STEINBERG WaveLab 6 User Manual

Name: STEINBERG WaveLab 6
Brand: STEINBERG
SKU: 4759000
Rating: 4 (2 reviews)

4 (2)

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

11Introduction

12Welcome!

12 What’s new in WaveLab 6.0?

14How you can reach us

15Requirements

16This is what you need…

16Computer requirements

18Sampler requirements

18About audio cards

19About the System Information feature

21Installing and setting up

22Setting up the computer

23Installation procedure

24Register your software!

25Launching WaveLab

25 Program settings

30Installing a CD/DVD recorder

31Installing samplers

33Installation done! Where do I go next?

33 About the Tracer application

35Overview

36Get to know WaveLab

36 The windows and what you can do with them

43Find your way around in WaveLab

45Basic methods

46Why you should read this

chapter

46Getting help

47Undo and Redo

49 Working with windows

56 Dockable control bars

59The status bar

60Speed menus

61Units of time and level

62Setting values

65 Presets

67About non-modal dialogs

68Using the computer keyboard

69Editing in the Wave

window

70About this chapter

70Creating new empty documents

71Opening Waves

76Window overview and adjustments

80 Setting the zoom factor

86Navigating through the file

87Snapshots

88Setting the ruler start position

89Working with a meter based

display

89Setting the wave cursor position

91	Selecting
99	Basic editing commands

113File handling in Wave windows

127 Editing attributes and getting information

129About the Loudness envelope display mode

133Playback and recording

134Playing back

146 Recording

155Metering

156Introduction

156 Selecting what to monitor

158Multi-channel metering

159The meters

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4Table of Contents

175	Off-line processing		255	Spectrum Editor
176	Introduction	256		Introduction
176	Applying processing	256		Basics
178	Level Normalizer	260		Defining a region
178	Gain Change	262		Surgical processing
180	Loudness Normalizer	269		Master Section processing
183	Pan Normalizer	273		Batch processing
184	Dynamics	273		Batch processing
184	Dynamics
189	Level envelope	274		Introduction
191	Fade-in and fade-out	276		Opening the Batch
192	Crossfade			Processor
195	Invert Phase	277		Overview of the Window
195	Reverse	278		The Input tab – Assembling a
195	Eliminate DC Offset			list of files
196	Waveform Restorer	285		Setting up the processing
196	Time Stretch			tasks to be performed
201	Pitch Correction	292		The Output tab – Settings for
204	Pitch Quantize			created files
205	Pitch Bend	299		Scheduling
207	Harmonization	301		Running and stopping the
208	Hi-fi Chorus			batch(es)
209	EQ	301		Using presets for batch
210	Convert sample rate			processing
211	Effect Morphing	303		Batch file encoding
215	Support for reNOVAtor™	303		Batch file encoding

217	Master Section	304		Basic procedure
			307	Batch renaming
218	Introduction		307	Batch renaming
219	The Master Section window	308		Introduction
221	About the signal path	308		Introduction
221	About the signal path	308		Setting up which files/clips/
222	The Master level pane	308		Setting up which files/clips/
222	The Master level pane			markers to rename
225	The Effects pane			markers to rename
225	The Effects pane	312		Renaming operations
231	The Dithering pane	312		Renaming operations
231	The Dithering pane	321		About regular expressions
236	Master Section presets	321		About regular expressions
236	Master Section presets	327		Markers
239	Rendering	327		Markers
244	Smart bypass
244	Smart bypass	328		Introduction
247	The Monitor window	328		Introduction
247	The Monitor window	331		Creating markers
251	Audio Input	331		Creating markers
251	Audio Input	332		About the marker list
252	Using External effects	332		About the marker list
252	Using External effects	333		Marker appearance and visi-
		333		Marker appearance and visi-

bility

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Table of Contents 5

334	Editing, converting and	365	About the DVD-Audio
	naming markers		format
336	Moving and duplicating
		366	Background information
	markers
337	Deleting markers	371	The Audio Montage
338	Operations involving markers

