Steinberg Sequel 2 Operation Manual

							51
The Arrange Zone
Show/Hide Track Pictures
When you activate this button, the track list will be ex-
panded to the right to make room for the Track Pictures. 
These are set up on the Track Inspector Page in the Multi 
Zone, see “The Pictures tab” on page 62. To hide the 
Track Picture section, click on the button again.
Resizing the Arrange Zone
The Arrange Zone can be resized by clicking on the di-
vider, i.e. the bar at the bottom of the Arrange Zone and 
dragging up or down.
The cursor will change letting you know when you can re-
size. If you want to reset the Arrange Zone to its default 
size, just double-click on the divider.
About tracks and track controls
There are two types of tracks in Sequel: audio tracks and 
instrument tracks. All of the tracks reside along the left hand 
side of the Arrange Zone. In the retail version of Sequel, 
there is no limit to the amount of tracks you can create.
Selecting tracks
You can select tracks by clicking on the track name. You 
can select multiple tracks at once by [Ctrl]/[Command]-
clicking on each track you wish to select.
Renaming tracks
You can rename tracks by double-clicking on the Track 
Name field and typing in the desired name.
Track numbering
Tracks are automatically numbered based on the order they 
are arranged in. You can rearrange tracks by clicking on the 
track name field, holding the mouse button pressed and 
dragging up or down.
When you move the track, the track number will change 
according to its new position in the track list.
Track height
In the lower left corner of the Arrange Zone track list are 
four buttons for controlling the track height.
The first button, “Minimal Tracks”, sets all tracks to 
“Small”. You can also use the key command [Shift]+[1].
Only the Mute button, the Track name and the Track meter will be visible.
The second button, “Normal Tracks”, sets all tracks to 
“Normal”. You can also use the key command [Shift]+[2].
The following controls become visible: Solo, Track Number, Color Selec-
tor, Volume, Record Ready, Freeze, Musical Keyboard Input Activity (in-
strument tracks only), Automatic Fades (audio tracks only) and the Panner.
The third button, “Large Tracks”, sets all tracks to 
“Large”. You can also use the key command [Shift]+[3].
The Automation pop-up (in Automation mode) and the Input Selection 
pop-up (audio tracks only) are displayed.
The forth button “Maximal Tracks” sets all tracks to max-
imal size. You can also use the key command [Shift]+[4].
The events on the track are displayed in maximum size.
Click here to resize the Arrange Zone.
Track nameTrack number
Track height 
buttons 
						

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The Arrange Zone
Track controls
Each track includes a set of track controls. These are de-
scribed next.
Mute
Mute will stop all output from any track that it is activated 
on.
To mute a track, you have the following possibilities:
Activate the “Mute” button.
Select the track you wish to mute and press [M] on your 
computer keyboard.
Solo
Solo will stop all output from any track other than the one 
with Solo activated on it.
To solo a track, you have the following possibilities:
Activate the “Solo” button.
Select the track you wish to solo and press [S] on your 
computer keyboard.
Record Ready
Record Ready will enable recording on the respective 
track. You can record on up to 8 tracks at once.
To enable recording, you have the following possibilities:
Activate the Record Ready button.
Select the track you wish to record on and press [R] on 
your computer keyboard – this toggles Record Ready on 
and off.
Freezing Audio tracks 
Effect plug-ins (see “Effects reference” on page 99) can 
sometimes require a lot of processor power. If you are using 
a large number of track effects, you may eventually reach a 
point where the computer cannot play back the track prop-
erly (the Computer Overload indicator lights up, you get 
crackling sounds, etc.).
To remedy this, you can freeze the track by clicking the 
Freeze button in the Inspector.
The Freeze button is activated for this track.
The program now renders the output of the track, in-
cluding all track effects, to an audio file.
This file is placed in the Freeze folder within the project folder.
The frozen track is locked for editing in the Arrange 
Zone.
Frozen track effects cannot be edited, added or removed.
On playback, the rendered audio file is played back. 
You can still adjust the level and panning, make EQ set-
tings and adjust the Global and Output Effects.
After freezing, you hear the track play back as before but 
the track effects don’t have to be calculated in real time, 
easing the load on the computer processor. Typically, you 
would freeze a track when it’s finished and you don’t need 
to edit it anymore.
If you need to edit the events on a frozen track or make set-
tings for the track effects, you can unfreeze the track by 
clicking the corresponding Freeze button again. This reacti-
vates the frozen track effects and the freeze files will disap-
pear. After editing you can freeze the track again.
Freezing instrument tracks
Instrument track presets may require a lot of processor 
power. If you are using a moderately powerful computer or 
if you are using a large number of instrument tracks, you 
may come to a point where your computer cannot handle 
all instrument tracks playing back in real time (the Com-
!Click on the button “Large Tracks” to display all 
available track controls.
Mute
SoloRecord Ready 
						

