Steinberg Cubase Essential 4 Operation Manual

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The Sample Editor
Window overview
The Elements menu
If you right-click in the Sample Editor to bring up the 
Quick menu, you will find a submenu called “Elements”. 
By activating or deactivating options on this submenu, you 
specify what is shown in the editor window. Some of 
these options are also available as icons on the toolbar.
The toolbar
The toolbar contains the tools…
… and information about the edited audio clip:
The Sample Editor tools Audition, Loop & 
Volume controlsAutoscroll
Show Inspector Use SnapShow Audio 
event
Audio format and length
Realtime status
Selected display format 
(for info line and ruler)
Current selection range
Number of edits made 
to the clip
Zoom factor 
						

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The Sample Editor
Initially, length and position values are displayed in the for-
mat specified in the Project Setup dialog. If you click in the 
middle field, a pop-up menu opens, where you can select 
another display format. This selection affects the Sample 
Editor ruler as well.
You can customize the toolbar by right-clicking it and 
using the pop-up menu to hide or show items.
Selecting Setup from the pop-up menu allows you to 
reorder sections on the toolbar, store presets, etc. See 
“The Setup dialogs” on page 314.
The Sample Editor Inspector
To the left of the Sample Editor, you will find the Sample 
Editor Inspector. It contains all the tools and functions for 
working in the Sample Editor. 
You open a tab by clicking on it. If you want to open an-
other tab without closing the first, [Ctrl]/[Command]-click 
on it. To open all tabs in the Inspector [Alt]/[Option]-click 
on any tab.
ÖYou can show/hide Inspector sections by right-click-
ing on an Inspector tab and activating/deactivating the de-
sired option(s).
Make sure you right-click on an inspector tab and not on the empty area 
below the Inspector, as this will open the Quick context menu instead.
The Definition tab
This tab displays the length of your audio file in bars and 
beats (PPQ) together with the estimated tempo and the 
time signature. You should always verify if the length in 
bars corresponds to the audio file you imported. If neces-
sary, listen to your audio and enter the correct bar length.
The Playback tab
In this tab, the audio grid and the tempo of the audio can 
be adjusted to the project grid by activating the Straighten 
Up mode.
From the algorithm pop-up, you can select an algorithm 
for the realtime time-stretching.
If you activate Straighten Up mode, the audio file will snap 
to the project grid. Note that the Transpose function on the 
Playback tab is not available if you opened the Sample Edi-
tor by double-clicking on an event in the Pool. 
						

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The Sample Editor
The Hitpoints tab
In this tab, the transients, i.e. hitpoints of the audio can be 
marked. 
Adjust the sensitivity slider to determine how many hit-
points should be shown, and edit them with the Edit Hit-
points tool, if necessary. If you want to clear all hitpoints, 
e.g. to re-detect hitpoints, click the Remove All button.
Click the Slice & Close button, if you want to slice your 
audio to quantize the rhythm of the different slices sepa-
rately (see “Creating slices” on page 164).
Click the Create Markers button, if you want to create mark-
ers for the hitpoints (see “Create Markers” on page 165).
Use the Create Events button, if you wish to create sepa-
rate events according to the hitpoints for a file (see “Create 
Events” on page 165).
Before you can use the Slice & Close buttons, the tempo 
and the time signature of the audio must be defined. If this 
is not the case, a window will be shown in which you can 
enter the original tempo of the audio file. 
The thumbnail display
The thumbnail display provides an overview of the whole 
clip. The section currently shown in the main waveform 
display of the Sample Editor is indicated by a blue rectan-
gle in the thumbnail, while the current selection range is 
shown in blue.You can move the blue rectangle in the thumbnail to 
view other sections of the clip.
Click in the lower half of the rectangle and drag to the left or right to 
move it.
You can resize the blue rectangle (by dragging its left or 
right edge) to zoom in or out, horizontally.
You can define a new viewing area by clicking in the up-
per half of the overview and dragging a rectangle with the 
mouse.
The ruler
The Sample Editor ruler is located between the thumbnail 
and the waveform display. It shows the timeline in the dis-
play format specified in the Project Setup dialog (see “The 
Project Setup dialog” on page 22). If you like, you can se-
lect an independent display format for the ruler by clicking 
on the arrow button to the right of it and selecting an op-
tion from the pop-up menu that appears (this affects the 
values in the info line too). For a list of the display format 
options, see “The ruler” on page 21.
The waveform display and the level scale
The waveform display shows the waveform image of the 
edited audio clip – in the style selected in the Preferences 
(Event Display–Audio page), see “Adjusting how parts 
and events are shown” on page 25. To the left of the 
waveform display, a level scale can be shown, indicating 
the amplitude of the audio.
!Hitpoints will only be displayed in the waveform, if 
this tab is open. 
						

