Steinberg WaveLab 3 Operation Manual

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The following curve types can be selected (in these examples fade-in 
curves are used – the corresponding fade-out curves would of course 
display the mirror image):
Fade-in curve type Description
Linear This is the factory default fade curve. A straight line be-
tween two points.
Sinus This produces a fade-in curve that starts out moderately 
fast but planes out towards the end. This curve type will 
provide a constant power crossfade (see “Power 
compensation” on page 464).
Square-root This creates a curve that fades in quickly then planes out. 
This curve type will provide a constant power crossfade 
(see “Power compensation” on page 464).
Sinusoid This creates an s-shaped fade, with a medium slow start 
and end fade.
Logarithmic This creates a curve that fades in fast in the beginning, 
reaching full level early in the fade.
Exponential This creates a curve that fades in slowly in the beginning.
Exponential + This creates an even more pronounced exponential curve.        
						

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Using crossfades
A crossfade is a gradual fade between two clips, where one is faded in 
and the other faded out. Crossfades in the Montage are created automat-
ically when clip edges overlap. To create an automatic crossfade, pro-
ceed as follows:
For automatic crossfading to work, the items “Enable automatic fade-in 
changes” and “Enable automatic fade-out changes” must be ticked (default 
setting) on the envelope speed menu for the clip to which you want to apply 
the crossfade. For a description of these menu items, see “Enable/Disable 
automatic fade changes” on page 463.
1.Click on the Edit tab and open the Edit view : Fade menu.
2.Select the menu item “Automatic crossfading – free overlaps”.
This can also be selected by clicking the leftmost crossfade icon.
The crossfade icons
3.Move a clip so that it overlaps the edge of another clip.
The crossfade is automatically created in the overlap; by default two equal length linear 
fade curves, one fading out and the other fading in. This will also happen if you paste a clip 
so that it overlaps another clip.   
						

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Crossfade options
The following crossfade options on the Edit view : Fade menu determine 
how automatic crossfades will be created in the Montage: 
• No Automatic crossfading.
If this is activated, no automatic crossfading will be performed.
• Automatic crossfading – free overlaps.
If this is activated, automatic crossfades are created when a clip overlaps the edge of an-
other clip on the same track, and the length of the overlap determines the length of the 
crossfade.
• Automatic crossfading – fade-in constrained overlaps.
When this option is activated, the defined fade-in length of a clip will constrain the maxi-
mum possible overlap, and hence the crossfade time, to this set length. If you move the clip 
with the fade-in in the overlap past the set overlap time, the other clip will be progressively 
resized. Moving the other clip into the clip that contains the fade-in in the overlap produces 
the same result.
• Automatic crossfading – fade-out constrained overlaps.
This works in the same way, but instead it is the defined fade-out length that constrains the 
overlap. See “Crossfading with fade constrained overlaps” on page 467 for a detailed de-
scription of these items.
• Allow Automatic crossfading with selected track.
When this option is activated, automatic crossfades will also be created when moving a clip 
on any track so that it overlaps the edge of a clip on the currently selected (focused) track.
• Allow multiple automatic crossfades. 
When this option is activated, automatic multiple crossfades will be created on any track, if 
several selected or grouped clips will overlap other clips’ edges when moved.
If the option is turned off, crossfades will only be created for the clip you drag.
Enable/Disable automatic fade changes
You can also disable automatic fade changes for individual clips, as op-
posed to the “No automatic crossfading” Fade menu item, which is glo-
bal. This can be used if you have set a fade that you do not want to be 
altered in any way, even though you may want to overlap the clip with an-
other clip. Proceed as follows:
1.Open the envelope speed menu for the clip for which you want to disable 
automatic fade changes.
2.Deactivate “Enable automatic fade-in changes” if the fade you want left 
unaltered is a fade-in (or “Enable automatic fade-out changes” if it is a 
fade-out). 
						

