Steinberg WaveLab 7 Operation Manual

							3.2 Adjusting Envelopes 7
mode.They can also be placed in the Control Window, in a tab group. Each shared tool
window has a menu entry to allow this ("Place in Control Window").
Differences between Mac and Windows
Floating windows behave slightly differently on Apple Mac and Windows, due to some basic
differences between the platforms:
ˆ Mac- On the Mac, a tool window is always on top of all other windows and a floating
window remains visible even if its dependent Workspace is not active or is minimized.
If WaveLab is no longer the active application, all its floating windows are hidden.
ˆ Windows - A floating window is hidden when its dependent Workspace is minimized
or covered by another window. If WaveLab is no longer the active application, all its
independent floating windows are hidden.
Saving a windows location
Once you have your tools windows, command bars and tab groups set up the way you wish
to work, you can save their location in the current Workspace by choosing Workspace>
Layout >Save as... and saving a preset; or you can save the current layout as the default
layout by choosing Workspace>Layout >Save current layout as default .
If you wish to save the location of all Workspaces, then use the global option by choosing
Global >General Window Layout >Save as... and saving a preset; or you can save
the current layout as the default layout by choosing Global>General Window Layout >
Save current layout as default .
Related topics
Workspaces
Shared tool windows
Specific tool windows
3.2 Adjusting Envelopes
At various places in WaveLab, envelopes are used to constrain the way effects are expressed.
Some offline processes such as
Level Envelope , use envelopes to adjust an effect over time.
You can edit the profile of these envelopes quickly and easily.
Adjusting an envelope
Edit the envelope using the envelope editor window in the following ways:
ˆ Create and erase points by double clicking.
ˆ Select points by clicking on them.
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							8 Using the interface
ˆ To select more than one point, press [Ctrl]/[Command]when clicking - you can then
move them together. Selected points don't have to be contiguous. You can also click
anywhere in the window and drag the cursor over the envelope points to select them.
ˆ You can drag any segment to move the whole envelope profile up and down.
ˆ You can drag a single segment vertically by pressing [Ctrl]/[Command]and move the
segment up and down.
ˆ You can drag a single segment horizontally by pressing [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Shift]
and move the segment left and right.
You can also use the controls at the top of the editor window to delete or reset points in
the envelope. Use the envelope smoothing button to toggle the envelope points between a
linear (polygonal) or a curved path. The envelope is not applied until you click "Apply".
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
Level envelope
Time stretching
Pitch correction
Pitch bend
3.3 Command bars
Commonly used tools, shortcuts and commands are represented by "Command buttons",
each with their own icon. Related buttons are grouped into various Command bars. You
can dock Command bars to any window edge and rearrange them. Each Workspace has
an appropriate set of command bars that are available to be displayed. All the commands
accessed via the Command buttons can also be found in the menus.
Hiding and displaying Command bars
To view a list of available command bars right-click on an empty part of the top edge of the
Workspace. More precisely, on Windows computers right click anywhere along the window's
top menu, on Apple Macintosh computers right click in the window's caption bar. This dis-
plays the Peripheral Windows context menu, which you can use to select which Command
bars are displayed.You can also choose which individual Command buttons are displayed
from the
Customize commands dialog .
To move a set of Command bar tools
Drag on the left side of the command, or at top for vertical command bars - the pointer
changes to
when you have "grip". Drag the group of Commands to any side of the appli-
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							3.4 Context menus 9
cation window and release the mouse button. The application window and other Command
bars will automatically make space for the Command bar in its new position.
By default, Command bars are docked and don't float. You can make them float individually
or not, by right clicking and selecting the desired option from the menu. Once the option has
been selected, move the command bar.
You can drag Command groups below an existing row to form a new row (or next to an
existing column, to form a new column). You can also reorder their position within a row or
column, to customize your layout.
If a Command bar does not have room to display all of its icons, it will have a double right (or
down) arrow >>. Click on the double arrow to reveal any obscured Command buttons.
Finding out what a Command button does
Hover over an individual Command button to display its tooltip. If no tooltip appears, make
sure "Show tips when mouse stays over buttons" is activated in Preferences...>Global
Preferences >Display tab .
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
Global Preferences
Customize Commands
Context menus
3.4 Context menus
Throughout WaveLab there are various Context menus available. These menus group to-
gether a range of commands and/or options specific to the window you are working in. They
appear when clicking with the right mouse button in certain places and may be useful for
speeding up your workflow.
Some Context menus have colored title bars (these were formerly known as "Speed menus"
in WaveLab 6), and their title indicates the part of the interface they relate to.
