Steinberg Cubase Ai 5 Manual

							131
The Sample Editor
Selecting Paste copies the data on the clipboard into 
the clip.
If there is a selection in the editor, this will be replaced by the pasted 
data. If there is no selection, the pasted data will be inserted starting at 
the selection line. The section to the right of the line will be moved to 
make room for the pasted material.
The pasted data will be inserted at the selection line.
Delete
Selecting Delete (on the Edit menu in the Sample Editor 
context menu or in the main Edit menu or by pressing 
[Backspace]) removes the selection from the clip. The 
section to the right of the selection is moved to the left to 
fill out the gap.
Insert Silence
Selecting “Insert Silence” (in the Range submenu of the 
main Edit menu) will insert a silent section with the same 
length as the current selection, at the selection start.
The selection will not be replaced, but moved to the 
right to make room. 
If you want to replace the selection, use the “Silence” function instead 
(see “Silence” on page 121).
Processing
The Processing features (in the Process submenu on the 
Audio menu) can be applied to selections in the Sample 
Editor. See the chapter “Audio processing and functions” 
on page 117. 
Creating a new event from the selection using drag&drop
You can create a new event that plays only the selected 
range, using the following method:
1.Make a selection range.
2.Press [Ctrl]/[Command] and drag the selection range 
to the desired audio track in the Project window.
Creating a new clip or audio file from the selection
You can extract a selection from an event and either cre-
ate a new clip or a new audio file, in the following way:
1.Make a selection range.
2.Holding [Alt]/[Option], right-click to open the context 
menu and select “Bounce Selection” from the Audio sub-
menu.
Provided that the “Popup Toolbox on Right Click” option in the Prefer-
ences dialog (Editing–Tools page) is activated, a right-click holding a 
modifier key brings up the context menu.
A new clip is created and added to the Pool, and another 
Sample Editor window opens with the new clip. This clip 
refers to the same audio file as the original clip, but only 
contains the audio corresponding to the selection range.
Drawing in the Sample Editor
It is possible to edit the audio clip at sample level by draw-
ing with the Pencil tool. This can be useful if you need to 
manually edit out a spike or click, etc.
1.Zoom in to a zoom value lower than 1.
This means that there is more than one screen pixel per sample.
2.Select the Pencil tool.
3.Click and draw at the desired position in the waveform 
display.
When you release the mouse button, the edited section is automatically 
selected. 
						

							132
The Sample Editor
Options and settings
Show Audio Event
When the Show Audio Event button is activated on the 
toolbar (or the option “Audio Event” is activated on the 
Elements submenu of the context menu), the section cor-
responding to the edited event is highlighted in the wave-
form and thumbnail displays. The sections of the audio 
clip not belonging to the event are shown with a dark gray 
background.
In this mode, you can adjust the start and end of the 
event in the clip by dragging the event handles in the 
waveform display.
When you move the pointer over the event handles (no matter what tool 
may be selected), it takes on the shape of an arrow, to indicate that you 
can click and drag.
Snap
Snap activated.
The Snap function helps you to find exact positions when 
editing in the Sample Editor. It does this by restricting hor-
izontal movement and positioning to certain grid positions. 
You turn Snap on or off by clicking the Snap button in the 
Sample Editor toolbar.
ÖThe Sample Editor Snap function is independent of 
the Snap setting in the Project window toolbar or other 
editors. It has no effect outside the Sample Editor.
Snap to Zero Crossing
Snap to Zero Crossing activated.
This setting is linked to the Snap to Zero Crossing setting 
in the Project window, see the section “Snap to Zero 
Crossing” on page 41.
ÖIf hitpoints have been calculated, these will also be 
taken into account when snapping to zero crossings.
Autoscroll
Autoscroll and Suspend Autoscroll when Editing activated.
When this option is activated on the Sample Editor tool-
bar, the waveform display will scroll during playback, 
keeping the project cursor visible in the editor.
This setting is independent of the Autoscroll setting in the 
Project window toolbar or other editors. For more infor-
mation on this function, see the section “Autoscroll” on 
page 41.
AudioWarp: Tempo matching audio
 In Cubase AI you can use the Musical mode to tempo-
match audio loops to the project tempo. It allows you to 
lock audio clips to the project tempo by using realtime 
time stretching. This is very useful if you want to use loops 
in your project and do not want to worry too much about 
timing.
When Musical mode is activated, audio events will adapt 
to any tempo changes in Cubase AI, just like MIDI events. 
However, using this function should not be confused with 
quantizing: the timing, i.e. the rhythmic feeling will be 
maintained.
It is also possible to activate/deactivate Musical mode from 
within the Pool by clicking the corresponding checkbox in 
the Musical Mode column. 
!This is only available if you opened the Sample Editor 
by double-clicking an audio event in the Project win-
dow or the Audio Part Editor and not, if you opened 
the audio event from within the Pool. 
						

