Exporting Selection Files

A selection in the spectral editing mode can take a long time to draw — a freehand shape around a difficult noise, a set of harmonics, a brush selection built up over several passes. An Acoustica Selection File stores that selection so that you do not have to draw it twice.

To save the current selection, choose Export Selection File... from the Export sub menu in the File menu, then choose a name and a folder. The file is written with the extension .acsel.

A selection file records everything that makes up the selection:

• the time range,
• the frequency range and the time-frequency geometry, if the selection was made in the spectral editing mode,
• the feathering applied to its edges, and
• which channels are selected.

Loading a Selection File

A selection has to be applied to a recording, so open the clip you want to apply it to first and make sure it is the active document. Then choose Open... from the File menu and pick the .acsel file.

Acoustica applies the stored selection to the active clip. If the selection contains a frequency range or a time-frequency shape, the clip editor switches to the spectral editing mode so that you can see it.

Because the selection is applied to whichever clip is in front, the Acoustica Selection File entry only appears in the file type list of the open dialog while a clip editor is the active document.

Where Selection Files Come From

Besides Export Selection File..., Acoustica writes one selection file per editing step when you export an audit trail. Those files can be opened in exactly the same way, which is what makes an audit trail reproducible rather than merely descriptive.