Steinberg WaveLab 3 Operation Manual

WAVELAB
Using samplers and creating loops 28 – 671
Using the Crossfade Looper
What is the Crossfade Looper?
The Crossfade Looper is a special tool for creating “seamless” loops. It 
allows you to “nudge” the loop points while at the same time providing vi-
sual feedback of the “join” between the start and end point.
The Crossfade Looper can also automatically find loop points for you, by 
scanning the area of the waveform that is in the current loop points’ vicin-
ity. You can specify parameters for how...

WAVELAB
28 – 672 Using samplers and creating loops
Moving the loop points “manually”
Let’s assume you have set up a basic loop that you are happy with, except 
for glitches or “bumps” at the turning point. You can then use the Cross-
fade Looper to move the points manually, in small steps, to eliminate the 
glitch.
This is actually technically no different from moving the loop points in the 
wave display, but the features of this dialog makes it much easier to find 
good loop points, since the display...

WAVELAB
Using samplers and creating loops 28 – 673
Using the auto-find feature
If desired, you can have the program search for good loop points auto-
matically. This is technically no different from adjusting the loop points 
yourself, only that the program uses pattern matching algorithms to sug-
gest loop points for you.
Let’s say that you want to let the program find a better start point for the 
loop. You first set up a start and end loop marker, to get a basic loop, as 
described above. You then...

WAVELAB
28 – 674 Using samplers and creating loops
Searching
1.Set up the search parameters.
2.Click on one of the buttons in between the “nudge” buttons.
Each time you click, the program scans from the current point (forwards or backwards, de-
pending on which button you clicked) until it finds a point that matches. It then stops. If you 
wish you can stop at any time by clicking the right mouse button, by using the Stop button 
on the status bar or by hitting [Esc]. The program will then jump back to...

WAVELAB
Using samplers and creating loops 28 – 675
To recall a stored candidate, select “Restore candidate” from the pop-up 
menu, and then select the desired memory location from the submenu. 
The points are now recalled and the loop points in the wave are moved to 
the positions stored in the memory location.
• To compare several candidates, you can for example have playback going, 
select them one after the other, and listen to the difference.
Once you have found your candidate, you can select OK to...

WAVELAB
28 – 676 Using samplers and creating loops
Setting up
1.While still at the “Loop points” tab (in the Crossfade Looper dialog), try to 
create as good a loop as you can.
2.Click on the Crossfade tab.
3.Make sure the Crossfade check box is activated.
There is a corresponding check box on the Post-Crossfade tab. This lets you choose if reg-
ular crossfading and/or post-crossfading will be performed when you click Apply later.
The Crossfade tab with crossfading activated.
4.Decide on a length for the...

WAVELAB
Using samplers and creating loops 28 – 677
Applying and checking the crossfade
When you click Apply, the sound is processed. If you have playback go-
ing, repeating the loop you will hear the change take effect after a short 
while.
• You can check the crossfade visually by opening the “Loop points” tab and 
activating “Display processed signal” on the options pop-up menu.
When this is activated, the display will show the waveform as it looks when crossfaded. 
When the option is deactivated, the...

WAVELAB
28 – 678 Using samplers and creating loops
If you intend to use the sound in your sampler in such a way that the area 
after the loop is never played, you don’t need to worry about this feature at 
all! Some samplers don’t even allow you to play the area after the loop. 
However, if you do intend to use the area after the loop it is very important 
to have post-crossfade activated!
The post-crossfade looks at the part of the waveform that occurs just af-
ter the loop start and processes a certain...

WAVELAB
Using samplers and creating loops 28 – 679
Using the Loop Tone Equalizer
The Loop Tone Equalizer is a function for looping those un-loopable 
sounds, for example sounds that constantly decay in level or continuously 
change in timbre. The Loop Tone Equalizer applies drastic processing to 
the sound that evens out changes in level and timbral characteristics, be-
fore and during the loop.
It does this by using one of the following two methods:
•Slice mixing
A number of slices is specified for the...

WAVELAB
28 – 680 Using samplers and creating loops
To use the Loop Tone Equalizer, proceed as follows:
1.Set up a basic loop of the length you desire.
This will probably not be a very good loop. If it was you wouldn’t need to use the Loop Tone 
Equalizer.
2.Select Loop Tone Equalizer from the Sampling menu and click on the 
Loop Tone Equalizer tab.
3.Make sure that either slice mixing or chorus smoothing is activated and 
make the desired settings.
For slice mixing, you need to determine the number of...