Steinberg Cubase 6 Manual

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The Sample Editor
•You can disable your warp modifications by clicking the 
Disable Warp Changes button on the AudioWarp tab or 
by setting up and using the “VariAudio – Disable Warp 
Changes” key command in the Key Commands dialog, 
Sample Editor category (see 
“Key commands” on page 
541).
Extracting MIDI
You can extract a MIDI part from your audio. This is useful 
if you have an audio event with a certain tune and sound 
and you want to create an identical second tune with a 
MIDI instrument or VST instrument. The extracted MIDI 
part can also be used to print out notes from within the 
Score Editor or it can be exported as a MIDI file (see 
“Ex-
porting and importing standard MIDI files” on page 527). 
Furthermore, you can convert the audio to MIDI notes 
containing Note Expression data which allows you to 
adopt the modulation data for individual notes (for infor
-
mation about Note Expression, see the chapter “Note Ex-
pression (Cubase only)” on page 428).
ÖBefore extracting MIDI from your audio you should 
correct the segmentation. Otherwise, you will have to cor
-
rect segmentation errors later in the MIDI part. Transition 
changes, tilting of the micro-pitch curve, Quantize Pitch 
settings, and pitch corrections will also be taken into ac
-
count. 
ÖIf your audio event references only a section of the au-
dio clip, only this section will be extracted.
The quality of the resulting MIDI data depends on the 
quality and the characteristics of your audio.
To extract a MIDI part from your audio, proceed as follows:
1.Open the audio file that you want to extract a MIDI part 
from in the Sample Editor.
2.Open the VariAudio tab.
3.Activate Segments mode (see “Segments mode” on 
page 283).
4.Click the “Extract MIDI…” button.
The “Extract MIDI” dialog opens.
5.On the Pitch Mode pop-up menu, specify which data 
should be included when extracting the MIDI part.
The following options are available:
6.On the Volume Mode pop-up menu, specify how vol-
ume information from the audio is extracted to MIDI.
The following options are available:
7.On the Destination pop-up menu, specify where the 
MIDI part will be placed.
OptionDescription
Just Notes and 
No Pitchbend 
DataOnly notes are included in the MIDI part.
Notes and 
Static Pitch-bend Data
A pitchbend event is created for each segment. Select a 
pitchbend value from 1 to 24 in the Pitchbend Range 
field. When you are working with an external MIDI device, 
it might be necessary to set it to the same value.
Notes and 
Continuous 
Pitchbend 
DataPitchbend events that correspond to the micro-pitch curve 
are created within the resulting MIDI part. Select a pitch-bend value from 1 to 24 in the Pitchbend Range field. The 
setting should correspond to the value set on your MIDI 
device or the controlled VST instrument. 
Note that although the graphic representation of the pitch-bend curve is smoothed, all pitchbend data is included.
Notes and 
NoteExp Pitch-bend Curve
MIDI pitchbend events that correspond to the micro-pitch 
curve are created as Note Expression data for the resulting 
MIDI notes (Cubase only).
Notes and 
NoteExp VST3 
Tuning CurveVST 3 events for the “Tuning” parameter are created as 
Note Expression data for the resulting MIDI notes. Note 
that this works only with a connected VST instrument that 
is compatible with Note Expression (Cubase only).
OptionDescription
Fixed VelocityAll created MIDI notes get the same velocity. Select a 
velocity value in the Velocity field.
Dynamic VelocityEach created MIDI note gets an individual velocity value 
according to the amplitude of the audio signal.
Volume Control-ler CurveA continuous volume controller curve is created within 
the MIDI part. You can select the MIDI controller to be 
used for the curve in the MIDI Controller field. 
NoteExp Volume 
Controller CurveMIDI volume controller events are created as Note Ex-pression data for the resulting MIDI notes (Cubase 
only).
NoteExp VST3 
Volume CurveA VST 3 volume curve is created as Note Expression 
data for the resulting MIDI notes. Note that this works 
only with a connected VST instrument that is compati
-ble with Note Expression (Cubase only). 
						

