Steinberg Sequel 3 Manual

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The Arrange Zone
Input selection (audio tracks only)
The Input Selection pop-up menu allows you to switch be-
tween the inputs on your audio interface. Click in the 
Track Input field to reveal the pop-up menu. You should 
see all of the available inputs on your audio interface here.
For more information on setting up your interface, see the 
chapter “Setting up your system” on page 80. 
Instrument tracks do not have an input selection pop-up.
Track volume and pan
The track output volume and pan can be controlled directly 
on the track itself. The volume control looks like one long 
triangle. The track pan looks like two triangles facing each 
other. When your mouse is positioned over either the vol-
ume or pan, the respective values will be shown to the left.
To adjust volume or pan
Click and hold and drag left or right to adjust the volume 
or pan.
Click on the volume or pan values and enter a value – for 
volume the range is anywhere from 0 to 120, for pan the 
range is from -100 to 100. Negative values represent left 
values and positive values represent right values. You can 
also enter L for hard left, C for center, or R for hard right.
[Ctrl]/[Command]-click to set the volume to 100 or the 
pan to 0, which is C.
Track meter
On the right hand side of the track controls is a meter. This 
is a visual representation of the audio output level.
Track automation
Track automation allows you to make things such as vol-
ume, panning, and various other settings be adjusted au-
tomatically while the project is playing.
An example would be if you wanted the drums to be qui-
eter at the start of the song and then get louder at the end. 
You can make Sequel do this automatically.
When the “Show Automation” button is activated in the 
“Pilot Zone”, you’ll notice new track controls appear. 
These are the track automation controls.
Track meterTrack panTrack volumeTrack automation controls 
						

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The Arrange Zone
Clicking on the control on the top will open a pop-up 
menu. This menu allows you to choose which setting you 
would like to automate. You can automate multiple track 
settings, but you can only view one set of automation pa-
rameters at a time.
Also notice that the Master track is now visible at the bot-
tom of the Arrange Zone and you can automate parameters 
there, too. One of the most popular parameters to automate 
is volume such as a fade out at the end of a song.
ÖYou’ve been introduced to the automation features of 
Sequel. For more detailed information on creating and ed-
iting automation, see “Adding Automation” on page 31.Timeline and grid
The timeline and grid serve as tools to help editing be 
more precise and to help lock events to time.
The resolution of the grid depends on how far zoomed in 
or out you are.
Zooming in the Arrange Zone
There are a couple of ways to zoom in and out in Sequel.
Click and hold in the bottom Ruler Zone and drag up to 
zoom out or down to zoom in.
Click the “+” or “-” buttons in the bottom right corner of 
the Arrange Zone. “+” zooms in and “-” zooms out.
Press the [H] key on your computer keyboard to zoom in 
and the [G] key to zoom out.
Automation pop-up menu
Master automation
TimelineGridAt this zoom level, we can split on 
quarter notes. If we zoom in, we can 
split on eights and sixteenths.
Zoom In Zoom Out Zoom Commands 
						

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The Arrange Zone
The Zoom Commands
To the right of the “+” and “-” buttons is the “Zoom Com-
mands” pop-up menu with three quick zoom settings:
Scrolling
After you have zoomed in you will most likely want to use 
the scroll bars to get around.
The vertical scroll bar is located along the right side of the 
Arrange Zone. This will scroll your project up and down.
The horizontal scroll bar is located along the bottom of 
the Arrange Zone. This will scroll your project left and right.
You can also use your mouse wheel to scroll up and 
down or use [Shift]+Mouse wheel to scroll left and right.
Working with the Smart Tool
The events in Sequel have a bunch of functions built right 
on to them. When you hover your mouse over an event the 
functions appear. We refer to these functions as the 
Smart Tool.
Changing the event name
Along the top is the event name. To change the name, 
double-click on it and type in the new name.
Muting events
In the top right corner there are two lines that look like a 
pause button. Clicking this will mute the event. The event 
will turn gray. Click again to unmute.
Repeating events
Just below the mute button is the repeat handle. Click and 
hold, and drag out to the right to create multiple copies of 
the selected event.
Click and hold the Repeat handle on the event. Option Description
Zoom Full Zoom full will zoom out so that all of the events on the Ar-
range Zone are visible.
Zoom Part Zoom part will zoom in and center the event that you have 
selected in the Arrange Zone.
Zoom Last Zoom last will return you to the last zoom setting you used.
Horizontal scroll bar Vertical scroll bar
Click here to 
mute the event.
Repeat button 
						

