Steinberg Cubase Essential 4 Operation Manual

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The Pool 
						

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The Pool
Background
What is the Pool?
Every time you record on an audio track, a file is created 
on your hard disk. A reference to this file – a clip – is also 
added to the Pool. Two general rules apply to the Pool:
All audio and video clips that belong to a project are 
listed in the Pool.
There is a separate Pool for every project.
The way the Pool displays folders and their contents is 
similar to the way the Mac OS X Finder and the Windows 
Explorer display folders and lists of files.
What can you do in the Pool?
In the Pool you can, among other things, perform the fol-
lowing operations:
Operations that affect files on disk
 Import clips (audio files can automatically be copied and/or 
converted).
 Convert file formats.
 Rename clips (this will also rename the referenced files on disk).
 Delete clips (if you select the “Move to Trash” option and 
empty the Trash folder – see “Deleting clips” on page 175).
 Prepare File Archives for backup.
 Minimize files.
Operations that only affect clips
 Copy clips.
 Audition clips.
 Organize clips.
 Apply audio processing to clips.
Opening the Pool
You open the Pool in any of the following ways:
 By clicking the Pool icon in the Project window.
 By selecting “Pool” on the Project menu or “Open Pool Win-
dow” on the Media menu. By using a key command (by default [Ctrl]/[Command]+[P] – 
note that using this key command a second time will close the 
Pool again).
The content of the Pool is divided into three main folders: 
The Audio folder
This contains all audio clips currently in the project.
The Video folder
This contains all video clips currently in the project.
The Trash folder 
Unused clips can be moved to the Trash folder for later permanent re-
moval from the hard disk.
These folders cannot be renamed or deleted from the Pool, 
but any number of subfolders can be added (see “Organi-
zing clips and folders” on page 181).
Window overview
Toolbar overview
Trash folder Video folderAudio clip name
Waveform image
ToolbarAudio folder
Open/Close all 
Folders
View/Attributes
Pop-up Hide/show 
info line
Import ButtonProject Folder Path
Pool Record Folder Path Play and Loop buttons, 
audition volume control
Search Button 
						

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The Pool
The info line
Click the “Show Info” button on the toolbar to show or 
hide the info line at the bottom of the Pool window. It 
shows the following information:
How clips are displayed in the Pool
 Audio clips are represented by a waveform icon followed by 
the clip name.
 Video clips are represented by a camera icon followed by the 
clip name.
The Pool window columns
Various information about the clips can be viewed in the 
Pool window columns. The columns contain the following 
information:
About the Status column symbols
The Status column can display various symbols that relate 
to the clips status. The following symbols can be shown:
Sorting the Pool contents
You can sort the clips in the Pool by name, date etc. This 
is done by clicking on the corresponding column heading. 
Clicking again on the same heading switches between as-
cending and descending sort order.
Column Description
Media This column contains the Audio, Video and Trash folders. If 
the folders are opened, the clip names are shown and can 
be edited. This column is always shown.
Used This column displays the number of times a clip is used in 
the project. If a column row is empty, the corresponding 
clip is not used.
Status This column displays various icons that relate to the cur-
rent Pool and clip status. See “About the Status column 
symbols” on page 173 for a description of the icons.
Straighten up The checkbox in this column allows you to activate or de-
activate Straighten up. If the Tempo column (see below) 
displays “???”, you have to enter the correct tempo be-
fore you can activate Straighten up.
Tempo This shows the tempo of audio files for which a tempo 
has been set. If no tempo has been specified, the column 
displays “???”. 
Sign. This is the time signature, e. g. “4/4”.
Key This is the root key, if one was specified for the file.
Number of audio 
files in the Pool
Number of files in the Pool that are not 
in the project folder (e. g. video files)Total size of all audio 
files in the Pool
Number of audio 
files in use
Info This column shows the following information for audio 
clips: The sample rate, bit resolution, number of channels 
and the length in seconds. For video clips it displays the 
frame rate, number of frames, and length in seconds.
Type This column shows the file format of the clip.
Date This column shows the date when the clip was created.
Origin Time This column shows the original start position where a clip 
was recorded in the project. As this value can be used as 
a basis for the option “Insert into Project” in the Media or 
context menu (and other functions), you can change it if 
the Origin Time value is independent. This can either be 
done by editing the value in the column, or by selecting 
the corresponding clip in the Pool, moving the project 
cursor to the new desired position and selecting “Update 
Origin” from the Audio menu.
Image This column displays waveform images of audio clips. 
Path This column shows the path to the location of a clip on 
the hard disk.
Reel Name Audio files may include this attribute, in which case it is 
shown in this column. The Reel Name describes the 
“physical” reel or tape from which the media was origi-
nally captured.
Symbol Description
This indicates the current Pool Record folder (see 
“Changing the Pool Record folder” on page 180).
This symbol is shown if a clip has been processed.
The question mark indicates that a clip is referenced to 
the project but is missing from the Pool (see “About mis-
sing files” on page 177).
This indicates that the clip file is external, i.e. located out-
side the current Audio folder for the project.
This indicates that the clip has been recorded in the cur-
rently open version of the project. This is useful for finding 
recently recorded clips quickly. Column Description 
						