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About the crossfade compensation attributes
On the fade-in and fade-out ROM presets submenus, you can find an 
item called “Pure shape” along with three “compensation” items:
Note that selecting a compensation attribute for a single fade (not in a 
crossfade) will change the shape of the curve, but the actual “compensa-
tion” will only take place when the fade becomes part of a crossfade. 
Editing crossfades
The factory default automatic crossfade is linear, using the same shape 
and fade lengths for both the fade-in and fade-out. Most of the time, an 
unaltered linear or sinus crossfade will produce the desired result. You 
can, however, create crossfades with totally independent shapes and 
lengths for the fade-in and fade-out curves. The following rules apply:
•You can edit the fade-in and fade-out curves in crossfades in exactly the 
same way as fades.
•To change the crossfade time (the width of the crossfade zone) “symmet-
rically”, press [Shift] and move left and right.
Menu item Description
Pure shape The pure mathematical curve shape is used. This is the default setting 
when any fade-in/out ROM preset is selected. 
Amplitude 
compensationIf this is selected for a fade-in (or fade-out) curve in a crossfade, the 
summed fade-in and fade-out amplitudes will be the same all along the 
crossfade region. 
This option is recommended for short crossfades.
Power 
compensationIf this is selected for a fade-in (or fade-out) curve in a crossfade, the energy 
(power) of the crossfade will be constant all along the crossfade region. 
Crossfading between completely different types of audio material can 
sometimes cause harmonics to “cancel each other out” at the crossfade 
splice point, causing the volume to drop. Constant power crossfades com-
pensate for this problem. Using either the “Sinus” or “Square-root” fade 
ROM presets for a fade-in (or fade-out) will give a constant power cross-
fade without selecting this item.
Medium 
compensationThis option provides an intermediary between Amplitude and Power com-
pensation. This is recommended if the other two compensation attributes 
won’t provide the desired result. 
						

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•Press [Ctrl] and move left and right to “slide” the cross-fade region while 
keeping its length.
Changing the crossfade time (left), and sliding the crossfade region (right).
• Please note that for these tow functions to work, the mouse pointer must 
not be positioned on an envelope curve point inside the crossfade region.
If the mouse pointer is positioned on an envelope point, this point was the priority and you 
cannot change the crossfade time nor slide the crossfade region.
•When you move a clip so that it overlaps another clip to create a cross-
fade, and neither clip has a defined fade in the overlap, a default cross-
fade is created.
•When moving a clip with a defined fade curve so that it overlaps another 
clip’s adjacent edge (without a defined fade), the unmoved clip automati-
cally gets the same fade shape as the moved clip (but as a corresponding 
opposite fade), with amplitude compensation.
Dragging the right clip so that it overlaps the left clip…
…will use the right clip’s fade shape (as a corresponding fade-out), to create a crossfade.     
						

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Note that the above only applies if the unmoved clip’s fade-out length is set 
to zero.
•If both clips have different defined fade curves at their adjacent edges 
when creating a crossfade, this will create an asymmetrical crossfade, 
based on the defined fade curves.
Other predefined rules when creating crossfades
Apart from the different combinations described above, there are other 
factors that govern the result when creating crossfades. In this example 
we will use a pre-defined fade-out and an undefined fade-in. The fade-in 
will be created when the crossfade is performed. What will happen de-
pends on what type of defined fade-out curve is used:
• If the fade-out is a ROM preset (except “Sinus” or “Square-root”) that uses “Pure 
shape”, the corresponding fade-in will get the same ROM preset, with amplitude 
compensation.
• If the fade-out is a ROM preset that uses a compensation attribute (i.e. not “Pure 
shape”), the fade-in will get the same ROM preset, but with “Pure shape” activated, 
for the compensation to take effect.
• If the fade-out uses either the “Sinus” or “Square-root” ROM presets with the 
“Pure shape” setting, the fade-in will get the same ROM preset also with the “Pure 
shape” setting, and the compensation attributes will be greyed out on the menu.
In fact power compensation is used. This is because the “Sinus” and “Square-root” curves 
provide constant power crossfades by themselves, for mathematical reasons.
Dragging the right clip so that it overlaps 
the left clip……creates a crossfade based on the 
already defined fades.   
						

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Crossfading with fade constrained overlaps
On the Edit view : Fade menu and amongst the crossfade icons, you can 
find two items; “Automatic crossfading – fade-in constrained overlaps” and 
“Automatic crossfading – fade-out constrained overlaps”. These items al-
low you to create crossfades and resize clips simultaneously. The length of 
a defined fade-in or fade-out will constrain the maximum length of the over-
lap (and hence the crossfade) to the set fade length. If you continue drag-
ging a clip past this point, the clip that does not have the chosen fade type 
in the overlap will be resized. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Select “Automatic crossfading – fade-in constrained overlaps” on the 
Fade menu (or by clicking on the middle crossfade icon).
2.Create a fade-in curve in a clip on a track containing several clips.
3.Drag the clip to the left so that it overlaps another clip, past the right clip 
edge.
A crossfade is created in the overlap.
Dragging the right clip over the left clip edge will create a crossfade.
4.Continue dragging the clip, so that the dragged clip’s fade-in point over-
laps the left clip’s right edge.
The right edge of the left clip will be progressively adjusted as you drag the clip further to 
the left, making the clip shorter. The crossfade region remains the same length.
If you continue dragging to the left, the left clip will become shorter.
5.Drag the clip to the right again.
The resized clip is gradually uncovered. The original clip length is memorized, so you can al-
ways restore resized clips later.   
						

