• TwistedWave 1.10 (Download)
• TwistedWave Lite 1.10 (Mac App Store)
• TwistedWave iOS 1.2 (App Store)
• TwistedWave Remote 1.0 (App Store)

You’ll find below a list of new features and improvements for each version.

New icons

TwistedWave now has a great icon, and new toolbar buttons. These are available for both the mac and the iOS version. I hope you’ll like them:

TwistedWave Remote

TwistedWave Remote is a new iPhone application that can be used to remotely control TwistedWave. You can use it to start and stop playback or recording. It will also allow you to place markers while you are playing back audio, or in the middle of a recording session.

In order to use it, you have to open TwistedWave’s preferences window, and select “Enable TwistedWave Remote”.

You can get it now on the App Store.

DIRAC 3 Pro

TwistedWave was now upgraded to DIRAC 3 Pro, for a faster speed and better quality when pitch shifting or time stretching audio files.

Additionally, because it was upgraded to the Pro version, it offers a better support for files with more than two channels when pitch shifting or time stretching. Previously, when processing files with more than two channels, TwistedWave would process the channels as individual pairs, resulting in phase problems.

Saving mp2 files

With this update, TwistedWave now also gains support for saving mp2 files. Until now TwistedWave could only read these files.

Two new toolbar buttons

Volume and loop buttons are now available in the toolbar. The loop button can be used to enable or disable looping when playing back audio.

If you already had TwistedWave installed, these buttons may not appear by default. You can get them by right-clicking on the toolbar, and selecting “Customize Toolbar…”.

Fixed YouTube import

YouTube’s web pages has recently changed, making them incompatible with TwistedWave. This was now fixed, and you can now download YouTube movies’ sound track in TwistedWave.

TwistedWave for iOS update

This is also a great update for the iOS version of TwistedWave. Here is the list of new features and improvements:

• New export options:
  • It is possible to send an audio file to Dropbox.
  • Email a link or upload by FTP an mp3 file encoded and hosted online on twistedwave.com.
  • Browser access to allow downloading and uploading files from/to TwistedWave with a browser on your computer.
• More effects:
  • Delay effect.
  • Compressor/limiter effect.
  • Pitch shifting/time stretching with DIRAC.
• Better support for large files
  • Previously, when you were recording large files, TwistedWave could get out of memory, and would quit. Now, it is possible to record for many hours. The only limit is the storage capacity for the audio file.
  • Furthermore, when reopening a large document, one hour long or more, TwistedWave should now be much more faster.
• TwistedWave remembers the position and selection when you reopen a document.
• Added buttons to cut, crop and loop the audio.
• The cursor and selection are automatically adjusted to zero crossings to avoid clicks when copy/pasting audio.

TwistedWave is available now on the iTunes App Store.

With TwistedWave for iPhone, you can use a number of tools to easily edit your audio:

• Copy and paste your audio.
• Undo/redo instantly.
• Amplify or normalize the audio to a given level.
• Add fades in or fades out.
• Apply different kinds of filters to adjust the level of the low or high frequencies.

TwistedWave also offers you different ways to share your files:

• WAV, AIFF, CAF and AAC audio.
• Import/export audio to iTunes (with iOS 3.2).
• Send your audio by mail.
• Upload to an FTP account.

VST plugins

In addition to Audio Unit plugins, TwistedWave now supports VST (Steinberg’s Virtual Studio Technology) plugins. It is now possible to use with TwistedWave the effect plugins that are not available as Audio Units.

TwistedWave handles VST plugins exactly as Audio Units. They can be loaded in an effect stack, or used with the batch processing.

Import YouTube soundtracks

TwistedWave can now import the soundtrack directly from a YouTube movie. Select “File / Import from YouTube” from the main menu, and you have the option to provide the URL (the web page address) of a YouTube web page. TwistedWave will then start loading the movie’s soundtrack which you can then edit, and save as a file on your disk.

Speech synthesis

TwistedWave now integrates Apple’s speech synthesis. Enter your text, select a voice, and the corresponding synthesized speech will be inserted in the current sound file.

Support for Audiobook .m4b files

It is now possible to read and save audiobook files in the .m4b format. When an audiobook is read or saved, TwistedWave converts the chapters to markers and back. This makes it very easy to add, rename or move chapters in an audiobook or podcast.

