Steinberg Cubase 8 Manual

							Editing tempo and signature
Tempo Detection (Cubase Pro only)
921
The Tempo Detection Panel
The Tempo Detection Panel contains the functions for analyzing the tempo of an 
audio event or MIDI part. It is opened via the Project menu.
In the top section of the panel, the name of the selected event or part is shown. 
Below the name, the Analyze button is located. Click this button to start the tempo 
detection.
The middle section contains several functions for correcting and fine-tuning the 
detected tempo curve.
The arrow buttons at the bottom right let you change the direction in which the 
algorithm will analyze the material during a manual correction operation. To work 
backwards, i.
 e. to reanalyze the beginning of the tempo curve, activate the left arrow 
button.
With the Reset button at the bottom left you can delete the complete analysis data 
and start again from scratch.
NOTE
The Tempo Detection Panel has to be opened specifically for the material that you 
want to analyze.
RELATED LINKS
Correcting and fine-tuning the detected tempo map on page 922
The beginning of the tempo curve needs to be corrected on page 924 
						

							Editing tempo and signature
Tempo Detection (Cubase Pro only)
922
Detecting the basic tempo of an audio event/MIDI part
PROCEDURE
1. In the Project window, select the audio event/MIDI part that you want to analyze.
2. On the Project menu, select “Tempo Detection…”.
The Tempo Detection Panel opens.
3. Click the Analyze button.
RESULT 
• A rough tempo map based on the beat analysis is created for the selected 
audio clip.
• A tempo and a signature track are added to the project.
• The project will get a 1/4 signature, because the tempo detection only 
calculates a tempo based on beats, regardless of a musical signature. The 
signature can be modified later.
• The Time Warp Tool is selected for fine-tuning or adjusting the newly 
generated tempo map.
Depending on the rhythmic quality of the source material, the tempo analysis may 
directly lead to a perfect result. However, if this is not the case, you can apply the 
correction and fine-tuning functions. To find out whether such actions are 
necessary, activate the metronome click and play back the project.
Correcting and fine-tuning the detected tempo map
If the metronome click does not match the material perfectly, perform any of the 
following operations, depending on the situation.
The detected tempo is too fast or too slow
• To double or halve the detected tempo, use the “Multiply by 2” and “Divide by 
2” buttons.
• To adjust the detected tempo with a factor of 3/4 or 4/3, use the “Multiply by 
4/3” and “Multiply by 3/4” buttons.
Examples:
• If your material is twice as fast as the detected tempo, you can apply the 
“Multiply by 2” function.
• If your material contains dotted notes or triplets and the algorithm detects 3 
beats where 4 are expected, you can apply the 4/3 conversion.
• If the actual signature is 2/4 and the algorithm detected 6/8 beats or vice versa, 
you can apply a 3/4 conversion combined with the “Multiply by 2” function. 
						

							Editing tempo and signature
Tempo Detection (Cubase Pro only)
923
The detected tempo has jumps and spikes although it should be steady
If you get the message that the algorithm has detected irregular tempo changes, 
even though you know that the material has a more or less steady tempo, you can 
use the “Smooth Tempo” function.
• To retrigger the tempo analysis based on the assumption that the material has 
a steady tempo, click the “Smooth Tempo” button.
Irregular spikes or tempo changes are removed during this analysis.
The detected tempo is off by half a beat
In some cases, the offbeat of a rhythm might be dominant enough to confuse the 
beat detection algorithm resulting in an offset. In that case it is necessary to shift the 
tempo events.
• To shift the detected tempo events by half a beat, click the “Offbeat 
Correction” button.
The tempo was not detected properly for the whole event/part
Sometimes it is impossible for the algorithm to properly detect the tempo for the 
whole audio event/MIDI part because it contains sections played in a different 
tempo or has special rhythmic characteristics. Manual adjustments are then 
necessary to create a perfect tempo track.
To manually correct tempo events, proceed as follows:
PROCEDURE
1. With the Tempo Detection Panel still open, play the track from the beginning 
and listen to the click.
It is useful to zoom in on the waveform so that the transients are visible. Using the 
stationary cursor could be useful as well.
2. Locate the first tempo event that is off. Use the Time Warp Tool to move this 
tempo event to the correct position.
The material to the right of the corrected event or part will be reanalyzed and the 
tempo recalculated.
3. Continue listening to the audio or MIDI until you reach the next misplaced 
tempo event and repeat the manual correction procedure until you reach the 
end of the song. 
						

