Steinberg WaveLab Essential 6 Operation Manual

							181
Customizing
Waveform elements
To change the waveform elements, right-click on a wave-
form (in the overview or in the main display), select Ele-
ments and then select the desired item from the submenu 
that appears.
Colors
To set the color of a certain element in the display, right-
click in the Wave window, select Colors and then select 
an element from the submenu that appears. In the stan-
dard Windows color dialog that appears, select or define 
a color and click OK.
ÖFor the display background colors, there are separate 
“top” and “bottom” settings – the resulting display back-
ground will be a gradient “fade” from the top color to the 
bottom color.If you prefer a single background color (or if you need to 
speed up display redraws, typically with slower graphic 
cards), you can turn this feature off by activating “Do not 
use gradient backgrounds” in the Preferences–Environ-
ment tab. The background color will then be a 50/50 mix 
of the top and bottom color.
Ruler style
To change the look of the rulers (done separately for the 
Overview and Main view), right-click on the ruler, select 
style and then select one of the options from the submenu 
that appears:
Styling WaveLab Essential – Audio 
CD Montage windows
Using custom colors
You can create and assign different color schemes to dif-
ferent clips or tracks to make it easier to find your way 
through the Montage:
To assign a color scheme to a track, open the Track 
menu and select a color scheme from the Color submenu.
The selected color scheme is used for all current clips on the track, as 
well as for clips you add later on. However, note that this color selection 
is overridden by the clip colors.
To assign a color scheme to an individual clip, right click 
on the clip to bring up the clip speed menu, and select a 
color scheme from the Color submenu.
Clip color selections (if other than default) override track colors.
The Mute color overrides all color settings above.
!Note that you make separate settings for the main 
waveform display, the overview and for the two chan-
nels in a stereo file! Which section you make settings 
for depends on where you click.
Item Description
Time Ruler Specifies whether or not the display should have 
a time ruler.
Level Ruler This only applies to the Main view display. It is 
used to set whether or not there should be a ruler 
showing levels.
Solid/Dotted
MarkersThese two (mutually exclusive) items are used to 
set the style of the marker lines extending across 
the waveform. If neither is activated, the marker 
lines are hidden.
Range Indicator 
at top/bottomThe range indicator is a small “barber shop 
striped” bar that indicates which part of the 
waveform is shown in the main display. These 
two items are used to set whether it should ap-
pear at the top or bottom of the overview.
Thin/Medium/
Fat CursorThese three items are used to set the thickness 
of the cursor line.
Solid/Dotted 
zero level axisThese two (mutually exclusive) items are used to 
set the style of the line crossing the waveform at 
zero level (in the middle). If neither is activated, 
the zero level axis is hidden.
Solid/Dotted 
half level axisAs above, but for the two lines crossing the 
waveform at ±50% level.
End of file indicator Allows you to show/hide the line that indicates 
the end of the file.
!Again, when changing colors for the waveform im-
ages, you make separate settings for the main wave-
form display, the overview and for the two channels 
in a stereo file, depending on where you click.
Option Description
3D/Mingled These two (mutually exclusive) items allow you 
to select whether the ruler should have its own 
looks (3D) or whether it should “inherit” the color 
of the waveform background.
Font Opens up a dialog box that allows you to set a 
font for the text/numbers on the ruler. Select a 
font, style, size, effect and color and click OK.
Tick Color This allows you to set the color for the tick marks 
on the ruler. A standard Windows color dialog is 
used. 
						

							182
Customizing
Defining custom colors
You can redefine all colors on the Color pop-up menus, as 
well as the colors for various other elements in the Audio 
CD Montage. This is done in the Audio CD Montage Col-
ors dialog, using the following procedure:
1.Pull down the View menu and select “Audio CD Mon-
tage colors…”.
The Audio CD Montage Colors dialog appears. For the menu item to 
be available, the 
active window must be a Montage window.
2.In the Items list, select the element for which you want 
to edit the colors.
By clicking the plus sign next to a heading, you display the sub elements 
for that item. The available elements are described in the section “The 
color elements” on page 183.
