Steinberg Cubase 5 Operation Manual
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261 The Pool Background Every time you record on an audio track, a file is created on your hard disk. A reference to this file – a clip – is also added to the Pool. Two general rules apply to the Pool: All audio and video clips that belong to a project are listed in the Pool. There is a separate Pool for every project. The way the Pool displays folders and their contents is similar to the way the Mac OS X Finder and the Windows Explorer display folders and lists of files. In the Pool you can, among other things, perform the fol- lowing operations: Operations that affect files on disk Importing clips (audio files can automatically be copied and/or converted) Converting file formats. Renaming clips (this will also rename the referenced files on disk) and regions Deleting clips Preparing file archives for backup Minimizing files Operations that only affect clips Copying clips Auditioning clips Organizing clips Applying audio processing to clips Saving or importing complete Pool files Opening the Pool You can open the Pool in any of the following ways: By clicking the Open Pool button on the Project win- dow toolbar. By selecting “Pool” on the Project menu or “Open Pool Window” on the Media menu. By using a key command (by default [Ctrl]/[Command]- [P] – note that using this key command a second time will close the Pool again).The content of the Pool is divided into three main folders: The Audio folder This contains all audio clips and regions currently in the project. The Video folder This contains all video clips currently in the project. The Trash folder Unused clips can be moved into the Trash folder for later permanent re- moval from the hard disk. These folders cannot be renamed or deleted from the Pool, but any number of subfolders can be added (see “Organi- zing clips and folders” on page 270). Window overview Toolbar overview Audio folder Trash folder Video folderAudio clip Region Waveform imageToolbar Open/Close all folders View/Attributes pop-up Show Info buttonProject Folder path Pool Record Folder path Audition, Audition Loop, and Volume controlsImport and Search buttons
262 The Pool The info line Click the “Show Info” button on the toolbar to show or hide the info line at the bottom of the Pool window. It shows the following information: How clips and regions are displayed in the Pool Audio clips are represented by a waveform icon followed by the clip name. Audio regions are represented by a region icon followed by the region name. Video clips are represented by a camera icon followed by the clip name. The Pool window columns Various information about the clips and regions can be viewed in the Pool window columns. The columns contain the following information: About the Status column symbols The Status column can display various symbols that relate to the clips status. The following symbols can be shown: Column Description Media This column contains the Audio, Video and Trash folders. If the folders are opened, the clip or region names are shown and can be edited. This column is always shown. Used This column displays the number of times a clip is used in the project. If there is no entry in this column, the corre- sponding clip is not used. Status This column displays various icons that relate to the cur- rent Pool and clip status. See “About the Status column symbols” on page 262 for a description of the icons. Musical Mode The checkbox in this column allows you to activate or de- activate Musical Mode. If the Tempo column (see below) displays “???”, you have to enter the correct tempo be- fore you can activate Musical Mode. Number of audio files in the Pool Number of files in the Pool that are not in the project folder (e. g. video files)Total size of all audio files in the Pool Number of audio files in use Tempo This shows the tempo of audio files, if available. If no tempo has been specified, the column displays “???”. Sign. This is the time signature, e. g. “4/4”. Key This is the root key, if one was specified for the file. Info This column shows the following information for audio clips: The sample rate, bit resolution, number of channels and the length in seconds. For regions, it displays start and end times in frames, and for video clips the frame rate, number of frames, and length in seconds. Type This column shows the file format of the clip. Date This column shows the date and time when the audio file was last changed. Origin Time This column shows the original start position where a clip was recorded in the project. As this value can be used as a basis for the option “Insert into Project” in the Media or context menu (and other functions), you can change it if the Origin Time value is independent (i. e. not for regions). This can either be done by editing the value in the col- umn, or by selecting the corresponding clip in the Pool, moving the project cursor to the new desired position and selecting “Update Origin” from the Audio menu. Image This column displays waveform images of audio clips or regions. Path This column shows the path to the location of a clip on the hard disk. Reel Name If you have imported an OMF file (see “Exporting and im- porting OMF files (Cubase only)” on page 462), it may in- clude this attribute, which is then shown in this column. The Reel Name describes the “physical” reel or tape from which the media was originally captured. Symbol Description This indicates the current Pool Record folder (see “Changing the Pool Record folder” on page 269). This symbol is shown if a clip has been processed. The question mark indicates that a clip is referenced in the project but missing from the Pool (see “About mis- sing files” on page 266). This indicates that the clip file is external, i.e. located out- side the current Audio folder for the project. This indicates that the clip has been recorded in the cur- rently open version of the project. This is useful for finding recently recorded clips quickly. Column Description
