Steinberg Cubase 8 Manual

							Key Commands
The default key commands
1011
Zoom category
Option Key command
Zoom Full [Shift]-[F]
Zoom In [H]
Zoom In Tracks [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Down Arrow]
Zoom Out [G]
Zoom Out Tracks [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Up Arrow]
Zoom to Event [Shift]-[E]
Zoom to Selection [Alt]/[Option]-[S]
Zoom Tracks Exclusive [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Alt]/[Option]-[Down 
Arrow] 
						

							1012
File handling
Importing audio
In Cubase audio can be imported in a variety of different formats. For example, you 
can import tracks from audio CDs, or import audio files saved in different formats 
(compressed and uncompressed).
RELATED LINKS
Importing Media on page 513
Audio file import options
When you are importing audio files, there are a number of options concerning how 
the files should be treated by Cubase:
• You can choose to copy the file into the Audio folder of the project and have 
the project make reference to the copied file rather than the original file.
This helps you keep your project “self-contained”.
• You can choose to split stereo and multi-channel files into a number of mono 
files.
• You can set all files in the project to the same sample rate and sample size 
(resolution).
Using the “On Import Audio Files” pop-up menu in the Preferences dialog 
(Editing–Audio page), you can define what Cubase does when importing an audio 
file. The available options are described in the following.
Open Options Dialog
An Options dialog appears when you import, allowing you to select whether you 
want to copy the files to the Audio folder and/or convert them to the project settings. 
Please note the following:
• When importing a single file of a format other than the project settings, you 
can specify which properties (sample rate and/or resolution) are changed. 
						

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Importing audio
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• When importing multiple files at the same time, you can select to convert the 
imported files automatically if necessary, i.
 e. if the sample rate is different than 
the project’s or the resolution is lower than the project setting.
NOTE
When you import 5-channel interleaved files that do not have the speaker 
arrangement metadata (“BEXT”), Cubase always considers them as 5.0 format.
Use Settings
No Options dialog will appear when you import. Instead, you can select standard 
actions from the list below the pop-up menu that are performed automatically each 
time you import audio files:
Copy Files to Working Directory
If files are not already in the project’s audio folder, they are copied there 
before being imported.
Convert and Copy to Project If Needed
If files are not already in the project’s audio folder, they are copied there 
before being imported. Furthermore, if the files have a different sample rate or 
a lower resolution than the project settings, they are automatically converted.
Split channels/Split multi-channel files
Activate this option to split stereo or multi-channel audio files into a 
corresponding number of mono files – one for each channel. Note that if you 
use this option, the imported files are always copied to the Audio folder of the 
project’s working directory.
If you import files using the Import option on the File menu, the split files are 
inserted into the project and into the Pool as separate mono tracks.
If you import the files using the Import Medium option on the Media menu, the 
split files are only inserted into the Pool.
In all cases, the “Split File Name Format” pop-up menu lets you specify how 
the split files are named. This allows for compatibility with other products 
when exchanging audio files and avoids confusion if the source file contains 
no stereo or surround material, but poly-mono audio.
Importing audio CD tracks
You can import audio from audio CDs into Cubase projects in two ways:
• To import the CD tracks directly into project tracks, choose the “Audio CD…” 
option from the Import submenu of the File menu.
The imported audio CD track(s) are inserted on the selected audio track(s) at 
the project cursor position. 
						

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Importing audio
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• To import the CD tracks into the Pool, select “Import Audio CD…” from the 
Media menu.
This might be the preferred method if you want to import several CD tracks in 
one go.
Selecting one of the Import Audio CD menu items brings up the following dialog:
1) Play
2) Stop
3) Play from Left Marker
4) Play to Right Marker
5) Start of selection handle
6) End of selection handle
To import one or more tracks, proceed as follows:
PROCEDURE
1. If you have more than one CD drive, select the correct one from the Drive 
pop-up menu at the top left.
On opening the CD, the program tries to retrieve the track names from CDDB (a CD 
database). If no connection to CDDB can be established or the CD track names are 
not found, you can manually change the generic track name in the Default Name field. 
						