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The Pool
Customizing the view
You can specify which of the columns should be shown 
or hidden by selecting the View/Attributes pop-up on the 
toolbar and selecting/deselecting items.
You can rearrange the order of the columns by clicking 
on a column heading and dragging the column to the left 
or right.
The mouse pointer changes to a hand when you place it on the column 
heading.
The width of a column can also be adjusted by placing 
the pointer between two column headers and dragging 
left or right.
The pointer changes to a divider when you place it between two column 
headers.
Operations
ÖMost of the Pool-related main menu functions are also 
available on the Pool context menu (opened by right-click-
ing in the Pool window).
Renaming clips in the Pool
To rename a clip in the Pool, select it and click on the ex-
isting name, type in a new name and press [Return].
ÖThis will also rename the referenced files on disk!
Copying clips in the Pool
To make a duplicate clip, proceed as follows:
1.Select the clip you wish to copy.
2.Select “New Version” on the Media menu.
A new version of the clip appears in the same Pool folder, with the same 
name but with a “version number” after it, to indicate that the new clip is 
a duplicate. The first copy made of a clip will get the version number “2” 
and so on. 
Inserting clips into a project
By using menus
1.Select the clip(s) you want to insert into the project.
2.Pull down the Media menu and select an “Insert into 
Project” option.
“At Cursor” will insert the clip(s) at the current project cursor position. 
“At Origin” will insert the clip(s) at their Origin Time position(s).
Note that the clip will be positioned so that its snap 
point is aligned with the selected insert position.
You can also open the Sample Editor for a clip by double-clicking it, and 
perform the insert operation from there. This way you can set the snap 
point before inserting a clip.
The arrow indicates the sort 
column and sort order.
!Renaming a clip in the Pool is much preferred to re-
naming it outside Cubase Essential (for example on 
the computer desktop). This way, Cubase Essential 
already “knows” about the change, and won’t lose 
track of the clip the next time you open the project. 
See “About missing files” on page 177 for details 
about lost files.
!Copying a clip does not create a new file on disk, but 
just a new edit version of the clip (referring to the 
same original file). 
						

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The Pool
3.The clip is inserted on the selected track or on a new 
audio track.
If several tracks are selected, the clip will be inserted on the first selected 
track.
By using drag and drop
You can use drag and drop to insert clips into the Project 
window. You can also use drag and drop from the Sample 
Editor for a clip by making a selection range and pressing 
[Ctrl]/[Command] while dragging. Note:
Snap is taken into account if activated.
While you drag the clip in the Project window, its posi-
tion will be indicated by a marker line and a numerical po-
sition box.
Note that these indicate the position of the snap point in the clip. For ex-
ample, if you drop the clip at the position 10.00, this will be where the snap 
point ends up. See “Adjusting the snap point” on page 155 for information 
on how to set the snap point.
If you position the clip in an empty area in the event dis-
play (i.e. below existing tracks), a new track is created for 
the inserted event.
Deleting clips
Removing clips from the Pool
To remove a clip from the Pool without deleting it from the 
hard disk, proceed as follows:
1.Select the clip(s) and select “Delete” from the Edit 
menu (or press [Backspace] or [Delete]).
A prompt asks whether you want to move the clip to the Trash or remove 
it from the Pool.
ÖIf you try to delete a clip that is used by one or more 
events, the program will ask you if you want to remove 
these events from the project.
If you cancel, neither the clip nor the associated events are deleted.
2.Select “Remove from Pool”.
The clip is no longer associated with the project, but still exists on the hard 
disk and can be used in other projects etc. This operation can be undone.
Deleting from the hard disk
To delete a file permanently from the hard disk, it must first 
be moved to the Trash folder:
1.Follow the instructions for deleting clips above and 
click the Trash button in the dialog.
Alternatively, you can drag and drop clips into the Trash folder.
2.Select “Empty Trash” on the Media menu.
A warning message is displayed.
3.Click “Erase” to delete the file on the hard disk perma-
nently.
This operation cannot be undone!
ÖTo retrieve a clip from the Trash Folder, drag it back 
into an Audio or Video folder.
Removing unused clips from the Pool
This function finds all clips in the Pool that are not used in 
the project. You can then decide whether to move them to 
the Pool Trash folder (where they can be permanently de-
leted) or to remove them from the Pool:
1.Select “Remove Unused Media” on the Media or con-
text menu.
A message appears asking you whether you want to move the file to the 
trash or to remove it from the Pool.
2.Make your selection.
Snap point
!Before you permanently delete audio files from the 
hard disk, make sure that they are not used by an-
other project! 
						

