Waveform User Guide 2021

Essential Reference form Waveform Free, OEM, and Pro

Bill Edstrom
This book is for sale at http://leanpub.com/waveformuserguide

This version was published on 2021-02-25

This is a Leanpub book. Leanpub empowers authors and publishers with the Lean Publishing
process. Lean Publishing is the act of publishing an in-progress ebook using lightweight tools and
many iterations to get reader feedback, pivot until you have the right book and build traction once
you do.

© 2020 - 2021 Bill Edstrom

Contents

About This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i

Tracktion Waveform User Guide - A Work In Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
Suggestion: Don’t Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii

Chapter 1 - Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
What’s in the Book? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Video Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Setting Tracktion Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Modifier Keys Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Chapter 3 - Installing the Demo Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Establish a Waveform Projects Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Project Tab: Get Demo Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Chapter 4 - Audio Device Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Audio Device Setup Setup on macOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Audio Device Setup in Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Choosing the Audio Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Setting the Sample Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Testing for Audio Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
About Latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Managing Latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Calibrating Input Latency Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Resetting to the Defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Advanced Audio Device Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Chapter 5 - Basic Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Tabs and Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Controls Panel / Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Pop-up Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Roll-over Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Creating a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
CONTENTS

Opening the Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

The Edit Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Basic Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Zooming In and Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Positioning the Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Changing the Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Changing Tempo at a Specific Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Offsetting and Scaling the Tempo Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Chapter 7 - Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Pop-up Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Roll-over Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Quick Start Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Keyboard Shortcut List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Tracktion Videos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Tracktion Forums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Tracktion Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

The Parts of a Waveform Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
The Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
The Arrangement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
The Track Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
The Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
The Controls Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
The Menu Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Properties Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Master Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Master Section Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Chapter 9 - The Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Browser Files Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Browser Presets Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Using Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Applying Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Tracks Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Search Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Notifications Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Markers Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
CONTENTS

Clipboard Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Chapter 10 - Using Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

In-marker & Out-marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Navigate Using the In-marker & Out-marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Zooming to the In-marker/Out-marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Looping Playback Over the Marked Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Auto Punch and the Marked Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
The Marker Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Adding Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Marker Clip Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Navigating by Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
The Browser Markers Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Renumbering Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Adjust Markers (Wave File Markers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Chapter 11 - Selecting and Snapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Selecting a Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Auditioning a Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Selecting Multiple Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Shift Selecting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Deselecting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Using Snap-to-Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Enable/Disable Snap-to-Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
About Snap Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Snapping Clips to the Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Snapping the Cursor to the Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Snapping Clips to Other Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Overriding Snap-to-Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Nudging Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Nudging Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Parts of an Audio Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Moving Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Deleting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Audio Clip Handles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Splitting a Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Duplicating Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Fade-in/Fade-out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Pitch Fade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
CONTENTS

Crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Drag Crossfade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Edge Fades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Copy and Paste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Clip Gain, Mute, & Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Reversing Audio Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Merging Clips to One Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Deleting a Section of Audio Removing Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Edit with Melodyne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Chapter 13 - Working With Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Getting Loops Into Waveform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Setting the Edit Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Dragging Loops to a Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Dragging in Multiple Clips from the Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Looping the Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Duplicating Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Loop Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Chapter 14 - Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Keyboard Shortcuts Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Setting a Keyboard Shortcut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Changing a Keyboard Shortcut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Saving Keyboard Shortcuts to a File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Loading Keyboard Shortcuts from a File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Printing a List of Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Chapter 15 - Recording Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Configure the Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
The Input Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Customizing Input Names Globally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Customizing Input Names for an Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
About MIDI Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Setting Up Inputs for Multi-track Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Number of Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Enable a Track for Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Hit Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Enable Recording for All Inputs at Once . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Input Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Dragging the Input Object Track to Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Renaming a Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
CONTENTS

Recording Steps in Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Working with the Click . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Enabling the Click Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Listening on Headphones While Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Live Input Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
If at First You Don’t Succeed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Abort Record and Delete the Take . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Recording a Stereo Signal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Retrospective Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Safe-Record Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Chapter 16 - Recording Overdubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Set up the Drum Loop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Get Ready to Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Record the Rhythm Guitar Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Doubling the Rhythm Guitar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Overdub a Bassline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Rename Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Adding Additional Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Rearranging Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Adjust the Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Moving on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Chapter 17 - Clean-up Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Correcting Small Timing Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Correcting Timing by Slip Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Fade-outs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Stretch an Ending Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Fixing Clicks at the Edit Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Rendering to a Single Audio Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Chapter 18 - Warp Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Warp Time Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
The Warp Time Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Working with Warp Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Warp Points and Snapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Limitations of Warp Time editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Time Stretch Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Chapter 19 - Loop Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

CONTENTS

Getting into Loop Recording Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Loop Recording Step-by-Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Selecting the Best Take . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Unpacking Takes to Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Moving on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Chapter 20 - Comping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Copy Your Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Comping Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Flatten Comp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Setting up a Comp Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Comping Tracks Using a Comp Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Comp Group Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Chapter 21 - Using an Amp Simulator Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Setting Up the Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Recording with the Amp Sim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Managing Latency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Speed of Sound Through Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Dialing in the Guitar Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Using a Tuner Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Chapter 22 - MIDI Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

MIDI Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Set Up the MIDI Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Naming MIDI Inputs/Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Disabling Unused MIDI Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Configuring the Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Insert a Synth Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Using a Virtual Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Chapter 23 - MIDI Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Setting up a Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Recording a MIDI Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Playing Back a MIDI Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Piano Roll View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
MIDI Record Modes - The Action Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
MIDI Input Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Chapter 24 - MIDI Loop Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

CONTENTS

Loop Recording in Merge Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Recording to Prepare for MIDI Comping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Comping MIDI Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Flattening the Composite to a Single Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Trimming MIDI Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Moving MIDI Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Moving a MIDI Clip Track-to-Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Slip Editing MIDI Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Reframing a MIDI Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Splitting a MIDI Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
The MIDI Note Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Setting the Number of Octaves & Note Height . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Mouse Wheel Options for MIDI Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Basic MIDI Editing - Pitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Per Note Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Nudging Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Note Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Snapping During Note Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Copying and Duplicating Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Adjusting Pitch and Velocity in Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Note Start, Length, & End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
The Pencil Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
The Eraser Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
The Line Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Note Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Selecting Multiple Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Editing the Note Velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Step Entry Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Hearing Notes While Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
The Velocity Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Editing other Controller Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Chapter 26 - Quantizing MIDI Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

How to Quantize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Quantizing Note Lengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Quantizing with Groove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Defining Groove Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Complex Groove Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Managing Groove Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
CONTENTS

Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Chapter 27 - Step Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Step Clips Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Inserting a Step Clip Into the Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Programming a Drum Beat with a Step Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Step Clip Actions & Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
The Step Clip Footer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Variation Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Step Clip Variation Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Step Clip Pattern Section Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Step Clip Row Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Step Clip Row Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Deleting a Row . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Velocity Gate Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Looping Step Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Render a Step Clip to MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Step Clip Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Chapter 29 - Using Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

The In-line Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Adjusting the Size of the In-line Mixer Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Working with Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Assigning a Quick Control Parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Third-Party Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Searching for Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Using Master Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Chapter 30 - Built-in Effects Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Waveform Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Volume & Pan Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Level Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
The 4-Band Equalizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Reverb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Chorus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
The Phaser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
The Compressor/Limiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Pitch Shifter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
The Low/High-Pass Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Text Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Saving Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
CONTENTS

Chapter 31 - Effects Bus Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Create the Bus Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Adding the Effect Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Aux Return Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Adding Aux Sends to the Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Adjusting the Send Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Assigning the Aux Bus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Solo Isolate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Effects Bus Track Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Chapter 32 - Clip Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Inserting Plugins on Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Removing Clip Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Creative Uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Echo Throw Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Chapter 33 – Folder Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Creating a Folder Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Working with Folder Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
The Folder Track VCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Editing With Folder Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Automating a Fade within a Folder Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Chapter 34 - Submix Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Creating a Submix Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Working with Submix Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Creating an Old School Submix Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Chapter 35 - Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Activating Automation on a Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Choosing What to Automate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Adding Points to the Automation Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Automating Fade-ins and Fade-outs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Converting a Clip Fade-in or Fade-out to Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Reading Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Automation Curve Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
How to Find Out What Automation is Active for a Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Remap on Tempo Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Writing Automation on the Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Automation Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
CONTENTS

Chapter 36 - Mixing Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

Master Section Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Exporting to a WAV File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Locating the Exported File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Exporting to an MP3 File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Additional Render Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Chapter 37 - Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Script Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Creating a Macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Deleting a Macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Programming a Macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Running a Macro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Javascript Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Hover Tooltip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
RTZ Macro Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Merge Clips Macro Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Importing and Exporting Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
TSC Code Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
My Code Samples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Tracktion 7 New Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
New Interface Look . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
Compact Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Working with Properties in Compact Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
Keyboard Shortcut to Toggle the Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Browser Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Multiple Browser Panes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
Synchronized Previews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Zoom Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Project Tab - Three Column View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
Project Tab - Edit Previews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Project Tab - Get Demo Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Drag to Set In-marker & Out-marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Auto Show Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Visual Plugin Selector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Group Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Linked Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Automation Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Automation Ramps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
CONTENTS

Plugin Sidechains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

First Run Setup Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
Scroll Behaviour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Track LFOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Clip Layer Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Updated Plugin Racks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Mastering with CloudBounce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Moving on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Chapter 39 - Visual Plugin Selector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Using the Visual Plugin Selector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Determining Plugin Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Customizing the Thumbnail Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Scanning to Capture Thumbnails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Opening Visual Plugin Selector with a Shortcut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Chapter 40 - Track LFOs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Inserting a Track LFO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Track LFO Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Other Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Removing LFO Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Video Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Volume - Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Volume - Fade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334
Volume - Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Time/Pitch - Pitch Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Time/Pitch - Tape Stop/Start (Pitch Fade) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Time/Pitch - Warp Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
Effects - Plugin Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Effects - Reverse Clip Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Mastering - Normalise Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Mastering - Mono Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Mastering - Phase Invert Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Moving On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

Chapter 42 - MIDI Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

Waveform Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
Waveform Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
CONTENTS

Reference Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Chapter 60 - Reference: Settings > Appearance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Controls and Parameters by Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Chapter 66 - Reference: Settings > General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

Controls and Parameters on the Page by Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Chapter 70 - Reference: Settings > Plugins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

Controls and Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Chapter 72 - Reference: Settings > Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Controls and Parameters on the Advanced Page by Section: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

Appendix A - Video Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

Creating a Tempo Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Punch In/Out on the fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Tracktion Compressor Sidechain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Track Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Automation Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Insert Plugin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Creating a Submix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Basic Audio Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Warp Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Pitch Fade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Comp Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Merge Selected Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Step Clips Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Step Clips Velocity/Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Step Clips Randomize Each Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Step Clips Groove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Step Clips Route Channels to Different Synths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Drag to Set the In-marker and Out-marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Track LFOs Demonstration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Sync Preview with Multiple Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
How to Invoke Melodyne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Automation Patterns and Ramps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
About This Book
Release Log:
1/2/2021

• Updated images first several chapters

• Added Settings>Appearance reference chapter
• Added Settings>General reference chapter
• Added Settings>Plugins reference chapter
• Added Settings>Advanced references chapter

Tracktion Waveform User Guide - A Work In Process

The purpose of this user guide is to document and explain the DAW named Waveform. At the time
of this writing Waveform is on version 11.
Waveform is available in Free, EOM, and Pro editions. The core operation of Waveform is the same
for all but I will attempt to highlight the differences where possible.
IMPORTANT NOTE!
This guide is in-progress. Many updates and features have not yet been included here. These are
some of the things that are on the backlog but not yet explained here. There are free videos on my
YouTube channel and at the Tracktion website that fill in many of the gaps in this book.

• Traditional Mixer Layout

• Advanced MIDI Editor Functions
• Plugin Racks
• Faceplates
• Using multiple-output Synth Plugins
• Control Surface Mapping
• Waveform Sampler
• Video integration
• Melodyne Integration
• Project Templates
• Waveform Archive format
• CPU Usage Meter
• Virtual Instruments: 4OSC, Subtractive, Collective
• DAW Essentials Plugins
About This Book ii

• MIDI FX: Note repeat, Arpeggiator, MIDI Filter (Pro)

• Chord Track (Pro)
• Enhanced range tools

Some screenshots might be from earlier versions of the software.

Suggestion: Don’t Print

We recommended using the PDF format of this user guide. This allows you to easily search the
document for keywords and topic. If you decide to print this document out that’s great however it
will quickly become out-of-date.
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Welcome to the Waveform User Guide. The goal of this guide is to help you learn Waveform. If
you are coming to Waveform from another DAW, or learning computer recording from the ground
up, you will find this guide useful. This should serve as a useful and handy reference. For those
who already use Waveform or its successor Tracktion you can learn the many advancements in the
software. While this book was originally written as a step by step guide, it has been expanded to
become a reference manual.
Waveform has the full range of modern DAW features along with numerous innovative features
designed to help with music creation.
Waveform runs on 64-bit versions of macOS and Windows as well as Linux. All versions are
maintained in parallel; as a result the latest revision is usually identical (or close to it) across all
three platforms.
Waveform is also available in Free, OEM and Pro editions. Waveform Free has all the core
functionality while Waveform Pro includes additional creative tools like the chord track, Groove
Doctor, instruments, effects, pattern generator, Quick Actions panel, and MIDI effects. The Free
edition has no limitation on the number of tracks and supports third-party plugins just like the Pro
edition. The OEM edition is included with mixers and audio interfaces from various manufactures
including Mackie and Behringer.
Waveform, like its predecessors, is unique in that it has a single screen user interface, with a mixer
channel integrated to the right of each track. This left-to-right workflow is what fans of this DAW
have loved for years. For many it just makes more sense than other designs.
In recent years, Waveform has gained a traditional mixer view. While it is optional it gives you a
familiar console style view. In addition the mixer view can be detached and positioned on another
monitor screen. There is no need to flip back and forth between a track view and mixer view unless
you really want.
Waveform has a very flexible plugin architecture, that includes native plugins, plugin racks, and
third party plugins supporting VST, VST3 and AudioUnits.

What’s in the Book?

In this book you will learn:

• How to install and set up Waveform

• How to record audio to tracks
Chapter 1 - Introduction 2

• How to record MIDI and use virtual instruments

• How to record with guitar amp simulators
• How to edit audio
• How to edit MIDI
• How to mix with the inline mixer section
• How to insert and use plugin effects
• How to mix down to Wave or MP3 files
• A reference to settings and options used to configure and customize Waveform.

