STEINBERG Sequel User Manual

Operation Manual

Sequel Operation Manual by Steve Kostrey, Michael Baggley Revision and Quality Control: Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Sabine Pfeifer

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 to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media except as specifically allowed in the License Agreement. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.

All product and company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective owners. Windows XP is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. The Mac logo is a trademark used under license. Macintosh and Power Macintosh are registered trademarks.

6 Introduction

7 Welcome 7 About this manual 7 Key command conventions

8 System requirements and installation

9 About this chapter 9 Minimum requirements 9 Installing Sequel 9 Activating Sequel 9 Register your software 10 Read on…

11 Tutorial 1: Recording

12 The tutorials 12 Recording audio 17 Recording Instrument parts

19 Tutorial 2: Editing

20 Introduction 20 Editing audio events 23 Editing Instrument parts

26 Tutorial 3: Mixing

27 Introduction 27 Setting levels 27 Setting Pan 28 Mute and Solo 28 Adding EQ 29 Audio Effects 31 Adding Automation 32 Exporting

34 Tutorial 4: Live Pads and Chain Play

mode

35 Introduction 35 Arranger parts 35 Live Mode 36 Chain Play Mode

37 The Pilot Zone

38 Introduction 38 The Sequel menu (Mac only) 38 The File and Edit menus 38 Minimizing, maximizing and closing 39 The File button/menu 40 The Edit button/menu 42 About the Project, Automation and Edit buttons 43 The Ruler Zone 44 The Tuner 44 The Transport controls 46 The Metronome 46 Computer Usage 46 The Pilot Zone display

48 The Arrange Zone

49 Introduction 49 Resizing the Arrange Zone 49 About tracks and track controls 52 Timeline and grid 52 Zooming in the Arrange Zone 53 Working with the Smart Tool

55 The Multi Zone

56 Introduction 56 The Mixer page 58 The Track Inspector page 62 The Media Bay page 65 The Editor page 70 The Arranger page 71 The Program Settings page

73 Advanced features

74 Introduction 74 Adding silence 75 Audio quantization and warp 77 Smart Transpose 79 One button record

80 Setting up your system

81 About this chapter 81 General notes on how to set up your system 81 Defragmenting the hard disk (Windows only) 81 MIDI requirements 81 Audio hardware 83 Setting up audio 86 Setting up MIDI 86 Optimizing audio performance

Table of Contents

88 Key commands

89 Introduction 89 The available key commands

91 Effects reference

92 Introduction 92 Track/Global Effects 93 Instrument parameters

94 Index

Table of Contents

Introduction

Welcome

Congratulations and thank you for your purchase of Steinberg Sequel. You have now become a member of the world's largest community of music production software users. Looking back at more than 20 years of innovation in computer-based music production, Steinberg has always been the driving force behind software technology.

Sequel is a new entry-level sequencer designed to be an easy-to-use, all-inclusive music production platform. Sequel provides all of the tools needed to record, edit and mix music.

Sequel can be used in the ‘traditional’ way to record, edit and mix audio or virtual instruments. For example, a home musician could record himself playing an instrument (either an acoustic or a virtual instrument) or singing. An electric guitar can be plugged directly into an audio interface and then be recorded with Sequel’s on-board effects.

Music enthusiasts may want to take a wholly different approach to creating music. Their starting point is Sequel’s extensive library of loops and phrases. Pieces of music can be assembled based entirely on loops and without actually playing a single note on a keyboard or instrument. Typically, this is a more DJ-oriented workflow and very popular especially for current dance and electronic music styles.

Another key-application for Sequel is live performance. The concept of mixing and remixing is familiar to practically everyone today. Mixing and remixing has become a creative act in its own right and sometimes totally unrelated to creating new music itself. Sequel provides all the tools necessary to mixing and remixing (rearranging) music.

The act of performing music on stage using a computer has become standard in today’s music and club scene. The goal of performing music on stage might be someone’s primary motivation to use his/her computer for making music. Sequel puts a special focus on the live aspect of making music, which separates it from traditional sequencers. Instead of linear playback, it has special tools to perform and interact, by mixing and re-combining sections of a song or project.

