Music Starting on 2nd Slide

[PeterPan]

Hi all!

Is there a way to start the music on the 2nd slide, instead of the first one?

I don't want to use the "Customize slide" function and add music starting on the 2nd slide, since I will not be able to see the waveform.

I constantly use the waveform function to move my slides according to music tempo.

Here is what I am looking for:

1. Black slide - No music.

2. Slide one - Music starting.

3....

10. Slide 10 - Music fading out.

11. Black slide - No music.

So, I want music only from slide 2 to 10 WITH music, and the first and last one (black slides) WITHOUT music.

I know I can use Audacity to edit the music track, but I still want to be able to see the waveform.

I don't know if my thoughts are clear

Thanks for any help!

Peter

[xahu34]

Is there a way to start the music on the 2nd slide, instead of the first one?

Peter,

Use Audacity in order to create a silent audio clip having the length equal to the time of the first slide. Insert it at the beginning of your play list (project options, music). This is not elegant, but it works.

Regards,

Xaver

[PeterPan]

Yes, I know (and use) Audacity, yet I was looking for a way to NOT using it, and go the the hassle of editing some multi-Megs of sound files (sometimes.)

So, there is no way of doing this rather simple task, if I understand correctly?

[jfa]

So, there is no way of doing this rather simple task, if I understand correctly?

Peter

No not at present as I understand PTE.

Some of us are hoping that PTE will have better audio handling functions in the near future.

[Ronniebootwest]

Peter

No not at present as I understand PTE.

Some of us are hoping that PTE will have better audio handling functions in the near future.

I think that simply adding a period of silence is the best way forward, as suggested above, and it takes just a moment - not really any hassle.

Ron

[davegee]

But, looking at it from a different perspective, Igor suggested to me recently that using the first slide as a "Start Up" slide would be a way of overcoming current problems with the Start Up feature.

If the Start Up slide (first slide) needs to be onscreen for an indeterminate amount of time whilst a little preamble takes place, then the facility to start the music on the second slide would be of great value.

You can't insert an indeterminate amount of silence at the beginning of a piece of music in Audacity (or Audition)!

DaveG

[Conflow]

Peter,

Adding to Dave's reply:-

Use a 'Start-Screen' with the Start/Exit Buttons on the lower edge.

Use this 'Screen' for Slideshow title and Credit's etc. No music plays

until you have finished your pre-amble and the hit the Screen-Start

button.

We use this as 'standard' on all Slideshows because we use the

'End Screen' either to Exit the Show -or- Restart the Show (button) which

brings us back to the 'Start-Screen' again. It look good and works well !!

Brian (Conflow).

[davegee]

Brian,

Sounds interesting.

Could you elaborate a little on what you mean by "Start Screen" / "Screen-Start".

Is this part of the main show or something like a MENU slide?

DaveG

[Conflow]

Dave & Peter

Hi Dave,

I'm under pressure today so I opted to answer you with sample 'Shots' about

our 'Start-Screens and 'End-Screeens' for our various Pte Slideshows,viz:-

Examples below

01-StartScreen.

02-EndScreen

03-PteOptionsSee

The example Shot titled "03-PteOptions" will point you in the directions as to

how we make these. We keep a Library of these Screeens and use them over

and over again, the only changes being the 'Text-Captions' which we preamble

on about when showing to an Audience. Hope this helps...

Brian (Conflow)

P.S Sorry, I'm not at my XP-PC so I had to do this with a 2000.Pro using V4.49.

[davegee]

Hi Brian,

There's a little confusion here I think.

We were talking (at least I was) about using the first slide of a show as a Start Up slide with a long indeterminate duration for use where a preamble is required.

After the preamble advancing the slide would go to the rest of the show which would be synchronized to a piece of music (from slide 2 to the end).

However this is not possible because PTE in its present form does not allow for starting music at slide 2 or whatever.

What you have indicated (in a previous version of PTE?) is quite a good idea and uses current facilities but that was not we were talking about.

My problem came about because of PTE's start screen is unable to fill the screen and shows the desktop behind. At least I think so - it was a little while ago that this came up.

DaveG

[Conflow]

Dave and Peter,

Dave, I think 2 threads are merging into one here, I was trying to give Peter an option

as he had asked a specific question,viz:-

Peter wrote:-

Here is what I am looking for:

1. Black slide - No music.

2. Slide one - Music starting.

3. Continuity....

10. Slide 10 - Music fading out.

11. Black slide - No music

My Post and attachments would solve his problem. To your problem, I have no answer

but perhaps one could set the Program to enter a 'pause-period' on Start-up thus holding

the 1st Slide and only releasing that with a 'button' function. Somewhere in the back of

my mind I recollect that one could write a piece of script to do that in old versions of Pte.

(See below).

Sorry I cant be of more help...

Brian.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Peter,

Quick question. Why do you need the waveform to move slides according to music tempo? By going to the timeline you can see the show on the mini-player and hear the background music. You can change slides instantly while listening to the music by simply clicking on the "New Transition" button at the appropriate time.

I understand that the waveform gives you a visual representation of the music, but in the final analysis isn't it the "sound" which you want to set the transition to? I understand the convenience of using the waveform, but anything you can do visually can be done audibly I think.

Best regards,

Lin

[PeterPan]

Quick question. Why do you need the waveform to move slides according to music tempo?

Thanks all for your insight in this "little" matter.

@ Lin: I mostly use the waveform since I am a visual person (that's why I love slides!), and also the mini-viewer is not very accurate to exactly place the slides where I want them, sometimes precisely on the beat of the music, which I can easily see on the waveform. Sliding the slides (pun intended!) on the waveform is much easier than listening to music on the mini-viewer, stopping it, move the slide, play again, stop it, move the slide, play again.... well, you see what I mean! Whereas by using the waveform, I can readily position my slide exactly on the beat or tempo that I'm looking for.