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The Sample Editor
The following options are available: 
ÖIf you have opened the Sample Editor from the Pool 
and the audio file is not part of your project, the MIDI part 
will be inserted at the beginning of the project.
8.Click OK.
A MIDI part is created according to the specified settings.
You can also use a key command to extract a MIDI part 
from your audio. In this case no dialog opens and the set
-
tings that were used for the previous extraction are used. 
For further information on how to set up key commands, 
please refer to the chapter 
“Key commands” on page 541.
Flattening realtime processing
You can “flatten” realtime processing at any time. This can 
be done to serve two purposes: to reduce the CPU load 
and to optimize the sound quality of the processing. Also 
use this function before applying any offline processing. 
When the flatten processing is applied, a copy of the orig
-
inal file is automatically created in the Pool so that the 
original audio clip remains intact.
The flatten function takes the following into account:
•Warp modifications (see “Free Warp” on page 275 and 
“Warping segments” on page 288), even when Bypass is ac-
tivated. After the flattening, your Warp tabs will be lost. How-
ever, you can undo this function as usual.
• VariAudio pitch modifications (see “Changing the pitch” on 
page 285), even when Bypass is activated. After the flatten-
ing, your VariAudio data will be lost. However, you can undo 
this operation.
• Event transpose (see “Transposing individual parts or events 
using the info line” on page 135).
Proceed as follows:
1.Select the audio events that you want to process.
2.On the Audio menu, open the Realtime Processing 
submenu and select the Flatten command.
A dialog opens where you can select an algorithm for the processing.
•If the audio has been transposed, the dialog also con-
tains the “Formant Correction” option. You can activate 
this, for example, if you want to avoid a “chipmunk voice” 
effect.
3.Select an algorithm preset and click OK.
After the processing, any loop that was previously stretched in realtime 
or had been pitch shifted will play back exactly the same, but Musical 
Mode will be deactivated and the realtime pitch shifting will be set to 0.
ÖInstead of the Flatten menu command, you can click 
the Flatten button on the Process tab of the Sample Editor.
The audio clip is now like any standard audio clip before 
applying realtime processing, i.
 e. it does not follow tempo 
changes. The flattening processing function is best used 
when you have determined the tempo or key of a project. If 
you want to adapt the audio to a new key or tempo after 
flattening, it is better to revert to the original audio clip 
rather than to process the already processed file again.
OptionDescription
First Selected 
TrackThe MIDI part will be placed on the first selected MIDI or 
instrument track. Note that any MIDI parts from previous 
extractions that are on this track will be deleted. 
New MIDI 
TrackA new MIDI track will be created for the MIDI part.
Project 
ClipboardThe MIDI part is copied into the clipboard so that you can 
insert it at the desired position on a MIDI or instrument 
track in the Project window.
!This dialog will not open when the time stretching 
factor is outside the range of 0.5 and 2. 
						

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The Sample Editor
Selecting an algorithm for the flattening
When you flatten the realtime processing, you can use the 
MPEX 4 algorithm or the Realtime algorithm to process 
the audio. The MPEX 4 algorithm may produce better 
sound quality than the realtime processing. The Realtime 
algorithm corresponds to the algorithm preset selected on 
the Sample Editor toolbar. For a detailed description of 
the available presets, see 
“About time stretch and pitch 
shift algorithms” on page 259.
ÖIf you introduced VariAudio pitch modifications, the 
MPEX presets will not be available and the algorithm pre
-
set “Standard – Solo” is used automatically.
The Realtime presets can be selected from the Algorithm 
pop-up menu on the Sample Editor toolbar, see 
“Select-
ing an algorithm for realtime playback” on page 271. 
In the Pool, you can select an algorithm for several se-
lected clips at a time.
Unstretching audio files
By selecting “Unstretch Audio” from the Realtime Pro-
cessing submenu of the Audio menu, all realtime time 
stretching (by sizing or by warp tabs) is removed.
ÖNote that realtime transpose (in the info line) and Musi-
cal Mode will not be removed by this.
Whether the “Unstretch Audio” menu item is available de-
pends on whether the time stretching has been applied at 
event or clip level: 
•If you have sized an audio event in the Project window 
using “Sizing Applies Time Stretch” (see 
“Resizing events 
using time stretch” on page 64), you can undo the time 
stretching by selecting the event in the Project window 
and then applying “Unstretch Audio”.
This removes all time stretching and warp tabs.
•When you have entered a tempo and/or length on the 
toolbar, this information is saved for the source clip.
These changes cannot be undone using “Unstretch Audio”. 
						