After you have registered Sequel online, take some time to explore the community section at www.steinberg.net. You will find lots of useful information and get to know other users in our discussion forums. Registering at www.mysteinberg.com also gives you access to special offers from Steinberg in the future.

Have fun creating your own music!

The Steinberg Sequel Team

About this manual

This manual is divided into two sections. The first section guides you through several tutorials showing you how to use Sequel.

The second section gives you a brief description of every feature in Sequel. At the end of this manual you will find useful tips for your work with Sequel and information on how to set up your computer.

We are sure that after you have completed both sections you will be on your way to having a lot of fun and making exciting music.

Key command conventions

Many of the default key commands in Sequel use modifier keys, some of which are different depending on the operating system. For example, the default key command for Undo is [Ctrl]+[Z] under Windows and [Command]+[Z] under 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, [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Z] means “press [Ctrl] under Windows or [Command] under Mac OS X, then press [Z]”. Similarly, [Alt]/[Option]+[X] means “press [Alt] under Windows or [Option] under Mac OS X, then press [X]”.

Introduction

System requirements and installation

About this chapter

Installing Sequel

This chapter describes the requirements and installation procedures for the Windows version and the Mac version of Sequel.

Minimum requirements

The following requirements are based on performance measurements for a typical project with an average 12 tracks (incl. 3 to 5 instrument tracks), global effects, compressor and EQ per track, measured at 512 samples buffer size. Slower computers can still be used, but with fewer tracks and/or higher buffer size.

To use Sequel, your computer must meet the following minimum requirements:

Windows

• Windows XP (Home or Professional), compatible with Windows Vista Home Basic

• Intel Pentium or AMD Athlon 2 GHz processor

•1 GB RAM

• 6 GB of free hard disk space

• Windows DirectX compatible audio hardware; ASIO compatible audio hardware recommended for low latency performance.

• Display resolution of 1280x1024 pixels

• DVD ROM drive required for installation

• Internet connection required for license activation

Macintosh

• Mac OS X 10.4

• Power Mac G5 1.8 GHz or Core Solo 1.5 GHz

•1 GB RAM

• 6 GB of free hard disk space

• Display resolution of 1280x1024 pixels

• CoreAudio compatible audio hardware

• DVD ROM drive required for installation

• Internet connection required for license activation

The installation procedure puts all files in the right places, automatically.

Windows

1. Insert the Sequel DVD into the DVD drive of your computer.

2. Locate and double-click the file called “Setup.exe” on the Sequel installation DVD.

3. Follow the instructions on screen.

Macintosh

1. Double-click the file called “Sequel.mpkg”.

2. Follow the instructions on screen.

Whether you install Sequel on a Mac or Windows computer you will need to activate Sequel.

Activating Sequel

After installing Sequel you will have to activate the program on your computer.

• As the last step in the installation, the Syncrosoft License Control Center is opened. The “License Download Wizard” is displayed.

• Follow the instructions and enter your Sequel activation code.

Register your software

We encourage you to register your software! By doing so you are entitled to technical support and kept aware of updates and other news regarding Sequel. There are two ways to register:

• In Sequel, open the File menu and select the “User Registration...” option.

This is an Internet link that will open the Registration page of the Steinberg web site. To register, follow the instructions on screen. When you launch Sequel, you will also be prompted to launch the registration process.

• Included on the Sequel installation DVD you can find a registration form in pdf format. To register, print out the form, enter all required information and send it to Steinberg.

System requirements and installation

Read on…

…to learn how to use Sequel:

• First, you will find tutorials that will get you up and run-

ning quickly.

These tutorials refer to projects located in the default project folder, and video files that you will find on the program DVD.

• Detailed descriptions of all program functions can be

found in the chapters covering the various Sequel “zones”.

• At the end of this manual you will find information on

more advanced techniques, tips on how to set up your computer system for audio work, the effects reference, and a list of the Sequel keyboard shortcuts.