263 The Pool Sorting the Pool contents You can sort the clips in the Pool by name, date etc. This is done by clicking on the corresponding column heading. Clicking again on the same heading switches between as- cending and descending sort order. Customizing the view You can specify which of the columns are shown or hid- den by opening the View/Attributes pop-up menu on the toolbar and selecting/deselecting items. You can rearrange the order of the columns by clicking on a column heading and dragging the column to the left or right. The mouse pointer changes to a hand when you place it on the column heading. The width of a column can also be adjusted by placing the pointer between two column headers and dragging left or right. The pointer changes to a divider when you place it between two column headers. Operations ÖMost of the Pool-related main menu functions are also available on the Pool context menu (opened by right-click- ing in the Pool window). Renaming clips or regions in the Pool To rename a clip or a region in the Pool, select it and click on the existing name, type in a new name and press [Return]. ÖThis will also rename the referenced files on disk! Duplicating clips in the Pool To duplicate a clip, proceed as follows: 1.Select the clip you wish to copy. 2.Select “New Version” on the Media menu. A new version of the clip appears in the same Pool folder, with the same name but with a “version number” after it, to indicate that the new clip is a duplicate. The first copy made of a clip will get the version number “2” and so on. Regions within a clip are copied too, but keep their name. Inserting clips into a project To insert a clip into a project, you can either use the Insert commands on the Media menu or use drag and drop. Using menu commands Proceed as follows: 1.Select the clip(s) you want to insert into the project. 2.Pull down the Media menu and select an “Insert into Project” option. “At Cursor” will insert the clip(s) at the current project cursor position. “At Origin” will insert the clip(s) at their Origin Time position(s). The arrow indicates the sort column and sort order. !Renaming a clip in the Pool is much preferred to re- naming it outside Cubase (for example on the com- puter desktop). This way, Cubase already “knows” about the change, and will not lose track of the clip the next time you open the project. See “About mis- sing files” on page 266 for details about lost files. !Duplicating a clip does not create a new file on disk, but a new edit version of the clip (referring to the same audio file).
264 The Pool Note that the clip will be positioned so that its snap point is aligned with the selected insert position. You can also open the Sample Editor for a clip by double-clicking it, and perform the insert operation from there. This way you can set the snap point before inserting a clip. 3.The clip is inserted on the selected track or on a new audio track. If several tracks are selected, the clip will be inserted on the first selected track. Using drag and drop When using drag and drop to insert clips into the Project window, please note the following: Snap is taken into account if activated. While you drag the clip in the Project window, its posi- tion is indicated by a marker line and a numerical position box. Note that these indicate the position of the snap point in the clip. For ex- ample, if you drop the clip at the position 10.00, this will be where the snap point ends up. See “Adjusting the snap point” on page 226 for information on how to set the snap point. If you position the clip in an empty area in the event dis- play (i.e. below existing tracks), a new track is created for the inserted event. Deleting clips Removing clips from the Pool To remove a clip from the Pool without deleting it from the hard disk, proceed as follows: 1.Select the clip(s) and select “Delete” from the Edit menu (or press [Backspace] or [Delete]). A prompt asks whether you want to move the clip to the Trash or remove it from the Pool. If you try to delete a clip that is used by one or more events, the program will ask you whether to remove these events from the project. If you cancel, neither the clip nor the associated events are deleted. 2.In the window that appears, select “Remove from Pool”. The clip is no longer associated with the project, but still exists on the hard disk and can be used in other projects, etc. This operation can be undone. Deleting from the hard disk To delete a file permanently from the hard disk, it must first be moved to the Trash folder: 1.Follow the instructions for deleting clips above, but click the Trash button instead of the Remove from Pool button. Alternatively, you can drag and drop clips into the Trash folder. 2.On the Media menu, select “Empty Trash”. A warning message is displayed. 3.Click “Erase” to delete the file on the hard disk perma- nently. This operation cannot be undone! ÖTo retrieve a clip or region from the Trash folder, drag it back into an Audio or Video folder. Removing unused clips This function finds all clips in the Pool that are not used in the project. You can then decide whether to move them to the Trash folder (from where they can be permanently de- leted) or to remove them from the Pool: 1.Select “Remove Unused Media” on the Media or con- text menu. A message appears asking you whether you want to move the file to the Trash or to remove it from the Pool. 2.Make your selection. Snap point !Before you permanently delete audio files from the hard disk, make sure that they are not used by an- other project!
