Steinberg Cubase 6 Manual

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Editing tempo and signature
Matching a musical score to video
Here’s an example of how to use the Time Warp tool in 
“musical events follow” mode. Let’s say you are creating 
the music for a film. You have a video track, an audio track 
with a commentary and some audio and/or MIDI tracks 
with your music. Now you want to match the position of a 
musical cue to a position in a video film. The musical cue 
is located in bar 33. There are no tempo changes in the 
project (yet). Proceed as follows:
1.Make sure tempo track mode is selected on the Trans-
port panel.
2.Now you need to locate the position in the video. If you 
do not need very high precision, you can simply locate it 
looking at the thumbnails on the video track – otherwise 
you can pinpoint the exact position and add a marker to 
the marker track (that you can snap to later on).
You can also make a note of the exact position and add an extra ruler 
track set to show the timecode (Cubase only).
3.Make sure that the correct tracks are set to linear time 
base or musical time base, respectively.
In our example, we want the video track and the audio track with a com-mentary voice-over to be linear time-based (as well as the marker track, if 
used). All other tracks should be set to musical time base. You change 
this by clicking the time base button in the track list or Inspector.
4.Set up the Grid Type pop-up menu as desired.
When you click with the Time Warp tool, it snaps to the selected grid. In 
this case, you will find the musical cue at the start of bar 33, so we can 
set the grid to “Bar”.
•Note that this affects the snapping to the ruler (tempo 
grid) when you click! In addition, the tool can be “magnetic” 
to events in the Project window when you drag – for this, 
you need to activate the Snap function, open the Snap 
Type pop-up menu, and select “Events”. 
In our example, this would be useful if you created a marker at the de-
sired position in the video – when you drag the grid (see below), it will 
snap to the marker.
5.Click on the Time Warp button and click again to open 
a pop-up menu.
6.Select the “Warp Grid (musical events follow)” mode.
7.Click in the event display at the start of bar 33 and 
drag to the desired position in the video.
As mentioned above, this can mean dragging to a position indicated by 
the thumbnails on the video track, to a marker on the marker track or to a 
time position on an additional ruler track (Cubase only).
When you drag, the ruler is scaled – and the music tracks 
will follow.
8.Release the mouse button.
If you look in the ruler at the beginning of the project, you will see that the 
first (and only) tempo event has been adjusted.
9.Try playing back.
The musical cue should now happen at the correct position in the video.
Let’s say you need to match another cue to another posi-
tion later on in the video. If you simply repeat this proce-
dure, you will find that the first cue gets out of sync – since 
you are still changing the first (and only) tempo event on 
the tempo track!
You need to create a “lock point” – a tempo event at the 
first cue position:
10.Press [Shift] and click with the Time Warp tool in the 
event display at the cue position.
In our case, this is bar 33.
A tempo event (with the same value as the first one) is 
added at that position.
Musical time base selected Linear time base selected 
						

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Editing tempo and signature
11.Now match the second musical cue to the correct 
video position by dragging the musical position to the 
desired time position as before.
The new tempo event is edited – the first tempo event is unaffected and 
the original cue is still matched.
•If you know you are going to match several cues this 
way, make it a habit to press [Shift] each time you use the 
Time Warp tool to match positions.
This adds a new tempo event – that way, you do not have to add tempo 
events afterwards as described above.
About snapping
If Snap is activated in the Project window and “Events” is 
selected on the Snap Type pop-up menu, the Time Warp 
tool will be magnetic to events when you drag the tempo 
grid. This makes it easier to snap a tempo position to a 
marker, the start or end of an audio event, etc.
Using the Time Warp tool in an audio editor
Using the Time Warp tool in the Sample Editor or Audio 
Part Editor is different from using it in the Project window, 
in the following ways:
•When you use the Time Warp tool, a tempo event is 
automatically inserted at the beginning of the edited event 
or part. This tempo event will be adjusted when you warp 
the tempo grid with the tool. 
This means that material before the edited events will not be affected.
•Only the default mode for the Time Warp tool is avail-
able. 
This means that when you use the tool, the edited track is temporarily 
switched to linear time base.
