Steinberg Cubase Studio 5.5 New Features Manual

							41
The Sample Editor
Creating and removing regions
1.Select the range that you want to convert into a region.
2.Click the “Set up Window Layout” button and activate 
the Regions option.
The regions list is displayed on the right.
3.Click the Add Region button above the regions list (or 
select “Event or Range as Region” from the Advanced 
submenu of the Audio menu).
A region is created, corresponding to the selected range.
4.To name the region, double-click on it in the list and 
enter a new name.
Using this procedure, regions can be renamed at any time.
•When you click on a region in the regions list, it is in-
stantly displayed in the Sample Editor.
•To remove a region from a clip, select it in the list and 
click the Remove Region button above the list.
Creating regions from hitpoints
If your audio event contains calculated hitpoints, you can 
choose to automatically create regions from hitpoints. This 
can be useful to isolate recorded sounds. For further infor-
mation on hitpoints, see “Working with hitpoints and 
slices” on page 48.
Editing regions
The region selected in the list is displayed in gray in the 
waveform display and the overview line.There are two ways to edit the start and end positions of a 
region:
•Click and drag the region start and end handles in the 
waveform display (with any tool).
When you move the pointer over the handles, it automatically changes to 
indicate that you can drag the handles.
•Edit the Start and End positions in the corresponding 
fields in the regions list.
The positions are shown in the display format selected for the ruler and 
info line, but are relative to the start of the audio clip rather than the 
project timeline.
Auditioning regions
You can listen to a region by selecting it in the list and 
clicking the Play Region button above the list. The region 
will play back once or repeatedly, depending on whether 
the Loop icon on the toolbar is activated or not.
You can also listen to a region by selecting it in the list and 
clicking the Audition icon on the toolbar. This way you can 
preview separate regions by clicking on them in the list or 
by selecting them with the up/down arrow keys on your 
computer keyboard.
Making selections from regions
If you select a region in the list and click the Select Region 
button above, the corresponding section of the audio clip 
is selected (as if you had selected it with the Range Se-
lection tool) and zoomed. This is useful if you want to ap-
ply processing to the region only. 
ÖYou can also double-click a region in the Pool to have 
its audio clip opened in the Sample Editor with the area of 
the region automatically selected.
Creating audio events from regions
To create new audio events from regions using drag & 
drop, proceed as follows:
1.In the list, click on the region and keep the mouse but-
ton pressed.
2.Drag the region to the desired position in the project 
and release the mouse button.
A new event is created.
•You can also use the “Events from Regions” function 
from the Advanced submenu of the Audio menu (see the 
chapter “The Project window” in the Operation Manual). 
						

							42
The Sample Editor
Exporting regions as audio files
If you create a region in the Sample Editor, the region can 
be exported to disk as a new audio file. This is done from 
the Pool, see the chapter “The Pool” in the Operation 
Manual.
Drawing in the Sample Editor
It is possible to edit the audio clip at sample level by draw-
ing with the Pencil tool. This can be useful if you need to 
manually edit out a spike or click, etc.
Proceed as follows:
1.Zoom in to a zoom value lower than 1.
This means that there is more than one screen pixel per sample.
2.Select the Pencil tool.
3.Click and draw at the desired position in the waveform 
display.
When you release the mouse button, the edited section is automatically 
selected.
Options and settings
Show Audio Event
When the “Show Audio Event” button is activated on the 
toolbar, the section corresponding to the edited event is 
highlighted in the waveform display and the Overview. The 
sections of the audio clip not belonging to the event are 
shown with a gray background.
•In this mode, you can adjust the start and end of the 
event in the clip by dragging the event handles in the 
waveform display.
Snap
The Snap function helps you to find exact positions when 
editing in the Sample Editor by restricting horizontal 
movement and positioning to certain grid positions. You 
turn Snap on or off by clicking the Snap button in the 
Sample Editor toolbar.
ÖThe Sample Editor Snap function is independent of 
the Snap setting in the Project window toolbar or other 
editors. It has no effect outside the Sample Editor.
Snap to Zero Crossing
When this option is activated, editing is done at zero 
crossings (positions in the audio where the amplitude is 
zero). This helps you to avoid pops and clicks which might 
otherwise be caused by sudden amplitude changes.
ÖIf hitpoints have been calculated, these are also taken 
into account when snapping to zero crossings.
ÖThe Sample Editor function “Snap to Zero Crossing” 
is independent of the same setting in the Project window 
toolbar or other editors. It has no effect outside the Sam-
ple Editor.
