Steinberg Cubase Le 4 Manual

							61
Fades and crossfades
Curve Kind
These determine whether the fade curve should consist of 
spline curve segments (left button), damped spline seg-
ments (middle button) or linear segments (right button).
Fade display
Shows the shape of the fade curve. The resulting wave-
form shape is shown in dark grey, with the current wave-
form shape in light grey.
You can click on the curve to add points, and click and 
drag existing points to change the shape. To remove a 
point from the curve, drag it outside the display.
Curve shape buttons
These buttons give you quick access to some common 
curve shapes.
Restore button
The Restore button (to the right above the fade display) is 
only available when editing fades made by dragging the 
fade handles. Click this to cancel any changes you have 
made since opening the dialog.
As Default button
The “As Default” button is only available when editing 
fades made by dragging the fade handles. Click this to 
store the current settings as the default fade. This shape 
will be used whenever you create new fades.
Fade Length Value
The Fade Length Value can be used to enter fade lengths 
numerically. The format of values displayed here are deter-
mined by the Time Display in the Transport Panel.
When you activate the “Apply Length” option, the value en-
tered in the Fade Length value field will be used when click-
ing “Apply” or “OK”. This setting is deactivated by default.
When you set the current Fade as the Default fade, the 
length value is included as part of the default settings.
Presets
If you have set up a fade-in or fade-out curve that you may 
want to apply to other events or clips, you can store it as a 
preset by clicking the Store button.
To apply a stored preset, select it from the pop-up 
menu. 
To rename the selected preset, double-click on the 
name and type a new one. 
To remove a stored preset, select it from the pop-up 
menu and click Remove.
Preview, Apply and Process
The buttons in the bottom row are different depending on 
whether you are editing a fade made with the fade handles 
or applying a fade using processing:
The Edit Fade dialogs have the following buttons:
The Process Fade dialogs have the following buttons:
!Stored fade-in presets will only appear in the Fade In 
dialog, and fade-out presets will only appear in the 
Fade Out dialog.
Button Function
OK Applies the set fade curve to the event, and closes the di-
alog.
Cancel Closes the dialog.
Apply Applies the set fade curve to the event, without closing 
the dialog.
Button Function
Preview Plays back the fade area. Playback will repeat until you 
click the button again (the button is labeled “Stop” during 
playback).
Process Applies the set fade curve to the clip, and closes the dia-
log.
Cancel Closes the dialog without applying any fade.
The Edit Fade dialog.
The Process Fade dialog. 
						

							62
Fades and crossfades
Creating crossfades
Overlapping audio material on the same track can be 
crossfaded, for smooth transitions or special effects. You 
create a crossfade by selecting two consecutive audio 
events and selecting the Crossfade command on the Au-
dio menu (or by using the corresponding key command, 
by default [X]). The result depends on whether the two 
events overlap or not:
If the events overlap, a crossfade is created in the over-
lapping area.
The crossfade will be of the default shape – initially a linear, symmetric 
crossfade, but you can change this as described below.
If the events don’t overlap but are directly consecutive 
(lined up end-to-start, with no gap), it’s still possible to 
crossfade them – provided that their respective audio 
clips overlap! In this case, the two events are resized so 
that they overlap, and a crossfade of the default length 
and shape is applied.
The default crossfade length and shape are set in the Crossfade dialog 
(see “Default buttons” on page 64).
An example:
The events in themselves do not overlap, but their clips do. Therefore, 
the events can be resized so that they overlap, which is required for a 
crossfade to be created.
When you select the Crossfade function, the two events are resized so that 
they overlap, and a default crossfade is created in the overlapping section.
If the events don’t overlap, and cannot be resized 
enough to overlap, a crossfade cannot be created.
Once you have created a crossfade, you can edit it by 
selecting one or both crossfaded events, and selecting 
“Crossfade” from the Audio menu again (or by double-
clicking in the crossfade zone). 
This opens the Crossfade dialog, see below.
Removing crossfades
To remove a crossfade, select the events and select “Re-
move Fades” from the Audio menu, or use the Range Se-
lection tool:
1.Drag the Range Selection tool in the Project window, 
so that the selection encloses all of the fades and cross-
fades you wish to remove.
2.Select “Remove Fades” from the Audio menu.
You can also remove a crossfade by clicking and drag-
ging it outside the track.
Overlapping section
Audio clips Audio events 
						

