Steinberg Wavelab Elements - 9.5 Operation Manual

Operation Manual

Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, 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 specifically allowed in the License Agreement. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced, or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. 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_9.5.20_en-US_2018-02-21

5 WaveLab Elements Introduction

5 Platform-Independent Documentation 5 Help System 5 Conventions 6 Key Commands 7 How You Can Reach Us

8 Setting Up Your System

8 Connecting the Equipment 8 Audio Cards and Background Playback 8 Latency 9 Defining Audio Connections 11 CD/DVD Recorders 11 Remote Devices

16 WaveLab Elements Concepts

16 General Editing Rules 16 Startup Dialog 17 Basic Window Handling 17 Selecting Audio 21 Sliders 21 Renaming Items in Tables 21 File Browser 22 Tab Groups 24 Peak Files 25 Companion Files 25 Processing Precision

26 Workspace Window

26 Audio Editor 26 Audio Montage 27 Podcast Editor 27 File Tab 28 Info Tab 30 Tool Windows 30 Meter Windows 30 Slide-Out Windows 31 Docking and Undocking Tool Windows and

Meter Windows

32 Command Bar 33 Status Bar 34 Context Menus 35 Time Ruler and Level Ruler 38 Managing Tabs 39 Activating Full Screen Mode 39 Resetting the Default Workspace Layout

40 Project Handling

40 Opening Files 41 Value Editing 41 Drag Operations 42 Undoing and Redoing Actions 42 Zooming

47 Presets

50 File Operations

50 Recently Used Files 51 Save and Save As 53 Templates 56 File Renaming 57 Deleting Files 57 Temporary Files 58 Work Folders vs. Document Folders 59 Exporting to SoundCloud 60 Copying Audio Information to the Clipboard 60 Setting the Focus on the Current File

61 Playback

61 Transport Bar 70 Starting Playback From the Ruler 70 Using the Play Tool 71 Playback Scrubbing 71 Scroll During Playback 72 Playback in the Audio Montage Window

73 Audio File Editing

73 Wave Window 76 Audio Editor Tabs 83 File Handling in the Audio Editor 101 Changing the Audio Properties 102 Metadata 104 Silence Generator Dialog 106 Bleep Censor 107 Waveform Restoration with the Pen Tool

108 Audio Analysis

108 Global Analysis 115 3D Frequency Analysis

118 Offline Processing

118 Process Tab 120 Applying Processing 120 Gain Dialog 121 Level Normalizer Dialog 121 Envelope Dialog 122 Fades in Audio Files 123 Crossfades 124 Phase Inverting 124 Reversing Audio 125 DC Offset 125 Time Stretching 127 Pitch Shift 128 Resample

129 Audio Montage

129 Montage Window 131 Audio Montage Tabs

Table of Contents 

138 Signal Path in the Audio Montage 139 Creating New Audio Montages 139 Audio Montage Duplicates 140 Creating an Audio Montage from an Audio File 141 Import Options for Audio Montages 141 Missing Files Dialog 142 Assembling the Audio Montage 147 Rearranging Clips 149 Clip Editing 154 Track Activity Indicator 154 Envelopes for Clips 157 Fades and Crossfades in Audio Montages 160 Effects for Tracks, Clips, and the Montage

Output

168 CD Window 170 Mixing Down – The Render Function 170 Loudness Meta Normalizer 171 Notes Window

173 Recording

173 Setting Up the Recording Dialog 174 Dropping Markers During Recording 174 Recording Dialog

179 Master Section

179 Bypassing the Master Section 179 Master Section Window 188 Rendering 192 Saving Master Section Presets 195 Monitoring Background Tasks 195 Dropouts

196 Markers

196 Marker Types 196 Markers Window 199 About Creating Markers 200 Deleting Markers 200 Moving Markers 200 Navigating to Markers 200 Hiding Markers of a Specific Type 201 Converting Marker Types 201 Renaming Markers 201 Selecting Markers 202 Selecting the Audio Between Markers 202 Binding Markers to Clips in the Audio Montage 202 How Marker Information is Saved

204 Metering

204 Meter Windows 204 Meter Settings 204 Resetting the Meters 204 Level Meter 206 Spectroscope 206 Oscilloscope

208 Writing Operations

208 Write Audio CD Dialog 209 Erase Optical Media Dialog 210 About Writing Audio Montages 212 Data CD/DVD Projects 215 Audio CD Formats

218 Loops

218 Basic Looping 219 About Refining Loops 226 Looping Audio Which Is Not Very Well Suited

for Looping

228 Sample Attributes

230 Importing Audio CD Tracks

230 Import Audio CD Dialog 233 Importing Audio CD Tracks 234 Searching Track Names on the Internet 234 Submitting Track Names to the Internet 234 Ultra-Safe Mode 235 Converting Audio CD Tracks to an Audio

Montage

236 WaveLab Exchange

236 WaveLab Elements as External Editor for

Cubase/Nuendo

237 Cubase/Nuendo as External Editor for WaveLab

Elements

238 Podcasts

238 Podcast Editor 242 Global Podcast Options 242 Creating a Podcast 243 Setting Up a FTP for Podcast Publishing 243 Publishing Podcasts 243 FTP Settings Dialog 244 Checking the Podcast

245 Customizing

245 Customizing the Wave Window and the

Montage Window

246 Customizing Shortcuts 250 Customizing Command Bars 250 Plug-in Organization 257 Touch Bar (macOS only)

258 Configuring WaveLab Elements

258 Global Preferences 262 Audio Files Preferences 266 Audio Montages Preferences 269 Synchronizing WaveLab Elements Settings on

Several Computers

269 Multi-User Settings

271 Index

WaveLab Elements

Introduction

Platform-Independent Documentation

The documentation applies to the operating systems Windows and macOS.

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

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.

Help System

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

●

To open the “What’s This” help, you have the following possibilities:

●

To visit steinberg.help, enter steinberg.help in the address bar of your web browser or open WaveLab Elements and select Help> steinberg.help.

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

To open the help for an active dialog on steinberg.help, click the question mark icon on the title bar (Windows) or in the dialog (macOS) to show the Help button, and then click the Help button, or press F1 (Windows) or Cmd-? (macOS).

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 modifier 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.

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.

Some “What’s this” tooltips include a link to a dedicated help topic.

RELATED LINKS

Info Line on page 147

Conventions

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

WaveLab Elements Introduction Key Commands

Typographical Elements

The following typographical elements mark the following purposes.

PREREQUISITE

Requires you to complete an action or to fulfill a condition before starting a procedure.

PROCEDURE

Lists the steps that you must take to achieve a specific 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.

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.

RELATED LINKS

Lists related topics that you can find in this documentation.

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 modifier keys, some of which are different depending on the operating system.

When key commands with modifier keys are described in this manual, they are shown with the Windows modifier key first followed by the macOS and the key:

●

Windows modifier key/macOS modifier key-Z

EXAMPLE

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

WaveLab Elements Introduction How You Can Reach Us

How You Can Reach Us

On the Help menu in WaveLab Elements, you find items linking to additional information.

The menu contains links to various Steinberg web pages. Selecting a menu item automatically launches your browser and opens the page. On these pages, you can find support and compatibility information, answers to frequently asked questions, information about updates and other Steinberg products, etc. This requires that you have a web browser installed on your computer, and a working Internet connection.

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, WaveLab Elements is unable to play back. The Windows MME driver is an exception from this.

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.

