- This article or section documents the current version of Scratch (version 3.0). For this article in Scratch 2.0, see Sound Editor (2.0). For this article in Scratch 1.4, see Sound Recorder (1.4).
The Sound Editor in Scratch allows a user to edit and remix sounds in the Scratch editor.
User Interface
The sound editor has two main areas: the Sound Pane and Editing Area.
Sound Pane
The sound pane on the left is used to select sounds for editing in the editing area, like the Costume Pane and Sprite Pane. Clicking a sound will select it. Selected sounds have a thick purple outline to show that they are selected. Selected sounds also have an "X" in the top right to delete the sound. Right-clicking a sound will show three options: duplicate, export, and delete.
Editing Area
The editing area is the part on the right of the sound list and to the left of the stage. It has a bar on the top, the sound in the middle, and several tools at the bottom.
Features
There are nine tools at the bottom: faster, slower, louder, softer, mute, fade in, fade out, reverse, and robot.
Each tool has its own effects and can be used together to make spectacular sound effects.
Top Bar
These tools edit the sound, but do not add any effects. Prior to Scratch 3.0, they were in a dropdown called "Edit".
Name — this is a round text box that changes the name of the sound to be displayed in the Sound List.
Undo — this undoes the last action.
Redo — this redoes the last undone action.
Copy — this copies the selected part of the sound, or the entire sound if nothing is selected.
Paste — this pastes any copied sound to the end of the sound file.
Copy to New — this makes a new sound file identical to the one copied from.
Delete — this deletes the selected part of a sound.
Bottom Bar
These tools make special effects to manipulate the sound. Prior to Scratch 3.0, they were in a dropdown called "Effects".
Faster — this makes a sound go faster, therefore making any notes higher.
Slower — this makes a sound go slower, therefore making any notes lower.
Louder — this tool makes sounds louder.
Softer — this tool makes sounds softer.
Mute — this makes sounds silent.
Fade In — this makes the sound start out soft, and slowly get back to the normal volume.
Fade Out — this makes the sound start out at normal volume, and slowly get softer.
Reverse — this tool makes a sound run backwards.
Robot — this tool adds static and softens notes, making it sound like a robot.
Past Features
The only known past feature from 3.0 is the "echo" effect, which existed until August 2019. It reflects the audio of the selected part or the whole track. According to former Scratch Team member Za-Chary, it got removed because the Scratch Team wanted to make the sound editor less "overwhelming" by clearing space.[1]
Selecting
On August 1st, 2019 a new feature was added to the sound editor.[2] The main update was the ability to select certain parts of a sound and add effects to them. To select, click and drag on the sound until the desired part is selected. From there, effects can be added or the part selected can be played.
Keyboard Shortcuts
- Copy - ⌘ Cmd+C or Ctrl+C
- Paste - ⌘ Cmd+V or Ctrl+V
- Select All - ⌘ Cmd+A or Ctrl+A
- Undo - ⌘ Cmd+Z or Ctrl+Z
- Start sound - Space
- Delete - ← Backspace or Del
- Delete all but selected - ⇧ Shift+← Backspace or ⇧ Shift+Del
