Operation Manual
Operation Manual by Anders Nordmark, Revision for WaveLab Studio by Stefan Zachau 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.
Table of Contents
7 Introduction 8 8 8 Welcome! Key command conventions How you can reach us 40 44 49 56 Selecting Basic editing commands File handling in Wave windows Editing audio properties and file attributes 9 Installing and setting up 57 Playback and recording 10 10 11 11 11 13 14 14 Setting up the computer Installation procedure Register your software! Launching WaveLab Studio Program settings Installing a CD/DVD recorder Installation done! Where do I go next? About the Tracer application 58 63 Playing ba
110 Batch processing 111 112 112 113 116 120 123 124 124 181 182 183 185 187 188 191 192 193 196 Introduction Opening the Batch Processor Overview of the Window The Input tab – Assembling a list of files Setting up the processing tasks to be performed The Output tab – Settings for created files Scheduling Running and stopping the batch(es) Using presets for batch processing Managing effects in the Plug-ins view The Meta Normalizer Groups Using markers in the Montage Undo/Redo and History File handling in
231 Synchronizing WaveLab Studio to external devices 232 232 276 Troubleshooting 277 277 277 278 278 279 279 279 279 280 280 Introduction MTC sync 235 Sampling and creating loops 236 236 236 237 238 242 Introduction Using WaveLab Studio with Steinberg HALion Editing sample attributes Basic looping Using the Crossfade Looper Using the Loop Tone Equalizer General problems Problems with opening files Problems with saving files Recording problems Playback problems Editing problems Troubleshooting and preca
1 Introduction
Welcome! Congratulations on your choice of WaveLab Studio, which is the audio editor of choice, not only in top-of-theline mastering and restoration facilities, but also for any serious engineer or musician. WaveLab Studio is continuously developed and refined, in collaboration with our users – from professional audio engineers to hobbyists.
2 Installing and setting up
Setting up the computer The Steinberg Key is, in fact, a little computer on which your Steinberg software licenses are stored. All hardwareprotected Steinberg products use the same type of key, and you can store more than one license on one key. Also, licenses can (within certain limits) be transferred between keys – which is helpful, e.g. if you want to sell a piece of software.
6. At one point of the installation a dialog appears requesting you to connect your Steinberg Key – do so. Selecting an ASIO driver 1. Open the Preferences–Audio device tab. The first time the copy protection device is plugged in, it will be registered as a new hardware device, and a dialog will appear asking you whether you would like to find drivers for the device manually or automatically. You should select to find drivers automatically, and click OK to proceed and close the dialog. 2.
Additional audio settings About latency There are other settings in the Preferences that affect audio playback and recording. We recommend that you try the default settings before you change anything, since these work well in most cases. In the Playback section of the Audio device tab, you will find an indication of the current latency (at 16bit/44.1kHz stereo). Latency is the delay between when audio is “sent” from the program and when you actually hear it.
1. In Windows, create a separate folder in which to store your “temp” files. ! Select Preferences from the Options menu and select the Wave edit tab. • If the “Save view settings in companion file” option is activated, view memory files will be saved in the same folder as the related audio file. The folder(s) should be on your fastest hard disk and you should make sure you have plenty of room available on that hard disk (or partition).
2. Check that your recorder unit appears in the list to the left. The list will also contain any regular DVD-ROM drives, etc. If your CD/ DVD recorder isn’t listed, there’s either something wrong with the installation or the unit is not supported by WaveLab Studio. Installation done! Where do I go next? There are three things we suggest you do: • Read through the rest of this book and try out the different possibilities as you go along.
3 Overview
Get to know WaveLab Studio The Audio Montage window Welcome to WaveLab Studio! This chapter is intended to get you acquainted with the program. We will here briefly describe its fundamental functions and main features, so as to point you in the right direction on your road to mastering all of the possibilities that WaveLab Studio offers. The windows and what you can do with them Working with WaveLab Studio, you will encounter a number of different windows that let you do different things.
The Data CD/DVD Project window The Master Section The Data CD/DVD window can be used for compiling and creating data CDs/DVDs (discs that exclusively contain computer data) and Mixed Mode CDs (discs that contain both data and audio). The window is divided into two panes; the upper is called the source window, and the lower is the destination window. You drag files from the source window to the destination window, in which you can rename, remove and move files before burning a CD or DVD.
Find your way around in WaveLab Studio CD/DVD creation Editing and processing • Create an audio CD that can be played back in a regular CD player? Where do I go if I want to… You create an Audio Montage and use the CD Wizard and/or set individual CD track markers (see “The Audio Montage” on page 136). Where do I go if I want to… • Edit an existing audio file? When you open an audio file, it appears in a Wave window, in which you can edit it in various ways.
4 Basic methods
Why you should read this chapter For this reason, WaveLab Studio will need to store files on your hard disk, in the folder you have specified for the temporary files (see “Temporary files” on page 12). These files are automatically deleted each time you close or save the related document. This chapter describes general methods that you will use when working with WaveLab Studio. Getting accustomed with these procedures will allow you to work more effectively with the program.
Quick window switching 2. Click OK. ! • To “cycle” between all open windows, press [Ctrl]-[Tab] or [Ctrl]-[F6]. Please note that this function works on one document at a time. It is only the undo buffer for the file in the active window that will be cleared. Also note that it only applies to Wave windows. • If you release the [Ctrl] key, and use any of these commands again, you will switch to the previous window, rather than the next window in the stack.
Adjusting the size of a pane 1. Position the mouse over the divider between the two panes. The pointer turns into a two-way arrow. 2. Drag the divider to adjust the pane size. Hiding and revealing a pane In some windows, a pane can be hidden altogether. To hide a pane, drag the border between the two panes all the way up or double click it. To reveal the pane again, drag the miniature divider symbol down or double click it. The normal Time Stretch dialog… …and when “folded in”.
Working with multiple windows Windows sets, snapshots and Wave view settings You can edit the same data in more than one Wave window. Among other things this allows you to work on different sections of a wave file (for example the start and end), without scrolling back and forth. In addition to the above, there are other ways to manage windows: • Snapshots store individual settings for one Wave window at a time, which allows you to quickly move between various views of a file. See “Snapshots” on page 38.
Please note that you can stack control bars and put them side by side, to create any type of layout you desire. 4. Move the pointer over an item on the control bar and wait a moment. A text showing the name of the button appears. In this example, the Standard Commands, Toolbox and Transport control bars have all been docked to the upper part of the application window. An example of a “Tip” pop-up for the control bar.
The Snapshots control bar • For some of the fields you can also click to perform operations related to that field. • The status bar also indicates the progress of operations that take some time to finish. This is used to store and recall window “layouts”, see “Snapshots” on page 38. Speed menus The Transport bar Ö To bring up a speed menu, right-click in the desired area. Most displays have speed menus associated with them.
Units of time and level Setting values For rulers In dialog boxes, you will find yourself adjusting values. The following techniques apply: You can specify the time and level (amplitude) formats for each ruler in each window, by right-clicking on the ruler and selecting a format from the pop-up menu that appears. Typing values As in most other Windows programs you can “tab to” or click directly on a value and type in a new one.
Using sliders and pop-ups In effect processor panels Many times, the most convenient way of changing a value is using WaveLab Studio’s proprietary sliders and pop-ups: In the Master Section you will find either generic or custom effect panels for each effect processor. In custom panels, values are adjusted using special methods, see “The Effects pane” on page 96. 1. Click with the right mouse button on the spin control (in some windows you can also double-click with the left mouse button).
Presets Creating a preset 1. Open the dialog you wish to use and set up the dialog as desired. Many dialogs in WaveLab Studio have either a Presets tab or a Presets pop-up menu. If you think of the dialogs as forms, presets allow those forms to be filled out automatically. WaveLab Studio comes with a selection of presets for most dialogs that use them, but the real power of presets becomes evident when you start creating your own! 2. Click on the Presets tab or pull down the Preset menu. 3.
Using the computer keyboard How presets are saved The presets are automatically saved when you quit the program. The next time you load the program, the presets are ready and waiting, just as you left them. Furthermore the presets are “global” to all files. No matter which file you are working on, you still have access to all your presets.
5 Editing in the Wave window
About this chapter Opening Waves The Wave window is the heart of WaveLab Studio’s audio editing capabilities. This is where you view, play back and edit individual audio files. This chapter describes how to open and save audio files, how to perform wave editing and how to handle the Wave window itself. ! For a list of supported file formats, see “Supported file formats” on page 49. Using the Open dialog 1.
Opening dual mono files Using drag and drop If you have two mono files which are actually the left and right channels of a stereo recording (some systems handle stereo this way), you can open these as if they were a stereo file. Proceed as follows: To open files from the Windows desktop, use one of the following possibilities: • Drag and drop the file(s) on the WaveLab Studio application window. 1. Open the Preferences from the Options menu, and click the File tab.
Window overview and adjustments Using the Recent Files lists On the bottom of the File menu you will find one or several hierarchical menu items that allow you to open recently used document files. There are different submenus for different file types, as indicated by the menu items (“Recent Audio Files”, “Recent Audio Montages”, etc.). Each section holds up to twenty files. Selecting an item on one of the submenus opens the corresponding file.
About the Display modes • This is done by selecting “Synchronize top and bottom views” from the Display mode pop-up menu (either for the main view or the overview). Both the main view and the overview can independently be set to show the audio in one of two display modes: When this is selected, the horizontal Zoom control (see “About zooming” on page 35) is only available in the main view. • Wave display. This is the standard waveform display, as shown in the main picture. • The Spectrum display.
Sizing, moving and minimizing Vertical zoom WaveLab Studio uses standard Windows techniques for resizing, moving, maximizing and minimizing windows. See your Windows documentation for details. Selecting the Maximize Width item on the View menu makes the window as big as the screen (or any other factor) permits. • When you zoom out all the way, the complete height of the wave fits into the window. You can note this by checking the ruler on the left side.
Using the Magnifying Glass tool Using the tool in the Overview The Magnifying Glass tool is used to specify any section of the waveform and have it occupy the entire window. The Magnifying Glass can be used in the Overview, just as in the Main view. However, even though you use the tool in the Overview, it is the Main view that gets zoomed. You can for example use this as follows: keep the Overview zoomed out all the way and use the Magnifying Glass tool to display any section in the Main view.
Using a wheel mouse Using auto zoom for Overview • If you hold down [Ctrl] and point at a waveform, the wheel zooms the view horizontally. • If you hold down [Ctrl] and [Shift] and point at a waveform, the wheel zooms the view vertically. This setting, found on the Preferences–Wave edit tab, allows you to have the zoom factor automatically adjusted, so that it always shows the entire wave. 1. Activate “Auto zoom for overview” in the Preferences dialog. Using the Zoom menu 2.
Navigating through the file Clicking on the status bar If you click on the cursor position on the status bar, the view is scrolled so that the wave cursor becomes visible. There are several ways to move the view to a certain position in the file: If you right-click instead, a dialog appears to let you specify a certain time position to scroll the view to. Scroll bars This is the most evident option. These work exactly as in any other Windows program.
Setting the ruler start position 4. Set the “Ticks per quarter note” setting to a number you feel comfortable with. Normally, the ruler is set so that the beginning of the file represents position “0”. However, for editing purposes you may want to set the “0” position at some other point in the file. The picture sequence below shows you how to do this: This might for example be the same value as that used by your MIDI sequencer. 1. Set the wave cursor where you want the “0” position.
