Steinberg WaveLab Essential 6 Operation Manual

51
Editing in the Wave window
Automatic backups
For all save operations except a regular “Save”, backups 
are created automatically if a file with the same name al-
ready exists.
If for example you select Save As and specify a file name 
already used in that folder, the program will ask you if you 
want to back up the existing file first. If you click Yes, the 
first letter in the file’s extension will be changed to “~”. 
“AIF” for example, will become “~IF”.
Saving in another format (Save as…)
If you...

52
Editing in the Wave window
You can save any audio file as an OSQ file by using the 
Save As function.
The audio will play back exactly the same as in the original, uncom-
pressed file.
Similarly, if you open an OSQ file in WaveLab Essential 
and save it as an uncompressed audio file in its original 
format (e.g. WAV), the audio will play back exactly the 
same.
You can also convert several files to OSQ format in a 
batch. See “Batch file encoding” on page 95.
Save selection as
This is a menu item on...

53
Editing in the Wave window
Renaming files and documents (Rename)
The Rename function is available from most WaveLab Es-
sential documents, not just Wave windows. The function 
is however of particular importance when renaming audio 
files. If you rename an audio file outside WaveLab Essen-
tial, and this file is referenced to an Audio CD Montage or 
Data CD/DVD project, the reference will be lost the next 
time you open the document that references this file.
But WaveLab Essential allows you to handle...

54
Editing in the Wave window
However, if a file is being referenced by a currently open 
Audio CD Montage, you will not be able to delete the file 
and a warning will appear. 
In addition, you will not be able to delete the file in the fol-
lowing circumstances:
 If it is currently copied to the clipboard.
 If a part of it is has been pasted into another file that is open. 
 If the file is open in another application.
Deleting an audio file will also automatically delete its 
peak and marker file...

55
Editing in the Wave window
Note: When you export to compressed files using the “En-
code (ACM)” option, the file that is created will technically 
be a Wave file, regardless of the compression format (the 
files will have the extension “wav”). But instead of the reg-
ular “linear” audio data that usually makes up a wave file, a 
special audio data “chunk” is included that contains the 
compressed audio.
This is normally not a problem, but something to be aware 
of when planning for usage of files in...

7
Playback and recording 

57
Playback and recording
Playing back
Background information
About sample rates
If the wave file is recorded at a sample rate not supported 
by your audio card you will not be able to play it back. You 
might then opt to use sample rate conversion, see “Con-
vert sample rate” on page 79. Also see “Supported file 
formats” on page 49 for more on file formats.
About the playback cursor position and 
appearance
Great care has been taken to achieve synchronization be-
tween what you hear and what you see...

58
Playback and recording
Transport control settings for separate windows
By default, open windows in WaveLab Essential (wave 
windows and montage windows) all use the same Trans-
port control settings (loop settings, playback speed, etc.). 
You can however choose to use separate settings for 
separate windows if you want: open the Preferences–Au-
dio device tab and make sure the option “Transport set-
tings are global to all windows” is not activated.
When this option is deactivated, the following...

59
Playback and recording
3.Press the mouse button.
Playback continues for as long as you keep the mouse button pressed, 
or until the wave ends. After playback has stopped, the cursor will be 
moved to the playback start position, making this a quick way to locate to 
certain positions in the audio.
Using the Playback Browser
The Playback Browser feature helps you find a certain po-
sition in an audio file, by restarting playback repeatedly 
when you click or drag to move the wave cursor.
1.Activate...

60
Playback and recording
Please note that if you leave this feature activated, the Mi-
crophone input gain control in the Mixer (see later in this 
text) will have less effect on the recording level.
Preparations
To record a new file, proceed as follows:
1.Click the Record button, or press [*] on the numeric 
key pad.
The Record dialog appears.
The Record dialog
2.Decide whether you want to record to a “named” or a 
“temporary” file, by selecting from the pop-up at the top of 
the dialog.
Temporary...