Making a tempo map for a “free” recording
The following example shows how to use the Time Warp 
tool in the Sample Editor to create a tempo map matching 
freely recorded music. Let’s say you have recorded a 
drummer, playing without a metronome – this typically means the tempo varies ever so slightly. To be able to add 
more material and easily rearrange the recorded audio, 
you want the tempo in Cubase to match the recorded 
drum track:
1.If necessary, move the recorded event.
Move it so that the first downbeat (“one”) happens at the start of the bar 
– zoom in if needed.
2.Open the drum recording in the Sample Editor and 
make sure Hitpoint mode is not selected.
The Time Warp tool cannot be used in Hitpoint mode. However, if you 
have calculated hitpoints already, these will be visible when the Time 
Warp tool is selected (see below).
3.Set the zoom so that you can see the individual drum 
hits clearly.
To achieve this type of “visual” beat matching, it is important to have a 
fairly clean recording, such as the drum track in this example.
4.Select the Time Warp tool.
You have already matched the first downbeat with the 
start of a bar. However, if the recording starts before the 
first downbeat (with a fill, some silence, etc.), you want to 
“lock” the first downbeat so that it stays in position:
5.Press [Shift] and click in the event at the position of 
the first downbeat (the start of the bar).
When you press [Shift], the pointer turns into a pencil. Clicking adds a 
tempo event at the first downbeat – when you later adjust the tempo with 
the Time Warp tool, the first downbeat will stay in place. Note that if the 
event starts exactly on the first downbeat (no audio before the “one”), 
you do not need to do this. This is because a tempo event is automati
-cally added at the start of the edited event.
6.Now, locate the start of the next bar in the ruler. 
7.Click at that position in the event display and drag to 
the downbeat of the second bar in the recording.
When you click, the pointer will snap to the ruler grid.
By dragging the grid, you changed the tempo value in the 
tempo event at the first downbeat. If the drummer held a 
fairly consistent tempo, the following bars should now 
match pretty well, too.
8.Check the following bars and locate the first position 
where the audio drifts from the tempo.
Now, if you simply adjusted that beat in the tempo grid to 
match the beat in the recording, the tempo event at the 
first downbeat would be changed – this would ruin the 
match in the previous bars! We need to lock these by in
-
serting a new tempo event. 
						

							473
Editing tempo and signature
9.Locate the last beat that is in sync.
This would be the beat just before the position where the audio and 
tempo drift apart.
10.Press [Shift] and click at that position to insert a tempo 
event there.
This locks this matched position. The material to the left will not be affected 
when you make adjustments further along.
11.Now match the tempo grid to the next (unmatched) 
beat by clicking and dragging with the Time Warp tool.
The tempo event you inserted in step 10 will be adjusted.
12.Work your way through the recording this way – when 
you find that the recording drifts from the tempo, repeat 
steps 9 to 11 above.
Now the tempo track follows the recording and you can 
add more material, rearrange the recording, etc.
Matching to hitpoints
If you have calculated hitpoints for the audio event you are 
editing, these will be shown when the Time Warp tool is 
selected.
• The number of hitpoints shown depends on the Hitpoint Sen-
sitivity slider setting you have made in Hitpoint mode.
• If you activate the Snap to Zero Crossing button on the tool-
bar, the Time Warp tool will snap to hitpoints when you drag 
the tempo grid.
• You can use the Create Markers from Hitpoints function (on 
the Hitpoints submenu of the Audio menu) to create markers 
at the hitpoint positions. This can be useful when using the 
Time Warp tool in the Project window, as the tool will be mag
-
netic to markers (if the Snap Type is set to Events).
Using the Time Warp tool in a MIDI editor
This is very similar to using the tool in an audio editor:
• When you use the Time Warp tool, a tempo event is automat-
ically inserted at the beginning of the edited part – this tempo 
event will be adjusted when you warp the tempo grid with the 
tool. Material before the edited part will not be affected.
• Only the default mode for the Time Warp tool is available. So 
when you use the tool, the edited MIDI track is temporarily 
switched to linear time base.
• The rulers in the MIDI editors can be set to “Time Linear” or 
“Bars+Beats Linear” mode (see 
“The ruler” on page 378) – 
the Time Warp tool requires Time Linear mode. If necessary, 
the ruler mode will be switched when you select the Time 
Warp tool.
