STEINBERG WaveLab 6 User Manual

Operation Manual

Operation Manual by Anders Nordmark Quality Control: Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Sabine Pfeifer, Claudia Schomburg

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.

Table of Contents

11 Introduction

12 Welcome! 12 What’s new in WaveLab 6.0? 14 How you can reach us

15 Requirements

16 This is what you need… 16 Computer requirements 18 Sampler requirements 18 About audio cards 19 About the System Information

feature

21 Installing and setting

22 Setting up the computer 23 Installation procedure 24 Register your software! 25 Launching WaveLab 25 Program settings 30 Installing a CD/DVD recorder 31 Installing samplers 33 Installation done! Where do I

go next?

33 About the Tracer application

35 Overview

36 Get to know WaveLab 36 The windows and what you

can do with them

43 Find your way around in

WaveLab

45 Basic methods

46 Why you should read this

chapter

46 Getting help 47 Undo and Redo 49 Working with windows 56 Dockable control bars 59 The status bar 60 Speed menus

61 Units of time and level 62 Setting values 65 Presets 67 About non-modal dialogs 68 Using the computer keyboard

69 Editing in the Wave

window

70 About this chapter 70 Creating new empty

documents

71 Opening Waves 76 Window overview and

adjustments

80 Setting the zoom factor 86 Navigating through the file 87 Snapshots 88 Setting the ruler start position 89 Working with a meter based

display

89 Setting the wave cursor

position

91 Selecting 99 Basic editing commands 113 File handling in Wave

windows

127 Editing attributes and getting

information

129 About the Loudness enve-

lope display mode

133 Playback and

recording

134 Playing back 146 Recording

155 Metering

156 Introduction 156 Selecting what to monitor 158 Multi-channel metering 159 The meters

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4 Table of Contents

175 Off-line processing

176 Introduction 176 Applying processing 178 Level Normalizer 178 Gain Change 180 Loudness Normalizer 183 Pan Normalizer 184 Dynamics 189 Level envelope 191 Fade-in and fade-out 192 Crossfade 195 Invert Phase 195 Reverse 195 Eliminate DC Offset 196 Waveform Restorer 196 Time Stretch 201 Pitch Correction 204 Pitch Quantize 205 Pitch Bend 207 Harmonization 208 Hi-fi Chorus 209 EQ 210 Convert sample rate 211 Effect Morphing 215 Support for reNOVAtor™

217 Master Section

218 Introduction 219 The Master Section window 221 About the signal path 222 The Master level pane 225 The Effects pane 231 The Dithering pane 236 Master Section presets 239 Rendering 244 Smart bypass 247 The Monitor window 251 Audio Input 252 Using External effects

255 Spectrum Editor

256 Introduction 256 Basics 260 Defining a region 262 Surgical processing 269 Master Section processing

273 Batch processing

274 Introduction 276 Opening the Batch

Processor

277 Overview of the Window 278 The Input tab – Assembling a

list of files

285 Setting up the processing

tasks to be performed

292 The Output tab – Settings for

created files

299 Scheduling 301 Running and stopping the

batch(es)

301 Using presets for batch

processing

303 Batch file encoding

304 Basic procedure

307 Batch renaming

308 Introduction 308 Setting up which files/clips/

markers to rename

312 Renaming operations 321 About regular expressions

327 Markers

328 Introduction 331 Creating markers 332 About the marker list 333 Marker appearance and visi-

bility

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334 Editing, converting and

naming markers

336 Moving and duplicating

markers

337 Deleting markers 338 Operations involving markers

341 Using Auto Split

342 Introduction 342 The Auto Split dialog

347 Preparing a

Basic Audio CD

348 Creating, opening and saving

Basic Audio CDs

349 About the Basic

Audio CD window

350 Adding files to a Basic

Audio CD

353 Setting the order of the tracks

on the CD

353 Deleting files from Basic

Audio CDs

354 Managing list columns 355 “Unfolding” a track 356 Opening CD tracks for wave

editing

357 About the relation between

the track list and CD markers

358 Working with CD markers 360 Adjusting pauses 360 Naming tracks 360 Other settings 361 Checking the total length of

the CD

361 Playing files in the track list 362 Creating a disc image 363 Exporting audio files from a

track list

364 Preparations done!

365 About the DVD-Audio

format

366 Background information

371 The Audio Montage

372 Introduction 373 The Audio Montage window 378 Assembling the Montage 392 Zooming and navigating 399 Playing back 406 Recording 408 Rearranging clips 433 The Zoom view 436 Editing in the Clips view 441 Managing clips and source

files

445 The volume envelope 457 Using fades and crossfades

in the Montage

469 The pan envelope 470 Transforming clips 474 Adding effects to tracks and

clips

483 Managing effects in the

Plug-ins view

486 The Meta Normalizer 489 Groups 492 Using markers in the Montage 496 Undo/Redo and History 498 File handling in the Audio

Montage

504 Using video tracks 506 Multichannel operation in the

Montage

527 Mixing down – The Render

function

531 Preparing the Audio Montage

for CD/DVD-Audio burning

541 Creating an Audio CD report

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6 Table of Contents

546 Using DVD-A picture and text

tracks

547 Exporting and importing

AES-31 files

549 XML Export/Import of Audio

Montages

551 DVD-Audio projects

552 Creating and opening a

DVD-Audio project

553 Adding Montages to a

DVD-Audio project

554 The DVD-Audio project

window

556 The Main settings dialog 558 Generating DVD menus 566 DVD-Audio text 568 Final preparations

571 Burning an audio CD

572 Introduction 572 Selecting a CD-R unit 573 Testing a basic audio CD

before burning

574 Writing a CD 576 Validating an audio CD after

burning

577 The audio CD format –

Background information

583 Data CD/DVD Projects

584 Introduction 585 Creating a new Data

CD/DVD Project

586 Source window settings 587 Destination window settings 590 The Write dialog for the

Data CD/DVD

593 Importing audio

CD/DVD tracks

594 Importing audio CD tracks

into WaveLab

599 Importing DVD-Audio tracks

into WaveLab

603 Creating labels

604 Introduction 606 Using the Label Editor 614 Defining user variables 616 Printing labels

619 Analysis

620 Global analysis 631 Audio error detection and

correction

637 Audio file comparer 638 3D Frequency Analysis 641 Loudness distribution tool

643 Generating signals

644 Audio Signal Generator 646 DTMF Generator

649 Synchronizing

WaveLab to

external devices

650 Introduction 650 MTC sync 656 Sync to ASIO Positioning

Protocol (APP)

657 Using samplers and

creating loops

658 Introduction 658 Background information 661 Setting up your sampler(s) 663 Transmitting samples

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664 Receiving samples 664 Deleting and getting informa-

tion about samples

665 The Transmit Back feature 665 In case of problems 666 Using WaveLab with

Steinberg HALion

667 Editing sample attributes 669 Basic looping 671 Using the Crossfade Looper 679 Using the Loop Tone

Equalizer

683 Audio Databases

684 What is an Audio Database

and why do I need it?

685 Creating and opening Audio

Databases

685 How Audio Databases are

saved

686 Window overview and

adjustments

687 Adding files to the Audio

Database

693 Customizing the File List 693 Selecting in the File List 694 Finding out where files are

located

694 Opening a file for editing 694 Playing a file 695 Other file operations 699 Working with categories 702 Location operations 703 Filtering the list 704 Finding files 705 Changing the default

categories and keywords

707 Workspaces

708 What are Workspaces? 709 Creating and opening

Workspaces

709 How Workspaces are saved 710 Creating, renaming and

deleting groups

710 File operations

713 Using WaveLab for

backup

714 Background 715 Creating a Backup Plan 723 Performing the backup 725 Opening an archive 728 Other functions

729 Customizing

730 What is customizing? 730 Preferences 731 Folder editing 733 Saving the window layout 734 Styling WaveLab –

Wave windows

739 Styling WaveLab –

Audio Montage windows

744 Working with window layouts 745 Setting default size and posi-

tion for windows

746 Creating a Favorites menu 746 Customizable key/MIDI

commands

753 Organizing plug-in processors

759 Plug-in Processor

Reference

760 About WaveLab plug-ins 768 VST Plug-ins

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8 Table of Contents

791 Sampler Details

792 SDS - Generic Sample Dump

Standard

792 SMDI (Standard SCSI

transfer)

793 Akai S1000/1100 including

PB models

793 Akai S2000/S2800/S3000/

S3200, including all “i”, CD, and “XL” derivatives etc.

794 Ensoniq, EPS, EPS16+,

ASR-10, ASR-88

794 E-mu Esi-32 795 E-mu EIV, e64 and other

samplers running the EOS

operating system

795 Kurzweil K2000 and K2500 796 Roland S-760

797 Troubleshooting

798 General problems 799 Problems with opening files 800 Problems with saving files 800 Recording problems 801 Playback problems 802 Editing problems 802 Audio database and

workspace problems

803 Troubleshooting and

precautions

803 Sampler communication

problems

804 Problems and solutions 805 Questions and Answers 806 Day to day precautions for

trouble free CD writing

807 Hardware and setup issues

809 Key commands

810 File handling 810 Wave display mode 811 Zooming 811 View 812 Playback and cursor position 813 Selecting 815 Editing and Recording 817 Processing 817 Markers 818 Database 818 Miscellaneous

819 Index

Table of Contents 9

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10 Table of Contents

Introduction

Welcome!

Congratulations on your choice of WaveLab! Ever since its early versions WaveLab has enjoyed a high reputation among professional and semiprofessional users. WaveLab is the audio editor of choice, not only in topof-the-line mastering and restoration facilities, but also for any serious engineer or musician.

This new version of WaveLab continues in the tradition of introducing new powerful and exciting features while maintaining the ease of use and workflow that makes working with WaveLab so effective. We are quite confident that version 6.0 will define a new standard in applying psychoacoustic tools to professional audio editing and mastering. WaveLab 6.0 will integrate seamlessly into your existing studio environment, and with your outboard gear.

Steinberg has always shown a strong commitment to protect the investment of loyal customers. WaveLab 6.0 follows this route by introducing the Steinberg key to preserve your competitive advantage.

Your Steinberg Team.

What’s new in WaveLab 6.0?

This section lists the main new functions and features added to the 6.0 version of WaveLab:

• The main wave window and the overview can independently be set to display one of three display modes: Standard waveform display (Wave), the loudness envelope of the sound (Loudness envelope), or as a spectrogram (Spectrum).

• New Spectrum editor offers powerful audio restoration and processing functions. High quality linear-phase filters allow you to remove unwanted artefacts in the audio with surgical precision. You can also process a selected frequency/time region separately via the Master Section.

• New Rename function that can automatically update all file references in other documents such as Audio Montages. Files, clips and markers can also be batch renamed.

• Marker regions can be rendered as separate audio files.

• Improved file read/write performance.

• No limitation on audio file size.

• DIRAC engine - perhaps the highest quality algorithm for Time stretch/Pitch shift processing available today.

• Crystal Resampler plug-in, a professional sample rate converter providing exceptional transparency and preservation of the frequency content.

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1 – 12 Introduction

• External gear plug-in allows you to process audio via external equipment.

• New Audio input plug-in replaces the Live input feature, with the option to record the incoming signal.

• Option to save an audio selection as an Audio Montage clip.

• Redesigned graphic user interface in all menus and dialogs.

• Auto Split enhancements includes Split to specific file length and Split according to a text file (XML support).

• Clip files can be created when using Auto Split.