System requirements and installation

Tutorial 1: Recording

The tutorials

The following chapters provide a quick introduction to Sequel. But first, please take a look at the figure below, as it gives you an overview of the Sequel program interface:

The Pilot Zone is explained in the chapter “The Pilot

Zone” on page 37.

Details on the Arrange Zone can be found in the chapter “The Arrange

Zone” on page 48.

The Multi Zone and its various pages are described in the chapter “The Multi Zone” on

page 55.

In this first tutorial, we are going to show you how the Pilot Zone, Arrange Zone, and Multi Zone work together when recording audio events and Instrument parts.

Recording audio

In this section, we are going to take a look at recording a guitar line into a project, adding in a drum loop and playing it back. Make sure that you have your audio card set up. For detailed information on the audio setup, see the chapter “Setting up your system” on page 80.

Creating a new project

By default, Sequel creates a new project when you boot up the program. You can change this in the “Program Settings Page”. See the chapter “The Program Settings

page” on page 71 for more details.

Tutorial 1: Recording

To create a new project if a project is already open

• Click the “New Project” button in the Pilot Zone.

This will create a new project with nothing in it and close the project that was already open. If this contains unsaved changes, you will be asked whether these changes should be saved.

You’re not done yet! So far we’ve created a blank Sequel project. We still need to save the project.

Setting the default save folder

In order to save projects in Sequel, it is important to make sure you know where the projects are going to be saved.

1. Go to the Program Settings page.

2. Click on the “Project Location” button.

3. A dialog pops up allowing you to browse you com-

puter and find a suitable location. When you installed Sequel it automatically made a location for saving projects.

4. You can click “Create” to make a new folder if you

would like to save your projects elsewhere.

5. Let’s leave it set to the default folder Sequel has cre-

ated. Click “OK”.

Adding an audio track

Ö The following sections make references to tutorial projects, located in the default Sequel project folder.

Load the project called “Recording” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 1” folder.

Now let’s add an audio track to record onto. For our example we are going to record a guitar. You can also record guitar or whatever instrument you want. The method is the same for any instrument you wish to record.

1. Click the “Add New Track” button in the Pilot Zone.

To save a project

1. Click the “Save Project” button in the Pilot Zone.

2. Type in a name for your project – you can use “First

Sequel Project” for example.

3. Click “OK”.

The project will automatically be saved to the folder you have specified in the Program Settings Page.

2. In the dialog that appears, select the “Audio” button.

3. Select “empty” and click “OK”. This adds an audio

track to the project.

4. Double-click the track name and change it to “Guitar”.

Tutorial 1: Recording

5. Select the desired input for the track from the “Input

Selection” pop-up menu.

To be able to see the Input selection, make sure the track height is set to Medium track height at the bottom of the track list.

Click here to select an input.

Turning on the Metronome click

We’ll want to have a click or metronome play in the background as we record the guitar so that what we record aligns with the bars and beats displayed in the Ruler.

• Activate the Metronome button in the Pilot Zone.

The metronome is automatically set to add two bars of count-in before recording starts.

We now need to set the speed or tempo of our project. This directly affects the speed of the metronome click. You can change the tempo in the Tempo display field. For more on changing tempo, see “The Tempo (TEMPO)” on page 46.

We have a default setting of 120 which means 120 BPM or beats per minute. We can leave it at that.

Adding in a drum loop

Let’s add some drums to the project.

Ö Adding a drum loop to your project is not only great for supporting the metronome when you are recording bass or guitar, it's also great if you aren't a drummer or if you don't have the ability to record drums at home.

1. Select the Media Bay page in the Multi Zone.

2. In the Category column, select “Drum & Perc”.

3. In the Sub Category column, select “Beats”.

4. In the “Style” column, select a style that suits the style

of guitar line that you would like to record.

5. Activate the Preview button and browse through the results until you find something suitable.

Tutorial 1: Recording

6. Drag the selected drum loop into the Arrange Zone

and line it up at bar 1, just below the guitar track.

Choose a drum loop… …and drag it to the Arrange Zone.

7. Use the Repeat function to make the loop 4 bars long.

Just click in the middle of the right edge of the event and drag right until the loop is repeated to the beginning of bar 5. See “Repeating events” on page 53 for more detailed information on repeating.