3.Use the three sliders (red, green and blue) to adjust 
the color of the selected element.
The current color is displayed in the field to the right. You can also see 
the changes in the Audio CD Montage window while you are editing.
If you are editing a clip color element, you can make 
separate color settings for the left and right sides of stereo 
clips.
If you want the same color for the left and right sides, you must make 
sure that the checkbox Edit Left/Right is activated (it is by default).
When this is activated, settings for the left side of a clip are automati-
cally “mirrored” on the right side, and vice versa.
If you activate the Link sliders checkbox, you can adjust 
all three sliders at once, by moving one of them.
This is useful if you want to adjust the brightness of the color, without af-
fecting the hue.
Some elements can be hidden totally by activating the 
Hide option.
When this is activated, it is not possible to make any color adjustments 
(since the element won’t be visible in the Audio CD Montage anyway).
It is also possible to select colors from a standard Win-
dows color dialog, opened by clicking the Select button.
4.If you make a mistake, you can undo your latest adjust-
ment by clicking the Undo button.
To undo all changes you made since you opened the dialog, click Undo 
All.
5.If you want to apply the same color to several ele-
ments, you can use the Copy and Paste buttons.
Set up the color, click Copy, select the next element and click Paste to 
apply the same color settings.
You can also copy an entire color scheme (for example, 
copy all settings for one of the custom schemes to the de-
fault scheme) by dragging and dropping in the Items list.
6.If you are editing one of the color definitions (the items 
that appear on the track and clip color menus), you can re-
name the color by clicking on the name in the Item list and 
typing a new name.
In the Items list, the color definitions that can be renamed are displayed 
in blue.
7.When you’re finished, click Close to close the win-
dow.
!There are many items of different color displayed in a 
Montage. If you redefine colors, be careful not to 
choose colors which cause some elements to “dis-
appear” (e.g. black marker lines on a black back-
ground). 
						

							183
Customizing
The color elements
Clip colors
Under the heading Clip Colors you can select colors for 
various elements in the following clip types:
For each item, you can select colors for a number of differ-
ent clip elements. You can make separate adjustments for 
the left and right sides of a stereo clip, though by default, 
editing a color for the left side will automatically change 
the same setting for the right side and vice versa (see 
“Defining custom colors” on page 182). For mono clips, 
the “Left (mono)” setting is used.
The following color elements are available:
Miscellaneous colors
This section of the Items list in the dialog contains color 
settings for other elements in the Track View:
Working with window layouts
Window layouts are used for creating various “work dis-
plays” for 
different situations. The following items are 
stored in window layouts:
 The size, position and minimize/maximize properties of docu-
ment windows. This does not include the contents of the win-
dow, just the properties of the window “frame” itself. For 
example, if some Wave window was included in the window 
layout, the Wave you currently have open when you load the 
preset will be sized and moved accordingly.
 Positions of non-modal dialog boxes, such as the off-line pro-
cessors. This includes opening any such windows.
 Positions of plug-in processor panels.
Window layouts are managed in the Window Layouts dia-
log on the View menu. The procedures are the same as 
when handling regular presets (for detailed descriptions, 
see “Presets” on page 30):
To create a new window layout, set up the display as 
you want it (see the list above) and use the Window Lay-
out dialog to name and add the new layout.
Option Description
Crossfade Region Allows you to set the background color for overlap-
ping clip sections.
Default The default colors, used for clips for which you ha-
ven’t selected any specific color.
Muted The colors used for all muted clips.
Custom These options correspond to the items on the Color 
submenus (on the Track menu and clip speed 
menu). These can be renamed, as described above. 
Option Description
Background top/bottom 
(normal/selected)The background colors of the clip (unselected 
and selected, respectively). The resulting display 
backgrounds will be gradient “fades” from the 
top colors to the bottom colors (this can be 
turned off in the Preferences–Environment tab, 
as described in the section “Colors” on page 
181.
Waveform
(normal/selected)The waveform color for unselected and selected 
clips, respectively.
Waveform outline
(normal/selected)The color of the waveform outline (unselected 
and selected clips, respectively).