		372	Introduction
341	Using Auto Split
		373	The Audio Montage window
342	Introduction	378	Assembling the Montage
342	The Auto Split dialog	392	Zooming and navigating
347	Preparing a	399	Playing back
		406	Recording
	Basic Audio CD	408	Rearranging clips
		433	The Zoom view
348	Creating, opening and saving
		436	Editing in the Clips view
	Basic Audio CDs
		441	Managing clips and source
349	About the Basic
			files
	Audio CD window
		445	The volume envelope
350	Adding files to a Basic
		457	Using fades and crossfades
	Audio CD
			in the Montage
353	Setting the order of the tracks
		469	The pan envelope
	on the CD
		470	Transforming clips
353	Deleting files from Basic
		474	Adding effects to tracks and
	Audio CDs
			clips
354	Managing list columns
		483	Managing effects in the
355	“Unfolding” a track
			Plug-ins view
356	Opening CD tracks for wave
		486	The Meta Normalizer
	editing
		489	Groups
357	About the relation between
		492	Using markers in the Montage
	the track list and CD markers
		496	Undo/Redo and History
358	Working with CD markers
		498	File handling in the Audio
360	Adjusting pauses
			Montage
360	Naming tracks
		504	Using video tracks
360	Other settings
		506	Multichannel operation in the
361	Checking the total length of
			Montage
	the CD
		527	Mixing down – The Render
361	Playing files in the track list
			function
362	Creating a disc image
		531	Preparing the Audio Montage
363	Exporting audio files from a
			for CD/DVD-Audio burning
	track list
		541	Creating an Audio CD report
364	Preparations done!

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6Table of Contents

546	Using DVD-A picture and text	593	Importing audio
	tracks		CD/DVD tracks
547	Exporting and importing
547	Exporting and importing	594	Importing audio CD tracks
	AES-31 files	594	Importing audio CD tracks
549	XML Export/Import of Audio		into WaveLab
	Montages	599	Importing DVD-Audio tracks
551	DVD-Audio projects		into WaveLab
551	DVD-Audio projects	603	Creating labels

552	Creating and opening a

		604	Introduction
	DVD-Audio project	604	Introduction
553	Adding Montages to a	606	Using the Label Editor
	DVD-Audio project	614	Defining user variables
554	The DVD-Audio project	616	Printing labels
	window	619	Analysis
556	The Main settings dialog	619	Analysis

		620	Global analysis
558	Generating DVD menus	620	Global analysis
566	DVD-Audio text	631	Audio error detection and
568	Final preparations		correction
571	Burning an audio CD	637	Audio file comparer
571	Burning an audio CD	638	3D Frequency Analysis
572	Introduction	641	Loudness distribution tool
572	Selecting a CD-R unit	643	Generating signals
573	Testing a basic audio CD	643	Generating signals

		644	Audio Signal Generator
	before burning	644	Audio Signal Generator
574	Writing a CD	646	DTMF Generator
576	Validating an audio CD after	649	Synchronizing
	burning	649	Synchronizing
	burning		WaveLab to
577	The audio CD format –		WaveLab to
	Background information		external devices

583	Data CD/DVD Projects	650	Introduction
		650	MTC sync
584	Introduction	650	MTC sync
584	Introduction	656	Sync to ASIO Positioning
585	Creating a new Data	656	Sync to ASIO Positioning
585	Creating a new Data		Protocol (APP)
	CD/DVD Project		Protocol (APP)
	CD/DVD Project	657	Using samplers and
586	Source window settings	657	Using samplers and
587	Destination window settings		creating loops
590	The Write dialog for the
590	The Write dialog for the	658	Introduction
	Data CD/DVD	658	Introduction
	Data CD/DVD	658	Background information
		658	Background information
		661	Setting up your sampler(s)
		663	Transmitting samples