8. Rename the track “Drums”.

Ö Notice that the tempo of the project has now changed to match the drum loop. When you drag a file into a project and it is the first file to be added, its tempo will define the project tempo.

Read more about defining or changing the project tempo in “The Tempo

(TEMPO)” on page 46.

Setting levels

In our example, we have a guitar playing through an amplifier with a microphone in front of the amplifier’s speaker. This microphone is plugged directly into the Steinberg MI|4 microphone input. We have set the level on the MI|4 so that we have enough volume without clipping.

Activating the “Record Ready” button will allow us to hear the guitar. You should see and hear the audio coming in to the right of the track.

Do the best you can to send the maximum amount of volume to the audio inputs of your audio card before you hear any distortion. Most audio cards show some kind of level or volume indication. If yours doesn’t, don’t worry we can change the amount using the track volume slider.

Tuning your instrument

Sequel features a built in tuner for tuning instruments like guitar or bass.

1. Make sure that the guitar track is selected and that the Record Ready button is activated so that we can hear the input.

2. Activate the Tuner in the “Pilot Zone”.

Indicator moves left and right Note and octave

3. Pluck a string on your guitar.

The Tuner automatically detects which string you are hitting as long as it is in fairly close proximity to the right tuning. The tuning indicator will move left or right. If it moves to the left, the string is flat. If it moves to the right, the string is sharp.

Tutorial 1: Recording

The Tuner also displays the current note and octave that your string is tuned to. In our case, the D string is a little flat, so the tuner is displaying “d 2”.

4. Tune up each string until all your strings are in tune.

5. Deactivate the tuner.

You are now ready to record!

Recording the guitar

1. Click the “Jump to Previous Marker” button a few times

in the Pilot Zone to make sure that we start recording at bar 1.

2. Make sure that cycle is deactivated (not highlighted).

3. Click the “Record” button to record the guitar – you

will automatically get two bars of precount.

4. Press the space bar when you are finished, to stop re-

cording.

Playback

To listen to what you have just recorded, you have to play it back. Playback in Sequel is easy, but there are a few tricks to learn so that you’ll be playing back with precision!

Load the project “Playback” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 1” folder.

To start playback

There are a few ways to start playback in Sequel.

• Click on the play button.

• Press the space bar on your computer keyboard – this toggles between start and stop.

• Press the [Enter] key on the numerical computer keypad.

• Double-click in the lower half of the ruler zone.

To stop playback

• Click on the play button during playback.

• Press the space bar on your computer keyboard – this toggles between start and stop.

• Press the [0] key on the numerical computer keypad.

Cycle playback

Sequel has the ability to loop (or “cycle”) a section of your project. To set the cycle location, you need to use the left and right locators.

1. Let’s draw in a cycle region from bar 2 to 3. This tells

Sequel that we want to loop or cycle between bars 2 and 3. Turn snap on to help you create a precise region.

Congratulations! You have just recorded your first piece of audio into Sequel. Move ahead to the next section to learn how to play it back.

Tutorial 1: Recording

2. Move the mouse pointer up to the top of the ruler zone.

It will turn into a pencil. Click and drag from bar 2 to bar 3.

3. Make sure the Cycle button is activated.

Recording

Now that we have a track and we have our sound, let's record something. Recording Instrument parts is very similar to recording audio events. Make sure you read the beginning of this chapter where we discuss recording audio.

4. Click the “Jump to previous marker” and “Jump to next marker” buttons until the song position cursor is sitting directly on bar 2.

5. Press the space bar to start playback and Sequel will play looping over and over again until you press the space bar again.

Recording Instrument parts

In this section we are going to take a look at recording Instrument parts into a project using instrument tracks.

Load the project called “Recording MIDI” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 1” folder.

Creating an instrument track

Let’s start by adding an instrument track to our project.

1. Click the “Add New Track” button in the Pilot Zone.

2. In the dialog that appears, select the “Instruments”

button.

3. Use the “Category” filter and choose a sound that fits in with your song. We are going to select a Synth Pad sound.

Ö Sequel automatically finds and uses any MIDI devices that we have on our computer.

