Getting Started - Soundef Forge

See the Spec for the file reference and the home page for the pitch.

Prerequisites

Forge runs offline on Windows, macOS, Linux. No library to install. A project is any folder that holds sounds/ and soundefs/ side by side (for example MyProject/).

Open a Project

1. Select File → Open Project….
2. Choose your project folder (any name, for example MyProject/). It must contain sounds/ and soundefs/ folders.
3. Forge checks the folder and watches for file changes.

Right tabs:

• Soundefs - list of your .soundef files. Select a file to edit.
• Sounds - sound palette. Search by name, listen, and insert into layers.

Edit and Preview

1. Select a file in the Soundefs tab. The editor shows the file. The TransportBar shows Play, Random, Stop, and seed.
2. A dot shows unsaved changes. There is no auto-save.
3. Edit the text or use the TransportBar. Play previews the sound. seed changes the variation. The same seed always gives the same result.
4. Select Save (Cmd+S / Ctrl+S) to write the file. Preview uses the editor content, not the saved file.
5. If the file changes on disk and the editor is clean, Forge reloads it. If the editor has unsaved changes, Forge shows a banner. Select Load to use the disk file or Keep mine to keep your edits.

Sounds Palette and Insert

• In the Sounds tab, select audition to listen to a file.
• Select Insert to add the file to the selected layer. Paths are relative to sounds/. Example: swords/body_01.wav refers to MyProject/sounds/swords/body_01.wav (your project folder). Do not use absolute paths or ../.

Timeline and Waveform

• Behavior timeline - one lane for each layer. The lane order matches the file order. A dashed lane means the layer did not play on this trigger.
• Drag a lane to change its offset. This updates the file and marks it as unsaved. Save to keep the change. Select a lane to highlight its sources in the editor.
• Final waveform - the mixed result. A red dot means the result is too loud. Lower gain if you see the red dot.

Actions: Bake, Download, Normalize -1dB, and Baked A/B.

Bake, Download, and Share

• Bake - renders the selected .soundef plus current seed to baked/<name>_baked_<seed>.wav in <project>/baked/ (for example MyProject/baked/). Use it for A/B against live preview.
• Download - saves the baked wav outside the project.
• Normalize -1dB - lowers the baked buffer to clear a red clip dot.
• Baked A/B - quick compare of live vs last bake.
• includes json plan - when checked, Bake also writes baked/<name>_<seed>.plan.json validated at /schemas/playback-plan.v0.json. Ship that JSON if you want to play without reimplementing resolve.
• Share - use Export Pack and Import Pack to share soundefs and sounds. Export checks paths. Import checks the pack version.

If Open Project shows no files

• Open the parent project folder that holds both sounds/ and soundefs/ - not one of them alone. Names are lowercase.
• If the Soundefs tab is empty, go up one level and pick again.
• Watcher uses 120ms debounce and only runs with a valid project open.

Project Favorites

Forge remembers recent projects and starred files on this computer.