Steinberg Cubase 6 Manual

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Fades, crossfades and envelopes
Creating crossfades
Overlapping audio material on the same track can be cross-
faded, for smooth transitions or special effects. You create 
a crossfade by selecting two consecutive audio events and 
selecting the Crossfade command on the Audio menu (or 
by using the corresponding key command, by default [X]). 
The result depends on whether the two events overlap or 
not:
•If the events overlap, a crossfade is created in the over-
lapping area.
The crossfade will be of the default shape (linear, symmetric), but you 
can change this as described below.
ÖThe default crossfade length and shape are set in the 
Crossfade dialog (see 
“The Crossfade dialog” on page 
121).
•If the events do not overlap but are directly consecutive 
(lined up end-to-start, with no gap) it is still possible to 
crossfade them – provided that their respective audio 
clips overlap! In this case, the two events are resized so 
that they overlap, and a crossfade of the default length 
and shape is applied.
•If the events do not overlap and cannot be resized 
enough to overlap, a crossfade cannot be created.
•You can specify the length of the crossfade using the 
Range Selection tool: make a selection range covering the 
desired crossfade area and use the Crossfade command 
on the Audio menu.
The crossfade is applied to the selected range (provided that the events 
or their clips overlap, as described above). 
ÖYou can also make a selection range after creating the 
crossfade and use the function “Adjust fades to Range” 
on the Audio menu.
•Once you have created a crossfade, you can edit it by 
selecting one or both crossfaded events, and selecting 
“Crossfade” from the Audio menu again (or by double-
clicking in the crossfade zone). 
This opens the Crossfade dialog.
Removing crossfades
To remove a crossfade, proceed as follows:
•Select the corresponding events and select “Remove 
Fades” from the Audio menu.
•Use the Range Selection tool to select all fades and 
crossfades you wish to remove, and select “Remove 
Fades” from the Audio menu.
•Select a crossfade by clicking, and drag it outside the 
track.
The Crossfade dialog
Options and settings
The Crossfade dialog contains separate, but identical, sec-
tions for the fade-in and fade-out curve settings in the 
crossfade on the left, and common settings on the right:
Crossfade area
OptionDescription
Fade curve  displaysThese displays show the shape of the fade out and 
fade in curve, respectively. Click on a curve to add 
points, click and drag existing points to change their 
shape, or drag a point outside the display to remove it.
Curve buttonsThe curve kind buttons determine whether the corre-sponding fade curve consists of spline curve segments 
(left button), damped spline segments (middle button) 
or linear segments (right button).
The curve shape buttons give you quick access to 
some common curve shapes. 
						

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Fades, crossfades and envelopes
Auto fades and crossfades
Cubase features an Auto Fade function that can be set 
both globally, and separately for each audio track. The 
idea behind the Auto Fade function is to create smoother 
transitions between events by applying short (1–500
 ms) 
fade ins and fade outs.
ÖAuto fades are not indicated by fade lines!
Making global Auto Fade settings
1.To make Auto Fades settings globally for a project, se-
lect “Auto Fades Settings…” from the Project menu.
This opens the Auto Fades dialog for the project.
2.Use the Length value field to specify the length of the 
Auto Fades or Crossfades (1–500
 ms).
3.Use the checkboxes in the upper right corner to acti-
vate or deactivate Auto Fade In, Auto Fade Out, and Auto 
Crossfades.
4.To adjust the shapes of Auto Fade In and Auto Fade 
Out, select the Fades tab and make settings as in the reg
-
ular Fade dialogs (see “The Fade dialogs” on page 120).
Equal Gain Activate this parameter to adjust the fade curves so 
that the summed fade in and fade out amplitudes will 
be the same all along the crossfade region. This is of
-ten suitable for short crossfades.
Equal PowerActivate this parameter to adjust the fade curves so 
that the energy (power) of the crossfade will be con-stant all along the crossfade region. Equal Power curves have only one editable curve point. 
You cannot use the Curve kind buttons or the presets 
when this mode is selected.
Play buttonsThese buttons allow you to audition the whole cross-fade, or the fade out part, or the fade in part. You can 
set up key commands for this in the following catego-ries of the Key Commands dialog:Media category – Preview Start (triggers crossfade 
playback), Preview Stop (stops crossfade playback).
Transport category – StartStop (triggers global play-back), Stop (stops global playback) and StartStop Pre-view (triggers crossfade playback).For further information, see “Key commands” on page 541.
Pre-roll and 
Post-rollActivate pre-roll to start playback before the fade area. 
Activate post-roll to stop playback after the fade area.  In the time fields you can enter the desired time (in sec-onds and milliseconds) for the pre-roll and post-roll 
length.
LengthThis specifies the length of the crossfade area. Cubase 
tries to center the crossfade, i. e. the length change will 
be applied equally to both sides. To be able to resize a 
crossfade, it must be possible to resize the corre
-sponding event. For example, if the fade out event al-ready plays its audio clip to the end, its end point 
cannot be moved any further to the right.
Presets sectionClick the Store button to the right of the Presets pop-
up menu to store the settings of your crossfade so that 
you can apply them to other events later.
 To rename a preset, double-click on the name and type 
in a new one.  To remove a preset, select it on the pop-up menu and 
click the Delete button.
Default buttonsClick the As Default button to store the current settings 
as default. These settings will then be used whenever 
you create new crossfades.
 Click the Recall Default button to apply the curves and 
settings of the default crossfade to the Crossfade dia-log.
Option Description
!As event-based fades are calculated in realtime dur-
ing playback, a higher number of audio events pro-
vokes to a higher the demand on the processor when 
Auto Fades is activated.  
						

