Steinberg Wavelab Elements - 10.0 Operation Manual

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Operation Manual

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Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Lillie Harris, Christina Kaboth, Insa Mingers, Matthias Obrecht, Sabine Pfeifer, Benjamin Schütte, Marita Sladek

This PDF provides improved access for vision-impaired users. Please note that due to the complexity and number of images in this document, it is not possible to include text descriptions of images.

The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media except as specically 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. Registered licensees of the product described herein may print one copy of this document for their personal use.

All product and company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective owners. For more information, please visit www.steinberg.net/trademarks.

WaveLab Elements_10.0.0_en-US_2019-10-15

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5 New Features

7 WaveLab Elements Introduction

7 Platform-Independent Documentation 7 Help System 8 Conventions 9 Key Commands

10 Setting Up Your System

10 Connecting the Equipment 10 Audio Cards and Background Playback 10 Latency 11 ASIO-Guard 11 Dening Audio Connections 14 CD/DVD Recorders 14 Remote Devices

19 WaveLab Elements Concepts

19 General Editing Rules 19 Startup Dialog 20 Basic Window Handling 20 Selecting Audio 24 Sliders 24 Renaming Items in Tables 24 File Browser 26 Tab Groups 27 Peak Files 28 Companion Files 28 Processing Precision

30 Workspace Window

30 Audio Editor 30 Audio Montage 31 Podcast Editor 31 File Tab 32 Info Tab 34 Tool Windows 34 Meter Windows 34 Slide-Out Windows 35 Docking and Undocking Tool Windows and

Meter Windows

36 Command Bar 37 Status Bar 38 Context Menus 39 Time Ruler and Level Ruler 42 Managing Tabs 43 Activating Full Screen Mode 43 Resetting the Default Workspace Layout

44 Project Handling

44 Opening Files 45 Value Editing 45 Drag Operations

46 Undoing and Redoing 49 Zooming in the Workspace Window 54 Presets

56 File Operations

56 Recently Used Files 57 Save and Save As 59 Templates 63 File Renaming 63 Deleting Files 63 Temporary Files 64 Work Folders vs. Document Folders 66 Copying Audio Information to the Clipboard 66 Setting the Focus on the Current File

67 Playback

67 Transport Bar 76 Starting Playback From the Ruler 77 Playback Scrubbing 78 Scroll During Playback 78 Playback in the Audio Montage Window

79 Audio File Editing

79 Wave Window 83 Audio Editor Tabs 90 File Handling in the Audio Editor 108 Changing the Audio Properties 108 Metadata 111 Mixing Down – Audio Files Rendering 111 Silence Generator Dialog 113 Bleep Censor 114 Waveform Restoration with the Pen Tool

115 Audio Analysis

115 Global Analysis 122 3D Frequency Analysis

125 Oine Processing

125 Process Tab 127 Applying Processing 127 Gain Dialog 127 Level Normalizer Dialog 128 Envelope Dialog 129 Fades in Audio Files 130 Crossfades 131 Phase Inverting 131 Reversing Audio 132 DC Offset 132 Time Stretching 134 Pitch Shift 135 Resample

136 Audio Montage

136 Montage Window

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Table of Contents

140 Audio Montage Tabs 147 Signal Path in the Audio Montage 148 Creating New Audio Montages 148 Audio Montage Duplicates 149 Creating an Audio Montage from an Audio File 149 Import Options for Audio Montages 150 Missing Files Dialog 151 Assembling the Audio Montage 155 Rearranging Clips 157 Clip Editing 162 Track Activity Indicator 162 Envelopes for Clips 165 Fades and Crossfades in Audio Montages 168 Effects for Tracks, Clips, and the Montage

Output

176 CD Window 179 Mixing Down – The Render Function 179 Loudness Meta Normalizer 181 Notes Window 181 Importing a Basic Audio CDs

182 Recording

182 Setting Up the Recording Dialog 183 Dropping Markers During Recording 183 Recording Dialog

188 Master Section

188 Bypassing the Master Section 188 Master Section Window 197 Rendering 201 Saving Master Section Presets 204 Monitoring Background Tasks 205 Dropouts

206 Markers

206 Marker Types 207 Markers Window 209 Creating Markers 210 Deleting Markers 210 Moving Markers 210 Navigating to Markers 211 Hiding Markers of a Specic Type 211 Converting Marker Types 211 Renaming Markers 212 Selecting Markers 212 Selecting the Audio Between Markers 212 Binding Markers to Clips in the Audio Montage 213 How Marker Information is Saved

214 Metering

214 Meter Windows 214 Meter Settings 214 Resetting the Meters 214 Level Meter 216 Spectroscope 216 Oscilloscope

218 Writing Operations

218 Write Audio CD Dialog 219 Erase Optical Media Dialog 220 Write Audio Montages 222 Data CD/DVD Projects 225 Audio CD Formats

228 Loops

228 Basic Looping 229 Loop Renement

236 Looping Audio Which Is Not Very Well Suited

for Looping

239 Sample Attributes

241 Importing Audio CD Tracks

241 Import Audio CD Dialog 244 Importing Audio CD Tracks 245 Searching Track Names on the Internet 245 Submitting Track Names to the Internet 246 Ultra-Safe Mode 246 Converting Audio CD Tracks to an Audio

Montage

247 Video

247 Video Track 248 Video Clip Editing 249 Video Window 250 Video File Compatibility 250 Frame Rates

253 WaveLab Exchange

253 WaveLab Elements as External Editor for

Cubase/Nuendo

254 Cubase/Nuendo as External Editor for WaveLab

Elements

255 Podcasts

255 Podcast Editor 259 Global Podcast Options 259 Creating a Podcast 260 Setting Up a FTP for Podcast Publishing 260 Publishing Podcasts 260 FTP Settings Dialog 261 Checking the Podcast

262 Customizing

262 Customizing the Wave Window and the

Montage Window

263 Customizing Shortcuts 267 Customizing Command Bars 267 Plug-in Organization 274 Touch Bar (macOS only)

275 Conguring WaveLab Elements

275 Global Preferences 279 Audio Files Preferences 283 Audio Montages Preferences 286 Synchronizing WaveLab Elements Settings on

Several Computers

286 Multi-User Settings

288 Index

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New Features

New Features in Version 10.0.0

Highlights

History Window for Audio Files

● The Audio Editor now also has a History window. This allows you to see all versions of the audio le that you are working on. You can restore previous versions. See History Window

for Audio Files.

Inspector Window

● This window allows you to add effect plug-ins to tracks, clips, and the montage output. The

Inspector replaces the Effects window. See Inspector Window.

Video

● WaveLab Elements supports the integration of video les in your project. See Video.

More New Features

Track Control Area Redesign

● The track control area offers several new navigation options and other settings. See Track

Control Area.

Resizing Tracks

● You can now freely resize the track height and width in the montage window. See Resizing

Tracks.

Number of Effect Plug-ins in the Master Section Increased

● You can now add 8 effect plug-ins to the Effects pane in the Master Section. See Effects

Pane.

File Browser Preview

● In the File Browser window, you can now listen to the selected audio le from any position by clicking the waveform in the Preview area. If the audio le contains markers, the markers are displayed in the preview waveform. See File Browser Window.

Audio-Processing Load

● The Audio-Processing Load display shows the average audio-processing load of plug-ins during playback. This allows you to monitor the number of plug-ins you can use. See Audio-

Processing Load.

Using Undo/Redo after Saving Audio Files

● When you save audio les, the history is no longer deleted. Now you can use undo/redo even after saving audio les. See Saving an Audio File.

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New Features

Additional ID3-v2 Metadata

● Now you can add the metadata TCMP (Part of a compilation) to your audio le. See

Metadata Dialog.

Follow Playback in the CD Window

● This option allows you to see the CD track that is played back from within the CD window. See CD Window.

Follow Playback in the Markers Window

● This option allows you to see the marker that is played back from within the Markers window. See Markers Window.

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WaveLab Elements Introduction

Platform-Independent Documentation

The documentation applies to the operating systems Windows and macOS.

Features and settings that are specic to one of these platforms are clearly indicated. In all other cases, the descriptions and procedures in the documentation are valid for

Some points to consider:

● The screenshots are taken from Windows.

●

Some functions that are available on the File menu on Windows can be found in the program name menu on

macOS.

Windows and macOS.

Help System

There are several ways of accessing the help system. The documentation is available online and you can download most of it in PDF format from steinberg.help.

Documentation

The documentation consists of several documents.

To visit steinberg.help, do one of the following:

● Enter www.steinberg.help in the address bar of your web browser.

● In the program, select Help > steinberg.help.

● Windows: To open the help for an active dialog on steinberg.help, click the question mark

● macOS: To open the help for an active dialog on steinberg.help, click the question mark

Operation Manual

Plug-in Reference

Scripting

icon on the title bar to show the

icon in the dialog to show the Help button and click the Help button, or press Cmd-?.

The main WaveLab Elements reference documentation, with detailed descriptions of operations, parameters, functions, and techniques.

Describes the features and parameters of the included plug-ins.

Describes the objects and functions you can call in a WaveLab Elements script.

Help button and click the Help button, or press F1.

DDP Player

Describes the features and functions of the included DDP Player.

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WaveLab Elements Introduction Conventions

Tooltips

● To show tooltips, move the mouse over an interface icon.

● To use the menu help, move the mouse over a menu item.

● To see information on what kind of editing can be performed when using the mouse and

modier keys in the Audio Montage window, move the mouse over the montage window. The help text is displayed on the info line at the bottom of the window.

What’s This

The What’s This help provides extended tooltips about interface icons and functions. Some What’s This tooltips include a link to a dedicated help topic on steinberg.help.

To open the What’s This help, do one of the following:

● In any window, press Shift-F1 and move the mouse over an interface item, or select Help >

What’s This?.

● In a dialog, select the question mark icon on any title bar (Windows) or in the dialog

(macOS), and move the mouse over an interface item or a menu option.

RELATED LINKS

Info Line on page 155

Conventions

In our documentation, we use typographical and markup elements to structure information.

Typographical Elements

The following typographical elements mark the following purposes.

Prerequisite

Requires you to complete an action or to fulll a condition before starting a procedure.

Procedure

Lists the steps that you must take to achieve a specic result.

Important

Informs you about issues that might affect the system, the connected hardware, or that might bring a risk of data loss.

Note

Informs you about issues that you should consider.

Tip

Adds further information or useful suggestions.

Example

Provides you with an example.

Result

Shows the result of the procedure.

After Completing This Task

Informs you about actions or tasks that you can perform after completing the procedure.

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WaveLab Elements Introduction Key Commands

Markup

Bold text indicates the name of a menu, option, function, dialog, window, etc.

EXAMPLE

To open the Metadata dialog, open the Metadata window and click Edit.

If bold text is separated by a greater-than symbol, this indicates a sequence of different menus to open.

EXAMPLE

Select File > Open.

Key Commands

Many of the default key commands, also known as keyboard shortcuts, use modier keys, some of which are different depending on the operating system.

When key commands with modier keys are described in this manual, they are indicated with the Windows modier key rst, followed by the macOS modier key and the key.

EXAMPLE

Ctrl/Cmd-Z means: press Ctrl on Windows or Cmd on macOS, then press Z.

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Setting Up Your System

Before you start working, you need to make some settings.

IMPORTANT

Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections.

Connecting the Equipment

Your system setup depends on many different factors, for example, the kind of project that you want to create, the external equipment that you want to use, or the computer hardware available to you.

Audio Cards and Background Playback

Latency

When you activate playback or recording in WaveLab Elements, other applications cannot access the audio card. Likewise, if another application uses the audio card, to play back.

You can run WaveLab Elements together with other applications and always give the active application access to the audio card.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > Preferences > Audio Connections.

2. Select the Options tab.

3. Activate Release Driver.

4. Do one of the following:

● If you want to release the driver when WaveLab Elements is in the background, activate When WaveLab Elements is in Background.

● If you want to release the driver only when Cubase is in the foreground, activate When Cubase is in Foreground.

Latency is the delay between when audio is sent from the program and when you actually hear it. While a very low latency can be crucial in a real-time DAW application such as Steinberg Nuendo or Cubase, this is not strictly the case with WaveLab Elements.

WaveLab Elements is unable

When working with WaveLab Elements, the important issues are optimum and stable playback and editing precision.

The latency in an audio system depends on the audio hardware, its drivers, and settings. In case of dropouts, crackles, or glitches during playback, raise the ASIO-Guard setting on the Options

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Setting Up Your System ASIO-Guard

tab in the Audio Connections, or increase the buffer size in the ASIO control panel, specic to the audio card.

RELATED LINKS

Audio Connections Tab on page 12

ASIO-Guard

The ASIO-Guard allows you to pre-process all channels as well as VST plug-ins. This causes fewer dropouts and allows you to process more tracks or plug-ins.

High ASIO-Guard levels cause an increased ASIO-Guard latency. When you adjust a volume fader, for example, you hear parameter changes with a slight delay.

NOTE

Resampler plug-ins and certain other plug-ins with high latencies accumulate samples before processing them. This requires a higher ASIO-Guard setting.

RELATED LINKS

Setting up ASIO-Guard on page 11

Setting up ASIO-Guard

You can specify the length of the ASIO-Guard buffer.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > Preferences > Audio Connections.

2. Click the Options tab.

3. In the ASIO-Guard menu, specify the length of the ASIO-Guard buffer.

The higher the level, the higher the processing stability and audio processing performance. However, higher levels also lead to an increased ASIO-Guard latency and memory usage.

RELATED LINKS

Audio Connections Tab on page 12

Dening Audio Connections

To be able to play back and record audio in WaveLab Elements, you must specify how the internal input and output channels in WaveLab Elements are connected to your sound card and which device you intend to use for audio playback and recording.

You can dene the buffer settings for your device as well as set up connections to external effects. You should select at least two channels for stereo playback and recording.

If you have no third-party audio card, you can select the Generic Low Latency driver or Built-in Audio (Mac) options. You can also use the Generic Low Latency driver with most third-party audio cards, with the advantage that you can record and play at different sample rates.

RELATED LINKS

Audio Connections Tab on page 12

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Setting Up Your System Dening Audio Connections

Selecting an ASIO Driver

Audio Stream Input/Output (ASIO) is a computer device driver protocol for digital audio specied by Steinberg. It provides a low-latency and high delity interface between a software application and the soundcard of a computer.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > Preferences > Audio Connections.

2. Open the Audio Device pop-up menu and select your ASIO driver.

The ASIO Plug-ins tab and the Control Panel button are activated.

3. Optional: Click Control Panel and make your settings.

Selecting the Generic Low Latency Driver

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > Options > Audio Connections.

2. Open the Audio Device pop-up menu and select Generic Low Latency.

3. On the Playback tab, select the audio ports that are used for playback.

4. On the Recording tab, select the audio ports that used for recording and monitor input.

Audio Connections Tab

This tab allows you to specify how the internal input and output buses in WaveLab Elements are connected to your sound card and which device you want to use for audio playback and recording.

● To open the Audio Connections tab, select File > Preferences > Audio Connections.

Global Settings

Audio Device

Allows you to select the audio device that you want to use for playback and recording audio. If you do not have a third-party audio card, you can select the Generic Low

Latency driver or Built-in Audio (Mac) options.

Control Panel

When you select an ASIO driver, the Control Panel button is activated. Click the button to open the settings application of your sound card, which is usually installed with the sound card. Depending on your sound card and driver, this provides settings for buffer size, digital formats, additional I/O connections, etc.

Refresh

This button causes audio devices to be evaluated again to reect device changes.

Playback Tab

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Setting Up Your System Dening Audio Connections

This tab allows you to select buses that are used for playback.

Recording Tab

This tab allows you to select buses that are used for recording.

Options Tab

This tab allows you to specify the number of buffers and the control driver functionality.

ASIO-Guard

Increasing this value improves the elasticity of audio streaming to avoid dropouts. The higher the level, the higher the processing stability and audio processing performance. However, higher levels also lead to an increased ASIO-Guard latency and memory usage.

MME Specic – Buffer Size

Increasing this value improves the elasticity of audio streaming to avoid dropouts. This is only available when an MME driver is selected.

Perform Short Fade In When Starting Playback

If this option is activated, a short fade in is performed when you start playback. This avoids clicks caused by waveforms that do not start on a zero-crossing point.