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The Pool
Locating events and clips
Locating events via clips in the Pool
If you want to find out which events in the project refer to a 
particular clip in the Pool, proceed as follows:
1.Select one or more clips in the Pool.
2.Select “Select in Project” on the Media menu.
All events that refer to the selected clip are now selected in the Project 
window.
Locating clips via events in the Project window
If you want to find the clip for an event in the Project win-
dow, proceed as follows:
1.Select one or more events in the Project window.
2.Pull down the Audio menu and select “Find Selected 
in Pool”.
The corresponding clip(s) will be located and highlighted in the Pool. If 
the Pool window isn’t already open, it will be opened.
Searching for audio files
The Pool can help you locate audio files in your Pool, on 
your hard disk or other media. This works much like the 
regular file search, but with a couple of extra features:
1.Click the Search button in the toolbar.
A search pane appears at the bottom of the window, displaying the 
search functions.
The search pane in the Pool.
By default, the search parameters available in the search 
pane are “Name” and “Location”. For using other filter cri-
teria, see “Extended search functionality” on page 176.
2.Specify the name of the file(s) to search for in the 
Name field.
You can use partial names or wildcards (*). Note that only audio files of 
the supported formats will be found.
3.Use the Location pop-up menu to specify where to 
search.
The pop-up menu will list all your local drives and removable media. 
If you want to limit the search to certain folders, choose 
“Select Search Path” and select the desired folder in the 
dialog that appears.
The search will include the selected folder and all subfolders. Note also 
that folders you have recently selected using the “Select Search Path” 
function will appear on the pop-up menu, allowing you to quickly select 
any of them.
4.Click the Search button.
The search is started and the Search button is labeled Stop – click this 
to cancel the search if needed.
When the search is finished, the found files are listed to 
the right.
To audition a file, select it in the list and use the play-
back controls to the left (Play, Stop, Pause and Loop).
If Auto Play is activated, selected files will automatically be played back.
To import a file into the Pool, double-click on it in the list 
or select it and click the Import button.
5.To close the search pane, click the Search button in 
the toolbar again.
The Find Media window
Alternatively to the search pane in the Pool, you can open a 
stand-alone Find Media window by selecting the “Search 
Media…” option from the Media or context menu (also 
available from the Project window). This offers the same 
functionality as the search pane. 
To insert a found clip directly into the project from the 
Find Media window, select it in the list in the dialog and 
select one of the “Insert into Project” options from the Me-
dia menu.
The options are described in the section “Inserting clips into a project” 
on page 174.
Extended search functionality
Apart from the search criterion Name, additional search fil-
ters are available. To use them, proceed as follows:
1.Click the Search button on the toolbar.
The Search pane is displayed in the lower part of the Pool window. 
						