Using magnetization You can also press [Shift] and click in the Wave window to make a selection between the position of the wave cursor and the click position. If you have “Magnetize bounds” on the Options menu activated and drag the cursor on the time ruler, it will “snap” to the following positions: By using the Audio Range dialog • The start and end of the entire wave. • The start and end of the selection. • Markers (see “What are markers for?” on page 128).
Selection shortcuts Extending and shrinking the selection There are a number of ways to quickly make certain selections (for many options there is more than one method): Very often you will have made a selection only to find it isn’t completely perfect. In this case you can extend or shrink the selection. In fact you can very well use this as a method: make a coarse selection with a lower zoom factor, then zoom in and adjust the start and end in more detail.
Exactly how much one pixel represents depends on the zoom factor. If for example the zoom factor is “x1:64”, the cursor keys alone move 64 samples, and together with [Ctrl] they move 1280 samples. WaveLab Studio can help! If you wish, WaveLab Studio can automatically search for zero crossings, and extend the selection “outwards” (make it bigger at both ends) so that it begins and ends at a zero crossing.
Snapping to time units 4. Press the mouse button and drag up/down. When “Snap to time units” is activated on the Options menu, selections will automatically be extended to the left and right so that they start and end at whole time units (and also at the closest zero crossing, if that option is activated, see above). This allows you to easily make selections spanning a certain number of seconds for example.
Basic editing commands 5. Release the mouse button. The selection is inserted at the indicated point. The audio that previously began at that point is moved forward so that it is now played after the inserted section. Mono/stereo WaveLab Studio is totally flexible in its handling of stereo. All editing operations can be performed on either channel or both. Copying audio The following operations allow you to make copies of sections of audio within the same file or from one file to another.
Stereo/mono “conflicts” 5. Select Paste from the Edit menu or press [Ctrl]-[V]. The material you copied is either inserted at the indicated point (no selection) or it replaces the current selection (if you have a selection). Stereo/mono is handled as follows when you drag between files: Dragged section “Drop” wave Action Stereo Stereo The dragged audio is always inserted into both channels. Stereo Mono Only the left channel is inserted.
Ö The moved section “overwrites” the audio originally at that position. Copied section Paste wave Action Stereo Mono Only the left channel is pasted. Mono Stereo What happens depends on whether the wave cursor is in one channel or both. The Paste can either happen in one of the channels, or the same material can be inserted into both channels.
Mix Silence This will blend the two files into each other, starting at the selection (if you have one) or at the cursor position (if there is no selection). The Silence function offers two different methods for inserting silence: • You can “insert” silence into a section, i.e. to space two sections further apart. • Or, you can select to “replace” a selection or time range with silence.
Turning selections into new documents This can be done in three ways. Which method to use mainly depends on whether you want to convert the entire file or just a selection: If you want to turn a section of wave into a new document, proceed as follows. By dragging By dragging 1. Make a stereo selection. 1. Make a selection. 2. Drag the selection out to the WaveLab Studio “desktop”. 2. Drag the selection out of the window and onto an empty section of the WaveLab Studio application window. 3.
File handling in Wave windows Swapping channels in a stereo file You may move the material in the left channel to the right channel, and vice versa: ! 1. Make a selection across both channels. Only the material in the selected section will be swapped. This section describes file handling in the Wave window (i.e. handling audio files). File handling of other document types (e.g. Audio Montages) is described in the respective chapter. 2. Select “Swap channels” from the Edit menu.
Format Description Format Description 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. WaveLab Studio can both open and save files in this format. - Note that when you open an MPEG compressed file in WaveLab Studio, the file is converted to a temporary wave file that is much larger than the original compressed file.
About temporary files Automatic backups As you work in WaveLab Studio, temporary files used for Undo, etc. are created on your hard disk, see “Temporary files” on page 12. For all save operations except a regular “Save”, backups are created automatically if a file with the same name already exists. You can decide whether these files should be in 16-, 24or 32 bit format. This is done on the Preferences–File tab.
If you change the sample rate, bit resolution and number of channels, the following operations are performed: • You can save any audio file as an OSQ file by using the Save As function. Property Action The audio will play back exactly the same as in the original, uncompressed file. Sample Rate If a new sample rate is specified, a sample rate conversion will be performed (see “Convert sample rate” on page 91).
Save All Renaming files and documents (Rename) The Rename function is available from most WaveLab Studio documents, not just Wave windows. The function is however of particular importance when renaming audio files. If you rename an audio file outside WaveLab Studio, and this file is referenced to an Audio Montage or Data CD/DVD project, the reference will be lost the next time you open the document that references this file.
The dialog contains the following items: Item Description Name text field This is where you type in the new name. Change folder It is also possible to change the folder location of the file when renaming. If Change folder is ticked, you can navigate to a new location. Note that this is only possible within the same drive partition.
2. Select the file you wish to save a Master Section preset for, and [Ctrl]-click on the “M” button on the title bar. WaveLab Studio can also import any file supported by ACM, provided that the correct ACM drivers are installed. The button will now be lit up in green, to indicate that the Master Section effects settings have been saved.
Editing audio properties and file attributes File attributes If you select this option on the Edit menu, a dialog opens in which you can specify various information about the wave file. Editing audio properties Each audio file has a certain set of properties, that is, information about the sample rate at which it was recorded, what the bit resolution is, etc. The “Audio Properties” dialog allows you to change that information.
6 Playback and recording
Playing back Using the Transport bar Displaying the Transport bar Background information If the Transport is hidden, select Transport from the Control bars submenu on the View menu. About sample rates If the wave file is recorded at a sample rate not supported by your audio card you will not be able to play it back. You might then opt to use sample rate conversion, see “Convert sample rate” on page 91. Also see “Supported file formats” on page 49 for more on file formats.
• If you click on the Stop Point/Loop button and activate the “On stop, move cursor back to start” option on the menu, the cursor will be automatically moved back to the beginning of the selection when you click Stop (from playback). Setting the Stop point/loop If there is no selection, it will automatically move back to the place you started from.
Skipping sections during playback To set the playback speed, proceed as follows: You can also have playback automatically jump past certain positions during playback. This way, you will be able to audition what the material would sound like with certain sections cut out, before the actual edits are made. 1. Click the red Playback Speed button on the Transport bar. This selection is done from the menu invoked by clicking the Skip button on the Transport bar.
Play tool – Playing one or both channels in stereo files • When the “Restrict to Play tool” option is activated, Playback Browsing is not available when you activate Playback using the transport bar or computer keyboard. Selecting the Play tool momentarily On the Options menu you will also find an option called “Stop after playback browsing”, which determines what happens when you release the mouse button: playback continues (deactivated) or stops (activated).
Using the Jog/Shuttle function Select the desired options in the FROM and TO sections of the dialog to define an audio range. The Jog/Shuttle function allows you to play back audio forwards or backwards, at any speed. This is useful for finding exact spots in the audio file, etc. You can specify audio ranges to play back From/To: • • • • • Start/End of the file, respectively. The Cursor position. Start/End of selection. Named Markers. User specified time positions (Custom).
Scrolling during playback 3. Move the pointer to the lower part of the Wave window. The “Scrolling during playback” submenu on the Options menu contains several options for how the view should be scrolled in Play mode: The pointer takes on the shape of a speaker. 4. Click and hold the mouse button to the left or right of the vertical line. Clicking to the left of the line will play the audio backwards and clicking to the right will play the audio forwards.
Preparations • Alternatively, if you have the “Support RF64 file format”option activated, the standard Wave file format switches automatically to the RF64 file format as soon as the file size exceeds 2 GB, without any performance loss or interruption. This is especially useful when recording very long sessions as there is no need to worry about file size limit (apart from available disk space). A RF64 file will still have the “.
6. Select an appropriate Input mode, depending on whether you want to record the audio card input or the Playback output: Exactly what controls will appear in the mixer depends on the card, but here are some possibilities: • • • • • Ö In “Audio input (hardware)” mode, WaveLab Studio will record the signals from the activated inputs on your audio hardware. This is the standard mode. Use this for recording any external audio signal sources connected to the inputs on your audio card.
• When the Spectrum Meter is selected, a “bar diagram” will be shown, providing a continuous graphical representation of the frequency spectrum. • If you like, you can pause the recording by clicking the Pause button at any time. The Record button will blink to indicate Pause mode. To resume recording, click the Pause or Record button again. As described above, a short section of audio just before you resume recording (according to the Pause memory value in the Record Settings dialog) will be captured.
Ö Note: if you insert two or more region start markers in a row (with no region end markers in between), only the last of these start markers will be kept (the first marker(s) will be removed). About dropping markers during recording In other words, the last region start marker doesn’t become “permanent” until you insert a region end marker. The same goes for region end markers – if you insert several end markers in a row, only the last one will be kept.
7 Metering
Introduction Level/pan meter WaveLab Studio offers very detailed and versatile metering, allowing you to monitor level, pan, phase, spectrum and more during playback. This chapter describes how to display, set up and use the various meters. Level meters The upper part of the level/pan meter window shows the peak level and average loudness, in the following way: Meter presets (see “Selecting meter presets” on page 71) Monitor playback Reset button The meters reflect the audio being played back.
• If you are monitoring real-time audio (playback or input), the maximum peak and loudness values are displayed numerically to the right of the meter bars. Making settings for the level and pan meters You can adjust the behavior, scale and color of the meters as desired. It is also possible to save five sets of meter settings as presets, for instant access. Proceed as follows: Numbers in brackets to the right of the Maximum Peak values indicate the number of successive clips (0dB signal peaks).
Setting Description VU meter – Ballistics These settings determine how the VU meter responds: Resolution is the sample width of the “average window” for the VU meter (the number of samples continuously evaluated to calculate the average). The smaller this is, the more the VU meter behaves like the peak meter. Range inertia determines the “average windows” for the recent minimum and maximum value lines, and will therefore affect how quickly these respond to changes in loudness.
Setting Description Correlation display This is where you select colors for the elements in the Phase Correlation meter display, and adjust the Peak hold time for the maximum and minimum indicators. Number of samples to display This setting affects the length of the phase coil, and hence the density of the display. For audio with high sample rates, you might want to raise this value. • By clicking the camera icon, you can take a snapshot of the current spectrum.
If you want to store your settings for later use (or assign them to a Preset button), select “Save as…” from the popup menu in the lower part of the dialog, and specify a name for the preset in the file dialog that appears. Now, you can choose to make the settings instantly available for selection in the FFT Meter window, by using the “Assign to preset button” submenu on the pop-up menu. • When you are finished, click OK to close the dialog.
As soon as you perform any kind of real-time processing on an audio file, the audio data will be treated at a much higher resolution (32 bit floating point), to allow for pristine audio quality. Examples of such processing include level adjustments, effects, mixing of two or more files, etc. In fact, the only time when a 16 bit file will be played back at 16 bit resolution is if you play it without any fades or effects, and with the Master Faders set to 0.00 (no level adjustment).
Setting Description Making settings Bit hold time Determines for how long peak values are held (by the outer meters, by default shown in dark green). Bit display Determines how the bits are displayed: In “Intuitive mode”, the absolute value of the signal is displayed. The bar graphs will go higher with higher signal levels, similar to a common level meter (although the range will not work the same way).