Ö The MIDI input to an instrument track is always set to “All Inputs”.

1. Activate the “Record Ready” button for the track and

press a few keys on your MIDI keyboard. You should see and hear the MIDI signals coming in to the right of the track.

2. Make sure the Cycle button is turned off.

3. Press the [.] key on your numerical keypad to set the

song position to bar 1. This will ensure that we start recording at the start of the song.

4. Press the [*] key on your numerical keypad to start re-

cording. Record 4 bars.

5. Press the space bar when you are finished.

4. Rename the track “Synth”. Feel free to give this track a

different name if you chose a different type of sound.

Tutorial 1: Recording

6. Turn off “Record Ready” so that we don’t hear the input any more.

Congratulations! You just recorded your first Instrument part in Sequel.

Load the project “MIDI Playback” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 1” folder.

Press the [.] key on your numerical keypad to set the song position to bar 1 and press the space bar to listen back.

Move ahead to the next chapter to learn how to edit the audio events and Instrument parts we’ve recorded.

Tutorial 1: Recording

Tutorial 2: Editing

Introduction

In this chapter, we are going to show you how the Pilot Zone, Arrange Zone, and Multi Zone work together when editing audio events and Instrument parts. Refer to the chapters “The Pilot Zone” on page 37, “The Arrange Zone” on page 48 and “The Multi Zone” on page 55 if you aren’t sure about a specific function.

Ö The following sections make references to tutorial projects, located in the default Sequel project folder.

Editing audio events

In this section we are going to look at some of the audio editing functions that are available in Sequel.

Let’s take a look at how to edit events. This includes rename, resize, move, copy, repeat, and erase.

Load the project “Event Operations” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 2” folder.

Renaming

Renaming events is easy in Sequel. It’s important to rename your audio files to keep your project clean and organized. Let’s rename the audio event on the drum track to “Drums”:

1. Double-click the name field on the event.

2. Type in “Drums” and when you are done, press [Enter]/

[Return].

Resizing

You can resize an event by adjusting start and/or end of the event. Used in combination with splitting and repeating, this is usually all the editing you’ll need.

1. Click on the event you would like to resize. In our case

let's resize the “Guitar” and “Synth” events.

2. Position the cursor over one of the triangles at the bot-

tom left or right of the event. Click and adjust the “Guitar” and “Synth” events so that there isn’t as much empty space on the left and right of the event.

The name has now changed to “Drums”.

Tutorial 2: Editing

Splitting

Splitting is used to cut events.

You can split or cut an event wherever you want to or you can split them evenly at positions defined by the bars and beats position grid displayed in the Arrange Zone.

Splitting with Snap off

Splitting with Snap off allows you to cut the event anywhere you like, without locking to the grid.

5. Undo your actions by using the “Undo Last Action”

button in the Pilot Zone. Make sure there are no splits in the “Synth” event any more.

Splitting with Snap on

Having the Snap button activated allows you to split or cut with precision, directly on bars or beats.

1. Make sure that the Snap button is activated.

2. Let’s split the “Drums” event on the third beat of every

bar.

3. If you can’t see beats in the grid, zoom in using the [H]

key on your keyboard until you can see them.

4. Cut on bar 1 beat 3, bar 2 beat 3, bar 3 beat 3, and

bar 4 beat 3.

5. Undo you actions by using the “Undo Last Action”

button in the Pilot Zone. Make sure there are no splits in the “Drums” event any more.

1. Make sure that Snap is deactivated. You can now split the event anywhere you like.

2. Select the “Synth” event.

3. Hover the cursor along the bottom of the event. The

cursor turns into the Split tool.

4. Click anywhere along the bottom of the event to split it. Create as many splits as you like.

Tutorial 2: Editing

Moving

Let’s move all of the events in the project so that all the events on all tracks lines up with bar 2.

1. Make sure that Snap is activated.

2. Click and hold the mouse in an empty area of the

project window. Drag to create a selection of all the events. When you release the mouse button, all of the events will be selected.