Perform Short Fade Out When Stopping Playback

If this option is activated, a short fade out is performed when you stop playback. This avoids clicks caused by waveforms that do not end on a zero-crossing point. This also discards any audio signal that is caused by latency and any tail that is caused by reverb plug-ins.

Release Driver

Allows you to run WaveLab Elements together with other applications and always give the active application access to the audio card.

● If When WaveLab Elements is in Background is activated, the driver is released when WaveLab Elements is in the background.

● If When Cubase/Nuendo is in Foreground is activated, the driver is released when Cubase/Nuendo is in the foreground.

Preferred Sample Rate

Allows you to specify the Preferred Sample Rate for playback.

RELATED LINKS

ASIO-Guard on page 11

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Setting Up Your System CD/DVD Recorders

CD/DVD Recorders

For general instructions on installing internal or connecting external recorders via USB or Firewire, refer to the instruction manual for your computer or your recorder.

Make sure to have the latest rmware version installed on your recorder unit. For CD recorders, the existing rmware must support disc-at-once mode. In addition, running a unit with older rmware can prevent you from writing sub-index markers into the tracks, for example.

Remote Devices

You can use Steinberg remote devices to remote-control WaveLab Elements.

Several commands can be controlled with knobs and sliders of your remote control device.

NOTE

Only remote devices from Steinberg are supported.

Remote Devices Tab

This tab allows you to select a Steinberg device to remote-control WaveLab Elements, and see the control map of MIDI control devices.

● To open the Remote Devices tab, select File > Preferences > Remote Devices.

Device Editing Tab

This tab lets you select a MIDI control device and see the control map.

Active

Activates the selected device and scans the MIDI ports.

In-Port/Out-Port

Select the MIDI input/output ports of the device that you want to use.

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Setting Up Your System Remote Devices

Name

Expand/Collapse

WaveLab Elements Action List

Options Tab

Emulate Mouse Wheel

Edit Focused Numeric Field

Lets you enter a map name.

Expands/collapses the folder tree of the control map.

This folder tree lists the parameters that you can remote-control. The top folder represents contexts. The related parameters can only be controlled if the context is active. For example, if an audio

A remote control can be used in several contexts if these are exclusive. For example, parameters that can be used for an active audio le or an active audio montage.

The Global folder contains the parameters that can always be controlled.

If this option is activated, the AI knob of Steinberg controllers acts as a mouse wheel in the WaveLab Elements user interface, except for plug-ins.

If this option is activated, the AI knob Steinberg controllers can be used to edit the focused numeric eld that you nd in many WaveLab Elements windows and dialogs.

le is active.

CC121 Advanced Integration Controller

You can use Steinberg’s CC121 Advanced Integration Controller to control WaveLab Elements.

This section describes the WaveLab Elements factory preset for the CC121. For detailed information on how to use the controller, refer to the manual that came with the CC121. Note that the CC121 was originally designed for Cubase. The following mapping combines the WaveLab Elements functionality with the CC121 controls. The controls that are not listed in the following paragraph are not assigned to a parameter.

Channel Section

You can use all controls of the CC121 channel section, except the fader, to control the elements of the selected track in a WaveLab Elements audio montage. You can use the fader for the

Master Section.

Fader

Controls the Master Section fader.

PAN knob

Controls the gain of the selected track.

Mute

Mutes/Unmutes the selected track.

Solo

Activates/Deactivates solo for the selected track.

CHANNEL SELECT

Selects the previous/next track in the audio montage.

To move the cursor to the previous/next clip edge in the audio montage, hold Alt. To move the cursor to the previous/next region edge, hold Shift. To move the cursor to the previous/next marker in the Audio Editor, hold Ctrl/Cmd.

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Setting Up Your System Remote Devices

EQ Section

With the EQ section you can easily control the Steinberg Studio EQ plug-in.

If EQ TYPE is activated on the CC121, you can adjust the parameters of the focused Studio-EQ. All necessary EQ parameters, such as on/off can be set. You can switch to WaveLab Elements navigation mode by deactivating EQ TYPE. In WaveLab Elements navigation mode, you can access alternative functions, such as scrolling, zooming, and switching between windows.

EQ TYPE activated:

Bandwidth knobs (Q)

Frequency knobs (F)

Gain knobs (G)

Q/F/G of each band, EQ TYPE selection, and ALL BYPASS

Adjusts the Q (bandwidth) of each EQ band.

Adjusts the center frequency of each EQ band.

Adjusts the gain of each EQ band.

Activates/Deactivates the EQ bands.

ALL BYPASS

Activates/Deactivates bypass for all plug-ins in the Master Section.

EQ TYPE deactivated:

LOW ON

Opens the Audio Editor.

LOW-MID ON

Opens the Audio Montage window.

HIGH ON

Opens the preferences tab.

EQ-1 knob for the EQ Gain (G)

Scrolls left/right on the timeline.

EQ-2 knob for the EQ Gain (G)

Adjusts the horizontal zoom on the timeline.

EQ-3 knob for the EQ Gain (G)

Adjusts the vertical zoom on the timeline.

EQ-4 knob for the EQ Gain (G)

Scrolls tracks on the Audio Montage window or scrolls vertically on the Audio Editor.

EQ-1 knob for the EQ Frequency (F)

Scrolls left/right on the overview timeline of the Audio Editor.

EQ-2 knob for the EQ Frequency (F)

Horizontally zooms in/out on the overview timeline of the Audio Editor.

EQ-3 knob for the EQ Frequency (F)

Vertically zooms in/out on the overview timeline of the Audio Editor.

EQ-4 knob for the EQ Frequency (F)

Vertically scrolls on the overview timeline of the Audio Editor.

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Setting Up Your System Remote Devices

Transport Section

In this section you can control the transport functions of WaveLab Elements.

Previous button

Rewind button

Forward button

Next button

Cycle button

Stop button

Moves the cursor position to the left.

Moves the edit cursor position to the left.

Moves the edit cursor position to the right.

Moves the cursor position to the right.

Activates/Deactivates Cycle mode.

Stops playback. Press again to move the cursor to the previous start position. Press a third time to move the cursor to the beginning of the project.

Play button

Starts playback.

Record button

Press once to open the Recording dialog. Press again to start the recording. Press a third time to stop recording. The recorded

le opens in the Audio Editor.

Function Section

In this section, you can adjust functions, such as fades and envelope level, by using the VALUE knob.

VALUE knob

Rotate this knob to adjust the assigned function. Press the knob to reset the parameter to its default value.

FUNCTION button 1

Adjusts the fade in settings of the active clip.

FUNCTION button 2

Adjusts the fade out settings of the active clip.

FUNCTION button 3

Adjusts the envelope level of the active clip.

FUNCTION button 4

The element clicked last in the Nudge section of the Edit tab in the Audio Montage window is assigned to this button.

AI Knob Section

WaveLab Elements can be controlled with the AI knob of Steinberg’s CC121, CI2+, and CMC-AI controllers. With the AI knob, you can control the parameter that the mouse points to.

NOTE

The AI knob only works on parameters that are automatable.

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Setting Up Your System Remote Devices

In this section you can control parameters via the AI knob.

AI KNOB

LOCK

CUBASE READY Indicator

The CUBASE READY indicator has no function in WaveLab Elements.

Foot Switch Section

The foot switch has the same function as Shift. Press and hold the foot switch while turning the AI knob to ne tune parameters.

Controls the VST 3 plug-in parameters, emulates the mouse wheel, for example, for scrolling, and lets you edit a focused numeric AI knob, move the mouse cursor over the parameter that you want to control, and move the AI knob. You can activate/deactivate the emulation of the mouse wheel and the editing of the focused numeric eld in the Options tab.

When the mouse cursor points to a parameter, press LOCK to control this parameter regardless of the position of the mouse cursor.

eld. To control a parameter with the

Page 19

WaveLab Elements Concepts

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

General Editing Rules

The common editing operations apply to any Steinberg product.

● To select and move interface items, and to select ranges, click and drag with the mouse.

Use the keys of your computer keyboard to enter numeric values and text, to navigate lists

● and other selectable interface items, and to control the transport functions.

●

Common operations like cut, copy, paste, or the selection of multiple items can be performed using standard keyboard shortcuts.

NOTE

The behavior of your product is also governed by your preference settings.

Startup Dialog

When WaveLab Elements starts, the Startup dialog opens where you can select which le or template you want to open.

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WaveLab Elements Concepts Basic Window Handling

Create

Empty Window

Creates an empty WaveLab Elements window.

Templates

Allows you to open a template in a new project.

Open

Last Files

Opens the les that you last used in WaveLab Elements.

Recent File

Allows you to open a recently used le.

Browse

Allows you to select the les that you want to open.

Use as Default (Do Not Show This Dialog Again)

If this option is activated, the option that you select is used from now on and the startup screen does not open anymore. To display the Startup dialog, even if this option has been activated, press Ctrl/Cmd when starting WaveLab Elements.

Basic Window Handling

WaveLab Elements follows the basic guidelines for the Windows/macOS interface, which means that

Windows/macOS standard procedures apply.

Closing Windows

● To close a le tab, click the X button of the corresponding tab or press Ctrl/Cmd-W.

● To close a le tab without saving your changes, hold Ctrl/Cmd-Shift, and click the X button of the tab. This avoids having to conrm a warning message whenever you want to close an unsaved tab.

● To close all le tabs but the selected le tab, right-click a le tab and select Close All But

This.

Switching Between Files

You can have multiple les open and switch between them.

● To bring a le to the front, click the corresponding tab.

To switch between the les, hold Ctrl/Cmd, and press Tab continuously.

●

To switch back and forth between the last two active les, press Ctrl/Cmd-Tab. Between

● each step you have to release all keys.

To switch backwards, press Ctrl/Cmd-Shift-Tab.

●

To toggle between the active le and the last edited le, press F5.

●

Selecting Audio

Almost all types of editing and processing that you perform in WaveLab Elements operate on the audio selection. There are numerous ways to make an audio selection.

To select the whole audio le, double-click it. If the audio le contains markers, triple-click

● it.

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WaveLab Elements Concepts Selecting Audio

Selecting a Range by Dragging

The standard way to select a range in the wave window is to click and drag.

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

Audio Range Selection in an Audio File

You can edit, process, or play back selections of an audio le.

● To access the audio range selection options, in the Audio Editor, select the Edit tab.

The following selection options are available in the Time Selection section:

All

Selects the entire waveform.

Toggle

Toggles the selection range on/off.

Extend

Opens a menu where you can select the following options:

● Extend to Start of File extends the selection to the start of the audio le. If

there is no selection, a selection is created from the edit cursor position.

● Extend to End of File extends the selection to the end of the audio le. If

there is no selection, a selection is created from the edit cursor position.

● Extend to Previous Marker extends the left edge of the selection to the

nearest marker to the left or the start of the audio a selection is extended until the previous marker position.

● Extend to Next Marker extends the right edge of the selection to the nearest

marker to the right or the end of the audio le. If there is no selection, a selection is extended until the next marker position.

● Extend to Cursor extends the selection to the edit cursor position.

● From Start of File Until Cursor selects the range between the start of the

audio le and the edit cursor position.

● From Cursor to End of File selects the range between the edit cursor position

and the end of the audio

● From Cursor to Previous Marker selects the range between the edit cursor

position and the previous marker or the start of the audio le.

● From Cursor to Next Marker selects the range between the edit cursor

position and the next marker or the end of the audio le.

● From Playback Position to End of File creates a selection range from the

playback position to the end of the audio position of the edit cursor is used.

● From Playback Position to Start of File creates a selection range from the

playback position to the start of the audio le. If no playback is taking place, the position of the edit cursor is used.

● Double Selection Length doubles the length of the current selection range.

● Halve Selection Length halves the length of the current selection range.

le.

le. If no playback is taking place, the

le. If there is no selection,

Channels

Opens a menu where you can select the following options:

● Extend to All Channels extends the current selection range to all channels.

Page 22

WaveLab Elements Concepts Selecting Audio

● Left Channel Only reduces the current selection range to the left channel

only.

● Right Channel Only reduces the current selection range to the right channel

only.

Regions

Opens a menu where you can select the following options:

● Loop Region selects the range between the two loop markers that encompass

the edit cursor.

● Generic Region selects the range between the two generic markers that

encompass the edit cursor.

Selecting in Stereo Files

If you are working on stereo material in the Audio Editor, you can apply an operation to one channel only or to the entire stereo material.

Which channel is selected when you click and drag in the wave window depends on where you position the mouse cursor. The pointer shape indicates which channel will be affected.

The following pointer shapes are available:

Select left channel

Clicking in the upper half of the left channel selects the left channel.

Select both channels

Clicking in the middle area between the left and the right channel selects both channels.

Select right channel

Clicking in the lower half of the right channel selects the right channel.

Switching the Selection Between Channels

You can switch the channel selection that you have made for a channel to all channels or switch the selection to the other channel.

PROCEDURE

1. In the wave window of the Audio Editor, select a range.

2. Select the Edit tab.

3. In the Time Selection section, click Channels and select one of the following options:

Extend to All Channels

●

Left Channel Only

●

Right Channel Only

●

You can press Tab to switch between the different channel selections.

Page 23

WaveLab Elements Concepts Selecting Audio

Selecting in the Overview of the Audio Editor

The ranges that you select in the overview of the Audio Editor also apply to the main view.

PROCEDURE

● In the wave window of the Audio Editor, hold down Ctrl/Cmd and click and drag in the overview.

Moving a Selection Range

If a selection range has the correct length, but the wrong position, you can move it.

PROCEDURE

1. In the wave window, hold down Ctrl/Cmd-Shift.

2. Click in the middle of the selection and drag to the left/right.

Extending and Reducing the Selection

You can resize a selection range in the wave window.

There are several ways to extend/reduce the selection:

● Select a range, Shift-click outside the selection range, and drag to the left/right, or click and drag the edges of the selection range to the left/right.

● To extend the selection to the previous/next boundary (marker or start/end of le), press

Shift and double-click the non-selected area between the boundaries.

Extending and Reducing the Selection Using the Arrow Keys

● To move the start or end of a selection in the wave window to the left or right, hold down

Shift and press the Left Arrow/Right Arrow. To move it in bigger steps, press Page Up or Page Down.

● To extend a selection to the previous or next boundary in the wave window (marker or start/end of the audio le), hold down Ctrl/Cmd-Shift and press the Left Arrow or Right Arrow.

Deleting Selections

There are several options for deleting a selected range.

Audio Editor

The following options can be found on the Edit tab in the Cutting section.

Crop

Removes the data outside the selection.

Delete

Removes the selection. The audio to the right of the selection is moved to the left to ll the gap.

Audio Montage Window

The following option can be found on the Edit tab in the Removal section.

Page 24

WaveLab Elements Concepts Sliders

Delete Selected Clip

Deletes the selected clip.

Sliders

At various places in WaveLab Elements, slider controls are available to change parameters. There are a number of ways to change the value of a slider.

● Position the mouse over the slider and use the mouse wheel without clicking. Hold

Ctrl/Cmd while using the mouse wheel to scroll faster. This modier also applies to the

zoom wheels. To move a slider, click and drag it.

●

To move the slider handle to a position, click the slider at any position.

●

To move the slider handle in smaller steps, right-click or click below the handle. Keep the mouse button pressed to automatically step to the next value.

●

To reset the slider to the default value, if available, Ctrl/Cmd-click the slider, or click using the third mouse button, or double-click the handle.

Renaming Items in Tables

You can rename items in tables in the Markers window, and in the CD window.

● To rename an item, double-click it or select it, and press Return, and enter the new name.

● To rename the previous/next item, press Up Arrow or Down Arrow. This way you move the focus on the previous/next item, while staying in the edit mode.

File Browser

The File Browser window allows you to browse les from within WaveLab Elements. The Auto Play Mode is useful for speeding up the process of auditioning sound les.

The File Browser window provides you with all the standard browsing functions. It features additional controls to audition audio les and any marker dened regions. You can use it to open or insert les by dragging them to another location.

You can also choose to only view specic le types.

File Browser Window

In this window, you can browse les and open them in WaveLab Elements.

● To open the File Browser window, select Tool Windows > File Browser.

Page 25

WaveLab Elements Concepts File Browser

Back/Forward/Parent Directory

Allows you to navigate through the list and le hierarchy.

