Steinberg Cubase LE Operation Manual

							CUBASE LEFile Handling 28 – 511
Importing audio CD tracks
You can import audio from audio CDs, for use in Cubase LE Projects. 
This is done by selecting “Import Audio CD” from the Pool menu (or 
by selecting the “Audio CD…” option from the Import submenu on the 
File menu).
•If the project window is active, the imported audio CD track(s) will be 
inserted on the selected audio track, at the project cursor position.
It is also possible to import audio CD tracks into the Pool, which may be the preferred 
method if you want to import several CD tracks in one go.
Selecting one of the Import Audio CD menu items brings up the fol-
lowing dialog: 
						

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•If you have more than one CD drive, you use the Drives pop-up menu 
to select the one holding the audio CD.
•The Speeds pop-up menu (Windows version only) lists all possible 
data transfer speeds for the selected CD drive.
While you normally want to use the fastest possible speed, you may have to select a 
slower speed for flawless audio extraction.
•The main display in the dialog lists all audio tracks on the CD.
The columns have the following functionality:
•You can audition the selected audio CD track by clicking the Play but-
ton.
The track will be played back from the grab selection start (see below) to the track end 
(or until you click the button again). During playback, the button is labeled “Stop”.
•The arrow buttons next to the Play button allow you to audition the 
start and end of the grab selection only.
The left button will play a short snippet beginning at the start of the grab selection (see 
below), while the right button will play a snippet starting just before the end of the grab 
selection.
Column Description
Grab Activate the checkbox in this column for the track you want to grab (im-
port). To activate more than one checkbox (import more than one track), 
click and drag over the checkboxes (or press [Ctrl]/[Command] or [Shift] 
and click).
Track When you import an audio CD track, the file will be named according to 
the name in this column. You can rename a track by clicking in the Track 
column and typing a new name. You can also apply a name to all audio CD 
tracks (e.g. the name of the album, see below).
Length The length of the whole audio CD track, in minutes and seconds.
Size The file size of the whole audio CD track, in MegaBytes.
Grab Start You can grab a section of a track if you like. This indicates the start of the 
section to be grabbed in the track. By default, this is set to the start of the 
track (0.000) but you can adjust this on the grab selection ruler (see below).
Grab End Indicates the end of the section to be grabbed in the track. By default, this 
is set to the end of the track but you can adjust this on the grab selection 
ruler (see below). 
						

							CUBASE LEFile Handling 28 – 513
•If you want to import a section of an audio CD track only, you select 
the track in the list and specify the start and end of the grab selection 
by dragging the handles in the grab selection ruler.
Use the start and end audition buttons to fine tune the selection boundaries.
Note that you can import sections of several audio CD tracks by selecting them in turn 
and adjusting the grab selection. The grab start and end settings for each track will ap-
pear in the list.
•If you wish, you can change the generic audio file name in the File 
Name field.
By default, the imported audio files will get this name with a track number added (typi-
cally Track 01, Track 02, and so on). However, if you have adjusted the track name for 
a specific audio CD track in the list, the corresponding audio file will use that name in-
stead.
•By default, imported audio CD tracks will be stored as Wave files 
(Windows) or AIFF files (Mac) in the Audio folder of the current 
project.
You can select another folder by clicking the Change Folder button.
•Clicking the Grab button will convert the selected audio CD tracks 
(the tracks for which the Grab checkbox is ticked) to audio files.
The grabbed files will be listed at the bottom of the dialog – click OK to actually import 
the files into the project and close the dialog, or click Cancel to discard the grabbed files. 
						

							CUBASE LE28 – 514 File Handling
Importing ReCycle files
ReCycle, developed by Propellerhead Software, is a program de-
signed especially for working with sampled loops. By “slicing” a loop 
and making separate samples of each beat, ReCycle makes it possible 
to match the tempo of a loop and edit the loop as if it was built up of in-
dividual sounds. Cubase LE can import two file types created by Re-
Cycle: 
• REX files (export file format of the first versions of ReCycle, extension “.rex”).
• REX 2 files (file format of ReCycle 2.0 and later, extension “.rx2”).
Proceed as follows:
1.Select an audio track and move the project cursor to where you want 
the imported file to start.
2.Select “Audio File…” from the Import submenu on the File menu.
3.Select REX files or REX 2 files with the file type pop-up menu in the 
file dialog.
4.Locate and select the file and click Open.
The file is imported, and automatically adjusted to the current Cubase LE tempo. 
Unlike a regular audio file, the imported REX file will consist of several 
events, one for each “slice” in the loop. The events will automatically 
be placed in an audio part on the selected track, and positioned so 
that the original internal timing of the loop is preserved.
5.If you now open the part in the Audio Part Editor, you can edit each 
slice separately by muting, moving and resizing events, adding effects 
and processing, etc.
You can also adjust the tempo and have the REX file automatically follow.
• You can also achieve similar results by using Cubase LE’s own loop slic-
ing features.
See page 266. 
						