• The Loudness Normalizer allows you specify the desired loudness of a file to a given value. A high quality limiter coupled with multi-pass analysis ensures very accurate results.

• The Pan Normalizer allows you to process the left/right audio channels in a stereo file to the same loudness.

• The Level envelope processor can control the level of an audio file or selection using an envelope curve.

• The Pitch Quantize processor can automatically detect and correct the pitch of an audio file.

• Effect morphing - gradually blend two processed audio ranges with a custom envelope for sample accurate effect transitions.

• Global Bypass tool compensates for the loudness difference between processed/unprocessed audio.

• New Edit folders dialog manages all default file folders used by WaveLab.

• Define up to 3 temporary file folders to further improve file performance.

• View settings files (extension “.mem”) can store/recall information relating to a specific audio file such as window/zoom/scroll positions, Master Section preset etc.

• Audio peak files (extension “.gpk”) can now be stored in a separate folder.

• Improved graphic speed for displaying large files. Peak files can also be created in the background with graphical progress monitoring.

• Updated preference dialogs.

• Advanced “Insert silence” function allows you to insert user specified ambient background noise instead of silence, with optional cross-faded insertion.

• K-System support for loudness metering.

• New Audio Montage tab can manage all plug-ins used in a Montage in a variety of ways. Copy and paste plug-ins between clips or tracks, or load and save whole plug-in chains.

• Batch processing of Audio Montages.

• WaveLab can now be slaved to the ASIO Positioning Protocol, for sample accurate synchronization.

• You can now assign MIDI commands for WaveLab functions.

Best of all, WaveLab is continuously developed and refined, in collaboration with our users – from professional audio engineers to hobbyists. Your input has helped make this version of WaveLab the most complete, flexible and user-friendly ever!

Introduction 1 – 13

WAVELAB

How you can reach us

After having installed and launched the program, you will find a number of useful Steinberg Web links on the Help menu (“Steinberg on the internet” submenu). These allow you to get online support, check for updates, get answers to frequently asked questions, etc.

These features require that you have a working Internet connection.

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1 – 14 Introduction

Requirements

This is what you need…

To use WaveLab you need the following:

• A PC with Windows XP or 2000 installed and ready.

A free USB port is also required. For more details about the computer requirements, see below.

• A Multimedia PC compatible, 16-bit (or better) audio card.

By audio card we mean a card capable of recording and playing back audio, using the computer’s hard disk as storage media. See “About audio cards” on page 18.

To take advantage of WaveLab’s more advanced features, you need the following:

• To utilize WaveLab’s CD burning capabilities, you will need a CD recorder.

Your CD recorder must support the disc-at-once write mode.

• To utilize WaveLab’s DVD-A burning capabilities, you will need a DVD recorder.

• To utilize WaveLab’s surround and multichannel capabilities, you will need an audio card with multiple inputs and outputs.

Furthermore, the audio card must have an ASIO driver

• DirectX 9 or later must be installed.

Computer requirements

Below, the minimum computer requirements are listed, with recommendations where applicable. The following sections describe each system component (processor, RAM, etc.) in more detail.

Minimum requirements

• Intel Pentium III/AMD Athlon 800 MHz (Intel Pentium IV/AMD Athlon or AMD Opteron 2,4GHz).

• Newer dual core CPUs are recommended.

• 256 MB RAM (1 GB recommended).

• A monitor and video card with a resolution of 24 bit (32bit recommended).

• 50 MB of free hard disk space (10 GB recommended).

• Windows XP or 2000 (Windows XP recommended).

• Windows MME compatible audio hardware (ASIO compatible audio hardware recommended).

• CD or DVD ROM drive for installation (CD/DVD writer recommended).

• USB port.

• DirectX version 9 or later is required for using video and some export functions.

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2 – 16 Requirements

RAM

Since WaveLab is disk based, the amount of RAM does not limit the size of audio files you can work with. Even with moderate amounts of RAM, you can have many files open at the same time. However, when more RAM is available, some processes can be accelerated by WaveLab.

Processing power

The difference between running WaveLab on a faster computer and a slower one is noticeable in many cases:

• More real-time processing

The faster the computer, the more real-time plug-ins you will be able to use.

• Faster “off-line” processing and analysis tasks

Certain types of processing which make heavy demands on the computer will be completed more quickly on a faster machine.

• Screen updates

Scrolling, editing and manipulating objects is “snappier” on a faster machine.

Hard disk

Audio files are relatively big. Approximately 10.6 MB of hard disk space is used up for every minute of 16 bit stereo/44.1 kHz audio recorded. For 24 bit/48 kHz audio or higher, the audio files are of course a lot bigger. Therefore we recommend that you get the largest hard disk you can afford. The speed of the hard disk will affect some of the processing operations. This is mainly noticeable when you work with very long files.

In addition, a fast hard disk is absolutely crucial for CD-R and DVD-R burning. If the hard disk is slow, your recorder might not be able to write at its maximum possible speed.

Do not use file compression on hard disks where audio files are stored!

Requirements 2 – 17

WAVELAB

Sampler requirements

To communicate with samplers, you need the following:

• A MIDI interface, or…

• A SCSI card, or…

• Both a MIDI interface and a SCSI card.

Exactly which of the three is most appropriate depends on the capabilities of your sampler and how you intend to communicate with it. See “About

the various communication methods” on page 658.

SCSI card considerations

WaveLab works with SCSI cards that are 100% Windows compatible.

If you are buying a SCSI card specifically to communicate with the sampler, we recommend that you get an original Adaptec card. Small deviations in SCSI implementations can cause transfer problems.

About audio cards

WaveLab works with any Multimedia PC compatible audio card. However, the audio quality varies dramatically between cards.

For serious work with WaveLab, we recommend that you get a card with the highest possible specifications.

However, if you use WaveLab to edit files for use with other hardware (such as a hard disk based recording system using its own audio converters) any loss in audio quality that you experience when listening to files in WaveLab (due to deficiencies in the audio card) will not final audio files in any way.

For professional use (mastering, etc.) we recommend that you get a card capable of playing back files in 24 bit resolution.

affect the

the

Surround

To use the surround capabilities of WaveLab’s Audio Montage, you need an ASIO compatible audio card with multiple inputs and outputs. In a surround configuration, each WaveLab channel can be routed to separate outputs and inputs on the audio card.

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2 – 18 Requirements

About the System Information feature

After having installed and launched WaveLab, you can get a very detailed report describing your computer system by selecting “System Information” on the Help menu. This function analyses your system and lists operating system specifics; processor(s), memory, hard drives, and much more. This is especially useful if you need to contact Technical Support, since this allows you to describe your computer configuration accurately.

Requirements 2 – 19

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2 – 20 Requirements

Installing and setting up

Setting up the computer

Before proceeding, your computer should be set up and the following items should be installed:

• Windows (see “This is what you need…” on page 16 for details on which version to use).

• The audio card and its driver.

Checking the audio card

To make sure the audio card will work as expected, you can perform the following two tests:

•

Use the software included with the audio card to make sure you can record and play back without problems.

•

Use the Media Player application (included with Windows and described in the Windows documentation) to record and play back audio.

Colors

At this point you might want to check and for example change the number

of colors you use on your computer screen. See your Windows documentation for instructions on how to do this. The recommended setting for WaveLab is 24 or 32 bit mode (“True Color”).

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3 – 22 Installing and setting up

Installation procedure

The Steinberg Key

Please read the following section before installing the WaveLab software.

Included with the WaveLab package, you will find the Steinberg Key (sometimes referred to as a “dongle”), a hardware copy protection device that is part of the WaveLab copy protection scheme. WaveLab will not run if there is no Steinberg Key.

The Steinberg Key

The Steinberg Key is, in fact, a little computer on which your Steinberg software licenses are stored. All hardware-protected Steinberg products use the same type of key, and you can store more than one license on one key. Also, licenses can (within certain limits) be transferred between keys – which is helpful, e.g. if you want to sell a piece of software.

•

If you already own copy-protected Steinberg software, you must remove any existing Steinberg Keys from the computer’s USB port before starting the WaveLab installation routine.

•

If you are using other copy-protected Steinberg products, you may want to transfer all licenses for your applications to only one Steinberg Key, thus using only one USB port of your computer. More information on the transfer of licenses between keys can be found in the help for the Syncrosoft License Control Center (which can be found in the Start/Programs menu of your computer).

The Steinberg Key must not be plugged in before the installation of WaveLab. Otherwise the operating system of your computer will register it as new USB hardware and try to find drivers that won’t be present before WaveLab installation.

Installing and setting up 3 – 23

WAVELAB

Installing the software

The installation procedure unpacks all the files and automatically puts them in the right places.

1. Insert the CD-ROM disk in the drive.

The installation program should start automatically after a few seconds. If, for some reason it doesn’t – for instance if you have “Auto Insert Notification” deactivated for your CD drive – perform steps 2-4 below. Otherwise, proceed to step 5.

2. Launch the Explorer, open the “My Computer” window or select “Run” from the Start menu.

3. Locate and double click on the drive symbol for the CD-ROM drive.

4. Double click on the “setup” symbol (setup.exe).

5. Follow the instructions on screen.

• If you are updating from WaveLab 4, WaveLab 5 or WaveLab Essential

you will need to enter both the serial number and the original CD that came with the previous version.

6. At one point of the installation a dialog appears requesting you to connect your Steinberg Key – do so.

The first time the copy protection device is plugged in, it will be registered as a new hardware device, and a dialog will appear asking you whether you would like to find drivers for the device manually or automatically. You should select to find drivers automatically, and click OK to proceed and close the dialog.

7. Finally, a dialog informs you that the installation was successful.

A restart may be requested – but if no dialog requests a restart it is not necessary to do so.

When the installation is finished, the program is found among your other programs on the Start menu and/or the desktop.

This completes the installation of your WaveLab program! But, you’re not really done yet…

Register your software!

Registering your software will make sure you are entitled to technical support and kept aware of updates and news regarding WaveLab.

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3 – 24 Installing and setting up

Launching WaveLab

1. Make sure the Steinberg Key is plugged into the USB port.

2. Launch WaveLab.

WaveLab starts.

• The Steinberg Key has to be plugged in at all times when running WaveLab.

Program settings

Before you start working, you should make some settings:

Audio card settings

You need to specify which audio card and driver you intend to use. WaveLab can communicate with the audio card via any of the standard protocols; ASIO, MME or WDM. Note:

• For multichannel operation and other WaveLab features like the External gear plug-in you must use an ASIO driver.

Selecting an ASIO driver

1. Open the Preferences–Audio device tab.

2. Select the ASIO driver from the “Playback device” pop-up menu.

Note that the “Playback device” menu heading has now changed to “Playback/Record device” and the Recording device section has been greyed out. This is because with ASIO, the same driver is always used both for output and input.

3. If you click the “Control Panel” button the audio card settings application (usually installed with the audio card) for the ASIO driver opens.

In the Control Panel you may find settings for buffer size, digital formats, additional I/O connections, etc. depending on the audio card and the driver.

4. Click on the “Connections” button.

The ASIO Audio connections dialog will appear, listing all available channel inputs and outputs in WaveLab.

Internally there are 8 fixed WaveLab channels that can be freely mapped to ASIO outputs and inputs on your audio interface. “Surround channels” are the available surround speaker channels. See

nections dialog”

dio connections

on page 507

dialog.

for more information about the ASIO Au-

“The ASIO Audio Con-

5. Close the dialog.

Installing and setting up 3 – 25

WAVELAB

• When using ASIO, the playback resolution is set from the ASIO driver (you may find a setting for this in the ASIO Control Panel, depending on the hardware and driver).

