Steinberg Cubase 6 Manual

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The Sample Editor
VariAudio (Cubase only)
With the AudioWarp features, editing audio in the time 
domain has become significantly easier. However, editing 
pitch was limited to having just one single numeric “trans
-
pose” value per event or part.
VariAudio offers completely integrated vocal editing and 
pitch alteration of individual notes in monophonic vocal re
-
cordings and can solve intonation and timing problems 
with only a few mouse clicks. It was developed and opti
-
mized specifically to be used with monophonic vocal re-
cordings. Though the detection and stretching of notes of 
other monophonic audio recordings, such as those of a 
saxophone, may work well, the quality of the end result de
-
pends greatly on the generic condition and structure of 
the recording’s texture. 
And how does it work? First, the vocal line is analyzed and 
split into segments shown as graphic representation of 
the notes sung. After the detection process is complete, 
the recognized notes can be modified entirely “non-de
-
structively” so that any modifications to the audio material 
can be undone.
VariAudio allows you to change your audio on the vertical 
axis (see 
“Changing the pitch” on page 285) and on the 
horizontal axis (see “Warping segments” on page 288).
ÖIf you load projects with VariAudio files in Cubase Art-
ist, the original files will be played back and your VariAudio 
modifications will be ignored. If you want to hear your 
modifications in Cubase Artist, you will have to bounce the 
audio files that have been edited with the Cubase Vari
-
Audio features. 
Understanding the waveform display in 
VariAudio
When you open monophonic vocal recordings in the Sam-
ple Editor and activate the Segments or the Pitch & Warp 
tool on the VariAudio tab, your audio is analyzed and seg
-
mented to display the tonal portions, i. e. the notes sung or 
played. This process is called segmentation. The segmen
-
tation allows you to easily associate the audio with your lyr-
ics and to introduce pitch and timing changes. 
In between the different segments you may find gaps 
where non-tonal portions have been detected, e.
 g. 
caused by breath sounds.
At the beginning of the waveform, you can see a gap where no segment 
is shown. 
ÖThe audio waveform displayed on the VariAudio tab is 
always shown as mono, even if you have opened a stereo 
or multi-channel file.
Audio waveformSegments
Gap 
						

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The Sample Editor
The vertical position of a segment indicates its average 
pitch. If the Pitch & Warp tool is active and you move the 
mouse pointer over a segment, a piano keyboard is dis
-
played, showing the found pitches.
Furthermore, if you move the mouse pointer over a seg-
ment and the zoom factor is high enough, the average 
pitch – note name and fine tuning in cent steps (100ths of 
a semitone) – is shown on top of the segment. When you 
select a segment, this is also shown in the info line.
Note pitches represent the perceived fundamental fre-
quency of a sound. The note A4 is perceived to be of the 
same pitch as a sine wave of 440
 Hz. The notation of 
pitches is a logarithmic frequency scale. The table below 
shows the relation between pitch (note name) and 
frequency in Hz:
The average pitch of a segment is calculated from its micro-
pitch curve. Micro-pitch curves represent the progression 
of the pitch for the tonal portion of the audio. 
The horizontal position of a segment indicates the time 
position and the length. 
You can navigate through the segments by using the left/
right arrow keys on your computer keyboard.
You can zoom in on the segments that you want to edit by 
holding down [Alt]/[Option] while drawing a selection 
rectangle. To zoom out, hold down [Alt]/[Option] and click 
in an empty area of the waveform. If you hold down [Alt]/
[Option] and double click in an empty area, the display will 
be zoomed out to show all segments.
Applying editing, offline processes, and 
VariAudio
The following offline processes and edits that affect the 
length of the audio file may lead to the reanalysis of the 
audio material:
•Options on the Select Process menu, on the Process 
tab of the Sample Editor Inspector, or in the Process sub
-
menu of the Audio menu that can be applied to selections.
•Effect processing using the options on the Select Plug-
in menu on the Process tab of the Sample Editor Inspec
-
tor or in the Plug-ins submenu of the Audio menu (see the 
chapter 
“Audio processing and functions” on page 244).
C4C#4/ Db4D4D#4/
Eb4E4F4F#4/ Gb4
261.63277.18293.66311.13329.63349.23369.99
G4G#4/ Ab4A4A#4/ Bb4B4C5
392.00415.30440.00466.16493.88523.25
…a piano key-
board is shown 
in the waveform.
If you move the 
mouse over a 
segment…
Note nameFine tuning in cents
Micro-pitch curves 
						

