Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Operation Manual

CUBASE SX/SLWorking with hitpoints and slices 20 – 451
Setting the sensitivity
The loop is first analyzed to determine where hitpoints should appear 
(where the individual “beats” in the loop are), then you manually set the 
sensitivity with the Sensitivity slider to determine how many hitpoints 
there should be.
•Try raising the sensitivity to add “missing” hitpoints, and lowering it to 
remove unwanted hitpoints.
This may or may not work, depending on the situation, but as a general rule you should...

CUBASE SX/SL20 – 452 Working with hitpoints and slices
How many slices do I need?
If your main reason for slicing the loop is to change the tempo, you 
generally 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 (see page 458), you should try to get 
approximately one slice per eighth note, sixteenth note or whatever 
the loop requires.
Disabling slices
You might run into situations where there are too many slices – a single...

CUBASE SX/SLWorking with hitpoints and slices 20 – 453
Locking slices
If you lock a hitpoint by clicking on its handle with the Hitpoint Edit tool, 
it will stay even if you drag the Sensitivity slider all the way to zero. This 
can be used in situations where one or several slices contain double 
hits, but raising the sensitivity adds a lot of unwanted slices.
1.Find the place where you hear double hits when auditioning.
2.Remember the current slider setting.
3.Raise the Sensitivity slider to a higher...

CUBASE SX/SL20 – 454 Working with hitpoints and slices
Setting hitpoints manually
If you cannot get the desired result by adjusting sensitivity, disabling 
or locking, you can add, move and delete hitpoints manually.
Adding hitpoints
Manually adding hitpoints can be done in situations where a hitpoint is 
missing at a specific point, but doesn’t appear even if the sensitivity is 
set to full.
1.Zoom in on the waveform at the point where you wish to add a hitpoint.
2.Audition the area with the Hitpoint...

CUBASE SX/SLWorking with hitpoints and slices 20 – 455
Moving hitpoints
If you manually added a hitpoint, and it was either placed too far away 
from the start of the sound, or too far into the sound, you can manually 
move the hitpoint. It is also possible to move calculated hitpoints this 
way.
1.Make sure Snap to Zero Crossing is activated on the Sample Editor 
toolbar.
2.Select the Hitpoint Edit tool.
3.Click on the hitpoint handle and drag it to the new position.
Deleting hitpoints
To delete a...

CUBASE SX/SL20 – 456 Working with hitpoints and slices
About Q-points
Optionally, hitpoints can have individual Q-points. These are mainly 
used for audio quantizing. Their function is to define the point to which 
the quantizing will apply. Sometimes a slice might have a slow attack, 
and a peak further into the slice which you wish to use as the Q-point. 
When you apply quantize, the Q-point will define where the warp tab 
will be added and thus the point which will be stretched to a grid po-
sition...

CUBASE SX/SLWorking with hitpoints and slices 20 – 457
Creating slices
After you have specified the correct loop length and time signature and 
worked on the hitpoints in the Sample Editor so that one sound per 
slice is heard, it is time to actually slice the file (if that is what you want 
to do – there are other uses for hitpoints as well, as described on the 
following pages). This is done by selecting “Create Audio Slices from 
Hitpoints” from the Hitpoints submenu on the Audio menu.
Now the...

CUBASE SX/SL20 – 458 Working with hitpoints and slices
Creating groove quantize maps
You can generate groove quantize maps based on the hitpoints you 
have created in the Sample Editor. Groove quantizing is not meant for 
correcting errors, but for creating rhythmic feels. This is done by com-
paring your recorded music with a “groove” (a timing grid generated 
from the file) and moving the appropriate notes so that their timing 
matches the one of the groove. In other words, you can extract the 
timing...

CUBASE SX/SLWorking with hitpoints and slices 20 – 459
Other hitpoint functions
On the various submenus on the Audio menu you will also find the fol-
lowing functions:
Create Markers from Hitpoints
This is located on the Hitpoints submenu. If an audio event contains 
calculated hitpoints, this function can be used to add markers – one 
for each hitpoint – to an automatically created marker track (see page 
172). This can be useful for locating to hitpoints, and for using the 
Timewarp tool (see page 631)...

CUBASE SX/SL20 – 460 Working with hitpoints and slices
Set Tempo from Event
This Advanced submenu function sets the project tempo according to 
the original tempo of the loop (as calculated by the Audio Tempo Def-
inition tool). The result depends on whether you are using the Tempo 
track or a fixed tempo.
• If you are using fixed tempo, you will be asked to confirm that you want to 
change this – click Yes to set the fixed tempo to the event’s original tempo.
• If you are using the Tempo track, but...