							63
Fades and crossfades
The Crossfade dialog
The Crossfade dialog contains separate, but identical, 
sections for the fade-in and fade-out curve settings in the 
crossfade on the left, and common settings on the right.
Fade Displays
Shows the shape of the fade-out and fade-in curve, re-
spectively. You can click on the curve to add points, and 
click and drag existing points to change the shape. To re-
move a point from the curve, drag it outside the display.
Curve kind buttons
These buttons determine whether the corresponding fade 
curve should consist of spline curve segments (left but-
ton), damped spline segments (middle button) or linear 
segments (right button).
Curve shape buttons
These buttons give you quick access to some common 
curve shapes.
Equal Power and Gain
If you activate the “Equal Gain” checkbox, the fade 
curves are adjusted so that the summed fade-in and fade-
out amplitudes will be the same all along the crossfade 
region. This is often suitable for short crossfades.If you activate the “Equal Power” checkbox, the fade 
curves are adjusted, so that the energy (power) of the 
crossfade will be constant all along the crossfade region.
Play buttons
The “Play Fade Out” and “Play Fade In” buttons allow 
you to audition the fade-out or fade-in part only, without 
the crossfade.
The “Play Crossfade” button plays back the whole 
crossfade.
You can also use the Transport play controls to play back 
the crossfaded audio events. However, that method will 
play back all unmuted audio events on other tracks as well.
Pre-roll and Post-roll
When auditioning with the Play buttons, you can choose 
to activate pre-roll and/or post-roll. Pre-roll lets you start 
playback before the fade area, and post-roll lets you stop 
playback after the fade area. This can be useful for audi-
tioning the fade in a context.
To specify how long the pre- and post-rolls should be, 
click in the time fields and enter the desired time (in sec-
onds and milliseconds).
To activate pre- and post-roll, click the respective but-
ton. To deactivate, click the button again.
!Equal Power curves have only one editable curve 
point. You cannot use the Curve kind buttons or the 
presets when this mode is selected. 
						

							64
Fades and crossfades
Length settings
You can adjust the length of the crossfade area numeri-
cally in the “Length” field. If possible, the length change 
will be applied equally to “both sides” of the crossfade 
(i.e. Cubase LE tries to “center” the crossfade).
Presets
If you have set up a crossfade shape that you may want to 
apply to other events, you can store it as a preset by click-
ing the Store button.
To apply a stored preset, select it from the pop-up 
menu. 
To rename the selected preset, double-click on the 
name and type in a new one. 
To remove a stored preset, select it from the pop-up 
menu and click Remove.
Default buttons
Clicking the “As Default” button stores all of the current 
settings as the default crossfade. These settings will then 
be used whenever you create new crossfades.
The Crossfade Length setting is included in the Default 
settings. However, it is only applied if the events to be 
crossfaded don’t overlap – otherwise the crossfade will be 
in the overlap area (see “Creating crossfades” on page 62).
Clicking the “Recall Default” button copies the curves 
and settings of the Default crossfade to the Crossfade 
dialog.
Auto Fades and Crossfades
Cubase LE features an Auto Fade function that can be set 
both globally, i.e. for the entire project, and separately for 
each audio track. The idea behind the Auto Fade function 
is to create smoother transitions between events by ap-
plying short (1–500 ms) fade-ins and fade-outs.
Making global Auto Fade settings
1.To make Auto Fades settings globally for the project, 
select “Auto Fades Settings...” from the Project menu.
This opens the Auto Fades dialog for the project.
2.Use the checkboxes in the upper right corner to acti-
vate or deactivate Auto Fade In, Auto Fade Out and Auto 
Crossfades, respectively.
3.Use the Length value field to specify the length of the 
Auto Fade or Crossfade (1-500 ms).
4.To adjust the shapes of Auto Fade In and Auto Fade 
Out, select the “Fades” tab and make settings as in the 
regular Fade dialogs.
5.To adjust the shape of the Auto Crossfade, select the 
“Crossfades” tab and make settings as in the regular 
Crossfade dialog.
!To be able to resize a crossfade this way, it must be 
possible to resize the corresponding event. For ex-
ample, if the left crossfaded event already plays its 
audio clip to the end, its endpoint cannot be moved 
any further to the right.
!As mentioned earlier, fades are calculated in real 
time during playback. This means that the larger the 
number of audio tracks with Auto Fades activated in 
a project, the higher the demands on the processor. 
						