When the file is loaded in iTunes or an iPod, the current chapter is displayed, and it is possible to skip to the next/previous chapter, making it easier to navigate inside a long audio file.

Improved batch processing

The batch processing offers new actions, such as:

• A cut action to remove or keep a specific part in the audio file.
• Two actions to apply fades in or out to the beginning or end of the audio file.
• An action to reorder the channels in a multichannel audio file.
• A few actions to work with markers, such as adding or removing markers, or splitting the file by the markers.
• An action that can copy a metadata field to another, or save the file name in a metadata field.

Support for trackpad swipe and pinch gestures

TwistedWave now understands trackpad gestures. You can use pinch to zoom, and swipe to quickly move to the beginning or the end of the file.

Additionally, scrolling with the trackpad or magic mouse has been improved and is much smoother.

Improved the insert silence effect

If a region is selected when applying the insert silence effect, instead of inserting the silence at the cursor position, the selected region is first deleted, and replaced by the silence.

This new behavior can be particularly useful in combination with the silence detector. When you have selected all the silences, inserting a silence will automatically make all the selected silences the same length.

TwistedWave 64 bit

With Mac OS 10.6, Apple has completed the transition to 64 bit computing, and it is time for TwistedWave to jump on the bandwagon.

By going 64 bit, TwistedWave benefits from the ability to use a lot more memory, and deliver faster performance.

Running TwistedWave 64 with 32-bit Audio Units

In theory, a 32 bit application can load only 32 bit plugins, and a 64 bit application can load only 64 bit plugins. This would mean that TwistedWave 64 will not be able to load 32 bit Audio Units.

The problem is that today, the vast majority of Audio Units available is 32 bit only. In fact, from the hundred of plugins currently installed on my mac, all of them are 32 bit, except from the built-in Apple Audio Units, since Mac OS 10.6.

Using 32-bit Audio Units is possible

Without being able to run 32-bit Audio Units, a 64 bit TwistedWave would be useless to many.

For that reason, TwistedWave 64 incorporates a new technology that makes it able to load 32 and 64 bit Audio Units transparently. You will not even have to know you are running a 32 bit Audio Unit with TwistedWave 64.

Silence detector

If manually cutting a long file into many different parts, and saving them as individual files looks like a big waste of your time, you will be happy to use the silence detector built in TwistedWave that allows you to do exactly that.

In just a few steps, you can:

• Detect the silences
• Name the different parts
• Export as individual files

You can read more on how to automatically split an audio file.

The detailed list of new features, fixes and improvements can be found in the release notes. The most important ones are detailed below.

Batch processing

TwistedWave now has a very powerful batch processing engine. It can work on any number of files, and apply any number of effects on them, such as amplifying, applying an Audio Unit or changing the frame rate, for instance.

After a file has been processed, it can be saved in a different file format. Because TwistedWave can read and write in many different file formats, this makes a very powerful batch converter.

The batch processing can also be used to generate the waveform image from a list of files. This can be used to generate small images representing sound files to build a web site, for instance.

DIRAC Time Stretch/Pitch Shift technology

Before TwistedWave 1.7, the Change Pitch and Speed effect was using Apple’s built-in implementation.

Now, it uses the DIRAC Time Stretch/Pitch Shift technology, licensed from The DSP Dimension. It sounds very good, and is really usable for pro audio work.

The “Change Pitch and Speed” window has been extended with a few settings specific to the DIRAC algorithm, such as the formant correction that makes it possible to do a more natural pitch transformation.

The lambda setting offers the ability to select a time/frequency tradeoff. You can find more information on this in the manual, available directly by pressing the (?) button in the lower left corner of the window.

Pitch correction

Another feature available with the DIRAC technology is the automatic pitch correction. Given a piece of audio, DIRAC will automatically pitch shift it to the closest note. This is available from the main menu, in Effects / Pitch Correction…

Other improvements

• Support for saving WMA files.
• Added support for the MS and IMA4 ADPCM codec.
• Clicking on a marker moves the cursor.
• Selecting markers in the markers window selects the corresponding audio regin.
• Avoid doing a selection by mistake with a simple click.
• More bug fixes and improvements…

It’s been a long time since the last update, but the good news is that
I have now started working full time on TwistedWave, and it shouldn’t
be long before updates with more exciting new features are released.