8 Off-line processing
Introduction Getting the most out of the non-modal dialogs The processing dialogs are non-modal, which means they stay on screen even after the processing has been applied. This, together with the Undo allows you to try different types of processing without ever leaving the dialog (or even stopping playback!): When we refer to off-line processing, we mean functions that “permanently” alter the file, to make it sound more or less different.
Loudness Normalizer The controls To find out exactly what each control in the dialog does, click the question mark icon in the dialog. Gain Change This also allows you to change the amplitude (volume) of the selection, just like the Level Normalizer. The difference here is that the gain change is set in absolute numbers, plus/minus the current level (which is indicated as 0dB). This processing tool allows you to specify the loudness of a file.
The dialog contains the following options: Item Description Desired Loudness The loudness you desire to achieve. Positive and negative values can be set. Be aware that specifying high positive values might not be good practice, as this could require a gain which is beyond what the limiter can properly handle so distortion could occur.
Dynamics The Normalize controls These are used to normalize the sound before and/or after processing. Please note the following: • The effect of all dynamic processing depends on the amplitude (level) of the material to be processed. Therefore, if you process a number of files with slightly different levels (for example using presets or batch processing) the effect of the processing will be different from file to file. To avoid this, activate “Normalize before”.
• If the curve starts at 45° and then tilts downwards from any point, signals above this point will have a lower output level than input level. In other words, a gain (compression) reduction is performed. • If the curve starts out horizontally flat and then rises upwards, signals in the flat area will be eliminated completely. This is called (noise) gating.
2. Select “Extend to peaks” from the Select submenu on the Edit menu. 3. Open the Dynamics dialog and set it up for graphic editing. The dialog consists of a waveform view in the middle, with an envelope curve (initially a straight line) running through it. A vertical ruler displays the level change in dB, and the horizontal ruler displays the time line. You can boost the level up to 6 dB and decrease it down to silence. 4. Remove all breakpoints from the graph. Basic operation procedure 5.
3. Use the Type options to select a fade-in or a fade-out. Option Description Flip Horizontal This will flip the current envelope horizontally (in the time axis). Smooth envelope 4. Set the Offset and Damping parameters. A graph in the waveform indicates the resulting shape. The Damping value indicates how much the wave will be attenuated at the Offset point. A 6dB Damping with a 50% Offset normally gives the most natural results. See “Crossfade” below for more details.
For each of the two sections – the fade-out and the fadein – you can select an Offset and a Damping value. When you adjust these values, the curves in the wave are adjusted accordingly so that you can see what kind of crossfade you will get. 4. Select Crossfade from the Process menu. The dialog appears and crossfade slope indicators are shown in the current selection. The Offset factor determines where in the fade section the file will play at its “mid level” (normally half the level, see below).
An example A DC offset is when there is too large a DC (direct current) component in the signal. If the DC offset is really bad, it can be visible as the signal not being visually centered around the “zero level axis”. However, the DC offset can be significant without actually being seen. Let’s say you have two environmental sound effects you want to fade between, “city” and “restaurant”. You want to fade from “city” to “restaurant”. The two sounds are in different windows. 1.
This function is most often used to make a section of audio fit in with some other material. Therefore this dialog is set up exactly for that. You select the material to be stretched and use the options in the dialog to find a stretch factor (the “Percentage”). This is done by specifying the desired length, or the desired tempo, all according to what the situation requires. Enter the start position here. Enter the desired end position here.
Pitch Correction Setting Description Audio quantize When this option is activated, the length of the resulting file will be exactly the one displayed in the “Desired result” section of the dialog. When it is deactivated, the actual file length may differ by a few milliseconds. If you don’t need this accuracy, you should leave the option deactivated, for a slightly better audio quality.
Length compensation About the DIRAC processor This allows you to set how the length of the selection should be affected by the operation. The DIRAC engine (DIRAC Time Stretch/Pitch Shift technology, ©2005 Stephan M. Bernsee) is a very high quality pitch shifter, perhaps the best available on the market today. It will produce the best quality results possible, but the trade off is longer processing times.
Harmonization Envelope In this window, you draw the curve that the pitch should follow. • Create and erase points by double clicking. • Select points by clicking on them. By pressing [Ctrl] when clicking, you can select more than one point and later move them together. Selected points don’t have to be contiguous. You can also click anywhere in the window and drag the mouse over the envelope points to select them. • You can drag any segment to move the whole envelope curve up and down.
EQ Additional controls Control Description Preserve level When this is activated, the resulting audio will have the same level as the original, even though a number of voices have been added. Create stereo wave If you are operating from a mono selection you can still create a stereo wave by activating this option. The processed wave will then open in a new window.
Presets tab 2. Select the desired sample rate from the pop-up menu and click OK. The Presets tab features a list of EQ presets, with self-explanatory names. If you want to change any other audio properties (e.g. the bit resolution or stereo/mono status), you can do this in one of two ways: • Open the Audio Properties dialog from the Edit menu and make the desired settings (see “Editing audio properties” on page 56).
9 Master Section
Introduction There are six slots for inserting effect processors. Effects can be turned on or off with the On buttons, and reordered by dragging the slots. The Master Section is the heart of WaveLab Studio’s “Real-time Engine” and the final block in the signal path, before the audio is sent to the audio hardware (or to an audio file on disk). This is where you adjust master levels, add effect processors and dither. Indicates that an effect is activated.
The Master level pane Showing and hiding panes You can independently hide the three Master Section panes in any combination: • Clicking on the Hide button for a pane will “fold” it, leaving only the pane title bar visible. This is useful for saving screen space, if you e.g. don’t need to see the Dithering settings. Note that the green indicator for the pane will still be visible when the pane is hidden, allowing you to see at a glance whether effects, master volume or dithering are used or not.
About the Unlink mode The Mono button The Unlink button determines whether the faders should be individually adjustable (indicated by a lit Unlink button) or “ganged”. Normally, you will probably want Unlink deactivated, so that moving one fader also moves the other by the same amount. Turning on Unlink allows you to correct improper stereo balancing by adjusting the channels’ levels individually. Note: If you activate the Mono button, the two channels will be summed to mono.
Ö As mentioned above, this indicator lights up as soon as even a single sample is not played back correctly. This type of precision is not often required, but it’s there if you need it. Selecting effects and managing slots To select an effect plug-in for a slot, click on the slot (or the numbered button to the right of the slot) and select an effect from the pop-up menu that appears.
• You can change the order of the slots (and thus the order in which the signal passes through the effects) by clicking a slot and dragging it to a new position. Bypass, Mute and Preset As you can see in the figure above, the three buttons above the actual panel are common to both kinds of control panel windows. They have the following functionality: When you drag, a dotted outline shows the position of the slot. • Clicking the Bypass button will temporarily bypass the effect.
Working with effect processor presets About the effect plug-ins supplied with WaveLab Studio With WaveLab Studio comes a number of “factory presets” for the included processors, which you can either select and use as is, or use as a starting point for your own settings. Additional plug-in processors may provide their own “factory presets”. Included with WaveLab Studio is a large number of plugins for all kinds of purposes, audio compression, chorus, stereo enhancement, reverb, etc.
The Dithering pane When should I apply dithering? The basic rule-of-thumb is that you should dither when moving to a lower bit resolution. One obvious instance of this is when converting an audio file to a lower resolution (e.g. preparing a 24-bit file for mastering to CD, which uses 16-bit format).
Once you have selected a dithering algorithm, dithering is active (as indicated by the green indicator for the Dithering pane). It will apply to all playback (through the Master Section) or rendering. UV22 Dithering Ö To turn off dithering completely, right click in the slot and select “Remove” from the pop-up menu that appears. This is the same as selecting “None” from the effect selection pop-up menu.
Ö The presets are saved automatically when you quit the program. The next time you load the program, the presets are ready and waiting, just as you left them. 4. Click OK to close the dialog. Now, the plug-in will appear on the pop-up menu in the Dithering pane, and can be inserted after the Master Level faders (as with the regular dithering types). You make settings for the plug-in like you would for effects in the Effects pane.
Rendering Defining key sequences 1. Select the preset for which you want to create a key sequence, and click the key sequence button. 2. If you want to clear the current key sequence, click Clear. While the Master Section can perform all processing in real time during playback, it’s also possible to save the audio output to a file on disk. This is done with the Render function. 3. Make sure Catch mode is active. There are several uses for Rendering: 4.
Calling up the Render dialog and filling out the options Option Description Copy markers If this is ticked, the resulting new file will contain all markers present in the original file. Click the Render button to call up the following dialog: Do crossfade at “Do crossfade at boundaries” is useful when proboundaries/Do fade- cessing in place (selection or regions), because it alin/out at boundaries lows smooth transitions between the processed/ non-processed parts.
Options on the Schedule tab Processing the file • The On Start options determine what WaveLab Studio should do before rendering: Once everything is set up correctly, click OK to initiate the processing. Or, if you change your mind, click Cancel. Stop playback Stops playback to free up some processing power. This option is not available if playback is already stopped. Open Monitor window Opens the Monitor window, see “The Monitor window” on page 104.
The Progress display The following options are available: The Progress display shows a list with the following columns: Option Description Suspend/Resume Suspends processing of the wave. The menu option changes to Resume so that you can activate processing again. When a process is suspended, more CPU power will be available to the other processes. Suspend/Resume All Halts/starts processing of all waves.
Customizing the Performance display The Timecode display You can customize the way the processing information is displayed. If you want to see more of what is going on, resize the window. This has two uses (selected on the Options pop-up menu in the window): • To display incoming timecode when synchronizing WaveLab Studio to external equipment. Other options are available if you position the cursor anywhere in the black part of the window and press the right mouse button.
10 Spectrum Display
Selecting Spectrum display mode • The status bar will show exact time/frequency positions for the mouse pointer. First, it should be noted that the Spectrum display isn’t really designed to be an alternative to the Wave display when it comes to standard editing procedures in WaveLab Studio. Using a detailed spectrogram view, it is specifically meant for the purpose of frequency analysis.
The dialog contains the following items: Option Description Style Use this to specify whether the Spectrum should be displayed in color or in one of two grayscale modes. Logarithmic frequency scale If this is activated, each octave in the frequency spectrum will be equally spaced vertically. However, linear mode (i.e. this option is not activated) is sometimes better suited for spectrograms.
11 Batch processing
Introduction Let’s say you set things up so that a three minute file should be processed through the following chain of effects: Batch processing is an extension of the Master Section Render function (see “Rendering” on page 102). The big difference is that the Batch Processor can work on any number of files, and process different files with different settings.
Pass 3: = disk domain Opening the Batch Processor = RAM ! Read file Transfer DC Remover Normalizer Denoiser Process Process Process “Use Master Section” (on the Options menu) must be active for batch processing to be available! There are two basic ways of opening the Batch Processor: Compressor Normalizer • From the Tools menu. Process Analysis This gives you a “clean slate” to start with. You can open as many Batch Processor windows as you like.
The Output tab Renaming and setting attributes for a batch This is used to specify where the resulting files should be stored, how they should be named and in what format they should be. To rename a batch, proceed as follows: The Schedule tab Alternatively you can hold down [Alt] and double click directly on the batch. This is used to set up priorities and post-processing options. 2. Enter the desired name in the dialog. 1. Select the batch in the list and click on the name icon (the “A”).