Auto-Scroll
When the Auto-Scroll option is activated on the Sample 
Editor toolbar, the waveform display will scroll during play-
back, keeping the project cursor visible in the editor.
ÖThis setting is independent of the Auto-Scroll setting 
in the Project window toolbar or other editors.
!This button is only available if you have opened the 
Sample Editor by double-clicking an audio event in 
the Project window or the Audio Part Editor. It is not 
available if you have opened the audio event from the 
Pool. 
						

							43
The Sample Editor
AudioWarp: Tempo matching audio
AudioWarp means realtime time stretching functions in 
Cubase Studio. The main AudioWarp features are tempo 
matching audio loops to the project tempo and matching 
up an audio clip with fluctuating tempo to a fixed tempo.
Musical Mode
If you want to tempo match an audio loop to the project 
tempo, you will normally work with loops with straight 
beats. In this case you only need to activate the Musical 
Mode on the toolbar. 
The Musical Mode is one of the key AudioWarp features. 
It allows you to lock audio clips to the project tempo by 
using realtime time stretching. This is very useful if you 
want to use loops in your project without worrying too 
much about timing.
When Musical Mode is activated, audio events will adapt 
to any tempo changes in Cubase Studio, just like MIDI 
events.
You can activate Musical Mode on the AudioWarp tab, the Definition 
tab, and the toolbar.
It is also possible to activate/deactivate Musical Mode 
from within the Pool by clicking the corresponding check-
box in the Musical Mode column. 
To tempo match an audio loop to the project tempo, pro-
ceed as follows: 
1.Import your loop into the project and double-click it to 
open the Sample Editor.
If you open the Definition tab and take a look at the rulers, you will see 
that the project tempo grid (upper ruler) and the grid of your audio (lower 
ruler) do not match.
2.Activate the Musical Mode button on the toolbar.
Your clip is warped and stretched automatically to adapt it to the project 
tempo. The rulers reflect the change.
In the Project window, the audio event is now shown with 
a note symbol and a double arrow in the bottom right cor-
ner to indicate that Musical Mode is activated.
The Musical Mode state is saved with the project. This al-
lows you to import files into the project with Musical Mode 
already activated. The tempo is also saved when exporting 
files.
!Cubase Studio supports ACID® loops. These loops 
are standard audio files but with embedded tempo/
length information. When ACID® files are imported 
into Cubase Studio, Musical Mode is automatically 
activated and the loops will adapt to the project 
tempo. 
						

							44
The Sample Editor
Auto Adjust
If you want to use an audio file with unknown tempo or if 
the beat of your loop is not straight, you have to change 
the “definition” of this audio file first. This is done with the 
Auto Adjust function on the Definition tab of the Sample 
Editor Inspector.
The Auto Adjust function quantizes your audio automati-
cally, i. e. the transients are moved to exact note values in 
the audio grid. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Sample Editor and define a selection range 
for your audio clip. 
Alternatively, you can define a range by setting the start and end of the 
audio event. 
2.Open the Definition tab and click the Auto Adjust 
button.
The transients, i. e. the significant positions of your audio are moved to 
exact note values in the audio grid.
3.Activate the Musical Mode button on the toolbar.
Your clip is warped and stretched automatically to adapt it to the project 
tempo. The rulers reflect the change.
You can see that the event snap point is moved to the 
start of the selected range. If you take a look at the lower 
ruler, you will see that red vertical lines are shown. These 
indicate that your audio has been aligned to bar and beat 
positions.
Manual Adjust
You might have a very special loop where the automatic 
function does not lead to satisfying results. In this case 
you can manually adjust the grid and tempo of your audio 
file. Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Definition tab in the Sample Editor Inspector 
and activate the Manual Adjust tool.
2.Select a suitable value from the Grid pop-up menu.
This determines the grid resolution for your audio. The vertical lines of the 
grid represent bar positions, and the red vertical lines beat positions.
3.Move the mouse pointer to the beginning of the audio 
file until the tooltip “Set Grid Start” is displayed.
The mouse pointer turns into a double arrow to indicate that you can edit 
the time grid for the audio file.
4.Click and drag to the right to set the grid start at the 
first downbeat, and release the mouse button.
The lower ruler (for the audio) changes to reflect your edits. 
5.Audition the file to determine where the second bar in 
the sample begins. 
						

							45
The Sample Editor
6.In the upper part of the waveform, move the mouse 
pointer to the vertical line nearest to the second bar so 
that the tooltip “Stretch Grid” and a blue vertical line are 
shown.