• If Snap is activated on the toolbar in the MIDI editor, the tool 
will snap to the start and end of MIDI notes when you drag the 
tempo grid.
Typically, you would use the Time Warp tool in a MIDI 
editor to match the Cubase tempo to freely recorded MIDI 
material (much like the audio example above).
Tempo Detection (Cubase only)
Cubase offers a powerful tempo detection algorithm that 
can be used on any rhythmic musical content, even if it 
has not been recorded to a metronome click and/or con
-
tains tempo drift. This feature serves two main purposes:
•Analyzing the tempo of freely recorded audio so that 
other (audio or MIDI) tracks can follow this tempo.
•Adjusting freely recorded audio to the project tempo, 
which can be fixed or variable.
Audio requirements
• The audio event has to be at least 7 seconds long.
• Musical Mode has to be deactivated for the clip.
• The track has to be set to linear timebase (this happens 
automatically).
• The audio material needs to have discernible beats. 
						

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Editing tempo and signature
The Tempo Detection Panel
The Tempo Detection Panel contains the functions for an-
alyzing the tempo of an audio event. It is opened via the 
Project menu.
In the top section of the panel, the name of the selected 
audio event is shown. Below the name, the Analyze button 
is located. Click this button to start the tempo detection 
for an event.
The middle section contains several functions for correct-
ing and fine-tuning the detected tempo curve. These func-
tions are described in the section “Correcting and fine-
tuning the detected tempo map” on page 474.
The arrow buttons at the bottom right let you change the 
direction in which the algorithm will analyze the audio ma
-
terial during a manual correction operation. To work back-
wards, i. e. to reanalyze the beginning of the tempo curve, 
activate the left arrow button (see 
“The beginning of the 
tempo curve needs to be corrected” on page 475).
With the Reset button at the bottom left you can delete 
the complete analysis data and start again from scratch.
ÖAny tempo events beyond the event timeline will also 
be removed upon reset.
ÖThe Tempo Detection Panel has to be opened specif-
ically for the event that you want to analyze. To analyze an-
other event, close the panel, select the event, and reopen 
the panel.
Detecting the basic tempo of an audio event
1.In the Project window, select the audio event that you 
want to analyze.
2.On the Project menu, select “Tempo Detection…”.
The Tempo Detection Panel opens.
3.Click the Analyze button.
The following happens:
• A rough tempo map based on the beat analysis is created for 
the selected audio clip. 
• A tempo and a signature track are added to the project.
• The project will get a 1/4 signature, because the tempo de-
tection only calculates a tempo based on beats, regardless of 
a musical signature. The signature can be modified later.
• The Time Warp Tool is selected for fine-tuning or adjusting 
the newly generated tempo map.
Depending on the rhythmic quality of the source material, 
the tempo analysis may directly lead to a perfect result. 
However, if this is not the case, you can apply the correc
-
tion and fine-tuning functions. To find out whether such 
actions are necessary, activate the metronome click and 
play back the project.
Correcting and fine-tuning the detected tempo 
map
If the metronome click does not match the audio perfectly, 
perform any of the following operations, depending on the 
situation.
The detected tempo is too fast or too slow
•To double or halve the detected tempo, use the “Multi-
ply by 2” and “Divide by 2” buttons.
•To adjust the detected tempo with a factor of 3/4 or  
4/3, use the “Multiply by 4/3” and “Multiply by 3/4” but-
tons.
Examples: 
• If your audio is twice as fast as the detected tempo, you can 
apply the “Multiply by 2” function.
• If your audio contains dotted notes or triplets and the algo-
rithm detects 3 beats where 4 are expected, you can apply the 
4/3 conversion.
• If the actual signature is 2/4 and the algorithm detected 6/8 
beats or vice versa, you can apply a 3/4 conversion combined 
with the “Multiply by 2” function. 
						

							475
Editing tempo and signature
The detected tempo has jumps and spikes although it 
should be steady
If you get the message that the algorithm has detected ir-
regular tempo changes, even though you know that the 
material has a more or less steady tempo, you can use the 
“Smooth Tempo” function.