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The Arrange Zone
puter Overload indicator lights up, you get crackling 
sounds, etc.). In this case you should consider freezing the 
instrument track. This is also useful for sounds that use a 
lot of RAM, e.g. for pre-loading samples. By freezing the 
instrument track, the RAM becomes available for other 
processes or plug-ins, etc.
This is how it works:
When you freeze an instrument track, the program ren-
ders an audio file of the instrument track output (taking into 
account all unmuted instrument parts on that track). This 
file is placed in the “Freeze” folder within the Project folder.
The frozen instrument track is locked for editing in the 
Arrange Zone.
Frozen instrument settings and track effects cannot be edited, added or 
or removed.
When you start playback, the rendered audio file is 
played back from an “invisible” audio track, routed to the 
instrument track’s mixer channel. Thus, any effects, EQ or 
mixing automation will still be applied.
The result of the Freeze is that you get exactly the same 
sound as before, but the computer doesn’t have to calcu-
late the sound of the instrument track in real time.
The instrument track freeze function is available in the 
track controls section.
1.Set up the instrument track so that it plays back the 
way you want it to.
This includes making parameter settings in the Instrument tab of the 
Track Inspector Page.
2.Click the Freeze button in the track controls section.
You will still be able to edit, replace or remove event effects on the In-
strument track channel after the Freeze, but you will not be able to 
change the settings on the Instrument tab.
3.A progress dialog is shown while the program renders 
the Instrument track to an audio file on your hard disk.
The Freeze button lights up and the instrument parts on the frozen track 
are locked and cannot be moved.
4.Play back the project.
You will hear exactly the same sound as before freezing the instrument 
track – but the CPU load will be considerably less! 
Any track effects and instrument settings for the Instru-
ment track are frozen. However, you can always adjust 
Global and Output Effects, level, pan, and EQ for frozen 
Instrument tracks.
If you need to make adjustments (either to the Instrument 
tracks or to the Instrument settings on the Instrument tab in 
the Track Inspector Page) you need to unfreeze the instru-
ment track by clicking the Freeze button again. The instru-
ment track and the Instrument settings are restored and the 
rendered “freeze file” is deleted.
Color Selector
You can change the track color by clicking on the Color 
Selector button and choosing a color from the Color pal-
ette that appears. All events and parts on that track will 
change their color accordingly. Note that you can also 
change the color on the Mixer Page, see “Setting the 
color” on page 61. 
						

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The Arrange Zone
Automatic Fades (audio tracks only)
Found next to the Freeze button, the “Automatic Fades” 
button applies a short fade to the edges of all the events in 
the track.
ÖThis button is only visible when the corresponding au-
dio track is selected.
This is useful for eliminating pops or clicks that can occur 
when playing over event boundaries.
Musical Keyboard Input Activity (Instrument tracks only)
The indicator lights up upon any input activities of con-
nected USB/MIDI keyboards including controller activi-
ties. It also lights up when you play the Virtual Keyboard, 
see “The Virtual Keyboard” on page 48.
Track volume and pan
The track output volume and pan can be controlled directly 
on the track itself. When your mouse is positioned over the 
volume or pan control, the respective values will be shown 
to the left.
To adjust volume or pan
Click and hold and drag left or right to adjust the volume 
or pan.
Double-click on the volume or pan values and enter a 
new value – for volume the range is from 0 to 120, for pan 
the range is from -100 to 100. Negative values represent 
left values and positive values represent right values. You 
can also enter L for all left, C for center, or R for all right.
[Ctrl]/[Command]-click to set the volume to 100 or the 
pan to 0, which is C.
Input Selection (audio tracks only)
The Input Selection pop-up menu allows you to switch be-
tween the inputs on your audio interface. Click in the Input 
selection field to reveal the pop-up menu. All of the avail-
able inputs on your audio interface are shown here.
For more information on setting up your interface, see the 
chapter “Setting up your system” on page 88. 
Track meter
On the right hand side of the track controls you can find a 
meter. This is a visual representation of the output level of 
audio and instrument tracks.
The Automatic Fades Function is disabled.
The Automatic Fades Function is enabled.
The Musical Keyboard Input Activity
Track meterTrack panTrack volume 
						

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The Arrange Zone
Track Pictures
If the “Show Track Pictures” button is activated above the 
track list, and track pictures are assigned, they are dis-
played to the right of the track controls. Track pictures are 
set up on the Pictures tab of the Track Inspector Page, 
see “The Pictures tab” on page 62.
Track automation
Track automation allows you to make things such as vol-
ume, panning, and various other settings be adjusted au-
tomatically while the project is playing.
An example would be if you wanted the drums to be quieter 
at the start of the song and then get louder at the end. You 
can make Sequel do this automatically.
When the “Show Automation” button is activated in the 
Pilot Zone, you’ll notice that new track controls appear. 
These are the track automation controls.
Clicking on the control on the top will open a pop-up 
menu. Here you can choose which setting you would like 
to automate. You can automate multiple track settings, but 
you can only view one automation parameter at a time.ÖYou can only edit automation events if you activate the 
“Edit/Write Automation” button in the Pilot Zone, see “The 
Automation buttons” on page 42 and “Adding automa-
tion” on page 31.
Note that the Master track is now visible at the bottom of 
the Arrange Zone and you can automate parameters there, 
too. One of the most popular parameters to automate is vol-
ume, for example to fade out at the end of a song.
ÖYou’ve been introduced to the automation features of 
Sequel. For more detailed information on creating and ed-
iting automation, see “Adding automation” on page 31.
Track automation controls
Automation pop-up menu
Master automation 
						