Minor improvements

• Adjustable buffer size.
• The selection is now replaced when pasting.
• Move the cursor to the beginning/end of the selection with option-left/right.
• Scroll left or right with page-up/page-down.
• The cursor remains visible when moving it with the arrow keys.

Fixes

• Improved play through with lower latency.
• The crash recovery could fail in some cases.
• A crash when loading T-RackS 3 plugins.
• Ozone4′s GUI could disappear in some cases.
• The audio could get corrupted when recording with an Apogee duet.
• Playing 192kHz files was broken.
• The manual would not open correctly from the help menu, or the help buttons.
• Marker names with accents wouldn’t show up correctly.
• Markers would be duplicated when converting to mono.
• The audio units from the effect stack were applied in the reverse order.
• Some audio unit plugins, such as soundhack’s ones could produce a few seconds of silence.
• TwistedWave could record with a wrong sampling rate, resulting in a pitch shifted audio.
• When recording, play through could play only on the left side in some cases.
• Some jpeg files did not work properly in mp4 files artwork metadata.
• Scrolling with shift + mouse wheel was broken.

New Features

• Support for markers.
• Added the ability to manipulate cuts/crossfades.
• Automatically restore the session after a crash.
• Drag and dropping the selection.
• Play through when recording.
• Saving the color scheme presets.

Fixes and Improvements

• Wave64 support was broken on 10.4/intel.
• Ability to zoom when command dragging the overview window.

Support for markers

Editing cuts and crossfades

When applying a crossfade, it is not always easy to figure out what
part of the audio to select, and what the crossfade duration should be
for the best results. Undoing and trying with new settings each time
can quickly become tedious.

After a cut or crossfade is applied, TwistedWave now shows some
handles that allow you to tweak the duration of the crossfade, as well
as the in and out points.

Powerful crash recovery

If TwistedWave crashes, because of a faulty Audio Unit, a bug in
TwistedWave, or even a power failure, your work is not lost. The next
time TwistedWave is opened, all the documents you were working on will
be opened in the same state, your unsaved changes will not be lost,
and even the whole undo history remains intact.

Even if the crash or power failure happens during a recording, all the
sound recorded up to the crash will be restored.

Drag and dropping the selection

Right above the vertical ruler, a small icon represents the current
selection. If you drag and drop it in the finder, this will create a
new audio file containing the selected sound. If nothing is selected,
the whole sound will be exported.

This can provide a very fast and efficient way to split an audio file
into many different parts.

Because dropping repeatedly in the same folder will always create a
new file each time, it provides a convenient way to keep the whole
history of a file, by saving it after each edition.

Play through when recording

In order to monitor the sound exactly as it is being recorded,
TwistedWave now offers the option to play the recorded audio through
the output device.

To enable it, check the corresponding check box in the devices tab of
the preferences window.

Saving the color scheme presets

The waveform colors can be customized to a great extent, making
TwistedWave look exactly the way you want.

It is now possible to save the color schemes, and easily select one of
the previously saved schemes. Color schemes are saved in individual
files, allowing you to move your settings from one computer to
another, or exchange color schemes with friends.

New Features

• Added the ability to automatically apply a crossfade when deleting a region.
• Ability to export channels as individual files.
• Added the ability to register TwistedWave for all users.

Fixes and Improvements

• TwistedWave remembers the selection and cursor position when performing an undo/redo.
• The TimeReference is correctly updated when exporting the selection, creating a new doc with the selection, or changing the sampling rate.
• Fixed a crash when reading large files.
• Fixed some clicks when reading a 32bit floating point wav file.

Crossfades

Deleting a region from the middle of a file will produce a noticeable cut in the resulting file. This is often not desirable, and a common solution to such a problem is to apply a crossfade.

In order to apply a crossfade in TwistedWave, simply select the region you want to delete, and select Edit/Delete Crossfade… from the menu, or use the Command-Backspace shortcut. A window will pop-up asking you for the duration of the crossfade, and will then proceed to mix the audio before and after the region deleted in order to make the transition smoother.

In addition to the crossfade duration, a pop-up button allows you to use a fade out followed by a fade in instead of the crossfade.

Exporting individual channels

From the File menu, a new option allows you to save channels as individual files. It first asks you for a file name, then proceeds to saving the individual channels, each with a file name ending with _1, _2, _3… up to the number of channels present in the current document.

