Steinberg WaveLab 3 Operation Manual

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Editing in the Wave window 6 – 131
Loudness envelope options
This dialog contains various options for the Loudness envelope display 
mode. Select “Loudness envelope options…” from the Display mode 
pop-up (only available when Loudness envelope is selected).   
						

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6 – 132 Editing in the Wave window
The dialog contains the following items:
Option Description
Time resolution This sets how many samples are used to compute the average loud-
ness (“RMS”). The longer the time set here, the more the loudness 
variations are evened out in the envelope. With shorter times, the en-
velope will be more sensitive to individual peaks.
Slow/Fast tracking “Slow tracking” takes into account more samples than the “Time res-
olution” setting, but the “older” the samples, the less they contribute 
to the average loudness calculation. This will produce a more evened 
out envelope curve. “Fast tracking” takes into account the exact num-
ber of samples as defined by the Time resolution setting, and all are 
taken into account equally to calculate the average. This last method 
produces a curve with less “inertia”, hence the name.
Envelope types This allows you to specify which envelope curves to display, and to 
set a frequency range for the filtered envelope curves. 
Main If checked, this curve is shown in black and displays the overall aver-
age loudness of the audio. If unchecked this will not be shown.
Low pass filter If checked, this curve is shown in red and displays the overall average 
loudness of the audio in the lower frequency area. You can specify 
the frequency in the value field below the checkbox.
Band pass filter If checked, this curve is shown in green and displays the overall aver-
age loudness of the audio in the mid frequency area. You can specify 
the center frequency in the value field below the checkbox. The “Q” 
parameter determines the bandwidth of the Band pass filter.
High pass filter If checked, this curve is shown in blue and displays the overall aver-
age loudness of the audio in the higher frequency area. You can 
specify the frequency in the value field below the checkbox.
Apply Any changes made in the dialog will be applied when this is clicked. 
						

							7
Playback and recording 
						

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7 – 134 Playback and recording
Playing back
Background information
About sample rates
If the wave file is recorded at a sample rate not supported by your audio 
card you will not be able to play it back. You might then opt to use sample 
rate conversion, see “Convert sample rate” on page 210. Also see “Sup-
ported file formats” on page 113 for more on file formats.
About sync
It is possible to synchronize WaveLab to other devices either via MIDI 
Time Code or via the ASIO Positioning Protocol which allows for sample 
accurate sync. This is described in the chapter “Synchronizing WaveLab 
to external devices” on page 649.
About the playback cursor position and appearance
Great care has been taken to achieve synchronization between what you 
hear and what you see (the wave cursor position in the wave during play-
back). However, by nature, this precision depends to a large extent on the 
audio card and its driver. In case you run into problems you may want to 
adjust the settings on Preferences–Audio device tab. Click the question 
mark icon in the dialog for details.
About audio cards and playing in the background
When you activate playback or recording in WaveLab, it will “grab” the 
audio card so that other applications cannot access it. The opposite is 
also true: if another application has grabbed the card, WaveLab will be 
unable to play.
• If you want to run WaveLab together with another audio program, and make 
sure whichever application is active gets access to the audio card, activate 
the “Release audio hardware…” option in the Preferences–Audio device tab. 
When you do, WaveLab will “let go” of the audio card when another application is made 
active (provided that this doesn’t happen during playback or recording in WaveLab). 
						

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Playback and recording 7 – 135
Using the Transport bar
Displaying the Transport bar
If the Transport is hidden, select Transport from the Control bars submenu 
on the View menu.
The Transport controls
The Stop button
The result of clicking on the stop button depends on the current situation: 
•If the program is stopped and you click the Stop button, the wave cursor 
is moved to the beginning of the last start position. A second click will 
move the cursor to the start of current selection (if any and if this is lo-
cated before the last start position).
•If there is no selection, or if the wave cursor is already to the left of the 
selection, it is moved to the beginning of the file instead.
•If there is no selection, and you activate playback from a point and then 
stop so the wave cursor is to the right of the original point, the cursor will 
move to the place you last started when you click Stop again.
•If you click on the Stop Point/Loop button and activate the “On stop, 
move cursor back to start” option on the menu, the cursor will be auto-
matically moved back to the beginning of the selection when you click 
Stop (from playback).
If there is no selection, it will automatically move back to the place you started from.
Loop On/Off
Goto beginningRewindFast ForwardGoto EndStopPlayRecord
Start Point
Skip
Stop Point/Loop
Jog & Shuttle Playback Speed  
						

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7 – 136 Playback and recording
Transport control settings for separate windows
By default, open windows in WaveLab (wave windows and montage win-
dows) all use the same Transport control settings (loop settings, playback 
speed, etc.). You can however choose to use separate settings for sepa-
rate windows if you want: open the Preferences–Audio device tab and 
make sure the option “Transport settings are global to all windows” is not 
activated.
When this option is deactivated, the following transport controls can be 
set differently for each open wave or montage window:
• Start point (see “Setting the start point for playback” on page 136).
• Skip (see “Skipping sections during playback” on page 137).
• Playback speed (see “Setting the playback speed” on page 138).
• Stop point/loop (see “Setting the Stop point/loop” on page 136).
• Loop On/Off (see “Looping” on page 137).
Setting the start point for playback
The Start point button on the transport brings up a menu that allows you 
to specify where playback will start.
For example, if you select “Play from start of file”, as soon as you hit Play, 
the wave cursor will jump back to the beginning of the file and playback 
starts from there.
For detailed information about the options on this menu, use the help item 
at the bottom of the menu.
• For a description of the option “Synchronize from MIDI Time Code” on this 
pop-up menu, see “Synchronizing WaveLab to external devices ” on page 649.
Setting the Stop point/loop
The Stop point/loop button on the Transport bar allows you to select 
where playback should stop and whether it should loop indefinitely.
Automatic Stop
For example, if you select “Stop at next marker”, playback will stop as 
soon as the program reaches a marker or the end of the file, whichever 
comes first. 
						