							22
The Audio Part Editor 
						

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The Audio Part Editor
Background
The Audio Part Editor allows you to view and edit the events 
inside audio parts. Essentially, this is the same type of edit
-
ing that you do in the Project window, which means that 
this chapter contains a lot of references to the chapter 
“Working with projects” on page 48.
Audio parts are created in the Project window in one of 
the following ways:
•By selecting one or several audio events on the same 
track, and selecting “Events to Part” from the Audio menu.
•By gluing together two or more audio events on the 
same track with the Glue Tube tool.
•By drawing an empty part with the Pencil tool.
•By double-clicking between the left and right locators 
on an audio track.
With the last two methods, an empty part is created. You can then add 
events to the part by pasting, or by using drag and drop from the Pool.
Opening the Audio Part Editor
You open the Audio Part Editor by selecting one or more 
audio part(s) in the Project window and double-clicking 
on any one of them (or using the Edit-Open key command, 
by default [Ctrl]/[Command]-[E]). The Audio Part Editor 
can display several parts at once, and you can also have 
more than one Audio Part Editor open at the same time.
ÖDouble-clicking on an audio event in the Project 
window will open the Sample Editor (see 
“Opening the 
Sample Editor” on page 262).
Window overview
The toolbar
The tools, settings, and icons on the toolbar have the 
same functionality as in the Project window, with the fol
-
lowing differences:
• A Solo button (see “Auditioning” on page 296).
• Separate tools for auditioning (Speaker) and scrubbing (see 
“Scrubbing” on page 297).
• No Line, Glue Tube or Color tools.
• Play and Loop icons and an Audition Volume control (see “Au-
ditioning” on page 296).
• Independent Track Loop settings (see “The independent track 
loop function” on page 297).
• Part List controls for handling several parts: activating parts 
for editing, restricting editing to active parts only and showing 
part borders (see 
“Handling several parts” on page 297).
ÖYou can customize the toolbar by hiding or reordering 
its items, see 
“Using the Setup options” on page 534.
The ruler and info line
These have the same functionality and appearance as 
their counterparts in the Project window.
•You can select a separate display format for the Audio 
Part Editor ruler by clicking on the arrow button on the 
right and selecting an option from the pop-up menu.
For a list of the available formats, see “The ruler” on page 44. 
						

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The Audio Part Editor
About lanes
If you make the editor window larger, this will reveal addi-
tional space below the edited events. This is because an 
audio part is divided vertically in lanes. 
Lanes can make it easier to work with several audio events 
in a part. Moving some of the events to another lane can 
make selection and editing much easier.
•To move an event to another lane without accidentally 
moving it horizontally, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and drag it 
up or down.
For further information about lanes and overlapping 
events, see the chapter 
“Working with tracks and lanes” 
on page 71.
Operations
Zooming, selecting and editing in the Audio Part Editor 
are done just as in the Project window (see the chapter 
“Working with projects” on page 48).
ÖIf a part is a shared copy (i. e. you have previously cop-
ied the part by [Alt]/[Option]-[Shift] and dragging), any ed-
iting you perform will affect all shared copies of this part.
Auditioning
There are several ways to listen to the events in the Audio 
Part Editor:
By using the Speaker tool
If you click somewhere in the editor’s event display with the 
Speaker tool and keep the mouse button pressed, the part 
will be played back from the position where you clicked. 
Playback will continue until you release the mouse button.
By using the Audition icon
The Audition and Audition Loop icons
Clicking the Audition icon on the toolbar plays back the 
edited audio, according to the following rules:
• If you have selected events in the part, only the section bet-
ween the first and last selected event will be played back.
• If you have made a range selection, only this section will be 
played back.
• If there is no selection, the whole part will be played back. If 
the project cursor is within the part, playback starts from the 
current cursor position. If the cursor is outside the part, play
-
back starts from the beginning of the part.
• If the Audition Loop icon is activated, playback will continue 
until you deactivate the Audition icon. Otherwise, the section 
will be played back once.
•When auditioning with the Speaker tool or Audition 
icon, audio will be routed directly to the Control Room 
(Cubase only) or to the Main Mix (the default output bus) if 
the Control Room is disabled. In Cubase Artist, the Main 
Mix bus is always used for auditioning.
By using regular playback
You can of course use the regular playback controls while 
in the Audio Part Editor. Furthermore, if you activate the 
Solo Editor button on the toolbar, only the events in the 
edited part will be played back.
Using key commands
If you activate the “Playback Toggle triggers Local Pre-
view” option in the Preferences dialog (Transport page), 
you can start/stop auditioning by pressing [Space]. This is 
the same as clicking the Audition icon on the toolbar. 
						

