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).
• When you are creating music for a movie and want to match certain positions 
in the video with certain positions in the music.
The Time Warp tool makes use of the fact that tracks can be based on 
time positions (linear time base) or positions related to tempo (musical 
time base) – see page 120 for a description of these modes.
Basic procedure
You use the Time Warp tool to drag a musical position (a position in 
bars+beats format) to a certain position in time. This can be done in 
the Project window or in editor windows, as described below. Here is 
the general procedure:
1.Make sure Tempo track mode is selected.
You cannot use the Time Warp tool in Fixed tempo mode.
2.Select the Time Warp tool.
Bars+Beats format is automatically selected for the ruler in the active window and 
the ruler is shown in dark red.
3.Click in the window at a musical position and drag it so that it matches 
a position in the material you are editing – e.g. the start of an event, a 
certain “hit” within an audio event, a frame in a video clip, etc.
When you click with the Time Warp tool it snaps to the grid in the window.  
						

							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 because the Time Warp tool changed the last tempo event on the Tempo track 
(and/or added new ones, depending on window and usage), thereby scaling the 
tempo track to fit.
Rules
•When you use the Time Warp tool, the tempo value of the last tempo 
event (before the click position) is adjusted.
•If later tempo events exist, a new tempo event will be created at the 
click position. This way, the later tempo event(s) will not be moved.
•If you press [Shift] and use the Time Warp tool, a new tempo event is 
created at the click position.
[Shift] is the default modifier for this – you can adjust this in the Preferences dialog 
(Editing-Tool Modifiers page, under the Warp Tool category).
•If you use the Time Warp tool in an editor, a tempo event will be cre-
ated at the start of the edited part or event. Only the track being ed-
ited will be affected – but note that events after the edited events or 
parts (on the edited track) will be affected as well.
•If you have made a selection range (in the Project window, Audio Part 
Editor or Sample Editor) and use the Time Warp tool within that 
range, the tempo changes will be confined to that range.
This means tempo events will be inserted at the start and end of the selection range, if 
needed – useful if you need to adjust the tempo within a certain area but want all ma-
terial outside that range to stay in place.  
						

							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 grid will then snap to hitpoints (if any). In the MIDI editors, this requires 
that Snap is activated – the grid will then snap to the start and end of notes.
•The function will create tempo values up to 300 bpm.
Viewing and adjusting tempo events
When you select the Time Warp tool, the ruler of the active window is 
shown in dark red. Existing tempo events are shown in the ruler as 
“flags” with the tempo values displayed.
This helps you see what’s going on, but you can also use this for edit-
ing the tempo track:
•If you press the create/erase modifier key (by default [Shift]) and click 
on a tempo event in the ruler, it is deleted.
•You can click on a tempo event in the ruler and drag to move it.
This automatically edits the tempo value in the event so that elements to the right keep 
their positions.
•If you press [Alt]/[Option] and move (or delete) a tempo event in the 
ruler, the tempo value is not adjusted – this means elements to the 
right will be moved.
This is the default modifier key for this – you can adjust this in the Preferences dialog 
(Editing-Tool Modifiers page, under the Warp Tool category). 
						

							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 time base) will follow 
the changes you make to the tempo track.
You select the Time Warp mode by selecting the tool, clicking on the 
tool icon and selecting from the pop-up menu that appears.
Matching a musical score to video
Here’s an example of how to use the Time Warp tool in “musical 
events follow” mode. Let’s say you are creating the music for a film. 
You have a video track, an audio track with a commentary and some 
audio and/or MIDI tracks with your music. Now you want to match the 
position of a musical cue to a position in a video film. The musical cue 
happens in bar 33. There are no tempo changes in the project (yet).
1.Make sure tempo track mode is selected in the Transport panel.
2.Now you need to locate the position in the video. If you don’t need 
very high precision, you can simply locate it looking at the thumbnails 
on the video track – otherwise you can pinpoint the exact position and 
add a marker to the Marker track (that you can snap to later on).
If you are using Cubase SX, you could also make a note of the exact position and add 
an extra ruler track set to show time code.  
						

							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 with the Time Warp tool, it snaps to the selected grid. In this case, the 
musical cue happens at the start of bar 33, so we can set the grid to “Bar”.
•Note that this affects the snapping to the ruler (tempo grid) when you 
click! In addition, the tool can be “magnetic” to events in the Project 
window when you drag – for this you need to activate Snap and se-
lect “Events” on the Snap pop-up menu. 
In our example, this would be useful if you created a marker at the desired position in 
the video – when you drag the grid (see below), it will snap to the marker.
5.Select the Time Warp tool and select the “musical events follow” mode.
Musical time base selected. Linear time base selected. 
						

