The Replacement Settings menu is a great way to quickly adjust several replacement parameters. Once your settings are dialed in select a region on press (CMD-R) to replace it with either a similar sound or a completely different one.
Open Menu
The Replacement Settings can be found in two separate locations.
First the Replace Tab in the drop down menu labeled “Settings”. For more information on the Replace Tab go to The Replace Tab.
Or second in the Timeline Toolbar in the drop down menu labeled “Replace”. For more information on the Timeline Toolbar see Timeline Window.
Parameters
There are several parameters that can work independently or together to create a replacement near or far from the original sound. In general, when using the sliders, 100% means less random and 0% means most random.
Category
References the 7 different categories ADD divides sounds into.
When the Category Slider is at 100%, your replaced sound will match the category exactly. When the slider is at 0%, the replaced sound can be from any of the 7 categories above.
Sub Category
References the 4 different sub categories ADD divides sounds into depending on the category selected.
When the Sub Category Slider is at 100%, your replaced sound will match the sub category exactly. When the slider is at 0%, the replaced sound can be from any of the listed sub categories above depending on your selected category.
Type
References the 100 different types ADD divides sounds into depending on the category and sub category selected.
When the Type Slider is at 100%, your replaced sound will match the type exactly. When the slider is at 0%, the replaced sound can be from any of the listed types above depending on your selected category and sub category.
Sub Type
References the thousands of different sub types ADD divides sounds into depending on the category, sub category, and type selected.
When the Sub Type Slider is at 100%, your replaced sound will match the sub type exactly. When the slider is at 0%, the replaced sound can be from any sub type depending on your selected category, sub category, and type.
Duration
References the length of the currently selected sound.
When the Duration Slider is at 100%, the replaced sound will be the exact same length. When the slider is at 0%, the replaced sound will be as different in length as possible.
Presets
To help navigate and learn how these sliders affect replacements, ADD comes with some presets in the Replacement Settings menu. You can use these presets by moving the Presets Slider at the top of the Replacement Settings menu.
For sound effects, foley, ambiances, and footsteps, you may want your randomness settings to be set to level one “tight match”. This will force the replacement sounds to come from the same Subtype. For sound design, you may want to move your Replacement Settings to be more random.
Experiment with this to find all the ways Audio Design Desk can inspire you.
Default
The Default Replacement Setting will give you a replacement that matches the exact Category, Sub Category, and Type but keeps the Sub Type random and the Duration semi-random.
This is recommended for Sound Design or Music.
Tight Match
The Tight Match Replacement Setting will give you a replacement that matches the exact Category, Sub Category, Type, and Sub Type but keeps Duration semi-random.
This is recommended for Foley and Sound Effects.
Medium
The Medium Replacement Settings will give you a replacement that matches the exact Category, Sub Category, and Type but keeps the Sub Type random and the Duration a little more random than Default.
This is recommended for Sound Design and Music.
Somewhat Loose
The Somewhat Loose Replacement Setting will give you a replacement that matches the exact Category and Sub Category but Type is semi-random, Sub Type is completely random, and Duration is almost completely random.
This is recommended for Sound Design when you’re uncertain if a you should use a Hit, Rise, or Transition at a certain moment.
Scramble
The Scramble Replacement Setting will give you a replacement that matches the exact Category but keeps Sub Category semi-random. It also makes Type, Sub Type, and Duration completely random.
This is recommended if you really want to expriment with how many different sounds could possibly be used in a specific moment.
Custom
If you make any changes to the sliders outside of their presets, you will be switched to a Custom Replacement Setting.
Lock Key
This will give you a replacement that matches the exact key of the original sound.
So if your sound was in the Key of F…
ADD will only replace the sound with another that’s also in the Key of F.
Auto Transpose
This will Pitch Shift a replacement to match the key of the original sound.
So if the original key of the sound is in the Key of A…
ADD could possibly replace it with a sound in the Key of E but Pitch Shift it the appropriate amount of semi-tones to put it in the Key of A
Lock Duration
Lock Duration will give you a replacement that’s the exact same length as the original sound. This is useful if you have already set start/stop points for Sound Design, Music, or Ambience sounds but now want to replace those sounds without losing the original start/stop points.
Because not all sounds are the same length, there are a few sub-parameters to help define how Lock Duration works.
Time Stretch
When enabled, this will Time Stretch the replacement to match the length of the original sound. This method is best for replacing Sound Design and Music regions while maintaining start/stop points.
If the original sound was shorter than the replacement…
The new sound will be stretched shorter. You can see in the picture that the original tempo was 120 bpm but the sound was stretched to 155.47 bpm to match the start/stop point.
Enabling Time Stretch will prevent you from using any of the other sub-parameters within Lock Duration such as Edit to Match, Crossfade, and Overlap.
To disable Time Stretch, “Reset” the Replacement Settings or select either “Align to Start/End” next to “Edit to Match”.
Edit to Match
Edit to Match will create a replacement without Pitch Shifting and distorting the replacement sounds making it perfect to replace Ambiences, Beds, and Drones.
Align to Start
Align to Start will have the very beginning of the replacement’s region match with the start point of the original region. If the replacement region is longer, the replacement region will be cut off at the original end point.
The replacement above starts at the same time as the original. But since it is longer than the original, the back half is cut off.
But if the replacement region is shorter than the original, ADD will create a duplicate of the replacement region and add it to the beginning to make up the rest of the time.
Here’s the original sound.
When replaced, the replacement region was shorter so ADD duplicated the replacement sound and added it to the end.
You’ll notice that the duplicate region needed to have some of its end chopped off in order to align with the beginning of the original sound.
Align to End
Align to End will have the very end of the replacement’s region match with the end point of the original region. If the replacement region is longer, the replacement region will be cut off at the original start point.
The replacement above ends at the same time as the original. But since it is longer than the original, the front half is cut off.
But if the replacement region is shorter than the original, ADD will create a duplicate of the replacement region and add it to the beginning to make up the rest of the time.
Here’s the original sound.
When replaced, the replacement region was shorter so ADD duplicated the replacement sound and added it to the end.
You’ll notice that the duplicate region needed to have some of its beginning chopped off in order to align with the end of the original sound.
Render Edited Together
Enabling “Render edited regions together if there are more than one” means that instead of have two or more separate regions with crossfades, ADD will automatically render the regions together creating one consolidated region.
So instead of getting this when replacing…
You will get this.
Crossfade
Adjust the length of the fades applied to the end/beginning of the regions when two or more are created while replacing with Lock Duration on and Align to Start/End is enabled.
Overlap
Adjust the amount of overlap between the regions when two or more are created while replacing with Lock Duration on and Align to Start/End is enabled.
Auto Loosen Settings
The final parameter at the bottom of the Replacement Settings menu is the option to “Auto loosen settings if no matches”.
When enabled, ADD will automatically adjust your current Replacement Settings parameters just enough to find a replacement sound. This is a temporary change and will keep your selected parameters afterwards.
When disabled, ADD will ask you if you would like to “loosen settings” when it is unable to find a replacement sound due to tight replacement settings.
Reset
To Reset your Replacement settings to Default, you can deselect any of the options you have selected and move the Presets Slider back to the Default position.
Or you can click “Reset” in the Replacement Tab.