Using Context Menus
To bring up a context menu, right-click in the desired area. This is normally somewhere
along the edges of a window, or in some cases anywhere on the window itself or its title.
Right-clicking on a File tab, for example, shows a context menu with some relevant file op-
tions. Right-clicking on the waveform window header brings up the Time Ruler context menu
allowing you to access a number options for changing the Time Ruler display format.
Tip: Most context menu commands can be found on the normal menu bar but some unique
commands are only found in context menus . As they are not always obvious, when
searching for a function, it may be worth checking for a Context menu in the window in which
you are working by right-clicking on it, or around its edges.
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							10 Using the interface
Related topics
Shortcut system
3.5 Docking windows
All of WaveLab's
tool windows can be used as docked windows or as stand-alone "floating"
windows. They can be freely dragged around and docked at various locations. Command
bars can also be freely moved around and docked along the edges of most windows. See
Command bars for more information.
Undocking a window
Double-click on the title bar. This works with all tool windows, Specific and Shared.
About Specific tool windows
To undock a Specific tool window use one of the following methods:
ˆ double-click on the title bar.
ˆ click on the small double window icon which is located at the top left hand corner of
the window.
ˆ click and drag the window by its title bar.
Once un-docked, you can freely drag the window around by clicking and dragging on the
window's title header bar.
To dock the window again, drag it to any location where you are visually prompted to release
the window. Around the edges and the top of the Workspace is where this normally occurs.
Most windows can be docked horizontally or vertically, but some can only be docked in one
direction, because of the nature of their contents. To dock the window again, you can also
double-click in the title bar.
Tip: To move a window and prevent it from docking, hold down [Ctrl]/[Command]before
you begin to undock the window. This will avoid the window docking again and allow you to
place it anywhere. Once you begin to drag, you can release [Ctrl]/[Command].
About Shared tool windows
Shared tool windows such as the meters and the Master Section are slightly different to
other tool windows as there is only ever one of them available and it can only appear in
one Workspace at a time. As such, when you open a shared tool window from the menus
in another Workspace it undocks and moves from its original Workspace. An empty tab
container with a vertical title bar will remain in its previous Workspace.
To retrieve a window again from another Workspace use the
button at the top left of these
empty containers. For example, if you have the VU Meter displayed in the Audio Montage
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							3.6 Double clicking 11
Workspace and you wish to display it in the Audio File Workspace, you can simply click the
blue button and the VU Meter window will move back into its tab container.
You can choose to deactivate the default moving behavior by deselecting Workspace>
Auto move shared tool windows . Shared tool windows do not then move when you
switch between Workspaces.
Docking/Undocking in the Control Window
Certain windows (those with a Window and Global menu in their title header) can also be
arranged in the Control Window. These are placed centrally - slightly differently to how they
behave in the other Workspaces. For more information on docking/undocking windows in
the Control Window see
Control Window .
Related topics
Tab Groups
About Tool Windows
Command bars
Control Window
3.6 Double clicking
A double click is the act of pressing the mouse button twice quickly without moving the
mouse.
Throughout WaveLab you can achieve the following by double clicking in certain places:
ˆ Create a new empty document - double click on the empty part of a tab bar. See
Tab Groups for more information.
ˆ Edit a marker name - double click at the right side of a marker's icon (in the Audio
File or Montage Workspace) above the time ruler.
ˆ Select a region (Audio File Workspace) - double click to select the whole Audio
File. Where markers exist, the region between the markers is selected. If markers exist
and you wish to select the entire file you can triple-click to select the whole file.
ˆ Set zoom to display entire waveform (Audio File/Montage Workspace) - dou-
ble click on the horizontal zoom wheel to reset the zoom to display the whole Audio
File.
ˆ Set zoom to default value (Audio File/Montage Workspace) - double click on
the vertical zoom wheel to reset the zoom to its default value.
ˆ Center the waveform (Audio File Workspace) - double click on the vertical scroll
bar to center the waveform around the horizontal axis.
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							12 Using the interface
ˆ Start playback (Audio File/Montage Workspace) - double click in the time line to
start playback from that point.
In addition to these specific examples, in various places throughout WaveLab, double-
clicking can be used to begin editing certain values. Depending on the context the type
of editing triggered will vary. In most list views for example, double-clicking in a cell will allow
you to edit its value.
Related topics
Tab Groups
Select-clicking
3.7 Dragging operations
WaveLab makes much use of "drag-and-drop" techniques to perform various operations,
some of which can't be performed otherwise. These are referred to as drag operations in
this documentation.
