User Manual (version 3.2)
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………. 3
Project Launcher…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
Creating a new project…………………………………………………………………………………………….……
Creating a project from a folder………………………………………………………………….……..
Creating a project from an Excel file………………………………………………………….……….
Importing an ADX2 project…………………………………………………………………………….….
Importing a Fabric project………………………………………………………………………………….
Importing an FMOD project……………………………………………………………………………….
Importing a Wwise project………………………………………………………………………………...
General notes about importing projects…………………………………………………………….
Project information…………………………………………………………………………………………...
Editing a Project later………………………………………………………………………………………..

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Main window……………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….... 17
Command panel………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17
Project tree……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 18
Waveforms………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 19
Main workflow………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 20
Single-language workflow…………………………………………………………………………………... 20
Multi-language workflow……………………………………………………………………………………. 22
Analysis ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…. 24
Settings for single-language analysis…………………………………………………………..……… 25
Settings for multi-language comparison……………………………………………………………… 28
Running the analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………… 32
Reports view………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 33
Details………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 33
Statistics……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 35

2

Publishing……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 36
Correction……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 38
Settings for single-language correction..……..……………………………………………………. 38
Settings for multi-language conformity……..…..…………………………………………………. 40
Two correction modes…………………………..….…..…………………………………………………. 42
Running the correction………………………………………………………………………………………. 43
Exporting a project………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Exporting to ADX2………………………………………………………………………………………….….
Exporting to Wwise……………………………………………………………………………………………
Exporting to Excel………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Tools…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Program Settings………………………………………………………………………………………………
Find Files…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Edit source project in tool…………………………………………………………………………………
Synchronize with source project……………………………………………………………………….
Quick Check………….…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Interactive Dialogue Tester……………………………………………………………………………….
Speech Synthesizer……………………………………………………………………………………………
Batch Renamer…………………………………………………………………………………………….……
Loudness Equalizer……………………………………………………………………………………………
ID Generator…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Batch Processing with AudioBot™……………………………………………………………………..
LipSync with FaceFX™………………………………………………………………………………………..
VoiceFX………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Integration……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……
Importer Plug-ins……………………………………………………………………………………………….
Exporter Plug-ins……………………………………………………………………………………………….
Tool Plug-ins………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Command line version……………………………………………………………………………………….

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Support…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 81
Annex 1: Keyboard Shortcuts………………………………………………………………………………………… 82#205 e-Kigyokan 2-6-2 Yoneyama
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3

Introduction
As games grow bigger and become more complex, the amount of dialogue they require
increases dramatically. Once localized, it is not rare for a game to ship with thousands ortens of thousands of voice lines.
How to make sure that all these files are in the right format, at the right level and that
nothing is missing, in all languages? Checking thousands of recordings manually is timeconsuming and error-prone, when not impossible.
Meet Alto Studio. Whatever your naming convention or file hierarchy is, Alto Studio
analyzes your dialogue files and if needed compares them with a reference language,
reporting any errors it finds and even correcting them. Alto Studio can also import the lines
from an Excel sheet, or synchronize with game audio projects from middleware such as
Wwise, FMOD, ADX2 and Fabric.
Not only does Alto Studio check for missing or misnamed files, but it will also make sure thatthe audio format of each file is correct (sample rate, bit depth, number of channels),compare the average and peak loudness, the duration, leading or trailing silence of the files,
and even the timbre of the voices!
Alto Studio generates complete error reports and statistics (in XML, HTML, PDF or Excel
format) that you can then give to your client or manager.
Finally, Alto Studio is packed with very useful tools such as an audio batch renamer, a
loudness equalizer, an interactive dialogue tester, a placeholder speech synthesizer and a
vocal effect processor (VoiceFX) to mention just a few. It also integrates seamlessly with
FaceFX™ from OC3 Entertainment for lipsync and Tsugi’s own AudioBot™ for audio batchprocessing.
All these features, coupled with a rock-solid workflow and a smooth and intuitive userinterface make Alto an indispensable tool for anyone dealing with audio dialogue in games
or movies.

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4

Project Launcher
The Project Launcher is the first thing you see when you start Alto Studio. It displays
information about the latest version and notifies you if you need to update.
The Projects Launcher also displays the list of the most recently open projects so that you
can easily choose and load the right project. To do it, either select a project and click on
open or double-click on the project’s name. From the same window, you can also create a
new project or browse to an older or non-listed project.

Note: You can disable the Project Launcher (to start faster or to automatically load thelatest Alto Studio project you worked on) in the Settings window.

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5Creating a new project
Creating a project in Alto Studio consists in telling the software what are the reference andlocalized languages and where to find the corresponding audio assets (analysis settings will
also be saved in an Alto project file).
After pressing the “New Project” button, Alto Studio will propose you several options to getyour dialogue files into the project. You can reference audio assets which are on your hard
drive directly, or open an Excel sheet which contains the paths for all the files. You can also
import the dialogue files from a game audio project automatically. If you build importerplug-ins they will also appear in this window.

Note: It is also possible to create the right type of Alto Studio project automatically bydragging and dropping an ADX2, Fabric, FMOD or Wwise project or an Excel worksheet from
Windows Explorer onto Alto Studio’s main window.

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6

Creating a project from a folder
Single-language projectThis is the simplest type of Alto Studio project. Select this option if you only want to checkor process a set of audio files in a single language. You will be able to specify the root folder
in which the files are located and if you want to check the subfolders as well (if there areany).
You can switch from a single-language project to a multi-language project at any time by
selecting the “Edit Project…” command of the “File” menu. For example, you can start witha single-language project at the beginning of the development of a game and then add new
languages as the project grows and they become available.

Multi-language project
Like for the single-language project, this option allows you to reference the audio files
directly by selecting in what folder they are. Because the naming schemes and the ways toorganize dialogue files can vary from one company to another and even between projects,
Alto Studio lets you specify an optional suffix, prefix and subfolder per language.

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7First you will need to select the root folder of your project (the common folder under which
all the assets can be found). Note that if your assets are in very different folders on yourmachine, you can also simply select the drive or partition for the root folder.

Then you can add the languages you will work with. The
files for each language can have a prefix (i.e. a group ofcharacters that will be added at the beginning of the filenames), a suffix (a group of characters added at the end),or even both.
For example, maybe your files in Italian have the samenames than your English files (which may be yourreference) but are prefixed with “IT_”. You can also
specify a subfolder. The naming convention and locationof the files can be different for each language. Italian isusing a prefix but maybe French dialogue lines arecoming from another translator and they have “_Fr”
suffix, and files in Spanish have the same names than thereference files but are located in another folder.

Note: a language can only be added once and each language must have a unique way to berecognized from the others. This means than two languages cannot have the exact samecombination of prefix, suffix and subfolder.
Adding languages and editing their properties can quickly become cumbersome if you haveto do it for every project. Fortunately, when you select the root folder of your project, if
subfolders are detected, languages can be automatically added for each one of them. Alto
Studio also provides you with a way to save and recall presets. That way, if you always use
the same set of languages and the same suffixes or prefixes, or the same subfolders
hierarchy, you will only have to define them once.

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8

Selecting a preset will replace the list of languages (after a confirmation message).
Moreover, if you press the “Edit…” button, a new window will appear, allowing you tocreate a preset from the current settings, to remove a preset from the list, or to rename it.
Alto Studio comes with useful presets for the sets of languages commonly used inlocalization: FIGS (French, Italian, German and Spanish), CJK (Chinese, Japanese and Korean),
ZPHR (Czech, Polish, Hungarian and Russian) and PTB (Brazilian Portuguese).
Note: Alto Studio can read and analyze audio assets in the following formats: Wave, Aiff,
Flac, Ogg Vorbis and MP3.

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9Creating a project from an Excel file
Many game, localization and recording studios use Excel sheets to keep track of the files tolocalize. Alto Studio lets you import and analyze the files referenced in Excel sheets.
First, you will have to specify the Excel document and then indicate how the Excel workbook
is organized. It is possible to choose between two modes of organization:-

A single sheet with one language per column.

-

Multiple sheets (one per language). In that case, extra combo boxes will allow you toselect the columns in which the file paths are indicated, as well as the characternames and script lines (optional).

It is also possible to only consider the columns which are available on each sheet.
For both modes of organization, the first row of a sheet can be ignored (in case it is simply aheader).

All columns - or sheets, depending on the mode you chose - will appear in the list oflanguages. If some of them contain a different type of information, simply uncheck them inthe list to avoid taking them into account.
Note: if only relative paths are provided in the worksheet, Alto Studio will look for the files inthe same folder than the Excel workbook.

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10Importing an ADX2 project
It is possible to create an Alto Studio project by importing dialogue files directly from the
ADX2 game audio middleware from CRI Middleware (please note that ADX LE, the light
edition, is not supported by Alto Studio).