265 The Pool Removing regions To remove a region from the Pool, select it and select “De- lete” from the Edit menu (or press [Backspace] or [Delete]). ÖFor regions there is no alert if the region is used in the project! Locating events and clips Locating events via clips in the Pool If you want to find out which events in the project refer to a particular clip in the Pool, proceed as follows: 1.Select one or more clips in the Pool. 2.Select “Select in Project” on the Media menu. All events that refer to the selected clip(s) are now selected in the Pro- ject window. Locating clips via events in the Project window If you want to find the clips events in the Project window, proceed as follows: 1.Select one or more events in the Project window. 2.Pull down the Audio menu and select “Find Selected in Pool”. The corresponding clip(s) are located and highlighted in the Pool. Searching for audio files The search functions can help you locate audio files in the Pool, on your hard disk or on other media. This works much like the regular file search, but with a couple of extra features: 1.Click the Search button in the toolbar. A search pane appears at the bottom of the window, displaying the search functions. The search pane in the Pool By default, the search parameters available in the search pane are “Name” and “Location”. For using other filter cri- teria, see “Extended Search functionality” on page 265.2.Specify the name of the file(s) to search for in the Name field. You can use partial names or wildcards (*). Note that only audio files of the supported formats will be found. 3.Use the Location pop-up menu to specify where to search. The pop-up menu will list all your local drives and removable media. If you want to limit the search to certain folders, choose “Select Search Path” and select the desired folder in the dialog that appears. The search will include the selected folder and all subfolders. Note also that folders you have recently selected using the “Select Search Path” function will appear on the pop-up menu, allowing you to quickly select them again. 4.Click the Search button. The search is started and the Search button is labeled Stop – click this to cancel the search if needed. When the search is finished, the files found are listed to the right. To audition a file, select it in the list and use the play- back controls to the left (Play, Stop, Pause and Loop). If Auto Play is activated, selected files will automatically be played back. To import a file into the Pool, double-click on it in the list or select it and click the Import button. 5.To close the search pane, click the Search button in the toolbar again. Extended Search functionality Apart from the search criterion Name, additional search fil- ters are available. The Extended Search options allows for a very detailed search, helping you to master even the largest sound database. To use them, proceed as follows: 1.Click the Search button on the toolbar. The Search pane is displayed in the lower part of the Pool window.
