Steinberg Cubase 4 Operation Manual

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Audio processing and functions
3.Click the “Process” button.
The spectrum is computed and displayed as a graph.
4.You can adjust the display with the settings in the dis-
play window:
5.If you move the mouse pointer over the graph, a 
crosshair cursor follows the graph curve and the display in 
the upper right corner shows the frequency/note and level 
at the current position.
To compare the level between two frequencies, move the pointer to one 
of the frequencies, right-click once and move the pointer to the second 
frequency. The delta value (the difference in level between the current 
position and the right-click position) is displayed in the upper right corner 
(labeled “D”).
If you analyze stereo audio and selected the “Stereo” op-
tion in the first dialog, the graphs for the left and right chan-
nel are superimposed in the display, with the left channel 
graph in white and the right channel graph in yellow.
The display in the upper right corner shows the values for the left channel 
– to see the right channel values, hold down [Shift]. An “L” or “R” is dis-
played to indicate which channel values are shown.
6.You can leave the window open or close it by clicking 
the “Close” button.
If you leave it open and the “Active” checkbox is ticked, the result of the 
next Spectrum Analysis will be displayed in the same window.
Statistics (Cubase only)
The Statistics function on the Audio menu analyzes the 
selected audio (events, clips or range selections) and dis-
plays a window with the following information:
Setting Description
dB When this is activated, the vertical axis shows dB values. 
When it is deactivated, values between 0 and 1 are 
shown.
Freq. log When this is activated, frequencies (on the horizontal 
axis) are displayed on a logarithmic scale. When it is de-
activated, the frequency axis is linear.
Precision Indicates the frequency resolution of the graph. This 
value cannot be changed here, but is governed by the 
Size in Samples setting in the previous dialog.
Frequency/
NoteAllows you to select whether you want the frequencies to 
be displayed in Hertz or with note names.
Min. Sets the lowest frequency shown in the graph.
Max. Sets the highest frequency shown in the graph. By ad-
justing the Min and Max values, you can take a closer look 
at a smaller frequency range.
Active When this is activated, the next Spectrum Analysis will ap-
pear in the same window. When deactivated, new Spec-
trum Analysis results will appear in separate windows.
Item Description
Min. Sample 
ValueThe lowest sample value in the selection, as a value be-
tween -1 and 1 and in dB.
Max. Sample 
ValueThe highest sample value in the selection, as a value be-
tween -1 and 1 and in dB.
Peak Amplitude The largest sample value (in absolute numbers) in the se-
lection, in dB.
DC Offset The amount of DC Offset (see “Remove DC Offset” on 
page 223) in the selection, as a percentage and in dB.
Estimated 
ResolutionEven though an audio file is in 16 or 24 bits, it may have 
been converted from a lower resolution. The Estimated 
Resolution value makes an educated guess about the ac-
tual audio resolution, by computing the smallest level dif-
ference between two samples. 
						

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Audio processing and functions Estimated Pitch The estimated pitch of the audio selection.
Sample Rate The sample rate of the audio selection.
Min. RMS 
PowerThe lowest loudness (RMS) measured in the selection.
Max. RMS 
PowerThe highest loudness (RMS) measured in the selection.
Average The average loudness over the whole selection. Item Description 
						

							18
The Sample Editor 
						

							234
The Sample Editor
Background
The Sample Editor allows you to view and manipulate au-
dio at the audio clip level, by cutting and pasting, removing 
or drawing audio data, processing or applying effects (see 
“Audio processing and functions” on page 216). This ed-
iting can be called “non-destructive”, in the sense that you 
can undo changes or revert to the original versions at any 
time, using the Offline Process History (see “The Offline 
Process History dialog” on page 227), and because the 
actual audio file (if created or imported from outside the 
project) will remain untouched.
The Sample Editor also contains most of the Audio Warp 
related functions, i.e. the realtime time-stretching and 
pitch-shifting functions in Cubase. These are useful to e.g. 
tempo-match any audio loop to the project tempo (see 
“Audio Warp realtime processing/Tempo matching audio 
to the project tempo” on page 246).
Another special feature of the Sample Editor is hitpoint 
detection. Hitpoints allow you to create “slices”, that are 
useful, if you want to e.g. change the tempo without af-
fecting the pitch (see “Working with hitpoints and slices” 
on page 252).
Opening the Sample Editor
You open the Sample Editor by double-clicking an audio 
event in the Project window or the Audio Part Editor, or by 
double-clicking an audio clip in the Pool. You can have 
more than one Sample Editor open at the same time.
Note that double-clicking an audio part in the Project 
window will open the Audio Part Editor, even if the part 
only contains a single audio event.
This is described in a separate chapter, see “The Audio Part Editor” on 
page 264. 
						

