Steinberg WaveLab 7 Operation Manual

							5.7 Tools 137
ˆ Use the function "Detect next error" to let WaveLab automatically find the next error,
and then click "Correct", or "Mark for subsequent correction".
ˆ Use the function "Detect all errors" to let WaveLab automatically find all errors in the
predefined range. Then browse the marked errors, removing or adjusting each audio
range in turn, and click "Correct" to correct any specific errors, or you can use the
option "Correct all".
You can access this dialog by choosing Workspace>Specific tool windows >Error
Correction .
For an explanation of each parameter and interface feature, click on , or the 'What's this?'
question mark icon. For more information see
Getting Help
Related topics
Marker types
5.7.2 Auto Split
This dialog allows you to automatically split an Audio File into separate Audio Files according
to certain specified rules.
You can split files:
ˆ ...at marker points
ˆ ...at specific time intervals
ˆ ...at regions containing silences
ˆ ...at beat points using beat detection
ˆ ...according to a description of regions stored in a text file
The Auto Split function can be used in many situations such as:
ˆ cutting up a single Audio File of a recording session into its individual takes (using the
silence threshold)
ˆ cutting up a drum loop into its individual drum hit samples (using beat detection)
ˆ outputting individual tracks from an album master file (using marker detection or "Learn
regions from text file")
ˆ converting marker types from one type to another (by using the option "Do not split,
only create markers at splitting points")
ˆ silencing the regions between audio information in an instrumental take (using "Mute
audio outside regions")
The Auto Split tool is made up of several pages of dialogs which take you through the process
of splitting your audio. Note that the sequence of pages is not always the same and depends
on the choices you make.
You can access this dialog in the Audio File Workspace via Tools>Auto Split... .
For an explanation of each parameter and interface feature, click on , or the 'What's this?'
question mark icon. For more information see
Getting Help
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Related topics
Split Clip at silences
5.7.3 Signal generator
This dialog allows you to generate complex synthesized sounds in mono or stereo.
You can layer different waveform generators together and if outputting a stereo file, adjust
different settings for both the left and right channels. There are a multitude of settings to
adjust the character (Source tab), frequency (Frequency tab) and amplitude (Level tab) of
the generated signals.
To generate a sound follow these basic steps:
ˆ choose whether the file is to be mono or stereo, and define the number of samples, and
bit depth using the
Audio properties dialog .
ˆ choose how many layers of signal generators you wish to use (up to 64).
ˆ for each layer, use the source tab to choose the type of signal generator you wish to
use, switch to the frequency tab to define a frequency and its envelope, and use the
level tab to define a level envelope. If you have chosen a stereo file you can also choose
to adjust left and right channels independently.
ˆ once all settings are made, choose Generate and WaveLab calculates an Audio File
according to your specifications. The file is generated and opens up in a new window.
Generating signals can be useful for a variety of testing and measurement purposes. For
example, you could use the Signal Generator to create a sine wave sweep from say 20Hz to
20,000kHz to test your monitoring environment for resonant frequencies.
You can access this dialog in the Audio File Workspace via Tools>Signal Generator... .
For an explanation of each parameter and interface feature, click on , or the 'What's this?'
question mark icon. For more information see
Getting Help
Related topics
Audio properties dialog
DTMF Generator
5.7.4 DTMF Generator
This dialog allows you to generate DTMF (Dual-tone multi-frequency) or MF tones as used
by some analog telephone systems.
These signals are created by combining two sine waves with variable frequencies together.
Push button telephones generate these two sine waves at different frequencies depending
on the number you press. These dial pulses are then decoded by the telephone exchange
to identify which letters or numbers you pressed.
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The DTMF system uses eight different frequency signals transmitted in pairs to repre-
sent sixteen different numbers, symbols and letters. The characters you can use are:
0123456789ABCD #,)
The MF system is limited to only fifteen characters: 0123456789ABC #,
The DTMF Generator allows you to generate these DTMF/MF tones to create an Audio File.
You can enter the string of numbers and letters, specify the durations of the tones and set
the amplitude and output type.
You can access this dialog from the Audio File Workspace via Tools>DTMF Generator... .
For an explanation of each parameter and interface feature, click on , or the 'What's this?'
question mark icon. For more information see
Getting Help
Related topics
Signal generator
5.8 Peak Files
A peak file is a small file with the extension ".gpk" that is automatically created by WaveLab
each time a file is modified or opened in WaveLab for the first time.