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The Sample Editor
When the level scale is shown, you can select whether 
the level should be shown as a percentage or in dB.
This is done by right-clicking the level scale and selecting an option from 
the pop-up menu that appears. This also allows you to hide the level scale.
To display the level scale after hiding it, right-click to 
bring up the Quick menu and activate “Level Scale” on the 
Elements submenu.
This submenu also allows you to select whether you 
want the zero axis and/or the half level axis indicated in the 
waveform display.
General Operations
Zooming
Zooming in the Sample Editor is done according to the 
standard zoom procedures, with the following special 
notes:
The vertical zoom slider changes the vertical scale rela-
tive to the height of the editor window, in a way similar to 
the waveform zooming in the Project window (see “Zoom 
and view options” on page 23).
The vertical zoom will also be affected if the option “Zoom Tool Standard 
Mode” (Preferences on the Editing–Tools page) is deactivated and you 
drag a rectangle with the Zoom tool.
The following options relevant to the Sample Editor are 
available on the Zoom submenu (on the Edit menu and the 
Quick context menu):
You can also zoom by resizing the rectangle in the 
thumbnail display.
See “The thumbnail display” on page 153.
The current zoom setting is shown in the info line, as a 
“samples per screen pixel” value.
Note that you can zoom in horizontally to a scale with 
less than one sample per pixel! 
This is required for drawing with the Pencil tool (see “Drawing in the 
Sample Editor” on page 157).
If you have zoomed in to one sample per pixel or less, 
the appearance of the samples depend on the option 
“Interpolate Audio Images” in the Preferences (Event Dis-
play–Audio page).
If the option is deactivated, single sample values are drawn as “steps”. If 
the option is activated, they are interpolated to “curves” form.
Auditioning
While you can use the regular play commands to play 
back audio when the Sample Editor is open, it is often 
useful to listen to the edited material only.
ÖYou can adjust the auditioning level with the miniature 
level fader on the toolbar.
Half 
level 
axis Zero axis
Option Description
Zoom In Zooms in one step, centering on the position cursor.
Zoom Out Zooms out one step, centering on the position cursor.
Zoom Full Zooms out so that the whole clip is visible in the editor.
Zoom to 
SelectionZooms in so that the current selection fills the screen.
Zoom to 
Selection (Horiz.) 
(Edit menu only)Zooms in horizontally so that the current selection fills 
the screen.
Zoom to Event 
(Edit menu only)Zooms in so that the editor shows the section of the clip 
corresponding to the edited audio event. This is not 
available if you opened the Sample Editor from the Pool 
(in which case the whole clip is opened for editing, not 
an event).
Zoom In/Out 
Vertical (Edit 
menu only)This is the same as using the vertical zoom slider (see 
above). 
						

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The Sample Editor
By using key commands
If you activate the “Playback Toggle triggers Local Pre-
view” option in the Preferences (Transport page), you can 
use the [Space] bar to audition. This is the same as click-
ing the Audition icon on the toolbar.
By using the Audition icon
Clicking the Audition icon on the toolbar plays back the 
edited audio, according to the following rules:
 If you have made a selection, this selection will be played 
back.
 If there is no selection, but the option “Show Event” is acti-
vated (see “Show audio event” on page 158), the section of 
the clip corresponding to the event will be played back.
 If there is no selection, and “Show Event” is deactivated, play-
back will start at the cursor position (if the cursor is outside 
the display, the whole clip will be played back).
 If the Loop icon is activated, playback will continue repeatedly 
until you deactivate the Audition icon. Otherwise, the section 
will be played back once.
By using the Speaker tool
If you click somewhere in the waveform display with the 
Speaker (“Play”) tool and keep the mouse button pressed, 
the clip will be played back from the position at which you 
clicked. Playback will continue until you release the mouse 
button.
Scrubbing
The Scrub tool allows you to locate positions in the audio 
by playing back, forwards or backwards, at any speed:
1.Select the Scrub tool.
2.Click in the waveform display and keep the mouse 
button pressed.
The project cursor is moved to the position at which you click.
3.Drag to the left or right.
The project cursor follows the mouse pointer and the audio is played 
back. The speed and pitch of the playback depends on how fast you 
move the pointer.
You can adjust the response of the Scrub tool with the 
Scrub Response (Speed) setting in the Preferences 
(Transport–Scrub page).
There you will also find a separate Scrub Volume setting.
Adjusting the snap point
The snap point is a marker within an audio event (or clip, 
see below). This is used as a reference position when you 
are moving events with snap activated, so that the snap 
point is “magnetic” to whatever snap positions you have 
selected. 
By default, the snap point is set at the beginning of the au-
dio event, but often it is useful to move the snap point to a 
“relevant” position in the event, such as a downbeat, etc.
1.Activate the “Audio Event” option so that the event is 
displayed in the editor.
2.Scroll so that the event is visible, and locate the “S” 
flag in the event.
If you haven’t adjusted this previously, it will be located at the beginning 
of the event.
3.Click on the “S” flag and drag it to the desired position.
When you drag the snap point, a tool tip shows its current position (in 
the format selected on the Sample Editor ruler). 
						

