Steinberg Cubase 8 Manual

							Sample Editor
Working with hitpoints and slices
461
• To disable automatic hitpoint detection, select File > Preferences > Editing 
> Audio and deactivate Enable Automatic Hitpoint Detection.
• In the Project window, hitpoints are shown for the selected event, provided 
that the zoom factor is high enough.
To hide them, select File > Preferences > Event Display > Audio and 
disable Show Hitpoints on Selected Events.
Filtering hitpoints
You can filter hitpoints in the Hitpoints Inspector tab of the Sample Editor.
You can use the following parameters to filter hitpoints:
Threshold
This filters hitpoints by their peaks. This allows you to discard hitpoints of 
quieter crosstalk signals, for example.
Minimum Length
This filters hitpoints by the distance between two hitpoints. This allows you to 
avoid creating slices that are too short.
Beats
This allows you to filter hitpoints by their musical position. This allows you to 
discard hitpoints that do not fit within a certain range of a defined beat value. 
						

							Sample Editor
Working with hitpoints and slices
462
Using Hitpoints to Locate Audio Positions in the Project Window
You can navigate through the hitpoints of an audio event in the Project window.
PREREQUISITE 
Enable Automatic Hitpoint Detection is activated (File > Preferences > Editing 
> Audio).
PROCEDURE
1. Select the audio track that contains the audio event for which you want to 
locate hitpoints.
2. Press [Alt]/[Option]-[N] to navigate to the next hitpoint, or [Alt]/[Option]-[B] to 
navigate to the previous hitpoint.
RESULT 
The project cursor jumps to the respective hitpoint.
Auditioning and hitpoints
• You can audition the hitpoint slices, that is the area between two hitpoints, by 
pointing and clicking in any slice area.
The pointer changes to a speaker icon and the corresponding slice is played 
back from the beginning to the end.
Navigating between hitpoints
• You can navigate between the slices using the arrow keys or by pressing the 
[Tab] key.
• You can select the next or previous hitpoint marker using the “Locate 
Next/Previous Hitpoint” commands.
The default key commands for this are [Alt]/[Option]-[N] and 
[Alt]/[Option]-[B].
Editing hitpoints
You can change the state of a hitpoint, insert new hitpoints manually, and move 
existing hitpoints.
Hitpoints can have three different states: enabled, locked, and disabled. “Enabled” 
is the normal state a hitpoint has immediately after the detection. Hitpoints can be 
“disabled” so that they are still visible as gray triangles on the timeline, but will not 
be taken into account for further operations. “Locking” hitpoints is an easy way to 
make sure that hitpoints are not accidentally filtered out. Locked hitpoints are not 
affected by the Threshold slider and Beats pop-up menu. 
						

							Sample Editor
Working with hitpoints and slices
463
An enabled, a disabled, and a locked hitpoint
Disabling and locking hitpoints
After applying the different hitpoint filters, you may find that you want to keep 
individual hitpoints that were filtered out or disable hitpoints that you do not need. 
Furthermore, you may want to lock certain hitpoints.
• To lock a hitpoint, move the mouse pointer over the gray triangle on the 
timeline so that the tooltip “Lock Hitpoint” is shown. Click on the triangle.
This way, enabled and disabled hitpoints can be locked.
• To lock a disabled hitpoint, you can also press [Alt]/[Option] and move the 
mouse over the waveform. At positions where a disabled hitpoint can be 
locked, a gray hitpoint line and the tooltip “Lock Hitpoint” are shown. Click to 
lock the hitpoint.
• To lock multiple hitpoints, press [Shift]-[Alt]/[Option] so that the tooltip “Lock 
multiple hitpoints” is shown and drag a rectangle over the hitpoints.
All enabled and disabled hitpoints within the area defined by the rectangle 
become locked.
• To disable hitpoints, press [Shift] so that the tooltip “Disable Hitpoints” is 
shown and click on the line of a single hitpoint or drag a rectangle over all the 
hitpoints that you want to disable.
This way, enabled and locked hitpoints can be disabled.
• To disable a locked hitpoint, you can also point the mouse at the blue hitpoint 
triangle on the timeline so that the tooltip “Disable Hitpoint” is shown. Click 
on the triangle. 
						

