Steinberg Cubase 5 Operation Manual

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The Sample Editor
You can change the insert position of a warp tab in the 
audio by clicking and dragging the warp tab header in the 
ruler. This will change the warping (see “Editing Warp 
tabs” on page 251).
Hold down [Shift] (by default) to delete warp tabs or 
configure another tool modifier in the Preferences dialog 
(Editing–Tool Modifiers–AudioWarp tool). To delete a 
warp tab, hold down the tool modifier so that the pointer 
becomes an eraser and click on the warp tab. 
If you are not satisfied with your changes, you can revert 
the timing of the selected segments by choosing the 
“Warp Changes” option from the Reset pop-up menu 
(see “Reset” on page 252). 
Editing Warp tabs 
In some cases the beginning of the waveform does not 
correspond to the beginning of a segment, e.g. when the 
audio starts with non-tonal portions like breath sounds 
(see “Understanding the waveform display in VariAudio” 
on page 243). If you want to pitch your audio, this is ex-
actly what you want. But when it comes to warping, any 
changes you wish to make must affect the waveform as a 
whole.
You can of course change the segmentation to achieve 
this, but if you want to pitch your audio afterwards, this 
would affect also any non-tonal portions of the audio. If 
this is not what you want, proceed as follows:
1.Activate Pitch & Warp mode and activate the Snap 
button.
In this example the beginning of the first segment does not correspond 
to the beginning of the waveform.
2.Move the mouse pointer over the start of the segment 
so that it becomes a double arrow and drag the segment 
start to the beginning of the bar. 
The segment border will snap to the grid at the exact bar position.
Now the beginning of the segment matches the beginning 
of the bar, but we want the beginning of the waveform to 
match the beginning of the bar:
3.Point at the warp handle displayed in the ruler until it 
turns to a double arrow and drag it to the beginning of the 
waveform.
The background is displayed in orange to indicate which part of the 
waveform is affected by the change. 
						

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The Sample Editor
Now the beginning of the waveform matches the desired 
bar position.
Editing warp tabs can also be useful, if you change the 
length of a segment that you have already warped. In this 
case, editing warp tabs can help you synchronize your au-
dio again.
Reset
This pop-up menu at the bottom of the VariAudio tab allows 
you to reset the modifications you performed in Pitch & 
Warp mode (pitch modifications, time modifications or 
both). It also lets you reset the changes you made in Seg-
ments mode by reanalyzing the audio and returning to the 
original segmentation. The following options are available:
ÖYou can set up key commands for the reset and the re-
analyze function in the Sample Editor category of the Key 
commands dialog (see “Key commands” on page 479). 
Listening to your modifications
You can listen to the results of your modifications using 
the following methods:
By activating Acoustic Feedback on the toolbar.
The segments will be played back when you adjust the pitch or while 
nudging, navigating and selecting segments. This way you can easily au-
dition your modifications while editing. 
By using the Play tool on the toolbar.
By using the Audition and the Audition Loop tool on the 
toolbar.
By using cycle playback in the Project window.
If you want to compare the original to the modified audio 
(i.e. hear the audio without pitch or warp modifications), 
you have the following possibilities: 
You can disable your pitch modifications by activating 
the Disable Pitch Changes button in the VariAudio tab or 
by setting up and using the “VariAudio: Disable Pitching” 
key command in the Key Commands dialog, Sample Edi-
tor category (see “Key commands” on page 479).
You can disable your warp modifications by activating the 
Disable Warp Changes button in the AudioWarp tab or by 
setting up and using the “Disable Warping” key command 
in the Key Commands dialog, Sample Editor category (see 
“Key commands” on page 479).
Functions – Extract MIDI…
If you want to create an identical second voice with a MIDI 
Instrument, or print out the notes from within the Score Ed-
itor, you can extract a MIDI part. You can later export the 
MIDI part as a MIDI file (see “Exporting and importing stan-
dard MIDI files” on page 464). 
ÖBefore extracting MIDI from your audio you should 
correct the segmentation, otherwise, you will have to cor-
rect segmentation errors later in the MIDI part. Transition 
changes, tilting the micro-pitch curve, pitch quantize and 
pitch corrections will be taken into account.
Function Description
Pitch Changes If you select this option, pitch changes including micro-
pitch modifications with the tilt micro-pitch tool will be re-
set either for the selected segments (if available) or for 
the whole file.
Warp 
ChangesIf you select this option, warp changes will be reset.
Pitch + Warp 
ChangesIf you select this option, pitch, micro-pitch and warp 
changes will be reset either for the selected segments (if 
available) or for the whole file.
Reanalyze 
AudioIf you select this option, the audio will be reanalyzed and 
all your segmentation changes will be reset.
!The result depends on the quality and the character-
istics of your audio.  
						