First, you will have to select your ADX2 project file (it will have the .atmcproject extension).
Alto Studio will analyze it and display all the available languages, as well as theircorresponding subfolder names, as defined in the Language Settings in the AtomCraft tool.
You can choose the reference language among these languages or simply leave it at “Default”
like in AtomCraft.
Because ADX2 does not explicitly make the distinction between dialogue and regular soundeffects, if you were to run an analysis at this point you would get many “missing files” errors
as the sound effects won’t have localized versions. To avoid this, you can also choose a
Category. Only the waveforms used in cues associated with that category will be imported
and checked by Alto Studio.
It is also possible that all your dialogue sounds are grouped in one or several CueSheets. In
that case, you can ignore the category (set it to “Any”) and select the CueSheets from which
you wish to import the data.
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11

Importing a Fabric project
Fabric is a game middleware from Tazman-Audio which extends Unity’s audio functionality.
Since its version 2.2, the parameters of the Fabric audio components can be exported in
XML format, which makes it possible for Alto Studio to synchronize with Fabric.

First, the path to the Fabric XML file must be selected. This file stores information about thelanguages used in the project (such as their name, prefix and subfolder). It also includes thepaths to the audio files referenced by the Dialogue component of Fabric. These paths are
relative to the Unity project resources folder, so you need to indicate it as well.
Once these two paths have been specified, the list of languages in the projects will appear.
At this point you can decide to keep them all or to remove some of them if you know thatthey are already bug-free.
Finally, you need to select the reference language before pressing OK. When this is done,
the project tree of Alto Studio will be populated with dialogue files from the reference
language.

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12

Importing an FMOD project
Alto Studio can import projects from FMOD Designer, the game audio middleware from
Firelight Technologies (once their new product FMOD Studio has specific features for
dialogue, support for it will be added in Alto Studio as well).

Like for the other game audio middleware, the first step is to select your project. In the caseof FMOD Designer, this will be an .fdp file. The list of languages defined in this project will
be displayed. After choosing the languages of interest, you can select the reference
language.
To avoid analyzing the whole project including sound effects and music, Alto Studio lets you
select the banks that contain dialogue. Note that in FMOD Designer, a waveform file canhave a different prefix for each language in each bank, so it makes sense to base the importon banks.

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13

Importing a Wwise project
Wwise is a game audio middleware from Audiokinetic. Because dialogue files are treated a
bit differently than regular sound effects in Wwise (and therefore can be recognizedautomatically), synchronizing with a Wwise project is very easy.
You only need to select the Wwise project (the file with the .wproj extension), choose thelocalized languages you want to keep and indicate the reference language (the default value
will be read from the Wwise project as well). Alto Studio will find all the files automatically.
There is no need to select a category to which all dialogue files would belong to.

Note: The Wwise authoring tool keeps all the files you import in its project folders, evenwhen they are not referenced anymore. To avoid processing these files unnecessarily, you
can use the File Manager tool within Wwise to remove them, or you can exclude them in theanalysis and correction settings windows of Alto Studio.

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14

General notes about importing projects
All these project types allow you to select the languages you want. We recommend that you
keep all the languages, which is why they are all selected by default. Later, when you set theanalysis parameters, you will be able to ignore some of them if needed. Examples of cases
where you may not want to keep a language in a project are:- If you are a localization company and you are only dealing with a subset of the languages.
- If some languages have already been delivered and you are certain that you will not needto test them.
During the course of a localization project, new files will be added and existing files may be
updated or removed. If the project is modified while Alto Studio is running, you can press
the “Synchronize” button from the control panel (or use the corresponding command in the“Tools” menu) to get the latest versions of the files.

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15

Project Information
You can display the details of the current project at any time. Simply go the “File” menu andselect the “Project Information…” command. A window will appear that displays details
about the Alto Studio project itself (such as its name, its path, its file version, the dates ofcreation and last modification and its author) as well as information about its data: was it
imported from a game audio middleware project, an Excel sheet, a plug-in etc…, what is thereference language, how many files does it have, and what are the localized languages.

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16

Editing a Project later
If you created a single-language or a multi-language project, you can add, remove or edit
the languages by selecting the “Edit Project…” command from the “File” menu. For example,
this allows you to switch from a single-language project to a multi-language one as yourproject evolves from the prototype phase to the production phase.
The editing window is similar to the one you use when creating a multi-language project soplease refer to the corresponding section of this documentation for further details.

Note: The list of languages in the other types of projects depends on the settings entered inexternal authoring tools. If you create an Alto Studio project for ADX2, Fabric, FMOD, or
Wwise for example, the “Edit Project…” command will be unavailable.
If you need to add a language to a game audio project, do it in the game audio middleware’s
authoring tool and reimport the project or use the “Synchronize” button from Alto Studio’scommand panel (this function is also available in the “Tools” menu under “ Synchronize
with Source Project” or by using the Ctrl+K key shortcut).

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17

Main window
The main window is divided in three areas:-

At the top, the command panel offers a convenient way to access the mostcommonly used functions of the tool.
On the left, the project tree displays the list of the audio assets in the reference
language.
Finally, the main view allows the visualization of the selected audio file and its
localized counterparts, as well as the display of the error reports and statistics afteran analysis.

Command Panel
The most useful functions of the menu are duplicated on the command panel for easy
access. It is also where we can switch between the two modes of the main view: waveforms
and reports.

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18

Project Tree
Once you created a new project or loaded an existing one, you will be placed in the
waveforms mode.
In this mode, the “project tree” is located on the left side and the “waveforms view” on theright. The project tree displays all the files from the reference language, as they areorganized on disk (i.e. in folders and subfolders).

In the project tree, it is possible to play the selected file by pressing Space. Pressing Enter
will open that same reference file in the default sound editor. The path to that editor can be
specified in the settings window. Control + Enter will open not only the reference file but
also all the localized files in the default sound editor. Finally, Control + Shift + Enter will open
Window Explorer and show the reference file in its folder. These functions are also available
via the project tree’s context menu when right-clicking on a reference file.

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19

Main View
By default, when the user clicks on a reference dialogue file in the project tree, its waveform
is displayed on the right in the waveforms view, side by side with a localized waveform,
which makes it easy to compare them visually. However the languages of the dialogue files
displayed can be chosen with a combo box on the top of the waveforms view and it istherefore possible to compare two localized dialogue lines in different languages.

Clicking on the waveforms will play the corresponding dialogue files. In addition to the
waveforms, the spectral representations of the dialogue lines are also displayed, as well as
the properties of the sound files such as sample rate, bit depth, number of channels,
duration, size of the files or their last modification time and date.

If the file is associated with a script line and a character name, they are displayed as well.
If the file is missing in the selected language, of course none of that will be displayed (onlythe name of the missing file will be present).
In addition to the waveforms of the audio files, the main view can also display the results of
the analyses. There is a full section of this documentation dedicated to the Report View.

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20

Main Workflow
Although Alto Studio offers many audio tools that can be used at any time, the central
workflow revolves around the analysis and correction of dialogue files.
This workflow is slightly different based on whether you are working with a single-language
or with a multi-language project.

Single-language workflow

In the case of a single language project, the analysis settings only let the user select what
audio features to check. There is no margin of error to define as there is no comparison andtherefore no reference.

In the same manner, the reports can only display the exact values found during the analysis
step and no variation from a reference value.

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21

Finally, the correction step requires the specification of target values since there is are noreferences. The correction settings therefore allow you to specify values for the sample rate,
the number of channels, the bit depth, the leading / trailing silences and the average
loudness, as depicted below.

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22

Multi-language workflow

In the case of a multi-language project, the analysis becomes a comparison and thecorrection makes the localized files conform to the reference ones.

The comparison settings allow you to define the allowed variation from the reference
language, either in absolute or in relative terms. For example, the margin of error for theduration of the trailing silence could be 2 seconds (absolute) or +/- 10% (relative).
The goal of the comparison in a multi-language project is to find errors between dialogue
lines in different languages, while the analysis in a single-language project simply returns
information about the files.
The picture below shows that the report for a multi-language project not only shows thecharacteristics of the audio files examined, but also the characteristics of the reference files
and the variation.

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23

The conformity settings do not require target values as there already is a reference file tomatch. However, it is possible to choose a more or less accurate correction (“exact value” or“closest valid value”) to avoid processing the original file too much.

The analysis and correction settings as well as the report views for both single-language andmultiple-language projects will be detailed in the next sections of this documentation.