The functionality of the Manual Adjust tool changes depending on its po-
sition, e. g. if applied in the lower part of the waveform on a vertical line, it 
is used to set a bar position, see below.
7.Click and drag the blue vertical line to the left or right 
to the position of the first downbeat in the second bar and 
release the mouse button.
The beginning of the next bar is set, and all following bars are stretched 
or compressed by the same amount.
8.Check the positions of the following bars and, if nec-
essary, move the mouse pointer over the grid lines in the 
lower part of the waveform until the tooltip “Set Bar Posi-
tion (Move Following Bars)” and a green vertical line are 
shown.
This allows you to set the bar positions. When you drag the mouse, the 
beginning of the next bar is set, and the tempo of the previous bar is 
changed.
9.Now have a look at the single beats in between the 
bars and, if necessary, move the mouse pointer to a beat 
position to adjust them.
The Set Beat Position function is displayed with a light blue line. Drag it 
until the single beat position is aligned with the waveform, and release 
the mouse button. 
•If you are not satisfied with a specific edit, you can hold 
down any modifier key and click on the adjusted grid line 
(bar or beat).
The Eraser tool appears together with a tooltip indicating that you can re-
move your edit.
When you are done, you can activate Musical Mode to ad-
just your audio loop to the project tempo. 
						

							46
The Sample Editor
Applying swing
If you find that your audio sounds too straight, e. g. after 
having quantized it with the Auto Adjust function, you can 
add swing. Proceed as follows:
1.Activate Musical Mode.
2.On the AudioWarp tab, select a suitable grid resolu-
tion from the Resolution pop-up menu.
This defines the positions that the swing is applied to. If you select 1/2, 
the swing is applied in steps of half notes, if you select 1/4, it is applied 
in steps of quarter notes, etc.
3.Move the Swing fader to the right to offset every sec-
ond position in the grid.
This creates a swing or shuffle feel. 
Depending on how far you move the fader to the right and 
what grid resolution you chose, this function offers every-
thing from half-note swing to 64th-note swing. 
Selecting an algorithm for realtime playback
In the Algorithm pop-up menu on the toolbar you can se-
lect the algorithm preset to be applied on realtime play-
back. This setting affects warp changes in Musical Mode, 
FreeWarp, and Swing.On this pop-up menu you can find various options that 
govern the audio quality of the realtime time stretching. 
There are presets that allow you to manually set warp 
parameters:
If you select the Advanced menu item, a dialog opens 
where you can manually adjust the three parameters that 
govern the sound quality of the time stretching:
Option Description
Drums This mode is best for percussive sounds, because it does not 
change the timing of your audio. Using this option for pitched 
audio will lead to noticeable artifacts. In this case, you can try 
the Mix mode.
Plucked Use this mode for audio with transients and a relatively stable 
spectral sound character (e. g. plucked instruments).
Pads Use this mode for pitched audio with slower rhythm and a sta-
ble spectral sound character. This minimizes sound artifacts, 
but the rhythmic accuracy is not preserved.
Vocals This mode is suitable for slower signals with transients and a 
prominent tonal character (e. g. vocals).
Mix This mode preserves the rhythm and minimizes the artifacts 
for pitched material which does not meet the above criteria 
(i. e. with a less homogenous sound character). 
This is selected by default for audio that is not categorized.
Advanced This allows for a manual tweaking of the time stretching pa-
rameters. By default, the settings that are shown when you 
open the dialog are those of the last preset used (except if the 
Solo mode has been selected, see below). The Advanced 
settings are described more in detail below this table.
Solo This mode preserves the timbre of the audio. Only use it for 
monophonic material (solo woodwind/brass instruments or 
solo vocals, monophonic synths or string instruments that do 
not play harmonies).
Parameter Description
Grain size The realtime time stretching algorithm splits the audio into 
small pieces called “grains”. This parameter determines the 
size of the grains. For material with many transients, use low 
Grain size values for best results. 
Overlap Overlap is the percentage of the whole grain that will overlap 
with other grains. Use higher values for material with a stable 
sound character.
Variance Variance is also a percentage of the whole length of the 
grains, and sets a variation in positioning so that the overlap-
ping area sounds smooth. A Variance setting of 0 will pro-
duce a sound akin to time stretching used in early samplers, 
whereas higher settings produce more (rhythmic) “smear-
ing” effects but less audio artifacts. 