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The Arrange Zone While clicking and holding drag to repeat the event.
When you let go of the left mouse button the event will be repeated.
Resizing events
In the bottom left and right corners are handles for length-
ening or shortening the event. Click and hold either one of 
them and drag left or right to lengthen or shorten the event.
When you are resizing an event the tool tip beside the cursor displays 
the bar position and length of the event.
You can’t make an event any longer than it was when it 
was first created.
Splitting events
Also notice the line going across the bottom of the event. 
When you hover the mouse over it, it changes to the Split 
tool. Just click to split the event.
Resize event handles
Hover mouse over line turns cursor to the Split tool
Two events after using the Split tool 
						

							9
The Multi Zone 
						

							56
The Multi Zone
Introduction
The Multi Zone is where all of your project’s mixing, effects 
processing and advanced editing will take place. The Multi 
Zone also includes a media browser for finding all of the 
audio and MIDI loops and an Arranger page for taking 
your project out to the world to play live. This is also where 
you will find all of the project preferences.
There are six buttons along the left hand side of the Multi 
Zone. Only one button can be activated at a time. The 
Multi Zone changes depending on which button is acti-
vated. To activate a button, simply click on it.
Resizing the Multi Zone
The Multi Zone can be resized by clicking on the bar at the 
top of the Multi Zone and dragging up or down.Note that you can also completely hide the Multi Zone 
by clicking the button in the middle of the lower edge of 
the Sequel program window. Click the button a second 
time to show the Multi Zone again.
The Mixer page
The Mixer page is where most of the mixing in Sequel will 
take place. The Multi Zone becomes a horizontal track 
mixer when the Mixer Page is activated. Any track that you 
have created in the project will be represented here.
Mixer Page
Track Inspector Page
Media Bay Page
Editor Page
Arranger Page
Program Settings Page
Click here to resize the Multi Zone. 
						

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The Multi Zone
Channels
Each track has its own channel which includes a Record 
Ready button, a Mute button and a Solo button. These 
buttons have the same functionality as the respective but-
tons in the track controls area in the Arrange Zone.
Each channel is labelled and numbered. These labels and 
numbers correspond to the ones found on the tracks in 
the Arrange Zone.
Channel Level (volume) and Pan
Each channel has a fader for controlling track volume and 
a panner. The controls work in parallel with the ones found 
in the track controls. If you lower the volume here, the vol-
ume is also lowered on the track control and vice-versa. 
Remember that you can reset these controls to their de-
fault settings by [Ctrl]/[Command]-clicking on them.
Setting the color
When you set up a track by dragging a loop or instrument 
preset into the Arrange Zone, Sequel will automatically as-
sign a track color. Which color is assigned depends on 
the type of instrument, i. e. drum sounds will be assigned 
one color, guitar sounds another and so on.Each channel in the Mixer page also features the option to 
change the track color. To change the color hover the 
mouse over the right hand side on the channel.
A small box will appear. Click on the box to select from a 
range of colors. All events on the track will also change 
color.
Scrolling
When you have multiple tracks in your project, you may 
not be able to see them all at once in the Mixer page. Use 
the scroll bar along the bottom to scroll left or right to find 
a specific track.
Record Ready
Mute
Solo
Channel Level (Volume)
Panner
Track Number Track Name
Hover mouse here to display 
the color selector. 
						

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The Multi Zone
The Master channel
The Master channel is the output of all of the tracks com-
bined. It is found on the right hand side of the Mixer page. 
This channel features a volume fader and a panner.
If you are clipping the Master channel, the channel will be-
come red. Lower the fader to return the channel to normal, 
or alternatively lower all track faders by the same amount 
to reduce the level going into the Master channel. Click 
the Audio Overload button to reset the clipping indicator.
The Track Inspector page
The Track Inspector page is where all of the effects pro-
cessing in Sequel takes place. The Track Inspector page 
has a few similarities to the Mixer page in that the Master 
channel is still present on the right hand side. This time 
however, there is only one channel strip present, which 
represents the selected track in the Arrange Zone.
You can only edit one tracks effect and a couple of global 
effects at a time. To edit the effect settings for a certain 
track, select it in the Arrange Zone to make its settings ap-
pear in the Track Inspector page.The Track Inspector page features six tabs. You can click 
on a tab to access its controls or just hover the mouse 
over it to see what settings you have already applied to it.
The Event Effects tab (instrument tracks only)
The Event Effects tab only works with instrument tracks. It 
includes two effects: a chorder and an arpeggiator.
You can activate the chorder or arpeggiator by activating 
the button to the right of the effect. You can then adjust 
the effect to get the desired result.
Chorder
The Chorder automatically plays chords when you press a 
single note on your MIDI keyboard. This is great if you 
have trouble playing in keyboard parts.
Use the “Bypass Chorder” button to activate or bypass 
the effect. You can select the type of chords you would 
like to be generated from the pop-up menu.
Arpeggiator
The Arpeggiator automatically creates patterns based on 
the notes you play, creating great rhythm and a really cool 
effect. It creates this pattern as long as a note is held. 
Once the note is released, the pattern stops.
Master channel 
with normal levels
Master channel 
with clipping 
(overload) 
						