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24

Analysis
After creating a project and importing audio assets, the next step is to analyze or comparethem.
To start a single-language analysis, select the “Single-Language Analysis…” command of the“Processing” menu or press Ctrl+Shift+A. You can also press on the “Analyze” button fromthe command panel.
To start a multi-language comparison, select the “Multi-Language Comparison…” commandof the “Processing” menu or press Ctrl + A. You can also press on the “Compare” button
from the command panel.
In both cases, a settings window will appear, allowing for the specification of the analysis
and comparison parameters. In this window, it is possible to select the language(s) for which
you want to perform the analysis and to activate / deactivate the different audio properties
you want to check.
Please note that not all analysis operations take the same time. Some operations are very
fast, such as checking if a file is present or not, some take a bit more time as the file is open
and its header checked (e.g. for bit depth, sample rate or channel number) and others
require the audio data to be processed. Spectral-based operations such as the average
pitch are the most CPU-intensive as they involve the computation of a Fast Fourier
Transform among other things.
However, Alto Studio is well optimized and the analysis is always very fast when you
consider the number of operations it performs (actually you can check the total number ofassets and the total duration of dialogue analyzed in the statistics). Alto also supports multicore processing, which means that the more cores your machine has, the faster the analysis
and the processing will be. The Alto Studio FAQ, available on our web site, provides somebenchmarks for reference.

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25

Settings for single-language analysis
When starting a new analysis, the analysis settings window appears.

Language
The list of languages in your project is displayed. You can select the one you want to analyze.
You can run a single-language analysis on any type of project. It does not have to be a singlelanguage project.

Characters
If your project includes character names (e.g. if you imported an Excel worksheet), you canalso select what characters’ dialogue lines to take into account.
Excluded files…
This button opens a new window, in which it is possible to specify the files that should be
excluded from the analysis, for example if they are already known to be fine or, on contrary,
to be temporary assets.

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26

Format
The format section checks the audio characteristics of the files (but not the audio data itself).
File type
If this option is checked, the analysis will report the file type (wave, aiff, flac, ogg or mp3)
Sample rate
If this option is checked, the analysis will report the sample rate of the audio file (e.g. 44.1
kHz).
Bit depth
If this option is checked, the analysis will report the bit depth of the audio file (e.g. 16-bit).
Channels
If this option is checked, the analysis will report the number of channels of the audio file (e.g.
2 for stereo).

Level
Integrated Loudness
If this option is checked, the integrated - or program - loudness of the audio file will becalculated in LUFS. (Please note that if the sound is shorter than 400 ms, the integrated
loudness is not available (as defined in the EBU R 128 specifications).
Loudness Range
If this option is checked, the loudness range of the audio file will be calculated in LU. Please
note that if the sound is shorter than 3000 ms, the loudness range is not available (asdefined in the EBU R 128 specifications).
Peak
If this option is checked, the peak loudness (i.e. the maximum instantaneous loudness) of
the audio file will be calculated. This value is also calculated in accordance with the EBU R
128 specifications.

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27

TimingTotal Duration
If this option is checked, the total duration of the audio file is reported (in seconds).
Silence In
If this option is checked, the duration of silence at the beginning of the audio file is reported(in seconds).
Silence Out
If this option is checked, the duration of silence at the end of the audio file reported (inseconds).
Silence Threshold
The Silence In and Silence Out analyses need to know from what level a signal is consideredas silent. The silence threshold corresponds to that value and is expressed in decibels (dB).

Spectral
Average Pitch
If this option is checked, the average pitch of the audio file is calculated. Please note that
this calculation can be time-consuming as it includes the computation of a FFT (Fast Fourier
Transform). The pitch is expressed in Hz and indicates how low or high the voice is.
Note: you can activate / deactivate all the analyses of a group (format, level, timing or
spectral) by clicking on its header. For example to activate all the level analyses, simply clickon the “Level” header. Click again to deactivate all the analyses of that group.
Note: you can of course use Alto Studio’s analysis feature on non-dialogue audio files. This isvery useful to check that all your sound effects are at the same sample rate or have the same
bit-depth for example.

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28

Settings for multi-language comparison
When starting a new comparison, the comparison settings window appears.

Languages
The list of the localized languages in your project is displayed. You can select the ones you
want to compare to the reference.

Characters
If your project includes character names (e.g. if you imported an Excel worksheet), you canalso select what characters’ dialogue lines to take into account.

Files
This section checks the presence or absence of files and detects extra or misnamed files.
Missing files
They correspond to the files which are present in the reference language but missing in a
localized language.

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Extra / misnamed files
They correspond to the files which are present in a localized languages but have noequivalent in the reference language. This could be some extra data that has been
mistakenly copied in a folder, or it could be a misnamed file. In that case you will most likely
see two errors: a missing file and an extra file with the wrong name.
Note: the filename comparison in Alto Studio is case-insensitive. Therefore, the files“dialogue_01.wav” and “DIALOGUE_01.WAV” will be considered as having the same name.
Excluded files…
This button opens a new window, in which it is possible to specify the files that should be
excluded from the analysis, for example if they are already known to be fine or, on contrary,
to be temporary assets.

Format
The format section checks the audio characteristics of the files (but not the audio data itself).
File type
If this option is checked, the analysis will report any file type difference. For example, if a filein the reference language is in WAVE format and the corresponding file in a localized
language is in AIFF format, an error will be reported.

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Sample rate
If this option is checked, the analysis will report any sample rate difference. For example if
the file in the reference language has been recorded at 48 kHz and the file in the localized
language has a sample rate of 44.1 kHz, an error will be reported.
Bit depth
If this option is checked, the analysis will report bit depth differences. For example, if a filein the reference language has been recorded in 24-bit and the file in the localized language
has a bit depth of 16-bit, an error will be reported.
Channels
If this option is checked, the analysis will report differences in the number of channels. For
example, if the file in the reference language has been recorded in mono and the file in thelocalized language is stereo, an error will be reported.

Level
The parameters in this section allow us to ensure that the levels are coherent between thereference and the localized languages.
Integrated Loudness
If this option is checked, the integrated - or program - loudness of the dialogue lines will becalculated in LUFS (or LKFS, which is the same). If the integrated loudness from the localized
file differs from the one of the reference file by more than the variation allowed, an error
will be reported. Please note that if the sound is shorter than 400 ms, the integrated
loudness is not available (as defined in the EBU R 128 specifications).
Loudness Range
If this option is checked, the loudness range of the dialogue lines will be calculated in LU. If
the loudness range from the localized file differs from the one of the reference file by morethan the variation allowed, an error will be reported. Please note that if the sound is shorter
than 3000 ms, the loudness range is not available (as defined in the EBU R 128
specifications).
Peak
If this option is checked, the peak loudness (i.e. the maximum instantaneous loudness) of a
dialogue line will be calculated. If the peak loudness (expressed in dBTP or dB True Peak) of
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variation allowed, an error will be reported. This value is also calculated in accordance with
the EBU R 128 specifications.

TimingTotal Duration
If this option is checked, the total duration of the reference file is compared to the total
duration of the localized file. If it differs by more than the variation allowed, an error will bereported. For all the timing analyses, acceptable error margins can be indicated either inabsolute or in relative terms. For example it is possible to set the allowed variation to +/- 5
seconds (which is an absolute duration) or to +/-10% of the duration of the reference file(which is a relative duration).
Silence In
If this option is checked, the duration of silence at the beginning of the reference file iscompared to the one at the beginning of the localized file. If it differs by more than thevariation allowed, an error will be reported. The variation can be absolute (in seconds) or
relative (in %).
Silence Out
If this option is checked, the duration of silence at the end of the reference file is comparedto the one at the end of the localized file. If it differs by more than the variation allowed, anerror will be reported. The variation can be absolute (in seconds) or relative (in %).
Silence Threshold
The Silence In and Silence Out analyses need to know from what level a signal is consideredas silent. The silence threshold corresponds to that value and is expressed in decibels (dB).

Spectral
The spectral section focuses on the pitch and timbre of the voice and is more of a qualitative
analysis.
Average Pitch
If this option is checked, the average pitch of each dialogue line is calculated. Please notethat this calculation can be time-consuming as it includes the computation of a FFT (Fast
Fourier Transform). If the average pitch from the localized file differs from the one of thereference file by more than the variation allowed, an error will be reported. The pitch isexpressed in Hz and indicates how low or high the voice is. Therefore, it is useful to#205 e-Kigyokan 2-6-2 Yoneyama
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determine if the files have been recorded by the right voice actor. Some effects may also
alter pitch so it is a good way to detect if a file has been processed when it should not have.

Note: Alto Studio shows units which are commonly used by audio professional but may beless familiar to some members of the localization staff for example. The default values
should work well in most cases and represent a good first choice. For instance, a value of
10% for the duration variation is usual. It is recommended to start with these default values
and progressively modify them if needed.

Running the Analysis
Once your analysis parameters are set, simply press on “Analyze” to analyze or compare
your audio dialogue files. During the analysis, a progress window is displayed that indicatesthe percentage of completion, the file which is currently being processed and the time
elapsed.
It is possible to abort the analysis at any time.

Alto Studio leverages the multi-core architecture of your machine to allow for faster
analyses.

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Reports View
After running an analysis, Alto Studio switches to the reports view, in which you can see thedetails for each type of error, as well as global statistics about the project.

Details
At the top of the report view, two lines of switches let the user specify what type of errors
he wants to see and for what languages. It is therefore very easy to create a customized
report with only the information of interest. For example, a report could be generated only
for the format errors detected, and only for the French and Italian languages.

