Pado Wave Editor

Supported formats: WAV, AIFF, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WMA. MP3 and WMA use the Windows media components included with most editions of Windows; on Windows N editions, install the free Media Feature Pack (Settings > Apps > Optional features) to enable them. WAV, AIFF, FLAC and Ogg Vorbis always work. The in-app help viewer uses the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, which is included with Windows 11 and already installed on most Windows 10 PCs; if it is missing, only the help viewer is affected and audio editing continues to work.

MIDI files (.mid, .midi, .rmi) open too. A MIDI file contains notes rather than sound, so the app plays them with a set of instrument sounds (a sound font) and opens the result as an ordinary audio document that you can edit and save in any supported format. The built-in sound font is MuseScore General. To use another SF2 or SF3 sound font, choose Options > MIDI Sound Font > Choose Sound Font File...; it is used for MIDI files opened afterwards, and Options > MIDI Sound Font > Built-in Sound Font (MuseScore General) switches back. A MIDI document cannot be saved as MIDI: saving asks for a new name and format.

If you installed it from the Microsoft Store, the app checks for a new version shortly after it starts. When one is available, a notice appears: Update Now starts the installation, and Later reminds you the next time you open the app.

If you have unsaved work, you are asked to save it first (Save and Update). The app closes while the update installs, so open it again when the installation finishes. You can also update from the Library in the Microsoft Store app.

If you installed it with the setup file, download and run the setup file for the new version.

Choose one of 14 languages in Options > Language: 한국어 · English · 日本語 · 简体中文 · 繁體中文 · Deutsch · Français · Español · Português (Brasil) · Português (Portugal) · Русский · Bahasa Indonesia · हिन्दी · العربية.

Until you choose one, the app follows the Windows display language, and uses English if that language is not supported. Arabic lays the interface out from right to left.

Very long files may need a moment before the first waveform is ready. Low-spec mode can show a simple waveform first and make it clearer after a moment. Try closing other memory-heavy apps.

Check that you are in single-channel target mode. If the command affects every channel or changes the document length, a wider refresh can be normal.

The clipboard may be empty or may not match the current edit mode. Copy again, then paste while the intended target channel or timeline range is active.

• Check the output device.
• Check the status bar volume.
• Make sure Windows is not muting the app.

The destination file may be open in another app. Stop playback, close external preview tools, then save again.

Start the app again and the Crash recovery dialog appears. Choose Open: an edited file reopens with your edits applied, and a new document opens in a recovery tab. Choose Decide later to keep the backup for the next start. Auto-backup is on by default and is written about 30 seconds to a minute after you stop editing; you can change this in Options > Auto-backup. If recovery reports that the original file was changed, the backup is kept and its location is shown.

If you sign out, restart or shut down Windows while edits are unsaved, Pado Wave Editor stops the shutdown and asks whether to save them first. Windows lists it as an app that is preventing shutdown; answer the question in Pado Wave Editor, then shut down again if Windows is still waiting.

Saving, Export Regions, rendered effects, SFX generation, Statistics, and Detect Silence show a message and a moving bar in the status bar while they run. Press Esc to cancel. Canceling leaves the audio and the existing file unchanged.

• Another app may be holding the input device exclusively. Close it, then open Devices (Ctrl+Alt+D) and select the device again.
• If the device you saved earlier has been unplugged, choose a different one in Devices.
• Recording runs in one tab at a time. Leaving the tab stops the take and applies it, so if you switched away mid-take, look for it in the tab you started it in.

REC Cont (Alt+F9) continues where the last recording stopped, but only until you move the cursor. Clicking in the waveform, jumping to the start or end, or playing the file all hand the start position back to the visible cursor. Look at where the cursor is before pressing Alt+F9 - that is where the take goes whenever no stop position is being remembered. Switching tabs also clears the remembered position.

That is what REC Cont does: the take is inserted and pushes the following audio later. To record over existing audio without changing the file length, use REC New (F9) or REC Sel (Shift+F9) instead. Ctrl+Z undoes an entire take in one step.

The recording folder is on a FAT32 drive, which cannot hold a file of 4 GB or more. Everything recorded up to that point is kept. Choose a recording folder on an NTFS or exFAT drive; there, a take can grow past 4 GB.

• If the input never delivered any audio, the take is empty and nothing is inserted. Watch the live waveform preview for a moment at the start of a long session.
• If the tab or the app was closed while recording, the capture is left in the Windows temp folder as PadoWaveEditor_record_*.wav and is removed automatically after about a day. You can open that file directly in the meantime.

Yes. Drag a file tab toward the middle of the wave panel and docking guides appear. Drop it on the right (or left, top or bottom) guide, and the wave panel splits so the two files are shown side by side.

Each pane has its own waveform, overview and information strip, so you can select a range and play or loop it in either file. To put them back together, drag the tab onto the centre guide of the other pane.

