Steinberg Sequel 3 Operation Manual

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MixingAdding EQ
3.Open the Equalizer panel.
4.Play back a part on the Drums track so that you can hear your EQ changes.
The low band allows you to modify the low-frequency portion of the signal (bass), the 
middle band the mid frequencies, and the high band the high frequencies (treble).
•To adjust the frequency of a band, drag the corresponding frequency slider to the 
left or right.
The exact frequency range is displayed in the EQ settings display.
The middle EQ is a parametric EQ. You can adjust its frequency range by dragging 
the Resonance slider. Drag the slider to the right to widen the range and to the left to 
shorten it.
5.Adjust the EQ level by dragging the Gain sliders in the Low, Mid, or High section 
to the left or right.
•To bypass the EQ, click the Bypass button.
•You can reset any slider by [Ctrl]/[Command]-clicking it. You can also reset the 
EQ from the EQ Presets pop-up menu by clicking in the EQ Presets field and 
selecting “RESET”. 
						

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MixingAudio Effects
6.Experiment with the EQs on all your tracks.
•Listen to, and see the EQ changes by loading the project “Mixing 5” found in the 
“Sequel Tutorial 3” folder.
Audio Effects
•Load the project “Mixing 6” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 3” folder.
You will now add some effects to the project. In Sequel, there are three types of 
effects:
- Insert effects
- Send effects
- Output effects
For details on each effect and its parameters, see the chapter “Effects and 
Instruments Reference” on page 119.
You can also add effects to instrument parts. This is described in the section “Panels 
for Instrument Tracks” on page 83.
Insert Effects
Insert effects are inserted into the signal flow. To set up an inset effect, proceed as 
follows:
1.Select the Bass track.
2.Open the Track Inspector Page, and make sure that the Insert FX 1 panel is visible.
3.Begin playback and cycle (or loop) a section of music.
•Use the Compressor effect to smooth out the Bass track.
4.Adjust the Threshold slider until the bass sounds smoother and the difference 
between the notes that were played quieter versus the notes that were played a 
little louder gets smaller.
5.Raise the Channel Level setting to compensate for the reduction in gain that the 
compression has caused on the Bass track. 
						

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MixingAudio Effects
6.Add a flanger to the Synth track to make it stand out a little bit more. Select the 
Synth track in the Arrange Zone.
7.Open the first insert slot, and choose Flanger from the Modulation submenu.
8.Make changes to the effect manually, or select a preset from the Preset pop-up 
menu.
For details on each effect and its parameters, see the chapter “Effects and 
Instruments Reference” on page 119.
At the end of this section, you can load the next tutorial that contains all changes you 
have made.
Send Effects
•Load the project “Mixing 7” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 3” folder.
Each project can have two send effects.
1.Make sure you have the Track Inspector Page selected and open the Send Effects 
panels.
Reverb and StereoDelay are set as the default send effects. You can change them if 
you like, but remember you only have two slots that are used for all tracks.
Add some reverb to the drums:
2.Select the Drums track and make sure “Amount 1” is enabled. This sends the 
drums to the Reverb effect.
3.Move the “Amount 1” slider until you are satisfied with the sound.
For details on each effect and its parameters, see the chapter “Effects and 
Instruments Reference” on page 119.
Effect Preset 
menu
Send effect 1Send effect 2
Amount 1 
enabled 
						

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MixingAdding Automation
Output Effects
Output effects are like insert effects, but are applied to the Master channel. Open the 
“Output Effects” section by clicking the button in the lower right of the Multi Zone.
The Output Effects section features three assignable effects and a fixed Maximizer 
effect. The effects are controlled via sliders and a Bypass button.
•Use the Maximizer to raise the overall volume of the project.
1.Move the Optimize slider until the effect is at a suitable level.
2.You can bypass the effect by clicking the Bypass button.
For details on each effect and its parameters, see the chapter “Effects and 
Instruments Reference” on page 119.
Adding Automation
You can use an automation to adjust faders, pan, knobs, and effects automatically. 
This is very handy, especially when you have a lot of tracks in your project. Any 
changes you make are remembered and occur again automatically.
•Load the project “Mixing 8” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 3” folder.
!Any automation you have created is always reproduced during playback, even if the 
automation data is not shown. If you do not want the automation to be reproduced, 
delete all automation data you recorded on your tracks. 
						