							133
The Sample Editor
When you have correctly set a tempo or length for an au-
dio clip, this information is saved with the project. This al-
lows you to import files into the project with Musical mode 
already activated. The tempo (if set) is also saved when 
exporting files.
Proceed as follows to tempo match an audio loop to the 
project tempo: 
1.Import your loop into the project and double-click it to 
open it in the Sample Editor.
2.From the Algorithm pop-up in the toolbar, select the 
algorithm to be applied on realtime playback. 
In this pop-up you can find various options that govern the 
audio quality of the realtime time stretching. There are pre-
sets for common types of audio material and an Advanced 
option which allows you to manually set warp parameters:If you select the Advanced menu item, a dialog opens 
where you can manually adjust the three parameters that 
govern the sound quality of the time stretching:
3.Activate the Musical Mode button on the toolbar.
Your loop will automatically be adapted to the project tempo. 
As you can see, it is very easy to adapt audio loops to the 
project tempo.
!Cubase AI supports ACID® loops. These loops are 
standard audio files but with embedded tempo/length 
information. When ACID® files are imported into Cu-
base AI, Musical mode is automatically activated and 
the loops will adapt to the tempo set in the project.
Option Description
Drums This mode is best for percussive sounds, because it will not 
change the timing of your audio. Using this option for pitched 
audio will lead to noticeable artifacts. In this case, you can try 
the Mix mode.
Plucked This should be used for audio with transients and a relatively 
stable spectral sound character (e.g. plucked instruments).
Pads Use this mode for pitched audio with slower rhythm and a sta-
ble spectral sound character. This will minimize sound arti-
facts, but the rhythmic accuracy will not be preserved.
Vocals This mode was optimized for slower signals with transients 
and a prominent tonal character (e.g. vocals).
Mix This mode will preserve the rhythm and minimize the artifacts 
for pitched material which does not meet the above criteria 
(i.e. with a less homogenous sound character). 
This will be selected by default for audio that is not catego-
rized.
Advanced This allows for a manual tweaking of the time stretching pa-
rameters. The settings that are shown when you open the dia-
log are those of the last used preset. The Advanced settings 
are described in more detail below this table.
Parameter Description
Grainsize The realtime time stretching algorithm splits the audio into 
small pieces called “grains”. This parameter determines the 
size of the grains. For material with many transients you 
should use low Grainsize values for best results. 
Overlap Overlap is the percentage of the whole grain that will over-
lap with other grains. Use higher values for material with a 
stable sound character.
Variance Variance is also a percentage of the whole length of the 
grains and sets a variation in positioning so that the overlap-
ping area will sound smooth. A Variance setting of 0 will 
produce a sound akin to time stretching used in early sam-
plers, whereas higher settings will produce more (rhythmic) 
“smearing” effects but less audio artifacts. Option Description 
						