To drag an object, press and hold down the left mouse button while over the object and drag
it to the desired destination. Drop the object by releasing the button.
Many types of objects can be dragged between different source and destination locations
including files, text, Clips, the playback head and markers.
Tip: This help entry describes some of the most important drag and drop operations. There
are many other possibilities, especially within the various list views for example where you
can possibly drag from the list to an external window, drag a file into the list (to import), or
reorder, these vary of course according to the context). Therefore we encourage you to try
drag and drop wherever you feel it may make sense.
Within Workspaces
Drag objects within and between Workspaces to perform the following functions:
ˆ Docking a tool window - drag a window's title bar to any side of the Workspace,
beside or above an existing tool window, to dock the window at a new place.
ˆ Moving a Command bar - drag the bar grip at the left-hand end of a command bar
and reposition it. See
Command bars for more information.
ˆ Moving a Document Tab - drag the tab to a new location within its own tabbed group
to reorder.You can also drag a tab to another group of tabs.
ˆ Open a file - drag a compatible file from the WaveLab's File Browser, from the oper-
ating system's file browser or from another application to the tab bar.
ˆ Insert a file in another Workspace - drag an Audio File by its title bar tab between
the Audio File and Audio Montage Workspaces. You can also use the Switcher window
to drag any object to another Workspace. Drag the object over the corresponding
Workspace icon in the Switcher window and wait until the new Workspace becomes
active. Then you can release the file in the target Workspace.
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							3.7 Dragging operations 13
Within the Audio File Workspace
Drag objects within the Audio File Workspace to perform the following functions:
ˆ Paste an Audio File - drag a document's title bar tab or document button
onto the
waveform area of another file, to copy and paste its audio content. You can also drag
a compatible file directly from the File Browser, the operating system's file browser, or
from another application.
ˆ Delete/Move a marker - drag the marker along the time ruler to change its position.
Drag while pressing the [Shift]key to create a copy of this marker. Drag above the
time ruler to delete the marker.
ˆ Copy an audio selection - drag a selected region of audio onto the waveform area
of the same file, or of another file. Left, right or both channels can be copied.
ˆ Create a new file from an audio selection - drag a selected region of audio onto
the empty space of a tab bar to create a new copy of the audio. If dragging happens
right after double clicking, the selection is quantized and extended up to the marker's
"region" under the mouse.
ˆ Modify a selection - drag left or right to change the extent of the selection.
ˆ Move the waveform - drag anywhere above the time ruler to move it horizontally.
ˆ Create a marker from selected text - drop text that you have selected in an external
application onto the time ruler to create a generic marker there. The text becomes the
marker's name.
ˆ Scroll the waveform - drag the cursor to the left or right sides of the waveform area
to display the region before or after.
ˆ Mix to Mono - by holding down [Control + Alt]/[Command + Alt] while dragging the
file to a new tab, you can quickly mix a stereo file to mono.
ˆ Convert from Mono to Stereo - by holding down [Control + Alt]/[Command + Alt]
while dragging the file to a new tab, you can quickly convert a mono file to stereo .
Tip: When aligning some objects in the waveform area, labeled prompts will help you to
snap to other locations in the waveform (for example, the end points of Audio Files, markers
or cursors).
Audio Montage Workspace
Drag objects within the Audio Montage Workspace to perform the following functions:
ˆ Paste an Audio File - drag a document's title bar tab or document button
onto
the Montage area of another file, to copy and paste its audio content. You can also drag
a compatible file directly from the File Browser, the operating system's file browser, or
from another application.
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							14 Using the interface
ˆ Delete/Move a marker - drag the marker along the time ruler to change its position.
Drag while pressing the [Shift]key to create a copy of this marker. Drag above the
time ruler to delete the marker.
ˆ Create a marker from selected text - drop text that you have selected in an external
application onto the time ruler to create a generic marker there. The text becomes the
marker's name.
ˆ Scroll the Montage - drag the cursor to the left and right sides of the Montage to
display what comes before or after.
ˆ Paste a Clip - drag a document's title bar tab or document button
onto the Montage
area to copy and paste its audio content. You can also drag a compatible file directly
from the File Browser, the operating system's file browser, or from another application.
Within the Podcast Workspace
You can drag episodes in the Episodes list to reorder them.
Within the Master Section
You can drag effects between different Effects slots to change the order of processing (which
takes place from top to bottom).
Within the Batch Processor Workspace
ˆ Change the order of effects - you can change the order in which plug-ins are pro-
cessed by dragging plug-ins within the Audio plug-in chain window.