266 The Pool 2.Move the mouse pointer over the “Name” text to the right of the name field and click on the arrow that appears. 3.The Extended Search pop-up menu opens. It contains six options determining which search criterion is displayed above the Location field (Name, Size, Bitsize, Channels, Sample Rate or Date), as well as the Add Filter and Presets submenus. The search criteria have the following parameters: Name: partial names or wildcards (*) Size: Less than, More than, Equal, Between (two values), in seconds, minutes, hours and bytes Bitsize (resolution): 8, 16, 32, 64 Channels: Mono, Stereo and from 3 to 16 Sample Rate: various values, choose “Other” for free setting Date: various search ranges 4.Select one of the search criteria in the pop-up menu to change the search option above the Location pop-up menu. 5.If you want to display more search options, select the desired element from the “Add filter” submenu. This allows you, for example, to add the Size or the Sample Rate parame- ters to the already displayed Name and Location parameters. You can save presets of your search filter settings. To do this, click Save Preset on the Presets submenu and enter a name for the preset. Existing presets can be found at the bottom of the list. To remove a pre- set, click on the preset to activate it, then select Remove Preset. The Find Media window Alternatively to the search pane in the Pool, you can open a stand-alone Find Media window by selecting the “Search Media…” option from the Media or context menu (also available from the Project window). This offers the same functionality as the search pane. To insert a clip or region directly into the project from the Find Media window, select it in the list and choose one of the “Insert into Project” options from the Media menu. The options are described in the section “Inserting clips into a project” on page 263. About missing files When you open a project, the Resolve Missing Files dialog (see below) may open, warning you that one or more files are “missing”. If you click Close, the project will open any- way, without the missing files. In the Pool, you can check which files are considered missing. This is indicated by a question mark in the Status column. A file is considered missing under one of the following conditions: The file has been moved or renamed outside the pro- gram since the last time you worked with the project, and you ignored the Resolve Missing Files dialog when you opened the project for the current session. You have moved or renamed the file outside the pro- gram during the current session. You have moved or renamed the folder in which the missing files are located. Move the mouse pointer over the “Name” text to the right of the name field and click… …to show the Extended Search pop-up menu.
267 The Pool Locate missing files 1.Select “Find Missing Files” from the Media or context menu. The Resolve Missing Files dialog opens. 2.Decide if you want the program to try to find the file for you (Search), if you want to do it yourself (Locate) or if you want to specify in which directory the program should search for the file (Folder). If you select Locate, a file dialog opens, allowing you to locate the file manually. Select the file and click “Open”. If you select Folder, a dialog opens to let you specify the directory in which the missing file can be found. This might be the preferred method if you have renamed or moved the folder containing the missing file, but the file still has the same name. Once you select the correct folder, the program finds the file and you can close the dialog. If you select Search, a dialog opens to let you specify which folder or disk should be scanned by the program. Click the Search Folder button, select a directory or a disk and click the Start button. If found, select the file from the list and click “Accept”. Afterwards Cubase tries to map all other missing files automatically. Reconstructing missing edit files If a missing file cannot be found (e. g. if you have acciden- tally deleted it from the hard disk), it will normally be indi- cated with a question mark in the Status column in the Pool. However, if the missing file is an edit file (a file cre- ated when you process audio, stored in the Edits folder within the project folder), it may be possible for the pro- gram to reconstruct it by recreating the editing to the orig- inal audio file.Proceed as follows: 1.Open the Pool and locate the clip(s) for which files are missing. 2.Check the Status column – if it says “Reconstruct- ible”, the file can be reconstructed by Cubase. 3.Select the reconstructible clips and select “Recon- struct” from the Media menu. The editing is performed and the edit files are recreated. Removing missing files from the Pool If the Pool contains audio files that cannot be found or re- constructed, you may want to remove these. For this, select “Remove Missing Files” from the Media or context menu. This will remove all missing files from the Pool as well as the corresponding events from the Project window. Auditioning clips in the Pool There are three ways to audition clips in the Pool: By using key commands. If you activate the “Playback Toggle triggers Local Preview” option in the Preferences (Transport page), you can use [Space] to audition. This is the same as clicking the Audition icon on the toolbar. By selecting a clip and activating the Audition button. The whole clip will play back, unless you stop playback by clicking the Audition button again. By clicking somewhere in the waveform image for a clip. The clip will play from the position in the waveform you click until the end of the clip, unless you stop playback by clicking the Audition button, or by clicking anywhere else in the Pool window. Click in the waveform image to audition a clip. The audio is routed directly to the Control Room, if acti- vated (Cubase only). When the Control Room is deacti- vated, the audio is routed to the Main Mix (the default output) bus, bypassing the audio channel’s settings, ef- fects and EQs. In Cubase Studio, the Main Mix bus is al- ways used for auditioning. ÖYou can adjust the auditioning level with the miniature level fader on the toolbar. This does not affect the regular playback level.