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The Sample Editor
•Cut, paste, and delete (see “Editing selection ranges” 
on page 269), or drawing notes (see “Drawing in the 
Sample Editor” on page 268).
If you apply editing that affects the audio itself (like cutting 
portions, etc.) to a file containing VariAudio data, the follow
-
ing warning message is displayed:
•If you click “Proceed”, your edits are applied and you 
will lose your VariAudio data.
Click “Cancel” to return to your audio file without applying any changes.
If you apply offline processing to a file containing VariAudio 
data, the following warning message is displayed:
•If you click “Proceed”, your edits are applied, and you 
will lose your VariAudio data.
Click “Cancel” to return to your audio file without applying any changes.
•If you click “Proceed and Keep”, your edits are applied. 
Any VariAudio data in the audio file is kept.
Offline processes that may not affect existing VariAudio data are Enve-
lope, Fade In/Out, Normalize, or Silence. 
•If you activate the “Please don’t display this warning 
again” option in one of these warning dialogs before pro
-
ceeding, Cubase will always proceed with the selected 
option. 
You can reactivate the warning messages by deactivating the “Inhibit 
warning when changing the Sample Data” or “Inhibit warning when apply
-ing Offline Processes” options in the Preferences dialog (VariAudio page).
Segments mode
If you activate Segments mode on the VariAudio tab, your 
audio file is analyzed and split into separate segments.
When you want to change the pitch of audio that includes 
non-tonal portions, e.
 g. consonants or effect sounds like 
reverberation, you may have to edit the segmentation in 
order to include the non-tonal portions in the segments. 
Otherwise, pitch modifications will only affect the tonal 
portions. 
Editing the segmentation includes changing the start and 
end position of a segment, cutting or gluing segments, 
and moving or deleting them. Just select the section of the 
file that you want to change, activate Segments mode, 
and edit the segmentation for the desired section. If you 
are not satisfied with your changes, you can go back to 
the original segmentation (see 
“Reset” on page 290).
ÖIn Segments mode, the segments are shown with a 
hatched background. You can toggle between “Pitch & 
Warp” and “Segments” mode (see 
“Pitch & Warp tool” on 
page 285) by pressing the [Tab] key.
The following paragraphs list the corrections that can be 
performed when Segments mode is activated.
!Because of the reanalysis any existing VariAudio 
data becomes invalid. Therefore, you should always 
apply offline processing or edits before using the 
VariAudio features.
!Due to the data gained during this process, the au-
dio and thus the size of your project can increase. 
Furthermore, the analysis of long audio files might 
take some time. 
!Editing the segmentation always leads to a recalcu-
lation of the segment’s pitch. Therefore, it is recom-
mended that you edit the segmentation before 
changing the pitch. 
						

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The Sample Editor
Changing the note start or end point 
If you find that a note starts or ends too early or too late, 
e.
 g. when the reverb of a note or a consonant is not in-
cluded in the segment, proceed as follows:
1.On the VariAudio tab activate Segments mode.
2.To change the length of a segment, move the mouse 
pointer over the start/end of the segment.
The mouse pointer becomes a double arrow.
3.Click and drag the segment start/end to the left or right. 
The segment length changes accordingly. As the average pitch is recal-
culated, the segment may jump upwards or downwards. Snap will not be 
taken into account. 
ÖYou can drag the segment start/end only until it reaches 
the start/end of the next segment. Segments cannot over
-
lap each other.
Cutting a segment
If you notice that a segment includes more than one note, 
proceed as follows:
1.On the VariAudio tab activate Segments mode.
2.Move the mouse pointer over the lower border of the 
segment that you would like to cut.
The mouse pointer becomes a scissor.
3.Click at the desired position to cut the segment.
The segment is cut accordingly taking Snap into account.
ÖThere is a minimum size for a segment. Very short seg-
ments cannot be cut.
Gluing segments
If you notice that a single note is spread over two seg-
ments, proceed as follows:
1.On the VariAudio tab activate Segments mode.
2.Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and move the mouse pointer 
over the segment that you want to glue to the next.
The mouse pointer becomes a glue tube. 
3.Click to glue the active segment to the next segment. 
If several segments are selected, they are all glued together. Snap is not 
taken into account.
!If the resulting segment pitch cannot be calculated 
because of an increase in non-tonal data, the seg
-
ment will be deleted.
!When the resulting segment pitch cannot be calcu-
lated because of an increase in non-tonal data, the 
segment will be deleted.
!We recommend to correct the segmentation before 
pitching. If you glue together segments after changing 
the pitch (this includes manual pitch modifications, 
Quantize Pitch, and Straighten Pitch), your modifica
-
tions are reset and the original pitch will be heard.
!If the resulting segment pitch cannot be calculated 
because of an increase in non-tonal data, the seg
-
ment will be deleted. 
						

