Steinberg Cubase Studio 5.5 New Features Manual

							51
The Sample Editor
3.When you have finished setting the hitpoints, click the 
Create Groove button on the Hitpoints tab or select “Cre-
ate Groove Quantize from Hitpoints” from the Hitpoints 
submenu of the Audio menu.
The groove is extracted.
4.If you now pull down the Quantize Type pop-up menu 
in the Project window you find an additional item at the 
bottom of the list, with the same name as the file from 
which you have extracted the groove.
This groove can now be selected as a base for quantizing, just like any 
other quantize value, see the chapter “MIDI processing” in the Operation 
Manual.
5.If you want to save the groove, open the Quantize 
Setup dialog and store it as a preset.
ÖYou can also create grooves from a MIDI part by se-
lecting the part and dragging it on the grid display in the 
middle of the Quantize Setup dialog or by selecting “Part 
to Groove” from the Advanced Quantize submenu of the 
MIDI menu.
Other hitpoint functions
On the Hitpoints tab of the Sample Editor Inspector and 
on the various submenus of the Audio menu, you will also 
find the following functions:
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 
(see the chapter “The Project window” in the Operation 
Manual). Markers can be useful to snap to hitpoints, e. g. 
for locating hitpoints and for using the Time Warp tool 
(see the chapter “Editing Tempo and signature” in the Op-
eration Manual).
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
When you wish to create separate events according to 
the hitpoints for a file, you can click the Create Events but-
ton on the Hitpoints tab and use any method you like to 
set hitpoints.
ÖThe created slices are shown as separate events in 
the Project window.
Close Gaps
This function from the Advanced submenu of the Audio 
menu is useful if you have sliced a loop for tempo changes 
and you change the project tempo. Lowering the project 
tempo below the loop’s original tempo creates gaps be-
tween the slices – the slower the tempo, the wider the 
gaps. Increasing the project tempo over the loop’s original 
tempo compresses the slices using the time stretch func-
tion and creates overlaps. In both cases, you can use the 
Close Gaps function.
Proceed as follows:
1.Set the desired tempo.
2.In the Project window select the part containing the 
slices.
3.From the Advanced submenu of the Audio menu se-
lect “Close Gaps”.
Time stretch is applied to each slice to close the gaps. Depending on the 
length of the part and the algorithm set in the Preferences dialog (Edit-
ing–Audio page), this can take a while.
4.The waveform is redrawn and the gaps are closed!
If you open the Pool, you will see that new clips were created, one for 
each slice.
If you decide to change the tempo again after using the 
Close Gaps function, undo the Close Gaps operation or 
start over again, using the original, unstretched file. 
ÖIn the Audio Part Editor or Project window you can 
also use Close Gaps on audio events. This will stretch the 
audio event to the start position of the next event. 
						

							52
The Sample Editor
Flattening realtime processing
You can “flatten” realtime processing at any time. This can 
be done to serve two purposes: to reduce the CPU load 
and to optimize the sound quality of the processing. The 
flatten function takes the following into account:
•Warp modifications (see “Free Warp” on page 47), even 
when Bypass is activated. After the flattening, your Warp tabs 
will be lost. However, you can undo this function as usual.
• Event transpose (see the chapter “The Transpose functions” 
in the Operation Manual).
•Select the audio event(s) that you want to process and 
select “Flatten” from the Realtime Processing submenu of 
the Audio menu.
Also use this function before applying any offline processing. When the 
flatten processing is applied, a copy of the original file is automatically 
created in the Pool so that the original audio clip remains intact.
Unstretching audio files
By selecting “Unstretch Audio” from the Realtime Pro-
cessing submenu of the Audio menu, all realtime time 
stretching (by sizing or by warp tabs) is removed.
ÖNote that realtime transpose (in the info line) and Musi-
cal Mode will not be removed by this.
Whether the “Unstretch Audio” menu item is available de-
pends on whether the time stretching has been applied at 
event or clip level: 
•If you have sized an audio event in the Project window 
using “Sizing Applies Time Stretch”, you can undo the 
time stretching by selecting the event in the Project win-
dow and then applying “Unstretch Audio”.
This removes all time stretching and warp tabs.
•When you have entered a tempo and/or length on the 
toolbar, this information is saved for the source clip.
These changes cannot be undone using “Unstretch Audio”. 
						