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The options for the errors are the 5 main categories: Files, Format, Level, Timing andSpectral. All types of errors in these categories will be reported. This means that for example
if “Level” is selected, all errors of type “Integrated Loudness”, “Loudness Range” and “Peak”
will be reported.
An extra switch labelled “No Error” allows the display of information about the files forwhich no error was detected. It makes it possible for example to see what the variation
between the reference and the localized languages was and if it was close to the error
margin.
If the project includes many languages, the small triangular arrows on the left and on theright of the switch rows can be used to navigate between them.
On the right, the dual “Select All” / “Select None” buttons offer
a quick way to select all the error types and all the languages, ornone. Another way to quickly select/unselect a tab is to use the
Tab key to navigate and press the Space bar.

It is possible double-click on the name of a file in the error report to instantly switch back towaveforms mode, where the erroneous localized file and its reference file will be displayedside by side for comparison. It is possible to do the same by pressing Ctrl + Tab.
A couple of other useful keyboard shortcuts are available when a file is selected in the error
report: pressing space will play the localized file and control-space will play the reference
file, while pressing Enter will open the localized file in the default sound editor specified in
the settings window.
To navigate quickly between the different languages and types of errors, a set of buttons areavailable on the right of the error report.
Jumps to the previous language
Jumps to the previous type of error

Jumps to the next type of error
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Statistics
The “statistics” button displays statistics, both global and per language. Pie charts and bar
graphs are available for a quicker visualization of the results.
Global statistics show the percentages of errors per type and per language. Then statistics
for each language can be consulted to check the details, as depicted below.

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Publishing
The analysis reports can be published in various formats. In all cases, both the “Details” andthe “Statistics” pages are exported.

XML
XML is a text-based file format that could for example be read by a third party tool. One canimagine a game audio tool that would read the results of the Alto Studio analysis and markthe assets as final or not.

HTML
Publishing the analysis report in HTML allows it to be interactive and easy to integrate on acompany’s intranet for example. Clicking on the name of the files will open another window
and play them.

Excel
Alto Studio can generate Excel sheets that will look exactly like the reports in the software.
They could be used to make extra calculations for example, or to integrate the results withother reports. As for the HTML reports, clicking on the name of the files will open anotherwindow and play them.

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PDF
Publishing the report in PDF allows for a better quality when zooming and printing. The PDF
document contains an extra header and displays a “Failed” or “Passed” stamp. This is theideal type of document for a localization company to give to a client while delivering
localized audio assets, as a gage of quality.

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Correction SettingsOnce an analysis has been performed, it is possible to correct the errors that have beenfound. The correction settings window can be used to select which types of errors you wantto correct, for what language, and where to put the corrected files.

Single-language correction
The correction settings window for a single language is depicted below.

Characters
If your project’s dialogue lines are associated with character names, you can specify forwhich character you want to perform the correction.
Generate beep for missing file
Although the correction is based on a single-language analysis, in some cases Alto Studio canstill determine that a file is missing (for example if it was referenced by an Excel sheet or agame audio middleware). If this option is checked, Alto Studio will generate a 1-second longsine wave file at 44100 Hz in mono to replace missing files.
Correct sample rate
If this option is checked, Alto Studio will resample the audio file (if needed) so that itmatches the sample rate specified by the user.

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Correct channels
If this option is checked, Alto Studio will convert the number of channels of the audio file.
Correct bit depth
If this option is checked, Alto Studio will convert the bit-depth of the audio file so that itmatches the bit-depth specified by the user.
Correct silence in
If this option is checked, Alto Studio will add or remove silence at the beginning of the audio
file to match the silence duration specified by the user.
Correct silence out
If this option is checked, Alto Studio will add or remove silence at the end of the audio file tomatch the silence duration specified by the user.
Correct loudness
If this option is checked, Alto Studio will adjust the loudness of the audio file to match theloudness specified by the user.
Finally, the last section of the correction settings window lets you control how the correctedsounds are saved. Here, you can decide if you want to overwrite the existing files or if you
want to create new files.
If you opt for the creation of new files, you can either save them in the same folder (while
adding a suffix to the original name), or you can save them with their original name but
under a different root folder. Both the suffix and the new root folder are user-definable.
Note: When you choose to save the corrected files in a new folder, you can either recreate
the whole hierarchy or save them in a flat folder (i.e. no subfolders are created). In the latter
case, if several files share the same name, they will be overwritten. Alto Studio will detectthat case and ask you to change the output option first.

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Multi-language correction
With the multi-language project correction, the first step is to select what language files wewant to correct. The list of the project languages is displayed. You simply have to check theboxes of the languages of interest. If you don’t want to correct some specific files, press on
the “Excluded files…” button. However, please note that the files you will exclude in thewindow that opens are reference files, which means that all their localized versions will be
excluded.
Note: the files for which no error was detected during the analysis will not be processed, so
you don’t have to manually exclude them from the correction.
If your project’s dialogue lines are associated with character names, you can also specify forwhich character you want to perform the correction.

The second step is to select the errors you want to fix. Only errors reported by an analysis
can be corrected. This means that if you didn’t analyze the integrated loudness of the files
for example, it will be disabled in the correction settings window.
Correct missing fileObviously Alto Studio cannot recreate the missing files. However, it can generate an error
signal (a sine wave at 440 Hz) of the same duration than the reference file. For example, thismay prevent a game from crashing due to the missing asset while making it obvious to thetester that this dialogue line has a problem. Alternatively, Alto Studio can also replace the#205 e-Kigyokan 2-6-2 Yoneyama
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missing localized file by the reference file. Again, the game will not crash but hearing a
dialogue line in the wrong language will alert the tester that something is not right.
Correct sample rate
Alto Studio will resample the audio file at the correct sample rate.
Correct channels
Alto Studio will increase or decrease the number of channels. Note that when increasing thenumber of channels, silent channels are added.
Wrong bit depth
Alto Studio will save the file with the right bit depth, although it will not be able to make up
for the lost accuracy due to a localized file being recording at a lower bit depth.
Correct silence in
Alto Studio will either add or suppress silence at the beginning of a localized audio file tomatch the reference file.
Correct silence out
Alto Studio will either add or suppress silence at the end of a localized audio file to matchthe reference file.
Correct loudness
Alto Studio will process the localized file so that it has the same average loudness than thereference file.

Finally, the last section of the correction settings window lets you control how the correctedsounds are saved. Here, you can decide if you want to overwrite the existing files or if you
want to create new files. If you opt for the creation of new files, you can either save them inthe same folder (while adding a suffix to the original name), or you can save them with their
original name but under a different root folder. Both the suffix and the new root folder areuser-definable.
Note: When you choose to save the corrected files in a new folder, you can either recreate
the whole hierarchy or save them in a flat folder (i.e. no subfolders are created). In the latter
case, if several files share the same name, they will be overwritten. Alto Studio will detectthat case and ask you to change the output option first.

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Two correction modes
When an audio parameter accepts a margin of error during the analysis, it is possible tochoose between two modes of correction. In the “exact value” mode, the localized file iscorrected so that the audio property matches exactly the one in the reference file. In the“closest valid value” mode, the audio property is assigned the value within the margin oferror which will minimize the modification of the localized file.

For example, let’s take the case where the reference file has an integrated loudness of -23
LUFS, the authorized range during analysis being -26 LUFS to -20 LUFS (+/- 3 LU), and the
localized file has an integrated loudness of -16 LUFS. Since -16 LUFS is outside the valid
loudness range, an error was reported by the analysis.
If you select the “exact value” mode, the localized file will be processed to match -23 LUFS
exactly. However, if you select “closest valid value”, then the localized file will be processed
to match a -20 LUFS integrated loudness, which is the closest value in the valid range, andtherefore minimizes the amount of correction needed.

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Running the Correction
The correction can be started from the command panel at the top of Alto Studio’s main
window. It will first display the correction settings described in the previous section andthen let you run the correction. The following window will be displayed.

Only the files which have an error will be processed, and only if that error needs to becorrected (as set in the correction settings window). It is possible to abort the correction at
any time.
The correction can also be run from the “Processing” menu.

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Exporting a project
It is possible to export an Alto Studio project by using the “Export Project…” command of
the “File” menu. A window will appear allowing you to select the right exporter.
At this time, a project can be exported as an Excel worksheet or towards ADX2 and Wwise.
Alto Studio’s exporters to game audio middleware are regularly updated to support thelatest versions of these tools.
You can also develop your own Alto Studio exporter as a plug-in. A simple XML exporterplug-in is provided as an example.
For more information about this, please refer to the Alto Studio Integration Notes available
on our web site or download the full Alto Studio SDK.

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Export to ADX2To export to ADX2 (or rather AtomCraft, ADX2’s authoring tool), you must first select thetarget project at the top of the window.