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The Sample Editor
You can also adjust the snap point by setting the project 
cursor:
1.Place the cursor at the desired position (intersecting 
the event).
You may want to do this by scrubbing, to spot the right position exactly.
2.Right-click to open the Quick menu and select “Snap 
Point To Cursor” from the Audio submenu.
The snap point will be set to the position of the cursor. This method can 
also be used in the Project window and the Audio Part Editor.
It is also possible to define a snap point for a clip (for 
which there is no event yet).
To open a clip in the Sample Editor, double-click it in the Pool. After hav-
ing set the snap point using the procedure described above, you can in-
sert the clip into the project from the Pool or the Sample Editor, taking 
the snap point position into account.
Making selections
To select an audio section in the Sample Editor, you click 
and drag with the Range Selection tool.
If Use Snap is activated on the toolbar, the start and end 
of the selection will always be at zero crossings (see “Use 
Snap” on page 158).
You can resize the selection by dragging its left and 
right edge or by [Shift]-clicking.
Using the Select menu
In the Select submenu of the Edit menu you can find the 
following options:
Editing selection ranges
Selections in the Sample Editor can be processed in sev-
eral ways. Please note:
If you attempt to edit an event that is a shared copy (i.e. 
the event refers to a clip that is used by other events in the 
project), you are asked whether you want to create a new 
version of the clip or not.
Select “New Version” if you want the editing to affect the selected event 
only. Select “Continue” if you want the editing to affect all shared copies. 
Note: If you activate the option “Do not show this message again” in the 
dialog, any further editing you do will conform to the selected method 
(“Continue” or “New Version”). You can change this setting at any time 
with the “On Processing Shared Clips” pop-up menu in the Preferences 
(Editing–Audio page).
Any changes to the clip will appear in the Offline Process 
H i s t o r y ,  m a k i ng  i t  po s s ib l e t o  un d o t h e m  a t  a  l a t e r  p o in t  ( s ee  
“The Offline Process History dialog” on page 147).
A selected range
Function Description
All Selects the whole clip.
None Selects no audio (the selection length is set to “0”).
In Loop Selects all audio between the left and right locator.
Select  Event Selects the audio that is included in the edited event only. 
This is not available if you opened the Sample Editor from 
the Pool (in which case the whole clip is opened for edit-
ing, not an event).
From Start 
to CursorSelects all audio between the clip start and the project 
cursor.
From Cursor 
to EndSelects all audio between the project cursor and the end 
of the clip. For this to work, the project cursor must be 
within the clip boundaries.
Left Selection 
Side to CursorMoves the left side of the current selection range to the 
project cursor position. For this to work, the cursor must 
be within the clip boundaries.
Right Selection 
Side to CursorMoves the right side of the current selection range to the 
project cursor position (or the end of the clip, if the cursor 
is to the right of the clip). 
						

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The Sample Editor
Cut, Copy and Paste
The Cut, Copy and Paste commands (on the Edit menu in 
the Sample Editor context menu or in the main Edit menu) 
work according to the following rules:
Selecting Copy copies the selection to the clipboard.
Selecting Cut removes the selection from the clip and 
moves it to the clipboard.
The section to the right of the selection is moved to the left to fill out the 
gap.
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 (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 145).
Processing
Processing (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 141. 
Creating a new event from the selection
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.Right-click to open the Quick menu and select 
“Bounce Selection” from the Audio submenu.
A new clip is created and added to the Pool, and another 
Sample Editor window will open with the new clip. The 
new clip will refer to the same audio file as the original clip, 
but will only contain the audio corresponding to the selec-
tion 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.
!Any changes created by drawing will appear in the 
Offline Process History, making it possible to undo 
them at a later stage (see “The Offline Process His-
tory dialog” on page 147). 
						

