Copyright: (c) Steinberg Soft & Hardware GmbH 1995-1998
Citation: (c) Steinberg Soft & Hardware GmbH 1995-1998


Opening Up the Global Analysis dialog

The analysis always works on a selection within a file!

1.	Make a selection in the wave file which you want to process.

This selection can be of any length and in one or both channels. If you want to analyze the entire file, simply hit [Ctrl]-[A].

2.	Select Global Analysis from the Analysis menu.

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Setting up and performing the Global Analysis

Deciding what Types of Analysis to Perform

As described above, there are several types of analysis which can be performed. Each of them takes some time, so you may want to make sure that only the ones you require will be performed.

It doesn't hurt to activate more options than you need, but it will slow down the process. The pitch analysis in particular uses up a lot of processing time, simply because it is very complicated in its nature.

If the section you are analyzing is very short, it doesn't matter much whether all options are activated.

Click on the Peak tab and decide whether you want peak analysis or not by activating the "Peak" switch.

Click on the Loudness tab and decide whether you want "RMS Power" analysis performed.

Click on the Pitch tab and decide whether you want the program to find the "Average Pitch".

On the Errors tab, decide whether you want the program to search for "Glitches" and/or "Clipping".

Setting Parameters and Performing the Analysis

1.	Set up the Parameters.

On most of the tabs, you will find settings for exactly how the analysis should be performed. See the context sensitive help for a detailed description of Parameter settings.

2.	If desired, move the wave cursor to a new position.

The Peak and Loudness tabs report values specifically related to the position of the wave cursor, so if this is of interest, you should make sure the wave cursor is at the position for which you want a readout.

3.	Click Analyze.

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Checking and Browsing the results

Checking the results on the Pitch and Extra tabs is simple, since there is only one value returned for the whole section of analyzed audio. Just click on the tab and read off the values in the dialog (for details about the values, see later in this chapter).

For the other tabs, slightly more advanced options are available, as these analysis methods provide their results as a number of positions in the file - positions that indicate peaks, glitches etc. These are called "hot points".

You can browse (jump) between these points in a very practical way. Proceed as follows:

1.	Click on the tab that represents the values which interest you.

For example, lets say you click the Loudness tab.

2.	Check the display for maximum/minimum values in the whole section which was analyzed.

For the Loudness tab, these values represent the Maximum and Minimum amplitudes in the Left and Right channels respectively (for a stereo file).

3.	Decide which of these values you want to browse.

For example, let's say you want to browse the Minimum amplitudes in the Right Channel.

4.	Click on the button that currently displays this value.

In our example, you would click the button in the lower right corner.

5.	Check the "Number of hot Points" value at the bottom of the dialog. It displays how many positions in the file that the analysis found.

In our example it shows how many positions with low amplitude in the right channel, which meet the criteria specified by the parameters in the dialog.

6.	Use the scroll bar below the "Number of Hot Points" value to browse between the positions found.

The wave cursor jumps between the points found by the analysis, and the display scrolls if needed.

7.	When you want to browse another property, click on the corresponding tab (if required) and then on the value button which represents it.

For example, to check the amplitude of the left channel instead, simply click that button. To check peak values, click on the Peak tab and then click one of the value buttons on that tab.

The result of the analysis is saved until you close the dialog or click Analyze again.

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Creating Markers

If you like, you can set out markers at the "hot points":

1.	Select a property and channel for which you want to add markers.

You will set out markers for the same property as you are currently browsing, so this selection is done with the value buttons, as described above.

Since you are always browsing one channel at a time in a stereo file, you can also only set out markers for the hot points in that channel.

2.	Click the "Create Markers..." button.

Temporary markers are added at all "hot points".

The markers are named using the following principle:

"Hot point number" ("Channel") ("Position")

For example, a marker at the third "hot point" in the left channel, exactly two seconds in from the beginning of the file would be labelled:

l (L) (2s)

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Focusing

You can also focus the display on a certain "hot point":

1.	Use the "Number of hot points" scroll bar to move the position indicator to the position which interests you.

2.	Click the Focus button.

Now two things happen:

The wave display zooms in on the selected point.

The Global Analysis dialog is "folded in" so that only its title bar is visible.

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The Peaks tab

This is used to find peak values in the audio, that is, single samples with very high values.

Parameters

The parameters are fairly simple:

"Maximum number..." allows you to put restrictions on how many points will be reported. The highest ones will be selected. For example, setting this to "1" will make the program report the absolutely highest peak only (or one of the peaks with the highest value - if there are several with the same value).

"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.

Result

The Result fields show you the following values:

Field:	Explanation:

Maximum	The highest peak in the analyzed section.

At Cursor	The level of the sample at the wave cursor position, at the time for the analysis.

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The Loudness tab

This finds loud and quiet sections in a more "intelligent" manner than the Peaks tab. The theory behind this is that there might be a single sample with a high or low value somewhere, but this may not necessarily mean that the whole section is perceived as loud/weak.

To find sections that the ear perceives as significant in volume, you must look at a longer section of audio. To do this you measure a consecutive section of samples and then average their value. WaveLab does just this, using a mathematical method called RMS (Root Mean Square) which is well known for its accuracy.

Parameters

The parameters on the Loudness tab are slightly more complicated than for Peak analysis:

"Resolution" is the length of audio measured and averaged. If this value is lowered, very short passages of loud/quiet audio will be detected. When it is raised, the sound will have to be loud/quiet for a longer period to result in a hot point.

"Threshold..." is used for recordings where there are pauses. Since averaging is used, a pause could possibly "fool" the algorithm into thinking a section isn't as loud as it actually is. Therefore you can set up a value, and all audio below that value will be considered silence and will not be take into account.

"Maximum number..." and "Minimum time..." are the same as for the Peak tab, see above.

Result

The Result fields show you the following values:

Field:	Explanation:

Maximum/Minimum	The level of the loudest and quietest points in the analyzed section.

Average	The overall loudness of the whole analyzed section.

Around Cursor	The loudness at the wave cursor position at the time for the analysis.

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The Pitch tab

The Pitch tab shows the values from WaveLab's extremely accurate pitch detection algorithm. The result from this tab can be used for example to help with pitch shifting, to get one sound in tune with another.

Note that this is an average value for the whole section. The algorithm assumes the analyzed section has a reasonably stable pitch. Also note that the method only works on monophonic material (not on chords or harmonies) and that the material must be relatively well isolated from other sounds.

There are no parameters to set. The display simply shows the pitch for each channel, both in Hertz (Hz) and as semitones and cents (hundredths of a semitone).

Since the display shows an overall value for the entire analyzed section, the "hot point" controls in the lower section of the dialog are not used on this tab.

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The Extra tab

This tab shows you two things:

The average DC Offset in the analyzed section.

The Apparent Bit Resolution.

See the context sensitive help for more details.

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The Errors tab

This tab actually reports two totally separate things:

Glitches. These are disruptions in the audio. Glitches may occur after problematic digital transfers, after careless editing etc. They manifest themselves as "clicks" or "pops" in the audio.

Clipping. A digital system has a finite number of levels that it can represent properly. When a sound has been recorded at too high a level or when digital processing has raised the level past what the system can handle, hard clipping occurs. This will be heard as a very harsh type of distortion.

Overall Parameters

"Maximum number..." and "Minimum time..." are the same as for the Peak tab, see above.

Glitch Parameters

"Threshold" is a value for setting how drastic a change in level has to be, before it is 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.

Clipping parameters

The program checks for a number of consecutive samples at full value, to determine whether clipping has occurred. "Threshold..." is a setting for exactly how many such consecutive samples that must occur for the program to report clipping.

Results

This reports how many occurrences of glitches and clipping that have been found.

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File Comparer

This utility allows you to compare two files for differences and create a file that contains the difference between the two, a "delta file". This is useful for example to:

See the effect of using an equalizer by comparing the file before and after. The delta file will show what was added.

Check the noise added by a processor, again by comparing.

Compare two digitally recorded files to check for dropouts.

Proceed as follows:

1.	Make sure that the two audio files which you want to compare are open.

2.	Select File Comparer from the Analysis menu.

3.	Fill out the dialog box and click OK.

The exact details about the options in this dialog can be found in the on-line help, but here's a run down of the major possibilities:

The program can create a delta file, that is, a file that only contains the differences between the two files. This allows you to hear the difference between two files, for example to check what was lost when you applied data compression to a file.

The program can enter markers at positions where differences are found. For this to make sense, there must only be small differences between the files.


Audio Test Signal Generator

This utility allows you to synthesize audio documents from scratch. The resulting documents can then be used for a number of purposes:

For testing the specifications of audio equipment.

For measurements of various kinds, including calibrating tape recorders.

For testing signal processing methods.

For educational purposes.

The Signal generator is based on a waveform generator which can generate a large number of basic waveforms such as sine, saw and pulse waves and various types of noise.

The Signal Generator has a multitude of settings for character (Source tab), frequency (Pitch tab) and amplitude (Level tab).

As if that wasn't enough, you can combine up to 64 such signal generators into "layers" and even make separate settings for the left and right channel for each.

Once all settings have been made, the program calculates an audio file according to the specifications.

Proceed as follows:

1.	Open the Audio Test Signal Generator dialog.

2.	Decide on the number of layers required, 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 one of the channels in this layer, by using the "Edit channel(s)" pop-up.

5.	Make the required settings on the Source, Pitch and Level tabs.

The details are described in the context sensitive help. Please note that the length of the file is determined by settings on the Level tab.

6.	Repeat steps 3 to 5 as required.

7.	When everything is done, set up a file format and Global level in the middle section of the lower half of the dialog.

8.	Click Generate.

The file is generated and opens up in a new window.


Frequency Graph - Displaying the Graph

1.	Select the part of the file you want to analyze.

If you select a stereo recording, a mix of the two channels will be analyzed.

The length of the selection affects the accuracy of the analysis. For short selections the result will be very detailed. For longer selections (over a minute or so) it will not give equally detailed results, since the harmonic content might vary "between the measure points", which is then not shown in the display. You might for example make a separate analysis of the attack (beginning) of a sound, since the most drastic variations usually occur there.

2.	Select Frequency Graph from the Options menu and click on the Frequency tab.

Actually, adjusting these settings is not required, but please note that these particular settings can not be changed when the graph is already open.

3.	If you only want to see a plot for a part of the frequency range, adjust the "From" and "To" values.

The range must always span at least three octaves.

4.	Decide whether you want the frequency axis in the graph to be Linear or Logarithmic.

Logarithmic is often the most natural choice, since an equal distance on the frequency axis then represents an octave (doubling of the frequency). In fact this is a special WaveLab feature not commonly available in other programs.

For more details on the dialog, see the context sensitive help.

5.	Select Frequency Graph from the View menu.

The wave is analyzed and the graph opens, in an new window.

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.

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Frequency Graph - Adjusting the Graph

There are a number of settings you can make that affect the way the graph is displayed.

1.	Select Frequency Graph from the Options menu, or click directly on the Graph.

2.	Click on the Style tab.

3.	Decide if you want the graph to be in color, gray scale or black and white.

4.	Decide if you want to use a change in color to represent the amplitude (the height of each mountain determines its color) or if you want it to represent frequency (the frequency spectrum is drawn in colors ranging from red to purple.

5.	Choose a background color (black or white).

6.	To view the effect of your changes, click Redraw.

7.	Click the Perspective tab.

8.	Decide from which point of view you want to look at the graph.

The drawing indicates the direction of the time and frequency axis from each point of view.

9.	Decide if 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.

10. Again, if you so desire, click Redraw.

For more details on the dialog, see the context sensitive help.

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Setting ruler format

You can specify the time and level (amplitude) formats for each ruler in each window:

1. Press the right mouse button over the ruler, to bring up the speed menu for that ruler.

2.	Select a format from the available options.

For details about each format, select it from the menu, and with the menu still up, press [F1].

3.	If you have specified Time code or Meter as your time format, open the Preferences dialog, click on the Tempo/Time code tab and specify details for the format.

See the dialog's context sensitive help for details.

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Setting a ruler start position

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 to some other point in the file.

1. Click on the ruler at the point where you want position "0" to be.

2. Click with the right mouse button on the time ruler and select "Set origin at cursor" from the menu that appears.

The ruler start point is moved to the cursor position.

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Setting a format for dialogs

You can specify how units of time and level should be displayed in dialog boxes:

1.	Select Preferences from the Options menu.

2.	Click on the Units tab.

3.	Use the radio buttons to select an option.

For details about the formats, use the context sensitive help. The "As active window" option means that the formats in dialogs and on the status bar will follow the unit setting of the ruler in the active window.

4.	If you have specified Time code or Meter as your time format, click on the Tempo/Time code tab and specify details for the format.

Again, see the context sensitive help for details.


Changing Preferences that affect "looks"

The Preferences dialog contains various options that affect the "look" of the program.

1.	Select Preferences from the Options menu.

2.	Click on the desired tab, and change the settings:

The Toolbar/Status Bar contains settings for all Toolbars and the Status Bar.

The Display tab is used for various settings that affect the Wave window's appearance.

The Units and Tempo/Time Code tabs contain various settings for time and level formats.

For details about the options in each tab, use the context sensitive help in the dialog.

Setting a format for dialogs


Styling wave displays

For each channel in each wave display you can make settings that affect the following:

Waveform Elements

To select which elements should be visible, and their appearance, proceed as follows:

1.	Press the right mouse button with the pointer somewhere within a channel in the main view or overview.

2.	From the menu that appears, select Elements and then select the desired item from the sub-menu that appears.

For details about each item, select it from the menu, and with the menu still up, press [F1].

Color

You can also set the color of various items (background, waveform etc). See Changing Color.

Ruler Style

You can change the look of rulers, see Styling rulers.

Applying Styles

All of the above can be defined as a Style, see Saving Styles.

To select a style for the current window, proceed as follows:

1.	Pull down the Options menu.

2.	Select Style, and from the sub-menu that appears, select the desired Style.

The Style setting is not saved with the file.

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Styling rulers

To change the look of the rulers, proceed as follows:

1.	Click on the ruler with the right mouse button.

2.	From the menu that appears, select Style.

3.	Select an option.

For details about each item, select it from the menu, and with the menu still up, press [F1].

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Changing Color

To set the color of a certain element in the display, proceed as follows:

1.	Click the right mouse button in the waveform display.

Please note that for all elements it matters whether you click in the overview or in the main wave display and in which channel. If you for example want to change the color of the waveform in the left channel in the main view, click there.

2.	Select Color, and then select an element from the sub-menu that appears.

The standard Windows color dialog appears.

Please note that the Wave cursor is shown in inverse video to speed up screen redraw! Hence it will be shown in the "opposite" color compared to what you select.

3.	Select or define a color and click OK.

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Saving Styles

If you have made settings for Waveform elements, Colors and Ruler Style as described  on the cards describing Waveform Elements, Styling rulers and Changing Color you have essentially created a Style. You can save and recall six styles.

To create your own style, proceed as follows:

1.	Set up the window as you want it, with regards to colors, rulers etc.

2.	Pull down the Options menu.

3.	Select Style and from the sub-menu that appears, then select Save.

4.	In the dialog that appears, click one of the radio buttons and type in a name.

5.	Click OK.

The Styles are saved globally, that is all windows have access to the same six styles.

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The Default Style

The top item on the Style menu and in the Style Save dialog is called Default. This is the Style that will be used when you first open a window or create a new one by selecting New.

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Working with Screen Layouts

Screen Layouts are used for creating various "work displays" for different situations. The following items are stored in a Screen layout:

The size and location of document windows.

This does not include the contents of the window, just the properties of the window "frame" itself. For example, if some Database window was included in the Screen Layout, the Database you currently have open when you Load the Preset will be sized and moved accordingly.

Positions of "modeless" dialog boxes, such as the off-line processors.

This includes opening any such windows.

Positions of plug-in processor panels.

Creating and Recalling a Screen Layout

A Screen Layout is created just like regular Presets. To create a Screen Layout, proceed as follows:

1.	Set up the display the way you want it.

This includes the locations and appearance of the items in the list above.

2.	Select Screen Layouts from the View menu.

3.	Use the Add and Update options to create and name the Screen layout.

This is done just as with Presets.

To Recall a Screen layout, proceed as follows:

1.	Bring up the Screen Layout dialog.

2.	Select the Layout in the list.

3.	Click Load.

The display will be reorganized. Windows that are already open will never be closed as a result of recalling a Screen Layout.


Using the Zoom controls

Both the main view and the overview have horizontal and vertical zoom controls located next to the scroll bars. These are operated just like scroll bars:

You can drag the handle to any position.

You can click anywhere on the scale to move the handle there.

You can click on the arrows at either end to change the zoom factor in smaller steps.

Either way, the zoom factor on the Status Bar is updated continuously.

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Using the Magnifying glass in the main view

The Magnifying glass tool is used to specify any section of the waveform and have it occupy the entire window.

Selecting the Tool

The Magnifying Glass Tool can of course be selected from the Tool box, but there are two other options:

When you hold down [Control] and move the pointer over the main view, the magnifying glass is automatically selected.

This is just a momentary selection, as soon as you release [Control] the pointer returns to the previous tool.

When you move the pointer over the overview, it turns into the Magnifying Glass automatically.

Using the Tool

1.	Press the mouse button with the pointer somewhere in the waveform.

2.	Drag left or right to make up a box, and then release the mouse.

The area that was inside the box will now fill the entire window.

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Using the magnifying glass in the overview

The Magnifying Glass is used in the overview, just as in the main view, see Using the Magnifying glass in the main view. However, even though you use the tool in the overview, it is the main view that is zoomed.

You can for example use this as follows: Keep the overview zoomed out all the way and use the magnifying tool to display any section in the main view.

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   Using Zoom selection

If you have made a selection, you can automatically zoom the window so that the selection fills the entire display.

1.	Make a selection.

2.	Click the right mouse button in the main view or the overview.

3.	From the menu that appears, select "Zoom selection".

Alternatively, you can press [K].

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Zooming via the keyboard

A number of short-cuts are available for zooming, see Keyboard Commands - Zooming.

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Using "Auto Zoom for overview"

This setting, found in the editing section of the Preferences dialog, allows you to have the zoom factor automatically adjusted, so that it always shows the entire wave. This is mainly intended for the overview pane (hence the name) but can be applied to the main view too. Below we assume you will use it for the overview.

1.	Activate "Auto zoom for overview" in the Preferences dialog.

2.	Zoom out on the overview so that you see the entire wave.

Now, when you resize the window, the overview zoom factor is automatically adjusted so that the entire wave is always shown. If you later zoom in on the overview, the automatic zooming is deactivated until you zoom out all the way again.

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Mouse Zooming

Using the mouse, you can continuously change the zoom factor by dragging:

1. Position the mouse pointer over the ruler in the main view.

2. Press the mouse button and drag up or down.

3. The zoom factor changes continuously.

To freeze the cursor position, hold down [Shift].

To make vertical zoom adjust automatically to the peaks in the waveform, hold down [Control].

To switch to scrolling, hold down [Alt].

This technique works very well in combination with the fact that you can move the song position by dragging horizontally in the ruler. By dragging in both directions, you can quickly find a certain position in the file and display it at the desired magnification factor.

Using mouse zooming to its full effect requires some practice - but it is worth the effort!

Setting Sensitivity for Mouse Zooming

On the editing tab in the Preferences dialog, there’s a Sensitivity setting for mouse zooming. The higher the value, the less sensitive the function. You might want to raise this value when you first try out the function.

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Navigating using the range indicator

In the overview, a striped line called the "range indicator" tells you which section of the file that is currently displayed in the main view.

Furthermore, the range indicator moves while you drag the scroll bar handle. This means that by observing the overview you can easily find positions in the main view when scrolling, even though the main view might be zoomed right in.

The range indicator can be displayed at the top or bottom of the overview, by pressing the right mouse button in the overview, selecting Elements and then selecting "Range indicator at top/bottom".

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Navigating using the Goto menu
Navigating using the Scroll To  menu

There are two ways to bring up the "Scroll To" menu:

Select Scroll To from the main View menu, or...

Click with the right mouse button in the overview or in the main view.

The difference between the two methods is that the main menu always affects the main view, while the speed menus affect either view depending on where you clicked.

For details about each item, select it from the menu, and with the menu still up, press [F1].

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Navigating using the Transport

The transport is used for moving the wave cursor. If "Scroll during playback" on the Options menu is activated, use of the Transport will also scroll the display.

Displaying the Transport

If the Transport is hidden, select Transport from the Windows menu.

The Transport controls

To find out what the Transport buttons do, simply move the mouse pointer over a button and wait for a pop-up to appear. If this doesn't seem to work, make sure Show Tips is activated in the Preferences dialog.

The Stop button

The Stop button has a special function related to the selection:

If the program is stopped and you click the Stop button, the wave cursor is moved to the beginning of the selection.

If there is no selection, or if the wave cursor is already to the left of the selection, it is moved to the beginning of the file.

Related Topics


Navigating using the keyboard

A number of short-cuts are available for navigating, see Keyboard Commands - Navigating.

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Navigating using "Move cursor to"

This menu is found on the View menu. The options on this are similar to the Scroll To menu, see Navigating using the Scroll To menu.

For details about each item, select it from the menu, and with the menu still up, press [F1].

There’s one additional option called "Position" which allows you to specify any position, in the format selected in the Preferences dialog (under the "Units" tab)

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Moving the cursor to a Marker

To move the wave cursor to a certain marker, do one of the three following:

Double click on the marker triangle.

This is probably the most convenient option if the Marker is currently visible in the window. This even works during playback!

Double click in the ruler, select one of the markers in the list that appears, and click Close.

This is probably the most convenient option if the Marker is outside the current view.

Activate "Magnetize bounds" on the Options menu. Click on the ruler, close to the Marker or drag the cursor to a position close to the Marker.

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Using "Snap Cursor"

This function – which can be reached from the "Move cursor to" item on the View menu and from the main wave display speed menu – moves the cursor position automatically for you. There are two options

Move to the closest zero crossing to the left of the cursor position.

To get this effect, make sure Snap to time unit is turned off on the Options menu.

Move to the zero crossing closest to a major time unit.

This can be for example to the zero crossing closest to a whole second on the time ruler. To get this effect, make sure Snap to time unit is turned on, on the Options menu.

In the last case, the "time unit" mentioned depends on which type of scale is selected for the ruler:

Option:	Cursor moves to:

Time	Closest whole second

Samples	Function not available

Time code	Closest frame

Meter	Closest whole beat

File size	Function not available

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Playing - Using the Transport

To play a section of audio, using the Transport, proceed as follows:

1.	Click the Play button.

2.	To stop playback, click the Stop button.

If the wave reaches the end, it stops automatically.

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Playing - Setting the Start Point

The Start Point button on the transport brings up a menu that allows you to specify where playback will start.

For example, if you select "Play from start of file", then as soon as you hit Play, the wave cursor will jump back to the beginning of the file and playback starts from there.

For detailed info about the options on this menu, use the context sensitive help.

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Playing - Setting the Stop/Loop position

The Stop Point/Loop button on the Transport bar allows you to select where playback should stop, and when looping, whether it should loop indefinitely.

Automatic Stop

For example, if you select "Stop at next marker", playback will stop as soon as the program reaches a marker or the end of the file, whichever comes first.

Looping

Let's say you have chosen "Loop selection" mode. Now, if some piece of the wave is selected, this will be repeated indefinitely (as long as you don't start playback from a position later than the selection).

If no selection is made, the entire wave is looped.

For detailed info about the options on the Stop point/Loop menu, use the context sensitive help.

About Loop Updating and Short Loops

The loop points are updated continuously during playback, which means that if you change the loop start or end during playback, the loop changes. This is a great feature for auditioning selection points for rhythmic material!

Please note that it takes some time for the positions to be updated (1/2 to 3 seconds, depending on the file's bit resolution and sample rate). If you don't want to wait, there are two ways:

Activate Restart on loop change on the Options menu.

When this is activated, the Loop starts over as soon as you adjust the selection or move a Loop Start marker.

Press [F5].

This causes the loop points to be updated immediately (a small glitch in the audio might occur).

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Playing - Skipping sections

You can have playback automatically jump past certain positions during playback.

This selection is done using the Skip button on the Transport.

For example, if you have added Mute markers to your file and select "Muted regions", you will be able to audition what the material would sound like with certain sections cut out, before the actual edits are made.

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Using the Play Tool

The Play tool allows you to play from any point by clicking there. It is also the only option that allows you to play only one channel in a stereo file.

Selecting the Play tool momentarily

The Play tool can of course be selected by clicking in the Toolbox, but there are situations when you are working with another tool and just momentarily want to use the Play tool.

To momentarily select the Play tool, hold down [Alt]. When you are done playing, release [Alt].

Using the Play tool

The play Tool allows you to play back from any position:

1.	Point at the position where you want playback to start.

2.	If the wave is in stereo, move the pointer up or down to decide whether only either channel should be played back.

Watch the cursor shape, it indicates what will be played back (L, R or both).

3.	Press the mouse button.

Playback continues for as long as the mouse button is down, or until the wave ends.

Related Topics


Playing - Using the Keyboard

A number of short-cuts are available for navigating, see Keyboard Commands - Navigating.

Related Topics


Playing the selection

There are four ways to play the selected part of the wave only:

Press the right mouse button in the overview or the main view and select Play Selection from the menu that appears.

Drag and drop the selection on the Play button on the Transport.

Hold down [Control] and click on the Play button.

Press [F6].

Related Topics


   Playing only one channel or both

If you need to play only one channel in a stereo file, use the Play Tool.

Related Topics


Using the Playback Browser

The Playback Browser feature helps you find certain position in an audio file, by restarting playback repeatedly when you click or drag to move the wave cursor.

1.	Activate playback using the regular Play function, or select the Play Tool.

Note that depending on your Preferences settings, Playback Browsing may only be available for the Play Tool.

2.	Click or drag in the ruler.

If you click playback jumps immediately to the position you clicked at. If you drag continuously, a short snippet if audio is played from each new position.

Playback Browser Preferences

On the Audio Card tab in the Preferences dialog you will find two Preferences for Playback Browsing:

The Sensitivity setting is used to determine the size of the "snippets of audio" played back when you drag.

When the "Restrict to Play Tool" option is activated, Playback Browsing is not available when you activate Playback using the transport or computer keyboard.

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).

Related Topics


   Setting Playback level

1.	Click on the speaker button on the Control bar.

2.	Set the volume using the slider that appears.

This sets the overall level of audio playback from the card. The previous level is restored when you quit WaveLab.

3.	Click outside the slider.

Related Topics


   Playing - with 8-bit resolution

If you need to, you can play back with 8-bit resolution, even though you have a 16-bit card. This could for example be used to test what a wave will sound like when played back on an 8-bit card.

To do this, activate Play as 8-bit from the Options menu.

Don’t forget to turn this option off when you don’t need it any more!

Please note that this is a quick "on the fly" conversion from 16 to 8 bit. It is possible to achieve much better quality in your 8 bit audio files by using the Dynamic process to compress the audio and then Save Convert the files to 8 bit.

Related Topics


   Basic Recording Procedures

Preparations

To record a new file, proceed as follows:

1.	Click the Record button, or press [*] on the numeric key pad.

2.	Click the Edit button, and decide on a recording format:

See the context sensitive help for details.

If you choose a format not supported by your audio card, you will not be able to record!

3.	If needed, click the Mixer button to adjust the relative volume of your card’s inputs.

See the topic Using the mixer.

4.	If you want to check the recording level visually, activate "Meters", play back the source to be recorded and adjust the level as desired.

See the topic Checking Levels.

5.	Check the Disk Capacity indicator at the bottom of the dialog to make sure you have enough disk space for the recording.

Please note that this is an approximate value.

Start Recording!

1.	When all the preparations are done, click Record to start the actual recording.

The recorded time indicator shows you how much you have recorded.

2.	When you are done, click Stop.

The recording appears in a new window behind the dialog.

3.	Play back the recording by clicking the Play button, to check for distortion or other degradations in audio quality.

When you click Play, the meters are automatically turned off.

4.	If you want to perform more recordings after the first, simply click the Record button and record again.

5.	When you are done, click Close to close the dialog.

Related Topics


   Recording - Checking Levels

If you want to check the recording level visually in the Record dialog, activate "Meters", play back the source to be recorded and adjust the level (in the Mixer or externally) as desired.

You have two tools for determining the record level:

The Meters show the current recording level. These meters are very precise. Avoid "hitting the red" except for the absolutely loudest signals. If the bar extends all the way up to the "0" indication, chances are the recording will be distorted. Lower the level. On the other hand, if the signal never moves up into the "yellow" area, there will most likely be too much noise in the recording. Raise the level.

The Peak text indicators show the strongest signal that has passed through the card since you opened the dialog or clicked the Reset button. This indication should not reach the "0.0" level. If it does, lower the level, click Reset and try again.

Related Topics


   Recording -Using the mixer

For the mixer to appear, you must have specifically selected the card in the General section of the Preferences dialog. If the Input and Output are set to "Microsoft sound Mapper" a mixer can not be created.

Even if you have selected the card, this operation is not foolproof, since it relies on communication between WaveLab and the card’s driver. If the driver does not reply correctly to WaveLab’s inquiries (to be explicit – if the driver contains "bugs" – which we have unfortunately noted that some drivers do), a mixer can not be created. The program will then alert you. If this is the case, please instead use the application included with the card to access the settings.

Exactly what controls will appear in mixer depends on the card, but here are some possibilities:

Master Gain (output - stereo faders)

Synth In (input - stereo faders plus on/off check box)

CD (input - stereo faders plus on/off check box)

Line (input - stereo faders plus on/off check box)

Mic (input - mono faders plus on/off check box)

Stereo controls are normally "ganged" (if you adjust one, they both move) but you can adjust them separately by holding down [Control].

In addition to the above, the card might have custom controls for monitoring etc, which can not be accessed from the WaveLab mixer. Again, please use the application(s) included with the card.

Related Topics


   Selecting - at zero crossings

If you cut out a portion of a wave and paste it in somewhere else, chances are there will be a discontinuity where the two waves are joined. This discontinuity will result in a transient in the wave when it is played back, which is perceived as a "click" or "bump" in the sound. To avoid this you need to make the splice at a zero crossing. See the printed documentation for more background information.

WaveLab 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.

1.	Pull down the Options menu and activate "Snap to zero crossing".

2.	Select Preferences from the Options menu.

3.	Click on the Editing tab.

4.	Fill out the Snap to Zero crossing options

See the context sensitive help for details about the dialog.

Related Topics


   Selecting - by dragging

1.	Position the mouse pointer where you want the selection start or end.

2.	If the wave is in stereo, move the mouse up and down and check the pointer shape, it will show you whether you will select in the left channel, right channel or both channels.

3.	Press the mouse button and drag left or right.

If you drag all the way to the left or right side of the window, it scrolls automatically. The speed of the scroll depends on how far the cursor is from the window edge.

4.	Release the mouse button.

Related Topics


   Selecting - using [Shift]

1.	Click once somewhere in the wave to set the wave cursor.

If the wave is in stereo, and you wish to select in only one channel, click in the upper part (left channel) or lower part (right channel) of that channel.

2.	If needed, scroll the view, then hold down [Shift] and click somewhere else.

If you wish to select in only one channel, you must click in the same channel again.
The area between the two points is selected.


   Shifting the selection between channels

If you have made a selection you can press [Tab] to toggle between having the same selection in either channel or both.

Related Topics


   Selecting the entire wave

There are several ways to do this:

Double click somewhere in the waveform.

This only works if you don’t have any markers in the wave.

If you have markers, (or if you’re not sure), hold down [Alt] and double click somewhere in the waveform.

The entire wave gets selected, regardless of markers.

Use Select All on the Select sub-menu on the Edit menu.

Press [Control]-[A].

Related Topics


Selecting between markers

To select all audio between two adjacent markers, double click between them.

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.

Related Topics


Selecting - using the keyboard
   Selecting - using menus and keyboard

Select to beginning/end

To select from the current wave cursor to the beginning or end of the waveform, use the Select sub-menu on the Edit menu, or the keyboard short-cuts (as indicated on the menu).

For info on keyboard commands, see Adjusting selection - using the Keyboard.

Related Topics


   Adjusting selection - by dragging

1.	Move the mouse pointer to the beginning or end of the selection.

It turns into a double arrow.

2.	Press the mouse button and drag left/right.

Related Topics


   Adjusting selection - by using [Shift]

Hold down [Shift] and click outside (extend) or inside (shrink) the current selection.

If you click inside the first half of the selection, this will change the start point, if you click inside the later half, this will change the end point.

Related Topics


   Adjusting selection - using the Keyboard

If you hold down [Shift] and press the left and right arrow keys, the end of the selection is moved one pixel (screen dot) to the left/right. If you also hold down [Control] it is instead moved twenty pixels.

Which end of the selection you adjust is determined by which end of the selection the cursor is closest to.

Exactly how much one pixel represents depends on the zoom factor. If the zoom factor for example is "x1:64", the cursor keys alone move 64 samples, and together with [Control] they move 1280 samples.

Related Topics


   Level Selections - using the mouse

For some of WaveLab’s level processing functions, it is useful to make a selection not only in time, but in level.

The method below might require the [Shift] key to be pressed. This depends on whether the option "Level Selection requires [Shift]" is activated or not in the Editing part of the Preferences dialog.

1.	Make a regular "time" selection.

2.	If required, hold down [Shift].

3.	Move the mouse to the top or bottom of the selection box.

The pointer changes into a vertical double arrow.

4.	Press the mouse button and drag up/down.

The current level selection is shown on the status bar.

If you later extend the selection time-wise, the level selection still remains the same.

Related Topics


   Level Selections - using Extend To Peaks

To automatically set the level selection to the highest peak in the current selection, proceed as follows.

1.	Make a time selection.

2.	Select "Extend to peaks" from the Select sub-menu on the Edit menu.

Related Topics


   Wave Editing - Drag-copying

The following operation allows you to make a copy of a section of audio, within the same file or from one file to another.

1.	Make a selection.

2.	Point at the selection, press the mouse button and hold it down.

3.	Drag to a position outside the selection (in the same file) or drag onto another wave window.

When you have the cursor over a valid area, the pointer will turn into a single or double waveform. The status bar will show the exact position the selection will be inserted at.

4.	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 is now played after the inserted section.

Make sure you don’t drop on a selection in the destination window, or you will perform a crossfade.

If the selection is in stereo and you drop on a single channel or vice versa, the program will try to make the most sensible choice in this situation. See the printed documentation for details.

If the you drag between two files and they have different sample rates, the program will warn you that the edited section will not play back at the correct pitch. See Resolving Sample Rate Conflicts.

Related Topics


   Wave Editing - Drag-moving

The following operation allows you to move a section of audio within the same file or from one file to another.

1.	Make a selection.

2.	Point at the selection, press the mouse button and hold it down.

3.	Hold down [Alt] or [Shift] and drag to a position outside the selection (in the same file) or drag onto another wave window.

When you have the cursor over a valid area, the pointer will turn into a single or double waveform. The status bar will show the exact position the selection will be inserted at.

4.	Release the mouse button.

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

To completely undo a move between two files you must first undo the Paste in the destination window and then Undo the Cut in the source window.

Make sure you don’t drop on a selection in the destination window, or you will perform a crossfade.

If the selection is in stereo and you drop on a single channel or vice versa, the program will try to make the most sensible choice in this situation. See the printed documentation for details.

If the you drag between two files and they have different sample rates, the program will warn you that the edited section will not play back at the correct pitch. See Resolving Sample Rate Conflicts.

Related Topics


   Wave Editing - Dropping on markers

For any operation involving drag and drop of audio material you can use a marker position as start point for the section you drop. This is useful when it is important that the dropped material is inserted at a very specific position.

1.	Make sure Magnetize bounds (on the Options menu) is activated.

2.	Drag the selection and position the mouse pointer close to a marker line.

The "drag line" snaps to the marker line.

3.	Make sure the marker line and the drag line appear on top of each other, and release the mouse button.

Related Topics


   Wave Editing - Dragging to a new window

If you want to turn a section of a wave into a new document, proceed as follows.

1.	Make a selection.

2.	Drag the selection out of the window and onto an empty section of the WaveLab application window.

The cursor turns into a "new document" icon.

3.	Release the mouse.

The selection appears in a new window.

Please note that "Copy to new window" on the Edit menu performs the same operation.

Related Topics


   Wave Editing - Using Cut, Copy and Paste

The following commands let you copy or move audio from one place to another.

1.	Make a selection.

2.	If you want to make a copy of the audio, select Copy from the Edit menu, press [Control]-[C] or click the Copy icon on the Control bar.

3.	If you’d rather remove the audio for insertion somewhere else, select Cut from the Edit menu, press [Control]-[C] or click the Cut icon on the Control bar.

The audio that was after the Cut section is "moved up" to "fill the gap" that would otherwise be created.

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

The wave cursor appears at that point. Please note that you can click to place a wave cursor line in one channel only, or both channels, if the destination is a stereo file.

5.	If you'd rather replace a section of audio, select it.

In this case, the position of the cursor is of no relevance.

6.	Select Paste from the Edit menu or press [Control]-[V].

The material you cut/copied is either inserted at the indicated point (no selection) or replaces the current selection (if you have already made a selection).

Related Topics


   Paste Overwrite

This command on the Paste Special menu, on the Edit menu, will overwrite data in the destination file, rather than moving data to make room for the inserted audio.

Exactly how much data is overwritten depends on the selection in the destination file:

If there is no selection in the destination file, a section with the same length as the pasted data will be overwritten.

If there is a selection, the pasted data will replace that selection, just as when making a regular paste.

Related Topics


   Paste Append and Prepend

These commands on the Paste Special menu, on the Edit menu, will add the Pasted audio at the beginning (Prepend) or end (Append) of the file, just as if you had placed the wave cursor there and selected Paste.

Related Topics


   Using the Kicker tools

The Kicker tools in the Toolbox can be used to move audio in a file in small steps.

1.	Make a selection.

2.	Click on the selection with one of the Kicker Tools (depending on in which direction you want to move it).

The audio is moved one pixel (screen dot). Exactly how much this is depends on how far you are zoomed in. If the status bar for example says x1:256, the selection will be moved 256 samples.

The moved section "overwrites" whatever audio was at the position it is moved to. If you for example kick to the right, silence is inserted before the moved section and the audio coming after it is replaced by the kicked selection. This is different from moving by dragging.

If you kick many times in a row and then Undo, all the moves are undone in one go.

Related Topics


   Resolving Sample Rate Conflicts

If you copy or move audio from one window to another, and the sample rate of the two files are not the same the program will warn you that the copied/moved sound will play back at the wrong pitch (speed) if you proceed. While this can sometimes be used as an effect, it is most often not desired. There are two ways to get around this:

Convert the Sample Rate of the source file to the same rate as the destination file before doing the editing.

You might then later go back and Undo this conversion if necessary.

Convert the Sample Rate of the destination file to the same rate as the source file before adding the audio to it.

Please note that you are then partly "stuck" with this new sample rate, since rate converting back and forth too many times is not recommended, see Convert Sample Rate.

Related Topics


   Editing - Repeating

To repeat a section of audio, proceed as follows:

1.	Make a selection, select Cut or Copy and place a new insertion point, just as when performing a normal Cut or Copy.

2.	Select "Multiple Copies" from the Paste Special sub-menu on the Edit menu.

3.	In the dialog that appears, enter the number of copies you desire (up to 1000).

4.	Click OK.

Related Topics


   Editing - Paste Mix

This command on the Paste Special menu will blend the two sections, starting at the selection (if you have one) or at the cursor position (if there is no selection).

All the data on the clipboard is always mixed in, regardless of the length of the selection. It doesn’t matter whether you have a selection or not in the destination file when you Paste.

Related Topics


   Editing - Deleting

There are three ways to delete a selection of audio:

Select Delete from the Edit menu.

Click the Delete icon on the Control bar.

Press [Backspace].

Drag the selection to the Delete icon on the Control bar.

Related Topics


   Editing - Trimming

To remove all the audio, "outside" the selection, proceed as follows:

1.	Select the part you want to keep.

2.	Select Trim from the Edit menu or press [Control]-[Backspace].

Related Topics


   Editing - Silencing

There are three ways to replace a section of audio with silence:

Select it and select Silence from the Edit menu.

Select it and click the Silence icon on the Control bar.

Select it and press [Control]-[space bar].

Select it and drag the selection to the Silence icon on the Control bar.

Related Topics


   Editing - Inserting Silence

To insert silence into a section (to space two sections further apart), proceed as follows:

1.	Make a selection that starts where you want the Silence to start, and that has a length that is equal to the length of the silence you want to insert.

2.	Select Insert Silence from the Edit menu or press [Control]+[Ins].

To add silence beyond the end of the file (thereby lengthening the file), proceed as follows:

1.	Place the cursor at the new desired end point.

2.	Select Insert Silence from the Edit menu or press [Control]+[Ins].

Related Topics


   Editing - Converting mono to stereo

You may convert a mono file into a stereo file that contains the same material in both channels, for example for further processing into "real" stereo.

By dragging

1.	Make a selection.

2.	Drag the selection out to the WaveLab "desktop".

3.	When the pointer is outside the window, hold down [Control] and release the mouse button.

By using Menus

1.	Make a mono selection.

2.	Select "Convert to Stereo" from the "Copy to new window" menu on the Edit menu.

The selection appears in a new stereo window.

Related Topics


   Editing - Converting Stereo to mono

You may mix the two channels in a stereo file into a mono document.

This can be done in three ways. Which method you use mainly depends on whether you want to convert the entire file or just a selection:

By dragging

1.	Make a stereo selection.

2.	Drag the selection out to the WaveLab "desktop".

3.	When the pointer is outside the window, hold down [Control] and release the mouse button.

By Using Menus (converting a selection)

1.	Make a stereo selection.

2.	Select "Convert to Mono (Mix)" from the "Copy to new window" menu on the Edit menu.

The selection appears in a new window, mixed down to mono.

By Saving (converting an entire file)

1.	Open the stereo file.

2.	Select Save Special from the file menu and then select Convert from the sub-menu that appears.

3.	Leave the Sample Rate and Resolution settings as they are, but change the Channels setting to "Mono".

You can of course change the other settings too, but this will have other effects.

4.	Click OK and Save the file.

5.	Open the file you just saved.

Related Topics


   Creating new Documents - Using New

If you want to start with an empty file, to for example assemble material from other files into this, proceed as follows:

1.	Select New from the file menu, and Wave from the sub-menu that appears. Or, click the New icon on the Control Bar.

2.	Fill out the dialog that appears.

See the context sensitive help for details about the various options in the dialog.


   Creating new Documents - By dragging in an empty area

If you want to start with an empty file, for example to assemble material from other files into it, proceed as follows:

1.	Make sure "Create Windows using mouse" is activated in the Display part of the Preferences dialog.

2.	Hold down [Control] and drag to make up a box in some "free" area of the WaveLab application window.

This must be of a certain minimum size or bigger. If you don’t get any new window, try again with a bigger box. The new window "inherits" its attributes from the last active window. If no window is open, the dialog box settings for units are used instead.


   Copying "layouts" between windows

While Snapshots are fine for defining several "layouts" for one window, they do not allow you to copy a "layout" from one window to another. For this purpose you can copy layouts between documents. This includes everything that is in a Snapshot, plus:

The selection start and end points.

The cursor position.

Here’s how to copy a "layout":

1.	Make the window with the desired layout active.

2.	Press [Alt]+[Control]-[C].

This copies the layout to an invisible "clipboard".

3.	Make the window where you want to apply the layout active.

4.	Press [Alt]+[Control]-[V].

Related Topics


   Creating a Snapshot

What are Snapshots for?

Snapshots store the main view’s "layout", which is essentially two things:

How a window is scrolled (which part of the wave you see).

The window’s zoom factor.

If you move back and forth between various positions in a file, or if you zoom in and out for detailed or overview editing, using Snapshots will save you a lot of time.

Creating a Snapshot

1.	Scroll the window to the desired position.

2.	Set the zoom factor as desired.

3.	If the Snapshot Palette window isn't already open, select Snapshot from the Window menu.

4	Click on the desired number in the Palette or hold down [Control] and press any of the keys [1] to [8] on the typewriter part of the keyboard.

The Snapshot is now stored under that button. The fact that the Snapshot is used is indicated by the waveform symbol turning blue.

Related Topics


   Recalling a Snapshot

There are two ways to recall a snapshot:

Click on the waveform next to the number.

Press any of the keys [1] to [8] on the typewriter part of the keyboard.

Related Topics


Switching between the two Views for the dialog

There are two types of views to the list, selected via the radio buttons to the upper right.

"Sort by Command" organizes the operations in folders, in groupings that relate to various sections in the program.

"Sort by Key" lists all commands in a "flat" fashion (no folders), and sorts the list alphabetically via the defined Key Commands

Regardless of which mode you select, the available list of operations is the same, it's just the view that changes.


Defining Key Sequences

1.	Select the operation that you want to create a Key Sequence for.

2.	Click the Key Sequence button.

3.	If you want to clear the current Key Sequence, click Clear.

4.	Make sure Catch mode is active.

5.	Press the first combination of keys that you want to use.

You can include modifiers ([Shift], [Ctrl], [Alt], etc.) if you like. There is also a setting that makes the program distinguish between two modifiers with the same label, on each side of the space bar.

6.	Proceed with the series of keu(s) which you want to store.

7.	Disable Catch mode.

This is just a safety measure so that you don't accidentally erase or add to your current key sequence, when pressing more keys.

8.	Close the dialog.

It is perfectly possible to define the same Key Sequence for two operations. If you do, one of them will be invoked. To see which, select "Sort by key" and locate the items in the list. The top one is the one that will be used.


Setting Enable Options

Once the Key Sequence has been defined, you may want to set the Enable Options for the operation. This is done by selecting from the pop-up in the middle column:

Option:	Description:

Enable all the time	This Key Sequence is always active.