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The Pool
2.Move the mouse pointer over the “Name” text to the 
right of the name field, until an arrow is displayed, and 
click it.
3.The Extended Search pop-up menu opens.
This contains six options determining which search criteria will be dis-
played above the Location field (Name, Size, Bitsize, Channels, Sample 
Rate or Date) and the Add Filter and Presets submenus.
The search criteria have the following parameters:
 Name: partial names or wildcards (*)
 Size: Less than, more than, equal, between (two values), in 
seconds, minutes, hours and bytes
 Bitsize (resolution): 8, 16, 32, 64
 Channels: mono, stereo and from 3 to 16
 Sample Rate: various values, choose “Other” for free setting
 Date: various search ranges
4.Select one of the topmost 6 options in the pop-up 
menu to change the search option above the Location 
pop-up menu.
This way, you can choose e. g. to display the Size or Sample Rate para-
meter instead of the Name field.
5.If you want to display more search options, select the 
desired element from the Add filter submenu.
This allows you e. g. to add the Size or the Sample Rate parameters to 
the already displayed Name and Location parameters.
This allows for a very detailed search, helping you to mas-
ter even the largest sound database.
You can store presets of your search filter settings. For 
this, click Store Presets in the Presets submenu and enter 
a name for the preset.
Existing presets will be found at the bottom of the list. To remove a pre-
set, click on the preset to activate it, then select Remove Preset.
About missing files
When you open a project, the Resolve Missing Files dialog 
(see below) may open, warning you that one or more files 
are “missing”. If you click Close, the project will open any-
way, without the missing files. In the Pool, you can check 
which files are considered missing. This is indicated by a 
question mark in the Status column.
A file is considered missing under one of the following 
conditions:
The file has been moved or renamed outside the pro-
gram since the last time you worked with the project, and 
you ignored the Resolve Missing Files dialog when you 
opened the project for the current session.
You have moved or renamed the file outside the pro-
gram during the current session.
You have moved or renamed the folder in which the 
missing files are located.
Move the mouse pointer over the “Name” text to the right of the name 
field and click…
… to show the Extended Search pop-up menu. 
						

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The Pool
Locate missing files
1.Select “Find Missing Files” from the Media or context 
menu.
The Resolve Missing Files dialog opens. 
2.Decide if you want the program to try to find the file for 
you (Search), if you want to do it yourself (Locate) or if you 
want to specify in which directory the program should 
search for the file (Folder).
If you select Locate, a file dialog opens, allowing you to 
locate the file manually.
Select the file and click “Open”.
If you select Folder, a dialog opens to let you specify the 
directory in which the missing file can be found.
This might be the preferred method if you have renamed or moved the 
folder containing the missing file, but the file still has the same name. 
Once you select the correct folder, the program finds the file and you can 
close the dialog.
If you select Search, a dialog opens to let you specify 
which folder or disk should be scanned by the program. 
Click the Search Folder button, select a directory or a disk and click the 
Start button. If found, select the file from the list and click “Accept”. 
Afterwards Cubase Essential tries to map all other missing files automat-
ically.
Reconstructing missing edit files
If a missing file cannot be found (e. g. if you have acciden-
tally deleted it from the hard disk), it will normally be indi-
cated with a question mark in the Status column in the 
Pool. However, if the missing file is an edit file (a file cre-ated when you process audio, stored in the Edits folder 
within the project folder), it may be possible for the pro-
gram to reconstruct it by recreating the editing to the orig-
inal audio file:
1.Open the Pool and locate the clip(s) for which files are 
missing.
2.Check the Status column – if it says “Reconstruct-
ible”, the file can be reconstructed by Cubase Essential.
3.Select the reconstructible clips and select “Recon-
struct” from the Media menu.
The editing is performed and the edit files are recreated.
Removing missing files from the Pool
If the Pool contains audio files that cannot be found or re-
constructed, you may want to remove these. For this, select 
“Remove Missing Files” from the Media or context menu. 
This will remove all missing files from the Pool as well as 
their corresponding events from the Project window.
Auditioning clips in the Pool
There are three methods you can use to audition clips in 
the Pool:
By using key commands.
If you activate the “Playback Toggle triggers Local Preview” option in the 
Preferences (Transport page), you can use the [Space] bar to audition. 
This is the same as clicking the Audition icon on the toolbar.
By selecting a clip and activating the Play button.
The whole clip will play back, unless you stop playback by clicking the 
Play button again.
The Play button
By clicking somewhere in the waveform image for a clip.
The clip will play from the position in the waveform you click until the end 
of the clip, unless you stop playback by clicking the Play button, or by 
clicking anywhere else in the pool window.
Click in the waveform image to audition a clip. 
						

