Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Operation Manual
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CUBASE SX/SLFile handling32 – 751 Importing audio CD tracks You can import audio from audio CDs, for use in Cubase SX/SL projects. This is done by selecting “Import Audio CD” from the Pool menu (or by selecting the “Audio CD…” option from the Import sub- menu on the File menu). •If the project window is active, the imported audio CD track(s) will be inserted on the selected audio track, at the project cursor position. It is also possible to import audio CD tracks into the Pool, which may be the preferred method if you want to import several CD tracks in one go. Selecting one of the Import Audio CD menu items brings up the fol- lowing dialog: •If you have more than one CD drive, you use the Drives pop-up menu to select the one holding the audio CD. •The Speeds pop-up menu (Windows version only) lists all possible data transfer speeds for the selected CD drive. While you normally want to use the fastest possible speed, you may have to select a slower speed for flawless audio extraction.
CUBASE SX/SL32 – 752 File handling •The main display in the dialog lists all audio tracks on the CD. The columns have the following functionality: •You can audition the selected audio CD track by clicking the Play button. The track will be played back from the grab selection start (see below) to the track end (or until you click the button again). During playback, the button is labeled “Stop”. •The arrow buttons next to the Play button allow you to audition the start and end of the grab selection only. The left button will play a short snippet beginning at the start of the grab selection (see below), while the right button will play a snippet starting just before the end of the grab selection. •If you want to import a section of an audio CD track only, you select the track in the list and specify the start and end of the grab selection by dragging the handles in the grab selection ruler. Use the start and end audition buttons to fine tune the selection boundaries. Column Description Grab Activate the checkbox in this column for the track you want to grab (im- port). To activate more than one checkbox (import more than one track), click and drag over the checkboxes (or press [Ctrl]/[Command] or [Shift] and click). Track When you import an audio CD track, the file will be named according to the name in this column. You can rename a track by clicking in the Track column and typing a new name. You can also apply a name to all audio CD tracks (e.g. the name of the album, see below). Length The length of the whole audio CD track, in minutes and seconds. Size The file size of the whole audio CD track, in MegaBytes. Grab Start You can grab a section of a track if you like. This indicates the start of the section to be grabbed in the track. By default, this is set to the start of the track (0.000) but you can adjust this on the grab selection ruler (see below). Grab End Indicates the end of the section to be grabbed in the track. By default, this is set to the end of the track but you can adjust this on the grab selection ruler (see below).
CUBASE SX/SLFile handling32 – 753 Note that you can import sections of several audio CD tracks by se- lecting them in turn and adjusting the grab selection. The grab start and end settings for each track will appear in the list. •If you wish, you can change the generic audio file name in the File Name field. By default, the imported audio files will get this name with a track number added (typi- cally Track 01, Track 02, and so on). However, if you have adjusted the track name for a specific audio CD track in the list, the corresponding audio file will use that name instead. •By default, imported audio CD tracks will be stored as Wave files (Win- dows) or AIFF files (Mac) in the Audio folder of the current project. You can select another folder by clicking the Change Folder button. •Clicking the Grab button will convert the selected audio CD tracks (the tracks for which the Grab checkbox is ticked) to audio files. The grabbed files will be listed at the bottom of the dialog – click OK to actually import the files into the project and close the dialog, or click Cancel to discard the grabbed files. Importing Audio from Video files While you can automatically extract the audio when importing a video file (see page 720), it is also possible to import the audio from a video file without importing the video itself: 1.Pull down the File menu and select “Audio from Videofile” from the Import submenu. 2.In the file dialog that appears, locate and select the video file and click Open. The audio in the selected video file is extracted and converted to a Wave file in the project’s Audio folder. •A new Clip is created and added to the Pool. If the Project Window is active, an Event will be inserted on the selected Track at the project Cursor position. This works just like when importing regular audio files.
CUBASE SX/SL32 – 754 File handling Importing ReCycle files ReCycle, developed by Propellerhead Software, is a program designed especially for working with sampled loops. By “slicing” a loop and mak- ing separate samples of each beat, ReCycle makes it possible to match the tempo of a loop and edit the loop as if it was built up of individual sounds. Cubase SX/SL can import two file types created by ReCycle: • REX files (export file format of the first versions of ReCycle, extension “.rex”). • REX 2 files (file format of ReCycle 2.0 and later, extension “.rx2”). Proceed as follows: 1.Select an audio track and move the project cursor to where you want the imported file to start. You probably want to import REX files to tempo based audio tracks, since this will allow you to change the tempo later on (having the imported REX file automatically adjust). 2.Select “Audio File…” from the Import submenu on the File menu. 3.Select REX files or REX 2 files with the file type pop-up menu in the file dialog. 4.Locate and select the file and click Open. The file is imported, and automatically adjusted to the current Cubase SX/SL tempo. Unlike a regular audio file, the imported REX file will consist of several events, one for each “slice” in the loop. The events will automatically be placed in an audio part on the selected track, and positioned so that the original internal timing of the loop is preserved. 5.If you now open the part in the Audio Part Editor, you can edit each slice separately by muting, moving and resizing events, adding effects and processing, etc. You can also adjust the tempo and have the REX file automatically follow (provided that its track is tempo based). • You can also achieve similar results by using Cubase SX/SL’s own loop slicing features. See page 444.