Enabled if active...	This Key Sequence can be used for all windows, except the ones added to the "Exclude Windows" lists, described below.

Enabled if involved...	This Key Sequence is only available if the window to which it is applied has the focus (is active or displayed on top of all other windows).


Exluding Windows
Excluding Windows

This is mainly for plug-in windows. Since some plug-ins, especially from third-party manufacturers, have their own set of key commands, you way want to disable key commands for these windows.

Let's say you assign a key command to "Apply in the Master section", and a certain plug-in already uses the same key combination for an internal operation. Then, pressing this key command might lead to the wrong operation being invoked when this plug-in has the focus.

"Exclude windows" allows you to prevent this situation:

1.	Click the "Exclude windows" button.

2.	Type in the name of the window.

You can include DOS "wildcard" characters. For example to exclude all products from the manufacturer Waves, you can type "Waves*".

3.	Close the window.


Using Key Sequences

Key Sequences can only be executed after you have closed the Key Sequence dialog.

Simply press the keys in the order they were entered in the dialog, and the operation is performed.

There is one thing to note: If you have created a key sequence for an operation in the Master Section "Slot Commands" group , you also need specify key sequences for selecting Slots. Let's for example say you have created a key sequence for the "Toggle Solo" function (which turns Solo on and off for a slot). To execute this, you must first select a slot, using the appropriate key sequence, and then use the key sequence for the "Toggle Solo" function.


Using "Set focus on this key command"

This is used to be able to re-use key commands for certain groups.

For example, let's say you set up things so that [Ctrl]+[F10] is the key command for setting the focus to the Master section. You then assign simple key commands to the Master section items, for example [A] for "Apply" and [R] for "Remove all plug-ins", even though these keys may be used for other sections of the program.

You can then Press [Ctrl]-[F10] followed by any of the single commands to control most aspects of the Master Section.

Note that a section may have only this operation in the list. An example is the set of Loop tuners. Since these are plug-ins, they have their own key commands. This can be combined with the above as if they were in the same list.


Using "Bypass all defined key commands" and "Enable all key commands"

This can be used when an installed plug-in, from a third party manufacturer, has its own set of key commands. You can then temporarily disable all WaveLab key commands in order to use the plug-in's own.


Using "Bypass all defined key commands but those set to 'Enabled all time'"

Same as above but disables all key commands except those where you have set the Enable Option to "Enabled all time".


Opening the Batch Processor

Use Master section must be active on the Options menu for Batch processing to be available!

There are two basic ways of opening the Batch Processor:

From the File menu.

This gives you a "clean slate" to start with.

From the Apply dialog.

This takes the current settings in the Master window and converts them into a Process List (a Sequence).

For the Batch Processor button to be enabled in the Apply dialog, "No tail", Roll out" and "Skip Mute sections" must all be disabled!

Related Topics


Creating Batches

You can not only process one Batch of files, but many. Each Batch contains a number of files, and all the files in a Batch will be processed identically. However, each Batch can use a totally different set of processors.

To create a Batch, click the New Batch button at the top of the list.

To Remove a Batch, select it and click the Remove button (the red cross).

All the files in the Batch will be removed from the list as well.

Related Topics


Renaming and setting Attributes for a Batch

To rename a Batch, proceed as follows:

1.	Select the Batch in the list and click on the name icon (the "A").

Alternatively you can hold down [Alt] and double click directly on the Batch.

2.	Enter the desired name in the dialog.

The name will have an effect on the order of Batches in the list, which in turn affects processing. Entering a number instead of a name has a special meaning, as described in the next section.

3.	If desired, specify an output path for the Batch.

This is an advanced option that in many cases will not be necessary. You only need to specify a path here if you will want to process a number of Batches at the same time, and want some of the Batches to store their output files in a different directory.

Related Topics


Setting the Order of Batches

Batches will be processed in the order they appear in the list. If you want a certain Batch to be processed first, put it at the top of the list. There are several ways to set the order of Batches:

You can move a Batch up and down by using the arrow buttons.

You can drag and drop a Batch to change the order.

You can specify a number instead of a name in the Name dialog described above.

This will change the name of the Batch to the default name "Batch X", where X is the number you typed. All the other Batches with default names will be renumbered accordingly.

Related Topics


Adding And Removing Files from a Batch

Regardless of which of the methods below that you choose, you should first select the Batch to which you want to add the files, by clicking on it.

This will ensure that the files are added to the right Batch. If you forget this, you can always drag files to the right Batch later.

Adding Open Documents

To add an already open document to the list, simply select it from the document pop-up.

Open documents are represented by blue and white miniature window icons.

You can not process files that haven't been saved at all yet! Please save the file before processing it.

Adding one or More Files via a dialog

1.	Click the Add File button.

2.	In the file dialog that appears, locate and select the desired files and click Open.

Files are represented by yellow icons. Please remember that you can use [Shift] and [Control] in the file dialogs to select as many files as you wish, from the same folder.

Adding Files via Drag and Drop

You can also add files from the Windows Explorer or My Computer windows. Simply drag the file icon and drop it on the Batch.

Adding All Files in a Folder

To add all files in a folder (and possibly in all its sub-folders), proceed as follows:

1.	Click the Add Folder button.

2.	In the list that appears, select the desired folder and click Open.

3.	In the next dialog, decide what file types should be included, via specifying an extension (you can use "*" to add all file types).

You can also specify whether or not you want to include files in folders located inside the selected folder (sub-folders).

About "Allow duplicate file names"

When this option on the Extra pop-up menu is activated, the same file can be added to several batches, and hence be processed several times. The only restriction is that each "instance" of the file must be set to create a file with a name and/or location that is different from the other "instances" of the same file.

Removing Files

If you want to remove one or more files from the list, select it/them and click the Remove button (the red cross).

Please note that holding [Shift] and [Control] while clicking can be used to select multiple files.

If you wish to clear the list completely, to start "from scratch", pull down the Extra menu and select "Clear list".

Various File Considerations

If you are processing a file which is already open, please note the following things:

If the new file will have the same name and is to be saved in the same location, the file will not be saved (since it is already open). This is the same as using Apply with the "Process in place" option activated. In this case, Undo is available for the processing.

If the number of channels changes in the file (mono becomes stereo or vice versa) then a new document is created, which is opened in an untitled window.

If the new file is saved under a new name or in a new location, then a new file on disk is created, there's no need for saving. A nice side effect of this is that the Batch processor can be used for saving very large files to disk in the background, so that you can keep working on other files "in the foreground".

Related Topics


Setting the order of files in the list

Moving files between Batches

Since all files in a Batch are processed with the same set of effects, it is very important to make sure each file is in the correct place. If one ore more files have for some reason wound up in the wrong batch, you can move it/them:

1.	Select the file(s) that are in the wrong batch.

2.	Drag and drop it/them onto the Batch that you want to move them to.

Changing file order within a Batch

The order of files within a Batch is of no particular importance (they will all be processed in the same way), but when you set up a Batch with many files, it might make things easier if you can organize things the way you want it:

You can move a file up and down within the Batch by using the arrow buttons.

You can drag and drop files within a Batch to change the order.

You can re-sort the entire file list by selecting one of the sort options on the "Extra" menu.

You can also re-sort the list by clicking on the file headings.

Related Topics


Checking File Status

To the left of the file you will find an icon providing information about the status of the file:

Icon	Meaning

Green Circle	The file is ready to be processed. You can not start processing unless at least one file has this status.

Purple dot	The file is currently being processed. The Batch window can't be closed if any files have this status, the only way to stop a Batch is then from the Monitor window.

Half filled green circle	The file has been analyzed by an "Ultra-pass" processor but has not been processed and written to disk yet.

Green Dot	The Batch has been processed without problems. To be able to process the file again, you need to reset it's status, see below.

Red Cross	An error occurred. You will most likely have been warned via an alert box. If an error occurs, processing is cancelled.

Resetting File Status

To reset the status of a file to the "green circle" status described above, click on the symbol to the left of the file.

To reset the status of all files, select "Reset Status of all Files" from the Extra pop-up menu.

Other File Functions and Options

The "Show full path" and "Show name only" options on the Extra menu allow you to determine what file information you want to see in the list.

To play a file, select it and click the Play button (speaker icon).

Click the Stop button on the Transport to stop playback.

To open a file in a wave window, select it an click the "Open window" button (to the right of the Play button) or drag it and drop it on an empty section of the WaveLab program window.

If the file list contains files in raw format, you can specify the format for them, by selecting "Raw file format" from the Extra pop-up. If this is done, you don't have to specify the format manually each time a file in Raw format is about to be processed.

For this to make sense, all "raw" files must be in the same format.

Related Topics


Saving and Opening File Lists

To save the file list as a simple text file, containing the absolute paths (locations) of all files in the list, select "Save file list" from the Extra menu.

When you open a file list that you have saved (or one created in some other way), the files in the list are added to the currently selected Batch.

Related Topics


Validating the List

There might be occasions when you cannot be certain whether the file list really matches the contents of the hard disk. For example, a file might have been deleted from the disk since you last updated the list.

When you select "Validate list" from the Extra menu, the program will scan the list and check that all files really exist in the locations the list specifies. If not, those files will be removed from the list.

Related Topics


Opening the Processor List

There are three ways to open the Processor List:

Select a Batch in the list and click the Processor List button.

Select a Batch in the list and press [Return].

Double click on a Batch.

Related Topics


Adding a Processor to the list

1.	If the Processing option has Presets that you want to use, click on its folder "+" symbol to open it.

2.	Select either the desired Preset or the Plug-in icon.

Selecting the Plug-in icon itself, adds the processor with default settings.

VST plug-ins do not have Presets in this list, you have to make settings in the actual panel.

3.	Either click on the "+" button or drag the selected symbol to the left pane of the window and drop it.

If you use the "+" button or drop below the existing list, the processor will be added at the end of the list.

If you drag and drop on another symbol, it will be added just before that processor in the List.

If you create an "impossible" combination of effects, for example feed a mono output into a processor that only accepts stereo input, you will get an error message when you try to process.

Related Topics


Removing Processors from the List

To remove a processor, select it in the left list and click the Remove button.

Related Topics


Changing the order of the Processing

If you have added the correct processors, but realize they are in the wrong order, you may change this. There are two ways:

1.	Select a processor in the list.

2.	To move it one step up/down, click the up/down arrow buttons.

Related Topics


Making Settings for a Processor

If you want to adjust the settings for a certain processor, proceed as follows:

1.	Double click on the processor in the sequence list, or select the processor in the list and click the Edit button (the fader).

The panel for the processor appears.

2.	Adjust the settings (or select another Preset) and click OK.

Some off-line processors (shown with "blue", "yellow" or "green" icons) may not have Presets. In this case, you have to adjust the settings on the panel. Furthermore, some "old" plug-ins may not be adjustable in this way. If this is a problem, add the offending plug-ins in the Master section instead, make the desired settings, click Apply and create a Batch from the dialog that appears.

Closing the Processor Window

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.

Related Topics


Setting Up a simple Destination Folder

There are two ways to simply specify a folder for all created files:

Type in a path (file location) on the Destination folder line.

Click the folder icon just beside the destination folder line, browse your way to a folder and select it.

Related Topics


Using Path Variables

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.

Variables are text string enclosed in brackets (for example "<"Group Path>") that appear on the Destination folder line. You can type these variables yourself, but usually it makes much more sense to select them from the pop-up.

When you run the Batch, the variables are replaced by folder names. Exact details follow later in this text.

The specified folders are created automatically if they don't exist.

You can use more than one variable on the line, to create very advanced automatic file paths. Then the order of the variables on the line is very important since each added item will represent a sub-folder inside the previous folder.

When you add variables to the Destination path, they will appear just after the insertion point, just as when you type text. Hence, adding a variable is done as follows:

1.	Click at the position on the Destination folder line where you want the variable added.

A blinking insertion point cursor appears.

2.	Select the desired variable from the pop-up menu.

For the available variables, see context sensitive help.

Whether or not you are using variables, if you explicitly specify a drive name, this will always be used, regardless of where the source is located and what type of variables are used.

For example, if you have a source file in "c:\MyFolder\" and specify "e:\<SourcePath>\", the new file will be stored in "e:\MyFolder\".

Related Topics


Using File name Prefixes and Suffixes

For the file names created, you can use the fields "File name prefix" and "File name suffix" to add text to the beginning and/or the end of the original name.

You can type in any text, which will then be added at the beginning/end of the file name.

If for example you leave the prefix field empty and type "(processed)" in the suffix field, "MyFile" will become "MyFile (processed)".

You can add the "variable" "Batch name" anywhere in the text by selecting it from the small pop-up to the right of the pre/suffix lines.

This will add the name of the batch into the file name, at that location.

You can add the variable "File number from...", in the same way.

This will add a number to the file name. All the files will be numbered consecutively, and a dialog will allow you to specify the first number in the series.

Related Topics


Creating Zip Archives

You can automatically create a Zip archive of the created files. A Zip archive is a file which contains other files, in a compressed format. The compression is non-lossy, which means that when you "un-zip" the files you get exactly what you had when you created the archive, the information is not changed in any way.

Zip files are often used for archiving purposes and when sending files to other people, for example via the Internet.

Proceed as follows:

1.	Activate "Archive Output Files".

2.	Decide on a Path and file name for the zip file.

This is done either by typing the complete path or by clicking the folder button.

3.	If you want the Zip archie to contain information about how the files are stored in sub-folders, activate "Save path information".

4.	If you want to delete the output files after the files have been added to the Zip archive, activate "Move (erase) output files".

If this is deactivated, you will get the output files in their regular format plus a zip archive containing the same files.

Related Topics


Creating Backups and Automatically Deleting Source Files

If you want the program to create backups of any files that would otherwise be overwritten as a result of the procedure, activate the "Create Backups" options.

When this is activated, the program will make a copy of the file before processing. It will also change the first letter in the extension of the copy to "~". For example "myfile.wav", will be backed up as "myfile.~av".

This only applies if you have used the variable "Source Path", as described above, to specify that the file should be overwritten with the same name.

If you are not absolutely sure of what you are doing, we strongly recommend that you leave this option activated, to avoid accidentally overwriting files.

If you want the program to delete the original (unprocessed) files after processing activate "Delete files after process".

This is a very dangerous option! If the processing didn't turn out as expected, you can't redo it, because you won't have any files left to re-process!

Related Topics


Selecting an Output Format

If you want the new files to be in the same format as the original ones, simply select "As source".

If you want some other file format, select it from the menu.

For details about various file formats, see the context sensitive Help.

If you have selected Wave as your file format, you can also compress the files, using the same options as for the Save Special Compress feature. Simply activate Compress and click on the large button below.

Please note that when you select this option from the Batch processor, all possible file formats are available, not only the ones that apply to the current file format. This happens because the program does not yet "know" which types of files you are about to process. Since options are displayed that may not apply to the file type you process, make your selection with care.

Related Topics


Scheduling

The Schedule tab is used for various options related to the performance of the Batch processing: For details see the context sensitive Help in the dialog.


Running and Stopping the Batch(es)

Once all settings are made, all you have to do to start the Batch is to click Run.

The files are processed, much as when you click Apply in the Master section.

You can Stop processing by right clicking in the Monitor window.

Related Topics


Using Presets for Batch Processing

Please note that there are two different types of Presets involved in this dialog:

Batch Processing presets

Use these for storing and recalling settings that apply to all Batches.

They include:

All settings made on the Input tab, except the actual file list.

All settings made on the Output tab.

All settings made on the Schedule tab.

They do not include:

The list of files to be processed.

The list of processors assembled in the Processor list dialog.

Processor List Presets

These include the currently assembled list of processors, in the Processor list dialog. Use these to save useful combinations of processors, including their settings.

File Lists

While strictly not a type of Preset, the Open and Save File list features can be used to save and recall the information about what files were processed in a Batch.

Related Topics


CD Writing Introduction
Introduction

WaveLab now has the ability to write red book compatible CDs using many different CD-R drives. This allows you to create real CDs, complete with adjustable pauses, sub-indexes and automatic "PQ-coding".

In this help file you will find:

CD Program handling and CD- writing procedures.

CD background information.

Troubleshooting.

Lists of supported CD-R units.


The CD Program

The CD Program is the key to WaveLab's ability to burn real "red book compatible" CDs. It is in this window that you assemble the files you want to include on the CD, and make settings for them.

When a CD Program is active, a new menu appears called CD-Wizard. You can also open this menu from the top left corner of the CD program window.

You can have many CD Program windows open at the same time.

The CD Program is merely a list of the file segments, it does not contain the actual files themselves. This means that changes you make to the files will be reflected in the list as well. In other words, it is very important to keep track of changes made to files that are used in several CD Programs, because these changes will appear in all these lists.

Related Topics


About CD-R recorders - Background Information

This topic aims to provide you with some background information on the CD format, to help you better understand how to create your own. This is a big subject, and we will only be able to touch upon it here. For more information, try a text book on the subject, or search the Internet for more information.

The basic CD-formats

There are a number of different formats for the contents of a CD disc. You are probably familiar with audio CDs, CD-ROMS, and CD-I. These are all slightly different, although they use the same media - CD discs. The audio CD specification is called "red book". It is this standard that WaveLab conforms to.

Red Book CD is not a real file format

Those of you who are computer literate, might know about file formats. Please note that red book CD is not a real file format. All the audio on the CD is stored in one big chunk, one file if you will. This is different from hard disks for example, where each file is stored separately. Understanding the fact that all the audio is in fact one long stream of digital data, is something that will probably help you to betterunderstand the limitations of the format.

The different types of "events" on an audio CD

There are basically three types of events that that can be used to specify various sections of audio on the CD. These are:

Track Start	There can be up to 99 Tracks on one CD. Each is identified by its start point only.

Track Sub-Indexes	On advanced CD players, you might have noted that a Track can be divided into Sub-Indexes (sometimes just called Indexes). These are used to identify "important" positions within a Track. There can be 98 Sub-Indexes in each Track. However, since it is difficult and time-consuming to search for and locate to Sub-Indexes, many CD players simply ignore this information.

Pause	A pause appears before each Track. Pauses can be of variable lengths. Some CD players indicate the pauses between Tracks on their displays.

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*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, you do it in the format mm:ss:ff, where mm is minutes, ss is seconds and ff is frames. The frame values go from 0 to 74, since there are 75 frames to a second.

Technically, there is no way to specify something smaller than a frame on a CD. One effect of this is that if the length of a Track on the CD does not equal a perfect number of frames, some blank audio must be added at the end. Another effect of this is that when you play the CD, you can never locate (position) to anything closer than a frame. If you need some data in the middle of a frame, you still have to read the whole frame. Again, this is unlike a hard disk, where you can retrieve any byte on the disk, without reading the surrounding data.

But a frame isn't the smallest block of data on a CD. There is also something called a "small frame". A small frame is a container of 588 bits. 98 small frames together make up one regular frame. In each small frame there is actually only room for six stereo samples, which means that a lot of space is left for other data than the actual audio. There is information for encoding, laser synchronization, error correction and the PQ data (named so "simply" because they are stored in the "P" and "Q" bits). This PQ data is of major importance to anyone who wants to create their own CD, so please let us explain it in further detail.

PQ codes and WaveLab's solution for handling them

The PQ codes convey information about Track Start, Sub-Indexes and Pauses, as described above. They also contain the timing information (minutes, seconds, frames). To fit all this information in, a block of PQ information is spread out over 98 small frames.

Specifying PQ codes is not complex. However, when creating a CD there are a number of rules you must take into account. For example, there should be some silent frames before each track, Sub-Indexes should be slightly early, there should be pauses at the beginning and end of the entire CD, etc.

In WaveLab, all these hidden rules are collected in a dialog box called "Advanced Settings". If you don't change these, 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.

ISRC codes

In addition to the basic PQ codes, there is something called "International Standard Recording Code", identification that is only used on CDs intended for commercial distribution. WaveLab allows you to specify an ISRC code for each audio track but only if your CD-R burner supports it.

The ISRC code is built up as follows:

Country Code (2 ASCII characters).

Owner Code (3 ASCII characters).

Recording Year (2 digits).

Serial Number (5 digits).

UPC/EAN codes

UPC stands for "Universal Product Code". Some CD-R units allow you to specify this code, which is a thirteen-digit catalog number for the disc. Also known as EAN.

Disc-At-Once - Writing CD-R's for duplication into "real" CDs

WaveLab only writes audio CDs in Disc-at-Once mode. There are three good reasons for this:

If you want to create a CD-R to use as a master for a real CD production, you must write the CD-R in Disc-At-Once mode. In this mode, the entire disc is written in one pass, without ever turning of the recording laser. There are other ways of writing a CD, namely Track-At-Once and MultiSession. If you use these writing formats, the "link blocks" created to link the various recording passes together will be recognized as "uncorrectable errors" when you try to master from the CD-R. These links can also result in clicks when playing back the CD.

Disc-At-Once mode provides more flexibility when specifying pause lengths between tracks.

Disc-At-Once is the only mode that supports Sub-Indexes.

Writing on the fly vs CD images

WaveLab always writes a CD on the fly, that is, it does not create a CD image before burning. This method makes writing CDs faster and requires much less disk space. However, if for some reason you need to, WaveLab lets you join all audio tracks in a CD Program into one large file that can be used as an "image" of the entire CD.


Supported CD-Recorders

For CD writing, WaveLab uses a software engine developed by the company CeQuadrat (this company has also developed "WinOnCd" and "WinToGo"). This software engine relies on driver files placed inside WaveLab’s System folder. You will be able to find new versions and additional drivers on the CeQuadrat Internet site (http://www.cequadrat.com) whenever they become available. These files will also be distributed with updates of WaveLab, please check the Steinberg Internet site (http://www.steinberg.net) regularly.

WaveLab will work with all CD recorders supported by CeQuadrat (we don’t provide a list here since it is updated regularly), as long as they support the "Disk-at-once" mode  (required to create fully red book compatible audio CDs).

Finally, please note that not all devices support all of WaveLab's functionality. For example, some devices do not support track "Sub-Indexes" (which is not required for most applications).


Preparations and Installing the CD Recorder

WaveLab settings

If CD burning will be your main activity in WaveLab, we recommend you to open the Preferences dialog, click the File tab and select the "Optimize for huge files" mode.

For all general instructions on installing SCSI cards and CD-R recorders, please refer to the instructions that came with the computer, Windows, the SCSI controller and the CD-R recorder itself.

For WaveLab, please just check the following points:

Make sure you have the latest firmware version installed in your CD-R unit. The firmware you have must support Disk-At-Once mode! In addition, running a unit with an older firmware might for example prevent you from writing Sub-Indexes into the Tracks.

It is not required by WaveLab that you have a general Windows driver installed for the unit, since WaveLab has built in drivers for all the supported units. If you need to install (or already have installed) another driver for the unit, please be aware that there are possibilities for driver conflicts. If things seem to work well, don't do anything. If you run into problems, check the Troubleshoooting section.


Creating, Opening and Saving CD Programs

To create a CD Program, pull down the File menu, select New, and from the sub-menu that appears, select CD Program.

You will see a blank window that you can fill with entries, as described under the topic Adding files to a CD Program.

To open an already existing CD Program, select Open from the File menu, and CD Program from the sub-menu that appears. Alternatively, use the list of recently opened files at the bottom of the File menu.

When you open a CD Program, all the files to which it refers are actually also opened. However, they do not appear in Windows. If some files that are part of the CD Program can't be found, a warning message appears.

Once you have created your list, you can save it to disk like any other file, using the Save and Save As commands.

Related Topics


Adding files to a CD Program

What audio file formats can be used?

You can add any type of file to a CD Program. However, when it is time to burn the CD, the files in the list must meet the following specifications:

44100 Hz (44.1kHz).

Mono, dual-mono or stereo.

8, 16, 20 or 24 bit resolution.

The files will be converted to 16-bit stereo on the fly, during the CD burning process.

A given track can only appear once in each CD Program!

Using Add Track

This item, on the CD Wizard menu (which only appears if the active window is a CD Program) is used to add Tracks directly from disk.

1.	Select Add Track from the CD Wizard menu.

2.	In the File dialog that appears, select as many files as you wish.

3.	Click OK.

The files are now added to the list:

If the file contains CD Start and Sub-Index markers, these are used to define the Track in the list.

If there are several sets of markers, there will be several Track entries in the list, all "pointing" to this file.

If the file does not contain any markers, a dialog box will ask you if you want to use the file start and end as boundaries for the Track. Click OK, you can always move the markers later, to redefine the positions.

By dragging a Waveform Selection

If you already have a Wave window open, you can drag and drop selections from it to the Track list.

1.	Make a selection.

There are numerous ways of making selections. For instance, double click between two markers to select all audio between them.

2.	Position the mouse pointer over the waveform, inside the selection area and drag and drop in the Track List.

The selection appears as a Track. If there are Sub-Index markers inside the selection, they will be part of the Track.

By Dragging or Copying and Pasting between CD Programs

If you have several CD Programs open, you can drag and drop between them.

1.	Point at a Track item in a list.

2.	Press the mouse button and drag and drop the Track item into another list.

You can also use Cut, Copy and Paste to achieve the same thing:

1.	Select an item in one Track list.

2.	Select Cut or Copy from the Edit menu.

3.	Select another CD Program.

4.	Select Paste from the Edit menu.

Related Topics


Setting the order of the Tracks on the CD
Setting the order of Tracks on the CD

Once you have all the files you need in the CD Program you might want to set the order they will appear on the CD.

Determining the current order

1.	Pull down the CD Wizard menu and select "Sort by Track order".

2.	Check the numbering on the side of the list, it is now consecutive and the list reflects the order of the Tracks on the CD.

Changing the order using Drag and Drop

1.	Position the mouse pointer over the name of the Track you want to move to another position.

2.	Drag and drop it somewhere else in the list.

The items are resorted to reflect the new order.

Changing the order using the keyboard

1.	Select the Track you want to move up/down.

2.	Hold down [Control] and press the Up/down cursor keys.

The file is moved up/down, accordingly.

Related Topics


Deleting files from CD Programs

There are two ways to remove a file from the Track list:

Select it and select Delete from the Edit menu or press [Backspace].

Drag-and-drop the track onto the trash icon.

The file disappears from the list, but is of course not deleted from the hard disk.

Related Topics


Managing List columns

There are a couple of changes you can make to your Track columns:

You can change the width of each column, by dragging the dividing lines between the headings left/right.

You can hide/show each column by clicking with the right mouse button on a heading, and select from the menu that appears.

You can click on the Title header to switch between three modes, which show various amounts of details about the files the Tracks belong to. This also switches the sort modes between "Sort by Track order" and "Sort by File".

You can also use the CD Wizard menu (which only appears when the CD Program is the active window), to switch between "Sort by Track order" and "Sort by File".

Related Topics


Setting up a Track in the list

"Unfolding" a Track

Just like in the Explorer and other Windows 95 programs, you can unfold a Track, to reveal additional settings. This can be done either by clicking the "+" and "-" symbols or by selecting the Track and using the [+] and [-] keys on the numeric keypad.

What information is available about a Track?

For any Track you can see the following information in the columns:

Start time	This shows you how far in on the CD this Track will start (in the format minutes:seconds:frames). The Start time is calculated from the length of the preceding Tracks.

Length	This value is calculated from the position of the Track End marker, see below.

Various Settings	These are all described below.

When a Track is unfolded the following additional information is shown for it:

Pause	This is the pause that will precede the Track. The columns show the Start (this is a negative value since the pause starts before the Track) and the Length of the pause.

Track Start	This is a representation of the marker that indicates the Start of the Track. The columns show the Start (always 00:00:00) and Length (calculated from the position of the previous Track End marker, see below).

Sub-Index Markers	These indicate any Track Sub-Index markers that have been defined for the Track. The columns show the Start (the position of the marker) and Length (the time from this marker to the next Sub-Index marker or the End of the Track, whichever occurs first).

Track End	This is a representation of the marker that indicates the end of the Track.

Adjusting Start/End points and Sub-Indexes

The items indicated by markers in the list are not adjusted in the list itself, but in the audio files! To open an audio file for editing the markers, just double-click on the Start time field, in the list. For more information, see the section on Markers.

Adjusting Pauses

Each Track has a pause setting. This pause will be played before the beginning of the Track.

To change the length of the pause, double click on the value (the dark red digits). As usual, you can right click on the numbers (after double clicking) to set the value using a slider.

Naming Tracks

If you hold down [Alternate] and double click on a Track name, you can edit it (to be precise, what you are editing is the name of the CD Track markers in the audio file). Please note that this name is not stored on the CD (CD Tracks don't have names), and naming is only for your convenience.

Other settings

For background information about the following fields, see About CD-R recorders - Background Information.

The ISRC field can be edited by double clicking.

The comment field is also edited by double clicking. This text is not stored on the CD, it is only here for your convenience.

The Key symbol indicates a track copy protection "flag" (on/off setting). Click here to activate /deactivate this flag. Please note that this setting is hardly ever used nowadays, and not all CD-R units can even handle it. Normally you will leave this off.

The little Rainbow colored symbol indicates the Emphasis "flag". This setting is used to indicate if the Track was recorded with emphasis or not. Please note that this does not apply/remove emphasis from the audio, it is just an indication of how the file was created. Normally you will leave this off.

There is a shortcut for the last two settings: To set all Tracks to the same value, double click on the column heading instead of the actual Track item.

Checking the Total Length of the CD

The total length of the CD is displayed at the bottom of the CD Program window.

Related Topics


Working with CD-Markers

CD Markers appear in the audio files. They define the Start, End points and Sub-Index points for Tracks in the Track list.

To learn about the various Marker types, open the Edit Marker dialog (select "New Marker" from the time ruler menu) and use the context sensitive help for the items in the dialog.

You edit and add CD Markers using any of the following methods:

By adjusting the positions of existing CD markers.

By converting existing "Generic" or "Temporary" type markers.

This is done by clicking on a marker with the right mouse button and selecting "Edit marker ".

By adding markers on the fly, and then converting them into CD markers.

By adding Markers using the New Marker function.

By dragging waveform selections into the CD Program.

By making a waveform selection and selection the speed-menu option "Create track from selection".

By using Add Tracks on files that have not previously been marked for the CD Program.

Remember that if you make a mistake, you can always Undo your actions.

About the relationship between markers in a file

To understand how CD Markers relate to the items in the CD Program, please read the following:

A Track Start or Track Boundary marker in the actual audio file defines a Track in the CD Program! Delete the Track Start/Boundary marker, and the Track item vanishes from the list! Also, edit the Track start or end position, and the change is reflected in all CD programs that include this track.

Just because you create the markers for it, this does not mean the Track will be added to a CD Program window. You have to do this "manually", using drag and drop to the desired CD program(s). As a matter of fact, you can have several Tracks defined in a single audio file, but still decide to only use one or a few of them in a CD Program.

Whenever you create a Track Start marker, WaveLab will automatically create a Track End marker at the start of the next Track or at the end of the file, whichever occurs first. It’s then up to you to adjust the position of that End marker if necessary.

WaveLab does not allow Tracks to have a Start without and End, nor will it allow overlapping or nested Tracks (Tracks inside Tracks). If you try to move Track markers to invalid places (beyond the end of the file, to a position inside another track, etc.), WaveLab will automatically reorganize the markers to place them in a valid configuration.

The Track Boundary Marker indicates the End of one Track and the Start of another. In other words, it's a combined Start and End marker. If you drop a Start marker after another Start marker, it will automatically convert into a Boundary marker since you can't have two Starts after each other without an End between them.

If you use one file in multiple CD Programs, beware that any changes you make to the audio file will be reflected in all CD Programs!

Sub-Index markers can be added between Starts and Ends as required. The only limitation is that there can only be 98 Sub-Index markers per Track. You can’t insert a sub-index out of a CD track. If you move a sub-index out of a CD track, it is deleted.

Whenever you insert a sub-index, its position is quantized to a CD frame (1/75th of a second, or 588 audio frames) in relation to the Track start. If you move the CD Track Start marker, then all Sub-Index markers will need to be re-quantized. You will be warned about this via an alert box. This is usually not a problem, since you will normally only start defining Sub-Indexes once your start and end points have been established.

Related Topics


Playing files in the Track list

There are several ways to play back a file in a CD Program.

Click with the right mouse button in the Track column for an item (any type of marker will work), and select from the menu items.

The items should hopefully be self-explanatory. Please note that clicking on a Track End marker allows you to play a transition between two Tracks with a short pre-roll time.

Double click on a Track name, or select it and press [Enter] or [F8].

This plays the entire list, from that point and on, including pauses. Hit [F7] or [0] on the numeric key pad to stop.

Double click on a Length field.

This plays the section between this and the next marker.

You can drag and drop a Track title onto the Play button on the Transport bar.

This is the same as double clicking on the Track name.

Please note that what you hear during playback is identical to the way the audio will be played back from the actual CD - all pause and other adjustments are taken into account (this includes the Advanced Settings unless otherwise stated).

During playback, a progress bar appears at the bottom of the window. There will be no play cursor in the actual wave window.

During playback, you can toggle between track-local time and CD-global time by clicking on the time counters in the bottom right corner of the CD Program window.

Changes to markers are not taken into account during playback (you need to stop playback and start playback again).

Playing back via the Master Section

To make the audio play back through the Master Section, activate the corresponding option in the CD-R tab in the Preferences dialog box, and open the Master window. The default setting for this is OFF.

Related Topics


Opening CD Tracks for wave editing

There are several ways to open a CD Program item, in a Wave window, for editing:

Double click on the Start time field.

This opens the Wave window and selects the entire track. If you double clicked on a Sub-Index marker or on a Track End marker, the Wave cursor is moved there. Otherwise the cursor is moved to the Track Start marker.

Drag and drop a Track item, a Track Start marker or a Pause item onto the WaveLab background (outside all document windows).

This opens the corresponding wave window and selects the area inside the Track boundaries.

Drag and drop a Sub-index or Track end marker onto the WaveLab background (outside all document windows).

This opens the wave window and moves the Wave cursor to the corresponding position.

Drag and drop a CD track onto an already open audio file window.

This inserts the Track into the file, as when you drag and drop between Wave windows. Please note that this must of course be a window for another file.

Related Topics


Testing before Writing a CD
Testing a CD Program before burning

There are two ways to check a CD before burning:

Check

The "Check" command on the CD Wizard menu scans through the CD Program and checks that the settings conform to the CD standard. This command does not access the CD-R recorder in any way, it only checks the setting in the list against a set of rules. These rules are described under the context sensitive help for the Check menu item.

This check is automatically performed when you try to actually burn a CD.

"Test 1 track" and "Test All Tracks"

These two options in the Write CD dialog (also reached from the CD Wizard menu) actually simulate writing one or all Tracks to the CD burner. This takes all settings into account, including the writing speed (1x, 2x, etc.).

If the test fails, try writing at a lower speed.

If the Test All Tracks test passes, you can be almost certain  there will be no problems when writing the actual CD.

Related Topics


Writing a CD

Once you have set up the CD Program, we suggest the following work order for burning the CD. Please note that these steps are not mandatory, just a recommendation.

Please observe the precautions indicated in the Troubleshooting section, before writing your first CD!

1.	Listen through the CD once more, from the CD Program window, to check that all starts, ends and transitions are OK.

2.	Select Check from the CD Wizard menu, to check that all settings conform to the red book standard.

This is done automatically before burning, but you might want to do this anyway, to be sure.

3.	Insert a fresh CD-R disc into your drive.

4.	Select Write CD from the CD Wizard menu.

5.	Use the pop-up menu to select your recorder.

6.	From the small pop-up menu, select the speed at which you would like to burn the CD.

7.	Use the test options in the dialog to check that you will actually be able to write the CD at that speed.

8.	Once the CD Program has passed the test, switch to "WRITE" and press OK in the dialog.

Related Topics


Creating a Disk Image

There might be situation where you want to "freeze" an entire CD project, without actually burning a CD. This is done with the "Save As CD Image" command.

1.	Set up the Track list so that it is exactly as you want it.

2.	Select "Save as CD Image" from the CD Wizard menu.

3.	Find a directory for the files (we recommend that you create a new directory, because the "image" is made up of three different files) and type in a name.

4.	Click OK.

Now, the following files are created in that folder:

A CD Program file, with the specified name. This is the file you should open the next time you want to access this "CD image".

A single Wave file, containing all the Tracks, with markers inserted at all the correct positions.

A marker file with the same name (it is this file that actually contains the markers).

A peak file for the wave file.

Related Topics


Exporting audio files from a CD Program
Exporting audio files from a Track list

There are situations where you might want to save the items in a CD Program as audio files on your hard disk. For example:

For archiving.

For burning a mixed mode CD in another program.

When you use the CD Program as a general play list to prepare files for other purposes.

As separate files

To save each file in a CD Program as a separate file, in one folder, proceed as follows:

1.	Set up the Track list so that it is exactly as you want it.

2.	Select "Save each track as a separate audio file" from the CD Wizard menu.

3.	Find a destination folder for the files.

4.	Fill out the other options in the dialog.

See the context sensitive help in the dialog for details.

5.	Click OK.

Now, each of the Tracks in the list is saved as one file, in the specified folder.

As one file

To turn the entire CD Program into one long file, proceed as follows:

1.	Set up the Track list so that it is exactly as you want it.

2.	Select "Join all tracks into one virtual file" from the CD Wizard menu.

3.	Fill out the other options in the dialog.

See the context sensitive help in the dialog for details.

4.	Click OK.

The new file appears in a wave window.

5.	Save the file, like any other wave file.

Related Topics


Generating Cue Sheets

The Generate Cue Sheet feature allows you to create text files with information about the CD Program.

1.	Make sure the CD Program, for which you want to create a Cue sheet, is the active window.

2.	Open Generate Cue Sheet from the CD Wizard menu.

3.	Click the folder button at the end of the Template line.

4.	Navigate your way to the "CDCueSheetTemplate" folder which is located in the System folder inside your WaveLab folder.

5.	Select one of the template files in this folder and click Open.

6.	In the Cue Sheet window, enter a Title, Engineer and Comment.

7.	Click OK.

The Cue Sheet appears in a text window.

8.	Save the Cue Sheet text file to disk.

Related Topics


Creating Cue Sheet Templates

Creating a cue sheet requires an understanding of computers, and preferably some knowledge about programming, since it makes use of the "commands and variables" concept.

How Cue Sheet Templates are Organized

Essentially, it works like this: There are a number of "codes", commands and variables, which you place in a text file - the Template. When you ask the program to generate a Cue Sheet, it creates the text file based on the "codes" it finds in the Template.

If the program encounters a variable, it replaces this with some information about the CD Program. For example there’s a variable called "NUM_TRACKS". When the program finds this, it replaces it with the actual number of Tracks in the CD Program, for example "5", "17" or "99".

Commands, on the other hand, are instructions for the program to do something. For example, the command "TIMECODE SEPARATOR = " followed by a few special characters, instructs the program what characters should be inserted between time code values, so that you can get time code values printed out in the format 00:00:00.00, "00 00 00 00" or anything else you prefer.

Here are the various codes you can enter for specific purposes:

Code	Description

$	A variable. The text that follows right after the "$" is the command name, for example "$TITLE". A variable can occur anywhere on a a line, and there can be any number of variables on a line.

#	A command. The text that follows after the "#" is the command name, for example "#FOR EACH TRACK". There can only be one command per line and there shouldn’t be anything else on that line.

;	If a line starts with a semi-colon (;), the line is interpreted as a comment. Nothing on such a line will be used in the Cue Sheet. This is useful for making notes, etc.

All other text characters can be entered on their own lines or among the variables, and will be used as they are. For example if you type "Title: $TITLE" and the title you have entered is "My Greatest Hits!", the text "Title: My Greatest Hits" will appear in the Cue Sheet.

Creating a Cue Sheet Template

To create a template, use any text editor and enter the information you want, or open one of the included templates and modify it as needed. Then save it as a text file and load it in before you generate the Cue Sheet as described above.

Related Topics


The Available Variables

Track number

Variable/Group	Comment:

T0	As decimal number "1" or "22"

T1	Blank Justified Two Digit Number " 1" or "22"

T2	Zero Justified Two Digit Number "01" or "22"

Track index

Variable/Group	Comment:

I0	As decimal number "1" or "22"

I1	Blank Justified Two Digit Number " 1" or "22"

I2	Zero Justified Two Digit Number "01" or "22"

Copy Protection status

Variable/Group	Comment:

C1	"x" or " "

C2	"Y" or "N"

Emphasis status

Variable/Group	Comment:

E1	"x" or " "

E2	"Y" or "N"

Absolute time of index

Variable/Group	Comment:

TIME_IA_0	As decimal number

TIME_IA_1	Blank justified 7 digit decimal number

TIME_IA_2	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff"

TIME_IA_3	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff"" blank justified e.g. leading zero not displayed

TIME_IA_4	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff"" compressed e.g. if there are no hours, none are displayed

TIME_IA_5	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours) e.g. no hours displayed at all

TIME_IA_6	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours) blank justified e.g. leading zero not shown, no hours displayed

TIME_IA_7	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours) no minute displayed if not required, no hours displayed

TIME_IA_8	Time format as "1h 2mn 3s 4f"

TIME_IA_9	Time format as "1h 2mn 3s"

Index time relative to start of CD

Variable/Group	Comment:

TIME_IR_0	As decimal number

TIME_IR_1	Blank justified 7 digit decimal number

TIME_IR_2	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff"

TIME_IR_3	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff"" blank justified e.g. leading Zero not shown

TIME_IR_4	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff"" compressed e.g. no hour displayed if not required

TIME_IR_5	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours)

TIME_IR_6	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours) blank justified e.g. if no minute to display

TIME_IR_7	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours) no minute displayed if not required

TIME_IR_8	Time format as "1h 2mn 3s 4f

TIME_IR_9	Time format as "1h 2mn 3s"

Index time relative to start of track

Variable/Group	Comment:

TIME_IT_0	As decimal number

TIME_IT_1	Blank justified 7 digit decimal number

TIME_IT_2	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff"

TIME_IT_3	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff"" blank justified e.g. leading Zero not displayed

TIME_IT_4	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff"" compressed e.g. no hour displayed if not required

TIME_IT_5	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours)

TIME_IT_6	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours) blank justified e.g. leading Zero not displayed

TIME_IT_7	Time as "mm:ss:ff" no hours) no minute displayed if not required

TIME_IT_8	Time format as "1h 2mn 3s 4f

TIME_IT_9	Time format as "1h 2mn 3s

Pause Length

Variable/Group	Comment:

TIME_PA_0	As decimal number

TIME_PA_1	Blank justified 7 digit decimal number

TIME_PA_2	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff"

TIME_PA_3	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff"" blank justified e.g. leading Zero not displayed

TIME_PA_4	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff"" compressed e.g. no hour displayed if not required

TIME_PA_5	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours)

TIME_PA_6	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours) blank Justified leading Zero not displayed

TIME_PA_7	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours) no minute displayed if not required

TIME_PA_8	Time format as "1h 2mn 3s 4f"

TIME_PA_9	Time format as "1h 2mn 3s"

Track Length

Variable/Group	Comment:

TIME_TR_0	As decimal number

TIME_TR_1	Blank justified 7 digit decimal number

TIME_TR_2	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff""

TIME_TR_3	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff" blank justified e.g. leading Zero not displayed

TIME_TR_4	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff"" compressed e.g. no hour displayed if not required

TIME_TR_5	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours)

TIME_TR_6	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours) blank justified e.g. leading Zero not displayed

TIME_TR_7	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours) no minute displayed if not required

TIME_TR_8	Time format as "1h 2mn 3s 4f"

TIME_TR_9	Time format as "1h 2mn 3s"

CD length

Variable/Group	Comment:

TIME_CD_0	As decimal number

TIME_CD_1	Blank justified 7 digit decimal number

TIME_CD_2	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff""

TIME_CD_3	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff"" blank Justified

TIME_CD_4	Time as "hh:mm:ss:ff"" compressed

TIME_CD_5	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours)

TIME_CD_6	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours) blank justified

TIME_CD_7	Time as "mm:ss:ff" (no hours) compressed

TIME_CD_8	Time format as "1h 2mn 3s 4f"

TIME_CD_9	Time format as "1h 2mn 3s"

Various

Variable/Group	Comment:

NUM_TRACKS	Total number of tracks as decimal number

UPC	UPC/EAN code

ISRC	ISRC code

FILE	File name (no path)

PFILE	File name (with path)

TRACK_NAME	Track Name

TRACK_COMMENT	Track Comment

Related Topics


The Available Commands

To find out about the available commands and how they are used, please open the included templates and study them. All commands are used there, as an example for you to study.

Related Topics


Databases - Using Add File

This procedure allows you to add files to a Database by using a file dialog.

1.	Select Add from the Database menu.

You can also press the right mouse button in the Location pane and select Add from the menu that appears.

2.	Select all files you want to open (possibly using [Shift] and [Control]) and click Open.

The files appear in the List pane. Also, folders are added to the Location pane. These correspond to the real folders on the disk, which contain the actual files.

Related Topics


Databases - By Dragging

You can drag and drop an open Wave document into a Database, by using the drag handle (the dot) on the title bar.

Related Topics


Databases - Using Scan Disk

This procedure allows you to add files to a Database by searching for all files that meet certain criteria.

1.	Select Scan disk from the Database menu.

You can also press the right mouse button in the Location pane and select Scan disk from the menu that appears.

2.	Select a drive and a folder as a start point for the search.

This folder and all its sub-folders will be searched.

3.	Click OK.

The search criteria dialog appears.

4	Set up the criteria in each of the three tabs and click Scan.

The files that meet all the criteria appear in the List pane. Also, folders are added to the Location pane as needed. These correspond to the real folders on the disk, which contain the actual files.

The Three tabs

The Search dialog has three tabs for deciding which files to add to the Database - one for text criteria, one for file format criteria and one for date and size criteria.

For a file to be added, it must meet the criteria set up in all three tabs. It might for example have to...

have a name containing the text "piano"...

be in stereo, and...

be smaller than one megabyte.