							Editing tempo and signature
Tempo Detection (Cubase Pro only)
924
The beginning of the tempo curve needs to be corrected
When you edit a tempo event, the tempo curve by default is reanalyzed from the 
point of editing towards the right. However, if the detection did not produce proper 
results at the beginning of the event or part, you can change the direction in which 
the algorithm works.
PROCEDURE
1. At the bottom of the Tempo Detection Panel, activate the left arrow button to 
change the direction of reanalysis.
2. Locate the first correct tempo event at the beginning of the audio/MIDI and 
use the Time Warp tool to move the corresponding tempo event slightly back 
and forth to trigger a backwards detection.
The tempo at the beginning of the audio event/MIDI part is corrected and new tempo 
events are added where necessary.
The material contains sections with different tempos
In some cases, a track may include multiple sections with different tempo and the 
tempo detection might stop at the position of a tempo change or pause.
If the manual adjustment of individual tempo events does not give you the desired 
results for files with varying tempo, you can cut them at each major tempo change 
and perform the tempo detection for each of the resulting sections independently.
NOTE
Remember that each cut needs to have a length of at least 7 seconds.
Finishing
Once the tempo map is correct, close the Tempo Detection Panel. You can now set 
up signature events with the correct time signature. 
						

							Editing tempo and signature
Adjusting the audio to the project tempo
925
Adjusting the audio to the project tempo
If you want freely recorded audio to follow a fixed tempo or a different project tempo, 
you can use the Set Definition From Tempo dialog to save the tempo information 
from the tempo track in the corresponding audio clips.
PROCEDURE
1. Select the audio events that you want to have follow the project tempo.
For example, this could be the individual tracks in a multi-track drum session.
2. On the Audio menu, open the Advanced submenu and select the “Set 
Definition From Tempo…” option.
The Set Definition From Tempo dialog opens.
3. Select whether you want to save the tempo information in the project file only 
or in the selected audio clips.
Writing the definition into the audio files allows you to use these in other projects, 
complete with tempo information.
4. Select if you want to set all tracks to musical time base.
If you do not activate this option, only the tracks containing the selected events are 
set to musical time base.
5. Click OK.
The tempo information is now copied into the selected audio clips and the tracks are 
set to musical time base. Furthermore, Musical Mode is activated for the audio events.
IMPORTANT
If you have placed audio events referring to the same audio clip at different positions 
on the timeline and you apply the “Set Definition From Tempo” function 
simultaneously to these events, new audio files are written for all the events except 
the first.
RESULT 
The audio tracks will now follow any tempo changes in the project. Therefore, you 
can disable the tempo track and set a fixed tempo for your project or edit the tempo 
track for a new tempo map.
Warping is applied to the events to match the tempo. By default, the “élastique Pro 
Time” time shifting algorithm is applied, which should lead to the best-quality results.
RELATED LINKS
About time stretch and pitch shift algorithms on page 428 
						

							926
Project Browser (Cubase Pro 
only)
Window Overview
The Project Browser window provides a list based representation of the project. 
This allows you to view and edit all events on all tracks by using regular value editing 
in a list.
1) Project Structure list
2) Time Format pop-up menu
3) Add pop-up menu and Add button
4) Filter pop-up menu
5) Event display 
						

							Project Browser (Cubase Pro only)
Window Overview
927
Opening the Project Browser
You open the Project Browser by selecting “Browser” from the Project menu. The 
Browser window can be open while you are working in other windows; any changes 
made in the Project window or an editor are immediately reflected in the Project 
Browser and vice versa.
Navigating in the Browser
You use the Project Browser much like you use the Windows Explorer/Mac OS 
Finder for browsing folders on your hard disk.
• Click on an item in the Project Structure list to select it for viewing.
The contents of the item are shown in the event display.
• Items with hierarchical substructures can be folded out by clicking the “+” 
symbols or the “closed folder” symbols in the Project Structure list.
When the substructure of an item is revealed, a “-” symbol or an “open folder” 
symbol is shown instead – click this to hide the substructure.
• To reveal or hide all substructures in the Project Structure list, use the buttons 
“(+) All” and “(–) All” above the list.
• The actual editing is done in the event display, using regular value editing 
techniques.
There is one exception: You can rename items in the Project Structure list by 
clicking on a selected name and typing.
Customizing the view
You can drag the divider between the Project Structure list and the event display.
Furthermore, the event display can be customized in the following ways:
• You can change the order of the columns by dragging the column headings 
to the left or right.
• You can resize columns by dragging the dividers between the column 
headings. 
						