CUBASE SX/SLFile handling32 – 755 Importing compressed audio files During the last years, various audio compression formats have be- come very common. The major advantage of using such file formats is that the file size is significantly reduced, with very little degradation of sound quality. This allows for quick download, mass storage and easy transportation. Cubase SX/SL can import (and export, see page 659) several com- mon audio compression formats. The procedure is the same as when importing any non-compressed audio file, with one important thing to note: If you import a compressed audio file, Cubase SX/SL will create a copy of the file and convert this to Wave format (Windows) or AIFF format (Mac OS X) before importing it (the original compressed file will not be used in the project). The Wave/AIFF file will be placed in the designated project Audio folder. Please be aware that the converted Wave/AIFF file will be several times larger than the original compressed file! The following file types are supported: MPEG audio files MPEG, which stands for Moving Picture Experts Group, is the name of family of standards used for coding audio-visual information (e.g. movies, video, music) in a digital compressed format. Cubase SX can read three types of audio MPEG files: MPEG Layer 1 (file extension *.mpeg), MPEG Layer 2 (*.mp2) and MPEG Layer 3 (*.mp3). Cubase SL can read mp3 only. Currently, mp3 is the most common of these formats, while the mp2 format is mostly used in broadcast applications. • Note that the file extension “.mpeg” can also be used by MPEG video files. If you select an MPEG video file in the Import Audio dialog you will not be able to im- port it. Ogg Vorbis files Ogg Vorbis is a relatively new format that is open and patent-free and offers very small audio files maintaining comparatively high audio qual- ity. Ogg Vorbis files have the extension “.ogg”.
CUBASE SX/SL32 – 756 File handling Windows Media Audio files (Windows only) Windows Media Audio is an audio format developed by Microsoft Inc. Due to advanced audio compression algorithms, Windows Media Au- dio files can be made very small, maintaining good audio quality. The files have the extension “.wma”. Options and Settings Auto Save If you activate the Auto Save checkbox in the Preferences dialog (General page), Cubase SX/SL will automatically save backup copies of all open projects with unsaved changes. •You specify how often a backup copy should be created with the Auto Save Interval setting. •Backup copies are named “Name.bak”, where “Name” is the name of the project. The files are saved in the project folder. •Unsaved projects are also backed up in the same way. Backup copies of unsaved projects will be named “#UntitledX.bak” where “X” is an in- cremental number, to allow multiple backup copies in the same project folder.
CUBASE SX/SLFile handling32 – 757 Startup Options The “On Startup” pop-up menu in the Preferences dialog (General page) allows you to specify what should happen each time you launch Cubase SX/SL. The following options are available: Option Description Do NothingCubase SX/SL launches without opening a project. Open Last Project The last saved project is opened on launch. Open Default Project The default project is opened (see page 736). Show Open Dialog The Open dialog appears on launch, allowing you to manu- ally locate and open the desired project. Show Template Dialog The Template dialog appears on launch, allowing you to cre- ate a new project from one of the templates. Show Open Options DialogThe Open Document Options dialog appears on launch, see below. It allows you to make a different choice each time you launch Cubase SX/SL.
CUBASE SX/SL32 – 758 File handling Cubase SX/SL Open Document Options Dialog The Cubase SX/SL projects you have used recently are displayed in the list. To open one of them, select it and click the “Open Selection” but- ton. To open another project not listed there, click the “Open Other...” button. A file dialog appears that allows you to look for the desired file on your disk. Click the “New Project” button to create a new project us- ing a template or not. If you hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] while launching Cubase SX/SL this dialog will always be displayed, regardless of the startup option selected in the Preferences dialog (General page).
CUBASE SX/SL33 – 760 Customizing Background The user can customize the appearance and functionality of Cubase SX/SL in various ways. User configurable items described in this chapter are: •Workspaces By storing different window combinations as workspaces, you can quickly switch be- tween different working modes – see page 761. •Transport panel The user can configure which Transport panel items are to be shown or hidden, and where they should be located – see page 765. •Toolbars In the project window and all editor windows, the user can configure which toolbar items are to be shown or hidden, and where they should be located – see page 767. •Track list The controls shown in the Track list can be set for each track type – see page 769. •Preferences presets (Cubase SX only) You can save and recall preference settings as preference presets – see page 773. •Appearance The general look of the program can be adjusted – see page 775. This chapter also contains a section describing where your preferences and settings are stored (see page 777), to help you transfer your cus- tomized settings to another computer.