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6.Separate the two clips again so that there is no overlap, and that they are 
in the same left/right position relative to each other as before.
7.Now drag the left clip to the right so that it overlaps the other clip, and 
continue dragging to the right.
Again, the right edge of the left clip will be progressively resized as you drag the clip further 
to the right.
8.Using “Automatic crossfading – fade-out constrained overlaps” works in 
the same way, but the defined fade-out length constrains the overlap in-
stead, and accordingly the left edge of the right clip is adjusted.
To use fade-in/out constrained overlaps, there must be a defined (i.e. not 
set to zero) fade-in/out in the overlap. Otherwise, “Automatic crossfading – 
free overlaps” is activated for that crossfade.
Fade constrained overlaps can also be used with the options “Allow multi-
ple automatic crossfades” and “Allow automatic crossfading with selected 
track” options on the Fade menu.
Additional crossfade options
There are three more options on the Edit view : Fade menu (with corre-
sponding icons on the Edit view icon bar) that affect crossfades:
• Snap to waveform when crossfading
If this option is activated, and you create a crossfade by moving the right clip towards the 
left, the moved clip will be time-adjusted slightly to match the waveform in the left clip. What 
actually happens when the mouse button is released, is that the “Waveform recognition” 
feature (on the Zoom page) is activated. See “The Zoom view” on page 433 for details re-
garding this feature.
• Create optimized crossfade when snapping to other clip
If this option is activated, and you move a clip so that its start snaps to the end of another 
clip, a short crossfade is automatically created, to optimally match the waveforms in the clip. 
See “Moving and snapping to another clip” on page 417.   
						

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• Snap to fade-in/out when snapping to other clip
If this option is activated, and you move a clip so that its start snaps to the end of another 
clip, a crossfade is automatically created, like with the previous option. In this case how-
ever, the length of the crossfade will be the fade-in length of the right clip.
If this is zero, the fade-out length of the left clip is used as basis instead. If this too is zero, 
the function “Create optimized crossfade when snapping to other Clip” is performed (if ac-
tivated). In other words, “Snap to fade-in/out…” has higher priority than “Create optimized 
crossfade…”.
If the options “Snap to fade-in/out when snapping to other Clip” and “Snap 
to waveform when crossfading” are both activated, the right clip will first be 
pushed left to its fade-in point, and then pushed further to create an opti-
mized crossfade.
The pan envelope
The descriptions in this section refer to standard pan envelopes. For a de-
scription of surround panning, see “Surround panning” on page 512.
You can draw pan envelope curves to automate the pan setting for clips 
in the same way as with volume envelopes. For mono clips, pan governs 
the left/right position in the stereo spectrum. For stereo clips, pan sets the 
left/right balance. The operating procedure when creating and editing pan 
envelopes is the same as for volume envelopes, so please refer to that 
section for details. This section only deals with the options that affect pan 
specifically.
Showing pan envelopes 
To show the pan envelope, proceed as follows:
1.Right-click anywhere on a clip (except the envelope curve) to open the 
clip speed menu.
2.On the “Show Envelope” submenu select “Pan”. 
The pan envelope is shown. If the option “Map Waveforms to volume” is activated on the 
Edit view : Options menu, the waveforms are scaled according to the pan envelope (as with 
the volume envelope).
•For a description of the general procedure for showing/hiding envelope 
curves, see “Hiding/Showing volume envelope curves” on page 447.  
						

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About pan modes
The four pan modes all relate to the fact that without power compensa-
tion, the power of the sum of the channels will drop by about 3 dB if a sig-
nal is panned hard left or right, compared to the same signal being 
panned center. You should experiment with the modes to see which fits 
best in a given situation. Proceed as follows:
1.Open the pan envelope speed menu by right-clicking the pan envelope 
curve.
2.Select “Pan mode” on the menu.
A submenu opens. Select one of the following four modes:
Transforming clips
On the clip speed menu, you will find a submenu called Transform. This 
contains two items: “Time-stretch to cursor…” and “Pitch Shift…”. When 
you use one of these functions, a clone of the original audio file is auto-
matically created, containing exactly the audio range used in the clip. The 
selected processing is applied to the clone, and the clip will reference to 
this file instead. The Transform functions can be viewed as “non-destruc-
tive”, since the original audio files are not affected.
Channel damp 
(0dB / mute)This mode will not compensate for power loss at all. If a signal is 
panned hard left or right, the power of the sum of the channels will 
drop by 3dB.
Constant power
(+3dB / mute)This is the default mode. Regardless of the pan position, the power of 
the sum of the channels will remain constant.
Channel boost 
(+4.5dB / mute)If this mode is selected and a signal is panned hard left or right, the 
power of the sum of the channels will actually be higher than with a 
signal panned center.
Channel boost 
(+6dB / mute)This is the same as the previous option, but with even greater power 
boost.