Then you can customize your export. First, you can choose the languages from which thefiles be exported as Materials in the AtomCraft project, and if they should be put in a
subfolder.
If your Alto Studio project includes script lines and character names, you can also select the
Export characters and script lines as comments option to add them as comments of theMaterials.
If you also want to generate Cues, make sure the “Generate cues” option is selected. You
will then be able to configure the following settings.

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Work unit: the existing or new work unit in which you want to add the dialogue.
CueSheet folder: an optional CueSheet folder (existing or new) in which the CueSheet will be
added.
CueSheet: the name of the CueSheet (existing or new) in which the Cues will be created.
Cue folder: an optional Cue folder (existing or new) in which the Cues will be added.
Hierarchy: the hierarchy of the data created. Two types of hierarchies are available: one cue
for all sounds, and one cue per sound.
Cue type: the type of Cues to be created. All the types of Cues from ADX2 are available:
Polyphonic, Sequential, Shuffle, Random, RandomNoRepeat, Switch, and ComboSequential.
Cue category: if needed, you can select a category for the Cues that will be created.
Cue bus map: this is the bus map you want to send the audio dialogue through.

Finally, you can specify a few default values for the Cue parameters:
Voice behaviour: indicates the way a voice of that Cue behaves when it becomes silent, as
defined in AtomCraft: Normal, Voice Stop, Voice Virtual, and Voice Virtual Retrigger.
Volume: a value between 0 and 1 that represents the volume of a voice from the Cue.
Random volume: a random range for the volume, between 0 and 1.
Pitch: a detuning value between -1200 and +1200 cents (i.e. between -1 octave and +1
octave). 0 means no change in pitch.
Random pitch: a random range for the pitch, between -1200 and + 1200 cents.

Once your press OK, the exporter will copy all the dialogue files in the right folders in the
Materials folder of your AtomCraft project and update the material info file. It will also
generate the work unit, CueSheet folder (optional), CueSheet, Cue folder (optional) andfinally the Cues. It will also apply the parameters you specified to all the Cues.
If you click on the Open after export checkbox, AtomCraft will be launched and your project
loaded once the export is completed, and you will be able to check the results.

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Export to Wwise
To export to Wwise, you must first select the target project at the top of the window.

Then you can customize your export. First you can define how the dialogue assets will beorganized within the Wwise project with following settings:
Work unit name: this is the name of the work unit you want to create for your dialogue in
the Wwise project. At this time, the Wwise exporter will always create (or overwrite) a work
unit. It is not possible to add files to an existing work unit.
Container name: this is the name of the container that will be created in the work unit tocontain the sounds.
Container type: this is the type of the container. All Wwise container types are available:
None, Folder, ActorMixer, RandomContainer, SequenceContainer, SwitchContainer, andBlendContainer.
Dialogue Bus: this is the bus you want to send the audio dialogue through. Alto Studio getsthe list of the busses from the Wwise project.

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You can also specify the default properties of the Sound Voice objects that will be
automatically created.
Default voice volume: this is the default volume (or rather scaling) of the voice. It is
expressed in decibels (dB). The valid range goes from -96 to +12, with 0 corresponding to nochange.
Default voice pitch: this is the default pitch (or rather detune) of the voice. It is expressed incents. The valid range goes from -2400 to 2400, which corresponds to -2 octaves to +2
octaves, with 0 being no change.
Default voice lowpass: this percentage corresponds to the amount of lowpass filtering
applied to the voice.
Default voice highpass: this percentage corresponds to the amount of highpass filtering
applied to the voice.

Finally you can specify from what languages the files will be exported. If your project
includes script lines and / or character names, it is also possible to attach them to the Sound
Voices as notes, as shown below. Simply select the Export characters and script lines as
notes option.

Once your press OK, the exporter will copy all the dialogue files in the right language
subfolders in the “Originals/Voices” folder of your Wwise project. It will also generate thework unit, container and all the sound voice objects, applying the parameters you specified.
If you click on the Open after export checkbox, Wwise will be launched and your project
loaded once the export is completed, and you will be able to check the results.

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Export to Excel
It is possible to export towards Excel. You can select what languages you want to export andthe Excel exporter lets you also choose if you want all the files on the same sheet or if you
want to have a sheet per language.

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Tools
The Tools menu gives access to commands that facilitate audio localization in general andthe use of Alto Studio in particular. This menu will grow regularly: new commands are
already in development at Tsugi to help the audio localization team in its work, such as a
generator for placeholder dialogue files or a function for automatic adjustment of theloudness of all files.
Note: In the free trial version of Alto Studio, some tools are disabled and some have limited
features.

Settings
Here we describe the various parameters available in the main program settings. These
parameters are not associated with a specific project but dictate the general behavior of theAlto Studio tool.

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Default Paths
Alto projects
This is the default folder where Alto Studio will look for project files. The Alto Studio project
files are XML files with the extension “.alto”.
Alto reports
This is the default folder where Alto Studio will publish reports (either in XML, HTML, PDF oras Excel files).
Audio files
This is the default folder where Alto Studio will look for audio files (.wav,.aif,.mp3,.ogg
and .flc).
ADX2 projects
This is the default folder where Alto Studio will look for ADX2 project files. The ADX2 project
files are Orca files with the extension “.atmcproject”.
Fabric XMLsThis is the default folder where Alto Studio will look for XML files exported by Fabric.
Unity projects
This is the default folder where Alto Studio will look for Unity projects. For example, theFabric importer needs to know the path to the resource files of a Unity project.
FMOD projects
This is the default folder where Alto Studio will look for FMOD Designer project files. The
FMOD Designer project files are text files based on XML with the extension “.fdp”.
Wwise projects
This is the default folder where Alto Studio will look for Wwise project files. The Wwise
project files are XML files with the extension “.wproj”.
Sound editor
In some cases, Alto Studio allows you to select a sound file and to edit it in an externalsound editor, for example to fix an error. This is the path of the executable that will belaunched to edit the sound files.
AudioBot
This is the path to the AudioBot executable. AudioBot is Tsugi’s audio batch processing tool.
It can be called from the “Tools” menu to process Alto Studio’s dialogue lines automatically.
FaceFX actors
This is the default folder where Alto Studio will look for models to generate LipSync datawith FaceFX.

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MiscellaneousOpen last project at startup
If this box is checked, Alto Studio will attempt to open the last project edited the next time
the program is started. If the project cannot be loaded - either because it has been moved /deleted or because the user does not have access rights - the program will start normallywith options to create a new project or to load an existing one.
This option is only taken into account when the Project Launcher is disabled (see below).
Do not start the Project Launcher
By default, when Alto Studio is started, the Project Launcher is displayed. It shows thehighlights of the latest version and notifies you if you are not up-to-date. The Project
Launcher also displays the list of the most recent Alto Studio projects you worked on, sothat you can choose the right one and load it easily.
However, if you want to skip this step – and maybe also automatically load the latest project
you have been working on (see the option above) – you can check this box to disable theProject Launcher.

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Find Files
Projects can contain thousands or even tens of thousands of dialogue files. This function
makes it easy to find specific files, not only based on their names but also on their audio
characteristics, their language or the date they were last edited.

The “Find Files” window has two tabs: one to configure the search and another to look at
the results.
The “Search” tab lets you select the characteristics you want to take into account whenlooking for files. You can of course check the name of the file, i.e. if it contains a specificstring (options are available to match the case and the whole world if needed).
You can also select in what languages you want to search for the files. If the dialogue lines
are associated with character names (e.g. if you imported an Excel worksheet), you can use
the character name as a filter too.
Finally, some advanced features are available to find files based on their last modification
date, their size, their sample rate, their number of channels, their bit depth or their duration.
In each case, you can enter the parameter value, and say if you want to get a file with thisexact value, a different value, a greater one or a smaller one.
This allows you to create quite complex requests. For example, you could search for all the
dialogue files whose name contains “creature”, which are either in French or in Spanish,
have been edited during the last week, have a sample rate of 44.1 kHz but are not stereo
and are shorter than 10 seconds.
Once you click on the “Search” button, Alto Studio will look for these files and display themin the “Results” tab. It is possible to quickly adjust the search parameters by switching
between the two tabs. In the “Results” tab, the files are displayed per language but a global
list can also be shown.

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By double-clicking on a file it is possible to visualize it in the main window without closing
the Find Files window. You can also play the selected file by pressing on the Space bar oropen it in the default sound editor by pressing Enter.

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Edit Source Project in Tool
This function opens the source project, for example to edit it or to check its data.
- In the case of a game audio middleware, this means that the authoring tool (Wwise, FMOD
Designer, or AtomCraft for ADX2) will be started and the game audio project automaticallyloaded.
- In the case of an Excel-based project, Excel will be started and the workbook will be loaded.
- Finally, in the case of a project directly based on a set of files on your hard drive, Windows
Explorer will be started and will display the root folder of the source project.