							5
Video 
						

							54
Video
Before you start
When working on a project involving a video file, you first 
need to set up your system according to your equipment 
and your demands. The following sections provide some 
general information about video file formats, frame rates, 
and video output devices.
Video file compatibility
Because there are many types of video files, it can be dif-
ficult to determine if one will work on your system. There 
are two ways to figure out if Cubase Studio can play back 
a certain video file:
•Open the video file with QuickTime 7.1 or higher, be-
cause Cubase Studio uses QuickTime for playing back 
video files.
•Check the file information of a video file in the Pool. If 
the information reads “Invalid or not supported file!”, the 
video file is either corrupt or the format is not supported by 
the available codecs.
Video container formats
Video and other multi-media files come in a container for-
mat. This container holds various streams of information 
including video and audio, but also metadata such as syn-
chronization information required to play back audio and 
video together. Data regarding creation dates, authors, 
chapter markings, and more can also be held within the 
container format. The following container formats are supported by Cubase 
Studio: 
Cubase Studio supports all these container formats, but 
problems may arise when the computer does not have the 
correct software to decode compressed video and audio 
streams within the container file. You must also know the 
type of codec that was used to create the video file.
Codecs
Codecs are methods of data compression used to make 
video (and audio) files smaller and more manageable for 
computers. In order to play back a video file, your com-
puter must have the correct codec installed in the operat-
ing system to decode the video stream.
If you are not able to load a certain video file, the required 
codec is probably not installed on your computer. In this 
case, you can search the Internet (e. g. the Microsoft or 
Apple web sites) for video codecs.
!Because Cubase Studio 5.5 uses a completely new 
video engine, QuickTime 7.1 and a video card sup-
porting OpenGL 1.2 (OpenGL 2.0 recommended) 
are now required for video playback!
!If you are not able to load a certain video file, you 
must use an external application to convert the file 
into a compatible format or install the required co-
dec. For more information on codecs, see the sec-
tion “Codecs” on page 54.
Format Description
MOV This is a QuickTime movie.
QT This is also a QuickTime movie, but it is only used in Windows.
MPEG-1 This is the first standard of the Moving Picture Experts Group 
for video and audio compression, used for making video CDs. 
Files of this container format can have the extensions “.mpg” 
or “.mpeg”.
MPEG-2 This container format is used for DVD authoring. It can also 
contain AC3 multi-channel audio and has the file extension 
“.m2v”.
MPEG-4 This format is based on the QuickTime movie standard, can 
contain various metadata for streaming, editing, local play-
back, and interchange of content. Its file extension is “.mp4”.
AVI This format is a multimedia container format introduced by 
Microsoft.
DV This is a video format used by camcorders.
!The names of codecs and container formats can be 
confusing. Because many container formats have the 
same names as the codecs they use within the file, 
make sure to differentiate the container format or file 
type (e. g. .mov, .dv) from the codec used within it. 
						

							55
Video
Frame rates
Cubase Studio is capable of working with different types 
of video and film frame rates. In Cubase Studio the follow-
ing frame rates are available:
•24 fps
This is the true speed of standard film cameras.
•25 fps
This is the frame rate of PAL video.
•29.97 fps
This is the frame rate of NTSC video. The count can be either non-drop
or drop-frame.
•30 fps
This frame rate is not a video standard anymore but has been commonly
used in music recording. Many years ago it was the black and white 
NTSC broadcast standard.
Video output devices
Cubase Studio supports several ways to play back video 
files. Viewing video files onscreen in the Video Player win-
dow may work just fine for many applications, but often it 
is necessary to display video in a large format for viewing 
small details and so others involved in the session can 
also see the video. Cubase Studio provides the ability to 
use several types of video output devices to accomplish 
this.
Multi-head video cards
One of the most common methods is the use of a multi-
head video card installed in the computer. Multi-head 
video cards allow you to connect more than one computer 
monitor to the card, in some cases up to four. If you direct 
the video output of Cubase Studio to one of these out-
puts, the video file is displayed in fullscreen mode on a 
computer monitor or HD television screen. 
ÖYou can also use more than one video card to achieve 
the same result. The use of two dual display cards in one 
system (a total of four monitors) is a very common setup 
for film postproduction systems. One output is dedicated 
to video and the other three can be used for Cubase Stu-
dio and other applications.Different video cards support different types of outputs in-
cluding standard VGA, DVI, S-Video, HDMI, and compo-
nent video. These options allow you to choose the type of 
monitor you use for video. HD televisions and digital pro-
jectors provide the largest viewing screens, but a normal 
computer monitor can function as a very high-quality video 
monitor as well.
Dedicated video cards
The use of a dedicated video card is also supported in 
Cubase Studio. These cards are normally used in video 
editing systems to capture video to disk and display it 
while editing. They usually have a high resolution and take 
some strain off the host CPU by providing video compres-
sion and decompression processing on the card. 
ÖThe Decklink cards by Blackmagic Design are auto-
matically recognized by Cubase Studio. Video will be sent 
directly to its output.
FireWire DV Output
You have the option to use FireWire ports on the computer 
to output DV video streams to external converters such as 
various camcorders and standalone FireWire to DV con-
version units. These units can be connected to a television 
or projector for large format viewing. The FireWire protocol 
is capable of transporting data at high speed and is the 
most common standard for communicating with video-
related peripheral equipment.
!Under Windows, it is important that you connect 
your device to the FireWire port before launching 
Cubase Studio. Otherwise it may not be detected 
properly by Cubase Studio. 
						

