Steinberg Cubase Le 8 Manual

							Sample Editor
Working with hitpoints and slices
301
An enabled, a disabled, and a locked hitpoint
Disabling and locking hitpoints
After applying the different hitpoint filters, you may find that you want to keep 
individual hitpoints that were filtered out or disable hitpoints that you do not need. 
Furthermore, you may want to lock certain hitpoints.
• To lock a hitpoint, move the mouse pointer over the gray triangle on the 
timeline so that the tooltip “Lock Hitpoint” is shown. Click on the triangle.
This way, enabled and disabled hitpoints can be locked.
• To lock a disabled hitpoint, you can also press [Alt]/[Option] and move the 
mouse over the waveform. At positions where a disabled hitpoint can be 
locked, a gray hitpoint line and the tooltip “Lock Hitpoint” are shown. Click to 
lock the hitpoint.
• To lock multiple hitpoints, press [Shift]-[Alt]/[Option] so that the tooltip “Lock 
multiple hitpoints” is shown and drag a rectangle over the hitpoints.
All enabled and disabled hitpoints within the area defined by the rectangle 
become locked.
• To disable hitpoints, press [Shift] so that the tooltip “Disable Hitpoints” is 
shown and click on the line of a single hitpoint or drag a rectangle over all the 
hitpoints that you want to disable.
This way, enabled and locked hitpoints can be disabled.
• To disable a locked hitpoint, you can also point the mouse at the blue hitpoint 
triangle on the timeline so that the tooltip “Disable Hitpoint” is shown. Click 
on the triangle. 
						

							Sample Editor
Working with hitpoints and slices
302
Resetting hitpoints
Sometimes it can be useful to reset hitpoints to their original state, e. g. because you 
still want them to be affected by the Threshold slider.
PROCEDURE
• To reset hitpoints to their original state, press [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Alt]/[Option] 
so that the tooltip “Enable/Unlock Hitpoints” is shown and drag a rectangle 
over the hitpoints.
RESULT 
All disabled and locked hitpoints within the area defined by the rectangle are reset. 
Note that some of the hitpoints may still appear as disabled due to the Threshold 
slider and Beats pop-up menu settings.
Inserting hitpoints
If you get too few hitpoints using the filter options, you can insert hitpoints manually.
PROCEDURE
• To insert a new hitpoint, press [Alt]/[Option] and click at the position where 
you want to enter the new hitpoint (i. e. at the start of the sound).
Manually added hitpoints are locked by default.
Moving hitpoints
If a hitpoint was either placed too far away from the start of the sound or too far into 
the sound, you can move it.
PROCEDURE
• To move a hitpoint, press [Alt]/[Option] and point the mouse at the vertical line 
of the hitpoint.
RESULT 
The mouse pointer changes to a double arrow and the tooltip “Move Hitpoint” is 
shown. You can now drag the hitpoint to its new position.
NOTE
Moved hitpoints are locked by default. 
						

							Sample Editor
Working with hitpoints and slices
303
Slicing audio
Once you have set up the hitpoints as needed, you can slice the audio by clicking 
the Create Slices button on the Hitpoints tab. Alternatively, you can select the 
“Create Audio Slices from Hitpoints” command from the Hitpoints submenu of the 
Audio menu.
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 Audio Part Editor).
IMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANT
When you create slices, all events referring to the edited clip are also replaced.

						

							Sample Editor
Working with hitpoints and slices
304
If the project tempo is higher than the tempo of the original audio event, the slice 
events are overlapping. Activate auto crossfades for the track to smooth out the 
sound. Furthermore, you can select the overlapping events inside the part and apply 
the “Delete Overlaps” function from the Advanced submenu of the Audio menu.
The slices in the Audio Part Editor. Here, the project tempo was higher than the clip’s 
original tempo – the slice events overlap.
RELATED LINKS
Making global Auto Fade settings on page 182
Making Auto Fade settings for individual tracks on page 183
Other hitpoint functions
On the Hitpoints tab of the Sample Editor Inspector, you will also find the following 
functions. Many of these functions are also available on the Hitpoints submenu of 
the Audio menu. If selected on the Audio menu, they can be applied on several 
events and even range selections at the same time.
Create Groove
You can generate a groove quantize map based on hitpoints that you have created.
RELATED LINKS
Creating Groove Quantize Presets on page 172
Create Markers
If an audio event contains calculated hitpoints, you can click the Create Markers 
button on the Hitpoints tab to add a marker for each hitpoint. If your project has no 
marker track, it will be added and activated automatically. Markers can be useful to 
snap to hitpoints, e.
 g. for locating hitpoints.
RELATED LINKS
Markers on page 196 
						

							Sample Editor
Working with hitpoints and slices
305
Create Regions
If your audio event contains calculated hitpoints, you can click the Create Regions 
button on the Hitpoints tab to automatically create regions from hitpoints. This can 
be useful to isolate recorded sounds.
Create Events
If your audio event contains calculated hitpoints, you can click the Create Events button 
on the Hitpoints tab to automatically create separate events based on the hitpoints.
Create MIDI Notes
You can export your hitpoints to a MIDI part containing a MIDI note for each hitpoint. 
For example, you can use this function to double, replace, or enrich drum hits by 
triggering sounds of a VST instrument at the positions of the hitpoints.
To convert the hitpoints into MIDI notes, click the “Create MIDI Notes” button. Make 
the desired settings in the Convert Hitpoints to MIDI Notes dialog and click OK.
The following options are available:
Velocity Mode/Velocity
• Dynamic Velocity Value – The velocity values of the created MIDI notes 
vary, according to the peak levels of the corresponding hitpoints.
• Fixed Velocity Value – The created MIDI notes get the same velocity 
value. You can set this value using the Velocity field.
Pitch/Length
• Hitpoints do not contain any information about pitch or duration. 
Therefore, all created MIDI notes get the same pitch and note length. 
Use these fields to specify the desired values.
Destination
• First Selected Track – The MIDI part is placed on the first selected MIDI 
or instrument track. Note that any MIDI parts from previous conversions 
that are on this track will be deleted.
• New MIDI Track – A new MIDI track is created for the MIDI part.
• Project Clipboard – The MIDI part is copied into the clipboard so that 
you can insert it at the desired position on a MIDI or instrument track. 
						