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The Arrange Zone
Timeline and grid
The timeline and grid serve as tools to help editing be 
more precise and to help lock events to time.
The resolution of the grid depends on how far zoomed in 
or out you are.
Zooming in the Arrange Zone
There are a couple of ways to zoom in and out in Sequel.
Click in the bottom half of the ruler, hold the mouse but-
ton and drag up to zoom out or down to zoom in.
Click the “+” or “-” buttons in the bottom right corner of 
the Arrange Zone. “+” zooms in and “-” zooms out.
Press the [H] key on your computer keyboard to zoom in 
and the [G] key to zoom out.
The Zoom Commands
To the right of the “+” and “-” buttons you can find the 
“Zoom Commands” pop-up menu with three quick zoom 
settings:
Scrolling
After you have zoomed in you will most likely want to use 
the scroll bars to get around.
The vertical scroll bar is located along the right side of the 
Arrange Zone. This will scroll your project up and down.
The horizontal scroll bar is located along the bottom of 
the Arrange Zone. This will scroll your project left and right.
You can also use your mouse wheel to scroll up and 
down or use [Shift]+Mouse wheel to scroll left and right.
TimelineGridAt this zoom level, we can split on 
quarter notes. If we zoom in, we can 
split on eights and sixteenths.
Zoom In
Zoom Out
Zoom Commands
Option Description
Zoom Full Zoom full will zoom out so that all of the events in the Ar-
range Zone are visible.
Zoom Part Zoom part will zoom in and center the event that you have 
selected in the Arrange Zone.
Zoom Last Zoom last will return you to the last zoom setting you used.
Horizontal scroll bar Vertical scroll bar 
						

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The Arrange Zone
Working with the Smart Tool
The events in Sequel have a bunch of functions built right 
on to them. When you hover your mouse over an event, 
the functions appear. We refer to this behavior as the 
Smart Tool.
Changing the event name
Along the top is the event name. To change the name, 
double-click on it and type in the new name.
Muting events
In the top right corner there are two lines that look like a 
pause button. Clicking this will mute the event. The event 
will turn gray. Click again to unmute.
Repeating events
Just below the Mute button is the repeat handle. Click and 
hold, and drag to the right to create multiple copies of the 
selected event.
Click and hold the repeat handle on the event.While clicking and holding, drag to repeat the event.
When you let go of the mouse button the event will be repeated.
Resizing events
In the bottom left and right corners are handles for length-
ening or shortening the event. Click and hold either one of 
them and drag left or right to lengthen or shorten the event.
When you are resizing an event, the tool tip beside the cursor displays 
the bar position and length of the event.
You can’t make an event any longer than it was when it 
was first created.
Click here to 
mute the event.
Repeat button
Resize event handles 
						

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The Arrange Zone
Splitting events
Also notice the line going across the bottom of the event. 
When you hover the mouse over it, it changes to the Split 
tool. Just click to split the event.
Position the mouse over the line to get the Split tool
Two events after using the Split tool 
						

							9
The Multi Zone 
						

							60
The Multi Zone
Introduction
The Multi Zone is where all of your project’s mixing, effects 
processing and advanced editing will take place. The Multi 
Zone includes a media browser for finding all of the audio 
and MIDI loops and an Arranger Page for taking your 
project out to the world to play live. This is also where you 
will find all of the program preferences.
There are six buttons along the left-hand side of the Multi 
Zone. Only one button can be activated at a time. The 
Multi Zone changes depending on which button is acti-
vated. To activate a button, simply click on it.
Resizing the Multi Zone
The Multi Zone can be resized by clicking on the bar at the 
top of the Multi Zone and dragging up or down.Note that you can completely hide the Multi Zone by 
clicking the button in the middle of the lower edge of the 
Sequel program window. Click the button a second time to 
show the Multi Zone again. You can also press [E] on your 
computer keyboard to hide or show the Multi Zone.
The Mixer Page
The Mixer Page is where most of the mixing in Sequel will 
take place. The Multi Zone becomes a horizontal track 
mixer when the Mixer Page is activated. Any track that you 
have created in the project will be represented here.
Mixer Page
Track Inspector Page
MediaBay Page
Editor Page
Arranger Page
Program Settings Page
Click here to resize the Multi Zone.