							File handling
Importing audio
1015
2. Windows only: Activate the “Secure Mode” option if you want to use a Secure 
Read mode.
Use this if you encounter problems when trying to import an audio CD. Error checking 
and correction will be done during the process. Note that this mode will take more 
time.
3. In the Windows version, select the data transfer speed from the Speed 
pop-up menu.
While you normally want to use the fastest possible speed, you may have to select a 
slower speed for flawless audio extraction.
4. Activate the Copy checkbox for every audio file you want to import.
You can also select a copy section for every file, see below.
5. Click on the Copy button to create a local copy of the audio file(s) or 
section(s).
The copied files are listed at the bottom of the dialog. By default, imported audio CD 
tracks will be stored as Wave files (Windows) or AIFF files (Mac) in the Audio folder 
of the current project. To change the folder, click Destination Folder and select a 
different folder from the dialog. During copying, the Copy button is labeled “Stop”; 
click it to stop the process.
6. Click OK to import the copied audio files into the project, or click Cancel to 
stop the import and discard the copied files.
If you import more than one audio file into project tracks, a dialog opens in which you 
have to choose whether to insert the tracks on one track or on different ones.
The new track(s) are displayed in the Project window. New audio clips are created 
and added to the Pool.
The columns in the “Import from Audio CD” dialog have the following functionality:
By default, complete tracks are selected.
Column Description
Copy Activate the checkbox in this column for the track you want to 
copy/import. To activate more than one checkbox, click and drag over 
the checkboxes (or press [Ctrl]/[Command] or [Shift] and click).
# This is the track number.
CD Track When you import an audio CD track, the file is named according to 
this column. The names are pulled automatically from CDDB, if 
possible. You can rename a track by clicking in the CD Track column 
and typing a new name. You can also apply a generic name to all 
audio CD tracks, if no name was available in CDDB.
Length The length of the audio CD track in minutes and seconds.
Size The file size of the audio CD track in MB.
Copy Start You can copy a section of a track if you like. This indicates the start of 
the section to be copied in the track. By default, this is set to the start 
of the track (0.000) but you can adjust this on the copy selection 
ruler, see below.
Copy End Indicates the end of the section to be copied in the track. By default, 
this is set to the end of the track but you can adjust this on the copy 
selection ruler, see below. 
						

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Importing audio
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• If you want to copy and import a section of an audio CD track only, select the 
track in the list and specify the start and end of the selection to be copied by 
dragging the handles in the copy selection ruler.
NOTE
Note that you can import sections of several audio CD tracks by selecting them in turn 
and adjusting the selection. The start and end settings for each track are displayed in 
the list.
• You can audition the selected audio CD track by clicking the Play button.
The track will be played back from selection start to selection end (or until you 
click the Stop button).
• The Play from left Marker (down arrow) and Play to Right Marker (up arrow) 
buttons allow you to audition the start and end of the selection only.
The down arrow button will play a short snippet beginning at the start of the 
selection, while the up arrow button will play a snippet starting just before the 
end of the selection.
• To open the CD drive, click on the Eject button at the top of the dialog.
Importing Audio from video files
While you can automatically extract the audio when importing a video file, it is also 
possible to import the audio from a video file without importing the video itself:
PROCEDURE
1. Open the File menu, open the Import submenu and select “Audio from Video 
File…”.
2. In the file dialog that opens, locate and select the video file and click Open.
The audio in the selected video file is extracted and converted to a Wave file in the 
project’s Audio folder.
A new audio clip is created and added to the Pool. In the Project window, an event 
referencing the audio file is inserted on the selected track at the project cursor 
position. If no track was selected, a new track is created.
This works just like importing regular audio files.
RELATED LINKS
Extracting Audio From a Video File on page 990
Importing Video Files on page 983
Importing ReCycle files
ReCycle by Propellerhead Software is a program designed especially for working 
with sampled loops. By “slicing” a loop and making separate samples of each beat, 
ReCycle makes it possible to match the tempo of a loop and edit the loop as if it 
was built of individual sounds. Cubase can import two file types created by 
ReCycle:
• REX files (export file format of the first versions of ReCycle, extension “.rex”). 
						

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Importing audio
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• REX 2 files (file format of ReCycle 2.0 and later, extension “.rx2”).
IMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANT
For this to work, the REX Shared Library needs to be installed on your system.
PROCEDURE
1. Select an audio track and move the project cursor to where you want the 
imported file to start.
You probably want to import REX files to tempo based audio tracks, since this will 
allow you to change the tempo later on (having the imported REX file automatically 
adjust).
2. Select 
						