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Fades, crossfades and envelopes
5.To adjust the shape of the Auto Crossfade, select the 
“Crossfades” tab and make settings as in the regular 
Crossfade dialog (see 
“The Crossfade dialog” on page 
121).
6.If you want to use your settings in future projects, click 
the “As Default” button.
7.Click OK to close the dialog.
Making Auto Fade settings for individual tracks
By default, all audio tracks will use the settings you have 
made in the project’s Auto Fades dialog. However, since 
Auto Fades use computing power, a better approach may 
be to turn Auto Fades off globally and activate them for in
-
dividual tracks, as needed:
1.Right-click the track in the track list and select “Auto 
Fades Settings…” from the context menu (or select the 
track and click the “Auto Fades Settings” button in the In
-
spector).
The Auto Fades dialog for the track opens. This is identical to the project’s 
Auto Fades dialog, with the addition of a “Use Project Settings” option.
2.Deactivate the “Use Project Settings” option.
Any settings you now make are applied to the track only.
3.Set up the Auto Fades as desired and close the dialog.
Reverting to project settings
If you want a track with individual Auto Fade settings to 
use the global Auto Fade settings, open the Auto Fades 
dialog for the track and activate the “Use Project Settings” 
checkbox. 
Event envelopes
An envelope is a volume curve for an audio event. It is sim-
ilar to the realtime fades, but allows you to create volume 
changes within the event, not only at the start or end. 
To create an envelope for an audio event, proceed as fol-
lows:
1.Zoom in on the event so that you can view its wave-
form properly.
2.Select the Pencil tool.
When you move the Pencil tool over an audio event, a small volume curve 
symbol is shown next to the tool.
3.To add an envelope point, click in the event with the 
Pencil tool.
An envelope curve and a curve point appear.
4.Drag the curve point to adjust the envelope shape.
The waveform image reflects the volume curve.
•You can add as many curve points as you like.
•To remove a curve point from the envelope, click on it 
and drag it outside the event.
•The envelope curve is a part of the audio event – it will 
follow when you move or copy the event.
After copying an event with an envelope, you can make independent ad-justments to the envelopes in the original event and the copy.
ÖIt is also possible to apply an envelope to the audio 
clip using the Envelope function on the Process submenu 
of the Audio menu (see 
“Envelope” on page 246).
•To remove an event envelope curve from a selected 
event, open the Audio menu and select the Remove 
Volume Curve option. 
						

