Once a sound file has been opened in Amadeus Pro, the most common task is to play it back. In a nutshell, playback is controlled by the spacebar. Hit the spacebar to start it and hit it again to stop it. When no sound is playing, hitting the tab key is equivalent to first hitting the [Rewind] button and then hitting the space bar. When a sound is playing, hitting the tabulation key is equivalent to first hitting the space bar and then hitting the [Rewind] button.
The current playback position is indicated by the playback head, which is displayed in the timescale of the main document. The playback head is depicted on the right. The location of the playback head can be changed by simply clicking at the corresponding location in the timescale. Whenever you click in the main sound window and the sound is not being played back, the position of the playback head is reset to the position selected in the General pane of the Amadeus Pro preferences dialog. This position would be either the start of the current selection or the start of the document. The precise behaviour of the space bar is the following. If no sound is currently being played back, playback starts at the location of the playback head. If a sound is being played back, playback stops. If Space bar rewinds sound is checked in the General pane of the Amadeus Pro preferences dialog, then the position of the playback head is reset, otherwise it stays where it was when the space bar was hit.
More sophisticated control can be achieved through the playback controller:
The Play icon has exactly the same functionality as hitting the [spacebar]. The Fast forward and Fast rewind icons allow you to scrub through a sound while it is playing back. The Speed slider allows you to adjust the playback speed. The scale is measured in semitones (12 semitones make up one octave) so that maximal playback speed is double the original speed and minimal playback speed is half. The Volume slider allows you to adjust the overall volume of the sound being played back.