Registering TwistedWave for all users

When you register TwistedWave, either by entering a serial number, or by purchasing directly from within the application, TwistedWave becomes registered only for the user that is currently logged in on your computer.

In the preferences window, an option allows you to make the registration available to all the users. This can be convenient when TwistedWave is installed on a Macintosh with several accounts, where more than one person could be using it.

New Features

• Vertical zoom.
• Scrubbing.
• Support for WavPack and Wave64 files.
• Added a level meter.
• Added the File/Analyze menu item to gather some info about the waveform.
• Added the option to lock the channels together.
• Ability to display times in SMPTE.
• Uses the TimeCode reference from .wav and .aiff files.
• It is now possible to select the channels used for recording/playing.
• New shortcuts: shift mouse wheel to scroll, and command wheel for vertical zoom.

Fixes and Improvements

• The presets of individual effects in a stack would not always be remembered.
• When saving a preset, the new name was not taken into account when OK was pressed. Only when validating with return.
• TwistedWave now handles properly Audio Units whose GUI can resize.
• When saving a WAV file, TwistedWave would fail if the extension is not in lower case letters.
• Saving as OGG would only write 44100kHz files.
• Closed files would remain open by TwistedWave, preventing them from being emptied from the trash.

Vertical zoom

When the audio file being edited is very quiet, it can be very useful to zoom vertically in order to see more detail. TwistedWave now offers a few ways to zoom vertically:

• By clicking and dragging on the vertical ruler at the left of the waveform. This works the same as the toolbar icon. A double click will restore the zoom to its original value.
• With the Vertical Zoom toolbar icon. By clicking and dragging on this icon, you can adjust the vertical zoom. A single click will restore the zoom to its original value.
• By using the scroll wheel with the command modifier key.

Scrubbing

Scrubbing gives you more control on the position of the playhead, and allows you to listen to very specific parts of the audio and get a clear idea of where specific sounds are located in the waveform.

Scrubbing is performed by clicking and dragging the mouse in the rulers, above the main wave and the overview windows. Depending on your needs, three scrubbing modes can be selected from the preferences window.

• Repeat. In this mode, a small area around the mouse pointer is repeated continuously. The audio is played at the nominal speed, and sounds natural.
• Velocity. This mode allows you to control the speed at which the playhead moves in the waveform. This mode allows you to play the audio slower or faster than the nominal speed, but this also affects the pitch of the sound. This mode can be very effective when detecting clicks in the audio.
• Position. This mode is similar to the velocity mode, except that you have a direct control on the playhead position rather than its velocity. This makes it easier to play a very specific area.

Level Meter

A peak level meter is now visible at the right edge of the edition window. In addition to the instant peak level for each channel, a decibel value representing the loudness is displayed at the bottom of the level meter.

By default, this value gives the RMS power of the audio, integrated over a period of time that can be adjusted in the preferences window. It is also possible to display instead a Leq(RLB) value, commonly used in the broadcasting industry.

Time Code

TwistedWave now offers the option to display times in the timeline and the cursor position in the toolbar in SMPTE Time Code.

Additionnaly, when the file being edited contains some information about the time reference of the sample, TwistedWave can use it as the time origin for the timeline, and display the actual time for the curso position.

If the sound quality is a very important factor, you may as well keep the sound uncompressed, in a wav or aiff file, for instance.

In between these two extremes, we can find the lossless codecs, such as FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec). Lossless means that the sound is compressed without any loss of quality.

Although TwistedWave fully supports the FLAC format, it is not yet the case with a lot of software, and converting all your files to FLAC may mean that you would have to convert them back to a more readable format if you wanted to play, or edit them.

This is where TwistedFLAC comes in handy. TwistedFLAC will show FLAC files as if they were WAV files. Any application can read these WAV files while TwistedFLAC transparently decodes the FLAC file in the background. If the WAV file was modified by another application, TwistedFLAC will automatically convert it back to FLAC, and update the original file.

TwistedFLAC also makes it a very easy way to convert many WAV to FLAC. Simply drag and drop a WAV file, or a folder full of them to the TwistedFLAC folder, and they will be converted automatically.

And the best of all this is that TwistedFLAC is available now here, and is completely free!

Enjoy!