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MixingAdding Automation
Now, make the whole project fade out by changing the volume automation on the 
Master track.
1.Click the “Toggle Automation Mode” button in the Pilot Zone.
Edit mode is activated and the Master track is shown in the Arrange Zone.
2.Make sure that Volume is selected on the automation pop-up menu of the Master 
track.
3.Create two anchor points by clicking on the volume automation line – one at the 
beginning of the last bar and one at the end of the last bar.
•To delete an anchor point, select it and press [Delete] or [Backspace].
4.Drag the anchor point at the end of the project down until you cannot drag it any 
further.
5.Listen to the fade out automation you have created.
Toggle Automation Mode
ÖYou can also create automation during playback or recording, simply by moving a 
fader or knob. 
						

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MixingAdding Automation
Now, select a different parameter to automate. In this case, use the Panner on the 
Synth track.
1.Make sure that the “Toggle Automation Mode” button is set to Edit mode.
2.From the automation pop-up menu on the Synth track, select “Panner - Left-Right” 
so that you can see how the automation is written to the track.
3.Press [Space] to start playback, click in the panner value field, and drag up and 
down to pan the signal left or right.
4.Stop playback when you are done.
Editing Automation Data
By creating a selection range on an automation track, the automation editor becomes 
available. This editor offers additional controls for editing selection ranges. These 
controls are identical with the so-called smart spots in the controller lane editor. For a 
detailed description, see 
“Working with Selection Ranges on the Controller Lane” on 
page 35.
Removing and Disabling Automation
To remove and disable automation, you have the following possibilities:
•To remove the track automation for the current parameter, select the first option 
from the lower part of the automation pop-up menu (for example, “Remove Volume 
Automation”).
Note that this also deletes any automation events for this parameter.
•To remove all automation data from the selected track, select “Remove all 
Automation of Track” from the automation pop-up menu.
•To remove all effect automation data from the selected track, select “Remove 
Effect Automation” from the automation pop-up menu.
•To remove all EQ automation data from the selected track, select “Remove EQ 
Automation” from the automation pop-up menu.
•To enable/disable the master automation, click the “Disable Automation” button on 
the master track or in the Master channel of the mixer. 
The Read and Write functions as well as all automation on the Master track are 
disabled. The initial automation value is used as a fixed value for the whole project. 
You can still modify this value using the master automation controls in the track list. 
If you deactivate the button, the master automation is enabled again.
ÖSequel automatically smoothes out the automation. 
						

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MixingExporting
Exporting
Now that you have your project mixed, you can export it so that you can send it to 
others, burn it to a CD, or listen to it on your iPod.
•Load the project “Mixing 9” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 3” folder.
Exporting Audio Files
1.To export your project in a different format, open the Project menu and select 
“Export Project as Audio File”. 
2.A dialog opens, where you can choose an export location and a file name. Click in 
the field to the right, select a destination, and name the file “First Mixdown”.
Choosing the project folder is recommended so that your file is not erased or lost 
accidentally.
3.Use a bit depth of 16 bit, common for CD burning.
24 bit give a higher audio quality, but the file also uses up more hard-disk space.
4.When you are finished selecting all of your settings, click Export to begin exporting 
the file.
The progress bar along the bottom shows the progress.
•Load the project “Mixing 10” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 3” folder.
Exporting MP3 Files
Using advanced audio compression algorithms, MP3 files can be made very small, yet 
maintaining good audio quality.
Sequel provides a function for exporting your projects as MP3 files. This function is 
limited to 20 trial encodings or a period of 30 trial days from the installation date, 
whichever comes first. After this period, the function is disabled until you purchase the 
MP3 encoder for Sequel.
When the MP3 format is selected, and you click the Export button, a window opens 
showing you how many trial encodings you have left. You can upgrade to an unlimited 
MP3 export function by clicking the “Go to Online Shop” button in the dialog. This 
takes you to Steinberg’s online shop where you can purchase the upgrade. Note that 
a working internet connection is required.
ÖNormally you will save your exported file as a Wave file. This is the most universally 
compatible file type for audio. If the application you need the file for demands a 
different format, you can choose one from the pop-up menu. 
						