							11
The arranger track  
						

							125
The arranger track
Introduction
The arranger track allows you to work with sections of 
your project in a non-linear fashion, to simplify arranging to 
the maximum extent. Instead of moving, copying and past
-
ing events in the Project window to create a linear project, 
you can define how different sections are to be played 
back, like a playlist.
For this, you can define arranger events, order them in a list, 
and add repeats as desired. This offers a different and more 
pattern-oriented way of working, which complements the 
usual linear editing methods in the Project window. 
You can create several arranger chains, making it possible 
to store different versions of a song within the project 
without sacrificing the original version. When you have 
created an arranger chain that you like, you have the op
-
tion of “flattening” the list, which creates a normal linear 
project based on the arranger chain.
You can also use the arranger track for live performances 
on the stage, in clubs or at parties.
Setting up the arranger track
Let’s say you have prepared a number of audio files that 
form the base of a typical pop song, with introduction, 
verse, chorus and bridge. Now you want to arrange these 
files.
The first step is to create an arranger track. On the ar-
ranger track, you define specific sections of the project by 
creating arranger events. These can be of any length, may 
overlap and are not bound to the start or end of existing 
events and parts. Proceed as follows:
1.Open the project for which you want to create ar-
ranger events.
2.Open the Project menu and select Arranger from the 
Add Track submenu (or right-click the track list and select 
the corresponding option from the context menu).
An arranger track is added. There can be only one arranger track in a 
project, but you can set up more than one arranger chain for this track, 
see 
“Managing arranger chains” on page 127.
3.On the Project window toolbar, make sure that Snap 
is activated and that the Snap Type is set to a mode that 
allows your arranger events to snap to appropriate posi
-
tions in the project.
Snap to events is activated, i. e. when drawing in the Project window, 
new events will snap to existing events.
4.On the arranger track, use the Pencil tool to draw an 
event of the desired length.
An arranger event is added, called “A” by default. Any following events 
will be named in alphabetical order. 
•You can rename an arranger event by selecting it and 
changing its name in the Project window info line or by 
holding down [Alt]/[Option], double-clicking on the name 
in the arranger chain (see below) and entering a new 
name.
You may want to name your arranger events according to the structure of 
your project, e.
 g. Verse, Chorus, etc.
5.Create as many events as you need for your project.
When arranger events have been created, the music sequence is deter-
mined by the arranger events.
Events can be moved, resized and deleted using the stan-
dard techniques. Please note:
•If you want to change the length of an event, select the 
Arrow tool and click and drag the lower corners of the 
event in the desired direction.
•If you copy an arranger event (by [Alt]/[Option]-drag-
ging or by using copy/paste), a new event will be created 
with the same name as the original.
However, this new event will be totally independent from the original 
event. 
						

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The arranger track
•Double-clicking on an arranger event adds it to the cur-
rent arranger chain.
Working with arranger events
You now have a number of arranger events that form the 
basic building blocks for your arrangement. The next step 
is to arrange these events using the functions of the Ar
-
ranger Editor.
Creating an arranger chain
You can set up an arranger chain in the Arranger Editor or 
in the Inspector for the arranger track. The Arranger Editor 
is opened by clicking the “e” button in the Inspector or in 
the track list. 
On the right in the Arranger Editor, the available arranger 
events are listed, in the order they appear on the timeline. 
To the left you find the actual arranger chain, which shows 
in which order the events will be played back, from top to 
bottom, and how many times they are repeated.
Initially the arranger chain is empty – you set it up by add-
ing events from the list to the chain. There are several 
ways to add events to the arranger chain:
•By double-clicking on the name of an event in the win-
dow section on the right (or in the Project window).
When an event is selected in the arranger chain on the left, this will add 
the event above the selected event. When no events are selected in the 
arranger chain, the event will be added at the end of the list.
•By selecting one or more events in the list, right-clicking 
and selecting “Append Selected In Arranger Chain”.
This will add the selected events at the end of the list.
•By dragging and dropping arranger events from the list 
on the right to the arranger chain on the left.
A blue insertion line shows you where the dragged event will end up.
An event is dragged into the arranger chain.
•By dragging arranger events from the Project window 
into the arranger chain.
If you followed our example, you should now have arranger 
events arranged in a very basic pop song pattern. How
-
ever, we have used audio files that are only a few bars 
long – to turn our pattern into a “song” (or at least into a 
basic sketch of the song structure), these files must be 
looped. This is where the Repeats function comes in.
If you want an event to repeat several times, proceed as 
follows:
•Click in the Repeats field for an event, type in the de-
sired number of repeats and press [Enter].
When playing back the arranger chain, the Counter column indicates 
which repeat of this event is currently playing.
•Click in the Mode field for an event and select the de-
sired repeat mode.
Click the “e” 
button…
…to open the Arranger Editor.
OptionButtonDescription
NormalIn this mode, the arranger chain will be played back 
as you set it up. 
						