Video Resources
There are numerous tutorial videos for Waveform available from my YouTube channel and from
Tracktion. Videos usually precede the updates in this document so we recommend that you subscribe
to both channels:
My YouTube Channel - Inventive Creation¹
Tracktion YouTube Channel - Tracktion Software²
Groove3.com has some older but useful content on Tracktion. Look for videos there on plugin-racks,
MasterMix, and videos on the Tracktion DAW.
Groove 3 - Groove3.com³

Setting Tracktion Keyboard Shortcuts

This guide uses the default keyboard shortcut layout within Waveform. If you have changed away
from the default setup you would need to change it back in order to follow along.
To do that follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Settings tab, Keyboard Shortcuts page

2. Click Reset to Defaults at the bottom of the page
3. Select Restore default Waveform key-mappings
¹http://goo.gl/YnaOMd
²https://www.youtube.com/user/TracktionSoftware
³Groove3.com
Chapter 1 - Introduction 3

Settings Tab: Set the Keyboard Shortcuts to Match this Book

This set of keyboard shortcuts was carefully designed for efficient workflow, and keeps the
commands consistent between Mac and Windows.

Modifier Keys Conventions

The book uses the following abbreviations for modifier keys:

• Command: Cmd
• Control: Ctrl
• Option: Opt
• Alt: Alt

In most cases, Cmd on macOS will translate to Ctrl on Windows. In this user’s manual, we present
both using the convention Mac / PC. For example: Cmd + C / Ctrl + C.
Chapter 1 - Introduction 4

Here is another example:

Click to select the clip, then copy it using Cmd + C / Ctrl + C.
Next, position the cursor in the Arrangement where you want to place the copy and paste it,
using Cmd + V / Ctrl + V.

Note: Most Linux users will use the ‘Meta’ key in place of Alt. On a typical PC keyboard, Meta is
usually the Windows key.
Note: In some parts of the world Mac keyboards use Alt rather than option. This shouldn’t offer
much confusion but I did want to acknowledge this.

Moving On
With those things set, your Waveform installation will match the examples here. Get ready to explore
the world of Waveform!
Chapter 3 - Installing the Demo
Projects
This chapter walks through the process of installing the Waveform demo songs. The demos are
very useful because they give you something to experiment with, as you learn the basics of the
application.

Establish a Waveform Projects Folder

It’s a good idea decide where you want to keep your Waveform projects on your system.
One method would be to create a Waveform folder, under the Documents folder on your system.
So, decide on a location and create your Waveform folder using the Finder (macOS) or File Explorer
(Windows).

Project Tab: Get Demo Songs

The Menu at the lower left of the Project tab includes a button - Get Demo Songs. Click that for a
quick way to download the demos.

Get Demo Songs Button

Chapter 3 - Installing the Demo Projects 6

Get Demo Songs Dialog Box

Select the songs to download from the list, choose the destination folder then click Download. We
suggest using your newly created Waveform project folder as the destination. You also have the
option to show only new songs, meaning those you haven’t yet downloaded.
Demo song downloading will be handled in the background. You can use the Progress Meter in the
upper right corner to see how the downloads are progressing.

Checking the Progress of Demo Downloads

When the downloads are finished, the demo songs will appear at the bottom of your Active Projects.

Tip: We like to reorganize the demos into a folder to keep them separate from my own
projects.
Chapter 3 - Installing the Demo Projects 7

Demo Songs in a Folder

Moving On
With Waveform installed, and a few demo files ready to play with, it’s time to move on to configuring
your audio interface.
Chapter 4 - Audio Device Setup
To use Waveform, it is essential to configure it to work with your audio interface. While Waveform
does work with a computer’s internal audio, most users will use an external audio interface.
Waveform supports Core Audio on macOS and ASIO and Windows Sound (WASAPI) on Windows.

Audio Device Page

Chapter 4 - Audio Device Setup 9

Warning: To configure Waveform for recording, you must use the Auto-Detect feature along
with a hardware loopback. If you don’t, then your overdubbed tracks will not be in alignment
with existing tracks. While this is not difficult, it is essential to do this manual step anytime
you change the Audio Device Setup. The procedure to do this is covered in this chapter.

This chapter covers the essential steps to get your audio interface configured as an audio device in
Waveform.

Audio Device Setup Setup on macOS

1. Click on the Settings tab, then select the Audio Devices page.
2. Select an output Device. Assuming you have the necessary drivers installed and the device
hooked up, it should appear as an option for the Output: property.

OS X - Audio Device Output and Input Properties

Note: With macOS, USB audio interfaces that follow USB Audio Class 1 (1998) or USB Audio
Class 2 (2009) will function without installing any additional driver. In the product specs for
such devices they are often listed as “class compliant.”

1. Select an Input device

Tip: We strongly suggest that you select the same device for the output and the input. In
this example, we are using a “USB iTwo” which is a simple 2 in / 2 out interface.

Note: On OS X, you can select the input device and output device separately.
Chapter 4 - Audio Device Setup 10

Audio Device Test Button on Mac

Test Button
There is a convenient Test button next to the audio device parameter. Click it to send a short
test tone to the audio device’s output. If you hear the tone, you know your device has been
configured correctly.

Audio Device Setup in Windows

If you haven’t already, navigate to Settings tab > Audio Devices page.

Audio Device Type

Waveform gives Windows users four choices for audio device type.

• Windows Audio
• Windows Audio (Exclusive)
• DirectSound
• ASIO

Windows Audio Device Types

Any of the above four options might work with your computer, but there are definite differences,
and best choices:

ASIO
This is the best choice if you are using an external audio interface. The first step is to install
the manufacturer’s driver. Using ASIO will usually give you the best low latency performance
for recording and playback. Many modern audio interfaces include a mixer app to control low
latency mixing within the unit. When using ASIO, you simply choose the device and it is set
for both inputs and outputs.
Chapter 4 - Audio Device Setup 11

Windows Audio
Use this if you are running Windows 10 and are using the internal sound on your machine.
This solution is great for using a laptop directly while traveling. This device type uses WASAPI
(Windows Audio Session API) which offers nicely optimized access from applications software
to audio I/O. Windows Audio will also function with USB Audio Class 1 interfaces.

Note: Windows 7 and earlier are now end of life and while you might be able to run
Waveform Windows 8 64-bit, it is advisable to run on Windows 10 for the best results.

Windows Audio (Exclusive Mode)

This is the same as Windows Audio, but Waveform will not allow any other application to use
the audio interface while running. For the lowest latency and most critical applications, choose
this option when using your internal sound.

Note: Starting with release 1703, Windows 10 supports USB Audio Class 2 devices natively.
For simple 2 x 2 interfaces or built-in audio this is a workable alternative to using ASIO.
For the full feature set for most audio interfaces I still recommend that you install and use
manufacturer’s drivers and use ASIO if possible.

DirectSound
This is technology is deprecated in Windows 10 and there is no good reason to choose this
option. Back in the day, this was the best choice when using Windows XP with your internal
sound.

Tip: Stay away from the DirectSound device type.

Choosing the Audio Interface

With the audio device type set, you can choose any audio interface connected to your computer or
the internal sound. Select your device if it’s not already shown for the Device: property.
Chapter 4 - Audio Device Setup 12

ASIO Device Setup on Windows

Control Panel
On some but not all audio interfaces, clicking the Control Panel button will open the
manufacturer’s driver control panel to set the buffer size. Many audio interfaces don’t allow
you to set the buffer size or the sample rate through host software. If that is the case, locate the
control panel software on your system, and open it. Set the Sample Rate and Audio buffer size
there. In some cases, you will need to restart Waveform for the change to take effect.

Setting the Sample Rate

The default for the sample rate is 44100 Hz, which matches the sample rate for CDs. We suggest
choosing this sample rate or 48000 Hz unless you have a specific reason to choose a different sample
rate.
Chapter 4 - Audio Device Setup 13

Setting the Sample Rate

Testing for Audio Playback

It is a good idea to test playback to make sure you get sound as well as a complete stereo image. Here
is one way to do that:

Loading the SubWays Demo

1. Go back to the Projects tab and select one of the demo tunes - Subways is a good choice.
2. Locate the Edit on the right (SubWays T4) and double-click to open it.
3. Click Play (spacebar) and you should hear music!
Chapter 4 - Audio Device Setup 14

Successful Play Back

About Latency
The process of mixing your tracks together, calculating digital effects, and triggering instrument
samples takes time in any DAW. It is impossible for digital mixing to happen instantly. The amount
of time your computer needs to compute, process, mix and playback from input to output is called
‘latency.’ Latency is the amount of time you allow the computer think and is normally measured in
milliseconds - from just a few to several hundred milliseconds.
During playback, latency is detected only as a delay between hitting play and hearing playback. This
results in a barely detectible lag in the transport functions, and doesn’t cause much trouble.
Latency during overdubbing is more of an issue. If you are hearing playback of existing tracks a bit
late, then what you are recording is not going to line up correctly because your timing reference
is shifted, either late or early. Even a few milliseconds will effect feel. At 30 or 60 milliseconds, the
timing will be off. This can have an impact on the feel of the recording or even make the timing
seem completely off.
For these reasons, all DAWs include a “latency compensation” feature. Following recording, the
audio tracks are essentially shifted to compensate for latency in the A/D process, mixing, and plugin
DSP processing.
Chapter 4 - Audio Device Setup 15

Managing Latency
Audio buffer size by default is 512 samples (11.6 ms) on macOS and 256 samples (5.8 ms) on Windows.
On modern Mac computers, you can usually run with the buffer size set to 256 or even lower.

Note: The choice of available buffer size options varies. It depends on what what audio
interface, connection type, and driver technology you have access to.

Let’s consider a latency of 11 ms. In reality, 11 ms is a very short period of time. In the real world
if you are playing a MIDI controller into a virtual instrument, there will be an 11 ms lag between
when you play a note and when you hear the note. It’s the same thing if you’re working with a
virtual guitar amp or amp simulator. When you play a note the guitar you hear the sound 11 ms
later. Sound travels through air at the rate of approximately one foot (0.34 meters) per millisecond.
So this latency is like playing with your guitar amp or keyboard monitor 11 feet (3.4 meters) away.
There is a delay but you might get by. At 6 ms delay, usually the delay is barely noticeable.
With computer recording, we alway aim to strike a balance between noticeable latency and getting
clean playback. Why not just lower it all the way down? Because, the computer needs time to ‘think’
and produce the sounds and process effects. If we get too aggressive with lowering the buffer, the
computer starts to complain in the form of pops, clicks, dropouts, and the like. So during recording
you might keep this lower, during editing and mixing you can increase it.

Tip: Try 256 samples when you get started. While your songs are simple, this should work
fine on most modern systems. If you feel there is too much delay when playing virtual
instruments, try a lower buffer value. If the audio starts to break up, try higher settings.

Note: When using Melodyne Essential for editing audio, you will need to increase the buffer
size to at least 1024 samples, in order to prevent getting a warning message and to have clean
playback.

Calibrating Input Latency Compensation

If you use Waveform for any overdubbing, this is possibly the most important lesson in this book.
Waveform requires you to run Auto-Detect using a loopback connection on your audio interface.

Warning: This test sets up up a deliberate feedback loop. Switch your speakers off during
this test.You will be connecting an output to an input using a patch cord, so be careful.

Here are the steps:

Chapter 4 - Audio Device Setup 16

1. Turn off your monitor speakers!

2. Make sure any input monitoring knobs, buttons, or mixers or off or turned down.
3. Connect one output back to one of the inputs. To make it simple, connect the left output to
input one.
4. Turn the gain up about half way on the input.
5. In Waveform go to Settings > Audio Devices.
6. In the Channels list click on one of the Inputs

Select an Input

1. In the Properties section click Auto-Detect.

Auto-Detect & Time Adjust Parameters

1. Click Run Test. Waveform will send a short test signal from the output to the input. It will
calculate the delay between output and input.
Chapter 4 - Audio Device Setup 17

Recording Synch Test Dialog Box

1. Click Apply and Waveform will copy the delay value to the Time Adjust property.

Applying the Auto-Detect Result to Time Adjust

For recordings to be aligned during overdubs, you must repeat this every time you make a change
to the Sample rate or Audio buffer size. If you don’t, your recordings will be several milliseconds
out of alignment with existing tracks.

Note: Instead of a loopback cable, you could connect a microphone to the input and point
it at one of your speakers to run Auto-Detect. This will work just fine however make sure
that Live Input Monitoring is off AND that direct input monitoring on your audio interface
is also off. If you leave either on it will cause feedback potentially damaging your speakers
if not your ears!
Chapter 4 - Audio Device Setup 18

Tip: You can keep a note of the Time Adjust values at different settings an enter it manually
for the settings you commonly use.

Warning: To configure Waveform for recording, you must use the Auto-Detect feature along
with a hardware loopback. If you don’t then your overdubbed tracks will not be in alignment
with existing tracks. While this is not difficult, it is essential to do this manual step anytime
you change the Audio Device Setup.

Resetting to the Defaults

If at any point you want to reset these settings to the defaults, click either of these two options:

Reset Input Devices

Resets Input gain, Trigger level, Time adjust, and recording options.
Reset Output Devices
Resets Treat as stereo pair, Dithering Enabled, Left/Right Reversed and Alias parameters.

Advanced Audio Device Settings

There are additional options for Low Latency Mode and audio performance on the Advance page of
the Settings tab. Refer to Chapter 72 - Settings > Advanced.

Moving On
Audio device setup is straightforward, apart from running the Auto-Detect loopback test. Follow the
guidelines in this chapter and you will be ready to move on.
Chapter 5 - Basic Navigation
This chapter is an overview of how to operate Waveform. You will also learn how to set up Waveform
for an efficient workflow, as well as how to change the tempo of your song.

Tabs and Menus

With Waveform open, you can see the Projects tab and the Settings tab. Click on the tab name or
icon to switch to that tab.

Projects Tab & Settings Tab

Notice that there are no menus along top, as with other macOS and Windows programs. Menus are
accessed by pressing the menu “hamburger” icon on the left side of the toolbar.
Menus are located at the left side of the Controls panel if you have it expanded. The Menus are
different depending on if you are on the Projects tab or an Edit tab.

Menu Section in the Projects Tab

Chapter 5 - Basic Navigation 20

Menu Section in the Edit Tab

The only useful item you will find in the normal menu location is the command to close Waveform.