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The Multi Zone
Use the “Bypass Arpeggiator” button to activate or deacti-
vate the effect.
The Quantize value allows you to set the resolution of the 
patterns the Arpeggiator creates.
The Octave Range value allows you to determine how 
many octaves the pattern will go above or below the note 
you are playing.
“Transpose Step” determines how many steps the pattern 
will change each time it starts again.
“Transpose Play Direction” determines whether the pat-
tern’s key will go up, down, or a combination of the two.
“Arpeggiator Play Mode” determines what type of pat-
terns will be played back. When it is in Phrase Mode, 
pressing a single note will play a scale and the Arpeggia-
tor will not recognize chords.
The Instrument tab (instrument tracks only)
The Instrument tab only works with instrument tracks. It 
contains eight controls that are fixed for each preset.
You can change the value of a control by clicking and 
dragging left or right.
For details on what each a parameter does, see the chapter “Effects ref-
erence” on page 91.
You can apply an instrument preset by clicking on the 
preset button to open the preset pop-up menu.
You can then use the Category and Sub Category fil-
ters to find a suitable preset. You can select a preset 
along the right hand side and click “Close” to close the 
menu.
For more details on category filters see the section “The Media Bay 
page” on page 62.
The Reset button will switch the instrument back to the 
original preset and settings made prior to opening the 
pop-up menu.
The Track Effects tab
Each track can have two insert effects, which are pre-
fader. That means that raising or lowering the track fader 
doesn’t affect how much audio signal is sent to the effect.
Use the “Select Effect Type” pop-up menu to select an ef-
fect and apply it to the track. Every effect also features 
presets which can be accessed by clicking in the effect 
preset field. Here you can select a preset from the menu 
and select close to close the preset window.
The Track Effects can be bypassed by activating the 
“Bypass Effect” button.
Click here to access the presets
Effect PresetsSelect Effect TypeEffects list
Effects parametersBypass Effect 
						

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The Multi Zone
Each track also features a built-in one-knob compressor 
which is also pre-fader, but is post EQ, meaning that the 
audio is routed through the two insert effects, then the 
EQ, and then the compressor.
The Compression slider determines how much compres-
sion will be added to the signal. This sets a threshold level. 
When the signal goes above the threshold level, the Com-
pressor reduces the signal. Or in other words: the further 
to the right you drag, the more compression you get. Gain 
Reduction reflects how much gain or volume is being at-
tenuated.
ÖYou can also select a preset from the Compressor 
presets pop-up menu.
The Compressor can be bypassed by activating the 
“Bypass Compressor” button.
The Equalizers tab
The Equalizers tab features a three band EQ. It features a 
low shelf or bass frequency, a parametric mid or middle 
frequency, and a high shelf or treble frequency.
The low shelf or bass frequency sets the frequency at 
which the low tones will be affected. The parametric mid or 
middle frequency sets the frequency at which the middle 
tones will be affected. The high shelf or treble frequency 
sets the frequency at which the high tones will be affected.
Adjusting frequency
You can adjust the frequency of each EQ by clicking on 
the frequency slider and dragging left or right.
Adjusting level (gain)
You can adjust the EQs level by raising or lowering the 
bass, middle, or treble gain slider.
To do this, click and drag up or down on the desired slider.
Adjusting width
The middle EQ is a parametric EQ. That means that the 
frequency range of this EQ can be widened or shortened. 
To do this click on the Middle Width slider and drag right 
to widen the range and left to shorten it.
Bypass Compressor
Treble (Hi EQ)
Middle (Parametric Mid EQ)
Bass (Low EQ)