Adding open documents Adding files via Drag and Drop To add a document that is already open to the list, select it from the document pop-up menu. • You can add files from the Windows Explorer or My Computer windows. Drag the file icon and drop it on the batch. ! Note that this also works with documents in open Audio Montages. This way you can add and batch process all files that “belong” to an Audio Montage.
Various file considerations About the file icons – File status If you are processing a file that is already open, please note the following things: To the left of the file you will find an icon providing information about the status of the file: • If the new file will have the same name and is saved in the same location, the file will not be saved (since it is already open). This is the same as using the Render function with the “Process in place” option activated.
Setting up the processing tasks to be performed To instead open the processed file (after running a batch), proceed as follows: • Double click on the file in the Output column in the list, or… • Select the original file in the list, hold down [Ctrl] and click the “Open window” button, or… • Hold down [Ctrl], drag the file from the list and drop it on an empty section of the WaveLab Studio program window. The next step is to set up how the effect processors should be applied to the batch.
The Processors tab The plug-in icons and presets This tab is divided into two columns: • In the Plug-ins folder, each icon represents an installed plugin. • Unfolding a processor icon reveals its current presets. If an icon has no plus symbol, it has no “WaveLab Studio Presets”, that is, to access presets, you then need to open the panel for the processor itself, see later in this chapter. • The left column (Sequence) displays a list of processing that will be applied to the batch.
The included off-line processors Ultra-pass processors can be freely combined with other types of processors. For example you can use both the Meta Normalizer and a regular Normalizer in the same batch. You may also combine ultra-pass plug-ins with multi-pass plug-ins. • DC Remover. This removes any DC Offset in the file (see “Eliminate DC Offset” on page 85). This would normally be inserted at the beginning of the processing list, preparing the file for processing, so to speak. • Normalizer.
• If you use the “+” button or drop below the existing list, the processor will be added at the end of the list. To remedy this, you can insert the Normalizer at the end of the signal chain. The Normalizer will not only raise levels, but also lower them as required so that the signal peaks exactly at the specified value just before it is converted to a file. This is useful to do even when “Only if Clipping” is not activated. You can also do this by double clicking the processor in the list to the right.
Closing the Processor List window Using path variables Once you have finished with all the settings, click OK to confirm the settings and close the dialog or Cancel to close it without saving any changes. If you need more advanced options, for example if you need to store different batches in different folders, you need to use the path variables, available on the pop-up to the right of the folder icon.
The available variables have the following functions: Variable Function Example Batch Name Creates a folder with the name of the batch, as specified on the Input tab (see “Setting up file locations and names” on page 120). If you have a group called MyAudioFiles, and the Destination file reads “c:\\” the files will be stored in a folder called “MyAudioFiles”, located in the root of the C drive.
Creating backups and automatically deleting source files Checking the output paths and names Once you have set up the path and file name, you can switch to the Input tab and check the Output column. It will tell you where each processed file will be located and under what name. If a line is empty, there is something wrong with the settings on the Output tab – the settings aren’t valid for this file. Please go back and adjust.
Scheduling Selecting an Output Format • Click the large button to open the Audio File Format dialog in which you can select the desired output format and make settings for it. For details about various file formats, see “Supported file formats” on page 49. For detailed information about the Audio File Format dialog, please click the question mark icon in the dialog.
On file process completion You can stop processing in two ways: These settings determine what should happen after each individual file has been processed: • By clicking the Stop button in the Batch Processing dialog. Option Description Restore wave window If the window was minimized when processing started, it will be restored to its previous size. • By right clicking in the Monitor window, see “Process menu” on page 105. Zip archiving won’t stop until the current file has been processed.
12 Batch file encoding
Basic procedure 4. Select the destination folder for the converted files from the corresponding pop-up menu. WaveLab Studio can open and play both uncompressed and compressed files in a number of different formats, including WAV, AIFF, MP3, WMA (Windows Media Audio) and OSQ (Original Sound Quality), which is WaveLab Studio’s proprietary lossless audio format. 5. Select the desired destination format by clicking the audio properties button at the bottom of the dialog.
13 Markers
Introduction Marker type Description Mute start and end These let you temporarily silence a certain section. Muted sections can also be skipped on playback (see “Skipping sections during playback” on page 60). Region start and end Use these to define start and end points for generic regions. This is useful for editing purposes and can be created directly during recording if needed (see “About dropping markers during recording” on page 67).
The Marker toolbar 4. Fill out the other options in the dialog and click OK. Click the question mark icon in the dialog for details. This is a special control bar for markers. It can be brought up from the Control Bars submenu on the View menu. Open marker list Go to previous marker Go to next marker Add new marker Drop Generic marker Add Mute markers Add region markers Add loop markers Creating markers Dropping markers on the fly To add a marker on the fly, proceed as follows: 1. Play back the file.
About the marker list Hiding all markers of a certain type There’s a special dialog for hiding markers of certain types. To open it: There is a marker list window that displays all markers in a wave. This can be used for various purposes, for editing, deleting and locating to markers, as described in the following sections. • Click with the right mouse button on the time ruler and select Visibility, or… • Open the marker list, click with the right mouse button on a marker and select Visibility.
Deleting in the marker list To rename a marker, uncheck “Automatic naming” and type in a name of your own choice. The name of the marker will then be visible beside it. The name of the marker will also be shown as a “tip” if you move the mouse pointer over the marker head and wait for a moment. 1. Hold down [Ctrl] and double click in the ruler. The wave markers window appears. 2. Click with the right mouse button on the marker you want to delete. 3. Select Delete.
Browsing markers To select all audio between any two markers, double click just to the right of the leftmost one, hold down [Shift] and double click just to the left of the rightmost one. You can move the wave cursor from marker to marker by clicking the arrow buttons on the Marker toolbar, or by using the keys [4] and [5] on the numeric key pad.
3. Make sure the marker line and the drag line appear on top of each other, then release the mouse button. If you point at a marker when using drag and drop, the audio will be inserted there. Looping Loop markers are primarily intended for creating loop sounds (e.g. for samplers) as described in the section “Sampling and creating loops” on page 235, but you can use loop markers in various additional ways: • Set up a loop and repeat it indefinitely during playback, while editing material inside the loop.
14 Using Auto Split
Introduction • The second page of the dialog varies according to the chosen split method. Auto Split is a powerful function that allows you to automatically split audio files according to certain specified rules. You can use it to split files in the following ways: The following pages of the dialog are common to all types of Auto Split, except that certain options are greyed out in the dialogs if not applicable.
15 The Audio Montage
Introduction About the two panes and the views The Audio Montage window is divided into two “panes”. The lower pane always shows the tracks and the clips, while the upper pane shows one of ten views, as listed below. The Audio Montage is a multi-track non-destructive editing environment, which allows you to arrange, edit, play back and record audio clips on multiple tracks.
• If the Montage window is too narrow to show all tabs, two arrow buttons are displayed in the upper right corner of the window. Info line symbols The following symbols are used in the info line (the symbols for [Shift], [Ctrl] and [Alt] may differ depending on the language selected for WaveLab Studio): Use these to “move” the row of tabs so that you can see and click the one you want. Symbol Description Indicates that you can right-click to display a speed menu.
Assembling the Montage The ruler At the top of the Track View in the Audio Montage window, there is a ruler, similar to that in the Wave window. To change the ruler format, right-click in the ruler and make a selection from the pop-up menu that appears. Creating a new Montage 1. Pull down the File menu and open the New submenu. 2. Select the “Audio Montage…” item. The Sample rate dialog appears. 3. Specify the preferred sample rate.
Handling tracks Deleting tracks Creating and managing tracks is done in the area to the left of the tracks in the Track View (from now on called the Track Control area). In the middle of this area is a button with the number of the track. Clicking this button brings up the track pop-up menu, which contains most of the track functions. To remove unwanted tracks, proceed as follows: 1. Click on the track number button for the track that you want to delete. The track pop-up menu appears. 2.
Adding audio clips to the Montage By using Copy and Paste You can create clips by copying audio selections from Wave windows into the Audio Montage. There are several ways to do this: 1. In the Wave window, select the audio section that you want the clip to refer to. You cannot add a mono clip to a stereo track or vice versa. Also, the clip’s audio file has to have the same sample rate as the Audio Montage. 3.
By importing files The Insert options 1. In the Track View, click in the track on which you want to put the clip, at the desired position. Single clip When you add a single clip to the Montage (by pasting, importing from disk or using drag and drop), a pop-up menu appears. By selecting one of the menu items, you specify how the clip should be inserted, whether existing clips should be affected or not, etc.
Option Description In this dialog you can: Replace selected range Only available if there is a selection range on the destination track. The clip with the selection range will be split at the selection range edges, the inserted clip will replace the range and the section to the right of the range is moved to the left or right (depending on the length of the inserted clip vs. the length of the selection range), so that there is no gap after the inserted clip.
Zooming in the ruler If you are adding several clips at the same time, these options affect the result in the following way: As in the Wave windows, you can adjust the horizontal zoom by clicking in the ruler and dragging the pointer up or down with the mouse button pressed. Drag up to zoom out and drag down to zoom in. • If “Track auto-grouping” is activated, clips on the same track, to the right of the insertion point, will be moved to the right to “make room” for the added clips.
Zooming with the Rubber Band tool 3. Select “Zoom”, and from the submenu that appears, “Whole Clip”. 1. Click the magnifying glass icon in the top left corner of the Track View. The Track View zooms in on the clip. The pointer takes on the shape of a “four-way arrow” with a magnifying glass. Zooming and navigating in the Edit Overview When the Edit view is selected (by clicking the Edit tab), the upper pane shows an Overview of the Montage, with clips displayed as boxes.
Undoing view and position changes • Right-clicking anywhere in the Overview will make the Track View zoom out, so that the whole Audio Montage is visible. There is a separate “Undo history” for zoom, view and position changes in the Audio Montage. This allows you to undo one or several changes, in the following way: The Key Command for this is [J]. • To identify a clip in the Overview, position the pointer over its box.
Playing back • Note that a track is soloed when the Solo button is blue (lit). Playback in the Audio Montage works in much the same way as in the Wave windows. However, there are some extra things to note: • The Solo buttons are exclusive, that is, solo can only be activated for one track at a time. However, you can manually unmute other tracks when Solo is activated, if you want to listen to a combination of tracks. Ö Audio tracks are normally routed through the Master Section.
About the track gain faders Playing back individual clips and selections When editing and rearranging the Audio Montage, it can be useful to audition the individual clips and selections. This is done using the clip speed menu: 1. Right-click on the clip you want to play back (make sure you don’t click on the envelope curve, as this will open another speed menu – see “Hiding/Showing volume envelope curves” on page 165). The clip speed menu appears.
Playing all tracks within the current selection range 2. Click and hold the mouse button to the left or right of the vertical line. Clicking to the left of the line will play back the audio backwards and clicking to the right will play the audio forwards. The playback speed is determined by the distance from the line to the pointer, so that the further away from the line you move the pointer, the faster the playback.
Playing back from the ruler 4. Activate recording. The clip will be inserted at the position where the Montage cursor was the moment you activated recording. If you first go into Pause mode and then activate recording, you will get a “pre-roll” time according to the Pause buffer, allowing you to capture the audio just before you start recording. You can use the ruler to quickly locate to a position and start playback from there: • Double clicking in the ruler starts playback from that position.