Location

This menu allows you to select a le location to browse and lists the recently used locations.

Auto-Play Mode

If this button is activated, playback starts automatically when you select a le.

Play Selected Audio File

Plays the selected audio le.

If this button is activated, you can enter text in the search eld. If it is deactivated, you can search specic le formats.

File type list

Allows you to select which le type and le format to display.

Folder tree

Shows the folders that are available on your computer.

Favorite folders

You can add your favorite folders by dragging them from the folder tree. Each le type has its own favorite folder.

File list

Shows the following information about each le:

● Name shows the name of the audio le.

● Size shows the size of the audio le.

● Type shows the le type of the audio le.

● Date Modied shows the date on which the audio le was last saved.

● Sample Rate shows the sample rate in Hz.

● Bits shows the bit depth in bits. “32F” means 32-bit oat and “64F” means 64-

bit oat.

● Bit Rate shows the bit rate in kbps.

● Length shows the length of the audio le.

● Channels shows the number of channels.

Right-click in the le list and select Create Folder to add a new folder for structuring your les.

Audio Regions

If the selected le contains markers, the markers are displayed in the Audio Regions section.

RELATED LINKS

Folders Tab on page 64

Page 26

WaveLab Elements Concepts Tab Groups

Tab Groups

With tab groups, you can view the content of different les, tool windows, or meters at the same time, without having to navigate through different windows. Each tab group has its own content and tab bar.

You can have two le tab groups.

Empty File Tab Groups

File Tab Groups with Audio Montages

Creating File Tab Groups

PROCEDURE

1. In the top right of a le tab window, open the Tab Group pop-up menu.

Page 27

WaveLab Elements Concepts Peak Files

2. Select Create a Tab Group (Split Vertically) or Create a Tab Group (Split Horizontally).

Creating File Tab Groups in Empty Tab Groups

PROCEDURE

● In the top right of an empty le tab group, click Create a Tab Group (Split Vertically) or Create a Tab Group (Split Horizontally).

Using Tab Groups

The Tab Group button in the top right of each tab window allows you to maximize, move, and close tab groups. Tabs are used differently depending on the type of window.

Tool Window Tab Groups

● To hide a tool window tab group, open the Tool Window Tab Group Options pop-up menu and select Hide All.

● To reorder tabs in a tab group, drag the tab horizontally to a new position on the tab bar.

● To dock the tab group to another location, open the Tool Window Tab Group Options pop-up menu and select Dock Tab Group Elsewhere. Now you can select where to dock the tab group.

File Tab Groups

● To close a le tab group, click the Tab Group button and select Hide All.

● To reorder tabs in a tab group, drag the tab horizontally to a new position on the tab bar.

● To move a tab to another project, drag the tab to another project.

● To paste the content of a tab into an audio le, drag the tab onto the waveform. The tab is

● To maximize the active le tab group, open the File Tab Group Options pop-up menu, and

Peak Files

A peak le (extension .gpk) is automatically created by WaveLab Elements each time an audio le is modied or opened in WaveLab Elements for the rst time. The peak le contains

information about the waveform and determines how it is drawn in the wave window or the montage window.

Peak les speed up the time it takes to draw the corresponding waveform. By default, the peak le is saved in the same location as the audio le.

inserted at the cursor position.

select Hide Other File Tab Groups.

To show all le tab groups, open the File Tab Group Options pop-up menu, and select Show Other File Tab Groups.

You can also double-click the le tab header of a tab group to show/hide other le tab groups.

Page 28

WaveLab Elements Concepts Companion Files

Rebuilding Peak Displays

Normally, peak les are automatically updated when the date of the peak le is older than the date of the audio updated. In this case you can force a rebuild of the peak le.

PROCEDURE

1. In the Audio Editor, select the View tab.

2. In the Peaks section, click Rebuild Display.

le. However, it can happen that the date of the audio le is not automatically

Companion Files

Companion les (extension .vs) contain Master Section presets and view settings for audio les. If this feature is activated when you save a le, the settings are recreated the next time that

you load the le.

Companion les are only available in the Audio Editor.

The following view settings are included in companion les:

●

Window size and position

● Zoom level

● Scroll position

Storing Companion Files in Another Location

By default, companion les are saved in the same location as the audio le. However, you can select another le location.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > Preferences > Folders.

2. Click Companion Files and specify another le location.

Processing Precision

WaveLab Elements can load audio samples in many formats but processes them internally as 64bit oat samples.

Mixing inside WaveLab Elements is also done in 64-bit oat. 32-bit PCM samples can be transferred to 64-bit

Plug-ins are processed in 64-bit oat by default. You can also set the plug-in processing to 32-bit

oat.

oat and back.

You can set up the processing precision for plug-ins and for temporary les in the Audio tab of the Global Preferences.

NOTE

Processing in 64-bit oat means double precision but slightly longer process time than 32-bit

oat.

Temporary les in 64-bit oat have double precision but take longer to read and write than 32-bit oat and their le size is twice as big.

Page 29

WaveLab Elements Concepts Processing Precision

RELATED LINKS

Temporary Files on page 63 Audio Tab on page 277

Page 30

Workspace Window

The Workspace window provides an editing and playback environment for each particular le type. Each environment contains functions that are tailored to the specic purpose of each le type.

● Audio Editor for viewing and editing audio les.

● Audio Montage window for assembling and editing audio montages.

● Podcast Editor for preparing and uploading podcasts.

The Workspace window is highly customizable to match your workow.

Elements of the Workspace Window

The Workspace window contains the following elements:

● A menu bar

● Tab groups to host the les to edit. You can move the content of a tab to another tab, create a new empty tab, display the le path, and access other functions by right-clicking.

● A set of tool windows. Which tools are available depends on the le type you are working on. The tool windows can be activated/deactivated individually.

Audio Editor

The Audio Editor provides tools and functions for sample-accurate audio editing, high-quality analysis, and processing.

The Audio Editor includes various metering tools.

The wave window gives you a graphical representation of the audio le and allows you to view, play back, and edit the le.

RELATED LINKS

Audio File Editing on page 79

Audio Montage

In the Audio Montage, you assemble audio clips into a montage. You can arrange, edit, and play back clips on both stereo or mono tracks.

Features include both track- and clip-based effects, volume and pan automation, and wideranging fade and crossfade functions.

You can place any number of clips on an audio track. A clip contains a reference to a source audio le on your hard disk, as well as start and end positions in the le.

The montage window gives you a graphical representation of clips on tracks. In it you can view, play back, and edit the tracks and clips.

Page 31

Workspace Window Podcast Editor

RELATED LINKS

Audio Montage on page 136

Podcast Editor

In the Podcast Editor, you assemble, dene, and publish your podcast to the Internet.

RELATED LINKS

Podcasts on page 255

File Tab

The File tab is the control center of WaveLab Elements. Here, you can save, open, render, import, and export les. It also gives you detailed information about your les and allows you to set up the WaveLab Elements preferences.

Info

Provides information about the active le and allows you to edit the audio properties of audio

New

Allows you to create audio les, audio montages, or podcasts. You can create new les or use a template.

Open

Allows you to open audio les, audio montages, or podcasts.

You can also open les that you have previously copied to the clipboard in the File Explorer/macOS Finder.

Import

Allows you to open different le formats. The following formats are supported:

● Audio File to Montage

● Unknown Audio

les and audio montages.

Page 32

Workspace Window Info Tab

Save As

Save All

Export

Preferences

You can also import audio CD tracks from an audio CD.

Allows you to save the active le or the project. You can specify the name, le format, and location. You can also save a copy of the active

Allows you to save all changed les of your project at once. The le list gives you an overview of all

You can use the lter to show all changed les, only audio les, or only audio montages.

Allows you to render the active le.

Allows you to view and change the preferences of WaveLab Elements. You can set up the preferences for the following parts of

● Global

● Audio Connections

● Shortcuts

● Plug-ins

● Remote Devices

● Folders

● Audio Files

● Audio Montages

les that have been changed.

WaveLab Elements:

le.

Info Tab

Tools

Allows you to access the following tools:

● Data CD/DVD

● Batch Conversion

RELATED LINKS

Info Tab on page 32 Conguring WaveLab Elements on page 275

The Info tab provides information about the active le and allows you to edit the audio properties of audio les and audio montages.

● To open the Info tab, select the File tab, and click Info.

Page 33

Workspace Window Info Tab

Depending on the selected le, different information and options are available.

Name

Displays the name, le extension, and le location of the active le. You can edit these attributes.

File Properties

Displays the size, date, and le format of the active le.

Audio Properties

For audio les, this displays the bit depth, channels, and sample rate of the active le.

For audio montages, this displays the mode, channels, and sample rate of the active

le.

You can edit these attributes.

Sample Attributes (audio les only)

Displays the musical attributes tune, key range, and velocity range.

Metadata

Displays the metadata of the active le.

Copy to Clipboard

Opens a menu from which you can select which information about the active le you want to copy to the clipboard.

Reveal in File Explorer/macOS Finder

Opens the File Explorer/macOS Finder to show the location of the active le.

Delete

Deletes the active le.

Page 34

Workspace Window Tool Windows

Tool Windows

Throughout WaveLab Elements there are various tool windows available that allow you to view, analyze, and edit the active le.

Generally, the content of a tool window is synchronized with the active le, with the exception of the audio meters which displays the audio le being played back. Tool windows can be docked and undocked, and saved in your custom layouts. Some tool windows are only available for specic le types.

The tool windows can be accessed via the Tool Windows menu.

Opening and Closing Tool Windows

You can close all tool windows that you do not need for your project.

●

To open a tool window, select Tool Windows and select a tool window.

●

To close a docked tool window, right-click the tool window tab and select Hide.

●

To close an undocked tool window, click its X button.

Meter Windows

WaveLab Elements contains a variety of audio meters that you can use for monitoring and analyzing audio. Meters can be used to monitor audio during playback, rendering, and recording. Furthermore, you can use them to analyze audio sections when playback is stopped.

The meter windows can be accessed via the Meters menu.

Opening and Closing Meter Windows

You can close all meter windows you do not need for your project.

● To open a meter window, select Meters and select a meter window.

● To close a docked meter window, right-click the meter window tab and select Hide.

● To close an undocked meter window, click its X button.

Slide-Out Windows

Slide-out windows are hidden in the frame of the Workspace window. When you hover the mouse pointer over the window name, the window slides out. It is hidden again, when you click anywhere else.

Slide-out window tab

Page 35

Workspace Window Docking and Undocking Tool Windows and Meter Windows

An open slide-out window

Docking and Undocking Tool Windows and Meter Windows

Tool windows and meter windows can be used as docked windows, as oating windows, or as a slide-out window. You can freely drag around the windows and dock them at various locations.

●

To undock a tool window or meter window, drag the corresponding tab to another position.

Now the tool window or meter window is a oating window which can be freely moved.

●

To dock a tool window or meter window, click and hold the caption bar or click the Options button on the right of the caption bar and select Dock Tab Group Elsewhere.

Yellow symbols indicate locations for docked windows, pink symbols indicate locations for slide-out windows. Drag the window to one of the locations.

To dock a oating tool window or meter window at its last docked position, click the

● Options button on the right of the caption bar and select Dock to Last Place Again.

Page 36

Workspace Window Command Bar

RELATED LINKS

Slide-Out Windows on page 34

Hiding the Caption Bar in Floating Meter Windows

To save screen space, the caption bar of oating meter windows can automatically be hidden if the window is not the active window. This can be set individually for each oating window.

PROCEDURE

1. In a oating meter window, click the Options button at the top right of the window.

2. Select Auto Caption Bar.

Command Bar

The command bar of le windows allows you to create, open, and save les, and undo/redo changes. You can also use the text eld to quickly nd and access open les, and to trigger keywords.

New

Allows you to create an audio le, audio montage, or podcast. You can create new les or use a template.

Open

Allows you to open an audio le, audio montage, or podcast.

Save

Saves the active le.

Save As

Allows you to save the active le. You can specify the name, le format, and location. You can also save a copy of the active

Trigger Cubase/Nuendo Update

Updates the Cubase/Nuendo project if the active le was opened via the Edit in WaveLab option.

le.

Page 37

Workspace Window Status Bar

Undo

Redo

Navigate Backwards/Navigate Forwards

Customize Command Bar

Maximize Window

Layout Options

RELATED LINKS

WaveLab Exchange on page 253

Allows you to undo changes.

Allows you to redo changes that were undone.

In the Audio Editor and Audio Montage window, this allows you to navigate to the previous/next cursor position, zoom factor, or selection range without undoing/ redoing the edit operation.

Allows you to select the buttons that you want to display on the command bar.

Maximizes the window. To restore the window size, click the button again.

Allows you to determine the position of the command bar and transport bar.

Status Bar

The status bar at the bottom of the screen of the Audio Editor and the Audio Montage window shows information about the active window using the units specied in the rulers.

The information displayed on the status bar is updated depending on the cursor position and on the audio selection that you have made.

Time/Level (dB)

Audio Information at Edit Cursor

Displays the time of the audio le at the mouse cursor position. In the Audio Editor, it also displays the level.

The value in brackets shows the time from the edit cursor position to the mouse cursor position.

Displays the time at the position of the edit cursor. This information changes if you reposition the cursor.

● To dene the cursor position, click the Audio Information at Edit Cursor eld

to open the Cursor Position dialog.

● To focus the cursor position, right-click the Audio Information at Edit Cursor

eld.

Audio Selection Indicator (Audio Editor)/Audio Range Indicator (Audio Montage)

In the Audio Editor, this displays the length of the current selection, or the total length of the audio le if no selection has been made.

In the Audio Montage window, this displays the length of the audio selection if a clip is selected, or the size of the audio montage.

Page 38

Workspace Window Context Menus

Zoom Indicator

Sampler Key Indicator (Audio Editor only)

Audio File Properties/Audio Montage Properties

If you have zoomed in, you can right-click the indicator to display the selected audio range, the active clip, or the whole le. Left-click the indicator to open the Range Selection dialog, where you can dene or rene a selection.

Displays the current zoom factor.

● To open a pop-up menu that allows you to make additional zoom settings,

click the indicator.

● To open the Zoom Factor dialog that allows you to edit the zoom factor, right-

click the indicator.

Indicates the key of the current audio le (if dened). Click the indicator to open the Sample Attributes window.

In the Audio Editor, this displays the bit depth and the sample rate. It also indicates whether the audio le is mono or stereo. Click the indicator to open the Audio Properties dialog.

In the Audio Montage window, this displays the sample rate of the audio montage. Click the indicator to open the Sample Rate dialog.

Bypass Master Section

If this option is deactivated, the Master Section is ignored during playback. However, rendering still takes all plug-ins into account.

Background Information

The status bar shows the progress of some background operations, such as rendering an effect. The operation can be paused or canceled using the provided buttons.

Context Menus

Throughout WaveLab Elements, various context menus are available. These menus group the commands and/or options that are specic to the active window.

The context menus appear if you right-click specic areas and are useful for speeding up your

workow.

For example, right-click a le tab to open a context menu with some relevant le options. Rightclicking the ruler of the waveform window brings up the Time Ruler context menu that allows you to access a number of options for changing the time ruler display format.

You can nd most context menu commands in the tabs, in the le window and in the main menus, but some commands are only available in context menus. If you search for a function, right-click the current working window to check if it has a context menu.

Page 39

Workspace Window Time Ruler and Level Ruler

Context menu in the montage window

Time Ruler and Level Ruler

In the Audio Editor, you can display a time and a level ruler in the wave window. In the Audio Montage window, you can display a time ruler in the montage window.

You can also determine which time and level units the rulers show.

Time Ruler

Level Ruler (Audio Editor only)

Time Ruler and Level Ruler Options

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

Time Ruler Menu

Timecode

Clock

Displays frames per second for various SMPTE timecode types and for CD resolution.

You can specify the timecode type in the Time Format dialog.

Displays time units.

Page 40

Workspace Window Time Ruler and Level Ruler

Samples

Displays positions as number of samples. The number of samples per second depends on the sample rate of the audio le. For example, at 44.1 kHz, there are 44100 samples per second.

Bars and Beats

Displays bars and beats.

File Size (Audio Editor only)

Displays positions in megabytes. Decimals represent kilobytes.