Edge The left and right edge of the clip.
Edge (selected) The left and right edge, if the clip is selected.
Axis (level zero) The color of the horizontal dotted line in the mid-
dle of a clip, indicating zero level.
Axis (half level) The color of the horizontal dotted lines halfway 
up and down from the middle of a clip, indicating 
50% level.
Channel separator 
(stereo clip)The line dividing the two sides in a stereo clip.
Clip name The name label of the clip.
Focused Clip name The name label of the focused clip (see “About 
selected and focused clips” on page 114).
Focused Clip name 
backgroundThe name label background of the focused clip.
!For the Crossfade Region item, you can only select 
colors for “Background”.
Option Description
Background 
top/bottomThe background colors of the Track View.
Cursor The color of the Montage cursor. Note that be-
cause of the blinking Cursor, the selected colors 
will appear in inverse video in the Montage.
Cue-Point The color of the vertical dotted cue point lines.
!Windows that are already open will never be closed as a 
result of recal
ling a window layout.
Option Description 
						

							184
Customizing
To modify an existing window layout, set up the display 
as you want it, select the window layout in the dialog and 
click the Update button.
To load an existing window layout, select it in the dialog 
and click Load.
Using key sequences
You can use key sequences for recalling window layouts, 
just as with many other items (see “Customizable key 
commands” on page 184). This can be used for quick and 
easy window control. For example, open a single docu-
ment window, maximize it, save a window layout and as-
sign it to a key sequence. Later, this key sequence can be 
used to maximize the active window only.
Setting default size and position for 
windows
As mentioned above, while window layouts can be used 
for storing 
the size and position of windows, it also stores 
settings for various 
dialog boxes. If you only wish to deter-
mine a default size and position for different types of win-
dows (Waves, Audio CD Montages, 
etc.), you can instead 
use the option “Remember active window’s
 layout as 
opening setting” on the View menu. This is a quick and 
effective way of organizing your working environment the 
way you want it.
To set a default size and position for a certain type of win-
dow, proceed as follows:
1.Open or create the desired type of window.
2.Size and position it the way you like.
3.Pull down the View menu and select “Remember ac-
tive window’s layout as opening setting”.
A dialog appears asking you to confirm the option.
4.Click “Yes” to continue.
All windows of that type will now open in this same size 
and position.
ÖLoading a window layout as described above will 
override this setting.
Creating a Favorites menu
The Favorites item on the File menu allows you to assem-
ble a list of files that you want to be able to open quickly – 
a library if you will.
To add a file to the list, make sure its window is active 
and select “Add current document” from the Favorites-
Functions submenu.
To open a file from the list, select it.
To clear the whole list, select Clear List from the Favor-
ites–Functions submenu.
To update the list so that it only lists files that actually 
still exist in the specified locations on your hard disk(s), 
select Validate List from the Favorites–Functions sub-
menu.
Files that can’t be found are removed.
Customizable key commands
In addition to the fixed key commands for selecting from 
menus, etc., there are a number of operations for which 
you can set up your own commands.
You can do this by specifying a key sequence – a se-
quence of between one to three keys that must be 
pressed in a certain order to invoke the operation.
Key sequences are listed and managed in the “Keyboard 
Commands” dialog, opened from the Options menu. 
						

							185
Customizing
About the list of operations
The main part of this dialog is occupied by the list of avail-
able operations that can be called up via key sequences. 
You can choose to view this list in one of two ways, with 
the “Sort” buttons in the upper right corner of the dialog:
 “Sort by Command” organizes the operations in folders, in 
groupings that relate to various sections in the program.
 “Sort by Key” lists all commands in a “flat” fashion (no folders), 
and sorts the list alphabetically via the defined key commands, 
which allows you to easily find a command assigned to a cer-
tain key.
Regardless of which mode you select, the actual available 
operations are the same, it’s just the view that changes.
The “dynamic” items in the list
Please note that the number of items in the list varies with 
other settings in the program. For example, if you have as-
signed key shortcuts to plug-ins, in the Plug-in manager, 
they will appear in this list too. Otherwise they will not.