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 Buffer Number setting on the

Setting Up Your System Defining Audio Connections

Options tab in the Audio Connections, or increase the buffer size in the ASIO control panel, specific to the audio card.

RELATED LINKS

Audio Connections Tab on page 9

Defining 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 define the buffer settings for your device as well as set up connections to external gear, such as external effects units. You should select at least two channels for stereo playback and recording.

If you have no third-party audio card, you can select the Windows MME driver or Built-in Audio (Mac) options. You can also use MME with most third party audio cards, with the advantage that you can record and play at different sample rates. However, Windows MME drivers do not allow audio monitoring in the Recording dialog or multichannel operation, and other drivers generally offer better sound quality and performance.

RELATED LINKS

Audio Connections Tab on page 9

Selecting an ASIO Driver

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

PROCEDURE

1. 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 a Windows MME Driver

PROCEDURE

1. Select File> Options> Audio Connections.

2. Open the Audio Device pop-up menu and select Windows MME.

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 channels 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.

Setting Up Your System Defining 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 Windows MME 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 reflect device changes.

Playback Tab

This tab allows you to select and name audio ports that are used for playback.

Recording Tab

This tab allows you to select and name your audio ports that are used for recording and input monitoring. The inputs that you define here are then available in the Recording dialog.

Options Tab

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

Buffer Number

Increasing this value improves the elasticity of audio streaming to avoid dropouts.

MME Specific – Buffer Size

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

Initialize Streaming Engine at First Use

Initializes the audio streaming engine when playback or recording are used for the first time. If this option is deactivated, the audio streaming engine is initialized at program startup.

Setting Up Your System CD/DVD Recorders

Reset Driver When Changing Sample Rate

Resets the driver when sample rate is changed. When playback or recording must be set to a new sample rate, some audio device drivers must be fully reset to work properly. This operation takes some time.

Perform Short Fade In/Out When Starting/Stopping Playback

Performs a short fade in when starting playback and a short fade out when stopping playback. This avoids clicks that are caused by waveforms that are not starting on a zero-crossing point.

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.

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

Remote Devices

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

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

Remote Devices Tab

This tab allows you to select a 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.

Setting Up Your System 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.

Name

Lets you enter a map name.

Expand/Collapse

Expands/collapses the folder tree of the control map.

WaveLab Elements Action List

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

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

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

Options Tab

Emulate Mouse Wheel

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.

Edit Focused Numeric Field

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

Setting Up Your System Remote Devices

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.

EQ Section

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

If the EQ TYPE button is activated on the CC121, you can adjust the parameters of the focused Studio-EQ. All necessary EQ parameters, such as Q/F/G of each band, EQ TYPE selection, and ALL BYPASS on/off can be set. You can switch to WaveLab Elements navigation mode by turning off the EQ TYPE button. In WaveLab Elements navigation mode, you get access to alternative functions, such as scrolling, zooming, and switching between windows.

EQ TYPE activated:

Bandwidth knobs (Q)

Adjusts the Q (bandwidth) of each EQ band.

Frequency knobs (F)

Adjusts the center frequency of each EQ band.

Gain knobs (G)

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:

Setting Up Your System Remote Devices

LOW ON

LOW-MID ON

HIGH ON

EQ-1 knob for the EQ Gain (G)

EQ-2 knob for the EQ Gain (G)

EQ-3 knob for the EQ Gain (G)

EQ-4 knob for the EQ Gain (G)

Opens the Audio Editor.

Opens the Audio Montage window.

Opens the preferences tab.

Scrolls left/right on the timeline.

Adjusts the horizontal zoom on the timeline.

Adjusts the vertical zoom on the timeline.

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.

Transport Section

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

Previous button

Moves the cursor position to the left.

Rewind button

Moves the edit cursor position to the left.

Forward button

Moves the edit cursor position to the right.

Next button

Moves the cursor position to the right.

Cycle button

Activates/Deactivates Cycle mode.

Stop button

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.

Setting Up Your System Remote Devices

Record button

Function Section

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

VALUE knob

FUNCTION button 1

FUNCTION button 2

FUNCTION button 3

FUNCTION button 4

Press once to open the Recording dialog. Press again to start the recording. Press a third time to stop recording. The recorded file opens in the Audio Editor.

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

Adjusts the fade in settings of the active clip.

Adjusts the fade out settings of the active clip.

Adjusts the envelope level of the active clip.

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.

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

AI KNOB

Controls the VST 3 plug-in parameters, emulates the mouse wheel, for example, for scrolling, and lets you edit a focused numeric field. To control a parameter with the 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 field in the Options tab.

LOCK

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

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 fine tune parameters.

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 file or template you want to open.

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 files that you last used in WaveLab Elements.

Recent File

Allows you to open a recently used file.

Browse

Allows you to select the files 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 file tab, click the X button of the corresponding tab or press Ctrl/Cmd-W.

●

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

●

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

This.

Switching Between Files

You can have multiple files open and switch between them.

●

To bring a file to the front, click the corresponding tab.

●

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

●

To switch back and forth between the last two active files, 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 file and the last edited file, 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 file, double-click it. If the audio file contains markers, triple-click it.

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 file.

● 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 file. 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 file. 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 file. If there is no selection, a selection is extended until the edit cursor 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 file. 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 file 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 file.

● From Cursor to Previous Marker selects the range between the edit cursor position and the previous marker or the start of the audio file.

● From Cursor to Next Marker selects the range between the edit cursor position and the next marker or the end of the audio file.

● From Playback Position to End of File creates a selection range from the playback position to the end of the audio file. If no playback is taking place, the position of the edit cursor is used.

● From Playback Position to Start of File creates a selection range from the playback position to start of the audio file. 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.

Channels

Opens a menu where you can select the following options:

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

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.

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 file), press

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

Extending and Reducing the Selection Using the Cursor Keys

●

To move the start/end of a selection in the wave window to the left/right, hold down Shift and press the left/right cursor keys. To move it in bigger steps, press the Page Up/Page

Down keys.

●

To extend a selection to the previous/next boundary in the wave window (marker or start/ end of the audio file), hold down Ctrl/Cmd+Shift and press the left/right cursor keys.

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 fill the gap.

Audio Montage Window

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

Delete Selected Clip

Deletes the selected clip.

WaveLab Elements Concepts Sliders

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 modifier 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 files from within WaveLab Elements. The Auto Play Mode is useful for speeding up the process of auditioning sound files.

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

You can also choose to only view specific file types.

File Browser Window

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

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

Back/Forward/Parent Directory

Allows you to navigate through the list and file hierarchy.

WaveLab Elements Concepts Tab Groups

Location

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

Auto-Play Mode

Automatically starts playback of the selected file.

Play Selected Audio File

Plays the selected audio file.

If this button is activated, you can enter text in the search field.

File type list

Allows you to select which file type and file 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 file type has its own favorite folder.

File list

Shows the following information about each file:

● Name shows the name of the audio file.

● Size shows the size of the audio file.

● Type shows the file type of the audio file.

● Date Modified shows the date on which the audio file was last saved.

● Sample Rate shows the sample rate in Hz.

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

bit float.

● Bit Rate shows the bit rate in kbps.

● Length shows the length of the audio file.

● Channels shows the number of channels.

Create Folder

Allows you to create a new folder. Right-click in the file list and select Create Folder.

Audio Regions

If the selected file contains region markers, the regions are displayed in the Audio Regions section. You can drag regions onto a track.

