Steinberg WaveLab 3 Operation Manual

WAVELAB
Editing in the Wave window 6 – 81
For example, to check the peaks of the waveform in great detail, zoom in 
and scroll all the way up and down.
Using the zoom controls
Both the Main view and the Overview have horizontal and vertical zoom 
controls. These behave just like scroll bars:
• You can drag the handle to any position.
• You can click anywhere on the scale to move the handle there.
• You can click on the arrows at either end to change the zoom factor in smaller 
steps.
Either way, the zoom...

WAVELAB
6 – 82 Editing in the Wave window
Selecting the tool
The Magnifying Glass tool can of course be selected from the tool box, 
but there are two other options:
• When you hold down [Ctrl] and move the pointer over the Main view, the Magni-
fying Glass is automatically selected.
This is just a momentary selection. As soon as you release [Ctrl] you get the previous tool 
back.
• When you move the pointer over the overview, it turns into the Magnifying Glass 
automatically.
Using the tool in the Main...

WAVELAB
Editing in the Wave window 6 – 83
Using the tool in the Overview
The Magnifying Glass can be used in the Overview, just as in the Main 
view. However, even though you use the tool in the Overview, it is the 
Main view that gets zoomed.
You can for example use this as follows: keep the Overview zoomed out 
all the way and use the Magnifying Glass tool to display any section in the 
Main view.
Mouse zooming
Using the mouse, you can continuously change the zoom factor by drag-
ging:
1.Position the...

WAVELAB
6 – 84 Editing in the Wave window
Using a wheel mouse
• If you hold down [Ctrl] and point at a waveform, the wheel zooms the view hori-
zontally.
• If you hold down [Ctrl] and [Shift] and point at a waveform, the wheel zooms the 
view vertically.
Using the Zoom menu
The Zoom submenu can be invoked from two places:
• From the main view menu.
• By clicking on the Zoom factor on the status bar.
It provides the following options:
Using the keyboard
A quick way to zoom the active Wave window is to use...

WAVELAB
Editing in the Wave window 6 – 85
Using auto zoom for Overview
This setting, found on the Preferences–Wave edit tab, allows you to have 
the zoom factor automatically adjusted, so that it always shows the entire 
wave. 
1.Activate “Auto zoom for overview” in the Preferences dialog.
2.Zoom out on the overview so that you see the entire wave.
Now, when you resize the window, the overview zoom factor is automatically adjusted so 
that the entire wave is always shown. If you then zoom in on the...

WAVELAB
6 – 86 Editing in the Wave window
Navigating through the file
There are several ways to move the view to a certain position in the file:
Scroll bars
This is the most evident option. These work exactly as in any other Win-
dows program. Please note that the waveform scrolls while you drag the 
scroll bar handle.
Furthermore, WaveLab uses proportional scroll bars, that is, the size of 
the handle shows you how much of the entire document you see. To get a 
feeling for how this works, drag the...

WAVELAB
Editing in the Wave window 6 – 87
Clicking on the status bar
If you click on the cursor position on the status bar, the view is scrolled so 
that the wave cursor becomes visible.
If you right-click instead, a dialog appears to let you specify a certain time 
position to scroll the view to.
Using a wheel mouse
If you move the wheel down the scroll bar will move forward and vice 
versa. You can also hold down the wheel and drag the view in either 
horizontal direction.
Snapshots
Snapshots store the...

WAVELAB
6 – 88 Editing in the Wave window
Setting the ruler start position
Normally, the ruler is set so that the beginning of the file represents posi-
tion “0”. However, for editing purposes you may want to set the “0” posi-
tion at some other point in the file. The picture sequence below shows 
you how to do this:
1. Set the wave cursor where you want the “0” position.
2. Right-click the ruler to 
bring up this pop-up menu.
The ruler start position 
is moved.
3. Select “Set 
origin at cursor”.   

WAVELAB
Editing in the Wave window 6 – 89
Working with a meter based display
If the material on which you are working is tempo based, and you know 
the tempo, you can make the ruler show positions in meter format (bars, 
beats and ticks), to make it easier to find musically related cutting points:
1.Select Meter for the ruler time format, see “Units of time and level” on 
page 61.
2.Open the Preferences–Wave edit tab.
3.Set the Time Signature and Tempo to match the file.
4.Set the “Ticks per quarter...

WAVELAB
6 – 90 Editing in the Wave window
• By using the Cursor keys:
• By using markers
Markers allow you to pre-define positions and move the cursor there, see “What are mark-
ers for?” on page 328.
Using magnetization
If you have “Magnetize bounds” on the Options menu activated and drag 
the cursor on the time ruler, it will “snap” to the following positions:
• The start and end of the entire wave.
• The start and end of the selection.
• Markers (see “What are markers for?” on page 328).
Using “Snap...