Show grid (Audio Montage window only)

Displays vertical lines in the montage window, aligned with time ruler marks.

Time Format

Opens the Time Format dialog, that allows you to edit the appearance of the time ruler formats.

Save Current Settings as Default

If this option is activated, the time ruler uses the current time format in all new wave windows or montage windows.

Set Ruler’s Origin to Start of File

If this option is activated, the ruler’s zero position is set to the beginning of the rst sample.

Set Ruler’s Origin at Cursor

If this option is activated, the ruler’s zero position is set to the current edit cursor position.

RELATED LINKS

Time Format Dialog on page 41

Level Ruler Menu (Audio Editor only)

Sets the level format to decibels.

+-100 %

Sets the level format to percentage.

Normalized +1/-1

Sets the level format to a ruler gradation corresponding to 64-bit oat audio.

16-bit Range

Sets the level format to a ruler gradation corresponding to 16-bit audio.

24-bit Range

Sets the level format to a ruler gradation corresponding to 24-bit audio.

Save Current Settings as Default

If this option is activated, the level ruler uses the current level format in all new wave windows.

Page 41

Workspace Window Time Ruler and Level Ruler

Working With a Meter-Based Display

If your working material is tempo-based, you can select the meter format (bars, beats, and ticks) for the ruler legend. This makes it easier to

PROCEDURE

1. In the wave window or the montage window, right-click the time ruler, and select Bars and Beats.

2. Right-click the time ruler, and select Time Format.

3. On the Meter tab, set the Time Signature and Tempo to values that match your audio le.

4. Set Ticks per Quarter Note to a number that you feel comfortable with.

For example, this can be the same value that is used by your MIDI sequencer.

5. Click OK.

Setting the Edit Cursor Position

Many operations, such as playback and selection, depend on the current edit cursor position. For example, playback often starts at the edit cursor position. The current edit cursor position is indicated by a vertical ashing line.

nd musically related cutting points.

There are various ways to move the edit cursor:

● Click somewhere in the wave window, the montage window, or the time ruler. If you have made a selection, click the time ruler to prevent deselecting.

● Click and drag in the time ruler.

● Use the transport controls.

● In the Audio Editor and Audio Montage window, select the View tab and use the options in the Cursor section.

● Use the cursor keys.

● Double-click a marker.

Time Format Dialog

In this dialog, you can customize the time format of the ruler. The time format of the ruler is also used in various time

● To open the Time Format dialog, right-click the ruler in the Audio Editor or Audio Montage window, and select Time Format.

In the Audio Editor, you can set different time formats for the overview display and the main display.

elds, for example, the status bar and some dialogs.

Page 42

Workspace Window Managing Tabs

Timecode Tab

On this tab, you can congure the appearance of the Timecode.

Frames per Second

Show Absolute Frames

Show Quarter Frames

Show Hundredth Frames

Show Units

Clock Tab

On this tab, you can congure the appearance of the Clock option.

Lists standard frame rates. From the pop-up menu, select Other to enter a custom frame rate. You can also choose which frames or units are displayed.

Shows the time format as a number of frames, without other time elements.

Adds the quarter frame number to the time format.

Adds the number of a hundredth of a frame to the time format.

Adds time units to the time format of the ruler.

Show Units

Adds time units to the time format of the ruler.

Compact

Shows the time without unit indicators.

Meter Tab

On this tab, you can congure the appearance of the Bars and Beats option.

Time Signature

Lets you edit the time signature used to display the time represented as a musical notation.

Tempo

Lets you edit the tempo used to display the time represented as a musical notation.

Ticks per Quarter Note

Lets you edit the number of ticks per quarter note. These are used to display times that are compatible with your sequencer.

Managing Tabs

A tab is a container for a le in WaveLab Elements. You can open several tabs, but only one can be active at a time. The Tabs context menu offer tab related options.

File Tabs

The following options are available when you right-click a le tab.

Add to

Allows you to add the active le to another editor.

Closes the active tab.

Page 43

Workspace Window Activating Full Screen Mode

Close All But This

Closes all les but the active le.

Close All Audio Files

Closes all audio les.

Info

Displays information about the active le.

Reveal in File Explorer/macOS Finder

Opens the File Explorer/macOS Finder to show the location of the le.

Copy to Clipboard

Opens a menu, from which you can select which information about the le you want to copy to the clipboard.

Recent Files

Allows you to open recently used les.

Activating Full Screen Mode

You can use WaveLab Elements in full screen mode.

PROCEDURE

● Select Workspace > Full Screen.

Resetting the Default Workspace Layout

PROCEDURE

● Select Workspace > Reset Default Layout.

Page 44

Project Handling

Opening Files

You can open one or several les at the same time.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > Open.

2. Select the le type that you want to open.

For example, Audio File.

3. From the File Explorer/macOS Finder, select the les that you want to open.

4. Click Open.

Opening Files from the Clipboard

You can open les in WaveLab Elements that you have previously copied to the clipboard in the File Explorer/macOS Finder.

PROCEDURE

1. In the File Explorer/macOS Finder, copy the les that you want to open to the clipboard.

2. In WaveLab Elements, select File > Open.

3. Click Open Files from Clipboard.

RESULT

The les open in new le tabs.

Automatically Opening Files in a Dedicated Tab Group

You can specify a le type for each tab group. Files that open after rendering, audio les that you open from an audio montage, or les that you open via the File Explorer/macOS Finder are automatically opened in the corresponding tab group for this

● To specify a precedented le type for a tab group, click File Tab Group Options at the header of a tab group, and select a le type.

le type.

Page 45

Project Handling Value Editing

Value Editing

At various places in the program, numerical values can be edited by using a combination of text elds and knobs.

Values are sometimes composed of several elements, for example, 12 mn 30 sec 120 ms. Each value can be edited by using any of the following methods:

●

● To change the value using the mouse wheel, position the mouse cursor over a value, and

● To change the value with the mouse, click a value and drag the mouse up or down.

● To jump to the maximum and minimum values, press the Home or End key, respectively.

● To move from one element of the value to another, press Left Arrow or Right Arrow.

To change a value, click in a value eld and type a new value, or click the small arrows in the value

To change the value by one unit at a time, press Up Arrow or Down Arrow.

use the mouse wheel, or use the AI knob of your MIDI controller.

eld.

Drag Operations

WaveLab Elements makes much use of drag-and-drop techniques to perform various operations, some of which can only be performed this way. These are referred to as drag operations in this documentation.

● To drag an object, click and hold with the mouse when positioned on the object and drag it. Drop the object by releasing the button.

Many types of objects can be dragged between different source and destination locations, for example,

NOTE

It is also possible to drag and drop les from WaveLab Elements to Steinberg’s Nuendo.

● To reorder a tab within its own tabbed group, drag horizontally. To move a tab to another

● To open a le, drag it from the File Browser window of WaveLab Elements, from the File

● To create a copy of a le, drag its tab vertically to another position of the tab bar, then

● You can dock and undock tool windows and meter windows via dragging.

RELATED LINKS

Docking and Undocking Tool Windows and Meter Windows on page 35

les, text, clips, items in a list, and markers.

window, drag vertically.

Explorer/macOS Finder, or from another application to the tab bar.

press Ctrl/Cmd, and release the mouse button.

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Project Handling Undoing and Redoing

Dragging in the Audio Editor and Audio Montage Window

You can perform different operations depending on where you drag in the Audio Editor or Montage window.

To insert an audio le in another audio le, drag the title bar of the le onto the waveform

● of another le. You can also drag an audio le from the File Browser window, the File Explorer/macOS Finder, or from another application into the Audio Editor.

● To move a marker, drag it to another position on the time ruler.

● To create a copy of a marker, press Shift, and drag it to another position on the time ruler.

● To delete a marker, drag it upwards outside the time ruler.

●

To copy an audio selection, drag a selected region of audio onto the waveform area of the same le or another le.

●

To change the extent of a selection range, position the edit cursor at the start/end of the selection range, and drag to the left or right.

●

To move the edit cursor without losing the current selection, and to snap it to an anchor, press

Shift, and move the mouse near the audio le/montage cursor. The mouse cursor

shape changes and you can drag the cursor left and right.

●

To move the edit cursor without changing or losing the current selection, press Shift, click the edit cursor, and drag it to another position.

● To scroll the waveform horizontally, click the bar above the time ruler and drag left or right. You can also click anywhere on the waveform using the 3rd mouse button, and drag left or right.

● To create a generic marker from a selected text, drop the text that you have selected in an external application onto the time ruler. The text becomes the marker name.

● To create a stereo copy of a mono le, or a mixed copy of a stereo le, drag a tab to another position of the tab bar, press Ctrl-Alt (Windows) or Option-Ctrl (Mac), and release the mouse button.

Dragging in the Podcast Window

● To reorder episodes in the episodes list, drag them to another position.

Dragging in the Master Section

● To change the order of processing, drag effects between different effects slots.

Undoing and Redoing

You can undo and redo as many operations as you like, even after saving the le. The only limitation is the available hard disk space.

When undoing or redoing any operation in the Audio Editor or the Audio Montage window, the zoom factor, cursor position, scroll position, clip selection status, and time range are restored to the state before the operation.

To undo or redo an operation, click Undo or Redo in the title bar of the Audio Editor

● or Audio Montage window.

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Project Handling Undoing and Redoing

Version History

The version history allows you to view a history of all versions and to revert to a previous version.

History window, you can see all versions of the audio montage or audio le that you are

In the working on.

In the WaveLab Elements history, each version consists of an audio le or audio montage that can be restored. Each edit to the audio

The Audio Montage window and the Audio Editor have independent History windows.

You can undo and redo operations, and restore previous versions, even after saving the le. The initial version is at the top of the list, the most recent version is at the bottom of the list.

The name of the operation that created the version is shown in the Version row in the History window.

History Window for Audio Montages

This window shows all versions of the audio montage that you are working on. You can undo and redo operations, and restore previous versions. The initial version is at the top of the list, the most recent version is at the bottom of the list.

● To open the History window, open the Audio Montage window and select Tool Windows > History.

le or audio montage creates a new version.

History List

In the history list, the following columns are available:

Version

Shows the type of operation that created the corresponding version.

Time

Shows the time of the operation.

Description

Allows you to add a description to a version.

Functions Menu

The following options are available via the Functions menu:

Undo/Redo

Undoes/Redoes the last operation. You can use undo/redo even after saving.

Restore Selected Version

Restores the selected version.

Open Selected Version in New Tab

Opens the selected version in a new tab.

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Project Handling Undoing and Redoing

Delete Selected Version

Deletes the selected version from the history.

Clear History

Clears the history. This frees up memory and hard disk space. If you clear the history, you cannot undo any previous operations.

Keep Undone Versions

By default, if you revert to a previous version, all versions that were created after the selected version are deleted. To keep all versions in the history even if you revert to previous versions, activate

EXAMPLE

You have done edits A, B, C, and D. Now you undo edits C and D. Then you do edit E. In the default version history, the history now contains the edits A, B, and E. If Keep Undone Versions is activated, the history contains the edits A, B, C, D, and E. That is, even after undoing steps, you can still revert to the undone versions.

History Window for Audio Files

This window shows all versions of the audio le that you are working on. You can undo and redo operations, and restore previous versions. The initial version is at the top of the list, the most recent version is at the bottom of the list.

Keep Undone Versions.

● To open the History window, open the Audio Editor, and select Tool Windows > History.

History List

In the history list, the following columns are available:

Version

Shows the type of operation that created the corresponding version.

Time

Shows the time of the operation.

Description

Allows you to add a description to a version.

Functions Menu

The following options are available via the Functions menu:

Undo/Redo

Undoes/Redoes the last operation. You can use undo/redo even after saving.

Restore Selected Version

Restores the selected version.

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Project Handling Zooming in the Workspace Window

Open Selected Version in New Tab

Opens the selected version in a new tab.

Delete Selected Version

Deletes the selected version from the history.

Clear History

Clears the history. This frees up memory, hard disk space, and any involved audio les. If you clear the history, you cannot undo any previous operations.

Keep Undone Versions

By default, if you revert to a previous version, all versions that were created after the selected version are deleted. To keep all versions, activate

For example: You have done edits A, B, C, and D. Now you undo edits C and D. Then you do edit E. In the default version history, the history now contains the edits A, B, and E. If Keep Undone Versions is activated, the history contains the edits A, B, C, D, and E. That is, even after undoing steps, you can still revert to the undone versions.

Navigating Backwards and Forwards

In audio les and audio montages, you can navigate to the previous/next cursor position, zoom factor, and selection range without undoing/redoing the edit operation.

Keep Undone Versions.

● To navigate backwards or forwards, click Navigate Backwards or Navigate Forwards

in the title bar of the Audio Editor or Audio Montage window.

Zooming in the Workspace Window

You can zoom in the Workspace window according to the standard zoom techniques.

Zooming Horizontally

● When you zoom out as far as possible, the entire le ts in the window.

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

Zooming Vertically

● When you zoom out as far as possible, the height of the wave ts in the window.

● As you progressively zoom in, the display only shows a part of the total height. The vertical scrollbar lets you adjust exactly which section is shown. Check the ruler to see which part of the waveform is shown in the display.

● To optimize the vertical zoom of the waveform, press Ctrl/Cmd, the time ruler, keep the mouse button pressed, and drag the mouse up or down.

High Zoom Level

● When the zooming level is very high, each sample is shown with a step and a bullet. The steps show the real digitized state, while the bullets make it easier to see the samples, especially for zeroed samples.

● The curve also represents an estimation of the analog reconstructed signal to give hints on true peaks.

Page 50

Project Handling Zooming in the Workspace Window

Zooming in the Overview and Main View Sections (Audio Editor Only)

● You can have different zoom levels in the overview and in the main view section. In the overview, a range indicator on the time ruler indicates which section of the le is displayed in the main view.

● To adjust the zoom level, drag the edges of the range indicator.

● To scroll in the main view, drag the range indicator. The range indicator is located at the top of the overview display.

● To adjust the zoom level using the scrollbar, drag the edges of the scrollbar.

Zooming Using the Zoom Controls

Both the main view and the overview have horizontal and vertical zoom controls.

To zoom horizontally, click the Horizontal Zoom control, and drag left or right, or use the

● mouse wheel.

To zoom vertically, click the Vertical Zoom control, and drag up or down, or use the mouse

● wheel.

To fully zoom-out, double-click the zoom controls.

●

Page 51

Project Handling Zooming in the Workspace Window

Zooming Using the Zoom Tool

The Zoom tool is used to zoom in a specic section of the waveform so that it occupies the entire wave window. This is only available in the

Using the Zoom Tool in the Main View

The selection that you make in the main view of the wave window is magnied and lls up the entire main view.

PROCEDURE

1. In the Audio Editor, select the View tab.

2. In the Zoom section, click Zoom.

3. In the main view of the wave window, click and drag left or right, and release the mouse

button.

The selected part of the wave now occupies the entire main view.

Audio Editor.

Using the Zoom Tool in the Overview

The selection that you make in the overview of the wave window is displayed in the main view.

PROCEDURE

● In the overview of the wave window, click and drag left or right, and release the mouse button.

RESULT

The selected range of the waveform is shown in the main view.

Zooming Using the Mouse

With the mouse, you can change the zoom factor by clicking and dragging or by using the mouse wheel.

● To zoom horizontally, in the wave window or the montage window, position the mouse cursor over the time ruler, click, and drag up or down.

To zoom horizontally while maintaining the cursor position, position the mouse cursor

● over the time ruler, press Shift, and drag up or down.

For this, you can also use the mouse wheel. Press Ctrl/Cmd-Shift, point at a waveform, and use the mouse wheel.

To zoom horizontally around the mouse cursor position using the mouse wheel, press

●

Ctrl/Cmd, point at a waveform, and use the mouse wheel.

To zoom horizontally around the edit cursor position, press Ctrl/Cmd-Shift, point at a

● waveform, and use the mouse wheel.

To zoom vertically using the mouse wheel, press Shift, point at a waveform, and use the

● mouse wheel.

Page 52

Project Handling Zooming in the Workspace Window

Audio Editor Only

● To zoom vertically, in the wave window, position the mouse cursor over the level ruler, click, and drag left or right.

● To reset the vertical zoom to 0 dB, double-click the level ruler.