RELATED LINKS

Folders Tab on page 58

Tab Groups

With tab groups, you can view the content of different files, 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 file tab groups.

WaveLab Elements Concepts Tab Groups

Empty File Tab Groups

File Tab Groups with Audio Montages

Creating File Tab Groups

PROCEDURE

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

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

WaveLab Elements Concepts Peak Files

Creating File Tab Groups in Empty Tab Groups

PROCEDURE

● In the top right of an empty file 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 file 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 file, drag the tab onto the waveform. The tab is

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

Peak Files

A peak file (extension .gpk) is automatically created by WaveLab Elements each time an audio file is modified or opened in WaveLab Elements for the first time. The peak file contains information about the waveform and determines how it is drawn in the wave window or the montage window.

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

inserted at the cursor position.

select Hide Other File Tab Groups.

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

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

Rebuilding Peak Displays

Normally, peak files are automatically updated when the date of the peak file is older than the date of the audio file. However, it can happen that the date of the audio file is not automatically updated. In this case you can force a rebuild of the peak file.

PROCEDURE

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

2. In the Peaks section, click Rebuild Display.

WaveLab Elements Concepts Companion Files

Companion Files

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

Companion files are only available in the Audio Editor.

The following view settings are included in companion files:

●

Window size and position

●

Zoom level

●

Scroll position

Storing Companion Files in Another Location

By default, companion files are saved in the same location as the audio file. However, you can select another file location.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File> Preferences> Folders.

2. Click Companion Files and specify another file location.

Processing Precision

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

Mixing inside WaveLab Elements is also done in 64-bit float. 32-bit PCM samples can be transferred to 64-bit float and back.

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

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

NOTE

Processing in 64-bit float means double precision but slightly longer process time than 32-bit float.

Temporary files in 64-bit float have double precision but take longer to read and write than 32-bit float and their file size is twice as big.

RELATED LINKS

Temporary Files on page 57 Audio Tab on page 260

Workspace Window

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

● Audio Editor for viewing and editing audio files.

● 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 workflow.

Elements of the Workspace Window

The Workspace window contains the following elements:

● A menu bar

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

● A set of tool windows. Which tools are available depends on the file 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 file and allows you to view, play back, and edit the file.

RELATED LINKS

Audio File Editing on page 73

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 file on your hard disk, as well as start and end positions in the file.

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.

Workspace Window Podcast Editor

RELATED LINKS

Audio Montage on page 129

Podcast Editor

In the Podcast Editor, you assemble, define, and publish your podcast to the Internet.

RELATED LINKS

Podcasts on page 238

File Tab

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

Info

Provides information about the active file and allows you to edit the audio properties of audio files and audio montages.

New

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

Open

Allows you to open audio files, audio montages, or podcasts.

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

Import

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

● Audio File to Montage

● Unknown Audio

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 file or the project. You can specify the name, file format, and location. You can also save a copy of the active file.

Allows you to save all changed files of your project at once. The file list gives you an overview of all files that have been changed.

You can use the filter to show all changed files, only audio files, or only audio montages.

Allows you to render the active file and upload the audio file to SoundCloud.

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

● Global

● Audio Connections

● Shortcuts

● Plug-ins

● Remote Devices

● Folders

● Audio Files

● Audio Montages

Info Tab

Tools

Allows you to access the following tools:

● Data CD/DVD

● Batch Conversion

RELATED LINKS

Info Tab on page 28 Configuring WaveLab Elements on page 258

The Info tab provides information about the active file and allows you to edit the audio properties of audio files and audio montages.

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

Workspace Window Info Tab

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

Name

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

File Properties

Displays the size, date, and file format of the active file.

Audio Properties

For audio files, this displays the sample precision, channels, and sample rate of the active file.

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

You can edit these attributes.

Sample Attributes (audio files only)

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

Metadata

Displays the metadata of the active file.

Copy to Clipboard

Opens a menu from which you can select which information about the active file 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 file.

Delete

Deletes the active file.

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 file.

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

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 floating 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 floating 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 floating 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.

Workspace Window Command Bar

RELATED LINKS

Slide-Out Windows on page 30

Hiding the Caption Bar in Floating Meter Windows

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

PROCEDURE

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

2. Select Auto Caption Bar.

Command Bar

The command bar of file windows allows you to create, open, and save files, and undo/redo changes. You can also use the text field to quickly find and access open files, and to trigger keywords.

New

Allows you to create an audio file, audio montage, or podcast. You can create new files or use a template.

Open

Allows you to open an audio file, audio montage, or podcast.

Save

Saves the active file.

Save As

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

Trigger Cubase Update

Updates the Cubase project if the active file was opened via the Edit in WaveLab option.

Workspace Window Status Bar

Undo

Redo

Navigate Backwards/Navigate Forwards

Customize Command Bar

Maximize Window

Layout Options

RELATED LINKS

WaveLab Exchange on page 236

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 specified 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 file 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 define the cursor position, click the Audio Information at Edit Cursor field

to open the Cursor Position dialog.

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

field.

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 file 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.

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 file. Left-click the indicator to open the Audio Range dialog, where you can define or refine 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 file (if defined). Click the indicator to open the Sample Attributes window.

In the Audio Editor, this displays the sample precision and the sample rate. It also indicates whether the audio file 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 specific to the active window.

The context menus appear if you right-click specific areas and are useful for speeding up your workflow.

For example, right-click a file tab to open a context menu with some relevant file 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 find most context menu commands in the tabs, in the file 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.

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.

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 file. 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 first 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 37

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 float 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.

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 find musically related cutting points.

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 file.

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 flashing line.

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 fields, for example, the status bar and some dialogs.

● 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.

Workspace Window Managing Tabs

Timecode Tab

On this tab, you can configure 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 configure 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 configure 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 file 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 file tab.

Add to

Allows you to add the active file to another editor.

Closes the active tab.

Workspace Window Activating Full Screen Mode

Close All But This

Closes all files but the active file.

Close All Audio Files

Closes all audio files.

Info

Displays information about the active file.

Reveal in File Explorer/macOS Finder

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

Copy to Clipboard

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

Recent Files

Allows you to open recently used files.

Activating Full Screen Mode

PROCEDURE

● Select Workspace> Full Screen.

Resetting the Default Workspace Layout

PROCEDURE

● Select Workspace> Reset Default Layout.

Project Handling

Opening Files

PROCEDURE

1. Select File> Open.

2. Select the file type that you want to open.

For example, Audio File.

3. From the file browser, select the file that you want to open.

4. Click Open.

Opening Files from the Clipboard

You can open files 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 files that you want to open to the clipboard.

2. In WaveLab Elements, select File> Open.

3. Click Open Files from Clipboard.

RESULT

The files open in new file tabs.

Automatically Opening Files in a Dedicated Tab Group

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

●

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

Project Handling Value Editing

Value Editing

At various places in the program, numerical values can be edited by using a combination of text fields 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 a value, click in a value field and type a new value, or click the small arrows in the value field.

To change the value by one unit at a time, press the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys.

To change the value by several units, press the Page Up and Page Down keys.

To change the value using the mouse wheel, position the mouse cursor over a value, and use the mouse wheel, or use the AI knob of your MIDI controller.

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 and End keys.

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

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, files, text, clips, items in a list, and markers.

NOTE

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

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

● To open a file, drag it from the File Browser window of WaveLab Elements, from the file browser of your operating system, or from another application to the tab bar.

● To create a copy of a file, drag its tab vertically to another position of the tab bar, then press Ctrl/Cmd, and release the mouse button.

