Steinberg Cubase 7 User Manual

							351
The Sample EditorWorking with hitpoints and slices
Also consider activating auto fades for the corresponding audio track – fade-outs set 
to about 10
 ms will help eliminate any clicks between the slices when you play back 
the part. See 
“Making Auto Fade settings for individual tracks” on page 150 for 
details.
If the project tempo is higher than the tempo of the original audio event, the slice 
events are overlapping. Activate auto crossfades for the track to smooth out the 
sound (see “Making global Auto Fade settings” on page 150). Furthermore, you can 
select the overlapping events inside the part and apply the “Delete Overlaps” function 
from the Advanced submenu of the Audio menu.
The slices in the Audio Part Editor. Here, the project tempo was higher than the clip’s original 
tempo – the slice events overlap.
Slicing multi-track drum recordings
If you have a multi-track drum recording that you want to quantize using hitpoints, you 
can put all the tracks belonging to the recording in an edit group, calculate the 
hitpoints for the relevant tracks (e.
 g. Kick, Snare, and Hi-hats), and use the “Divide 
Audio Events at Hitpoints” command on the Audio menu (Hitpoints submenu) to slice 
all tracks of the recording at once. This is described in detail in the section 
“Quantizing Multiple Audio Tracks (Cubase Only)” on page 135.
Other hitpoint functions
On the Hitpoints tab of the Sample Editor Inspector, you will also find the following 
functions. Many of these functions are also available on the Hitpoints submenu of the 
Audio menu. If selected on the Audio menu, they can be applied on several events and 
even range selections at the same time.
Create Groove
This function is described in detail in the section “Creating Groove Quantize Presets” 
on page 142.
Create Markers
If an audio event contains calculated hitpoints, you can click the Create Markers 
button on the Hitpoints tab to add a marker for each hitpoint. If your project has no 
marker track, it will be added and activated automatically (see 
“Using markers” on 
page 169). Markers can be useful to snap to hitpoints, e. g. for locating hitpoints and 
for using the Time Warp tool (see “The Time Warp tool (Cubase only)” on page 619). 
						

							352
The Sample EditorWorking with hitpoints and slices
Create Regions
If your audio event contains calculated hitpoints, you can click the Create Regions 
button on the Hitpoints tab to automatically create regions from hitpoints. This can be 
useful to isolate recorded sounds.
Create Events
If your audio event contains calculated hitpoints, you can click the Create Events 
button on the Hitpoints tab to automatically create separate events based on the 
hitpoints.
Create Warp Markers
If you want to quantize audio based on hitpoints, you can use this option to create 
warp markers from the calculated hitpoints. This option is identical with using the 
“Create Warp Markers from Hitpoints” option on the Realtime Processing submenu of 
the Audio menu.
Create MIDI Notes
You can export your hitpoints to a MIDI part containing a MIDI note for each hitpoint. 
For example, you can use this function to double, replace, or enrich drum hits by 
triggering sounds of a VST instrument at the positions of the hitpoints.
•To convert the hitpoints into MIDI notes, click the “Create MIDI Notes” button. 
Make the desired settings in the Convert Hitpoints to MIDI Notes dialog and click 
OK.
The following options are available:
OptionDescription
Velocity Mode/VelocityDynamic Velocity Value – The velocity values of the created 
MIDI notes vary, according to the peak levels of the 
corresponding hitpoints.
Fixed Velocity Value – The created MIDI notes get the same 
velocity value. You can set this value using the Velocity field.
Pitch/LengthHitpoints do not contain any information about pitch or 
duration. Therefore, all created MIDI notes get the same pitch 
and note length. Use these fields to specify the desired 
values.
DestinationFirst Selected Track – The MIDI part is placed on the first 
selected MIDI or instrument track. Note that any MIDI parts 
from previous conversions that are on this track will be 
deleted.
New MIDI Track – A new MIDI track is created for the MIDI 
part.
Project Clipboard – The MIDI part is copied into the 
clipboard so that you can insert it at the desired position on a 
MIDI or instrument track. 
						