•To retrigger the tempo analysis based on the assump-
tion that the event has a steady tempo, click the “Smooth 
Tempo” button.
Irregular spikes or tempo changes are removed during this analysis.
The detected tempo is off by half a beat
In some cases, the offbeat of a rhythm might be dominant 
enough to confuse the beat detection algorithm resulting 
in an offset. In that case it is necessary to shift the tempo 
events.
•To shift the detected tempo events by half a beat, click 
the “Offbeat Correction” button. 
The tempo was not detected properly for the whole event
Sometimes it is impossible for the algorithm to properly 
detect the tempo for the whole audio event because the 
audio contains sections played in a different tempo or has 
special rhythmic characteristics. Manual adjustments are 
then necessary to create a perfect tempo track. 
To manually correct tempo events, proceed as follows:
1.With the Tempo Detection Panel still open, play the 
track from the beginning and listen to the click.
It is useful to zoom in on the waveform so that the transients are visible. 
Using the stationary cursor could be useful as well. 
2.Locate the first tempo event that is off. Use the Time 
Warp Tool to move this tempo event to the correct posi
-
tion.
The material to the right of the corrected event will be reanalyzed and the 
tempo recalculated. 
3.Continue listening to the audio until you reach the next 
misplaced tempo event and repeat the manual correction 
procedure until you reach the end of the song.
The beginning of the tempo curve needs to be corrected
When you edit a tempo event, the tempo curve by default 
is reanalyzed from the point of editing towards the right. 
However, if the detection did not produce proper results 
at the beginning of the event, you can change the direc
-
tion in which the algorithm works.
Proceed as follows:
1.At the bottom of the Tempo Detection Panel, activate 
the left arrow button to change the direction of reanalysis. 
2.Locate the first correct tempo event at the beginning 
of the audio and use the Time Warp tool to move the cor
-
responding tempo event slightly back and forth to trigger a 
backwards detection.
The tempo at the beginning of the audio event is corrected and new 
events are added where necessary.
The audio material contains sections with different 
tempos
In some cases, a track may include multiple sections with 
different tempo and the tempo detection might stop at the 
position of a tempo change or pause in the audio.
If the manual adjustment of individual tempo events does 
not give you the desired results for files with varying 
tempo, you can cut the audio event at each major tempo 
change and perform the tempo detection for each of the 
resulting sections independently.
ÖRemember that each cut needs to have a length of at 
least 7 seconds.
Finishing
Once the tempo map is correct, close the Tempo Detec-
tion Panel. You can now set up signature events with the 
correct time signature. 
						

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Editing tempo and signature
Adjusting the audio to the project 
tempo
If you want freely recorded audio to follow a fixed tempo or 
a different project tempo, you can use the Set Definition 
From Tempo dialog to save the tempo information from 
the tempo track in the corresponding audio clips.
Proceed as follows:
1.Select the audio events that you want to have follow 
the project tempo.
For example, this could be the individual tracks in a multi-track drum 
session. 
2.On the Audio menu, open the Advanced submenu and 
select the “Set Definition From Tempo…” option.
The Set Definition From Tempo dialog opens.
3.Select whether you want to save the tempo informa-
tion in the project file only or in the selected audio clips.
Writing the definition into the audio files allows you to use these in other 
projects, complete with tempo information.
4.Select if you want to set all tracks to musical timebase.
If you do not activate this option, only the tracks containing the selected 
events are set to musical timebase.
5.Click OK.
The tempo information is now copied into the selected audio clips and 
the tracks are set to musical timebase. Furthermore, Musical Mode is ac-
tivated for the audio events.
The audio tracks will now follow any tempo changes in the 
project. Therefore, you can disable the tempo track and 
set a fixed tempo for your project or edit the tempo track 
for a new tempo map. Warping is applied to the events to 
match the tempo. By default, the “élastique Pro Time” time 
shifting algorithm is applied, which should lead to the 
best-quality results (see 
“About time stretch and pitch 
shift algorithms” on page 259).
!If you have placed audio events referring to the same 
audio clip at different positions on the timeline and 
you apply the “Set Definition From Tempo” function 
simultaneously to these events, new audio files are 
written for all the events except the first. 