The peak file contains information about the waveform and determines how it is drawn in the
wave window. The purpose of the peak file created by WaveLab is to speed up the time it
takes to draw a file's waveform.
By default, the peak file is stored in the same location as the Audio File whose waveform it
represents. You can choose to store a peak file in another location and/or delete it when you
close an Audio File. These settings are found in the
Audio File editing preferences .
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WaveLab 7 
						

							Chapter 6
Audio Montages
The WaveLab Audio Montage Workspace is a non-destructive editing environment that al-
lows you to arrange, edit, play back audio Clips. Features include both track and Clip-based
effects, volume and pan automation, and wide-ranging fade and cross fade functions. The
Audio Montage is a great tool for creating music CDs, mastering, multimedia work, radio spot
production, etc. You can create intricate multi-track compositions and author professional
audio CDs. Support for Multichannel and DVD-Audio disks allows you to create surround
sound mixes too.
Basic terminology
The Audio Montage window is where you assemble audio "Clips" into a montage. Once
imported, you can arrange, edit and play back Clips on an unlimited number of both stereo
or mono tracks. These provide a way for the user to structure the work graphically, but they
should not be viewed as "virtual tape tracks".
On an audio track, you can place any number of Clips. These are "containers" 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.
Creating a Montage
To create a blank new montage file choose File>New... to open the
Audio Montage
properties
dialog. From this dialog you can define the mode, number of channels and sample
rate to use for your new montage. The default setup is a stereo 44.1kHz montage. If you
wish to change the number of channels at a later stage you can by opening this dialog again
via Edit >Audio Montage properties... . See "Multi-channel surround setup" below for
more information on setting up for multiple channels.
There are also ways to generate a new montage automatically. If you are working in the Audio
File Workspace you can choose Edit>Create Montage from Audio File... to create a
new Audio Montage with a selection or an entire Audio File. You can also create a montage
by importing different file formats directly into the Audio Montage Workspace. Several of
these are found in the File>Import >menu. You can create a montage
file:
ˆ by importing an audio DDP file as an Audio Montage. 
						

							142 Audio Montages
ˆ importing an audio CD Cue file/CD image as an Audio Montage. This function allows
you to open a cue file – a text file containing information about how CD tracks corre-
spond 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. Cue sheets and CD images can be
created in many programs, including WaveLab.
ˆ by importing audio CD tracks directly to a montage using the Import Audio CD dialog
from the Utilities menu.
ˆ by converting a Basic Audio CD into an audio montage from the Audio File Workspace.
ˆ by creating a montage from an Audio File using the Auto Split function.
ˆ by opening an Audio File in the Audio File Workspace and selecting "Create Audio
Montage from Audio File" from the Edit menu.
ˆ 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.
ˆ by importing an XML text file previously exported by WaveLab.
Multi-channel surround setup
In addition to the default stereo mode, WaveLab supports up to 8 channel operation and up
to 6 channel surround operation. To enable multichannel operation mode, a proper audio
driver must first have been selected in the
Audio Streaming Settings . Once you have setup
your sound card to receive multiple channels you can choose the number of output channels
you wish in your Montage via the
Audio Montage properties dialog. You can then route
different tracks to different channels using the
Track dispatching dialog and adjust the pan
between different surround channels using the
Surround Panner dialog or the mini surround
pan window in the track's control window.
Tracks and Clips
The main montage window is divided into a number of horizontal "tracks" which you can add
and remove. Tracks can be mono/stereo audio or picture tracks. You layout your Clips on
audio tracks to create your montage.
Adding new tracks
You can add new tracks of any type:
ˆ by using the Track>Add [track type] menu, or
ˆ by clicking on a track's number button to bring up the Track context menu and choosing
"Add [track type] track".
See "Managing tracks" below for more information on working with tracks.
Adding new Clips
You then import audio to your audio tracks to begin assembling them as Clips in your mon-
tage. You can create Clips by copying audio selections from the Audio File Workspace into
the Audio Montage as well as importing external files directly. Add an Audio File/s to a track:
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ˆ by using drag and drop from the Audio File Workspace (via a tab or the document icon).
ˆ by dragging an Audio File directly from your operating system's file browser.
ˆ by copying and pasting audio from an Audio File in the Audio File Workspace and
pasting it into a track.
ˆ by dragging from the File Browser window.
ˆ by dragging a track from the Basic Audio CD window.
ˆ by dragging regions from the files view.