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The Audio Part Editor
ÖThe Audio Part Editor also supports the key com-
mands “Preview start” and “Preview stop” in the Media 
category of the Key Commands dialog. These key com
-
mands stop the current playback, no matter if you are in 
normal playback or in audition mode.
The independent track loop function
The independent track loop is a sort of “mini-cycle”, affect-
ing only the edited part. When the loop is activated, the 
events in the parts that are within the loop will be repeated 
continuously and completely independent – other events 
(on other tracks) are played back as usual. The only “inter
-
action” between the loop and the “regular playback” is that 
the loop starts every time the cycle starts over again.
To set up the independent track loop, proceed as follows:
1.Turn on the loop by clicking the Independent Track 
Loop button on the toolbar.
If it is not visible, right-click the toolbar and add the Independent Track 
Loop Settings section – see “Using the Setup options” on page 534.
When the loop is activated, the cycle is not shown in the 
editor’s ruler. Now you need to specify the length of the 
loop:
2.[Ctrl]/[Command]-click in the ruler to set the start and 
[Alt]/[Option]-click to set the end of the loop.
You can also edit the loop start and end positions numerically in the 
fields next to the Loop button.
The loop is indicated in purple in the ruler.
ÖThe events will be looped as long as the Loop button 
is activated and the Audio Part Editor window is open.
Scrubbing
In the Audio Part Editor, the Scrub tool has a separate 
icon on the toolbar. Apart from that, scrubbing works ex
-
actly as in the Project window (see “Scrubbing audio” on 
page 59).
Handling several parts
When you open the Audio Part Editor with several parts se-
lected – all on the same track or on different tracks – they 
might not all “fit” in the editor window, which can make it 
hard to get an overview of the different parts when editing.
Therefore, the toolbar features a few functions to make 
working with multiple parts easier and more comprehen
-
sive:
•The “Currently Edited Part” pop-up menu lists all parts 
that were selected when you opened the editor, and lets 
you select which part is active for editing.
When you select a part from the list, it is automatically made active and 
centered in the display.
ÖNote that it is also possible to activate a part by click-
ing on it with the Arrow tool.
•The button “Edit Active Part Only” lets you restrict edit-
ing operations to the active part only.
If you for example select “All” from the Select submenu of the Edit menu 
with this option activated, all events in the active part will be selected but 
not the events in other parts.
“Edit Active Part Only” activated on the toolbar
•You can zoom in on an active part so that it fills the 
screen by selecting “Zoom to Event” from the Zoom sub
-
menu of the Edit menu.
•The button “Show Part Borders” can be used if you 
want to see clearly defined borders for the active part.
When this is activated, all parts except the active one are grayed out, 
making the borders easily discernible. There are also two “markers” in 
the ruler with the name of the active part, marking its beginning and end. 
These can be moved freely to change the part borders.
“Show Part Borders” activated on the toolbar 
						

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The Audio Part Editor
•It is possible to cycle between parts, making them ac-
tive using key commands.
In the Key Commands dialog – Edit category, there are two functions: 
“Activate Next Part” and “Activate Previous Part”. If you assign key com
-
mands to these, you can use them to cycle between parts. See “Setting up key commands” on page 542 for instructions on how to set up key 
commands.
Options and Settings
The following options and settings are available in the 
Audio Part Editor:
•Snap
The Snap functionality in the Audio Part Editor is exactly the same as in 
the Project window, see 
“The Snap function” on page 45.
•Auto-Scroll
When Auto-Scroll is activated on the toolbar, the window will scroll dur-
ing playback, keeping the project cursor visible in the editor. This setting 
can be activated or deactivated individually for each window.
•Snap to Zero Crossing
When this option is activated, all audio edits are done at zero crossings 
(positions in the audio where the amplitude is zero). This helps you avoid 
pops and clicks which might otherwise be caused by sudden amplitude 
changes.  
						

							23
The Pool 
						

							300
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 Window” button on the 
Project window toolbar.
If this icon is not visible, you need to activate the “Media & Mixer Windows” 
option on the toolbar context menu first.
•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].
The content of the Pool is divided into the following 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 
“Organizing clips and folders” on page 308).
Window overview
Toolbar overview
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:
• Audio Files – the number of audio files in the Pool
• Used – the number of audio files in use
• Total size – the total size of all audio files in the Pool
Audio folder: contains clips and regions
Trash folder Video folder Waveform imageToolbar
Open/Close all 
folders View/Attributes 
pop-up menu Show Info 
buttonProject Folder 
path
Pool Record 
Folder path Audition, Audition Loop, 
and VolumeImport and 
Search buttons