3. With all of the events selected, click and drag them so that the events line up with bar 2.

4. Click on an empty area of the project window so that no events are selected.

All of the events have moved together, and have stayed in the same relative position.

5. Select all of the events again, and drag them back to bar 1.

Muting

Muting an event stops you from hearing just that event. You may want to mute events on a track so that the track continues to play except for the events you mute.

Ö Note that this is different from muting a track.

1. Hover the cursor over the event you wish to mute. The mute button will appear in the top right hand corner of the event.

2. Click on the Mute button. The event will turn gray. This means that the event in muted.

Let’s repeat the “Drums” event:

1. Click on the “Repeat handle” on the middle right side

of the event and drag until the “Repeat Count” is three.

2. We now have five “Drums” events. Two original and

three repeats.

Copying

Copying can be used to copy an event to another area in the project window.

Using copy and paste

1. To copy an event, click on the desired event and

choose “Copy” from the Edit menu. In our case, let’s choose the “Guitar” event.

2. Position the cursor at the point in the project where

you would like the copy to be made. We’ll place the cursor at bar 5 beat 2.

3. Make sure you click on the track that you want the

copied event to be copied to.

4. Choose “Paste” from the Edit menu.

Ö It is possible that you may have another track selected. If so the “Paste” command would paste it to a different track. Always note the track you have selected before choosing “Paste”.

5. Now we have two “Guitar” events.

3. To unmute the event click on the “Mute” button again.

Repeating

The Repeat function is great for repeating something over and over directly after the event you want to repeat. This function is built right onto events in Sequel.

Tutorial 2: Editing

Using the [Ctrl]/[Command] key

1. Place the cursor in the center of the Synth event and

hold down [Ctrl]/[Command].

2. We are going to copy the “Synth” event. Click and

hold the selected event and drag to the position you wish the copy to be made. In this case, drag until the copy is lined up with bar 5.

3. Then release the mouse button.

4. Now we have two “Synth” events.

Erasing

1. Select an event to erase.

2. Press [Delete] or [Backspace] to delete the event.

You may also select the Delete option on the Edit menu.

About the Sample Editor

The Sample Editor is used for detailed editing. It can be used for the following functions:

• Quantization

•Time Warp

• Adding Silence

These features will be explained in the chapter “Advanced

features” on page 73.

1. To open the Sample Editor, select an audio event and then select the Editor page in the Multi Zone.

Editing Instrument parts

In this section, we are going to look at some of the editing functions for Instrument parts that are available in Sequel.

Key Editor

The Key Editor is where we can make changes to the Instrument data on our instrument tracks.

Load the project “Key Editor” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 2” folder.

Deleting notes

Select the “Synth” event and go to the Editor page in the Multi Zone to view the Key Editor. Here you can see the synth notes lined up with a keyboard or piano roll on the left. At the bottom is the velocity of each of the notes and at the top we can see the time ruler.

Let's delete all the notes in bar 1.

1. Click once and hold the mouse while dragging a selec-

tion over the first Bar.

A common term for this is to “lasso” the notes.

2. The selected audio event is displayed in the center of the Editor page. Here you can see a detailed waveform render of the audio file.

The functions along the left side of the window such as volume, mute, transpose and transpose lock are described in the section “The Editor page” on page 65.

Tutorial 2: Editing

2. Press [Delete] or [Backspace] on your computer key-

board to delete all the notes in the first bar.

Copying notes

Let’s copy the all of the notes in the second bar into the first bar.

1. Lasso all the notes in bar 2.

2. Hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and drag the notes from

bar 2 to bar 1. This copies them.

Resizing notes

We can shorten or lengthen notes using the Key Editor. Let’s make all the eighth notes in the first two bars into quarter notes.

1. Lasso all the notes in the first two bars.

2. Put your cursor at the end of any of the lassoed notes.

The cursor changes to look like two arrows pointing away from each other.

Creating or drawing in notes

We can use the Key Editor to draw in notes. This is great for creating Instrument arrangements that you are having trouble playing in yourself.

Let’s add some notes to the first two bars of the song:

1. Make the Key Editor larger by clicking on the bar along

the top of the Multi Zone and dragging upwards.