							134
The Sample Editor
Working with hitpoints and slices
Hitpoint detection is a special feature of the Sample Edi-
tor. It detects attack transients in an audio file and then 
adds a type of marker, i.e. a “hitpoint”, at each transient. 
These hitpoints allow you to create “slices”, where each 
slice ideally represents each individual sound or “beat” in 
a loop (drum or other rhythmic loops work best with this 
feature). When you have successfully sliced the audio file, 
you can do a number of useful things with it:
 Change the tempo without affecting the pitch.
 Replace individual sounds in a drum loop.
 Edit the actual playing in the drum loop without affecting the 
basic feel.
 Extract sounds from loops.
You can further edit these slices in the Audio Part Editor. 
For example you can:
 Remove or mute slices.
 Change the loop by reordering or replacing slices.
 Apply processing to individual slices.
 Create new files from individual slices using the “Bounce Se-
lection” function on the Audio menu.
 Edit slice envelopes.
ÖThe term “loop” is used throughout this section. Loop 
in this context usually means an audio file with a musical 
time base, i.e. the length of the loop represents a certain 
number of bars and beats at a certain tempo. Playing the 
loop back at the right tempo in a cycle set to the correct 
length will produce a continuous loop without gaps.
Using hitpoints
The main functionality of using hitpoints to slice up a loop is 
to make a loop fit the tempo of a song, or alternatively to 
create a situation that allows the song tempo to be changed 
while retaining the timing of a rhythmic audio loop, just like 
when using MIDI files. 
Which audio files can be used?
Here are some guidelines as to what type of audio files are 
suited for slicing using hitpoints:
Each individual sound in the loop should have a notice-
able attack.
Slow attacks, legato playing, etc. may not produce the desired result.
Poorly recorded audio might be difficult to slice correctly.
In these cases, try to normalize the files or to remove DC Offset.
There may be problems with sounds drowned in smear-
ing effects, like short delays.
Calculating hitpoints and slicing a loop
Before proceeding, find a suitable loop using the criteria 
above. Proceed as follows:
1.Open the event or clip for editing in the Sample Editor.
You can do this by double-clicking an event on an audio track in the 
Project window or a clip in the Pool. In this example, we assume you 
work with an event on a track.
2.Open the Hitpoints tab in the Sample Editor Inspector 
and select an option from the Use pop-up. 
The Use pop-up menu on the Hitpoints tab affects which hitpoints are 
shown and is a useful tool for removing unwanted hitpoints. 
It contains the following options:
3.Move the Sensitivity slider to the right to add hitpoints 
or to the left to remove unwanted hitpoints until one indi-
vidual sound is played between each hitpoint.
If your main reason for slicing the loop is to change the tempo, you gener-
ally need as many slices as you can get, but never more than one per indi-
vidual “hit” in the loop. 
In the next step, the loop will be adapted to the project 
tempo set in Cubase AI. 
!When a selection range is defined, hitpoints will only 
be detected within this range. 
!Hitpoints will only be displayed in the waveform if the 
Hitpoints tab is open.
Option Description
All All hitpoints are shown (taking the Sensitivity slider into ac-
count).
1/4, 1/8, 
1/16, 1/32Only hitpoints that are close to the selected note value posi-
tions within the loop are shown (e.g. close to exact sixteenth 
note positions). Again, the Sensitivity slider is taken into ac-
count.
Metric Bias This is like the “All” mode, but all hitpoints that are close to 
even meter divisions (1/4, 1/8, 1/16, etc.) get a “sensitivity 
boost” – they are visible at lower sensitivity settings. This is 
useful if you are working with dense or cluttered material with 
a lot of hitpoints, but you know that the material is based on a 
strict meter. By selecting Metric Bias it will be easier to find 
the hitpoints close to the meter position (although most other 
hitpoints are also available, at higher sensitivity settings). 
						