Therefore, the Playback Resolution settings will be greyed out.

Selecting an MME/WDM driver

1. Select “Preferences…” from the Options menu.

2. Click on the Audio device tab.

3. Select the audio card you want to use for recording and playback from

the pop-ups.

If you only have one audio card you can also select the “Microsoft Sound Mapper” options (the sound mapper is a “virtual audio card” which “maps” all audio to your real card). However this does not let you take full advantage of the card’s driver when recording audio and is therefore not recommended.

4. Choose your “Playback Resolution”.

Additional audio settings

There are other settings in the Preferences that affect audio playback and recording. We recommend that you try the default settings before you change anything, since these work well in most cases.

On the “Audio Card” tab, you will find the following settings:

• Playback Buffer Number and Size.

These determine how much RAM memory is used for buffering when playing back. If you get playback problems such as dropouts or glitches, you should try to increase these values. Click the question mark icon in the dialog for details.

With ASIO drivers, you may find these settings in the ASIO Control Panel.

• Recording Buffer Number and Size (not available when using ASIO).

These determine how much RAM is used for buffering when recording. If you get dropouts in the recorded audio, you should try increasing these values. Click the question mark icon in the dialog for details.

On the Preferences–File tab, you will find the following settings:

• Disk block buffer size.

Governs the buffer size used when WaveLab is reading data from the hard disk. If you experience problems in a read intensive scenario (such as playing back an Audio Montage with a lot of simultaneous clips), you should try changing this value. If you change this setting, playback will stop when you leave the dialog.

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3 – 26 Installing and setting up

• Use system cache.

When this is deactivated (default), WaveLab reads files directly from the hard disk, bypassing Windows’ file cache.

We recommend that you leave this option deactivated!

The option is available since it may remedy problems on certain systems with slow disk drives. Note:

• If you activate this, avoid using large disk block buffer size values!

• After activating this option, you need to close and reopen all open files, for the setting to take effect!

About latency

In the Playback section of the Audio device tab, you will find an indication of the current latency (at 16bit/44.1kHz stereo). Latency is the delay between when audio is “sent” from the program and when you actually hear it. The latency in an audio system depends on the audio hardware, its drivers and their settings. It’s usually possible to reduce latency by lowering the number and size of the playback/recording buffers. However, please note:

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. Here the important issues are optimum and stable playback and editing precision. Therefore, you should not try to reach the lowest possible latency figures when working with WaveLab. And again, should you get dropouts, crackles or glitches during playback, raise the Buffer Number setting on the Preferences–Audio device tab.

Installing and setting up 3 – 27

WAVELAB

Temporary files

You also need to specify where WaveLab should store its temporary files. Temporary files are used for certain operations, such as WaveLab’s extensive Undo function (see “Undo and Redo” on page 47).

WaveLab allows you to specify up to three different folders for storing temporary files. If you have access to more than one drive, saving your temp files on separate drives (not partitions) can considerably speed up performance.

For example, if your source files are located on the C: drive, you could specify D:\temp and E:\temp as temporary folders.

This will not only improve performance, but also reduce disk fragmentation.

1. In Windows, create a separate folder in which to store your “temp” files.

The folder(s) should be on your fastest hard disk and you should make sure you have plenty of room available on that hard disk (or partition). Putting the “temp” files on a separate drive (that is, not the same drive as your regular files) will speed up file operations considerably.

2. Select “Folders…” from the Options menu.

This opens the Folders dialog, where you can edit how various WaveLab folders are handled (see “Folder editing” on page 731).

3. Click on the plus sign beside the “Temporary folders” item (this is located in the “Work folders” category).

Three possible folders can be specified for temp files.

4. Selecting one of the Temporary Folder items will show the current location where the temp files will be created in the Folder field to the right.

5. Either type in the path to the directory or you can browse the drives to locate and select the folder via a standard Windows file dialog.

Click OK to select a folder and exit the file dialog.

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3 – 28 Installing and setting up

Peak and view memories

A peak file is a small file with the extension “.gpk” automatically created by WaveLab each time a file is modified or opened in WaveLab (if it hasn’t been previously). The peak file contains information about the waveform, and determines how it is drawn in the wave window.

View memory files (extension “.mem”) store view information relating to a specific audio file such as window and scroll positions, etc., and optionally any Master Section effects used – see “Saving view settings” on

page 124.

By default, peak files and view memory files are stored in the same folder as the related audio file. Setting this to another folder on a different drive will also improve performance to a certain degree. Regardless of whether this folder is on a different drive or not you also get the advantage of not having the audio file folder cluttered with non-audio files if a separate folder is used.

This folder can be specified from the Folders dialog, either directly or via the Preferences–Wave edit tab.

Select Preferences from the Options menu and select the Wave edit tab.

• If the “Save view settings in companion file” option is activated, view memory files will be saved in the same folder as the related audio file.

• If you select “Save in independent folder” you can click the “Edit” button, which will open the Folder dialog with the “Peak and view memories” work folder selected.

From here you can navigate to a new folder location to store the peak and view memory temp files.

Installing and setting up 3 – 29

WAVELAB

Installing a CD/DVD recorder

Hardware installation/connection

For general instructions on installing internal or connecting external recorders via USB or Firewire, please refer to the instructions that came with the computer, or the recorder itself.

For WaveLab, please just check the following points:

• Make sure to have the latest firmware version installed in your recorder unit. For CD recorders, the firmware you have must support Disk-at-Once mode! In addition, running a unit with older firmware might for example prevent you from writing sub-index markers into the tracks.

Checking the installation of the CD/DVD recorder

You might want to check that the recorder unit was actually found by the program. Proceed as follows:

1. Select “CD/DVD Information…” from the Tools menu.

The CD/DVD Info dialog appears.

2. Check that your recorder unit appears in the list to the left.

The list will also contain any regular DVD-ROM drives, etc. If your CD/DVD recorder isn’t listed, there’s either something wrong with the installation or the unit is not supported by WaveLab.

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Installing samplers

Installing MIDI and SCSI interfaces

If your sampler communicates with WaveLab via MIDI, you need to install a MIDI interface. If it communicates via SCSI you need a SCSI card. For some samplers you will need both.

For all general instructions on installing MIDI interfaces and SCSI cards, please refer to the instructions that came with the units.

Do not connect anything to the SCSI card until you have finished installation of the card and its drivers and have read the instructions below!

Connecting the sampler

MIDI connections

1. Connect a MIDI cable from the MIDI Out on the sampler to a MIDI In on your computer.

2. Connect a MIDI cable from a MIDI Out on your computer to the MIDI In on the sampler.

SCSI connections

Before you connect your sampler via SCSI, read the following!

SCSI is a high speed electrical interface, primarily designed to connect hard disks and other peripherals to personal computers. SCSI is not a regular computer network so there are severe restrictions on how many devices you can have connected, cable lengths, etc. Improper SCSI handling may cause permanent damage to your equipment. Please, always follow the few but important golden rules of SCSI to insure yourself against damaged equipment:

• Always make all connections with all units turned off!

• Set all devices to different IDs before connecting and turning on power! PC SCSI cards normally occupy the SCSI ID 7.

• The ID of your sampler can normally be changed from its front panel.

• Use high quality SCSI cables! The shorter they are, the better.

• The total length of all SCSI cables should never exceed 6 meters (20 feet).

• The devices at the ends of your SCSI chain must be terminated!

• Follow the recommendations in your sampler manual about how to terminate your devices.

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• If you set up with too many terminators, or a terminator missing, data transmission most probably won’t work properly. In the worst case, one of your SCSI devices may be physically damaged.

• The computer should always be at one end of the SCSI chain of devices.

• Always turn on the computer last, after all other devices have been started up.

• Always switch on all devices. If some device is not turned on, you may lose data.

Booting up

1. Make sure you have the latest operating system for your sampler. WaveLab may not be able to communicate with the sampler if you don’t have a current version. If in doubt, contact your dealer.

2. Turn on the sampler and any connected external SCSI devices. Let the sampler finish booting.

3. Turn on your computer.

4. If the computer refuses to boot (the computer “hangs” during startup)

there’s something wrong with the termination, cables or SCSI IDs.

Go back and check everything again. Try with less equipment connected (but don’t forget – always terminate both ends of the SCSI chain!).

Verifying SCSI communication with the sampler

To make sure your sampler has really been installed properly on the SCSI bus, proceed as follows:

1. Launch WaveLab.

2. Select “Sampler configurations…” from the Sampling menu.

3. Click on the Settings tab.

4. Pull down the Unit pop-up in the SCSI section.

The sampler should be listed here. If it isn’t, there’s either something wrong with your installation, or the sampler model cannot communicate via SCSI from a Windows computer.

Verifying MIDI communication with the sampler

This is done when you start using it for audio transfers, and involves a number of steps (creating presets, making SysEx ID settings, etc.). See

“Using samplers and creating loops” on page 657 for details.

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3 – 32 Installing and setting up

Installation done! Where do I go next?

There are three things we suggest you do:

• Read through the rest of this book and try out the different possibilities as you go along.

• Examine your WaveLab directory and other disks included in this package for files that might be useful to you.

• If you run into problems, check the Troubleshooting chapter in the online documentation.

About the Tracer application

In the WaveLab directory created on your hard disk during installation, you will find a folder called “Tools”. Among other things, this folder contains a small application called Tracer. This is a diagnostic tool that tracks and logs various procedures that WaveLab executes when it is launched, e.g. the loading of plug-ins.

Should you run into problems with WaveLab and need to contact technical support, you can use the Tracer application and pass on the information it displays to the technical support staff. This could be of great assistance since it might be possible to see exactly which operation caused a problem.

•

To use the Tracer, locate the file Tracer.exe in the Windows Explorer and click on it – or use the Run command on the Start menu to browse for the file.

• After you have activated the Tracer application, launch WaveLab.

• All loading procedures are displayed as plain text, and you can copy this information and then paste it into, for example, an e-mail.

double

Installing and setting up 3 – 33

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3 – 34 Installing and setting up

Overview

Get to know WaveLab

Welcome to WaveLab!

This chapter is intended to get you acquainted with the program. We will here briefly describe its fundamental functions and main features, so as to point you in the right direction on your road to mastering all of the possibilities that WaveLab offers.

The windows and what you can do with them

Working with WaveLab, you will encounter a number of different windows that let you do different things. Editing audio files, compiling files for burning CDs or DVDs, applying effects and much, much more. This is an overview of the main windows in the program.

The Wave window

This is a Wave window, a graphical representation of an audio file. It consists of two parts – the lower is the Main view, and this is where you can perform various audio editing operations such as copying, cutting, pasting, moving, deleting, etc.

The upper part is the Overview and serves to let you easily navigate through long files.

You can read more about the Wave window and the operations you can perform in it in the chapter “Editing in the Wave window” on page 69.

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The Audio Montage window

This is an Audio Montage window. An Audio Montage lets you compile and edit multiple clips (references to audio files on disk) on one or several tracks.

As you can see, the window consists of two panes. The lower one is called the Track View, and this is where you assemble the clips. The appearance of the upper pane depends on which of the 12 tabs at the very top of the window is selected. These tabs give you access to various functions.

After you have imported audio files as clips into an Audio Montage, you can arrange, edit and play back the clips. You can also apply effects, fades and crossfades, surround panning and much more, and last but not least, you can directly create CDs or DVD-As. All in all, the Audio Montage is an excellent tool for advanced music CD or DVD-A creation.

