“Erase Unused” allows you to “trim” down your Audio files so that they only contain the sections actually referenced by that file’s segment. This helps you maintain as much free space on the hard disk(s) as possible.
The idea behind this is that hard disk space is most often precious, and recorded silence (for example) takes up as much hard disk space as recorded “noise”. When you adjust Start and End Points in segments to “hide” the sections of audio you don’t want to hear, you are still using up valuable disk space for those unheard bits. To “fix” this, use Erase Unused.
This means that even if the segment isn’t used anywhere in the Song (the segment is grey and has no number next to the speaker icon) the section of the file that the segment plays is considered to be in use.To avoid keeping a lot of unnecessary audio sections, the program therefore automatically performs a “Purge Segments” (see page 333) before the actual “Erase Unused” operation.
These segments are
each used in one
place in the Song.
P Erase Unused changes the contents of one selected audio file. If you use the file in another Song, or if you want to be able to go back to the original recording, make sure you have a copy of the file before you begin!
1. Select either the file or one of it's segments.
This command works on “one sound file at a time”. For this function to work, two criteria have to be fulfilled:
• The audio file must be used by at least one Event somewhere in the Song.
• There must be some section of the audio file that isn’t used by any Segment (otherwise there’s nothing to erase, right?).
2. Select the “Erase Unused” command from the pop-up menu.
A dialog box will display how much of the original audio file will be kept, and ask you if you want to go on.
3. Click Compact.
First the unused Segments are deleted. Then the unused sections of the file are deleted and the remaining parts “joined together” with only a short section of silence in between. The segments are adjusted accordingly.