Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Operation Manual

CUBASE SX/SLWorking with the Tempo track 25 – 631
The Time Warp tool
The Time Warp tool lets you adjust the Tempo track so that “musical 
time based” material (positions related to the tempo) matches “linear 
time based” material (positions in time). Some typical applications:
• When you have recorded music (audio or MIDI) without tempo reference or 
metronome click – the Time Warp tool can be used for creating a tempo map 
that fits the recording (allowing you to rearrange or add sequenced material).
•...

CUBASE SX/SL25 – 632 Working with the Tempo track
Dragging the start of bar 9 to the start of the audio event.
While you are dragging, the track(s) you are editing are temporarily 
switched to linear time base – this means that the contents of the 
tracks remain at the same time positions regardless of the tempo 
(there is an exception to this in the Project window – see below).
4.When you release the mouse button the musical position you clicked 
on matches the time position you dragged it to.
This is...

CUBASE SX/SLWorking with the Tempo track 25 – 633
•When you click with the Time Warp tool, it snaps to the tempo grid in 
the window.
•When you drag the tempo grid to a new position, it can be magnetic 
to events in the window.
In the Project window, this requires that Snap is activated and “Events” is selected on 
the Snap pop-up menu – the grid will then snap to the start and end of events or parts, 
and to markers. In the Sample Editor, this requires that Snap to Zero Crossings is ac-
tivated – the...

CUBASE SX/SL25 – 634 Working with the Tempo track
Using the Time Warp tool in the Project window
In the Project window there are two modes for the Time Warp tool:
• In the default mode, all tracks are temporarily switched to linear time base 
when you use the tool. This means that all tracks will keep their absolute time 
positions when you adjust the tempo track.
• In the “musical events follow” mode, no tracks are switched to linear time 
base. This means that all tracks (that are not set to linear...

CUBASE SX/SLWorking with the Tempo track 25 – 635
3.Make sure the correct tracks are set to linear time base or musical 
time base, respectively.
In our example we want the video track and the audio track with a commentary voiceover 
to be linear time based (as well as the marker track, if you are using one). All other tracks 
should be set to musical time base. You change this by clicking the time base button in 
the Track list or Inspector.
4.Set up the Grid Type pop-up menu as desired.
When you click...

CUBASE SX/SL25 – 636 Working with the Tempo track
6.Click in the event display at the start of bar 33 and drag to the desired 
position in the video.
As mentioned above, this can mean dragging to a position indicated by the thumbnails 
on the video track, to a marker on the Marker track or to a time position on an additional 
ruler track (Cubase SX only).
When you drag, you will see the ruler being scaled – and the music 
tracks will follow.
7.Release the mouse button.
If you look in the ruler at the...

CUBASE SX/SLWorking with the Tempo track 25 – 637
You need to create a “lock point” – a tempo event at the first cue po-
sition:
9.Press [Shift] and click with the Time Warp tool in the event display at 
the cue position.
In our case this is bar 33.
As you can see, a tempo event (with the same value as the first one) is 
added at that position.
10.Now match the next musical cue to the next video position, by drag-
ging the musical position to the desired time position as before.
The new tempo event is...

CUBASE SX/SL25 – 638 Working with the Tempo track
Using the Time Warp tool in an audio editor
Using the Time Warp tool in the Sample Editor or Audio Part Editor is 
different from using it in the Project window, in the following ways:
• When you use the Time Warp tool, a tempo event is automatically inserted at 
the beginning of the edited event or part – this tempo event will be adjusted 
when you warp the tempo grid with the tool. This means that material before 
the edited events won’t be affected.
•...

CUBASE SX/SLWorking with the Tempo track 25 – 639
5.Press [Shift] and click in the event at the position of the first downbeat 
(the start of the bar).
When you press [Shift], the pointer turns into a pencil. Clicking adds a tempo event at 
the first downbeat – when you later adjust the tempo with the Time Warp tool, the first 
downbeat will stay in place. Note: if the event started exactly on the first downbeat (no 
audio before the “one”) you wouldn’t need to do this. This is because a tempo event is...

CUBASE SX/SL25 – 640 Working with the Tempo track
Now, if you simply adjusted that beat in the tempo grid to match the 
beat in the recording, the tempo event at the first downbeat would be 
changed – this would ruin the match in the previous bars! We need to 
lock these by inserting a new tempo event.
9.Locate the last beat that’s in sync.
This would be the beat just before the position where the audio and tempo drift apart.
10.Press [Shift] and click at that position to insert a tempo event there.
This...