Read more about the Audio Montage and its features in the chapter “The

Audio Montage” on page 371.

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The Basic Audio CD window

If you just want to create an audio CD, with each CD track corresponding to a single, whole audio file on disk, you may not need all the editing features in the Audio Montage. Instead, you can use the Basic Audio CD window. This is an environment that quickly and easily lets you compile audio files in a track list and burn them onto a music CD.

You can freely change the order of the tracks, the length of the pauses between them and more.

More on the Basic Audio CD window can be found in the chapter “Pre-

paring a Basic Audio CD” on page 347.

The DVD-Audio project window

This is where you make various settings for a DVD-Audio project before rendering it and burning it onto a DVD.

A DVD-Audio project can be based on one or more Audio Montages. After you have specified a Montage as basis for a DVD-Audio project, you can, among other things, create a visual menu for the DVD-A, add DVD text, create a bonus group and specify picture transition effects. See

“DVD-Audio projects” on page 551.

You then render the DVD-Audio project, after which the Data CD/DVD window automatically opens where you can optionally add data and other contents before burning the DVD (see below). For a general description of the DVD-Audio format, see “Background information” on page 366.

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The Data CD/DVD Project window

The Data CD/DVD window can be used for compiling and creating data CDs/DVDs (discs that exclusively contain computer data) and Mixed Mode CDs (discs that contain both data and audio), as well as DVD-Audio discs that contain audio, data and video.

The window is divided into two panes; the upper is called the source window, and the lower is the destination window. You drag files from the source window to the destination window, in which you can rename, remove and move files before burning a CD or DVD.

For a detailed description of the Data CD/DVD window and what you can do with it, see “Data CD/DVD Projects” on page 583.

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The CD/DVD Label Editor

This window is the Label Editor. Here you can design and print custom labels for the CDs or DVDs you create. You can create labels for both the front and back of a jewel case, as well as for the discs.

Read more about this in the chapter “Creating labels” on page 603.

The Backup Plan window

WaveLab lets you back up all kinds of files and folders onto CD or standard media. This window lets you decide which files and folders should be backed up, and also allows you to make various settings for the backup procedure.

For a complete description of this window and how to perform backups, see the chapter “Using WaveLab for backup” on page 713.

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The Audio Database window

An Audio Database is a convenient way of storing and organizing files in libraries and categories, making it easy to locate and cific files.

What is stored is not the audio files themselves, but instructions on where the files are located. Thus, the files can be located on any storage media connected to your computer.

You can read more about this in the chapter “Audio Databases” on page

683.

The Workspace window

A Workspace lets you collect a number of files that you for one reason or another want to “keep together”. This could be all of the audio files used in a single song for instance.

How to create and manage Workspaces is fully described in the chapter

“Workspaces” on page 707.

audio

access spe-

Overview 4 – 41

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The Master Section

This is a very important part of WaveLab, called the Master Section. It has a number of uses including:

• Adding real-time effect plug-in processors such as Chorus, Reverb, etc.

• Applying effects to files so that they are permanently made a part of the files (as opposed to using them in real-time).

• Monitoring and controlling the output level from every WaveLab channel.

• Adding dithering.

For details, see “Master Section” on page 217.

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Find your way around in WaveLab

Editing and processing

Where do I go if I want to…

• Edit an existing audio file?

When you open an audio file, it appears in a Wave window, in which you can edit it in various ways. See “Editing in the Wave window” on page 69.

• Compile and edit several audio files on multiple tracks?

Create an Audio Montage. See “The Audio Montage” on page 371.

• Apply processing to a wave file?

The Process menu contains a number of options for manipulating wave files, including fadein/out, normalize, time stretch and much more – see “Off-line processing” on page 175. You can also use the Render function in the Master Section to apply effects to a file. See

“Rendering” on page 239.

• Apply processing and effects to multiple files in one go?

You do this with a function called batch processing. See “Introduction” on page 274.

• Convert an audio file into another audio format?

There are several ways: You can use either the “Save as” command or the “Save Special” command on the File menu (see “Saving in another format (Save as…)” on page 117), or the “Render” function in the Master Section (see “Rendering” on page 239). Finally, batch file encoding lets you convert multiple files to another format – see “Batch file encoding” on

page 303.

Playback and recording

Where do I go if I want to…

• Play back with real-time effects?

Effects are added in the Master Section, see “Master Section” on page 217. In Audio Mon- tages you can also add individual track and clip effects, see “Adding effects to tracks and

clips” on page 474.

• Record new audio files?

Use the Record button on the Transport bar. The new file will appear in a Wave window, and can also be added as a new clip in a Montage. See “Recording” on page 146.

• Record songs from an audio CD or DVD into WaveLab?

You don’t – you import them directly from the disc. On the Tools menu there is an option called “Import Audio CD tracks” (see “Importing audio CD tracks into WaveLab” on page

594), and one called “Import DVD-Audio tracks” (see “Importing DVD-Audio tracks into WaveLab” on page 599).

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CD/DVD creation

Where do I go if I want to…

• Create an audio CD that can be played back in a regular CD player?

You can either create a Basic Audio CD (see “Preparing a Basic Audio CD” on page 347) or an Audio Montage (see “The Audio Montage” on page 371). As the name implies, the Basic Audio CD allows for quick and easy CD creation, while the Audio Montage lets you perform advanced, clip-based editing.

• Create a DVD that can be played back in a DVD-A player?

A DVD-Audio compatible disc can contain one or several (up to 9) groups. A group corresponds to a Montage in WaveLab. You add the Audio Montage(s) to a DVD-Audio project where you also can make various settings, and finally render the project before burning the DVD (see “DVD-Audio projects” on page 551).

• Create a data CD/DVD or a Mixed Mode CD/DVD containing audio, data and video?

You do this in a Data CD/DVD window. See “Data CD/DVD Projects” on page 583.

• Create labels for the CDs/DVDs I make?

This is done in the Label Editor. See “Creating labels” on page 603.

Miscellaneous

Where do I go if I want to…

• Use WaveLab for data backup purposes?

Create a backup plan, as described in the chapter “Using WaveLab for backup” on page

713.

• Use hardware samplers with WaveLab?

WaveLab can communicate directly with a number of different sampler models. This is done from the Sampling menu. Read more in the chapter “Using samplers and creating

loops” on page 657.

The above are just a few pointers to some of the fundamental functions in WaveLab. While using them, you will discover a multitude of other features and functions that let you make full use of the possibilities of this amazing program.

Have fun exploring WaveLab!

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4 – 44 Overview

Basic methods

Why you should read this chapter

This chapter describes general methods that you will use when working with WaveLab. Getting accustomed with these procedures will allow you to work more effectively with the program.

Getting help

WaveLab comes with a detailed help system, making it easy to look up procedures and descriptions from within the program. There are several ways to access the help system:

• By selecting “Operation Manual” from the Help menu.

This takes you to the help in Adobe Acrobat format (extension “.pdf”). This PDF file contains all chapters of the printed manual plus additional sections describing plug-ins, sampler details, key commands, and troubleshooting procedures.

• By pressing [F1].

If a window is active, you will get help on that window. If a dialog box is open, this dialog is described.

• By clicking on the question mark icon in a dialog.

This will display information about the available items in that dialog.

• By selecting the Help item at the bottom of a menu.

This will give you help about the items on that particular menu.

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Undo and Redo

WaveLab has an extremely extensive Undo function, applicable when working in Wave windows, Audio Montages or the CD Label Editor. You can:

• Undo as many steps back as you like, by using the Undo item on the Edit menu.

The only limitation is the available hard disk space. You can also use the shortcuts [Ctrl]-[Z] or [F3] to undo. [F3] has the added advantage in that you can undo even if a modal dialog is currently open.

• Redo as many steps as you like, by using the Redo item on the Edit menu (or by pressing [Ctrl]-[Y] or [F4]).

Furthermore, each window has its own undo “history”, so you can click on any window and undo the last changes made there, even if you afterwards worked in another window.

About Undo and disk space

Many undo operations require no memory or disk space. However, operations that modify actual wave data (like time stretch, EQ, etc.) require that a file copy of the selected part of the wave is stored, so that it can be brought back when you need to redo.

For this reason, WaveLab will need to store files on your hard disk, in the folder you have specified for the temporary files (see “Temporary files” on

page 28). These files are automatically deleted each time you close or

save the related document.

Limiting the Undo function

If you run out of hard disk space or if you are applying processing to extremely long sections of waves, you might want to put a limit on the Undo function (applicable to Wave windows only):

1. Select “Preferences” from the Options menu and click the Wave edit tab.

2. Uncheck the “Unlimited” option in the Undo/Redo section.

3. Change the Limit number to the desired value.

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Clearing the undo

There might be situations where you have “collected” a large number of undo possibilities that you know you don’t need. You might then clear the whole undo “buffer” for one file at a time. This will free up some primary memory (RAM) but more importantly it will also delete all the “undo files” from your hard disk, to free up space.

1. Select “Clear undo” from the Edit menu.

A window appears informing you of how much RAM and hard disk space you will gain by this operation.

2. Click OK.

Please note that this function works on one document at a time. It is only the undo buffer for the file in the active window that will be cleared. Also note that it only applies to Wave windows.

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Working with windows

Basic window handling

WaveLab follows the basic guidelines for the Windows interface, which means standard “Windows procedures” apply.

Closing Wave windows

You can close a document window by clicking its close button, by selecting Close from the File menu or by pressing [Ctrl]-[W]. If document window(s) contain unsaved changes, you will be asked whether you want to save those changes before closing.

• If you hold down [Ctrl]+[Shift] when clicking the close button, the window closes immediately. Any changes you have made will not be saved.

• You can also close all windows in one go (either all Wave windows, or all windows regardless of type), by selecting the corresponding option from the Windows menu.

Minimizing Wave windows

WaveLab windows are minimized like any other, but there are also options for minimizing all Wave windows or all windows (regardless of type, as with closing, see above), from the Window menu.

Quitting

When you quit the program, and have files with unsaved changes, the “Exiting with modified documents” dialog, see “Save All” on page 120, appears. Selecting all files in the list and clicking Save Selected, ensures that all changes made to any and all files, are saved.

Quick window switching

• To “cycle” between all open windows, press [Ctrl]-[Tab] or [Ctrl]-[F6].

• If you release the [Ctrl] key, and use any of these commands again, you will

switch to the previous window, rather than the next window in the stack.

This allows you to quickly move back and forth between two windows.

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The document switch bar

A quick way to switch between the open document windows is to use the document switch bar.

In this example, clicking on the tab will bring the “MoonProject” window to front.

• You can position the document switch bar at the top, bottom, left or right side of the screen by using the document switch bar submenu on the View menu.

This submenu also lets you hide the document switch bar, if you like.

List of open files dialog

This dialog, opened from the View menu (or by pressing [F5]), is useful when you are working with many open documents. It shows all currently open WaveLab files and documents in a list. The dialog is non-modal and will automatically be updated if any window is closed or opened.

• Files with unsaved changes have a red dot before the name.

• You can navigate the list using the arrow keys, or by using a-z on your keyboard.

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5 – 50 Basic methods

The dialog contains the following items:

Item Description

Filter pop-up This pop-up (in the top right corner) allows you to only show files of a

Visible/Hidden files checkboxes

Edit button This will bring up the selected file as the top window. You can also

Play/Stop This will play a selected audio file. If you click Play the button

Save If a file has unsaved changes, this button can be used to save it, in its

Rename This opens the Rename dialog where you can rename a selected file,

Close This closes all selected files.