Editing a Montage
Editing/arranging Clips
Once you have imported your audio Clips you can begin laying them out and editing them in a
multitude of ways. Most of the functions for editing Clips are accessible via the
Focused Clip
window
. You can cut, copy, paste, delete, move, repeat, split, pitch shift, lock, time stretch
and change the referenced Audio File for all Clips in your montage. By dragging the edges
of two Clips on the same track up against other you can automatically add a cross fade. The
cross fade type can be adjusted and you can also add envelope points for volume and pan.
See the
Focused Clip window for more information.
Shortcut: You can also access the Edit pane commands from the Focused Clip editor by
right-clicking on a Clip to reveal a context menu.
Modes
The Modes menu provides you with an array of options to help you when moving and cross-
fading Clips. You can choose how you wish Clips to be handled when moving and adjust
whether automatic fades are created or not and how they react when moving Clips.
Editing context menus
There are many context menus in the Audio Montage Workspace to help you while editing
your montages. They exist for managing tracks (Track) , Clips (Clip) and inserting Audio
Files into your montage (Insert). You can also save selections of Clips as Groups so that
you can easily re-select a number of Clips via the Groups window. See
Groups for more
information on using Groups. Dragging can be used with several editing functions in the
Montage Workspace. See
Dragging operations for more information.
Tip: Editing multiple envelopes
When editing a cross fade length with the mouse, or the envelope level, you can press
[Alt]/[Option] at the same time, and this will adjust the fade of all selected Clips.
Getting around the Audio Montage window In addition to some of the standard zooming
and playback controls present in the Audio File Workspace there are some that are unique to
the Audio Montage Workspace. There are two magnifying glass icons near the scroll wheel
which allow you to zoom in and out in the track window. Clicking each icon will display more
or less tracks. The active track is zoomed in while the remaining tracks shrink down to allow
you to concentrate on one track. See
Zooming and scrolling for more information. There is
also the handy
Navigator for quickly moving around the visible Workspace in the montage
main window. To make it easy to quickly move between different views and zoom levels,
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you can also capture view settings as "snapshots", and apply these at any time using the
Snapshots window.
The info line
The info line is the grey area below the main montage track view. It indicates what will
happen when you click the mouse buttons (with or without modifier keys), depending on the
location of your mouse (much like tool tips for buttons). This is useful since editing in the
audio montage is based on mouse zones – you click in different areas of the Clips to perform
different actions. The info line will also display positions and lengths when you are moving,
copying or resizing Clips. For more information see
Audio Montage contextual information .
Working with Clips
When you add a single Clip to the montage (by pasting, importing from disk or using drag
and drop), the Paste context menu appears. By selecting one of the menu items, you can
specify how the Clip is inserted, and whether existing Clips should be affected or not, etc.
You can choose from:
ˆ Add/Mix - The Clip is inserted without affecting any Clips that already exist on the
destination track. The exception is if an inserted audio Clip partially overlaps another
audio Clip, in which case a cross fade is created in the overlapping zone (this is only
the case if the Auto crossfade mode is activated).
ˆ Add/Mix & bind right Clips (track) - When the Clip is inserted, all Clips to the right
of it (on the same track) are moved to the right, to make room for the inserted Clip.
ˆ Add/Mix & bind right Clips (global) - When the Clip is inserted, all Clips to the
right of it (on all tracks) are moved to the right, to make room for the inserted Clip.
ˆ Split/Insert - This option is only available if the insertion point is within an existing
Clip (audio tracks only). When the Clip is inserted, the existing Clip is split and the
right section is moved to the right to make room for the inserted Clip. Other Clips are
not affected.
ˆ Split/Insert & bind right Clips (track) - As Split/Insert, but other Clips to the right
on the same track are also moved accordingly (audio tracks only).
ˆ Split/Insert & bind right Clips (global) - As Split/Insert, but other Clips to the right
on all tracks are also moved accordingly (audio tracks only).
ˆ Replace selected range - Only available if there is a selection range on the destina-
tion track. The Clip with the selection range will be split at the selection range edges,
the inserted Clip will replace the range and the section to the right of the range is moved
to the left or right (depending on the length of the inserted Clip vs. the length of the
selection range), so that there is no gap after the inserted Clip.
ˆ Replace selected range (trim source accordingly) - This is only possible if there
is a selection range on the destination track, and if that selection range is shorter than
the range of the Clip to be inserted. The inserted Clip will overwrite the selected range
only, that is, the range to be inserted will be trimmed according to the current selection.
