by File:Import:Import Single File.

Close Movie

Ends the association with the current movie.