268 The Pool If you have activated the Audition Loop button before you audition, the following will happen: When you click the Audition button to audition a clip, the clip is repeated indefinitely until you stop playback by clicking the Audition or Audition Loop button again. When you click in the waveform image to audition, the section from the point you clicked to the end of the clip is repeated indefinitely until you stop playback. Opening clips in the Sample Editor The Sample Editor allows you to perform detailed editing on the clip (see “The Sample Editor” on page 219). You can open clips in the Sample Editor directly from the Pool in the following ways: If you double-click a clip waveform icon or a clip name in the Media column, the clip opens in the Sample Editor. If you double-click a region in the Pool, its clip opens in the Sample Editor with the region selected. One practical use for this is to set a snap point for a clip (see “Adjusting the snap point” on page 226). When you later insert the clip from the Pool into the project, you can have it be properly aligned according to the set snap point. About the Import Medium dialog The Import Medium dialog lets you import files directly into the Pool. It is opened from the Media or context menu or using the Import button in the Pool window.This is a standard file dialog, where you can navigate to other folders, audition files, etc. The following audio file formats can be imported: Wave (Normal or Broadcast, see “Broadcast Wave files” on page 424) AIFF and AIFC (Compressed AIFF) “Importing ReCycle files” on page 461) Dolby Digital AC3 file (ac3 – if you have the Steinberg Dolby Digital Encoder installed in your system) – Cubase only DTS file (dts – if you have the Steinberg DTS Encoder in- stalled in your system) – Cubase only SD2 (Sound Designer II) MPEG Layer 2 and Layer 3 (mp2 and mp3 files – see “Impor- ting compressed audio files” on page 461) Ogg Vorbis (ogg files – see “Importing compressed audio files” on page 461) Windows Media Audio (Windows – see “Importing com- pressed audio files” on page 461) Wave 64 (w64 files – Cubase only) They may have the following characteristics: Any sample rate (although files with another sample rate than the one used in the project will play back at the wrong speed and pitch – see below). 8, 16, 24 bit or 32 bit float resolution The following videos formats can also be imported: AVI (Audio Video Interleaved) MOV and QT (QuickTime) WMV (Windows only) MPEG 1 and 2 video files ÖIt is also possible to use the commands on the Import submenu on the File menu to import audio or video files into the Pool. !For video files to be played back correctly, the right codecs have to be installed.
269 The Pool When you select a file in the Import Medium dialog and click Open, the Import Options dialog opens: It contains the following options: Copy File to Working Directory Activate this if you want a copy of the file to be made in the Audio folder of the project, and have the clip refer to this copy. If the option is off, the clip will refer to the original file in the original location (and will thus be marked as “external” in the Pool – see “About the Status column sym- bols” on page 262). Convert to Project section Here you can choose to convert the sample rate (if the sample rate is dif- ferent than the one set for the project) or the sample size, i. e. resolution (if the sample size is lower than the record format used in the project). The options are only available if necessary. Note that if you are importing several audio files at once, the Import Options dialog will instead contain a “Convert and Copy to Project if needed” checkbox. When this is acti- vated, the imported files will be converted only if the sample rate is differ- ent or the sample size is lower than the project’s. Split channels/Split multi-channel files If this is activated, stereo and multi-channel files are split into a correspon- ding number of mono files – one for each channel – and these will be im- ported into the Pool. Note that if you use this option, the imported files will always be copied to the Audio folder of the project, as described above. Do not Ask again If this is activated, files will always be imported according to the settings you have made, without this dialog appearing. This can be reset in the Preferences (Editing–Audio page). ÖYou can always convert files later by using the Convert Files (see “Convert Files” on page 272) or Conform Files (see “Conform Files” on page 272) options. About the Import Audio CD dialog You can import tracks (or sections of tracks) from an au- dio CD directly into the Pool by using the “Import Audio CD…” function on the Media menu. This opens a dialog in which you can specify which tracks should be copied from the CD, converted to audio files and added to the Pool. For details about the Import from Audio CD dialog, see “Importing audio CD tracks” on page 459. Exporting regions as audio files If you have created regions within an audio clip (see “Wor- king with regions” on page 228), these can be exported as separate audio files. To create a new audio file from a re- gion, proceed as follows: 1.In the Pool, select the region you wish to export. 