Synchronize with Source ProjectThis tool updates the reference and localized files, either by synchronizing the project withthe game audio middleware, by reading the Excel file again, or by scanning the root folder
for files.
Because many files may be added, removed or updated, the last analysis report isdeactivated and the analysis must be run again.

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Quick Check
The Quick Check function of Alto Studio can be used to easily check that a group of files arepresent and that they have the expected audio characteristics (sample rate, bit depth andnumber of channels). This can be useful for example to ensure that the reference files arecorrect before launching a full analysis and comparing them with the localized files.

There are two ways to use this function. You can select a source folder, specify the values
the audio parameters should have and press “Check”. Alto will then check all the files in thatfolder (including its subfolders).
You can also provide an Excel file, select the right worksheet and specify which columns
correspond to the audio parameters and to the file paths. Since the paths to the files to bechecked are in the Excel worksheet, this function will also report any missing files. If thepaths are relative, the files will be looked for in the Excel workbook folder.
In both cases, the verification is very fast as it does not involve any digital signal processing
operation. Once it is done, an Excel worksheet is generated. It has 4 columns: file path,sample rate, bit depth and channels. If a file was missing or its parameters have the wrong
values, the corresponding cells will have a red background.
Finally, an option allows you to automatically open the Excel file generated after theverification.

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Interactive Dialogue Tester
The interactive dialogue tester allows you to check that concatenated dialogue lines willsound as natural in the localized languages as they do in the reference one.

Creating dialogue lines
When you select this tool the following window appears:

It is possible to drag reference files from Alto Studio’s project tree and drop them on thewindow to build sequences of waveforms, i.e. interactive dialogue lines.
It is very easy to create and edit these dialogue lines: to insert a new waveform in anexisting dialogue line, drop it at the beginning, at the end, or between two existing
waveforms. To replace a waveform, drop the new one on the top on the old one. To remove
the selected waveform, press the Delete key or click on the cross at the top of its
representation.
By dropping waveforms right below existing ones, you can add variations to the dialogue
line. This makes it possible to test interactive dialogue like in a game, where different
samples are concatenated together at run-time depending on the game context, to create
the final dialogue line.

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The picture above shows a dialogue line built from 4 waveforms. Although the beginningand the end of the sentence are always the same, the middle can change: there are 4
options for the second waveform, and 2 options for the third one.
The waveforms displayed in light blue correspond to the variations currently selected forthis dialogue line.

Playing dialogue lines
At the top of the window are a group of playback buttons.

If you click on the “Sample” play button (or press Space), the current waveform will beplayed back. The current waveform is the one you selected last and it appears with a dottedwhite border.

If you click on the “Dialogue” button or press Ctrl + Space, Alto Studio will play the dialogue
line you built starting from the left and going to the right. The current dialogue line is built
from the waveforms which are displayed in light blue in each column (you just need to click
on a waveform to make it the selected variation for its column).
Finally, if you click on the “Random” button or press Shift + Space, the dialogue line will beplayed using randomly picked variations. The dialogue line will never be the same twice in arow (as long as you added variations).
During the playback, a silent gap can be inserted between the samples. The duration of thissilence can be chosen at the top of the window, from 0 to 1000 ms).

Checking localized languages
Once you have built a dialogue line in the reference language, you can check it in thelocalized languages. To do so, simply choose a language in the combo box at the top of thewindow.

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You can now play the interactive dialogue line you built in the localized language and it isvery easy to verify that the timing is correct, that the levels of the different parts match andthat the dialogue line sounds natural.
If some files are missing in the localized language, they will appear in yellow with the“Missing File” label, like this:During playback, missing files will be replaced by a 1-second sine tone at 440 Hz.
If you noticed that something is wrong with the dialogue line in a localized language, you
can save it as a wave file by pressing on the “Export Audio” button (located to the right ofthe playback buttons) and share it with your team. It is also possible to switch back to the
waveform view to get more information about the selected waveform by pressing Ctrl + Tab.

Managing dialogue lines
Several interactive dialogue lines can be created and they are saved with the Alto Studio
project. Dialogue lines are managed on the right side of the window. It is possible to add
new ones, to rename them or to remove them.

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Speech Synthesizer
The speech synthesizer tool offers a convenient way to generate placeholder dialogue by
using the Microsoft Speech Synthesizer.
In order to use this tool, you need to have the Microsoft Speech Synthesizer installed onyour machine. If it is not, Alto Studio will display an error message. You can download itfrom here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=27225
The Microsoft Speech Synthesizer uses character “voices”. More can be downloaded here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=27224
It is important to ensure that the version of the “voice” files correspond to the version of
the Microsoft Speech Synthesizer you have installed, otherwise they will not be usable.
The window of the Speech Synthesizer tool in Alto Studio is divided in 3 sections, as shown
below: Dialogue lines, Voice and Output.

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The first section is used to select the dialogue lines you want to generate, by importing atext file (.txt), an Excel workbook (.xlsx), a comma-separated values file (.csv), or a Final
Draft script (either as a .fdx project or a .txt tabulated dialogue file).
When importing an Excel file, you will be able to select what column is used for the script aswell as an optional column for the name of the character speaking that text.

Each line of these text files - except for empty ones - will be considered as a potential
dialogue line and will be displayed in the list. By default all are selected which means they all
will be synthesized. However, you can uncheck the ones you don’t need to generate. At thebottom of the list, there are also two buttons to select or unselect all the lines at once.
Note: If you want to generate many dialogue files, it might be more convenient to only selectone line and adjust the voice parameters to your liking by trial and error, and only when you
are satisfied with the results, select all the lines again and synthesize them.

The second section lets you select the voice you want to use. Voices are available for many
languages and can be male or female. Some companies also sell character voices tocomplement the ones provided for free by Microsoft. In this section, it is also possible toadjust the rate at which the dialogue lines will be spoken, as well as their volume.
If you imported a file that associates a character name with each line of dialogue (forexample a Final Draft script), you should be able to see the names of the characters in frontof the lines, each character having a different color.

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In that case, you can also associate different voice settings to each character. To do that,
simply select the Use a different voice for each character option and click on the Voices…
button. A window similar to the one depicted below will appear, allowing you to edit thevoice parameters.

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The third and last section lets you specify where you want to save the dialogue lines
generated by Alto Studio. To that effect, you can select a destination folder and choose how
the files will be named. Three options are available to generate the names of the files:-

Using the dialogue line text as the file name (up to 255 characters including the path).
Optionally, you can prepend the file name with the character name if there is one.

-

Using a common base name followed by a number (starting at 00001).

-

Using the name of the reference files (if an Alto Studio project is currently open).
Optionally, the name of the language can be used as a prefix or a suffix.

In all cases, the files will be saved in the Wave format and will therefore have a .wav
extension.
Once everything is set, press on the “Generate” button to synthesize the dialogue lines.
You will notice that the little speech bubbles on the right of the selected lines in the list
become brighter. It indicates that these lines have been synthesized. By pressing on the
speech bubble icon, you can play them.
If a speech bubble stays darker, it means that the dialogue line could not be synthesized. It
may happen if there is an invalid character in the text that the Microsoft Speech Synthesizer
does not recognize.

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Batch Renamer
Thanks to its versatile rule system, the batch renamer allows you to rename groups of audio
file based on complex conditions. It does not require for an Alto Studio project to have beencreated beforehand and therefore can be used independently, on any type of audio file.
The batch renamer window is divided into three main sections. On the left is the list of thefiles to rename, in the center are the renaming rules, and on the right are the presets.

To add the files to rename to the list, simply click on the “Add Files”, “Add Folders” or “AddLanguages” buttons at the top of the list. You can also remove all the files from the list bypressing “Clear”. Note than when adding folders, the subfolders are also added recursively.
If an Alto project is currently open, press the “Project” button to add all the files from one orseveral languages in this project. It is also possible to select only dialogue lines spoken by agiven character. Finally, you can add files by dragging them from the Windows Explorer onto
the files list.
Each file added has a checkbox and will only be renamed if it is selected. This allows you toquickly apply a different renaming scheme to a particular file or group of files. All files canbe selected / deselected at once with the button located at the bottom of the list.

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Four types of rules enable you to define how you want to rename your files. While the rules
are being edited, the new file names are displayed in yellow just below the current names,
making it easy to see the result of a potential renaming operation. The real renaming,
however, will not happen until the “Rename” button at the bottom of the window ispressed. During the renaming operation, if the abort button is pressed, the files will berenamed to their original name. If the “Copy to new folder” option is selected, it is possible
to specify a root folder where all the renamed files will be copied, in order to not change theoriginal files.

Condition rule
The condition rule allows you to check an attribute of the file and rename it based on thisinformation. Conditions can be nested or placed at the same level, allowing to simulate “and”
and “or” operations as well as more complex behaviors. Simply drag the condition rule (orother rules) left, right, up and down to modify the logic of your renaming preset.

