Monday, November 4, 2002		Downloads

NOT many computer users defrag their hard drives what to talk of optimising them. This fortnight we feature a two-in-one freeware utility that defrags drives, optimises these and RAM but also lets you watch CPU utilisation. The other freeware is a digital recorder that uses direct-to-disk technology, which generates a genuine audio file format. This includes all track audio data. Both these programs are recommended for any computer user.

Free!Space

This is a useful disk or RAM utility. It allows browsing the hard disk in a cake-graph format, showing statistics of each folder or a sub-folder. Then you can easily launch standard OS optimisation utilities with one click. This version includes RAM tab and a CPU meter. This is a step-by-step procedure that describes how to get information on the fixed drives and optimise free space: Step 1: Launch Free!Space from the Start Menu or the icon on the desktop, depending on the type of installation you made. Step 2: The General Tab shows statistic of each drive/partition and system-allocated memory. Step 3: Select a drive from the combo box, after some seconds; depending upon the drive size, the cake-graph appears. Step 4: Browse the drive/partition by left clicking on a specific folder. Note that as you move the mouse over the graph the name of the selected folder appears in the bottom-right corner. Step 5: Right-click to view the browse menu. You can now open the selected folder on either single or tree-view like mode. Step 6: Now, select the Optimise Tab to launch scandisk and defragmentation utility on the selected drive or the show the Add/Remove applications window in order to free up some space. Free!Space includes a simple CPU meter showing CPU utilisation. You can enable or disable it in the Options menu and set its refresh interval. The hard disk tab lets you browse the hard disk(s) and see the size of every folder. This is a freeware available from www.luvisoft.com 

Quartz Studio Free

This is a digital recorder using direct-to-disk technology in the PC. Windows environment. Its four mono tracks can be used to record or import existing audio files. It has two additional mono tracks, linked together as one stereo track, which can also be used to import existing audio files and serve as backing tracks. Quartz Studio Free can manage up to two mono inputs and two mono outputs. The program offers PortaStudio like interface with clear and user friendly hardware-like control but with all features that only computer audio can provide. It generates a genuine audio file format that includes all your track audio data. Thus, you don’t need to have six separate audio files to make a six track mix, everything is stored in one unique single file. This method eases file management and optimises disk access while playback is running. It also allows to easily share the work with distant persons using the Internet and the Compressed Mix File format. The left area of the program main window includes the mixer "slices" where you can tweak the settings of each track. Each of the four first track slices include from top to bottom - two record switches, a balance knob, a mute switch, a solo switch, an effect button, a track name area, a volume slider and bargraph meter. The last two track slices, which correspond to the two backing tracks, only include a mute switch and a volume slider that are ganged together (i.e. when you change one track settings it also changes on the other). Give it a try by downloading from www.digitalsoundplanet.com