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The Sample Editor
Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Sample Editor by double-clicking your audio 
file in the Project window or the Pool. 
2.Open the VariAudio tab.
3.Open the Functions pop-up menu and select “Extract 
MIDI…”.
The “Extract MIDI” dialog opens.
4.Select an Extraction mode in the corresponding pop-
up menu to include or exclude pitchbend events.
Pitchbend events are MIDI controller data that are saved 
in a MIDI file and that create pitch transitions between 
MIDI notes. The following options are available:
5.Open the Destination pop-up menu and select an op-
tion to decide where the MIDI part should be placed.
The following options are available: 
ÖIf you opened the Sample Editor from the Pool and the 
audio file does not form part of your project, the MIDI part 
will be inserted at the Project start position.6.Click OK.
A MIDI part is created.
ÖIf your audio event references only a section of the au-
dio clip, only this range will be extracted.
You can also use a key command to extract your audio as 
MIDI. In this case no dialog will be opened and the set-
tings that were used for the previous extraction will be 
used instead. For further information on how to set up key 
commands, please refer to the chapter “Key commands” 
on page 479.
Function Description
Just Notes and 
no Pitchbend 
DataIf you select this option, only notes will be included in the 
MIDI part.
Notes and 
Static Pitch-
bend DataIf you select this option, a pitchbend event will be created 
for every segment. Select a Pitchbend value from 1 to 24 
in the Pitchbend Range field. When you are working with 
an external MIDI Controller, it might be necessary to set it 
to the same value.
Notes and 
Continuous 
Pitchbend 
DataIf you select this option, pitchbend events that correspond 
to the micro-pitch curve will be created. Select a Pitch-
bend value from 1 to 24 in the Pitchbend Range field. The 
setting should correspond to the same value on your MIDI 
controller or the VST Instrument being controlled. 
Note that although the graphic representation of the 
pitchbend curve is smoothed, all pitchbend data are in-
cluded.
Function Description
First Selected 
TrackIf you select this option, the MIDI part will be placed on 
the first selected MIDI or Instrument track. Note that any 
MIDI parts from previous extractions that are on this track 
will be deleted. 
New MIDI 
TrackIf you select this option, a new MIDI track will be created 
for the MIDI part.
Project Clip-
boardIf you select this option, the MIDI part is copied to the 
clipboard so that you can insert it at the desired position 
on a MIDI or Instrument track in the Project window. 
						

							17
The Audio Part Editor 
						

							255
The Audio Part Editor
Background
The Audio Part Editor allows you to view and edit the events 
inside audio parts. Essentially, this is the same type of edit-
ing that you do in the Project window, which means that 
this chapter contains a lot of references to the chapter “The 
Project window” on page 25.
Audio parts are created in the Project window in one of 
the following ways:
By selecting one or several audio events on the same 
track, and selecting “Events to Part” from the Audio menu.
By gluing together two or more audio events on the 
same track with the Glue Tube tool.
By drawing an empty part with the Pencil tool.
By double-clicking between the left and right locator on 
an audio track.
With the last two methods, an empty part is created. You can then add 
events to the part by pasting, or by using drag and drop from the Pool.
Opening the Audio Part Editor
You open the Audio Part Editor by selecting one or more 
audio part(s) in the Project window and double-clicking 
on any one of them (or using the Edit-Open key command, 
by default [Ctrl]/[Command]-[E]). The Audio Part Editor 
can display several parts at once, and you can also have 
more than one Audio Part Editor open at the same time.
ÖDouble-clicking on an audio event in the Project win-
dow will open the Sample Editor (see “Opening the Sam-
ple Editor” on page 220).
Window overview
The toolbar
The tools, settings and icons on the toolbar have the same 
functionality as in the Project window, with the following 
differences:
 A Solo button (see “Auditioning” on page 257).
 Separate tools for auditioning (Speaker) and scrubbing (see 
“Scrubbing” on page 257).
 No Line, Glue Tube or Color tools.
 Play and Loop icons and an Audition Volume control (see 
“Auditioning” on page 257).
 Independent Track Loop settings (see “The independent track 
loop function” on page 257).
 Part List controls for handling several parts: activating parts 
for editing, restricting editing to active parts only and showing 
part borders (see “Handling several parts” on page 258).
ÖYou can customize the toolbar by hiding or reordering 
its items.
See “Using the Setup options” on page 471.
The ruler and info line
These have the same functionality and appearance as 
their counterparts in the Project window.
You can select a separate display format for the Audio 
Part Editor ruler by clicking on the arrow button on the right 
and selecting an option from the pop-up menu.
For a list of the available formats, see “The ruler” on page 33. 
						