Many file parameters can be tested. The first obvious one is the file name. It is possible tocheck if it contains or not a specific text, or if it starts or ends with it.
Other tests are numerical; they include the file name length (for example if it is too long,
you may want to rename the file), the file size and the date of creation or of lastmodification of the file. For example, you could decide to rename all the files from lastmonth.
In addition, the Batch Renamer can examine the audio header of a file and make renaming
decisions based on its sample rate, number of channels, bit depth or duration. For example
you may decide to add the suffix “HighQuality” to all files with a sample rate greater than
44100 Hz.
For all these numerical tests, it is possible to check if the file parameter is equal, different,
greater than or lesser than a specified value.

Addition rule
Using an addition rule, three types of texts can be added to the name of a file: a regularstring of character, a numerical index and a text generated by a macro.

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The text can be added at the position of your choice: at the beginning of the file name, atthe end, at a fixed position (e.g. from the 4th character), or after a given text if it is found in
the file name (e.g. after the text “voice”). In that last case, it is also possible to specify if you
want to add the new text for each occurrence of the text found, for the first occurrence only,or for the last one.
When adding an index, it is possible to specify the number of digits the number should have,as well as its starting value.
Several macros can be added. For example, it is possible to insert the time or the dateautomatically in the file name, as well as the current user, the name of the current Alto
project, or the name of one of its languages. Audio characteristics such as the sample rate,
the number of channels or the bit depth can also be added. Therefore, with just one
addition rule, it is possible to add “mono” at the end of all the mono files and “stereo” atthe end of all stereo files.

Removal ruleThis rule makes it possible to remove a part of the current file name. You can specify the
text to remove and if each occurrence should be removed or only the first one or the lastone. For example you could remove the “temp” text from the file name, or all the spacecharacters because they are invalid for your target application.

You can also remove a part of the file name independently of the text it contains, simply by
specifying a position. For example you can remove all the text after the 10th character, or all
the characters from the 3rd to the 7th.

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Replacement rule
The replacement rule replaces a part of the file name with another text. You can specify
what text you want to replace, by what, and how often (in all cases, or only the first time or
the last time). For example, you may want to replace “creature” per “monster” the first (andprobably only) time you see it, or you may want to replace all the “-“ characters by “_”.

It is possible to move individual rules by dragging and dropping them, either vertically tochange their execution order, or horizontally to make them part of a condition or to put
them out of it. When dragging a rule, a blue line will be displayed where you can drop it.
Rules which are to be executed when a condition is met will appear indented.

Presets
Alto will automatically remember the previous renaming rules you edited as “Presets”. Thisis convenient if you are often re-using the same rules, or at least the same templates withsome minor modifications. On the right side of the Batch Renamer window, you can create
as many renaming rules or “presets” as you want per session, remove some of them orrename them.

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Loudness Equalizer
The Loudness Equalizer allows you to select groups of files and process them so that they all
have the same average loudness. This tool is available even if no Alto Studio project has
been created.

The left part of the window is where you select the files you want to process. You can add
files or full folders to the list (the content of the subfolders is added as well). To do that,either use the command buttons or drag the files directly from the Windows Explorer onto
the list.
If an Alto Studio project is currently open, you can also add all the files from one or several
languages in the project at once by clicking on the “Project” button. It is also possible toselect only dialogue lines spoken by a given character. If you made a mistake or want toprocess a new group of files, simply press on the “Clear” button.
In the right part of the window you can specify the target loudness (i.e. the loudness you
want all your files to match). This is the program loudness, also called integrated loudness. It
is calculated for a whole file and it is expressed in LUFS.
Note: LUFS calculations require an audio signal to be at least 400 ms long. To be able toprocess very short vocal sound effects such has grunts etc…, we ensure that any file is atleast 400 ms by looping it (this is better than padding with silence, which would lead to alower LUFS value).
You can either specify the target value directly or select an audio file whose loudness you
want your files to match. In that case, click on the “From file…” button. You will be able toselect a sound file, which will then be analysed and its loudness will be set as the target
value.

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LUFS calculations are sensitive to channel ordering. If you are planning on processing
surround sounds, you should select the right channel mapping. Three choices are available:
DTS, ITU (default) or Film.
The channel mappings for these 3 modes are:
DTS: L R Ls Rs C LFE
ITU: L R C LFE Ls Rs
Film: L C R Ls Rs LFE
Usually though, when working with dialogue or sound effects, most of the files will be monoor stereo and you won’t have to worry about this option.
The clipping action parameter lets you select the behaviour of the loudness equalizer when
the level goes over 0. Three options are available: clip (the level is brought back to its
maximum value), clip and warn (in addition, a message is displayed to let you know thatclipping occurred) or abort (select this if you don’t want any clipping to happen and preferto adjust your settings).
Finally, the last section of the window lets you control how the processed sounds are saved.
Here you can decide if you want to overwrite the existing files or if you want to create newfiles. If you opt for the creation of new files, you can either save them in the same folder(while adding a suffix to the original name) or save them with their original name but undera different root folder. Both the suffix and the new root folder are user-definable.
Note: When you choose to save the corrected files in a new folder, you can either recreate
the whole hierarchy or save them in a flat folder (i.e. no subfolders are created). In the latter
case, if several files share the same name, they will be overwritten. Alto Studio will detectthat possibility and ask you to change the output option first.

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ID Generator
If you are not using a game audio middleware, this tool can help you generate unique IDs for
all your dialogue lines in order to reference them at run-time.

Three types of IDs can be generated: GUIDs, hash codes and indices.
GUIDs are the typical Microsoft GUIDs and have this form:{ 0x54f8adb6, 0xbe78, 0x4c95, { 0xa0, 0xb4, 0xc2, 0xbf, 0x70, 0xfd, 0x9d, 0x76 } };They are generated based on the file path so a file will always be assigned the same GUID.
Hash codes are unique 32-bit numbers, also generated from the path of a dialogue file.
Finally, indices are 32-bit numbers corresponding to the positions of the files in the Alto
Studio project. If the “Language mask” option is selected, the higher bits are used to code
the language. For example, the 8th reference file will be coded as 0x00000008 and the index
of the corresponding file in the 3rd localized language will be 0x03000008.
Note that both hash codes and indices can be generated either as decimal or hexadecimalvalues.
Once the IDs are generated, they can be exported in different ways:- in a .cs file to use in C# (for example with Unity)- in a C++ header file (.h)- in an XML file that a third-party tool can read- in an Excel worksheet (with columns for the name of the ID, its value, and the original filepath)
It is possible to generate a file per language or to group all the IDs in a single file.

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In the case of an ID naming conflict (for example English/Level01/Alan_Voice_01 andEnglish/Level02/Alan_Voice_01), the name of the ID can be prepended with the parent
folder. In that case, the 2 IDs generated would be Level01_Alan_Voice_01 andLevel02_Alan_Voice_01. They can also be encapsulated in a subclass or a namespace.
A last option instructs Alto Studio to open the generated files automatically.

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Batch Processing with AudioBot™
AudioBot is the powerful audio batch processor from Tsugi. It includes many advanced
features to process and organize large numbers of audio files. If you are not using it yet, you
can get more information and download a free trial version here:
http://www.tsugi-studio.com/web/en/products-audiobot.html
Alto Studio provides an option to batch-process the dialogue files by leveraging AudioBot’s
power. Whenever you call the “Batch Process with AudioBot” command, Alto Studiogenerates an AudioBot project referencing the dialogue lines you want to process, starts
AudioBot and load the project.
The files you want to process must be specified in the left section of the window, which issimilar to the Loudness Equalizer: you can add files or full folders to the list (the content of
the subfolders is added as well) and if an Alto Studio project is currently open, you can also
add all the files from one or several languages in the project at once by clicking on the“Project” button. It is also possible to select only dialogue lines spoken by a given character.
If you made a mistake or want to process a new group of files, simply press on the “Clear”
button.
AudioBot can host VST, Vamp and Tsugi plug-ins. If you previously saved a plug-in chain in
AudioBot (a .bpc file) you can specify it here too. Then, once AudioBot is automaticallystarted, you can do some final adjustments if needed and press the “Start” button toprocess all your dialogue lines.

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73This seamless integration between Alto Studio and AudioBot is very useful if you want toapply the same “Walkie-Talkie” effect to a large number of your dialogue lines for example.

Note: for this feature to work, AudioBot version 1.1 or higher is required. Please visit our website to download the latest free AudioBot update.

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LipSync with FaceFX™
Alto Studio interfaces with FaceFX from OC3 Entertainment, providing an easy way toautomatically generate lipsync data and create an animation for many audio files at once.