You can of course set up any of the tabs so that all files meet the criteria in this tab, so that you can, for example, add files only based on their names or only on their format.

The Text tab

This is used to specify which files to add to the Database, based on Text criteria. See the Context sensitive help in the dialog for details.

The Format tab

This allows you to Add files based on their file format. You may activate multiple options in each section to add files of different categories (for example both mono and stereo files). See the Context sensitive help in the dialog for details.

The Date & Size tab

This tab allows you to specify two things:

If the "Modified" date of the file should be included in the search criteria or not.

If the size of the file should be included in the search criteria or not.

See the Context sensitive help in the dialog for details.

Using Presets

You can create Presets for this dialog, just as with Processing. See Preset Topics.

Related Topics


Databases - Adding a Dual Mono file

To add two files as one stereo pair (dual mono), proceed as follows:

1.	Add one of the files.

2.	Press the right mouse button with the pointer over the file name.

3.	Select Properties from the menu that appears.

4.	Activate "Other channel file name" and type in the name of the other file in the field below.

The two files will now be treated as a stereo pair when editing, playing etc.

Related Topics


Databases - Displaying all files in the Database

If you want to display all files in the Database, regardless of location, category, keyword or comment, proceed as follows:

1.	Select Global Find from the Database menu, and click the Preset tab.

2.	Select the "All audio files" Preset and click Load.

3.	Click Find.

Related Topics


Databases - Displaying all files in a Category

To display the files that belong to a certain category, click on that category name in the Category pane.

Please note that you should click on the Folder name, not on the Folder symbol.

Related Topics


Databases - Displaying all files in a Folder

To display all the files that reside in a certain Folder, click on the folder in the location pane.

All the files are displayed, regardless of category.

Related Topics


Databases - Limiting the number of files displayed

Windows 95 puts a limitation on how many files can actually be shown in the file list at one time (around 1500).

Normally you don’t want too many files in the List anyway, since it only makes it harder to organize them and some Database operations will take longer to finish.

1.	Open the Preferences dialog and click on the Database tab.

2.	Adjust the  "Maximum list size" setting.

This will set a limit on how many files will be added in one go.

If you have specified a limit, as described above, in some circumstances the list can’t show all the files you expect. If this is the case, the Status Bar will indicate this by displaying the number of files in red.

Related Topics


Databases - Changing List Formats

Just as in the Window 95 Explorer application, you can decide to display the files in different list formats.

1.	Click with the right mouse button in the File list.

2.	Select from the lower half of the menu.

For details about each item, select it from the menu, and with the menu still up, press [F1].

Related Topics


Databases - Sorting Files

If you have selected Show Details as your list format (see Changing List Formats), you can click on the column headings to sort the list according to that column’s criteria.

Related Topics


Databases - Setting Column Width

If you have selected Show Details as your list format (see Changing List Formats), the width of the column headings can be adjusted.

Point at the divider between two columns, in the heading, and drag left or right.

This setting is saved with the Database.

Related Topics


Databases - Selecting

You can select one file by clicking on it or by using the cursor keys.

Several files can be selected using [Shift] and [Control] as in other Windows 95 programs.

You can drag a selection rectangle if you start to the right of the actual name.

The files that are inside the rectangle when you release the mouse button will be selected.

To select all files, press the right mouse button in the file list and select "Select All" from the menu that appears.

Related Topics


Databases - Playing Files

To play a file, proceed as follows:

Select the file and click the Play button on the Transport or press [Enter] on the computer keyboard.

If the file is not on any of the disks currently "in the computer" the required disk will be requested. If the file is already open and has unsaved changes, the version in the window will be played rather than the one on disk.

Related Topics


Databases - Opening Files for Editing

To open one or more files in a wave edit window, proceed as follows:

Double click on one file, or...

Select the file(s), press the right mouse button anywhere in the list except on a file name and select Open from the menu that appears, or...

Drag the file(s) out of the Database window into an "empty" area within the WaveLab application window.

If the file is not on any of the disks currently "in the computer" the required disk will be requested.

Related Topics


Databases - Adding Keywords

To set the keywords of one ore more files, proceed as follows:

1.	Select the file(s), press the right mouse button anywhere in the list except on a file name, and select Properties from the menu that appears.

If you select more than one file you will give the same keyword(s) to all the files you selected.

2.	Type in each keyword, separated by semicolons (";") or commas (","), or click on the "<<" button and select from the menus that appear.

You can enter as many keywords as you like this way.

Adding Keywords to the menus

You can add Keywords of your own by typing the desired name preceded by a backslash character ("\").

You can even create hierarchic items like those on the standard menu. If you for example type "\Quality\Texture\Crystal", Crystal will appear on the Texture menu, which in turn is on the Quality menu.

The new menus are automatically saved when you close the dialog. You can also modify what keywords are available on the menu in new Databases, see Databases - Changing the Default categories.

Related Topics


Databases - Updating

If you have worked on the files since the Database was last opened, the file attributes (size, date etc) might by "out of sync" with the real values. To update those settings, proceed as follows:

1.	Select the file(s), press the right mouse button anywhere in the list except on a file name.

2.	Select Update from the menu that appears.


Databases - Syncing to Disk

If you open a Database and then edit wave files during a session you will end up with files that have properties which don’t match those in the Database. Furthermore you might have created new files which are not in the Database at all. The Sync to Disk feature fixes this and other "out of sync" problems.

1.	In the Folder list, select the folder you want to update.

The operation will affect this folder and all its sub-folders.

2.	Press the right mouse button in the Location pane and select Sync to disk.

The Find dialog appears, see the context sensitive help for details. Also refer to Using Scan Disk.

3.	Fill out the dialog or select a Preset to narrow down the operation to files that only meet certain criteria.

If you want to affect all files in the folder(s) select the "All audio files" Preset.

4.	Click the Scan button.

The following operations are performed:

Files that are not yet in the Database are added.

Files that don’t exist any longer are removed from the Database.

The attributes (size etc.) of all files in the Database are updated.


Databases - Dragging to Another Database or Project

You can Drag and Drop the files onto other windows. You can drop on:

The List in another Database

This copies the file(s) into that Database. If you hold down [Alt] or [Shift], this moves the file(s) rather than copying it/them.

A Category in another Database

If you drag a file onto a Category in another Database, the file is copied to that Database and added to the Category you dropped it on. Use [Alt] to move the file rather than copy it.

A Project window

This copies the file to the Project. You can aim at a certain group to add the file to it.

Related Topics


Databases - Removing Files

To remove one or more files from the Database, without actually deleting it from disk, proceed as follows.

Select the file(s), press the right mouse button anywhere in the list except on a file name, and select Remove from the menu that appears.

If you want to permanently delete the file from disk, use Delete File on the File menu instead.

Related Topics


Databases - Renaming Files

If you want to rename the file, proceed as follows.

1.	Select the file, press the right mouse button, and select Rename from the menu that appears.

If the file is not on any of the disks currently "in the computer" the required disk will be requested.

2.	Type in the new name and press [Return]. Do not specify an extension, only the actual file name.

If you need to modify the extension, use the Properties dialog, see Setting Properties.

This operation permanently modifies the actual file name!

Related Topics


Databases - Setting File Properties

To set the properties of one ore more files, proceed as follows:

Select the file(s), press the right mouse button anywhere in the list except on a file name, and select Properties from the menu that appears.

The Properties dialog appears.

See the dialog's context sensitive help for details about the different options.

Please note that the possibility to select more than one file allows you to give a number of files the same keyword(s) and comment, in one go.

Related Topics


Databases - Setting up a Filter

The Filter function allows you to set up criteria so that the list always shows only files that meet certain criteria. You might for example want the list to only display stereo files, regardless of which category or folder you click on.

To set up a Filter, proceed as follows.

1.	Select Global Filter from the Database menu.

The dialog that appears is identical to the one used for Scan Disk.

2.	Fill out the dialog or select a Preset, see Using Scan Disk.

3.	Click OK.

Now when you click around on folders or categories, only files that meet the criteria set up in the dialog are displayed. You can note that a filter is applied by checking the Status bar, where it says "Global Filter".

The filter is common to all open Databases.

Deactivating the Filter


Databases - Deactivating the Filter

To completely turn off Database Filtering, proceed as follows.

1.	Select Global Filter from the Database menu.

2.	Click on the Preset tab, select "All audio files" and click Load.

3.	Click OK.

Setting Up a Filter


Databases - Performing a Find operation

WaveLab’s Find feature allows you to find all files in the Database that match certain criteria.

Please note that the Find function only searches among files already added to the Database (which is different from how Scan Disk works, see Using Scan Disk).

Limiting the Search

If you want to search among all files in the Database, select Global Find from the Database menu.

If you want to search in a folder and its sub-folders, click the right mouse button on that folder and select Find.

If you want to search among files in one category only, click on that category with the right mouse button and select Find.

If you only want to search among the files currently in the list, click the right mouse button in the list and select Find.

In either case, the same Find dialog appears.

Performing the Find

The Find dialog is basically the same as the one used for filtering and for Scan Disk (see Using Scan Disk). The three tabs allow you to specify different types of criteria for the search. You can also select from Presets.

Set up the dialog and click Find.

The found files appear in the Database.

If you have selected Global Find, you can activate "Keep Window open". This allows you to redo the search without closing the dialog.

The Filter setting applies (see Setting Up a Filter). You might for example have set up a Filter which ensures that only stereo files are shown in the list. Then when you perform a Find, you will still only see stereo files in the list. Please note that this might result in no files at all being shown. An example of this would be that you try to find only mono files and have a Filter that only displays stereo files.

Related Topics


Databases - Renaming Folders

You can rename a folder in the location pane  (not the real folder on disk):

1.	Click on the folder with the right mouse button.

2.	Select Rename.

The folder name opens up for editing, just as on the Windows 95 Desktop.

3.	Change the name and hit [Return].

Note that if the folder name in the Database and on the disk do not match, you can not open the files in that folder from the Database.

Related Topics


Databases - Removing Folders

To remove a folder and all the files in it from the Database, proceed as follows:

1.	Click on the folder (in the location pane) using the right mouse button.

2.	Select Remove.

3.	Click OK in the dialog that appears.

This does not delete the actual files from disk. It only removes them from the Database.

Related Topics


Databases - Adding files to a Category

1.	Make sure the desired category is visible in the list.

If it isn’t, open the desired folder and scroll the list, to make it visible.

2.	In the list, select the Files that you want to make part of a certain category.

3.	Drag the selected files and drop them on the desired Category folder.

The files disappear from the list.

Please note that you can add a file to any level in the category "hierarchy". you can for example make a file part of the category "Instrument", you don’t have to put it into any of the subcategories ("Keyboards", "String" etc).

Related Topics

Moving files between Categories

Displaying all files in a Category

Displaying all files not in any Category

Databases - Checking to which Category a file belongs

Databases - Creating Categories


Databases - Moving files between Categories

If you drop a file onto a different Category from the one it is already in, it is moved from the old Category to the new one. In other words, files can only be in one Category at a time.

Related Topics


Databases - Displaying all files in a category

To display the files that belong certain category, click on the category name.

Please observe that you should click on the Folder name, not on the Folder symbol.

Related Topics


Databases - Displaying all files not in any Category

There might be instances when you want to display all the files that haven’t yet been placed into any category:

1.	Press the right mouse button in the Category pane.

2.	Select "Find Unregistered items" from the menu that appears.

Related Topics


Databases - Checking with Category a file belongs to
Databases - Checking to which Category a file belongs

If you have a file in the list and are unsure of which category it belongs to, proceed as follows:

Select the file, press the right mouse button in the list and select "Show Folders" from the menu that appears, or...

Hold down [Alt] and click on the file name or wave icon in the list.

Either way, the category folder is highlighted in the list. If no folder is highlighted, this means the file doesn’t belong to any category.

This operation also tells you which folder the file is in, by looking at the Location pane.

Related Topics


Databases - Creating Categories

To create a new category, select the folder you want this new category to be in. Then press the right mouse button and select "New Category". Type in the name and click OK.

Related Topics


Databases - Renaming Categories

To rename a category, select it,  press the right mouse button, and select Rename from the menu that appears. Type in the new name and click OK.

Related Topics


Databases - Removing Categories

To delete a category folder, select it, press the right mouse button and select Remove from the menu that appears.

This deletes the selected category and all its sub-categories.

The files that belonged to these categories are not deleted. Rather they become "unregistered items", see Displaying all files not in any Category.

Related Topics


Databases - Changing the Default categories

To change the Category hierarchy and keyword lists that appears in new Databases, proceed as follows:

1.	Make copies of the files "categ.txt" and "keywords.txt"

These are located in the System folder in the WaveLab folder. You might for example name the copies "categ.bak" and "keywords.bak".

2.	Launch a regular text editor.

One of those included with Windows will work fine.

3.	To Edit the categories, open the file "categ.txt". To edit the keywords, open "keywords.txt".

Note how the files are structured:

Each level in the hierarchy begins with the name. After this, the sub-items within this level are listed inside curly brackets ("{" and "}"). For example, in the "categ" file you will note a section that begins with the word "Keyboards" followed by a left bracket on the next line. This category ("Keyboards") does not end until after the word "Harpsichord", since on the line below that, a corresponding right bracket appears.

Within each level you will in many cases find sub-levels, also enclosed in curly brackets. (In programmer speak, this is referred to as nested structure). In the "Keyboard" example, the sub-levels are "Organ", "Piano", "Synth", "Celesta", "Clavinet" and "Harpsichord". The first three of these contain their own sub-categories.

4.	Change the structure, rename, add and remove items as desired.

Make sure that each left bracket is "balanced" by a right bracket ending the "level".

5.	Save the file under the same name in the same location.

If something goes wrong, delete the files you have created and rename the backup files to the original names. This will restore  the initial settings.

Related Topics


Wave Attributes Dialog
   The Audio Attributes Dialog

This dialog appears whenever you need to specify a format for your audio. It allows you to set the quality (Bit resolution and Sample rate) and a general format (mono, stereo or dual mono).

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

See also Editing Audio Attributes.


 With this activated, you will get a mono (one channel) audio file.


 With this activated, you will get a regular stereo (two channel) audio file.


 With this activated, you will get a stereo (two channel) audio file, but which is handled as two separate mono files. Use this to stay compatible with other recording systems which store stereo as two mono files.


 With this activated, your recording will be in 8-bit format. 8-bit files are by nature noisier than 16-bit files. On the other hand they occupy less disk space.


 With this activated, your recording will be in 16-bit format. 16-bit files have very little inherent noise (96 dB dynamic range). On the other hand they occupy twice the disk space of 8-bit files.


 With this activated, your recording will be in 20-bit format. 20-bit files have very little inherent noise (120 dB dynamic range). On the other hand they occupy one third more space on disk than 16 bit files. Few audiocards currently support this professional format.


 With this activated, your recording will be in 24-bit format. 24-bit files have very little inherent noise (144 dB dynamic range). On the other hand they occupy fifty percent more space on disk than 16 bit files. Few audiocards currently support this professional format.


 With this activated, your recording will be in 32-bit format. Few audio-cards currently support this professional format.


 The first buttons in this section allow you to choose from a number of pre-set sample rates. If you select the last option you can specify any rate (between 2000 and 100000Hz). The higher the sample rate, the higher the audio quality and the more disk space needed. 44.1kHz is the format used on CDs. 22kHz is the format used in most games and multimedia applications.


 Click this button to close the dialog and accept the settings.


 Click this button to close the dialog without changing the settings.


Style Dialog
  The Style Dialog

This dialog is used to save Styles. A Style contains all the settings you can make on the Elements and Colors speed menus in the wave display. Please note that all settings can be made individually for the main view and overview and also individually for each channel. Once the display is styled as you like it, open the Style Save dialog, select one of the "slots", type in a name and click OK.

Once this is done, you can apply the style to any wave document by selecting it from the Style menu on the Options menu.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

Related Topics


 The Style you specify in this "slot" is the one that will be used for all new and newly opened wave documents.


 Use the radio buttons to select a Style slot in which to save the current Style. Use the name field to specify a name for the Style.


 Click this button to close the dialog and accept the changes.


 Click this button to close the dialog without making any changes.


Record Dialog
  The Record Dialog

This dialog is used for recording new files. It allows you to set up a format, open the Mixer, activate monitoring, adjust levels and more.

For information about the recording procedure, check the following links:

Basic Recording Procedures

Recording - Checking Levels

Recording - Using the mixer

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.


 Use this pop-up to decide whether you want to record a Temporary File or a Final File. If you make a Temporary File, you don't have to specify a name and location for the file before recording. On the other hand, you must remember to save the file at a later stage. Also, if you plan to make a long recording (several minutes), we recommend that you select the Final File option.


 If you have selected the Final File option in the pop-up menu above, you need to specify the name and location of the file here. Click the folder button to browse to the desired location, or type in the path directly.


 Clicking this button allows you to drop markers in the file while you are recording. This is useful if you want to be able to quickly find important locations in the file, after having recorded it.


 This text shows you what format your recordings will have. To change the format, click the Edit button.


 This button opens the Wave Attributes dialog, allowing you to specify a format for your recording.


 These show the recording level. Avoid "hitting the red"!


 These show the strongest signal that has passed through the card since you opened the dialog or clicked the Reset button. This indication should not reach the "0.0" level.


 This activates the Meters and the Peak text indicators. If you click the Play button, this setting is automatically deactivated.


 This resets the Peak text indicators.


 While you record, this text shows you how long your recording is.


 This shows you an estimate of how much free space you have left on your hard drive, in recording minutes.


 Click this button to activate recording.


 Click this button to play back the current wave (usually the most recently made recording).


 Click this button to open the Mixer. Click the Help button for more info on the Mixer.


 When you are done with your recordings, click this button to close the dialog.


Normalize Dialog
  The Normalize Dialog

This dialog is used to change the gain (volume) of a selection. The amount of gain change is always set relative to full level. The idea behind this is to allow you to optimize the gain of low-level wave files.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

See also Using non-modal dialogs.

Related Topics


 This is used to set the level. True normalization, (increasing volume to maximum level) is obtained by setting "Maximum level" to 0dB, 100% or 32767, depending on which unit of measurement is used.


 This will automatically set "Maximum level" to the amplitude of the level selection made (see Level Selections).


When this option is selected and you apply Normalizing to a stereo selection, both channels are searched separately to find the highest peak, but the amount of gain change is applied equally to both channels (so as to not disturb the stereo balance). This option should normally always be activated.


 If you are using Batch Processing, various processors in the signal chain may increase the signal level. This is not a problem "within" the signal chain, since WaveLab uses 32 bit internal processing. At the output of the Batch Processor however, if the signal is converted to an audio file with lower resolution (such as 16 bits), clipping may occur.

To remedy this, you can insert the Normalizer at the end of the signal chain in the Batch Processor, and activate "Only if Clipping". When this is activated, the Normalizer will lower the signal level so that it peaks exactly at the specified value, but only if clipping should otherwise occur. Effectively, this allows you to use the Normalizer as a completely distortion-free limiter.


 This button will check the selection for the strongest signal and display how far from full level this is. Use this as a diagnostic tool to decide for example if the wave needs normalizing or not.


 Click this button to perform the processing.


 Click this button to close the dialog.


Gain Change Dialog
  The Gain Change Dialog

This dialog is used to change the gain (volume) of the selection. It differs from Normalize in that the change in volume is specified as an absolute value. Hence, this dialog allows you to change the gain to more than "full level" and thereby introduce clipping.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

See also Using non-modal dialogs.

Related Topics


 The amount of level change. "0" means no change, positive values amplify and negative values attenuate.


 The specified gain change as a percentage value.


 This button will check the selection for the strongest signal and display how far from full level this is. Use this as a diagnostic tool to decide how much gain change to apply.


 Click this button to perform the processing.


 Click this button to close the dialog.


Paste Multiples Copies Dialog
  Paste Multiple Copies

This dialog is used to paste several copies of the data on the clipboard into the active window.

See also Using Cut, Copy and Paste


 This is used to specify how many copies of the data on the clipboard to paste into the active window.


 Click this button to perform the Paste.


 Click this button to close the dialog without making any changes.


Preferences Dialog
  The Preferences Dialog

This dialog is used for making a number of overall settings for the program. Please note that to make these settings "stick" until the next time you use the program, make sure "Save Preferences on exit" on  the "General" tab is activated.

For more information about the items under each tab, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol).


 With this activated, a hint as to what each button on the Control Bar does will be displayed if you leave the pointer over the button for a short moment. By the same token, names of markers will be shown when you leave the pointer over a marker head.


 This is used to set the size of the buttons on the various Toolbars.


 This is used to hide/show the Status bar altogether.


 This is used to set a size for the fonts on the Status bar, Medium or Large.


 Use this pop-up to select the audio card you want to use for audio output (playback).


 Use this pop-up to select the audio card you want to use for audio input (recording or Live Input).


Certain audio cards play back mono sounds on the left channel only. There are also some cards which do not allow playback of mono files at all (for some audio file formats). If you have such a card and this is a problem for you, you can activate this function, which automatically "converts" mono signals (one channel) to stereo signals (two channels) before sending them to the card.


These settings determine how much RAM memory is used for buffering when playing back. Follow these guidelines:

If everything works to your satisfaction, do not touch these settings.

If you have playback or recording problems, such as dropouts and glitches, even when not using the Master section, this is probably because your system is too slow. You then need to increase the number of buffers and/or the size of them.

If you think the program does not respond fast enough to real-time changes, such as the volume faders in the Master window and effect parameter changes, you can try reducing the number of buffers and/or the size of them. Note though, that reducing the size or number of buffers require a fast computer.

The optimal settings depend on the quality of your audio-card and its driver, as well as on the speed of your computer. Usually, it's better to have fewer but larger buffers. A safe setting to start with is 4 buffers of 16384 bytes, or 3 buffers of 32768 bytes. If your system can handle it, try stepping down to 4 buffers of 8192 bytes.

Some cards have problems with buffer sizes larger than 32768, even though exactly 32768 might work fine.

If playback is active, you have to stop and then start it again so that changes to the buffers will take effect.


When WaveLab collects samples (during recording and when using Live-input), the data is first stored in RAM buffers before being output again or saved to disk. It is unavoidable that a certain delay is introduced between the live audio input and output. If you process audio from for example a DAT, this delay is normally no problem. You can then instead make settings that minimize the risk of dropouts. However, if you process a live instrument, you might need to make this delay as small as possible.

If you think the delay between input and input is too large, you can try reducing the number of buffers and/or the size of them. The program indicates the current "response time" (Latency) for you, and displays it in the dialog. Note though, that reducing the size or number of buffers require a fast computer.

If dropouts occur, this is probably because your system is too slow. You then need to increase the number of buffers and/or the sizes of them.

The optimal setting depends on the quality of your audio-card and its driver, as well as on the speed of your computer. Usually, it's better to have fewer but larger buffers. A safe setting to start with is 4 buffers of 16384 bytes, or 3 buffers of 32768 bytes. If your system can handle it, try stepping down to 4 buffers of 8192 bytes.

Some cards have problems with buffer sizes larger than 32768, even though exactly 32768 might work fine.

If Live Input is active, you have to temporarily deactivate it so that changes to the buffers will take effect.


 Click this symbol to check whether your audio card supports the most common formats for playback. The following checks are made:

Does the card support 44.1, 22 and 11kHz sample rates?

Does the card support 8 and 16 bits formats?

Does the card support mono and stereo?


Click this symbol to check whether your audio card supports the most common formats for recording. The following checks are made:

Does the card support 44.1, 22 and 11kHz sample rates?

Does the card support 8 and 16 bits formats?

Does the card support mono and stereo?


Use this to select a playback resolution. WaveLab can play back data at any resolution your card can handle, 8, 16, 20 or 24 bits. Please note that any combination of file resolution and playback resolution is possible. You can play back a 24 bit file on a 16 bit card or an 8 bit file on a 20 bit card, there are no restrictions. However, any processing or editing performed on the files is always done at full resolution, even if your card doesn’t support 20 or 24 bits.


If possible, keep this switch activated. It will provide the most accurate play position line in the wave windows. However, if you note that the play position is out of sync with the audio playback, deactivate this option, since your card’s driver does not seem to report the play position correctly. WaveLab then uses an alternative method for calculating the play position.


Use this setting to slightly delay or advance the visible playback cursor position, if you find that it is ahead of or behind the actual audio playback. For most hardware setups, it is not necessary to adjust this setting.


This option can be used to automatically stop playback if a certain number of dropouts occur within 1 second. You can set the number of dropouts allowed.


This is used to set the length of the "snippets" of audio that are played back when you use the Playback Browser function.


When this option is activated, the Playback Browser function is only available when you start playback with the Play tool.


 With this activated, the next time you launch WaveLab, the same windows will be opened as were open when you last Quit the program.
To override this setting, hold down [Control] when you launch the program.


 With this activated, all your Preference settings are automatically saved when you Quit the program.


If you don’t want to see the WaveLab logo each time you run the program, deactivate this option. However, this does not affect the startup time.


If this option is enabled, WaveLab uses the same key commands as Steinberg's Cubase sequencer program for moving the cursor and for zooming.


 When this is activated, WaveLab will continue to play back audio even if you switch to another program. However, this also means that WaveLab "keeps hold" of the audio card at all times. If you want to be able to play back audio from another application while WaveLab is running, you need to deactivate this option.


 This is used to select which language to use in the program. For the change to take effect you have to restart the program.


 When this is activated, all newly opened and created windows will have a sample overview pane to start with (this can be hidden later). When it is deactivated, they will not.


 When this is activated, all additional windows for editing the same file, will also have a sample overview panel. When it is deactivated, they will not.


 This is used to have the zoom factor  (mainly of the overview) adjusted automatically so that the entire wave is always displayed. To try it out, zoom out the overview all the way and adjust the width of the window. The zoom factor is adjusted automatically. For more info, see Zoom Topics.


 When this is activated, you can drag in a free area of the application window to create new windows. See Working with multipe windows of the same data.


 This is used to set the magnification factor of new windows. The setting is in seconds.


 This should be activated, unless you have a very slow computer, in which case deactivating this option will speed up the waveform drawing a bit, while sacrificing screen redraw smoothness.


 With this activated, zero crossing detection is automatically turned off at zoom factors of 1:4 or higher (check the status bar to see your current zoom factor).


 This is used to set how far WaveLab should search in each direction for a zero crossing, before "giving up". If you for example have a recording with a DC offset, there might not be any zero crossings at all during low-level passages. This value can normally be left as it is.


 These two options (Left and Right) allow you to set whether either side of the selection should be extended to a zero crossing point followed by a slope in a certain direction, or whether any zero crossing will do. The normal setting is to have both these set to either Upward Slope or Downward Slope.


 These two options (Left and Right) allow you to set whether either side of the selection should be extended to a zero crossing point followed by a slope in a certain direction, or whether any zero crossing will do. The normal setting is to have both these set to either Upward Slope or Downward Slope.


 When this is activated, a level selection can not be made unless the [Shift] key is pressed. When this is deactivated, level selections can always be made.


 When this is activated, cursors will be in color. Please note that under Windows 95, color cursors might flicker a bit, especially during drag and drop operations. If this is a problem, deactivate this option.


WaveLab has a very convenient way to zoom quickly in the wave: click anywhere on the time ruler and drag the mouse up or down. The sensitivity of this method can be adjusted with this value.

Notes:

If you hold down [Shift] while you drag, the zooming sensitivity is increased (i.e. you will zoom in and out in smaller "steps").

If you hold down [Control] while you drag, the vertical zooming is adjusted according to the section displayed, so that the peaks are clearly visible.

Holding down [Alt] and dragging left or right in the time ruler allows you to scroll the display continuously to the left or right.


 With this activated, the number of Undos/Redos is only limited by your hard disk space. However, during long editing sessions this will successively fill up the hard disk. If you have limited hard disk space you might decide to uncheck this box and set a limit.


 When Unlimited is deactivated, this can be used to set how many Undo/Redo stages should be allowed.


 When this is activated, the value editing sliders will be vertical. See Setting values in dialog boxes and windows.


 When this is activated, the value editing sliders will be horizontal. See Setting values in dialog boxes and windows.


 This is a very important setting. It is used to set where WaveLab should store all its temporary files, as required for Undo and other operations. There are four considerations for where to put these files:

Position: We recommend you to create a special folder for these files, so that you can easily track any stray files down and delete them if necessary.

Hard disk size: The available disk space for these files determine how many Undo/Redo stages you can have.

Hard disk speed: The speed of the hard disk where that stores your temp files will affect the perceived speed of the program.

Compression: Do not specify a volume where you have applied overall file compression!

If possible, use a separate hard disk for the temporary files. This can more than double the file access performances!


 Click this button to find a location for the Temporary files. For more info, see the help on the path field just above this button.


When this option is selected, disk access is optimized for small or medium size files. For more information on this important setting, see: Audio File Access.


When this option is selected, disk access is optimized for large files. This setting can also be interesting in other situations. For more information on this important setting, see: Audio File Access.


When this option is selected, WaveLab selects the disk access method that seems the best for each file, depending on its size. For more information on this important setting, see: Audio File Access.


WaveLab needs to know what you consider to be a "huge" file. The size is specified in Megabytes. For more information on this important setting, see: Audio File Access.


When WaveLab selects a disk access method for huge files, it bypasses the Windows’ file cache and uses its own RAM cache. Here you have to specify the size of this cache. Your choice depends on how much RAM you have. If you use the file access method for small and medium files, you should specify a small value here, to prevent allocating "useless" memory (however, zero size is not allowed). For more information on this important setting, see: Audio File Access.


 If this is activated, two mono files can be opened as a stereo pair. See Opening Files Topics.


 When this is activated, the Wave files created by WaveLab will be compatible with Digidesign’s Session 8 system. This will increase the size of each file by approximately 4000 byte. The files are still compatible with other programs that read Wave files.


 This pop-up allows you to select a resolution for the temporary files that WaveLab creates when you work. You can choose between 16, 24 and 32 bit files. Some general guidelines:

If you ever plan to export your files in 24 or 32 bit format, use this resolution or a higher one for your temporary files as well.

Even if you only work with 16 bit files, selecting 24 bit for your temporary files can improve audio quality slightly.

For less critical applications where speed and disk space are crucial factors, use 16 bit temporary files.


 With this activated, time positions in dialogs will be shown as hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds (thousands of a seconds).


 With this activated, time positions in dialogs will be shown as bars, beats and ticks. The tempo and number of ticks per quarter note is set in the Tempo/Time code section of this dialog.


 With this activated, time positions in dialogs will be shown as hours:minutes:seconds:frames. The number of frames is set in the Tempo/Time code section of this dialog.


 With this activated, time positions in dialogs will be shown as a number of samples. Exactly how many samples there are in a second depends on the sample rate. For 44.1kHz for example, there are 44100 samples per second.


 With this activated, level settings in dialogs are indicated as a percentage of "full level" (sometimes referred to as "no headroom").


 With this activated, level settings in dialogs are indicated in dB. -96 is "zero level" and 0 is "full level".


 With this activated, the actual value of the sample is used to indicate levels in dialogs. In fact, the sample range is from -32767 to 32767 where 0 is "no level" and either other value is "full level" However, in practicality, one only needs to specify ranges from 0 to 32767.


 With this activated, the dialog boxes will show levels in the same format as the ruler in the active wave window. If you change the ruler unit while a dialog box is open, the changes take effect immediately.


 With this activated, the dialog boxes will show positions in the same format as the ruler in the active window. If you change the ruler unit while a dialog box is open, the changes take effect immediately.


 With this activated, any Markers you create with the Drop Marker command will be Temporary Markers. Otherwise, the Drop Marker command will create Generic Markers.


 This setting is only used for time rulers set to the "meter" option. In order for the program to be able to display a proper meter scale, you need to here specify the Time Signature of the music in the wave you are editing.


 This setting is only used for time rulers set to the "meter" option. In order for the program to be able to display a proper Meter scale, you need to here specify the Tempo of the music in the wave you are editing.


 This setting is only used for time rulers set to the "meter" option. In order for the program to be able to display a proper Meter scale, you need to here specify a number of ticks per quarternote.


 This is used to specify the number of frames per second (FPS) for time rulers set to Time code:

24 FPS	This is the format used for 35 and 70 mm film.

25 FPS	This is the format used for video in Europe.

29.97 FPS	This is the format used for most video editing in the United States.

30 FPS	This is also used in the United States, mostly for audio only applications.

75 FPS	This is the format used for the data on a CD. Select this if you are creating a CD.


 If the Database can not find a certain file it may check the floppy disk drives. This may take some time, so if you don’t want the program to take the floppy disks into account when searching for files, uncheck this option.


 WaveLab may need to know which drive letters are used for your floppy drives. The most common options are "A" and "B", but in some countries the standard is to use "C "and "D". Normally, this is automatically set correctly.


 With this activated, you will get a warning message when you try to delete a file from a Database or a Project. When this is deactivated, you don’t get any warning message.


 When performing a search (Scan) in a Database, you might theoretically get a list of thousands of files. This is usually not desirable since the scan may then take a very long time, and Windows doesn't allow "infinitely" long lists. Therefore the program will stop searching after the number of files specified here have been added to the Database. It will then display the number of files in red on the Status bar. Use this as an indication that you should probably narrow down the search criteria so that fewer files are added to the Database.


If the database list view becomes full, WaveLab can beep to warn you.

Please note that if such an overflow situation occurs, WaveLab indicates the number of items in the list in red, in the status bar.


If the database list view becomes full, WaveLab can display a warning message.

Please note that if such an overflow situation occurs, WaveLab indicates the number of items in the list in red, in the status bar.


Before the start of each CD Track there's always a pause. This settings is used to determine the default value for that pause. That is, this is the pause length set automatically for new Tracks. You can later adjust the value for each Track, individually.

A normal setting for this is 2 seconds.


When you test CD track transitions, using the "Play (with pre-roll)" function in the CD Program window, a certain number of seconds from the end of a Track are played. This field is used to specify that number of seconds.


Allows you to specify a template for the ISRC code (International Standard Recording Code, an identification code for commercial CDs). The code you enter here will appear as a default each time you click in the ISRC column in the CD Track list.

Moreover, WaveLab lets you automate the ISRC coding: just click on the ISRC column header in the Program window, and all tracks will be set. Examples:

1.	Your ISRC template is "DER52", the year is 1997 and you have 3 tracks with no ISRC yet entered. The function will then create the following ISRC codes:

DER529700000

DER529700001

DER529700002

2.	Let's say that the ISRC code of the first track is "DER529500015", and you have 3 other tracks with or without ISRC codes. The function will then create the following ISRC codes:

DER529500015

DER529500016

DER529500017

DER529500018


You can play back the Tracks in the CD Program through the Master section (to run the sound through plug-ins). To do this, make sure this options is activated, and that the Master Section window is open.


This sets the number and size of the buffers sent to the CD-R driver, when writing a CD. Normally, you should keep the default values. If your computer is slow and you encounter problems, you might try changing these values.


If you are creating DDP files for storing CD images, on Exabyte tapes for example, these options determine whether the PQ list should be written to tape before or after the audio data.


If this is activated, WaveLab will display a warning if the length of the audio data exceeds 74 minutes when you create DDP files.


 Click this button to close the dialog and accept the changes.


 Click this button to close the dialog without keeping any changes (except the toolbar settings).


Move Cursor to Position

Use this dialog to move the cursor to any position that you specify numerically.


 Use this field to type in the position you want to move the cursor to.


 Click here to close the dialog and move the cursor.


 Click this button to close the dialog without making any changes.


The Preset tab

Presets are used to predefine settings for a certain dialog. By recalling a Preset and applying it, you can perform processing or some other action (depending on the dialog) without making any settings at all!

For step by step instructions on Preset handling, click on this item: Preset Topics

For more information about each item in the Preset tab, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

A special note about Batch Processor Presets

Batch Procesor Presets include the following:

All settings made on the Input tab, except the actual file list.

All settings made on the Output tab.

All settings made on the Schedule tab.

They do not include:

The list of files to be processed.

The list of processors assembled in the Processor list dialog (for this, use the Presets section in the Processor list dialog).


 These shows the existing Presets for this dialog. Click on one to select it. Double click on one to load it.


 This shows the currently loaded Preset. It is also used to specify a name for a Preset before adding.


 Click this button to load the Preset selected in the list.


 Click this button to create a new Preset. The new Preset will get the current settings in the dialog and the name indicated on the line above the buttons. Note that you must enter a name before clicking this button.


 Click this button to delete the Preset selected in the list.


 Click this button to replace the settings in the Preset selected in the list with the ones currently set up in the dialog.


Frequency Graph Dialog
The Frequency Graph Dialog

The frequency graph allows you to view a wave file in the frequency domain rather than in the time domain. Although a wave display (time domain) tells you a lot about, for example, where one sound starts or ends in a file, it doesn’t say anything about the timbral contents of the file. A frequency graph (frequency domain) does.

The graph used in WaveLab is actually something often referred to as an FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) plot.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

Displaying the Graph

Adjusting the Graph


Click this button to redraw the Frequency Graph with the new settings specified.


Click this button to close the dialog and accept the changes.


Click this button to close the dialog without making any changes.


When this is activated, color/gray scale will be used to indicate the amplitude of the frequencies in the graph.


When this is activated, color/gray scale will be used to indicate the frequencies in the graph.


When this is activated, amplitude or frequencies (see the settings above) will be indicated in color.


When this is activated, amplitude will be indicated in gray scale.


When this is activated, the graph will be in black and white. In this mode, the screen is redrawn faster than in the other modes.


When this is activated, the background behind the graph will be black.


When this is activated, the background behind the graph will be white.


This is used to set the lowest frequency to display. This setting must be at leas three octaves lower than the "To" value below.


This is used to set the highest frequency to display. This setting must be at leas three octaves (three times the frequency) higher than the "From" value above.


When this is activated, the frequency range will be displayed linearly in the graph.


When this is activated, the frequency range will be displayed logarithmically in the graph.


By clicking these radio buttons you can set any point of view to the graph's level and frequency axises.


When this is activated, the amplitude range will be displayed linearly in the graph.


When this is activated, the amplitude range will be displayed logarithmically in the graph.


Time Stretch Dialog
The Time Stretch Dialog

Time stretch is an operation that allows you to change the length of a recording without affecting its pitch. Actually the standard term "time stretch" is a bit misleading since you can of course also make the material shorter.

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 "Ratio"). This is done by specifying the desired length, or the desired tempo, according to what the requirements of the situation. You can also specify the Ratio directly as a percentage value of the original length.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

See also Using non-modal dialogs.

Related Topics


This is the original length of the selection, in samples.


This is the original length of the selection, in seconds.


This allows you to specify the original tempo of the selection, if you want to specify the stretch as a tempo change. If you have a meter based ruler, it will change accordingly. This setting will change the one found in the preference dialog.


This allows you to specify the length of the selection in bars, beats and ticks to calculate a source tempo, if you don't already know it.


This allows you to specify the time signature of the selection. Only used if you specify the length of the selection in bars. If you have a meter based ruler, it will change accordingly. This signature setting changes the one found in the preference dialog.


This is used to specify the desired length, in samples.


This is used to specify the desired length, in seconds.


When this option is activated, the length of the resulting file will be exactly the one displayed in the 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.


This is used to specify the desired tempo. For this to work, the tempo related fields in the Source section must have been filled out accurately.


If you want the selection to fit a certain time code range, specify the start point of that range here.


If you want the selection to fit a certain time code range, specify the end point of that range here. Do not start by adjusting this value, since it is relative to the time code start value.


This sets the Ration to "100.000%" (no stretch).


This is the amount of stretch that will be applied when you click Process.


Click this button to perform the processing.


Click this button to close the dialog.


Hi-fi Chorus Dialog
The Hi-fi Chorus Dialog

This chorus works slightly different from many others. Often chorusing is achieved by delaying a copy of the signal, varying the amount of delay continuously and mixing the delayed signal back in with the original.

While this is adequate for many purposes, WaveLab takes a more natural approach to creating chorus. Since a chorus effect is basically about making a recording sound like it was performed by many "identical musicians", WaveLab takes just that approach. It multiplies the recording up to 100 times (using the same high quality pitch shifting engine as in the pitch correction and harmonizer), and detunes and delays each "voice" slightly and - if so desired - pans the voices across the stereo image.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

See also Using non-modal dialogs.

Related Topics


This allows you to specify how many voices will be used. The higher the number, the "richer" the sound. This number is always at least 2 (the original plus one detuned copy). If you create stereo waves, the double number of voices specified here will be generated. The more voices the longer the processing will take.


This is used to set how much variation in pitch is allowed (maximum). The higher the setting, the more detuned the sound will be.


This allows you to set how much maximum delay that the program can apply to each voice. The higher the number, the richer the sound, but higher numbers will also "blur" the attack and increase the length of the sound.


This allows you to set how the amount of pitch change should be distributed across the voices. With Narrow selected, more voices are close to the original in pitch. With Linear selected, the pitch change is distributed equally across the voices. With Wide selected, more voices are detuned close to the maximum setting.


This sets the level of the detuned voices relative to the original sound. The higher the number, the more you will hear of the detuned voices.


When this is activated, the resulting audio will have the same level as the original, even though a number of voices have been added. Even if this is not activated, clipping never occurs.


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.
The Chorus is a great way to create stereo sounds out of mono ones.


Click this button to perform the processing.


Click this button to close the dialog.


Pitch Correction Dialog
The Pitch Correction Dialog

Pitch Correction is a function which allows you to change pitch of a sound, with or without affecting its length.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

See also Using non-modal dialogs.

Related Topics


This allows you to specify the amount of pitch change in semitones. The maximum range is ±36 semitones (±3 octaves).


This allows you to specify the amount of pitch change in cents(i.e. as a percentage of a semitone). This adjusts the pitch within one semitone, that is, 50 means a quarter note.


This allows you to set how the length of the selection should be affected by the operation.

A setting of 100 means that the length of the audio will be the same after the operation.

A setting of 0 means that the program will behave like a tape recorder does when the speed of its tape is varied. For example, if you raise the pitch by one octave, the sound will become half as long.

Intermediate values will give results in between these two extremes.

For large transposition values, the lower this setting is, the better the quality of the effect will be.


When this option is activated, changing the pitch of vocal material will give a more realistic result. When you are processing non-vocal material, you should leave this option deactivated, since it uses a slightly slower processing algorithm.

Warning: this algorithm might sensibly increase the signal level. If your audio material has a high level, you should maybe decrease its level before pitch shifting. In fact, the best solution is to use this effect from the batch processor, with a normalizer behind.


Click this button to perform the Pitch Correction.


Click this button to close the dialog.


Harmonizer Dialog
The Harmonizer Dialog

This is a variation on the Pitch Correction which allows you to create not only one shifted voice, but up to sixteen!

See the printed documentation for step-by-step instructions on how to set up this dialog.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

See also Using non-modal dialogs.

Related Topics


This is used to select which voice to make settings for.


This is used to activate/deactivate the selected voice.


This is used to specify the amount of pitch shift for the selected voice, in semitones. The maximum range is ±36 semitones (±3 octaves). Smaller values give a better sound quality.


This is used to specify the amount of pitch shift for the selected voice, in cents. This adjusts the pitch within one semitone, that is, 50 cents = a quarter note.


This is used to set the relative level (volume) for the selected voice.


This sets the pan position of the selected voice, i.e. its left right position in the stereo image.


When this is activated, the resulting audio will have the same level as the original, even though a number of voices have been added. Even if this is not activated, clipping never occurs.


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.


This text tells you how many voices are currently activated.


Click this button to perform the processing.


Click this button to close the dialog.


Sample Rate Conversion Dialog
  The Sample Rate Conversion Dialog

This function allows you to change the sample rate of a recording. This is very convenient if you have a file that you wish to use in a certain audio system and find that the file was recorded at a sample rate this system doesn’t support.

Sample Rate conversion is always applied to the entire file. Any selection you have made is not used in any way for this operation.

Please note the following:

Sample rate conversion from a low frequency and up does not improve sound quality. The high frequencies that were lost due to a low recording frequency can not be restored by a conversion.

When you convert the Sample Rate down to a lower frequency, high frequency material will be lost (this is part of the mathematics behind digital audio). Therefore, do not convert down and then up again, since this will degrade the sound quality (unless that's exactly what you want to do!). Instead, use the Undo and Redo functions.

Do not sample rate convert from 44.1 to 48kHz in an effort to improve sound quality. This won’t give you any improvement in sound and many audio cards do not support playback of 48kHz at all.

When converting from 44.1 to 11kHz, it might make sense to activate Top quality, to avoid "aliasing" artifacts that might otherwise occur.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

See also Using non-modal dialogs.

Related Topics


 This is used to set the desired sample rate.


 This is good sample rate conversion. This quality is adequate for many applications. However, for sounds with many high frequencies, the other quality setting might be more appropriate.


 This is extremely high quality sample rate conversion. Please note that with this option activated, the processing takes much longer to finish.


 Click this button to perform the processing.


 Click this button to close the dialog.


Find Dialog
The Find Dialog

This dialog is used for the following operations:

Scan Disk

Sync to Disk

Global Filter

Find and Global Find

The dialog allows you to set up criteria to select which files the operation should affect. Please note that the settings in all three tabs are always used.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.


This allows you to specify whether the operation should only apply to Wave and/or AIFF files and/or AU files.


This allows you to specify whether the operation should only apply to mono, stereo and/or dual mono files.


This allows you to specify whether the operation should apply to 8 and/or 16 and/or 20 and/or 24 bit files.


This allows you to specify which sample rates the operation should apply to. To allow any sample rate, activate "Any". To specify the sample rate yourself, activate the bottom option and type in a number.


If you are looking for file names, keywords or comments, type in the text to search for, on this line.


If you are looking for keywords, select the desired keywords from this menu. You can select as many as you like.


With this activated, the operation will apply to files based on their file names.


With this activated, the operation will apply to files based on their keywords.


With this activated, the operation will apply to files based on their comment text.


