Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Operation Manual

							CUBASE SX/SLThe Sample Editor 17 – 391
•You can move the blue rectangle in the thumbnail to view other sections 
of the clip.
Click in the lower half of the rectangle and drag it to the left or right to move it.
•You can resize the blue rectangle (by dragging its left or right edge) to 
zoom in or out, horizontally.
•You can define a new viewing area by clicking in the upper half of the 
overview and dragging a rectangle with the pointer.
The ruler
The Sample Editor ruler is located between the thumbnail and the 
waveform display. It shows the timeline in the display format specified 
in the Project Setup dialog (see page 105). If you like, you can select 
an independent display format for the ruler by clicking on the arrow 
button to the right of it and selecting an option from the pop-up menu 
that appears (this affects the values in the info line too). For a list of 
the display format options, see page 102.
The waveform display and the level scale
The waveform display shows the waveform image of the edited audio 
clip – in the style selected in the Preferences dialog (Event Display–
Audio page), see page 112. To the left of it, a level scale can be shown, 
indicating the amplitude of the audio. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL17 – 392 The Sample Editor
•When the level scale is shown, you can select whether the level should 
be shown as a percentage or in dB.
This is done by right-clicking the level scale and selecting an option from the pop-up 
menu that appears. This also allows you to hide the level scale.
•To display the level scale after hiding it, right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click 
(Mac) to bring up the Quick menu and activate “Level Scale” on the 
Elements submenu.
This submenu also allows you to select whether you want the zero axis and/or the half 
level axis indicated in the waveform display.
Half level axis Zero axis 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLThe Sample Editor 17 – 393
The info line
The info line at the bottom of the window shows information about the 
edited audio clip. You cannot edit the values on the info line.
•To hide or show the info line, click the Show Info button on the toolbar.
•Initially, length and position values are displayed in the format specified 
in the Project Setup dialog (see page 105), but you can change this 
by clicking in the middle field of the info line and selecting another dis-
play format from a pop-up menu.
This selection affects the Sample Editor ruler as well.
Audio format and length Current selection range
Selected display format (for info line and ruler) Number of edits made to clipZoom factor 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL17 – 394 The Sample Editor
Operations
Zooming
Zooming in the Sample Editor is done according to the standard 
zoom procedures, with the following special notes:
•The vertical zoom slider changes the vertical scale relative to the height 
of the editor window, in a way similar to the waveform zooming in the 
Project window (see page 107).
The vertical zoom will also be affected if you drag a rectangle with the Zoom tool and 
the option “Zoom Tool Standard Mode” (Preferences – Editing dialog) is deactivated.
•The following options relevant to the Sample Editor are available on 
the Zoom submenu on the Edit menu:
•You can also zoom by resizing the rectangle in the thumbnail display.
See page 390.
•The current zoom setting is shown in the info line, as a “samples per 
screen pixel” value.
•Note that you can zoom in horizontally to a scale with less than one 
sample per pixel! 
This is required for drawing with the Pencil tool (see page 405).
•If you have zoomed in to one sample per pixel or less, the appearance 
of the samples depend on the option “Interpolate Audio Images” in 
the Preferences dialog (Event Display–Audio page).
If the option is deactivated, single sample values are drawn as “steps”. If the option is 
activated they are interpolated to “curves” form.
Option Description
Zoom In Zooms in one step, centering on the position cursor.
Zoom Out Zooms out one step, centering on the position cursor.
Zoom Full Zooms out so that the whole clip is visible in the editor.
Zoom to Selection Zooms in so that the current selection fills the screen.
Zoom to Event Zooms in so that the editor shows the section of the clip corre-
sponding to the edited audio event. This is not available if you 
opened the Sample Editor from the Pool (in which case the 
whole clip is opened for editing, not an event).
Zoom In/Out Vertical This is the same as using the vertical zoom slider (see above). 
						

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Auditioning
While you can use the regular play commands to play back audio 
when the Sample Editor is open, it is often useful to listen to the ed-
ited material only. Below are two ways to do this.
• When auditioning in Cubase SX, audio will be routed directly to the 
Audition bus, see page 26.
• You can adjust the auditioning level with the miniature level fader on the 
toolbar.
By using the Speaker tool
If you click somewhere in the waveform display with the Speaker tool 
and keep the mouse button pressed, the clip will be played back from 
the position at which you clicked. Playback will continue until you re-
lease the mouse button.
By using the Play icon
Clicking the Play icon on the toolbar plays back the edited audio, ac-
cording to the following rules:
• If you have made a selection, this selection will be played back.
• If there is no selection, but the option “Show Event” is activated (see page 
406), the section of the clip corresponding to the event will be played back.
• If there is no selection, and “Show Event” is deactivated, the playback will 
start at the cursor position (if the cursor is outside the display, the whole clip 
is played back).
• If the Loop icon is activated, playback will continue repeatedly until you deacti-
vate the Play icon. Otherwise, the section will be played back once.
• Note that there is a separate Play button for auditioning Regions. See 
page 403. 
						