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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 Ele-
ments submenu on the Quick menu), the section corre-
sponding to the edited event is highlighted in the waveform 
display and Thumbnail. The sections of the audio clip not 
belonging to the event are shown with a dark gray back-
ground.
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.
Use Snap
Use Snap activated.
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.
This setting affects the Sample Editor only. In the 
Project window and other editors, the Use Snap setting 
on the Project menu toolbar or in the Preferences (Edit-
ing–Audio page) is used.ÖIf hitpoints have been calculated, these will also be 
taken into account when snapping to zero crossings.
Autoscroll
Autoscroll activated.
When this option is activated, the waveform display will 
scroll during playback, keeping the project cursor visible 
in the editor.
Audio Warp realtime processing/
Tempo matching audio to the 
project tempo
Audio warp is the generic name for the realtime time-
stretching and pitch-shifting functions in Cubase Essen-
tial. The main audio warp features are tempo-matching 
any audio loop to the project tempo (see “Determining the 
tempo of an audio loop and slicing your audio” on page 
159) and matching up an audio clip with fluctuating tempo 
to a fixed tempo. 
If you want to tempo match an audio loop to the project 
tempo, you will normally work with loops with straight 
beats. In this case you will only need to activate the 
Straighten Up mode. 
Proceed as follows: 
1.Import your loop into the project and double-click it to 
open it in the Sample Editor.
!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. 
						

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The Sample Editor
2.Open the Playback tab in the Sample Editor Inspector 
and activate the Straighten Up mode.
Your loop will automatically adapt to the project tempo. 
If you want to use an audio file instead, or if the beat of 
your loop is not straight, further adjustments could be 
necessary. These are described in the following sections.
About the Straighten Up mode
The Straighten Up mode is one of the key audio warp fea-
tures. 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 this mode is activated, audio events will adapt to 
any tempo changes in Cubase Essential, just like MIDI 
events. However, using Straighten Up function should not 
be confused with quantizing: the timing, i.e. the rhythmic 
feeling will be maintained.
The Straighten Up mode in the Playback tab is automatically activated, 
when the audio tempo (time positions) is specified and the internal au-
dio quantization (musical positions) has been defined.
It is also possible to activate/deactivate Straighten Up 
mode from within the Pool by clicking the respective 
checkbox in the Straighten Up column. 
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 Straighten Up 
mode already activated. The tempo (if set) is also saved 
when exporting files.
Determining the tempo of an audio loop and 
slicing your audio
1.Import a suitable audio file, for example a drum loop.
2.Double-click the loop to open it in the Sample Editor.
3.Open the Definition tab and make sure the length in 
bars corresponds to the actual audio file.
If necessary, listen to your audio and enter the correct bar length.
4.On the Hitpoints tab, open the “Use” pop-up and se-
lect the desired option.
This affects which hitpoints should be shown when moving the Sensitiv-
ity slider (see “Setting the sensitivity” on page 162).
5.Adjust the Sensitivity slider.
The hitpoints are shown. 
6.If necessary, select the Edit Hitpoints tool to edit hit-
points manually.
You can add, delete and listen to hitpoints by pressing [Alt]/[Option] and 
clicking in the waveform. For detailed informations about hitpoints and 
their editing, see below.
7.Now, click the Slice & Close button in the Hitpoints 
tab to create audio slices from your hitpoints.
The loop will be sliced and adjusted to the project tempo. The Sample 
Editor will be closed.
In the following sections you will find more detailed infor-
mation on editing and using hitpoints.
!Cubase Essential supports ACID® loops. These 
loops are standard audio files but with embedded 
tempo/length information. When ACID® files are im-
ported into Cubase Essential, Straighten Up mode is 
automatically activated and the loops will adapt to 
the tempo set in the project. 
						

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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, 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.
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/or beats at a certain tempo. Playing 
the loop back at the right tempo in a cycle set to the cor-
rect length will produce a continuous loop without gaps.
Using hitpoints
The basic 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 some no-
ticeable attack. 
Slow attacks, legato playing etc. may not produce the desired result.
Poorly recorded audio might be difficult to slice cor-
rectly.
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. 
These settings don’t affect the actual detection but rather which hit-
points will be shown afterwards. If you e.g. know that your loop is based 
on 1/16th notes, select “1/16”. If you’re uncertain, set this to “All” – you 
can change this setting afterwards if needed (see “Setting the sensiti-
vity” on page 162). 
The Use pop-up menu
3.Adjust the sensitivity slider.
Now, as you can see, hitpoints have been set at the beginning of each 
sound in the loop.
4.If you now move the hitpoint sensitivity slider to the 
left, this gradually hides the hitpoints. Moving the slider to 
the right increases the sensitivity to reveal additional hit-
points detected during the calculate process.
The basic aim is to add, remove or edit the hitpoints in various other ways 
so that one individual sound is played between each hitpoint. For details, 
see “Editing hitpoints” on page 161.
!When a selection range is defined, hitpoints will only 
be detected within this range.