The columns
 The Description column lists the operations available.
 The next column allows you to choose between two modes 
that determine 
when a key sequence is available and when it 
is not, see 
“Setting enable options” on page 185.
 The Key column shows the Key sequence defined for the op-
eration.
Defining key sequences
1.Select the operation for which you want to create a key 
sequence.
2.Click the “Key Sequence…” button.
3.If you want to clear the current key sequence, click 
Clear.
4.Make sure “Catch mode” is active.
5.Press the first combination of keys that you want to 
use.
You can include modifiers ([Shift], [Ctrl], [Alt], etc.) if you like. There is 
also a setting that makes the program distinguish between two modifiers 
with the same label, on each side of the space bar.
6.Proceed with the following key(s).7.Disable “Catch mode”.
This is just an optional safety measure so that you don’t accidentally 
erase or add to your current key sequence, when pressing more keys.
8.Close the dialog.
Setting enable options
Once the key sequence has been defined, you may want 
to set the Enable Options for the operation. This is done 
by selecting from the pop-up in the middle column:
Excluding windows (Key commands)
This is mainly for plug-in windows. Since some plug-ins, 
especially from third-party manufacturers, have their own 
set of key commands, you may want to disable WaveLab 
Essential key commands for these windows. 
Let’s say you assign a key command to “apply” in the Mas-
ter Section, and a certain plug-in already uses the same 
key combination for an internal operation. Then, pressing 
this key command might lead to the wrong operation be-
ing invoked when this plug-in has the focus.
!It is possible to define the same key sequence for 
two operations. If you do, one of them will be in-
voked. To see which, select “Sort by key” and locate 
the items in the list. The top one is the one that will 
be used.
Option Description
Enabled all time This key sequence is always active.
Enabled if active 
window…This key sequence can be used for all windows, 
except the ones added to the “Exclude Win-
dows” lists, described below. 
						

							186
Customizing
“Exclude windows” allows you to prevent this situation:
1.Click the “Exclude windows” button.
2.Type in the name of the window in the Window exclu-
sion list.
You can include DOS “wildcard” characters. For example to exclude all 
products from the manufacturer Waves, you can type “Waves*”.
3.Close the window.
Using key sequences
To use a key sequence, press the keys/buttons specified 
in the dialog, and the corresponding operation is per-
formed.
About some special key commands
There are some key commands that might require an ex-
planation:
Organizing plug-in processors
Introduction
You may find that you need to organize your processors 
into sensible groups. Why? Well, a host of plug-ins are in-
cluded with the program, and additional ones can be 
added. Also, sometimes when you install a package of Di-
rectX plug-ins you get effects that are of no relevance to 
WaveLab Essential (or even to audio) and therefore just 
clutter menus.
To organize how your plug-ins appear on menus in the 
program, open the “Organize Master Section plug-ins” di-
alog on the Options menu.
About the plug-in list
The “Organize Master Section plug-ins” dialog
These are plug-ins that can be used in the program. They 
are processors, or effects, that can be added to the Mas-
ter Section slots 
(see “The Effects pane” on page 85).
!Key sequences can only be executed after you have 
closed the Key Commands 
dialog.
Command Description
Set focus on this 
key command groupThis allows you to re-use key commands 
for certain groups.
For example, let’s say you set up things so 
that [Ctrl]+[F10] is the key command for 
setting the focus to the Master Section. 
You then assign simple key commands to 
the Master Section items, for example [A] 
for “Apply” and [R] for “Remove all plug-
ins”, even though these keys may be used 
for other sections of the program.
You can then Press [Ctrl]-[F10] followed 
by any of the single commands to control 
most aspects of the Master Section.
Bypass all defined 
key commands/
Enable all key commandsThis can be used when an installed plug-
in, from a third party manufacturer, has its 
own set of key commands. You can then 
temporarily disable all WaveLab Essential 
key commands to be able to use the plug-
in’s own.
