Audio file interface in new Scrivener (3.0.1)

[LSwriter]

I haven't used the audio file function in a while but it used to display the whole file in a flat way so you could keep the window small in a split screen and have a lot of space to type in your doc. Also, it used to have a button that would replay starting from 2 seconds prior to where you last stopped, plus always display where you were in the tape.

In the new Scrivener 3, the audio file interface is really big so you can't minimize the window all the way, and interface keeps disappearing if you mouse away, so as you type, you can't put time stamps in your transcript. On top of that, the 2-second rewind function is gone.

Scrivener is the number one most functional piece of software I've ever used. Why make the audio file interface less useful in three ways??? Anyone find a way to get these old functionalities back? Is there any chance Scrivener will re-add them?

[Jolanth Szatmary]

For me, it works just fine: horizontal split, I can narrow down the window with the audio file to a tiny slit.

Shortcuts for audio control are the same.

From the Scrivener Manual, p. 153:

Viewing Multimedia Documents
The QuickTime view is used to display movie and sound files. From the con- trol interface (which will appear when the mouse is moved within the viewing area) you can play or pause the movie, change the volume, or step backwards and forwards through it.
There are further tools to further aid transcription:
— Youcanusethe⌘Returnshortcutkeytopauseandresumeamediastream, even while you are typing in the other editor, never having to leave the keyboard.
— Youmayskipforwardandbackwardbyanumberofsecondswiththe⌃⌘] and ⌃⌘[ shortcuts, respectively. As with the above, these shortcuts also work from the opposing split.
— An optional feature is provided on a per-project basis that can rewind the playback by a set number of seconds whenever paused. Enable the fea- ture with the Navigate ▸ Media ▸ Rewind on Pause menu toggle, and adjust the amount of rewind in the Behaviors: Playback preference pane (sub- section B.4.7).

(copying and pasting killed the blanks somehow)

The only drawback is not seeing the media control when the mouse is not hovering over it, but I believe that's OSX behaviour nowadays, with nothing Scrivener could do about this.

Hope this helps a bit!

JS

[LSwriter]

Maybe it has to do with the fact this file is a .m4a? What file type are you using?

[LSwriter]

I converted to mp3 -- it's the same. I'm in the new Scrivener, version 3.0.1. You must be using the old Scrivener. The new Scrivener's audio interface is completely useless. Also, the audio bar is short so if you want to move your place in the audio file, you don't get a good level of granularity since it doesn't stretch all the way across the screen. This is terrible. I hope Scrivener changes it back.

[KB]

It won't be changing back. Scrivener 2 used the ancient QuickTime frameworks, which provided the playback bar and which are long since deprecated by Apple.

You can compress the editor just as much in Scrivener 3 as you could in Scrivener 2, though. The controls are a little larger - as is standard in QuickTime these days - and will be hidden if you compress too far, but you can still use the keyboard shortcuts, which are more convenient anyway. (Cmd-Enter starts and stops.) Pause-and-rewind is still there and is right there in the footer bar in fact.

[Jolanth Szatmary]

@ Keith: Is there any way to toggle the controls to always visible, not just when hovering over them with the mouse cursor? The all-black window without any information at all doesn't really make sense and the controls give you an idea about where you are in the file. Would be great!

[Jolanth Szatmary]

IYou must be using the old Scrivener. The new Scrivener's audio interface is completely useless. Also, the audio bar is short so if you want to move your place in the audio file, you don't get a good level of granularity since it doesn't stretch all the way across the screen.

I was talking about Scrivener 3. You're right that the usability of the old Quicktime controls is much higher than the new ones (too short, keep disappearing), but it's not Scrivener's fault as the have to use whatever the Quicktime Team at Apple throws at them (I guess). But you can use Scrivener 2 and 3 side by side and for my upcoming interview transcriptions I'll switch back to Scrivener 2 and then import the resulting script into Scrivener 3.

I'll put toggle visibility of the controls (audio and video) on the wish list, maybe there'll be an option in upcoming Scrivener versions.

Happy writing,

JS