Steinberg Sequel 3 Operation Manual

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RecordingRecording Audio
Activating the Metronome Click
To align your recording with the bars and beats displayed in the ruler, you can activate 
a click or metronome.
•Activate the Metronome button in the Pilot Zone.
•Adjust the metronome volume using the slider.
The metronome is automatically set to add a two-bar precount before recording starts.
You can now specify the project tempo in the Tempo field, see “The Tempo (TEMPO)” 
on page 64 for more information. This affects the speed of the metronome click. The 
default setting is 120 which means 120 BPM or beats per minute.
Adding a Drum Loop
Now, add some drums to the project.
Adding a drum loop to your project is also useful for supporting the metronome when 
you are recording bass or guitar.
1.Click the MediaBay button in the lower right corner of the Multi Zone.
2.In the MediaBay, click the “Show Filter” button to open the filter section.
3.Set the Category column to “Drum&Perc” and the Sub Category column to 
“Beats”.
4.In the Style column, select a style that suits the guitar line you want to record.
Click here to select a 
different input. 
						

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RecordingRecording Audio
5.Make sure the Preview button is activated and step through the list on the right 
until you find a suitable loop.
6.Drag the selected drum loop into the Arrange Zone and line it up with bar 1, just 
below the guitar track.
7.Click in the middle of the right edge of the event and drag to the right up to the 
beginning of bar 5 to make the loop 4 bars long.
8.Rename the track “Drums”.
Setting Levels
In this example, a guitar plays through an amplifier with a microphone in front of the 
amplifier’s speaker. This microphone is plugged directly into the Steinberg CI1 
microphone input. You have set the level so that you have enough volume without 
clipping.
1.Activate the Record Ready button to hear the guitar. 
You should see the audio coming in to the right of the track.
2.Do the best you can to send the maximum amount of volume to the audio inputs of 
your audio card before you hear any distortion. 
Most audio cards show some kind of level or volume indication.
ÖThe tempo of the project has changed to match the drum loop. When you drag a file 
into an empty project, its tempo defines the project tempo. Read more about defining 
or changing the project tempo in the section 
 on page 64. 
						

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RecordingRecording Audio
Tuning your Instrument
Sequel features a built-in tuner for tuning guitar or bass, for example.
1.Make sure the guitar track is selected and the Record Ready button is activated so 
that you hear the input.
2.Activate the Tuner in the Pilot Zone.
3.Pluck a string on your guitar or bass.
The Tuner automatically detects which string you are hitting as long as it is in fairly 
close proximity to the right tuning. The tuning indicator moves left or right. If it moves 
to the left, the string is flat. If it moves to the right, the string is sharp.
The Tuner also displays the current note and octave that your string is tuned to. 
4.Tune each of your instrument’s strings.
5.Deactivate the Tuner.
You are now ready to record!
Recording the Guitar
1.Click on the ruler at the position where you want the recording to start or click the 
“Jump to Previous Marker” and “Jump to Next Marker” buttons in the Pilot Zone.
This moves the project cursor to this position. 
2.Make sure the Cycle button is deactivated.
3.Activate the “Record Ready” button for the track you want to record on.
4.Click the Record button to record the guitar.
Two bars of precount are automatically added. This is indicated by a red cursor at 
the position where you start recording and a black cursor that jumps two bars back 
and advances towards the record position. This allows you to see the remaining 
count in time and the record start position at the same time. 
5.Press [Space] to stop recording.
Tuning indicator Note and octave
ÖThe red cursor is not shown if the record start position is set to the first bar. 
						

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RecordingRecording Audio
Playback
To listen to what you have just recorded, you have to play it back.
•Load the project “Playback” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 1” folder.
Starting Playback
To start playback, you have the following possibilities:
•Click the Play button.
•Press [Space] on your computer keyboard.
This toggles between start and stop.
•Press [Enter] on the numeric keypad.
•Double-click in the lower half of the ruler.
Stopping Playback
To stop playback, you have the following possibilities:
•Click the Play button during playback.
•Press [Space] on your computer keyboard. 
This toggles between start and stop.
•Press [0] on the numeric keypad.
Cycle Playback
In Sequel, you can also cycle (or loop) a section of your project. 
To draw in a cycle region, proceed as follows:
1.Click the button on the right of the ruler to activate “Snap to Grid”.
This makes it easier to create a precise region.
2.Position the mouse pointer over the top of the ruler, so that it turns into a Draw 
tool.
3.Click and drag from bar 3 to bar 4.
4.Activate the Cycle button.
5.Click the “Jump to Previous Marker” or “Jump to Next Marker” buttons until the 
project cursor is positioned at the beginning of the cycle (in this example, bar 3).
6.Start playback.
Sequel plays the cycle section over and over again until you stop playback. 
						

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RecordingRecording Audio
Recording Multiple Takes of your Audio
Sequel offers the possibility to record multiple takes of your performance. This allows 
for recording a section multiple times and then selecting the best take, or assembling 
a perfect take from the different takes. Proceed as follows:
1.Draw in a cycle region from bar 3 to 4, and set the project cursor to the beginning 
of the cycle. 
2.Activate the Cycle button.
3.Make sure that the “Record Ready” button for the track is activated, and click the 
Record button to start recording.
The project cursor jumps to a position 2 bars before the recording starts and 
Sequel repeats the cycle region over and over again.
4.Record as many takes as you like.
All takes are stacked in the cycle region.
5.Press [Space] to stop recording. 
Selecting a Take
When you play back what you have just recorded, you can only hear the take that is 
shown in the Arrange Zone. To select a different take for playback, proceed as follows:
1.Position the mouse pointer over the take and click the small triangle on the top left.
2.On the pop-up menu, select the take that you want to hear.
3.Listen to all your takes and select the one you like most.
4.To delete the other takes, select “Remove Overlaps” from the pop-up menu.
Assembling the Perfect Take
You can also combine segments of the recorded takes to assemble one perfect take. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Move the mouse pointer over the bottom of the take so that it turns into a Split tool.
2.Click at the positions where you want to split the takes. 
All stacked takes are cut at the same positions.
3.Select the segments that you want to include in the perfect take from the pop-up 
menu.
4.On the Edit menu, select the “Bounce Selection” command.
A new audio event that includes all segments is created and all the unused 
segments are removed. 
						