Drag audio files from Explorer and drop them anywhere on the wave panel to open them in new tabs. While you drag, a hint shows how many of the dragged files can be opened; unsupported formats and folders are ignored. Dropping a file that is already open simply switches to its tab. Drops are refused while another operation is loading or while recording is in progress. If you run Pado Wave Editor as an administrator, Windows blocks drags that come from a normal Explorer window.

Options > Keyboard Shortcuts (Shift+F1) opens the full list of commands with the key each one uses right now. The list is not fixed: double-click a row, or select it and choose Change, then press the key you want. If that key already belongs to another command, the dialog says which one and asks before taking it away. Clear removes a key, Reset puts one row back to its factory key, and Reset All puts every row back.

The same dialog also sets the letter that opens each top menu with Alt, and it saves whole layouts as named presets — type a name, and load it back later by that name. A letter that opens a top menu with Alt cannot also be given to a command, because the menu would always take it first. Presets store the menu letters as well, and putting every row back asks for confirmation first.

Help > Find a Command (Ctrl+P) is the quicker way in when you remember a command by name rather than by key. Type part of the name, use the arrow keys, and press Enter to run it.

The My presets box under the list keeps the sound you just built.

1. Adjust the formula and the values until it sounds right.
2. Type a name and press Save.
3. Saved presets appear in the list under My presets and are searchable like any other.

Saving with the same name overwrites; saving with a different name creates a new preset. To remove one, select it and press Delete (you will be asked to confirm).

⚠️ Worth remembering - save the sounds you actually use

The built-in presets keep being refined. Formulas and starting values may change from one update to the next, because the goal is to make them sound better.

That means the same preset can sound different after an update.

When you find a sound you like, give it a name and save it to My presets before you use it. Your presets live in a separate file, so an app update leaves them exactly as you saved them.

This matters most for sounds already used in a project. Save once, stop worrying.

The built-in MuseScore General sound font covers every standard (General MIDI) instrument. For richer instruments you can download another SF2 or SF3 sound font yourself. Such sound fonts are not part of the app and are not installed with it: you download them from their makers, and each one has its own licence, shown on its download page.

Two free sound fonts that work well:

• GeneralUser GS (about 31 MB, SF2): well-balanced instruments that load quickly. Download page: https://www.schristiancollins.com/generaluser
• Timbres of Heaven (about 440 MB SF2, delivered as a 300 MB .7z archive): a large set with rich orchestral instruments. Download page: https://midkar.com/SoundFonts/TOH.html

To use a downloaded sound font:

1. Download the file from its download page.
2. If it arrives as an archive (.zip or .7z), extract it. Recent versions of Windows 11 open both in File Explorer; otherwise use an archive tool such as 7-Zip.
3. Keep the .sf2 or .sf3 file in a folder you will not move, for example Documents\SoundFonts.
4. Choose Options > MIDI Sound Font > Choose Sound Font File... and pick the file.
5. Open the MIDI file again. A MIDI document that is already open keeps the sound it was opened with.

Good to know:

• A large sound font makes a MIDI file take a few seconds longer to open.
• The rendered sound is scaled so that its loudest moment reaches the level chosen in Options > MIDI Sound Font > Peak Level (-1 dBFS unless you change it), so every sound font gives the same peak level, and the file ends shortly after the last sound fades out. With Off (keep the rendered level) the level is the one the MIDI velocities and the sound font give; some sound fonts are much louder than others, so then use Normalize before saving as a 16-bit or 24-bit file if the waveform reaches the top of the scale.
• The reverb and chorus a MIDI file asks for are played, and a file that sets none gets the light reverb standard (General MIDI) players add. Turn off Options > MIDI Sound Font > Reverb and Chorus to render the sound dry, for example when you will add your own effects. Drum parts on channels other than 10 (GS and XG files), the sustain, sostenuto and soft pedals, and the modulation wheel (vibrato) are played too.
• If the chosen file is moved or deleted, MIDI files open with the built-in sound font again. Choose the file again to go back to it.
• Only SF2 and SF3 files can be used. SFZ files and plug-in instruments (VST) are not supported.
• Both sound fonts above allow personal use. GeneralUser GS also allows music made with it to be published, including commercially; Timbres of Heaven must not be passed on to other people. Terms can change, so check the licence on the download page before you publish music or share a sound font.

Note Analysis (Ctrl+Alt+N) lists the notes with their time, frequency, and cents deviation. In Chords mode it separates several keys sounding at once, such as a piano chord; in Melody mode it follows the single strongest pitch and also lists rests. Show score draws the result as sheet music with a detected tempo, time signature, and key, which you can change, and Save MIDI writes it as a standard MIDI file. You can correct the result in the score: click a note to select it (Ctrl+click adds more), then Delete removes it, the Up and Down arrow keys change its pitch (with Shift, by an octave), Left and Right move it by one grid step, Ctrl+Left and Ctrl+Right change its length, and Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y undo and redo. Save MIDI saves the edited notes. Frequency analysis and Note Analysis both analyze the audio before effect layers are applied, so a layer you have turned on is not reflected in their results.