							Project Browser (Cubase Pro only)
Editing tracks
928
• To select a display format for all position and length values, use the Time 
Format pop-up menu.
• You can sort events in the display by columns, by clicking the column heading.
For example, if you want to sort events by their start positions, click that 
column heading. An arrow appears in the column heading, indicating that 
events are sorted by that column. The direction of the arrow indicates whether 
the events are sorted in ascending or descending order. To change the 
direction, click the column heading again.
Importing files via the MediaBay
You can also import audio, video and MIDI files into the Project Browser via the 
MediaBay using drag and drop.
NOTE
You can only import into existing tracks. This means, for example, that a video track 
has to exist in the Project window prior to importing a video file in the Project 
Browser.
RELATED LINKS
MediaBay on page 522
About the Sync Selection option
If the “Sync Selection” checkbox is activated (on the Project Browser toolbar), 
selecting an event in the Project window automatically selects it in the Project 
Browser, and vice versa. This makes it easy to locate events in the two windows.
Editing tracks
Editing audio tracks
Audio tracks can have two “subitems”: Track Data and Automation.
• The Automation item corresponds to the automation track in the Project 
window, and contains the track’s automation events.
• The Track Data item corresponds to the actual audio track in the Project 
window. It contains audio events and/or audio parts, which in turn can contain 
audio events.
Note that if you have not performed any automation or opened an automation track, 
the Browser will only contain the audio data. 
						

							Project Browser (Cubase Pro only)
Editing tracks
929
The following parameters are available for the different items:
RELATED LINKS
Editing automation tracks on page 934
The list columns for audio events
Name
Allows you to change the name of the event. Double-clicking the waveform 
image to the left of it opens the event in the Sample Editor.
File
The name of the audio file referenced by the event’s audio clip.
Start
The start position of the event. If the event belongs to an audio part, you 
cannot move it outside the part.
End
The end position of the event.
Snap
The absolute position of the event’s snap point. Note that adjusting this value 
will not change the position of the snap point within the event – instead it is 
another way of moving the event!
Length
The length of the event.
Offset
This determines “where in the audio clip” the event starts. Adjusting this value 
is the same as sliding the contents of the event in the Project window.
You can only specify positive Offset values, because the event cannot start 
before the start of the clip. Likewise, it cannot end after the end of the clip. If 
the event already plays the whole clip, the Offset cannot be adjusted at all.
Volume
The volume of the event, as set with the Volume handle or on the info line in 
the Project window.
Fade In/Fade Out
The length of the fade-in and fade-out areas respectively. If you use these 
settings to add a fade (where there previously was none), a linear fade will be 
created. If you adjust the length of an existing fade, the previous fade shape 
will be maintained. 
						

							Project Browser (Cubase Pro only)
Editing tracks
930
Mute
Click in this column to mute or unmute the event.
Image
Displays a waveform image of the event inside a gray box corresponding to 
the clip. The image is scaled according to the width of the column.
The list columns for audio parts
Name
The name of the part. Double-clicking on the part symbol to the left of it opens 
the part in the Audio Part Editor.
Start
The start position of the part. Editing this value is the same as moving the part 
in the Project window.
End
The end position of the part. Editing this value is the same as resizing the part 
in the Project window.
Length
The length of the part. Editing this value is the same as resizing the part in the 
Project window.
Offset
This adjusts the start position of the events within the part. Adjusting this value 
is the same as sliding the contents of the part in the Project window.
Setting a positive Offset value is the same as sliding the contents to the left, 
while a negative Offset corresponds to sliding the contents to the right.
Mute
Click in this column to mute or unmute the part.
Creating audio parts
When the “Audio” item of an audio track is selected in the Project Structure list, you 
can create empty audio parts on the track by clicking the Add button on the toolbar. 
This will insert a part between the left and right locator.
Editing MIDI tracks
Just like audio tracks, MIDI tracks can have two “subitems”: Track Data and 
Automation.
• The Track Data item corresponds to the actual MIDI track in the Project 
window and can contain MIDI parts (which in turn can contain MIDI events).