							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 beginning of the project, you will see that the first (and 
only) tempo event has been adjusted.
8.Try playing back.
The musical cue should now happen at the correct position in the video.
OK, let’s say you need to match another cue to another position later 
on in the video. If you simply repeat this procedure, you will find that 
the first cue gets out of sync – since you are still changing the first 
(and only) tempo event on the Tempo track! 
						

							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 edited – the first tempo event is unaffected and the original 
cue is still matched.
•If you know you are going to match several cues this way, you should 
make it a habit to press [Shift] each time you use the Time Warp tool 
to match positions.
This adds a new tempo event – that way you don’t have to add tempo events after-
wards as in step 9 above.
About snapping
If Snap is activated in the Project window and “Events” is selected on 
the Snap pop-up menu, the Time Warp tool will be magnetic to events 
when you drag the tempo grid. This makes it easier to snap a tempo 
position to a marker, the start or end of an audio event, etc. 
						

							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.
• There is only one mode for the Time Warp tool in the audio editors: When you 
use the tool, the edited track is temporarily switched to linear time base.
Making a tempo map for a “free” recording
The following example shows how to use the Time Warp tool in the 
Sample Editor to create a tempo map matching freely recorded music. 
Let’s say you have recorded a drummer, playing without a metronome 
– this typically means the tempo varies ever so slightly. To be able to 
add sequenced material and easily rearrange the recorded audio, you 
want the tempo in Cubase SX/SL to match the recorded drum track:
1.If necessary, move the recorded event to its desired start position.
Move it so that the first downbeat (“one”) happens on the start of the desired bar – 
zoom in if needed.
2.Open the drum recording in the Sample Editor and make sure Hitpoint 
mode isn’t selected.
The Time Warp tool cannot be used in Hitpoint mode – however, if you have calculated 
hitpoints already these will be visible when the Time Warp tool is selected (see below).
3.Set the zoom so that you can see the individual drum hits clearly.
To achieve this type of “visual” beat matching, it’s important to have a fairly clean record-
ing, such as the drum track in this example.
4.Select the Time Warp tool.
You have already matched the first downbeat with the start of a bar. 
However, if the recording starts before the first downbeat (with a fill, 
some silence, etc.) you want to “lock” the first downbeat so that it 
stays in position: 
						

							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 
automatically added at the start of the edited event.
6.Now, locate the start of the next bar in the ruler. 
7.Click at that position in the event display and drag the position to the 
downbeat of the second bar in the recording.
When you click, the pointer will snap to the ruler grid.
You mustn’t necessarily match the downbeats (“ones”) – in this figure beat “2” in 
the second bar is matched to the “two” in the recording’s second bar (simply be-
cause the snare drum hits on the upbeats are easier to spot in the waveform image).
When you dragged the grid you changed the tempo value in the 
tempo event at the first downbeat. If the drummer held a fairly consis-
tent tempo, the following bars should now match pretty well too.
8.Check the following bars and locate the first position where the audio 
drifts from the tempo. 
						

							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 locks this matched position – the material to the left will not be affected when you 
make adjustments further along.
11.Now match the tempo grid to the next (unmatched) beat by clicking 
and dragging with the Time Warp tool.
The tempo event you inserted in step 10 will be adjusted.
12.Work your way through the recording this way – when you find that 
the recording drifts from the tempo, repeat steps 9 to 11 above.
Now the Tempo track follows the recording and you can add se-
quenced material, rearrange the recording etc.
Matching to hitpoints
If you have calculated hitpoints for the audio event you are editing, 
these will be shown when the Time Warp tool is selected.
• The number of hitpoints shown depends on the Hitpoint Sensitivity slider set-
ting you’ve made in Hitpoint mode.
• If you activate the Snap to Zero Crossing button on the toolbar, the Time 
Warp tool will snap to hitpoints when you drag the tempo grid.
• If you use the Create Markers function on the Audio-Advanced submenu, 
markers will be created at the hitpoint positions. This can be useful when us-
ing the Time Warp tool in the Project window, as the tool will be magnetic to 
markers (if Snap to Events is activated on the toolbar).