							56
Video
Preparing a video project in Cubase 
Studio
The following sections describe the basic operations nec-
essary for preparing a Cubase Studio project involving 
video. It is advisable to store your video files on a separate 
hard drive from your audio files. This can help prevent data 
streaming problems when using high-resolution video with 
many audio tracks. 
Importing video files
Importing a video file into your project is very straight for-
ward once you know that you have a compatible video file. 
Video files are imported in the same manner as audio files:
•By using the File menu (Import–Video File).
In the Import Video dialog, you can activate the “Extract Audio From 
Video” option. This imports any embedded audio streams to a newly cre-
ated audio track positioned below the video track. The new track and the 
clip will get the name of the video file. The new audio event will start at 
the same time as the video event, so that they are in sync with each other. 
If there is no audio stream within the container file, you will get the error 
message “No compatible audio stream found in file”. Click OK and the 
video stream will continue to be imported.
ÖIf you try to import a non-supported video file with the 
Import Video option, the Import Video dialog displays the 
text “Invalid or not supported file!”.
•By importing to the Pool first and then dragging to the 
Project window (see the chapter “The Pool” in the Opera-
tion Manual for details).
•By using drag and drop from the Windows Explorer, the 
Mac OS Finder, the Pool, or the MediaBay.
ÖWhen importing video files via the Pool or by using 
drag and drop, Cubase Studio can automatically extract 
the audio from a video file. Whether this happens, de-
pends on the “Extract Audio on Import Video File” setting 
in the Preferences dialog (Video page). For further infor-
mation about extracting audio from a video file, see “Ex-
tracting audio from a video file” on page 59.ÖWhen importing video, Cubase Studio automatically 
creates a thumbnail cache file. The generated file is stored 
in the same folder as the video file and gets the name of 
the file with the suffix “.vcache”.
Video files in the Project window
Video files are displayed as events/clips on a video track, 
with thumbnails representing the frames in the film. 
In the track list and Inspector, you find the following but-
tons:
ÖSome of these buttons may not be visible in the track 
list. With the Track Controls Settings dialog you deter-
mine which buttons are displayed in the track list. For 
more information about customizing track controls, see 
the chapter “Customizing” in the Operation Manual.
!In Cubase Studio, you may work with multiple video 
files of differing frame rates and formats on the same 
video track. Assuming you have the proper codecs 
installed, all video files can be played back in one 
project, but note that proper synchronization of audio 
and video events is ensured only if the frame rate of 
the video file matches the project frame rate (see be-
low).
Button Description
Mute Video When this is activated, video playback is disabled, but 
playback of any other events in the project continues. 
This increases the performance of Cubase Studio when 
realizing operations that do not require watching the 
video.
Show Frame 
NumbersWhen this is activated, each thumbnail is shown with the 
corresponding video frame number.
Show 
ThumbnailsWith this button you can activate/deactivate the thumb-
nails of a video track.
Lock When this is activated, the video event will be locked. For 
more information about event locking, see the chapter 
“The Project window” in the Operation Manual.
Show frame
numbers Mute
videoShow 
thumbnailsLock 
						