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MixingExporting
•In the Export Project as Audio File dialog, specify the export location and the file 
name in the corresponding fields, and activate/deactivate the following options for 
MP3 files:
Exporting to iTunes
•To export your project directly to iTunes, open the Project menu and select “Export 
Project to iTunes”.
Your project is exported from start to finish in the default file format of iTunes. iTunes 
is launched and your exported project is already part of your library for easy transfer to 
your iPod. In iTunes, the project name is shown as the title and your computer user 
name as artist name.
Audio Mixdown of Selected Tracks (Bouncing)
Sometimes it can become necessary to combine multiple tracks of a project into one 
or to convert CPU-hungry instrument tracks to audio. This is called bouncing tracks. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Activate solo on the tracks you want to bounce. Bypass any send or output effects. 
You can add them again later.
2.On the Project menu, select “Export Project as Audio File…” and specify a name 
and format.
3.Locate the created audio file and drag it into the open project onto the empty 
space below the last track. 
A new track is created containing the bounced file. You can now mute or delete 
the original tracks and adjust your mix. 
OptionDescription
Bit RateIn this field, you can select a bit rate for the MP3 file. As a rule, the 
higher the bit rate, the better the audio quality and the larger the file. 
For stereo audio, 128kBit/s is often considered to result in good 
audio quality.
Sample RateDetermines the frequency range of the audio – the lower the sample 
rate, the lower the highest audible frequency in the audio. 
High Quality ModeWhen activated, the encoder uses a different resampling mode, 
which can give better results depending on your settings. In this 
mode, you cannot specify the sample rate, but only the bit rate for 
the MP3 file.
Insert ID3 TagWhen you activate this option, the ID3 tags that you specified in the 
ID3 Tag dialog are included in the file.
Edit ID3 Tag 
button When you click this button, the ID3 Tag dialog opens, where you 
can enter information about the file. These text strings (tags) can be 
displayed in most MP3 playback applications.
ÖThis function is only available if iTunes is installed on your computer. 
						

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Live Pads and Chain Play Mode
Introduction
In this chapter, you will learn how to use Sequel to make live performances fun and 
easy. 
The following sections make reference to tutorial projects, located in the default 
Sequel project folder.
Performance Parts
•Load the project “Live Mode 1” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 4” folder.
In the following example you will use performance parts to separate intro, verse, 
chorus, and extro into different sections.
1.Activate the “Show Performance Track” button above the track list.
2.Activate the Draw tool above the track list and move the mouse over the Arrange 
Zone for the performance track. 
The mouse pointer turns into a pencil.
3.Click and drag to create a performance part from bar 1 to bar 5. 
4.Create three more parts from bar 5 to 13, 13 to 17, and 17 to 25.
The parts are labeled alphabetically. 
						

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Live Pads and Chain Play ModeLive Record Mode
Live Record Mode
•Load the project “Live Mode 2” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 4” folder.
If you want to create spontaneous performances, the live record mode allows you to 
create and record your performances on-the-fly. 
To record your performance, proceed as follows:
1.In the Multi Zone, open the Performance page and click the “Record Performance” 
button.
The record button starts blinking.
2.Open the “Define Jump Grid” pop-up menu, and select a grid resolution.
The grid resolution determines for how long the selected pad is played and when 
Sequel switches to the next pad. You can always change this during your 
performance.
3.Click a pad to start playback of the corresponding performance part.
The performance part in the Arrange Zone is played back and a new part is created 
on the performance timeline. The part is named after the performance part in the 
Arrange Zone, and its length is determined by the Jump Grid setting. If the recorded 
part on the timeline is longer than the original performance part in the Arrange Zone, 
the performance part is retriggered.
4.Click as many pads as you want.
5.Click the Stop pad. 
6.Start playback to listen to the new performance. 
Playback Mode
•Load the project “Live Mode 2” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 4” folder.
Playback mode allows you to click a pad at any time to play back the assigned 
performance part in a loop. The part is played back until you click another pad or hit 
stop. 
Proceed as follows:
1.In the Multi Zone, open the Performance Page.
2.Open the “Define Jump Grid” pop-up menu, and select the End option.
The grid resolution determines for how long the selected pad is played and when 
Sequel switches to the next pad. 
3.Click pad A to play back the intro in a loop.
Pad A is highlighted, indicating that this pad is currently playing back or active.
4.Click pad B to play back the verse in a loop.
Pad B starts flashing, indicating that this pad is next in line to be played back.