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Table of Contents 7

664	Receiving samples	707	Workspaces
664	Deleting and getting informa-
664	Deleting and getting informa-	708	What are Workspaces?
	tion about samples	708	What are Workspaces?
	tion about samples	709	Creating and opening
665	The Transmit Back feature	709	Creating and opening
665	The Transmit Back feature		Workspaces
665	In case of problems		Workspaces
665	In case of problems	709	How Workspaces are saved
666	Using WaveLab with	709	How Workspaces are saved
666	Using WaveLab with	710	Creating, renaming and
	Steinberg HALion	710	Creating, renaming and
	Steinberg HALion		deleting groups
667	Editing sample attributes		deleting groups
667	Editing sample attributes	710	File operations
669	Basic looping	710	File operations
669	Basic looping
671	Using the Crossfade Looper	713	Using WaveLab for
679	Using the Loop Tone		backup
	Equalizer		backup

		714	Background
683	Audio Databases	714	Background
683	Audio Databases	715	Creating a Backup Plan
684	What is an Audio Database	723	Performing the backup
	and why do I need it?	725	Opening an archive
685	Creating and opening Audio	728	Other functions
	Databases	729	Customizing
685	How Audio Databases are	729	Customizing

		730	What is customizing?
	saved	730	What is customizing?
686	Window overview and	730	Preferences
	adjustments	731	Folder editing
687	Adding files to the Audio	733	Saving the window layout
	Database	734	Styling WaveLab –
693	Customizing the File List		Wave windows
693	Selecting in the File List	739	Styling WaveLab –
694	Finding out where files are		Audio Montage windows
	located	744	Working with window layouts
694	Opening a file for editing	745	Setting default size and posi-
694	Playing a file		tion for windows
695	Other file operations	746	Creating a Favorites menu
699	Working with categories	746	Customizable key/MIDI
702	Location operations		commands
703	Filtering the list	753	Organizing plug-in processors
704	Finding files	759	Plug-in Processor
705	Changing the default	759	Plug-in Processor
705	Changing the default		Reference
	categories and keywords		Reference
		760	About WaveLab plug-ins
		768	VST Plug-ins

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8Table of Contents

791	Sampler Details	809	Key commands

792	SDS - Generic Sample Dump	810	File handling
	Standard	810	Wave display mode
792	SMDI (Standard SCSI	811	Zooming
	transfer)	811	View
793	Akai S1000/1100 including	812	Playback and cursor position
	PB models	813	Selecting
793	Akai S2000/S2800/S3000/	815	Editing and Recording
	S3200, including all “i”, CD,	817	Processing
	and “XL” derivatives etc.	817	Markers
794	Ensoniq, EPS, EPS16+,	818	Database
	ASR-10, ASR-88	818	Miscellaneous
794	E-mu Esi-32	819	Index
795	E-mu EIV, e64 and other	819	Index
795	E-mu EIV, e64 and other

samplers running the EOS operating system

795Kurzweil K2000 and K2500

796Roland S-760

797Troubleshooting

798General problems

799Problems with opening files

800Problems with saving files

800Recording problems

801Playback problems

802Editing problems

802Audio database and workspace problems

803Troubleshooting and precautions

803Sampler communication problems

804Problems and solutions

805Questions and Answers

806Day to day precautions for trouble free CD writing

807Hardware and setup issues

WAVELAB

Table of Contents 9

WAVELAB

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 top- of-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.

WAVELAB

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!

WAVELAB

Introduction 1 – 13

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 (1GB recommended).

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

•50MB of free hard disk space (10GB 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!

WAVELAB

Requirements 2 – 17

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 the files in WaveLab (due to deficiencies in the audio card) will not affect the 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.

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.

WAVELAB

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.

WAVELAB

Requirements 2 – 19

WAVELAB

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”).

WAVELAB

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.

WAVELAB Installing and setting up 3 – 23

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.

WAVELAB

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 “The ASIO Audio Connections dialog” on page 507 for more information about the ASIO Audio connections dialog.

5.Close the dialog.

WAVELAB Installing and setting up 3 – 25

•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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•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.

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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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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.

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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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