Bypass all defined 
key commands except those
set to “Enabled all time”Same as above but disables all key com-
mands except those where you have set 
the Enable Option to “Enabled all time”.
Plug-in Slot commands To assign a certain processor to a certain 
slot, in the Master Section, you need two 
key sequences. Selecting a slot is done 
by a key sequence in the “Slot selection” 
section, and selecting a plug-in is done in 
the “Slot Commands” section.
!This organizes plug-ins accessed from the Master 
Section, not the VST plug-ins in the Montage. Note 
however, that you can exclude some VST plug-ins 
completely, see “Handling VST plug-ins” on page 
188. 
						

							187
Customizing
Groups
In the Master Section folder in the list, you will find sub-
folders, representing groups of plug-ins.
By organizing your plug-ins into folders, you arrange the 
way they ap
pear on menus in the program. How you orga-
nize your effects is of course up to you, but initially, they 
are categorized according to their technical “type”, regular 
WaveLab Essential plug-ins in one folder, VST plug-ins in 
another, DirectX plug-ins in yet another, etc. (see “The Ef-
fects pane” on page 85 for more details on these types of 
plug-ins).
The columns
 The Plug-in column displays the names of all the available 
plug-ins.
 The FX column determines whether a plug-in is active or not, 
see below.
 If the checkbox in the PM (Post Master) column is activated 
for a plug-in, it will be available for selection in the Dithering 
pane in the Master Section (after the master faders in the sig-
nal path). This allows you to use separately purchased dither-
ing plug-ins and similar. See “Adding other plug-ins to the 
Dithering pane” on page 89 for more information.
 The Key column displays the key sequence defined for a plug-
in.
 The Module column tells you the name of the plug-in (dll) file.
Activating and deactivating plug-ins and 
groups
By clicking in the FX column, you can activate/deactivate 
individual plug-ins or an entire group of plug-ins (see be-
low for more information on groups). If you have plug-ins 
installed on your computer that you don’t want to use in 
WaveLab Essential, this lets you disable them completely, 
thus reducing “menu clutter”. The disabled plug-ins will 
still be applicable in other programs that can use them.An example of this would be DirectX plug-ins. Many of 
these do not apply to audio at all and are of no relevance 
to WaveLab Essential whatsoever. By disabling these, you 
will make it easier to find the plug-ins that you really want 
to use in WaveLab Essential.
Working with groups
The Master Section plug-ins can be organized into 
groups. This is done by adding subfolders to the Master 
Section folder and then dragging Plug-in icons into these 
folders.
When you then select from plug-in menus or display lists 
of plug-ins, the organization you have created will be re-
flected in the menu/list.
To create a group, click the New Group button, enter a 
name and press [Return].
The group will initially appear at the end of the list, but when you start us-
ing it, the list will be resorted so that the groups are displayed in alpha-
betical order.
To delete a group, select it and click Delete Group.
If the group contains any plug-ins, they will not be deleted. Instead, they 
will appear in the Master Section section, outside all other groups.
Moving plug-ins between groups is done by dragging 
and dropping, just as when dragging files in the Windows 
Explorer.
If you lose track of your changes and wish to return to 
the state that the list was in when you first opened the di-
alog, click Undo Changes.
!VST and DirectX plug-ins need to be in a group, 
whereas WaveLab Essential plug-ins can be outside 
all groups.
!VST plug-ins can also be excluded, see “Handling 
VST plug-ins” on page 188.
Here, a “Dynamics” 
group has been 
created, which 
then appears in 
the Master Sec-
tion. 
						

							188
Customizing
If you want to restore everything to the default “factory 
settings”, click “Set default”.
Handling VST plug-ins
If you have VST plug-ins installed on your computer that 
you don’t need in WaveLab Essential, you can tell the pro-
gram to ignore these on launch. This is done in the Prefer-
ences–VST dialog. It is possible to exclude single VST 
plug-ins, entire folders and subfolders containing VST 
plug-ins, and the “Shared VST Plug-ins” folder (if present 
on your system). The methods for doing this are all de-
scribed below.