With this activated, the text on the query line will be interpreted as "one long string".


With this activated, words on the line separated by spaces will be interpreted as one text item each. Only files that contain all the words in their names, keywords or comments will be affected by the operation.


With this activated, words on the line separated by spaces will be interpreted as one text item each. Files that contain any of words in their names, keywords or comments will be affected by the operation.


With this activated, you can keep the window open to perform multiple "finds" without closing it in between. This option is not available for all the functions this dialog is used for.


Click this button to perform the Scan/Find/Sync to Disk operation.


Click this button to reset the settings in all three tabs to default values.


Click this button to close the dialog without making any changes.


With this activated, files will be affected by the operation regardless of their "Modified date".


With this activated, files will be affected by the operation if they have been modified since yesterday.


With this activated, files will be affected by the operation if they have been modified during the last week.


With this activated, files will be affected by the operation if they have been modified on or before a certain date that you specify.


With this activated, files will be affected by the operation if their "Modified date" is set to the specific date you specify.


With this activated, files will be affected by the operation if they have been modified on or after a certain date that you specify.


In this field you specify the date for the "Find on or before", "Find exact" and "Find on or after" options.


With this activated, files will be affected by the operation regardless of their file size.


With this activated, files will be affected by the operation only if their file size is smaller than specified here.


Use this field to specify a file size for the "Smaller than" option.


Database Properties Dialog
The Database Properties Dialog

This dialog allows you to check and change the properties of one ore more files.

Please note that the possibility to select more than one file allows you to give a number of files the same keyword(s) and comment, in one go.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

See also Databases – Setting File Properties.


This gives you information about the format, size and modified date of the file.


This is the file’s regular name including the file type extension. Changing this is the same as changing the file name in the Explorer or another file managing utility. This can not be edited if you have selected several files or if a file is on CD-ROM.


When this is activated, you can specify a file name for the other file in a dual mono pair. This can not be edited if you have selected several files.


This field is used to specify the name of the other file in a pair of mono files constituting a stereo recording (dual mono). This can not be edited if you have selected several files.


To add keywords to the file(s), type in each keyword on this line, separated by semicolons (";") or commas (","). You can enter as many keywords as you like this way.


To add keywords to the file(s), click on the "<<" button and select from the menus that appear. You can enter as many keywords as you like this way.
You can also add Keywords of your own to the menu. Type the desired name preceded by a backslash character ("\"). You can create hierarchic items like on the standard menu. If you for example type "\Quality\Texture\Crystal", Crystal will appear on the Texture menu which in turn is on the Quality menu.


In this field you can type in any comment you’d like to add to the file. This information can also be used when you want to find files that meet certain criteria.


Click this button to close the dialog and accept the changes.


Click this button to close the dialog without making any changes.


Volume Name Dialog
The Volume Name Dialog

If you try to add files to a Database or Project from a volume (hard disk or similar) that hasn’t been given any name, the program will prompt you for such a name. This is required for WaveLab so that it can keep track of which files are on which disk (for example with removable hard disks).

The Volume name you specify will appear in all programs that display detailed disk information (like for example the Explorer).

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.


Here you type in the name you'd like to give the volume.


Click this button to close the dialog and accept the change.


Click this button to close the dialog without making any changes.


Volume Name Dialog
New Category

This dialog allows you to create a new category.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

Related Topics


Type in the name of the category in this field.


Click this button to create the new category.


Click this button to close the dialog without making any changes.


Volume Name Dialog
New Group

This dialog allows you to create a new group.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

Related Topics


Type in the name of the group in this field.


Click this button to create the new group


Click this button to close the dialog without making any changes.


Equalization Dialog
The Equalization Dialog

This is an equalizer, with two shelving filters (high and low) and a parametric band with adjustable Q (width). The purpose of an EQ (filter) is to adjust the timbre of a sound, to for example reduce the amount of bass or increase the amount of treble contents.

The graph indicates the total filter curve produced by the three sections together.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

See also Using non-modal dialogs.

Related Topics


 This graph indicates the total filter curve produced by the three filter sections together.


 This is used to adjust in which range of the lower spectrum the Low Shelf filter should operate.


 This is used to set how much the signal should be boosted (positive numbers) or cut (negative numbers) in the lower range.


 This is used to adjust the center frequency of the Mid Range filter.


 This is used to set how much the signal should be boosted or cut at the Mid Range Frequency.


 This is used to set the width of the Mid Range filter. The higher this number is, the wider the filter and the larger the part of the spectrum that will be affected.


 This is used to adjust in which range of the higher spectrum the High Shelf filter should operate.


 This is used to set how much the signal should be boosted or cut in the high range.


 Click this button to perform the processing.


 Click this button to close the dialog.


Dynamics Dialog
The Dynamics Dialog

This dialog allows you to tailor the dynamics of the audio, to create effects like compression, expansion, limiting and noise gating. Dynamic processing of audio is a big subject. Please refer to the printed documentation and also please study the included Presets which implement examples of the above mentioned functions.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

See also Using non-modal dialogs.

Related Topics


Click this button to perform the processing.


Click this button to close the dialog.


This is used to set up the input to output level relation:

You can drag any breakpoint in the curve to any position, using the left mouse button.

When you move breakpoints closer to the left side or the bottom of the graph, you will note that the number of positions is more limited. This is due to the nature of digital audio, where for lower levels, a smaller number of "bits" is used to represent the data.

You can add a new breakpoint by clicking anywhere on the curve with the left mouse button.

You can delete a breakpoint by clicking on it with the right mouse button.


If this is activated, all of the other three time response settings are adjusted automatically. For simple compression, try this first. Remember you can always undo and try again with other settings.


This is the time it takes for the processor to adjust the amplitude according to the curve, when the signal rises up.


This is the time the processor will "hold the gain" before moving to the release phase.


This is the time it will take for the processor to adjust the amplitude according to the curve when the signal is fading out and the Hold time has expired.


When this is activated, you can specify the input to output level relation by clicking in the graph. For details, see the context sensitive help for the actual graph.


Only signals above this level will be affected. Signal below this level pass through the processor unaffected.


The amount of gain reduction for signals above the Threshold level. The range is from 1 (no reduction) to 10 (very close to limiting).


When this is on, the signal will be normalized to the set level before the processing is applied. It can for example be used when processing a number of files with slightly different levels. Please note that since normalization will most likely raise the level of the input signal to the processor, it may drastically influence what effect the processing has. This means that after activating this you may have to adjust the Threshold level. A reason for setting this to less than 0 (full level) is if you are expanding, which can introduce clipping if the signal is too strong to start with.


When this is activated, the audio will be normalized after the processing has been finished.


This is used to specify the highest desired level in the signal before the dynamics operation occurs.


This is used to specify the highest desired level in the signal after the dynamics operation has been performed.


This restores the curve to a straight line with only one breakpoint.


This adds a breakpoint, at the level indicated by the current level selection (see Level Selections).


This applies to stereo signals only. With this option selected, both channels are "read" and processed as in a regular compressor.


This applies to stereo signals only. With this option activated, the left channel will be read and the right will be processed. This allows you, for example, to "gate" one signal to the amplitude of the other, or to create ducking effects.


This applies to stereo signals only. With this option activated, the right channelˆ will be read and the left will be processed. This allows you, for example, to "gate" one signal to the amplitude of the other, or to create ducking effects.


With this activated, the function monitoring the signal (to decide when to apply gain change) will take shorter peaks into account. If you experience clipping when using Average mode, try this option.


With this activated, an average of the signal level is used to determine when to apply gain change. This is the most common setting, as it sounds more natural.


When this is activated, two channels in a stereo recording will be treated as one, when processing. That is, the same gain change will be applied to both channels. The normal mode for stereo recordings is to have this option activated.


When this is activated, the function that scans the wave to determine when level reduction should be applied, actually "runs ahead" of the actual processing. How much it "runs ahead" is set with the Attack parameter. This means that when a transient (peak) appears in the audio, compression based on that peak is already being applied. This setting is best used for recordings with many transients.


Fade Dialog
  The Fade Dialog

The Fade In and Out  items on the Level menu actually open the same dialog, but with different options activated.

A Fade In is a gradual increase in level and a Fade Out is of course the opposite. As you adjust the values, a curve indicating the fade is drawn in the wave display.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

See also Using non-modal dialogs.

Related Topics


 With this activated, the function will create a fade in starting at the selection start point and ending at the selection end point.


 With this activated, the function will create a fade out starting at the selection start point and ending at the selection end point.


 This setting determines where in the fade section the file will play at its "mid level" (half the level).


 This adjusts the "steepness" of the fade. For example, a -6dB setting for a fade-in will result in a normal fade, where the level is half the original when it reaches the Offset point. Values closer to 0dB will emphasize the beginning of a fade-in. Values closer to -18dB will emphasize the end of a fade-in. Check the curve drawn in the wave display.


 Click this button to apply the fade.


 Click this button to close the dialog.


Crossfade Dialog
  The Crossfade Dialog

A crossfade is a gradual fade between two sounds, where one is faded in and the other is faded out. This function allows you to do just that. It also lets you create plain mixes of two sounds. As you adjust the values, curves which indicate the fade are drawn in the wave display.

For detailed step-by-step instructions, see the printed documentation.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

See also Using non-modal dialogs.

Related Topics


 This setting determines where in the fade section the fade-out file will play at its "mid level" (half the level).


 This adjusts the "steepness" of the fade-in. For example, a -6dB setting is the "normal" value, where the level of the fade-in file is half the original when it reaches the Offset point. Values closer to 0dB will emphasize the beginning of the fade-in. Values closer to -18dB will emphasize the end of the fade-in.


 This automatically sets the fade-out curve to the inverse of the fade-in curve.


 With this activated, the fade-out section will not be faded at all, but rather mixed in at full level.


 This setting determines where in the fade section the fade-in file will play at its "mid level" (half the level).


 This adjusts the "steepness" of the fade-out. For example, a -6dB setting is the "normal" value, where the level of the fade-out file is half the original when it reaches the Offset point. Values closer to 0dB will emphasize the end of the fade-out. Values closer to -18dB will emphasize the beginning of the fade-out.


 This automatically sets the fade-in curve to the inverse of the fade-out curve.


 With this activated, the fade-in section will not be faded at all, but rather mixed in at full level.


 Click this button to perform the Crossfade.


 Click this button to close the dialog.


Apply Dialog
  The Apply dialog

This dialog is used to apply real-time processing permanently to audio files. One advantage of this is that it allows you to use heavier processing combinations than your computer can handle in  real-time. See Applying Processing in general.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.


This is where you instruct WaveLab what to do just before starting the Apply operation. Feel free to select two or even all three options (if available, see below):

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.

Minimize Window: The file window is minimized to free up screen "real estate", since a wave that is being processed cannot be edited during the processing anyway.


This is where you select how WaveLab should behave after processing a file.

Beep: WaveLab will beep to signal that the settings have been applied (but only if no audio playback is active at that time).

Show message box: WaveLab will display a message to confirm the operation. Click OK to go on working.

Restore Window: Upon completion, WaveLab will restore a minimized window to its original size.

Activate Global Bypass: Upon completion, the Global Bypass button in the Master Section window is activated.


This sets the priority of the Processing:

Relax Background. The file is processed in the background, but priority is given to audio playback and to your continued work on other files. This makes WaveLab as responsive as possible, but slows down processing.

Background. The file is processed in the background but with a lower priority given to your continued work on other files. This makes processing faster but the program less responsive. Try this mode when several files should be processed in the background.

Fast. Processing is given high priority. A fairly high-performance computer will be required to avoid dropouts in playback.


This is where you select which file to process.


When this is activated, regions between Mute markers will not be processed.


If a finite number of loops has been specifed and this option is activated, the loops will be included in the resulting file. Proceed with care – this may result in very large files.


If this is activated, the resulting file will end where the original did, even if the processing adds material (for example echos or reverb tails).


Here, you can choose whether the original wave file should be changed or whether a copy of the original should be generated.

Process in place: The current wave data is modified. However, Undo & Redo are still available.

Create new file: A new untitled wave is created that contains the result of the processing. This file must be saved, as with any other new wave.


This is where you specify what part of the wave is to be modified by the Apply function.

Selection: Process only the portion that is currently selected in the Main View.

Whole file: Process the entire file.


Click here if you would like to use the same Process preferences for processing other files. Otherwise, WaveLab will revert to its own default settings.


Click here to open the Batch Processor window.


Click this button to Apply the processing, and close the dialog.


Click this button to close the dialog without Applying any processing


Write CD Dialog
  The Write CD dialog

This dialog is used to actually write ("burn") the CD.

To learn more about this process, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog. Also see the topic Writing a CD.


Use this pop-up menu to select the CD-R drive you want to use. Please note that sometimes CD-R drives that are technically the same are sold under different names. This is why, even though you only have one CD:R drive connected, there will be more than one item on this menu. Select the one that corresponds to the name of your device.


Clicking on this button opens a dialog that shows information about the selected CD-R device.


When this option is selected, clicking OK will start the writing of the CD. Note: Once CD writing has started, you can cancel the process before it's finished but this means the CD-R disc will almost certainly be damaged!


When this option is selected, clicking OK will initiate a simulation of writing the first Track on the CD. This allows you to make a quick check on whether the CD will write OK. If the test fails, try again at a lower writing speed. If this also fails, refer to the troubleshooting section.


When this option is selected, clicking OK will initiate a simulation of writing the entire CD. This allows you to check whether the CD will write OK. If this test is passed you can be practically 100% sure the real write operation will succeed. If the test fails, try again at a lower writing speed. If this also fails, refer to the troubleshooting section.


This is used to select the writing speed: same as, double or four times (etc) the speed of a normal CD (when played in a regular CD player). The highest speed selectable here depends on the capabilities of your CD-R unit. However, you might not always be able to write at maximum speed, depending on your computer system, the speed of the hard disk etc.

If writing fails, try again at a lower writing speed. If this also fails, refer to the troubleshooting section.


Click this button to perform the writing, and close the dialog.


Click this button to close the dialog without writing the CD.


CD Recorder Dialog
  The CD Recorder Dialog

This dialog contains various information about your connected CD-R device(s).

To learn more about this process, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog. Also see the topic About CD-R Recorders.


 Use this pop-up menu to select the CD-R drive for which you want to see information. Please note that sometimes CD-R drives that are technically the same are sold under different names. This is why, even though you only have one CD-R drive connected, there will be more than one item on this menu. Select the one that corresponds to the name of your device.


 This section displays the model and manufacturer of the selected CD-R drive (information about supported CD-R devices can be found in a file called "cdr.txt" located in the WaveLab System folder). You will also find information about the exact firmware version of your CD recorder (use this to check that you have the latest version), and its SCSI address.


 This section displays some performance characteristics of the selected CD-R drive.


 The checkboxes in this section give information about various properties of the selected CD-R drive.


 Click this to close the dialog.


  CD Program advanced settings

This dialog allows you to make detailed settings for the CD Program, for things like Track and Sub-Indexes (these adjustments are also known as PQ codes). If you are unsure of what these settings do, leave them at standard values. For detailed information, consult the CD Red Book specification.

To learn more about the settings in this dialog, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Related Topics


Here you can enter a UPC/EAN number for your CD, if desired. This number will be written in to the CD together with the Tracks


If this option is checked, the settings you have when you leave the dialog will be used as default settings for new CD Programs.


If this option is checked, the settings made here will also be taken into account in the CD Program display and for playback from the CD Program.


If this option is checked, Tracks that have a pause of zero duration will not use the silences specified in this dialog. The thinking behind this is that if you have specified zero pauses, the audio material is most likely continuous over Track boundaries, which means you don't want any gaps at all. This concerns the following pauses:
 The one at the end of the first track
 The ones at the start and end of the tracks between the first and the last
 The one at the start of the last track.


This option lets you add a few frames of silence before the first track of the CD. Usually, the pause needs to be longer for the first track than for the other tracks. This is to ensure that a low quality CD player won't miss the very beginning of the track.


This option lets you add a few frames of silence before each track on the CD (the first track has a its own setting). This is to ensure that a low quality CD player won't miss the very beginning of the track.


This option lets you add a few frames of silence after each track of the CD (the last track has a separate setting). This is to ensure that a low quality CD player won't cut off the end of the track because of the pause that follows.


This option will make WaveLab write a track Sub-Index a few frames before the location specified in the Track list. This is to ensure that a low quality CD player won't miss the very beginning of the section.


This option lets you add a few frames of silence after the last track of the CD.

This is to ensure that a low quality CD player won't cut-off the end of the Track, or that the listener won't get disturbed by any clicks or motor noise that the player makes at the end of a CD.


Click this button to close the dialog and keep the settings.


Click this button to close the dialog and discard the settings.


 Marker Visibility

This dialog is used to decide which marker types will be displayed.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Related Topics


Check this option to allow display of generic markers.


Check this option to allow display of temporary markers.


Check this option to allow display of CD Track Start/End markers.


Check this option to allow display of CD Track Sub-Index markers.


Check this option to allow display of Loop markers.


Check this option to allow display of Mute markers.


Check this option to allow display of Playback Starter markers.


If this option is checked, the settings will be applied to all audio windows. Otherwise they will only be applied to the active window.


Click this button to close the dialog and keep the settings.


Click this button to close the dialog and discard the settings.


Marker Dialog
 The Marker dialog

When you create a new marker or edit an existing one, this dialog appears. It also appears when you create a CD Track from a selection, so that you can name the new Track.

Some marker types will be disabled in certain situations. For example, you cannot transform a temporary marker into a Sub-Index marker if the temporary marker is not positioned within a CD track.

To learn more about the details of this dialog, please use the context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Related Topics


If the Automatic Naming option is deactivated, you can enter a name for the Marker in this box.


If this option is checked, WaveLab will create an automatic name, according to the marker type, to speed up your work. You can always go in and change markers names later.


This option is only available for Track End and Track Boundary markers.

When you define a Track End position that does not occur at exactly a CD Frame (a Frame is 588 samples long), WaveLab must fill in with blank samples to get a complete number of CD Frames (you can not write partial frames to a CD). When a track is followed by another track that starts with a pause, this poses no problem (the pause will only be slightly longer). But if the Track is positioned within continuous material (for example in a live recording) you don't want any silence or "gaps" in the audio. If this is the case, activate this option, and WaveLab will move the markers to an exact frame rather than inserting blank samples.


Activate this option to prevent a marker from being moved by mistake. This option does not prevent the marker from being deleted, it only prevents you from moving it to another position.


This option is available for Loop End markers only. If it is activated, the Loop section will be repeated infinitely (or until you stop playback).


This setting is available for Loop End markers only, and only if the "Infinte" checkbox is deactivated. Use this setting to specify how many times the Loop section should be played back.


Clicking this button opens a dialog for automatic generation of markers.


This type of marker can be used for any purpose and is saved with the file.


This type of marker is not saved with the audio file.


This type of marker defines the start of a CD Track. When you create one of these markers, a Track End marker is created automatically at the beginning of the next Track or at the end of the file. See the topic Working with CD-Markers for more information.


This type of marker defines the End of a CD Track. Whenever you create a Track End marker, WaveLab will automatically create a Track Start marker to match it. See the topic Working with CD-Markers for more information.


This is used to define a location that is both the end of one Track and the start of another.


A CD track Sub-Index is a generic position inside a CD Track. Some (professional) CD players have the ability to locate to Sub-Indexes (sometimes called just Indexes), but most consumer players ignore Sub-Indexes completely.


This is used to define a Loop start location.


This is used to define a Loop end location.


This is used to define the start of a section that you want to Mute (temporarily make silent).


This is used to define the end of a section that you want to Mute (temporarily make silent).


This is used to define a location where playback should start.


Click this button to close the dialog and perform the creation/editing.


Click this button to close the dialog without creating or editing any markers.


Import Audio CD Tracks
 The Import Audio CD Tracks dialog

Use this dialog to import audio tracks (or parts of audio tracks) directly from an audio CD into WaveLab. Please note that for this feature to be available, the CD or CD-R drive must be connected via SCSI, and must support digital audio extraction.

To learn more about the details of this dialog, please use the context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

See also Importing CD-Tracks.


Here is where you select a connected CD drive from which you want to import audio CD tracks. This is also where you select the Exabyte driver from SpectralDesign, if you have installed this.


Use this pop-up menu to select at which speed the audio data should be read from the CD. Note:

"Auto" is always the safest bet.

Just because a CD-R drive can write at a certain speed, this doesn't mean it can retrieve audio tracks at the same speed. For example a drive that writes at 4x might only be able to read audio tracks at 2x.

To be able to read at high speeds you need a fast C drive and a fast computer and hard disk.

Not all devices support speed selection.

If there are clicks in the extracted audio, this is an indication that you are reading too fast. Please lower the speed.


In this section, the tracks on the audio CD are listed. You can select one or several tracks for import, using [Shift] and [Control] for multiple selections.

You may need to click the Refresh button to update the list.


This option is only available if you have selected a single track. It allows you to specify a start point in the track, making it possible to import only a section of a track.


This option is only available if you have selected a single track. It allows you to specify an end point in the track, making it possible to import only a section of a track. Changing the End value will automatically change the Length value.


This option is only available if you have selected a single track. It allows you to specify the length of the section of the track you want to import (from the Start point). Changing the Length value will automatically change the End point value.


Before reading Tracks and saving them as files, you have to define a valid location and file name. If only one track is selected, the name you have specified will be used, as is. If more than one Track is selected, the name specified is used as a basis for automatically created unique names. This is done by appending "_X" where X is a number. For example, if you select c:\mozart.wav, then tracks 1 and 3 will be saved as: "c:\mozart_1.wav" and "c:\mozart_3.wav".


This button is used to specify a location and a file name (or template file name) for the Track(s) to be saved. By template we mean that if more than one Track is selected, the name specified here is used as a basis for automatically created, unique names for each file.


When you extract audio from CDs, the pauses before and after the track are often included. Activate this option to remove the silence before and after the imported track. Please note that this function only removes "digital" silence, that is, samples that really have "zero level".


If you insert a CD while this window is open, you need to click this button to show the contents of that CD in the list. Before you click this button, make sure the drive has finished reading the disk, after it is inserted (watch the LEDs on the CD-R unit's front panel).


This is a shortcut for selecting all the Tracks in the list, for importing.


This button saves the selected Tracks to disk. For this to work you must select one or more Tracks in the list and also specify a location and name for the file(s). If a file with the same name already existing that folder, it is replaced without warnings!


When one (and only one) track is selected, you can listen to the first 10 seconds of it. These few seconds are not stored permanently on disk.


Press this button to close the dialog box.


Save All
 The Save All dialog

This dialog allows you to save all or any selection of the currently open documents.

To learn more about the details of this dialog, please use the context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Related Topics


In this section, all open files with unsaved changes are listed. Click on a file to select it for saving.


When this option is activated, the files in the list are shown with their complete file paths.


Click this button to select or deselect files in the list. Only selected files will be saved.


Click this button to save the selected files and close the dialog.


Click this button to close the dialog without saving anything.


Crossfade Looper
 The Crossfade Looper - Loop points tab

The Crossfade Looper is a special tool for creating "seamless" loops.

On this tab you can "nudge" the loop points, while at the same time you are provided with visual feedback on the "join" between the start and end point. You can also use this tab to let the Crossfade Looper automatically find loop points for you.

To learn more about the details of this dialog, please use the context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Topics about how to use the Crossfade Looper


In this window you will see two sections of the waveform, divided by a vertical line.

The area on the left side of the line displays the waveform just before and up to the loop end marker.

The right side is the part of the waveform that starts at the loop start marker.

If the "join" between the two sides of the waveform isn’t smooth enough, this will be heard as a click when the loop crosses the "join". Your aim is therefore to set things up so that the there is as little visual difference as possible between the cycles on the left and right sides in the display (note that a good loop point isn't necessarily at a zero crossing). You can move the loop points by dragging the waveforms manually in the display, or by using the buttons below.

Note:

If only one channel is used, this is displayed in red. If the sound is stereo, the left channel is red and the right is blue. You have two alternatives for how these two channels will be displayed: When "Stereo Merge" is activated on the Extra pop-up menu, they are superimposed on each other. Otherwise they are drawn in two sections, on top of each other, as in the wave display.


Clicking this button moves the loop end point slightly to the left.


Clicking this button moves the loop end point slightly to the right.


Clicking this button moves the loop start point slightly to the left.


Clicking this button moves the loop start point slightly to the right.


This section is used for setting up the automatic search for good loop points. WaveLab uses two methods to check for matching loop points: First a coarse "Phase match" and then a finer "join match".

The "Current" values at the top of the section indicate how well the current loop points match. The left value is the phase match, the right value is the join match. The higher the values, the better the match.


This setting is used for setting up the automatic search for good loop points. It determines how many samples should be included in the auto-find analysis. Higher values result in greater accuracy, but also longer processing times.


This setting is used for setting up the automatic search for good loop points. It defines how well the found section must resemble the section it is compared to, to be considered a match. The higher the value, the more precise the resemblance must be. A value of 1000 will most likely fail completely, since it requires a 100% perfect match.


Clicking this button invokes an automatic search for the nearest "good" loop point to the left of the loop end point, and moves the loop end point there. The criteria for the automatic search are set up with the "Desired" and "Search Accuracy" settings.

You can stop the search at any time by clicking the right mouse button. The program will then jump back to the best match found so far.


Clicking this button invokes an automatic search for the nearest "good" loop point to the right of the loop end point, and moves the loop end point there. The criteria for the automatic search are set up with the "Desired" and "Search Accuracy" settings.

You can stop the search at any time by clicking the right mouse button. The program will then jump back to the best match found so far.


Clicking this button invokes an automatic search for the nearest "good" loop point to the left of the loop start point, and moves the loop start point there. The criteria for the automatic search are set up with the "Desired" and "Search Accuracy" settings.

You can stop the search at any time by clicking the right mouse button. The program will then jump back to the best match found so far.


Clicking this button invokes an automatic search for the nearest "good" loop point to the right of the loop start point, and moves the loop start point there. The criteria for the automatic search are set up with the "Desired" and "Search Accuracy" settings.

You can stop the search at any time by clicking the right mouse button. The program will then jump back to the best match found so far.


If this option is activated, both the start and end points will move simultaneously when you adjust the loop points manually. That is, the loop length will be exactly the same, but the entire loop will move.


Clicking this button displays the Extra pop-up menu.


Crossfade Looper
 The Crossfade Looper/Wave Equalizer – Crossfade tab

On this tab (which appears both in the Crossfade Looper and in the Wave Equalizer, you can process the waveform to allow for smoother loops, by crossfading areas of the waveform close to the loop start point.

To learn more about the details of this dialog, please use the context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Topics about how to use the Crossfade Looper

Topics about how to use the Wave Equalizer


This window allows you to set up a crossfade, for making the loop transition as smooth as possible.

You can change the length of the crossfade area by dragging the upper handle in the display.

You can change the shape of the crossfade by dragging the lower handle in the display.


When this is activated, crossfading is enabled, and will be performed if you click Apply.


Determines how large a section of the audio file will be used in the crossfade. Generally you will want the crossfade to be as short as it can be, with an acceptable result:

Using a long crossfade will be a better guarantee that the loop will be smooth. However, more of the waveform will be processed and hence changed in character.

Using a short crossfade will ensure the sound is affected as little as possible. However, the loop might then not be as smooth as it otherwise could be.


Determines the shape of the crossfade. Generally, use low values for "simple" sounds and high values for "complex" sounds.


Crossfade Looper
 The Crossfade Looper – Post crossfade tab

On this tab, you can set up a post-crossfade, used to fade the material so that there will be no glitch when playback continues out of the loop. If you intend to use the sound in such a way that the area after the loop is never played, you don’t need to worry about this feature at all.

To learn more about the details of this dialog, please use the context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Topics about how to use the Crossfade Looper


You can change the length of the post-crossfade area by dragging the upper handle in the display.

You can change the shape of the post-crossfade by dragging the lower handle in the display.


When this is activated, post-crossfading is enabled, and will be performed if you click Apply.


Determines how large a section after the loop point will be used in the crossfade. Generally you will want the post-crossfade to be as short as it can be, with an acceptable result:

Using a long post-crossfade will be a better guarantee that the transition will be smooth. However, more of the waveform will be processed and hence changed in character.

Using a short post-crossfade will ensure the sound is affected as little as possible. However, the transition might then not be as smooth as it otherwise could be.


Determines the shape of the post-crossfade. Generally, use low values for "simple" sounds and high values for "complex" sounds.


Click this to apply the settings made under the Crossfade and Post-Crossfade tabs. You can undo this by selecting Undo from the Edit menu.

Note that the Crossfade checkboxes must be activated under each tab for the Crossfade and Post-Crossfade settings to be applied! If you only have the Post-Crossfade checkbox activated, for example, only the Post-Crossfade will be applied.


Click this to close the dialog, keeping the applied crossfades.


Click this to close the dialog and discard all loop and crossfade settings you have made.


Wave Equalizer
 The Wave Equalizer

The Wave Equalizer is a function for looping those "un-loopable" sounds, for example sounds that constantly decay in level or continuously change in timbre. The Wave Equalizer evens out changes in level and timbral characteristics, by cutting up the looped section in a number of slices, mixing these slices into one and finally replacing all audio in the looped section with this new mixed slice (repeated the necessary number of times).

In addition, the Wave Equalizer includes a crossfade facility, so that the original sound fades into the processed sections as playback approaches the loop start.

To learn more about the details of this dialog, please use the context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog. See also Using the Wave Equalizer.


When this is activated, the slice-mixing feature is enabled and will be performed when you click Apply.


Use this to specify how many slices the loop section should be divided into. Only experimentation can tell how many slices are needed, but generally, the more slices, the more natural the sound (to a certain extent). However, the program puts a restriction on the number of slices, so that each one is never shorter than 20 milliseconds.


Click this to apply the settings made under the Wave Equalizer and Pre-Crossfade tabs. You can undo this by selecting Undo from the Edit menu.

Note that the checkboxes must be activated under each tab for the respective settings to be applied!


Click this to close the dialog, keeping the applied crossfades.


Click this to close the dialog and discard all settings you have made.


File Comparer
 The File Comparer

This utility allows you to compare two files for differences and create a file that contains the difference between the two, a "delta file". This is useful for example to:

See the effect of using an equalizer by comparing the file before and after. The delta file will show what was added.

Check the noise added by a processor, again by comparing.

Compare two digitally recorded files to check for dropouts.

To learn more about the details of this dialog, please use the context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog. See also Using the File Comparer.


Use these pop-ups to select two open files that you wish to compare.


When this is activated a "delta file" will be created and opened in a new window. The delta file contains only the differences between the compared files.


Allows you to amplify the differences between the file, to make it easier to discern small differences.


When this is activated, markers are inserted in the first of the compared files, at positions where differences are found. For this to make sense, the differences between the files must be small.


When this is activated, markers are inserted in the second of the compared files, at positions where differences are found. For this to make sense, the differences between the files must be small.


When this is activated, markers are inserted in the delta file, at positions where differences are found. For this to make sense, the differences between the compared files must be small.


Sets the maximum number of markers to be inserted. Setting this to a sensible value stops you from getting a file cluttered with markers, should there be many differences.


This setting helps determine the density of the generated difference markers. Without this feature, each single sample that is different would generate a separate marker, which would not be very practical.

Example: If the setting is 1000 ms and a difference is found at a certain point, then no other marker will be generated for the next 1000 ms.


Click this button to perform the File Compare and close the dialog.


Click this button to close the dialog without performing a File Compare.


 Delete Multiple Markers

This dialog is used to delete all markers of one or several types.

For details, please use the context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Related Topics


If this option is activated, all Generic markers in the file will be deleted when you click OK.


If this option is activated, all Temporary markers in the file will be deleted when you click OK.


If this option is activated, all CD Track Start, End and Boundary markers in the file will be deleted when you click OK.


If this option is activated, all CD Track Subindex markers in the file will be deleted when you click OK.


If this option is activated, all Loop markers in the file will be deleted when you click OK.


If this option is activated, all Mute markers in the file will be deleted when you click OK.


If this option is activated, all Playback Starter markers in the file will be deleted when you click OK.


Click this to delete all markers of the selected type(s) in the file.


Click this to close the dialog without deleting anything.


Signal Generator - Source
 Audio Test Signal Generator - Source tab

This dialog allows you to synthesize audio documents from scratch. The resulting audio can be used for testing, calibrating, etc. The signal is made up by combining up to 64 layers, where each layer is a separate signal generator of its own, complete with settings for waveform, pitch, level, etc. You can even make separate settings for the left and right channel of each layer.

The Source tab is where you specify the waveform and phase for each layer. For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

See also Using the Audio Test Signal Generator.


Use this pop-up to select a waveform for the selected layer.


If you have selected one of the Pulse waveforms, this parameter is used to set the width of the pulse. For some of the Pulse waveforms, the width is specified as a percentage, for others it is specified as a number of samples.


Sets the phase of the signal for the selected layer.


When this is activated, the generated waveform will end with a complete cycle, regardless of the phase setting.


Signal Generator - Frequency
 Audio Test Signal Generator - Frequency  tab

This dialog allows you to synthesize audio documents from scratch. The resulting audio can be used for testing, calibrating, etc. The signal is made up by combining up to 64 layers, where each layer is a separate signal generator of its own, complete with settings for waveform, pitch, level, etc. You can even make separate settings for the left and right channel of each layer.

The Frequency tab is where you specify the frequency envelope and vibrato for each layer. For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

See also Using the Audio Test Signal Generator.


This section is used for setting up the frequency envelope of the selected layer. The envelope consists of four frequency values, and three time values in between these.

If you just want to set a static frequency (no envelope curve), make sure all time values are 0, and set the frequency with the "Median Freq. 2" parameter.


This section is used for adding vibrato to the frequency of the selected layer. Select a waveform for the vibrato with the pop-up, set the vibrato speed with the Frequency parameter, and adjust the depth of vibrato with the Intensity parameter.


When this option is activated, the vibrato is not continuous from sample to sample but recomputed after each cycle.


Signal Generator - Level
 Audio Test Signal Generator - Level tab

This dialog allows you to synthesize audio documents from scratch. The resulting audio can be used for testing, calibrating, etc. The signal is made up by combining up to 64 layers, where each layer is a separate signal generator of its own, complete with settings for waveform, pitch, level, etc. You can even make separate settings for the left and right channel of each layer.

The Level tab is where you specify the level (amplitude) for each layer. Apart from the overall level adjustment, you can set up an amplitude envelope curve and add tremolo.  For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

See also Using the Audio Test Signal Generator.


This section is used for setting up the amplitude envelope of the selected layer. The envelope consists of three level values, and three time values inbetween these. Furthermore, the "Silence Before" and "Silence After" parameters makes it possible to include a period of silence before or after the signal of the selected layer.

Note that the Global level parameter on the Level tab determines the overall level of the layer.


This section is used for adding tremolo (continuous level variation) to the selected layer. Select a waveform for the tremolo with the pop-up, set the tremolo speed with the Frequency parameter, and adjust the depth of tremolo with the Intensity parameter.


When this option is activated, the tremolo is not continuous from sample to sample but recomputed after each cycle.


This allows you to add a DC offset to the signal of the selected layer.


Use this to set the overall level of the selected layer.


Use this setting to select which layer to make settings for. All settings displayed on the Source, Frequency and Level tabs are for the currently selected layer.


Determines whether the settings on the tab are made for the left or right channel of the selected layer, or for both channels.


Determines the number of layers, i.e. the number of independent signals to be combined. You can have up to 64 layers.


Click this button to copy all settings on all tabs for the current layer. By selecting other layers and using the Paste button, you can quickly duplicate settings for several layers.


Click this button to replace the settings for the current layer with the settings you have copied. This way you can quickly duplicate settings for several layers.

Note that this replaces the settings on all tabs, not just the one selected.


Use this to adjust the global level of all combined layers.


Clicking this button opens the Audio Attributes dialog, where you can select sample rate, bit resolution, etc for the generated audio file.


Click this button to generate the audio file according to the settings.


Click this button to close the dialog.


Global Analysis - Peaks
 Global Analysis - Peaks tab

This dialog allows you to perform advanced analysis on a selection of an audio file, 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.

During analysis, it also "pin-points" sections in the selection that meet specific characteristics, for example sections which are very loud or very quiet. You can then browse between these points, set markers at these places or zoom in on them.

The Peaks tab is used for finding individual samples with very high values. For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Topics on how to use Global Analysis


This setting allows you to put restrictions on how many points will be reported. The highest ones will be selected. For example, setting this to "1" will make the program report only the highest peak (or one of the peaks with the highest value - if there are several with the same value).


This setting lets you set things up so that the points don’t occur too close. For example, settings this to "1 s" will ensure there is always at least a second between reported points.


When this is activated, Peak analysis is enabled, and will be performed (together with other enabled types of analysis) when you click the Analyse button.


Displays the highest peak in the analyzed section. Clicking on this value displays the number of peaks found within the selection, in the "Number of hot points" section in the lower left corner of the dialog. Then, you can use the hot points to move the cursor between the peaks.


Displays the exact level at the current wave cursor position at the time of the analysis (if the cursor was positioned within the analysed selection).


Global Analysis - Loudness
 Global Analysis  - Loudness  tab

This dialog allows you to perform advanced analysis on a selection of an audio file, 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.

During analysis, it also "pin-points" sections in the selection that meet specific characteristics, for example sections which are very loud or very quiet. You can then browse between these points, set markers at these places or zoom in on them.

The Loudness tab is used to find loud and weak sections in a more "intelligent" manner than the Peaks tab. The theory behind this is that there might be a single sample with a high or low value somewhere, but this may not necessarily mean that this section is perceived as loud/weak. Instead, the Loudness analysis measures a consecutive section of samples and then averages their value, using a mathematical method called RMS (Root Mean Square) which is well known for its accuracy.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Topics on how to use Global Analysis


This is the length of audio to be measured and averaged. If this value is lowered, very short passages of loud/weak audio will be detected. When it is raised, the sound will have to be loud/weak for a longer period to result in a hot point.


This setting is used for recordings where there are pauses, to make sure the Average value is calculated correctly. A pause could possibly "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.


This setting allows you to put restrictions on how many hot points will be reported. The highest ones will be selected. For example, setting this to "1" will make the program report only the absolutely loudest section (or one of the sections - if there are several with the same value).


This setting lets you set things up so that the points don’t occur too close. For example, setting this to "1 s" will ensure there is always at least a second between reported points.


When this is activated, the RMS Loudness analysis is enabled, and will be performed (together with other enabled types of analysis) when you click the Analyse button.


Displays the level of the loudest section in the analysed selection. Clicking on this value displays the number of loud sections found within the selection, in the "Number of hot points" section in the lower left corner of the dialog.


Displays the level of the quietest section in the analysed selection. Clicking on this value displays the number of weak sections found within the selection, in the "Number of hot points" section in the lower left corner of the dialog. This can give a good idea of the signal/noise ratio of the audio material.


Displays the overall loudness of the whole analyzed selection.


Displays the loudness at the wave cursor position at the time of the analysis (if the cursor was positioned within the analysed selection).


Global Analysis - Pitch
 Global Analysis  - Pitch tab

This dialog allows you to perform advanced analysis on a selection of an audio file, 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.

The Pitch tab shows the values from WaveLab’s extremely accurate pitch detection algorithm. The result from this tab can be used for pitch shifting, for example, to get one sound in tune with another.

Note:

The result is an average value for the whole selection. It is very accurate if the pitch does not change.

The method only works on monophonic material (not on chords or harmonies).

The algorithm assumes the analyzed section has a reasonably stable pitch.

The material must be relatively well isolated from other sounds.

It is preferable to analyze the sustain portion of a sound, rather than the attack. The pitch is usually not "stable" during the attack.

Some synthetic sounds may have a weak fundamental (first harmonic) which can possibly fool the algorithm.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Topics on how to use Global Analysis


When this is activated, the Pitch analysis is enabled, and will be performed (together with other enabled types of analysis) when you click the Analyse button.


Displays the average pitch in the analysed selection, in Hertz and as semitones and cents (1/100:ths of a semitone).


Global Analysis - Extra
 Global Analysis  - Extra tab

This dialog allows you to perform advanced analysis on a selection of an audio file, 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.

The Extra tab shows you two things: The average DC Offset in the analyzed section and the Apparent Bit Resolution. There are no parameters to set under this tab - this analysis is always performed when you click the Analyse button.

Topics on how to use Global Analysis


Displays the average DC offset value in the analysed selection, in decibel and as percentage.


Displays the apparent bit resolution in the analysed selection. For example, you may have received a 16 bit file from somewhere, but it is very noisy. You suspect that the file was actually recorded with only 8 bit resolution and then expanded up to 16 bits. Run it through this analysis and you will know.


Global Analysis - Errors
 Global Analysis  - Errors tab

This dialog allows you to perform advanced analysis on a selection of an audio file, 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.

During analysis, it also "pin-points" sections in the selection that meet specific characteristics, for example sections being very loud or very silent. You can then browse between these points, set markers at these places or zoom in on them.

The Errors tab reports two separate things:

Glitches - disruptions in the audio which may occur after problematic digital transfers, after careless editing etc. They manifest themselves as "clicks" or "pops" in the audio.

Clipping - the "digital distortion" that occurs when a sound has been recorded at too high a level or when digital processing has raised the level past what the system can handle.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Topics on how to use Global Analysis


This setting allows you to put restrictions on how many hot points will be reported.


This setting lets you set things up so that the points don’t occur too close together. For example, setting this to "1 s" will ensure there is always at least a second between reported points.


When this is activated, the Glitch analysis is enabled, and will be performed (together with other enabled types of analysis) when you click the Analyse button.


Use this parameter for setting how drastic a change in level has to be to be reported as a glitch. The higher this value, the less sensitive the detection.


This 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.


When this is activated, the Clipping analysis is enabled, and will be performed (together with other enabled types of analysis) when you click the Analyse button.


The program checks for a number of consecutive samples at full value, to determine whether clipping has occurred. The Threshold setting determines the exact number of these consecutive samples that must occur for the program to report clipping.


Displays the number of glitches found in the analysis. Clicking on this value displays the number of glitches in the "Number of hot points" section in the lower left corner of the dialog.

Note that it is not definite that the points found by the algorithm are real glitches! Please zoom in and play back to check whether the found points really indicate a problem.


Displays the number of clipping occurrences found by the analysis. Clicking on this value displays the number of glitches in the "Number of hot points" section in the lower left corner of the dialog.


Displays the number of "hot points" found by the analysis. For this to show anything, you have to click on the value under one of the tabs that you are interested in. For example, to display the number of peaks found, click on the "Maximum" value under the Peaks tab.


Allows you to scroll the wave display through the hot points found in the analysis.


Click this to create temporary markers on the positions of the found hot points.


Click this to focus in on the hot point selected with the scrollbar above. The wave display will zoom in on the selected point and the Global Analysis dialog is "folded in" so that only its title bar is visible.

Note: if you press [Control] while clicking, the window does not fold.


Click this to perform the analysis. Exactly which types of analysis are performed, is determined by the checkboxes under the respective tabs.


Click this to close the dialog.


 Zoom Custom

This dialog is used to set up a custom zoom factor for the current wave window.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.


Use this to enter the zoom factor, expressed as samples per screen points or screen points per sample, depending on the radio buttons below.


When this is selected, the number above will indicate how many samples should be displayed per screen point. Raising this value is equal to zooming out.


When this is selected, the number above will indicate how many screen points each sample should "fill out" in the wave display. Raising this value is equal to zooming in.


Click this button to apply the set zoom factor and close the dialog.


Click this button to close the dialog without applying the zoom.


Master Section Presets
 Master Section Preset dialog

In this dialog, you can save all the current Master Section settings as a Preset, or load previously saved Presets. The stored settings include which processors were used, the settings for each processor, and dithering options, as well as the window position of each plug-in.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Related Topics


This is the list of saved Presets. To load a Preset, select it in this list and click one of the Load buttons to the right.


This field is used to create a new Preset containing your current Master Section settings: enter a name for the Preset here, and then click the Add button to save it.


Click on this button to load the Preset selected in the list, and replace all current settings.


Click on this button to load the Preset selected in the list, and replace only those slots in the Master section that are actually used in the loaded Preset.


Click on this button to load the Preset selected in the list. The loaded Preset will attempt to fill the unused slots below the slots currently in use in the Master Section. If there are not enough free slots available to load the entire Preset, a warning message will appear.


If this option is activated, the current dithering settings are included when you save a new Preset or modify an existing Preset.


Click this button to store the current settings as a Preset in the list. For this to work, you must first enter a name for the new Preset, in the upper right corner of the window.


This is used to modify an existing Preset:

1.	Make the desired settings in the Master Section (this may include loading a Preset; the one you want to modify or another).

2.	In the Master Section Preset dialog, select the Preset you want to modify in the list to the left.

3.	Click the Update button.

The Preset is modified to hold the current Master Section settings.


Click this button to delete the Preset that is selected in the list.


Opens the Key Sequence dialog, allowing you to create a Key Sequence for loading the Preset that is selected in the list. You can decide whether you want the Key Sequence to invoke the "Replace", "Mask" or "Append" loading methods, by using the radio buttons below.


If this option is selected and you load a Preset using a Key Sequence, the loaded Preset will replace all current settings.

This setting is global to all Key Sequences.


If this option is selected and you load a Preset using a Key Sequence, the loaded Preset will only replace those slots in the Master section that are actually used in the loaded Preset.

This setting is global to all Key Sequences.


If this option is selected and you load a Preset using a Key Sequence, the loaded Preset will attempt to fill the unused slots below the slots currently in use in the Master Section. If there are not enough free slots available to load the entire Preset, a warning message will appear.

This setting is global to all Key Sequences.


Click this button to close the dialog.


Batch Processor - Input tab
 Batch Processor - Input

The Batch Processor is used for applying processing to any number of files. It is possible to process different files with different settings, with any numbers of processors (including some plug-ins not available in the Master Section). The files to be processed don't have to be open, but can be saved directly to disk, with new names and locations if desired.