● To set the vertical zoom to the best value, that is, the current minimum and maximum displayed samples, make sure that the level ruler is set to 0 dB, and double-click the level ruler.

Zooming Using the Keyboard

A quick way to zoom the active wave or montage window is to use the arrow keys on the computer keyboard.

●

To zoom horizontally in the active wave window or montage window, press Up Arrow or

Down Arrow.

●

To zoom vertically in the active wave/montage window, hold Shift, and press Up Arrow or

Down Arrow.

●

To zoom vertically to t the available height, press Ctrl/Cmd-Shift-Up Arrow.

●

To zoom out fully, press Ctrl/Cmd-Down Arrow.

● To zoom in fully, press Ctrl/Cmd-Up Arrow.

RELATED LINKS

Global Preferences on page 275

Zoom Options

The zoom options allow you to quickly access various zoom settings.

The zoom options are available in the Audio Editor and the Audio Montage window on the View tab in the Zoom section.

Time

Zoom

Opens a pop-up menu that allows you to adjust the zoom to display the selected time range. Zoom in 1:1 zooms in so that one pixel on the screen represents one sample.

To edit the zoom factor, click Edit Zoom Factor. This opens the Zoom Factor dialog, where you can edit the following settings:

● Set Time Range allows you to specify the time range that you want to display.

● Samples per Screen Point allows you to specify how many audio samples are

summarized in each screen point.

● Screen Points per Sample allows you to specify how many screen points are

used to represent a single audio sample.

Activates the Zoom tool that allows you to dene a time range that is zoomed in.

Zoom Selection

Zooms the window so that the current selection occupies the entire montage window.

Display Whole Clip (Audio Montage window only)

Adjusts the view to display the active clip.

View All

Displays the entire audio range.

Page 53

Project Handling Zooming in the Workspace Window

Microscope

Zooms in as far as possible.

Zoom in Audio (10x)/Zoom out Audio (10x)

Zooms in/out in big steps.

Zoom in Audio/Zoom out Audio

Zooms in/out in small steps.

Level

Adjusts the zoom to only display samples below the selected dB value.

Optimize Vertical Zoom (Audio Editor only)

Changes the vertical zoom factor so that the peaks are clearly visible. This adjustment is done according to the section of the wave that is visible in the wave/ montage window.

Reset Zoom to 0 dB

Adjusts the zoom to display audio levels up to 0 dB.

Zoom in Vertically/Zoom out Vertically

Zooms in/out to show waveforms with a lower/higher level.

Zooming in Audio Montages

Zooming options in the Audio Montage window are almost similar to those in the Audio Editor. However, there are additional zooming options for tracks.

Zoom Buttons in the Audio Montage

The zoom buttons in the Audio Montage window allow you to apply zoom presets.

● To set the zoom setting to t the active clips in 25 %, 50 %, or 100 % of the available space, click the corresponding buttons.

● To select a specic area, click Ctrl/Cmd, and drag the rectangle over the tracks and clips that you want to zoom in on.

Displaying More or Less Tracks

The number of tracks that are displayed in the Audio Montage window can be changed with the zoom controls in the lower right corner of the montage window.

To display more tracks, click the smaller magnifying glass icon.

●

To display fewer tracks, click the larger magnifying glass icon.

●

Page 54

Project Handling Presets

● To make a single track t the whole montage window, click the numbered button in the track control area, and select Zoom from the pop-up menu.

You can also right-click the lower area of a track, and select Display Whole Clip from the pop-up menu.

Presets

You can create presets to save commonly used settings. WaveLab Elements provides a selection of factory presets that can be used by most dialogs.

You can save customized presets. The next time that you load the program, the presets are available.

Presets are saved as single les and can be organized in subfolders. The root folder of the preset is different for each type of preset and cannot be changed.

Saving a Preset

PROCEDURE

1. Open the dialog that you want to use and modify the parameters.

2. Open the Presets pop-up menu and select Save As.

3. Optional: Click the folder icon and enter a name for the subfolder that you want to use as

the location for this preset.

4. Type in a name.

5. Click Save.

Loading Presets

To apply a saved preset or a factory preset to a dialog or plug-in, you must load the preset.

PROCEDURE

1. In the dialog, open the Presets pop-up menu.

2. Select the preset that you want to apply.

Modifying a Preset

You can modify a preset and save the changes.

PROCEDURE

1. Open the dialog that you want to use.

2. Load the preset that you want to modify.

3. Modify the parameters of the dialog.

4. Open the Presets pop-up menu and select Save.

Deleting a Preset

PROCEDURE

1. Open the dialog that you want to use.

2. Select the preset that you want to delete.

Page 55

Project Handling Presets

3. Open the Presets pop-up menu and select Organize Presets.

4. In the File Explorer/macOS Finder, select the preset le that you want to delete, and press

Delete.

Saving and Restoring Temporary Presets

Some dialogs allow you to save and load up to 5 temporary presets. This is useful if you want to quickly test and compare different settings.

Saving Presets Temporarily

PROCEDURE

1. Open the dialog that you want to use and make your settings.

2. Open the Presets pop-up menu.

3. From the Store Temporarily submenu, select a slot.

Restoring Temporary Presets

PROCEDURE

1. Open the dialog in which you have saved a preset.

2. Open the Presets pop-up menu.

3. From the Restore submenu, select a preset.

Page 56

File Operations

Recently Used Files

All les that you have recently used in WaveLab Elements are saved in a list. This helps you to gain fast access to recent projects. You can open recently used les via the File menu.

Opening Recently Used Files

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > Open.

2. Select the le type that you want to open.

3. Click Recent Files.

4. Optional: Use the search eld to enter the name of the le that you are looking for.

5. Select the le that you want to open.

6. Click Open.

Recent Files Tab

This tab allows you to view and manage all the les that you have recently used in WaveLab Elements. You can search for les, open multiple les at once, and remove individual les or les that cannot be located.

● To open the Recent Files tab, select File > Open, select one of the le types, and click

Recent Files.

Only Show Files Created by WaveLab Elements

Only shows the les that have not been opened since they were created by WaveLab Elements. For example, a le that is rendered has this status until it is opened.

Search eld

Lets you search for text in the Name or Path column, depending on which column is selected.

Remove Non-Existing Files

Removes those les from the list that cannot be located on the medium.

Remove Selected Files

Removes all selected les from the list.

Page 57

File Operations Save and Save As

Open

Opens the selected les.

Filtering Recently Used Files by Name

The search eld in the Recent Files tab allows you to lter the les list by name.

● To specify whether the Name or the Path column is used, click the Name or Path column header.

To search for a le, enter the text that you want to search for in the search eld.

●

● To switch the focus from the search eld to the list of recently used les, press

Down Arrow.

●

To switch the focus from the list of recently used les to the search eld, press Ctrl/Cmd-F.

Setting the Number of Recently Used Files to Display

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > Preferences > Global.

2. Select the Display tab.

3. In the History section, set the maximum number of items to be listed on the Recent File

menu.

Save and Save As

You can save les under the same name and location or specify a new name, location, and le format when saving.

● Once a le has been saved, select File > Save, or press Ctrl/Cmd-S to update the le and make the changes permanent.

● If you want to specify a new name, location, and/or le format, select File > Save As.

NOTE

In the Audio Editor, all save operations except Save Copy clear the undo history, which means that after saving you cannot undo or redo.

Tab Change Indicators

The colored tab corner gives information on whether a le is saved or not, and whether the le has been rendered in Cubase.

White

The le is not modied.

Green (Audio Editor only)

The le uses a decoded le format and is saved.

Red

The le has been modied and changes have not been saved yet.

Yellow

The le has been rendered in Cubase.

Page 58

File Operations Save and Save As

Unsaved changes indicator

When you have made changes to a le, an asterisk is displayed next to the le name until you save the le.

Saving Multiple Files at Once

You can save some or all open les at once.

PROCEDURE

1. Open the File window and click Save All.

2. Select the les that you want to save.

3. Click Save.

Saving Copies of Files

You can save copies of les that you are working on.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > Save As.

2. Specify a name and location.

3. Right-click Save and select Save Copy.

Reverting to Saved File

You can revert the le that you are working on back to its last saved state. This undoes all the changes made to the

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > Open.

2. Select the le type that you want to open.

3. Click Revert to Saved File.

4. In the warning dialog, click Yes to revert to the last saved state.

RESULT

The last saved version of the le is loaded from disk.

Automatic Backups

le since it was last saved.

You can automatically create backups of your les to prevent data loss.

For example, if you select Save As and specify a le name that is already used in that folder, you will be asked if you want to replace the existing le or replace the existing le and rename the old le. If you click Replace and Keep Old, the backup name of the audio le that is replaced will be the original name, with

.bak added at the end.

Page 59

File Operations Templates

Saving Audio Montages

The saving operations for audio montages are the same as for audio les. However, there are things to note when saving audio montages.

Audio montage les only contain references to audio les. If you want to rename audio

●

les that are referenced by audio montages, rename the audio les in the Info window of

Audio Editor. All clip references are updated automatically.

the

● If the audio montage contains clips that refer to untitled audio les, save these audio les before saving the audio montage.

RELATED LINKS

Renaming Files on page 63 Save and Save As on page 57

Templates

You can save le settings that you regularly use as templates. Templates are useful when creating new audio les, audio montages, or podcasts.

Templates Tab

This tab shows all templates, and allows you to create and open templates.

● To open the Templates tab, select File > New, select a le type, and click Templates.

List of the available templates

Add Template

Explore

Use Template Name as Default File Name

Lists all saved templates.

Allows you to add a new template or update an existing template.

Opens the folder where the template les are located. Here, you can rename and delete templates.

If this option is activated and you click Add Template, a new le is created and uses the name of the template. If this option is deactivated, the name of the new le is “untitled”.

Creating Templates

You can create a template from an active audio montage, audio le, or podcast and use it as a basis for newly created les.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > New.

Page 60

File Operations Templates

2. Select the le type for which you want to create a template.

3. Click Templates.

4. In the Templates tab, do one of the following:

● To create a new template, click Add Template, make your settings, and click Create.

● To update an existing template, click Add Template, enter the name of the template

that you want to update, and click Create.

5. Optional: If you want to use the template name as the default le name, activate Use Template Name as Default File Name.

6. When saving or updating an audio le template or an audio montage template, you can

make additional settings.

●

When saving an audio le template, the Audio File Template dialog opens. Here, you can select whether WaveLab Elements should attach an audio le format.

●

When saving an audio montage template, the Audio Montage Template dialog opens. Here, you can select whether to include track plug-ins, clips, and/or markers. Also select whether WaveLab Elements should attach an audio le format.

Audio File Template Dialog

The Audio File Template dialog displays the audio properties of the audio le template that you are creating. You can also specify whether to always associate a specic audio le conguration with optional metadata when creating an audio le template or not.

● To open the Audio File Template dialog, select File > New, click Audio File, and click

Templates. In the Templates tab, click Add Template.

Attach Audio File Format

If this option is activated, whenever you open the Render or Save As dialogs, the audio le conguration specied below is proposed by default.

Template Name

Allows you to enter a name for the template.

Audio Montage Template Dialog

In the Audio Montage Template dialog, you can set various options when creating an audio montage template.

● To open the Audio Montage Template dialog, select File > New, click Audio Montage, and click Templates. In the Templates tab, click Add Template.

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File Operations Templates

Include Clips

If this option is activated, clips are saved in the template.

Include Track and Montage Plug-ins

If this option is activated, track plug-ins and montage plug-ins are saved in the template.

Include Markers

If this option is activated, markers are saved in the template.

Attach Audio File Format

If this option is activated, whenever you use the Render function in the Master Section, the audio le conguration specied below is proposed by default.

Template Name

Allows you to enter a name for the template.

Creating Files From Templates

You can create a le from a template to use its settings.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > New.

2. Select the le type that you want to create.

3. Click Templates.

4. From the list of the available templates, select the template that you want to take as the

basis of the new le.

Deleting Templates

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > New.

2. Select the le type for which you want to delete templates.

3. Click Templates.

4. Click Explore.

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File Operations Templates

5. In the File Explorer/macOS Finder, delete the templates.

Renaming Templates

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > New.

2. Select the le type for which you want to rename templates.

3. Click Templates.

4. Click Explore.

5. In the File Explorer/macOS Finder, rename the templates.

Setting Templates as Default

You can set a template as the default template that opens when you click New on the command bar.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > New.

2. Select the le type that you want to open.

3. Select Templates.

4. Right-click a template and select Set as Default.

RELATED LINKS

Command Bar on page 36

Dening Shortcuts for Templates

You can dene key sequences and keywords for templates. This allows you to quickly open a template.

When you create templates from shortcuts, the option Use Template Name as Default File Name on the Templates tab is taken into account.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > New.

2. Select the le type that you want to open.

3. Select Templates.

4. Right-click a template and select Dene Shortcut.

5. In the Shortcut Denitions dialog, edit the shortcut for the selected template.

6. Click OK.

RELATED LINKS

Templates Tab on page 59

Page 63

File Operations File Renaming

File Renaming

You can rename a le and update all references automatically. For example, if you rename an audio le named India to Sitar, all open les that reference the le India are updated to reference the le as Sitar.

Audio les, peak les, and marker les are also renamed accordingly.

Renaming Files

PREREQUISITE

If you want to rename a le that is referenced by other les, open the les that reference the le that you are about to rename in WaveLab Elements.

PROCEDURE

1. Open the le that you want to rename.

2. Select the File tab.

3. Click Info.

4. In the Name section, enter the new name and/or a new le location.

5. Select a le sux from the pop-up menu.

6. Click Apply Changes.

Deleting Files

You can delete the active le from within WaveLab Elements.

PREREQUISITE

The le that you want to delete is not copied to the clipboard, is not pasted into another le that is open, and is not open in another application.

PROCEDURE

1. Open the le that you want to delete.

2. Select the File tab.

3. Click Info.

4. Click Delete.

5. Click OK.

RESULT

The le, including its peak and marker les, is deleted.

Temporary Files

WaveLab Elements creates temporary les to store intermediary results of the audio le processing and for the undo/redo functions. You can specify where WaveLab Elements saves its temporary les and the processing precision of temporary les.

By default, WaveLab Elements creates temporary les in 32-bit oat. Use the 64 bit oat option if you want to create 64-bit oat audio les or 32-bit PCM les.

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File Operations Work Folders vs. Document Folders

NOTE

Temporary les in 64-bit oat have double precision but take longer to read and write than 32-bit oat and their le size is twice as big.

You can change the processing precision of temporary les with the Temporary Files option. You can set this option in the Global Preferences on the Audio tab.

RELATED LINKS

Specifying Folders on page 64 Audio Tab on page 277

Work Folders vs. Document Folders

WaveLab Elements distinguishes between two types of folders: work folders and document folders.

●

In work folders, temporary les are saved.

●

Document folders contain WaveLab Elements-specic les, such as audio les, audio montages, etc.

Specifying Folders

You can specify which document folder should open when you perform an open or save operation. You can also specify up to three work folders for temporary les.

PROCEDURE

1. Open the le for which you want to specify folders.

2. Select File > Preferences > Folders.

3. On the Folders tab, click the type of folder for which you want to specify a location.

4. Specify a location in the Folder eld.

5. Optional: Depending on the selected type of folder, you can make additional settings.

Folders Tab

On this tab, you can specify default document folders and work folders for each le type.

● To open the Folders tab, select File > Preferences > Folders.

In the list on the left, you specify the folder type that you want to make settings for.

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File Operations Work Folders vs. Document Folders

Folder for Temporary Files

Specify a folder for saving temporary les.

Companion Files

Specify a folder for saving companion les, that is, Master Section presets and view settings for audio

Cache Folder

Activate Use Cache Folder for Decoded Files to specify a cache folder. The cache folder contains wave compressed le formats, such as MP3 les. To prevent the cache folder from growing

indenitely, WaveLab Elements checks the date of each le in this folder and deletes les that were created before a specic number of days. You can specify the number

of days with the Delete Files Older Than option.

If Use Cache Folder for Decoded Files is deactivated, the compressed les are decoded each time they are opened.

Audio File – Open Folder/Save Folder

The default open and save folders for audio les.

Audio Montage – Open Folder/Save Folder

The default open and save folders for audio montage les.

les.

les that are created when you are working with les in

Depending on the selected item, different settings are available on the right side of the dialog.