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The Pool
The audio will be routed directly to the Main Mix (the de-
fault output) bus, bypassing the audio channel’s settings, 
effects and EQs. 
You can adjust the auditioning level with the miniature level fader on the 
toolbar. This does not affect the regular playback level.
If you have activated the Loop button before you audition, 
the following will happen:
The Loop button
If you click the Play button to audition a clip, it will repeat 
indefinitely until you stop playback by clicking the Play or 
Loop button again.
If you click in the waveform image to audition, the sec-
tion from the point you clicked to the end of the clip will re-
peat indefinitely until you stop playback.
Opening clips in the Sample Editor
The Sample Editor allows you to perform detailed editing 
on the clip (see “The Sample Editor” on page 149). You 
can open clips in the Sample Editor directly from the Pool 
in the following way:
If you double-click on a clip waveform icon or a clip 
name in the Media column, the clip will open in the Sam-
ple Editor.
One practical use for this is to set a snap point for a clip 
(see “Adjusting the snap point” on page 155). When you 
later insert the clip from the Pool into the project, you can 
have it properly aligned according to the set snap point.
Import Medium…
The Import Medium dialog lets you import files directly into 
the Pool. It is opened from the Media or context menu or 
with the Import button in the Pool window.
This is a standard file dialog, where you can navigate to 
other folders, audition files etc. The following audio file for-
mats can be imported:
 Wave (Normal or Broadcast, see “Broadcast Wave files” on 
page 275)
 AIFF and AIFC (Compressed AIFF)
“Importing ReCycle files” on page 309)
 SD2 (Sound Designer II) 
 MPEG Layer 2 and Layer 3 (mp2 and mp3 files – see “Impor-
ting compressed audio files” on page 310)
 Ogg Vorbis (ogg files – see “Importing compressed audio 
files” on page 310)
 Windows Media Audio (Windows – see “Importing com-
pressed audio files” on page 310)
They may have the following characteristics:

 Any sample rate (although files with another sample rate than 
the one used in the project will play back at the wrong speed 
and pitch – see below).
 8, 16, 24 bit or 32 bit float resolution
Clicking the Import button opens the Import dialog: 
						

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The Pool
The following videos formats can also be imported:
 AVI (Audio Video Interleaved)
 MOV and QT (QuickTime)

 MPEG 1 and 2 video files.
ÖIt is also possible to use the commands on the Import 
submenu on the File menu to import audio or video files 
into the Pool.
When you select a file in the Import Medium dialog and 
click Open, the Import Options dialog opens:
It contains the following options:
Copy File to Working Directory.
Activate this if you want a copy of the file to be made in the Audio folder 
of the project, and have the clip refer to this copy. If the option is off, the 
clip will refer to the original file in the original location (and will thus be 
marked as “external” in the Pool – see “About the Status column sym-
bols” on page 173).
Convert to Project section:
Here you can choose to convert the sample rate (if the sample rate is dif-
ferent than the one set for the project) or the sample size, i. e. resolution 
(if the sample size is lower than the record format used in the project).
The options are only available if necessary. Note that if you are importing 
several audio files at once, the Import Options dialog will instead contain 
a “Convert and Copy to Project if needed” checkbox. When this is acti-
vated, the imported files will be converted only if the sample rate is differ-
ent or the sample size is lower than the project’s.
Do not Ask again
If this is activated, files will always be imported according to the settings 
you have made, without this dialog appearing. This can be reset in the 
Preferences (Editing–Audio page). 
ÖYou can always convert files later by using the Convert 
Files (see “Convert Files” on page 182) or Conform Files 
(see “Conform Files” on page 182) options.
Importing audio CD tracks
You can import tracks (or sections of tracks) from an au-
dio CD directly into the Pool by using the “Import Audio 
CD” function on the Media menu. This opens a dialog in 
which you can specify which tracks should be copied from 
the CD, converted to audio files and added to the Pool.
For details about the Import Audio CD dialog, see “Im-
porting audio CD tracks” on page 307.
Changing the Pool Record folder
The Pool Record folder
All audio clips that you record in the project will end up in 
the Pool Record folder. The Pool Record folder is indi-
cated by the text “Record” in the Status column and by a 
red dot on the folder itself, as shown in the picture above. 
By default, this is the main Audio folder. You can, how-
ever, at any time create a new Audio subfolder and desig-
nate this as your Pool Record folder. Proceed as follows:
1.Select the Audio folder or any audio clip.
You cannot designate the Video folder (or a subfolder in it) as the Pool 
Record folder.
2.Select “Create Folder” on the Media or context menu.
A new empty audio subfolder appears in the Pool.
3.Select the new folder.
4.Select “Set Pool Record Folder” on the Media or con-
text menu, or click in the Status column of the new folder.
The new folder now becomes the Pool Record folder, and any audio re-
corded in the project will be saved in this folder.
!For video files to be played back correctly, the right 
codecs have to be installed.