Using only the mini-viewer, I would have to play back and forth with the slide to be placed correctly according to the beat of the music.

As far as my other request (adding silence to the music track.) As I said, I can use Audacity to add a "silence track" of a few seconds before the start of the slideshow, I know that I can also add some buttons. But those button (Run - Start - Help, etc.) are completely useless for what I want to do: Video Slideshow on my HDTV screen. I just want to click on start with my TV remote control. I don't have a mouse with my TV.

But, maybe there is a solution (one that I just added to the Suggestion Forum). To have a button, or some kind of tool, that could just add a blank slide, configure how long we want it to show, then start the slide show afterwards.

Or, maybe I should simply continue using Audacity!

Peter

[Lin Evans]

Thanks all for your insight in this "little" matter.

@ Lin: I mostly use the waveform since I am a visual person (that's why I love slides!), and also the mini-viewer is not very accurate to exactly place the slides where I want them, sometimes precisely on the beat of the music, which I can easily see on the waveform. Sliding the slides (pun intended!) on the waveform is much easier than listening to music on the mini-viewer, stopping it, move the slide, play again, stop it, move the slide, play again.... well, you see what I mean! Whereas by using the waveform, I can readily position my slide exactly on the beat or tempo that I'm looking for.

Using only the mini-viewer, I would have to play back and forth with the slide to be placed correctly according to the beat of the music.

Hi Peter,

I guess I'm not understanding why you would need to stop, start, and move the slider back and forth to place it on the beat. If you click on the "New Transition" tab at the time you hear the beat where you want to change slides it will transition at that precise point.

I understand being a visual person and also the desire to have the music or sound or voice-over represented on the timeline waveform but it has never been difficult for me to precisely position a transition point by the above method but perhaps not so easy for everyone.

As far as my other request (adding silence to the music track.) As I said, I can use Audacity to add a "silence track" of a few seconds before the start of the slideshow, I know that I can also add some buttons. But those button (Run - Start - Help, etc.) are completely useless for what I want to do: Video Slideshow on my HDTV screen. I just want to click on start with my TV remote control. I don't have a mouse with my TV.

But, maybe there is a solution (one that I just added to the Suggestion Forum). To have a button, or some kind of tool, that could just add a blank slide, configure how long we want it to show, then start the slide show afterwards.

That's a possibility, but the audio portion of PTE does need some revisions including elementary volume control, fade-in, fade-out and the ability to place sound as precisely as we now have controls for images.

Or, maybe I should simply continue using Audacity!

Perhaps until better audio controls are implemented.

Best regards,

Lin

Peter

[klintott]

Couldn't you compose your entire show and music and then add a black slide at the beginning and end. Then use the "Customize slide" function to start the music at the second slide? Or am I missing something.

Regards Ken

[Rickl]

Yes Ken! I was wondering the same thing.

I often attach music clips to specific slides in an entire show... Just choose the Music tab in customize slides, select the music and away she goes??? When the music ends, choose another slide, and attach another clip???

Dick

[davegee]

Ken and Dick,

Good suggestions. However in order to do this you first have to turn off "Synchronize Music and Slides" in Project Options and also this defeats the OPs purpose because then you can't then see the waveform in the timeline in order to synch slides to specific beats or portions of the music.

The ability to start music in the normal manner (via the Project Options / Music Tab) synched to a specific slide would definitely be an asset IMHO. The other alternative would be the ability to be able to "slide" the music along the timeline which has been suggested elsewhere.

DaveG

[klintott]

Ken and Dick,

Good suggestions. However in order to do this you first have to turn off "Synchronize Music and Slides" in Project Options and also this defeats the OPs purpose because then you can't then see the waveform in the timeline in order to synch slides to specific beats or portions of the music.

The ability to start music in the normal manner (via the Project Options / Music Tab) synched to a specific slide would definitely be an asset IMHO. The other alternative would be the ability to be able to "slide" the music along the timeline which has been suggested elsewhere.

DaveG

Dave, my point is that you complete synchronizing the music watching the waveform in the timeline. Once the music is synced you then add the black slides at the beginning and end and turn off "Synchronize Music and Slides" and the use the "Customize Slides" option to place the music on the second slide. You needn't see the waveform at this stage since the music is now synched.

Ken

[davegee]

I see what you mean Ken, but it is a messy workaround which would not be necessary if the music could be started at a specific slide/point on the timeline.

DaveG

[wideangle]

I have a simple system for starting music part way into a slideshow.

I spent a bit of time (literally only a minute or two) creating a once-off collection of silence files using Audacity, and keep them in my 'P2E Resources folder'.

They are a collection of different length silences that actually match coin denominations - ie 0.1 secs, 0.2 secs, 0.5 secs, 1 sec, 2 secs and 5 secs. They give you all possible combinations.

So if I want 3.7 secs of silence, I use the 'Add music' option in P2E to add 2 secs, then 1 sec, then 0.5 secs then 0.2 secs, then finally add my music file.

It is no effort at all.

Regards,

wideangle

[lathompson]

Wideangle beat me to it. That is a perfect and fast way to make silence. You create it once, it's available forever.

One more thing: Sometimes, I find an irritatingly quite or quirky start to a piece of music that otherwise, would be great for a show. If I can find a good spot to do it, I clip the irritating part from the beginning so the music starts precisely where I want. Sometimes, this is not possible, but when it is, it improves the impact at the start. On the other end, when I get a piece of music that has too much silence at the end, and a lot of my RF music does, I use audacity to clip it off as close to the end of the music as I can, thereby allowing me full control of the impact music brings to the end of the show.

-larry