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Playback and recording 7 – 137
Looping
Let’s say you have chosen “Loop selection” mode. Now, if some piece of 
the wave is selected, this will be repeated indefinitely (as long as you 
don’t start playback from a position later than the selection).
If no selection is made, the entire wave is looped.
• For details about the Stop point/loop menu items, use the help item at the 
bottom of the menu.
About loop updating and short loops
The loop points are updated continuously during playback, which means 
that if you change the loop start or end during playback, the loop changes. 
This is a great feature for auditioning selection points for rhythmic material!
Please note that it takes some time for positions to be updated (0.3 to 1 
second, depending on the file’s bit resolution and sample rate). If you don’t 
want to wait, activate “Restart loop on change” on the Options menu. 
When this is activated, the loop starts over as soon as you adjust the se-
lection or move a loop start marker.
Also please note that WaveLab handles playback of extremely short loops 
without problems. However, the cursor position might not be updated 
correctly.
Skipping sections during playback
You can also have playback automatically jump past certain positions dur-
ing playback. This way, you will be able to audition what the material would 
sound like with certain sections cut out, before the actual edits are made.
This selection is done from the menu invoked by clicking the Skip button 
on the Transport bar.
•If you have added mute markers to your file (see “The various marker 
types” on page 329), you can select “Skip Muted regions” to skip areas 
between mute markers.
•If you have made a selection range, you can select “Skip selection” to skip 
the selected area. 
						

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Setting the playback speed
You can change the playback speed for open documents with or without 
affecting the pitch of the audio. Playback speed can be set for:
• Wave windows.
• Audio Montages (all clips in a montage are affected).
Each separate open wave or montage can have its own playback speed 
setting if you wish, i.e. if you have several wave windows open and 
change the playback speed for one of them, the set speed does not affect 
the other windows when you switch to them. This requires that you deac-
tivate the option “Transport settings are global to all windows” in the Pref-
erences–Audio device tab. See “Transport control settings for separate 
windows” on page 136 for details.
This function can be put to good use in a number of ways. For example, 
lowering the playback speed could be used for locating certain positions 
in the audio, to discern the nuances of a tricky section, for practicing an 
elaborate recording or as a special effect.
• Note that the playback speed does not affect the original audio file in any 
way, but merely how it is played back.
To set the playback speed, proceed as follows:
1.Click the red Playback Speed button on the Transport bar.
The Playback Speed button  
						

							WAVELAB
Playback and recording 7 – 139
2.From the pop-up menu that appears, select “Edit”.
The Playback Speed dialog appears.
The Playback Speed dialog
3.Select a preset number by clicking one of the radio buttons to the right, 
and type in the desired name in the name field above the buttons.
Note that WaveLab comes with a number of ready-made playback speed pre-
sets, so unless you want to overwrite one of these with your own settings, 
make sure to select a preset number that isn’t already used (the name should 
read “Untitled”).
4.Make the desired settings in the dialog and save them as the selected 
preset by clicking “OK”.
For a detailed description of the options in the dialog, click the question mark icon in the 
dialog.
5.You can now select the saved preset from the pop-up menu on the Trans-
port bar.
You’ll notice that the Playback Speed button on the Transport bar changes shape to re-
semble a stopwatch when you select any of the presets.  
						

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7 – 140 Playback and recording
Play tool – Playing one or both channels in stereo files
Selecting the Play tool momentarily
The Play tool can of course be selected by clicking in the Toolbox, but 
there are situations when you are working with another tool and just mo-
mentarily want to use the Play tool.
•To momentarily select the Play tool, hold down [Alt]. When you have fin-
ished playing, release [Alt].
Using the Play tool
The Play tool allows you to play back from any position:
1.Point at the position where you want playback to start.
2.If the wave is in stereo, move the pointer up or down to decide whether 
only one channel should be played back.
Watch the cursor shape, it indicates what will be played back (L, R or both).
3.Press the mouse button.
Playback continues for as long as you keep the mouse button pressed, or until the wave 
ends. After playback has stopped, the cursor will be moved to the playback start position, 
making this a quick way to locate to certain positions in the audio.
Using the Playback Browser
The Playback Browser feature helps you find a certain position in an audio 
file, by restarting playback repeatedly when you click or drag to move the 
wave cursor.
1.Activate playback using the regular Play function, or select the Play tool.
Note that depending on your Preferences settings, Playback Browsing may only be avail-
able for the Play tool.
2.Click or drag in the ruler.
If you click, playback jumps immediately to the position at which you clicked. If you drag 
continuously, a short snippet of audio from each new position is played (looped).
Playback Browser preferences
On the Preferences–Wave edit tab you will find two preferences for Play-
back Browsing:
• The Sensitivity setting is used to determine the size of the “snippets of audio” 
played back when you drag.
• When the “Restrict to Play tool” option is activated, Playback Browsing is not avail-
able when you activate Playback using the transport bar or computer keyboard.