Ö When you move the pointer over a mouse zone, the info line indicates the corresponding action(s). About monitoring the recorded signal WaveLab Studio in itself does not handle monitoring (routing the input signal back to the output) during recording. If you want to hear the signal you are recording, there are two ways to achieve this: As described in the section “Info line symbols” on page 138, this also indicates whether you can perform additional functions by holding down modifier keys.
Option Description Selecting clips Markers in audio source Markers in the clips’ original audio files (see “Using markers in the Montage” on page 185). Selection Edges The start and end of a selected range in the Audio Montage. To select a clip (for copying, deletion, etc.), click in the bottom clip area (the mouse zone to which “Select/Move clip” is assigned). Cursor The Montage cursor position.
Using the Select menu Option The Edit view : Select menu holds several items for selecting clips: Lock/Unlock all selected clips Locks all selected clips (or unlocks them, if they are locked). See “Unlocking a locked clip” on page 159. Description Mute/Unmute all selected clips Mutes all selected clips (or unmutes them, if they are muted). See “Muting individual clips” on page 147.
To create a selection range, proceed as follows: Moving clips • Creating a selection range in an empty area on a track is done by clicking and dragging with the mouse as when selecting audio in the Wave windows. To move a clip, proceed as follows: 1. If you want to move more than one clip, you need to select these clips first.
• If Track auto-grouping is activated when you move a clip sideways, all clips to the right of it on the destination track will be moved by the same amount. • If Global auto-grouping is activated when you move a clip sideways, all clips to the right of it in the whole Audio Montage will be moved accordingly. • There is an automatic crossfading option that automatically adjusts the volume envelope curves when you overlap clips. This is described in the section “Using crossfades” on page 172.
Repeating clips Dragging selections to create new clips 1. If you don’t know the exact number of copies (clones) needed, but know roughly where you want the last clip in the row to be positioned, move the Montage cursor there. If you have made a selection range in a clip, you can copy this to a new clip, in the following way: 1. Create the selection range, see “Selection ranges” on page 153. 2. Right-click on the clip to bring up the clip speed menu. 3. Select “Repeat clip…”.
Resize clips (static audio source) Resizing all selected clips This is the traditional way of resizing clips, you move the start or end point to the left or to the right: • If you press [Alt] when resizing, all selected clips will be resized by the same amount. 1. Point at the left or right edge of the clip. To resize multiple selected clips using tied audio sources press [Alt] + [Ctrl]. It doesn’t matter whether you click in the upper or lower half of the edge. 2.
Moving a clip with the audio source fixed Cutting and erasing sections of a clip This is the opposite of sliding the audio: this function moves the clip in the Montage, but the audio source remains fixed in position: You can cut or erase a selection range within a clip, by using the functions “Cut selection” or “Erase selection” on the clip speed menu, or by selecting Delete or Erase selected range from the main Edit menu. 1.
Deleting clips Using cue points There are two principal ways to delete a clip: A cue point is a defined position marker that belongs to a clip. It may be positioned within or outside the clip. Cue points are displayed as dotted vertical lines. • Right-click on the clip to bring up the clip speed menu, and select “Delete clip”. • Select it, and press [Backspace]. Instead of using [Backspace], you can press the [Delete] key or select “Delete” from the main Edit menu.
Option Description Follows fade-out start point As the previous option, but for the fade-out start point. 3. To hide a Column deselect the respective column type in the list. The column disappears from the clip list, and the pop-up closes. Set at default pregap Sets the cue point before the start of the clip, at a position distance governed by the default pre-gap position (set on the Edit view : Options menu). 4.
Re-ordering clips in the Montage by drag and drop In the clip list, you can edit the following parameters: This feature allows you to reorder clips in the Montage, in a way that is only possible from the clip list. As an example, let’s assume that we have edited the “Welcome” wave file (included with WaveLab Studio) so that the words “Welcome” “to Steinberg’s” and “WaveLab” are instead contained in three separate clips. In this example the clips are all on the same track, but they do not have to be.
Managing clips and source files 1. Right-click on the clip to bring up the clip speed menu. 2. Select Edit from the Source submenu. There are several functions to help you check and manage the relationship between the clips and their source audio files: The Files view A Wave window opens, showing the referenced source audio file with a selection corresponding to the clip. 3. Edit the file as desired, save it and return to the Audio Montage.
Cloning and substituting source files The “Implicit folder” is used when WaveLab Studio needs to save files to disk. It is similar to the “Temporary folders” setting in the Edit folder dialog (see “Folder editing” on page 248), but with one important difference: Files stored in the “Implicit folder” are not “temporary”, that is, they are not deleted when you close WaveLab Studio. This is necessary since the Montage contains references to the files.
Change file… The fade-in and fade-out parts of the envelope are described in the section “Using fades and crossfades in the Montage” on page 170. The following pages describe the “sustain part” of the envelope, that is, the section between the two fade junction points. This is available from the File view : File menu. It opens a dialog which allows you to substitute an existing file with a new one.
Hiding/Showing volume envelope curves Mono/stereo envelopes All clips display volume envelopes by default. There are two ways you can hide the envelope curve for a clip. It is possible to display two volume envelope curves for stereo clips, allowing you to control the volume separately for the left and right channels. Proceed as follows: Method 1: 1. Right-click on an envelope curve to open the envelope speed menu.
Clicking on an envelope point selects it (it becomes red). You can also select several envelope points. The following rules apply: • [Shift]-clicking on the envelope curve and dragging it left or right will select (and move) the two nearest points to the right and left respectively. You are constrained to horizontal movement using this method.
Copying envelopes Creating envelope presets It is possible to copy an envelope curve and paste it onto another clip. Proceed as follows: It is possible to create envelope presets which you can later recall and apply to other clips. Proceed as follows: 1. Open the envelope speed menu for the curve you wish to copy, and select “Clipboard” on the menu. 1. Open the envelope speed menu for the clip containing the envelope curve you wish to save as a preset. A submenu appears. 2.
Applying envelope presets Duck according to other track To apply an envelope preset, proceed as follows: This feature allows you to create ducking effects between clips on two adjacent tracks. Normally, ducking is when the signal level on one track or channel is automatically lowered by the presence of another signal on another track or channel (if this is what you want, you should use the Ducker plug-in, described in the section “About the “Upper Track” output option” on page 180).
Proceed as follows: 4. Click “OK”. The level of the music is automatically lowered by the voice-over clips, as shown in the illustration below. 1. Place the clips containing the music and the voiceover on separate adjacent tracks. Make sure the voice-over clips are located inside the time range of the music clip.
Using fades and crossfades in the Montage • To make editing of fades easier, there are special Zoom options on the clip speed menu, for zooming in on the fade-in or fade-out area. There are a number of different options to choose from when creating and editing fades and crossfades in the Montage. These are described in the following sections. ! Creating fades As mentioned earlier, by default all clips display a fade-in and a fade-out junction point.
Default fade-in/out To apply both default fade-in shape and length use the following method: The factory default fade-in/out curve shape is linear. You can change this setting and define a default shape and/or length separately for both fade-ins and fade-outs. To define a new default fade-in, follow the steps below. To define a new default fade-out use the same method described below but select “Default Fade-out” on the envelope speed menu: ! 1.
Using the fade- in/out ROM presets Fade-in curve type Description If you select “Fade-in/out ROM Presets” on the envelope speed menu, a submenu opens where you can select various preset curves and other fade-related options. Exponential This creates a curve that fades in slowly in the beginning. Exponential + This creates an even more pronounced exponential curve.
Crossfade options ! The automatic crossfade option on the Edit view : Fade menu determines if automatic crossfades will be created in the Montage: • Automatic crossfading – free overlaps. Note that selecting a compensation attribute for a single fade (not in a crossfade) will change the shape of the curve, but the actual “compensation” will only take place when the fade becomes part of a crossfade.
• When moving a clip with a defined fade curve so that it overlaps another clip’s adjacent edge (without a defined fade), the unmoved clip automatically gets the same fade shape as the moved clip (but as a corresponding opposite fade), with amplitude compensation. Other predefined rules when creating crossfades Apart from the different combinations described above, there are other factors that govern the result when creating crossfades.
Showing pan envelopes On the clip speed menu, you will find a submenu called Transform. This contains two items: “Time-stretch to cursor…” and “Pitch Shift…”. When you use one of these functions, a clone of the original audio file is automatically created, containing exactly the audio range used in the clip. The selected processing is applied to the clone, and the clip will reference to this file instead.
2. Right-click on the clip to bring up the clip speed menu. Pitch shift 3. Select “Time-stretch to cursor” from the Transform submenu. This function uses WaveLab Studio’s (or DIRAC’s) pitch correction algorithm to change the pitch of the clip: The Time Stretching dialog appears. This is the same dialog as when time stretching wave files, but the fields for stretch factor/time/tempo are greyed out (since these are determined by the cursor position). 1.
Adding effects to tracks and clips Adding a track effect slot To add an effect to a track, proceed as follows: The Montage supports VST effect plug-ins, both for individual clips and for tracks. The main difference between clip and track effects is: 1. Click on the “Add effect slot” button in the Track Control area. If no effects are currently loaded the button will display “no fx”. • Clip effects affect individual clips only. • Track effects affect all clips on a track.
Removing an effect from a slot The Reset Plug-ins options You can’t actually manually remove created effect slots, only the slot’s effect. Here’s what you do: On the Edit view : Options menu, you will find two options related to the plug-in effects: 1. To remove a clip effect from a slot, open the clip speed menu and select the effect you want to remove from a slot.
When an effect is selected, the left part of the Effect dialog contains the parameters for the effect. The right part of the dialog contains a number of options and functions that are common (although some settings may be disabled depending on the effect type, as explained above). Copying effect settings to another clip or track The dialog contains the following common elements: 2. Select “Copy” from the Functions menu in the Effect dialog.
Rearranging the order of the effect slots About the “Upper Track” output option The Function menu items “Move up” and “Move down” allow you to rearrange the order of the effect slots. The effect order in a chain determines to a certain degree how the effects will affect each other.
Managing effects in the Plug-ins view Option Description Paste This allows you to paste in the copied effect in another slot. Remove This removes the current effect from the slot. The slot itself will then read “Unused slot”. You can now either select a new effect for the slot or leave the slot unused. Move up/down This allows you to reorder the plug-in chain. Left pane • The left pane shows all the available plug-ins in a tree list. Used plug-ins have a plus sign beside the name.
The Meta Normalizer dialog Option Description Copy This will copy the effect and its settings. Paste This allows you to paste in the copied effect into another slot. Remove This removes the current effect from the slot. The slot itself will then read “Unused slot”. You can now either select a new effect for the slot or leave the slot unused. Add to selected clips This is an easy way to add a plug-in to all selected clips in one operation.
Groups The following options are available in the Meta Normalizer dialog: Option Description Equalize Clip Volume Selecting this will process all clips in the Montage according to the highest possible level or loudness found amongst the clips, so that they will all play back at equal levels. Equalize peak level Select this option if you want to use peak levels as a basis for determining what is considered “equal level” when executing Equalize Clip Volume.
Adding clips to an existing group Group options If you already have a group, and want to add one or several clips to that group, this is done in the following way: There are a couple of options in the Groups view that affect how groups are handled: 1. Select the clips you want to add. • You can temporarily “turn off” a group by deactivating the checkbox to the left of a group in the list. 2. In the Groups view, select “Group selected Clips” from the Grouping menu, or click the corresponding icon.