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

RELATED LINKS

Docking and Undocking Tool Windows and Meter Windows on page 31

Dragging in the Audio Editor and Audio Montage Window

●

To insert an audio file in another audio file, drag the title bar of the file onto the waveform of another file. You can also drag an audio file from the File Browser window, the file browser of your operating system, 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.

Project Handling Undoing and Redoing Actions

●

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

●

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 file/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 file, or a mixed copy of a stereo file, 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 Actions

You can undo and redo as many steps as you like. 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 a step, click Undo or Redo in the title bar of the Audio Editor or

Audio Montage window.

Navigating Backwards and Forwards

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

●

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

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

Zooming

Horizontal Zooming

● When you zoom out as far as possible, the entire file fits 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.

Project Handling Zooming

Vertical Zooming

● When you zoom out as far as possible, the height of the wave fits 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.

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 file 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.

Project Handling Zooming

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.

Zooming Using the Zoom Tool

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

Using the Zoom Tool in the Main View

The selection that you make in the main view of the wave window is magnified and fills 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.

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.

Project Handling Zooming

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.

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 fit 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 258

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

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:

Project Handling Zooming

● 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 define 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.

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 only display the selected track, or also the tracks below and/or above the selected track, click the corresponding buttons.

Project Handling Presets

●

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

●

To select a specific 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.

●

To make a single track fit 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 files 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.

Project Handling Presets

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.

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

4. In the File Explorer/macOS Finder, select the preset file 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.

Project Handling Presets

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.

Recently Used Files

All files 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 files via the File menu.

Opening Recently Used Files

PROCEDURE

1. Select File> Open.

2. Select the file type that you want to open.

3. Click Recent Files.

4. Optional: Use the search field to enter the name of the file that you are looking for.

5. Select the file that you want to open.

6. Click Open.

File Operations

Recent Files Tab

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

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

Recent Files.

Only Show Files Created by WaveLab Elements

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

Search field

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

Remove Non-Existing Files

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

Remove Selected Files

Removes all selected files from the list.

File Operations Save and Save As

Open

Opens the selected files.

Filtering Recently Used Files by Name

The search field in the Recent Files tab allows you to filter the files 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 file, enter the text that you want to search for in the search field.

●

To switch the focus from the search field to the list of recently used files, press Down

Arrow.

●

To switch the focus from the list of recently used files to the search field, press Ctrl/Cmd-F.

Setting the Number of Recently Used Files to Display

PROCEDURE

1. Select File> Preferences> Global.

2. In the Global Preferences window, 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

●

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

●

If you want to specify a new name, location, and/or file 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 Colors

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

White

The file is not modified.

Green (Audio Editor only)

The file uses a decoded file format and is saved.

Red

The file has been modified and changes have not been saved yet.

Yellow

The file has been rendered in Cubase.

File Operations Save and Save As

Unsaved Changes Indicator

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

Saving Multiple Files at Once

You can save some or all open files at once.

PROCEDURE

1. Open the File window and click Save All.

2. Select the files that you want to save.

3. Click Save.

Saving Copies of Files

You can save copies of files 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 file that you are working on back to its last saved state. This undoes all the changes made to the file since it was last saved.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File> Open.

2. Select the file 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 file is loaded from disk.

Automatic Backups

You can automatically create backups of your files.

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

File Operations Templates

Saving Audio Montages

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

●

Audio montage files only contain references to audio files. If you want to rename audio files that are referenced by audio montages, rename the audio files in the Info window of the Audio Editor. All clip references are updated automatically.

●

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

RELATED LINKS

Renaming Files on page 57 Save and Save As on page 51

Templates

You can save file settings that you regularly use as templates. Templates are useful when creating new audio files, 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 file 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 files are located. Here, you can rename and delete templates.

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

Creating Templates

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

PREREQUISITE

Select the file that you want to base your template on.

File Operations Templates

PROCEDURE

1. Select File> New.

2. Select the file 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 file name, activate Use Template Name as Default File Name.

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

make additional settings.

●

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

Audio File Template Dialog

The Audio File Template dialog displays the audio properties of the audio file template that you are creating. You can also specify whether to always associate a specific audio file configuration with optional metadata when creating an audio file 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 file configuration specified 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.

File Operations Templates

Include Clips

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

Include Track and Master Plug-ins

If this option is activated, track plug-ins and master 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 open the Render dialog, the audio file configuration specified below is proposed by default.

Template Name

Allows you to enter a name for the template.

Creating Files From Templates

You can create a file from a template to use its settings.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File> New.

2. Select the file 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 file.

Deleting Templates

PROCEDURE

1. Select File> New.

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

3. Click Templates.

4. Click Explore.

File Operations File Renaming

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

Renaming Templates

PROCEDURE

1. Select File> New.

2. Select the file 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 file 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 32

Defining Shortcuts for Templates

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

PROCEDURE

1. Select File> New.

2. Select the file type that you want to open.

3. Select Templates.

4. Right-click a template and select Define Shortcut.

5. In the Shortcut Definitions dialog, edit the shortcut for the selected template.

6. Click OK.

File Renaming

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

Audio files, peak files, and marker files are also renamed accordingly.

File Operations Deleting Files

Renaming Files

PREREQUISITE

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

PROCEDURE

1. Open the file 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 file location.

5. Select a file suffix from the pop-up menu.

6. Click Apply Changes.

Deleting Files

You can delete the active file from within WaveLab Elements.

PREREQUISITE

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

PROCEDURE

1. Open the file that you want to delete.

2. Select the File tab.

3. Click Info.

4. Click Delete.

5. Click OK.

RESULT

The file, including its peak and marker files, is deleted.

Temporary Files

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

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

NOTE

Temporary files in 64-bit float have double precision but take longer to read and write than 32-bit float and their file size is twice as big.

You can change the processing precision of temporary files with the Processing Precision option. You can set this option in the Global Preferences on the Audio tab.

File Operations Work Folders vs. Document Folders

RELATED LINKS

Specifying Folders on page 58 Audio Tab on page 260

Work Folders vs. Document Folders

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

●

In work folders, temporary files are saved.

●

Document folders contain WaveLab Elements-specific files, such as audio files, 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 files.

PROCEDURE

1. Open the file 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 field.

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 file 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.

Folder for Temporary Files

Companion Files

Specify a folder for saving temporary files.

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

Cache Folder

Activate Use Cache Folder for Decoded Files to specify a cache folder. The cache folder contains wave files that are created when you are working with files in

File Operations Exporting to SoundCloud

compressed file formats, such as MP3 files. To prevent the cache folder from growing indefinitely, WaveLab Elements checks the date of each file in this folder and deletes files that were created before a specific 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 files are decoded each time they are opened.

Audio File – Open Folder/Save Folder

The default open and save folders for audio files.

Audio Montage – Open Folder/Save Folder

The default open and save folders for audio montage files.

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

Current Folder

In this field, 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 files 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 specific file type to use the same folder for saving and for opening this type of file.

Use for File Browser

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

If you activate Use for File Browser and deactivate Keep Last Used, the folder location that you have selected in the Current Folder field of each file type is displayed when you switch between file 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 field of each file type is displayed when you select a file type for the first 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 file type is displayed when you select the file type.

You can make these settings for each file type independently.

On Reopening the Application, Revert to This Folder

Activate this option to restore a specific 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.

Exporting to SoundCloud

SoundCloud is an online platform for uploading and sharing your audio recordings. You can export an audio file from WaveLab Elements to your SoundCloud account.