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The Sample Editor
Moving segments horizontally
After cutting a segment it may be necessary to move seg-
ments horizontally, for example, if you notice that a note is 
at the wrong position. Proceed as follows:
1.On the VariAudio tab activate Segments mode.
2.Move the mouse pointer over the upper border of the 
segment.
The mouse pointer becomes a double arrow.
3.Click and drag the whole segment to the left or right.
The segment is moved accordingly. If several segments are selected, they 
are all moved together. Snap is not taken into account. 
ÖYou can only drag the segment start/end until it 
reaches the start/end of the next segment. Segments can
-
not overlap each other.
Deleting segments
Sometimes it might be useful to delete segments. This is 
the case in situations where you want the original audio to 
be played back, e.
 g. for non-tonal portions or consonants.
•You can delete segments by selecting them in Seg-
ments mode and pressing [Backspace]. 
Saving the segmentation
The corrected segmentation is saved with the project, no 
additional saving is required. 
Pitch & Warp tool
If you activate the Pitch & Warp tool on the VariAudio tab, 
you can change the pitch and the timing of your audio.
You can edit the pitch and timing of audio segments for 
corrective purposes but also creatively. VariAudio allows 
you to experiment freely with note pitches in order to 
change the melody with or without preserving a natural 
sound. Furthermore, you can change the timing of the 
audio. 
ÖIn Pitch & Warp mode, the segments are shown with a 
plain background. You can toggle between “Pitch & 
Warp” and “Segments” mode by pressing the [Tab] key.
ÖThere are some restrictions concerning the highest 
and lowest possible note pitch. You cannot choose note 
pitches above C5 and below E0.
Changing the pitch 
If you want to edit the pitch of a segment, proceed as 
follows:
1.On the VariAudio tab activate the Pitch & Warp tool.
2.Move the mouse pointer over the segment.
The mouse pointer becomes a hand symbol to indicate that you can 
change the pitch of the segment. If the zoom factor is high enough, a 
tooltip indicates the found note pitch and the segment’s deviation from 
this pitch in percent. 
!If the resulting segment pitch cannot be calculated 
because of an increase in non-tonal data, the seg
-
ment will be deleted.
!Before changing the pitch or timing of your segments, 
make sure that the segments you want to change are 
correct (see 
“Segments mode” on page 283). 
						

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The Sample Editor
There are three different modes that affect the way in 
which a note will snap to a certain pitch that can be ac
-
cessed using the following modifier keys:
ÖThe default modifier key can be changed in the Prefer-
ences dialog (Editing–Tool Modifier page).
3.Drag the segment up or down to the desired pitch and 
release the mouse. However, be careful: The more the 
pitch deviates from the original pitch, the less likely it is 
that your audio sounds natural.
If the Solo algorithm preset is not turned on already, a warning appears in-
forming you that Cubase has selected it automatically. The segment is 
pitched accordingly. While dragging, the original micro-pitch curve of the 
segment is shown in orange. If several segments are selected, they are all 
pitched. 
You can also use the up/down arrow keys on your com-
puter keyboard to edit the note pitches. 
Proceed as follows:
•Use the up/down arrow keys to change the pitch in 
semitone steps.
•Hold down [Shift] while using the up/down arrow keys 
to change the pitch in cent steps.
Quantize Pitch
You can also quantize the audio pitch upwards or down-
wards to iteratively reduce the deviation from the nearest 
semitone position. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Select the segments that you want to quantize.
2.Move the Quantize Pitch slider to the right.
The selected segments are quantized iteratively. 
You can set up a key command for Quantize Pitch in the 
Sample Editor category of the Key Commands dialog (see 
“Key commands” on page 541). When using the key com-
mand, the segments are directly quantized to the next semi-
tone position.
Tilting the micro-pitch curve
Sometimes changing the pitch of the whole note segment 
is not enough. In these cases you will have to modify how 
the pitch changes inside the segment. This is indicated by 
the micro-pitch curve (see 
“Understanding the waveform 
display in VariAudio” on page 281). 
Proceed as follows:
1.On the VariAudio tab, activate the Pitch & Warp tool.
2.To change the micro-pitch of a segment, move the 
mouse pointer over the top left/right corner of the segment.
The mouse pointer becomes an up/down arrow. 
3.Drag upwards/downwards with the mouse to change 
the micro-pitch curve.
OptionDescriptionDefault modifier
Absolute Pitch 
SnappingPitches the segment to the 
next semitone.None
Relative Pitch 
SnappingSnaps the segment in rela-tion to its current deviation in 
cents, i. e. if the segment has 
a pitch of C3 and a deviation 
of 22
 %, and you move it up 
by one semitone, it will be 
pitched to C#3 while keep
-ing the deviation of 22 %.
[Ctrl]/[Command]
No Pitch SnappingLets you edit the pitch freely.[Shift]
!If you pitch-shift audio events with the Transpose op-
tions (see “The transpose functions” on page 131) 
the transposition is added to the pitch modifications 
that you introduced with the Pitch & Warp tool, even 
if this is not reflected in the segmentation display.
!The micro-pitch curve displays the progression of 
the pitch for the tonal portion of the segment. For 
non-tonal portions of the audio, micro-pitch curves 
cannot be shown. 
If the pitch falls at the end of the 
segment……activate the Pitch & Warp tool, 
point at the top right corner and 
drag upwards. 
						

