Steinberg WaveLab 3 Operation Manual

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The Audio Montage 19 – 491
Group options
There are a couple of options in the Groups view that affect how groups 
are handled:
• You can temporarily “turn off” a group by deactivating the checkbox to the left of 
a group in the list.
When the group is deactivated this way, you can move individual clips in the group, as if 
they were not grouped.
• If the option “A mouse click selects a group” is activated on the Groups view : 
Options menu, selecting a clip in the Track View automatically selects all clips in 
the same group.
If the option is deactivated, selecting a whole group requires that you click on the group 
name in the Groups view list. This is useful if you want to be able to modify the relative po-
sitions of clips in the group, without having to remove them from the group.
You can also turn on or off “A mouse click selects a group” by clicking this icon.
Coloring groups
You can select a specific color for a group to make it easy to discern it in 
the Track View:
1.Select the group by clicking on its name in the Groups view list.
2.Pull down the Groups View : Grouping menu and select the desired color 
from the “Color selected group” submenu.
For more information about Audio Montage colors, see “Styling WaveLab – Audio Montage 
windows” on page 739.
Any individual color selections for the clips will override the group color.
Removing groups
1.Select the group by clicking on its name in the Groups view list.
2.Pull down the Grouping menu and select “Remove selected group”.
The group is removed (the clips are not affected).  
						

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19 – 492 The Audio Montage
Using markers in the Montage
Separate markers are provided for use in the Montage. Markers are used 
in the Montage in much the same way as in the source Wave windows. 
See “Markers” on page 327 for details regarding marker types and the 
basic functionality of markers.
It is also possible to view the markers of a clip’s source audio file, by acti-
vating the option “Show source’s ruler and markers” on the clip speed 
menu.
Creating markers
The quickest way to create a marker is to right-click in the area above the 
ruler and select a marker type from the pop-up menu that appears. Right-
clicking this way automatically moves the cursor to the click position (pro-
vided that you don’t click on an existing marker) and inserts the marker at 
the cursor position – i.e. the position at which you click. 
Creating markers by right-clicking can be done regardless of what view is 
currently selected.
 
The Markers view
When the Markers view is selected, you can create markers at the Mon-
tage cursor position by using one of the following methods:
• By selecting a marker type from the Markers view : Functions menu.
• By clicking on one of the marker icons.
• By pressing the [Insert] key (this creates a Generic marker).
You can also use any of the above methods to create markers at the current 
cursor position while playing back.  
						

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The Audio Montage 19 – 493
Importing markers
When you use the option “Create Audio Montage from Wave” on the Edit 
menu to create a new Montage from an open wave file, you can choose to 
import any existing markers in the file so that they will be present in the 
Montage as well.
This is done by activating the option “Translate markers” in the Wave to 
Audio Montage dialog.
This dialog lets you specify a number of options for how the wave file 
should be inserted into the new Montage. Click the question mark icon in 
the dialog for details.
Moving markers in the Track View
To move a marker in the Track View, you click and drag it. The Magnetic 
bounds setting on the Edit view : Options menu applies.
You can also move a selected marker with the Nudge function (see 
“Nudging” on page 430).
Deleting markers
There are three ways to delete markers in the Montage:
•By right-clicking the marker head and selecting “Delete marker” on the 
menu.
•By selecting the markers and then selecting “Delete selected markers” on 
the Markers view : Functions menu.
•By dragging the marker up and dropping it outside the ruler.
Selecting marker types to show/hide
By using the Markers view : Filter menu you can select to show or hide 
certain marker types in the marker list view. By default, all marker types 
are shown.  
						

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19 – 494 The Audio Montage
Converting markers
You can convert any type of marker to another marker type. This is done in 
the “Convert marker type” dialog, which is opened from the Markers view : 
Functions menu. See “The Convert marker type dialog” on page 335.
Renaming markers
You can use the Batch Rename dialog to rename multiple markers. See 
“Markers” on page 311.
Editing in the markers list view
Clicking on the Marker tab opens the Markers view in the upper pane of the 
Montage. By default, this list contains all markers currently in the Montage. 
Below the Montage tabs there is a row of marker icons, and to the left of 
them are the Markers view : Functions and Filter menus. The markers list 
columns are used for editing and/or displaying the following marker data:
Option Description
Type This column displays the corresponding marker type icon. Clicking the 
icon opens a pop-up menu where you can select a new marker type for 
the current marker position.
Name Displays the marker name. Double click the name field to type in a new 
name. This can also be done by double clicking to the right of the marker 
head in the area above the ruler (the pointer changes shape when you 
move it into the “Marker name zone”).
Position This column displays the markers’ time positions. Double click to edit.
Lock If this is ticked, the marker cannot be moved by dragging the marker head.
Clip reference By selecting one of the Functions menu items “Make current marker rela-
tive to start of focused clip” or “Make current marker relative to end of fo-
cused clip” you can lock a marker position to the left or right edge of a 
clip. This column displays the name of the clip to which a marker is locked.
Offset Depending on which of the two Functions menu items described above is 
chosen, this column displays the time offset between the clip edge and 
the marker position. 
						