Using markers in the Montage Importing markers When you use the option “Create Audio Montage from Wave” on the Edit menu to create a new Montage from an open wave file, you can choose to import any existing markers in the file so that they will be present in the Montage as well. Separate markers are provided for use in the Montage. Markers are used in the Montage in much the same way as in the source Wave windows.
Editing in the markers list view About attaching markers to clips Clicking on the Marker tab opens the Markers view in the upper pane of the Montage. By default, this list contains all markers currently in the Montage. Below the Montage tabs there is a row of marker icons, and to the left of them are the Markers view : Insert and Functions menus.
Undo/Redo and History History view Functions On the History menu in the History view, the following functions and options are available: The Audio Montage has a separate Undo/Redo list, independent from the Undo/Redo of Wave windows. If you have several Montages, each window has its own Undo history. Undoing and redoing commands in the Audio Montage is done as in the Wave windows (by using the Edit menu, or by pressing [Ctrl]-[Z] or [F3] for Undo, and [Shift]-[Ctrl][Z] or [F4] for Redo).
File handling in the Audio Montage Saving a Montage template Ö The Montage files do not contain any audio data in themselves. Once you have set up the Audio Montage window the way you want it, you can save it as a template. The template file contains all settings and options in the Montage, but no clips.
Quick cloning Proceed as follows: This method is useful if you want to create several versions of the Montage, for example experimenting with variations. Note however that any processing or editing you apply to the actual audio files will be reflected in both Montages, since they share all file references. 1. Select “Full cloning (recreate audio files)…”, either from the Edit view : Special menu or from the Save special submenu on the File menu. A dialog appears. 1.
Option Description Backing up Montages Split files to remove unused ranges Unused ranges in the files are removed, but instead of concatenating the used sections of a file (as with the previous option), the file is split when a range is removed. The Audio Montage has a special backup mechanism, which allows you to maintain previous versions of saved Montages, and have the Audio Montage automatically saved.
Playing back a video clip 3. Specify how many previous versions you want to keep (0 to 1000), in the “Number of backups” field. Video clips are displayed as clips on the video track, with thumbnails representing the frames in the film. If you start playback, the video is played back in the Track view for the video track. Setting this to 0 is the same as turning off the backup for the Montage. 4. Activate the Auto save checkbox if you want WaveLab Studio to automatically save the Montage.
The Video view Options menu 5. Click the Render button in the Master Section window. The Rendering preferences dialog appears. There are two items on the Video view : Options menu: • Play video in track (at cursor). If this is ticked, the video frames will play back in the Track view at the cursor position. If this is off, the frames will be displayed as non-animated thumbnail images. • No video playback in track when this tab is open.
8. Select whether you want to create a named file or not. If you activate “Create named file”, you must specify a name and location for the file. If you don’t activate the option, a temporary file is created, with the bit resolution specified in the Preferences dialog–File tab. 9. If “Create named file” is selected you can click the item at the bottom of the dialog to open the Audio File Format dialog. Here you can specify the various audio properties for the file(s) to be rendered.
• The Red Book audio CD standard requires that the pause before the first track is at least 2 seconds. • The CD is too long (the total length of the CD is displayed in the control bar at the top of the tab). 6. Adjust the other settings if you want. ! Click the question mark icon in the dialog for details. 7. Click Apply. The dialog closes. Now, CD track markers are generated and pauses are adjusted according to your settings.
Placing a clip before track 1 Checking transitions between tracks To create a “hidden” CD track before track 1, proceed as follows: On the CD view : Functions menu there is an item named “Edit playback times…”. This dialog allows you to set two things; a pre-roll time before a track is played back, and a test time, which is the time the beginning of a track is played back when using the “Play all track starts” function on the toolbar (also located on the CD view : Functions menu). 1.
Creating an Audio CD report About the two CD write methods The final phase of CD creation can be done in two ways: Basic concept • By burning directly from the CD view in the Montage. An Audio CD report presents the contents of the current Audio Montage in text form, for printing. This is an easy process, but puts some demand on your computer.
At this point, you can select one of three Audio CD report templates (or presets) from the pop-up menu; two of them will show “Absolute” times, where the timing is continuous from the beginning of the CD (i.e. from the start of the first pause), the third shows “Relative” times, where the timing is relative to the start of the first track, and the durations are given without pauses.
• To remove an element from the Audio CD report, delete the path to its RTF file. As you can see, this is the personal information that was shown under the logo in the preview CD report template. The entries are written exactly as in the “Edit Variables” dialog; a title followed by a variable name enclosed with “%” characters.
16 Burning an audio CD
Introduction Testing an audio CD before burning This chapter describes the basic CD burning process, as well as some general reference information about the CD format. It does not, however, describe the necessary preparations for creating a CD from an Audio Montage. In other words, this chapter assumes that the respective preparations have been completed, and that you are ready to execute the actual CD burning.
Writing a CD CD-Extra support When writing an audio CD as described above, it is possible to prepare it for CD-Extra support. CD-Extra is comparable to Mixed Mode CDs in that both of these formats allow for the writing of both audio and data on a single CD. However, unlike Mixed Mode CDs, the audio on CDExtra CDs is placed on the first track(s) of the CD and the data follows subsequently.
The audio CD format – Background information About frames, positions, small frames and bits The data on an audio CD is divided into frames. A frame consists of 588 stereo samples. 75 frames make up one second of audio. Why? Well, 75 x 588 = 44100, and since the sampling frequency of the CD format is 44100kHz (samples per second), this equals one second of audio. When you specify positions on the CD, in WaveLab Studio, you do it in the format mm:ss:ff, where mm is minutes, ss is seconds and ff is frames.
When creating CDs from an Audio Montage, these rules and settings are handled by the CD Wizard. If you don't change these settings, you will get default values that ensure your CD will work properly. On the other hand, when the situation so requires, you can adjust them. We recommend you leave these settings as they are, unless you are completely sure of what you are doing.
17 Data CD/DVD Projects
Introduction The principle is simple: The Data CD/DVD window has two main window panes; the source window on top and the destination window below. A Data CD/DVD project is an environment that can be used to compile and write a data only CD-ROM/DVDROM or Mixed Mode CDs. The source window shows the contents of your hard disks (or other storage media) in a way much like the Windows Explorer: with a folder hierarchy “tree” to the left and the contents of the selected folder shown to the right.
Destination window settings The CD/DVD menu View settings The CD/DVD menu contains items for preparing and writing the disc: Use the Destination menu to adjust how files and folders are displayed in the destination window, just like in the source window. Function Description Disk Label… Opens a dialog where you can name the CD/DVD to be recorded. CD/DVD Info… Displays the total number of files as well as the total file size on the CD/DVD to be recorded.
Creating a Mixed Mode CD Item Description To create a Mixed Mode CD (i.e. a CD with both audio and data), proceed as follows: Write speed Here you can select a write speed supported by your recorder. Write method Here you can select a Write method supported by your CD recorder. If you are adding the data portion to a CD-Extra CD, you must select “Track At Once” (see “CD-Extra support” on page 201). For DVD, there are no write method options. Closing method Here you can select a closing method.
18 Importing audio CD tracks
Importing audio CD tracks into WaveLab Studio • By default, the tracks will be named “Track XX”, where XX is a number starting at 01. You can adjust the auto numbering scheme by right-clicking in the list and selecting an option from the pop-up menu that appears. WaveLab Studio provides the ability to read audio tracks from regular CDs. This makes a digital copy of the audio from the CD directly into an audio file on your hard disk.
8. If required, you can select one file and click Play. File format – Converting CD track(s) to other formats This will play the beginning of the track so that you can check it out. The extracted audio files are saved in WAV (Wave) format by default. You can, however, directly save files in other audio formats by clicking the button at the bottom of the dialog to open the Audio File Format dialog, and select the desired file format from the Type menu.
Notes • Note that importing audio CD tracks is technically more complicated than reading files from a CD-ROM or hard disk, because audio sectors can be hard to detect. Some CDs which do not conform completely to the CD standard may cause problems. • There are several other functions on the Options pop-up menu. Click the question mark icon in the dialog for details.
19 Creating labels
Introduction 3. A dialog appears, allowing you to select a template for your project. The Label Editor allows you to design and print custom labels for your CD and DVD projects. You can design separate layouts for front, inside, back and disk labels. Both text information and a wide range of image file formats can be imported and edited in various ways.
The Label Editor window displays a frame with the currently selected label (front, back or disk) layout. Layouts are made up of editable objects – images, text boxes, lines or circles. You can also select either an image or color as background for the layout as a whole. Horizontal and vertical rulers The following tools are available: Tool Description Selection tool Used to select, resize or move objects. Zoom Object & Zoom In/Out This is used to zoom in on a selected object, keeping it in view.
Positioning objects Resizing objects If you click on a handle of a selected object, the pointer changes to a double arrow, indicating that you can resize the object by dragging. Images or circle objects will be scaled, whereas dragging the handles of text box objects will resize the size of the box, not the text itself. There are several methods you can use to position objects: • Manually – by dragging objects using the Selection tool. • Automatically in relation to the layout frame.
About the Edit Properties dialog If several objects are selected when opening the Objects menu, the following additional items are available: The Edit Properties dialog can be opened in three ways: • By selecting an object and selecting “Edit Properties” from the Objects menu • By right-clicking an object and selecting the same item from the speed menu • By double-clicking an object The contents of the dialog varies depending on the object type.
Ö Saved label sets (with the extension *.lab) contain all the layout work performed in the Label Editor. 2. Select the “Edit text variables…” menu item. Where this menu item is located depends on the type of project; for Audio Montages it is on the Functions menu and for Data CD/DVD Projects it is on the CD/DVD menu. Selecting this item opens a dialog containing a list of folders similar to the structure in the Windows Explorer. It is, however, not dynamic.
Printing labels 3. Double-click in the Description column beside the new variable to open a text box where an appropriate description can be typed in. You print your labels directly from the Label Editor, either on standard paper or on special media label paper (usually available in computer peripheral stores, etc.). For example “Producer”. 4. Double-click in the Current Value column to enter the relevant information for the new variable, i.e. the name of the producer.
Printing Printing is done independently for the three label types. However, there are two settings that are global for all three label types: 1. Pull down the Options pop-up menu and select “Preferences”. The “Label editor preferences” dialog appears. 2. Use the “Printing” checkboxes to determine whether the frames around the labels should be printed, and whether cut markers should be printed (making it easier to cut out the labels from the printed paper). Now, you are ready to print: 3.
20 Analysis
Global analysis 2. Select “Global analysis…” from the Analysis menu. Introduction What does the “Global analysis” dialog do? This dialog allows you to perform advanced analysis on your audio to find certain areas with specified properties. It can be used to find problem areas (glitches, distortion), etc., or to check general information such as the pitch of a sound.
Setting parameters and performing the analysis 3. Decide which of these values you want to browse. 1. Set up the parameters. For example, say you want to browse the minimum amplitudes in the right channel. On most of the tabs, you will find settings determining exactly how the analysis should be performed. For example, on the Peaks tab there are two parameters: 4. Click on the button that currently displays this value. The value displayed is for the “hot point” with the highest/lowest value.