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The Sample Editor
If you want to change the pitch modulation only for the 
segment start or end, you can set an “anchor point” to 
specify which part of the segment is affected. Proceed as 
follows:
1.Move the mouse pointer over the top border of the 
segment.
The mouse pointer becomes an I-beam symbol.
2.Click at the position where you want to set an anchor.
A vertical line appears at the position where you clicked. A segment can 
only have one anchor.
3.Move the mouse pointer over the top left/right corner 
of the segment and drag upwards or downwards to tilt the 
micro-pitch curve.
The modulation curve is only changed from the segment border to the 
anchor.
•If you press [Alt]/[Option] while dragging up/down, the 
tilt anchor is used as an axis around which the micro-pitch 
curve can be rotated.
4.Repeat the steps above to set anchors and tilt the mi-
cro-pitch curve until you are satisfied with the result.
•If you want to remove a tilt anchor from a segment, hold 
down [Alt]/[Option], position the mouse pointer at the top 
border of the segment until it turns to a glue tube, and click.
The tilt anchor is deleted.
Straighten Pitch
If you want to compensate for the rise and fall of notes, i. e. 
the deviation of the micro-pitch curve from the representa
-
tive pitch, you can use the Straighten Pitch slider. This 
correction comes in handy when a note is played flat 
(pitch rises) or sharp (the pitch falls) at the end. Proceed 
as follows:
1.Select the segments whose pitch you want to 
straighten.
2.Move the Straighten Pitch slider to the right.
The pitch of the selected segments is straightened. Move the mouse over the top 
border and click to set an 
anchor……if you only want to compensate 
for the descending pitch at the end 
of the segment. 
If you set a tilt anchor…
…to indicate that you can rotate the 
micro-pitch curve.…and press [Alt]/[Option], the mouse 
pointer becomes a diagonal arrow…
This micro-pitch looks a bit off. By moving the Straighten Pitch slider 
to the right…
…the micro-pitch curve is straightened.  
						

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The Sample Editor
MIDI Input
You can change the pitch on the fly by selecting the seg-
ment you want to change and pressing a key on your MIDI 
keyboard or using the Virtual Keyboard (see 
“The Virtual 
Keyboard” on page 88). 
Proceed as follows:
1.After having corrected the segmentation, select the 
segment for which you would like to change the pitch.
2.Activate the Pitch & Warp tool and click the MIDI Input 
button.
3.Press a key on your MIDI keyboard or use the Virtual 
Keyboard to change the pitch of the segment.
The pitch of the segment changes according to the note you play. 
The MIDI Input function has two modes: Still mode and 
Step mode. You can switch between them by [Alt]/[Op
-
tion]-clicking on the MIDI Input button:
•In Still mode you can select individual segments by click-
ing on them and change their pitch by pressing a MIDI key. 
You can also select several segments and press a MIDI key 
to change the pitch of several segments simultaneously. 
The pitch of the first selected segment is changed to the 
pitch of the MIDI note you play. The pitches of the other se
-
lected segment are changed by the same amount.
•In Step mode you can step through the segments by 
selecting the first segment that you would like to change 
and pressing a MIDI key. The next segment will automati
-
cally be selected afterwards. This allows you to work in a 
more creative way, for example, to develop completely 
new melody lines via MIDI.
4.When you are done, deactivate the MIDI Input button.
ÖMIDI controller data like pitchbend or modulation are 
ignored.
Warping segments
Time correction, i. e. warping at segment level, is useful if 
you want to align a musical accent to a certain position, or 
change or quantize the timing of single segments in mono
-
phonic vocal recordings. When warping audio segments, 
warp tabs will be created. These are shown on the Vari
-
Audio and the AudioWarp tabs of the Sample Editor In-
spector. (For information on warping complete audio files, 
see 
“Free Warp” on page 275.)
To warp a segment, proceed as follows:
1.On the VariAudio tab activate the Pitch & Warp tool.
2.To change the timing of a segment, move the mouse 
pointer over the start/end of the segment.
The mouse pointer becomes a double arrow and the warp tabs are dis-played in the ruler.Still mode is activated for MIDI Input. 
!Any correction of the segmentation must be applied 
before warping segments.
Step mode is activated for MIDI Input.  
						