							353
The Sample EditorVariAudio (Cubase only)
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 “transpose” value per event or part.
VariAudio offers completely integrated vocal editing and pitch alteration of individual 
notes in monophonic vocal recordings and can solve intonation and timing problems 
with only a few mouse clicks. It was developed and optimized specifically to be used 
with monophonic vocal recordings. Though the detection and stretching of notes of 
other monophonic audio recordi n g s ,  s u c h  a s  t h o s e  o f  a  s a x o p h o n e ,  m a y  w o r k  w e l l ,  t h e  
quality of the end result depends 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-destructively” 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 359) and on the horizontal axis (see “Warping segments” on page 
362).
ÖIf you load projects with VariAudio files in Cubase Artist, 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 VariAudio features. 
Understanding the waveform display in VariAudio
When you open monophonic vocal recordings in the Sample Editor and activate the 
Segments or the Pitch & Warp tool on the VariAudio tab, your audio is analyzed and 
segmented to display the tonal portions, i.
 e. the notes sung or played. This process is 
called segmentation. The segmentation allows you to easily associate the audio with 
your lyrics and to introduce pitch and timing changes.  
						

							354
The Sample EditorVariAudio (Cubase only)
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.
The piano keyboard to the left of the waveform indicates the pitch positions. By 
moving a segment vertically, you can change its average pitch.
Note pitches represent the perceived fundamental frequency 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.
Audio waveformSegments
Gap
C4C#4/ 
Db4
D4D#4/Eb4E4F4F#4/ 
Gb4
261.63277.18293.66311.13329.63349.23369.99
G4G#4/ 
Ab4
A4A#4/ 
Bb4
B4C5
392.00415.30440.00466.16493.88523.25
Micro-pitch curves 
						

							355
The Sample EditorVariAudio (Cubase only)
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 submenu 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 Inspector or in the Plug-ins submenu of the Audio menu 
(see the chapter 
“Audio processing and functions” on page 302).
•Cut, paste, and delete (see “Editing selection ranges” on page 336), or drawing 
notes (see “Drawing in the Sample Editor” on page 335).
If you apply editing that affects the audio itself (like cutting portions, etc.) 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 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 Envelope, 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 proceeding, 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 applying Offline 
Processes” options in the Preferences dialog (VariAudio page).
!Because of the reanalysis any existing VariAudio data becomes invalid. Therefore, you 
should always apply offline processing or edits before using the VariAudio features. 
						

							356
The Sample EditorVariAudio (Cubase only)
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 365).
ÖIn Segments mode, the segments are shown with a hatched background. You can 
switch between “Pitch & Warp” and “Segments” mode (see 
“Pitch & Warp tool” on 
page 358) by pressing the [Tab] key.
The following paragraphs list the corrections that can be performed when Segments 
mode is activated.
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 included 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 recalculated, 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 overlap each other.
!Due to the data gained during this process, the audio 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 recalculation of the segment’s pitch. 
Therefore, it is recommended that you edit the segmentation before changing the 
pitch.
!If the resulting segment pitch cannot be calculated because of an increase in non-
tonal data, the segment will be deleted. 
						

							357
The Sample EditorVariAudio (Cubase only)
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 segments cannot be cut.
Gluing segments
If you notice that a single note is spread over two segments, 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.
!When the resulting segment pitch cannot be calculated 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 modifications 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 segment will be deleted. 
						

							358
The Sample EditorVariAudio (Cubase only)
Moving segments horizontally
After cutting a segment it may be necessary to move segments 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 cannot 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 Segments 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 
switch 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.
!If the resulting segment pitch cannot be calculated because of an increase in non-
tonal data, the segment 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 356). 
						

							359
The Sample EditorVariAudio (Cubase only)
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. 
There are three different modes that affect the way in which a note will snap to a 
certain pitch that can be accessed using the following modifier keys:
ÖThe default modifier key can be changed in the Preferences 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 informing 
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 computer 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 downwards to iteratively reduce the 
deviation from the nearest semitone position. 
OptionDescriptionDefault modifier
Absolute Pitch 
SnappingPitches the segment to the next 
semitone.[Ctrl]/[Command]
Relative Pitch SnappingSnaps the segment in relation 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 keeping the 
deviation of 22
 %.
None
No Pitch SnappingLets you edit the pitch freely.[Shift]
!If you pitch-shift audio events with the Transpose options (see “The transpose 
functions” on page 161) 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. 
						

							360
The Sample EditorVariAudio (Cubase only)
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 711). When using the key 
command, the segments are directly quantized to the next semitone 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 353). 
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.
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.
!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.
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.