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The Audio Montage 19 – 495
About locking marker positions to clips
As described in the table above, you can lock markers to clips by select-
ing one of the Functions menu items “Make current marker relative to start 
of focused clip”, “Make current marker relative to end of focused clip” or 
“Make current marker relative to audio of focused clip”. If selected, the 
marker will remain in the same position relative to the clip start (or end) 
even if the clip is moved in the Montage or is resized. 
Selecting the Functions menu item “Detach current marker from its rela-
tive clip” removes the marker’s clip reference and the marker position is 
no longer locked to the clip.
About attaching markers to clips
On the Functions menu there are two items that control if and how markers 
you insert should be automatically attached to existent clips. If a marker is 
attached to a clip, the marker will move with and maintain its relative posi-
tion to the clip if the clip is moved or resized.
Activating the option “Attach automatically new markers to the most suit-
able clip” results in the following:
• If a marker is created within the boundaries of a focused clip or a clip on a fo-
cused track, the marker is attached to the audio of that clip (as per the option 
“Make marker relative to audio of focused clip” described above).
• If a marker is created outside of any clips on the focused track (or if there is no 
clip on the focused track) but within the boundaries of a clip on any other track, 
the marker will be attached to the audio of that clip.
• Note that if the inserted marker is of the type CD or DVD track start or end, 
it can be inserted farther away from a clip edge than 2 seconds and still get 
attached. 
All other types of markers must be inserted within 2 seconds from a clip edge.
Activating the option “Full clip attachment” will cause attached markers to 
not only remain in position relatively to clips when you move them, but 
also to be attached during clip operations. That means; if you copy a clip, 
the attached markers will also be copied. If you delete a clip, the attached 
markers will also be deleted.
Export marker list as text
This item on the Markers view : Functions menu opens a dialog allowing 
you to save the marker list as a text file. The list will contain the markers’ 
names, positions and types. You can select to format the text in one of 
three ways; Pure text, Excel (tabs) or XML. 
						

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19 – 496 The Audio Montage
Undo/Redo and History
The Audio Montage has a separate Undo/Redo list, independent from the 
Undo/Redo of Wave windows. If you have several Montages, each win-
dow has its own Undo history.
Undoing and redoing commands in the Audio Montage is done as in the 
Wave windows (by using the Edit menu, or by pressing [Ctrl]-[Z] or [F3] 
for Undo, and [Shift]-[Ctrl]-[Z] or [F4] for Redo). However, the Audio Mon-
tage has a special History view, which displays the Undo history as a list 
and makes it possible to undo several commands in one go.
The History view
In the History view, all operations you have made are listed. Furthermore, 
if you recently have undone any operations, these will be listed as well, al-
lowing you to redo them (as long as you don’t perform any other opera-
tion, in which case the undone operations will disappear from the list).
The list works in the following way:
In the figure above, selecting Undo would undo the operation “Group 
clips” at the green arrow. This operation would then be displayed in yel-
low, and the green arrow would move one step down in the list.
•You can hide columns in the History view, by using the Columns pop-up 
menu.
This is accessed by clicking the arrow button to the left of the column headings.
Yellow items indicate 
undone operations.
The green arrow 
indicates the last 
action performed.
The numbers indicate how many operations you can undo (nega-
tive numbers) or redo (positive numbers). The type of performed/
undone operation.The time when you performed 
or undid the operation.A detailed description 
of the operation.   
						

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The Audio Montage 19 – 497
History view Functions
On the History menu in the History view, the following functions and op-
tions are available:
The History view also contains the Montage Backup functions, see 
“Backing up Montages” on page 503.
Option Description
Undo last operation This is the same as the Undo command on the Edit menu. You can 
also undo the last operation by clicking the green arrow icon above the 
list (or in the main control bar).
 
Undo until selected 
operationThis is only available if you have selected an operation in the History list. 
Selecting this function undoes all operations up to and including the 
selected one. This is a quick way to undo several operations in one go.
Undo all operations 
since last savingThis is similar to “Revert to saved” on the File menu, with two differ-
ences: It does not undo any view, zoom or position changes, and it 
does not clear the History list.
Undo all operations Undoes all operations in the list, even those done before the last save.
Redo last undone 
operationThis is the same as the Redo command on the Edit menu. You can 
also redo the last undone operation by clicking the yellow arrow icon 
above the list (or in the main control bar).
Redo all undone 
operationsRedoes all undone operations in the list, i.e. all operations displayed in 
yellow.
Clear History now Removes all operations from the History list. If you use this function, 
you cannot undo any previous operations.
Clear History after
each savingWhen this option is activated, the History list will be cleared each time 
you save the Montage.
Group similar 
operationsWhen this option is activated, and you perform several, similar opera-
tions one after another, these will later be “compressed” into one Undo 
operation.
Let’s say you move a clip in several steps until you find the perfect po-
sition. While you are doing this, it is still possible to undo each sepa-
rate movement as usual. However, as soon as you perform another 
operation, all the previous moves (the “similar” operations) will be con-
sidered as one single entry in the Undo History. This saves memory, 
and makes work quicker since you don’t have to undo every single 
step to revert to the clip’s original position.     
						