Similarly to the Loudness Equalizer or the Batch Processor tools, the left section of thewindow allows you to specify the dialogue files you want to process.
You can add files or full folders (including subfolders if needed) and, if an Alto Studio projectis currently open, you can also add all the files from one or several languages in the projectat once by clicking on the “Project” button. It is also possible to select only dialogue lines
spoken by a given character. If you made a mistake or want to process a new group of files,
simply press on the “Clear” button.
On the right side of the window, you can choose the source actor, i.e. the .facefx file that
contains the character you want to add lip-synched animations to. Next, you can select theanalysis settings: the actor and the language to use.
Finally, you specify in what group the animations will be created and what name theyshould have. They can either use the name of the associated audio files or a base name withan index. The original .facefx actor file can be overwritten or a new one can be created.
Note: this feature requires FaceFX™ Studio version or higher.

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VoiceFX
Alto Studio includes VoiceFX, Tsugi’s technology for vocal processing. VoiceFX makes it
possible to easily create robot, alien or monster voices and to simulate other effects such asradio transmissions or stadium announces.
Of course, since everything is done in Alto Studio, all the dialog lines of a project can bequickly batch-processed, or only the lines in a given language, the ones spoken by a specificcharacter etc.

Sound designers can build VoiceFX processing chains intuitively by stacking effect racks.
Among the effects available are: chorus, compressor / limiter, convolver, degrader, delay,
droid, graphic equalizer, filter, flanger, formant filter, gain, mixer, pitch shifter, reverb, ring
modulator, saturator and vocoder (depicted below).

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The parameters of these effect racks can be modulated by envelopes and low frequency
oscillators (LFOs).

The audio files being processed can be analysed and their amplitude, pitch and noisinesscurves used as modulation sources as well, allowing for the creation of rich and evolving
timbres.

For detailed information about all the effect racks and features of VoiceFX, please refer tothe separate VoiceFX User Manual that has been installed with Alto Studio 3.2.

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Integration
There are several ways to expand Alto Studio and to integrate it into your current tool chain.

Importer plug-ins
The Alto Studio SDK allows you to develop plug-ins to extend Alto Studio’s capabilities.
These plug-ins can be written very quickly and easily in C#. The whole user interface will be
generated for you automatically by Alto Studio.
The first type of plug-in is the importer plug-in. It allows you to get dialogue lines from yourproprietary tool or database into Alto Studio. Importer plug-ins will appear in the “New
Project’ window. An example of such plug-in is shipped with Alto Studio: it is the CSV
importer plug-in. This plug-in imports a CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file. The first line
defines the languages, the first one being the reference. Other lines describe the paths to
the files in the various languages, in the same order.
Importer plug-ins will automatically have controls to select the path of the project, tochoose the available languages in the project and to define the reference language. The CSV
importer plug-in is quite simple and only has these controls.

However, if you want to add other settings you can provide parameter definitions. Alto
Studio will detect them and automatically create the right interface for your plug-in.

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Exporter plug-ins
The Alto Studio SDK also allows you to develop exporter plug-ins. in C#.
Exporter plug-ins are displayed in the window that appears after selecting the “Export
Project…” command from the “File” menu.

Alto Studio comes with a simple example of exporter plug-in. The XML Exporter plug-in
allows the user to save the paths of all the reference and localized files in the project in aunique XML file. It can be used to exchange the structure of an Alto Studio project with athird-party tool.
The XML file first contains the name of the reference language, then a list of the names ofthe localization languages.
Finally, the paths of the files in the Alto Studio project are written. The path of eachreference file is followed by the paths of its localized versions.

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Tool plug-ins
In addition to the importer and exporter plug-ins, Alto Studio supports tool plug-ins. Theseplug-ins allow you to add new features to Alto Studio. They will logically appear in the “Tools”
menu.
Similarly to the importer plug-ins, tool plug-ins can expose many parameters, for which an
editor will be automatically created by Alto Studio.
Alto Studio comes with an example of tool plug-in: the Silence Trimmer.

The Silence Trimmer plug-in lets you remove the silence at the beginning and at the end of a
dialogue file. First, you have to select the folder where the files to process are located. Then,the silence threshold (in dB) must be chosen. This is the level under which the signal isconsidered as silent. Finally, you can specify how the corrected files must be saved: eitherwith the same name in a different folder, or in the same folder but with a suffix, such as“_fixed” for example.
Tool plug-ins also offer access to Alto Studio’s internal DSP functions. When you write a toolplug-in, it is possible to call functions to calculate the loudness (LKFS), the loudness range(LRA), true peaks (dBTP), the root mean square (RMS), the loudness in equidistant spectral
bands, as well as extract the spectrum and the amplitude or pitch envelopes. It is also
possible to call a function to correct the loudness of a file with a single line of code.

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Command line version
You can integrate Alto Studio to your build pipeline by using the command line version,
which is located in the same folder than the Alto Studio tool. The name of the executable is
AltoCLI.exe. The command line version reads the same project files than the GUI version.
This makes it easy to configure a project and keeps the calling syntax simple:

As you can see above, only two parameters are required. The first one is the Alto Studio
project (.alto) you saved with the tool. The second one is the name of the report file thatwill be generated. Depending on the extension, Alto Studio will generate an XML file, an
Excel workbook, a PDF document or HTML pages. The third - optional - parameter is a flagthat indicates that the errors found should be corrected (accordingly to the correction
settings saved in the Alto Studio project).

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SupportShould you have any questions about Alto Studio’s usage, any feedback, bug reports orfeature requests, don’t hesitate to contact us directly at the following email address:
support@tsugi-studio.com
We value your feedback and we are constantly working with professional game studios andlocalization agencies to bring the features the most needed to Alto Studio. Don’t hesitate tocontact us!
To get quickly up to speed with Alto Studio, there are a several videos on Tsugi’s YouTube
channel:https://www.youtube.com/user/tsugistudio
There are also some presentations on SlideShare:
http://www.slideshare.net/TsugiStudio/alto-tutorial-slideshowen
More technical questions may be answered by the other documentations that come with
Alto (you can also find them on our web site).
Release Notes: describes the changes that occurred between the different Alto Studio
updates (http://www.tsugi-studio.com/Support/Alto%20Release%20Notes.pdf)
Integration Notes: describes how to integrate Alto Studio with an existing tool, pipeline or
workflow. In particular, it explains how to develop Alto Studio importer and tool plug-ins.
(http://www.tsugi-studio.com/Support/Alto%20Integration%20Notes.pdf)
Concerning integration, we have developed several custom versions of Alto Studio as well as
specific plug-ins for game publishers. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you think this issomething you may need our help with.
For the most recent information about Alto Studio and to download the latest version,
check Alto Studio’s page on Tsugi’s web site:
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Annex 1: Keyboard Shortcuts
Command buttons / menu functions
New Project
Load Project
Save Project
Save Project As
Export Project
Exit
Single-language analysis
Multi-language analysis
Single-language correction
Conform to reference language
PublishFind Files
Edit Source Project in Tool(or Open In Explorer)
Synchronize
Quick Check
Interactive Dialogue Tester
Speech Synthesizer
Loudness Equalizer
LipSync with FaceFX
Batch Processing with AudioBot
Batch Renamer
ID Generator
VoiceFX
Alto Studio Documentation

Ctrl + N
Ctrl + O
Ctrl + S
Ctrl + Shift + S
Ctrl + X
Alt + F4
Ctrl + Shift + A
Ctrl + A
Ctrl + Shift + C
Ctrl + C
Ctrl + P
Ctrl + F
Ctrl + E
Ctrl + K
Ctrl + Q
Ctrl + I
Ctrl + T
Ctrl + L
Ctrl + Y
Ctrl + B
Ctrl + R
Ctrl + G
Ctrl + V
F1

In the report view
Jump to previous error type
Jump to next error type
Jump to previous language
Jump to next language
Jump to start of report
Jump to end of report
Play localized file
Play reference file
Compare in waveform view
Open in sound editor

Shift + Up
Shift + Down
Page Up
Page Down
Home
End
Space
Ctrl + Space
Ctrl + Tab
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In the project tree
Play reference file
Open reference file in sound editor
Open reference file and all localized
files in sound editor
Show reference file in folder

Space
Enter
Ctrl + Enter
Ctrl + Shift + EnterIn the Interactive Dialogue Tester toolPlay Sample
Play Dialogue
Play Random
Remove sample
Compare in waveform view

Space
Ctrl + Space
Shift + Space
DeleteCtrl + Tab

In the Batch Renamer tool
Add new preset
Rename selected preset
Remove selected preset
Add files
Add folders
Add languages
Clear files
Add conditional rule
Add addition rule
Add removal rule
Add replacement rule
Remove all rules
Remove selected rule
Select previous rule
Select next ruleMove selected rule up
Move selected rule downMove rule out of condition
Move rule in condition

Ctrl + P
F2
Ctrl + Delete
Ctrl + F
Ctrl + Shift + F
Ctrl + L
Ctrl + D
Ctrl + C
Ctrl + A
Ctrl + R
Ctrl + Shift + R
Ctrl + Shift + D
DeleteUp
Down
Ctrl + Up
Ctrl + Down
Ctrl + Left
Ctrl + Right

In the Results pane of the Find Files toolPlay selected file
Open selected file in sound editor

Space
Enter

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