2. Click the “Create markers…” button. • “Minimum time…” lets you set things up so that the points don’t occur too close. Settings this to “1 s” will ensure there is always at least a second between reported points. Temporary markers (see “The various marker types” on page 128) are added at all “hot points”. The markers are named using the following principle: “Hot point number” (“Channel”). For example, a marker at the third “hot point” in the left channel would be labelled “3 (L)”.
• “Threshold…” is used for recordings where there are pauses, to make sure the average value is calculated correctly. A pause could “fool” the algorithm. Therefore you can set up a value, and all audio below that value will be considered silence and will not be taken into account for the average value. • “Maximum number…” and “Minimum time…” are the same as on the Peaks tab, see above. Usage guidelines • The result is an average value for the whole selection.
The Errors tab Glitch parameters • “Threshold” is a value for setting how drastic a change in level has to be reported as a glitch. The higher this value, the less sensitive the detection. • “Sensitivity” is a length value. It represents the length of time that the waveform must exceed the threshold to be reported as a glitch. The higher this value, the less sensitive the detection. ! It is not 100% certain that the points found by the algorithm are real glitches.
Creating the graph The frequency graph shows you how the different frequency components vary over time. A high “mountain” means that this frequency is very prominent at that particular time. 1. Select the part of the file you want to analyse. If you select a stereo recording, a mix of the two channels will be analysed. ! Adjusting the view The length of the selection affects the accuracy of the analysis. For short selections the result will be very detailed.
6. Click the Perspective tab. 7. Decide from which point of view you want to examine the graph (use the “freq/time” figure as a directional guide). 8. Decide whether you want a linear or exponential amplitude display. The Wave window’s level rulers use a linear display, so this is a natural choice to start with. 9. Again, if you so desire, click Redraw. Working with multiple views If you wish you can view the same graph in several windows, but with different style and perspective settings.
21 Generating signals
Audio Signal Generator Proceed as follows: 1. Select the Audio Signal Generator option on the Tools menu. 2. Decide on a number of layers, by setting the “Number of layers” parameter at the bottom of the dialog. You can always change this value at a later stage if required. 3. Select one of the layers, using the “Edit layer” parameter. 4. Decide if you want to make changes for both or just one of the channels in this layer, by using the “Edit channel(s)” pop-up. 5.
DTMF Generator 4. Make the desired settings for Durations and Amplitude. Click the question mark icon in the dialog for details. 5. Select a bit resolution and a sample rate for the file to be created. When you click the button, the Audio Properties dialog (see “Editing audio properties” on page 56) opens to let you make settings for the audio file. 6. If you wish, you can save the settings you make as a preset. You can create presets for settings in the dialog, for quick recall. 7.
22 Synchronizing WaveLab Studio to external devices
Introduction With this setup, the master device sends MTC into WaveLab Studio (ensuring that audio playback starts at the correct time position) and word clock to the audio card (ensuring that audio playback continuously follows the master device. It is possible to synchronize the audio playback in WaveLab Studio to incoming MIDI Time Code (MTC).
4. Pull down the MIDI Input pop-up menu and select the MIDI Input port to which your synchronization device is connected. If the time code in the master device is offset (so that playback starts at a time position other than zero), you need to compensate for this in WaveLab Studio by setting the SMPTE Offset parameter to the same value: Sync mode selected 5. If the SMPTE Offset is positive, click the [+] button next to the SMPTE Offset parameter. If it is negative, click the [–] button. 6.
Checking incoming time code You can inspect the incoming MIDI Time Code in the following way: 1. Enable Sync Mode as described above. The Time Code display will only be updated in Sync mode. 2. Open the Monitor window from the Specialized Windows submenu on the View menu. 3. Click the Timecode tab at the bottom of the Monitor window.
23 Sampling and creating loops
Introduction 5. Make a new selection in another file and press [Ctrl][Shift]-[C] again. This chapter describes various operations related to creating loop sounds (e.g. for samplers). The file and region information for the new selection is added to the clipboard, without removing any previous information there. Looping is a common technique used in samplers to simulate the infinite (or at least very long) sustain of many instrumental sounds.
Basic looping Setting Description Name The name the sample will have in the sampler. If the sample is an already named file, the name is displayed here, but you can change it if you wish. Note that not all samplers support all characters. Furthermore, if the name is too long, it will be truncated. Parse name into key Instrumental sounds in samplers rely heavily on looping. Looping a sound allows you to repeat a section of the sample indefinitely, to create a sustain of unlimited length.
Here is a brief description on how to create a basic loop: Using the Crossfade Looper 1. Make a selection that corresponds to the area you want looped. What is the Crossfade Looper? If you like, you can play back with “Loop selection” activated on the Transport bar and adjust the selection during playback. The Crossfade Looper is a special tool for creating “seamless” loops.
Furthermore, each time you click Apply, the process starts out from the wave data as it was when you opened the Crossfade Looper (since you want to be able to try out various types of crossfading without re-processing the wave each time). This affects the undo function: there is only one step of undo and no redo in the Crossfade Looper. • The nudge buttons are more useful for fine-tuning since they move the points by one screen pixel.
When you have set up the loop points as desired, you store them by selecting “Save candidate” from the options pop-up menu in the dialog, and then selecting one of the five memory locations. • Desired correspondence is a value for how well the found section must resemble the section to which it is compared, to be considered a match.
Creating a crossfade 4. Decide on a length for the crossfade either by dragging the length handle or by adjusting the Length value below the graph. What is a crossfade and when do I need it? The length is used to adjust the amount of the audio file that will be processed. This area is always located just before the end of the loop, but the Length value adjusts how far towards the start of the loop it stretches.
Using the Loop Tone Equalizer Creating a post-crossfade The post-crossfade is accessed from its own tab. This is identical to the regular crossfade, but it is applied to the area after the loop. This means that it is used to fade the material so that there will be no glitch when playback continues out of the loop. ! The Loop Tone Equalizer is a function for looping those un-loopable sounds, for example sounds that constantly decay in level or continuously change in timbre.
Ö If you click OK, the dialog closes and processing is made permanent. To use the Loop Tone Equalizer, proceed as follows: 1. Set up a basic loop of the length you desire. If you click Cancel instead, the dialog closes and the waveform is reverted back to the way it was before processing. This will probably not be a very good loop. If it was you wouldn’t need to use the Loop Tone Equalizer. ! 2. Select Loop Tone Equalizer from the Sampling menu and click on the Loop Tone Equalizer tab. 3.
24 Requirements
This is what you need… RAM Since WaveLab Studio is disk based, the amount of RAM does not limit the size of audio files you can work with. Even with moderate amounts of RAM, you can have many files open at the same time. However, when more RAM is available, some processes can be accelerated by WaveLab Studio. To use WaveLab Studio you need the following: • A PC with Windows XP or 2000 installed and ready. A free USB port is also required. For more details about the computer requirements, see below.
About audio cards WaveLab Studio works with any Multimedia PC compatible audio card. However, the audio quality varies dramatically between cards. For serious work with WaveLab Studio, we recommend that you get a card with the highest possible specifications.
25 Customizing
What is customizing? 3. Launch the program again, and deactivate “Save preferences on exit”. When we talk about customizing, we mean making settings so that the program behaves and looks the way you want it to! Now you can change the preferences for this session, but the settings you had when you last quit will be the ones you get next time you launch the program.
Ö If you hold down [Ctrl] when quitting the program, the effect of the “Open last window layout on startup” setting is reversed. If it was activated, it will be deactivated and vice versa. Document folders For each WaveLab Studio document type, you can specify paths to open and save folders (given that the document can be saved). This is done in the following way: Ö If you hold down [Ctrl] when launching the program, no window layout is loaded. 1.
Setting up style conditions The following settings are available: Setting Description File extension Here you can specify files of certain types, by entering their file extensions (e.g. mp3 or wav). Separate several extensions with a blank space or comma. Name Allows you to specify keywords in the file names. For example, by entering the keyword “bass”, all files with “bass” in the name can be shown with a separate style. Separate keywords with a blank space or comma.
Waveform elements If you prefer a single background color (or if you need to speed up display redraws, typically with slower graphic cards), you can turn this feature off by activating “Do not use gradient backgrounds” in the Preferences–Environment tab. The background color will then be a 50/50 mix of the top and bottom color. To change the waveform elements, right-click on a waveform (in the overview or in the main display), select Elements and then select the desired item from the submenu that appears.
• To assign a color scheme to an individual clip, right click on the clip to bring up the clip speed menu, and select a color scheme from the Color submenu. Clip color selections (if other than default) override track and group color selections. • The Lock and Mute colors override all color settings above. If a clip is both locked and muted, the Mute color is used.
6. If you are editing one of the color definitions (the items that appear on the track, group and clip color menus), you can rename the color by clicking on the name in the Item list and typing a new name. For each item, you can select colors for a number of different clip elements.
Miscellaneous colors • To create a new window layout, set up the display as you want it (see the list above) and use the Window Layout dialog to name and add the new layout. This section of the Items list in the dialog contains color settings for other elements in the Track View: • To modify an existing window layout, set up the display as you want it, select the window layout in the dialog and click the Update button. Option Description Background top/bottom The background colors of the Track View.
Creating a Favorites menu About the list of operations The Favorites item on the File menu allows you to assemble a list of files that you want to be able to open quickly – a library if you will. The main part of this dialog is occupied by the list of available operations that can be called up via key sequences.
7. Disable “Catch mode”. “Exclude windows” allows you to prevent this situation: This is just an optional safety measure so that you don’t accidentally erase or add to your current key sequence, when pressing more keys. 1. Click the “Exclude windows” button. 8. Close the dialog. 2. Type in the name of the window in the Window exclusion list. ! You can include DOS “wildcard” characters. For example to exclude all products from the manufacturer Waves, you can type “Waves*”.
Organizing plug-in processors Groups Introduction In the Master Section folder in the list, you will find subfolders, representing groups of plug-ins. You may find that you need to organize your processors into sensible groups. Why? Well, a host of plug-ins are included with the program, and additional ones can be added. If you have Cubase installed on the computer, even more appear in WaveLab Studio.
An example of this would be DirectX plug-ins. Many of these do not apply to audio at all and are of no relevance to WaveLab Studio whatsoever. By disabling these, you will make it easier to find the plug-ins that you really want to use in WaveLab Studio. ! • If you want to restore everything to the default “factory settings”, click “Set default”. ! VST plug-ins can also be excluded, see “Handling VST plug-ins” on page 258. Working with groups The Master Section plug-ins can be organized into groups.
Item • Quit WaveLab Studio and then launch the program again. Description Ignore plugins located in In this text field, you can type in the name of a the following folder or subfolder containing VST plug-ins that sub-folders you want to exclude. If you want to exclude several folders, type in all their names, but separate each name with a semicolon. Do not load the following plugins If you check the effect menus, you will find that the plug-ins in the specified folders are removed.
26 Plug-in processor reference
About WaveLab Studio plug-ins Chorus These plug-ins use WaveLab Studio’s own plug-in format, and cannot be used with other applications. Note: The Chorus plug-in (only available in the Master Section) is a classic stereo chorus based on a sweeping delay, with the following parameters: Ö As a rule, WaveLab Studio specific plug-ins can only be used in the Master Section (not as track or clip effects in the Audio Montage). Parameter Description Delay (0.