Exit Closes the dialog.

certain type by selecting an item from the menu.

You can select to show visible files and/or hidden files (i.e. files that are open internally in WaveLab but not open in a separate window, e.g. an audio file referenced by an open Montage). Hidden files are shown with grey text.

double click on a file in the list or use the [Return] key to do this. If Auto-close is checked, the dialog will close.

changes to Stop.

current location (no dialog appears).

and optionally change its path. See “Renaming files and documents

(Rename)” on page 121.

Panes

Several of WaveLab’s windows are divided into panes. Panes are separated by dividers. For example, a Wave window can have two panes, the Overview and the Main view. A Database window has three panes.

Panes

The panes and dividers in a Database window

Dividers

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Basic methods 5 – 51

Adjusting the size of a pane

1. Position the mouse over the divider between the two panes.

The pointer turns into a two-way arrow.

2. Drag the divider to adjust the pane size.

Hiding and revealing a pane

In some windows, a pane can be hidden altogether.

To hide a pane, drag the border between the two panes all the way up or double click it. To reveal the pane again, drag the miniature divider symbol down or double click it.

The miniature divider symbol

You can also hide/show the Overview pane in the Wave window by pressing [O] on the computer keyboard.

“Folding” windows

If you find a window takes up too much screen space, but you still don’t want to close it, you can “fold it in” by clicking on the fold-in icon on the title bar. For dialogs, you can also double click on the title bar.

The fold-in icon

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5 – 52 Basic methods

To return to normal size, just click again.

The normal Time Stretch dialog… …and when “folded in”.

The Document icon

WaveLab adds another symbol to some document windows, the Document icon. This is used to drag the whole document to various other windows, such as Databases, Audio Montages and Basic Audio CDs.

Unsaved changes indicator

When you have made changes to a document window, an asterisk will be displayed after the document name in the title bar until you save the document.

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Working with multiple windows

You can edit the same data in more than one Wave window. Among other things this allows you to work on different sections of a wave file (for example the start and end), without scrolling back and forth.

• The two windows are views of exactly the same data.

Any change you make in one Wave window is immediately apparent in the other.

Creating a second window using menus

1. Make sure the desired window is the active one.

If it isn’t, click once in its title bar.

2. Select Duplicate View from the View menu.

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Creating a second window by dragging

1. Make sure “Create windows using mouse” is activated on the Preferences–Wave edit tab.

2. Click and drag a rectangle in an empty area of the WaveLab window.

This must be of a certain minimum size or bigger. If you don’t get a new window, try again with a bigger rectangle.

Dragging a box like this will create a new window for this audio file.

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Windows sets, snapshots and Wave view settings

In addition to the above, there are other ways to manage windows:

• Snapshots store individual settings for one Wave window at a time, which allows you to quickly move between various views of a file. See “Snapshots” on page 87.

• Screen layouts store document window and dialog box positions and sizes. See

“Working with window layouts” on page 744.

• View settings can be automatically stored (Preference setting) when saving wave audio files. This will store all view settings for an individual Wave window; i.e. window size & placement, time ruler style, scroll positions, selection ranges, snapshots and a master section preset. See “Saving view settings” on page 124.

Dockable control bars

Various tools, shortcuts and commands are gathered on “control bars” (strips with symbols). These can be used either as “palettes” (separate windows) or you can “dock” them to the window edges. The following control bars are available:

• The Standard Commands

• The Transport bar

• The Meters

• The Window Controller

• The Wave toolbox

• The Wave Snapshots control bar

• The Marker toolbar

Docking a control bar

There are two ways to dock a control bar:

• Drag the control bar window (by its title bar) to any of the sides of the application window and release the mouse button.

The outline shows you the shape of the control bar at the docked position.

• Double click the title bar of a control bar to return it to its last docked position.

Please note that you can stack control bars and put them side by side, to create any type of layout you desire.

In this example, the Standard Commands, Toolbox and Transport control bars have all been docked to the upper part of the application window.

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Turning a docked control bar into a separate window

To “un-dock” a control bar, drag it out from the docked position, or double click somewhere on its handle.

• Control bar windows are moved by dragging the title bar, just as with any other window.

To drag a control bar on side of the application window, without docking it, hold down [Ctrl] when dragging.

Showing/hiding a control bar

There are various ways to show/hide a control bar:

• Pull down the View menu, select Control Bars, and from the submenu that appears, select the desired control bar, or…

• Click on a button on the Window controller (a control bar used for showing/hiding other control bars, see below), or…

• Hide a control bar by clicking its Close box.

Changing the appearance of a control bar

To change the shape of a control bar to either horizontal, square or vertical, drag the right or bottom edge as when resizing any other window.

To change the size of the buttons in the control bar, open the Preferences–Environment tab and adjust the “Button size” setting.

Finding out what a button on a control bar does

1. Select Preferences from the Options menu and click on the Environment tab.

2. Make sure “Show Tips” is activated.

3. Close the Preferences dialog.

4. Move the pointer over an item on the control bar and wait a moment.

A text showing the name of the button appears.

An example of a “Tip” pop-up for the control bar.

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The various control bars

The Window Controller

The Window Controller acts as “master selector” for the main windows and control bars, providing quick access even to those that have no keyboard shortcut. If a Window Controller button is “pressed”, the corresponding window/bar is active and visible. If not, the window/bar is hidden.

The Standard Commands

The Standard Commands bar supplies shortcuts for the most commonly used menu items, as well as some unique functions.

The Toolbox

The tools are used to perform various operations on the data in the window, like selecting, playing, etc.

The Snapshots control bar

This is used to store and recall window “layouts”, see “Snapshots” on

page 87.

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The Transport bar

The Transport bar is used for various playback commands, see “Using the

Transport bar” on page 135.

The Marker toolbar

This is used for various commands related to markers, see “Introduction” on page 328.

The Meters

This provides shortcuts to the various level meters in WaveLab, see “Me-

tering” on page 155.

The status bar

This is normally displayed at the bottom of the screen, but it can be hidden on the Preferences–Environment tab.

The status bar shows information related to the active window. Exactly what information appears depends on the window type – for Wave windows it shows various information about the file. See “The status bar” on page 79.

• For some of the fields you can also click to perform operations related to that field.

• The status bar also indicates the progress of operations that take some time to finish.

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Speed menus

Most displays have speed menus associated with them.

• To bring up a speed menu, right-click in the desired area.

In the Wave windows for example, there is one speed menu for the level ruler, one for each of the time rulers and one for each of the waveform displays.

The Wave window main view “speed menu”

The Speed menus contain the same items that can be found on the main menus, but some speed menus also contain unique items.

When searching for a function, don’t forget to check the speed menus in the window in which you are working!

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Units of time and level

For rulers

You can specify the time and level (amplitude) formats for each ruler in each window, by right-clicking on the ruler and selecting a format from the pop-up menu that appears.

Time formats

Menu name Description

Time Positions are shown as hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds. At large

Samples Positions are shown as number of samples. How many samples there are to

Time code Also called SMPTE. Positions are shown in the following format:

Meter Positions are shown as bars, beats and ticks, as specified on the Prefer-

File size Positions are shown in file size units, MegaBytes, where the decimals repre-

Level formats

magnification factors, hundredths of milliseconds are shown.

a second depends on the sample rate of the wave. For 44.1 kHz for example, there are 44100 samples for each second.

hours:minutes:seconds:frames. The number of frames per second is set on the Preferences–Sync tab.

ences–Sync tab.

sent kiloBytes.

Menu name Description

% Amplitude (level) is shown as a percentage of full level.

dB Amplitude is shown in decibels, a logarithmic scale used in audio engineer-

Decimal This is the actual value of the amplitude as stored in computer memory (al-

ing.

ways displayed as 16 bits). Please note that the range is from negative to positive with “0” representing “no signal”.

• To make a ruler format the default (to be used in new Wave windows), you need to save it as part of the default window style.

See “Styling WaveLab – Wave windows” on page 734.

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Setting values

In dialog boxes, you will find yourself adjusting values. The following techniques apply:

Typing values

As in most other Windows programs you can “tab to” or click directly on a value and type in a new one.

Using the spin controls/value fields

Values can be set using either the regular Windows spin controls, or any of the other methods described below.

The spin controls

The history pop-up

• Clicking either arrow raises/lowers the value.

• Keeping the mouse button pressed over an arrow will “scroll” the value.

• Holding down [Ctrl] makes the value change in larger steps.

• Holding down [Ctrl]+[Shift] changes the value to its minimum/maximum.

• The last adjusted control can be changed using the [↑] and [↓] keys, also in combination with [Ctrl] or [Ctrl]+[Shift] as described above.

• You can also click and hold in the value field and move the pointer up or down to change values.

• Pointing in a value field will display the available parameter range.

• The down arrow to the right of the spin controls brings up a history pop-up where the last applied value change(s) in the current dialog are shown and can be selected.

Using sliders and pop-ups

Many times, the most convenient way of changing a value is using WaveLab’s proprietary sliders and pop-ups:

1. Click with the right mouse button on the spin control (in some windows you can also double-click with the left mouse button).

2. If a pop-up menu appears, select one of the options on it.

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3. If one or more sliders appear, drag the handle(s) or click the arrows to set the value.

The setting is shown in the value box “behind” the slider window.

In this case, four faders appear, one for the integer and three for the decimals.

The value gets updated when you move the sliders.

4. When you have finished, click outside the slider window.

• If the value is “segmented” (for example divided into minutes and seconds, etc.), more than one slider will appear, each used for adjusting one of the “segments”.

• The slider window can be dragged to any position on the screen, using the “ title bar” at the top.

• The last-used slider can also be adjusted using the computer keyboard: .

These keys Move the slider handle

[↑] and [↓] One step up/down.

[Page Up] and [Page Down] A few steps up/down.

[Home] and [End] To the top/bottom.

In effect processor panels

In the Master Section you will find either generic or custom effect panels for each effect processor. In custom panels, values are adjusted using special methods, see “The Effects pane” on page 225.

Using a wheel mouse

If you are using a mouse with a scroll wheel or similar, you can take advantage of the wheel for various operations in WaveLab:

Scrolling

If you point at a waveform, the wheel scrolls the view horizontally.

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Zooming

If you hold down [Ctrl] and point at a waveform, the wheel zooms the view horizontally.

If you hold down [Ctrl] and [Shift] and point at a waveform, the wheel zooms the view vertically.

Changing values

If you point at an edit field in a dialog, the wheel can be used to adjust the value.

• If you hold down [Ctrl], the value changes in bigger increments.

• If you hold down [Ctrl]+[Shift] the value jumps to the minimum or maximum.

Master Section

• When working in the Master Section window, the wheel can be used to adjust the master volume.

You have to point in the Master Section for this to work.

• This functionality can be turned off in the Preferences–Environment tab.

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Presets

Many dialogs in WaveLab have either a Presets tab or a Presets pop-up menu. If you think of the dialogs as forms, presets allow those forms to be filled out automatically. WaveLab comes with a selection of presets for most dialogs that use them, but the real power of presets becomes evident when you start creating your own!

• For some WaveLab effect panels there is a Preset button instead of a Presets tab or pop-up menu. Clicking the button opens the Presets dialog which has the same items as described below.

Depending on how presets are displayed in a certain dialog (tab or menu) they are handled slightly differently, but both cases are described below.