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19 – 498 The Audio Montage
File handling in the Audio Montage
Saving the Montage
You save the Montage using the Save or Save As commands on the File 
menu. Audio Montage files have the extension “.mon”. 
A couple of things to note:
• The Montage files do not contain any audio data in themselves.
Rather, they contain references to audio files. This means that you must make sure not to 
delete, move or rename any audio files referenced by Montages.
• You can use the Rename dialog to rename (and/or move) audio files and 
automatically update all clip references.
See “Renaming files and documents (Rename)” on page 121.
• If the Audio Montage contains clips that refer to untitled audio files, you will 
be asked to save these audio files before you can save the Montage.
• WaveLab can save Montages automatically.
See “Backing up Montages” on page 503.
• You can store the current settings in the Master Section as part of the Mon-
tage, by selecting “Store current Master Section’s configuration” from the 
Edit view : Special menu.
To apply the settings stored in a Montage to the Master Section, select “Restore Master 
Section’s configuration”.
There are two alternative ways to store/recall a Master Section preset for 
a Montage: 
•[Ctrl]-click the “M” button in the title bar.
The button is now green to indicate that the current Master Section configuration is stored 
with the Montage. If you later load this Montage, click the green M button to restore the 
Master Section preset. 
•You can right-click the Master Section Presets button and select “Save in 
audio window” to store a preset.
To recall this preset later, simply right-click the Presets button again and select “Restore 
from audio window”. 
						

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The Audio Montage 19 – 499
Saving a Montage template
Once you have set up the Audio Montage window the way you want it, 
you can save it as a template. The template file contains all settings and 
options in the Montage, but no clips. Next time you create a new Audio 
Montage (by selecting New Audio Montage on the File menu), the tem-
plate file is used as a basis for the new Montage. This allows you to create 
a custom track layout and other settings, once and for all.
To save a template, pull down the File menu and select “Save as tem-
plate…” from the Save special submenu.
• You can only have one Montage template – saving a template will overwrite 
the previous template.
• When a new Montage is created based on the template, the new Montage 
will automatically get the sample rate saved in the template.
To change this, select Audio Properties from the Edit menu and select another sample rate 
in the dialog that appears.
Opening Montage files
To open a saved Audio Montage (.mon) file, pull down the File menu and 
select “Audio Montage…” from the Open submenu.
If any of the audio files referenced in the Montage cannot be found, you 
will be asked to locate them manually. In the file dialog that appears, it’s 
also possible to replace the missing file with another – useful if you have 
renamed the original audio file.
Closing the Montage
Closing the Montage is done as with any document window, by clicking 
the window’s close button or by selecting Close from the File menu. If you 
have unsaved changes, you will be asked whether you want to save the 
Montage before closing it.
• If you have recorded audio files in the Montage, and close the Montage 
without saving it, the recorded files will automatically be erased. 
						

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19 – 500 The Audio Montage
Cloning Montages
There are two ways to make a “clone” of an Audio Montage: “Quick clon-
ing”, in which the new clips will reference to the original audio files, and 
“Full cloning”, in which the actual audio files are cloned as well, creating a 
new “self-contained” Montage.
Quick cloning
This method is useful if you want to create several versions of the Montage, 
for example experimenting with variations. Note however that any process-
ing or editing you apply to the actual audio files will be reflected in both 
Montages, since they share all file references.
1.Select the Edit view by clicking the Edit tab.
2.Pull down the Edit view : Special menu and select “Quick cloning (reuse 
audio files)”.
A clone of the Audio Montage is created and appears in a new untitled window.
• You can also create a “quick clone” by clicking the document button of the Mon-
tage window and dragging to an empty area in the  WaveLab window.
Full cloning
There are several uses for Full cloning. 
• Since the cloned Montage will have its own audio files, you can edit and process 
these files without affecting any other Montages. 
• It is also a good way to “pack” the Montage, removing all unused audio sections. 
• Even if you don’t need a copy of the Montage as such, you can use this feature to 
split audio files and give them specific names (using the “Create exactly one file 
per clip” option).
Note that Full cloning doesn’t render effects to files (as does the Render 
function). It merely “re-maps” file references.