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The Audio Part Editor
About lanes
If you make the editor window larger, this will reveal addi-
tional space below the edited events. This is because an 
audio part is divided vertically in lanes. 
Lanes can make it easier to work with several audio events 
in a part:
In the upper figure it is unnecessarily hard to discern, se-
lect and edit the separate events. In the lower figure, some 
of the events have been moved to another lower lane, 
making selection and editing much easier.To move an event to another lane without accidentally 
moving it horizontally, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and drag it 
up or down.
This is the default modifier key for this – you can adjust this in the Prefe-
rences if you like.
Overlapping events
Only one event per track can be played back at the same 
time! This means that if you have overlapping events (on 
the same lane or different lanes) these will cut each other 
off, according to the following rules:
For events on the same lane, the ones that are on top 
(visible) will be played.
To move overlapping events to the front or back, use the Move to Front 
and Move to Back functions on the Edit menu.
For events on different lanes, the event on the lowest 
lane gets playback priority.
The overlapping sections of the upper event will not be played since the 
event on the lower lane has playback priority!
Imagine the following situation: You have two overlapping 
audio events, with the top event audible during playback. 
What happens when you mute the audible event?
By default, you will not hear the overlapped event when 
muting an event that has playback priority over another 
event.
This default behavior ensures that you do not suddenly hear audio events 
that previously were not part of your mix.
In the Preferences dialog (Editing–Audio page) you will 
find the option “Treat Muted Audio Events like Deleted”. 
When you activate this option, any events overlapped by a 
muted event will become audible.
Lanes 
						

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The Audio Part Editor
Operations
Note that if a part is a shared copy (i.e. you have previ-
ously copied the part by [Alt]/[Option]-[Shift] and drag-
ging), any editing you perform will affect all shared copies 
of this part.
To indicate that it is a shared copy, its name is displayed in italics and a 
symbol is displayed in the lower right corner of the part in the Project 
window.
Auditioning
There are three ways to listen to the events in the Audio 
Part Editor:
By using the Speaker tool
If you click somewhere in the editor’s event display with the 
Speaker tool and keep the mouse button pressed, the part 
will be played back from the position where you clicked. 
Playback will continue until you release the mouse button.
By using the Audition icon
The Audition and Audition Loop icons.
Clicking the Audition icon on the toolbar plays back the 
edited audio, according to the following rules:
 If you have selected events in the part, only the section bet-
ween the first and last selected event will be played back.
 If you have made a range selection, only this section will be 
played back.
 If there is no selection, the whole part will be played back. If 
the project cursor is within the part, playback starts from the 
current cursor position. If the cursor is outside the part, play-
back starts from the beginning of the part.
 If the Audition Loop icon is activated, playback will continue 
until you deactivate the Audition icon. Otherwise, the section 
will be played back once.
When auditioning with the Speaker tool or Audition 
icon, audio will be routed directly to the Control Room 
(Cubase only) or to the Main Mix (the default output bus) if 
the Control Room is disabled. In Cubase Studio, the Main 
Mix bus is always used for auditioning.
By using regular playback
You can of course use the regular playback controls while 
in the Audio Part Editor. Furthermore, if you activate the 
Solo Editor button on the toolbar, only the events in the 
edited part will be played back.
The independent track loop function
The independent track loop is a sort of “mini-cycle”, affect-
ing only the edited part. When the loop is activated, the 
events in the parts that are within the loop will be repeated 
continuously and completely independent – other events 
(on other tracks) are played back as usual. The only “inter-
action” between the loop and the “regular playback” is that 
the loop starts every time the cycle starts over again.
To set up the independent track loop, proceed as follows:
1.Turn on the loop by clicking the Independent Track 
Loop button on the toolbar.
If it is not visible, right-click the toolbar and add the Independent Track 
Loop Settings section – see “Using the Setup options” on page 471.
When the loop is activated, the cycle is not shown in the 
editor’s ruler. Now you need to specify the length of the 
loop:
2.[Ctrl]/[Command]-click in the ruler to set the start and 
[Alt]/[Option]-click to set the end of the loop.
You can also edit the loop start and end positions numerically in the 
fields next to the Loop button.
The loop is indicated in purple in the ruler.
ÖThe events will be looped as long as the Loop button 
is activated and the Audio Part Editor window is open.
Scrubbing
In the Audio Part Editor, the Scrub tool has a separate icon 
on the toolbar. Apart from that, scrubbing works exactly as 
in the Project window (see “Scrubbing” on page 43).
!Zooming, selecting and editing in the Audio Part Ed-
itor are done just as in the Project window (see 
“Operations” on page 34). 
						