Current Folder

In this eld, the folder that is used as default is displayed. You can click the folder button to the right to navigate to a folder, or to create a new folder.

Keep Last Used

Uses the last folder for saving or opening les of the selected type.

Change When Save Folder Changes/Change When Open Folder Changes

Updates the default open folder when you change the default save folder, and vice versa. Activate this option for both the save folder and the open folder if you want a specic le type to use the same folder for saving and for opening this type of le.

Use for File Browser

In the File Browser, the folder does not change when you switch between le types by default.

If you activate Use for File Browser and deactivate Keep Last Used, the folder location that you have selected in the displayed when you switch between le types in the File Browser.

If you activate Use for File Browser and Keep Last Used, the folder that you have selected in the Current Folder eld of each le type is displayed when you select a

le type for the rst time. When you then browse to another folder in the File Browser, the Keep Last Used behavior is used. That is, the last used folder for this

le type is displayed when you select the le type.

You can make these settings for each le type independently.

Current Folder eld of each le type is

On Reopening the Application, Revert to This Folder

Activate this option to restore a specic folder each time you open WaveLab Elements. This way, any changes to save/open folders are only temporary and are reset when you restart WaveLab Elements.

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File Operations Copying Audio Information to the Clipboard

Copying Audio Information to the Clipboard

You can copy information about the name and location of the selected audio le, including any selection information and cursor position. This information can be pasted into an external text application.

This is useful if you need accurate le path/selection information when writing a script, for example.

PROCEDURE

1. Click the File tab.

2. Click Info.

3. Click Copy to Clipboard and select the information that you want to copy to the clipboard.

Setting the Focus on the Current File

If you are editing inside a oating window or a tool window and you want to switch the focus back to a wave/montage window, you can use the Set Focus on Current File option.

PROCEDURE

● In any window, press Ctrl/Cmd-F12, to set the focus on the wave/montage window.

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Playback

This chapter describes the methods for controlling playback and transport functions.

Transport Bar

With this command bar you can control playback of an audio le or audio montage, navigate between various positions in an audio

The transport bar is available in the Audio Editor and in the Audio Montage window.

By default, the extended transport bar options are hidden.

● To activate the extended transport bar, click Extend Transport Bar on the transport bar.

Presets

Allows you to save and apply presets.

le or audio montage, and open the Recording dialog.

Skip Range

If this button is activated, playback skips the selected range and any region within exclusion markers.

Perform Pre-Roll/Perform Post-Roll

Activates pre-roll or post-roll for the commands Play from Anchor, Play until Anchor, and Play Audio Range.

Right-click the button to select the pre-roll or post-roll length and to specify to which commands you want to apply pre-roll/post-roll to. To edit the pre-roll/post-roll times, select Edit Pre-Roll and Post-Roll Times.

Play Audio Range

Plays the selected audio range. Post-roll and pre-roll settings are taken into account. Right-click the button to open a menu with related options and auto selection modes.

● If Auto Select Range is activated, the range is automatically selected

according to the editing actions.

● If Auto Replay While Editing is activated, playback is automatically restarted

when you hold down the mouse button while editing ranges, and use the shortcuts to trigger playback. This is useful to

This option works even if the automated selection mode is deactivated.

● If Solo Track When Editing is activated and you keep the mouse button

pressed when editing ranges in the montage window, the track is soloed when you start playback using the shortcuts for

Anchor, or Play until Anchor. This option is only available in the Audio Montage window.

nd a loop, for example.

Play Audio Range, Play from

You can select different audio ranges for playback:

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Playback Transport Bar

● Time Selection

● Region between Marker Pairs

● Clip (audio montage only)

● Crossfade (audio montage only)

● Fade In (audio montage only)

● Fade Out (audio montage only)

Play until Anchor/Play from Anchor

Plays until or from anchor. Pre-roll and post-roll settings are taken into account. Right-click the button to open a menu with related options and auto selection modes.

● If Auto Select Anchor is activated, the anchor is automatically selected

according to the editing actions.

● If Auto Replay While Editing is activated, playback is automatically restarted

when you hold down the mouse button while editing anchors, and use the shortcuts to trigger playback. This is useful to nd a loop, for example.

This option works even when the automated selection mode is deactivated.

● If Solo Track When Editing is activated and you keep the mouse button

pressed when editing anchors in the montage window, the track is soloed when you start playback using the shortcuts for

Anchor, or Play until Anchor. This option is only available in the Audio Montage window.

Play Audio Range, Play from

You can select which anchor to use as reference for the commands Play from Anchor and Play until Anchor. When there are multiple possibilities, for example,

multiple markers, the last selected item is used as a reference anchor or, if no item was selected, the closest item near the edit cursor position is used.

You can select one of the following anchors:

● Edit Cursor

● Start of File

● Start of Selected Time Range

● End of Selected Time Range

● Any Marker

● Region Start Marker

● Region End Marker

● Clip Start (audio montage only)

● Clip End (audio montage only)

● Selected Envelope Point in Active Clip (audio montage only)

When an anchor is detected, for example, a region marker pair, this is indicated by a green anchor marker.

Move Cursor to Start of File/Move Cursor to End of File

Moves the edit cursor to the start/end of the le.

Move Playback Position Backwards/Move Playback Position Forwards

Moves the edit cursor position to the left/right. If you click during playback, playback jumps to the new edit cursor position.

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Playback Transport Bar

To move the edit cursor to the start/end of the le, press Ctrl/Cmd, and click the Move Playback Position Backwards/Move Playback Position Forwards buttons.

Navigation anchors allow you to move the edit cursor to specic positions in the

le or audio montage. Right-click the Move Playback Position Backwards/

audio Move Playback Position Forwards buttons to open the Navigation Anchors popup menu. Here, you can set the type of navigation anchor. If you click during playback, playback continues from the anchor position.

Loop

Activates loop mode. Right-click the loop button to select whether to loop continuously or only a few times.

Stop Playback

Stops playback. If playback is already stopped, the edit cursor is moved to the previous start position. Right-click the button to open the Move Cursor Back to Start Position pop-up menu.

● If After Standard Playback is activated, the edit cursor jumps back to the

start position when regular playback stops.

● If After Automated Playback is activated, the edit cursor jumps back to the

start position when playback stops after Play from Anchor, Play until

Anchor, or Play Audio Range.

Start Playback from Edit Cursor

Starts playing back the active audio le or audio montage from the edit cursor position.

If the audio being played back is not the active audio le, the Play button has a different color. This happens if you switch to another le window during playback, for example.

The playback button when playing back in the active window (left) and when playing in another window (right)

You can also start playback from the last stop position. Right-click the button to open the Lead Sequence pop-up menu.

● If you select Start, playback starts from the cursor position.

● If you select Resume from Last Interruption, playback starts from the last

stop position.

Record

Opens the Recording dialog.

Time Display

Displays the edit cursor or playback position. Click to select another time unit.

Transport Bar in the Podcast Editor

In the Podcast Editor, a simplied transport bar allows you to play back the selected podcast episode.

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Playback Transport Bar

Play Button

Clicking the Play button on the transport bar starts playing back the active audio le or audio montage from the edit cursor position.

You can also use the Space bar or the Enter key on your keyboard to start playback. Pressing

Space during playback stops playback, pressing Enter during playback makes playback restart

from the last start position.

If the Loop button is activated, the audio selection is looped, if available. Otherwise, the region

dened by loop markers is looped. If there are no selection ranges or loop markers, the entire le is looped.

The standard play command is not inuenced by the Play Audio Range, Play from Anchor, and Play until Anchor options.

Stop Playback Button

The result of clicking the Stop Playback button on the transport bar or 0 on your numeric keypad depends on the current situation.

●

If you trigger Stop Playback in stop mode, the edit cursor moves either to the previous playback start marker, or to the selection start (whatever is closer), until the start of the le is reached.

● If there is no selection or if the edit cursor is positioned to the left of the selection, it is moved to the beginning of the le instead.

Playing Back Audio Ranges

You can play back audio ranges using the Play Audio Range options on the transport bar.

PROCEDURE

1. On the transport bar, right-click Play Audio Range and select the range type that you want to play back.

2. Optional: Activate Perform Pre-Roll and/or Perform Post-Roll.

3. Position the edit cursor inside the range that you want to play back or make a selection

range.

This selected range and, if activated, the pre-roll and post-roll times are displayed on the time ruler.

4. To play back the selected range, click Play Audio Range on the transport bar or press F6.

RESULT

The selected range is played back. Pre-roll and post-roll settings are taken into account. If the Loop mode is active, pre-roll is used before the rst loop only, and post-roll is only used after the last loop.

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Playback Transport Bar

Playing Back from an Anchor or until an Anchor

You can play back audio from an anchor or until a specied anchor using the Play from Anchor or Play until Anchor options on the transport bar.

PROCEDURE

1. On the transport bar, right-click Play from Anchor or Play until Anchor, and select an anchor type.

2. Depending on the selected anchor type, position the edit cursor in the wave window or montage window inside the range that you want to play back.

For example, if you have selected Region Start Marker, click somewhere in the area of the region marker pair from which you want to play back from/to. The green anchor marker jumps to the selected anchor.

3. Optional: Activate Perform Pre-Roll and/or Perform Post-Roll.

4. To play back from the anchor marker, click the Play from Anchor button on the transport

bar or press on the transport bar or press F8.

F7. To play back until the anchor marker, click the Play until Anchor button

RESULT

Playback starts from the anchor or stops at the anchor. Pre-roll and post-roll settings are taken into account.

“Play from Anchor” and “Play until Anchor” Functions

You can play back audio from an anchor or until an anchor using the Play from Anchor or Play until Anchor functions on the transport bar. These playback functions behave differently

depending on the pre-roll and post-roll settings.

Play from Anchor

● If post-roll is activated, playback starts at the anchor position and stops after

the post-roll time. If no post-roll is selected, playback continues until the end of the audio

● If pre-roll is activated, playback starts from the selected anchor, minus the pre-

roll time.

● If pre-roll and post-roll are activated, playback starts from the selected anchor,

minus the pre-roll time and stops after the anchor point plus the post roll time.

If the loop mode is activated, the pre-roll and post-roll settings are taken into

●

account. This way you can play a loop around the edit cursor position, without having to make further range settings.

Play until Anchor

Playback starts from the cursor, and stops at the selected anchor. If the cursor

●

is beyond the selected anchor, playback starts at the selected anchor. If preroll is activated, it is taken into account.

If pre-roll is activated, playback starts from the selected anchor minus the pre-

●

roll time, until the selected anchor.

If no anchor is selected, Play until Anchor is deactivated.

●

The loop settings have no effect.

●

le or audio montage.

Page 72

Playback Transport Bar

Using the Auto Selection Mode

You can use the auto selection mode in combination with the playback shortcuts to play back audio ranges or anchors. This makes it easy to monitor your editing actions.

PROCEDURE

1. On the transport bar, right-click the Play from Anchor or Play until Anchor button and activate Auto Select Anchor.

2. Right-click the Play Audio Range button and activate Auto Select Range.

3. In the wave window or the montage window, do one of the following:

●

Make a selection range.

●

Click inside the area of a marker pair.

●

Click a fade in, fade out, or crossfade.

●

Click anywhere in the wave/montage window.

●

Drag a marker.

Depending on your action, the most appropriate range, or anchor, is selected. For example, if you click inside a marker pair, this region is selected as playback range.

The time ruler shows the selected range or anchor.

NOTE

In Auto Select Anchor and Auto Select Range mode, you can still change some range and anchor options on the transport bar to play a different range/anchor. However, the range/anchor are reselected when you start editing again with the mouse.

4. Use the playback shortcuts to start playback.

● To play back the selected audio range, press F6.

● To play back from an anchor, press F7.

● To play back until an anchor, press F8.

RESULT

The selection range is played back, or play back starts from the anchor or stops at the anchor. Pre-roll and post-roll settings are taken into account.

NOTE

A selection range has priority over any other range. To allow other ranges to be auto-selected, deselect the selection range.

Using Auto Replay While Editing

You can automatically re-trigger playback while editing audio with the mouse. This is useful if you want to monitor the adjustment of a selection boundary, for example.

PROCEDURE

1. On the transport bar, right-click the Play from Anchor or Play until Anchor button and activate

2. In the wave window or the montage window, make a selection range and keep the mouse button pressed.

3. Start playback by using one of the following shortcuts:

●

Auto Replay While Editing.

To play back the selected audio range, press F6.

To play back from an anchor, press F7.

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Playback Transport Bar

● To play back until an anchor, press F8.

4. Drag the cursor to the right or left.

The selection range is adjusted and played back until you release the mouse button. When playback ends, the new selection range is played back.

Skipping Sections During Playback

You can automatically skip a selected audio range during playback. This way, you can audition what the material would sound like without specic sections.

PROCEDURE

1. On the transport bar, activate Skip Range.

2. Activate Perform Pre-Roll and Perform Post-Roll.

3. If you want to use the Play Audio Range function, activate one of the Ranges modes.

4. Depending on the Ranges mode, do one of the following:

●

If you have activated Time Selection, make an audio selection in the wave window.

●

If you have activated Region Between Marker Pairs, click between a marker pair.

5. Select Play Audio Range, or press F6.

RESULT

The selected range is skipped during playback.

You can also use the factory preset for skipping selections during playback. Activate Skip Range, make an audio selection, and press Shift-F6.

NOTE

This mode also works with the Start Playback from Edit Cursor button if there is a time selection or if exclusion start and end markers are set. In this case, the pre-roll and post-roll times are ignored.

Loop Playback

The audio range that will be skipped is displayed on the time ruler along with the pre-roll and post-roll times.

Loop points are updated continuously during playback. If you change the loop start or end during playback, the loop changes. This way, you can audition selection points for rhythmic material.

If you loop a section in an audio montage, playback loops within the boundaries of the current selection range. This selection range may be on any track, even if it is empty. The vertical position of the selection range is of no relevance for loop playback, only the left and right selection boundaries matter.

Page 74

Playback Transport Bar

Pre-Roll and Post-Roll

You can start playback slightly before a specic position (pre-roll) and stop playback slightly after another position (post-roll). This gives you a brief context if you are auditioning a clip, for example.

The position can be an anchor or the start or end of a range. The pre-roll and post-roll times are displayed in the time ruler.

To activate pre-roll and/or post-roll, activate Perform Post-Roll and Perform Pre-Roll on the transport bar.

When right-clicking the pre-roll or post-roll button on the transport bar, you can select a pre-roll/ post-roll time. Here, you can also select a play option for the pre-roll/post-roll, and you can open the

Pre-Roll and Post-Roll Times dialog.

Pre-Roll and Post-Roll Times Dialog

This dialog allows you to dene a short, an average, and a long pre-roll and post-roll time. These settings are global to WaveLab Elements.

● To open the Pre-Roll and Post-Roll Times dialog, right-click the pre-roll or post-roll button on the transport bar, and select

Playback Shortcuts

In addition to the buttons on the transport bar, there are shortcuts to control the playback.

Space

Starts/Stops playback. This shortcut can be used even when the wave window or montage window is not the active window.

0 on numeric keypad

Stops playback. If the playback is stopped and you press this shortcut, the edit cursor moves either to the previous playback start marker, or to the selection start (whatever is closer), until the start of the

Edit Pre-Roll and Post-Roll Times.

le is reached. This is the same as clicking

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Playback Transport Bar

Stop Playback on the transport bar. This shortcut can be used even if the wave window or montage window is not the active window.

Enter

Starts playback. If pressed during playback, playback restarts from the previous start position. This is the same as clicking transport bar.

Alt-Space

Starts playback from the mouse cursor position.

Starts playback of the selected range, depending on the selected option in the

Ranges section of the transport bar.

Starts playback from the selected anchor, depending on the selected option in the

Anchors section of the transport bar.

Starts playback until the selected anchor, depending on the selected option in the

Anchors section of the transport bar.

Start Playback from Edit Cursor on the

Save Transport Bar Preset Dialog

In this dialog, you can save a transport bar setup as preset.

● To open the Save Transport Bar Preset dialog, click the Presets eld on the transport bar, and select Save As.

Path

Opens the root folder of the preset in the File Explorer/macOS Finder. Here, you can create subfolders for your presets.