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ˆ Replace selected range & bind right Clips (track) - As Replace selected range,
but other Clips to the right on the same track are also moved accordingly.
ˆ Replace selected range & bind right Clips (global) - As Replace selected range,
but other Clips to the right on all tracks are also moved accordingly.
ˆ Overwrite from cursor - If the inserted Clip overlaps any other Clips, the overlapped
regions are removed from the existing Clips.
ˆ Cancel- No Clip is added (you can also cancel the insertion by clicking outside the
pop-up menu).
Focused Clip versus Select Clips
It is important to note that there is a difference between a "focused" Clip and a "selected"
Clip. Some editing functions can only be executed on an individual Clip or "focused Clip",
while some others can be executed on multiple Clips or "selected Clips".
ˆ Focused Clip - there can only ever be one or no focused Clip at a time. The focused
Clip's name is displayed in red. It's necessary to identify the Clip as focused because
there are certain functions that can only be executed on a single Clip. You use the
Focused Clip window to perform these functions.
ˆ Selected Clip - there can be many selected Clips. This allows you to edit multiple
Clips at the same time. You can perform functions such as copy, delete, move, etc.
Selected Clips have a different background color.
Managing tracks
Managing tracks is done mainly in the area to the left of each track in the main window. In the
middle of this area is a button with the number of the track. Clicking this button brings up
the track pop-up menu, which contains most of the track functions. There are also controls
for:
ˆ Minimizing/folding a track - use the small drop-down arrow to save screen space
by toggling the track between a zoomed to closed "folded" view.
ˆ Soloing a track - the small diamond-shaped button allows you to solo a track so that
all other tracks are muted but it is heard.
ˆ Muting a track - the small round shaped button allows you to mute/unmute a track.
Gray means the mute button is engaged and the track is not audible. Green means that
mute is off and the track is audible.
ˆ Choose a track's output channel - the small "Lf:Rf" button allows you to dispatch
audio to different channels.
ˆ Adjust track's volume - the two small channel faders allow you to adjust that
track's volume on both left and right channels (for a stereo track). Holding down
[Ctrl]/[Command] will reset the sliders to 0dB. In a stereo track holding down [Shift]
or right-clicking and dragging on either the left or right fader will allow you to adjust the
balance of one channel at a time. Use [Shift]or right-click and [Ctrl]/[Command] to
reset a single fader to 0dB.
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Multiple Clips and Groups
It is possible to group multiple Clips together by holding down [Shift]or[Ctrl]/[Command]
while selecting them. You can then save them as a "selection group" so that later you can
easily select all Clips in that Group with a single click. You can even nest Groups inside each
other. See
Groups for more information.
Playing back and using effects
Playback in the Audio Montage works in much the same way as in the Audio File Workspace.
There are however some additional points to note:
Audio tracks are normally routed through the Master Section
This allows you to add global effects to the Audio Montage or use the Render function to
create a mixdown Audio File, separate Audio Files in the case of a multichannel Montage or
an intermediary Basic Audio CD. You can also choose to route the audio from a track to the
nearest track above for use with Clip effects that allow modulating audio inputs (such as the
Ducker plug-in). The routing is done using the "Route to" options on the Track context menu.
Effects can be added to Clips or Tracks
Each independent Clip and/or audio track in the Montage can be independently processed
by up totenVST effect plug-ins. Effects are configured either as Inserts, when all sound is
processed by the effect, or as Send effects. See
Effects for more information.
Using markers in the montage
Markers work in much the same way as in the Audio File Workspace however there are some
additional functions available that are useful for working with Clips. You can for example, bind
a marker to a Clip so that it moves with the Clip. For more information use "What's this?" or
see "Using markers in the Audio Montage Workspace" in
Markers for more details.
Mixing down – The Render function
The Render function in the Master Section allows you to "mix down" the whole Montage (or
sections of it) to a single Audio File, or to several files in case of a multichannel Montage. It
also allows you to render to a basic audio CD or CD image and cue sheet, or even a new
Audio Montage. This can be useful for example when you wish to "print" any effects to file.
The Render function can be used in many ways:
ˆ It's useful if you want to burn a CD from a CPU-intensive Montage, as it allows you to
first render all track and Clip effect processing to recreate a new montage and then
burn the CD in a second pass.
ˆ Surround channels can be rendered as multiple files, retaining the stereo/mono status
of the individual surround channels.
ˆ You can create a CD image and cue-sheet
ˆ You can create a Basic Audio CD
WaveLab 7