ˆ Add to batch process - you can drag a file (via its tab) to the batch conversion tool
or batch processor, for "instant" processing.
Related topics
Docking windows
Switcher window
3.8 Playback shortcuts
Playing back audio is a common repetitive task in WaveLab. In addition to the playback
command buttons in the
Transport controls , there are a few extra commands that can only be
accessed via special keyboard shortcuts. These shortcuts can be used even when the audio
window is not the active window. These special keyboard shortcuts cannot be customized.
They are:
ˆ Space bar - Start/Stop
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							3.9 Select-clicking 15
ˆ 0or F7 - Stop. When pressed while already stopped, the cursor jumps to the previous
playback start position. A further "0" returns the cursor to the start of the file.
ˆ Enter (Numeric Pad) orF8 - Start
ˆ [Ctrl]/[Command] + F6 - Plays from the beginning to the end of the selection, if any.
Where there are markers it plays between them. If there are no markers it plays from
the beginning to the end of the Audio File.
ˆ [Win]/[Ctrl] + F6 - As above, but playback starts with a preroll beforethe region and
stops at its end.
ˆ [Shift] + F6 - As above, but playback ends with a postroll afterthe region.
ˆ [Win]/[Ctrl] + [Shift] + F6 - As above, but playback starts with a preroll beforethe
region and ends with a postroll afterthe region.
Related topics
Transport controls
3.9 Select-clicking
Select-clicking is the act of selecting an object with the mouse and while it is selected,
clicking again. This is a common interface interaction when renaming a file or folder in your
computer's native file browser.
Throughout WaveLab there are places where you need to select-click fields to edit values. In
some lists such as the Basic Audio CD window, you need to select-click cells to edit a track
name or ISRC code. Generally if a value can be edited, a double click selects all characters
in that cell and allows you to begin editing; if not, then try select-clicking the cell instead.
Related topics
Tab Groups
Double clicking
3.10 Shortcut system
Throughout WaveLab there are many predefined shortcuts and custom commands that can
be used to speed up your workflow. The offline process "Fade-in", for example can be trig-
gered from its menu entry, from its command bar icon, using a custom key sequence, and you
can use MIDI events as well. Each shortcut is restricted to its specific Workspace, which
means you can re-use the same shortcut in different Workspaces. When a command is
available from more than one Workspace, then the shortcut applies to all Workspaces and
cannot be reused.
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							16 Using the interface
Not all commands are restricted to a Workspace, for example, all Master Section commands
are global to the application, and Record commands (Record dialog) are active only when
the Record dialog has focus. In addition, a few specific Global shortcuts can be defined
from Preferences... >Global Preferences >Global shortcuts tab .
Shortcuts are defined and can be edited in the
Customize commands dialog . There are
various places where you can access this dialog, and each dialog restricts editing of the
shortcut to the related context. You can generate a summary of custom commands in a Print
preview or HTML format from the dialog's "Summary" button.
There are several types of shortcuts available in WaveLab:
Key sequences
You can define a sequence of up to four keys to trigger a desired action. Note that these
keys must be pressed/released one after the other, and the action is performed when the last
key has been pressed. Key stroke sequences give you a very large choice of combinations,
which is useful in an application with a large feature set. There are however possible pitfalls,
if for example:
Shortcut #1 is defined with the sequence: Control+D, Control+E
Shortcut #2 is defined with the sequence: Control+D
The application watches for key strokes, and when Control+D is pressed, Shortcut #2 won't
be triggered because Control+D is also used in a longer sequence (the application can't
know if it should wait for Control+E or not).
Note: A few very basic shortcuts cannot be redefined. If this is the case, the relevant edit
field is disabled. On the Mac, only the first key of native menus can be displayed.
MIDI event sequences
This is the same as with keyboard sequences, but using MIDI events sent from an external
MIDI device instead.
Keywords
Unless you use them frequently, key sequences are not always easy to remember but key-
words normally are. In WaveLab you can define any unique keyword to trigger a command.
Type the keyword in the dedicated "Keyword" field in the "Definition of shortcut(s)" dialog,
and click OK.
To trigger the command, enter the keyword in the Keyword command bar, found in all
Workspace, and press Return. This command bar keeps a list of recent commands, to im-
prove performance.
Keywords are useful in conjunction with presets, because a specific preset is easier to re-
member from a keyword (for example, "norm-1" to trigger a "Normalize to -1dB" process, if
such a preset has been set).
WaveLab 7