Steinberg WaveLab 3 Operation Manual

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The Audio Montage 
						

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19 – 372 The Audio Montage
Introduction
The Audio Montage is a multichannel and multi-track non-destructive 
editing environment, which allows you to arrange, edit, play back and 
record audio clips on multiple tracks and channels. Features include both 
track- and clip-based effects, volume and pan automation, wide-ranging 
fade and crossfade functions and synchronization to MIDI Time Code. 
Multichannel support makes it possible to create surround mixes that can 
be burned to DVD-Audio compatible discs. 
The Audio Montage is a great tool for music CD or DVD-Audio creation, 
mastering, multimedia work, radio spot production, etc.
Basic terminology
The Audio Montage can contain an unlimited number of stereo or mono 
audio tracks. These provide a way for the user to structure the work graph-
ically, but should not be viewed as “virtual tape tracks”. Depending on the 
channel configuration of the Montage, you can route each track to different 
surround channels (up to 6) or non-surround audio channels (up to 8).
On an audio track, you can place any number of clips. These are “contain-
ers” for the audio, and include a number of settings and functions such as 
volume and pan curves, fades, etc.
A clip contains a reference to a source audio file on your hard disk, as well 
as start and end positions in the file (allowing clips to play back smaller 
sections of their source audio files). Any number of clips can reference 
the same source file.
In addition to audio tracks you can create DVD-A picture and text tracks 
(as part of a DVD-Audio project, see “Using DVD-A picture and text 
tracks” on page 546), and video tracks (see “Using video tracks” on page 
504) in the Audio Montage.  
						

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The Audio Montage window
About the two panes and the views
The Audio Montage window is divided into two “panes”. The lower pane 
always shows the tracks and the clips, while the upper pane shows one of 
12 views, as listed below.
•You can resize the upper and lower panes by dragging the divider between 
the panes up or down.
•You can choose to view the upper pane or the Track View only, by selecting 
“Show tabs only” or “Show Tracks only” from the main View menu.
To revert to the standard view (showing both panes), pull down the View menu again and 
deselect the selected option.
•You select views for the upper pane by clicking the tabs at the top of the 
Montage window, or by using key commands (see below). 
Apart from the actual displays, the different views may have different menus and icon bars.
The Edit view selected in the upper pane
The Track View Clips Tracks  
						

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The following views are available:
View Key Description
Edit E This is where you configure how many audio channels you wish to use in 
the Montage (see “Multichannel operation in the Montage” on page 
506), and where you select one of two basic operational modes; CD or 
DVD-A (from the Mode menu). This is also where you find various op-
tions for zooming, editing, fading, selecting, etc.
Zoom Z Displays a very detailed view of the focused clip’s fade-in area, for fine 
editing and phase matching of adjacent clips. See “The Zoom view” on 
page 433.
Clips C This view contains a list of all clips in the Montage, allowing numerical 
editing and adjustment. See “Editing in the Clips view” on page 436.
Groups O Use this view for grouping clips that you want to select as one entity. See 
“Groups” on page 489.
Files L Contains various tools for audio file management, including direct import 
of clips and audio files into the Montage. See “The Files view” on page 
441.
Plug-ins R This allows you to overview and manage all plug-in effects (track and 
clip) used in a Montage. See “Managing effects in the Plug-ins view” on 
page 483.
Markers M This view allows you to add and manage markers in the Montage. This in-
cludes CD and DVD-A markers, for writing CDs directly from the Audio 
Montage or preparing a DVD-Audio project, see “Using markers in the 
Montage” on page 492.
Video V Displays the contents of the video track in the upper pane of the Audio 
Montage. See “Using video tracks” on page 504.
CD/
DVD-AD This is where you prepare for writing a CD directly from the Audio Mon-
tage (see “Preparing the Audio Montage for CD/DVD-Audio burning” on 
page 531), or alternatively for making preparations for a DVD-Audio 
project (see “Creating and opening a DVD-Audio project” on page 552). 
Which tab is shown (CD or DVD-A) depends on the selected Montage 
mode (Edit view : Mode menu).
History Y This is a list representation of the Undo history, allowing you to undo/
redo several operations in one go. See “Undo/Redo and History” on 
page 496.
Snapshots PAllows you to capture magnification and view settings as snapshots, to 
be able to quickly select different views. See “Using snapshots” on page 
396.
Notes A standard notepad. 
						

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•If the Montage window is too narrow to show all tabs, two arrow buttons 
are displayed in the upper right corner of the window.
Use these to “move” the row of tabs so that you can see and click the one you want.
About naming
Most of the views contain one or several menus. To make it clear which 
menu is meant in each case, we use the following syntax:
•X view : Y menu
For example, “Edit view : Options menu” means the Options menu in the 
Edit view.
The info line
The info line is the grey area below the Track View. It indicates what will 
happen when you click the mouse buttons (with or without modifier keys), 
depending on where you currently aim the pointer (much like tool tips for 
buttons). This is especially useful since editing in the Audio Montage is 
based on mouse zones – you click in different areas of the clips to per-
form different actions (see “About the mouse zones (audio tracks only)” 
on page 408).
The info line will also display positions and lengths when you are moving, 
copying or resizing clips.
Showing and hiding the info line
1.Select the Edit view by clicking on the Edit tab.
2.Pull down the Edit view : Options menu and activate or deactivate the op-
tion “Show Info Line”.   
						

