Tuesday, April 30, 2013

PhotoStage Android Slideshow App

PhotoStage New Android Slideshow Maker App The Android releases are continuing, now one of our long-time favorites, and the best slideshow software, PhotoStage, is now available for Android tablets. So you can make and share slideshows of your vacations before you return home. Quickly combine photos, video clips, music, record narration and more to make fun slideshows that will make everyone wish they were there too. You can download it now from the Google Play app store.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Keep In Touch

Social networking websites and apps have made it so much easier to keep in touch. Like many of us you've probably been able to connect with old friends from high school or college, and made new friends around the world through sites like Google+, Facebook and Twitter.

At NCH Software we like keeping in touch with old friends and making new ones too. Whether you've been using our software for years or you're a new customer, we've tried to make it easy for you to connect with us using your favorite social networking site. We regularly post updates about new releases of programs, links to new blog posts, and other information we think you might find interesting. So pick your favorite social network and follow NCH to stay current on what's happening and keep in touch.

NCH Software Google+ pageFollow NCH on Google+
NCH Software Facebook pageFollow NCH on Facebook
NCH Software on TwitterFollow NCH on Twitter

Friday, April 19, 2013

Preview Switch Audio Converting Software

CNET recently started making download preview videos to give you a quick taste of a program before you download. Take a look at the speedy Switch Sound Converter below. It really only takes seconds to convert audio and music files to mp3, aiff, wav, wma, or any one of the other audio formats—over 40 formats in all.



So now that you've had a peek, download Switch Audio Converter for your Mac or PC today for quick and easy audio converting whenever you need it.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Best Method to Easily Resize Photos with Pixillion

how to easily batch resize photos and imagesIf you have a bunch of photos from your last vacation or night out, you may want to share them all with friends and family. But, you may find that your batch of photos is too large to email. The solution is easy, you can resize or rotate all your digital photos in bulk with a Pixillion image resizer and converter. If you will be editing photos you could resize them as you go, but the more pictures you have, the more time you can save by doing a batch photo resize.

So, to resize your photos, simply add them all to the list in Pixillion. At the bottom of the window click on Effects to open the format options. Here you can use the drop-down menu under Scale to set the photo resizing options. Once that is selected click OK to save your options. You only need to set this once, the effect(s) will be applied to all of the photos being converted in a batch, so Select All—or all the photos you want to apply those changes to—and click Convert. That is all there is to it. Pixillion photo converter will process all of the selected photos and save the newly resized photos for you ready for you to email, upload, and share.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Free Mac Personal Finance Software

New Mac Personal Finance Software Free Our newest program, MoneyLine Personal Finance Software, is available for Mac OS X. We sometimes wait before releasing a Macintosh version of a program, but we have seen and heard the outcry of Mac users who are frustrated with the lack of updates and support of Quicken for Mac. So we are stepping in to provide MoneyLine as the personal finance software alternative for Mac users, to fill that hole in personal accounting software choices for Mac users.

From downloading transactions directly from your bank and digitally balancing your checkbook to categorizing purchase transactions to see where your money is going and stay in control of your personal finances. We hope you agree MoneyLine Personal Finance Software is an easy, consolidated way to organize and track your spending. But, do let us know anything we can do to make it an even better solution for Mac money management.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Express Invoice Now Available for Android

Express Invoice Android App Now Available
Adding to the NCH Android collection and giving you the ability to create invoices from anywhere, the popular, Express Invoice invoicing program is now available for Android tablets on both Google Play and on the Amazon app store. So business people who couldn't jump on the recent Express Invoice iPad release because they have an Android device don't need to feel left out anymore.

Take your billing on the road with you for easy, streamlined invoicing that is less of a chore. And for an even more comprehensive invoicing solution for multiple users, you can still use the popular desktop versions of Express Invoice invoicing software.

Monday, April 8, 2013

WavePad Audio Editing Tips & Tricks

WavePad Audio Editing Software Tips and Tricks
Below you will find a compilation of some of the audio effects and sound editing basics for the WavePad audio editor that you will want to know and test out for yourself as you delve into the world of audio editing. Another great way for those new to audio editing to get started is by watching the WavePad sound editor intro video tutorials so you can see the audio editor in action.

Split and Cut Audio Files
You can split a file at any point you choose by simply clicking the Split button on the Edit tab. This will create two audio files split at the point you had the cursor. Be careful when you use this function, the action cannot be undone. Additional audio splitting options include splitting at bookmarks, splitting at silences and similar Trim options that delete sections instead of creating new audio files.

Amplify Audio Volume
To make the audio sound louder, instead of simply turning the volume control up you want to amplify the file. You will find Amplify on the Effects tab, which will open a window where you can either adjust the amplification using the slider or by selecting a preset level from the drop-down menu. Selecting 200% will double the volume, 50% will cut the volume in half.

Equalize Audio
Amplifying affects the full spectrum of the audio in a file, but if you want to increase or decrease certain frequencies, for example, boosting all of the lower bass frequencies, then you want to use the Equalizer. The Equalizer is also on the Effects tab and opens a graph of the frequencies going from low to high frequencies as you move left to right. This gives you very finite control of the frequency ranges you want to control. Moving a point up will make the frequency stronger and moving a point down will make it weaker.

Normalize Audio
Normalizing an audio file is similar to amplifying, except that normalizing increases the sound of the loudest peak to the maximum level without causing clipping in digital audio. This is frequently used as the last step before saving a final version of an edited song or recording. To normalize an audio file, you will find Normalize on the Effects tab.

