Steinberg Cubase Essential 4 Operation Manual

14
Audio processing and functions 

142
Audio processing and functions
Background
Audio processing in Cubase Essential can be called “non-
destructive”, in the sense that you can always undo 
changes or revert to the original versions. This is possible 
because processing affects audio clips rather than the ac-
tual audio files, and because audio clips can refer to more 
than one audio file. This is how it works:
1.If you process an event or a selection range, a new au-
dio file is created in the Edits folder, within your project 
folder....

143
Audio processing and functions
Common settings and features
If there are any settings for the selected Audio processing 
function, these will appear when you select the function 
from the Process submenu. While most settings are spe-
cific for the function, some features and settings work in 
the same way for several functions:
The “More…” button
If the dialog has a lot of settings, some options may be 
hidden when the dialog appears. To reveal these, click the 
“More…” button.
To hide the settings,...

144
Audio processing and functions
Gain
Allows you to change the gain (level) of the selected audio. 
The dialog contains the following settings:
Gain
This is where you set the desired gain, between -50 and 
+20 dB. The setting is also indicated below the Gain dis-
play as a percentage.
Clipping detection text
If you use the Preview function before applying the pro-
cessing, the text below the slider indicates whether the 
current settings result in clipping (audio levels above 
0 dB). If that is the...

145
Audio processing and functions
Linked Channels
This is available for stereo audio only. When it is activated, 
the Noise Gate is opened for both channels as soon as 
one or both channels exceed the Threshold level. When 
Linked Channels is deactivated, the Noise Gate works in-
dependently for the left and right channel.
Dry/Wet mix
Allows you to specify a mix ratio between “dry” and pro-
cessed sound.
Pre- and Post-CrossFade
See “Pre/Post-CrossFade” on page 143.
Normalize
The Normalize function...

146
Audio processing and functions
Mode
 
This pop-up menu determines what the function does:
Time Stretch
This function allows you to change the length and “tempo” 
of the selected audio without affecting the pitch. The dia-
log contains the following parameters:
Define Bars section
In this section you set the length of the selected audio and 
the time signature:
Original Length section
This section contains information and settings regarding 
the audio selected for processing:
Resulting Length section...

147
Audio processing and functions
If the “Effect” checkbox is deactivated, the range is 75–
125 %.
This is the preferred mode if you want to preserve the character of the 
sound.
If the “Effect” checkbox is activated, you can specify val-
ues between 10 and 1000 %. 
This mode is mainly useful for special effects, etc.
Algorithm section
Here you can choose a preset for the Realtime algorithm. 
This is the algorithm used for the realtime time stretching 
features in Cubase Essential. The Presets pop-up...

148
Audio processing and functions
Restrictions
If there are no settings for the processing function, you 
cannot modify it.
If you have applied processing that changes the length 
of the clip (such as Cut, Insert or Time Stretch), you can 
only remove this if it is the most recent processing in the 
Offline Process History (at the bottom of the list in the di-
alog). If an operation cannot be removed or modified, this 
is indicated by an icon in the “Status” column. Also, the 
corresponding buttons will...

15
The Sample Editor 

150
The Sample Editor
Background
The Sample Editor allows you to view and manipulate audio 
at the audio clip level, by cutting and pasting, removing or 
drawing audio data or processing audio (see “Audio pro-
cessing and functions” on page 141). This editing can be 
called “non-destructive”, in the sense that you can undo 
changes or revert to the original versions at any time, using 
the Offline Process History (see “The Offline Process His-
tory dialog” on page 147), and because the actual audio 
file...