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RecordingRecording Instrument Parts
Recording Instrument Parts
In this section, you will learn how to record instrument parts on instrument tracks.
•Load the project called “Recording MIDI” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 1” folder.
Creating an Instrument Track
1.Click the “Add Track” button below the track list.
The Add Track dialog opens.
2.Select the Instrument option.
3.Use the Category filter and select a sound for your project, for example a Synth 
Pad sound.
4.Rename the track according to the type of sound.
Recording an Instrument Part
Now that you have a track and a sound, you can start recording. Recording instrument 
parts is very similar to recording audio events.
1.Activate the “Record Ready” button for the track and press a few keys on your 
MIDI keyboard. 
You should hear the MIDI signals and see data coming in to the right of the track.
2.Make sure the Cycle button is deactivated.
3.Click on the ruler at the position where you want the recording to start. 
This moves the project cursor to this position.
ÖSequel automatically finds and uses any MIDI devices that you have on your computer.
Ö 
						

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RecordingRecording Instrument Parts
4.Click the Record button to start recording.
5.Record 4 bars.
6.Press [Space].
7.Deactivate “Record Ready” so that you do not hear the input any more.
Congratulations! You have just recorded your first instrument part in Sequel.
8.Load the project “MIDI Playback” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 1” folder.
9.Set the project cursor to bar 1 and press [Space] to listen back.
Recording Multiple Takes of an Instrument Part
Basically, recording multiple takes of an instrument part is the same as multi-take 
audio recording, but there is one important difference. When it comes to MIDI multi-
take recording, you can choose between two recording methods:
You can select the recording method from the MIDI Recording pop-up menu on the 
Settings Page in the Multi Zone.
Recording 
methodDescription
TakeThis is the default mode where all recorded MIDI takes are stacked 
in the cycle region. As with audio takes, you can select the take that 
you like most or assemble a perfect take, see 
“Recording Multiple 
Takes of your Audio” on page 25. This is useful if you want to record 
different versions of an instrument part, for example a piano 
performance.
MixedIn this mode, all notes that you record during the cycles are recorded 
into the same instrument part. This is useful for drum recordings, for 
example. You can record the kick drum in the first cycle, the snare in 
the second cycle, and so on. 
						

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Editing
Introduction
In this chapter, the basic editing methods are described.
•The following sections make reference to tutorial projects, located in the default 
Sequel project folder.
Importing
You can import audio files, instrument sounds, pattern banks, or MIDI loops by simply 
dragging them from the MediaBay or your desktop and dropping them in the Arrange 
Zone.
Common Editing Functions
In this section, you will learn how to edit audio events. This includes renaming, resizing, 
splitting, moving, muting, copying, repeating, deleting, and creating a new file from 
selected audio events. You can also apply all these functions to instrument and beat 
pattern parts.
•Load the project “Event Operations” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 2” folder.
Renaming
Consistency in the naming of your audio files helps to keep your project clean and 
organized. Therefore, rename the audio event on the drum track “Drums”:
1.Double-click the name field on the event.
2.Type in “Drums” and press [Return].
The name changes to “Drums”. 
						

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EditingCommon Editing Functions
Resizing
In the bottom left and right corners of an event, the resize handles are shown. Click 
and hold either one of them and drag left or right to lengthen or shorten the event.
For this example, resize the Guitar and Synth events.
•Position the mouse pointer over one of the triangles at the lower left or right of the 
event. Click and adjust the Guitar and Synth events. 
When you resize an event, the tooltip beside the mouse pointer displays the bar 
position and length of the event.
Splitting
You can split an event at any given position or you can split them evenly at positions 
defined by the bars and beats position grid displayed in the Arrange Zone.
Splitting without Snap to Grid
Splitting without “Snap to Grid” allows you to cut the event anywhere you like.
1.Make sure that “Snap to Grid” is deactivated.
You can now split the event anywhere you like. 
2.Select the Synth event.
3.Point the mouse at the bottom of the event so that it turns into the Split tool.
4.Click anywhere along the bottom of the event to split it. Create as many splits as 
you like.
Resize handles
ÖAudio events cannot be made any longer than they were when they were created. 
						

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EditingCommon Editing Functions
5.Undo your actions by selecting “Undo Split” from the Edit menu.
Splitting with Snap to Grid
Having “Snap to Grid” activated allows you to split with precision, directly on bars or 
beats.
1.Make sure that “Snap to Grid” is activated.
2.Split the Drums event on the third beat of every bar.
If you cannot see beats in the grid, zoom in using the [H] key on your keyboard until 
you can see them.
3.Cut on bar 1 beat 3, bar 2 beat 3, bar 3 beat 3, and bar 4 beat 3.
4.Undo your actions by selecting “Undo Split” from the Edit menu. 
Moving
Now, move the events in the project so that all the events on all tracks line up with bar 2.
1.Make sure that “Snap to Grid” is activated.
2.Click and hold the mouse in an empty area of the Arrange Zone. Drag to create a 
selection of all the events.
When you release the mouse button, all events are selected.