A number of presets in the Harmonization dialog

Loading presets

1. Open the dialog you wish to use and click on its Presets tab or pull down its Presets menu.

2. Select the preset you want to use.

3. Where applicable, click the Load button.

• A quick way to load a preset is to right-click on the Preset tab and select a preset from the menu that appears.

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Creating a preset

1. Open the dialog you wish to use and set up the dialog as desired.

2. Click on the Presets tab or pull down the Preset menu.

3. Click on the name line and type in a name for the preset or click the Save

As… menu item and type in a name in the dialog that appears.

4. Where applicable, click the Add button.

Modifying a preset

1. Load the preset you want to modify, as described above.

2. Make the desired settings in the dialog.

3. Click the Update button or click the Save item.

Deleting a preset

1. In the Presets tab, click on the preset you want to delete.

2. Click the Delete button.

Or…

1. From the Presets menu, select the option Explore presets.

2. In the Explorer window that appears, select the preset file you want to de-

lete and press [Delete].

Store temporarily and Restore

Some dialogs also allow you to quickly save and load up to 5 presets with the Store temporarily and Restore menu items. This is useful if you want to quickly test and compare different settings.

1. Select the option “Store temporarily” and from the submenu

number under which you want to save (#1 –

2. To quickly load the saved settings again, select the corresponding number from the Restore submenu.

#5).

select the

How presets are saved

The presets are automatically saved when you quit the program. The next time you load the program, the presets are ready and waiting, just as you left them. Furthermore the presets are “global” to all files. No matter which file you are working on, you still have access to all your presets.

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About non-modal dialogs

Many of the dialog boxes in WaveLab are “non-modal”. This means that the window behind the dialog can be operated even though the dialog box is still up on the screen.

For example, when you have a Processing dialog up on screen, you can still work with the Wave window and the main menus. For example, this allows you to perform the following operations without closing the dialog.

• Play back the wave to hear the effect of any applied processing.

• Adjust the selection before re-processing.

• Use the menu to undo the last processing.

Keyboard commands

Windows normally does not allow you to select from menus and use keyboard accelerators when a dialog box is the active window. However, we have provided a few special key shortcuts for the most crucial commands:

Key Command

[F3] Undo

[F4] Redo

[F6] Play selection

[Shift]+[F6] Activate loop and play selection

[F7] Stop

[F8] Play

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Using the computer keyboard

When you are working with WaveLab, the computer keyboard has several different uses:

Transport controls

The Transport functions (such as Play, Stop, Record and so on) can all be managed from the computer keyboard. The keyboard commands for these functions are located on the numeric keypad, to the right on the computer keyboard. See “Using the Transport bar” on page 135 in this book.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcuts for menus

Many of the items in WaveLab’s menus have a computer keyboard equivalent – an “accelerator”, listed on the menu. Some abbreviations might need an explanation:

Abbreviation Description

KP The numeric keypad. “KP 2” for example means the “2” key on the

BkSp The Backspace key.

F1 to F12 The Function keys.

numeric keypad.

Due to the large number of functions in WaveLab, some key commands consist of double or triple key strokes (known as “key sequences”). These are displayed with the different keys separated by comma signs. For example, “Alt+F12, T” means “hold down [Alt] and press [F12], release, then press [T]”.

Customizable shortcuts

You can define you own key shortcuts for a number of functions in the program, see “Customizable key/MIDI commands” on page 746.

Additional shortcuts

In addition to the above, there are key commands that are not listed on the menus or in this manual. Check the Key Commands chapter in the online documentation for a full list.

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Editing in the Wave window

About this chapter

The Wave window is the heart of WaveLab’s audio editing capabilities. This is where you view, play back and edit individual audio files. This chapter describes how to open and save audio files, how to perform wave editing and how to handle the Wave window itself.

Creating new empty documents

If you want to start with an empty file, for assembling material from other files for example, proceed as follows:

Using menus

1. Select New from the File menu, and Wave from the submenu that appears.

Or, right-click the New icon on the Standard Commands control bar.

2. Fill out the dialog that appears.

See “Supported file formats” on page 113 for details about the various options.

By dragging

This is only possible if the currently active window is a Wave window (or if no document windows are open).

1. Make sure “Create window using mouse” is activated in the Preferences– Wave edit tab.

2. Drag to make up a box in an empty free area of the WaveLab application window.

This must be of a certain minimum size. If you don’t get a new window, try again with a bigger box. The new window “inherits” its attributes from the last active window. If no window is open, the dialog box settings for units are used instead.

About display options

There are a number of options that govern how a window will look when it is first created. These are all found on the Preferences–Wave edit tab. Click the question mark icon in the dialog for details.

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Opening Waves

For a list of supported file formats, see “Supported file formats” on page 113.

Using the Open dialog

1. Select Open Wave from the File menu, press [Ctrl]-[O] or click the Open icon on the Standard commands control bar and select “Wave…” from the pop-up menu that appears.

2. Use the standard controls to locate and select the desired file.

The file format pop-up allows you to only view files in a certain format and the buttons in the upper left half provide various views of the files on the disk.

3. Click Open.

The Wave appears in a new window.

Below follow descriptions of the items/procedures which are not standard for all Windows Open dialog boxes:

The Recent Folders pop-up menu

At the top of the dialog, you will find a pop-up menu which lists the most recently accessed folders. Select one to open it.

The playback functions

Once you have selected a file in the list you can audition it by clicking Play. Click again to Stop.

You can also have files play back automatically as soon as they are selected. To do this, activate the Auto button.

Opening multiple files

As in many other Windows programs, you can select and open as many files as you wish. The [Shift] key is used for making continuous selections and [Ctrl] is used for selecting any combination of files.

When you click Open the selected files will be opened, each in an individual window.

The Open in Audio Montage window option

If you check this option at the bottom of the dialog, the file(s) you open will be placed in an automatically created new Audio Montage.

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Opening dual mono files

If you have two mono files which are actually the left and right channels of a stereo recording (some systems handle stereo this way), you can open these as if they were a stereo file. Proceed as follows:

1. Open the Preferences from the Options menu, and click the File tab.

2. Make sure the option “Allow opening of dual mono files” is activated, and

close the dialog.

3. Select Open Wave from the File menu.

4. Select the first file, hold down [Ctrl] and select the other.

5. Click Open.

The two files are opened as one stereo file, with the file with the first name (alphabetically) becoming the left channel. If this is not as desired, you can swap the channels, see “Swap-

ping channels in a stereo file” on page 111.

You can now work on the two files as if they were one. You can later save them as a stereo file or as two mono files. See “File handling in Wave win-

dows” on page 113.

• You may want to deactivate the “Allow opening of dual mono files” option when you’re done, to avoid accidentally opening two separate mono files as a dual mono file.

Inserting a file into the current document

You may have a file that you want to insert into an existing file. The two must have the same attributes (e.g. sample rate), or a warning will appear.

1. Locate the document into which you want to add material, and make it active.

2. If you want to add the file at some arbitrary position in the document (rather than at the beginning or end), click to move the wave cursor to that position.

3. Pull down the Edit menu and select Insert Audio File and then one of the options from the submenu that appears.

4. Select a file and click Open.

The file is added. If you used the “at cursor position” option, a temporary marker is added at the insertion point.

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Using drag and drop

To open files from the Windows desktop, use one of the following possibilities:

• Drag and drop the file(s) on the WaveLab application window.

• Drag and drop the file(s) on the WaveLab program icon or a shortcut for it.

If the program isn’t already running, it will be launched. This works even if the application is running but minimized.

To Nuendo

• It is also possible to drag and drop files from WaveLab to Steinberg’s Nuendo!

This should be done using the Document button or from a Database window.

Opening files from the desktop

To open a file in WaveLab by double-clicking on it, you must have created an association between the file format and the WaveLab application. Such an association can be set up in two ways:

• There is an option to automatically associate certain file formats with WaveLab during the installation process.

• You can also do this from within WaveLab at any time by selecting “Associate all files of this type with WaveLab” on the File menu–Special submenu.

This association is made according to the currently selected file’s format, and will ensure that all files of this format always opens with WaveLab.

Using the Recent Files lists

On the bottom of the File menu you will find one or several hierarchical menu items that allow you to open recently used document files. There are different submenus for different file types, as indicated by the menu items (“Recent Audio Files”, “Recent Audio Montages”, etc.). Each section holds up to forty files (this number can be set in the Preferences–Environment tab). Selecting an item on one of the submenus opens the corresponding file.

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At the bottom of these submenus there is an item named “Open file selection box”. If you select it, a dialog opens. This is a handy file manager dialog which lists all recently used files of the corresponding type. Up to 200 files can be shown (this is set in the Preferences–Environment tab) in the dialog.

• Files in this list are by default sorted according to when the files were last used, but you can click on a column header to sort the list by Name or Path.

You can also navigate in the list using the keyboard (a-z keys or the arrow keys) as usual.

• This dialog allows you to select multiple files (using standard [Shift] or [Ctrl] commands) for opening.

Clicking OK opens all selected files and closes the dialog. You can also double-click a file in the list to open it and close the dialog.

• By clicking the “Remove selected files” button you can remove selected files from the Recent list.

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Using Favorites

Just above the “Recent…” items is the Favorites menu. This lets you create a “library” of files that you want to be able to open quickly.

• The “Add current document” option, adds the currently active document to the menu.

The list is sorted alphabetically.

• “Validate list” checks whether each document on the menu is still residing in the specified location on your hard disk(s).

If a document can’t be found, it is removed from the list.

• “Clear list” removes all files from the menu.

Opening Wave files from within other windows

You can also open files from the Workspace and Database windows as well as from Basic Audio CD windows, Audio Montage windows and the Batch dialog. See the respective chapters for details.

Importing tracks from an audio CD

This is described in the section “Importing audio CD tracks into Wave-

Lab” on page 594.

Importing tracks from a DVD-A disc

This is described in the section “Importing DVD-Audio tracks into Wave-

Lab” on page 599.

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Window overview and adjustments

Overview

Left audio channel

Right audio channel

Main view

Display mode pop-up

Zoom controls

About the window sections

Main view

The lower waveform area is where the main action is going on. It is here that you select, apply tools, drag and drop, etc.

• There are both time and level rulers. These can be hidden and displayed (see the ruler and wave display speed menus). You can also set which units of time and level they show (see “Units of time and level” on page 61).

Overview

The overview is mainly used for navigating through long files. Since you can have different zoom factors in the two areas, the Overview can display the entire wave while the Main view only shows you a short portion. You can also synchronize these views – see “Synchronizing the views” on

page 78.

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About the Display modes

Both the main view and the overview can independently be set to show the audio in one of three display modes:

• Wave display.

This is the standard waveform display, as shown in the main picture.

• The Spectrum display.

This displays the audio as a “spectrogram” which allows you to view the level intensity of each area in the frequency spectrum across the time line. This mode allows for very precise and specialized editing operations in the time/frequency domain using the Spectrum selection tool – see “Spectrum Editor” on page 255.

• The Loudness Envelope display.

This displays the average loudness of an audio file, which can be useful in many circumstances. See “About the Loudness envelope display mode” on page 129.

You select which view is shown in each section from the pop-up to the left of the respective horizontal Zoom control.

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Synchronizing the views

You may find it useful to work with separate display modes for the main view and the overview, as this gives you the option of viewing the audio in two different ways. In such cases you might want the two views to display the same part of the audio file simultaneously, so that the cursor position is synchronized in both views.