Controls Panel / Toolbar

When working on a song or recording the Controls panel at the bottom contains the menu, Properties
and the Master section. The controls panel can optionally be collapsed to a compact toolbar. To switch
between the full Controls panel and the Compact toolbar press F11.
Chapter 5 - Basic Navigation 21

Opening the Menu Section from the Compact Toolbar

You can access the menu panel from the compact toolbar by pressing the “hamburger” icon. The
menu will open in a pop-up with all the normal features.
Chapter 5 - Basic Navigation 22

Pop-up Help

Example of a Pop-up Help Message

Pop-up help is helpful for the first few minutes, but you may not wish to use it after you are more
familiar with the program. If you are using the alternative Waveform key-mappings, you can see
available pop-up help by pointing at an item on screen and pressing F1.

Disabling Pop-up Help

Disable pop-up help from the Menu section using Help > Pop-up help. De-select Enable pop-up help.
Chapter 5 - Basic Navigation 23

Roll-over Help
In addition to pop-up help, Waveform also offers roll-over help. Rollover help messages appear in
the upper right for controls and objects. The messages appear automatically as you roll over items
on the screen.

Example of Rollover Help

Tip: If you find any help messages wrong or unclear, please a message and screenshot to
[email protected]

Creating a Project
The very first step to produce a song in Waveform is to create a project. To do so:

The New Project button on the Projects tab

1. Go to the Projects tab

2. Click New Project and the New Project dialog box appears
3. Fill in the Name
4. Select the Location
5. Click Create Project
Chapter 5 - Basic Navigation 24

The New Project Dialog Box

Click Create Project it will open to the Edit where you can compose, record, and mix. Click back
to the Project tab and you will see the contents of the project in a list to the right with the title All
items in project: projectname.
For now, the most important entry in the “All Items” list follows the word “edit”; that file is called
an Edit. In our example, the Edit name is “SummerSong100 Edit 1.”

All Items List

N>Note: Creating a project creates a folder, that in turn contains sub-folders that contain the project
media, a Project file (.Waveform) and an Edit file (songname.tractionedit). The folder, Project, and
Edit all use the name you provided in the New Project dialog box.

Project Folder on Disk

Opening the Edit

An Edit is the workspace in Waveform where you record, edit, and mix your songs. Double-click
the Edit in the All Items list; and it opens to a new tab. This type of tab carries the name of the Edit
Chapter 5 - Basic Navigation 25

and is called an ‘Edit tab.’

Edits and Revision Control: In Waveform you can have as many Edits per Project as you want.
This gives you a great system for revision control. At key milestones in your workflow, go back to
the Project tab click Create a Copy. This copies the Edit to a new file. Rename the copy appropriately
and resume work using the new Edit. You can return to the previous state of the Project at any point
by opening an earlier Edit.

The Edit Tab

The Edit tab is where most of the action occurs while working in Waveform. What other DAWs call a
“project” or “song”, Waveform calls an Edit. In a way, this is similar to the terminology used in many
video editing programs. You have a collection of media that you organize into an Edit. In concept,
you can organize the same media into other Edits. In music production, having multiple edits gives
you revision control and flexibility to have multiple mixes all contained within the project.

Basic Navigation
What you need to know to navigate an Edit:

Start and Stop Playback

The obvious way to play and stop is to use the Play/Stop button located on the transport in the
Master Section. Alternatively, press the Spacebar to toggle between start and stop.
Chapter 5 - Basic Navigation 26

Return to Start on Stop

Tip: By default, the cursor will jump back to the start position when you stop playback. If
you would like the cursor to instead remain at the stop position, there is a setting for that
in the menu Options > Return to start on stop. Disable that and the cursor will pause at the
point you hit stop. The same setting is also available when you right-click the Timeline.

Zooming In and Out

Here are some basic ways to control zooming:

• Use the Up and Down keys to zoom in and out

• Use the zoom controls in the lower right corner
• On the timeline just above the cursor, grab and drag up or down
Chapter 5 - Basic Navigation 27

Tip: There are a full set of zoom actions that can be assigned to keyboard shortcuts. These
are also available from the Zoom menu by right-clicking the Timeline.

Zoom Actions on Timeline Context Menu

You can also use the quick zoom tool:

• Hold Cmd + Opt / Ctrl + Alt and drag to draw an area. The pointer changes to a magnifying
glass. When you release, the view zooms in to your selection.
• To step back from that zoom level, once again hold Cmd + Opt / Ctrl + Alt and click in the
arrangement.
Chapter 5 - Basic Navigation 28

• Waveform remembers the zoom levels, so you can zoom in repeatedly. Then, press Cmd + Opt
/ Ctrl + Alt click to zoom back out.

Positioning the Cursor

The cursor position is used as the playback start time, and is also used to reference many of
Waveform’s editing functions. In other DAWs it is called a playhead, now time, or playback cursor.
In Waveform it’s simply the ‘cursor.’
There are numerous ways to position the cursor, including:

• On the timeline just above the cursor, grab and drag it left or right
• Click the timeline and the cursor will jump to that spot
• Click in the background of the track area
• Click within the body of clips
• Use the left and right arrow keys to move the cursor backward and forward

Note: If you don’t want the cursor to be positioned when clicking on the background or the
body of clips, de-select the option “Clicking the background locates the cursor” in Settings
> General > Editing

Drag to Position Cursor Setting

Tip: You can change the way clicking on the Timeline works by selecting Options > Timeline
drag action > Drag to position transport. With this set, when you click in the timeline, the
cursor jumps to that position. If you drag in the timeline, the cursor follows as well.

Note: In this mode, to drag zoom, you need to hold down Opt / Alt. Since you can still zoom
in and out with the mouse wheel or the up and down arrow keys, this mode is a great way
to get around in Waveform.
Chapter 5 - Basic Navigation 29

Changing the Tempo

Tempo in Waveform is managed using the Tempo track at the top of the screen. You can hide or
show the Tempo track using the Eye panel selector at the upper right F9.

Show or Hide the Tempo Track with the Eye Panel Selector F9

The Tempo is represented as a line in the Tempo track. This line is called the “Tempo Curve.” For a
fixed tempo tune it will appear as a line set to a beats-per-minute (BPM) value.

Fixed BPM Tempo Curve

For tunes with tempo changes it might appear with step ups or step downs in tempo, or even gradual
tempo changes represented as curves (thus the name Tempo Curve). In other software this is often
called a “tempo map.”

Varying BPM Tempo Curve

To change the tempo of your Edit:

Chapter 5 - Basic Navigation 30

Changing Tempo: A, Click BPM Readout. B, Adjust BPM property.

1. Click the tempo BMP readout in the Master section. The Properties section will show the Tempo
properties
2. Adjust the BPM parameter to the desired tempo. Either click and type it in, or drag the slider.
3. Alternatively, open the tempo track and drag the tempo curve line up and down.

Note: Setting the tempo this way changes the tempo only for the segment of the tempo curve
that is under the current cursor position.

Video Clip: To learn how to use the tempo track to map tempo changes to an existing
recording, Check out my video on Creating a Tempo Map⁴

Changing Tempo at a Specific Bar

To change the tempo at a specific bar, use the action Insert tempo change at cursor (Opt + T / Alt +
T). Here are the steps:
⁴https://youtu.be/leqRsEZRUJI
Chapter 5 - Basic Navigation 31

Right-click Timeline: Insert tempo change at cursor

1. Position the cursor where you want the tempo change to occur
2. Right-click on the timeline, and select Insert tempo change at cursor
3. In the Properties section, adjust the BPM parameter to the new tempo.
4. To see the results of the tempo change, open the tempo track to see the step up or down on the
Tempo Curve

Note: The Tempo Curve can also be adjusted with more detail in the Tempo track in much
the same way as automation. Click to add points (nodes) to the curve and drag them to shape
your tempo changes along with an adjustable Curvature.

Removing Tempo Changes

Click on any tempo point, to select it. In Properties, click Delete > Delete this tempo setting.
Removing all Tempo Changes
Click on the Tempo curve line. In Properties, click Delete points from curve > Delete all points
from the curve.

Offsetting and Scaling the Tempo Curve

Displace Curve and Scale Curve Controls

Chapter 5 - Basic Navigation 32

Displace Tempo Curve

Click anywhere on the Tempo Curve. In Properties, drag left or right over Displace Curve to
move the entire tempo curve up or down.
Scale Curve
Select the Tempo Curve, then drag left or right over Scale Curve to reduce or emphasize the
amount of tempo variation across the entire Edit.

Moving On
This chapter was a basic introduction to the operation of Waveform. You can now operate the
transport; you can open the demo files; you can create a new blank project; and you can adjust
the playback volume and tempo.
That is enough to start exploring Waveform. Stay tuned, there is a lot more to come!
Chapter 7 - Getting Help
This chapter is a summary of the various ways to get help when working with Waveform.

Pop-up Help
The first source of help is pop-up help. While useful at times, you can also turn off pop-up help with
Options > Help > Turn off pop-up help. Press F1 to view pop-up help for the item under the pointer.
Refer to Chapter 5⁵ for an illustrated guide to pop-up help.

Roll-over Help
Roll-over messages appear in the upper right for items under the pointer. These messages give you
a description of the object under the mouse pointer.

Quick Start Guide

Starting with T7, Waveform includes a Quick Start PDF file. Access this brief printable guide from
the Help menu.

Keyboard Shortcut List

Studying the keyboard shortcut list, is a great way to get more familiar with Waveform. Navigate
to the Settings tab, Keyboard Shortcuts page. Here you will see all the assignable actions grouped
by category.

View as HTML Button

⁵pop-up-help
Chapter 7 - Getting Help 34

For a searchable list click View as HTML to load the current list in your web browser. From here you
can search it with Cmd + F / Ctrl + F or print it out.

HTML View of Keyboard Shortcuts Assignments

Tracktion Videos
The Waveform videos page⁶ has a nice selection of training videos. A series of Tracktion T7 Update
Explained is available from Groove 3, Inc⁷ along with other Waveform videos. Groove 3 is a deep
resource for all things music production.
Also checkout this YouTube channel⁸ for various free videos demonstrating Waveform features.
The user’s manual you are reading “Guide to Waveform” includes links to videos many of which are
only available here. Check out [Appendix A]{appendix-a} for a complete list of videos lined from
within this book.
⁶http://www.tracktion.com/support/videos
⁷http://goo.gl/GKbdlM
⁸http://goo.gl/hywdxh
Chapter 7 - Getting Help 35

Tracktion Forums
The long term official forum for Waveform Software⁹ is hosted at KVR¹⁰. This the most active
Waveform forum that exists. Here you can interact with the other users, TSC staff, and developers.
There is also a growing private Tracktion Users Group¹¹ on FaceBook. If you use FaceBook it’s a
great idea to request to be added to the group. The TSC team are also members of that group.
Also check out the Waveform Software official Facebook page¹² for updates, news about Waveform,
promo offers, and profiles of Waveform artists - “Tracktioneers.”

Tracktion Support
In large part, your success with getting issues resolved, requesting features, and reporting bugs,
depends on following the recommended guidelines, when filling out the request form.
Waveform Request Form¹³
⁹http://goo.gl/YaygV6
¹⁰kvraudio.com
¹¹https://www.facebook.com/groups/Tracktion/
¹²http://goo.gl/Hv3Xjr
¹³https://tracktion.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Chapter 7 - Getting Help 36

Waveform Request Form

Request Form Checklist:

• Use “FR:” in the title for feature request

• Use “BR:” Bug Report in the title for bug reports
• Include the Waveform version number (from the Waveform About box)
• Include your operating system and version
• Note your system specs like processor type and the amount of RAM
• List the steps to recreate the bug
• Attach the log file (Help > Show the Tracktion log file)
• Attach or link to screenshot or screen video
• Report one issue at a time
Chapter 7 - Getting Help 37

Follow these same guidelines when posting bugs and feature requests to the KVR Waveform
Software forum¹⁴.

Moving On
Those are the key ways to get help when learning and using Waveform. Next let’s get into more
detail on using Waveform!
¹⁴http://goo.gl/YaygV6
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab
In this chapter you will learn the layout of the Edit tab. The Edit tab is where most of the action
occurs during recording, editing, and producing your song. This chapter is important, as you will
learn the terminology for the Waveform interface and objects used throughout the rest of this book.

Note: The keyboard shortcuts used in the chapter are based on the alternative key mappings
under Settings > Keyboard Shortcuts > Reset to Defaults > Use alternative Waveform key-
mappings. We’ve already mentioned this several times and this might not be the last! If you
want to follow along with the keyboard shortcuts used in this book, make sure to load the
alternative key-mappings.

The Parts of a Waveform Edit

The Edit tab is made up of four main parts: The Browser, the Arrangement, the Mixer, and the
Controls panel.
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab 39

Parts of the Edit Tab: A, Browser. B, Arrangement. C, Controls panel

The Browser
The Waveform Browser resides along the left side of the Edit. You can open or close it by clicking its
icon or by pressing B. The Browser includes a collection of tabs, giving you quick access to media,
plugins, messages, and markers.

Tip: Starting with T7 and higher , you can move the Browser to the top or right side of the
Edit, by dragging its icon to the appropriate edge of the screen.
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab 40

Browser Open/Close Icon, A. Browser Tabs, B.

Here is a short description of each Browser tab:

Files
The Files tab gives you quick access to the audio files used in the project, as well as the project
folder structure. It also gives you quick access to common locations and drives on your system.
Most import however, is the ability to bookmark folders for quick access. Using bookmarks is
the easiest way to access a loops library. Audio files and loops can be easily auditioned from
the Files tab as well.
Presets
Plugin, instrument, rack, and track presets are all searchable from the Presets tab. The tag field
at the top gives you a quick way to filter by tags. Drag any presets you find to the arrangement.
Right-click to rename a preset or update the tags.
Tracks
Use the Tracks tab to filter tracks in the arrangement by tag. First, you need to tag them by
selecting one or more tracks and setting tags in Properties.
Search
The unified Search tab, allows you to search for loops, presets, or plugins in one single interface.
The tag field dynamically updates to show the relevant tags for filtering.
Notifications
Use this for a history of Waveform notifications. There are many notifications that happen
related to the Waveform Marketplace purchases and plug-in installation. Clear individual
notifications by clicking the ‘X’ on the message. You can jump right to the plugin referenced
in the message by clicking the arrow icon. Press Clear All to clear the list of notifications.
Markers
Use the Markers tab to add bars & beats or timecode markers to the Marker track. Navigate to
any marker by simply clicking on the marker name. You can also quickly delete the selected
marker, change its name or marker type in Properties.
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab 41

Clipboard
Use the Clipboard tab to see what is currently in the clipboard. Put selected items from an edit
or project on the clipboard by pressing Cmd + C / Ctrl + C. Then, drag clipboard contents to
the arrangement from the Browser Clipboard tab. The clipboard can contain clips, plugins, or
racks. It is particularly useful when copying items from other projects on the Projects tab.