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The Sample Editor
Window overview
The Elements menu
If you right-click in the Sample Editor to bring up the 
Quick menu, you will find a submenu called “Elements”. 
By activating or deactivating options on this submenu, you 
specify what is shown in the editor window. Some of 
these options are also available as icons on the toolbar.
The toolbar
The toolbar contains the tools…
… and information about the edited audio clip:
The Sample Editor tools Audition, Loop & 
Volume controls
Show 
regions
Autoscroll
Show InspectorUse SnapShow Au-
dio event
Global Transpose status
Audio format and length
Realtime status
Selected display format 
(for info line and ruler)
Current selection range
Number of edits 
made to the clip
Zoom factor 
						

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The Sample Editor
Initially, length and position values are displayed in the for-
mat specified in the Project Setup dialog. If you click in the 
middle field, a pop-up menu opens, where you can select 
another display format. This selection affects the Sample 
Editor ruler as well.
You can customize the toolbar by right-clicking it and 
using the pop-up menu to hide or show items.
Selecting Setup from the pop-up menu allows you to 
reorder sections on the toolbar, store presets, etc. See 
“The Setup dialogs” on page 466.
The Sample Editor Inspector
To the left of the Sample Editor, you will find the Sample 
Editor Inspector. It contains all the tools and functions for 
working in the Sample Editor. 
You open a tab by clicking on it. If you want to open an-
other tab without closing the first, [Ctrl]/[Command]-click 
on it. To open all tabs in the Inspector [Alt]/[Option]-click 
on any tab.ÖYou can show/hide Inspector sections by right-click-
ing on an Inspector tab and activating/deactivating the de-
sired option(s).
Make sure you right-click on an inspector tab and not on the empty area 
below the Inspector, as this will open the Quick context menu instead. 
						

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The Sample Editor
The Definition tab
The topmost tab of the Sample Editor Inspector is used to 
define the musical context of your audio. Here, you can de-
fine the grid, i.e. measure the audio tempo and the groove. 
Open this tab, if you want to use your audio in a musical 
context, so that you can later activate the Straighten Up 
mode, create a groove quantize map or slices.
The upper section of the Definition tab will help you to ad-
just the audio grid. You can select a grid resolution from 
the pop-up menu and adjust the grid manually by activat-
ing the Manual Adjust tool, or automatically by clicking the 
Auto Adjust button. When you click on the Auto Adjust 
button, the Manual Adjust tool will be activated, so that 
you can afterwards verify and change the grid manually, if 
necessary. The Preview mode should be activated (default 
setting) to use the grid for playback. Preview is linked to 
the Straighten Up mode and Quantize menu on the Play-
back tab. If you only want to create slices or quantize 
grooves, you can deactivate the Preview mode.
The lower section displays the length of your audio file in 
bars and beats (PPQ) together with the estimated tempo 
and the time signature. You should always verify if the 
length in bars corresponds to the audio file you imported. 
If necessary, listen to your audio and enter the correct bar 
length.
The Playback tab
In this tab, the audio grid and the tempo of the audio can 
be adjusted to the project grid by activating the Straighten 
Up mode.
From the algorithm pop-up, you can select an algorithm 
for the realtime time-stretching.
If you activate Straighten Up mode, the audio file will snap 
to the project grid. The Quantize pop-up lets you select a 
resolution for the audio, allowing you to specify how exact 
the quantization will be. When you select the “Bars” option, 
the audio will be synced to tempo without quantizing. The 
Swing fader lets you offset every second position in the grid 
creating a swing or shuffle feel.
In Free Warp mode you can manually change the rhythm 
of the audio. When this button is activated, you can drag 
beats to time positions in the grid. This is described in the 
section “Free Warp” on page 259.
When the Transpose track has been added to the project, 
or when the event root key is defined and the project root 
key is set, you can follow global transpose by activating the 
Follow Global mode (see “Realtime pitch-shifting of audio 
events” on page 262). Note that the Transpose function on 
the Playback tab is not available if you opened the Sample 
Editor by double-clicking on an event in the Pool.
If you click the Flatten button, the realtime warp processing 
will be applied to the clip, making the settings permanent 
(see “Flattening the realtime processing” on page 262).
!If you work with audio with triplet feeling, set the ba-
sic grid resolution to 1/8 or 1/16 and the signature 
to 12/8. Note that you should afterwards also set the 
time signature for the project to 12/8 (in the Trans-
port panel).
!Warp tabs will only be displayed in the waveform, if 
this tab is open. 
						