If you do not have a SoundCloud account, visit www.soundcloud.com to register.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File> Export.

2. Click Export to SoundCloud.

3. Once you have logged in to your SoundCloud account, the file upload starts.

File Operations Copying Audio Information to the Clipboard

AFTER COMPLETING THIS TASK

After uploading the audio file, you can edit the privacy settings and add metadata in SoundCloud.

Copying Audio Information to the Clipboard

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

This is useful if you need accurate file 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 floating 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.

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

Transport Bar

With this command bar you can control playback of an audio file or audio montage, navigate between various positions in an audio file or audio montage, and open the Recording dialog.

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.

Playback

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 find a loop, for example.

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 Play Audio Range, Play

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

You can select different audio ranges for playback:

● Time Selection

● Region between Marker Pairs

● Clip (audio montage only)

Playback Transport Bar

● 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 find 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 Play Audio Range, Play

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

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 file.

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.

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

Playback Transport Bar

Navigation anchors allow you to move the edit cursor to specific positions in the audio file or audio montage. Right-click theMove Playback Position Backwards/ Move Playback Position Forwards buttons to open the Navigation Anchors pop-up menu. Here, you can set the type of navigation anchor. If you click during playback, playback continues from the anchor position.

Loop

Activates the 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 the Play from Anchor, Play until

Anchor, or Play Audio Range options.

Start Playback from Edit Cursor

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

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

Record

Time Display

Transport Bar in the Podcast Editor

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

Play Button

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

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.

Opens the Recording dialog.

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

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.

Playback Transport Bar

If the Loop button is activated, the audio selection is looped, if available. Otherwise, the region defined by loop markers is looped. If there are no selection ranges or loop markers, the entire file is looped.

The standard play command is not influenced by the Play Audio Range, Play from Anchor, and

Play until Anchor options.

Stop Button

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

●

If you trigger Stop 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 file 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 file 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 first loop only, and post-roll is only used after the last loop.

Playing Back From an Anchor or Until an Anchor

You can play back audio from an anchor or until a specified 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.

Playback Transport Bar

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 F7. To play back until the anchor marker, click the Play Until Anchor button on the transport bar or press F8.

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 file or audio montage.

●

If pre-roll is activated, playback starts from the selected anchor, minus the preroll 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 preroll time, until the selected anchor.

●

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

●

The loop settings have no effect.

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.

Playback Transport Bar

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 Auto Replay While Editing.

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:

●

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.

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.

Playback Transport Bar

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 specific 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.

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

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

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.

Pre-Roll and Post-Roll

You can start playback slightly before a specific 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.

Playback Transport Bar

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 define 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 Edit Pre-Roll and Post-Roll Times.

Playback Shortcuts

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

Space bar

Start/Stop 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 file is reached. This is the same as clicking Stop 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 Start Playback from Edit Cursor on the transport bar.

Playback 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.

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 field 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.

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.

Playback Starting Playback From the Ruler

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 finished.

Changing the Position of the Transport Bar

You can position the transport bar at the top, middle, or bottom of the file window.

PROCEDURE

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

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.

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 file or audio montage.

●

To set the playback position to a specific position, click the ruler during playback. This also applies for clicking the time rulers of another audio file or audio montage, which allows you to quickly switch playback between audio files or audio montages.

●

To start playback from a marker position, press Ctrl/Cmd and double-click the marker.

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. 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.

RESULT

Playback continues for as long as you keep the mouse button pressed, or until the audio file ends. After playback has stopped, the cursor is moved to the playback start position.

Playback Playback Scrubbing

Playback Scrubbing

Playback scrubbing helps you find a specific position in an audio file, by restarting playback repeatedly when you click and drag on the time ruler during playback or when using the Play tool.

Scrubbing Using the Play Tool

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.

Playback starts at the position where you clicked.

RELATED LINKS

Playback Scrubbing Preferences on page 71

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 define 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.

● 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.

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.

Playback Playback in the Audio Montage Window

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 130

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.

Audio file editing refers to opening, editing, and saving audio files.

Wave Window

The wave window displays audio files graphically. Here, you view, play back, and edit individual audio files.

Audio File Editing

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.

Audio File Editing Wave Window

You can synchronize the waveform displays so that they display the same part of the audio file, 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.

Audio File Editing Wave Window

Magnetic Bounds in Audio Files

Some positions, such as markers or selection edges, can be defined 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.

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 file 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.

Audio File Editing Audio Editor Tabs

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.

6. Click OK.

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.

Audio Editor Tabs

The tabs in the Audio Editor give you access to the tools and options you need to edit audio files.

View Tab

Navigate

Backwards/Forwards

Navigates to the previous/next cursor position, zoom factor, and selection range.

Audio File Editing Audio Editor Tabs

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 define 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.

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 file.

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.

Audio File Editing Audio Editor Tabs

Snap to Zero-Crossing

Moves the edit 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.

Edit Tab

View Follows Cursor

Automatically scrolls the view to keep the playback cursor visible.

Scroll View

Scrolls the view to keep the playback cursor centered.

Analysis

3D Frequency Analysis

Opens the 3D Frequency Analysis dialog where you can define which frequency range is analyzed and modify the appearance of the graph for the 3D frequency analysis.

Peaks

Rebuild Peak Display

Normally, peak files are automatically updated when the date of the peak file is older than the date of the audio file. However, it can happen that the date of the audio file is wrong and therefore not automatically updated. In this option allows you to rebuild the peak file.

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.

Audio File Editing Audio Editor Tabs

Play

Tool that allows you to play back the audio file 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.

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

encompass the edit cursor.

Clipboard

Cut

Cuts the active clip to the clipboard.

Copy

Copies the active clip 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 paste position.

● Append adds the pasted audio after the end of the file.

● Prepend adds the pasted audio before the beginning of the file.

● Multiple Copies opens a dialog in which you can enter the number of copies

that you want to create.

● Mix blends two files 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.

Audio File Editing Audio Editor Tabs

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 fill the gap.

Swap Stereo Channels

Moves the audio in the left channel to the right channel, and vice versa.

Nudge

Insert Tab

Nudge Left

Nudges the audio selection to the left.

Nudge Right

Nudges the audio selection to the right.

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.

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 Magnets pop-up menu.

Markers

Marker Name

Allows you to enter the name of the start and end 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.

Audio File Editing Audio Editor Tabs

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 file at the start of the active audio file.

At End

Allows you to insert an audio file at the end of the active audio file.

At Cursor

Allows you to insert an audio file at the cursor position.

Signal

Mute Selection

Replaces the audio selection with silence.

Silence Generator

Opens the Silence Generator dialog that allows you to insert silence or background noise in an audio file.

Bleep Censor

RELATED LINKS

Silence Generator Dialog on page 104 Bleep Censor on page 106

Process Tab

This tab provides access to the offline processing tools.

RELATED LINKS

Offline Processing on page 118

Render Tab

Opens the Bleep Censor dialog that allows you to replace a part in an audio file with a tone to cover a swear word, for example.

Source

The Source pop-up menu allows you to select which part of the audio file you want to process. The following options are available:

Whole File

Processes and renders the whole audio range.

Audio File Editing Audio Editor Tabs

Specific Region

Processes and renders a specific audio range to an independent file.

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 file is rendered.

Named File

If this option is activated, you can specify a name for the rendered file.

Output

Name

Allows you to enter a name for the rendered file. 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 files.