							Sample Editor
Working with hitpoints and slices
464
Resetting hitpoints
Sometimes it can be useful to reset hitpoints to their original state, e. g. because you 
still want them to be affected by the Threshold slider.
PROCEDURE
• To reset hitpoints to their original state, press [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Alt]/[Option] 
so that the tooltip “Enable/Unlock Hitpoints” is shown and drag a rectangle 
over the hitpoints.
RESULT 
All disabled and locked hitpoints within the area defined by the rectangle are reset. 
Note that some of the hitpoints may still appear as disabled due to the Threshold 
slider and Beats pop-up menu settings.
Inserting hitpoints
If you get too few hitpoints using the filter options, you can insert hitpoints manually.
PROCEDURE
• To insert a new hitpoint, press [Alt]/[Option] and click at the position where 
you want to enter the new hitpoint (i. e. at the start of the sound).
Manually added hitpoints are locked by default.
Moving hitpoints
If a hitpoint was either placed too far away from the start of the sound or too far into 
the sound, you can move it.
PROCEDURE
• To move a hitpoint, press [Alt]/[Option] and point the mouse at the vertical line 
of the hitpoint.
RESULT 
The mouse pointer changes to a double arrow and the tooltip “Move Hitpoint” is 
shown. You can now drag the hitpoint to its new position.
NOTE
Moved hitpoints are locked by default. 
						

							Sample Editor
Working with hitpoints and slices
465
Slicing audio
Once you have set up the hitpoints as needed, you can slice the audio by clicking 
the Create Slices button on the Hitpoints tab. Alternatively, you can select the 
“Create Audio Slices from Hitpoints” command from the Hitpoints submenu of the 
Audio menu.
The following happens:
• The Sample Editor closes.
• The audio event is “sliced” so that the sections between the hitpoints become 
separate events, all referring to the same original file.
• The audio event is replaced by an audio part, containing the slices 
(double-click the part to view the slices in the Audio Part Editor).
IMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANT
When you create slices, all events referring to the edited clip are also replaced.

						

							Sample Editor
Working with hitpoints and slices
466
Also consider activating auto fades for the corresponding audio track – fade-outs 
set to about 10 ms will help eliminate any clicks between the slices when you play 
back the part.
If the project tempo is higher than the tempo of the original audio event, the slice 
events are overlapping. Activate auto crossfades for the track to smooth out the 
sound. Furthermore, you can select the overlapping events inside the part and apply 
the “Delete Overlaps” function from the Advanced submenu of the Audio menu.
The slices in the Audio Part Editor. Here, the project tempo was higher than the clip’s 
original tempo – the slice events overlap.
RELATED LINKS
Defining the Track Time Base on page 149
Making global Auto Fade settings on page 256
Making Auto Fade settings for individual tracks on page 257
Slicing multi-track drum recordings
If you have a multi-track drum recording that you want to quantize using hitpoints, 
you can put all the tracks belonging to the recording in an edit group, calculate the 
hitpoints for the relevant tracks (e.
 g. Kick, Snare, and Hi-hats), and use the “Divide 
Audio Events at Hitpoints” command on the Audio menu (Hitpoints submenu) to 
slice all tracks of the recording at once.
RELATED LINKS
Quantizing Multiple Audio Tracks (Cubase Pro only) on page 236
Other hitpoint functions
On the Hitpoints tab of the Sample Editor Inspector, you will also find the following 
functions. Many of these functions are also available on the Hitpoints submenu of 
the Audio menu. If selected on the Audio menu, they can be applied on several 
events and even range selections at the same time. 
						

							Sample Editor
Working with hitpoints and slices
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Create Groove
You can generate a groove quantize map based on hitpoints that you have created.
RELATED LINKS
Creating Groove Quantize Presets on page 246
Create Markers
If an audio event contains calculated hitpoints, you can click the Create Markers 
button on the Hitpoints tab to add a marker for each hitpoint. If your project has no 
marker track, it will be added and activated automatically. Markers can be useful to 
snap to hitpoints, e.
 g. for locating hitpoints and for using the Time Warp tool.
RELATED LINKS
Markers on page 281
The Time Warp tool (Cubase Pro only) on page 913
Create Regions
If your audio event contains calculated hitpoints, you can click the Create Regions 
button on the Hitpoints tab to automatically create regions from hitpoints. This can 
be useful to isolate recorded sounds.
Create Events
If your audio event contains calculated hitpoints, you can click the Create Events 
button on the Hitpoints tab to automatically create separate events based on the 
hitpoints.
Create Warp Markers
If you want to quantize audio based on hitpoints, you can use this option to create 
warp markers from the calculated hitpoints. This option is identical with using the 
“Create Warp Markers from Hitpoints” option on the Realtime Processing submenu 
of the Audio menu.
Create MIDI Notes
You can export your hitpoints to a MIDI part containing a MIDI note for each hitpoint. 
For example, you can use this function to double, replace, or enrich drum hits by 
triggering sounds of a VST instrument at the positions of the hitpoints.
To convert the hitpoints into MIDI notes, click the “Create MIDI Notes” button. Make 
the desired settings in the Convert Hitpoints to MIDI Notes dialog and click OK. 
						