The Input tab is used to set up the files to process. Here you use various tools and functions to assemble lists of files and documents.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Related Topics


Click this button to add one or several audio files from disk to the selected batch in the list. If there are no batches in the list, one will be created automatically when you add the first file.


Clicking this button allows you to add all audio files in a specified folder to the selected batch in the list. If there are no batches in the list, one will be created automatically when you add the first file.


Clicking this button brings up a pop-up menu, listing all currently open wave files. Use this pop-up to add open files to the selected batch.

You cannot process files that have never been saved ("Untitled" files). However, you can process files that have previously been saved, but are now open for editing.


Click this button to remove the selected batch or audio file from the list.


Click this button to move the selected batch or audio file one step up in the list. It is also possible to re-sort the files in a batch by using the Sort options on the Extra pop-up menu.


Click this button to move the selected batch or audio file one step down in the list. It is also possible to re-sort the files in a batch by using the Sort options on the Extra pop-up menu.


Click this button to play back the selected audio file.


Click this button to open the selected audio file in a wave window. If you hold down [Control] simultaneously, the output (processed) file is opened instead.


Click this button to create a new batch.


Click this button to open the Batch Attributes dialog, where you can name the selected batch, etc.


Click this button to open the Processor list dialog, used for setting up what kind of processing should be performed on the selected batch.


Click here to bring out the Extra pop-up menu, containing various options for the file list.


This area contains a list of the current batches and their audio files.

You can rearrange the list by dragging and dropping files or batches.

Double clicking on a batch in the list opens the Processor list dialog, used for setting up what kind of processing should be performed.

Double clicking on a file in the list opens it in a wave window. If you have already run the batch, you can double click in the Output column, to open the processed file instead.

If you want to start again from scratch, you can clear the whole list by selecting "Clear list" on the Extra pop-up menu.

To the left of each file you will find an icon providing information about the status of the file. The icons have the following meanings:

Icon	Meaning

Green circle	The file is ready to be processed. You cannot start processing unless at least one file has this status.

Purple dot	The file is currently being processed. The Batch window can’t be closed if any files have this status, the only way to stop a Batch is then from the Monitor window.

Half filled green circle	The file has been analyzed by an "Ultra-pass" processor but has not been processed and written to disk yet.

Green dot	The Batch has been processed without problems. In order to process the file again, you need to reset its status, by clicking on the icon or selecing "Reset Status of all files" from the Extra pop-up menu.

Red cross	An error occurred. You will most likely have been warned via an alert box. If an error occurs, processing is cancelled.


Batch Processor - Add Folder dialog
 Batch Processor –Add Folder dialog

This dialog allows you to specify which file types should be included when you add files to the Batch Input list, using the Add folder function.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.


This value field allows you to specify which type of files the program should look for in the selected folder, by entering a file extension (such as WAV, AIF, etc.).


If this is activated, WaveLab will add files from the selected folder and all its subfolders. When it is deactivated, only files in the selected folder will be added.


Click this to add all files with the selected extension in the specified folder(s), and close the dialog.


Click this to close the dialog without adding any files.


Batch Processor - Output tab
 Batch Processor - Output

The Batch Processor is used for applying processing to any number of files. It is possible to process different files with different settings, with any numbers of processors (including some plug-ins not available in the Master Section). The files to be processed don't have to be open, but can be saved directly to disk, with new names and locations if desired.

The Output tab is used to specify where the resulting files should be stored, how they should be named and in what format they should be. In fact, you can perform useful Batch Processing with the options on this tab, without using any processors at all! You might for example convert files from one format to another and/or just change the names of a number of files.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Related Topics


Here you can type a path to the destination folder for the processed files. Specified folders are created if they don't exist. It is possible to add path variables (for advanced automatic file paths), by positioning the cursor at the desired point in the path name and selecting a variable from the pop-up menu to the right of the Browse button.


Click here to browse to a destination folder for the processed files.


Clicking here opens a pop-up menu containing path variables, with which you can create automatic destination file paths for the processed files.


Here you can add a prefix, that will automatically be added before the name of each processed file.


Here you can add a suffix, that will automatically be added at the end of the name of each processed file.


Clicking here opens a pop-up menu, allowing you to add path variables to the file name prefix.


Clicking here opens a pop-up menu, allowing you to add path variables to the file name suffix.


When this is activated, the processed files are automatically compressed into a Zip archive. A Zip archive is a file which contains other files, in a compressed format. The compression is non-lossy, which means that when you "un-zip" the files you get exactly what you had when you created the archive, the information is not changed in any way.

Zip files are often used for archiving purposes and when sending files to other people, for example via the Internet.


Use this field to type a path and name for the Zip archive to be created. You can also do this by clicking on the Browse button to the right.


Click here to browse to the desired folder for the Zip archive to be created.


Activate this option if you want the Zip archive to contain information about how the files are stored in sub-folders.


Activate this option if you want to delete the output files after the files have been added to the Zip archive. When this is deactivated, WaveLab will save both a Zip archive and the output files in their regular format.


When this is activated, the program creates backups of any files that would otherwise be overwritten as a result of the procedure. A backup file will have the same name as the original, but with the first letter in the extension changed to "~" (so that "myfile.wav" is backed up as "myfile.~av", for example). We recommend that you leave this option activated, to avoid accidentally overwriting files.

This feature only applies if you have used the variable "Source Path", as described above, to specify that the file should be overwritten with the same name.


Activate this option if you want the program to delete the original (unprocessed) files after processing.

This is a very dangerous option! If the processing didn’t turn out as expected, you can’t redo it, because you won’t have any files left to re-process!


This pop-up allows you to select a file format for the processed file(s). If you want the processed files to be in the same format as the original ones, select "As source".


This pop-up allows you to select a bit resolution for the processed file(s).


This checkbox is only available if you have selected WAV as your output file format. Activate this checkbox if you want to compress the files. To select compression formats, click the large button below.

Please note that when you select this option from the Batch processor, all possible file formats are available, not only the ones that apply to the current file format. This happens because the program does not yet "know" which types of files you are about to process. Since options are displayed that may not apply to the file type you process, make your selection with care. If the settings aren’t valid, an error message will appear when you run the Batch.


Click this button to select a compression format (only available if the Encode checkbox is activated).

Please note that when you select this option from the Batch processor, all possible file formats are available, not only the ones that apply to the current file format. This happens because the program does not yet "know" which types of files you are about to process. Since options are displayed that may not apply to the file type you process, make your selection with care. If the settings aren’t valid, an error message will appear when you run the Batch.


Batch Processor - Schedule tab
 Batch Processor -Schedule

The Batch Processor is used for applying processing to any number of files. It is possible to process different files with different settings, with any numbers of processors (including some plug-ins not available in the Master Section). The files to be processed don't have to be open, but can be saved directly to disk, with new names and locations if desired.

The Schedule tab is used for setting up various options related to the performance of the Batch processing.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.


If this is activated, playback will automatically stop when batch processing begins, thereby freeing up some processor power.


If this is activated, the Monitor window is automatically opened when batch processing begins.


If this is activated, WaveLab will beep when the batch process is finished.


If this is activated, WaveLab will display a message when the batch process is finished. Click OK to go on working.


If this is activated, WaveLab will minimize the wave window of each open file in the batch, before it is processed.


If this is activated, and the wave window of a file was minimized when processing started, it will be restored to its previous size.


If this is activated, each processed file will be opened after processing, regardless of whether it was open before or not.


This sets the priority of the Processing:

Relax Background. The file is processed in the background, but priority is given to audio playback and to your continued work on other files. This makes WaveLab as responsive as possible, but slows down processing.

Background. The file is processed in the background but with a lower priority given to your continued work on other files. This makes processing faster but the program less responsive. Try this mode when several files should be processed in the background.

Fast. Processing is given high priority. A fairly high-performance computer will be required to avoid dropoutsIDH_DROPOUT_INDICATOR in playback.


Click this to run the batch you have set up.


Click this to close the dialog.


Batch Processor - Processor list
 Batch Processor List

This dialog is used to set up the list of processors to be used in the batch processing, and to make settings for each processor.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Related Topics


Click on this to make settings for the selected effect processor.


Click this button to move the selected effect processor one step up in the Sequence list.


Click this button to move the selected effect processor one step down in the Sequence list.


Click this button to add a selected effect processor from the Plug-ins/Presets list to the Sequence list.


Click this button to remove a selected effect processor from the Sequence list.


In this area, the processors included in the batch are listed. When you perform the batch processing, the processors will be invoked in the order they appear in the list.

You can activate or deactivate a processor in the sequence list by clicking in the checkbox to the left.


In this area, all available processors are listed, divided into three folders at the top level:

The "Master Section Presets" folder contains a list of all Presets created in the Master Section Presets dialog. Such a Preset can contain a number of combined processors, all with their own individual settings.

The Processor List Presets folder contains a list of Presets created in this dialog. As with the Master Section Presets, this can represent a combination of a number of processors. This allows you to easily re-use combinations of processors.

The Plug-ins list contains folders with lists of the processors in the program, to some extent the same list as in the Master Section.

To add a processor from the Plug-ins/Presets list to the Sequence list, select it and click the + button, or simply drag and drop it into the Sequence list.


Click this to close the dialog and keep the changes you have made to the Processor list.


Click this to close the dialog, discarding any changes you have made to the Processor list.


File Number (Batch Processor)
 File Number

This dialog allows you to add a number to the prefix or suffix of the processed files' names.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.


The processed files will be numbered consecutively, starting with the number you specify here.


If this option is activated, the numbering will restart for each batch.


Click this to close the dialog and keep the settings.


Click this to close the dialog and discard the settings.


Sampler Configurations
 Sampler configuration - Settings

This dialog is used to configure how WaveLab should communicate with your sampler.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

See also Setting up your Sampler(s).


Use this pop-up menu to select the desired communications protocol. If possible, select your sampler protocol by sampler model name, since this will provide the highest level of functionality. If your sampler can’t be found on this menu, you will have to select SDS or SMDI, depending on the type of connection and the instrument’s capabilities.

Only select an item that corresponds to the type of connection you actually have. For example, selecting anything that involves SCSI is pointless unless you have connected the sampler via SCSI.


If the sampler is connected via SCSI, use this pop-up menu to select the instrument you want to communicate with. If the instrument cannot be found on this menu, there is something wrong with your SCSI connection.


If the sampler is connected via MIDI, use this pop-up menu to select the MIDI Input port that the sampler is connected to.


If the sampler is connected via MIDI, use this pop-up menu to select the MIDI Output port that the sampler is connected to.


If the sampler is connected via MIDI, this is where you set the SysEx ID (System Exclusive ID number) to the same number as that of the instrument.

This setting is very important. If the two numbers don’t correspond, transfers won’t work. To find out how to check what SysEx ID your sampler is set to, consult its operation manual.

A few samplers that communicate via SCSI will use the SysEx ID for SCSI purposes as well. See your sampler documentation for details.


Click this to close the dialog. Please note that you have to create a Preset before you close the dialog, to keep the current settings.


Transmit Sample
 Transmit/Receive Sample dialog

This dialog is used for transfering samples between WaveLab and a connected sampler.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog. See also Transmitting Samples and Receiving Samples.

Please note that internally, the same dialog is used for both transmitting and receiving samples. Consequently the context-sensitive help describes the features of both dialogs. If in doubt, check the title bar of the window to see which dialog you're actually viewing.


Use this to select to/from which sampler you want to send/receive the sample.

This menu lists all samplers for which you have created Presets. The sampler will be on the list regardless of whether it is turned on or connected properly or not, so this list is not a verification that things have been set up properly.


If the protocol used for the selected sampler identifies samples by number, use the "Sample number" setting to specify a "memory location" in the sampler.

If you are transmitting a sample, and another sample is already stored at that location, it will most likely be overwritten when you transmit, so it might be good advice to use the sampler's front panel controls to make sure you have specified the number of an empty location, or that you have saved any samples currently in the sampler’s memory.


If the protocol used for the selected sampler supports it, this pop-up menu is used to select a memory bank in the sampler. Make sure you click the Refresh button before selecting a Bank, so that the information is valid.

This is not always required when you transmit samples. In many instruments, if nothing is specified, the sample will be stored in a new memory location and no existing samples will be overwritten.


If the protocol used for the selected sampler supports it, this section is used to select a memory location/program in the sampler. Make sure you click the Refresh button before selecting a memory location, so that the information on the list is valid.

This is not always required when you transmit samples. In many instruments, if nothing is specified, the sample will be stored in a new memory location and no existing samples will be overwritten.


Click this button to update the bank and program information in the fields to the left.


Click this button to get information about the sample selected in the list to the left. Make sure you click the Refresh button before selecting a sample, so that the information on the list is valid.

This feature is only available if the sampler's protocol supports it. It is not available with the generic protocols SDS and SMDI.


If you click this button, the sample selected in the list to the left will be deleted from the sampler's memory. Make sure you click the Refresh button before selecting a sample, so that the information in the list is valid.

This feature is only available if the sampler's protocol supports it. It is not available with the generic protocols SDS and SMDI.


Click this button to send/receive the sample to/from the sampler.


Click this button to close the dialog.


 Sample Attributes

This dialog allows you to make settings for a sample before transmitting it to the sampler. The settings do not process the sample in any way, they just give it properties that the receiving sampler may or may not take advantage of, depending on your sampler and the protocol you use for communicating. For example, SDS and SMDI do not support names. SMDI supports Key and Detune whereas SDS does not.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.


The name the sample will have in the sampler. Not all samplers support all characters. Furthermore, if the name is too long, it will be cut off.


This specifies which key will play back the sound at its basic pitch.


This specifies whether the sample should be played back at a slightly different pitch. The range is ±50% of a semitone, which translates into a quarter tone in each direction.


Click this to close the dialog and keep the settings.


Click this to close the dialog and discard the settings.


Plug-ins Manager
 The Plug-ins Manager

This dialog allows you to organize the way your effect plug-ins appear on menus in the program. This can be necessary, especially if you add extra plug-ins to your system. Furthermore, sometimes when you install a package of Active Movie plug-ins you get effects that have no relevance to WaveLab (or even to audio) which just clutter menus.

For details, please use context-sensitive help for the various parts of the dialog.

Related Topics


In this area, the available plug-ins are listed. At the top level, they are divided in two groups: Loop Tuners (tools for working with samplers) and Master Section plug-ins (effect processors). The Master Section plug-ins can be organized into sub-folders, representing Groups of plug-ins. VST- and DirectX plug-ins are required to be in a Group. To assemble plug-ins in a Group, just drag and drop them onto the corresponding folder.

The columns in the list have the following meaning:

The Plug-in column displays the names of all the available plug-ins.

The Use column determines whether a plug-in is "enabled" (available for use in WaveLab) or not. By clicking in this column, you can you can enable/disable individual plug-ins or an entire Group of plug-ins. If you have plug-ins installed that you don’t want to use in WaveLab, you can disable these to reduce "menu clutter" (they will still be available in other programs that can use them).

The Key column displays the Key Sequence defined for a plug-in.

The Module column often tells you something about the origin and type of the plug-in.


Click this to create a new Group (subfolder). The Group will initially appear at the end of the list, but when you start using it, the list will be resorted so that the Groups are displayed in alphabetical order.


Click this to delete the selected Group. If the Group contains any plug-ins, they will not be deleted. Instead, they will appear in the Master Section, outside all other Groups.


Click this to define a key sequence for a plug-in.

If the plug-in is a Crossfade Looper, the key sequence will simply open its window.

If the plug-in is a Master Section processor, the key sequence will add the plug-in to the Master Section list (if not already there) and it’s panel will be opened.


Click this to return to the state that the list was in when you first opened the dialog.


Click this to restore everything to the default "factory settings".


Click this to close the dialog and keep the settings.


Click this to close the dialog and discard the settings.


Key Commands Dialog
   The Key Commands Dialog

This window is used to specify key commands for various items in the program.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.


 This is the list of available operations, which can be called up via Key Sequences. To specify a Key command, select one of the items in this list and click Key Sequence.


 This option organizes the operations in folders, in groupings that relate to various sections in the program.


 This option lists all commands in a "flat" fashion (no folders), and sorts the list alphabetically via the defined Key Commands, which allows you to easily find a command assigned to a certain key.


 Click this button to open up the dialog where the actual key sequence is defined.


 Click this button to open the "Exclude windows" window.


 Click this button to close the dialog and accept the settings.


 Click this button to close the dialog without changing the settings.


Key Sequence Dialog
   The Key Sequence  Dialog

This window is used to specify the actual Key command to be used for the program function you selected in the previous dialog. To enter a key sequence, activate Catch mode and press the relevant keys on the computer keyboard.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

Related Topics


 This displays the first key command in the sequence.


This displays the second key command in the sequence.


This displays the third key command in the sequence.


 When this is activated, the program distinguishes between modifier keys ([Ctrl], [Alt] etc.) on the left and right sides of the space bar. This may not be possible with some Windows versions.


 Activate this to make the dialog accept key commands that you press on the computer keyboard.


 Click this to clear all three key shortcuts.


 Click this button to close the dialog and accept the settings.


 Click this button to close the dialog without changing the settings.


Exclude Windows  Dialog
   The Exclude Windows  Dialog

This window is used to specify windows that should not be affected by Key Sequences. It is mainly for plug-in windows. Since some plug-ins, especially from third-party manufacturers, have their own set of key commands, you way want to disable WaveLab key commands for these windows.

Let’s say you assign a key command to "Apply" in the Master section, and a certain plug-in already uses the same key combination for an internal operation. Then, pressing this key command might lead to the wrong operation being invoked when this plug-in has the focus.

"Exclude windows" allows you to prevent this situation:

To exclude a window, type its name in this dialog. You can include DOS "wildcard" characters. For example, to exclude all products from the manufacturer Waves, you can type "Waves*".

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.


 Click this button to close the dialog and accept the settings.


 Click this button to close the dialog without changing the settings.


Generate Cue Sheet
   The Generate Cue Sheet  Dialog

This window allows you to create text files with information about the CD Program.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

Related Topics


 Here you can check and type in a path to the Cue Sheet Template you want to use.


 Click this button to browse your way to a Cue Sheet Template file on disk. These are normally located in the "System/CdCueSheetTemplates" folder in your WaveLab program folder.


 Click this button to open the currently active Cue Sheet template in a text editor for modification.


 Here, the Custom variables in the Cue Sheet Template are displayed. Text that you enter after the "=" signs will appear in the Cue Sheet.


 Click this button to close the dialog and generate the Cue Sheet.


 Click this button to close the dialog without generating any Cue Sheet.


Batch Attributes
   The Batch Attributes Dialog

This dialog is used to enter a name and an optional output path (folder) for the Batch.

Enter the desired name in the dialog.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog. See also Renaming and setting Attributes for a Batch.


 The name of the Batch. Entering a number instead of a name has a special meaning. This will change the name of the Batch to the default name "Batch X", where X is the number you typed. All the other Batches with default names will be renumbered accordingly.


This is an advanced option that in many cases will not be necessary. You will only need to specify a path here if you want to process a number of Batches at the same time, and want some of the Batches to store their output files in a different directory.


Click this button to close the dialog and accept the settings.


Click this button to close the dialog without changing the settings.


Screen Layouts
   The Screen Layouts  Dialog

This dialog is used to create and manage Screen Layouts. A Screen Layout encompasses the following:

The size, location and minimize/maximize properties of document windows. This does not include the contents of the window, just the properties of the window "frame" itself. For example, if some Database window was included in the Screen Layout, the Database you currently have open when you Load the Preset will be sized and moved accordingly.

Positions of "modeless" dialog boxes, such as the off-line processors. This includes opening any such windows.

Positions of plug-in processor panels.

Windows that are already open will never be closed as a result of recalling a Screen Layout.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog. See also Working with Screen Layouts.


These show the existing Screen Layouts. To select one, click on it. To load one, double click on it..


This shows the currently loaded Screen Layout. It is also used to specify a name for a Screen Layout before adding.


Click this button to load the Screen Layout selected in the list.


Click this button to create a new Screen Layout. The new Screen Layout will be given the name indicated on the line above the buttons.


Click this button to delete the Screen Layout selected in the list.


Click this button to replace the settings in the Screen Layout selected in the list with the current window setup.


 Click this button to open the Key Sequence dialog, which allows you to specify a key sequence for loading the Screen Layout selected in the list.


Click this button to close the dialog.


Automatic Markers
   The Generate Markers Automatically Dialog

This dialog is used to create Markers automatically at certain significant positions in a file or selection. For example this could be used to pinpoint phrase starts in recorded dialog, beats in a drum recording, etc.

This is based on peaks and silence in the material. It analyses the file and adds markers at positions that match the criteria. If a pair type marker has been specified (CD Track Start/End, Loop Start/End etc.), alternate start and end markers are added, specifying "regions" in the material.

The settings in the dialog are used to specify which sections of audio will be considered as regions, that is, individual sections of audio.

For more information about each item in the dialog, use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the actual dialog.

Related Topics


This is used to specify for how long the signal must be below the floor level, before a section, for that section to be considered a region.


This is used to specify for how long the signal must drop below the floor level, at the end of a section, for that section to be considered a region. In other words, this specifies the length of "silence" at the end of a region.


This is the level used to specify what is to be considered as "silence" (or at least very close to silence). This is primarily used together with the two settings above, to determine where a section ends.


This is the level used to specify what is considered as "non-silence", that is, valid audio passages that should be considered as regions. Sections with levels above this setting will be considered as regions.


This is a time, used to specify for how long a section must have a level above the set Threshold level, to be considered a region.


If there's a selection in the waveform, this is used to specify that marker detection should only occur within that selection.


 If a CD type marker was specified, this can be used to automatically create a CD Program from the created regions.


Click this button to close the dialog without generating any markers.


Click this button to close the dialog and generate the markers.


Meta Normalizer
  The Meta Normalizer

The Meta Normalizer plug-in is unique to WaveLab. It is special in that it work in two passes: during the first pass, each file is analysed one after the other, then, in the second pass, each file is processed one after the other. It works by globally analyzing peak or RMS levels on all files in a Batch. It then processes the files so that they will all play back at equal peak or RMS levels. The highest possible level found amongst all the files will be used as a reference. Note that the level of a file can either be amplified or reduced. The purpose of the plugin is to apply the same and maximum possible level/loudness in all files, without ever clipping.

This can be extremely useful for matching differing levels between files that are being compiled for mastering to CDs for example, ensuring that levels are equal from track to track. Depending on how much the levels differ between files and the desired result, there are a number of options available to ensure that the applied processing optimizes the levels without clipping.

See the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the dialog itself, for details about the parameters in the dialog.


 Select this option if you want to use Peak levels as a basis for determining what is considered "equal level".


Select this option if you want to use RMS (Root Mean Square) levels as a basis for determining what is considered "equal level". RMS normally produces a more "natural" result than Peak levels, since this method is better at detecting the perceived "loudness" of a sound.


 This option is only relevant if "Equalize Loudness (RMS)" has been selected and "Global" is deactivated. It is used to set the size of the audio sections that are "averaged" when calculating the loudness. The loudest section found will be used. The smaller this value, the more sensitive the method will be to peaks in the material.


 When this is activated, the RMS value is calculated over the whole file. That is, the overall loudness of the entire file will be used as a basis for calculating the loudness.


 By default, the meta-normalizer takes the loudest file as reference (meaning that the loudest file will itself not by affected by the normalizing). However, if you activate this option, and if the loudest file stilll can be amplified, then this file will be maximized as much as possible (without clipping) and then used as reference for the meta-normalizing.


 Click this button to close the dialog and accept the settings.


 Click this button to close the dialog without changing the settings.


Loudness  Restorer
  The Loudness Restorer

The Loudness Restorer is used for measuring the level at one position in the Batch Processor signal chain and restoring it to the same level at some other position in the signal chain.

The Loudness Restorer is a very special plug-in, in that it is used in pairs (two plug-ins at a time must be inserted into the signal chain). The general method is to insert one instance of the plug-in, and set this to "Capture" mode (read level), then insert another instance and set it to "Restore" mode (change level).

See the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol) in the dialog itself, for details about the parameters in the dialog.


 The first instance in the plug-in pair must be set to this mode. This makes the plug-in read the level at this position in the signal chain.


The second instance in the plug-in pair must be set to this mode or the one below. Select this option if you want to use Peak levels as a basis for determining what is considered "equal level".


The second instance in the plug-in pair must be set to this mode or the one above. Select this option if you want to use RMS (Root Mean Square) levels as a basis for determining what is considered "equal level". RMS normally produces a more "natural" result than Peak levels, since this method is better at detecting the perceived "loudness" of a sound.


 This option is only relevant if "Equalize Loudness (RMS)" has been selected and "Global" is deactivated. It is used to set the size of the audio sections that are "averaged" when calculating the loudness. The loudest section found will then be used. The smaller this value, the more sensitive the method will be to peaks in the material.

It is very important that the "Capture" and the "Restore" instances of the plug-in are set to the same Resolution value.


 When this is activated, the RMS value is calculated over the whole file. That is, the overall loudness of the entire file will be used as a basis for calculating the loudness.


When this is activated, the two channels in a stereo file will be treated as a pair, preserving the stereo image correctly. When this is deactivated, they will be analyzed and restored separately.


 When this is activated, the restoration process will never result in levels above 0dB. Hence no clipping will ever occur.


 Click this button to close the dialog and accept the settings.


 Click this button to close the dialog without changing the settings.


Opening multiple Files

You can open a number of files at the same time.

1.	In the Open dialog, select as many files as you wish.

This is done using [Shift] and [Control], as in any Windows 95 program.

2.	Click Open.

They all appear in one window each.

Related Topics


Opening Dual Mono files

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:

Allowing Opening of Dual Mono files

1.	Pull down the Options menu, select Preferences and click on the File tab.

2.	Make sure the "Allow opening of dual mono files" is activated.

3.	Close the dialog.

Opening Dual Mono files

1.	Select Open Wave from the file menu.

2.	Select the first file, hold down [Control] and select the other.

3.	Click Open.

The two files are opened as one stereo file. The file names determine which file becomes the left channel and which becomes the right. The one that comes first in the alphabet becomes the left channel. If this is not as desired, you can Swap Channels.

You can now work on the two files as if they were one. You can later save them as a stereo file or as two mono files. See Save Convert.

Related Topics


Dragging and Dropping files

To open one or more files from the Desktop or the Explorer, use any of the three following possibilities:

Drag and drop the file(s) on the WaveLab application window.

Drag and drop the file(s) on the WaveLab program icon or a shortcut for it.

If the program isn’t already running, it will be launched. Also, this works even if the application is running but minimized.

Double click on the file.

This will only work if you have created an association between the file format and the WaveLab application. Such an association can be set up automatically during installation.

Related Topics


Opening a recently used file

On the bottom of the File menu, lists of the last opened files can be found. These are divided into three categories, depending on file type. To open one of these, simply select it.

Using this option allows you to open a dual mono file (actually two files) that you have previously worked on, with one mouse click!

Related Topics


Creating a Favourites menu

The last but one menu item on the File menu is called Favourites. This allows you to assemble a list of files that you want to be able to open quickly, a library if you will.

To add a file to the list, make sure it's window is activated and select "Add current document" from the Favourites menu.

To open a file from the list, simply select it.

To clear the whole list, select Clear List from the Favourites menu.

To update the list so that it only lists files that actually still exist in the specified locations on your hard disk(s), select Validate List from the Favourites menu.

Files that can't be found are removed.


Importing CD-tracks into a CD Program
Importing CD-tracks

For the CD-R recorders that WaveLab supports for CD burning it also provides the ability to read audio Tracks right off regular CDs. This makes a digital copy of the audio on the CD, right into an audio file on your hard disk.

Please note that this only applies to the CD-R units supported directly be WaveLab, not to any CD-ROM drive that you already have installed in your system.

Please observe and respect any copyright notices on the CDs you are reading tracks from!

Proceed as follows:

1.	Insert the CD into the CD-R unit.

2.	Pull down the File menu, select Open and from the sub-menu that appears, select Import Audio CD Track.

A window appears which lists the Tracks on the CD, plus some information about each one. Please note that the Copy Protection and Pre-emphasis columns are only information fields, you can not change any settings.

3.	Click on the ". . ." button at the bottom of the dialog to select a folder for the file(s) and a template name for the file. If your file template for example is "music", and more than one file will be created, the files will be named "music_1.wav", "music_2.wav", "music_3.wav", etc.

If some file(s) already exist(s) with the same name(s) as specified here, they/it will be replaced without warning!!!!

4.	If required, you can select one file and click Play Start.

This will play the beginning of the Track so that you can check it out.

5.	Select as many the Tracks as you wish, from the list.

You can use [Control] and [Shift] to make multiple selections. There is also a Select All button.

6.	If you have selected one file only, you can specify a section of this to import.

7. Click the Save button.

The Tracks are retrieved one by one, and optionally open in a window for each one.

Notes:

The audio files are always saved in WAV (Wave) format.

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. Unfortunately, this is unavoidable.

The read speed for audio Tracks might not be the highest speed the CD-R unit is capable of. Since audio CD reading is more prone to errors than for example CD-ROM reading, the read speed is adjusted downwards automatically. For example, the Yamaha CDR-100, which reads CD-ROMs at 4x speed, will only read audio tracks at 2x speed.

The ISRC code is not displayed in the dialog, since finding this code on the disc could take several minutes in some cases!

If you import a CD track with Emphasis, and later want to use this on a CD of your own, remember to activate Emphasis for that Track in the CD Program.

Related Topics


Save Convert

If you want to change the format (sample rate, bit resolution and stereo/mono) when saving, proceed as follows:

1.	Select Convert from the Save Special menu, on the File menu.

2.	Fill out the first dialog.

See the context sensitive help for details.

3.	A regular file dialog appears where you can specify a file name, folder and a file format.

A new file is created. The original file is not affected by the operation. If a file with the same name already exists, you are asked whether you want to back up the existing file first.

The following operations are performed:

Sample Rate	If a new sample rate is specified, a sample rate conversion is performed with "Standard Quality".

Bit resolution	If a different bit resolution is specified, the file is either "truncated" down to 8 bits or "padded up" to 16 bits. If you convert to 8 bits, the audio is automatically normalized.

Mono/Stereo	If the file is converted from mono to stereo, the same material appears in both channels. If the conversion is from stereo to mono, a mix of the two channels is made.

Related Topics


Creating Session 8 compatible files

The Digidesign Session 8 system uses special Wave files. To make your files compatible with the Session 8, proceed as follows:

1.	Select Preferences from the Options menu.

2.	Click on the File tab.

3.	Make sure the "Save Session-8 compatible WAV files" option is activated.

This raises the file size by about 4 kBytes, which is a relatively small amount. Please note that the files are still compatible with other programs that read Wave files.

Related Topics


Save

If you have opened a file and modified it, you can save the changes into the same file, by simply selecting Save from the File menu or by pressing [Control]-[S].

When you save a new document for the first time, it doesn’t matter whether you select Save or Save As. The Save As dialog will appear anyway, since you need to specify a file format, folder, and file name.

Saving clears the Undo buffers, which means that after saving you cannot undo or redo.

Related Topics


Save As

If you have an unsaved file, or if you want to specify a new name, location and/or file format for a previously saved file, you should select Save As from the File menu.

A regular file dialog appears. The pop-up menu at the bottom can be used to select a file format. If a file with the same name already exists, you are asked whether you want to back up the existing file first.

After a file has been saved once, you can continue to edit it and then select Save to update the file and make the changes permanent.

Saving clears the Undo buffers, which means that after saving you can not undo or redo.

Related Topics


Saving one channel only

The "Save left/right channel as" menu items are also on the Save Special sub-menu. They allow you to save each channel individually, into a separate file. A regular file dialog is used, see Save As.

This menu command is used specifically when you have been editing "dual mono" files and wish to save the channels in the file separately.

Related Topics


Saving the selection only

The "Save selection" menu item is on the Save Special sub-menu. It allows you to save the selected portion of the audio file, only. A regular file dialog is used, see Save As.

Related Topics


Save Encode

WaveLab allows you to export files in a number of compression encoded audio formats, suitable for multimedia, web publishing etc (see the context sensitive help). The basic functionality for this is actually part of a software technology called Microsoft ACM.

The number of formats you can export, depend on what version of ACM you have installed on your computer. As of this writing, ACM was included with Miscrosoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and with Microsoft NetShow.

The dialog used for saving in Encoded format is actually not part of WaveLab, but of ACM.

We recommend that you point your Internet browser to www.microsoft.com, for more information. From these pages you can also download various versions of Internet Explorer and NetShow for installation on your computer.

ACM compressed files are Wave files

When you export to encoded  files, the file that is created is technically always a Wave file, regardless of the compression format. But instead of the regular "linear" audio data that usually makes up a wave file, a special audio data "chunk" that contains the compressed audio, is included.

This is normally not a problem, but something to be aware of if you are planning to use these files in other programs or on other computer platforms.


Saving a Copy

The  "Save Copy" item, on the Save Special sub-menu allows you to save a copy of the file, in its current state, without affecting the original. A regular file dialog is used, see Save As.

Related Topics


Save All

This menu item (also on the Save Special sub menu) brings up a dialog that allows you to save some or all of the open documents, in one go.

The list displays all open documents that currently have unsaved changes. The Show Paths check box allows you to display/hide the complete file paths.

1.	Select /deselect files by clicking on them or by using the Select/Deselect button.

Only the selected files will be saved.

2.	Click "Save".


Saving Databases and Projects

There is no special save command for Databases or Projects. Instead, any changes you make are automatically saved to disk as you go along. If you close a Database or Project and then Open it, you will find it exactly as you left it (to instead open a Database with a standard layout, hold down [Control] when opening).

You might work a lot on your Databases, adding files into Categories etc. Please back up the Database files, in case you experience data loss. Database files are not very big compared to Wave files.

Related Topics


Reverting to the last Saved version

The Revert to Saved menu option, on the File menu, allows you to revert back to the state a file was in when you last saved it (actually, the last saved version of the file is loaded from disk). This can be used as kind of "super undo" where all the changes you have made to the file since you last saved, are undone.

1.	Select Revert to Saved from the File menu.

2.	Click "Yes" in the warning dialog that appears.

The files is restored to its last saved state.


Automatic Backups

For all save operations except a "plain Save" you will be asked whether you want to create a backup if a file with the same name already exists in the folder. If you click Yes in this dialog, the first letter in the extension of the existing file will be changed to "~". "AIF" for example, will become "~IF".


Editing Audio Attributes

Each audio file has a certain set of "attributes", that is, information about the sample rate at which it was recorded, what the bit resolution is, etc. The Edit Attributes dialog allows you to change that information for a file.

There are two ways to bring up this dialog:

Select Edit Attributes from the File menu.

Click on the attributes information field, on the Status Bar.

About Changing the values

Changing the values in this dialog does not process the file in any way, as does Convert File. However, the following rules apply:

If you change the sample rate, the file will play back at the wrong pitch.

If you change the bit resolution the file will be converted to the new resolution, the next time you save it.

There is no Undo for this item. If you save with a lower bit resolution, the file is forever converted.


Checking Document Properties

This item, on the File menu, brings up a dialog that displays basic information about a file.


Optimizing the virtual memory settings

If you use Windows 95 (as opposed to Windows NT) it is important that your virtual memory settings are correct, to optimize the speed of various operations in WaveLab.

1.	Make sure no programs are running.

2.	Click on the Start button on the Taskbar and select the Control Panel.

3.	In the Control Panel window, double click on System.

4.	Click the Performance tab.

5.	Click the Virtual memory button.

6.	Click on the button "Let me specify my own virtual memory settings".

7.	Specify 40 (MegaBytes) as the minimum, and twice your RAM size as maximum.

8.	Click OK, Yes, Close and Yes in the dialogs that appear.

The computer will be restarted.


   Optimizing the color settings

You might want to optimize the number of colors you use when you run WaveLab.

WaveLab operates best in 256-color mode.

16 colors is on some systems slightly slower than 256 colors, and doesn’t let you take full advantage of WaveLab’s color capabilities.

Thousands of colors (or more) is not advised since it will make WaveLab run slower and consume more memory than in the other modes.

See your Windows documentation for instructions on how to change the number of colors used on your computer.

Related Topics


   Setting up the audio card

You need to "inform" WaveLab about which audio card you want to use:

1.	Select "Preferences" from the Options menu.

2.	Click on the "General" tab.

3.	Select the audio card you want to use for recording and playback, from the Devices pop-ups.

If you only have one audio card you can possibly also select the "Microsoft Sound Mapper" options, (the Sound Mapper is a "virtual audio card" which "maps" all audio to your real card). However this does not let you take full advantage of the card’s driver when recording, and is therefore not recommended.

Related Topics


   Deciding where "temp" files are put

You need to specify where WaveLab should store its temporary files. Temporary files are mainly used for Undo, as explained below.

1.	Create a separate folder to store your "temp" files in.

This is done from the Desktop, using the Explorer.

This folder 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.	In the Preferences dialog, click the File tab.

3.	Either type in the path to the directory or click the Browse button to locate and select the folder.

Save the Preferences

To make permanent the settings you just made, proceed as follows:

1.	Click on the General tab in the Preferences dialog.

2.	Make sure that "Save preferences on exit" is activated.

3.	Close the Preferences dialog.

Temp files and Undo

When WaveLab needs to create a file for Undo, it puts this in the "temp" folder you have specified and gives it the extension "$$$". These files are automatically deleted when you quit WaveLab or when you use Purge Undo. If you find any such files when you are not running WaveLab, you can delete them.

Related Topics


   Checking which formats the card supports

You can check whether your audio card supports the three most common sample rates.

1.	Select Preferences from the Options menu.

2.	Click on the General tab.

3.	Click the two question mark icons to find out which sample rates and bit resolutions are supported for playback and recording, respectively.

Unfortunately, there is no provision in Windows for checking all sample rates that a card supports, so the result of this test only tells whether these three rates are supported or not. The card may still support other rates. Please check the user documentation for the card.

Related Topics


   Setting values in dialog boxes and windows

In dialog boxes, you will find yourself adjusting values. The following techniques apply:

Typing Values

Like in most other Windows programs you can "tab to" or click directly on a value and type in a new one.

Using the Spin Controls

All values can be set using the regular Windows spin controls – two arrows pointing up/down.

Clicking either arrow raises/lowers the value.

Keeping the mouse button pressed over an arrow makes the value "scroll".

Holding down [Control] makes the value change in larger steps.

Holding down [Control]+[Shift] changes the value to its minimum/maximum.

The last adjusted control can be changed using the up and down arrow keys, also in combination with [Control] or [Control]+[Shift] as described above.

Using Sliders and pop-ups

Many times, the most convenient way to change a value is using WaveLab’s proprietary sliders and pop-ups:

1.	Click with the right mouse button on the spin control.

2.	If a pop-up menu appears, select one of the options on it.

3.	If one or more sliders appear, drag the handle(s) or click the arrows to set the value.

The setting is shown in the value box "behind" the slider window.

4.	When you are done, click outside the slider window.

If the value is "segmented" (for example divided into minutes and seconds etc.), more than one slider will appear, each used for adjusting one of the "segments".

The slider window can be dragged to any position on the screen, using the "title bar" at the top.

The last used slider can be adjusted using the up and down arrow keys on the computer keyboard.


Using an "Intellimouse"

If you have access to a Microsoft Intellimouse™ or compatible pointing device, you can take advantage of the wheel for various operations in WaveLab:

Scrolling

If you point at a waveform, the wheel scrolls the view horizontally.

Zooming

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.

Changing Values

If you point at an edit field in a dialog, the wheel can be used to adjust the value.

If you also hold down [Ctrl], the value changes in bigger steps and if you hold down [Ctrl] and [Shift] it jumps to the bottom/top values.

Master Section

When working in the Master Section window, the wheel can be used to adjust the master volume. If you hold down [Shift] the value changes in steps of 6dB (rather than 1dB).

If you hold down [Alt] you can change the Master Section volume, regardless of which window is active. This can be combined with [Shift] as described above.


Setting up Preferences

In the Preferences dialog (reached from the Options menu) you will find a number of settings that can be used to tailor the look and behavior of the program.

The settings are collected on tabs. To find out what each one does, please use the context sensitive on-line help.

Saving the Preferences

To make sure the Preference settings "stick", proceed as follows.

1.	Open the Preferences dialog and click on the General tab.

2.	Make sure "Save preferences on exit" is activated.

Related Topics


   Creating start-up Preferences

To make sure the program starts with one and the same Preference settings each time you launch it, proceed as follows:

1.	Set up all Preferences as desired.

See Set up Preferences

2.	Make sure "Save preferences on exit" is activated.

3.	Quit the program.

4.	Launch the program again, and deactivate "Save preferences on exit".

Now you can change the Preferences for this session, but the settings you had when you last Quit will be the ones you get the next time you launch the program.

Related Topics


   Checking the available hard disk space

The available disk space for recording and Undo is limited by the size of the disk where you store your temporary files.

To find out how much disk space you have available on each of your volumes, select "Free Disk Space" from the File menu.

The window that appears displays this information both graphically and as a number.


Putting a limit on the Undo function

If you run out of hard disk space or if you are applying processing to extremely long sections of waves, you might want to put a limit on the Undo function:

1.	Select Preferences from the Options menu.

2.	Click on the Editing tab.

3.	Uncheck the "Unlimited" option in the Undo/Redo section.

4.	Change the Limit number to the desired value.

Related Topics


   Clearing the Undo function

There might be situations where you have "collected" a large number of Undo possibilities that you know you don’t need. You might then clear the whole Undo "buffer" for one file at a time. This will free up some primary memory (RAM) but more importantly it will also delete all the "undo files" from your hard disk, to free up space.

1.	Select "Purge undo" from the Edit menu.

A window appears informing you of how much RAM and hard disk space you will gain by this operation.

2.	Click OK.

Please note that this function only works on one document at a time. It is only the Undo buffer for the file in the active window that will be cleared.

Related Topics


   Displaying the Clipboard

If you want to see the contents of the WaveLab clipboard (not the main Windows clipboard), select Clipboard from the Edit menu and Show from the sub-menu that appears.

The Clipboard window opens.

The Clipboard is a Wave window like any other (it is always in stereo) and any type of editing can be applied to it except those involving Cut, Copy or Paste. You can even Undo and Redo operations on the Clipboard!

Related Topics


    Clearing the Clipboard

If the clipboard is wasting hard disk space for other Temporary files, you way want to clear it.

Pull down the Edit menu, select Clipboard and from the sub-menu that appears, select Clear.

Related Topics


Applying a Preset

1.	Open the dialog  where you want to Apply the Preset, and click on its Presets tab.

2.	Double click on the Preset you want to use, in the list.

Alternatively you can click on the Preset once, and then click the Load button.

3.	Click Apply.

Quick Loading of Presets

A quick way to load a Preset from the Settings tab of a dialog is to press the right mouse button on the Preset tab and select from the menu that appears.

Related Topics


Creating a Preset

1.	Open the dialog for which you wish to create a Preset, and set up the dialog as desired.

2.	Click on the Presets tab.

3.	Click on the name line and type in a name for the Preset.

4.	Click the Add button.

Related Topics


Modifying a Preset

1.	Open the dialog for which you wish to modify a Preset, and select and load the Preset.

2.	Click the Settings tab and modify the settings.

3.	Click the Preset tab.

4.	Select the Preset you want to overwrite with the new settings.

If this is the same Preset as the original, you can skip this step, since that Preset is already selected.

5.	Click the Update button.

Related Topics


Deleting a Preset

1.	In the Presets tab, click on the Preset you want to delete.

2.	Click the Delete button.

Related Topics


Key Commands - File Handling

[Control]-[O]	Open wave file

[Control]-[S]	Save current wave

[Control]-[N]	Create new wave

[Control]-[W]	Close current document (and all its related windows)


Key Commands - Zooming

Main view

[G]	Zoom in horizontally (or Zoom out if Cubase compatibility is enabled)

[H]	Zoom out horizontally (or Zoom in if Cubase compatibility is enabled)

[J]	Zoom out to display entire wave horizontally

[Shift]-[G]	Zoom in vertically  (or Zoom out if Cubase compatibility is enabled)

[Shift]-[H]	Zoom out vertically (or Zoom in if Cubase compatibility is enabled)

[Shift]-[J]	Zoom in or out to get an optimized level display (best fit)

[K]	Zoom selection

Overview

[Control]-[G]	Zoom in horizontally  (or Zoom out if Cubase compatibility is enabled)

[Control]-[H]	Zoom out horizontally (or Zoom in if Cubase compatibility is enabled)

[Control]-[J]	Zoom out to display entire wave horizontally

[Control]+[Shift]-[G]	Zoom in vertically (or Zoom out if Cubase compatibility is enabled)

[Control]+[Shift]-[H]	Zoom out vertically  (or Zoom in if Cubase compatibility is enabled)

[Control]+[Shift]-[J]	Zoom in or out to see an optimized level display (best fit)


   Key Commands - View and Snapshots

Adjusting the View

The following commands scroll the window without moving the cursor

[Control]+[Alt]-[Home]	Start of Wave

[Control]+[Alt]-[End]	End of Wave

[Control]+[Alt]-[Page Up]	One window width to the left

[Control]+[Alt]-[Page Down]	One window width to the right

Snapshots

The number keys referred to below are the ones on the typewriter part of the keyboard, not on the numeric keypad. Furthermore these refer to the keys on an American keyboard. Other countries may have other key caps on the same keys.

[1] to [8]	Recall snapshot 1 to 8

[Control]-[1] to [8]	Store snapshot 1 to 8


   Key Commands - Playback and Cursor position

Numeric key pad

[Enter]	Play (from current position)

[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

[.] (full stop)	Scroll to cursor

[/]	Loop on/off (current wave only)

[F]	Scroll during playback on/off

Function keys

The following keys are available even if a dialog is the active window!

