Playing Sounds

After opening a sound (see File | Open), use one of the play buttons, such as Play All , to play it. Each button starts playback at a different place, which can be configured under the Play tab of the Control Properties window. Right-click on one of the play buttons to quickly change the settings.

To start playback at any point in the sound, click on the time line under the waveform in the Sound window or right-click on the waveform and choose the Play From Here command from the popup menu. You can right-click-and-drag to select a part of the sound to play as well.

While a sound is playing, it is displayed on the visuals. The current position is displayed in the Sound window as a moving vertical line on the waveform (playback marker). You can move the start and finish selection markers to the playback position by using the bracket keys, [ and ] or Edit | Selection | Move Start.... See Editing Overview for more information about changing the selection. You can set cue points by using the Ctrl+Q key or the Edit | Cue Point | Add Cue Point command. To play part of a sound:

1. Use Open to open a sound.
2. Select the part of the sound to play.
3. Choose the Play Selection button.

1. Use Open to open a sound.
2. Select the part of the sound to loop.
3. Choose the Properties button in the Control window.
4. In the Play 2 area, check the Loop box.
5. Choose OK.
6. Choose the Play Selection button, which now has a loop indicator on it.

If you do not hear anything during playback, check the following:

• Make sure the volume and balance faders in the Control window are set to full volume and center respectively.
• Make sure the speakers or headphones are turned on.
• Make sure the speakers or headphones are connected to the correct socket (green).
• Double-check all connections.
• Make sure the Windows system volume is not muted.
• Make sure you see activity on the level meters and visuals in GoldWave. If not and the elapsed time is counting up, the sound contains silence.
• Try selecting a different playback device.

Playback Errors

If an error occurs during playback, make sure the correct playback device selected and the audio hardware is capable of playing at the sampling rate and quality of the file.

Try the following:

• Stop recording, if any file is recording.
• If you are using an external USB audio device, make sure the device is plugged in and powered on before running GoldWave.
• If the error occurs during effect previewing, the effect may have a problem. Process the effect and try playing it after processing completes.
• If not using Shared quality, make sure no other software is using the device for playback.
• Select a different playback device or quality setting on the Device tab of the Control Properties window.
• Choose the playback Test button on the Device tab of the Control Properties window to test the playback device.
• Contact the manufacturer to obtain an updated sound driver. Sound drivers cause the vast majority of playback related errors.

If nothing helps, try playing a file in Windows Media Player to make sure playback is working on your computer.