Format

Opens a pop-up menu where you can select a file 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 file of the audio file when you render the file. 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 file.

Some plug-ins do not transfer information on the tail duration to WaveLab. 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 file.

Copy Markers

If this option is activated, the markers that are included in the range to process are copied to the rendered file.

Skip Exclusion Region

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 file is opened in a new window.

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Bypass Master Section on Resulting Audio File

If this option is activated, playback of the resulting audio file 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 files through the effects that have already been applied to them.

Upload to SoundCloud

If this option is activated, the rendered file is uploaded to SoundCloud.

Render

Start

Starts the rendering process.

RELATED LINKS

Companion Files on page 25

File Handling in the Audio Editor

Mono/Stereo Handling

WaveLab Elements is very flexible 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 files in a number of file formats.

Wave (.wav)

The following sample precisions are supported: 8 bit, 16 bit, 20 bit, 24 bit, 32 bit float, and 64 bit float.

WavPack (.wv/.wvc)

This file format allows digital audio to be losslessly compressed, including 32 bit float audio files.

AIFF (.aif, .aiff, .snd)

Audio Interchange File Format, a standard defined by Apple Computers Inc. The following sample precisions 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 file size is significantly reduced, while there is little degradation of sound quality.

NOTE

When you open an MPEG compressed file in WaveLab Elements, the file is converted to a temporary wave file. On saving, the temporary wave file is converted back to MP3.

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

MPEG-1 Layer 2 (.mp2, .mpa, .mpg, .mus)

MP2 (sometimes referred to as “Musicam files”) is a common file 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 file format is used by Digidesign applications (such as Pro Tools). The following sample precisions 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.

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 file format used on Sun and NeXT computers. The following sample precisions 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 file format that is open, patent-free, and which creates very small audio files maintaining comparatively high audio quality.

Text/Excel (.txt)

This is a text representation of a waveform. By saving an audio file as a text file 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 file representing a waveform in WaveLab Elements, it is decoded and opened as an audio file. These files are not compressed in any way, so they can become very large.

When using 64-bit float files, the .txt format is not 100 % lossless. This is because it is not possible to express a binary floating 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 sample precisions are supported: 16 bit and 24 bit.

FLAC (.flac)

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).

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

AAC (.aac)

Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is a codec that allows lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio.

NOTE

The “$$$” file type is a temporary file format of WaveLab Elements. If you experience a computer crash, you may restore some of your work by opening any “$$$” files 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 files. Any processing or editing performed on the files is always done at full precision (64-bit float), even if your card does not support the full precision.

For playback, WaveLab Elements automatically adapts to the card that you have installed.

Creating a New Audio File

You can create an empty audio file, to assemble material from other audio files, for example.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File> New.

2. Click Audio File> Custom.

3. Specify the audio properties and click Create.

Audio Properties

You can define the channels, the sample rate, and the sample precision of the audio file.

You can set these properties when you create a new audio file.

● To change the properties for the selected audio file, select the File tab and click Info, or

Channels

click the Audio Properties button at the bottom right of the wave window.

Allows you to select the number of audio channels.

Sample Rate

Allows you to select the number of audio samples per second.

Sample Precision

Allows you to select the accuracy of samples in the audio stream.

Saving an Audio File

PROCEDURE

1. Do one of the following:

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

●

To save an audio file that has never been saved before, select File> Save As.

●

To save an audio file that has been saved before, click the Save button, or select

File> Save.

2. In the Save As window, specify a file name and location.

3. Click Save.

Saving in Another Format

You can change the file format, sampling frequency, sample precision, and stereo/mono status when saving.

PROCEDURE

1. Select File> Save As.

2. In the Save As window, specify a file name and location.

3. Click in the Format field and select Edit.

4. In the Audio File Format dialog, set the file format and specify the properties.

5. Click OK.

6. Click Save.

RESULT

A new file is created. The original file is not affected by the operation.

Audio File Format Dialog

In this dialog, you can change various file settings when saving.

● To open the Audio File Format dialog, select File> Export, and select Render. Then activate Named File, click in the Format field, and select Edit.

This dialog can also be opened from various other locations in WaveLab Elements.

Type

Select an audio file type. This affects which options are available on the Audio Format menu.

File Extension

Select a file extension that is compatible with the current file type.

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Audio Format

Select an audio format that is compatible with the current file type.

Channels

Specify the number of audio channels for the files to be created.

Sample Rate

Select a sample rate for the audio file. If you change this setting, a sample rate conversion takes place.

IMPORTANT

Use this only for simple conversions. For professional results, use the Resample plug-in and add limiting and dithering.

Sample Precision

Select a sample precision for the audio file. This option is only available for specific file types.

IMPORTANT

Reducing the sample precision is only advised for simple conversions. For professional results, it is recommended to add dithering in the Master Section.

Metadata

Lets you make metadata settings that are saved with the file. This option is only available for some file types.

● If Do Not Save Anything is selected, no metadata are saved with the file.

● If Inherit from Source File is selected, the metadata of the source file

● If selecting Specific to This Configuration is selected, you can edit the

Changing the Format

When changing the sample rate, sample precision, and number of channels of an audio file, several operations are performed.

Sample Rate

If a new sample rate is specified, a sample rate conversion is performed.

are used. If the source metadata is empty, the default metadata is used, if available.

metadata, or replace it with a metadata preset. To edit the metadata, open the metadata pop-up menu again, and select Edit.

Sample Precision

If a different sample precision is specified, the file is either truncated down to 8 bits, or padded up to 64 bits. If you are converting to a lower sample precision, you should consider adding dithering.

Mono/Stereo

If the file 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.

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

NOTE

●

If you only want to change the sample precision, you can do this in the Audio Properties section of the Info window instead, and then save the audio file.

●

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.

Saving a Selection as an Audio File

You can save a selection in the open audio file as a new audio file.

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 file name and location.

5. Open the Format 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 file. Use this option when editing dual mono files, for example.

PROCEDURE

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

2. In the Output section, specify a file name and location.

3. Open the Format 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 files, you can specify various encoding options for some file formats.

MP3 Encoding Dialog

You can edit the encoding options when you save an MP3 audio file.

You can open the MP3 Encoding dialog from most places where you can select an output file format. For example, open an audio file, select File> Save As, click in the Format field, and select Edit. In the Audio File Format dialog, select MPEG-1 Layer 3 (MP3) as type, click the Encoding field, and select Edit.

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Encoder

Lets you select the encoder (Fraunhofer or Lame).

Constant/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 file. 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 specific sample rate for the audio file. If this is the case and the sample rate is different from the input sample rate, a message is displayed.

When you use the Lame encoder, you can make additional settings on the 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 file and to jump to any time position inside the MP3 file. This option is available for the Fraunhofer encoder only.

Embed Ancillary Data for Time and Delay Compensation

Embeds ancillary data so that the decoded file will exactly match the duration of the original file. This option is available for the Fraunhofer encoder only.

Allow Intensity Stereo Coding

Decreases the bit rate by reorganizing the intensity information between the channels.

Specify as Original Recording

Marks the encoded file as the original recording.

Write Private Bit

This is a custom flag.

Write Copyright Flag

Marks the encoded file as copyright-protected.

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Write Check-Sum

Allows other applications to check the integrity of the file.

Create Long Frames

Saves space by writing fewer headers in the file (not compatible with all decoders).

AAC Encoding Dialog

You can edit the encoding options when you save an AAC audio file.