						

							47
The Sample Editor
Free Warp
The Free Warp tool allows you to create warp tabs. Warp 
tabs are a kind of marker or anchor that can be attached to 
musically relevant time positions in an audio event, for ex-
ample the first beat of every bar. Warp tabs can be dragged 
to the corresponding time positions in the project, and the 
audio will be stretched accordingly. 
You can also use warp tabs for further tweaking after hav-
ing activated Musical Mode.
Using the Free Warp tool 
Warp tabs are created using the Free Warp tool on the Au-
dioWarp tab of the Sample Editor, but can also be created 
from hitpoints (see “Creating warp tabs from hitpoints” on 
page 48). In this example, we will show how a file with 
slightly varying tempo can be locked to a steady tempo by 
using warp tabs. It illustrates the general methods of using 
warp tabs and the Free Warp tool. But you can of course 
use warp tabs for other operations than aligning downbeats 
to grid positions. With the Free Warp tool, you can literally 
stretch any region within a sample to any position!
Proceed as follows:
1.Open the audio file that you wish to process in the 
Sample Editor.
2.Activate the “Snap to Zero Crossing” button on the 
Sample Editor toolbar.
When you activate this button, warp tabs will snap to zero crossings and 
hitpoints (if shown).
3.On the Definition tab, click the Auto Adjust button.4.Line up the audio file so that the first beat of the first 
bar (in the audio event) starts on the first beat of a bar in 
the project.
•If the audio file does not start on a downbeat, you can 
use the Event Start handle in the Sample Editor and adjust 
the position in the Project window so that the first down-
beat in the sample is aligned with the first beat of a bar in 
the grid.
Now the first musical downbeat should be aligned with the first beat of a 
bar in the project. 
The next step is to find out where the first warp tab needs 
to be added. Activate the metronome click on the Trans-
port panel and play back your audio clip to determine po-
sitions where its tempo drifts from the project tempo. 
5.Play back the audio file and determine where the first 
beat of a bar in the audio event does not match the corre-
sponding ruler position in the project.
If you find it difficult to pinpoint an exact position in the audio event, you 
can use the Scrub tool and/or zoom in the view.
6.On the AudioWarp tab, select the Free Warp tool, 
place the pointer at the position of the beat that you want 
to adjust, click, and hold.
When you place the mouse pointer in the waveform display, it changes 
to a clock with arrows on either side and a vertical line in the middle, 
which represents the pointer. 
7.With the mouse button still pressed, drag the warp tab 
to the desired position in the ruler and release the mouse 
button.
A warp tab is added and your beat should be perfectly aligned with the 
corresponding position in the project. If the position where you clicked 
was off, you can adjust it by dragging the handle.
ÖYou can also first add warp tabs at the relevant musi-
cal positions and change their positions later, see “Editing 
warp tabs” on page 48.
Next to the warp tab handle in the ruler, a number is 
shown. This number indicates the warp factor, i. e. the 
amount of stretch. Warp factor numbers higher than 1.0 
indicate that the audio region preceding the warp tab is 
expanded and will play back slower. Warp factor numbers 
lower than 1.0 indicate that the audio region preceding 
the warp tab is compressed and will play back faster.
8.Repeat the described steps to align the first beat in 
each bar to the corresponding ruler position.
!When you activate or deactivate Musical Mode or 
select another Resolution value, all your warp modifi-
cations will be lost. 
						

							48
The Sample Editor
ÖYou only have to add warp tabs where the downbeat 
in the audio file drifts from the ruler position and/or if you 
want to lock a warp tab so that it is not moved when edit-
ing other points. 
Editing warp tabs
Moving the destination of existing warp tabs
To move the destination position of a warp tab (and thus 
stretch or compress the audio), select the Free Warp tool 
and position the pointer on the warp line in the waveform, 
click and drag. 
Moving the insert position of existing warp tabs
If you wish to change the insert position of a warp tab in 
the audio, click and drag the warp tab handle in the ruler. 
This will change the warping.
Disabling warp tabs
You can disable all warp modifications by clicking the 
“Disable Warp Changes” button on the AudioWarp tab. 
Deleting warp tabs
To delete a warp tab, hold down [Alt]/[Option] so that the 
pointer becomes an eraser and click on the warp tab. To 
delete several warp tabs, hold down [Alt]/[Option] while 
drawing a selection rectangle.
Resetting warp modifications
To reset your Free Warp edits, click the Reset button on 
the AudioWarp tab. This also resets the “Disable Warp 
Changes” button on the same tab.
ÖIf Musical Mode is activated, only Free Warp edits are 
reset.