[Space Bar]	Toggle Play / Stop

 [F8]	Play (from current position)

[F7]	Stop / Move to selection start / Move to beginning

[F6]	Play selection

[F5]	Empty the playback buffers

Cursor keys

[ [image]]	Move cursor one pixel left

[ [image]]	Move cursor one pixel  right

[Control]-[ [image]]	Move cursor 1/10 of the window width to the left

[Control]-[ [image]]	Move cursor 1/10 of the window width to the right

[Page Up]	Move cursor 1/10 of the window width to the left (or right if Cubase compatibility enabled)

[Page Down]	Move cursor 1/10 of the window width to the right (or left if Cubase compatibility enabled)

[Control]-[Page Up]	Move cursor one window width left  (or right if Cubase compatibility enabled)

[Control]-

[Page Down]	Move cursor one window width right  (or left if Cubase compatibility enabled)

[Home]	Move cursor to beginning

[End]	Move cursor to end

[Tab]	Toggle Cursor between left/right/both channels (stereo waves only)


   Key Commands - Selecting

[Esc]	Toggle selection on/off

[Tab]	Toggle selection between left/right/both channels (stereo waves only)

Extending or making selections

The following commands create a new selection or extend the current one.

[Shift]-[ [image]]	One pixel to the left

[Shift]-[ [image]]	One pixel to the right

[Control]+[Shift]-[ [image]]	20 pixels to the left

[Control]+[Shift]-[ [image]]	20 pixels to the right

[Shift]-[Page Up]	20 pixels to the left  (or right if Cubase compatibility enabled)

[Shift]-[Page Down]	20 pixels to the right  (or left if Cubase compatibility enabled)

[Control]+[Shift]-

[Page Up]	One window width to the left  (or right if Cubase compatibility enabled)

[Control]+[Shift]-

[Page Down]	One window width to the right (or left if Cubase compatibility enabled)

Making selections

The following commands always create a new selection

[Shift]-[Home]	From cursor to start

[Shift]-[End]	From cursor to end

[Control]-[A]	Select all

"One the fly" numeric key pad commands

The following commands are for selecting during playback. Please note that the keys on the numeric key pad must be used.

[Shift]-[1]	Set start of selection

[Shift]-[2]	Set end of selection

[+]	Press and hold to set start of selection, release to set end of selection.


   Key Commands - Editing and Recording

Cut and Paste

[Control]-[X]	Cut

[Control]-[C]	Copy

[Control]-[V]	Paste

[Control]+[Shift]-[V]	Paste Append

Delete and Silence

[Backspace]	Delete current selection

[Control]-[space bar]	Silence current selection

[Control]+[Shift]-

[Insert]	Insert silence

[Control]-

[Backspace]	Trim (to selection)

Recording

[*] (Multiply on

num key pad)	Open Record dialog

Undo and Redo

Please note that the  function key Undo and Redo commands are available even if a dialog is the active window!

[Control]-[Z]	Undo

[F3]	Undo

[Control]+[Shift]-[Z]	Redo

[F4]	Redo


Key Commands - Processing

[N]	Normalize

[D]	Dynamics

[Control]-[F]	Fade in/out

[X]	Crossfade

[T]	Time stretch

[P]	Pitch Correction

[Q]	EQ

[Control]-[B]	Batch processor


Key Commands - Markers

[Control]-[M]	Open marker list

[Insert]	Drop new marker at cursor position (for example during playback)

[Control]-[Insert]	Create Marker


Key Commands - Database

[Insert]	Add file to database

[Control]-[D]	Scan Disk

[Control]-[F]	Global Find

[Control]-[G]	Global Filter


Key Commands - Miscellaneous

[F2]	Toggle focus between the last 2 accessed windows

[Control] - [F2]	Open list of open windows

[Alt] - [Control] - [M]	Maximize Wave window width

[W]	Show/hide Window controller

[F9]	Show/hide Control bar

[F10]	Show/hide Toolbox

[F11]	Show/hide Snapshots

[F12]	Show/hide Transport

[Control]-[F9]	Show/hide Master Section

[Control]-[F10]	Show/hide Monitor window

[Control]-[F11]	Show/hide Live-input window

[Control]-[P]	Open Preferences dialog

[M]	Magnetize Bounds on/off

[Z]	Zero crossing on/off


About Markers
The Various Marker types

   About Markers

The following marker types are available:

Marker Type:	Purpose:

Generic	This is mainly used for locating certain important positions and for editing (for example selecting all audio between two positions).

Temporary	As Generic, but not saved with the file.

CD Start, End & Boundary	These denote where CD Tracks start and end. A CD Track Boundary is used when a CD Track starts just where another ends.

CD Sub-Index	These are used to create "index" points in CD Tracks.

Loop Start and End	These are used to define loop points. This is useful for editing purposes, and also when creating loops before transferring a sound to a sampler.

Mute Start and End	This can be used to temporarily silence a certain section. In addition, muted sections are skipped on playback, see page 137.

Playback Starter	This is used to program a playback start point. See page 135.

About Marker Pairs

Three of the marker types come in pairs: CD, Loop and Mute.

Since you can’t have a CD track that Starts but never ends, a Loop End point without a Start etc, special rules exist for creating, deleting and moving these types of markers.

CD Track markers must always be "balanced".

For example, if you delete a Track Start, the corresponding end marker will also be deleted, or other markers will be changed.

Loop and Mute markers only have any functionality when they are balanced.

You can enter just a Loop Start marker, but it’s purpose will be defeated by the lack of a corresponding Loop End.

In the following text, whenever an operation has a special implication on marker pairs, this will be noted.

About Importing and Saving Loop Markers

There are a few points to be aware of when importing files with loops into WaveLab. This is because the loops can be defined in two places: Wave and AIFF file formats have the ability to contain loop points, and WaveLab stores loop points as markers separately for each file, in ".MRK" files. So, there’s a potential risk for conflict:

When you import a file that has never been used in WaveLab before, and which contains loops, the loops are "imported" and displayed as loop markers (in addition, the sample note and detune information described on page 372 is imported, if present).

When you then save the file in AIFF or Wave format, the loop points are stored, both as part of the actual file (so that other applications can read them) and in the ".MRK" file (for WaveLab). To make sure loop info is saved properly in the actual file, use Save As rather than Save.

When you open a file that has been used in WaveLab before, loop indications that were originally in the file, before you used it in WaveLab, are ignored. Only the Loop info in the ".MRK" file is used.

The Marker Toolbar

There is a special Toolbar for markers. This can be brought up from the View menu, just like all other Toolbars, or by pressing [Ctrl]-[M].

Related Topics


   Creating a Marker on the fly or from Stop mode

Dropping Markers on the fly

To add a marker on the fly, proceed as follows:

1.	Play back the file.

2.	When the cursor reaches the position where you want a marker:

Press [Insert].

Click the Drop marker button on the Marker Toolbar.

Select Drop Marker from the time ruler speed menu.

You can give the marker a proper name later.

Dropping Generic or Temporary markers

Normally the markers dropped this way are Generic. However, in the Units tab in the Preferences dialog you will find an option for dropping temporary markers.

Creating a Marker from "stop mode"

1.	Set the wave cursor to where you want the marker to appear.

2.	Do one of the following:

Click on the New Marker button on the marker Toolbar.

Click with the right mouse button on the time ruler and select New Marker from the menu that appears.

Press [Control]+[Insert] as a shortcut for the "New Marker" operation described above.

3.	Select a marker type.

4.	Fill out the other options in the dialog and click OK.

See the context sensitive help for details.

If you add a CD Start marker like this, a corresponding end marker will be added automatically, and vice versa.

Related Topics


  Dropping Markers While Recording

You can drop markers during a recording. For example, if you are auditioning some material while transferring it from DAT tape to WaveLab, you can add markers at important positions, as they are coming up.

Related Topics


Creating Markers pairs From the Marker Toolbar
  Creating Marker pairs From the Marker Toolbar

To create a Loop or a Mute Region (see later in this chapter for descriptions of these terms) or a complete CD Track, you can use the Marker Toolbar:

1.	Make a selection that spans the area you want to enclose by a marker pair.

2.	Click on the corresponding Marker pair symbol on the Marker Toolbar.

Markers are added at the start and end of the selection.

Related Topics


Generating Markers Automatically

The program allows you to automatically generate markers at certain significant positions in a file or selection. For example this could be used to pinpoint phrase starts in recorded dialog, beats in a drum recording etc.

This is based on peaks and silence in the material. WaveLab analyses the file and adds markers at positions that match the criteria. If a pair type marker has been specified (CD Track Start/End, Loop Start/End etc), alternate start and end markers are added, specifying "regions" in the material.

1.	If you only want to add markers to a certain part of a file, select that part.

2.	Open the New Marker dialog.

3.	Select the type of markers you want to add, by clicking in the list to the left.

4.	Click the Automatic generation button.

5.	Set up the dialog according to the material and the desired marker "density".

Use the context sensitive help for details about the dialog. Also note that you can create and use Presets for this.

6.	If you want to add markers to the selection only, make sure "Only process selected audio material" is activated.

7.	If you want to automatically turn all found regions into CD Tracks sections, activate "Create CD track list from created regions".

For this option to be available you must have selected CD type markers in the previous dialog.

8.	Click OK.

The program tells you how many markers will be added. This gives you and idea of the validity of your settings. If the number doesn't make sense, click Cancel and try again, otherwise click OK.

Some manual tweaking of the added markers will most likely be necessary. Often it makes sense to let the program add more markers than is required so that you later can manually delete the superfluous ones.

If the marker creation didn't turn out as expected at all, use the "Delete Multiple markers" feature (described on page 305) and try again with different parameter settings.

Related Topics


   Displaying/Hiding Markers

To hide/display the marker triangles from the ruler, click with the right mouse button in the ruler and select Hide/Show markers.

To hide the marker lines in the waveform, click with the right mouse button in the ruler and select Elements. From the menu that appears, set things up so that neither Solid Markers, nor Dotted Markers are activated.

Related Topics


   Checking the name of a Marker

1.	Make sure Show Tips is activated in the Environment section of the Preferences dialog.

2.	Move the mouse pointer over the marker triangle, and wait for a moment.

The name of that marker will appear.

Related Topics


Moving a Marker

To move a marker, press the mouse button over the triangle "Head" and drag to the new position.

Snap to zero crossing applies.

If "Magnetize bounds" on the Options menu is activated, the marker "snaps" to the edges of the selection, the cursor's position and the beginning and end of the wave.

Related Topics


Editing, Converting and Naming Markers

The New Marker window can also be used to change existing marker’s properties. There are several ways to open this window with settings for a certain marker:

Right click on the marker in the time ruler and choose "Edit Marker" from the menu that appears.

Hold down [Alternate] and double click on the marker.

Open the Marker list, select a marker, click with the right mouse button on a marker and select Edit or press [Return].

Operations in the dialog

To transform a Marker into any other type, simply select that type in the list to the left.

To rename a Marker, uncheck "Automatic naming" and type in your own name.

To make sure that a CD Track End or boundary marker appear on an exact CD frame position, activate the corresponding option.

To lock the position of a marker so that it can’t be moved, activate the Lock Position option.

If the marker is a Loop End marker you can change the number of repeats for the Loop by unchecking Infinite and specifying your own number of Loops.

Related Topics


Deleting Markers

When you delete one marker in a marker pair, the other marker will also be deleted.

Deleting one Marker from the Wave window

1.	To delete a marker in the wave window, click with the right mouse button on the head of marker you want to delete/rename.

2.	Select Delete.

Alternatively you can drag the marker out of the window.

Deleting in the Marker List

1.	Double click in the ruler.

The marker window appears.

2.	Click with the right mouse button on the marker you want to delete/rename.

3.	Select Delete.

Deleting all Markers of a Certain Type

1.	Click with the right mouse button on the time ruler.

2.	Select Delete Multiple Markers.

3.	Activate the Marker types that you want to delete.

4.	Click OK.

Related Topics


  Operations Involving Markers

Setting the Wave Cursor to a Marker position

To move the wave cursor to a certain marker, do one of the following:

Double click on the marker triangle.

This is probably the most convenient option if the Marker is currently visible in the window. This even works during playback!

Double click in the ruler, select one of the markers in the list that appears, and click Close.

This is probably the most convenient option if the Marker is outside the current view.

Activate "Magnetize bounds" on the Options menu. Click on the ruler close to the Marker, or drag the cursor to a position close to the Marker.

Browsing markers

You can move the wave cursor from marker to marker by:

Clicking the arrow button on the Marker Toolbar, or...

By using the keys [4] and [5] on the numeric key pad.

Starting Playback from a Marker

There are several ways to make playback start from a certain marker:

Locate to a marker, as described above, and activate playback from there.

Double click on a Marker in the Marker list.

Select one of the marker related options on the Transport (see page 135 for details).

Selecting between Markers

To select all audio between two adjacent markers, double click between them.

To extend the selection to consecutive markers, continue dragging to the left/right.

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.

Dropping on Markers (Magnetize bounds)

For any operation involving drag and drop of audio material you can use a marker position as start point for the section you drop. This is useful when it is very important that the dropped material is inserted at a very specific position.

1.	Make sure Magnetize bounds (on the Options menu) is activated.

2.	Drag the selection, and position the mouse pointer close to a marker line.

The "drag line" snaps to the marker line.

3.	Make sure the marker line and the drag line appear on top of each other, then release the mouse button.

Creating CD Tracks

All operations related to CD markers are described in the topic Working with CD Markers.

Looping

Loop Markers are primarily intended for setting up loops in material that you transfer to samplers (see the topic about the Crossfade Looper) 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.

Set up a loop with a specified number of repetitions, to check out how a repetition effect will sound.

Note that you can nest Loops, that is you can have Loops inside Loops.

Skipping Regions

The Start and End Mute markers denote regions that should be skipped.

To Skip a Mute region on playback, select "Skip Muted regions" on the Transport.

This can be very useful in conjunction with looping. Loop a section and adjust the Mute markers during playback until the desired section is skipped.

Related Topics


Master Section

The Master Section is the "heart" of the RealTime Engine. One of the main applications for this section is for preparing recordings for final mastering (CD, video, multimedia etc). But the RealTime Engine is not limited to this area only. It allows you to creatively process recordings, whether they are complete mixes or individual tracks in a multi channel recording.

Blocks

The master section comprises the following blocks:

Effect slots.

Dithering processor.

Output level block.

Apply section.

Deciding whether to use the Master section

Since WaveLab is useful without the Master section, you may opt to "unload" it from the program, especially if your CPU is too slow. This is done by unchecking the "Use Master Section" item on the Options menu.

When the master Section is deactivated, the following section of the program are unavailable:

The Master Section window, including effects and dithering.

The Live Input.

The Monitor window.

Opening the Master Section window

The Master section window is opened as any other, from the Windows menu or from the Windows controller. You can also open it by pressing [Ctrl]+[F9].

When you open this window, effect panels might also appear.

Closing the Master Section

By closing the Master Section window, you also close all the effect control panels that are open at that time.

Closing the Master Section window does not mean the Master section functionality is removed from the program. In other words, all the effect processing and other settings are still applied, even though the window is closed. To completely disable the Master section, instead deselect "Use Master Section" on the Options menu.


Output level section

The Output level block

This section is used to monitor and control levels from the output of the program. The following items are available:

Meters

These show the level of the signal delivered to the computer’s audio output.

If the meters enter the red area, hard clipping has occurred. This means the total headroom of the system has been exceeded and the sound will be distorted. To reduce the level, use the faders (see below).

Please note that is possible to assign the meters and Clip indicators to the output of a single effect. See Metering Effects.

Peak Hold values

These fields complement the meters by indicating and "memorizing" the highest signal level ("peaks") for each channel. The values are retained until you click the Reset button.

Clip indicators

These are tools for detecting for signal clipping at the Master Section’s outputs. Once lit, the Clip indicators stay lit until you click the Reset button, just like the Peak Hold values.

Faders

These are the master faders for the entire signal chain. These are mainly used to adjust the level to avoid clipping or distortion introduced by effects that amplify the signal. Normally, the faders are "ganged", that is, dragging one adjusts the other by the same amount.

To adjust by a course amount, drag either fader handle to the desired position. Alternatively, click on the position on the fader’s outer frame that corresponds to the desired level value.

To fine adjust, click on the middle or upper half of the fader handle (increase) or the lower dark half (decrease).

If you want to adjust one channel independently of the other, hold down [Cntrl] and adjust in any of the ways described above.

To set both faders to the 0dB indication, hold down the [Shift] key while clicking either on a fader or its housing.

About offset fader positions

When working with faders that have been set independently of each other, please note the following two points:

The fader graphics move exponentially.

This means that when you move one fader, the other does not follow in a linear fashion on the screen. However, the audio result is what you expect.

Fader offsets are not preserved at the end of the range of movement.

If you drag one handle, and the other reaches the end of the available range before the one you drag, its relative position will be disrupted.

Fader level reading

These show the exact fader level setting for the channel in question.

Reset meters

Click on this button to reset:

The Clip indicators.

The Peak Hold values.

The Dropout indicator.

About button

Click here if you are interested in who programmed the Master Section. Click on the About window to close it.


Effect Section

WaveLab’s Master Section provides six effect slots. You can load one effect Plug-In into each of these slots.

Below is an illustration of the internal signal path. As you can note, the signal passes from "top to bottom" through the effects and then via the dithering option.

What Effects are available?

A number of effects are included with the program.

In addition to this, a number of plug-in effects can be purchased separately, both from Steinberg and other vendors. Contact your WaveLab dealer for the latest list. The manuals that come with the plug-in module describe how to install them so that they are available for use in WaveLab.

To obtain help on using an effect, open its control panel and press [F1].

Adding and Removing Effects

Click on the arrow next to the effect slot name, to display a list of all installed effects. Select one by clicking on its name.

Select "None" to remove the effect from the slot.

You can assign the same effect to several slots, making it possible to use it several times, with different settings.

Metering the Output of an Effect (Mon button)

When Mon is activated for an effect slot, the outputs of that effect are assigned to the Clip indicators and meters. This can be used to visually check the output of an effect for inappropriate signal levels.

To route metering back to the master section, click the Mon button again.

Opening a Control Panel for the Effect (FX button)

When you first assign an effect to a slot, its Control Panel appears automatically and the FX button will light up to indicate that the panel is open.

To close the panel, use its close box or click the FX button. To re-open it, click the FX button again.

When you close the Master section, all control panels are automatically closed.

Soloing an effect (Solo button)

Click the Solo button if you wish to listen to an effect in isolation. Any other effect you may have assigned to another slot will temporarily be bypassed. You can only solo one effect at a time.

Activating/Deactivating an effect (ON button)

Click the ON button to activate/deactivate an effect. The indicator shows the status.

Deactivating an effect temporarily removes it from the signal chain, thus freeing up processing power for other calculations.

Turning off all Processors

The Global Off button allows you to bypass all processors temporarily, so that you can hear how things sound without any processing at all. What this switch actually does is to set each individual processor to Bypass mode.

Please note that the dithering and output level setting are active, even in Global Off mode.


Dropout indicator

This indicator will light up whenever WaveLab fails to properly play back as little as a single sample of the currently selected wave.

Why and when does a dropout occur?

A dropout is most likely to occur when your computer does not have the processing power to properly handle all the effects that you have inserted.

The Dropout indicator also comes on when you assign or remove an effect from a slot. As long as you are not mastering, this situation is nothing to worry about.

As mentioned above, this indicator lights up if as little as a single sample is not correct. Often this type of precision is not required, but the sensitivity of this indicator is yet another proof that great care has been taken to provide you with a truly professional tool.

What can I do about it?

To avoid dropouts, try the following:

Use fewer effects.

You might be running out of processing power.

Consider Applying the effects rather than running them in real time. This saves a file to which the effect has been permanently applied. Then master from the processed file without any effects plugged in.

Dropouts never occur when "Applying" effects in this way.

Do not process any files in the background while mastering digitally to for example a DAT.

If neither of the above helps the situation, please check the Audio Card Preference settings, you might need to adjust the audio buffers.

If a dropout occurs during the mastering process (and if your master must be flawless for it to be useful) we strongly recommend that you re-master. Stop playback, click on the Dropout message or the Reset button to turn the indicator off again, and try again.


Dithering

What is dithering?

Dithering is a method for reducing quantization errors in digital recordings. To the ear, such errors are perceived as "graininess" during low level passages in a recording. When "truncating bits", as a result of moving from for example 20 to 16 bit resolution, such quantization errors are added to an otherwise perfect recording.

By adding a special kind of noise at an extremely low level, the quantization errors are minimized. Indeed, the added noise can be perceived as a very low-level quiescent hiss added to the recording. However, this is hardly noticeable and much preferred to the distortion that otherwise occurs.

When should I apply Dithering?

When preparing 20 bit files for mastering to CD (converting to 16 bits).

When preparing 16 bit recordings for multimedia (converting to 8 bits).

When processing with effects in the master section, even though there is no intention to change the bit resolution of the file.

Digital effects of any kind can sometimes introduce quantization errors.

How do I dither?

The general process for dithering is this:

1.	Set up the Master Section window as desired.

This might include using effects of various types.

2.	Process in real time or Apply the changes.

Dithering is applied as part of the processing. If you for example are playing back a 20 bit file via a 16 bit card, the bit reduced signal will be dithered.

3.	If you "Applied" the settings, now save the file in a format with a lower bit resolution.

The Dithering options

Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules for the following options, what to select depends on the type of material. We recommend that you experiment and let your ears be the final judge.

To set the parameters, click the white arrows repeatedly until the desired value appears.

Dither method (off, Type 1, Type 2)

Off: No dithering is applied.

Type 1: Try this option first, it is the most "all-round" type of method.

Type 2: This method emphasizes higher frequencies more than Type 1.

Dither Bits (8, 16, 20 or 24)

This is used to specify the intended bit resolution for the final audio, after dithering, regardless of whether you "Apply" the settings or use real-time processing. It is very important to set this correctly, especially when reducing the bit resolution.

Noise Shape (off, type 1, 2 or 3)

This parameter alters the character of the noise added when dithering. Again, there are no hard and fast rules, but you may notice that the higher the number you select here, the more the noise is moved out of the ear’s most sensitive range, the mid-range.


The Apply function

As stated earlier, all processing in the Master Section and the effect modules is carried out in real time, which means that you could master your projects without permanently changing the waves being processed.

You can, however, also "Apply" the settings to the wave file being processed so that they become a part of it.

When do I use Apply and when do I use real time?

One important difference between applying effects and using them in real time, is that with the Apply function, any combination of effects can be used even though your computer doesn’t have the processing power to apply them in real time.

This means that applying can be a way of performing heavy processing on a less powerful computer.

Another thing to note is that if you are worried about dropouts, applying effects will remove this problem completely.

What is Applied?

When you Apply the settings, the following processing is applied to the file:

The master fader settings.

The Effects.

The Dithering options.

Selecting where the effect is applied

The Apply function operates on either the file in the active window, or on the wave being played. This can be used to process one file in real time as it is being played back, while applying settings to a number of other files.

Calling up the Apply dialog and filling out the options

1.	Click the Apply button to call up the dialog.

For a description of the options, use the context sensitive help in the dialog itself.

2.	Once everything is set up correctly, click OK to initiate the processing. Or, if you change your mind, click Cancel.

Working with multiple files

Once you have applied settings to one wave, as described above, you can continue with processing the next. The processing of the first wave will continue in the background. This way you can apply processing to as many waves as desired. Please also note that each wave can have it’s own priority  setting.

Every time you start a background process, a copy of the current plug-in configuration is created and associated with this background process. This means that you can remove and add plug-ins without affecting the current background process(es). In other words, editing plug-ins, removing them, inserting new ones, changing the dither options, the volume, etc., does not affect the background processing.

Background processes can be suspended, canceled or boosted via the Monitor window.


Monitor Window

The Monitor window shows you how hard your computer’s CPU is working with various processes. It has two sections:

Background Process View

Performance View


Background Process View

This view lets you monitor the progress of the background process(es) that are currently taking place. By right clicking on the view, you open a menu that provides several options: you can change the priority boost of any process, suspend it (to assign more power to the other processes), cancel it, etc.

Use the context sensitive help ([F1]) for explanations of the items on the menu.


Status Display

The lower part of the Monitor window, the Status display, provides a reflection of the processing power currently being used by background processing.

The yellow lines refer to the power used for providing input to the Master Section, either reading waves from disk or Live Input. Please note that the values are an approximation. What is shown is the minimum value WaveLab could measure. This performance is influenced by the quality of your audio card driver (for Live-input) and by your hard disk (SCSI is often better than IDE or E-IDE at transferring data).

The purple lines indicate the processing power that is required for all effects currently running in the Master section. The shorter the line, the less the load on the CPU. This is a very precise measurement. Usually, these lines should not exceed 70-75% to ensure no dropouts occur during playback. Since processing/playback is a high-priority task, the entire user interface slows down when a demanding process is taking place. To start/stop playback during heavy CPU loads, use the keyboard shortcuts rather than clicking on the Transport Bar with the mouse.

To save processing power, you can opt to play/process only one of the channels in a stereo file. Use the "Play Left/Right channel" options on Options menu. Playing/processing only one channel (in real time) reduces the CPU load for this operation by 50%.

The blue lines reflect the processing power required by the output device. This is an approximation. WaveLab will show the minimum value which it could measure. The output performance is influenced by the quality of your audio card driver.

Customizing the Status 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.

Other options are available if you position the cursor anywhere in the black part of the window and press the right mouse button. Use the context sensitive help ([F1]) for explanations of the items on the menu.


Live Input

Live Input means that the Master Section is used for real time processing of signals coming in to the sound card’s input(s). This signal can be of any type that your sound card will accept, for example an audio feed from a mixer, a tape recorder or a microphone.

This option either requires an audio card with full duplex, or two cards, one for recording and one for playback!

Activating and setting up Live Input

To activate the Live Input mode, click on the microphone in the Windows bar.

To set up the attributes for the Live Input, click with the right mouse button in the Live Input window.

To activate Live Input, click Play.

To resume regular playback of opened waves, click on any wave window.

To again switch back to live input, stop playback and click on the Live Input window.

It is not possible to start playback of a wave while the Live Input window is active. You must activate a wave window before clicking the Play button.

Live Input, delays and buffering

It is unavoidable that a certain delay is introduced between live audio input and output. If you process audio from for example a DAT, this delay is normally no problem. You can then concentrate on making settings that minimize the risk for dropouts. However, if you process a live instrument, you might need to make this delay as small as possible.

This balance between short delay times on one hand, and minimizing the risk for dropouts on the other, is done by adjusting the buffering on the Audio Card tab in the Preferences dialog (see the context sensitive help in the dialog for details). With proper settings, the delay can often be reduced to 100 or 200 milliseconds.

Two factors will determine how much you can reduce the buffers:

The audio-card.

The faster the card, the smaller the buffers need to be.

The CPU power.

The more plug-ins you have, and the slower the computer you use, the larger the buffers must be.

Usually, if it works for you, it is better to have a few large buffers, rather than many small ones.


What Processor (plug-ins) can be used?

There are primarily four sources for effects:

Effects included with WaveLab, designed specifically for the program.

Effects included with WaveLab, designed to also work with Cubase VST and other Steinberg programs.

Third-party or Steinberg plug-ins that you purchase separately and that are specifically designed for Steinberg programs ("VST-compatible plug-ins"). Contact your WaveLab dealer for the latest list.

Plug-ins that adhere to the Microsoft DirectX (formerly ActiveMovie) standard.

Some processors not specifically designed for WaveLab may not have a dry/wet signal balance parameter. In these cases, using the plug-in in WaveLab may not produce the desired effect. You might wind up with an all-wet signal or a mix between wet and dry that can’t be adjusted.


Installing Plug-in Processors

Installing the included plug-ins

A large number of plug-ins were installed with the program. To use these you do not need to do anything, they are already available.

Installing additional VST-compatible plug-ins

When you purchase a plug-in processor designed to work specifically with WaveLab, instructions for installing it will be included.

Installing DirectX plug-ins

A large number of plug-in processors in the DirectX format are available. There is even some free- and shareware available on the Internet which are free or shareware.

Normally if the DirectX plug-in has been installed properly, it will automatically be "visible" in WaveLab. If it isn’t, you need to "update the Windows registry" so that it is. Proceed as follows:

1.	Launch the Windows Explorer.

2.	Locate the actual plug-in file on your hard disk.

These are "dll" files, which means they normally have the extension ".dll". Sometimes other extensions are used as well.

3.	Drag and drop the file icon, either onto the WaveLab program icon, or somewhere in the WaveLab application window.

A dialog box will ask you whether you want to register the plug-in or not.


Handling Plug-in Control Panels

Any number of effect panels can be open at the same time by clicking the corresponding "FX" button in the Master section.

The windows can be positioned anywhere on the screen.

Bypass, Mute and Clip in Standard panels

To bypass both an effect module and the slot to which it is assigned, click the On button in the Master section, so that its indicator goes out.

To bypass an effect while keeping the slot active, click the Bypass button in the effect's control panel.

When you click the Mute button in a control panel, you actually mute the slot’s signal output. That means that you will no longer hear your wave or live signal because it won’t even reach the next stage (either another slot or the master faders).

The Clip indicator will light up whenever the signal level is too high. Unless you notice any audible signal deterioration, this is nothing to worry about since WaveLab’ internal dynamic is 192dB. In other words, it is perfectly possible to have a signal over 0 dB. The Clip indicators of the Master Section, however, should never light up.

It is possible to bypass the entire Master Section (including the effects) by placing the cursor in the Main View, holding down the [Space bar] and pressing the left mouse button. Playback of the original (i.e. with no processing whatsoever) will then continue until you release the left mouse button.

Setting effect parameters in standard panels

All the standard effects' control panels provide the following procedures for selecting parameters and setting values:

"Para" buttons are used to select which of the available parameters to change. Click the left Para button to select the previous parameter (if available), or the right button to select the next parameter.

The selected (and therefore adjustable) parameter is indicated by a rectangle. If there are more parameters than the window can display, the parameter window will scroll to the left or right whenever you select a parameter that is currently not shown.

Click the Dec/Inc buttons to change the value of the selected parameter by one step. The red indicator to the left of the buttons will light up every time you click.

The Data Entry dial is also used for changing parameter values. To change the value, click on the dial and drag upwards to increase and downwards to decrease.

In addition, different combinations of mouse buttons allow you to control how the value changes.

Normal data entry - Use the left mouse button.

Coarse data entry - Use the right mouse button.

Fine data entry - Use both the left and right mouse buttons.

Custom Panels

The look of some effects may deviate from the standard control panel described above. In fact, an effect can have any control panel that the plug-in designer desires. An example of this is the EQ module included with WaveLab.

For information about the panels for additional plug-ins, see the documentation for each plug-in.


Working with Plug-in Presets

With WaveLab comes a number of "factory presets" for the included processors, that you can you select and use as is, or as a starting point for your own settings. Additional plug-in processors may provide their own "factory presets".

WaveLab specific plug-ins

Applying and saving Presets for WaveLab specific processors works exactly as with any other Preset. See the "Presets" section on page 76 for details.

VST-compatible plug-ins

VST plug-ins have their own Preset handling. When you click the Preset menu in this type of plug-in, a menu with the following options appears:

Load/Save Bank.

This allows you to load and save complete sets of Presets. The file format is compatible with Cubase VST.

Load/Save Preset

As above, but for one Preset at a time. Also compatible with Cubase VST.

Edit name of current program

This allows you define a name for the Preset, which might be displayed in the panel (depending on the plug-in).

Preset List

This allows you to select one of the currently loaded Presets.

DirectX plug-ins

Here, the same functionality as for WaveLab plug-ins is provided. In addition, you can import "native" presets created for the plug-in.

Related Topics


Organizing Plug-in Processors

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 VST installed on the computer, even more appear in WaveLab. And sometimes when you install a package of Active Movie plug-ins, the menus become cluttered with effects which have no relevance to WaveLab (or even to audio).

Organizing the way your plug-ins appear on menus in the program is done in the Plug-ins Manager, which is opened from the Options menu.

About the plug-in list

The Plug-in Manager window.

Program Sections

There are plug-ins for two sections of the program, the Loop Tuners and the Master Section. This is indicated by two folders in the list, at the "root level".

These two types of plug-ins are fundamentally different.

The Loop Tuners are for working with samplers.

The Master Section plug-ins are Processors, or effects, that can be added to the Master Section slots or utilized from within the Batch Processor, see the context sensitive help for details.

Groups

In the Master Section section of the list, you will find sub-folders, representing Groups of plug-ins (Loop tuners can't be organized into Groups).

By organizing your plug-ins into folders, you arrange the way they appear on menus in the program. How you organize your effects is of course up to you, but initially, they are categorized according to their technical "type", regular plug-ins in one folder, VST plug-ins in another, Active Movie plug-ins in yet another, etc, see the context sensitive help for more details.

The Columns

The Plug-in column displays the names of all the available plug-ins.

The Use columns determines whether a plug-in is active or not, see below.

The Key column displays the Key Sequence defined for a plug-in.

The Module columns tells you something about the origin and type of the plug-in.

Activating and Deactivating Plug-ins and Groups

By clicking in the Use column, you can activate/deactivate individual plug-ins or an entire Group of plug-ins (see below for more info on Groups).

If you have plug-ins installed in your computer that you don't want to use in WaveLab, you can use this functionality to disable them completely (they will still be applicable in other programs which can use them). This reduces "menu clutter".

An example of this would be Active Movie plug-ins. Many of these do not apply to audio at all and have no relevance to WaveLab whatsoever. By disabling these, you will make it easier to find those plug-ins that you really want to use in WaveLab.

Working With Groups

The master Section plug-ins can be organized into Groups. This is done by adding sub-folders to the Master Section folder and then dragging Plug-in icons into these folders.

When you then select from plug-in menus or display lists of plug-ins, the organization you have created here will be reflected in the menu/list.

Creating and Deleting Groups

To create a Group, click the New Group button, enter a name and press [Return].

The Group will initially appear at the end of the list, but when you start using it, the list will be resorted so that the Groups are displayed in alphabetical order.

To Delete a Group, select it and click Delete Group.

If the Group contains any plug-ins, they will not be deleted. Instead, they will appear in the Master Section section, outside all other Groups.

Moving a Plug-in to a Group

Moving plug-ins between Groups is done by dragging and dropping, just as when dragging files in the Windows Explorer.

Undoing and Returning to the Default Settings

If you lose Track of your changes and wish to return to the state that the list was in when you first opened the dialog, click Undo Changes.

If you want to restore everything to the default "factory settings", click Set default.

Defining a Key Sequence for a Plug-in

You can define a Key Sequence for a plug-in, just as for Master Section Presets.

If the Plug-in is a Crossfade Looper, the Key sequence will simply open its window.

If the Plug-in is a Master Section processor, then it will be added to the Master Section list (if not already there) and it's panel will be opened.


   The Wave Window

This is the main WaveLab window. It is here that you perform all the basic audio editing.

There are more operations related to the wave window than it makes sense to create direct links to. Instead, to see a list of all the Wave window operations, please click on the Contents button at the top of this window. Open the "How to" book icon and check out the following groups and their topics:

Basic Wave Operations

Layout Copying, Wave Snapshots and Markers

Wave Processing

File Handling

Window Panes

The Wave window is divided into an overview (at the top) and a main view (at the bottom). These views are shown in two panes, separated by a divider. You can change the size of each pane. You can even hide the overview completely. To find out more, check the following topics:

How to Adjust pane sizes

How to Hide Panes

How to Reveal Panes


The Database Window

The Database window allows you to organize a large number of files sensibly. You can put files into categories and add keywords and comments to each. You can then for example find all bass drums on all your media with one single click!. The Database even allows you to find files on disks (CD-ROMs for example) that are not even in the computer!

Once the files are found you can play them or open them for editing.

There are more operations related to the databases than it makes sense to create direct links to. Instead, to see a list of all the Database operations, click on the Contents button at the top of this window. Open the "How to" book icon and check out "Database operations" group and its topics.

Window Panes

The Database window is divided into three panes: The Location pane (showing the location of your files on the disks), the Category pane (showing each file’s category) and the File list (showing the currently found files). You can change the size of each pane. To find out more, check the following topic:

How to Adjust pane sizes


The Project Window

The Project window allows you to organize all files that belong to a certain project, into groups. For a radio commercial, for example, you might have one group for sound effects, one for narration and one for music. This can be done even if the files are not in the same folder, or even on the same disk!

You can play the files in the Project, or open them for editing.

Related Topics


   The Free Disk Space window

This window displays the available disk space on all your connected disks.


The Frequency analysis window

This window displays the selection as a frequency graph. To make settings for the graph, double click on it, right-click on it, or select "Frequency Analysis" from the Options menu. For more info, see the on-line help Contents and Index.

Related Topics


The Marker window

This window lists the current window's markers and allows you to rename or delete them.

The list is by default sorted alphabetically but you can change the sort order by clicking on the headings.

Related Topics


 Creates a new empty Wave window. You will be asked to specify attributes for the wave.


Creates a new empty CD Program. This is  a list used to assemble the files that you want to include on a CD.


Creates a new empty Project window. You will be asked to specify a name and location for the new Project.


Creates a new empty Database window. You will be asked to specify a name and location for the new Database.


Allows you to open Wave files via a standard Windows file dialog.


This menu item is used to open a CD Program which has previously been stored on disk.


Allows you to open a Project via a standard Windows file dialog. Opening a project will close all currently opened documents. Only one project can be opened at a time.


Allows you to open Databases via a standard Windows file dialog.


Opens a window which lets you import CD Tracks directly from regular audio CDs. Open the window and press [F1] for more help.


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


 Allows you to append an audio file to the end of the active wave file.


 Allows you to insert an audio file anywhere in the active wave file. The imported audio file is inserted at the current cursor position, and the active wave is split and moved to "make room" for the imported file.


 This reverts the active wave file to its last saved state. Use this as a super-undo to undo all changes you made since you last saved.


 This closes the active window (and all its related windows).


 This saves any changes made to the active wave document. If the document hasn't ever been saved, the Save As dialog appears instead.


 This saves the active wave document under the name and in the location that you specify. A regular Windows "Save As" dialog appears.


 Allows you to save the wave file in an audio compression format of your choice. Please note that the compression methods are "lossy", which means that the compressed file cannot be restored to a wave file or opened in WaveLab. For more information, open the dialog and press [F1].


 This works just as Save As, only it allows you to change the format of the wave when saving. For more info, see Saving Files Topics


 This opens the "Save All" window, which allows you to save all or some of the opened wave files.


 This works just as Save As, only it saves the current selection only.


 This works just as Save As, only it creates a copy of the wave without affecting the original.


 This allows you to save only the left channel of a wave, in a separate file. The dialog that appears is the regular Windows "Save As" dialog.


 This allows you to save only the right channel of a wave, in a separate file. The dialog that appears is the regular Windows "Save As" dialog.


This opens the Batch Processor, a dialog used for applying processing to any number of files. It is possible to process different files with different settings, with any numbers of processors (including some plug-ins not available in the Master Section). The files to be processed don't have to be open, but can be saved directly to disk, with new names and locations if desired.

For more information, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


 This displays information about the active document.


 This opens a dialog where you can change the bit resolution and sample rate of the active wave file.


 This opens up the Free Disk Space window. This gives you a graphical and numerical overview of the amount of disk space available on your hard drive(s).


 This is used to quit (exit) WaveLab. If you have any unsaved changes, the Save All dialog will automatically appear.


 This list allows you to quickly access the audio files you work with often, or your "favourite" files. You organize this list yourself by using the items on the Functions submenu.


 Adds the active document file to the Favourites list.


 This function will go through the Favourites list and check that all files on the list exist. If a file is found missing, the file is removed from the Favourites list.


 Clears the Favourites list.


 This part of the menu lists the last opened auido files. Selecting one opens it. One advantage of using this is that it allows you to open dual mono files with one click.


 This part of the menu lists the last opened CD Program lists.


 This part of the menu lists the last opened Projects, Databases and other files (audio files and CD Programs excluded).


 Opens the Preferences dialog. This dialog is used for making a number of overall settings for the program.

Please note that to make these settings "stick" until the next time you use the program, make sure "Save Preferences on exit" on  the "General" tab is activated.

For more information about the items under each tab, open the dialog and use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol).


 Selecting on of these options applies the selected Style to the active Wave window. For more info, see Styles Topics.


 This opens up the Style Save dialog.

A Style contains all the settings you can make on the Elements and Colors speed menus in the wave display. Please note that all settings can be made individually for the main view and overview and also individually for each channel. Once the display is styled as you like it, open the Style Save dialog, select one of the "slots", type in a name and click OK. Once this is done, you can apply the style to any wave document by selecting it from the Style menu on the Options menu.

For more information, open the dialog and use the context sensitive help (the question mark symbol). See also Styles Topics.


 This opens up the Master Section Presets dialog. In this dialog, you can save all the current Master Section settings as a Preset, or load previously saved Presets. The stored settings include which processors where used, the settings for each processor and dithering options.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


 This opens up the Plug-ins manager dialog. This dialog allows you to organize the way your effect plug-ins appear on menus in the program. This can be necessary, especially if you add extra plug-ins to your system. Furthermore, sometimes when you install a package of Active Movie plug-ins you get effects that have no relevance to WaveLab (or even to audio) which just clutter menus.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


 This opens up a dialog where you can define your own key commands.


This is used to disable/enable the whole Master section. When this is deactivated, the Master section window, the Live Input and Monitor window are all unavailable.


 When this is activated, selections will snap to the closest zero crossing. For more info, see "Selecting" Topics.


 When this is activated, selections will automatically extend to the left and right so that they start and end at whole time units. The time unit used depends on the scale selected for the ruler.


 When this is activated the following items become "magnetic":

The Start and End of the entire wave.

The Start and End of the selection.

The wave cursor.

The Time ruler origin, if different than 0.

Marker.

This is used in the following operations:

When positioning the cursor by clicking or dragging in the ruler.

When creating or adjusting a selection.

When positioning markers.

When dragging and dropping a selection.


 When this is activated, the wave window will scroll automatically on playback so that the cursor always remains visible in the window. However, this does not apply to playback using the Play tool.


 This setting affects the playback behavior when you are playing back a loop: When "Restart loop on change" is activated, and you change the selection or the loop points, playback will immediately restart from the beginning of the loop. The advantage of this is that you will be able to hear the change immediately.


 This option affects the behaviour of the Playback Browser feature (a feature that helps you find a certain position in an audio file, by playing back audio when you click or drag in the ruler). If "Stop after playback browsing" is activated, playback will stop after you release the mouse button; otherwise playback will continue.


 Use this option to determine whether the left channel in the wave file should be played back or not. Turning off one channel can be extremely useful when using a lot of effects on a computer with limited processing power. If you try out a combination of effects while only playing one channel, only half the processing power is required.


 Use this option to determine whether the right channel in the wave file should be played back or not. Turning off one channel can be extremely useful when using a lot of effects on a computer with limited processing power. If you try out a combination of effects while only playing one channel, only half the processing power is required.


 This arranges all open windows in an overlapping pattern.


 This adjusts all open windows so that they appear side by side.


 This stacks all open windows so that they appear next to each other, vertically.


 This arranges all minimized WaveLab documents in a neat order at the bottom the WaveLab window.


 This closes all WaveLab document windows, regardless of type, as well as non-modal dialogs.


 This closes all WaveLab Wave windows.


 This minimizes all WaveLab document windows, regardless of type.


 This minimizes all WaveLab Wave windows.


 This restores all minimized WaveLab windows, regardless of type.


 This restores all minimized WaveLab Wave windows


 This is a list containing ten of the open WaveLab documents, regardless whether their windows are open or minimized. Selecting one makes it the active window.


 If you have more than ten documents open, this presents a list of them, in a window. Double clicking one makes it the active window.


 This takes you to the on-line help Contents, Index and Find dialog.


 When this is activated you will see a tip (in a Help window) each time you launch WaveLab. There are lots of tips.


 This opens a dialog to show you which version of WaveLab you are running.


This allows you to undo your operations. There is no real limit to the number of operations that can be undone. For more info, see Undo Topics.


If you have undone something and change your mind, this item allows you to redo it! There is no real limit to the number of operations that can be redone. For more info, see Undo Topics.


 This item opens up a window that allows you to clear the Undo buffer for the active wave file, if it uses up too much of your hard disk space. After this you will not be able to undo or redo the operations previously performed for the file. For more info, see Undo Topics.


 This removes the selected item and puts it in an invisible storage area called the Clipboard. You can then Paste it in somewhere else. For more info, see Clipboard Topics and Basic Editing Topics.


 This copies the selected item to an invisible storage area called the Clipboard. You can then Paste it in somewhere else. For more info, see Clipboard Topics and Basic Editing Topics.


 This take the data on the Clipboard and pastes it in into the active window. If you have no selection, the paste happens at the cursor. If you have a selection , it is replaced by the pasted data. For more info, see Clipboard Topics and Basic Editing Topics.


 This is just as a regular Paste. The only difference is that it overwrites the data from the cursor position and onwards, rather than inserting the data.


 This is just as a regular Paste but the data is added at the end of the wave.


 This is just as a regular Paste but the data is added at the beginning of the wave.


 This allows you to repeat material. Cut or Copy and then use this item to specify how many times the material should be pasted in.


 This pastes in the data, but mixes it with the existing material, rather than replacing or inserting.


 This item deletes everything but the selection.


 This removes the selected material from the wave.


 This selects the entire wave.


 This turns the selection on and off.


 This creates a selection from the cursor to the beginning of the wave.


 This creates a selection from the cursor to the end of the wave.


 This creates a selection from the cursor to the previous marker, or, if there is no marker before the cursor position, to the beginning of the wave.


This creates a selection from the cursor to the next marker, or, if there is no marker after the cursor position, to the end of the wave.


 This extends an existing selection to the beginning of the wave.


 This extends an existing selection to the end of the wave.


 This extends an existing selection to the previous marker, or, if there is no marker before the selection, to the beginning of the wave.