							65
Fades and crossfades
6.If you want to use the settings you have made in future 
projects, click the “As Default” button.
The next time you create a new project, it will use these settings by default.
7.Click OK to close the dialog.
Making Auto Fade settings for a separate 
track
By default, all audio tracks will use the settings you have 
made in the project’s Auto Fades dialog. However, since 
Auto Fades use computing power, a better approach may 
be to turn Auto Fades off globally and activate them for in-
dividual tracks, as needed:
1.Right-click the track in the Track list and select “Auto 
Fades Settings...” from the context menu (or select the 
track and click the “Auto Fades Settings” button in the In-
spector).
The Auto Fades dialog for the track opens. This is identical to the project’s 
Auto Fades dialog, with the addition of a “Use Project Settings” option.
2.Deactivate the “Use Project Settings” option.
Now, any settings you make will be applied to the track only.
3.Set up the Auto Fades as desired and close the dialog.
Reverting to project settings
If you want a track to use the global Auto Fade settings, 
open the Auto Fades dialog for the track and activate the 
“Use Project Settings” checkbox. 
						

							7
Folder tracks 
						

							67
Folder tracks
About folder tracks
Just as the name implies, a folder track is a folder that con-
tains other tracks. Moving tracks into a folder is a way to 
structure and organize tracks in the Project window. For 
example, grouping several tracks in a folder track makes it 
possible for you to “hide” tracks (thus giving you more 
working space on the screen). You can solo and mute 
several tracks in a quicker and easier way and perform 
editing on several tracks as one entity. Folder tracks can 
contain any type of track including other folder tracks. 
Handling folder tracks
Creating a folder track
Folder tracks are created just like any other track: Select 
“Add Track” from the Project menu and select “Folder” 
from the submenu that appears, or right-click in the Track 
list and select “Add Folder Track” from the context menu.
Moving tracks into a folder
You can move any type of track into a folder by using drag 
and drop:
1.In the Track list, click on a track that you want to move 
into a folder and drag it onto a folder track.
A green arrow pointing to a folder appears when you drag the track onto 
the folder track in the list.
2.Release the mouse button.
The track is now placed in the folder track, and all parts and events on 
the track will be represented by a corresponding folder part (see “Wor-
king with folder parts” on page 68), which is a graphical representation 
of all parts and events in the folder.
Since you can move any type of track into a folder track, it 
is possible to create sub-folders by moving one folder 
track into another. This is called “nesting”. For example, 
you could have a folder containing all the vocals in a 
project, and each vocal part could have a nested folder 
containing all the takes for easier handling etc.
Removing tracks from a folder
To remove a track from a folder, simply drag it out of the 
folder and release it in the Track list.
Hiding/showing tracks in a folder
You can hide or show the tracks located in a folder by 
clicking on the “Expand/Collapse Folder” button (the 
folder icon). Hidden tracks are still played back as usual.
When a folder is “closed” this way, the folder part(s) still 
give you a graphic representation of the parts and events 
within the folder.
Muting and soloing folder tracks
One of the main advantages of using folder tracks is that 
they provide you with a way to mute and solo several tracks 
as one unit. Muting and soloing a folder track affects all 
tracks in the folder. You can also solo or mute individual 
tracks in the folder. 
A folder track
Tracks in the 
folder 
						