2. Make the notes in the Key Editor larger by adjusting

the zoom slider along the right hand side of the Key Editor.

3. Let’s draw in a G overtop of the first C in bar 1 so that

two notes will be played instead of one.

4. Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and the cursor becomes a

pencil.

5. Click and drag to draw in an eighth note G.

6. Next, draw in notes over top of the rest of the notes in

bar 1 and 2.

3. Click and drag right to resize the notes.

Have fun and experiment with different note placements.

Tutorial 2: Editing

Pressing [Alt]/[Option] is the magic way to get the Pencil tool, for drawing instrument parts in the Arrange Zone or events in the Key Editor!

The Controller lane

The Controller Lane allows us to add in or modify Instrument data such as velocity and controller information. The most common use for this is to edit velocity or pitch bend. If you find that the velocity is too loud or quiet on certain notes, you can view and edit them at the bottom of the Key Editor.

Pop-up menu

The controller lane

1. On the pop-up menu, select the information you wish view or change, in this example, choose “Velocity”.

Along the bottom, you can see the velocity setting for each note contained in the Instrument part.

2. Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and the cursor becomes a pencil.

3. Click and drag to move the velocity information for a note up or down.

4. You can also click and move the cursor across the controller lane in a wave-type motion to draw in curves or ramps in the information.

Move ahead to the next chapter where we will discuss mixing, EQs, automation, effects, and exporting.

Tutorial 2: Editing

Tutorial 3: Mixing

Introduction

In this chapter, we’ll show you how to get to a mix ready with proper levels, EQs and effects. Automation will be added and then we'll export the audio.

Ö The following sections make references to tutorial projects, located in the default Sequel project folder.

Setting levels

The first thing that we need to do is set the levels for our project. This helps us get a great starting point for the mix so we can add EQ and effects later.

Load the project “Mixing 1” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 3” folder.

1. Select the Mixer page in the Multi Zone.

2. Press the space bar on your computer keyboard to

start playing back the project and listen to your mix.

3. Move the faders on each track so that you can hear everything the way you like it.

That’s it for setting levels. Let’s check out pan next.

Setting Pan

Load the project “Mixing 2” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 3” folder.

Setting the pan for each track moves its position in the stereo mix. You can either keep the signal balanced in the middle of the left and right speaker, slightly to the left or slightly to the right or be completely in the left or right speaker.

Keep the “Drums” track in the middle. Move the “Bass” track slightly to the left and move the “Guitar” track almost all the way left and the “Synth” track almost all the way to the right. This will give the mix a little bit more of a feeling of space.

Ö If for any reason you need to reset a fader back to its default position of 100, [Ctrl]/[Command]-click directly in the fader area.

Ö Be careful how high you raise the faders. Make sure that everything is at a good volume without clipping or distortion or any other unpleasant sounds. You will know if your tracks are too loud if the Master fader area turns red. If this happens, lower the levels and click the red Audio Overload indicator to reset it.

Tutorial 3: Mixing

Ö In case you need to get the panner back to the middle, you can [Ctrl]/[Command]-click directly in the panner area.

That’s it for pan, let’s move on to Mute and Solo.

Mute and Solo

Load the project “Mixing 3” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 3” folder.

For each track, there is a button for Mute and Solo. Mute will prevent you from hearing the track, and Solo will only play that track or tracks that have Solo enabled.

Ö You can have several tracks muted or soloed at a time.

Ö When you Solo a track, the other tracks become

muted.

To disable a Solo or Mute simply click the button again.

To simultaneously mute a track that is soloed and solo another track, [Ctrl]/[Command]-click on the solo button of the track that you wish to solo.

That’s it for Solo and Mute. Let’s move on to adding EQ.

Adding EQ

1. Select the “Drums” track in the Arrange Zone.

2. Solo the Drums track and select the Track Inspector

page in the Multi Zone.

3. Click on the “Equalizers” tab.

Ö Make sure that you have a section of your project playing that features the “Drums” track so that you can hear the EQ changes that you are making.