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The arranger track
When you now play back the arranger chain, you will hear 
the complete arrangement. Proceed as follows:
1.Make sure that Arranger mode is activated.
In Arranger mode the project will be played back using the arranger set-
tings.
2.Position the Arranger Editor window so that you can 
see the arranger track in the Project window, and click in 
the arrow column for the event at the top of the list.
You will see the project cursor jump to the beginning of the first event 
specified in the arranger chain.
3.Activate playback, either from the Arranger Editor or 
on the Transport panel.
The events are played back in the specified order.
Editing the arranger chain
In the arranger chain on the left, you can do the following:
•Select multiple events by [Ctrl]/[Command]-clicking or 
[Shift]-clicking as usual.
•Drag events to move them in the list.
•Drag events holding [Alt]/[Option] to create copies of 
the selected items.
The insert location for both move and copy operations is indicated by a 
colored insertion line. A blue line indicates that the move or copy is pos
-sible; a red line indicates that moving or copying events to the current 
position is not allowed.
•Use the Repeats column to specify how many times 
each event is to be repeated.
•Click the arrow to the left of an event in the arranger 
chain to move the playback position to the start of that 
event.
•To remove an event from the list, right-click on it and se-
lect “Remove Touched” from the context menu. To remove 
several events, select them, right-click and select “Remove 
Selected”.
Navigating
To navigate between arranger events, you use the ar-
ranger transport buttons:
These controls are available in the Arranger Editor, on the 
Project window toolbar, and on the Transport panel.
In the Arranger Editor, the event that is currently played 
back is indicated by an arrow in the leftmost column, and 
the indicators in the Counter column.
Managing arranger chains
You can create several arranger chains. This way, you can 
create alternative versions for playback. In the Arranger 
Editor, the toolbar buttons on the right are used for this:
•In the Inspector, these functions are accessed from the 
Arranger pop-up menu (opened by clicking on the Ar
-
ranger name field).
Repeat 
foreverIn this mode, the current arranger event will be re-peated in a loop until you either click on another 
event in the Arranger Editor or press play once 
again.
Pause af-ter Re-peats
In this mode, the playback of the arranger chain will 
be stopped after having played back all repeats of 
the current arranger event.
Option Button Description
ButtonDescription
Click this to rename the current arranger chain.
Creates a new, empty arranger chain.
Creates a duplicate of the current arranger chain, containing 
the same events.
Removes the currently selected arranger chain. Only avail-able if you have created more than one arranger chain.
First repeat of current chain step Previous chain step
Next chain step Last repeat of current chain step 
						

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The arranger track
The arranger chains you create will be listed on the Name 
pop-up menu, found in the Arranger Editor to the left of 
the buttons, at the top of the arranger track Inspector, and 
in the track list. Please note that to be able to select an
-
other arranger chain from the pop-up menu, the Arranger 
mode must be activated.
Flattening the arranger chain
When you have found an arranger chain that suits your 
purposes, you can “flatten” it, i.
 e. convert the list into a lin-
ear project. Proceed as follows:
1.Click the Flatten button (or select Flatten Chain from 
the pop-up menu in the Inspector for the arranger track).
The events and parts in the project are reordered, repeated, resized, 
moved and/or deleted (if these are not within the boundaries of any used 
arranger event), so that they correspond exactly to the arranger chain.
The Flatten button
2.Activate Playback.
The project will now play back exactly as in Arranger mode, but you can 
view it and work with it as usual.
Flattening options
Sometimes it might be useful to keep the original arranger 
events even after flattening the arranger track. By using 
flattening options you can define which chain is flattened, 
where it is stored and how it is named together with other 
options.
1.Click the Flattening options button.
2.In the window that opens, select the desired options.
In the Source section you can specify which arranger 
chains are flattened. The available options are:
The Destination section allows you to choose where the 
result of the flattening is saved. The available options are:
!Flattening the arranger chain may remove events and 
parts from the project. Only use the Flatten function 
when you know you do not want to edit the arranger 
track/chain any more. If in doubt, save a copy of the 
project before flattening the arranger chain.
OptionDescription
Current ChainIf you activate this option, only the current chain will be 
flattened.
Checked 
Chains…If you activate this option, you can select the arranger 
chains you want to flatten in the list to the left.
All ChainsIf you activate this option, all arranger chains of the 
current project will be flattened.
OptionDescription
Current 
ProjectThis is only available if you have selected “Current Chain” as 
Source. If you activate this option, the result of the flattening 
of the current chain will be saved in the current project.
New  ProjectIf you activate this option, you can flatten one or several 
chains in a new project. In this case it might be useful to use 
naming options. If you activate “Append Chain Name”, the 
Chain Names will be appended in brackets to the project 
name. If you activate “Use Chain Name”, the new projects 
will have the name of the current arranger chains. If you acti
-vate “Add Number”, the new projects will be named like the 
old ones and a number will be appended in brackets. 
						