For much more about the Browser check out Chapter 9 - The Browser.

Tip: Resize the Browser by dragging the right edge left or right. This is particularly helpful
when working with the Search tab, which has numerous search columns that might be
hidden.

The Arrangement
The Arrangement is made up of the Timeline, Track Headers & Inputs, Tracks, and the Mixer.

Parts of the Arrangement: A, The Timeline. B, Track Headers & Inputs. C, Tracks. D, The Mixer
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab 42

Timeline
The Timeline acts as a ruler, measuring the time of the edit. While it is commonly set to show the
bars and beats of your song, it can also show seconds and milliseconds or seconds and frames with
a simple right-click selection.
The Timeline is related to several other onscreen features:

In-marker & Out-marker

The range between between the In-marker and the Out-marker defines what is called the
“marked region” in Waveform. In other DAWs this is called often called the “loop” or “cycle.”
The marked region defines looped playback, loop recording, and many of Waveform’s editing
options. The keyboard shortcuts are I to position the In-marker, and O to position the Out-
marker.

In-marker & Out-marker

Tempo Track
The Tempo track appears below the timeline, when open. Here you define the the tempo and
tempo changes. Open and close the Tempo track using F9.

Tempo Track

Marker Track
There are actually two marker tracks that can be opened below the Timeline. One is for
bars & beats markers, such as song sections. The other is for absolute time in terms of
hours:minutes:seconds and milliseconds. Cycle through the options with F10.
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab 43

Marker Track

The Clip Object

Above the right side of the Timeline you find the Clip object. Some Waveform users call the
Clip object a “clip dragger” or “clip maker.” All of the terms are descriptive of how it works.
Drag it to a track to create an empty clip of any of the four types - MIDI clip, Audio clip, Edit
clip, or Step clip.

Clip Object and Plugin Object

The Plugin Object

Drag the plugin object to the mixer section of any track to insert an audio effect plugin or
virtual instrument. When you drop the Plugin object, you get a menu of all available plugins
and instruments. You can control the organization of the menu from the Settings tab Plugins
page. Refer to Chapter 29 - Using Plugins for much more about inserting and using plugins.
Show/Hide Buttons
Several areas of the Edit tab can be opened for use or closed to declutter the screen. Here are
the buttons to control those filled by the corresponding keyboard shortcuts.
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab 44

Show Hide Buttons. A, Show/Hide the Tempo track. B, Show/Hide the Inputs. C, Show/Hide the Mixer, D, Show/Hide
the Controls Panel, E, Show/Hide the Marker Track

• Show/Hide Tempo Track (F9)

• Show/Hide Marker Track (F10)
• Show/Hide Inputs Section (Shift + F12)
• Show/Hide Mixer Section (M)
• Show/Hide Controls Panel (F11)

The Track Section

Tracks appears as parallel lanes that contain and organize clips of audio and MIDI. Signal flow
follows from left to right from Inputs, to Clips for recording, to the Mixer and any plugins it uses,
then on to the Master Section. There is really only one kind of track in Waveform. Tracks can hold
any kind of clip: Audio clips, MIDI clips, Step clips, or Edit clips. To create a new Track simply press
T.

Track Headers
The leftmost column of the Arrangement forms a list of track headers. Select a track by clicking
directly on the track name within the header. Additional track properties including the Name
became available in Properties. To rename a Track, simple edit the name property. Tracks can
be reordered by grabbing any track from the header and dragging it to a new location.
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab 45

Track Headers

Inputs
Inputs appear as right facing rectangular arrows. Click on an input for a menu of options
that includes a selection of available inputs. Use the menu to set up a track for recording.
Additional input options are available in Properties. You can even drag an input to another
track to continue recording.

Inputs

Tip: Resize tracks using the zoom tools in the lower right corner of the arrangement.

Clips
You can drag in audio files and loops to build your Edit, or record them directly. The same goes for
MIDI clips. Step clips are a unique in-line step sequencer. Step clips are variation on MIDI Clips.
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab 46

While Edit clips allow you embed an entirely different Edit into your song as single clip. Selection
an of the kinds of clips to access more properties and actions in Properties.

Audio Clips
Audio clips are created during recording or can be dragged in from the Browser or desktop.
Audio clips are one of the key elements of a Waveform arrangement. Waveform gives you a
rich set of tools to work with Audio clips to split them, combine them, reverse them, or change
the pitch, timing, or speed. You can also edit Audio clips with Melodyne to adjust the intonation
of recorded notes. T7 gives you Clip Layer Effects for even more options to manipulate audio
clips. See Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects to learn about this new type of audio processing.

Audio Clip

MIDI Clips
MIDI clips are the Waveform container for MIDI performance data. The clips have many of
the same editing features as Audio clips. Expand MIDI clips vertically to see the full in-line
piano roll MIDI editor. The MIDI editor comes with a full set of tools for editing, entering, and
modifying MIDI notes.

MIDI Clip

Step Clips
Step clips are a unique type of inline step sequencer that gives you amazing flexibility to enter
MIDI notes on a grid. Step clips are ideal for programming drum beats and rhythms, they
can also be used for baselines, synth leads or just about anything else. Some Waveform users
program complete compositions entirely with Step clips.

Step Clip
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab 47

Edit Clips
Edit clips are another unique Waveform concept. You can embed and entire Edit into a clip.
You can also use Edit clips to separate out all your drum programming to another Edit as
an aid when doing complex drum programming. Use Edit Clips to compose songs in blocks -
develop the verse, chorus, and bridge in separate Edits and bring them together in another Edit.
Teachers use it when recording several students singing over the same underlying track. It is a
very unique feature and uses for it are still being discovered!

Edit Clip

Edit clips behave in the arrangement just like Audio Clips. How can you tell the difference? They
have an additional tab in the Properties panel to manage the link to the underlying Edit.

Edit Clip Properties

The Mixer
Waveform’s default Mixer view is one of it’s unique, defining features. For each track, signal flows
from left to right - Input to Track, Track to Mixer, Mixer to Master. The Mixer is where you arrange
plugins to create whatever channel strip you need for the track. If you have MIDI clips on the track
then insert virtual instrument as a sound source. If you need to EQ a vocal, drop in an EQ.
The Volume & Pan and Level Meter plugins are installed by default, however you can remove,
reorder, or even add more instances of them. You will find the following things on every track
by default:
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab 48

Mixer Default Setup: Volume & Pan Plugin, Level Meter Plugin, Solo Button, Mute Button

Volume & Pan Plugin

This acts as like the channel fader and pan controls on a conventional mixer. When you click
either element, a larger version pops up allowing you to easily adjust level or panning. When
selected, the full set of properties appear in Properties.
Level Meter Plugin
The level meter shows the level of audio on the track. You can add additional instances or
put the meter anywhere in the track using drag and drop. You can change the meter response
between Peak, RMS, and Sum & difference from the right-click menu or from Properties.
Mute
The Mute button mutes and un-mutes the track. You can also mute by selecting a plugin and
then right-click. The keyboard shortcut for mute is Shift + M.
Solo
The Solo button silences all other tracks so you can hear one track at a time. Settings > General
Behavior > Solo Behavior allows you to customize exactly how Solo works. Choose from
Cumulative or Exclusive modes. From the right-click menu you can choose Solo Isolate which
allows the track to continue to play if another track is soloed. This is particularly useful if a
track is configured as an effects bus.

Tip: Right-click on either Mute or Solo to access a menu. From here you can reset all the solo
and mute states for all tracks.
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab 49

Mute/Solo Right-Click Menu

Note that starting with Waveform version 8, there is also an alternative “traditional” mixer view
available, that displays the mixer channels vertically as seen on a real-world, hardware mixer. To
use this mixer view instead, click on the show/hide mixer panel button in the upper right corner of
the Waveform interface.Further details of the mixer panel will be included in a future review of the
user’s manual.

The Controls Panel

Making up roughly the lower third of the Edit tab, the Controls panel is made up of three main parts:
The Menu section, the Properties section, and the Master section.

Sections of the Controls Panel: A, Menu section. B, Properties section, C, Master section
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab 50

The Menu Section

A full set of menus related to the Edit are available in the Menu Section. Of particular importance are
the Export, Click Track, Snapping, and Options menus. In this manual, we make numerous references
to the Menu section using a path syntax separated by “greater-than” symbols. For example, “to set
a one bar count-in choose Click Track > Pre-record count-in length > Use a 1 bar count-in.

Menu Section of the Controls Panel

Properties Section
What is shown in Properties depends on what object you have selected. Each track, input, clip, plugin,
rack, and automation point has its own set of properties. Click to select any object and Properties
will automatically switch to show the values and actions that are relevant to whatever you have
selected. This is a key concept when using Waveform, and is central to its design.

Properties Section of the Controls Panel

Master Section
The Master section contains cursor position information, the Transport, Master plugins, Master
volume control, and a set of global control buttons.
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab 51

The Master Section

Cursor Position Info

At the top of the Master section, you will notice three key pieces of information about the
current cursor position: The tempo, the time signature, and the location counter.

• Click the tempo display to see tempo properties.

• Click the time signature for time signature properties.
• Click and edit any of part of the location counter to move the cursor to that location.

You can also drag any of the components of the location up and down to move the cursor. The
location counter format will change to match what you have set for the Timeline.

The Transport
The Transport is made up of a set of eight buttons that include all the usual suspects: Play/Stop,
Record, RTZ, Rewind, and Fast Forward. In addition, there are buttons for Automation Read,
Automation Write, and Panic. The Panic button restarts Waveform’s audio engine. All of these
can be assigned to keyboard shortcuts for fast access.
Master Plugins Area
The Master section also contains a plugin area to insert final processing like compression and
limiting. With no plugins installed, it will display (Drop Master Plugins Here). Drag plugins
from the Browser or the Plugin object here or right-click to add them.
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab 52

Master Section Buttons

The Master section includes eight buttons to access commonly used global on/off functions.
More on these buttons in a moment.
Master Level
The Master level provides the final volume adjustment for the entire mix. The corresponding
pan control provides control of the balance between the left and right signals. For most
applications the Pan control will remain centered.
Master Meter
The Master meter shows the final output level. Right-click the meter to set the meter mode or
reset any overload indicators.

Master Section Buttons

The Master section buttons include some of the most used functions in Waveform. This is a
description of what these buttons are for along with the shortcut used to toggle the button.

The Master Section Buttons

Loop
Loop (L) turns looping between the In-marker and Out-marker on and off. This is for both
playback and loop recording.
Click
Click (C) turns the metronome click on and off.
Auto Lock
Auto Lock is short for “Automation Lock.” As the name implies, this button locks automation
to clips. When on, as you move clips around the automation curves follows along.
Punch
With Punch (P) tuned on, Waveform will only record when the cursor is between the In-marker
and the Out-marker.
Snap
Snap (Q) button turns snap-to-grid on and off.
Scroll
With Scroll (S) turned on, Waveform pans the screen to keep the cursor on screen during
playback and recording.
MIDI Learn
Click MIDI Learn to enter MIDI Learn mode. In this mode you can easily assign external knobs
and faders to on-screen controls.
Chapter 8 - The Edit Tab 53

MTC
With MTC enabled, Waveform will chase sync to incoming MIDI Time Code. Unless you are
still syncing to tape or hardware sequencers, leave MTC off.

Moving On
That was a broad overview of sections, controls, and buttons on the Edit tab. Next, we start to break
all this down so you can have fun making music with Waveform.
Chapter 9 - The Browser
The Waveform Browser provides quick access to files, loops, plugins, and presets. It allows
previewing loops, filtering of your Tracks by tags, and bookmarks to you favorite folders. When
you have located media files and plugins in the Browser, you add them to the Edit using drag and
drop. The Browser also has tabs for notifications and the clipboard. In this chapter you will learn
about each of the tabs.

Tip: Remember, you can open and close the Browser (B) with the Browser icon. You can also
resize the Browser tab by dragging the right edge right or left.

Browser Files Tab

The Browser Files tab allows you to find audio files on your system to include in your project. You
can also preview audio files and set bookmarks. After you export mix downs of your song, you can
easily find them in the Files tab as well.

Browser Files Tab Controls

Here are controls at the top of the files tab.

Browser Files Tab Controls

Chapter 9 - The Browser 55

Browser Files Tab Menu

In use, the Files tab shows a list of files. Click the Files menu button to choose what to list. The
menu is divided into sections. These aren’t labeled in the software, but the graphic here shows
what each section does.

Browser Files Menu

Creating Bookmarks
To create a bookmark to a favorite file location, navigate in the Files tab to any drive and folder
on your system. When you locate a frequently used folder, open the Files tab menu and select
Bookmark current folder.

Tip: Using bookmarks is a great way to access your loop library if you already have it
organized by folders. This is often a more direct way to get to certain loopset than searching
in the Search tab.

Removing Bookmarks
To remove a bookmark, navigate to that folder, click the Files menu icon, and select Delete
bookmark for current folder. Notice that the delete option will only be available when the
current folder has been bookmarked.

Tip: A quick way to located exported mixes of your song is to use the Browser Files tab.
From the Files menu, select Project folder > Exported. By default all your exported files go
into this subfolder of the parent project folder. To get to the resulting file directly on your
system, right click any file and select Open the folder containing this file…
Chapter 9 - The Browser 56

Tip. Quickly Locate Exported Mixes in Project folder > Exported

Browser Files Info

Information about the selected file shows in the Files tab footer. This includes the sample rate,
bit depth, stereo or mono, length, number of beats, BPM, and time signature. The info varies
depending on what meta data is included with the file.

Browser Files Tab Footer

Auditioning Files
Click any audio file in the files list and use the Play/Stop button along with the Audition level
to preview it. By default, audio files start to play immediately when you select them. You can
turn that off by deselecting Auto-Play. With Loop enabled, files play continuously until you
press stop or select a different one. You can also see a thumbnail of the waveform along with
a moving playhead line during the audition.