						

							37
The Project Browser (Cubase only) 
						

							478
The Project Browser (Cubase only)
Window Overview
The Project Browser window provides a list based repre-
sentation of the project. This allows you to view and edit all 
events on all tracks by using regular value editing in a list.
Opening the Project Browser
You open the Project Browser by selecting “Browser” from 
the Project menu. The Browser window can be open while 
you are working in other windows; any changes made in the 
Project window or an editor are immediately reflected in the 
Project Browser and vice versa.
Navigating in the Browser
You use the Project Browser much like you use the Win-
dows Explorer and Mac OS X Finder for browsing folders 
on your hard disk:
•Click on an item in the Project Structure list to select it 
for viewing.
The contents of the item are shown in the event display.
•Items with hierarchical substructures can be folded out 
by clicking the “+” symbols or the “closed folder” symbols 
in the Project Structure list.
When the substructure of an item is revealed, a “-” symbol or an “open 
folder” symbol is shown instead – click this to hide the substructure.
•To reveal or hide all substructures in the Project Struc-
ture list, use the buttons “(+) All” and “(–) All” above the list.
•The actual editing is done in the event display, using 
regular value editing techniques.
There is one exception: You can rename items in the Project Structure 
list by clicking on their names and typing.
Customizing the view
You can drag the divider between the Project Structure 
list and the event display. Furthermore, the event display 
can be customized in the following ways:
•You can change the order of the columns by dragging 
the column headings to the left or right.
•You can resize columns by dragging the dividers be-
tween the column headings.
•To select a display format for all position and length 
values, use the Time Format pop-up menu.
Project Structure 
list. This is where 
you navigate 
through the project.Event display. This is 
where you view and 
edit parts, events and 
regions. Add pop-up menu and Add button for  
creating new parts, events and regions.Filter pop-up menu, used for 
MIDI editing Time Format (display format) 
pop-up menu 
						

							479
The Project Browser (Cubase only)
•You can sort events in the display by columns, by click-
ing the column heading.
For example, if you want to sort events by their start positions, click that 
column heading. An arrow appears in the column heading, indicating that 
events are sorted by that column. The direction of the arrow indicates 
whether the events are sorted in ascending or descending order. To 
change the direction, click the column heading again.
Importing files via the MediaBay
You can also import audio, video and MIDI files into the 
Project Browser via the MediaBay using drag and drop.
ÖYou can only import into existing tracks. This means, for 
example, that a video track has to exist in the Project win
-
dow prior to importing a video file in the Project Browser.
For more information about the MediaBay, see “The Media-
Bay” on page 311.
About the Sync Selection option
If the “Sync Selection” checkbox is activated (on the Proj-
ect Browser toolbar), selecting an event in the Project win-
dow automatically selects it in the Project Browser, and 
vice versa. This makes it easy to locate events in the two 
windows.
Editing tracks
Editing audio tracks
Audio tracks can have two “subitems”: Track Data and 
Automation. 
• The Automation item corresponds to the automation track in 
the Project window, and contains the track’s automation 
events (see 
“Editing automation tracks” on page 481).
• The Track Data item corresponds to the actual audio track in 
the Project window. It contains audio events and/or audio 
parts, which in turn can contain audio events.
Note that if you have not performed any automation or 
opened an automation track, the Browser will only contain 
the audio data.
The following parameters are available for the different 
items:
The list columns for audio events
ParameterDescription
NameAllows you to change the name of the event. Double-click-ing the waveform image to the left of it opens the event in 
the Sample Editor.
FileThe name of the audio file referenced by the event’s au-dio clip.
StartThe start position of the event. If the event belongs to an 
audio part, you cannot move it outside the part.
EndThe end position of the event. 
SnapThe absolute position of the event’s snap point. Note that 
adjusting this value will not change the position of the snap 
point within the event – instead it is another way of moving 
the event!
LengthThe length of the event. 
OffsetThis determines “where in the audio clip” the event starts. 
Adjusting this value is the same as sliding the contents of 
the event in the Project window (see 
“Sliding the con-tents of an event or part” on page 64). You can only specify positive Offset values, because the 
event cannot start before the start of the clip. Likewise, it 
cannot end after the end of the clip. If the event already 
plays the whole clip, the Offset cannot be adjusted at all.
