Steinberg WaveLab 3 Operation Manual

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As soon as you perform any kind of real-time processing on an audio file, 
the audio data will be treated at a much higher resolution (32 bit floating 
point), to allow for pristine audio quality. Examples of such processing in-
clude level adjustments, effects, mixing of two or more files, etc. In fact, 
the only time when a 16 bit file will be played back at 16 bit resolution is if 
you play it without any fades or effects, and with the Master Faders set to 
0.00 (no level...

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When to use the Bit Meter
• To check whether dithering is necessary or not.
As a rule, if you’re playing back or mixing down to 16 bits, and the Bit Meter shows that 
more than 16 bits are used, you should apply dithering.
• To see the “actual” resolution of an audio file.
For example, even though a file is in 24 bit format, only 16 bits may be used. Or, a 32 bit file 
may only use 24 bits (in this case, the “below” segment would not be lit). For this purpose, 
the Bit Meter is...

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Oscilloscope
The Oscilloscope is a “microscope” version of the level meter, showing 
the area around the cursor position at large magnification.
The Oscilloscope cannot be used in “Analyse Selection” mode.
If you are analysing stereo audio, the Oscilloscope will normally show the 
separate levels of the two channels. However, if you activate the option 
“Show Mix and Subtraction” on the Options pop-up menu (or click the +/– 
icon) the upper half of the Oscilloscope will show the...

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Waveform Scope
This meter displays a real time waveform drawing of the audio signal being 
monitored. It can be useful when recording or rendering a file (if “Monitor 
File rendering” mode is active – see “Monitor file rendering” on page 157).
Making settings
Selecting “Settings” from the Options pop-up menu (or clicking the “tool” 
icon) will open the Waveform Scope settings dialog. Here you can set 
various color options for the background, grid and waveform display, as 
well...

9
Off-line processing 

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Introduction
When we refer to off-line processing, we mean functions that “perma-
nently” alter the file, to make it sound more or less different. This is in 
opposition to “real-time processing”, which makes the file play back dif-
ferently, without making any permanent changes to it. Real-time pro-
cessing is described in the next chapter.
Applying processing
Processing can be applied to a selection or to a whole file. For certain 
processing operations processing...

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Getting the most out of the non-modal dialogs
The processing dialogs are non-modal, which means they stay on screen 
even after the processing has been applied. This, together with the Undo 
allows you to try different types of processing without ever leaving the di-
alog (or even stopping playback!):
•When the dialog is still the active window you can use the computer key-
board for the following operations:
•While the dialog is still open (but inactive) you can...

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Level Normalizer
This allows you to change the amplitude (volume) of the selection. The 
value is always related to the maximum level that can be obtained.
The controls
To find out exactly what each control in the dialog does, click the question 
mark icon in the dialog.
Gain Change
This also allows you to change the amplitude (volume) of the selection, just 
like the Level Normalizer. The difference here is that the gain change is set 
in absolute numbers, plus/minus...

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Clipping
This processor lets you do something that most other functions in Wave-
Lab never do: introduce clipping.
Clipping is when the gain is raised to a point where distortion is added. 
While this is normally not wanted, mild clipping in for example the attack 
of a drum sound can add some “punch”.
If you try to raise the level of a 
wave above 0dB (100%)…
…it will get distorted (the 
peaks are “clipped”).   

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Loudness Normalizer
This processing tool allows you to specify the loudness of a file. Because 
it relates to loudness as opposed to maximum peak level, this tool works 
quite differently than the Level Normalizer. A typical application is to spec-
ify a level, e.g. -12dB, and the Loudness Normalizer will process the loud-
ness to match this level.
Like Gain Change, increasing the loudness to a certain value might intro-
duce clipping, which is to be avoided. To remedy...