Browser Presets Tab

The Presets tab allows you to search for presets for plugins, tracks, Step clips, and Plugin racks. It
also allows you to filter the results using the tag field. The Presets have a preview feature, so you
Chapter 9 - The Browser 57

can audition presets before dragging them to your song. Tags allow you to categorize and organize
presets to your liking.

Saving Presets
For the Presets tab to be useful, you need to save presets. Here is a quick summary for the most
common types.

Preset Line in Properties Section

Plugins
For instrument or effects plugins, select the plugin in the mixer, then click Save in the Preset
line in Properties. This will load the Preset Details dialog box where you can add a name,
description, and tags. After you enter the information, click OK to save the preset.
Plugin Racks
To create a preset for a Plugin rack, open the window for it (usually by double-clicking) then
select Save from the Preset line. This opens the Preset Details dialog box to complete the process.
Step Clips
Select the Step clip by clicking on its header. In Properties, click Create Preset. You can choose
to include or exclude patterns. Choosing either opens the Preset Details dialog box to complete
the process.

Step Clip Create Preset

Tip: If you exclude patterns, a Step clip will use the default Step Length and Number of Steps.
We suggest always choosing Include patterns. If you want to create a blank template, simply
clear all the notes, before saving.

Tracks
To save track presets, right-click on the Track header then click Save Preset. You will then
choose between saving the Whole track or part of the track - Track inputs, Track outputs, Track
plugins. We recommend using Whole track however you might want to use Track plugins for
a convenient way to save a channel strip configuration for quick recall.
Chapter 9 - The Browser 58

Track Header Right-click, Save Preset

Using Presets
Click the tags to filter presets and search for them by name using the Search field. Once you find
a preset to work with, drag it to the appropriate section of the arrangement. Here are some other
important features.

Preset Right-click Menu

Renaming a Preset
Right-click any preset in the list and select Edit Preset. This opens the Preset Details dialog box.
Here you can update the name, description, and tags.
Chapter 9 - The Browser 59

Preset Details Dialog Box

Deleting a Preset
Right-click a preset and select Delete Preset to remove it permanently.
Export a Preset
To export a preset to share with another Waveform user or transfer to another computer, right-
click the preset and select Export Preset. The resulting file contains a description of the preset
and has the .trkpreset file extension.
Importing a Preset
The easiest way to import a preset file is to drag it from your system and drop it on the
Waveform browser. You can also load a preset by right-clicking an existing preset and selecting
Import Preset.

Applying Presets
To use a preset, drag it to the appropriate object in the arrangement: Track, clip, or the mixer. There
are other ways to work with presets, as follows:

The Apply Button

To quickly audition Track or effects plugins, turn on Apply in the Presets tab footer. Next, select
a track to use to try out the presets and start playback. Click on any preset you want to try for
that track and it will be instantly applied. Select various presets to quickly audition. When you
disable Apply, use Undo (Cmd + Z / Ctrl + Z) to remove any plugins applied this way.
Chapter 9 - The Browser 60

Browser Preset Tab Apply Button

Using Part of Preset

Rack and Track presets are made up of several components (e.g. plugins, instruments, mixer
plugin setups). Click the triangle to the left of this type of preset to expand the view to show
all the components. Now you can drag any of those components to your arrangement.

Expanded View Showing Preset Components

Auditioning Instrument Presets

Select the instrument preset you want to audition. Make sure Preview is enabled at the bottom
of the Presets tab. Click Inputs and enable the MIDI controller or keyboard to use to audition
the sound. Play notes on a keyboard to audition the sound. You can also audition Instrument
presets, by selecting a track that contains MIDI clips and playing it while Apply is enabled.

Selecting Input for Instrument Preview

Tracks Tab
The Tracks tab works in conjunction with track tagging. Once tracks are tagged, you can filter which
tracks to view from the Tracks tab by enabling Show Only Tagged Tracks and then clicking on the
tags for the tracks to view. All tracks that do not include the tags are hidden.
The most common scenario is to tag tracks of a similar kind like “drums”, “guitars”, or “vocals.” Then
you can filter by those types.
Chapter 9 - The Browser 61

Tagging Tracks
To add tags, select one or more tracks in the arrangement, and type the tags into the Tag field
in Properties. You can enter as many tags as you like separated by commas.

Tagging Tracks

Note: Tags are case sensitive, so “GTR” is a different tag than “gtr.”

Filtering by Tags
To filter the view of track by tags, enable Show Only Tagged Tracks at the bottom of the Tracks
tab. Click a tag to show only tracks that include that tag. You can click several tags to show
additional tracks. If no tags are selected, then all tracks are shown. If you turn off Show Only
Tagged Tracks, then all tracks are shown.

Show Only Tagged Tracks

Removing Tags
You can remove a tag from a single track by editing the Tag property in Properties for that track.
You can remove a tag from all tracks by right-clicking the tag in the tag field of the Tracks tab
and selecting Remove Tag. A dialog box will appear to confirm the deletion. Click OK and the
tag will be removed from all tracks.
Chapter 9 - The Browser 62

Search Tab
The Search tab allows searching by keyword and filtering by tags for loops, presets, and plugins. This
unified search also gives you all the same preview functions offered in the Presets tab for auditioning
loops.

Searching
To search for a file, simply start typing into the Search box. The results will immediately
appear in the results list. Searching and the results list include the Name, Tags, Category, and
Manufacturer organized into columns. You can sort by any column by clicking on its header.
You can rearrange the columns by dragging them. Search terms are not case sensitive.

Search Results List

Tip: If you can’t see all the search list columns, expand the width of the Browser by dragging
the right edge.

What to Search For?

You can further refine searches by selecting which type of things to include. Click the search
loop icon and select from Loops, Presets, and Plugins. Notice that the tag field will adjust to
include only the appropriate tags for the types of items enabled.

Browser, Search Tab Filters

Tag Field
To filter by tags, click any combination of tags. The logic for the selection is “and.” What I mean
is this. If you select both “Drums” and “Mallets” tags, the results list will only show items tagged
with both Drums and Mallets.
Chapter 9 - The Browser 63

Browser Search Tab, Tag Field

Setting Tags
You can set or change the tags for one or more items in the results list with a right-click. The
exact process is a bit different between loops, presets, and plugins. For Plugins and Presets, you
right-click and select Set Tags A single line field opens for editing where you and type in or
edit the tags. Separate the tags with commas.

Browser, Search Results List Right-click Set Tags

For loops, the same right-click and Set Tags opens the larger Tag dialog box. From there you can see
available tags, type in new ones, or edit the existing ones.

Edit Preset Name

Right-click to open the Preset Details dialog box which presents Name, Description, and Tags
fields that you can edit and save.
Audition
Select a loop in your search results and press the Play/Stop button along with the Audition
level to preview it. By default, loops play immediately when you select them. You can turn
that off by deselecting Auto-Play. With Loop enabled, files play continuously until you press
stop or select a different one. The preview also features a nice waveform thumbnail to give you
a visual reference to the loop content.

Audition with Thumbnail Preview for Loops

Chapter 9 - The Browser 64

Using Search Results

Anything you find and want to use, drag from the search results to the arrangement. Track
loops to tracks, drag plugins to the mixer or Audio clips. Drag instrument presets to the mixer.
Drag track presets to tracks.
Indexing Your Loop Library
If you want Waveform to be able to search for loops, you need to index your loop library. Do
that from Settings > Loop Database > Scan for Loops. You will see options on that page to enter
paths to your loops.

Note: If you don’t want to use Waveform to search your loop library, then you don’t need
to have it scan and index your files. You can simply create bookmarks to your loop library
folders on the Files tab.

Notifications Tab
Waveform shows notifications when new plugins are added, certain background processes complete,
and for confirmation of purchases through the Waveform marketplace. These might appear briefly
in the operating system but the Notifications tab keeps the history of these messages. Scroll through
the list using the mouse wheel or the scroll bar along the right side. Here are a few things you can
do with the notifications that appear in the list:

Browser, Notifications Tab

Show the Installed Plugin

Click the arrow on the message to jump directly to that plugin on the Search tab.
Chapter 9 - The Browser 65

Removing a Notification
Each notification has an “X” in the upper right corner to remove it from the list.
Clearing All Notifications
Click Clear All at the bottom of the Notifications tab to clear all notifications

Markers Tab
Use the Markers tab to add Bars & Beats or Timecode markers to the Marker track. You can also use
it navigate to any marker by double-clicking on the marker name. You can also quickly delete the
selected marker or change its name in Properties.

Browser, Markers Tab

We have complete coverage of Markers and the Markers tab in Chapter 10 - Using Markers.

Clipboard Tab
The Clipboard tab shows the most recent item copied or cut. Copies at typically done using Cmd +
C / Ctrl + C while cuts are done using Cmd + X / Ctrl + X. There are also on screen buttons for copy
and cut depending on the object and context.
To use the last item copied or cut you typically use Cmd + V / Ctrl + V. Alternatively you can go to
the clipboard tab and drag items onto the arrangement. It is particularly useful when you want to
copy elements from other projects on the Projects tab, then drag or paste them into a different Edit.
You can also copy and paste between Edits.
Chapter 9 - The Browser 66

Browser, Clipboard tab

Here are few things to know about the clipboard:

Adding Items to the Clipboard

The best way is to use the keyboard shortcut to copy a selection of clips (Cmd + C / Ctrl + C).
The shortcut for “cut” will also work (Cmd + X / Ctrl + X). These commands are also usually
available from right-click menus.
Dragging Clipboard Items to the Arrangement
When you drag items from the clip board you get all or nothing. However before dragging,
you can remove the items you don’t want by right-clicking and selecting Remove item from
clipboard.

Removing an Item from the Clipboard

Clearing the Clipboard

To remove all items from the clipboard. Right-click any item and select Clear clipboard.

Moving On
Reading about all the features of the Browser should give you more insight into the capabilities of
Waveform. It will make even more sense after you get familiar with the core workflows of recording,
editing, and mixing.
Chapter 10 - Using Markers
In this chapter, You will learn about using markers in Waveform. There are four different kinds of
markers:

In-marker and Out-marker

Together these define the “marked region”, that is the region for looped playback and loop
recording.

In-marker and Out-marker

Bars & Beats markers (B&B Markers)

Bars & Beats markers can be used to identify song sections, give you a visual guide to the song,
and provide quick navigation to different parts of your song. They are arranged as clips on the
Marker track. Bars & Beats markers appear with a musical note icon on the Marker track. They
also appear as narrow pointers on the Timeline when the Marker track is closed.

Bars & Beats Markers on the Marker Track

Bars & Beats Markers on the Timeline (with Marker track closed)

Timecode Markers (TC Markers)

Timecode markers mark a specific time offset into the Edit, and are not dependent on tempo
changes. They can can aid with navigation, especially when working with video. TC markers
appear as clips with a clock icon on the Marker track. They appear as rounded pointers on the
Timeline if the Marker track is closed.
Chapter 10 - Using Markers 68

Timecode Marker on the Marker Track

Timecode Marker on the Timeline (with Marker track closed)

Note: In Waveform, the term ‘marked region’ means the range of an edit that occurs between
the In-marker and the Out-marker.

Wave File Markers

You can add yellow arrows directly to Wave files that then appear on Audio clips. These are
the least useful type of markers. More about them near the end of this chapter.

Wave File Markers

In-marker & Out-marker

Position the In-marker and Out-marker by dragging the I and O flags along the Timeline. The In-
marker and Out-marker together define the range over which playback will loop when the Loop
button in engaged in the Master section. They also define what is called the “marked region” used
for numerous editing actions.

The In-marker & Out-marker

Pressing I will locate the In-marker to the cursor position. Pressing O locates the the Out-marker to
the cursor position.
You can alternatively “draw” in the range between the In-marker and Out-marker. Double-click on
the Timeline and start dragging right. Double-click positions the In-marker at the starting point. As
you drag right, the Out-marker comes along to set the out point when you lift the mouse button.

Tip: To set the marked region over a selection of clips and press A. This also works for Marker
clips making it a great way to set the In-marker and Out-marker over a song section.
Chapter 10 - Using Markers 69

Navigate Using the In-marker & Out-marker

You can quickly navigate to the In-marker or Out-marker using the square bracket keys. Press [ to
locate the cursor to the In-marker; Press ] to locate the cursor to the Out-marker.

Zooming to the In-marker/Out-marker

When you have a marked region set between the In-marker and Out-marker you can quickly zoom
in to that region. To do that, right-click the Timeline and select Zoom to show the marked region or
simply to press F7.

Right-click the Timeline, Zoom to In-marker/Out-marker

Looping Playback Over the Marked Region

To continuously repeat playback over a section of your tune, set the In-marker and Out-marker
to define the loop range. Turn on looped playback by engaging the Loop button (L). Playback will
repeat that section over and over until you stop playback.

Enabling Loop Playback

Note: When Loop is enabled, playback will only play within the marked region. If the cursor
is located earlier than the In-marker or after the Out-marker when you press Play, it will
jump to the In-marker and play from there.

Auto Punch and the Marked Region

To use Auto Punch, first set the In-marker and Out-marker over the range where you want to punch
in. Enable the Punch button (P) in the Master section. Make sure Loop is turned off. Now enable
a track for recording, position the cursor before the In-marker and press Record on the Transport.
Chapter 10 - Using Markers 70

Even though the track is armed for recording, no recording will happen until the cursor gets to the
In-marker.

Enabling Auto Punch Recording

Tip: Auto punch recording means that recording is only allowed between the In-marker and
Out-marker. Also, punch recording only works when Loop is off.

The Marker Track

Marker Track

Let’s take a closer look at the Marker track. You can open and close the Marker track with the Marker
track show/hide button.

Marker Track Show/Hide Button

The Marker track can contain either Bars & Beats markers or Timecode markers. If you don’t like
to see the types mixed together on the same track, there is an additional split mode that shows each
type on separate lanes.

Marker Track Split Mode

To access that mode, select the Marker track by clicking the header. Then in Properties, de-select
Use a single track for all types of marker. In this mode, the Marker track has two lanes. The top lane
shows Timecode Markers and the bottom lane shows Bars & Beats Markers.
Chapter 10 - Using Markers 71

Marker Track Properties Setup for Split Mode

Note: F10 is my assignment for the keyboard action Toggle the marker view mode. Pressing
F10 cycles through the three marker track states - hidden, normal, and split mode.

Tip: You can click on any blank space in the Marker track to instantly position the cursor.