You can open the AAC Encoding dialog from most places where you can select an output file format. For example, open an audio file, select File> Save As, click in the Format field, and select

Edit. In the Audio File Format dialog, select AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) as type, click the Encoding field, and select Edit.

Container

Specifies the container for the AAC file. A container is a file 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 Efficiency)

● HE v2 (High Efficiency, Parametric Stereo)

● 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.

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

HE (High Efficiency) 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 efficiency of stereo signals. HE formats provide extremely compressed audio files 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 file size is larger than with 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 file. If you choose Variable Bit Rate, 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.

NOTE

Highest Quality can require a particular sample rate for the audio file.

MPEG-1 Layer 2 Encoding Dialog

You can edit the encoding options when you save an MPEG-1 Layer 2 (MP2) audio file.

You can open the MPEG-1 Layer 2 Encoding dialog from most places where you can select an output file format. For example, open an audio file, select File> Save As, click in the Format field, and select Edit. In the Audio File Format dialog, select MPEG-1 Layer 2 as type, click the

Encoding field, 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 file.

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.

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.

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Specify as Original Recording

Marks the encoded file as the original recording.

Write Private Bit

This is a custom flag.

Write Copyright Flag

Marks the encoded file as copyright-protected.

Write Check-Sum

Allows other applications to check the integrity of the file.

Encode Peaks (Ancillary Data)

This must be activated for compatibility with specific systems, for example, DIGAS.

FLAC Encoding Dialog

You can edit the encoding options when you save a FLAC audio file.

You can open the FLAC Encoding dialog from most places where you can select an output file format. For example, open an audio file, select File> Save As, click in the Format field, and select

Edit. In the Audio File Format dialog, select FLAC as type, click the Encoding field, 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 file.

You can open the Ogg Vorbis dialog from most places where you can select an output file format. For example, open an audio file, select File> Save As, click in the Format field, and select Edit. In the Audio File Format dialog, select Ogg Vorbis as type, click the Encoding field, and select Edit.

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Average Bit Rate

If this option is activated, the average bit rate in the file remains constant during encoding. Because the file 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 file will vary during encoding, depending on the complexity of the material. This can give a better quality/size ratio in the resulting file.

In the Quality field, select the quality. Lower quality settings result in smaller files.

Windows Media Audio Encoding Dialog

You can edit the encoding options when you save a Windows Media Audio (WMA) audio file. 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 file format. For example, open an audio file, select File> Save As, click in the Format field, and select Edit. In the Audio File Format dialog, select Windows Media Audio (WMA) as type, click the Encoding field, and select Edit.

Encoder

Sets the encoder.

Output Sample Rate

Sets the output sample rate of the encoded file. The higher the sample rate, the higher the quality, but the larger the output file.

Output Sample Precision

Sets the output sample precision of the encoded file. This parameter is not available for all encoders.

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Channels and Bit Rate

The available items here depend on the selected encoding method and the output sample rate.

VBR (Variable Bit Rate)

If this option is activated, the bit rate in the file will vary during the encoding, depending on the complexity of the material. This can produce a better quality/size ratio in the output file.

In the Quality field, select the quality. Lower quality settings result in smaller files.

Two-Pass Encoding

If this option is activated, the encoding quality increases, but the process takes twice as long.

Constrained Bit Rate

This option is available when the VBR and Two-Pass Encoding options are activated. This is used to maintain the bit rate within limits to avoid peaks. This is recommended for media, such as CD or DVD.

Creating an Audio Montage from an Audio File

You can export audio files to an audio montage, including all markers that you have set in the audio file.

PROCEDURE

1. In the Audio Editor, open the audio file that you want export to an audio montage.

2. Optional: If you want to use a specific time range of the audio file, create a selection range

in the wave window.

3. Select File> New.

4. Select Audio Montage> From Current File.

5. In the From Current Audio File section, click Insert Audio File in New Montage.

6. Click Create.

7. In the Create Audio Montage from Audio File dialog, select whether to import the whole

file or the selected audio range.

8. Optional: Decide if you want to perform any of the following marker operations:

●

Import Markers

●

Split at Generic Region Markers

9. Click OK.

Inserting Audio Files into Another Audio File

You can assemble an audio file from several audio files.

PROCEDURE

1. In the Audio Editor, open the audio file in which you want to insert another audio file.

2. If you want to insert an audio file at the edit cursor position, make sure that Snap to Magnets is activated, and that Cursor is activated on the Magnet pop-up menu.

The edit cursor snaps to the nearest zero crossing. This avoids glitches.

3. Select the Insert tab.

4. In the Audio File section, select one of the following insert options:

●

At Start

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

●

At End

●

At Cursor

If you select At Cursor, the audio file is cut at the insert position. The part after the cut is moved to the right.

5. On the pop-up menu, select the audio file that you want to insert.

RELATED LINKS

Magnetic Bounds in Audio Files on page 75

Turning Selections Into New Files

You can turn selections into new files via drag and drop or by using the Render tab in the Audio Editor.

Turning Selections Into New Files By Dragging

PROCEDURE

1. Make a selection in the wave window.

2. Drag the selection to the tab bar above the wave window and release the mouse button.

RESULT

The selection opens in a new stereo window.

Turning Selections Into New Files Using the Menu

PROCEDURE

1. Make a selection in the wave window.

2. Right-click the selection and select Copy Selection to New Window.

3. From the submenu, select one of the following options:

●

Duplicate

●

Stereo Version

●

Mono Mixdown

●

Mono Mixdown (Subtract Right Channel from Left Channel)

RESULT

The selection opens in a new stereo or mono window.

Special File Format Dialog

When opening files via the Unknown Audio option, you can specify how to interpret the format of the audio file that you want to open.

● To open the Special File Format dialog, select File> Import, click Unknown Audio, and select the file that you want to open.

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Sample Format

Specifies the binary representation of the samples in the file.

Byte Order

Specifies the order in which bytes should be interpreted. This only applies for 16 bit or more.

Channels

Specifies the number of audio channels in the audio file.

Data to Ignore (Number of Bytes)

Specifies how many bytes at the start and end of the audio file are ignored.

Sample Rate

Specifies the sample rate of the audio file.

File Extension

Specifies the default file name extension for the audio file. When the file selector opens after closing this dialog, only the file with this extension is displayed.

Converting From Stereo to Mono and From Mono to Stereo

You can convert audio files from mono to stereo and from stereo to mono. Converting a mono file into a stereo file produces an audio file that contains the same material in both channels, for example for further processing into real stereo. Converting a stereo file into a mono file mixes the stereo channels to a mono channel.

Converting a Selection From Stereo to Mono

PROCEDURE

1. Make a stereo selection in the wave window.

2. Select File> New.

3. Select Audio File> From Current File.

4. Select one of the following options:

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

●

To mix the left and right stereo channels when converting to mono, click Mono Mixdown.

●

To mix the left channel with the inverse of the right channel when converting to mono, click Mono Mixdown (Subtract Right Channel from Left Channel).

The resulting mono wave contains the difference between the channels. For example, this allows you to verify that a wave file really is a true stereo file rather than a mono file converted to stereo format.

RESULT

The selection opens in a new mono window.

Converting From Stereo to Mono While Saving

PROCEDURE

1. Make a stereo selection in the wave window.

2. Select File> Save As.

3. In the Save As window, specify a file name and location.

4. Click in the Format field and select Edit.

5. In the Audio File Format dialog, open the Channels menu and select one of the mono

settings.