Proceed as follows to set up which VST plug-ins to use in 
WaveLab Essential:
Open the Preferences dialog from the Options menu, 
and select the VST tab.
This contains the following items:Note the following:
 If VST plug-ins you want to exclude reside in one or several 
subfolders inside a main folder, you don’t have to list all the 
subfolders. Excluding the main folder will also automatically 
exclude its subfolders.
 It’s not necessary to type in the entire path to a folder you 
want to exclude (e.g. C:\plug-ins\reverb). Typing just reverb 
will suffice, since WaveLab Essential will look through the 
folders and subfolders on your C disk or partition upon star-
tup, searching for the folder named reverb, and exclude it.
 On the other hand, if you have a main folder containing two or 
more subfolders and you only want to exclude the plug-ins in 
one of the folders and you also have another folder or sub-
folder with the same name as the one you want to exclude, you 
will need to type the path to the subfolder you want to exclude 
(e.g. C:\plug-ins\delay).
In this case, the subfolder “Delay” in the folder “Old effects” will be ex-
cluded, but the subfolder “Delay” in the folder “New effects” will be in-
cluded.
!These settings are stored in the files “WaveLab Es-
sential/Presets/Plug-ins/PlugInPrefAE.set” and 
“WaveLab Essential/System/plugins_es.set”. If you 
ever encounter problems with “lost” plug-ins, delete 
these files and the program will re-scan and build a 
new list of plug-ins the next time you launch it. This 
can also be achieved by clicking the “Force plugin 
dectection at next launch” button in the Prefer-
ences–VST dialog (see below).
!Note that unlike deactivating a plug-in in the Plug-in 
Manager (as described in the section “Activating and 
deactivating plug-ins and groups” on page 187) 
which will only remove it from the plug-in menu in the 
Master Section, “ignoring” a VST plug-in as de-
scribed below will remove it from the whole program, 
including the Montage.
Item Description
Use VST plugin 
shared folder
If you have additional VST plug-ins installed on 
your computer, these can also be available in 
WaveLab Essential, provided that they are in-
stalled in the “Shared VST Plug-ins” folder and 
this checkbox is activated. Next time WaveLab 
Essential is launched the plug-ins in this folder 
will be available.
Optional extra VST 
plugin folder 
(WaveLab Essential spe-
cific)Here you can set a path to an “extra” VST plugin 
folder. As some plug-ins may not be usable in 
WaveLab Essential, you can set up a specific 
folder containing all the VST plug-ins you wish 
to use in WaveLab Essential.
Ignore plugins located 
in the following 
sub-foldersIn this text field, you can type in the name of a 
folder or subfolder containing VST plug-ins that 
you want to exclude.
If you want to exclude several folders, type in all 
their names, but separate each name with a 
semicolon.
Do not load the 
following pluginsIn this list you can exclude individual plug-ins 
from being loaded by adding them to the list. 
Common VST instrument plug-ins (which can-
not be used in WaveLab Essential) are already 
added to the list.
Faster graphics refresh-
ing (consumes more 
computer power)This can be useful for plug-ins that display e.g. 
meters. If changed, this option takes effect after 
closing and reopening the VST plug-in win-
dow(s).
Force plugin detection at 
next launchClicking this button lets WaveLab Essential re-
scan and build a new list of all plug-ins next time 
it is launched. Item Description 
						

							189
Customizing
Quit WaveLab Essential and then launch the program 
again.
If you check the effect menus, you will find that the plug-ins in the speci-
fied folders are removed.
If you change your mind and want to use the ignored 
plug-ins again, repeat the steps above but remove the 
folder names from the text field.
Excluding all plug-ins
If you wish, you can temporarily exclude all plug-ins so that 
none will be available in WaveLab Essential:
Press and hold [Ctrl]+[Shift] when launching WaveLab 
Essential.
This will disable the Master Section and prevent all plug-ins from being 
loaded. This can be useful for troubleshooting purposes – i.e. to deter-
mine whether the loading of one or more plug-ins is causing problems.
If you wish to have access to the plug-ins again, activate 
the Master Section. 
						

							22
Plug-in processor reference