Zoom, select, and play#

You do two things with a time range: look closer at it, or mark it so a decoder runs over it. These are different actions, so the toolbar makes you say which one a drag means. Playback, panning, and the keyboard all help you get the range you want under the mouse.

Switch between Zoom and Select#

The Drag control decides what a drag does, on the waveform and the spectrogram alike. In Zoom mode, a drag sets the visible time range to what you dragged over. In Select mode, a drag marks a region instead. The app shades the region across both panels, and the status bar reports its length. Zoom is the mode you start in.

You do not have to switch modes to reach the other action. Hold Shift and drag to get the opposite one. A Shift-drag in Zoom mode makes a selection, and a Shift-drag in Select mode zooms.

A click without a drag behaves differently in each mode. In Zoom mode, it moves the playback position. In Select mode, it clears the current selection.

Zoom and pan the view#

Swipe sideways with two fingers to pan the time range. The view keeps the same amount of the recording on screen. Pinch to zoom around the pointer. Both work on the waveform and on the spectrogram, and neither disturbs a selection you already marked.

A scroll wheel zooms the time axis around the pointer instead: up to zoom in, down to zoom out. The view never opens wider than the whole file, and never narrows below ten milliseconds.

Hold Shift and scroll to zoom the frequency axis. Use this to get a close look at a narrow band, for example a carrier that sits on its own near the top of the spectrum.

Reset on the toolbar returns both axes to the whole file and the full frequency range. It leaves your display settings alone.

Play and loop a region#

The transport gives skip to start, play and pause, and a loop toggle. A readout beside them gives the current position against the total duration.

A selection turns the loop button on. With loop active, playback stays inside the selection and wraps at its end. Use this to hear one burst of tones again and again while you work out what it is. Without a selection, the loop button stays disabled.

Two vertical lines cross both panels. One follows your pointer and carries a time label. The other is the playback position. The spectrum panel reads from the pointer cursor, not from playback.

Keys that move the view#

These keys work when the Audio Inspector tab is in front and you do not type into a field.

Key	Action
Space	Play or pause
Home	Return to the whole file and the full frequency range
Left arrow	Pan back by a tenth of the visible range
Right arrow	Pan forward by a tenth of the visible range
Ctrl or Cmd and +	Zoom in around the centre of the view
Ctrl or Cmd and -	Zoom out around the centre of the view