For example, when selecting Mono (Mix -3 dB), the resulting audio file is attenuated by 3 dB.

6. Click OK.

7. Click Save.

Converting a Selection From Mono to Stereo

PROCEDURE

1. Make a mono selection in the wave window.

2. Select File> New.

3. Select Audio File> From Current File.

4. Click Stereo Version.

5. Click Create.

RESULT

The selection opens in a new stereo window.

Swapping Channels in a Stereo File

You can swap the two channels in an audio file, that is, you can move the audio in the left channel to the right channel, and the audio in the right channel to the left channel.

●

To swap the channels of the whole audio file in the Audio Editor, select the Edit tab, and in the Cutting section, click Swap Stereo Channels.

●

To swap the channels only a selected range of the audio file, make a selection range in the wave window, select the Edit tab, and in the Cutting section, click Swap Stereo Channels.

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Special Paste Options

On the Paste pop-up menu in the Audio Editor, you find additional paste options.

● To access the special paste option, open the Audio Editor, select the Edit tab, and in the

Clipboard section, right-click Paste.

Overwrite

Overwrites data in the destination file, rather than moving data to make room for the inserted audio. How much is overwritten depends on the selection in the destination file:

● If there is no selection in the destination file, a section with the same length as

the pasted selection is overwritten.

● If there is a selection in the destination file, the pasted selection replaces that

selection.

Append

Adds the pasted audio after the end of the file.

Prepend

Adds the pasted audio before the beginning of the file.

Multiple Copies

Opens a dialog in which you can enter the number of copies that you want to create.

Mix

Blends two files into each other, starting at the selection or, if there is no selection, at the cursor position.

● When you select the Mix option, a dialog opens, allowing you to specify the

gain for the audio on the clipboard and at the destination.

● All the data on the clipboard is always mixed in, regardless of the length of the

selection.

Moving Audio

You can rearrange the order of the audio in a file by dragging, and cutting and pasting.

Moving Audio by Dragging

PREREQUISITE

Decide whether you want to use Snap Selection to Zero-Crossing.

PROCEDURE

1. In the wave window, make a selection.

2. Drag the selection to a position outside the selection in the same file, or to another wave

window.

RESULT

The selection is removed from its original position and inserted where you drop it.

NOTE

To undo a move between two files you must first undo the paste in the destination window and then undo the cut operation in the source window.

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Moving Audio Using Cut and Paste

PREREQUISITE

Decide whether you want to use Snap Selection to Zero-Crossing.

PROCEDURE

1. In the wave window, make a selection.

2. Use one of the following copy methods:

●

In the Audio Editor, select the Edit tab, and click Cut.

●

Press Ctrl/Cmd-X.

3. Select how you want to insert the selection:

●

If you want to insert the audio, click once at the position in the same file or in another file.

●

If you want to replace a section of audio, select it.

4. To paste the selection, do one of the following:

●

In the Audio Editor, select the Edit tab, and click Paste.

●

Press Ctrl/Cmd-V.

RESULT

The selection is removed from its original position and inserted where you drop it.

NOTE

To undo a move between two files you must first undo the paste in the destination window and then undo the cut operation in the source window.

Moving Audio by Nudging

The nudge left/right tools can be used to move the audio in small steps within a file.

PROCEDURE

1. In the wave window, make a selection.

2. In the Audio Editor, select the Edit tab.

3. In the Nudge section, click Nudge Left or Nudge Right.

RESULT

The audio is moved one pixel. Exactly how much this is depends on how far you are zoomed in. For example, if the status bar displays x1:256, the selection is moved 256 samples. The moved section overwrites the audio at that position.

Copying Audio

You can copy sections of audio within the same file or between audio files.

Stereo/Mono Handling

When you drag or copy stereo or mono files to other locations, the target location determines how the files are inserted.

Stereo/Mono is handled as follows when you drag between files:

Audio File Editing File Handling in the Audio Editor

Dragged section Drop wave Action

Stereo Stereo The dragged audio is always inserted into both channels.

Stereo Mono Only the left channel is inserted.

Mono Stereo What happens depends on the vertical drop position.

Stereo/Mono is handled as follows when you copy and paste files:

Copied section Paste wave Action

Stereo Stereo If the wave cursor extends across both channels of

This is indicated by the cursor shape. The selection can be inserted into only one of the channels, or the same material can be inserted into both channels.

the destination file, the material is inserted into both channels.

Stereo Stereo If the wave cursor is only in one channel, the audio is only

Stereo Mono Only the left channel is pasted.

Mono Stereo What happens depends on whether the wave cursor is in

Sample Rate Conflicts

If you copy or move audio from one window to another, and the sample rates of the two files are not the same, the copied/moved sound plays back at the wrong pitch (speed). The program warns you if this is about to happen.

While mixing sample rates can be used as an effect, it is most often not intended. There are two ways to get around this:

●

Convert the sample rate of the source file to the same rate as the destination file before editing.

●

Convert the sample rate of the destination file to the same rate as the source file before adding the audio.

pasted in that channel. Material from the left channel is pasted in the left channel and material from the right channel is pasted in the right channel.

one channel or both. The audio is either pasted in one of the channels, or the same material is inserted into both channels.

Copying Audio Using Copy and Paste

PREREQUISITE

Decide whether you want to use Snap Selection to Zero-Crossing.

PROCEDURE

1. In the wave window, make a selection.

2. Use one of the following copy methods:

●

In the Audio Editor, select the Edit tab, and click Copy.

100

Steinberg Wavelab Elements - 9.5 Operation Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Table of Contents

Platform-Independent Documentation

Help System

Conventions

Typographical Elements

Markup

Key Commands

How You Can Reach Us

Setting Up Your System

Connecting the Equipment

Audio Cards and Background Playback

Latency

Defining Audio Connections

Selecting an ASIO Driver

Selecting a Windows MME Driver

Audio Connections Tab

CD/DVD Recorders

Remote Devices

Remote Devices Tab

CC121 Advanced Integration Controller

WaveLab Elements Concepts

General Editing Rules

Startup Dialog

Basic Window Handling

Closing Windows

Switching Between Files

Selecting Audio

Selecting a Range by Dragging

Audio Range Selection in an Audio File

Selecting in Stereo Files

Switching the Selection Between Channels

Selecting in the Overview of the Audio Editor

Moving a Selection Range

Extending and Reducing the Selection

Extending and Reducing the Selection Using the Cursor Keys

Deleting Selections

Sliders

Renaming Items in Tables

File Browser

File Browser Window

Tab Groups

Creating File Tab Groups

Creating File Tab Groups in Empty Tab Groups

Using Tab Groups

Peak Files

Rebuilding Peak Displays

Companion Files

Storing Companion Files in Another Location

Processing Precision

Workspace Window

Audio Editor

Audio Montage

Podcast Editor

File Tab

Info Tab

Tool Windows

Opening and Closing Tool Windows

Meter Windows

Opening and Closing Meter Windows

Slide-Out Windows

Docking and Undocking Tool Windows and Meter Windows

Hiding the Caption Bar in Floating Meter Windows

Command Bar

Status Bar

Context Menus

Time Ruler and Level Ruler

Time Ruler and Level Ruler Options

Time Ruler Menu

Level Ruler Menu (Audio Editor only)

Working With a Meter-Based Display

Setting the Edit Cursor Position

Time Format Dialog

Managing Tabs

Activating Full Screen Mode

Resetting the Default Workspace Layout

Project Handling