VolumeThe volume of the event, as set with the Volume handle or 
on the info line in the Project window.
Fade InFade OutThe length of the fade-in and fade-out areas respectively. 
If you use these settings to add a fade (where there pre-viously was none), a linear fade will be created. If you ad-just the length of an existing fade, the previous fade 
shape will be maintained.
MuteClick in this column to mute or unmute the event.
ImageDisplays a waveform image of the event inside a gray box 
corresponding to the clip. The image is scaled according 
to the width of the column. 
						

							480
The Project Browser (Cubase only)
The list columns for audio parts
Creating audio parts
When the “Audio” item of an audio track is selected in the 
Project Structure list, you can create empty audio parts on 
the track by clicking the Add button on the toolbar. This 
will insert a part between the left and right locator.
Editing MIDI tracks
Just like audio tracks, MIDI tracks can have two “subitems”: 
Track Data and Automation.
• The Track Data item corresponds to the actual MIDI track in 
the Project window and can contain MIDI parts (which in turn 
can contain MIDI events).
• The Automation item corresponds to the automation track in 
the Project window, and contains the track’s automation 
events (see 
“Editing automation tracks” on page 481).
ÖIf you have not performed any automation or opened 
an automation track, the Browser will only contain the 
MIDI data.
When editing the Track Data, the following parameters are 
available:
The list columns for MIDI events
The list columns for MIDI parts
ParameterDescription
NameThe name of the part. Double-clicking on the part symbol 
to the left of it opens the part in the Audio Part Editor.
StartThe start position of the part. Editing this value is the 
same as moving the part in the Project window.
EndThe end position of the part. Editing this value is the same 
as resizing the part in the Project window.
LengthThe length of the part. Editing this value is the same as 
resizing the part in the Project window.
OffsetThis adjusts the start position of the events within the part. 
Adjusting this value is the same as sliding the contents of 
the part in the Project window (see 
“Sliding the contents of an event or part” on page 64). Setting a positive Offset value is the same as sliding the contents to the left, while a 
negative Offset corresponds to sliding the contents to the 
right.
MuteClick in this column to mute or unmute the part.
ParameterDescription
TypeThe type of MIDI event. This cannot be changed.
StartThe position of the event. Editing this value is the same as 
moving the event.
EndThis is only used for note events, allowing you to view and 
edit the end position of a note (thereby resizing it).
LengthThis is only used for note events. It shows the length of 
the note – changing this resizes the note and automati-cally changes the End value as well.
Data 1The property of this value depends on the type of MIDI 
event:
For notes, this is the note number (pitch). This is displayed 
and edited as a note name and an octave number, with the 
values ranging between C-2 and G8.
For controller events, this is the type of controller, dis-played in words. Note that you can edit this by entering a 
number – the corresponding controller type is automati-cally displayed.For pitchbend events, this is the fine adjustment of the 
bend amount.
For poly pressure events, this is the note number (pitch).For VST 3 events, this is the event parameter (e. g. Vol-ume).For other event types, this is the value of the event.
Data 2The property of this value depends on the type of MIDI 
event:
For notes, this is the note-on velocity.For controller events, this is the value of the event.For pitchbend events, this is the coarse bend amount.For poly pressure events, this is the amount of pressure.For VST 3 events, this is the value of the event parameter, 
with a range of 0.0 to 1.0.
For other event types, this is not used.
ChannelThe event’s MIDI channel, see “Notes” on page 103.
CommentThis column is used for some event types only, providing 
an additional comment about the event.
ParameterDescription
NameThe name of the part.
StartThe start position of the part. Editing this value is the 
same as moving the part.
EndThe end position of the part. Changing this is the same as 
resizing the part (and will automatically affect the Length 
value as well).
LengthThe length of the part. Changing this resizes the part and 
automatically changes the End value.
OffsetThis adjusts the start position of the events within the 
part. Adjusting this value is the same as sliding the con-tents of the part in the Project window (see “Sliding the contents of an event or part” on page 64). Setting a pos-itive Offset value is the same as sliding the contents to 
the left, while a negative Offset corresponds to sliding the 
contents to the right.
MuteClick in this column to mute or unmute the part.
Parameter Description