User manual

134
Quantizing MIDI and Audio
Introduction
Quantizing means moving recorded audio or MIDI and positioning it on the nearest
grid position that is musically relevant. Quantizing is designed to correct errors, but
you can also use it in a creative way.
You can quantize audio and MIDI to a grid or to a groove. You can also quantize
multiple audio tracks simultaneously.
Audio and MIDI can be quantized at the same time. However, what exactly happens
during quantizing differs for audio and MIDI:
• Audio quantizing affects the audio event starts or the content of your audio, see
“Quantizing Audio Event Starts” on page 134 and “AudioWarp Quantize (Cubase
Only)” on page 134.
• MIDI quantizing can affect the starts of MIDI events in a part, the MIDI event
lengths, or the MIDI event ends, see
“Quantizing MIDI Event Starts” on page 135,
“Quantizing MIDI Event Lengths” on page 135, and “Quantizing MIDI Event Ends”
on page 135).
Ö Quantizing is based on the original position of the events. Therefore, you can freely try
out different quantize settings without the risk of destroying anything.
The Quantize function is found on the Edit menu. You can also use the key command
[Q] or the “Quantize” button on the Quantize Panel.
Quantizing Audio Event Starts
If you select audio events or a sliced loop and use the Quantize function, the audio
events are quantized based on their snap points or event starts.
The snap points that do not match exact note positions on the selected grid are
moved to the closest grid positions. The grid is set up on the Quantize pop-up menu.
If no snap points are available, the event start is moved.
Ö If you use the Quantize function on an audio part, the event starts inside the part are
quantized.
AudioWarp Quantize (Cubase Only)
If you want to quantize the content of your audio event by applying time stretch, use
the “AudioWarp Quantize” function. This function quantizes the audio event by
aligning the warp markers to the defined quantize grid.
The following happens:
• Warp markers are created at hitpoint positions. If no hitpoints are available, they
are automatically created. Furthermore, warp markers are created at every event
start and end. For further information on hitpoints, see
“Working with hitpoints and
slices” on page 347.
• The audio sections between the warp markers are stretched or compressed to fit
into the time interval set up on the “Quantize Presets” pop-up menu.