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The arranger track
In the Options section you can make further settings. The 
available options are:
3.You can now flatten the arranger track by clicking the 
Flatten button.
If you realize that you want to do further arrangements, you can click the 
“Go Back” button and make your adjustments. Your Flattening settings 
will be kept.
4.Click the “Go Back” button to go back to the Arranger 
Editor or close the window by clicking its Close button.
Live mode
If you have set up an arranger track and play it back, you 
have also the possibility to influence the playback order 
“live”. Note that the Arranger mode has to be activated to 
be able to use the Live mode. 
1.Set up an arranger chain in the Inspector or in the Ar-
ranger Editor for an arranger track, activate the Arranger 
mode and play back your project.
Now you can use your arranger events listed in the lower section of the 
Inspector to play back your project in Live mode.
2.Switch into Live mode by clicking on the little arrow in 
the lower list of the Inspector to the left of the arranger 
event you want to trigger.
The arranger event will be looped endlessly, until you click on another ar-ranger event. This might be useful, for example, if you want to loop a gui-
tar solo with a flexible length.
In the Jump Mode pop-up menu, you can define how long 
the active arranger event will be played, before jumping to 
the next one. The following options are available:
OptionDescription
Keep Arranger 
TrackIf you activate this option, the arranger track will be kept 
when flattening the arranger chain. Activate “Rename 
Arranger Events” to append a number to the events, ac
-cording to their use. For example, if you use arranger 
event “A” two times, the first occurrence will be renamed 
“A 1” and the second “A 2”.
Make Real 
Event CopiesNormally, you will get shared copies when flattening the 
arranger track. If you activate this option, real copies will 
be created instead.
Don’t Split 
EventsIf this option is activated, MIDI notes that start before or 
are longer than the arranger event will not be included. 
Only MIDI notes that begin and end inside the arranger 
event boundaries will be taken into account.
Open New 
ProjectsIf you activate this option, a new project will be created 
for every flattened arranger chain. If you activate the 
“Cascade New Projects” option the opened projects will 
be cascaded.
OptionDescription
NoneJumps to the next section immediately.
4 bars, 
2 barsWhen one of these modes is selected, a grid of 4 or 2 bars (de-pending on the setting) will be placed on the active arranger 
event. Whenever the respective grid line is reached, playback 
will jump to the next arranger event. An example:
Let’s say you have an arranger event which is 8 bars long and 
the grid is set to 4 bars. When the cursor is anywhere within the 
first 4 bars of the arranger event when you hit the next arranger 
event, playback will jump to the next event when the end of the 
fourth bar of the arranger event is reached. When the cursor is 
anywhere within the last 4 bars of the arranger event, playback 
will jump to the next event at the end of the event.
When an event is shorter than 4 (or 2) bars and this mode is se-lected, playback will jump to the next section at the event end.
1 barJumps to the next section at the next bar line. 
						

							130
The arranger track
•You can stop Live mode by clicking the Stop button or 
go back to “normal” playback in Arranger mode by clicking 
on any arranger event in the upper list.
In the latter case, playback will be continued from the arranger event 
where you clicked. 
Arranging your music to video
The relative time of your arranger track can be taken as a 
reference instead of the project time. This is useful, if you 
want to use the arranger track to compose music for video 
and fill a specific video section with music, by repeating 
the corresponding number of arranger events. 
If you position your external sync master device to a posi-
tion that does not match the Project Start time, Cubase 
will jump automatically to the right position in the arranger 
track and will start playback from there, i.
 e. the correct rel-
ative position and not the absolute project time will be 
found. The reference for the external timecode can be 
MIDI or any other timecode that can be interpreted/read 
by Cubase. 
An example:
1.Set up a project with a MIDI track and three MIDI 
parts. The first part should start at position 00:00:00:00 
and end at position 00:01:00:00, the second should start 
at position 00:01:00:00 and end at position 00:02:00:00 
and the third should start at position 00:02:00:00 and end 
at position 00:03:00:00.
2.Activate the Sync button on the Transport panel.
3.Add an arranger track and create arranger events that 
match the MIDI parts.
4.Set up the arranger chain “A-A-B-B-C-C”, activate 
the Arranger mode and play back your project.
5.Start external timecode at position 00:00:10:00 
(within the range of “A”).
In your project, the position 00:00:10:00 will be located and you will hear 
“A” playing. Nothing special!
Now, let’s see what happens if your external sync master 
device starts at a position that does not match the Project 
Start time:
6.Start at 00:01:10:00 (within the range of what origi-
nally was “B”).
In your project, the position 00:01:10:00 will be located and you will hear 
“A” playing, because it plays twice in the arranger track.
7.Start external timecode at position 00:02:10:00 
(within the range of what originally was “C”).
In your project, the position 00:02:10:00 will be located and you will hear 
“B” playing, because it plays “later” in the arranger track.
ÖIf the Arranger mode is not activated or no arranger 
track exists, Cubase will work as usual. 
1 beatJumps to the next section at the next beat.
EndPlays the current section to the end, then jumps to the next 
section.
Option Description