2.On the Audio menu, select “Bounce Selection”. A browser dialog opens. 3.Select the folder in which you want the new file to be created. A new audio file is created in the specified folder. The file will have the name of the region and will automatically be added to the Pool. ÖIf you have two clips that refer to the same audio file (different “versions” of clips, e. g. created with the “Convert to Real Copy” function), you can use the Bounce Selection function to create a new, separate file for the copied clip. Select the clip, select Bounce Selection and enter a location and name for the new file. Changing the Pool Record folder All audio clips that you record in the project will end up in the Pool Record folder. The Pool Record folder is indicated by the text “Record” in the Status column and by a red dot on the folder itself. By default, this is the main Audio folder. You can, however, at any time create a new Audio sub- folder and designate this as your Pool Record folder. The Pool Record folder
270 The Pool To do this, proceed as follows: 1.Select the Audio folder or any audio clip. You cannot designate the Video folder (or any of its subfolders) as the Pool Record folder. 2.Select “Create Folder” on the Media or context menu. A new empty subfolder named “New Folder” appears in the Pool. 3.Select the new folder and rename it as desired. 4.Select “Set Pool Record Folder” on the Media or con- text menu, or click in the Status column of the new folder. The new folder now becomes the Pool Record folder, and any audio re- corded in the project will be saved in this folder. Organizing clips and folders If you accumulate a large number of clips in the Pool, it may sometimes be difficult to quickly find specific items. In such cases, organizing clips in new subfolders with suit- able names that reflect the content can be a solution. For example, you could put all sound effects in one folder, all lead vocals in another, etc. Proceed as follows: 1.Select the type of folder, audio or video, for which you want to create a subfolder. You cannot put audio clips in a video folder and vice versa. 2.Select “Create Folder” on the Media or context menu. A new empty subfolder named “New Folder” appears in the Pool. 3.Rename the folder as desired. 4.Drag and drop the clips you wish to move to the new folder. 5.Repeat steps 1–4 as necessary. Applying processing to clips in the Pool You can apply audio processing to clips from within the Pool in the same way as to events in the Project window. Simply select the clip(s) and choose a processing method from the Audio menu. To find out more about audio pro- cessing, see the chapter “Audio processing and functions” on page 204. Undoing processing If you have applied processing to a clip, in the Project win- dow, the Sample Editor, or in the Pool, this is indicated by the red and gray waveform symbol in the Status column. This processing can always be undone using the Offline Process History, see “The Offline Process History dialog” on page 214. Freeze Edits You can use the Freeze Edits function to create a new file with processing applied or to replace the original with a processed version, see “Freeze Edits” on page 215. Minimize File The option “Minimize File” on the Media or context menu allows you shrink the audio files according to the size of the audio clips referenced in a project. The files produced using this option only contain the audio file portions actu- ally used in the project. This can significantly reduce the size of the project, if large portions of the audio files are unused. Therefore, the option is useful for archiving pur- poses after you have completed a project. ÖThis operation will permanently alter the selected au- dio files in the Pool. This cannot be undone! If this is not what you want, you can use the option “Back up Project” on the File menu instead, see “Back up Project” on page 458. This function also has the option of minimizing files, but copies all files into a new folder, leaving the original project untouched. Proceed as follows: 1.Select the file(s) you wish to minimize. 2.Select “Minimize File” on the Media menu. An alert appears, informing you that the entire Edit History will be cleared. Click Minimize to proceed or Cancel to stop the process. 3.After the minimizing is finished, another alert appears, because the file references in the stored project have be- come invalid. Click Save Now to save the updated project or click Later to proceed with the unsaved project. Only the audio portions actually used in the project remain in the corresponding audio file(s) in the Pool Record folder.