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The Sample Editor
The Hitpoints tab
In this tab, the transients, i.e. hitpoints of the audio can be 
marked. 
Adjust the sensitivity slider to determine how many hit-
points should be shown, and edit them with the Edit Hit-
points tool, if necessary. If you want to clear all hitpoints, 
e.g. to re-detect hitpoints, click the Remove All button.
Click the Slice & Close button, if you want to slice your 
audio to quantize the rhythm of the different slices sepa-
rately (see “Creating slices” on page 257).
Click the Make Groove button, if you want to create an au-
dio groove for quantizing other material to the groove of 
your audio (see “Creating groove quantize maps” on page 
257).
Click the Create Markers button, if you want to create mark-
ers for the hitpoints (see “Create Markers” on page 258).
Use the Create Regions button, if you want to create re-
gions, e.g. for further use in a sampler (see “Create Regi-
ons” on page 258).
Use the Create Events button, if you wish to create sepa-
rate events according to the hitpoints for a file (see “Create 
Events” on page 258).
Before you can use the Make Groove and the Slice & Close 
buttons, the tempo and the time signature of the audio must 
be defined. If this is not the case, a window will be shown in 
which you can enter the original tempo of the audio file. 
The Range tab
In this tab you will find some utility functions for working 
with ranges and selections (see “Making selections” on 
page 242).
The Process tab
This tab regroups the most important audio editing com-
mands from the Audio and the Edit menus. For further in-
formation on the Select Process and Select Plug-in pop-
up menus, see the chapter “Audio processing and func-
tions” on page 216.
The thumbnail display
The thumbnail display provides an overview of the whole 
clip. The section currently shown in the main waveform 
display of the Sample Editor is indicated by a blue rectan-
gle in the thumbnail, while the current selection range is 
shown in blue.
You can move the blue rectangle in the thumbnail to 
view other sections of the clip.
Click in the lower half of the rectangle and drag to the left or right to 
move it.
You can resize the blue rectangle (by dragging its left or 
right edge) to zoom in or out, horizontally.
You can define a new viewing area by clicking in the up-
per half of the overview and dragging a rectangle with the 
mouse.
!Hitpoints will only be displayed in the waveform, if 
this tab is open. 
						