• This is done by selecting “Synchronize top and bottom views” from the Display mode pop-up menu (either for the main view or the overview).

When this is selected, the horizontal Zoom control (see “About zooming” on page 80) is only available in the main view.

• In the rest of this chapter the Wave editing are described for the standard Wave display mode.

The Loudness Envelope display mode and the various options available are described separately at the end of this chapter – see “About the Loudness envelope display mode” on

page 129. Spectrum editing is described in a separate chapter – see “Spectrum Editor” on page 255.

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The status bar

The status bar can be hidden. This is done on the Preferences–Environment tab. The status bar provides the following information:

Mouse cursor position/Level

File format details (see “Supported

file formats” on page 113)

Zoom factorWave cursor position/Selection length

• The Wave and Mouse cursor time positions are shown using the same unit of time as in the rulers and dialog boxes.

• Level positions are always shown in dB.

• The “Selection length” field shows the length of the entire wave if nothing is selected, and the length of the selection (in brackets) if there is one. If you click this value the window zooms in on the selected range.

• If Spectrum display mode is selected, the Level is substituted for Frequency.

Sizing, moving and minimizing

WaveLab uses standard Windows techniques for resizing, moving, maximizing and minimizing windows. See your Windows documentation for details.

Maximizing width

Selecting the Maximize Width item on the View menu makes the window as big as the screen (or any other factor) permits.

The divider

The divider between the Main view and the Overview can be dragged to change the view sizes. See “Panes” on page 51 for details.

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Setting the zoom factor

About zooming

Horizontal zoom

• When you zoom out all the way the entire file fits the window.

• When you zoom in as far as possible, each sample will occupy several pixels on the screen. This allows for single sample-accurate editing of waveforms.

Zoom out all the way to see the entire wave.

Zoom in until you can see each individual sample point, for very detailed editing.

Vertical zoom

• When you zoom out all the way, the complete height of the wave fits into the window. You can note this by checking the ruler on the left side.

• As you progressively zoom in, the display will only show you a smaller part of the total height. Exactly which section you see can be adjusted with the vertical scroll bars. Again, check the ruler to see which part of the waveform is currently shown in the display.

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For example, to check the peaks of the waveform in great detail, zoom in and scroll all the way up and down.

Detailed view of waveform peaks

Using the zoom controls

Both the Main view and the Overview have horizontal and vertical zoom controls. These behave just like scroll bars:

Vertical and horizontal zoom controls

• You can drag the handle to any position.

• You can click anywhere on the scale to move the handle there.

• You can click on the arrows at either end to change the zoom factor in smaller steps.

Either way, the zoom factor on the status bar is updated continuously.

Using the Magnifying Glass tool

The Magnifying Glass tool is used to specify any section of the waveform and have it occupy the entire window.

The Magnifying Glass tool selected.

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Selecting the tool

The Magnifying Glass tool can of course be selected from the tool box, but there are two other options:

• When you hold down [Ctrl] and move the pointer over the Main view, the Magnifying Glass is automatically selected.

This is just a momentary selection. As soon as you release [Ctrl] you get the previous tool back.

• When you move the pointer over the overview, it turns into the Magnifying Glass automatically.

Using the tool in the Main view

1. Press the mouse button with the pointer somewhere in the waveform.

2. Drag left or right to make up a box, and then release the button.

The area encompassed in the box now fills up the entire window.

Making a box like this…

…zooms in so that the “boxed” area will span the entire display.

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Using the tool in the Overview

The Magnifying Glass can be used in the Overview, just as in the Main view. However, even though you use the tool in the Overview, it is the Main view that gets zoomed.

You can for example use this as follows: keep the Overview zoomed out all the way and use the Magnifying Glass tool to display any section in the Main view.

Mouse zooming

Using the mouse, you can continuously change the zoom factor by dragging:

1. Position the mouse pointer over the ruler in the Main view.

2. Press the mouse button and drag up or down.

The zoom factor changes continuously.

Dragging to change the zoom factor.

• To zoom with the cursor in a fixed center position, hold down [Shift].

• To make vertical zoom adjust automatically to the peaks in the waveform,

hold down [Ctrl].

• To switch to scrolling, hold down [Alt].

This technique works very well in combination with the fact that you can move the song position by dragging horizontally in the ruler. By dragging in both directions, you can quickly find a certain position in the file and display it at the desired magnification factor.

Using mouse zooming to its full effect requires some practice – but it is worth the effort!

Setting sensitivity for mouse zooming

On the Preferences–Environment tab, there’s a Sensitivity setting for mouse zooming. The higher the value, the less sensitive the function. You might want to raise this value when you first try out the function.

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Using a wheel mouse

• If you hold down [Ctrl] and point at a waveform, the wheel zooms the view horizontally.

• If you hold down [Ctrl] and [Shift] and point at a waveform, the wheel zooms the view vertically.

Using the Zoom menu

The Zoom submenu can be invoked from two places:

• From the main view menu.

• By clicking on the Zoom factor on the status bar.

It provides the following options:

Option Description

Restore last zoom Brings back the last zoom factor set using this menu or the Magnifying

Overview Zooms the view out as far as possible.

Zoom in 1:1 Zooms in so that one pixel (dot) on the screen represents one sample.

Microscope Zooms in as far as possible, so that one sample occupies several pixels.

Zoom selection Zooms the window so that the current selection (see “Selecting” on

Custom… This brings up a dialog that allows you to enter any zoom factor. Click

Optimize vertical zoom

Glass tool.

page 91) fills the entire display. You can also click the selection range

(in brackets) on the Status bar.

the question mark icon in the dialog for details.

This changes the vertical zoom factor so that the peaks are clearly visible. This adjustment is done according to the section of the wave currently visible in the window, not the whole file.

Using the keyboard

A quick way to zoom the active Wave window is to use the arrow keys on the computer keyboard: Press [arrow up] or [arrow down] to zoom in or out (respectively) horizontally. Hold down [Shift] and use the arrow keys to zoom in or out vertically.

There are also additional key commands for zooming – check the Key Commands chapter in the online documentation for a full list.

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Using auto zoom for Overview

This setting, found on the Preferences–Wave edit tab, allows you to have the zoom factor automatically adjusted, so that it always shows the entire wave.

1. Activate “Auto zoom for overview” in the Preferences dialog.

2. Zoom out on the overview so that you see the entire wave.

Now, when you resize the window, the overview zoom factor is automatically adjusted so that the entire wave is always shown. If you then zoom in on the overview, the automatic zooming is deactivated until you zoom out all the way again.

Which part of the file do I see?

In the overview, a striped line called the “range indicator” tells you which section of the file is currently displayed in the Main view. Note that the range indicator is only shown, if the option “Synchronize top and bottom views” is deactivated.

Furthermore, the range indicator moves while you drag the scroll bar handle. This means that by observing the overview you can easily find positions in the Main view when scrolling, even though the Main view might be zoomed in very closely.

When you drag the scroll bar, the range indicator continuously shows you which part of the wave is shown in the Main view.

The range indicator can be displayed at the top or bottom of the overview, see “Range Indicator at top/bottom” on page 737.

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Navigating through the file

There are several ways to move the view to a certain position in the file:

Scroll bars

This is the most evident option. These work exactly as in any other Windows program. Please note that the waveform scrolls while you drag the scroll bar handle.

Furthermore, WaveLab uses proportional scroll bars, that is, the size of the handle shows you how much of the entire document you see. To get a feeling for how this works, drag the horizontal zoom control while observing the size of the scroll bar “handle”.

Centering the view vertically

If you have zoomed in vertically, you might want to center the waveform view. To do so, double click in the level ruler.

Clicking in the Overview

If you click once in the Overview, the Main view is scrolled so that the position where you clicked is shown on the left side of the window.

Using the Scroll to menu

To bring up the Scroll to menu, either select “Scroll to” from the Main view menu, or right-click in the Overview or the Main view. The difference between the methods is that the main menu always affects the Main view, whereas the speed menus affect either view depending on where you clicked.

The following options are available on the menu:

Option Scrolls the view to

Start/End The beginning or end of the wave.

Selection start/end The beginning or end of the current selection, if any.

Cursor The wave cursor.

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Clicking on the status bar

If you click on the cursor position on the status bar, the view is scrolled so that the wave cursor becomes visible.

If you right-click instead, a dialog appears to let you specify a certain time position to scroll the view to.

Using a wheel mouse

If you move the wheel down the scroll bar will move forward and vice versa. You can also hold down the wheel and drag the view in either horizontal direction.

Snapshots

Snapshots store the Main view’s “layout” – essentially two things:

• How a window is scrolled (which part of the wave you see).

• The window’s zoom factor.

If you move back and forth between various positions in a file, or if you zoom in and out for detailed or overview editing, using snapshots will save you a lot of time. Snapshots are created and managed on the Wave Snapshots control bar, opened from the View menu.

To create a snapshot, you first set up the view as desired (by scrolling and/or zooming). Then click the camera icon on the Wave Snapshots control bar, followed by one of the numbers. The snapshot is now stored under that button. The fact that the snapshot is used is indicated by a red circle around the number.

This snapshot is “programmed”.

You use the same procedure to “reprogram” existing snapshots.

To recall a stored snapshot, simply click on its number on the Wave Snapshots control bar.

• Snapshots will be automatically saved with the individual file if “Save view settings in companion file” is activated in the Preferences–Wave edit tab, see “Saving view settings” on page 124.

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Setting the ruler start position

Normally, the ruler is set so that the beginning of the file represents position “0”. However, for editing purposes you may want to set the “0” position at some other point in the file. The picture sequence below shows you how to do this:

1. Set the wave cursor where you want the “0” position.

2. Right-click the ruler to bring up this pop-up menu.

3. Select “Set origin at cursor”.

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The ruler start position is moved.

Working with a meter based display

If the material on which you are working is tempo based, and you know the tempo, you can make the ruler show positions in meter format (bars, beats and ticks), to make it easier to find musically related cutting points:

1. Select Meter for the ruler time format, see “Units of time and level” on

page 61.

2. Open the Preferences–Wave edit tab.

3. Set the Time Signature and Tempo to match the file.

4. Set the “Ticks per quarter note” setting to a number you feel comfortable

with.

This might for example be the same value as that used by your MIDI sequencer.

In this example, a meter ruler with 96 ticks per quarter note is used.

Setting the wave cursor position

Many operations, such as playback and selection depend on the current cursor position – for example, playback often starts at the cursor. The current cursor position is indicated by a vertical flashing line, both in the Main view and in the Overview. There are various ways to move the wave cursor:

• By clicking once somewhere in the Main view or on the time ruler.

If you have a selection, click on the ruler, since clicking in the waveform deselects all.

• By clicking and dragging in the time ruler.

• By using the Transport controls (see “Setting the start point for playback” on

page 136).

• By using the “Move cursor to” menu on the View menu.

The options on this are similar to the “Scroll to” menu, see above. There’s also a “Position” option which allows you to specify any position in the format selected for dialogs and a “Snap Cursor” option described in the section “Using “Snap Cursor”” on page 90.

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• By using the Cursor keys:

These keys Move the wave cursor

[←] and [→] One “pixel” (screen dot) in either direction.

[Ctrl] + [←] and [→] Twenty “pixels” in either direction.

[Home] and [End] To the beginning and end of the wave.

• By using markers

Markers allow you to pre-define positions and move the cursor there, see “What are mark-

ers for?” on page 328.

Using magnetization

If you have “Magnetize bounds” on the Options menu activated and drag the cursor on the time ruler, it will “snap” to the following positions:

• The start and end of the entire wave.