This extends an existing selection to the next marker, or, if there is no marker after the selection, to the end of the wave.


This extends an existing selection to the cursor position.


 This sets the level selection to the highest peak in the current time selection. For more info, see the Selecting Topics.


If you have made a selection in one of the channels only, selecting this item will extend the selection to cover both channels.


Moves the current selection to the left channel only.


Moves the current selection to the right channel only.


If the cursor is positioned between the markers for a CD Track and you select this item, all audio data that makes up the CD Track is selected.


If the cursor is positioned between two Loop markers and you select this item, all audio data that makes up the Loop region is selected.


If the cursor is positioned between two Mute markers and you select this item, all audio data that makes up the Mute region is selected.


 This copies the selection into a new (automatically created) window.


 This copies the selection into a new (automatically created) window and converts it to stereo.


This copies the selection into a new (automatically created) window and converts it to mono by mixing the two channels.


 This replaces the selection with silence.


 This inserts a section of silence into the wave, with the same length as the selection and beginning where the selection begins. It can also be used to add silence beyond the end of the file.


 This swaps the selected material between the left and right channels in a stereo wave. Note that you must select across both channels for this command to work.


 This opens up the Clipboard window, which contains the last cut or copied material. For more info, see Clipboard Topics.


 This clears the contents of the Clipboard (which contains the last cut or copied material).


 This opens up the Normalize dialog. This dialog is used to change the gain (volume) of a selection. The amount of gain change is always set relative to full level. The idea behind this is to allow you to optimize the gain of low level wave files.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


 This opens up the Change Gain dialog. This dialog is used to change the gain (volume) of the selection. It differs from Normalize in that the change in volume is specified as an absolute value. Hence, this dialog allows you to change the gain to more than "full level" and thereby introduce clipping.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


 This inverts the Phase of the selection (turns the curve upside down). For more info, see Invert Phase.


 This removes any DC offset in the selection. For more info, see Eliminate DC Offset.


 This open up the Fade In dialog. This dialog allows you to set up a Fade In (a gradual increase in level) and view a graphic representation of the fade curve in the Wave Display.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


 This opens up the Fade Out dialog. This dialog allows you to set up a Fade Out (a gradual decrease in level) and view a graphic representation of the fade curve in the Wave Display.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


 This opens up the Crossfade dialog. A crossfade is a gradual fade between two sounds, where one is faded in and the other is faded out. This dialog allows you to do just that. It also lets you create plain mixes of two sounds. As you adjust the values, curves indicating the fade are drawn in the wave display.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


 This opens up the Dynamics dialog. This dialog allows you to tailor the dynamics of the audio, to create effects like compression and limiting.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


 This turns the selection backwards (reverses it).


 This opens up the Time Stretch dialog. Time stretch is an operation that allows you to change the length of a recording without affecting its pitch. Actually the standard term "time stretch" is a bit misleading since you can of course also make the material shorter.

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 "Ratio"). This is done by specifying the desired length, or the desired tempo, all according to what the situation requires. You can also specify the Ratio directly as a percentage value of the original length.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


 This opens up the Pitch Correction dialog. Pitch Correction is a function which allows you to change pitch of a sound, with or without affecting its length.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


This opens up the Harmonizer dialog. The Harmonizer allows you to create up to sixteen differently pitched sounds by changing the pitch of the original sound. This effect can be used for harmonies, special effects, etc.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


This opens up the Hi-fi Chorus dialog. This chorus works slightly different from many others. Often chorusing is achieved by delaying a copy of the signal, varying the amount of delay continuously and mixing the delayed signal back in with the original.

While this is adequate for many purposes, WaveLab takes a more natural approach to creating chorus. Since a chorus effect is basically about making a recording sound like it was performed by many "identical musicians", WaveLab takes just that approach. It multiplies the recording up to 100 times (using the same high quality pitch shifting engine as in the pitch correction and harmonizer), and detunes and delays each "voice" slightly and - if so desired - pans the voices across the stereo image.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


 This opens up the EQ (Equalization) dialog. This is an equalizer, with two shelving filters (high and low) and a parametric band with adjustable Q (width). The purpose of an EQ (filter) is to adjust the timbre of a sound, to for example reduce the amount of bass or increase the amount of treble contents.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


 This opens up the Sample Rate Conversion dialog. This function allows you to change the sample rate of a recording. This is very convenient if you have a file that you wish to use in a certain audio system and find that the file was recorded at a sample rate this system doesn’t support.

Sample Rate conversion is always applied to the entire file. Any selection you have made is not used in any way for this operation.

For more information, open the dialog, press F1 and use the context-sensitive help.


 Selecting this item opens up a regular Windows file dialog where you can select the file(s) you want to add to the Database.


This item first opens up a small file dialog box where you can decide on which drive and folder to start searching for files. After this, yet another dialog appears allowing you to specify criteria to choose which files are added to the Database. For more info, see Using Scan Disk.


This opens up the Global Find dialog, which allows you to find all files in the Database that match certain criteria.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


This opens up the Global Filter dialog. This dialog allows you to set up criteria so that the list always shows only files that meet certain criteria. You might for example want the list to only display stereo files, regardless of which category or folder you click on.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


This displays the files in a list where the files details are shown in columns.


This displays the files in a simple list, without any extra information about each one.


This displays the files as small icons.


This displays the files as large icons.


 Selecting this item plays the selection only. You can also press [F6] to do the same thing.


 This changes the zoom factor so that the selection fills the entire window.


This creates a CD Track from the current selection, by placing CD Markers at the beginning and end of the selection. CD tracks cannot overlap, so this function is only enabled if the current selection is not within an already defined CD Track.


This creates a Mute region from the current selection, by placing Mute Markers at the beginning and end of the selection.


This creates a Loop region from the current selection, by placing Loop Markers at the beginning and end of the selection.


This moves the cursor to the closest zero crossing to the left of the current position. If "Snap to time unit" is activated, the cursor will instead move to the zero crossing to the left of the closest whole time unit to the left of the current position. For example, if Time Scale is selected for the rulers, "Snap to time unit" is activated, and you use this function, the cursor will search for the closest whole second to the left, and then move to the zero crossing to the left of that position.


 This hides/shows the time ruler.


 This hides/shows the level ruler.


 With this activated, marker lines are shown as solid lines. When neither this nor "Dotted markers" are active, marker lines are not shown at all.


 With this activated, marker lines are shown as dotted lines. When neither this nor "Solid markers" are active, marker lines are not shown at all.


 When this is activated, markers are displayed with their names.


 This moves the barber pole striped range indicator to the top of the overview.


 This moves the barber pole striped range indicator to the bottom of the overview.


 These three menu items set the width of the cursor line (thin, medium or fat).


 When this is activated, a solid line stretches through "the middle" of the wave. When neither this nor "Dotted zero level axis" are activated, no line at all is shown.


 When this is activated, a dotted line stretches through "the middle" of the wave. When neither this nor "Solid zero level axis" are activated, no line at all is shown.


 When this is activated, a solid line stretches through the +/- 50 levels in the wave. When neither this nor "Dotted half level axis" are activated, no line at all is shown.


 When this is activated, a dotted line stretches through the +/- 50 levels in the wave. When neither this nor "Solid half level axis" are activated, no line at all is shown.


 When this is activated, the end of the wave file is indicated in the wave display.


 These menu items allow you to select a color for each element of the wave display.


 This opens the Screen Layouts dialog. This dialog is used to create and manage Screen Layouts. A Screen Layout encompasses the following:

The size, location and minimize/maximize properties of document windows. This does not include the contents of the window, just the properties of the window "frame" itself. For example, if some Database window was included in the Screen Layout, the Database you currently have open when you Load the Preset will be sized and moved accordingly.

Positions of "modeless" dialog boxes, such as the off-line processors. This includes opening any such windows.

Positions of plug-in processor panels.

Windows that are already open will never be closed as a result of recalling a Screen Layout.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


 This shows/hides the Switcher toolbar.


 This shows/hides the Standard commands toolbar.


 This shows/hides the Toolbox.


 This shows/hides the Snapshot window/toolbar.


 This shows/hides the Transport.


 This shows/hides the Marker toolbar.


 This opens the Marker window allowing you to view, rename and delete markers.


Shows/Hides the Master Section window. When you hide the Master section, all plug-in windows are automatically closed. Hiding the Master Section does not mean it is deactivated, just that its window is closed. Real-time processing is still active. If you want to deactivate the master section, disable "Use Master Section" on the Options menu.


This shows/hides the Monitor window. This window  shows you how hard your computer’s CPU is working with various processes.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


This shows/hides the Live Input window. Live Input means that the Master Section is used for real time processing of signals coming in to the sound card’s input(s). This signal can be anything your sound card accepts, for example a feed from a mixer, a tape recorder or a microphone.

This option requires either an audio card with full duplex, or two cards, one for recording and one for playback!

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


This menu item opens a dialog which allows you to select which CD-R unit is used for writing CDs. Open the window and press [F1] for more help.


 This creates a new window which contains a second view of the same document.


 This sets the window to the maximum possible width.


Brings back the last zooming factor set with this menu or the Magnifying Glass tool.


Zooms the view out as far as possible.


Zooms in so that one pixel on the screen represents one sample.


Zooms in as far as possible, so that one sample occupies several pixels.


Zooms in so that the current selection fills the entire window.


Brings up a dialog that allows you to set any zoom factor.


This changes the vertical zoom factor so that the peaks are clearly visible. This adjustment is done according to the section of the wave currently visible in the window, not the whole file.


 This scrolls the view to the beginning of the wave, without changing the cursor position.


 This scrolls the view to the end of the wave, without changing the cursor position.


 This scrolls the view to the start of the selection, without changing the cursor position.


 This scrolls the view to the end of the selection, without changing the cursor position.


 This scrolls the view to the cursor.


 This sets the cursor at the beginning of the wave and scrolls the view there.


 This sets the cursor at the end of the wave and scrolls the view there.


 This sets the cursor at the start of the selection and scrolls the view there.


 This sets the cursor at the end of the selection and scrolls the view there.


 This sets the cursor at an arbitrary position you specify in a dialog.


 This opens the Global Analysis window, which allows you to analyze the current selection in various ways.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


 This displays the level of the wave file at the current cursor position.


 This opens a dialog which allows you to compare two files for differences, and create a file which contains the difference between the two.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


 This opens the Test Signal Generator dialog. This dialog allows you to synthesize audio documents from scratch. The resulting audio can be used for testing, calibrating, etc. The signal is made up by combining up to 64 layers, where each layer is a separate signal generator of its own, complete with settings for waveform, pitch, level, etc. You can even make separate settings for the left and right channel of each layer.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


This performs a Frequency Analysis of the current selection, and displays this as a 3D graph in a separate window. For more info, see Frequency Graph Topics.


Opens a dialog where you can make settings for the 3D Frequency Analysis.


This allows you to rename a folder in the Location pane. Please note that this does not rename the real folder on disk.


This removes a folder and all items in it, from the Database. It does not remove any files from disk.


This item allows you to update the Database so that it is in sync with what is really on the disk. For more info, see Syncing to Disk.


This allows you to find items, in the Database, which are located in a certain folder. For more info, see File Operation Topics.


This adds a new category to the list. It is added as a sub-category to the selected category.


This allows you to rename a category.


This removes the selected category. Any files in this category become Unregistered items. For more info, see Category Topics.


This allows you to find items, in the Database, which belong to a certain category. For more info, see Category Topics.


This makes the file list display all items in the Database that do not belong to any category.


This opens the selected file(s) for editing.


This opens up the Properties dialog allowing you to make settings for the selected file(s).


When you select a folder and select this item, the Location pane shows you in which folder the file is stored. The Category pane also shows you in which category the file belongs.


This updates the properties of the selected file(s) so that they show the real values (as stored on the disk).


This allows you to rename the file. This renames the real file on disk. Do not enter an extension!


This removes the file. Please note that the file is not deleted from disk, only removed from the Database.


This selects all files currently visible in the list.


This allows you to find files among the ones currently visible in the list. For more info, see File Operation Topics.


This allows you to add one or more files to the selected Group. A regular file dialog appears allowing you to select which file(s) to add.


This creates a new Group, as a sub-group to the selected Group.


This allows you to rename a Group or File, depending on what is selected.


This opens the selected file(s) for editing.


This removes the selected Group/file from the Project. For files, please note that the file is not deleted from disk.


This creates a new marker at the current cursor position. It allows you to specify a name for the marker as you create it.


This adds a marker with a default name at the current cursor position (you can change the name later). You can also press [Insert] to perform the same action. Please note that this can be done even during playback.


 This changes the ruler display to show positions in the format hours:minutes:seconds and milliseconds.


 This changes the ruler display to show positions as samples. Exactly how many samples there are in a second depends on the sample rate. For 44.1kHz for example, there are 44100 samples per second.


 This displays positions as hours:minutes:seconds and frames. How many frames there are per second depends on the frame rate setting. For more info, see Ruler Topics.


 This displays positions as bars, beats and ticks. For more info, see Ruler Topics.


 This displays positions in KiloBytes and MegaBytes.


 This sets the ruler "0" position to the current cursor position.


 This sets the ruler "0" position to the beginning of the file.


 This is used to hide the time ruler. To show it again press the right mouse button in the wave display, select "Elements" and then "Time ruler".


This is used to hide/show marker heads from the time ruler.


 With this selected, the time ruler is shown as "3D" numbers on a gray background.


 With this selected, the time ruler is shown as part of the wave display.


 This allows you to pick a font, size and style for the text on the time ruler.


 This allows you to set a color for the tick marks on the time ruler.


 This displays levels as a percentage of full level (100%).


 This displays levels in dB.


 This displays levels as decimal numbers which represent the real sample values stored in computer memory.


 This is used to hide the level ruler. To display it again, press the right mouse button in the wave display, select "Elements" and then "Level ruler".


 With this selected, the level ruler is shown as "3D" numbers on a gray background.


 With this selected, the level ruler is shown as part of the wave display.


 This allows you to pick a font, size and style for the text on the level ruler.


 This allows you to set a color for the tick marks on the level ruler.


This opens a dialog where you can make various settings for the selected marker.


This removes the marker from the list and the wave window.


This allows you to remove all markers of a certain type from the list and the wave window.


Opens a dialog where you can select which types of markers should be visible.


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.


Suspends processing of all waves.


A background process can run with various priority settings. This priority can be set for each process at any time using the pop-up menu in the monitor window.

Relax Background. The file is processed in the background, but priority is given to audio playback and to your continued work on other files. This makes WaveLab as responsive as possible, but slows down processing.

Background. The file is processed in the background but with a lower priority given to your continued work on other files. This makes processing faster but the program less responsive. Try this mode when several files are to be processed in the background.

Fast. Processing is given high priority. A fairly high-performance computer will be required to avoid dropouts in playback.


Cancels the processing operation for the selected wave, in which case the message in the Priority Boost column reads "Condemned" until WaveLab has performed all the necessary clean up operations.


When this is activated, yellow lines show the power used for providing input to the Master Section, either reading waves from disk or Live Input. Please note that the values are an approximation. WaveLab shows the minimum value it could measure. This performance can be influenced by the quality of your audio card driver (for Live-input) and by your hard disk (SCSI is often better than IDE or E-IDE).


When this is activated, purple lines indicate the processing power that is required for all effects currently running in the Master section. The shorter the line, the less the load on the CPU. This is a very precise measurement. Usually, these lines should not exceed 70-75% to ensure no dropouts occur during playback. Since processing/playback is a high-priority task, the entire user interface slows down when a demanding process is taking place. To start/stop playback in during heavy CPU loads, use the keyboard shortcuts rather than clicking on the Transport Bar with the mouse.


When this is activated, blue lines reflect the processing power required by the output device. This is an approximation. WaveLab shows the minimum value it could measure. The output performance is influenced by the quality of your audio card driver.


When this option is checked, performance peaks are averaged out. This gives you a better overview of the processing required. However, to visualize performance peaks (which are the main cause of dropouts), uncheck this option.


Use this to set the zoom factor of the display.


Use this to set whether the performance should be displayed vertically or horizontally.


This plays back the items in the Track list, from the item selected and onwards.


Plays from the current CD point until the next CD point. Depending on the start point, this next CD point can be the end of a pause, or a track Sub-Index or the end of the track.


This plays back the items in the Track list, from the item selected, until the end of the track.


This item is useful when you want to test track transitions. If you use this on a track start point, it will play the end of the previous track. If you use it on a track end point, it will play to the beginning of the next track.

The pre-roll duration is defined in the Preferences dialog, on the CD-R tab.


This pop-up menu allows you to hide/show any of the columns in the Track list. This is useful for example if you have too small a screen to show all columns at the same time. These settings are stored with the CD Program.


Allows you to open a previously saved Batch file list.


Allows you to save the current Batch file list.


Resets the Status of all files in the list, so that they are ready to be processed.


Scans the file list and checks that all files really exist in the specified locations. Any missing files are removed from the list.


Clears the file list.


When this option is activated, the same file can be added to several batches, and hence processed several times. The only restriction is that each "instance" of the file must be set to create a file with a name and/or location that is different from the other "instances" of the same file.


These settings are used to select how much information you want to see in the file list.


This section of the pop-up menu is used to select in which order the files should be listed.


If the file list contains files in raw format, you can specify the format for them by selecting this item. If this is done, you don’t have to specify the format manually each time a file in Raw format is about to be processed. For this to make sense, all "raw" files must be in the same format.


Select this to add one or several audio files from disk to the selected batch in the list. If there are no batches in the list, one will be created automatically when you add the first file.


This item allows you to select a folder on your hard disk, and add all audio files in this folder to the selected batch in the list. If there are no batches in the list, one will be created automatically when you add the first file.


This sub-menu lists all currently open wave files. Use it to add open files to the selected batch.

You cannot process files that have never been saved ("Untitled" files). However, you can process files that have previously been saved, but are now open for editing.


Select this to delete the batch or audio file that is selected in the list.


Select this to move the selected batch or audio file one step up in the list. It is also possible to re-sort the files in a batch by using the Sort options on the Extra pop-up menu.


Select this to move the selected batch or audio file one step down in the list. It is also possible to re-sort the files in a batch by using the Sort options on the Extra pop-up menu.


Select this to play back the selected audio file.


Select this to open the selected audio file in a wave window.


Select this to open the processed audio file (the result of the batch process) in a wave window. This is only available if you already have run a batch.


Select this to create a new batch.


Select this to open Batch Attributes dialog, where you can name the selected batch, etc.


Select this to open the Processor list dialog, used for setting up what kind of processing should be performed to the selected batch.


This Key Sequence is always active.


This Key Sequence can be used for all windows, except the ones added to the "Exclude Windows" lists.


This Key Sequence is only available if the window to which it is applied has the focus (is active or displayed on top of all other windows).


When you use the Crossfade Looper for a stereo file, this option selects how the left and right waveforms are displayed. If Stereo Merge is activated, the two waveforms are superimposed, otherwise they are shown in two separate sections.


When this is activated, the waveform in both halves of the display will continue in over the other half, but in a dimmed fashion.


Activate this if you want the length, start and end position of the loop to be displayed numerically.


This option is only available after you have set up a Crossfade and clicked "Apply".

When it is activated, the display shows what the waveform looks like after crossfading. When you later click OK, this is the waveform which will actually be created.

When this option is deactivated, you will instead see what waveform looks like without crossfading. If you click Cancel to close the dialog, the waveform will revert back to this shape.


Allows you to select a horizontal zoom factor.


When this is activated, the vertical magnification is adjusted so that the waveform always fills the entire display, vertically.


This allows you to save up to five different "candidates", sets of Loop points, which you can later recall. The advantage of this is that it allows you to try out several different Loop settings.


This allows you to recall a previously saved "candidate" (set of Loop points). There can be up to five candidates saved at one time.


Allows you to load an Effect Program Bank (extension .fxb) from disk. All current Programs in the selected Effect will be replaced by the Bank which is loaded.


Allows you to save the current set of Effect Programs as a Bank on your hard disk. The Bank file is given the extension .fxb.


Allows you to load a single Effect Program (extension .fxp) from disk. The loaded Effect will replace the one that is currently selected.


Allows you to save the currently selected Effect Program to disk. The Effect Program file is given the extension .fxp.


Allows you to give a name to the currently selected Effect Program.


Specifies an Output folder with the name of the Batch, as specified on the Input tab.


Specifies an Output  folder with the optional path specified for the Batch.


Specifies an Output folder with the file path(s) of the source file(s).


Specifies an Output folder with the file path(s) of the source file(s), but with the path starting one step down in the hierarchy. For example, if the source file is located in c:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\, then this specifies the file location c:\Folder2\Folder3\.


Specifies an Output folder with the file path(s) of the source file(s), but with the path starting two steps down in the hierarchy. For example, if the source file is located in c:\Folder1\Folder2\Folder3\, then this specifies the file location c:\Folder3\.


No output folder is created at all. This is only useful for processors which analyze the file (not producing any output audio file at all) rather than process it.


Adds the "Batch Name" variable to the file name string.


Adds the "File number from" variable to the file name string. This will add a number to the file name. All the files will be numbered consecutively, and a dialog will allow you to specify the first number in the series.


This menu item opens a dialog which allows you actually write the CD. Open the window and press [F1] for more help.


This menu item lets you add audio files to the CD Program. It opens a regular file selector where, you can select one or more audio files.

You can add files in various formats.

If the file does not contain any CD markers, you will be asked if you want to insert a Track Start and End marker at the beginning/end of the file. Do so, you can always move or delete them later.

See the Adding files to a CD Program topic for details.


This will show the Tracks in the order they will appear on the actual CD. When this is activated, you can drag to change the order of the Tracks. See the topic Setting the order of the Tracks on the CD for details. You can also switch sort modes by clicking the Track Title heading.


This will show the Tracks in an order based on the files to which they belong. See the topic Setting the order of the Tracks on the CD for details. You can also switch sort modes by clicking the Track Title heading.


This command brings a dialog where you can fine tune the properties of your CD program. Open the dialog and press [F1] to get more help.


This verifies that the settings in the CD Program are correct, according to the red book audio CD standard. Some of these rules are:

Total length must not exceed 75 minutes.

Each Track must be at least 4 seconds long.

The first Tracks must have a pause of at least two seconds.

Pauses between Tracks can not be longer than four seconds (some CD-R units might refuse to make pauses longer than 3 seconds).

If there are two Tracks after each other and one requires Emphasis and the other doesn't, there must be at least two seconds between them.

There can not be a Sub-Index at position 0.

There must be at least a one second pause between two Sub-Indexes.

You can not have more than 99 tracks.

You can not have more than 98 sub-Sub-Indexes per track.


This command allows you to save the entire CD Track list as a CD Image file. Actually, four files will be saved:

A CD Program file, with the specified name. This is the file you will want to open the next time you want to access this "CD image".

A single wave file, containing all the Tracks, with markers inserted at all the correct positions.

A marker file with the same name (it is this file that actually contains the markers).

A peak file for the wave file.


This command will save each track as a separate audio file. See the topic Exporting audio files from a CD Program for more information.


This command will build a file that contains all the Tracks in the CD Program. See the topic Exporting audio files from a CD Program for more information.


Allows you to generate a text file with information about the CD program.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


Opens a dialog used for receiving samples from a sampler.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


Opens a dialog used for transmitting samples to a sampler.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


Sends a sample back to the same memory location in the sampler as it was originally received from.


Opens a dialog where you can make various settings for a sample.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


Opens a dialog for setting up the connected sampler(s).

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


Opens the Crossfade Looper dialog. This is a special tool for creating "seamless" loops, by allowing you to graphically fine-tune the loop points (manually or automatically). It also provides facilities for crossfading the areas around the loop start and end points.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


Opens the Wave Equalizer dialog. The Wave Equalizer is a function for looping those "un-loopable" sounds, for example sounds that constantly decay in level or continuously change in timbre. The Wave Equalizer evens out changes in level and timbral characteristics, by cutting up the looped section in a number of slices, mixing these slices into one and finally replacing all audio in the looped section with this new mixed slice (repeated the necessary number of times).

In addition, the Wave Equalizer includes a crossfade facility, so that the original sound fades into the processed sections as playback approaches the loop start.

For details, open the dialog and use the context-sensitive help.


When this option is selected, playback starts from the cursor position.


When this option is selected, playback starts from the beginning of the file.


When this option is selected, playback starts from the beginning of the current selection.


When this option is selected, playback starts from the end of the current selection.


When this option is selected, playback starts from the Starter marker.


When this option is selected, playback starts from the closest marker to the left of the cursor position.


When this option is selected, playback starts from the closest marker to the right of the cursor position.


When this option is selected, playback starts from the next CD Track Start marker.


When this option is selected, playback starts from the position at the left side of the window.


When this option is selected, nothing will be skipped on playback.


When this option is selected, the current selection will be skipped on playback.


When this option is selected, any Muted regions will be skipped on playback.


When this option is selected, playback will continue until the end of the file, and stop there.


When this option is selected, playback will continue until the start of the current selection, and stop there.


When this option is selected, playback will continue until the end of the current selection, and stop there.


When this option is selected, playback will continue until the next marker, and stop there.


When this option is selected, playback will continue until the end of the file, and start over from the beginning of the file. The file will loop until you stop playback.


When this option is selected, playback will continue until the end of the selection, and start over from the beginning of the selection. The selection will be looped until you stop playback.


When this option is selected, playback will be looped according to the Loop Markers.


Auto Panner

An AutoPanner is an effect that causes the signals to move around in the stereo image.

LFO Freq (0.1Hz~50Hz)

This parameter sets the speed of the pan movements. The higher the value, the faster the processed signal moves around in the stereo image.

Width (0~100%)

Use this parameter to specify the "width" of the pan movements. The value 0% means that the panner is effectively creating a mono sound image, while 100% causes the signal to move from the extreme left to the extreme right (and vice versa).

Waveform (Sine, Pulse)

Waveform allows you to specify the way in which the signal moves from left to right. Select Sine if you prefer fluid movements, or Pulse to create a "jumping" movement.

Out Left, Out Right (-96dB~6dB)

These two parameters allow you to correct the level of the left or right channel in case AutoPanner produces an unbalanced sound image. The value -96dB means that the channel in question is turned off, while 6dB will boost the signal level. 0dB will cause no change in level.

Setting the value -96dB for a channel means that its signal is neither audible nor transmitted to subsequent effect slots or the master faders.


Chorus

Chorus is an effect originally intended to create the impression that a given part is being played by more than one musician. Nowadays, it is also used to "sweeten" the sound image by adding modulation. Contrary to the WaveLab 1.0 Chorus (see the manual that came with version 1.0), this is a classic chorus based on a sweeping delay and is available in real time.

Delay (0.1~60ms)

Use this parameter to specify the basic time delay for the chorused signal with respect to the "dry" signal. The higher the value, the more prominent the effect. Low settings (up to 7ms) create flanger-like effects. Setting up to 25ms are for classic chorus while settings above this value are mainly for special effects.

Width (0~100%)

Use this parameter to specify how much the delay time is allowed to vary with the modulation. It is this variation in delay time that causes the sweeping effect. Note that the value 0% should probably be avoided since it might create the impression that you are experiencing phase problems.

Frequency (0.009999~25Hz)

The Frequency parameter sets the speed of the sweep (the modulation). The higher the value, the faster the modulation. You will probably not use values above 7Hz except for special effects.

Feedback (0~100%)

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.

Fb Balance (0~100%)

Use this parameter to set the volume of the Feedback signal (see above) in the mix. If this is set to 100%, and combined with a Feedback setting between 65% and 100%, the effect goes into self-oscillation.

Glimmer 1, Glimmer 2 (0~100%)

The two Glimmer parameters allow you to specify to what extent the Chorus signal should move around in the stereo image. They work in more or less the same way as the AutoPanner (see page 47) but only apply to the Chorus signals. Glimmer 1 processes the right channel signal, while Glimmer 2 processes a combination of the left and right channels (the actual left channel always remains at 0).

Stereo Spread (0~100%)

This parameter specifies the width the Chorus effect will occupy in the stereo sound image. The value 0% creates a mono impression, and since left and right channel signals are then mixed together, the Chorus becomes louder.

Mix (0~100%)

Use this parameter to specify the balance in level between the dry and delayed signal. The value 0% means that only the dry signal will be heard, while 100% actually means a 50/50 mix between dry and effect signal.

Output Lev (-48dB~0dB)

This is effectively an attenuator that allows you to reduce the output level of the Chorus effect, thereby avoiding clipping and hence distortion. If the Clip indicator lights up continuously, lower this value.


Echo

This effect (also known as Delay) creates repetitions of the processed signals. One nice thing about this particular Echo effect is that it will decay naturally even if applied to only a short excerpt of a wave.

Delay 1 (0.5~1000ms)

This sets the delay time of Delay 1, with respect to the incoming signal. Please note that minimum value (0.5ms) creates an out-of-phase impression.

Feedback 1 (0~100%)

This sets the amount of delayed signal fed back into the Delay 1 block, to create repetitions. The value 100% means that the echo signal is repeated indefinitely, while 0% means there is only one repetition.

Link 1-2 (Off, Linked)

Select Off if you wish to use Delay 1 and Delay 2 as two independent blocks. Select Linked if the output of Delay 1 is to be connected to the Input of Delay 2.

Delay 2, Feedback 2

See Delay 1 (0.5~1000ms) and Feedback 1 (0~100%) above. These parameters are identical to these but apply to the second Delay block.

Del. Balance (0~100%)

This sets the stereo width of Delay 1 and Delay 2. When set to 100%, Delay 1 is assigned to the left channel, while Delay 2 is assigned to the right channel. The value 0% means that both Delay blocks are spread across the stereo field.

Vol Left, Vol Right (-96dB~0dB)

Use these parameters to correct volume imbalances brought about by the Delay effects. These parameters only apply to the Echo effect, the dry signal is not affected by these settings.


EQ-1

This is a standard parametric equalizer with a few features found only on high-end mixing consoles. Every frequency band (High, Mid, and Low) can be switched on or off (flat), so that you do not need to touch the dB knob to compare the signal with and without eq. Simply click the High, Mid, or Low button to disable the corresponding band (indicator goes out).

If you need a fully parametric multi-band equalizer, assign the EQ-1 module to three consecutive slots and use only the Mid band, since this can be tuned to any frequency between 44.1Hz and 17.640kHz.

dB (cut/boost) (-15dB~15dB)

This parameter appears on all three bands. It is used to boost (positive values) or cut (negative values) the level of the frequency band in question.

High Hz (1,323~19,845Hz - dependent on sample rate)

This button sets the frequency of the High band. This is a shelving-type filter, which means that all frequencies above the turnover frequency will also be affected.

Mid Hz (44.1~17,640Hz)

This button sets the center frequency of the Mid band. This is a peak filter.

Mid Q (0.333~18)

Use this parameter to set the width of the Mid peak band. The higher this value, the "narrower" the Mid band.

Low Hz (44.1~1323Hz)

This button sets the frequency of the Low band. This is a shelving-type filter, which means that all frequencies below the turnover frequency will also be affected.

Volume Gain (-48~12dB)

This parameter allows you to reduce (negative values) or increase (values above 0dB) the level.


Leveller
Leveler

This "effect" simply reduces or boosts the signal level. This is useful for matching levels between effects. You may want to patch in the Leveler after an EQ-1 module, for example.

Volume Gain (-48~+12.0dB)

This parameter allows you to reduce (negative values) or increase (values above 0dB) the level.


Tools One

Tools One is an extremely useful "effect" for various applications. See the parameter explanations for details.

Out Level (-48~12dB)

This parameter allows you to reduce (negative values) or increase (values above 0dB) the level.

Phase Left, Phase Right (Normal, Invert)

Use these "switches" to invert the phase of the left or right channel (or both).

Algorithm (No algorithm, MS Process, Channel Swap)

No algorithm means that the stereo sound image is preserved as is.

MS process can be used in one of two ways:

To transform an incoming "regular" stereo signal so that it resembles a signal recorded according to the M-S (middle/side) principle. This technique is often used in broadcasting to record the direct signal source (usually a voice) using one microphone, and the ambience using a second microphone positioned at a 90_ angle.

To transform an incoming MS signal into a "regular" stereo signal (to simulate an "XY" recording technique, where neither microphone is placed directly in front of the signal source).

Channel Swap, finally, means that the left channel is assigned to the right side and the right channel to the left side.


ReSampler

This "effect" plays back the file at another sample rate. This is similar to the Convert Sample Rate. However, since the ReSampler processor operates in real time, it lets you play back files at a certain sample rate, regardless of which rate they were recorded at.

Please note that if your files already match the card’s sample rate, you do not need to use this processor at all.

One situation where this processor is extremely useful is when you are mastering digitally to a certain sample rate (see the Mode parameter below).

Samp. Freq (Sample Frequency) (22,05~96kHz)

This is used to set the desired sample rate.

Quality (Low, Medium, High)

The higher the quality, the more computer processing power is required. The option you select here depends largely on the processing capabilities of your computer and the other effects you are using.

Fine (22,05~96kHz)

The Fine control allows you to set any sample rate between the set Sampling Frequencies. Please note that Fine control is not active if the Sample Frequency is set to either 22,05 or 96kHz. To access frequencies in between 22,05 and 32kHz set the Sample Frequency to 32kHz and scale down. Correspondingly, to access frequencies between 88,2 and 96kHz, set the Sample Frequency to the lower rate and scale up.


Reverb

The Reverb adds "ambience" or "room quality" to a sound. The relationship between the parameters is a bit intricate, so we suggest you start out by selecting a Preset as close to the desired result as possible and then modify the settings as desired.

Size (0~250ms)

Affects the apparent size of the simulated room.

Width (0~0.98)

This parameter also affects the impression of the size and shape of the simulated room. It also affects the "density" and clearness of the reverb.

Time (0~1)

The length of the reverberation time.

ER Start) (0~250ms)

The start time of the Early Reflection - the first "echo" from the walls in a simulated room.

ER Width (0~0.98)

The Early Reflection "density" and clarity.

ER Gain (-40~0)

The balance between Early Reflections/direct sound in the input to the reverb. When this parameter is fully raised, no Early Reflections will be heard.

ER Decay (0~1)

Determines the speed of attenuation of Early Reflections. That is, the rate at which they die away.

ER Outp (-40~0dB)

The level of Early Reflections in the Effect Output.

Output Level (-40~0dB)

The stereo output level of the effect.


Dither & NoiseShaping

Dithering is a method for reducing quantization errors in digital recordings. To the ear, such errors are perceived as "graininess" during low level passages in a recording. When "truncating bits", as a result of moving from for example 20 to 16 bit resolution, such quantization errors are added to an otherwise perfect recording. Although the Dither function is normally accessed via the Master Section, you can also access the Dither & Noise Shaping functions as a Plug-in during Batch Processing.

Dither Bits (8, 16, 20, or 24)

This is used to specify the intended bit resolution for the final audio, after dithering, regardless of whether you will "Apply" the settings or use real-time processing. It is very important to set this correctly, especially when reducing the bit resolution.

Dither method (off, Type 1, Type 2)

Off: No dithering is applied.

Type 1: Try this option first, it is the best "all-round" method.

Type 2: This method emphasizes higher frequencies more than Type 1.

Noise Shape (off, type 1~3)

This parameter alters the character of the noise added when dithering. There are no hard and fast rules, but you may notice that the higher the number you select here, the more the noise is moved out of the ear’s most sensitive range, the mid-range.


Noise Gate

The Noise Gate plug-in mutes any signal that falls below a specified threshold level. This can be useful for removing unwanted residual noise from audio material without having to manually clean up or mute soundfiles. Other applications include gating reverb "tails" and tightening percussion tracks.

Threshold (-144~-12dB)

This setting determines at what level the Noise Gate is activated. Any signal or portion of a signal that falls below the chosen threshold will be muted.

Rel Time (1~5000ms)

Determinines how long the gate stays open after a signal below the Threshold level has been detected.

Rel Sens (1~100)

This setting is used to prevent the gate from being triggered on/off inadvertently when the signal is close to the threshold level.

Attack Sens (1~100)

Determines the time it takes for the gate to open. A low setting provides a fast transient response but a high setting will soften or mute the early portion of the sound which is triggering the gate.


Peak Master

This plug-in provides a safe and transparent way of boosting the percieved loudness of audio material. By limiting transients and simultaneously raising the general level by compression, the Peak Master will increase the subjective loudness of the signal without risk of distortion inducing peaks.

Input Gain (-12~+24dB)

This allows you to adjust the input level to Peak Master. Use this to (typically) raise the loudness of the signal. Use extreme boost settings with caution as they can induce distortion.

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 maximise the percieved loudness effect but can in some cases result in a slight harshness of the sound. Adjust this parameter to optimise the balance between sound quality and the desired effect.


Puncher

The Puncher plug-in works by generating additional harmonics which are added to the audio material. The result is a more dynamic, and "punchier" sound, particularly when applied to drums and percussive material. Compared to the PeakMaster the Puncher plug-in could be described as operating in almost the opposite way. Puncher leaves quiter parts untouched but will add power to the louder portions without causing clipping. The plug-in is optimized for peak signal levels between –10 and 0dB, the closer to 0dB, the better.

Density (Soft, Medium, Hard)

The difference between these 3 settings lies in the number of added harmonics. The setting you use is dependent on the audio material and how much Punch effect you want to add.

Effect (0~100%)

This adjusts the balance between the processed and the dry signal.

Input Gain (-12~24dB)

This sets the input level. If you boost the signal clipping could occur, so use this with caution. With no boost, Puncher will never cause clipping.


Externalizer

The Externalizer is a Master Effect plug-in designed for headphone monitoring. It improves the sound and stereo localization by simulating the effect of two virtual speakers in an ideal listening position. Since the Externalizer window only has one control, it is very simple to use: Listen to a stereo recording in your headphones and use the fader to adjust the sound to your liking. If you are using Externalizer together with any effect that changes the room information, such as the StereoImager, you should place the Externalizer after the other effect. However, dynamic processing (such as the Peak Master) or noise reduction (such as DeNoiser) can be inserted in the signal chain after Externalizer.

Distance/Width (0~100%)

When you raise the fader, you will gradually move the virtual speakers apart and away from your head, as indicated in the display.


StereoImager

The StereoImager plugin renders a mono signal into a stereo one, or enlarges the stereo width of an existing stereo signal.

There is only one parameter, that has a different effect if the input signal is mono or stereo :

Mono to Stereo : a value of 0% produces two equal output channels. Values from 1 to 100% enlarge the apparent stereo image.

Stereo to Stereo : a value of 0% produces two equal output channels (the original stereo image is lost). Values between 1 and 49% correspond to a narrower stereo image. A value of 50% corresponds to the original signal. Values between 51 and 100% enlarge the stereo image.


 AIFF is an audio file format defined by Apple Computers. The files can be stereo or mono, any sample rate and any bit resolution.


 The bit resolution is the number of bits used to store each sample word when recording audio (sampling). Common values are 8 or 16 bits. 16-bit files have less inherent noise than 8-bit files, but occupy twice the disk space.


A Category is a WaveLab database term. By organising your audio files into categories you can very easily find a number of files with similar properties, in the Database.


 The clipboard is the "invisible "storage area used for any material you Cut or Copy. When you Paste, you insert the material from the clipboard.


 Decibels (dB) is an audio level measuring unit. It is logarithmic, which means that when you double the absolute sound level, the increase in decibels is said to be 6 dB.


 Dual mono is a special WaveLab feature. Some other systems handle stereo recordings as two mono files. WaveLab allows you to open two such files as a "dual mono pair" and edit and process them as if they were one stereo recording.


Groups are used in WaveLab Projects. By organising your files into Groups you can easily collect and maintain all the files needed for a project.


This is a WaveLab term. Keywords are used to categorize files so that you can search for certain "qualities" ("hard", "long" etc) in database Find operations.


Markers are predefined positions in the wave file. Markers can be given names and are used in various operations, such as selecting, drag and drop etc.


 "Meter" in this context is a position format based on tempo. Meter positions are divided into bars, beats (quarter notes) and ticks (subdivisions of quarter notes).


 Non-modal dialogs are dialog boxes which can be "left up on screen" even though you work in another window.


 The waveform window is divided into a main view and an overview. The main view is the lower half and it is here all the editing operations are performed. In fact, the overview can be hidden and the wave window then only has one view, the main view.


 The waveform window is divided into a main view and an overview. The overview is the upper half and is mainly used for navigating. The overview can be hidden completely.


 Some windows (wave windows and databases) are divided into different sections, called panes. Panes are separated by "bars" called dividers.


 Dividers are the "bars" used to separate window panes from each other.


 The range indicator is a "barber pole striped" line in the waveform overview. It shows you which part of the file is currently visible in the main view.


 The sample rate is the number of samples collected per second when recording (sampling). The higher the number, the greater the frequency range that can be captured. CDs, for example, are recorded at a sample rate of 44.1kHz (44100 samples per second) which allows them to record frequencies up to and even slightly above 20kHz.


 In this context, samples is a format for time rulers where the "raw" number of samples is displayed. How many samples there are to a second depends on the sample rate of the file. If the sample rate is 44.1 kHz for example, there are 44100 samples per second.


 A zero crossing is a position where the waveform crosses the centre line in the waveform display (zero level). Zero crossings are used mainly to create splices and other edits with a minimal risk of "glitches" (pops and clicks) at the join.


 Time code is a format used in film and video. It is used to define positions and is divided into hours, minutes, seconds and frames. How many frames there are to a second depends on the frame rate. The frame rate varies with the media and country. For example, 25 fps (frames per second) is used for video in Europe.


 "WAV" is a file format commonly used for audio files on the PC platform. WAV files can be in mono or stereo, have a bit resolution of 8 or 16 bits and practically any sample rate.


A dropout occurs if there is not enough computer power for WaveLab to play or record one or more samples, as intended. The result is a small audible "click". This usually happens if you try to use more plug-ins than your computer can handle. A dropout can also occur if the audio-card buffers are not set correctly (see the Preference dialog).


  Apply Processing in General

To apply processing to a selection, proceed as follows:

1.	Make a selection.

Many times you will want to "Select All" to process the entire file. If the file is in stereo, you can apply processing to either channel or both, by selecting one channel or both, See Selecting.

2.	Select the desired type of processing from the Level and Process menus.

3.	If a dialog appears, fill it out.

If the dialog uses Presets, you can load one of them to fill out the settings automatically, see Applying a Preset.

4.	When you are done with the settings in the dialog, click the Apply/Paste/Process button.

The Status Bar shows the progress of the operation. If you need to cancel, click the Stop button on the Status bar, or press [Esc].

Related Topics


Swap Channels

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.

2.	Select Swap Channels from the Edit menu.


Invert Phase

This turns the signal "upside down", which is the same as inverting the phase by 180 degrees. No settings are needed for the operation.

1.	Make a selection.

Only the material in the selected section will be affected.

2.	Select Invert Phase from the Level menu.

There is no audible change when you invert the phase of a mono signal. However, if one channel in a stereo pair is out of phase with the other, this will lead to artifacts such as a drop in the bass register and a "blurred" stereo image.

The most common use for this function is therefore to fix a stereo recording where one of the channels accidentally has been recorded out of phase with the other.

This function can also sometimes be used to create smoother transitions when splicing two waves together.


Eliminate DC Offset

This function removes a problem that most often appears due to mismatches between various recording equipment. No settings are needed.

Since this problem usually occurs when recording, it normally affects the entire file. Therefore, it is recommended that this function is applied to as large a selection as possible, preferably the entire file.

About DC Offsets

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.

A DC offset is problematic for two reasons:

It affects where the zero crossings appear, which in turn affects the smoothness of splices between audio files.

Certain processing options do not give optimal results when performed on files with a DC offset.

Checking for and removing DC Offset

1.	Make a selection.

2.	Select Elimintate DC Offset.

A dialog appears stating the amount of DC Offset and asking you whether you want to remove it.

3.	Click OK.

If other recordings have been made with the same equipment they might have the same problem.


   Reverse

This turns the selection backwards.


Projects - Creating Groups

1.	To create a new Group, select the Group symbol you want the new Group to appear in.

2.	Click with the right mouse button in the window.

3.	From the menu that appears, select Create Group.

4.	Fill in the name and click OK.

Related Topics


Projects - Renaming Groups

1.	To rename a Group, select it.

2.	Click with the right mouse button in the window.

3.	From the menu that appears, select Rename.

4.	Type in the name, just as in the Windows 95 Explorer and hit [Return]

Related Topics


Projects - Removing Groups

To delete a Groupand remove all files within it from the Project, proceed as follows:

1.	Select the Group.

2.	Click with the right mouse button in the window.

3.	From the menu that appears, select Remove.

4.	Click OK in the dialog that appears.

This only removes the items from the Project. It does not delete anything from your disks!

Related Topics


Projects - Adding Files

By Dragging

You can drag and drop an open Wave document into a Project, by using the drag handle (the dot) on the title bar.

Using a dialog

To add one ore more files to a Group, proceed as follows:

1.	Click on the Group you want to add the file(s) to.

2.	Press the right mouse button and select Add from the menu that appears.

3.	Select all the files you want to open.

You can select as many files you wish from the same folder, using [Control] and [Shift].

4.	Click Open.

A file can only be added to one Group at a time.

From a Database

You can drag and drop files from a Database to a Project, see Dragging to Another Database or Project.


Projects - Renaming Files

1.	Click on the File.

2.	Press the right mouse button and select Rename from the menu that appears.

3.	Type in the name, just as in the Windows 95 Explorer and hit [Return].

This means the file on disk is actually renamed, just as if you had changed the name in for example the Windows 95 Explorer application.

Related Topics


Projects - Removing Files

To remove a file from a Group (without actually deleting it from disk) proceed as follows:

1.	Click on the File.

2.	Press the right mouse button and select Remove from the menu that appears.

3.	Click OK in the dialog that appears.

This removes the file from the Project but does not delete anything from your disks!

Related Topics


Projects - Moving Files between Groups

To move a file from one Group to another, first Remove it from one Group then Add it to another.