Presets list

Lists all existing presets.

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Playback Starting Playback From the Ruler

Name

Lets you specify a name for your preset.

When a Preset Is Selected

This lets you assign a customized playback command to a shortcut. For example, you can set a shortcut to play a range with a short pre-roll/post-roll, and another shortcut to play a range without a pre-roll/post-roll.

When Playback Stops, Restore Previous Transport Settings

If this option is activated, the settings are restored to as they were before playback start. This is useful to trigger a special play task, and automatically switch back to the standard settings as soon as playback is nished.

Changing the Position of the Transport Bar

You can position the transport bar at the top, middle, or bottom of the le window.

PROCEDURE

1. In the title bar of the Audio Editor or Audio Montage window, click Layout Options.

2. In the Transport Bar section, select whether to position the transport bar at the Top, Middle, or Bottom.

Hiding the Transport Bar

You can hide the Transport Bar to save screen space.

PROCEDURE

1. In the title bar of the Audio Editor or Audio Montage window, click Layout Options.

2. In the Transport Bar section, select Hidden.

Audio-Processing Load

The Audio-Processing Load display on the Transport Bar shows the average audio-processing load of plug-ins during playback. This allows you to monitor the number of plug-ins you can use.

The green bar displays the average audio-processing load of all active plug-ins. At 100 % load, dropouts are likely to happen. The red bar displays the load of the last processed audio.

● To activate/deactivate the Audio-Processing Load function, right-click the Transport Bar and click Audio-Processing Load.

Starting Playback From the Ruler

You can use the ruler to jump to a position and start playback from there.

Double-clicking the ruler starts playback from that position. Playback continues until you

● click Stop Playback or until the end of the audio le or audio montage.

To set the playback position to a specic position, click the ruler during playback. This also

● applies for clicking the time rulers of another audio le or audio montage, which allows you to quickly switch playback between audio les or audio montages.

Page 77

Playback Playback Scrubbing

● To start playback from a marker position, press Ctrl/Cmd and double-click the marker.

Playback Scrubbing

Playback scrubbing helps you nd a specic position in an audio le by restarting playback repeatedly when you click and drag on the time ruler during playback or when using the tool.

Scrubbing Using the Play Tool

This tool allows you to play back from any position on one or both stereo channels.

PROCEDURE

1. In the Audio Editor, select the Edit tab.

2. In the Tools section, select the Play tool, or press and hold Alt.

3. Click in the wave window.

4. In the wave window, click at the position where you want playback to start.

The cursor shape indicates whether the left (L) or the right (R) channel is played back. Using the Play tool in the middle of the channels plays back both channels.

Play

RESULT

Playback continues for as long as you keep the mouse button pressed, or until the audio le ends. After playback has stopped, the cursor is moved to the playback start position.

Scrubbing Using the Time Ruler

PROCEDURE

1. Start playback.

2. Click the time ruler and hold the mouse button pressed, and drag left or right.

3. When you are done scrubbing, release the mouse button.

The audio is played back from the edit cursor position and a small section is looped once.

Playback Scrubbing Preferences

You can dene the behavior of the Play tool in the Audio Files Preferences.

Select File > Preferences > Audio Files. The following options are available in the Playback Scrubbing section on the Editing tab.

● If Restrict to Play Tool is activated, scrubbing is not available when you click and drag on the time ruler during playback.

● The Sensitivity setting determines the length of the audio loop that is played once when click and drag on the time ruler with the Play tool.

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Playback Scroll During Playback

Scroll During Playback

You can determine how the view should be scrolled in Play mode.

● To set the scroll mode, open the Audio Editor or the Audio Montage window, select the

View tab, and activate one of the options in the Playback section.

Static View

Disables scrolling.

View Follows Cursor

The view automatically scrolls to keep the playback cursor visible.

Scroll View

Scrolls the view to keep the playback cursor centered.

NOTE

If you get dropouts during playback, activate Static View.

Playback in the Audio Montage Window

Playback in the Audio Montage window works the same way as in the Audio Editor. However, there are some things to note.

Mute and Solo Tracks

You can mute or solo tracks in an audio montage by using the corresponding buttons in the track control area.

● When a track is muted, the mute button is yellow.

● When a track is soloed, the solo button is red.

● Solo can only be activated for one track at a time. However, you can unmute other tracks when Solo is active if you want to listen to a combination of tracks.

RELATED LINKS

Track Control Area on page 137

Playing Back Individual Clips

You can play back an individual clip on a track. Overlapping clips or clips on other tracks are muted.

PROCEDURE

1. In the montage window, right-click the lower part of the clip that you want to play back.

2. On the menu, select one of the following play options:

To play back the clip, select Play Clip.

●

To play back the clip with pre-roll, select Play Clip with Pre-Roll.

●

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Audio File Editing

Audio le editing refers to opening, editing, and saving audio les.

Wave Window

The wave window displays audio les graphically. Here, you view, play back, and edit individual

les.

audio

The wave window consists of two displays. You can use one display as an overview to navigate through the project and the other as the main view for editing.

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Audio File Editing Wave Window

You can synchronize the waveform displays so that they display the same part of the audio le, by clicking Sync with Other View.

Spectrogram

The Spectrogram allows you to view the level intensity of each area in the frequency spectrum. You can use the WaveLab Elements editing tools to edit the spectrogram.

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Audio File Editing Wave Window

Magnetic Bounds in Audio Files

Some positions, such as markers or selection edges, can be dened as magnetic. Dragged elements can snap to these positions. This makes it easier to position items accurately.

For example, if you move a marker and it gets close to one of the magnetic bounds, the marker snaps to this position. A label is displayed, indicating the snap position.

To place the cursor at a magnetic position, click the time line and keep the mouse button pressed. When you now move the cursor, it jumps to the next magnetic bound.

RELATED LINKS

Magnets Menu on page 81

Magnets Menu

On this pop-up menu, you can specify which positions should be magnetic. If Snap to Magnets is activated, items that you move snap to these positions.

● To open the Magnets pop-up menu, select the Edit tab in the Audio Editor, and click

You can let items snap to the following positions:

Start of File/End of File

Time Ruler Marks

Markers

Selection Edges

Cursor

Zero Crossing

A zero crossing is a point where the waveform crosses the zero level axis. When you perform editing operations, such as cutting, pasting, or dragging, make sure that the material is inserted at a zero crossing.

Magnets in the Snapping section.

Elements snap to the start/end of the le when they are moved near these positions.

Elements snap to the time ruler grid when they are moved near these positions.

Elements snap to marker positions when they are moved near these positions.

Elements snap to the selection edges when they are moved near these positions.

Elements snap to the edit cursor when they are moved near the cursor.

If you do not perform these operations at zero crossings, this can result in discontinuities in the wave, which are perceived as clicks or pops in the sound.

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Audio File Editing Wave Window

Activate Zero-Crossing on the Edit tab of the Audio Editor to make sure that the selections that you make are always adjusted so that they start and end at the nearest zero crossing.

Setting Up the Zero Crossing Detection

You can let selection edges automatically snap to the nearest zero crossing point. In the Audio Files Preferences dialog, you can specify whether to allow snap at high zoom factors, and

specify the scan range for the zero crossing detection.

PROCEDURE

1. In the Audio Editor, select the Edit tab.

2. In the Snapping section, activate Zero-Crossing.

3. Select File > Preferences > Audio Files.

4. In the Audio Files Preferences tab, select the Editing tab.

5. Make your settings in the Snap Selection to Zero-Crossing section.

RELATED LINKS

Audio Files Preferences on page 279

Moving the Cursor Position to the Closest Zero Crossing

You can automatically move the cursor position to the closest zero crossing.

PROCEDURE

1. In the Audio Editor, select the View tab.

2. In the Cursor section, click Snap to Zero-Crossing.

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Audio File Editing Audio Editor Tabs

Audio Editor Tabs

The tabs in the Audio Editor give you access to the tools and options you need to edit audio les.

View Tab

Navigate

Backwards/Forwards

Navigates to the previous/next cursor position, zoom factor, and selection range.

Zoom

Time

Opens a pop-up menu that allows you to adjust the zoom to display the selected time range. Zoom in 1:1 zooms in so that one pixel on the screen represents one sample.

To edit the zoom factor, click Edit Zoom Factor. This opens the Zoom Factor dialog, where you can edit the following settings:

● Set Time Range allows you to specify the time range that you want to display.

● Samples per Screen Point allows you to specify how many audio samples are

summarized in each screen point.

● Screen Points per Sample allows you to specify how many screen points are

used to represent a single audio sample.

Zoom

Activates the Zoom tool that allows you to dene a time range that is zoomed in.

Zoom Selection

Zooms the window so that the current selection occupies the entire montage window.

Microscope

Zooms in as far as possible.

Zoom in Audio (10x)/Zoom out Audio (10x)

Zooms in/out in big steps.

View All

Zooms out as far as possible.

Zoom in Audio/Zoom out Audio

Zooms in/out in small steps.

Level

Adjusts the zoom to only display samples below the selected dB value.

Optimize Vertical Zoom

Changes the vertical zoom factor so that the peaks are clearly visible. This adjustment is done according to the section of the wave that is visible in the wave/ montage window.

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Audio File Editing Audio Editor Tabs

Reset Zoom to 0 dB

Adjusts the zoom to display audio levels up to 0 dB.

Zoom in Vertically/Zoom out Vertically

Zooms in/out to show waveforms with a lower/higher level.

Cursor

Move Cursor to Start of File/Move Cursor to End of File

Moves the cursor to the start/end of the le.

Previous Marker/Next Marker

Moves the cursor to the previous/next marker.

Start of Selection/End of Selection

Moves the cursor to the start/end of the selected time range.

Previous Region Edge/Next Region Edge

Moves the cursor to the previous/next region edge.

Snap to Zero-Crossing

Moves the cursor to the nearest zero-crossing point.

Edit Cursor Position

Opens the Cursor Position dialog where you can edit the cursor position.

Scroll

Start/End

Displays the start/end of the audio without moving the cursor.

Start of Selection/End of Selection

Displays the start/end of the audio selection without moving the cursor.

Cursor

Displays the cursor position.

Playback

Static View

Deactivates scrolling.

View Follows Cursor

Automatically scrolls the view to keep the playback cursor visible.

Scroll View

Automatically scrolls the view to keep the playback cursor centered.

Analysis

3D Frequency Analysis

Opens the 3D Frequency Analysis dialog where you can dene which frequency range is analyzed and modify the appearance of the graph for the 3D frequency analysis.

Peaks

Rebuild Peak Display

Normally, peak les are automatically updated when the date of the peak le is older than the date of the audio

le. However, it can happen that the date of the audio le

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Audio File Editing Audio Editor Tabs

Edit Tab

is wrong and therefore not automatically updated. This option allows you to force a rebuild of the peak le.

Source

Edit Project

When you are working on an audio le or clip in WaveLab Elements, you can open the project of the audio le in Cubase/Nuendo. This allows you to correct issues that you have identied during mixing and correct these issues in the audio le in Cubase/Nuendo.

Edit Project opens the corresponding sequencer project of the audio le.

Tools

Time Selection

Tool that allows you to select a time range.

Pen

Tool that allows you to redraw the waveform in the wave window. This can be used to quickly repair waveform errors.

Play

Tool that allows you to play back the audio le at the position where you click.

Time Selection

Extend

This pop-up menu contains various options for creating or extending selection ranges.

Toggle

Toggles the current audio selection.

All

Selects the entire waveform.

Channels

This pop-up menu allows you to change the channel selection.

● Extend to All Channels extends the current selection range to all channels.

● Left Channel Only reduces the current selection range to the left channel

only.

● Right Channel Only reduces the current selection range to the right channel

only.

Regions

This pop-up menu allows you to select a range between two markers.

● Loop Region selects the range between the two loop markers that encompass

the edit cursor.

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Audio File Editing Audio Editor Tabs

● Generic Region selects the range between the two generic markers that

encompass the edit cursor.

Clipboard

Cut

Cuts the selected audio range to the clipboard.

Copy

Copies the active clip or the selected audio range to the clipboard.

Paste

Pastes the clipboard content.

Right-click Paste to open a pop-up menu that allows you to select a paste type.

● Overwrite replaces the audio at the cursor position.

● Append adds the pasted audio after the end of the le.

● Prepend adds the pasted audio before the beginning of the le.

● Multiple Copies opens a dialog in which you can enter the number of copies

that you want to create.

● Mix blends two les into each other, starting at the selection or, if there is no

selection, at the cursor position.

If you select Mix, a dialog opens, allowing you to specify the gain and phase for the audio on the clipboard and at the destination. The clipboard data is always mixed in, regardless of the length of the selection.

Paste and Crossfade

Pastes the clipboard content and creates a crossfade.

Right-click Paste and Crossfade to open a pop-up menu that allows you to select a crossfade type for pasting.

● Linear (Equal Gain) changes the level linearly.

● Sinus (Equal Power) changes the level according to a sine curve, the power of

the mix remains constant.

● Square-Root (Equal Power) changes the level according to a square-root

curve, the power of the mix remains constant.

Cutting

Crop

Deletes the data outside the selection.

Delete

Deletes the selection. The audio to the right of the selection is moved to the left to ll the gap.

Other

Swap Stereo Channels

Moves the audio in the left channel to the right channel, and vice versa.

Nudge

Nudge Left

Nudges the audio selection to the left.

Nudge Right

Nudges the audio selection to the right.

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Audio File Editing Audio Editor Tabs

Snapping

Zero-Crossing

If this option is activated, the start and the end of a selected range always snap to a zero-crossing point of the waveform.

If Zero-Crossing is activated and you add markers during playback via key commands, the markers snap to the nearest zero-crossing point of the waveform.

This applies for the following markers types:

● Generic markers

● Region markers

● Loop markers

Snap to Magnets

If this option is activated, moved elements such as clip edges, time selection edges, cursor, and markers snap to the magnets that are activated on the menu.

Magnets

This pop-up menu allows you to select which items should be magnetic.

Magnets pop-up

Insert Tab

Markers

Marker Name

Allows you to enter the name of the start marker. If nothing is entered, a generic name is used.

To edit the default names, open the Markers window, and select Functions >

Default Marker Names.

Different Name for End Marker

If this option is activated, you can enter a different name for the end marker in the End Marker Name eld.

If this option is deactivated, the name of the start marker is also used for the end marker.

Create Marker

Allows you to create markers and marker pairs at the edit cursor position.

Audio File

At Start

Allows you to insert an audio le at the start of the active audio le.

At End

Allows you to insert an audio le at the end of the active audio le.

At Cursor

Allows you to insert an audio le at the cursor position.

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Audio File Editing Audio Editor Tabs

Signal

Mute Selection

Silence Generator

Bleep Censor

RELATED LINKS

Silence Generator Dialog on page 111 Bleep Censor on page 113

Process Tab

This tab provides access to the oine processing tools.

Replaces the audio selection with silence.

Opens the Silence Generator dialog that allows you to insert silence or background noise in an audio le.

Opens the Bleep Censor dialog that allows you to replace a part in an audio le with a tone to cover a swear word, for example.

Render Tab

RELATED LINKS

Oine Processing on page 125

The Render tab allows you to mix down audio les.

Source

The Source pop-up menu allows you to select which part of the audio le you want to process. The following options are available:

Whole File

Processes and renders the whole audio range.

Specic Region

Processes and renders a specic audio range to an independent le.

Specify the region to process on the pop-up menu.

Result

In Place

If this option is activated, the rendered audio range replaces the source audio range.

Unnamed File

If this option is activated, a temporary untitled le is rendered.

Named File

If this option is activated, you can specify a name for the rendered le.

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Audio File Editing Audio Editor Tabs

Output

Name

Allows you to enter a name for the rendered le. Clicking the arrow icon opens a pop-up menu that offers you several naming options.

Location

Allows you to select a destination folder for the rendered les.

Format

Opens a pop-up menu where you can select a le format.

Options

Depending on the selected source, different options are available.

Bypass Master Section

If this option is activated, the plug-ins and gain of the Master Section are bypassed when rendering.

Auto Save Master Section Preset

If this option is activated, the Master Section preset is automatically saved in the companion le of the audio le when you render the le. You can load the Master Section preset via the Load Master Section Preset option in the lower right corner of the wave window.

