• Intro
• Files
• Settings Menu
• FX plugins
• Play Control
• Tracks
• Track Context Menu
• Build Mix
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• Other Stuff
• Troubleshooting
• Mail Info
• Version History
• Known Bugs

The plugins now "work"!

What is FRS?

Fat Rock Studio is a multitrack, digital audio recorder (harddisk recording-studio) for Windows95/98/NT4 and later. It has 16 stereo/mono channels and is designed to work just like a real world recorder. The best comparision is probably with an A-DAT recorder.

What do I need to know?
Probably u would like to just look thru this very short manual but if u don't have time, here's an even shorter presentation:

• FRS creates a subdir for every song u make. If u want to copy a song u have to copy ALL the files from the song dir.
• FRS supports multiple soundcards. U can have up to four of them and u can chose which card to use for every track.
• FRS supports different sound formats. Every track can choose between mono and stereo, 8 or 16 bit.
• FRS does NOT support multiple samples-rates at the same time.
• FRS has its own soundformat, that means u cannot just open FRS-files in any sound editor, but you are able to export and import wave-files.
• FRS is easy to use for anyone familiar with any real-world recording studio, because it works just like one: u just have the mixer and don't have to bother a bit about any soundfiles.
• FRS is cheap! In fact I think its free, or almost at least.

Fat Rock creates a separate directory for every song u make. This directory will contain a few files that can be felpful to know about:

• chan_events.dbf This file contains all the programmed pan's and volume changes.
• chan_plugins.dbf Contains info about what FX-plugins are enabled for different channels.
• guisettings.struct Contain of course only settings concerning the user graphical userinterface.
• There are also a bunch of files for every track, these are named channel0_*, channel1_* and so on...
• *waveheader Info about the sample format for the track.
• The files ending with _1, _2 and so on represents the different takings for the channel. Normally just leave all of this as it is as this is FatRocks internal format.

The settings menu of course contains some settings:

• Show waveform: Lets you choose whether to display waveform data on the tracks or not. Though it looks cool I guess it slows everything down when turned on, so if you have performance problems, leave it better disabled.
• Save settings: Saves your global settings like sound card setup right now to the Windows registry. Normally, settings are saved when you exits FRS, but as youk now it might crasch before...
• The settings dialog
  
  In the settings dialog, u can (surprisingly) adjust the settings that are global and not connected to a certain channel. It's opened by pressing Altl+S. If u feel like an advanced user u can adjust the Geek Options. CAUTION: This can cause everything to crasch really badly. On the other hand, if the program allready crasches really badly, u should probably adjust these.
  • Geek Options
    • File Cache: This is the amount of memory used for every channel to cache its disk read/write operations. A bigger cache size will propably increase performance but it will take longer to start playback because FRS needs to preload this cache. If u set it to 0 no cache will be used. Also, if u use a big cache, u should probably also have a bigger buffersize or more buffers to avoid stuttering effects.
    • Buffer Size, Buffer Count: Internally, FRS uses a number of buffers that it mixes sample data to. The more and bigger buffers u have, the more performance FRS will get. On the other hand, with big and many buffers it will take long time from that u change a pan or volume slide to that u will hear the result. I u have a really expensive computer u will probably want to use few small buffer to get the most accurate response and interactivity.

An FX plugin is a module that makes something with the sound on a track. It can be reverb, compression or anything that u'd expect to find in a normal studio rack. The FX-plugins are just plain VST DLL-files that are located in the plugins dir. You can set the plugins dir in the Settings dialog box. FRS looks in this dir at startup and loads all DLL's in this dir. Every track can use any of this plugins to process it's sound-data. Just click the small FX button on the track. In the dialog that pops up you will be presented with two lists of plugins: one with all available plugins and one with those active for the current track. Just double-click on a plugin in the Avaliable list and it will be activated. If u doubleclick in the Active list u will get a popup with the settings for this plugin.

R: This is the record button. When u press this u are enabling the track for recording. It will not start recording though, before u press the Rec button on the Play Control. If u want u can press the R button after u pressed the Rec and u will do a "punch in" recording. If u depress the R button the channel will stop recording.

M: Mute. With this enabled, this track will be totally silent.

S: This means solo and mutes all the other tracks, exepet for those that eventually also has Solom enabled. Once again: this is just like a normal mixer.

FX: This will open the the FX Plugin dialog and allow u to add and setup effects to this channelTHIS DOESN'T WORK RIGHT NOW. More fun than this it won't get!

There's also a drop-down box, the Soundcard Selector, above these buttons and in this u can select which soundcard this track should use. Most people just have one but if u have two u can have much fun with this drop-down. This is helpful for people with half-duplex cards. Above the Soundcard Selector u have the track name. Initially this shows just the tracknumber but u can click on it and wow, u can edit the track name! So, finally above the track name is the File View. This shows a graphical representation of your recordings for the track. Try to record something on a track and u will see small, cute boxes representing the different takings. You can select a part of the track with the mouse (holding the left button down and dragging).

Export to wav exports the current track to a PCM .wav file.
Import wav... imports a wav file to the track, at the current song position. The track should be empty before.

First test
To try it, first select a soundcard from the Global->Settings menu. U must select a soundcard in the #1 slot. After that, select new from the file menu. Select a directory. This dir will contain a subdir with the recorded song in. In Fat Rock Studio every song is located in an own directory. After that the record button should be enabled and u're ready to record. Now select a channels R (record) button. U have now enabled that channel for recording. Select Rec from the floating PlayControl and u are recording! When ready press stop. Use the <- button on the PlayControl to go to the beginning of the song and select Play. If u don't hear anything now u are def, stupid or (more likely) the damn thing is bugging. Sorry :-) FatRock Studio is supposed to work like a normal studio multichannel recorder, try to treat it as such....