Crystal Resampler This is a three-band equalizer with high and low shelving filters and a full parametric mid-frequency band. You can turn off each band separately by clicking the corresponding button, making it easy to compare the signal with and without EQ.
Noise Gate Parameter Description This plug-in is available both as a VST and a WaveLab Studio plug-in. It can be used as a clip or track effect in the Audio Montage, or as a global effect in the Master Section. Out Ceiling (-18~0dB) This setting determines the maximum level at the Peak Master outputs. Softness (-5~5) This parameter affects the way the Peak Master operates. A high setting will maximize the perceived loudness effect but can in some cases result in a slight harshness of the sound.
Ö It’s also possible to exclude VST plug-ins completely from WaveLab Studio, thereby removing them from the clip and track effects lists as well. StereoExpander The StereoExpander plug-in (only available in the Master Section) narrows or enlarges the stereo width of an existing stereo signal. This is set by the single “Width” parameter. Ö VST plug-ins have their own preset handling.
Parameter Description Feedback This parameter specifies how much of the output from the effect is fed back to the input (the feedback signal is also phase inverted). The higher the value, the more prominent the effect. At short delay times, this creates a flanger-like effect. At larger settings it creates more of a slapback repetition type of sound. Feed Bal Ö Note that the DeClicker module is not optimized for crackles (a series of short clicks).
Parameter Description DeNoiser Threshold This setting determines the amplitude (level) required for a click to be detected. In many cases, DeClicker’s sensitive algorithms identify a lot more clicks than you can actually hear. To avoid wasting processing power to remove inaudible clicks, raise this parameter to a high value, and then lower it until all the artefacts that you actually want removed are detected.
Ö When you process audio in DeNoiser, the plug-in will need a short time (less than a second) to analyze the material and set its internal parameters. Parameter Description Ambience This parameter is used to specify a balance between the noise suppression and the amount of natural ambience, which is essential for a natural result. With a low Ambience setting, the sound can become somewhat lifeless and sterile.
Ducker MultiBand Compressor This is a special VST plug-in that can only be used as a Montage clip effect. This is a high-quality multi-band compressor, especially suited for professional mastering. It will split the signal into up to five frequency bands, and process each band with its own freely adjustable compressor characteristic. It uses the “Route to Upper Track” feature which can be found on the Track menu.
NaturalVerb A selected band is highlighted for editing both in the Frequency Band editor and the Characteristic display. If you select another frequency band, the previously edited characteristic is still shown in the Characteristic display, but it is no longer highlighted, and is editable only when you select it again. NaturalVerb is a high-quality reverb that adds ambience, or room-quality, to the sound.
2. Set the parameters for an activated EQ band. Parameter Description Wet/Dry This regulates the balance between the effect sound (wet) and the original, unprocessed audio signal (dry). If the slider is in the middle position (default), the output will be balanced equally. With higher values, the original signal will be more pronounced, and with lower values, the effect sound will be more dominant. Gate button Clicking this button turns the Gate section on and off.
Parameter Description Output (+/- 20dB) This parameter allows you to adjust the overall output level. Ö Please note the relation between the Frequency parameter and the harmonics generated. If the Frequency parameter for example is set to 4000, the 2nd harmonic generator will only create frequencies from 8000Hz upwards and the 3rd harmonic generator will add frequencies starting at 12000Hz.
Parameter Description StereoExpander Int. clip When this lights up, the signal has exceeded the maximum level that Spectralizer can handle. This will lead to unpleasant distortion and should definitely be avoided. If this happens, please lower the Input level and/or Gain. Meter This allows you to check your adjustments of the Input and Gain controls, so that the signal does not change drastically in level when passing through the Spectralizer.
Voice Attenuator The following processors are available on the VST Dynamics panel (click an item in the list for more information about the corresponding processor): This plug-in can be used to remove lead vocals from a recording, to produce a “karaoke” effect. The principle concept is based on the fact that vocals are usually mixed to center position in the stereo field, and that the human voice occupies a limited area of the frequency spectrum.
Trigger Frequency Range 2. Play it back, and click on the Calibrate button. The button will blink for a few seconds, and then automatically set the threshold so that the noise will be silenced (gated) during passages where there is no other signal present. AutoGate has a feature that allows the gate to be triggered only by signals within a specified frequency range.
Parameter Description Limit Attack This determines how fast Compress will respond to signals above the set threshold. If the attack time is long, more of the early part of the signal (attack) will pass through unprocessed. Release Sets the amount of time it takes for the gain to return to its original level when the signal drops below the Threshold level. If the “Auto” button is activated, Compress will automatically find an optimum release setting, that varies depending on the audio program material.
27 Troubleshooting
General problems Problems with opening files Can't create a temporary file The file doesn't appear in the Open dialog. • Please check which drive is specified for your temporary files (in the Edit Folders dialog). You cannot use a CD-ROM disk or a write protected drive for your temporary files. • Is the drive full? Please select a drive with as much free space as possible. • Does the file have the right extension? Select “All files (*.*)” from the pop-up in the Open dialog and check again.
Recording problems The mixer can't be “created” • Have you specified your audio card in the Preferences dialog? A mixer can't be created if “Microsoft Sound Mapper” is selected. • Do you have the latest and correct drivers for your card? We have noted that some card drivers contain “bugs” that prevent a mixer from being created.
Editing problems • If this doesn't work, you might try switching off the recorder (even if the computer is still on), wait three seconds and then turn it back on again. Often, only rebooting the computer is not enough. After editing I get clicks and pops • Are you making “splices” in the middle of an audio section? If you do, we recommend that you make all cuts at zero crossings, to avoid clicks and pops.
• I can't write track Sub-Indexes. • If you use the CD-R unit as a CD-ROM reader, make sure you quit the Explorer and close any “My Computer” windows before writing. • Stop audio playback in WaveLab Studio before writing. Some CD recorders are simply not capable of this. Some others can only write 50 Sub-Indexes per track for example, and some others only 100 Sub-Indexes per CD. This depends on the CD-R firmware.
CD-R disks • There are many brands of CD-R disks. Always use one that has been tested and recommended by your CD-R drive manufacturer. • CD-R discs are not as solid as real CDs. Handle them with care! Do not expose discs to sunlight for long periods, and avoid heat and humidity. • The top (label) side of a CD-R disc is also vulnerable.
28 Key commands
File handling Zooming Key Command Function Main View [Ctrl]-[O] Open wave file Key Command Function [Alt]-[Enter] Open wave file information window [G] Zoom in horizontally [Ctrl]-[F2] Open Audio Montage [Arrow up] [Ctrl]-[S] Save current document Zoom in horizontally (or Zoom out if Cubase compatibility is enabled) [Shift]-[S] Save current document under new name and/or in a new location [Ctrl]-[Shift]-[S] Save all currently open documents [Ctrl]-[N] Create new wave [Ctrl]-[W] Clo
Playback and cursor position Selecting Numeric keypad Key Command [Enter] Key Command Function Function [Esc] Toggle selection on/off Play (from current position) [Tab] Toggle selection between left/right/both channels (stereo waves only) [0] Stop / Move to selection start / Move to beginning [1] Move cursor to selection start [2] Move cursor to selection end [4] Move cursor to previous marker [5] Move cursor to next marker [.
Editing and Recording Undo and Redo General Key Command Function [Shift]-[A] Open Wave Attributes dialog [Ctrl]-[U] Open Audio Properties dialog Key Command Function [Ctrl]-[Z] Undo [F3] Undo [Ctrl]+[Shift]-[Z] Redo [F4] Redo Cut and Paste Key Command Function [Ctrl]-[X] Cut [Ctrl]-[C] Copy [Ctrl]-[V] Paste [Ctrl]+[Shift]-[V] Paste Append Markers Key Command Function [Ctrl]-[M] Open marker list [Insert] Drop new marker at cursor position (for example during playback) [Ctrl]
Index
A Accelerators 29 ACM 55 Append 46 ASIO driver 11 Audio card Checking 10 Settings 11 Audio CD Testing 200 Writing 201 Audio CD format 202 Audio CD report 196 Audio CD track import 209 Audio files See “Wave files” Audio in pauses 194 Audio Montage About 137 Backing up 190 Cloning 189 Creating new 139 Opening 188 Panes 137 Recording 150 Saving 188 Audio Properties 56 Audio Range dialog 61 Audio Signal Generator 229 Auto Panner 261 Auto Split 135 Auto zoom for overview 37 Autopan 264 B Backups Audio files 51
Convert sample rate 91 Copy 45 Copy to new window 48 Copying wave selections 44 Crossfade 83 Crossfade Looper 238 Crossfades (Montage) About 172 Editing 173 Options 173 Power/Amplitude compensation 173 Crystal Resampler (Plug-in) 262 Cue Points 159 Cursor Appearance 251 Moving to marker 131 Scroll to 38 Setting position 39 Status bar 34 Cut 46 D Data CD/DVD Creating 205 Writing 207 dB (Level unit) 26 DC Offset 85 Decimal (Level unit) 26 DeClicker 265 Deleting clips 159 Deleting files and documents 54 Delet
H Hard disk requirements 245 Harmonization 89 Help 20 Hidden CD tracks Creating 194 Hi-fi Chorus 90 History 187 I Implicit folder 163 Import Audio CD track 209 Audio files 31 CD image as Audio Montage 139 Cue sheet 139 Markers 128 Index markers 128 Info line (Montage) 138 Insert audio file 32 Insert silence 47 Installation 10 Invert Phase 85 ISRC codes About 203 J Jog Montage window 149 Wave window 62 K Key commands About 29 Customizing 255 Key sequences 255 L Label Editor Edit Properties dialog 216 Edi
Montage See “Audio Montage” Mouse zones 151 Mouse zooming 36 Move cursor to 39 Moving wave selections 46 MP3 files Batch encoding 126 MRK files 128 MTC 232 MultiBand Compressor 268 Multiple copies 46 Multitasking 124 Mute Clips and tracks 147 Effects 97 Selection in wave 128 Selection range in clip 167 Mute markers 128 N NaturalVerb 269 Navigating By clicking 38 Scroll menu 38 Using status bar 38 New documents, Creating 31 Noise Gate (Plug-in) 263 Noise gating 80 Non-modal dialogs 29, 77 Normalize 77, 118
Remember active window’s layout 254 Renaming files and documents 53 Render selected CD track 195 Rendering Audio Montage 192 Wave windows 102 Repeating wave selections 46 Resize clips 156 Resizer 263 Restore Master Section’s configuration 188 Resume 105 Reverse 85 Revert to saved 53 Route to upper track 180 Rulers Appearance 251 Hiding/showing 251 Meter format 39 Montage 139 Selecting units 26 Start position 39 Wave window 33 S Sample rate Conflicts 45 Conversion 91 Montage 139 Samples (Unit) 26 Sampling E
Tracks (Montage) About 137 Handling 140 Output routing 180 Transform clips 175 Transport bar 58 Trim 47 U Undo Clearing 20 Introduction 20 Limiting 20 Processing 77 Undo (Montage) History view 187 View changes 146 UPC/EAN codes 203 Use Master Section 93 UV22 100 V Values (Setting) 26 Variables About 213 Editing 217 Video track (Montage) About 191 View settings Saving 54 Voice Attenuator 273 Volume envelopes About 164 Displaying 165 Editing 165 Mono/Stereo 165 VST plug-ins About 96 Excluding 258 Presets 98