							File handling
Exporting and importing OMF files (Cubase Pro only)
1018
The following file types are supported:
FLAC files
FLAC is an open source format and stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec. Audio 
files in this format are typically 50 to 60
 % smaller than regular Wave files. FLAC 
files are not converted to Wave files on import.
MPEG audio files
MPEG, which stands for Moving Picture Experts Group, is the name of a family of 
standards used for encoding audio-visual information (e.
 g. movies, video, music) in 
a digital compressed format.
Cubase can read two types of audio MPEG files: MPEG Layer 2 (*.mp2) and MPEG 
Layer 3 (*.mp3). Currently, mp3 is the most common of these formats, while the 
mp2 format is mostly used in broadcast applications.
Ogg Vorbis files
Ogg Vorbis is an open and patent-free format that offers very small audio files 
maintaining comparatively high audio quality. Ogg Vorbis files have the extension 
“.ogg”.
Windows Media Audio files (Windows only)
Windows Media Audio is an audio format developed by Microsoft, Inc. Due to 
advanced audio compression algorithms, Windows Media Audio files can be made 
very small, maintaining good audio quality. The files have the extension “.wma”.
RELATED LINKS
Export Audio Mixdown on page 938
Exporting and importing OMF files (Cubase Pro only)
Open Media Framework Interchange (OMFI) is a platform independent file format 
intended for the transfer of digital media between different applications. Cubase 
can import and export OMF files (file extension “.omf”), allowing you to use Cubase 
in conjunction with other audio and video applications. 
						

							File handling
Exporting and importing OMF files (Cubase Pro only)
1019
Exporting OMF files
When exporting tracks and files as OMF, you should consider setting up your 
project to use mono tracks and mono files, to allow compatibility with audio 
applications that provide limited support for interleaved audio files.
PROCEDURE
1. Open the File menu, open the Export submenu and select “OMF…”.
The Export Options dialog opens.
2. Use the track list to the left to select the tracks that you want to include in the 
exported file.
To select all tracks, click the “Select All” button. Normally, the whole project is 
included – to export the range between the locators only, activate “From Left to Right 
Locator”.
When referencing media files (see below), you can set the referenced output path by 
entering it in the “Media Destination Path” field or by clicking on “Browser…” and 
choosing it in the file dialog that opens.
All file references will be set to this path. You can create references to media 
destinations that do not exist on the system you are currently working with, making it 
easy to prepare files for use in projects on another system or in a network 
environment.
3. If you want to create copies of all the media files, choose the “Copy Media” 
option.
By default, the copied audio files are placed in a subdirectory in the export destination 
folder. To specify a different location for the copied files, use the “Media Destination 
Path” field. 
						

							File handling
Exporting and importing OMF files (Cubase Pro only)
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4. If you want to copy only the portions of audio files that are used in the project, 
activate “Consolidate Events”.
You can also define handle lengths in milliseconds to include audio outside each 
event boundary for later fine tuning. If you do not have any handles when 
consolidating audio files, you will not be able to adjust fades or edit points when the 
project is imported in another application.
5. Select “1.0 File” or “2.0 File”, depending on which OMF version is supported 
by the application in which you plan to import the file.
Select whether you want to include all audio data in the OMF file (“Export All to One 
File”) or use references only (“Export Media File References”).
If you choose “Export All to One File”, the OMF file will be totally “self-contained”, but 
possibly very large. If you choose “Export Media File References”, the file will be small, 
but the referenced audio files must be available for the receiving application.
6. If you selected the “2.0 File” option above, you can choose whether to include 
the volume settings and fades for the events (as set up with the event volume 
and fade handles) as well as the clip names – to include these in the OMF file, 
activate “Export Clip Based Volume”, “Use Fade Curves” and/or “Export Clip 
Names”.
7. Specify a sample size (resolution) for the exported files (or use the current 
project settings).
8. If you activate “Quantize Events to Frames”, the event positions in the 
exported file will be moved to exact frames.
9. Click OK, and specify a name and location in the file dialog that opens.
The exported OMF file will contain (or reference) all audio files that are played in the 
project (including fade and edit files). It will not include unused audio files referenced 
in the Pool, or any MIDI data. Video files are not included.
Importing OMF files
PROCEDURE
1. Open the File menu, open the Import submenu and select “OMF…”.
2. In the file dialog that opens, locate the OMF file and click Open.
If there is already an open project, a dialog opens in which you can select whether a 
new project is created for the file.
If you select “No”, the OMF file will be imported into the current project.
3. If you choose to create a new project, a file dialog opens in which you can 
select the project folder.
Select an existing project folder or create a new one.
4. The Import Options dialog opens, allowing you to choose a track for the 
import.
• Activating the “Import all media files” option allows you to import media that is 
not referenced by events.
• Activating the “Import Clip Gain as Automation” option imports volume 
automation and envelopes of the Volume Automation Track of each track.