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The Sample Editor
The ruler
The Sample Editor ruler is located between the thumbnail 
and the waveform display. It shows the timeline in the dis-
play format specified in the Project Setup dialog (see “The 
Project Setup dialog” on page 35). If you like, you can se-
lect an independent display format for the ruler by clicking 
on the arrow button to the right of it and selecting an op-
tion from the pop-up menu that appears (this affects the 
values in the info line too). For a list of the display format 
options, see “The ruler” on page 34.
The waveform display and the level scale
The waveform display shows the waveform image of the 
edited audio clip – in the style selected in the Preferences 
(Event Display–Audio page), see “Adjusting how parts 
and events are shown” on page 39. To the left of the 
waveform display, a level scale can be shown, indicating 
the amplitude of the audio.
When the level scale is shown, you can select whether 
the level should be shown as a percentage or in dB.
This is done by right-clicking the level scale and selecting an option from 
the pop-up menu that appears. This also allows you to hide the level scale.
To display the level scale after hiding it, right-click to 
bring up the Quick menu and activate “Level Scale” on the 
Elements submenu.
This submenu also allows you to select whether you 
want the zero axis and/or the half level axis indicated in the 
waveform display.
Half 
level 
axis Zero axis 
						

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The Sample Editor
General Operations
Zooming
Zooming in the Sample Editor is done according to the 
standard zoom procedures, with the following special 
notes:
The vertical zoom slider changes the vertical scale rela-
tive to the height of the editor window, in a way similar to 
the waveform zooming in the Project window (see “Zoom 
and view options” on page 36).
The vertical zoom will also be affected if the option “Zoom Tool Standard 
Mode” (Preferences on the Editing–Tools page) is deactivated and you 
drag a rectangle with the Zoom tool.
The following options relevant to the Sample Editor are 
available on the Zoom submenu (on the Edit menu and the 
Quick context menu):
You can also zoom by resizing the rectangle in the 
thumbnail display.
See “The thumbnail display” on page 238.
The current zoom setting is shown in the info line, as a 
“samples per screen pixel” value.
Note that you can zoom in horizontally to a scale with 
less than one sample per pixel! 
This is required for drawing with the Pencil tool (see “Drawing in the 
Sample Editor” on page 245).
If you have zoomed in to one sample per pixel or less, 
the appearance of the samples depend on the option 
“Interpolate Audio Images” in the Preferences (Event Dis-
play–Audio page).
If the option is deactivated, single sample values are drawn as “steps”. If 
the option is activated, they are interpolated to “curves” form.
Auditioning
While you can use the regular play commands to play 
back audio when the Sample Editor is open, it is often 
useful to listen to the edited material only.
ÖCubase only: When auditioning, audio will be routed 
to the Control Room (if the Control Room is activated) or 
to the Main Mix (the default output bus). In Cubase Studio, 
the Main Mix bus is always used for all auditioning. For in-
formation about routing, see the chapter “VST Connec-
tions: Setting up input and output busses” on page 13.
ÖYou can adjust the auditioning level with the miniature 
level fader on the toolbar.
By using key commands
If you activate the “Playback Toggle triggers Local Pre-
view” option in the Preferences (Transport page), you can 
use the [Space] bar to audition. This is the same as click-
ing the Audition icon on the toolbar.
By using the Audition icon
Clicking the Audition icon on the toolbar plays back the 
edited audio, according to the following rules:
 If you have made a selection, this selection will be played 
back.
 If there is no selection, but the option “Show Event” is acti-
vated (see “Show audio event” on page 245), the section of 
the clip corresponding to the event will be played back.
 If there is no selection, and “Show Event” is deactivated, play-
back will start at the cursor position (if the cursor is outside 
the display, the whole clip will be played back).
 If the Loop icon is activated, playback will continue repeatedly 
until you deactivate the Audition icon. Otherwise, the section 
will be played back once.
Option Description
Zoom In Zooms in one step, centering on the position cursor.
Zoom Out Zooms out one step, centering on the position cursor.
Zoom Full Zooms out so that the whole clip is visible in the editor.
Zoom to 
SelectionZooms in so that the current selection fills the screen.
Zoom to 
Selection (Horiz.) 
(Edit menu only)Zooms in horizontally so that the current selection fills 
the screen.
Zoom to Event 
(Edit menu only)Zooms in so that the editor shows the section of the clip 
corresponding to the edited audio event. This is not 
available if you opened the Sample Editor from the Pool 
(in which case the whole clip is opened for editing, not 
an event).
Zoom In/Out 
Vertical (Edit 
menu only)This is the same as using the vertical zoom slider (see 
above).