Fade In and Out of Audio
Fading in and out of an audio file will help acclimate the ear to the background noise of a file. To fade in, select a region at the beginning of your file, then select "Fade in" under Fade on the Effects tab. Similarly, you can select "Fade out" with a region at the end of your file selected. A good tip is to fade in quicker than you fade out because the ear expects to hear the initial audio quickly, but abrupt transitions to silence at the end can be jilting.

Remove Background Noise
Since not every audio recording is made in a sound studio environment, you often get unwanted background noise in recordings. To remove background noise you want to take advantage of the Cleanup options on the Effects tab. Specifically, under Noise Reduction try using Audio Spectral Subtraction and then Multi-band noise gating. If the presets don't give the results you want, try using lower levels on these reductions until you find a combination that leaves only audio you want to keep.

Remove Vocals
You will find an option to Reduce Vocals under the Voice button on the Effects tab. This will open a dialog box that allows you to change the pan position and width, the vocal level, and preserve the bass. Generally, the default settings will work the best, but different songs may require different settings to effectively reduce or eliminate the vocal frequencies, so if you don't get the results you want, try adjust these settings until you are satisfied with the result.

Layer Audio & Voiceovers
WavePad won't allow you to record directly over another file; highlighting a file and clicking record will replace the selection. Depending on how much mixing you want to do, you may want to consider moving to MixPad audio mixing software, but for some basic audio mixing within WavePad, you want to use the Paste Mix feature. Copy the audio you want to add to your file to the clipboard, then select all in the file you want to add it to, then select Paste Mix on the Edit tab. This will open a window with options on what to do if your files are not the same length. When you click OK the two pieces of audio will be combined.

Sound Effect Library
Find audio clips and sound effects to add to your audio projects in the NCH Sound Effect Library. Open the Sound Library from the Tools tab. This opens a new window where you can preview and download sound effects and royalty-free music clips.

Audio Effect Plugins
In the Windows version of WavePad, you can add DirectX and VST plugin effects to further expand your audio editing capabilities. Find the options to add and use VST and DirectX plugins on the Effects Tab. VST Plugins will open their own interface where you can adjust the settings, while you will need to go into the settings when selecting a DirectX plugin for the effect to be applied when you click OK. Get started with this list of free VST plugins you can download and use with WavePad.

FFT Sound Analysis
All of the audio editing features outlined above are all easy to put into action, but don't let that fool you into thinking that WavePad doesn't have a lot of power under the hood. One of the more advanced areas you can explore is the powerful audio analysis tools for examining the spectral content of the audio. Learn about the FFT and TFFT audio analysis graphs and what they represent to start to get your feet wet. These tools can be used in many fields, including linguistics and mathematics, in addition to sound engineering.


If you have any other tips, favorite features, or advice of your own, please comment and share them below.

Friday, April 5, 2013

New Free Personal Finance Software

MoneyLine new free personal finance software If you have multiple bank accounts and credit cards keeping track of all your spending can be difficult. Your money may be spread out, but that doesn't mean understanding of your personal finances needs to be disjointed.

MoneyLine personal finance software isd a brand new and free way for you to track all your bank accounts and spending in one, centralized location. Now tracking your finances couldn't be easier. With MoneyLine you can download statements and transaction details directly from your bank(s), reconcile accounts—or digitally balance your checkbook, log money transfers, and categorize purchases to help you stay organized and see where your money is going.

You work hard for your money, so make sure you know where that hard earned cash is going. Make managing your spending and balancing your checkbook less of a chore. Give MoneyLine a test drive and be sure let us know what you think and if there is anything else we can do with future releases to make managing your personal finances easier.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Do More with Audio - Blog Carnival April 2, 2013

Here are this edition's entries to Do More with Audio:

Shaun Farley presents Creative Uses of Reverb posted at Designing Sound, saying, "Reverb is used to create realism and adding appropriate reverb will instantly help dialogue fit better into a scene. However, reverb can also be used in many other creative ways, here is a small collection of examples."

Denise Young presents 10 Benefits of Playing a Musical Instrument posted at Au Pair Care, saying, "There are many benefits to playing a musical instrument that go beyond improving hand-eye coordination and instilling a sense of responsibility in your child."

Ken Theriot presents EQ Basics posted at Home Brew Audio, saying, "Equalization&emdash;or EQ&emdash;is a big part of mixing and mastering music, but for those new to audio engineering it may be difficult to grasp. Here are some of the basics for using EQ effectively."

stayonbeat presents Free VSTs for Music Producers and Artists posted at stayonbeat.com.

Lee Pritchard presents Why you should remove breaths from voice over audio posted at Media Music Now, saying, "The problem is that once audio is produced with compression and EQ the breaths will actually become more prominent, making de-breathing essential."

Michelle Brown presents 10 iPhone Apps for Music Maniacs posted at Nanny, saying, "Apple and the app developers for the iPhone App Store are bringing instruments and equipment right to your mobile device, allowing you to use them anywhere and at any time."

Sydney Bell presents 10 of the Best Mash Ups posted at Longhorn Leads, saying, "Mash-ups are the combination of two songs sites like YouTube have boosted the art to mind-boggling popularity."

Peter Kirn presents Makey Makey + Fruits and Vegetables = Music posted at Create Digital Music, saying, "Simple circuits have long been able to make use of sensors in real-world items, but the Make Makey interfacing has made those circuits silly-simple. The project grew out of research at MIT Media Lab's Lifelong Kindergarten. Here see Massive Attack's Teardrop, as covered by artist j.viewz on fruits and veggies using the Make Makey system."



You might also be interested in:

That concludes this edition of Do More with Audio. If you have an audio story to share or advice, tips or tricks to share, we hope you will submit your audio posts and articles to the next edition.