							57
Video
About thumbnails
The individual thumbnail images are positioned exactly at 
the beginning of the corresponding frame. When you 
zoom in and there is enough space between the frames, 
the thumbnail is repeated as many times as there is free 
space available. Thus, you can always see a thumbnail re-
gardless of how much you zoom in.
Thumbnail Memory Cache Size
In the Preferences dialog on the Video page, you can en-
ter a value for the “Thumbnail Memory Cache Size”. This 
determines how much memory is available for displaying 
“real” thumbnails. The currently shown image is buffered 
in the thumbnail memory cache. Whenever you move to 
another image and there is no memory capacity left, the 
“oldest” picture in the cache is replaced by the current 
one. If you have long video clips and/or work with a large 
zoom factor, you may have to raise the “Thumbnail Mem-
ory Cache Size” value.
About thumbnail cache files
When importing video, Cubase Studio automatically cre-
ates a thumbnail cache file. The cache file is used in situa-
tions where the processor load is very high and the correct 
redrawing or realtime calculation of thumbnails might use 
system resources necessary for editing or processing. 
When you zoom in on the thumbnails, you see that they are 
in a lower resolution, i. e. the pictures are not as clear as 
when they are calculated. When the processes that rely 
heavily on the computer CPU are finished, the frames are 
automatically recalculated, i. e. the program automatically 
switches between realtime calculation of the pictures and 
using the cache file.
ÖThere are situations where no thumbnail cache file 
can be generated, e. g. if you import a video file from a 
folder that is write-protected. If you have access to the 
host folder at a later stage, you can generate a thumbnail 
cache file manually.
Manually generating thumbnail cache files
If no thumbnail cache file could be generated during im-
port or if you have to “refresh” a thumbnail cache file of a 
certain video file, because the file has been edited with an 
external video editing application, you have the possibility 
to generate the thumbnail cache file manually.To create a thumbnail cache file manually, you have the 
following possibilities:
•In the Pool, right-click on the video file that you want to 
create a thumbnail cache file for and select the “Generate 
Thumbnail Cache” option from the context menu.
A thumbnail cache file is created, or, in case there already existed a 
thumbnail cache file for the video file, it is “refreshed”.
•In the Project window, open the context menu for the 
video event, and select “Generate Thumbnail Cache” from 
the Media submenu.
•Pull down the Media Menu and select “Generate Thumb-
nail Cache”.
Ö“Refreshing” an already existing thumbnail cache file 
can be done only from within the Pool.
ÖThe thumbnail cache file is generated in the back-
ground so that you can continue working with Cubase 
Studio.
Playing back video
To check if your video equipment is capable of playing 
back a video from within Cubase Studio, open the Video 
Player page in the Device Setup dialog. If your system 
does not meet the minimum video requirements, a corre-
sponding message will be displayed. For further informa-
tion on the Device Setup dialog, see below.
Video is played back together with all other audio and 
MIDI material, using the Transport controls.
!For playing back video files, you must have QuickTime 
7.1 or higher installed on your computer. There is a 
freeware version and a “pro” version, which offers ad-
ditional video conversion options. The player engine is 
the same in both versions, so for mere playback in Cu-
base Studio there is no need to purchase the “pro” 
version.  
						

							58
Video
Video settings in the Device Setup dialog
In the Device Setup dialog you determine which device is 
used for playing back video files. You can switch between 
different output devices during playback.
The Video Player page in the Device Setup dialog
To set up a video output device, proceed as follows:
1.Pull down the Devices Menu and select “Device 
Setup…” to open the Device Setup dialog, and select the 
Video Player page.
2.In the Active column, activate the checkbox for the de-
vice that you want to use for playing back video. 
All devices in your system that are capable of playing back video are 
listed. The Onscreen Window device serves for playing back the video 
file on your computer monitor. For further information on output devices, 
see the section “Video output devices” on page 55.
3.From the pop-up menu in the Format column, select 
an output format.
For the Onscreen Window output, only a “fixed” format is available. For 
the other output devices, you can select different output formats for play-
back depending on the device.
4.Adjust the Offset setting to compensate for process-
ing delays.
Due to delays while processing video, the video image may not match 
with the audio in Cubase Studio. By using the Offset parameter, you can 
compensate for this effect. The Offset value indicates how many millisec-
onds the video will be delivered earlier in order to compensate for the 
processing time of the video material. Each hardware setup can have dif-
ferent processing delays, so you must try out different values to deter-
mine which value is appropriate. 
ÖThe Offset value can be set individually for each out-
put device. It is saved globally for each output device and 
is independent of the project.
ÖThe offset is only used during playback. It is defeated 
in stop and scrub mode so that you always see the correct 
video frame.
•If the quality of the video image is not a critical factor or 
if you are experiencing performance problems, try lower-
ing the value on the Video Quality pop-up menu.
Although higher quality settings make the video display sharper and 
smoother, they also lead to an increased processor load.
Playing back video on the computer screen
The Video Player window is used for playing back video 
on your computer screen.
•To open the Video Player window, pull down the De-
vices menu and select Video Player.
Setting the window size and video quality
To resize the Video Player window and/or change the play-
back quality of the video, select the appropriate option on 
the context menu of the Video Player window.
The following options are available:
Option Description
Fullscreen 
ModeThe window is enlarged to occupy the whole (computer) 
screen. If you are working with more than one monitor, you 
can move the Video Player window to an extra monitor. 
Thus, you can work with Cubase Studio on one monitor 
and let the video play back on another monitor. You can 
exit fullscreen mode via the window’s context menu or by 
pressing [Esc] on your computer keyboard.
Quarter Size The window size is reduced to a quarter of the actual size.
Half Size The window size is reduced to half the actual size.
Actual Size The window size corresponds to the size of the video. 
						