No Reverb Tail

If this option is activated, the audio tail produced by effects such as reverb is not included in the rendered le.

Some plug-ins do not transfer information on the tail duration to WaveLab Elements. In this case, this option has no effect. For such plug-ins, you can add the Silence plug-in to add extra samples at the end of the le.

Copy Markers

If this option is activated, the markers that are included in the range to process are copied to the rendered le.

Skip Exclusion Regions

If this option is activated, muted audio ranges are skipped and not included in the result.

Open Resulting Audio File

If this option is activated, every rendered le is opened in a new window.

Bypass Master Section on Resulting Audio File

If this option is activated, playback of the resulting audio le bypasses the entire Master Section. This setting can be toggled by clicking the button at the bottom right of the wave window or montage window.

NOTE

It is recommended to activate this option, because this way, you do not monitor new les through the effects that have already been applied to them.

Render

Start Rendering

Starts the rendering process.

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Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Start Rendering (Realtime)

Starts the rendering process in realtime. This allows you to listen to the audio while it is being rendered.

RELATED LINKS

Companion Files on page 28

File Handling in the Audio Editor

This section describes the principal editing operations within the Audio Editor.

Mono/Stereo Handling

WaveLab Elements is very exible in its handling of stereo. All editing operations can be performed on either one channel or on both.

Supported File Formats

WaveLab Elements can open and save audio les in a number of le formats.

Wave (.wav)

The following bit depths are supported: 8 bit, 16 bit, 20 bit, 24 bit, 32 bit, 32 bit oat, and 64 bit oat.

WavPack (.wv/.wvc)

This le format allows digital audio to be losslessly compressed, including 32 bit oat audio les.

AIFF (.aif, .aiff, .snd)

Audio Interchange File Format, a standard dened by Apple Computers Inc. The following bit depths are supported: 8 bit, 16 bit, 20 bit, and 24 bit.

MPEG-1 Layer 3 (.mp3)

The most common audio compression format. The major advantage of MPEG compression is that the le size is signicantly reduced, while there is little degradation of sound quality.

NOTE

When you open an MPEG compressed le in WaveLab Elements, the le is converted to a temporary wave le. On saving, the temporary wave le is converted back to MP3.

MPEG-1 Layer 2 (.mp2, .mpa, .mpg, .mus)

MP2 (sometimes referred to as “Musicam les”) is a common le format in the broadcast industry.

Original Sound Quality (.osq, read-only)

This is the proprietary lossless compressed audio format of WaveLab.

Sound Designer II (.sd2)

This audio le format is used by Digidesign applications (such as Pro Tools). The following bit depths are supported: 8 bit, 16 bit, and 24 bit.

U-LAW (.ulaw, .vox)

This is an audio encoding and compression technique supported by Windows and Web phones, using 8 bit precision. The U.S. telephone system uses U-law encoding for digitization.

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Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

A-LAW (.alaw, .vox)

This is an audio encoding and compression technique for telephony, using 8-bit precision. The EU telephone system uses A-law encoding for digitization.

Sun/Java (.snd, .au)

This is an audio le format used on Sun and NeXT computers. The following bit depths are supported: 8 bit, 16 bit, and 24 bit.

ADPCM – Microsoft/Dialogic (.vox)

This is a format commonly used for games and telephony applications. It offers a lower bit rate than linear PCM and therefore requires less storage space/bandwidth.

Ogg Vorbis (.ogg)

Ogg Vorbis is a compressed le format that is open, patent-free, and which creates very small audio les maintaining comparatively high audio quality.

Text/Excel (.txt)

This is a text representation of a waveform. By saving an audio le as a text le and then opening it in a spreadsheet application such as Excel, you can view it in textual, decimal form, and edit the sample values. When you open a text le representing a waveform in WaveLab Elements, it is decoded and opened as an audio le. These les are not compressed in any way, so they can become very large.

When using 64-bit oat les, the .txt format is not 100 % lossless. This is because it is not possible to express a binary oating point value in textual decimal form without some precision loss.

Windows Media Audio (.wma, .asf)

Microsoft’s own compressed format. WaveLab Elements lets you import/export audio in this format (Windows only). To import/export audio in WMA surround format, Windows Media Player 9 or later must be installed on your system.

Ensoniq Paris (.paf)

Used by the Ensoniq Paris™ system. The following bit depths are supported: 16 bit and 24 bit.

FLAC (.ac)

Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) is a codec which allows digital audio to be losslessly compressed.

Apple formats (.caf, .3gp, .3g2, .caf)

If Quicktime is installed on your system, these formats are available (read-only and only on 32-bit Windows or Mac systems).

AAC (.aac)

Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is a codec that allows lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio.

NOTE

The “$$$” le type is a temporary le format of WaveLab Elements. If you experience a computer crash, you may restore some of your work by opening any “$$$” les on your hard disk.

20-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit Float Files

You do not need a 20-bit or 24-bit audio card to take advantage of the fact that WaveLab Elements can handle 20-bit and 24-bit audio les. Any processing or editing performed on the les is always done at full precision (64-bit oat), even if your card does not support the full precision.

For playback, WaveLab Elements automatically adapts to the card that you have installed.

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Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Creating New Audio Files

You can create an empty audio le, to assemble material from other audio les, for example.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > New.

2. Click Audio File > Custom.

3. Specify the audio properties and click Create.

Audio Properties Dialog

You can dene the channels, the sample rate, and the bit depth of the audio le.

You can set these properties when you create a new audio le.

● To change the properties for the selected audio le, select the File tab and click Info, or click the Audio Properties button at the bottom right of the wave window.

Channels

Allows you to select the number of audio channels.

Sample Rate

Allows you to select the number of audio samples per second.

Bit Depth

Allows you to select the accuracy of samples in the audio stream.

Saving an Audio File

PROCEDURE

1. Do one of the following:

● To save an audio le that has never been saved before, select File > Save As.

● To save an audio le that has been saved before, click the Save button, or select

File > Save.

2. In the Save As window, specify a le name and location.

3. Click Save.

RESULT

You can use undo/redo even after saving.

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Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Saving in Another Format

You can change the le format, sampling frequency, bit depth, and stereo/mono status when saving.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File > Save As.

2. In the Save As window, specify a le name and location.

3. Click in the Format eld and select Edit.

4. In the Audio File Format dialog, set the le format and specify the properties.

5. Click OK.

6. Click Save.

RESULT

A new le is created. The original le is not affected by the operation.

Audio File Format Dialog

In this dialog, you can change various le settings when saving.

● To open the Audio File Format dialog, select File > Export, and select Render. Then activate Named File, click in the Format eld, and select Edit.

This dialog can also be opened from various other locations in WaveLab Elements.

Type

Select an audio le type. This affects which options are available on the Audio Format pop-up menu.

File Extension

Select a le extension that is compatible with the current le type.

Audio Format

Select an audio format that is compatible with the current le type.

Channels

Specify the number of audio channels for the les to be created.

Sample Rate

Select a sample rate for the audio le. If you change this setting, a sample rate conversion takes place.

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Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

IMPORTANT

Use this only for simple conversions. For professional results, use the Resample plug-in and add limiting and dithering.

Bit Depth

Select a bit depth for the audio le. This option is only available for specic le types.

IMPORTANT

Reducing the bit depth is only advised for simple conversions. For professional results, it is recommended to add dithering in the

Metadata

Lets you make metadata settings that are saved with the le. This option is only available for some

Master Section.

le types.

Format Changes

When changing the sample rate, bit depth, and number of channels of an audio le, several operations are performed.

Sample Rate

Bit Depth

Mono/Stereo

● If Do Not Save Anything is selected, no metadata are saved with the le.

● If Inherit from Source File is selected, the metadata of the source le are

used. If the source metadata is empty, the default metadata is used, if available.

● If Specic to This Conguration is selected, you can edit the metadata, or

replace it with a metadata preset. To edit the metadata, open the metadata pop-up menu again, and select

If a new sample rate is specied, a sample rate conversion is performed.

If a different bit depth is specied, the le is either truncated down to 8 bits, or padded up to 64 bits. If you are converting to a lower bit depth, you should consider adding dithering.

If the le is converted from mono to stereo, the same material is used in both channels. If the conversion is from stereo to mono, a mix of the two channels is created.

Edit.

NOTE

If you only want to change the bit depth, you can do this in the Audio Properties section

● of the Info window instead, and then save the audio le.

For high quality mastering purposes, it is not recommended to change the sample rate

● and number of channels using the Audio Properties section, but instead use plug-ins and functions of the Master Section.

Page 95

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Saving a Selection as an Audio File

You can save a selection in the open audio le as a new audio le.

PROCEDURE

1. In the wave window, make a selection range.

2. In the Audio Editor, select the Render tab.

3. In the Source section, open the pop-up menu and select Selected Audio Range.

4. In the Output section, specify a le name and location.

5. Open the Format pop-up menu and select Edit Single Format.

6. In the Audio File Format dialog, specify the output format and click OK.

7. In the Render section, click Start.

Saving Left/Right Channel as Audio File

You can save each channel individually into a separate le. Use this option when editing dual mono les, for example.

PROCEDURE

1. In the Audio Editor, select the Render tab.

2. In the Output section, specify a le name and location.

3. Open the Format pop-up menu and select Edit Single Format.

4. In the Audio File Format dialog, open the Channels pop-up menu, and select Left Channel or Right Channel.

5. Make additional output settings and click OK.

6. In the Render section, click Start.

Encoding Audio Files

Audio can be saved in different formats. The process of converting audio to another format is called encoding. When saving audio les, you can specify various encoding options for some le formats.

MP3 Encoding Dialog

You can edit the encoding options when you save an MP3 audio le.

You can open the MP3 Encoding dialog from most places where you can select an output le format. For example, open an audio le, select File > Save As, click in the Format eld, and select Edit. In the Audio File Format dialog, select MPEG-1 Layer 3 (MP3) as type, click the Encoding eld, and select Edit.

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Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Method tab

Encoder

Lets you select the encoder (Fraunhofer or Lame).

Constant Bit Rate/Variable Bit Rate

The bit rate is related to the quantity of data used to encode the audio signal. The higher the value, the better the quality, but the larger the output le. If you choose Variable Bit Rate, the rate changes, according to the complexity of the audio material.

Highest Quality (Slowest)/Fastest

Select the quality that you want to achieve. The higher the quality, the more resources and time are required to analyze and compress the audio signal.

NOTE

Highest Quality (Slowest) can require a specic sample rate for the audio le. If this is the case and the sample rate is different from the input sample rate, a message is displayed.

Advanced tab

Add File Length and Playback Position Information to VBR Header

Adds additional data to the VBR header that allows the playback device to estimate the length of the MP3 le and to jump to any time position inside the MP3 le. This option is available for the Fraunhofer encoder only.

Embed Ancillary Data for Time and Delay Compensation

Embeds ancillary data so that the decoded le will exactly match the duration of the original le. This option is available for the Fraunhofer encoder only.

The following options are only available for the Lame encoder:

Allow Intensity Stereo Coding

Decreases the bit rate by reorganizing the intensity information between the channels.

Specify as Original Recording

Marks the encoded le as the original recording.

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Write Private Bit

This is a custom ag.

Write Copyright Flag

Marks the encoded le as copyright-protected.

Write Check-Sum

Allows other applications to check the integrity of the le.

Create Long Frames

Saves space by writing fewer headers in the le (not compatible with all decoders).

AAC Encoding Dialog

You can edit the encoding options when you save an AAC audio le.

You can open the AAC Encoding dialog from most places where you can select an output le format. For example, open an audio le, select File > Save As, click in the Format eld, and select

Edit. In the Audio File Format dialog, select AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) as type, click the Encoding eld, and select Edit.

Container

Species the container for the AAC le. A container is a le format that can contain compressed audio data and metadata.

● MPEG-4 (recommended format for iTunes)

● 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project)

● ADIF (Audio Data Interchange Format)

● ADTS (Audio Data Transport Stream)

● ADTS (with CRC)

● LATM LOAS (Low Overhead Audio Stream)

Audio Compression Method

Lets you select the audio compression method.

● LC (Low Complexity, iTunes standard)

● HE (High Eciency)

● HE v2 (High Eciency, Parametric Stereo)

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● HD 16 bit (Lossless)

● HD 24 bit (Lossless)

LC (Low Complexity) does not mean lower quality, but less compression attempts. It is used for best audio quality.

HE (High Eciency) is an extension of Low Complexity AAC (AAC LC) and is optimized for low-bit-rate applications, for example, streaming audio.

HE v2 enhances the compression eciency of stereo signals. HE formats provide extremely compressed audio les with a high quality sound.

HD is an extension to the MPEG-4 standard and allows lossless audio compression that is scalable to lossy compression. This means that the decoding can be lossless or lossy, depending on the decoder settings. However, the the other compression methods.

Constant/Variable Bit Rate

The bit rate is related to the quantity of data that is used to encode the audio signal. The higher the value, the better the quality, but the larger the output le. If you choose Variable (VBR), the rate changes over time according to the complexity of the audio material.

Quality

Select the quality that you want to achieve. The higher the quality, the more resources and time are required to analyze and compress the audio signal.

le size is larger than with

NOTE

Highest Quality can require a particular sample rate for the audio le.

MPEG-1 Layer 2 Encoding Dialog

You can edit the encoding options when you save an MPEG-1 Layer 2 (MP2) audio le.

You can open the MPEG-1 Layer 2 Encoding dialog from most places where you can select an output le format. For example, open an audio le, select File > Save As, click in the Format

eld, and select Edit. In the Audio File Format dialog, select MPEG-1 Layer 2 as type, click the Encoding eld, and select Edit.

Bit Rate

Determines the bit rate. The bit rate is related to the quantity of data that is used to encode the audio signal. The higher the value, the better the quality, but the larger the output le.

Stereo Encoding

In Standard mode, the encoder does not use the correlation between channels. However, the encoder can take space from a channel that is easy to encode and use it for a complicated channel.

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In Joint mode, the encoder uses the existing correlations between the two channels to increase the ratio quality/space.

In Dual mode, both channels are independently encoded. This mode is recommended for signals with independent channels.

Specify as Original Recording

Marks the encoded le as the original recording.

Write Private Bit

This is a custom ag.

Write Copyright Flag

Marks the encoded le as copyright-protected.

Write Check-Sum

Allows other applications to check the integrity of the le.

Encode Peaks (Ancillary Data)

This must be activated for compatibility with specic systems, for example, DIGAS.

FLAC Encoding Dialog

You can edit the encoding options when you save a FLAC audio le.

You can open the FLAC Encoding dialog from most places where you can select an output le format. For example, open an audio le, select File > Save As, click in the Format eld, and select

Edit. In the Audio File Format dialog, select FLAC as type, click the Encoding eld, and select Edit.

Compression Level

Lets you specify the compression level. The more compression, the slower the encoding.

Ogg Vorbis Dialog

You can edit the encoding options when you save an Ogg Vorbis audio le.

You can open the Ogg Vorbis dialog from most places where you can select an output le format. For example, open an audio le, select File > Save As, click in the Format eld, and select Edit. In the Audio File Format dialog, select Ogg Vorbis as type, click the Encoding eld, and select Edit.

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Average Bit Rate

If this option is activated, the average bit rate in the le remains constant during encoding. Because the le size is proportional to time, the localization of a given point is easier, but it can result in a lower quality compared to the Variable Bit Rate option.

Variable Bit Rate

If this option is activated, the bit rate in the le will vary during encoding, depending on the complexity of the material. This can give a better quality/size ratio in the resulting le.

In the Quality eld, select the quality. Lower quality settings result in smaller les.

Windows Media Audio Encoding Dialog

You can edit the encoding options when you save a Windows Media Audio (WMA) audio le. This dialog is only available in on Windows systems.

You can open the Windows Media Audio dialog from most places where you can select an output le format. For example, open an audio le, select File > Save As, click in the Format eld, and select Edit. In the Audio File Format dialog, select Windows Media Audio (WMA) as type, click the

Encoder

Sets the encoder.

Encoding eld, and select Edit.

Output Sample Rate

Sets the output sample rate of the encoded le. The higher the sample rate, the higher the quality, but the larger the output

Output Bit Depth

Sets the output bit depth of the encoded le. This parameter is not available for all encoders.

Channels and Bit Rate

The available items here depend on the selected encoding method and the output sample rate.

100

le.