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The Sample Editor
3.Drag the start/end of the segment to the desired 
position. 
If the Snap button is activated, the segment border will snap to the grid. 
When you drag the segment border, warp tabs are shown not only at the 
border but also at the adjacent segment borders to indicate which por
-tions of the audio are stretched/affected.
ÖWarping a segment will also change the timing of the 
adjacent segments. 
ÖTiming modifications introduced this way will not 
adapt to the project tempo. If this is what you want, use 
Musical Mode (see 
“Musical Mode” on page 272). 
•You can change the insert position of a warp tab in the 
audio by clicking and dragging the warp tab handle in the 
ruler. This will change the warping (see 
“Editing Warp 
tabs” on page 289).
•Hold down [Shift] (by default) to delete warp tabs. To 
delete a warp tab, hold down the tool modifier so that the 
pointer becomes an eraser and click on the warp handle. 
•If you are not satisfied with your changes, you can revert 
the timing of the selected segments by choosing the 
“Warp Changes” option from the Reset pop-up menu 
(see 
“Reset” on page 290). 
Editing Warp tabs 
In some cases the beginning of the waveform does not cor-
respond to the beginning of a segment, e. g. when the audio 
starts with non-tonal portions like breath sounds (see 
“Un-
derstanding the waveform display in VariAudio” on page 
281). But when it comes to warping, any changes you wish 
to make must affect the waveform as a whole.
You can of course change the segmentation to achieve 
this, but if you want to pitch your audio afterwards, this 
would affect also any non-tonal portions of the audio. If 
this is not what you want, proceed as follows:
1.Activate the Pitch & Warp tool and activate the Snap 
button.
In this example the beginning of the segment does not correspond to 
the beginning of the waveform.
2.Move the mouse pointer over the start of the segment 
so that it becomes a double arrow and drag the segment 
start to the beginning of the bar. 
The segment border snaps to the grid at the exact bar position. 
						

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The Sample Editor
Now the beginning of the segment matches the beginning 
of the bar, but we want the beginning of the waveform to 
match the beginning of the bar:
3.Point at the warp handle displayed in the ruler so that 
it turns into a double arrow and drag it to the beginning of 
the waveform.
The background is displayed in orange to indicate which part of the 
waveform is affected by the change.
Now the beginning of the waveform matches the desired 
bar position.
Editing warp tabs can also be useful if you change the 
length of a segment that you have already warped. In this 
case, editing warp tabs can help you synchronize your au
-
dio again.
Reset
This pop-up menu at the bottom of the VariAudio tab allows 
you to reset the modifications you performed with the Pitch 
& Warp tool. It also lets you reset the changes you made in 
Segments mode by reanalyzing the audio and returning to 
the original segmentation. The following options are avail
-
able:
ÖYou can set up key commands for the reset and the re-
analyze function in the Sample Editor category of the Key 
commands dialog (see 
“Key commands” on page 541). 
Listening to your modifications
You can listen to the results of your modifications using 
the following methods:
•By activating Acoustic Feedback on the toolbar.
The segments are played back so that you can easily audition your pitch 
modifications while editing. 
•By using the Play tool on the toolbar.
•By using the Audition and the Audition Loop tool on the 
toolbar.
•By using cycle playback in the Project window.
If you want to compare the original to the modified audio 
(i.
 e. hear the audio without pitch or warp modifications), 
you have the following possibilities: 
•You can disable your pitch modifications by clicking the 
Disable Pitch Changes button on the VariAudio tab or by 
setting up and using the “VariAudio - Disable Pitch 
Changes” key command in the Key Commands dialog, 
Sample Editor category (see 
“Key commands” on page 
541).
FunctionDescription
Pitch ChangesIf you select this option, pitch changes including micro-
pitch modifications with the Tilt Micro Pitches tool are re-set either for the selected segments (if available) or for 
the whole file.
Warp 
ChangesIf you select this option, warp changes are reset.
Pitch + Warp 
ChangesIf you select this option, pitch, micro-pitch, and warp 
changes are reset either for the selected segments (if 
available) or for the whole file.
Reanalyze  AudioIf you select this option, the audio is reanalyzed and all 
your segmentation changes are reset.