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Info line symbols
The following symbols are used in the info line (the symbols for [Shift], [Ctrl] 
and [Alt] may differ depending on the language selected for WaveLab):
In this example, the info line indicates that you can open the envelope speed menu by 
right-clicking, you can click and drag up or down to change the envelope level or double 
click to add a point. Holding down [Alt], [Ctrl] or [Shift], will enable additional functions. Symbol Description
Indicates that you can right-click to display a speed menu. The name of the 
speed menu is displayed after the M symbol.
Indicates what happens if you single click.
Indicates what happens if you double click.
This means that you can [Ctrl]-click for an additional function. Press [Ctrl] for 
more information.
This means that you can [Shift]-click for an additional function. Press [Shift] for 
more information.
This means that you can [Alt]-click for an additional function. Press [Alt] for 
more information.
C/S/A 
combinationsIndicates that you can use combined modifier keys. 
For example, “CS” means that you can [Ctrl]-[Shift]-click for an additional 
function. Press the indicated modifier keys for more information.
Indicates what happens if you click and drag up or down.
Indicates what happens if you click and drag left or right.
Indicates what happens if you click and drag the item (in any direction) within 
the Montage.
Indicates what happens if you click and drag the item out of the Montage.
This is shown as an alert indicator, when you are moving or resizing clips or 
changing envelope values, etc.             
						

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The ruler
At the top of the Track View in the Audio Montage window, there is a ruler, 
similar to that in the Wave window. To change the ruler format, right-click in 
the ruler and make a selection from the pop-up menu that appears.
Selecting Meter format on the ruler pop-up menu
• Depending on the selected format, you can make detailed display settings by se-
lecting “Time format…” from this pop-up menu.
• It is also possible to offset the ruler, so that “zero” is somewhere other than at the 
actual start of the Montage (this is done by selecting “Time offset…”).
• When you move and edit clips, you can choose to snap to the ruler positions.
See “Magnetic bounds” on page 409.
The time grid
If you like, a “grid” can be displayed in the Track View, consisting of verti-
cal lines at every labeled position in the ruler. To show or hide the grid, 
right-click in the ruler and activate or deactivate the “Show Grid” option 
on the pop-up menu.
Time grid activated   
						

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Assembling the Montage
Creating a new Montage
1.Pull down the File menu and open the New submenu.
2.Select the “Audio Montage…” item.
The Sample rate dialog appears.
3.Specify the preferred sample rate.
The audio files that you want to use in the Montage must have this sample rate. 
If you plan to burn a CD from the Audio Montage, you have to select the 
44.1 kHz sample rate.
4.Click OK.
A new Audio Montage window appears, containing one stereo track.
If you have saved a template (see “Saving a Montage template” on page 
499), the Sample rate dialog will not automatically be displayed (since the 
new Montage will use the sample rate saved in the template). To change the 
sample rate, you will need to select “Audio Properties…” from the Edit menu.
Alternative ways to create a Montage
There are several ways to generate a new Montage “automatically”:
• Import cue-sheet/CD image as Audio Montage.
This function on the File menu (Open submenu) allows you to open a cue sheet – a text file 
containing information about how CD tracks correspond to the audio in an associated CD 
image file. The result will be a Montage with clips corresponding to the tracks in the cue 
sheet, all referencing the same CD image audio file.
Cue sheets and CD images can be created in many programs, including WaveLab (see 
“Rendering a CD image and cue sheet” on page 540).
• By importing Audio CD tracks directly to a Montage.
When using the Import Audio CD tracks function on the Tools menu, you can automatically 
create an Audio Montage playing the imported tracks. See “Convert to Basic Audio CD” on 
page 598.
• You can convert a Basic Audio CD into an Audio Montage.
This is done from the CD menu (available for Basic Audio CD windows).
• By importing DVD-Audio tracks.
You can import selected tracks, a group or all groups from a (non-copy protected) DVD-
Audio disc and convert these into Montages – see “Importing DVD-Audio tracks into 
WaveLab” on page 599. 
						

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• You can create a Montage from a Wave file with the Auto Split function.
See “The Auto Split dialog” on page 342.
• By opening a Wave file and selecting “Create Audio Montage from Wave” on the 
Edit menu.
This option is also available in the Open – Wave dialog (File menu).
• By importing an AES-31 project file.
You can for example export a complete Nuendo project as an AES-31 file, and import this 
into WaveLab, where a Montage containing all the tracks and files of the original Nuendo 
project is created – see “Exporting and importing AES-31 files” on page 547.
• By importing a XML text file.
See “XML Export/Import of Audio Montages” on page 549.
About the channel configuration modes
In addition to the default stereo mode, WaveLab supports up to 8 channel 
operation and up to 6 channel surround operation. To enable a multichannel 
operation mode, an ASIO driver must first have been selected in the Prefer-
ences–Audio device tab (see “Selecting an ASIO driver” on page 25). 
•To select a channel mode, open the Edit view : Mode menu.
The menu contains all the available channel configurations. See “Select-
ing a channel configuration” on page 508 for descriptions of multichannel 
and surround modes. 
						

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Handling tracks
Creating and managing tracks is done in the area to the left of the tracks 
in the Track View (from now on called the Track Control area). In the mid-
dle of this area is a button with the number of the track. Clicking this but-
ton brings up the track pop-up menu, which contains most of the track 
functions.
Adding tracks
There are four different track types available in the Montage: audio, video 
(see “Using video tracks” on page 504), DVD-A picture (see “Using 
DVD-A picture and text tracks” on page 546) and DVD-A text (see “Using 
DVD-A picture and text tracks” on page 546).
1.Click on the track number button for a track next to where you want to 
add a new track.
The track pop-up menu appears.
2.Select one of the Add items at the top of the menu.
You can choose what type of track to insert and, if an audio track is to be inserted, whether 
the new audio track should be mono or stereo. By default, the new track is added below the 
focused track. If you wish to place it above the focused track rather than below, press [Ctrl] 
when adding the new track.