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The Audio Part Editor
Handling several parts
When you open the Audio Part Editor with several parts se-
lected – all on the same track or on different tracks – they 
might not all “fit” in the editor window, which can make it 
hard to get an overview of the different parts when editing.
Therefore, the toolbar features a few functions to make 
working with multiple parts easier and more comprehen-
sive:
The Part List menu lists all parts that were selected 
when you opened the editor, and lets you select which 
part should be active for editing.
When you select a part from the list, it is automatically made active and 
centered in the display.
ÖNote that it is also possible to activate a part by click-
ing on it with the Arrow tool.
The button “Edit Active Part Only” lets you restrict edit-
ing operations to the active part only.
If you for example select “All” from the Select submenu on the Edit menu 
with this option activated, all events in the active part will be selected but 
not the events in other parts.
“Edit Active Part Only” activated on the toolbar.
You can zoom in on an active part so that it fills the 
screen by selecting “Zoom to Event” from the Zoom sub-
menu on the Edit menu.
The button “Show Part Borders” can be used if you 
want to see clearly defined borders for the active part.
When this is activated, all parts except the active one are grayed out, 
making the borders easily discernible. There are also two “markers” in 
the ruler with the name of the active part, marking its beginning and end. 
These can be moved freely to change the part borders.
“Show Part Borders” activated on the toolbar.
It is possible to cycle between parts, making them ac-
tive using key commands.
In the Key Commands dialog – Edit category, there are two functions: 
“Activate Next Part” and “Activate Previous Part”. If you assign key com-
mands to these, you can use them to cycle between parts. See “Setting 
up key commands” on page 480 for instructions on how to set up key 
commands.
Common methods
Assembling a “perfect take”
When you record audio in Cycle mode, either an event or 
a region (or both) is created for each recorded lap (see 
“Recording audio in cycle mode” on page 75). These 
events and regions are named “Take X”, where “X” is the 
number of the take. You can create a perfect take by put-
ting together sections of the different takes in the Audio 
Part Editor.
ÖThe procedure below will not work if you recorded 
with “Keep Last” mode selected on the Transport panel.
In that case, only the last take will be kept on the track (although the pre-
vious takes will be available as regions in the Pool).
First, you have to create an audio part from the takes. This 
procedure is slightly different depending on whether you 
choose to create events or regions.
Creating an audio part from events
1.In the Project window, use the Object Selection tool to 
draw a rectangle around the recorded events.
This is necessary, since clicking on the event may just select the event on 
top (the last take). If in doubt, check the info line – the info text should be 
yellow.
2.Pull down the Audio menu and select “Events to Part”.
The events are converted to an audio part.
Note that the events cycle record mode also makes it 
easy to combine different takes in the Project window – 
see “Create Events mode (Preferences)” on page 76. 
						

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The Audio Part Editor
Creating an audio part from regions
1.In the Project window, select the event you recorded in 
Cycle mode.
After recording, this will play the last take.
2.Pull down the Audio menu and select “Events to Part”.
You are asked whether you want to “Create part using regions”.
3.Click “Regions”.
The regions are converted to an audio part.
Assembling a take
1.Double-click the part to open the Audio Part Editor.
Now, the different takes will be placed on different lanes, with the last 
take at the bottom.
2.Use the tools to cut out pieces of the takes and as-
semble the final result.
This can include splitting with the Scissors tool, resizing events with the 
Arrow tool or deleting with the Eraser tool. 
Remember that the events on the lowest lane have play-
back priority. 
Use the Audition icon to audition the result.
3.Close the Audio Part Editor.
You have now assembled a “perfect take”!
Options and Settings
The following options and settings are available in the 
Audio Part Editor:
Snap
You can specify an independent Snap mode (and snap value for the Grid 
mode) in the editor. The functionality is exactly the same as in the Project 
window.
Autoscroll
When Autoscroll is activated on the toolbar, the window will scroll during 
playback, keeping the project cursor visible in the editor. This setting can 
be activated or deactivated individually for each window.
Snap to Zero Crossing
When this option is activated, all audio edits are done at zero crossings 
(positions in the audio where the amplitude is zero). This helps you avoid 
pops and clicks which might otherwise be caused by sudden amplitude 
changes.  
						

							18
The Pool