Adding Markers
Here are the various ways to add markers to the Marker track:

Drag the Clip Object

Drag the Clip object to the Marker track and choose which type of Marker to create. This
creates a Marker clip you can drag and resize. It has left and right trim handles to adjust the
length. You can also drag a marker by its header and move it around. If the Marker track is
in split mode, the type of Marker (B&B or TC) is determined by which lane you drop the Clip
object on.

Adding a Marker by Dragging the Clip Object

Press Return
The Return key (Enter on PCs) has several functions related to Marker navigation during
playback. At the most basic level, pressing Return adds a new Marker at the cursor position.
The type of Marker clip matches the most recently added Marker. If a Marker clip is selected,
it adds one of that type. Markers added with Return, use the next available sequential Marker
number.
Right-click the Marker Track Header
Right-click the Marker track header and choose which type of marker to add at the cursor
position.
Chapter 10 - Using Markers 72

Add a Marker from the Marker Track Right-click Menu

Marker Track Properties Buttons

Click the Marker track header to select it, then look in Properties. There you will find the
buttons New Bars & Beats Marker and New Absolute TC Marker.

Add a Marker from Marker Track Properties

Browser Markers Tab Add Button

You can add either kind of Marker Clip using the selections on the Browser, Markers tab.

Add a Marker from the Browser, Markers Tab

Marker Clip Properties

Marker Clip Properties

Marker clips behave like other clips in several ways. You can adjust the length using the trim handles,
you can split them, drag them, duplicate them, or nudge them. They also contain several properties,
described below:
Chapter 10 - Using Markers 73

Number
Marker numbers are issued sequentially as you add Marker clips. You can edit the Number
property if you want. If you change Number to one that is already in use, then the other clip
will be assigned the next available number. Marker numbers can be used for quick navigation
during playback.

Tip: If you feel compelled to renumber all your Markers to get them into a nice sequential
order, you might want to skip some numbers, in order to make it easier to insert new Markers.
For example, if you have a lot of markers in the song, you could re-number them by 5s.

Type
Type allows you choose which type of Marker clip you want: Bars & Beats or Absolute. Bars
& Beats markers adjust to the tempo changes in the song. Timecode markers are fixed to a
specific time offset into the Edit and are not affected by tempo changes.

Note: Timecode markers are also called “absolute markers”, “TC markers”, or “absolute
timecode markers” within Waveform. All those terms refer to the same thing. For this book,
I usually call them Timecode markers.

Name
The Name property sets the name shown on the Marker clip. By default it will be “New Marker.”
Most users rename it based on song section. For example: Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, or Outro.
Start
The Start property shows the bar, beat and tick start time for B&B markers. For Timecode
markers it shows Hours/Minutes/Seconds/Milliseconds. For either type, you can edit Start
directly to move the marker to a different location.
Length
Similarly, Length shows B&B marker length in Bars/Beats/Ticks format. For Timecode markers,
it shows length as Hours/Minutes/Seconds/Milliseconds. Edit the Length property and the
Marker clip length will change to match.
End End values are in the same format as the Start property. Edit it to change the ending time. When
you change the End value, Length gets adjusted to match. Start always remains the same. If
you edit End to fall before Start, it will be set to match the Start time. In that case, Length gets
set to zero.
Colour
Choose from one of the nice colors. This sets all selected Marker clips to the color you choose.

Tip: You can change a Marker clip from Bars & Beats to Timecode using nudge. Press F10
until the Marker track split mode is showing. Select the marker clip to convert and press
Shift-up or Shift-down to nudge the clip to the other lane.
Chapter 10 - Using Markers 74

Navigating by Markers
Once you have Markers set up, you can quickly navigate using the Marker number and the Return
key. Just type in a Marker number like ‘5’ or ‘11’ and hit Return (‘Enter’ on PCs). As you type the
number you will see it appear in green in the upper right of the Waveform window. When you see
the number, you have about two seconds hit Return before the number disappears.

Marker Number As It Appears Momentarily

If you enter a number that doesn’t have a matching Marker, then Waveform will insert a marker
with that number at the cursor. Also, if you just press Return, a Marker clips is inserted at the cursor
position.
Undo (Cmd + Z / Ctrl + Z) removes a marker if you didn’t intend to insert it.

Tip: The Number + Return approach to navigation works during playback but also works
when Waveform is idle. If it doesn’t seem to be working when playback is idle, click the
header of the Marker track or select any marker and try again.

The Browser Markers Tab

Use the Browser Markers tab to add Bars & Beats or Timecode markers to the Marker track. You can
also use it navigate to any marker by double-clicking on the marker name in the list. You can also
quickly delete the selected marker or change its name in Properties.
Chapter 10 - Using Markers 75

Browser, Markers Tab

Select marker clips

Single-click a marker in the list to select it.
Navigate to a marker clip
Double-click on a marker in the list to jump to that position. This works during playback too.
Rename a marker
Click a marker to select it. Then, edit the Name property in Properties.
Add a Marker
Click Add at the bottom of the Markers tab. Select from the two types: Absolute timecode
marker and Bars & Beats Marker.

Adding a Marker from the Markers Tab

Delete a Marker
Select a marker in the list and click Delete or just press Delete on your keyboard. Undo (Cmd
+ Z / Ctrl + Z) restores a deleted marker.
Change a Marker from one Type to the Other
Select the Marker and edit the Type property in Properties. Or drag it from the TC Marker track
to the B & B Marker track or vice-versa.
Chapter 10 - Using Markers 76

Absolute Timecode Marker Track - Marker - TC

Renumbering Markers
It is sometimes too easy to get your marker numbers out of order, but there is an easy trick to
renumber them: Open the Markers tab in the Browser. Select all of the markers and edit the Number
property. For example if it shows “1” with all the markers selected change it to “2.” The markers
instantly renumber starting from “2.” If you really want them numbered starting from one, simply
do it again, changing the Number property back to one.

Adjust Markers (Wave File Markers)

There is another type of marker in Waveform, also called “markers.” They appear to mark spots in
a clip, but actually are stored in the underlying Wave files. You work with these markers from the
Adjust Markers actions in Audio clip properties. You also add and remove them by dragging the
marker object in Audio clip properties View Source Info.

Wave File Markers in View Source Info

Adjust Markers Options in Audio Clip Properties

Chapter 10 - Using Markers 77

Moving On
Markers can be extremely useful in the context of recording and editing. Not only do they keep your
project organized, they also provide easy navigation into important locations within the Edit.
Chapter 11 - Selecting and Snapping
In this chapter, we start working with clips. The examples focus on Audio Clips and MIDI Clips.
Keep in mind that most of these techniques also apply to Step clips, Edit clips, and markers.
First, you’ll learn how to select clips and groups of clips. Then, you will learn about the snap-to-grid
functions. Snap-to-grid makes it easy to align clips to the bars and beats of your song. Let’s get
started with selecting clips.

Selecting a Clip
To select a clip, simply click on the clip. The clip is highlighted and its properties appear in Properties.

A Selected Clip

Auditioning a Clip
To audition a clip, double-click and you will hear it play back, starting at the spot where you have
double-clicked. Click within the clip to jump to a new spot as playback continues. Click anywhere
outside the clip and the auditioning will stop. Moving pointers above and below the clip indicate
the playback position.

Audio Clip Being Auditioned

Auditioning essentially solos the clip; everything else within the Edit is muted in this mode.
Chapter 11 - Selecting and Snapping 79

Selecting Multiple Clips

To select more than one clip, hold down Cmd / Ctrl then click on each clip that you want to add to
the selection.

Multiple Clips Selection

Once you have multiple clips selected, you can perform operations on them as a group, such
as moving them by dragging, duplicating, or deleting them. We’ll cover more about clip editing
operations in Chapter 12 - Basic Audio Editing. To clear a multiple selection, simply press the Esc
key.
Another way to make a multiple selection is to use the lasso tool. Here’s how that works:

Multiple Selection with Lasso

1. Hold down Opt / Alt until you see a plus cursor.

2. Now as you drag, the cursor draws a yellow box.
3. Anything the yellow box touches gets selected.

Tip: You can further customize a multiple selection by holding down Cmd / Ctrl then click
any clip you want to de-select.
Chapter 11 - Selecting and Snapping 80

Shift Selecting Clips

Waveform also supports Shift-select. This is a quick way to select a contiguous range of clips. Here’s
how:

1. Select the first clip.

2. Hold down Shift and select the last clip. This will select the first clip, the last clip, and all the
clips in between.

Shift-select works for clips on a single track, and even across multiple tracks.

Tip: Shift-select also works for many other kinds of Waveform objects including Browser
lists and tracks.

Deselecting Clips
You can always press Esc to deselect everything.

Tip: Pressing Esc also works to clear selections of other objects in Waveform like plugins
and tracks.

Using Snap-to-Grid
Snap-to-grid makes aligning clips and notes to musical time accurate and efficient. Working with
this powerful feature is crucial to using Waveform for editing audio and MIDI.

Enable/Disable Snap-to-Grid
To toggle snap-to-grid on or off, click on the Snap button (Q) in the Master section. When snap-to-
grid is enabled the Snap button appears highlighted.

Snap Button Enable in the Master Section

Chapter 11 - Selecting and Snapping 81

Pressing Q also toggles Snap on and off. You can also control the snapping state from the menu
section - Snapping > Enable snapping.

Tip: Remember the keyboard shortcut Q is short for quantize. Snap-to-grid is a form of
quantizing. If you don’t like that shortcut, you can always remap it to another key.

About Snap Resolution

The snap resolution is dependent on the zoom level. If you’re zoomed way out, the snap resolution
might be one bar. The more you zoom in, the snap resolution gets finer and finer.

Hover Over Timeline to See Snap Resolution

Tip: You can always see what your current snap resolution is by hovering the mouse pointer
over the Timeline. A tooltip appears showing, Snap resolution bar, Snap resolution beat, or
Half beat for example.

Snapping Clips to the Grid

As you drag a clip, it snaps to the grid increments. If you want to see exactly where it’s snapping,
look at the Start parameter in Properties. Snap-to-grid makes it easy to align a clip to a bar or beat
of the music.

Clip Properties Start

Note: Snap-to-grid is an alignment of the beginning of a clip to a grid line. Notice that
snapping also applies to editing functions like trimming.
Chapter 11 - Selecting and Snapping 82

Snapping the Cursor to the Grid

Snapping may affect how the cursor is positioned depending on another setting. Turn on Snapping
> Snap cursor movement and the cursor position will snap to the grid. Remember that the snap
resolution is determined by the zoom level.

caption

To test this, zoom out so that the snap resolution is “Beat.” Now move the cursor around and it will
obviously snap to the nearest beat.

Tip: To get clear indication of exactly where the cursor is, look at the time display in the
Master section.

Snapping Clips to Other Clips

Another snap behavior is to Snap clips to neighbors. With Snap clips to neighbors off, clips snap to
the grid normally. However, with Snapping > Snap clips to neighbors turned on, clips snap to other
clips. It seems as if they are magnetically attracted to each other. This is useful for any editing where
you want to arrange clips end-to-end, for example when editing voiceover tracks.

Snap Clips to Neighbours Option

Tip: A problem with Snap clips to neighbors is that you need to have snapping enabled for
it work. To snap clips to other clips with with snap-to-grid disabled, just hold down Opt /
Alt as you drag. This is really the best way to arrange clips end to end!
Chapter 11 - Selecting and Snapping 83

Overriding Snap-to-Grid
Temporarily override snap-to-grid by holding down Cmd / Ctrl. Using this modifier, you can freely
position clips without first turning off Snap.

Nudging Clips
To move clips using the keyboard, select a clip then press Shift + Right Arrow or Shift + Left Arrow.
The nudge action moves the clip by one grid increment. You can also move clips track to track using
nudge. To nudge clips track to track, use Shift + Up Arrow and Shift + Down Arrow.
You can use nudging when moving large selections of clips over, to add a song section or make room
for an intro.

Note: Nudging works the same whether snapping is on or off. The nudge move is by the
grid increment.

Nudging Notes
Snapping is useful when working with Audio clips, but even more so when working with MIDI
notes. We cover MIDI editing in Chapter 25 However, here is a preview while we are on the topic
of nudging.

The Waveform MIDI Editor

Double-click on the header of a MIDI clip. It goes into the large view so you can see the MIDI editor.
MIDI notes work much like clips, in that they respect the snap resolution. You can drag a note to
snap by the current grid increment: bar, for example. You can nudge notes forward or backward
in time by the grid increment as well. To do so, hold Shift while pressing the Left Arrow or Right
Arrow.
Chapter 11 - Selecting and Snapping 84

Tip: Remember the keyboard shortcut Q to toggle Snap on and off.

Moving On
Now that you’ve learned how to get around in Waveform, it’s time to start having fun manipulating
audio. We’ll jump into that in the next chapter.
Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing
Audio
In this chapter, you are going to learn how to work with Audio clips. and how to work with the
integrated editing handles that are part of each Audio clip.

Parts of an Audio Clip

Notice that an Audio clip has several parts. It has a header that includes trim and slip handles. It has
a body that contains the waveform thumbnail and fade handles.

Main Parts of and Audio Clip

Header
Move Audio clips by dragging from the header. The header includes the trim handles (hollow),
slip handles (solid), and other tools.
Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing Audio 86

Audio Clip Header

Body
The Audio clip body features the waveform thumbnail, fade handles, and the clip name.

Audio Clip Body

Plugins
Audio clips can host plugins directly, so you might see one or more plugins right on the clip
body. Learn more about that in Chapter 32 - Clip Effects.

Audio Clip Effects

Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing Audio 87

Properties
Like most other object in Waveform, Audio Clips have lots of additional properties and controls
in Properties.

Audio Clip Properties

Note: If you accidentally move or edit an Audio clip, you can always press Undo (Cmd + Z
/ Ctrl + Z) at the top of the Menu section.

Moving Clips
As you move the mouse pointer over the Audio clip header, it changes to a grabbing hand. Use that
to drag the clip forward or backward in time. If Snap is on, the beginning of the clip will snap by
grid increments.

Move Audio Clips by Dragging from the Header

Note: As we discussed previously, the grid resolution depends on the zoom level.

You can also drag Audio clips from track to track. With snap enabled, track-to-track drags will
usually stay in sync. However, with snap turned off, it is easy move the clip slightly off time. To
prevent that, hold down Shift as you drag track to track. The Shift key, constrains the timing of track
to track drag moves.

