HIFD Winamp instructions

HIFD Winamp Folk Dancer instructions

by John M Clement

1. Add a dance to the playlist – there are 3 ways to do this

Double click on the dance you want to add in the library or
Select the dance and then press the Enter or
Drag and drop the dance to a specific spot in the playlist

2. Play a specific dance - select a new dance to play from the Playlist editor

and press the button at the bottom of the Playlist Editor.

3. Remove a dance from the playlist

Click on the dance to be removed and press the Delete key.

4. Rearrange the dance order in the playlist

Grab the dance to be moved and simple put it where you want it. (hold left mouse button down while moving it)

5. Undo a large mistake in the playlist

Note: This should only be done if a disaster happened.
Press Alt - Z

6. Pause time between dances

Move the slider at the top of the Winamp Folk Dance window
The player will pause for the selected time at the beginning of the each dance.

7. Stop at the beginning of each dance

Click on the small stop button to the right of the main window. While lit Winamp stops at beginning of each dance.

8. Delayed Play – To Start a dance after a delay so you can get into the dance click on at the bottom of the main window. The delay is either the pause time or 5s when the pause time is zero.

9. New playlist

Click on Manage Playlist
Then click on New Playlist

10. Controls

· Play starts playing the current dance at the beginning. But when music is paused it resumes play.

· Stop stops playing and goes to the beginning of the current dance

· Pause stops playing and leave the indicator in the middle. If it is pressed while in pause mode, play resumes from the middle.

· Previous skips to the previous dance.

· Next skips to the next dance.

Note: This is different from iTunes. iTunes does not have a stop button, and iTunes uses the previous and next buttons to go to the beginning or end of a dance.

11. Stop after a specific dance.

Insert the dance named ***STOP*** in the list at any point you wish to stop the program.

Advanced Tips

12. Time Remaining - To see how much time the remaining dances will take to play. This is useful when you want to estimate if there is enough time to add some more dances to the program.

Click on the next dance.
Hold down the Shift key and click on the last dance to select the remaining dances.

The time will appear at the bottom of the playlist window. This shows that 7:23 remains out of a a program that is 28:16 long. Dance 8 out of 11 is playing.

13. CDs and Inactive dances

You can access the CD and inactive dances by opening the Media Library view pane.

· To open the view pane click on the inside left of the Media Library list as shown below.

· Pull it to the right to expose the view pane as shown below

· Click on the Inactive icon to select dances from the inactive list

· Click on the CD to enqueue dances from the CD.

· The Local Media shows both active and inactive dances.

· à Remember to always click on the Active list before closing the view pane.

14. Multiple playlists

· It is not possible to have 2 lists active, but

· Save current list by clicking on Manage Playlist and then on Save Playlist.

· Restore a saved list by clicking on Manage Playlist and then on Open Playlist.

15. Change the time display - click on it and you can either see the time elapsed , or the remaining time.

16. Changing colors Click on the Color button. Windows classic and default are probably the best .

17. Seasonal decorations are available by clicking the button next to the Color button.

18. To close or open the playlist and media library

· Click on the PL button to toggle the play list.

· Click on the ML button to toggle the media library

· You should never have to use these controls unless one of the windows disappears.

19. To display or hide the country & Album display

· To display grasp the line at the top of the library display and slide down.

· To hide grasp the top line between the dance list and the country list and slide up.

20. Remember a position in a dance.

· Locate the place you want and Right click on the memory button. The time of the positions is shown in the upper window.

· To return to the same spot in the dance left click on the memory button.

21. Pause at a position in a dance

· Right click on the timed pause button to save the current position. The time of the position is shown on the upper window.

· Left click to turn on the pause . Playing pauses at the saved position.

· If the repeat button is on, the dance automatically repeats from the memory position.

22. Repeat a dance continuously - Click on the button with the arrow going in a circle.

· It has 3 options: Off , Repeat whole list , Repeat current dance .

· When repeat the current dance is selected neither the pause between dances, nor the stop at the end of a dance works, depending on the Winamp version.

Very Advanced Tips

23. Shuffle play – Put all dances to be played in the playlist. Click on the configuration button in the upper left corner. Click on options, then on Shuffle to enable shuffle play. This will play the playlist randomly. While in shuffle play the shuffle symbol appears in the main window.

24. Creating a separate Playlist – It is possible to create a separate playlist from the currently playing one.

Right click on the first dance to go to the new playlist and then Send to: New Playlist and then enter a new name
You can then enter more dances into the new playlist by right clicking and then Send to: playlist name
If you wish to see the play list open the left hand side of the media library, then click on the playlist name. You can then rearrange and delete items from the new playlist.

25. Equalization – you can change the frequency response by the built in equalizer.

Click on the Config button to open the configuration drawer. (lower right hand side)
.Click on the Equalizer tab.
Adjust the sliders as needed. If you adjust them up, you may need to also adjust the preamp down.
Press the On button to enable the equalizer. The equalizer symbol will also appear in the main window.
Auto – loads autoload presets. The equalizer must still be On for the preset to work.
Presets – saves equalizer values, and sets preset values to be autoloaded for specific tracks.

26. Fader – you can fade at the end of a track to effectively shorten the time between tracks..

Click on the Config button to open the configuration drawer. (lower right hand side)
Set the fade time between 0 to 20s by clicking on the right or left arrows.
Turn on the fader by pressing the button marked.
The same symbol will appear in the main window.

27. Replay gain – You can have Winamp or foobar scan all of the dances and set the replay gain for equal perceived loudness. Then playback with replay gain enabled to have equal loudness.

To enable click on the Main menu button to open the options.
Click on Playback and then on the Replay Gain tab.
Set the replay gain options. And check the use Replay Gain box.
You will see in the Winamp main window when RP gain is on and the track has replay gain.
To scan dances for replay gain right click on the library window and Select ALL
Then right click on the library window, Send to: then Calculate Replay Gain

28. Indicators – There are a number of small indicators which can give you information about the quality of the audio file.

The KBPS indicator shows you the bitrate and larger values generally mean higher quality. It should be higher than 128 for stereo or 64 for mono for good reproduction.
VBR indicates variable bitrate which also generally results in higher quality
KHZ is the audio sampling rate, and it should be 44 or higher. The frequency response is severely cut off at half of the sampling rate. Since young people can often hear up to 20kHz lower sampling rates can result in severe degradation of the sound. For example 22kHz may not produce much audible effect on an accordion, but it may turn sharp percussive sounds into smeared dull thwacks.