Creating warp tabs from hitpoints
You can also create warp tabs from hitpoints by selecting 
“Create Warp Tabs from Hitpoints” on the Realtime Pro-
cessing submenu of the Audio menu.
Working with hitpoints and slices
Hitpoint detection is a special feature of the Sample Edi-
tor. It detects attack transients in an audio file and adds a 
type of marker, i. e. a “hitpoint”, at each transient. These 
hitpoints allow you to create “slices”, where each slice 
ideally represents each individual sound or “beat” in a loop 
(drum or other rhythmic loops work best with this feature). 
When you have successfully sliced the audio file, you can 
do a number of useful things with it:
• Change the tempo without affecting the pitch.
• Extract the timing (a groove map) from a drum loop. The 
groove map can then be used to quantize other events.
• Replace individual sounds in a drum loop.
• Edit the actual playing in the drum loop without affecting the 
basic feel.
• Extract sounds from loops.
You can further edit these slices in the Audio Part Editor. 
You can, for example:
• Remove or mute slices.
• Change the loop by reordering, replacing, or quantizing slices.
• Apply processing or effects to individual slices.
• Create new files from individual slices using the “Bounce 
Selection” function on the Audio menu.
• Transpose in realtime and stretch slices.
• Edit slice envelopes.
ÖHitpoints are only displayed in the waveform if the Hit-
points tab is open.
Using hitpoints
The main functionality of using hitpoints to slice up a loop 
is to make a loop fit the tempo of a song, or alternatively to 
create a situation that allows the song tempo to be 
changed while retaining the timing of a rhythmic audio 
loop, just like when using MIDI files. 
Which audio files can be used?
Here are some guidelines as to what type of audio files are 
suited for slicing using hitpoints:
•Each individual sound in the loop should have a notice-
able attack.
Slow attacks, legato playing, etc. may not produce the desired result.
•Poorly recorded audio might be difficult to slice correctly.
In these cases, try to normalize the files or to remove DC Offset. 
						

							49
The Sample Editor
•There may be problems with sounds drowned in smear-
ing effects, like short delays.
Calculating hitpoints and slicing a loop
Before proceeding, check if your audio file is suited for 
slicing using hitpoints, see above. Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Hitpoints tab and select an option from the 
Use pop-up menu. 
The Use pop-up menu on the Hitpoints tab affects which hitpoints are 
shown and is a useful tool for removing unwanted hitpoints. 
The following options are available:
ÖIf you select one of the options of the Use pop-up 
menu (except “All”), a second ruler that displays the musi-
cal structure of the audio file is shown below the ordinary 
ruler. 
2.Move the Sensitivity slider to the right to add hitpoints 
or to the left to remove unwanted hitpoints until one indi-
vidual sound is played between two hitpoints.
If your main reason for slicing the loop is to change the tempo, you gen-
erally need as many slices as you can get, but never more than one per 
individual “hit” in the loop. If you want to create a groove, try to get ap-
proximately one slice per eighth note, sixteenth note, or whatever the 
loop requires (see “Creating groove quantize maps” on page 50).
In the next step, the loop will be adapted to the project 
tempo set in Cubase Studio.
3.On the Hitpoints tab, click the Create Slices button or 
select “Create Audio Slices from Hitpoints” from the Hit-
points 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).
• The loop is automatically adapted to the project tempo. This 
takes the specified loop length into account: e. g., if the loop 
was one bar long, the part is resized to fit exactly one bar in 
the Cubase Studio tempo, and the slices are moved accord-
ingly, keeping their relative positions within the part.
• In the Pool, the sliced clip is shown with a different icon. Drag-
ging the sliced clip from the Pool to an audio track creates an 
audio part with the slices adapted to the project tempo, just as 
above.
4.Activate cycle playback on the Transport panel.
The loop should now play back seamlessly at the tempo set in the project!
Hitpoints and tempo settings
The musical time base setting and the project tempo af-
fect how your loops are played back. 
•Make sure that the “Musical time base” button in the 
track list or Inspector is activated (the button shows a note 
symbol – see the chapter “The Project window” in the Op-
eration Manual). This way the loop will follow any further 
tempo changes.
•If the project tempo is slower than the original tempo of 
the loop, there may be audible gaps between each slice 
event in the part.
To remedy this, you can use the Close Gaps function on the Advanced 
submenu of the Audio menu, see “Close Gaps” on page 51. Also consider 
activating auto fades for the corresponding audio track – fade-outs set to 
about 10 ms will help eliminate any clicks between the slices when you play 
back the part. For more information, see the chapter “Fades, crossfades 
and envelopes” in the Operation Manual.