Tip: Another way to move a clip track-to-track without changing the timing is to use nudge.
Select the clip the hold down Shift and press Up Arrow or Down Arrow to nudge it to another
track.
Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing Audio 88

Deleting Clips
The easiest way to delete a clip is to selected it and press Delete or Backspace. The cut (Cmd + X
/ Ctrl + X) keyboard action does the same thing. If you need yet another way to delete, locate and
click the convenient Delete button in Properties.

Audio Clip Properties Delete button

Tip: As you work with clips sometimes you just want clear the selection. The fastest way is
to just hit Esc.

Audio Clip Handles

Each Audio clip header includes six handles that you use for trimming, slipping, stretching. These
are represented as four arrows and two boxes.

Trimming
Hollow left and right arrows on both of the upper corners of the clip are trim handles. Grab
a trim handle and drag left or right to trim the start or end of the the clip. Notice that
trimming this way directly changes the Start and End values in Properties. With Snap turned
on, trimming snaps to the grid. To trim freely, hold down Cmd / Ctrl as you drag or turn Snap
off.

Audio Clip Trim Handles

Slip Editing
Slip editing means moving the waveform within the clip without altering its Start, Length,
or End values. Drag the solid box shaped handle left or right to slip edit. You can override
snap-to-grid during slip editing by holding down Cmd / Ctrl.
Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing Audio 89

Audio Clip Slip Handle

Reframing
The hollow box shaped handle allows reframing the clip. Drag it left or right and the clip moves
but the waveform doesn’t. It essentially allows you to reframe the audio without affecting its
timing.
Slip Trimming
The solid left and right arrow handles are for slip trimming. Try dragging the left solid arrow.
Notice that it moves the clip Start while keeping the End planted. Now try the right solid arrow.
Moving that one, moves the End while keeping the the Start planted. Although this operation
seems similar to trimming, the difference is that the underlying waveform slips relative to the
end that is not moving.

Tip: With Snap on, hold down Cmd / Ctrl as you drag to temporarily override snapping for
most editing operations.

Video Clip: Basic Audio Editing¹⁵

Splitting a Clip
Splitting Audio clips, is essential for audio editing. Here is the quickest way:

1. Select the clip

2. Position the cursor where you want to make the split
3. Press slash (/)
¹⁵https://w-edstrom.wistia.com/medias/qr0fax85zn
Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing Audio 90

Audio Clip, Right after Split

Tip: If you want to make numerous splits, you can keep holding down the left mouse button
as you drag the cursor and press slash (/) - never lifting the mouse button.

Audio Clip Properties also has Split Clips actions. Look to the far right of in Properties and find
the Split Clips button. You will find options to slip at the cursor along with options to split at the
in-marker or out-marker. Keep in mind that these actions will only affect selected clips.

Audio Clip Properties, Split Clips Actions

Duplicating Clips
To duplicate one or more clips, select the clip and press D. That will copy the clip and paste it right
after the original clip. Duplicate works like copy and paste, all in one action.

Tip: If you want to use a different key for the duplicate action, you can change it in Settings
tab > Keyboard Shortcuts > Editing Functions: Duplicate.

Fade-in/Fade-out
In the upper corners of the Audio clip body, notice the fade handles. Each is shaped like a tiny box
with a diagonally line through it. Grab a fade handle and pull it inward. This action draws a fade-in
or fade-out.
Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing Audio 91

Audio Clip Fades

Video Clip: Fade-in/Fade-out Demo¹⁶

By default, you will get a linear fade, but there are other fade types available in Properties for the
clip. For more control, directly edit the Fade In and Fade Out numerical values in Properties.

Audio Clip, Fade Properties

Pitch Fade
Right click on the fade handle, and you can select between a volume fade and pitch fade. Pitch fade
gives you a very cool tape stop effect or tape run-up effect. The fade graphic is shaded darker than
for volume fades.

Right-click Fade Handle, Pitch Fade Speed Up

¹⁶http://vimeo.com/user356034/fades
Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing Audio 92

Here is a video tutorial demonstrating pitch fade:

Pitch Fade Video Tutorial¹⁷

Crossfades
A crossfade is fading out one Audio Clip while fading in another. Some controls in Waveform are
labeled “X-Fade” when referring to crossfade. Here are the steps to create a crossfade:

1. Drag a clip so that it it overlaps another one somewhat.

2. Press X on the keyboard.

Crossfaded Audio Clips

That’s it: a crossfade. It’s a fade-out that overlaps the fade-in of the next clip. You can adjust the fade
shapes using the buttons in Properties, just like any other fade.

Fade-in/Fade-out Shape Buttons

Note: Keep in mind that the fade shape buttons only operate on the selected clip. You will
need to select the clip on the appropriate side of the crossfade for the fade shape buttons to
work.

Drag Crossfade
The Settings tab, General Behaviour page has a setting labeled Default Drag X-Fade. It has two
possible settings: On by default or Off by default. When set to On by Default, the simple act of
dragging a clip so that it overlaps another clip will create a crossfade. Other DAWs call this “auto-
crossfade.”
¹⁷https://w-edstrom.wistia.com/medias/o2ff37pknl
Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing Audio 93

Settings Tab, General page, Drag Crossfade Default

Note: In Waveform, Drag-X Fade is actually a property of each Audio clip. When you change
Default Drag X-Fade it will only take effect for new clips you create or add to the Edit.

Edge Fades
When editing, sometimes you need to apply short fades to both edges of an Audio Clip to avoid
popping. This is especially true if you split a clip in the middle of a note. The solution is add as short
fade-in and fade-out to the clip. Waveform calls those “edge fades.”

Apply Edge Fade

The good news is that you can instantly add edge fades by clicking Apply Edge Fade in Properties.
This applies 7 ms fades to the start and end of all selected clips.

Copy and Paste

Typical cut, copy, and paste commands also work with with Audio clips:

• Cut (Cmd + X / Ctrl + X)

• Copy (Cmd + C / Ctrl + C)
• Paste (Cmd + V / Ctrl + V)

Clip Gain, Mute, & Pan

Adjusting the gain of an Audio clip is great tool for mixing. Simply split out one phrase, or even
one note and tweak the gain level. Waveform has not only clip gain but also clip mute and pan - all
available in Properties. When working with stereo Audio clips, Pan works as a balance control.
Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing Audio 94

Audio Clip Gain, Mute, Pan, & Active Channels

Gain
Drag the slider left or right to adjust the Gain value. Alternatively, click the slider and type in a
value directly. The gain change is reflected right away in the height of the waveform thumbnail
on the clip.
Mute
Click the Mute icon to silence the clip. The waveform thumbnail will dim to gray.
Pan (Mono Clips)
Drag the Pan slider left or right to adjust the stereo placement of the clip. You can also click
and type in values directly. Full left is -1.00, centered is 0, and full right is 1.00.
Pan (Stereo Clips)
With stereo Audio clips, Pan acts as a balance control. What that means is that as you slide it
more right the left side gets quieter. Slide it left and the right side gets quieter. At the extreme
left and right positions the opposite side is silent. The really cool thing about this is that the
waveform thumbnail updates dynamically show to show the effect.
Active Channels (Stereo Clips)
For stereo clips you can turn off either the left or right channels using the Active Channels
buttons in Properties. When you click Left, for example, it toggles the left side off. But it’s not
just muting the left side, it switches the clip to a mono version of the right side material. The
great thing is that the waveform thumbnail updates to show this instantly.

Reversing Audio Clips

Another cool thing you can do is reverse a clip so the audio plays backwards. Simply click the
Reverse button in Properties. The waveform thumbnail reverses and the sound will be backwards
on playback.
Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing Audio 95

Reversing an Audio Clip

Merging Clips to One Clip

Following editing, you may want to combine several clips back into to a single clip. To do so, select
all the clips using shift select or lasso selection. Then choose Render Clips > Merge the selected clips
in Properties.

Render Clips > Merge the selected clips

In a few moments, Waveform combines them into a single contiguous clip. There are many ways to
merge, render, and export that we will touch on later.
Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing Audio 96

Merge Clips, Before and After

Here is video demo of merging clips:

Merge Selected Clips Video Demo¹⁸

Deleting a Section of Audio Removing Space

You can easily delete a section of audio from one or more clips and remove the space between clips.
While it’s not entirely obvious how to do this, it is easy if you follow these steps:

1. Set the in-marker and out-marker over the section you want to delete.
2. Select all the clips on all tracks (Cmd + A / Ctrl + A)
3. In Properties, choose Delete > Delete marked region of selected clips, and move up any selected
clips (Cmd + J / Ctrl + J).

Delete a Section Removing the Space

¹⁸https://w-edstrom.wistia.com/medias/5h6bn8h3vg
Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing Audio 97

Edit with Melodyne

Beginning with Tracktion version 6, Waveform has included the incredible Celemony Melodyne
ARA technology, for pitch and time manipulation. A Melodyne Essential license is included and
you will have received information on how to install it, along with your Waveform order.
Here is how to invoke Melodyne on an Audio clip:

1. Select an Audio clip.

Change Stretch Property to Melodyne

1. In Properties change the Stretch property to Melodyne. The word Melodyne appears at the
center of the clip.
Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing Audio 98

Audio Clip with Melodyne Invoked

1. Click the word “Melodyne” at the center of the clip to open the Melodyne UI.

The Melodyne UI

1. Edit pitch and time by manipulating the note “blobs” in the Melodyne UI. Note that the
transport and loop is synchronized between Waveform and Melodyne as you edit.

Tip: To learn all about Melodyne click Help > Manual within the Melodyne UI. Skip the
section on Loading, Transferring and Saving, as those operations are handled automatically
by ARA.

Here is how to remove Melodyne from a clip:

Chapter 12 - Audio Clips and Editing Audio 99

1. Select an Audio clip that is using Melodyne.

2. In Properties change the Stretch property to No Time-Stretching or Elastic Pro. Melodyne is
removed from the clip.

Video Clip: Here is a video clip that explains how to invoke Melodyne in Waveform¹⁹.

Moving On
Those are the simple but powerful tools in for editing Audio clips in Waveform. We didn’t even
cover time stretching, Warp Time. But, these are the fundamentals. Let’s move on to looping Audio
clips in the next chapter.
¹⁹https://youtu.be/N3T8G-qF4zQ
Chapter 13 - Working With Loops
In this chapter we introduce the looping capabilities of Waveform. You can drag in files from your
loop library as Audio clips, repeat them with the Duplicate (D) action, or switch any Audio clip
into looping mode and roll out repetitions over as many bars as you want. This makes it easy, for
example, to extend a short loop into a beat to play over the full length of a song. Loops have a special
tab in Properties. which we will explore in this chapter as well.

Getting Loops Into Waveform

There are four ways to copy loops into an Edit.

1. Use the Browser Files tab and navigate to wherever you have audio files and loops on your
system. Drag loops you find there to tracks in the Edit. As you drag in loops they appear as an
outline until you drop them.
2. Use the Browser Search tab and search for loops and then drag them into your Edit. The
Browser also gives you the ability to preview loops to help you select the right one for the
song.
3. Simply drag them from you computer desktop drop them onto tracks .
4. From the menu section, select Import > Import an audio or MIDI file. Navigate to a file on your
system and click open. The Select a file to import dialog box even includes a basic file audition
function with Auto-play.

Setting the Edit Tempo

If you know the tempo of the loop, you might want to set the tempo of your Edit to that tempo
before dragging the loop in. That will give you the most natural results.

Changing the Tempo

Here is how to change the tempo:

Chapter 13 - Working With Loops 101

1. Click on the BPM setting in the Master section. Properties will show the BPM value.
2. Click on the BPM value and type in the new tempo.

Dragging Loops to a Track

As you drag a file to to a track, you’ll see an outline of the Audio clip before you drop it. Position
the beginning of the clip right where you want it on the track, then just drop it.If it’s not in the right
place, grab the Audio clip from the header and drag it into place.
After dropping a loop, notice that the cursor jumps to the end of the loop. This is to position the
cursor to drop in the next one, as you build up a track.

Tip: If you don’t like having the cursor jump to the end when dropping in loops, hold down
Opt / Alt as you drag. This prevents the cursor from jumping to the end.

If Snap is on, loops you drag in will snap to the grid.

Dragging in Multiple Clips from the Browser

To drag in several clips at once, make a multiple selection in the Browser and drag the selected loops
to a track. They will be arranged on the track end-to-end.

Tip: To drop a selection of clips to parallel tracks, hold down Cmd / Ctrl as you drag and
Waveform asks if you want to put them on one track or separate tracks. This is great when
working with multitrack drum loops. It even creates additional tracks if there aren’t enough
available.

Dragging Loops to Separate Tracks

Looping the Loop

Audio clips have an L icon on the header. Click the L to toggle looping mode for that clip. Once the
clip is in looping mode it will immediately appear to be twice as long. Enabling looping gives you
one repeat right away.
Chapter 13 - Working With Loops 102

Audio Clip Loop Mode

To repeat the clip, drag the right trim handle and roll out as many repeats as you want. You will see a
white repeat divider at the start of each repetition. The underlying audio wave file is not duplicated,
it is just being replayed over and over. All other editing operations work the same as any other loop.
To stop looping, click the L icon gain to toggle looping off. That returns the clip to a single cycle.
There is another way to activate clip looping. Select the clip then click Loop this Clip in Properties.
From there you can select the number of times to loop. This is an alternative to dragging the right
trim handle to roll out repetitions.

Loop this Clip in Properties

The nice thing about looping is it doesn’t take up any additional space in the project. You can loop
just about any clip. You could take a four bar drum loop and separate out one or two bars of the
main groove then loop it. That can give you the starting point for a song. Roll it out across the entire
song, and you’ve got something more inspiring than a simple click track to play against.

Duplicating Clips
Another way to repeat a clip is to duplicate it. To do so, select a clip and press D. Duplicate is the
equivalent of copy followed by paste. The duplicate clip is placed immediately after the selected clip.
Chapter 13 - Working With Loops 103

Duplicating a Clip

This is the best approach if you plan to edit the audio in a unique way for that section of the song.