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Audio Part Editor
The Audio Part Editor allows you to view and edit the events inside audio parts. 
Essentially, this is the same type of editing that you do in the Project window.
Audio parts are created in the Project window in one of the following ways:
• Select one or several audio events on the same track, and select Audio > 
Events to Part.
• Glue together two or more audio events on the same track with the Glue tool.
• Draw an empty part with the Draw tool.
• Double-click between the left and right locators 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.
RELATED LINKS
Project Window on page 24
Window Overview 
						

							Audio Part Editor
Window Overview
307
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.
• Separate tools for auditioning (Speaker) and scrubbing.
• No Line or Glue Tube tools.
• Play and Loop icons and an Audition Volume control.
• Independent Track Loop settings.
• Part List controls for handling several parts: activating parts for editing, 
restricting editing to active parts only and showing part borders.
NOTE
You can customize the toolbar by hiding or reordering its items.
RELATED LINKS
Auditioning on page 309
Scrubbing on page 311
Setting Up the Independent Track Loop on page 310
Handling Several Parts on page 311
Using the Setup options on page 627
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.
RELATED LINKS
Ruler Display Formats on page 29 
						

							Audio Part Editor
Opening the Audio Part Editor
308
Opening the Audio Part Editor
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.
PROCEDURE
1. Select one or more audio parts in the Project window.
2. Double-click on any one of them or use the Edit-Open key command, by 
default [Ctrl]/[Command]-[E].
Double-clicking on an audio event in the Project window will open the Sample Editor.
RELATED LINKS
Opening the Sample Editor on page 282
About Lanes
Lanes can make it easier to work with several audio events in a part. Moving some 
of the events to another lane can make selection and editing much easier.
If the Snap function is deactivated and you want to move an event to another lane 
without accidentally moving it horizontally, press [Ctrl]/[Command] while dragging 
it up or down.
RELATED LINKS
Track Handling on page 91 
						

							Audio Part Editor
Operations
309
Operations
Zooming, selecting and editing in the Audio Part Editor are done just as in the 
Project window.
NOTE
If a part is a shared copy (i. e. you have previously copied the part by 
[Alt]/[Option]-[Shift] and dragging), any editing you perform will affect all shared 
copies of this part.
RELATED LINKS
Project Window on page 24
Auditioning
There are several ways to listen to the events in the Audio Part Editor.
By Using the Speaker Tool
If you click somewhere in the editor’s event display with the Speaker tool and keep 
the mouse button pressed, the part will be played back from the position where you 
clicked. Playback will continue until you release the mouse button.
By Using the Audition Icon
Audition and Audition Loop icons
Clicking the Audition icon on the toolbar plays back the edited audio, according to 
the following rules:
• If you have selected events in the part, only the section between the first and 
last selected event will be played back.
• If you have made a range selection, only this section will be played back.
• If there is no selection, the whole part will be played back. If the project cursor 
is within the part, playback starts from the current cursor position. If the cursor 
is outside the part, playback starts from the beginning of the part.
• If the Audition Loop icon is activated, playback will continue until you 
deactivate the Audition icon. Otherwise, the section will be played back once.
When auditioning with the Speaker tool or Audition icon, audio will be routed 
directly to the Main Mix (the default output bus). 
						

							Audio Part Editor
Operations
310
By Using Regular Playback
You can of course use the regular playback controls while in the Audio Part Editor. 
Furthermore, if you activate the Solo Editor button on the toolbar, only the events in 
the edited part will be played back.
Using Key Commands
If you activate the “Playback Toggle triggers Local Preview” option in the 
Preferences dialog (Transport page), you can start/stop auditioning by pressing 
[Space]. This is the same as clicking the Audition icon on the toolbar.
NOTE
The Audio Part Editor also supports the key commands “Preview start” and 
“Preview stop” in the Media category of the Key Commands dialog. These key 
commands stop the current playback, no matter if you are in normal playback or in 
audition mode.
Setting Up the Independent Track Loop
The independent track loop is a sort of mini-cycle, affecting only the edited part. 
When the loop is activated, the events in the parts that are within the loop will be 
repeated continuously and completely independent – other events (on other tracks) 
are played back as usual. The only interaction between the loop and the regular 
playback is that the loop starts every time the cycle starts over again.
PROCEDURE
1. Turn on the loop by clicking the Independent Track Loop button on the toolbar.
If it is not visible, right-click the toolbar and add the Independent Track Loop Settings 
section.
When the loop is activated, the cycle is not shown in the editor’s ruler. Now you need 
to specify the length of the loop.
2. [Ctrl]/[Command]-click in the ruler to set the start and [Alt]/[Option]-click to 
set the end of the loop.
NOTE
You can also edit the loop start and end positions numerically in the fields next to the 
Loop button.
RESULT 
The loop is indicated in purple in the ruler.
NOTE
T h e  e v e n t s  w i l l  b e  l o o p e d  a s  l o n g  a s  t h e  L o o p  b u t t o n  i s  a c t i v a t e d  a n d  t h e  A u d i o  P a r t  
Editor window is open.