							Sample Editor
VariAudio (Cubase Pro only)
468
The following options are available:
Velocity Mode/Velocity
• Dynamic Velocity Value – The velocity values of the created MIDI notes 
vary, according to the peak levels of the corresponding hitpoints.
• Fixed Velocity Value – The created MIDI notes get the same velocity 
value. You can set this value using the Velocity field.
Pitch/Length
• Hitpoints do not contain any information about pitch or duration. 
Therefore, all created MIDI notes get the same pitch and note length. 
Use these fields to specify the desired values.
Destination
• First Selected Track – The MIDI part is placed on the first selected MIDI 
or instrument track. Note that any MIDI parts from previous conversions 
that are on this track will be deleted.
• New MIDI Track – A new MIDI track is created for the MIDI part.
• Project Clipboard – The MIDI part is copied into the clipboard so that 
you can insert it at the desired position on a MIDI or instrument track.
VariAudio (Cubase Pro only)
With the AudioWarp features, editing audio in the time domain has become 
significantly easier. However, editing pitch was limited to having just one single 
numeric “transpose” value per event or part.
VariAudio offers completely integrated vocal editing and pitch alteration of individual 
notes in monophonic vocal recordings and can solve intonation and timing 
problems with only a few mouse clicks. It was developed and optimized specifically 
to be used with monophonic vocal recordings. Though the detection and stretching 
of notes of other monophonic audio recordings, such as those of a saxophone, may 
work well, the quality of the end result depends greatly on the generic condition and 
structure of the recording’s texture.
And how does it work? First, the vocal line is analyzed and split into segments 
shown as graphic representation of the notes sung. After the detection process is 
complete, the recognized notes can be modified entirely “non-destructively” so that 
any modifications to the audio material can be undone. 
						

							Sample Editor
VariAudio (Cubase Pro only)
469
VariAudio allows you to change your audio on the vertical axis and on the horizontal 
axis.
If you load projects with VariAudio files in Cubase Artist, the original files will be 
played back and your VariAudio modifications will be ignored. If you want to hear 
your modifications in Cubase Artist, you will have to bounce the audio files that have 
been edited with the Cubase Pro VariAudio features.
RELATED LINKS
Changing the pitch on page 476
Warping segments on page 482
Understanding the waveform display in VariAudio
When you open monophonic vocal recordings in the Sample Editor and activate the 
Segments or the Pitch & Warp tool on the VariAudio tab, your audio is analyzed and 
segmented to display the tonal portions, i.
 e. the notes sung or played. This process 
is called segmentation. The segmentation allows you to easily associate the audio 
with your lyrics and to introduce pitch and timing changes.
In between the different segments you may find gaps where non-tonal portions have 
been detected, e.
 g. caused by breath sounds.
At the beginning of the waveform, you can see a gap where no segment is shown.
1) Gap
2) Audio waveform
3) Segments 
						

							Sample Editor
VariAudio (Cubase Pro only)
470
NOTE
The audio waveform displayed on the VariAudio tab is always shown as mono, even 
if you have opened a stereo or multi-channel file.
The piano keyboard to the left of the waveform indicates the pitch positions. By 
moving a segment vertically, you can change its average pitch.
Note pitches represent the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. The note 
A4 is perceived to be of the same pitch as a sine wave of 440
 Hz. The notation of 
pitches is a logarithmic frequency scale. The table below shows the relation 
between pitch (note name) and frequency in Hz:
The average pitch of a segment is calculated from its micro-pitch curve. Micro-pitch 
curves represent the progression of the pitch for the tonal portion of the audio.
Micro-pitch curves
The horizontal position of a segment indicates the time position and the length.
You can navigate through the segments by using the left/right arrow keys on your 
computer keyboard.
You can zoom in on the segments that you want to edit by holding down 
[Alt]/[Option] while drawing a selection rectangle. To zoom out, hold down 
[Alt]/[Option] and click in an empty area of the waveform. If you hold down 
[Alt]/[Option] and double click in an empty area, the display will be zoomed out to 
show all segments.
C4 C#4/Db4 D4 D#4/Eb4 E4 F4 F#4/Gb4
261.63 277.18 293.66 311.13 329.63 349.23 369.99
G4 G#4/Ab4 A4 A#4/Bb4 B4 C5
392.00 415.30 440.00 466.16 493.88 523.25