Option Description
All All hitpoints are shown (taking the Sensitivity slider into ac-
count).
1/4, 1/8, 
1/16, 1/32Only hitpoints that are close to the selected note value posi-
tions within the loop are shown (e. g. close to exact sixteenth 
note positions). Again, the Sensitivity slider is taken into ac-
count.
Metric Bias This is like the “All” mode, but all hitpoints that are close to 
even meter divisions (1/4, 1/8, 1/16, etc.) get a “sensitivity 
boost” – they are visible at lower sensitivity settings. This is 
useful if you are working with dense or cluttered material with 
a lot of hitpoints, but you know that the material is based on a 
strict meter. By selecting Metric Bias it is easier to find the hit-
points close to the meter position (although most other hit-
points are also available, at higher sensitivity settings).
!When you create slices, all events referring to the 
edited clip are also replaced. 
						

							50
The Sample Editor
•If the project tempo is higher than the loop’s original 
tempo, you may want to activate auto crossfades for the 
track.
You can use the Close Gaps functions in this case as well, see “Close 
Gaps” on page 51.
The slices in the Audio Part Editor. Here, the project tempo was higher 
than the loop’s original tempo – the slice events overlap.
Setting hitpoints manually
If you cannot get the desired result by adjusting the sensi-
tivity, try to set and edit hitpoints manually. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Zoom in on the waveform at the point where you wish 
to add a hitpoint.
2.Select the Edit Hitpoints tool to audition the area and 
make sure that the start of the sound is in view.
3.Activate “Snap to Zero Crossing” on the Sample Edi-
tor toolbar.
By finding zero crossings in the waveform (positions where the amplitude 
is close to zero), manually added slices will not insert any clicks or pops. 
All hitpoints calculated by the program are automatically placed at zero 
crossings.
4.Press [Alt]/[Option] so that the mouse pointer changes 
to a pencil tool and click just before the start of the sound.
A new hitpoint appears. Manually added hitpoints are locked by default.
•If you notice that a hitpoint was either placed too far away 
from the start of the sound or too far into the sound, you can 
move it by dragging the hitpoint to the new position.5.Audition the slices by pointing and clicking in any slice 
area.
The pointer changes to a speaker icon and the corresponding slice is 
played back from the beginning to the end.
•If you hear a single sound split into two slices you can 
disable an individual slice by clicking on the handle of the 
corresponding hitpoint.
The hitpoint handle gets smaller and its line disappears to indicate that it 
is disabled. To reactivate a disabled hitpoint, click on the hitpoint handle 
again.
•If you hear “double hits” (e. g. a snare hit being followed 
by a hi-hat hit within the same slice), you can add further 
hitpoints manually, or you can move the Sensitivity slider 
to the right until the hitpoint appears and lock the hitpoint 
by holding down [Ctrl]/[Command] or [Shift] and clicking 
on its handle. 
Locked hitpoints are displayed in a darker color. After locking the hitpoint 
you can drag the sensitivity slider to the original setting and the locked 
hitpoint will remain shown. You can unlock a locked hitpoint by clicking 
on its handle.
•If you want to delete a hitpoint, hold down [Ctrl]/[Com-
mand] and click on it. If you want to delete several hitpoints, 
hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and drag a selection rectan-
gle.
You can also hold down [Shift] and click to delete hitpoints.
Creating groove quantize maps
You can generate groove quantize maps based on the 
hitpoints that you have created in the Sample Editor. 
Groove quantizing is not meant for correcting errors, but for 
creating rhythmic feels. This is done by comparing your re-
corded music with a “groove” (a timing grid generated from 
the file) and moving the appropriate notes so that their tim-
ing matches the one of the groove. In other words, you can 
extract the timing from an audio loop and use it for quantiz-
ing MIDI parts (or other audio loops, after slicing them).
Proceed as follows:
1.Check the audio tempo and define the audio grid.
2.Create and edit hitpoints as described above.
Try to get approximately one slice per eighth note, sixteenth note, or 
whatever the loop requires. It can be helpful to use one of the note value-
based options on the Use pop-up menu (see “Calculating hitpoints and 
slicing a loop” on page 49).
ÖYou do not have to create slices – just set up the hit-
points.
!“Snap to Zero Crossing” may alter the timing. In 
some cases it is better to deactivate it, especially if 
you just want to generate a groove quantize map. 
However, if you create slices afterwards, auto fades 
are necessary.