							135
The Sample Editor
4.Verify the Tempo and Bars values in the toolbar. 
5.On the Hitpoints tab, click on the Slice & Close button 
or select “Create Audio Slices from Hitpoints” from the 
Hitpoints submenu on the Audio menu to create audio 
slices from the hitpoints. 
The following happens:
The Sample Editor closes.
The audio event is “sliced” so that the sections between 
the hitpoints become separate events, all referring to the 
same original file.
The audio event is replaced by an audio part, containing 
the slices (double-click the part to view the slices in the Au-
dio Part Editor). If you edited a clip from the Pool, you need 
to drag it to an audio track to get a part with the slices.
The loop is automatically adapted to the project tempo. 
This takes the loop length you specified into account: e. g., if 
the loop was one bar long, the part is resized to fit exactly 
one bar in the Cubase AI tempo, and the slices are moved 
accordingly, keeping their relative positions within the part.
In the Pool, the sliced clip is shown with a different icon.
Dragging the sliced clip from the Pool to an audio track will create an audio 
part with the slices adapted to the project tempo, just as above.
6.Activate cycle playback on the Transport panel.
The loop should now play back seamlessly at the tempo set in the project!
If the project tempo is lower than the original tempo of 
the loop, there may be audible gaps between each slice 
event in the part.
This can be remedied by using the Close Gaps function on the Advanced 
submenu of the Audio menu, see “Close Gaps” on page 136. You should 
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 “Fades, crossfades and envelo-
pes” on page 62 for details.
If the project tempo is higher than the loop’s original 
tempo, you may want to activate auto crossfades for the 
track.
You can use the Close Gaps functions in this case as well, see “Close 
Gaps” on page 136.
The slices in the Audio Part Editor. Here, the project tempo was higher 
than the loop’s original tempo – the slice events overlap slightly.
Setting hitpoints manually
If you cannot get the desired result by adjusting the sensi-
tivity, try to set and edit hitpoints manually.
1.Zoom in on the waveform at the point where you wish 
to add a hitpoint.
2.Select the Edit Hitpoints tool to audition the area and 
make sure that the start of the sound is in view.
Activate Snap to Zero Crossing on the Sample Editor 
toolbar.
By finding zero crossings in the waveform (positions where the amplitude 
is close to zero), manually added slices won’t introduce any clicks or pops. 
All hitpoints calculated by the program are automatically placed at zero 
crossings.
3.Press [Alt]/[Option] so that the mouse pointer changes 
to a pencil tool and click just before the start of the sound.
A new hitpoint appears. Manually added hitpoints are locked by default.
If you notice that a hitpoint was either placed too far 
away from the start of the sound or too far into the sound, 
you can move it by clicking on the hitpoint handle and 
dragging it to the new position.
!When you create slices, all events containing the ed-
ited clip will also be replaced.
!Only when the audio tempo has been defined and 
the audio grid matches the project tempo, your slices 
will be straight (quantized). 
!“Snap to Zero Crossing” may alter the timing. In 
some cases it might therefore be better to deactivate 
it. However, if you create slices afterwards, auto 
fades will be necessary. 
						

							136
The Sample Editor
4.Audition the slices by pointing and clicking in any slice 
area.
The pointer changes to a speaker icon and the corresponding slice will be 
played back from the beginning to the end.
If you hear a single sound split into two slice you can 
disable an individual slice by pressing [Alt]/[Option] (the 
pointer turns into a cross) and clicking on the correspond-
ing hitpoint handle. 
The hitpoint handle gets smaller and its line disappears to indicate that it 
is disabled. To reactivate a disabled hitpoint, [Alt]/[Option]-click on the 
hitpoint handle again.
If you hear “double hits” (e.g. a snare hit being followed 
by a hi-hat hit within the same slice) you can add further hit-
points manually, or you can move the Sensitivity slider to the 
right until the hitpoint appears, lock this hitpoint by pointing 
on the handle until it becomes green and click on it. 
Locked hitpoints are displayed in a darker color. After locking the hitpoint 
you can drag the sensitivity slider to the original setting and the locked 
hitpoint will remain shown. You can unlock a locked hitpoint by clicking 
on its handle.
If you want to delete a hitpoint, simply drag it out of the 
Sample Editor window. 
Hitpoints that you have created manually can also be deleted by clicking 
their handle.
Match-quantizing audio
Hitpoints can have individual Q-points. These are mainly 
used for audio quantizing. Their function is to define the 
point to which the quantizing will apply. Sometimes a slice 
might have a slow attack, and a peak further into the slice 
which you wish to use as the Q-point. When you apply 
quantize, the Q-point will define where the warp tab will be 
added. This also defines the point which will be stretched 
to a grid position when quantizing.To activate Q-points, open the Preferences (Editing–
Audio page) and activate the option “Hitpoints have 
Q-Points”.
Next time you use the Calculate Hitpoints function, the hitpoints will have 
Q-points.
To offset the position of a Q-point in relation to the hit-
point, simply click on the “Q” icon and drag it to the right 
to the desired position.
Other hitpoint functions
On the Hitpoints tab of the Sample Editor Inspector and 
on the various submenus of the Audio menu, you will also 
find the following functions:
Create Markers
If an audio event contains calculated hitpoints, you can 
click on the Create Markers button in the Hitpoints tab to 
add a marker for each hitpoint (see “Marker tracks” on 
page 19). This can be useful to snap to hitpoints, e.g. for 
locating hitpoints.
Create Events
When you wish to create separate events according to the 
hitpoints for a file, you can click on the Create Events but-
ton in the Hitpoints tab. This means that you do not have to 
make the same considerations as when slicing for tempo 
changes. You can use any method you like to set hitpoints.
The slices created will appear in the Project window as 
separate events.
Close Gaps
This function from the Advanced submenu on the Audio 
menu is useful if you sliced a loop for tempo changes. 
Lowering the tempo below the loop’s original tempo will 
create gaps between the slices. The lower the tempo is in 
relation to the original tempo, the wider the gaps will be. 
Close Gaps can be used to remedy this.
Proceed as follows:
1.Set the desired tempo.
2.Select the part containing the slices in the Project win-
dow.
!Sounds with a slow attack have their rhythmic center 
at some point before the peak. 
						