• The start and end of the selection.

• Markers (see “What are markers for?” on page 328).

Using “Snap Cursor”

This function – which can be reached from the “Move cursor to” item on the View menu and from the main wave display speed menu – moves the cursor position automatically for you. There are two options:

• Move to the closest zero crossing (see “Snapping to zero crossings” on page 95) to the left of the cursor position.

To get this effect, make sure “Snap to time unit” is turned off on the Options menu.

• Move to the zero crossing closest to a major time unit.

For example, this can be to the zero crossing closest to a whole second on the time ruler. To get this effect, make sure “Snap to time unit” is activated on the Options menu.

In the last case, the “time unit” mentioned depends on which type of scale is selected for the ruler:

Option Cursor moves to

Time Closest whole second

Samples Function not available

Time code Closest frame

Meter Closest whole beat

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6 – 90 Editing in the Wave window

Selecting

Almost all types of editing and processing you perform in WaveLab operate on the selection. There are numerous ways to make a selection:

By dragging or [Shift]-clicking

The standard way to select a range in a Wave window is to click and drag. If you drag all the way to the left or right side of the window, it scrolls automatically, allowing you to select larger sections than what can be shown in the window. The speed of the scrolling depends on how far from the window edge you are.

You can also press [Shift] and click in the Wave window to make a selection between the position of the wave cursor and the click position.

By using the Audio Range dialog

Another way of selecting a range in a Wave window is to use the Audio Range dialog. This dialog, accessed by selecting the “Edit…” item from the Select submenu on the Edit menu, allows you to define a selection range in great detail. See “Using the Audio Range dialog” on page 141.

Selecting in stereo files

If you are working on stereo material you can select either channel or both so that you can apply an operation to one channel only or to the entire stereo material. Which channel will be selected when you drag or [Shift]click depends on where you position the mouse pointer, as indicated by the pointer shape:

Position Pointer Shape Description

Upper half of left channel Only the left channel will be selected.

Middle area Both channels will be selected.

Lower half of right channel Only the right channel will be selected.

• To select a single channel by [Shift]-clicking, you need to set the wave cursor in only one channel (by clicking in the upper or lower part of the wave) and then [Shift]-click in the same channel.

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Switching the selection between channels

If you have made a selection, you can move this to the other channel or extend it to both channels by selecting the corresponding items from the Select submenu (on the Edit menu). Or, you can press [Tab] to move the selection between channels (if there is no selection, [Tab] moves the cursor between channels).

Selection shortcuts

There are a number of ways to quickly make certain selections (for many options there is more than one method):

To select… You can…

The area between two consecutive markers

The area between any two markers

The entire waveform

From the cursor to the following or previous marker

From the cursor to the beginning or end of the file

All data between two start/ end CD, loop, region or mute markers

Half or double the current selection length

All audio data that makes up a CD Track

What was previously selected

• Double click between them.

• Depending on the type of marker, use one of the last three options on the Select menu (on the Edit menu).

• Double click between two markers, keep the mouse button pressed and drag left or right.

• If there are no markers, double click.

• Triple click.

• Press [Ctrl]-[A].

• Select “All” from the Select menu on the Edit menu.

• Select “From cursor to previous/next edge” from the Select menu (on the Edit menu).

• Hold down [Shift] and double click between the cursor and the marker.

• Select “From cursor to start/end of file” from the Select submenu (on the Edit menu).

• Hold down [Shift] and double click to the left/right of the cursor position.

• Press [Shift]+[Home] or [Shift]+[End].

• Hold down [Shift] and double click on either marker head.

• Select “Halve the selection length” or “Double selection length” from the Select menu on the Edit menu. These options are useful if you are working with measures.

• Click between the markers for the track and select “CD Track” from the Select menu on the Edit menu.

• Hold down [Ctrl] and double click between the markers.

• Select “Toggle” from the Select menu on the Edit menu.

• Press [Esc].

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6 – 92 Editing in the Wave window

Selecting in the Overview

You can select in the Overview, just as in the Main view. To get the selection tool in the overview, hold down [Ctrl] and move the pointer into the overview.

Extending and shrinking the selection

Very often you will have made a selection only to find it isn’t completely perfect. In this case you can extend or shrink the selection. In fact you can very well use this as a method: make a coarse selection with a lower zoom factor, then zoom in and adjust the start and end in more detail.

By dragging

1. Move the mouse pointer to the beginning or end of the selection.

It turns into a double arrow.

2. Press the mouse button and drag left/right.

Dragging the end of the selection.

Using [Shift]

• Hold down [Shift] and click outside (extend) or inside (shrink) the current selection.

If you click inside the first half of the selection, this will change the start point, if you click inside the latter half, this will change the end point.

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Using the cursor keys

• If you hold down [Shift] and press the [←] or [→] keys, the start or end of the selection is moved one pixel (screen dot) to the left/right. If you also hold down [Ctrl] it is moved twenty pixels instead.

• If you hold down [Shift] and press [Page Up]/[Page Down], it will also move 20 pixels.

• If you hold down [Shift] and press the [Home]/[End] keys, the selection will extend from the current cursor position to the start/end of the file respectively.

Which end of the selection you change depends on which end of the selection the cursor is closest to.

Exactly how much one pixel represents depends on the zoom factor. If for example the zoom factor is “x1:64”, the cursor keys alone move 64 samples, and together with [Ctrl] they move 1280 samples.

Using the Select menu

The Select submenu (on the Edit menu) has a number of options for extending the selection to various points in the waveform. For details, use the help item on the Edit menu.

Moving the selection

If the selection is the right length, but at the wrong position, you can move it:

1. Hold down [Ctrl] and [Shift].

2. Point at the selection and drag left/right.

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6 – 94 Editing in the Wave window

Snapping to zero crossings

About zero crossings

If you cut out a portion of a wave and paste it in somewhere else, chances are there will be a discontinuity where the two waves are joined. See the example below. This discontinuity will result in a transient in the wave when it is played back, which is perceived as a “click” or “bump” in the sound.

At this point, there will be a click in the sound, due to the discontinuity in the splice.

To avoid this you need to make the splice at a zero crossing.

A zero crossing is – a point where the wave crosses the zero level axis, the point where the wave is considered to have “zero level”.

Furthermore we recommend that joins are made with the splice points of the two waves heading from opposite directions to the zero crossing. That is, one should be on its way up (below the zero level axis), and the other should be on its way down (above the zero level axis).

WaveLab can help!

If you wish, WaveLab can automatically search for zero crossings, and extend the selection “outwards” (make it bigger at both ends) so that it begins and ends at a zero crossing. Normally this will not be noted in the editing precision (since there are usually hundreds or thousands of zero crossings per second), but it will help avoid “clicks” and “pops” and “bumps”.

But just making the selection start and end at zero crossings is not enough. When you actually perform the editing operation (cut and paste or dragging, for example) you need to make sure the material is inserted at a zero crossing. See “By dragging” on page 99.

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Setting up zero crossing detection

1. Pull down the Options menu and activate “Snap to zero crossing”.

2. Select Preferences from the Options menu.

3. Click on the Wave edit tab.

4. Fill out the “Snap to Zero crossing” options.

Click the question mark icon in the respective dialog for details.

Checking the effect of Snap to Zero crossing

1. Make sure that “Off at high zoom factor” is not activated and zoom in until the zoom factor is 1:1.

2. Make a selection and observe how it is extended left and right.

If you make a selection like this…

…it is automatically extended at both ends, to the closest zero crossings.

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6 – 96 Editing in the Wave window

Snapping to time units

When “Snap to time units” is activated on the Options menu, selections will automatically be extended to the left and right so that they start and end at whole time units (and also at the closest zero crossing, if that option is activated, see above). This allows you to easily make selections spanning a certain number of seconds for example.

Note that this means that you must drag across a certain “time area” (for example more than half a second) to get any selection at all.

The “time unit” mentioned depends on which type of scale is selected for the ruler:

Option Cursor moves to

Time Closest whole second

Samples Function not available

Time code Closest frame

Meter Closest whole beat

File size Function not available

Using Magnetization

If you have “Magnetize bounds” on the Options menu activated and create or adjust a selection, it will “snap” to the following positions (or to the zero crossing closest to the position, see above):

• The wave cursor.

• The start and end of the entire wave.

• Markers (see “What are markers for?” on page 328).

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Level selections

For some of WaveLab’s level processing functions, it is useful to make a selection not only in time, but in level.

By dragging

1. Make a regular “time” selection.

2. Hold down [Shift].

3. Move the mouse to the top or bottom of the selection box.

The pointer changes into a vertical double arrow.

4. Press the mouse button and drag up/down.

Make a regular selection, move the pointer to its top or bottom and hold down [Shift]…

…drag up/down, and release the mouse button.

If you then extend the selection time-wise, the level selection still remains the same.

Extend to peaks

To automatically set the level selection to the highest peak in the current selection, make a time selection as desired and select “Extend to peaks” from the Select submenu on the Edit menu.

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6 – 98 Editing in the Wave window

Basic editing commands

Mono/stereo

WaveLab is totally flexible in its handling of stereo. All editing operations can be performed on either channel or both.

Copying audio

The following operations allow you to make copies of sections of audio within the same file or from one file to another.

Please note that any existing markers (see “What are markers for?” on page

328) in the source audio section also will be copied.

By dragging

1. Decide whether you want to use “Snap to Zero crossing” (activated from the Options menu) for this operation.

When this is activated, both the selection start and end as well as the drop position will always occur at zero crossings. See “Snapping to zero crossings” on page 95 for details.

2. Make a selection.

3. Point at the selection, press the mouse button and hold it down.

4. Drag to a position outside the selection (in the same file) or to another

Wave window.

When you have the cursor over a valid area, the pointer will turn into a single or double waveform (see below). The status bar will show the exact position at which the selection will be inserted.

Make sure you don’t drop on a selection in the destination window, or you will perform a crossfade, see “Crossfade” on page 192.

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5. Release the mouse button.

The selection is inserted at the indicated point. The audio that previously began at that point is moved forward so that it is now played after the inserted section.

Make a selection, position the mouse pointer over it…

…drag and drop…

…the dragged section is inserted at the drop point.

Using “Magnetize Bounds”

If you have “Magnetize bounds” on the Options menu activated when you drag, the cursor will “snap” to the following positions:

• The wave cursor.

• The start and end of the entire wave.

• Markers (see “What are markers for?” on page 328).

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6 – 100 Editing in the Wave window

STEINBERG WaveLab 6 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Introduction

Welcome!

What’s new in WaveLab 6.0?

How you can reach us

Requirements

This is what you need…

Computer requirements

Sampler requirements

About audio cards

About the System Information feature

Installing and setting up

Setting up the computer

Installation procedure

Register your software!

Launching WaveLab

Program settings

Installing a CD/DVD recorder

Installing samplers

Installation done! Where do I go next?

About the Tracer application

Overview

Get to know WaveLab

The windows and what you can do with them

Find your way around in WaveLab

Basic methods

Why you should read this chapter

Getting help

Undo and Redo

Working with windows

Dockable control bars

The status bar

Speed menus

Units of time and level

Setting values

Presets

About non-modal dialogs

Using the computer keyboard

Editing in the Wave window

About this chapter

Creating new empty documents

Opening Waves

Window overview and adjustments

Setting the zoom factor

Navigating through the file

Snapshots

Setting the ruler start position

Working with a meter based display

Setting the wave cursor position

Selecting

Basic editing commands