User manual

259
The Sample Editor
• You can also use this function on individual events (in
the Audio Part Editor or Project window).
The events don’t have to be slices – you can use Close Gaps simply to
stretch an audio event to the start position of the next event.
Free Warp
Warp tabs are a kind of marker or anchor that can be
attached to musically relevant time positions in an audio
event, e.g. the first beat of every bar. Warp tabs can be
dragged to the corresponding time positions in the
project, and the audio will be stretched accordingly.
A typical application of warp tabs is to use them to synchro-
nize audio to video.
You can also use warp tabs for further tweaking after hav-
ing applied Straighten Up (see “About the Straighten Up
mode” on page 249).
Using the Free warp tool
Warp tabs are created using the Free Warp tool on the
Playback tab of the Sample Editor, but can also be cre-
ated from hitpoints (see “Creating warp tabs from hit-
points” on page 261). In this example, we will show how a
file with a slightly varying tempo can be locked to a steady
tempo by using warp tabs.
1. Open the audio file you wish to process in the Sample
Editor.
2. Activate the “Snap to Zero Crossings” button in the
Sample Editor toolbar.
When you activate this button, warp tabs will snap to zero crossings and
hitpoints (if shown).
3. Determine the original tempo (if this is non-varying) or
the length of the file (see “Determining the audio tempo au-
tomatically and time-stretching your audio” on page 247).
4. Click the Auto Adjust button so that the audio event is
stretched to the project tempo.
The Straighten Up mode is automatically activated.
5. Select the Free Warp tool by clicking on it.
For aligning the tempo, you should use Bars and Beats as the ruler reso-
lution. When you place the mouse pointer in the waveform display, it
changes to a clock with arrows on either side, and a vertical line in the
middle which represents the pointer. When you move the pointer in the
waveform window, it shows the position in bars, beats and ticks as well
as in seconds.
6. Line up the audio file so that the first beat of the first
bar (in the audio event) starts on the first beat of a bar in
the project.
• If the audio file doesn’t start on a downbeat, you can
use the Event Start handle in the Sample Editor and adjust
the position in the Project window so that the first down-
beat in the sample is aligned with the first beat of a bar in
the grid.
Now the musical first downbeat should be aligned with the first beat of a
bar in the project. The next step is to see where the first warp tab needs
to be added. It may be useful to hear the metronome click to determine
when the tempo of the audio clip drifts from the project tempo. To hear
the metronome, activate the Click button on the Transport panel and play
back using the transport controls.
7. Play back the audio file, either by auditioning in the
Sample Editor or from the Transport panel, and determine
where the first beat of a bar in the audio event does not
match the corresponding ruler position in the project.
If you find it difficult to pinpoint an exact position in the audio event, you
can switch to the Scrub tool and/or zoom in the view. Switch back to the
Free Warp tool when you have found the position.
!
When you change the Straighten Up mode, select
another Quantize value or move the Swing slider, all
your warp edits will be lost.