Steinberg Wavelab Le 8 Manual

Operation Manual 

Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Christina Kaboth, Insa Mingers, Sabine Pfeifer, 
Benjamin
 Schütte
This PDF provides improved access for vision-impaired users. Please note that due to the 
complexity and number of images in this document, it is not possible to include text descriptions 
of images.
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a 
commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. The software described by 
this document is subject...

 3
Table of Contents
5Introduction
5The Help System
6About the Program Versions
7Typographical Conventions
7How You Can Reach Us
8Setting Up Your System
8Connecting Audio
8About Audio Cards and Background 
Playback
9About Latency
9Defining VST Audio Connections
13Remote Devices
19WaveLab LE Concepts
19General Editing Rules
20Basic Window Handling
22Selecting Audio
27Sliders
27Renaming Items in Tables
28File Browser
29Peak Files
30Program Overview
30Command Bars
31Status Bar
33Context Menus
34Time Ruler...

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101Offline Processing
101Applying Processing
102Gain Dialog
102Normalize Level Dialog
104Fades in Audio Files
105Crossfades
106Inverting the Audio Phase
107Reversing Audio
107DC Offset
108Resample
109Audio Montage
109Basic Terminology
110Montage Window
112Signal Flow in the Audio Montage
112Creating a New Audio Montage
113Creating an Audio Montage from an 
Audio File
114Import Options for Audio Montages
115Missing Files in Audio Montage Dialog
116Assembling the Audio Montage
120Rearranging Clips...

 5
Introduction
The Help System
The detailed help system of WaveLab LE makes it easy to look up 
interface features and get information from within the program.
Three main types of help are available:
• The help provides detailed information on the features and 
functionality of WaveLab LE. You can set bookmarks, and use the 
search function and index to quickly find information.
• “What’s This” tooltips give detailed information on the functionality 
of a specific user interface element.
• The status...

Introduction
About the Program Versions
6
• To use the menu help, move the mouse over a menu item. The help 
text is displayed on the status bar at the bottom of the workspace 
window.
• To see information on what kind of editing can be performed when 
using the mouse and modifier keys in the audio montage window, 
move the mouse over the montage window. The help text is 
displayed on the status bar at the bottom of the workspace 
window.
• To activate/deactivate the help texts on the status bar, select...

Introduction
Typographical Conventions
7
Typographical Conventions
Many of the default key commands in WaveLab LE use modifier keys, 
some of which are different depending on the operating system. For 
example, the default key command for Undo is [Ctrl]-[Z] on Windows 
and [Command]-[Z] on Mac OS X.
When key commands with modifier keys are described in this manual, 
they are shown with the Windows modifier key first, in the following way:
• [Win modifier key]/[Mac modifier key]-[key]
For example,...

 8
Setting Up Your System
Before you start working, you need to make some settings.
IMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANT
Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any 
connections.
Connecting Audio
Your system setup depends on many different factors, for example, the 
kind of project that you want to create, the external equipment that you 
want to use, or the computer hardware available to you.
About Audio Cards and Background 
Playback
When you activate playback or recording in WaveLab...

Setting Up Your System
About Latency
9
About Latency
Latency is the delay between when audio is sent from the program and 
when you actually hear it. While a very low latency can be crucial in a 
real-time DAW application such as Steinberg Nuendo or Cubase, this 
is not strictly the case with WaveLab LE.
When working with WaveLab LE, the important issues are optimum and 
stable playback and editing precision. You should not try to reach the 
lowest possible latency figures.
The latency in an audio system...

Setting Up Your System
Defining VST Audio Connections
10
Selecting an ASIO Driver
Audio Stream Input/Output (ASIO) is a computer device driver protocol 
for digital audio specified by Steinberg. It provides a low-latency and 
high fidelity interface between a software application and the soundcard 
of a computer.
PROCEDURE
1.In any workspace, except the Podcast workspace, select Options 
> VST Audio Connections.
2. From the Audio Device menu, select your ASIO driver.
The ASIO plug-ins tab and the Control...