Each track in Sequel has a 3-band EQ. The low shelf or bass frequency sets the frequency at which the low tones will be affected. The parametric mid or middle frequency sets the frequency at which the middle tones will be affected. The high shelf or treble frequency sets the frequency at which the high tones will be affected.

Lo, Mid and Hi EQ

Load the project “Mixing 4” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 3” folder.

EQ or equalization adds or subtracts frequencies, so that you can place each instrument correctly in the mix. EQ is subjective and can be influenced by the kind of music you are mixing or the kind of music that you like to listen to.

We are going to run through the EQ features that Sequel has to offer, but feel free to experiment and try our different presets on your mix.

Tutorial 3: Mixing

You can adjust the frequency of each EQ by clicking on the frequency slider and dragging left or right.

The exact frequency that is being affected is displayed in the EQ settings display.

Ö You can also see a visual representation of the EQ settings you are changing.

Ö You can adjust the EQs level by raising or lowering the bass, middle, or treble gain slider. To do this, click and drag up or down on the desired slider.

The middle EQ is a parametric EQ. That means that the frequency range of this EQ can be widened or shortened. To do this, click on the middle width or “Q” slider and drag right to widen the range and left to shorten it.

To bypass the EQ, click the Bypass button.

You can reset any slider by [Ctrl]/[Command]-clicking on it. You can also reset the EQ from the EQ Presets pop-up. Simply click in the EQ Presets field and select “Reset”.

Experiment with the EQs on all your tracks.

Audio Effects

Load the project “Mixing 6” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 3” folder.

Let’s add some effects to our project. In Sequel, there are three types of effects that we can manipulate:

• Track Effects

• Global Effects

•Output Effects.

For details on each effect and its parameters, see the chapter “Effects reference” on page 91.

• You can also add effects to instrument parts. This is

described in detail in the section “The Event Effects tab

(instrument tracks only)” on page 58.

Track Effects

Track Effects are commonly referred to as Insert Effects. This is because they are inserted into the signal flow.

1. Select the “Bass” track.

2. Make sure you have the Track Inspector page selected

and click on the “Track Effects” tab.

Ö A good tip when using EQ is that it’s usually better to take away EQ (lower the gain) than to add it.

Listen to, and see the changes we made to the EQ by loading the project “Mixing 5” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 3” folder.

Now let’s move on to effects.

Tutorial 3: Mixing

Track Effects Tab

3. Begin playback and loop (or “cycle”) a section of music

so that you can hear everything.

The tutorial project has its locators and cycle already set for this. Feel free to change this if you like.

4. Let’s use the Compression fixed insert on the “Bass”

track to smooth it out a little bit.

5. Adjust the Threshold slider until the bass sounds smoother and there isn’t such a big difference between the notes that were played quieter versus the notes that were played a little louder.

9. Make changes to the effect manually, or select a pre-

set from the “Effect Preset” menu.

Effect Preset

6. Raise the “Channel Level” to compensate for the reduction in Gain that the compression has caused on the “Bass” track.

7. Next let’s add some flange to the “Synth” track to make it stand out a little bit more. Select the “Synth” track in the Arrange Zone.

8. Click on the first insert slot and choose “Flanger” from the Modulation submenu.

For details on each effect and its parameters, see the chapter “Effects reference” on page 91.

At the end of this section, you can load the next tutorial that will contain all of the changes we have made.

Global Effects

Load the project “Mixing 7” found in the “Sequel Tutorial 3” folder.

Each project can have two send effects. These are referred to as Global Effects.

1. Make sure you have the Track Inspector page selected

and click on the “Global Effects” tab.

Reverb and StereoDelay are set as the default send effects. You can change them if you like, but remember you only have two slots that will be used for all tracks.

Let’s add some reverb to the drums:

2. Select the “Drums” track and make sure “Amount 1” is

enabled. This will send the “Drums” to the “Reverb” effect which is in the Send 1 spot.

3. Move the “Amount 1” slider until you hear the desired

amount of the “Reverb” effect.

For details on each effect and its parameters, see the chapter “Effects reference” on page 91.

Tutorial 3: Mixing

Send Effect 1 Send Effect 2Amount 1 enabled

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