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Scrubbing
The Scrub tool allows you to locate positions in the audio by playing 
back, forwards or backwards, at any speed:
1.Select the Scrub tool.
2.Click in the waveform display and keep the mouse button pressed.
The project cursor is moved to the position at which you click.
3.Drag to the left or right.
The project cursor follows the mouse pointer and the audio is played back. The speed 
and pitch of the playback depends on how fast you move the pointer.
•You can adjust the response of the Scrub tool with the Scrub Re-
sponse (Speed) setting in the Preferences dialog (VST page).
There you will also find a separate Scrub Volume setting.  
						

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Adjusting the snap point
The snap point is a marker within an audio event (or clip – see below). 
This is used as a reference position when you are moving events with 
snap activated, so that the snap point is “magnetic” to whatever snap 
positions you have selected. 
By default, the snap point is set at the beginning of the audio event, but 
often it is useful to move the snap point to a “relevant” position in the 
event, such as a downbeat, etc.: 
1.Activate the “Audio Event” option so that the event is displayed in the 
editor.
2.Scroll so that the event is visible, and locate the “S” flag in the event.
If you haven’t adjusted this previously, it will be located at the beginning of the event.
3.Click on the “S” flag and drag it to the desired position.
When you drag the snap point, a tool tip shows its current position (in the position for-
mat selected on the Sample Editor ruler.
•Cubase SX only: If the Scrub tool is selected when you move the snap 
point, you will hear the audio while dragging (just like when scrubbing).
This makes it easier to find the correct position. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL17 – 398 The Sample Editor
You can also adjust the snap point by setting the project cursor:
1.Place the cursor at the desired position (intersecting the event).
You may want to do this by scrubbing, to spot the right position exactly.
2.Pull down the Audio menu and select “Snap Point To Cursor”.
The snap point will be set to the position of the cursor. This method can also be used 
in the Project window and the Audio Part Editor.
•It is also possible to define a snap point for a clip (for which there is no 
event yet).
To open a clip in the Sample Editor, double click it in the Pool (or drag it from the Pool 
to the Sample Editor). After having set the snap point using the procedure described 
above, you can insert the clip into the project from the Pool or the Sample Editor, tak-
ing the snap point position into account.
Making selections
To select an audio section in the Sample Editor, you click and drag 
with the Range Selection tool.
•If Snap to Zero Crossing is activated on the toolbar, the start and end 
of the selection will always be at zero crossings (see page 407).
•You can resize the selection by dragging its left and right edge or by 
[Shift]-clicking.
•The current selection is indicated to the right on the toolbar.
You can fine-tune the selection by changing these values numerically. Note that the 
values are relative to the start of the clip, rather than to the project timeline.
A selected range 
						

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Using the Select submenu
The Select submenu on the Edit menu contains the following selection 
functions:
Editing selection ranges
Selections in the Sample Editor can be manipulated in several ways. 
Please note:
•If you attempt to edit an event that is a shared copy (i.e. the event re-
fers to a clip that is used by other events in the project), you are asked 
whether you want to create a new version of the clip or not (if you ha-
ven’t made a “permanent” choice already – see below).
Select “New Version” if you want the editing to affect the selected event only. Select 
“Continue” if you want the editing to affect all shared copies. 
Note: If you activate the option “Do not show this message again” in the dialog, any 
and all further editing you do will conform to the selected method (“Continue” or “New 
Version”). You can change this setting at any time with the “On Processing Shared 
Clips” pop-up menu in the Preferences dialog (Editing – Audio page).
•Any changes to the clip will appear in the Offline Process History, 
making it possible to undo them at a later point (see page 377).
Function Description
All Selects the whole clip.
None Selects no audio (the selection length is set to “0”).
In Loop Selects all audio between the left and right locator.
From Start to Cursor Selects all audio between the clip start and the project cursor.
From Cursor to End Selects all audio between the project cursor and the end of the 
clip. For this to work, the project cursor must be within the clip 
boundaries.
Select Event Selects the audio that is included in the edited event only. This is 
not available if you opened the Sample Editor from the Pool (in 
which case the whole clip is opened for editing, not an event).
Left Selection Side 
to CursorMoves the left side of the current selection range to the project 
cursor position. For this to work, the cursor must be within the 
clip boundaries.
Right Selection Side 
to CursorMoves the right side of the current selection range to the project 
cursor position (or the end of the clip, if the cursor is to the right 
of the clip). 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL17 – 400 The Sample Editor
Cut, Copy and Paste
The Cut, Copy and Paste commands on the Edit menu work accord-
ing to the following rules:
•Selecting Copy copies the selection to the clipboard.
•Selecting Cut removes the selection from the clip and moves it to the 
clipboard.
The section to the right of the selection is moved to the left to fill out the gap.
•Selecting Paste copies the data on the clipboard into the clip.
If there is a selection in the editor, this will be replaced by the pasted data. If there is no 
selection (if the selection length is “0”), the pasted data will be inserted starting at the 
selection line. The section to the right of the line will be moved to make room for the 
pasted material.
The pasted data will be inserted at the selection line.
Insert Silence
Selecting “Insert Silence” from the Range submenu on the Edit menu 
will insert a silent section with the same length as the current selection, 
at the selection start. 
•The selection will not be replaced, but moved to the right to make room. 
If you want to replace the selection, use the “Silence” function instead (see page 369).