							68
Folder tracks
Muting a folder track
You can mute a folder track (and thereby mute all tracks 
within it) the same way you mute other tracks by clicking in 
the Mute (“M”) button in the Track list.
Soloing a folder track
You can solo a folder track (and thereby mute all tracks 
outside the folder, except those already set to Solo) the 
same way you solo other tracks, by selecting it and click-
ing the Solo button.
Soloing or muting tracks within a folder
This can be done by showing the tracks in the folder and 
using the Mute and Solo buttons in the Track list as usual 
for any tracks inside the folder.
Working with folder parts
A folder part is a graphic representation of events and 
parts on the tracks in the folder. Folder parts indicate the 
position and length of the events and parts, as well as on 
which track they are (their vertical position). If part colors 
are used, these are also shown in the folder part.
Folder parts are created automatically when there are 
parts or events on the tracks within the folder. The follow-
ing rules apply:
If there is a gap between parts/events on the tracks, 
there will be two separate folder parts.Parts or events that overlap within the folder may be 
represented by the same folder part or by two different 
folder parts – depending on how much they overlap.
If a part/event overlaps by half its length or less, it will be placed in a new 
folder part.
Handling and editing folder parts
Most of the editing you can do in the Project window ap-
plies to folder parts as well.
Any Project window editing you perform to a folder part 
affects all the events and parts it contains (those elements 
on the track within the folder that are represented by the 
folder part). You can select several folder parts if you like 
– this allows you to handle and edit them together. The 
editing you can perform includes:
 Moving a folder part. This will move its contained events and 
parts (possibly resulting in other folder parts, depending on 
how the parts overlap).
 Using cut, copy and paste.
 Deleting a folder part. This will delete its contained events and 
parts.
 Splitting a folder part with the Scissors tool (see the example 
below).
 Gluing folder parts together with the Glue tube tool. This will 
only work if the adjacent folder parts contain events or parts 
on the same track.
 Resizing a folder part resizes the contained events and parts 
according to the selected resizing method. This is set by click-
ing the Arrow tool icon on the toolbar and selecting “Normal 
Sizing”, “Sizing Moves Contents” or “Sizing Applies Time 
Stretch” from the pop-up menu – see “Resizing events” on 
page 31. Note that if you select “Sizing Applies Time Stretch”, 
any automation data is not taken into account.
 Muting a folder part. This will mute its contained events and 
parts.
The “LeadGuit” event overlaps 
the “Bassline” event by more than 
half its length, which means it is 
included in the same folder part.
The “SoloGuit” event does not 
overlap with any of the other 
events. This means a new folder 
part is created. 
						

							69
Folder tracks
An example
Editing tracks within folder parts
Tracks inside a folder can be edited as one entity by per-
forming the editing directly on the folder part containing 
the tracks as explained above. You can also edit individual 
tracks within the folder by showing the contained tracks, 
selecting parts and opening editors as usual.
Double-clicking a folder part opens the editors for the cor-
responding track classes present in the folder. The follow-
ing applies:
All MIDI parts located on the tracks within the folder are 
displayed as if they were on the same track, just like when 
opening the Key Editor with several MIDI parts selected.
To be able to easily discern the different tracks in the editor, give each 
track a different color in the Project window and use the “Part Colors” 
option in the editor (see “Coloring notes and events” on page 171).
If the folder contains tracks with audio events and/or au-
dio parts, the Sample and/or Audio Part Editors are opened 
with each audio event and audio part in a separate window.
Splitting the folder part 
with the Scissors tool......will split all contained parts or 
events present at that position. 
						

							8
Using markers