Steinberg Cubase SE 3 Operation Manual

							CUBASE SE
Fades, crossfades and envelopes 8 – 141
Also note that you can select multiple events and apply the same pro-
cessing to all of them simultaneously.
Fades created this way are applied to the audio clip rather than to the 
event. This has the following consequences:
• If you later create new events that refer to the same clip, these will have the 
same fades.
If other events refer to the same audio clip, you will be asked whether 
you want the processing to be applied to these events or not.
• Continue will apply the processing to all events that refer to the audio clip.
• New Version will create a separate, new version of the audio clip for the se-
lected event.
• You can also choose to put a checkmark in the “Do not ask this message again” 
box. Regardless of whether you then choose “Continue” or “New Version”, any 
and all further processing you do will conform to the option you select.
You can change this setting at any time in the Preferences dialog (Edit-
ing–Audio page), under “On Processing Shared Clips”. 
						

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The Fade dialogs
The Fade dialogs appear when you edit an existing fade or use the 
“Fade In”/”Fade Out” functions on the Audio menu’s Process submenu. 
The picture below shows the Fade In dialog; the Fade Out dialog has 
identical settings and features.
•If you open the Fade dialog(s) with several events selected, you can 
adjust the fade curves for all these events at the same time.
This is useful if you want to apply the same type of fade-in to more than one event, etc.
Curve Kind
These determine whether the fade curve should consist of spline curve 
segments (left button), damped spline segments (middle button) or 
linear segments (right button).
Fade display
Shows the shape of the fade curve. The resulting waveform shape is 
shown in dark grey, with the current waveform 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.  
						

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Restore button
The Restore button (to the right above the fade display) is only avail-
able when editing fades made by dragging the fade handles. Click 
this to cancel any changes you have made since opening the dialog.
Curve shape buttons
These buttons give you quick access to some common curve shapes.
Default button
Clicking the “As Default” button stores the current settings as the de-
fault fade. This shape will be used whenever you create new fades.
Presets
If you have set up a fade-in or fade-out curve that you may want to ap-
ply 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.
Stored fade-in presets will only appear in the Fade In dialog, and fade-
out presets will only appear in the Fade Out dialog. 
						

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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:
Button Function
OK Applies the set fade curve to the event, and closes the dialog.
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 dialog.
Cancel Closes the dialog without applying any fade.
The Edit Fade dialog. The Process Fade dialog. 
						

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Creating crossfades
Overlapping audio material on the same track can be crossfaded, for 
smooth transitions or special effects. You create a crossfade by se-
lecting two consecutive audio events and selecting the Crossfade 
command on the Audio menu (or using the corresponding key com-
mand, by default [X]). The result depends on whether the two events 
overlap or not:
•If the events overlap, a crossfade is created in the overlapping 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 page 149.
Overlapping section. 
						

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8 – 146 Fades, crossfades and envelopes
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, as described below.
Removing crossfades
To remove a crossfade, select the events and select “Remove Fades” 
from the Audio menu, or use the Range Selection tool:
1.Drag the Range Selection tool in the Project window, so that the se-
lection encloses all of the fades and crossfades you wish to remove.
2.Select “Remove Fades” from the Audio menu.
•You can also remove a crossfade by clicking and dragging it outside 
the track.
Audio clips. Audio events. 
						

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The Crossfade dialog
The Crossfade dialog contains separate settings for the fade-in and 
fade-out curve in the crossfade, as well as common settings.
The left part of the Crossfade dialog contains two sections with set-
tings for the fade-in and fade-out curves in the crossfade. These two 
sections have identical settings.
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 cross-
faded audio events. However, that method will play back all unmuted 
audio events on other tracks as well.
Curve kind buttons
These buttons determine whether the corresponding fade curve should 
consist of spline curve segments (left button), damped spline segments 
(middle button) or linear segments (right button).  
						

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Fade Displays
Shows the shape of the fade-out and fade-in curve, respectively. 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.
Equal Power and Gain
If you activate the “Equal Power” checkbox, the fade curves are ad-
justed, so that the energy (power) of the crossfade will be constant all 
along the crossfade region.
Equal Power curves have only one editable curve point. You cannot use 
the Curve kind buttons or the presets when this mode is selected.
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 cross-
fades.
Length settings
You can adjust the length of the crossfade area numerically in the 
“Length” field. If possible, the length change will be applied equally to 
“both sides” of the crossfade (i.e. Cubase SE tries to “center” the 
crossfade).
To be able to resize a crossfade this way, it must be possible to resize 
the corresponding event. For example, if the left crossfaded event already 
plays its audio clip to the end, its endpoint cannot be moved any further 
to the right. 
						

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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 page 145).
Clicking the “Recall Default” button copies the curves and settings in 
the Default crossfade to the Crossfade dialog.
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 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. 
						

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Auto Fades and Crossfades
Cubase SE features an Auto Fade function that can be set both glo-
bally, 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 applying short (1 - 500 ms) fade-ins and fade-outs.
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.
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 activate 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).