Related Topics


Projects - Playing Files

To play a file, select it and press [Enter] or click Play on the Transport.

Related Topics


Projects - Opening Files

To open a file for editing, double click on it or click on it with the right mouse button and select Open from the menu that appears.

Related Topics


Sampler Details

SDS - Generic Sample Dump Standard

Sampler Operating system required:

Latest available.

MIDI:

Required.

SCSI:

N/A.

Loops:

One.

SMDI (Standard SCSI transfer)

Sampler Operating system required:

Latest available.

MIDI:

N/A.

SCSI:

Required.

Loops:

One.

Akai S1000/1100 including PB models

Sampler Operating system required:

4.30 or later.

MIDI:

Required. Also supports SDS.

SCSI:

Not supported.

Loops:

One.

Akai S2000/S2800/S3000/S3200, including all "i", CD, and "XL" derivatives etc.

Sampler Operating system required:

1.50 or later.

MIDI:

Required. Also supports SDS.

SCSI:

Not supported.

Loops:

One.

Ensoniq, EPS, EPS16+, ASR-10, ASR-88

Sampler Operating system required:

EPS: 2.40

ASR-10: 2.53

Other: the latest

MIDI:

Required. Also supports SDS.

SCSI:

Not supported.

Loops:

One.

E-mu Esi-32

Sampler Operating system required:

2.10 or later

MIDI:

Not supported, unless you use SDS.

SCSI:

Required for sampler specific protocol, also supports SMDI.

Loops:

One.

E-mu EIV, e64 and other samplers running the EOS operating system

Sampler Operating system required:

2.50 or later

MIDI:

Not supported, unless you use SDS.

SCSI:

Required for sampler specific protocol, also supports SMDI.

Loops:

One.

Kurzweil K2000 and K2500

Sampler Operating system required:

K2000, 3.01 or later, K2500, 2.13 or later

MIDI:

Required, unless you use SMDI. Also supports SDS.

SCSI:

Optional, also supports SMDI.

Loops:

One.

Roland S-760

Sampler Operating system required:

2.17 or later

MIDI:

Required. Also supports SDS.

SCSI:

Not supported.

Loops:

Two.


Setting up your Sampler(s)

The following text assumes you have made all connections as described in the installation chapter. To enable transmitting and recieving samples, proceed as follows:

Making the Basic Settings

1.	Make sure the sampler is turned on.

If you use SCSI it must have been turned on when you booted the computer.

2.	Select Sampler Setup from the Sampler menu.

3.	Click on the Settings tab.

4.	Select the desired communications protocol from the menu.

If possible, select your sampler protocol by sampler model name, this will provide the highest level of functionality. If your sampler can’t be found on this menu, you will have to select SDS or SMDI, depending on the type of connection and the instrument’s capabilities.

Only select an item that corresponds to the type of connection you actually have. For example, selecting anything that involves SCSI is pointless unless you have connected the sampler via SCSI.

5.	If the sampler is connected via SCSI, pull down the SCSI Unit pop-up and select the instrument with which you want to communicate.

If the instrument can’t be found on this menu, there may be something wrong with your SCSI connection. Go back and check the points described in the Installation chapter.

6.	If the sampler is connected via MIDI, from the MIDI pop-ups select the MIDI Input and Output to which the instrument is connected, and set the SysEx ID (System Exclusive ID number) to the same number as that of the instrument.

This setting is very important. If the two numbers don’t correspond, transfers won’t work. To find out how to check the SysEx ID to which your sampler is set, consult its operation manual.

A few samplers that communicate via SCSI will use the SysEx ID for SCSI purposes as well. See your sampler documentation for details.

Creating a Preset

Once all settings are done, you must convert them to a Preset before you can continue:

1.	Click on the Presets tab.

2.	Type in a name in the field to the right.

Make sure you use a name that can be used later to identify this particular sampler (if you have several).

3.	Click the Add button.

This adds the Preset to the list.

If you have more samplers, you can now go back to the Settings tab and make settings for the next instrument and create a Preset for that.

Related Topics


Transmitting Samples

To Transmit a sample, proceed as follows:

1.	Open the sample in a wave window and trim it to the desired length, if required.

Remember that samplers are RAM based, which normally puts severe restrictions on how much data you can transmit to an instrument.

2.	Add one or two loops as desired.

3.	Pull down the Sampler menu and select Transmit.

4.	Select the target sampler from the Target menu.

This menu lists all samplers for which you have created Presets. The sampler will be on the list regardless of whether it is turned on and connected properly or not, so this list is not a verification that things have been set up properly.

5.	If the protocol used for this sampler identifies samples by number, use the "Sample number" setting to specify a "memory location" in the sampler where you want to store the sample.

If another sample is already stored at that location, it will most likely be overwritten when you transmit, so it might be a good idea to use the sampler's front panel controls to make sure you have specified the number of an empty location.

6.	If the sampler uses names and/or banks instead, click the Refresh button to get a list of the current memory contents in the sampler. Then select a bank and a sample location from the pop-up and list.

This is not always required. In many instruments, if nothing is specified, the sample will be stored in a new memory location and no existing samples will be overwritten.

7.	Click Transmit.

The sample is transmitted to the sampler. You can monitor the progress of the transmission on the status bar at the bottom of the screen.

Related Topics


Recieving Samples
Receiving Samples

To receive a sample, proceed as follows:

1.	Pull down the Sampler menu and select Receive.

2.	Select the desired sampler from the Target menu.

As with Transmit, this menu lists the samplers for which you have created Presets.

3.	If the protocol used for this sampler identifies samples by number, use the "Sample number" setting to specify which sample to retrieve.

4.	If the sampler uses names and/or banks, click the Refresh button to get a list of the current memory contents in the sampler. Then select a bank and a sample location from the pop-up and list.

5.	Click Receive.

The sample is received and opened in a new window. You can monitor the progress of the reception on the status bar at the bottom of the screen.

About Loops

If the sample contains loops they will be converted to loop markers in WaveLab. However, remember that the number of loops you can use is restricted.


Deleting and Getting Info about Samples

In both the Transmit and Receive dialogs, you will find Info and Delete buttons. These buttons will only be available for samplers where a specific protocol that supports this functionality is implemented. They are not available with the generic protocols SDS and SMDI

1.	If required, click Refresh to update the list of samples in the sampler.

2.	Select a Bank and sample in the list.

3.	Click Delete to remove the sample from memory, or click Info to get information about the properties of a sample.

Related Topics


Using the Send Back feature

A common working procedure would be to receive a sample in from the sampler, process it in WaveLab and then transmit it back to the sampler. The "Send Back" feature facilitates this. It is a variation on the Transmit function. The difference is that it automatically sends the sample to the same memory location as that from which it originally came, without presenting any dialog.

Proceed as follows:

1.	Receive a sample from the Sampler.

See Receiving Samples for instructions.

2.	Work on it in WaveLab as desired.

3.	Select Send Back from the Sampler menu.

The sample is transmitted back to the same memory location in the sampler from which it originally came.


Editing Sample Attributes

This menu item on the Sampler menu allows you to make settings for a sample. They do not process the sample in any way, they just give it properties that the receiving sampler may or may not take advantage of. For details about the options, use the context sensitive help.

Depending on your sampler and the protocol you use for communicating, the above features may or may not be supported. For example, SDS and SMDI do not support names. SMDI supports Key and Detune whereas SDS does not.

Related Topics


Opening the Crossfade Looper

Before you open the Crossfade Looper we suggest you use the methods described on the previous pages to set up a basic loop. Then proceed as follows:

1.	If you have several Loops, place the wave cursor somewhere inside the one on which you want to work.

This can be done simply by clicking somewhere between the loop markers.

2.	Select Crossfade Looper from the Sampler menu.

For this item to be available, the Crossfade Looper plug-in must be activated in the Plug-in Manager dialog, on the Options menu.

3.	Click on the Loop Points tab.

This tab should be your starting point, since it is the place where you adjust the loop points.

Related Topics


Moving loop points manually

There are two ways of moving the loop points: dragging in the actual waveform (position the mouse pointer in the display and drag sideways) and using the "nudge" buttons.

Dragging in the actual waveform allows you to perform larger moves more quickly.

The nudge buttons are more useful for fine-tuning since they move the points by one screen pixel. This means that in 1:1 zoom mode, each press on a nudge button moves the loop point a single sample.

Note that a good loop point isn't necessarily at a zero crossing.

The various moving options

By moving the left part of the display, you are moving the end point to a later (left) or earlier (right) position.

By moving the right part of the display, you are moving the start point to a later (left) or earlier (right) position.

If you activate Linking, both the start and end points will move simultaneously. That is, the Loop length will be exactly the same, but the entire loop will move.

Remember that you can at any time switch to the main wave window and adjust the markers there, if needed.

Related Topics


Moving loop points automatically

If desired, you can have the program search for good loop points, automatically. This is technically no different from adjusting the loop points yourself, only that the program uses pattern matching algorithms to suggest loop points for you.

Let’s say that you want to let the program find a better start point for the loop. You first set up a start and end loop marker, to get a basic loop, as described above. You then invoke the automatic searching, and the program searches the waveform from the current start point, trying to find a section that is as similar as possible to the area just after the current end point. When it finds a match it stops.

You decide how similar the section must be to be considered a match.

Setting up the parameters

There are two parameters for the auto-find feature, Desired Correspondence and Search Accuracy.

Search Accuracy is a parameter for how many samples should be included in the analysis. Higher values result in greater accuracy, but also longer processing times.

Desired Correspondence is a value for how well the found section must resemble the section with which it is compared, in order to be considered a match. WaveLab uses two methods for comparison, "phase match" and "join match". First phase matching is performed and then, to "fine tune", a join match is employed. A value of 1000 will most likely fail completely, since it requires a 100% perfect match.

The "Current" values above show how well the currently set loop points match. The value to the left is the "phase match" result, the one to the right is the "join match" result.

Searching

1.	Set up the search parameters.

2.	Click on one of the buttons in between the "nudge" buttons.

Each time you click, the program scans from the current point (forwards or backwards, depending on which button you clicked) until it finds a point that matches. It then stops. If you wish you can stop at any time by clicking the right mouse button. The program will then jump back to the best match found so far.

3.	Check the loop by playing back.

4.	If you think there might be a better point, at some later or earlier position, just click the button again, and scanning continues from this point and onwards.

Remember that you can always go back to the main wave window and adjust the markers manually, if needed.

Related Topics


Working with "Candidates".
Working with "Candidates"

Often you will want to try various alternatives before committing to a loop. In order to compare several alternatives, WaveLab offers looping candidates. These allows you to store sets of Loop points in memory locations, for later recall.

Storing a candidate

1.	Adjust the loop points until they are as desired.

2.	Pull down the pop-up options menu in the dialog and select "Save Candidate".

3.	Select one of the five memory locations that appear on a sub-menu.

The loop points are stored.

Recalling a Candidate

4.	Pull down the pop-up options menu in the dialog and select "Restore Candidate".

5.	Select one of the five memory locations that appear on a sub-menu.

The points are now recalled and the loop points in the wave are moved to the positions stored in the memory location.

To compare several candidates, you can for example have playback going, select them one after the other, and listen to the difference.

Once you have found your candidate, you can select OK to exit this window, or proceed to crossfading.

Things to note about Candidates

There is only one set of candidates per wave window, not one per set of loop points. This means that if you have several sets of loops in your file, you must be careful so that you don’t recall the wrong set.

Crossfading is not part of the candidate, only loop positions are. You should decide which candidate to use before you apply crossfading.

Related Topics


Creating a Crossfade

Setting up

1.	While still at the Loop points tab (in the Crossfade Looper dialog), try to create as good a loop as you can.

2.	Click on the Crossfade tab.

3.	Make sure the Crossfade check box is activated.

There is a corresponding check box on the Post-Crossfade tab. This allows you to choose whether regular crossfading and/or post-crossfading will be performed when you later click Apply.

4.	Decide on a length for the crossfade either by dragging the Length handle or by adjusting the Length value below the graph.

The length is used to adjust how much 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. As you can see, an equally large area before the Loop start is used as basis for the processing. However, this area is not processed, just analyzed.

Generally you will want the crossfade to be as short as possible, with an acceptable result:

Using a long crossfade is a better guarantee that the loop will be smooth. However, more of the waveform will be processed and hence changed in character.

Using a short crossfade will assure the sound is affected as little as possible. However, the loop might then not be as smooth as otherwise.

5.	Decide on a crossfade shape, by dragging the Shape handle or by adjusting the Shape value.

The considerations for this are the same as when creating other crossfades. However, in most cases you can safely leave this value as is.

Applying and checking the Fade

When you click Apply, the sound is processed. If you have playback going, repeating the loop, you will hear the change take effect after a short while.

You can check the crossfade visually, by switching to the Loop points tab and making sure "Display processed signal" is activated on the options pop-up in the dialog.

When it is, the display will show the waveform as it looks when crossfaded. When this setting is deactivated, the display will instead show the waveform as it originally was. Switching back and forth allows you to compare the two.

You can undo the crossfade by selecting Undo from the Edit menu.

If you click OK, the dialog closes and crossfading is made "permanent".

If you click Cancel instead, the dialog closes and the waveform reverts back to the way it was before crossfading.

Do not move the loop points after performing a crossfade! The waveform has been processed specifically for the current loop settings!

Related Topics


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.

If you intend to use the sound in your sampler in such a way that the area after the loop is never played, you don’t need to worry about this feature at all! However, if you do intend to use the area after the loop it is very important to have post-crossfade activated!

The post crossfade looks at the part of the waveform that occurs just after the loop start and processes a certain area beginning at the end of the loop. The Length parameter adjusts the size of this area.

Everything else is identical to regular crossfading, see Creating a Crossfade.

Related Topics


Using the Wave Equalizer

The Wave Equalizer is a function for looping those un-loopable sounds, for example sounds that constantly decay in level or continuously change in timbre. The Wave Equalizer applies drastic processing to the sound that evens out changes in level and timbral characteristics, before and during the loop.

The non-scientific explanation is that the Wave Equalizer chops up the section inside the loop into little pieces, blends the pieces and then spreads out the result over the loop.

The more scientific explanation is this:

A number of slices is specified for the looped section. If for example you specify eight slices, the loop is cut up into eight sections of equal length. These sections are then mixed together to one sound which is repeated eight times. This new piece of audio replaces all audio inside the loop.

In addition to the above, the Wave Equalizer includes a crossfade facility, so that the original sound fades into the processed sections as playback approaches the loop start.

To use the Wave Equalizer, proceed as follows:

1.	Set up a basic loop of the length you desire.

This will probably not be a very good loop. If it was you wouldn’t need to use the Wave Equalizer. In any case, make sure to apply a standard cross-fade before using the Wave Equalizer.

2.	Select Wave Equalizer from the Sampler menu and click on the Wave equalizer tab.

For this item to be available on the menu, the Wave Equalizer plug-in must be activated in the Plug-in Manager dialog, on the Options menu.

3.	Make sure that Slice Mixing is activated and select a number of slices.

Only experimentation can tell how many slices are needed, but generally, the more slices, the more natural the sound (to a certain extent). However, the program puts a restriction on the number of slices, so that each one is never shorter than 20 milliseconds.

4.	Switch to the Pre-Crossfade tab and set up a crossfade.

Generally, this is the same as the crossfade in the Crossfade Looper window. However, the difference is that this crossfade is made before and up to the loop start. The processed material created by the Wave Equalizer is added to the original material before the loop. This is required because the Wave Equalizer will produce a slight timbre discontinuity at the loop start; which needs to be removed by the Pre-Crossfade.

5.	Click Apply, and the sound gets processed.

If you have playback going, repeating the loop, you will hear the change take effect after a short while.

You can undo the crossfade by selecting Undo from the Edit menu.

If you click OK, the dialog closes and processing is made "permanent".

If you click Cancel instead, the dialog closes and the waveform reverts back to the way it was before processing.

Do not move the loop points after performing the processing! The waveform has been processed specifically for the current loop settings!

About the end of the Loop - Post Crossfading

After using the Wave Equalizer, the transition from the end of the loop to the end of the file in many cases won’t be very natural. This can be fixed as follows:

1.	Close the Wave Equalizer and open the Crossfade Looper.

2.	Click on the Crossfade tab and deactivate the Crossfade option (the check box).

3.	Click on the Post-Crossfade tab and make sure Crossfade is activated.

4.	Set up the Post-Crossfade parameters and click Apply.


Welcome to WaveLab!
Welcome to WaveLab On-line Help!

If you get this card in any other way than from the Topics window, you have most likely tried to get help on a topic for which there is no direct link.

To get general Help on WaveLab, click  on the Contents button in this window and:

Click the Contents tab to see the "Table Of Contents", or...

Click the Index tab to search for a keyword, or...

Click the Find tab to search for any word.

To get Help in a dialog, open the dialog and:

Click the question mark icon on the title bar and click on the item for which you need help, or...

To get Help on a menu item, select it and press [f1].


How to contact us

International Steinberg Support is available via the World Wide Web, at:

http://www.steinberg.net


  General problems

Can't create a temporary file

Please check again which drive is specified for your temporary files (in the Preferences 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.

A drive/partition can't be found

Is this volume a removable drive, a CD-ROM or a floppy? In that case, is the correct disk really in the drive?

Have you renamed the Volume since you last used the program?

A file can't be deleted or renamed

Is the volume on which the file is residing write protected? Then turn the write protection off.

Is the file on a CD-ROM? Files can not be deleted from CD-ROMs.

The program opens/doesn't open with the same files each time

This is not a bug, it's a feature! You can decide whether you want the program to boot up as you last left it or not. This is done by activating/deactivating "Save window layout on exit" in the Preferences dialog. See Preferences Topics.

My snapshots are gone!

Snapshots are not saved with each audio file. There are two ways to make sure your snapshots "stay" from session to session:

Use Save Window layout on exit (described above) to restore all settings just as you left them.

Make the file part of a Project and open it from there. Snapshots are saved with the opened windows of a Project.

The cursor flickers

Under Windows 95, color cursors have a tendency to flicker a bit. This is not related to WaveLab in any way. If this is a problem, deactivate "Use mouse cursors in color" in the Preferences dialog.

The display flickers too much in general

If you have a very slow computer we suggest you deactivate "Flicker free sample redraw" in the Preferences dialog.

The wave cursor has the wrong color

This is not a bug. To make screen redraws as fast and smooth as possible, the wave cursor is actually drawn in the opposite color of the one specified. In other words, red becomes green, yellow becomes blue and so on. While we acknowledge that this is slightly inconvenient, we hope you appreciate it helps the program to operate as smoothly as possible.

The wave isn't styled as when I opened it last

The styling is not saved with each audio file. There are two ways to make sure your files look the same from session to session:

Use "Save window layout on exit"  to restore all settings just as you left them.

Make the file part of a Project and open it from there. The styling is saved for each opened window of a Project.


  Problems with Opening files

The file doesn't appear in the Open dialog.

Does the file have the right extension? Select "All files (*.*)" from the pop-up in the Open dialog and check again.

Is the drive on which the file is currently accessible? If you use removable hard disks or CD-ROMs, make sure the right disk is in the drive.

Can't open a file

Is the file really an AIFF or WAV file?

Does the file open in other programs that support audio files in these formats? If not, it is probably damaged.

If it is a WAV file, try opening it in the Media Player application, included with Windows. If that doesn't work, the file is probably damaged. Note that WaveLab carefully checks the file headers: if any mistake in the format is found, WaveLab does not open the file for safety reasons. This could happen (rarely) with some files created by non professional software.

If you use Windows 95, it is important that your virtual memory settings are correct if you work with large audio files. In the Windows 95 Control Panel, open the System setup and click on the Virtual Memory button. Then click on the button "Let me specify my own memory settings". Specify 40 MegaBytes as the maximum value and twice your RAM size as the maximum value.

Is the drive in which the file is residing currently accessible? If you use removable hard disks or CD-ROMs, make sure the right disk is in the drive.

Can't open dual mono files

Open the Preferences dialog, click on the File tab and activate "Allow opening of dual mono files".


  Problems with Saving files

Can't save

Is the volume on which you are trying to save write protected? You can for example not save anything on a CD-ROM.

Is there enough space on the drive?

Is the drive to which the file was last saved currently accessible? If you use removable hard disks or CD-ROMs, make sure the right disk is in the drive.

Are you trying to overwrite another file with the same name? Is that file then write protected? If it is, it can't be overwritten. Save under another name.

Are you trying to overwrite another file with the same name? Is that file open? If it is, close it and try again.

To get around all of the problems listed above, try saving to another disk/folder.


  Recording problems

I can't record

Are you trying to record at a sample rate/bit resolution that your card doesn't support? Check the documentation for the card, to find out which formats it supports.

Is the card really installed correctly? Try using some application included with the card to see if that works. Also try the "Sound recorder" included with Windows.

Do you have the latest driver for your card? Is it a driver designed specifically for Windows 95? Contact your dealer for the latest driver.

Are your temporary files set up correctly and do you have enough free space on that drive?

My recordings are silent

Do the meters move when you record? Do you get a waveform in the window? If you do, the recording is not the problem, it is the playback.

Check the Mixer. Do you have the correct recording inputs activated and the levels set properly?

If you can't seem to activate the correct inputs and levels from WaveLab, try the mixer application that was included with your audio card. Some card drivers do not react correctly to the standard Windows commands transmitted by WaveLab.

Please check your cables and the devices you have connected. Is there really a proper audio signal coming in to the card?

My recordings contain "crackles" and "pops"

This might be because you have an early Windows 95 driver for your card. As a temporary fix, activate "Fix Win 95" in WaveLab's Record dialog. Please contact your dealer to make sure you have the latest Windows 95 specific driver for the card.

There is too much noise in my recordings

Have you adjusted your recording levels properly?

Is the source connected to the proper input?

Have you specified 8 bits as your bit resolution? Try 16 bits instead. Moreover, be sure to have  the "Play as 8 bit" item unchecked in the Option menu.

Keep in mind that the microphones provided with sound cards are very low quality microphones.

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 driver for your card? We have noted that some card drivers contain "bugs" that prevent a mixer from being created.


  Playback problems

No playback at all

Is the card really installed correctly? Try using some application included with the card to see if that works. Also try the "Media Player" included with Windows. If that doesn't work, there's something wrong with the card or the installation.

Playback is choppy

Are you using a compressed hard drive? You should not use WaveLab on such drives because they eat up too much processor power! WaveLab is very CPU intensive.

To play a quality wave (eg. 16 bit Stereo 44,1 kHz file) from a CD-ROM, your CD-ROM reader must be at least of a "Double Speed" type.

A file can't be played

Is the file really in a format (sample rate, bit resolution mono/stereo) supported by your audio card? The format of the file is indicated on the status bar.

Playback is silent

Check the Volume setting in WaveLab (the speaker button on the Control bar). Check also the global volume of the sound card with the Windows application "SndVol32.exe".

Do you have an application for the audio card that allows you to adjust playback volumes? Are these settings correct?

Check the cables and the other audio equipment you use.


  Editing problems

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.

After equalizing the sound is distorted

It is possible to boost frequencies up to a point where clipping occurs, and the sound is distorted. If this happens, undo the equalizing, lower the gain of the recording (by 3 or 6 dB for example) and try again.

When I drag and drop I get a crossfade

This happens since you drop on a selection. Click once somewhere outside the selection of the destination wave (or press [Esc]) and try again.

After crossfading I get distortion

If both sections play at full level during the crossfade, it is possible that clipping will occur (although it is unlikely). If this happens, undo the crossfade, lower the gain of both sections (by 3 or 6 dB for example) and try again. The problem cannot happen if you check the "Invert of Fade In" or "Invert of Fade Out" options.


Database and Project problems

Where are my files in the Database?

See Database File Topics.

Do you have the Global Filter activated? Turn it off.

A new database/project can't be created

Is the volume where you try to store the file write protected? For example, you cannot create Databases and Projects on CD-ROMs.

Is the disk full?

A file can't be found opened or played

Has the name or the extension of the file been changed since you last used the Project/Database? Please try to open the file from the Open dialog?

Have you moved the file to another folder?

Have you renamed the Folder (in the Database)?

Is the drive on which the file was residing currently accessible? If you use removable hard disks or CD-ROMs, make sure the right disk is in the drive.

Not all files get added to database as expected

When performing a "Scan Disk" operation, the list will not display all files just registered, but only those from the last scanned folder. Please also check the "Maximum list size" in the Database part of the Preferences dialog.

A file can't be renamed or deleted

Is the volume on which the file is residing write protected? Then turn the write protection off.

Is the file on a CD-ROM? Files on CD-ROMs cannot be deleted or renamed.

Is the drive to which the file was last saved currently accessible? If you use removable hard disks or CD-ROMs, make sure the right disk is in the drive.


Troubleshooting and Precautions

This section is prepared for three reasons (and divided into the following sections):

Setup and Hardware issues. This helps you check that your hard disks, system, CD-R drive etc. are installed and set up correctly for CD-R writing.

Day to day precautions. This is to help you ensure trouble free CD-R writing in your daily work.

Problems and solutions. To solve any immediate problems you run into.

Please note that Steinberg can not make any guarantees about the validity of your recorded audio CDs.

Related Topics


Sampler communication problems

General precuations

Not all samplers require or even support MIDI transfers. However, in some cases, where SCSI is supported, MIDI is required anyway! See the section Sampler Details in this on-line help, for details!

If you use MIDI, remember that two way communication is always required!

Some MIDI cards and drivers have problems with the heavy MIDI SysEx communication required when transferring audio data. Serial port interfaces are not recommended for sampler communication.

Sampler Transfer doesn't work at all or not reliably

Does the sampler have the required OS?

Does it require MIDI? In some cases, where SCSI is supported, MIDI is required anyway!

Does it require SCSI? Some samplers are not supported via MIDI at all.

If the sampler supports MIDI, try only MIDI first. When this works correctly, switch to, or add SCSI and try again.

If MIDI is required, is two way communication really established? Check patcher, MIDI interfaces etc. Try with a simpler connection and/or MIDI interface.

If MIDI is required, is the interface connected properly and setup correctly?

Is the MIDI driver installed correctly? Do other programs work?

If MIDI is required, is some other program blocking MIDI? Is Cubase running with Play in Background active?

Recheck your MIDI SysEx ID settings. If these are not in accordance with the settings in WaveLab, transfers won't work.

If SCSI is used (or required), are IDs, terminators and everything else set up as they should be? Does the sampler appear on the SCSI bus at all? See the installation chapter in the printed documentation.

Try with less units on the SCSI bus, preferably only the sampler and the computer.

Is some other program using MIDI at the same time? Make sure ReCycle has the MIDI connectors to itself during transfers.

For SCSI, check termination, SCSI card driver versions and everything else related to the SCSI setup.

Try with less units on the SCSI bus, preferably only the sampler and the computer.


Problems and solutions

General instructions

If you run into problems, the first thing to check is your hardware and software setup. To isolate the problem, you could try using other CD-R writing software (for example a simple CD-ROM creation program that comes with the CD-R unit). If this doesn't work either, the problem isn't with WaveLab, but with some other component in the system.

When you insert a disk into the recorder, make sure you wait long enough before you start using it. You might have to wait several seconds. Watch any possible LEDs on the front panel. They will indicate when the unit is ready for using (see the operation manual for the unit for details).

If your CD-R recorder doesn't respond, the first thing to do is to eject the disc and insert it again. This will reinitialize the recorder.

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.

Questions and Answers

I can't seem to get windows 95 to recognize the CD-R unit at all under Windows 95, even though I have followed all instructions for installing the SCSI card and the CD-R unit.

Go back again and check all SCSI related issues: termination, IDs, cables and SCSI card installation. This is not really a WaveLab problem but rather a hardware installation problem.

Check your CONFIG.SYS file for old SCSI drivers, such ASPICAM.SYS or DOSCAM.SYS. Remove these and try again.

I get SCSI communication errors and system lockups on a system with an Adaptec 2940 SCSI controller.

If you run Windows 95, make sure you have the latest 32-bit driver (downloadable from the Adaptec FTP site). This normally solves any problems.

I have problems writing CDs on a system where Corel CD Creator is installed.

WaveLab is not compatible with Corel CD Creator. This is because Corel use their own SCSI drivers whereas WaveLab relies on the standard Windows SCSI drivers. To disable the Corel drivers, remove the following files from your WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS folder: CDRASPI.VXD, VLD_CUNI.VXD, VXDASPI.VXD and restart the computer. If you want to work with Corel CD creator later, reinstall it from the original disc(s).

I have problems with a Philips CDD-2000 unit.

If you have a real Philips drive or a drive that contains this Philips mechanism, you must make sure that the firmware version is 1.25 or later. A firmware update can be found at http://www.philips.com/sv/pcaddon.

I get buffer under-run messages when writing to CD.

This should only happen on less powerful computers. If you have more than 16MB of RAM you can try the following: Open the Control Panel and double click on the System icon, select the Performance tab and click on the File System button. Change "Typical Role of this machine" to Network Server. This re-prioritizes the internal hard disk so that it is given priority over other hardware and software functions.

I have other problems writing a CD and/or importing CD audio tracks.

Well of course there could be many reasons for this. Check the Day to day precautions for trouble free CD writing topic. But, here are two more things to try:

Open the Control Panel, and double click on System. Select the Device Manager tab, select CD-R in the list (if this entry exists, which is not mandatory) and click on the Properties button and then select Settings. Disable the "Insert auto notification" to prevent Windows from reading from the CD-R during the writing process.

If you have problems at 4x speed, try at 2x, then at 1x. Even if your system writes correctly at 4x most of the time, it's safer to write at 2x or even 1x.

I have problems writing CDs when I specify ISRC and EAN/UPS codes, but otherwise things work fine.

If you try to write a ISRC code or EAN/UPC code, WaveLab might return an error if: a) the CD recorder does not support this (not all do, or not all firmware versions do). b) the codes are not properly formatted: UPC/EAN: 13 numeric characters. ISRC: 5 alphanumeric followed by 7 numeric characters.

A CD disc that I have created doesn't play correctly on my CD player.

The reflection of a "normal" CD and a CD-R are different (a CD-R reflects less light). A dirty lens on the CD player might disturb playback. This is more common on old CD players because their lasers do not properly calibrate for recordable CDs. Sometimes, the combination of disc brand and CD recorder brand can make a difference.

Audio tracks that I copied off an audio CD contain noise.

Audio CDs were not made to be transferred digitally and for this reason, there is less error correction available in audio tracks (an audio CD contains up to 780 MB of data, while a "file" CD can only contain 650 MB of data because a lot of space is used to store error correction data). Errors in an Audio track are not as important as errors in CD-ROMs, since the audio CD players will correct many of the problems on playback without audible distortion. This is not done by the CD recorder when transmitting to the SCSI bus, which means that these errors will be part of the digital image of the track. The number of errors depends on the quality of the CD (scratches etc.).

I can't write track Sub-Indexes.

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.

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Day to day precautions for trouble free CD writing

The most important thing to remember is that CD writing is a real-time operation where a laser inscribes pits into the surface of the CD. This is done at a speed which cannot be slowed down or interrupted. Any interruption will most likely be fatal, rendering the CD-R disk useless. For these reasons you should make sure your system does not interrupt the CD-R writing once it's under way. Read the following points:

Keep the CD-recorder on a vibration-free surface. Sudden "shocks" could cause writing interruptions.

Do not read files directly from a CD, copy them to a fast hard disk first.

Do not read files across a network. Networks are usually far too slow for CD-R writing.

Turn off networking, at least for the hard disk drive from which you are reading. If anyone tries to access this drive while writing, this might interrupt the CD-R operation.

It is best to store the files on a hard disk partition that is 1 gigabyte in size, or smaller (since this means the sectors will be 16kByte rather than 32kByte).

Do not read files from a hard disk with compression enabled !

It is highly recommended that you keep your hard disk(s) defragmented at all times. Windows 95 has a tool for this (right click on a drive icon and select " Properties "). For Windows NT, there is a commercial solution called "Diskeeper" (http://www.execsoft.com).

If you have multiple hard drives on your system, put the audio files on your fastest drive! Also use a fast drive for WaveLab's "temp" files.

Turn off Auto Insert Notification for every CD unit on your SCSI bus, including the CD recorder. To do this, open the Control Panel and double click on the System icon. Select the Device Manager tab. Select the CD unit in the window, click on the Properties button, locate the Auto Insert Notification setting and disable it.

Turn off any screen savers, anti-virus, schedulers, animated icons and alarm- or reminder programs that might interrupt the CD burning operation.

Make sure any fax reception or background email software is disabled.

If you use the System Agent, make sure no activities are scheduled for the time you write to the CD. Do no use the "When Idle" option in the System Agent.

Disable any System Monitoring programs.

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 before writing.

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Hardware and Setup issues

SCSI

Proper termination is one of the most crucial SCSI subjects! I you have an external CD-R unit, we very strongly recommend active SCSI terminators (see your computer dealer).

Always use high quality SCSI cables.

Put your CD-R unit preferably as the first device in the SCSI chain.

If possible, make sure your SCSI card, CD-R unit and any hard disks on the SCSI chain are all SCSI-2 compatible.

To give the CD-R the highest SCSI priority, set it to the largest possible SCSI ID (usually 6, since 7 is occupied by the SCSI controller.). Side note: On a Wide SCSI bus which has 16 available SCSI IDs, the priority order is (from highest to lowest) 7, 6,... 0, 15, 14,...8.

Always makes sure you have the very latest drivers installed for your SCSI card. Normally the latest driver is available for download from the vendor's web pages or BBS.

Make sure you don't have any non-Windows 95 32 bit drivers installed for the SCSI card. If you do, remove them and/or replace them with the latest Windows 95 driver. If in doubt, contact the card vendor.

If you have installed a non-standard SCSI driver, this might prevent WaveLab from properly writing CDs. To switch back to the standard drivers, proceed as follows: Insert your Windows95 CD. Open a DOS window. Open the folder WIN95 on the CD (on some CDs, instead open Win95/Setup). Type in the following DOS command: "Extract /Y /A /E /L c:\temp win95_02.cab wnaspi32.dll". If you can't seem to find any file called win95_02.cab, try win95_03.cab. or the first file available. Once this is done, copy the file wnaspi32.dll, located in the new temp folder on your hard disk, to the system folder in your windows folder. Finally restart the computer.

CD-R Drivers

If you have previously installed another CD-R software product, you may run into driver conflicts. Normally this should not happen since WaveLab has built in drivers that are loaded as needed, and which usually override any other installed drivers. However, if you do have problems writing to CD-R, this is a point to check.

If it isn't absolutely required, don't install any other driver for your CD-R unit (for example a driver that allows you to use the CD-R as a CD-ROM drive). The drivers might make Windows try to access the drive during writing, which can causes system interruptions.

Do not use any old 16-bit (real-mode) device drivers in Windows 95. Disable any old CD-ROM drivers you may have in your CONFIG.SYS file.

In the advanced BIOS settings of your SCSI host adapter, the following should normally be disabled:
- Plug and Play SCAM Support
- Support Removable Disks Under BIOS as Fixed Disks
- BIOS Support for Bootable CD-ROM
- BIOS Support for Int 13 Extensions

When installed under Windows95, WaveLab puts a file called "c2rec.vxd" in the folder /Windows/system/iosubsys/. This is used for CD recording, and should in most cases be left where it is. However, for some computer/CD-R setups, it might cause compatibility problems with other programs after installing WaveLab. If this seems to be the case, try removing this file and rebooting.

Networking Cards

Network cards can produce hardware interrupts which momentarily halt operation of all software. This can cause various problems. For CD writing, a non-networked machine is more stable than a networked one.

If you need to keep your machine connected to a network try to not load the network card drivers when you plan to write CDs.

About Hard disks

Many hard disks automatically perform something called thermal calibration at regular (but unpredictable) intervals. For this reason, drives sold as "A/V drives" are recommended, since they have built in "intelligence" which delays any recalibration to times when the disk is not being used. Some drives not marketed as "A/V Drives" also have this capability, check with the vendor if in doubt.

SCSI drives are usually better than E/IDE drivers. Having said that, we know of few problems with E/IDE drives, and a fast EIDE drive is of course better than a slow SCSI drive.

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 sun or other strong light for long periods, and avoid heat and humidity.

The top (label) side of a CD-R disc is also vulnerable. Don't use alcohol-based pens to write on discs and don't put labels on unless they are specifically designed for CD-Rs (otherwise the glue on the label might eat through the surface).

Don't stack CD-R disks on top of each other without proper covers.

Links and sources for more information

Adaptec (SCSI card manufacturers):
- CompuServe: go Adaptec.
- World-Wide Web: http://www.adaptec.com/cdrec/ http://www.adaptec.com/support/cdrec/download.html.
- FTP: ftp.adaptec.com

A general CD-R site that might be of interest: http://www.osta.org/html/cdr2.html

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How to Dock a "Bar"
How to Dock a Bar

Various tools, short-cuts and commands are gathered on "Toolbars" (strips with symbols). These can be used either as "palettes" (separate windows) or you can "dock" them to the window edges. The following Toolbars are available:

The Control Bar

The Transport

The Toolbox

The Snapshot Toolbar

There are two ways to dock a Toolbar:

Drag the Toolbar window (by its title bar) to any of the sides of the application window and release the mouse button.

The outline shows you the shape of the toolbar at the docked position.

Double click on the title bar of a Toolbar window.

It will return to its last docked position.

Please note that you can stack Toolbars and put them side by side, to create any type of layout you desire.

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How to Turn a Bar into a window

There are two ways:

Drag the gray border surrounding the Toolbar’s buttons, out from the docked position, or...

Double click somewhere on the gray border.

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Showing/Hiding Toolbars

There are various ways to show/hide a Toolbar:

Use the main Windows menu, or...

Press the right mouse button anywhere on a Toolbar and select from the menu that appears, or...

Use the keys [F9] to [F12].

Each of these keys "toggles" the display of one of the Toolbars.

You can of course hide a Toolbar by clicking its Close box.

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Changing the appearance of Toolbars

To change the shape of a Toolbar between different variations on horizontal, square and vertical, drag the right or bottom edge as when resizing any other window.

To change the size of the buttons in the Toolbar, open the Preferences dialog, click the "Toolbars/Control Bar" tab and adjust the "Button size" setting.

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Using non-modal dialogs

WaveLab uses non-modal dialogs for many of the processors, among other things. This allows you to select from menus and work in other windows without closing the dialog in between. Here are a few hints on what non-modal dialogs allow you to do:

You can play back the wave without closing the dialog.

You can Undo and Redo without closing the dialog.

You can adjust the selection before reprocessing.

There are useful hot key commands for use from non-modal dialogs (and also from all other windows in fact) :

[F2]	Toggle focus between the dialog and the document window

[Control] - [F2]	Open list of open windows

[F3]	Undo

[F4]	Redo

[F6]	Play selection

[Shift]-[F6]	Turn on Loop and play selection

[F7]	Stop / Move to selection start / Move to beginning

[F8]	Play (from current position)

Folding dialogs

By double clicking on the dialog's title bar, you can fold it in so that it occupies less screen space. To unfold it, double click on the title bar again.


How to Check what a Bar button does

1.	Select Preferences from the Options menu and click on the Toolbars/Status Bar tab.

2.	Make sure "Show Tips" is activated.

3.	Close the Preferences dialog.

4.	Move the pointer over an item on the Toolbar and wait a moment.

A text showing the name of the button appears.

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How to Adjust pane sizes

1.	Position the mouse somewhere over the divider between the two panes.

2.	Drag the divider to adjust the pane size.

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How to Hide Panes

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 anywhere on it.

Hiding/showing the Overview pane in the Wave window can also be achieved by pressing [O] on the computer keyboard or by double clicking on the divider.

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How to Reveal Panes

To reveal a hidden pane, drag the miniature border symbol (above the vertical scroll bar) down or double click on it.

Hiding/showing the Overview pane in the Wave window can also be achieved by pressing [O] on the computer keyboard.

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How to Use Speed menus

Most displays have speed menus associated with them.

To bring up a speed menu, click with the right mouse button in the desired area.

In the Wave windows for example there is one speed menu for the level ruler, one for each of the time rulers and one for each of the waveform displays.

The Speed menus double up for the main menus (some items can be found both on speed and main menus) but some speed menus also contain unique items.

When searching for a function, don’t forget to check the speed menus in the window in which you are working!


How to Maximize the Width of a window

Selecting the Maximize Width item on the View menu makes the window as big as the screen (or other factors) permit.


How to Fold a window

If you find a window takes up too much screen space, but still don’t want close it, you can "fold it in" to temporarily make it smaller.

To "fold in" a window, click on the fold-in icon on the title bar.

For dialogs, you can also double click on the title bar.

To return to normal size, just click again.


Working with multipe windows of the same data

You can edit the same data in more than one 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.

Creating a Second window using Menus

1.	Make sure the desired window is the active one.

If it isn’t, click once in its title bar.

2.	Select Duplicate View from the View menu.

Creating a Second window by dragging

1.	Make sure "Create windows using mouse" is activated in the Display part of the Preferences dialog.

2.	In some empty free area of the WaveLab application window, drag to make up a box.

This must be of a certain minimum size. If you don’t get a new window, try again with a bigger box.

Working with two windows

When you have two windows open that are views of exactly the same data, any change you make in one window is immediately apparent in the other.


How to Close one window

You can close one document window by:

Clicking its close button.

Selecting Close from the File menu.

Pressing [Control]-[W].

There’s a slight difference between these: If one wave is being edited in several windows (see Working with multiple windows of the same data), Close on the File menu and [Control]-[W] closes all those windows at the same time.

If the document window(s) contain unsaved changes, you will be asked whether you want to save those changes before closing.

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How to Close all windows

You can close all Wave Windows, or all Windows (Waves, Projects and Databases) by selecting the corresponding option from the Window menu.

If the document window(s) contain unsaved changes, you will be asked whether you want to save those changes before closing.

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How to Minimize one window

WaveLab windows are minimized, like any other, by clicking the minimize icon on the title bar. See your Windows documentation for details.

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How to Minimize all windows

You can minimize all Wave Windows, or all Windows (Waves, Projects and Databases) by selecting the corresponding option from the Window menu.

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Audio file access

Audio editing often means working on huge files. While Windows’ disk access uses a great general-purpose approach it is not always the best for large multimedia files. A number of factors significantly affects your computer’s performance when accessing files:

The size of the file to be read/written.

How much RAM memory you have.

Which operating system you use (Windows 95 or Windows NT).

To provide the best possible performance, WaveLab provides different file accessing methods. Each method has its advantages and drawbacks. To help you choose, we will describe each method below. To select one of them, use the File tab in the Preference dialog.

1. Optimize for small and medium files

This options means WaveLab uses Windows’ own file caching system. This method is often fast for general purpose use, especially if you have a lot of RAM.

Use this option when:

You normally work with files smaller than 20-30 Megabytes.

Your computer has at least 16 MB of RAM, preferably 32 MB (the more, the better).

Do not use this option when:

You normally work with large files (larger than 150-200 MB).

Your computer has little RAM memory.

With this method, you can not open/save more than 900 Mbytes worth of files, simultaneously, under Windows 95, and 2 Gbyte under Windows NT.

When selecting this method, we recommend that you also re-adjust Windows’ file cache size, as described below.

2. Optimize for huge files

With this option selected, WaveLab bypasses Windows’ file caching and accesses your hard disk directly.

Use this option when:

You normally work with large files (larger than 150-200 MB).

Your computer has little RAM memory.

You use Windows 95 and sometimes hear clicks when playing back audio files. This method bypasses Windows’ file caching, which means less overhead for the operating system.

Do not use this option when:

You normally work with small or medium size files.

3. Optimization method chosen automatically

With this method selected, WaveLab can select a file accessing method for you depending on each file’s size and according to the amount of RAM in your computer.

Use this option when:

You work with files of very varied sizes.

Points to note:

Methods 2 and 3 require you to specify a cache size on the File tab in the Preferences dialog. To calculate a recommended setting, take the number of Mbytes of RAM you have in your computer, subtract 8 and divide by 4. If you have for example 16 Mbyte RAM, we hence recommend a setting of 2 Mbyte.

Method 3 requires that you specify which files are considered to be "huge". On the File tab in the Preference dialog, you can make this setting. Files above this size will be accessed using method 2 and files below will be accessed using method 1.

A switch of modes will only have an effect on files opened after the change.

Windows 95 tips and tricks

As recommended in the printed manual, you should specify your own virtual memory setting, in the Control Panel. See the printed manual for details.

If you have less than 16 MB of RAM memory, open the Control Panel, select System/Performance/File System/Hard Disk, and set "Typical role of this machine" to "Mobile".

Insert a [vcache] section in the Win95's system.ini file, if it doesn’t exist already. Make sure the following two lines appear in this section:

MinFileCache=0

MaxFileCache=XXXX

"XXXX" is the size (in kilobytes) of memory you want to assign to the Windows’ file cache. To calculate a recommended setting, take the number of Mbytes of RAM you have in your computer, subtract 8 and divide by 4. If you have for example 16 Mbyte RAM, we would recommend a setting of 2 Mbyte. Type this:

MaxFileCache=2000

The less RAM you have in your computer and the larger the audio files you edit, the more important this setting is. Adjusting this setting can resolve problems where clicks and pops are heard when playing back large files on some audio cards.

General purpose recommendations

Regardless of which of the three methods described above you use, please remember the following points:

The more RAM you have, the better, since more data can be handled by Windows’ file caching.

Windows NT has a faster and more reliable file system than Windows 95. Moreover, Windows NT has a stronger multitasking structure. The result is that you have about 20% more real-time power when running WaveLab under NT (i.e. you can insert more plug-ins).

SCSI hard disks are recommended for audio editing, since they’re faster.

If at all possible, use a separate hard disk for your temporary files (as specified in the Preference dialog). This often more than doubles the file access speed! When only one disk is used, the hard disk head needs to jump continuously between its read and write positions (you can actually hear it doing this!).