							CUBASE LEFile Handling 28 – 515
Importing compressed audio files
During the last years, various audio compression formats have become 
very common. The major advantage of using such file formats is that the 
file size is significantly reduced, with very little degradation of sound 
quality. This allows for quick download, mass storage and easy trans-
portation.
Cubase LE can import (and export, see page 451) several common au-
dio compression formats. The procedure is the same as when importing 
any non-compressed audio file, with one important thing to note:
❐If you import a compressed audio file, Cubase LE will create a copy of the 
file and convert this to Wave format (Windows) or AIFF format (Mac OS X) 
before importing it (the original compressed file will not be used in the 
project). The Wave/AIFF file will be placed in the designated Project Audio 
folder. Please be aware that the converted Wave/AIFF file will be several 
times larger than the original compressed file!
The following file types are supported:
MPEG audio files
MPEG, which stands for Moving Picture Experts Group, is the name 
of family of standards used for coding audio-visual information (e.g. 
movies, video, music) in a digital compressed format. 
Cubase LE can read three types of audio MPEG files: MPEG Layer 1 
(file extension *.mpeg), MPEG Layer 2 (*.mp2) and MPEG Layer 3 
(*.mp3). Currently, mp3 is the most common format of these, while the 
mp2 format is mostly used in broadcast applications.
• Note that the file extension “.mpeg” can also be used by MPEG video files.
If you select an MPEG video file in the Import Audio dialog you will not be able to im-
port it.
Windows Media Audio files (Windows only)
Windows Media Audio is an audio format developed by Microsoft Inc. 
Due to advanced audio compression algorithms, Windows Media Au-
dio files can be made very small, maintaining good audio quality. The 
files have the extension “.wma”.  
						

							CUBASE LE28 – 516 File Handling
Options and Settings
Auto Save
If you activate the Auto Save checkbox in the Preferences dialog (User 
Interface page), Cubase LE will automatically save backup copies of all 
open projects with unsaved changes.
•You specify how often a backup copy should be created with the Auto 
Save Interval setting.
•Backup copies are named “Name.bak”, where “Name” is the name of 
the project. The files are saved in the project folder.
•Unsaved projects are also backed up in the same way.
Backup copies of unsaved projects will be named “#UntitledX.bak” where “X” is an in-
cremental number, to allow multiple backup copies in the same project folder.
Startup Options
The “On Startup” pop-up menu in the Preferences dialog (User Inter-
face page) allows you to specify what should happen each time you 
launch Cubase LE. The following options are available:
Option Description
Do Nothing Cubase LE launches without opening a project.
Open Last Project The last saved project is opened on launch. 
						

							CUBASE LEFile Handling 28 – 517
Cubase LE Open Document Options Dialog
The Cubase LE projects you have used recently are displayed in the list. 
To open one of them, select it and click the “Open Selection” button. To 
open another project not listed there, click the “Open Other...” button. A 
file dialog appears that allows you to look for the desired file on your 
disk. Click the “New Project” button to create a new project using a 
template or not.
If you hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] while launching Cubase LE this di-
alog will always be displayed, regardless of the startup option se-
lected in the Preferences dialog (User Interface page).
Open Default Project The default project is opened (see page 504).
Show  Open  Dialog The Open dialog appears on launch, allowing you to manually 
locate and open the desired project.
Show Template Dialog The Template dialog appears on launch, allowing you to cre-
ate a new project from one of the templates.
Show Open Options 
DialogThe Open Document Options dialog appears on launch, see 
below. It allows you to make a different choice each time you 
launch Cubase LE. Option Description 
						

							CUBASE LE28 – 518 File Handling 
						

							29
Key Commands 
						

							CUBASE LE29 – 520 Key Commands
Background
Introduction
Most of the main menus in Cubase LE have key command shortcuts for 
certain items on the menus. In addition, there are numerous other Cu-
base LE functions that can be performed via key commands. These are 
all factory default settings. If you want, you can customize existing key 
commands to your liking, and also add commands for menu items and 
functions currently not assigned any.
❐You can also assign tool modifier keys, i.e. keys that change the behavior 
of various tools when pressed. This is done in the Preferences dialog – 
see page 526.
How are key command settings saved?
Every time you edit or add any key command assignment, this is stored 
as a global Cubase LE preference – not as part of a project. Hence, if 
you edit or add a key command assignment, any subsequent projects 
that you create or open will use these modified settings. However, the 
factory default settings can at any time be restored by selecting “Reset 
All” in the Key Commands dialog. In addition, you can save (Export) 
complete key command settings as a “key commands file”, which can 
be stored separately and imported into any project. This way you can 
quickly and easily recall customized settings, when moving projects be-
tween different computers, for example. See later in this chapter for de-
tails on how to save complete key command settings.