							59
Video
•Drag the borders, just like when resizing other windows.
ÖThe higher the resolution, the more processing power 
is needed for playback. If you need to reduce the proces-
sor load, you can reduce the size of the Video Player win-
dow, or lower the value on the Video Quality submenu.
Setting the aspect ratio
Resizing the Video Player window by dragging its borders 
may lead to a distorted image. To prevent this, you can set 
an aspect ratio for video playback.
•From the Aspect Ratio submenu of the Video Player 
context menu, select one of the following options:
ÖWhen the video is played back in fullscreen mode, the 
aspect ratio of the video is always kept.
Scrubbing video
You can scrub video events, i. e. play them back forwards 
or backwards at any speed. This is done by clicking in the 
Video Player window and moving the mouse to the left or 
to the right.
You can also use the Scrub controls on the Transport 
panel or a jog wheel on a remote controller for scrubbing 
video events. For more information about the jog and 
scrub controls, see the chapter “Playback and the Trans-
port panel” in the Operation Manual.
Editing video
Video clips are played back by events just as audio clips 
are. You can use all the basic editing operations on video 
events, just as with audio events. You can take a single 
event and copy it many times for the creation of mix varia-
tions. A video event may also be trimmed using the event 
handles to remove a countdown for instance. Furthermore, 
you can lock video events just like other events in the 
Project window, and you can edit video clips in the Pool. 
It is not possible to fade or crossfade video events. Fur-
thermore, you cannot use the Draw, Glue, and Mute tools 
with a video event.
ÖWindows only: If you find that you are unable to edit a 
video file copied from a CD, this might be due to the fact 
that files copied from CD are write-protected by default. 
To remove the write-protection, in the Windows Explorer, 
open the Properties dialog and deactivate the “Read-
Only” option.
Extracting audio from a video file
If a video file contains audio, the audio stream can be ex-
tracted. As always when importing audio material, a dialog 
is displayed allowing you to select different import options 
(see the chapter “The Project window” in the Operation 
Manual for details). The extracted audio stream is added to 
the project on a new audio track and can be edited like all 
other audio material.
There are several ways to extract audio from a video file:
•By activating the “Extract Audio From Video” option in 
the Import Video dialog (see the section “Importing video 
files” on page 56).
•By using the “Audio from Video File” option on the Im-
port submenu of the File menu.
This will insert an audio event starting at the project cursor position on 
the selected audio track. If no audio track is selected, a new one will be 
created.
•By activating the “Extract Audio on Import Video File” 
option in the Preferences dialog (Video page).
This will automatically extract the audio stream from any video file during 
import.
Double Size The window is enlarged to twice the actual size.
Video Quality This submenu allows you to change the quality of the video 
image. Higher settings make the video display sharper and 
smoother, but lead to an increased processor load.
Option Description
None The aspect ratio of the video is not kept when resizing the 
window. The image is enlarged/reduced to occupy the 
whole Video Player window.
Internal The Video Player window can be resized at will, but the as-
pect ratio of the video is kept and black borders are dis-
played around the video image to fill the window.
External The resizing of the Video Player window is limited accord-
ing to the aspect ratio of the video image, i. e. the video im-
age always fills the full window and its aspect ratio is kept. Option Description 
						

							60
Video
•By using the “Extract Audio from Video File” option on 
the Media menu.
This creates an audio clip in the Pool, but does not add any events to the 
Project window. 
Replacing the audio in a video file
Once you have edited all audio and MIDI data to the video 
and created a final mix, you will need to put the new audio 
back with the video. You can do this by embedding the 
audio in another stream within the video container file.
To replace the audio stream in a video file, proceed as fol-
lows:
1.Place the left locator at the start of the video file in Cu-
base Studio. This will ensure that your audio and video 
streams are synchronized.
2.Pull down the File menu and select the Audio Mixdown 
option from the Export submenu to export the audio file 
you wish to insert into the video container file (for detailed 
information on this function, see the chapter “Export Audio 
Mixdown” in the Operation Manual).
3.From the File menu, select “Replace Audio in Video 
File…”.
A file dialog opens prompting you to locate the video file.
4.Select the video file and click Open.
Next, you are prompted to locate the corresponding audio file. This 
should be the one you created above.
5.Select the audio file and click Open.
The audio is added to the video file, replacing its current audio stream.
Once the process is completed, open the video file in a 
native media player and check for proper synchronization.
!These functions are not available for MPEG-1 and 
MPEG-2 video files.