							137
The Sample Editor
3.Select “Close Gaps” from the Advanced submenu on 
the Audio menu.
Time stretch is applied to each slice to close the gaps. Depending on the 
length of the part and the algorithm set in the Preferences (Editing–Au-
dio page), this can take a little while.
4.The waveform is redrawn and the gaps are closed!
Note that this feature creates new clips in the Pool, one 
for each slice.
Close Gaps can also be used when the project tempo 
is higher than the original loop tempo.
This will use the time stretch function to compress the slices to fit.
If you decide to change the tempo again after using the 
Close Gaps function, you should undo the Close Gaps op-
eration or start over again, using the original unstretched 
file.
You can also use this function on individual events (in 
the Audio Part Editor or Project window).
The events don’t have to be slices – you can use Close Gaps simply to 
stretch an audio event to the start position of the next event.
ÖThere are some restrictions concerning the highest 
and lowest possible note pitch. You cannot choose note 
pitches above C5 and below E0.
  
						

							13
The Audio Part Editor 
						

							139
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 “The 
Project window” on page 14.
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 locator 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 win-
dow will open the Sample Editor (see “Opening the 
Sample Editor” on page 125).
Window overview
The toolbar
The tools, settings and icons on the toolbar have the same 
functionality as in the Project window, with the following 
differences:
 A Solo button (see “Auditioning” on page 141).
 Separate tools for auditioning (Speaker) and scrubbing (see 
“Scrubbing” on page 141).
 No Line, Glue Tube or Color tools.
 Play and Loop icons and an Audition Volume control (see 
“Auditioning” on page 141).
 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 141).
ÖYou can customize the toolbar by hiding or reordering 
its items.
See “Using the Setup options” on page 262.
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 21. 
						

							140
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:
In the upper figure it is unnecessarily hard to discern, se-
lect and edit the separate events. In the lower figure, some 
of the events have been moved to another lower lane, 
making 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.
This is the default modifier key for this – you can adjust this in the Prefe-
rences if you like.
Overlapping events
Only one event per track can be played back at the same 
time! This means that if you have overlapping events (on 
the same lane or different lanes) these will cut each other 
off, according to the following rules:
For events on the same lane, the ones that are on top 
(visible) will be played.
To move overlapping events to the front or back, use the Move to Front 
and Move to Back functions on the Edit menu.
For events on different lanes, the event on the lowest 
lane gets playback priority.
The overlapping sections of the upper event will not be played since the 
event on the lower lane has playback priority!
Imagine the following situation: You have two overlapping 
audio events, with the top event audible during playback. 
What happens when you mute the audible event?
By default, you will not hear the overlapped event when 
muting an event that has playback priority over another 
event.
This default behavior ensures that you do not suddenly hear audio events 
that previously were not part of your mix.
In the Preferences dialog (Editing–Audio page) you will 
find the option “Treat Muted Audio Events like Deleted”. 
When you activate this option, any events overlapped by a 
muted event will become audible.
Lanes