Loop Properties
Notice that Properties has a second tab labeled Loop Properties. This tab appears whenever you select
an Audio clip. These properties are related to the underlying wave file. Tweaks to these properties
affect how the Audio clip will respond to tempo, pitch, and time stretching. Here is a description of
the most essential properties on the Loop Properties tab:

Loop Properties Tab in Properties

Auto-Pitch
With Auto-Pitch enabled, Waveform will change the pitch of the clip appropriately to match
key change events in the Tempo track. This only works if you have a Root Note set for the file;
more on that in a moment.
Auto-Tempo
With Auto-Tempo ticked, the Audio clip will be automatically stretched to match the song
tempo and tempo changes in the Tempo track. For Auto-Tempo to work, you need to make
sure you have the Root Tempo set for the file and Stretch set to an appropriate algorithm.
Warp Time
With Warp Time enabled the waveform view to the right becomes a Warp Time editor. You
can add warp points and do fine timing adjustments. This powerful feature is covered in detail
in Chapter 18 - Warp Time.
Chapter 13 - Working With Loops 104

Time Signature
Edit Time Signature values to set the time signature of the file.
Root Tempo
Root Tempo is the original tempo of the loop file. Waveform uses this to know how much to
stretch the file to sync it to the Edit tempo. If Root Tempo is not recorded along with the loop
file, you can set it here. Files created within Waveform will automatically have the Root Tempo
set to match the Edit tempo.
Beats
The Beats parameter is the number of beats in the file. Using Beats and Root Tempo Waveform
calculates the length of the loop file in musical terms.
Pitch Offset
If you just want to pitch the file up or down, enter an offset value for Pitch Offset.
Stretch
Stretch sets time stretching algorithm used for this loop file. Usually you will want to use
Elastique (Monophonic) for lead vocals and solo instruments. Use Elastique Pro for everything
else. Melodyne is typical selected used for pitch correction.
Waveform View
The waveform view allow you to play the file. You can also adjust the in and out loop points
by dragging the purple lines inward. There is a convenient level control here as well. This view
is replaced by the zoomable Warp Time editor when Warp Time is enabled.
Loop Start/End
This button contains a few quick tools to set the start and end loop points of the underlying
wave files to match the current Audio clip start and end points.
Beat Points
Beat Points are a type of marker that shows where the transients are to assist with time
stretching. This concept is very similar to how acidized files work. With the latest Elastique
Pro stretching algorithms manually manipulating the beat points is not necessary.
Add to Library
If you create an Audio clip loop and might want to reuse it in other projects, click Add to
Library then give it a name and tags.

Note: When you use Add to Library, the loop file will be saved to the User Loops Path folder
as designated on the Loop Database page of the Settings tab.

Tip: If you want more control when adding loops to your library, try Export > Render to a
File. If you choose, Only Render Selected Clips you get much more control over its properties
and where to put the resulting file.
Chapter 13 - Working With Loops 105

Moving On
There’s a lot more you can do with clip looping, loop files, and loop libraries in Waveform, but those
are the fundamentals.
Chapter 14 - Keyboard Shortcuts
In this chapter you will learn how to customize the keyboard shortcuts in Waveform. In Chapter 1
we covered how to change the default keyboard mapping. In short, go to the Settings tab and select
the Keyboard Shortcuts page. Then near the bottom of the page click Reset to Defaults, and choose
Use alternative Waveform key-mappings.

Note: The alternative Waveform key-mapping is used for all examples in this book.

Keyboard Shortcuts Page

The Keyboard Shortcuts page on the Settings tab shows all of the key-mappings. You can easily
change those to your liking or match them to a DAW you are already comfortable with.

Keyboard Shortcuts Page on the Settings Tab

Waveform allows you to have more than one shortcut tied to a single action. This is really helpful
if you want to have a way to do something on your laptop, but then take advantage of the extended
keypad when you’re working on a desktop computer.

Setting a Keyboard Shortcut

Map Record to the Asterisk on the Keypad

Let’s take a look at an example. To start recording you click the Record button in the transport or
press keyboard shortcut R. When working on a computer that has a full size keyboard, you may
prefer to start recording by hitting the asterisk (*) key on the keypad. To do so:
Chapter 14 - Keyboard Shortcuts 107

Setting a Keyboard Shortcut

1. To the far right of each action there’s a plus icon. To create or add a keyboard shortcut to an
action, click the corresponding plus icon. The New Key-mapping dialogue box opens up.
2. Type the key or key combination that you want to trigger this action. The key or key
combination will be identified in the dialogue box and it will also show you if there’s a conflict
with an existing mapping. For our example, press asterisk (*) and then click OK.

Now, both R and the keypad asterisk () are assigned to the Record action. Back in the Edit test this
by turning *Record on and off using either R or asterisk (*).

Note: Keyboard mappings are global. Any changes you make will be active for all your Edits.

Changing a Keyboard Shortcut

To change an existing shortcut, click directly on the key-mapping at the far right of the action.
Choose between Change this key-mapping and Remove this key-mapping. If you choose the Remove
option, the key-mapping disappears. If you choose the Change option the New key-mapping dialog
appears and you can enter a new assignment.

Click to Change or Remove a Key-mapping

Chapter 14 - Keyboard Shortcuts 108

Saving Keyboard Shortcuts to a File

Once you have your keyboard shortcuts set up the way you want, you can save the entire key-
mapping to a file, a very good idea. If you run Waveform on a different computer, you can simply
import the file, and will then have all your familiar assignments ready to go.

Save Key-Mappings Button

To save your shortcuts setup, click Save Key-Mappings and Waveform presents a dialogue box
requesting a file name and path. You can store the key-mapping file anywhere you like. Waveform
key-mapping files have the .Tracktionkeys extension.

Save Key-Mappings Dialog Box

Tip: You could create a ‘settings’ folder under your main Waveform folder to hold such files,
naming the key-mapping files with a version number at the end. This gives you the ability
to easily roll back to a previous version if you ever change your mind about a new keyboard
layout.

Loading Keyboard Shortcuts from a File

If you’re working on a new installation or move to a new computer you can load your custom key-
mapping file. Go to the Keyboard Shortcuts page on the Settings tab and click Load Key-Mappings.
Find your exported key-mapping file then click Open. All your key-mappings are restored.

Load Key-Mappings Button

Chapter 14 - Keyboard Shortcuts 109

Printing a List of Keyboard Shortcuts

If you want to print a list of all your current keyboard shortcuts, click View as HTML at the bottom
of the Keyboard Shortcuts page. This loads a nicely formatted, searchable view of all the current
key-mappings into your browser. From there you can search it or print it using normal web browser
features.

View as HTML Button

HTML View of the Keyboard Shortcuts List

Moving On
At this point you should have a good handle on how to customize the keyboard shortcuts in
Waveform. Since T6, Waveform offers powerful macro scripting you can use to further customize
keyboard shortcuts. For more about that, see Chapter 37 - Macros.
Chapter 15 - Recording Audio
Now it’s time to learn how to record your own instrument or vocal tracks into Waveform. First, you
will learn how to configure track inputs for recording. Next, you will learn how to use Waveform’s
built-in metronome to provide a reference click, in order to to keep your recordings in time.

Configure the Input

We covered audio device setup back in Chapter 4 - Audio Device Setup. Refer back that chapter if
you have any questions about setting up your audio interface.
As a reminder, before recording with Waveform you need to use the Auto-Detect feature to establish
proper recording sync between playback tracks and newly recorded tracks. This essential step,
calibrates the timing offset so that system latency doesn’t throw off the timing of your overdubs.
Re-run Auto-Detect test anytime you change your interface hardware or buffer setting. The Auto-
Detect procedure is explained in detail in Chapter 4.

Warning: To configure Waveform for recording you must use the Auto-Detect feature along
with a hardware loopback. If you don’t then your overdubbed tracks will not be in sync with
existing tracks. While this is not difficult, it is essential to do this manual step anytime you
change the Audio Device Setup.

The Input Object

At the far left of every track, you will find the input section. Each track has an input object that
looks like a rectangular arrow pointing right.

Track Input Object

Tip: If you don’t see the input objects, click the Show/Hide Inputs (Shift + F12) button at the
top right corner of the Edit tab.
Chapter 15 - Recording Audio 111

Show/Hide Inputs Button

Click on an input object to see a menu of options. From the menu, select which hardware input
to use for recording to this track. You can set it to No input or select any input from your audio
interface. In this case it’s set to Input 1.

Input Menu

When you select an input, the input object shows the input name, a real-time input meter, and the
record arm “R” button. Also, a full set of input properties appears in Properties.

Input Controls & Properties

Chapter 15 - Recording Audio 112

Customizing Input Names Globally

If you are happy with the default input names that’s great, however, you can customize them with
friendlier names using the Alias property.
To change your hardware input alias names globally, go the Settings tab, Audio Devices page. Select
an input in the Channels list and edit the Alias name in Properties.

Customizing Input Names for an Edit

There is another way to rename inputs, but only for the current Edit. In the Edit, select an input and
notice the Alias name in the Properties section. Change this to customize the input name for that
particular song. As an example, you could use this to indicate the microphone used in the session.

Customized Input Names Using the Alias Property

About MIDI Inputs

Notice that on the input menu, you can choose MIDI interface inputs. There’s really no difference
between an audio and a MIDI track. A track can contain Audio clips or MIDI clips. You just need to
set the input appropriately and insert the correct kind of plugins.

MIDI Devices on the Inputs Menu

Chapter 15 - Recording Audio 113

In essence a track behaves like an audio track if you set an audio input; it works like a MIDI track if
you set a MIDI input and insert a virtual instrument plugin.

Setting Up Inputs for Multi-track Recording

It’s very convenient to assign all inputs to consecutive tracks using Assign all inputs to consecutive
tracks from the inputs menu. It does exactly what the name says, allowing you to quickly set up
for multi-track recording. This is great if you’re setting up to record a live performance through a
digital mixer with a lot of inputs.

Assign All Inputs from the Input Menu

Number of Inputs
This feature is something uniquely Waveform. You can set up more than one input on a single track,
up to four inputs assigned to a track.

Assign up to Four Inputs to One Track!

Now, if you record with more than one input armed, you will get a separate clip for each. This results
in stack of audio clips.
A good use of this feature is to have several recording chains configured and ready to go, when
auditioning microphones and preamps. Simply arm the input you want to try and away you go.
It makes it super efficient to switch to a different mic/preamp combination by simply arming the
desired input.

Enable a Track for Recording

To enable (arm) a track for recording, click the R symbol on the input object. The R illuminates to
indicate that the track has been armed for recording.
Chapter 15 - Recording Audio 114

Input Armed for Recording

Test the input signal. If you’re using a microphone or a guitar, play a note or have the singer sing
something. You should see the meter moving on the input while testing. If not, check your input
level on the hardware and make sure phantom power is on if necessary for the mic.

Tip: Once recording has started you can still click R to enable and disable recording on the
fly. This allows you to do manual punch-in and punch-out style recording. Here is a video
that explains Punch In/Out on the Fly.²⁰

Hit Record
With the input setup done, recording is a matter of clicking Record (R) on the Transport. While
recording, Waveform draws the waveform on the track. To stop recording press Spacebar.
Recording always starts at the cursor position. There are several ways and options to stop recording
which will be explained in a bit.

Enable Recording for All Inputs at Once

If you are doing multitrack recording with many inputs you can arm all the tracks at once from the
input menu using the option Enable/Disable all devices for recording (Cmd + R / Ctrl + R). You can
even use this on the fly during recording to start and stop recording without stopping the transport.

Input Meters
Click on an input to select it. Notice the large meter along the bottom edge of the Properties section.
This gives you a good reference for setting up the input level.

Large Input Meter at the Bottom of Properties

²⁰https://w-edstrom.wistia.com/medias/wgjyszl1i6
Chapter 15 - Recording Audio 115

Tip: As a rule of thumb, you want to set input level to hover around the middle of the
range shown on this meter. The input level is adjusted using the gain controls on your audio
interface or preamp.

If you’re doing multi-track recording and you want to see large meters for all the tracks at once,
press F12. Waveform will go into “big meters” mode. This superimposes a very large meter onto
each track.

Big Meters Mode

Note: The big meters obscure your view of clips on the tracks, so you will want to toggle it
off (F12) when not recording.

Dragging the Input Object Track to Track

Here’s a unique aspect of the input objects. You can drag the input object from track to track. For
example, say you recorded something on track one, and now you want to record something else
using the same microphone onto track two. Simply, grab the input object and drag it from track one
to track two. The set up is done instantly.

Dragging and Input to other Track

Note: Dragging the input track to track is a really useful function in Waveform. Once you
start using this feature you will miss it when you record with any other DAW!
Chapter 15 - Recording Audio 116

Renaming a Track
To rename a track, click directly on the track name, then edit the Name property in the Properties
section. A really quick way to do this is to click Name, press Tab, and start typing. As soon as you
tab off the Name property or click elsewhere in Waveform, the new track name will be set.

Recording Steps in Review

Here is a review of all the steps needed to test your recording setup:

1. Arm the track or tracks for recording by clicking ‘R’ on the track input.
2. Make sure Loop is turned off in the Master section.

Note: Waveform supports loop recording but we’ll get into that in a later chapter.

1. Make sure the cursor is rewound to beginning by clicking Return-to-zero (Home) in the Master
section.
2. Verify that Click (C) is turned off (for now) in the Master section.
3. Click Record (R) in the Master section. Play something into the input using your instrument or
your voice depending on the kind of input selected.

Note: As you record, you’ll see the meters and you’ll also see the waveform start to draw
on the Audio clip.

1. Press Spacebar to stop recording.

2. To hear what you recorded, click rewind then press Spacebar to play. You should be able to
hear what you just recorded.

Tip: If your recorded take just isn’t really going well, you can press Abort or Abort & Restart
on the transport. These options only appear during recording.

Abort and Abort & Restart During Recording

Chapter 15 - Recording Audio 117

Working with the Click

While recording, it’s often very helpful to have an audible timing reference. Waveform has a built-in
metronome that offers a steady click for just this purpose.

Enabling the Click Track

To enable the metronome click, turn on Click (C) in the Master section. That turns it on but the setup
is in the Click Track Menu. Here are explanations for the options:

Click Settings

Enable Click
Another way to enable or disable click is to open the Click Track menu and select Turn on click
track or Turn off click track. That does the very same thing as pressing C or clicking the Click
button in the Master section.
Click Volume
Adjust the volume of the click using the Click Track > Volume slider. There are also Low volume
(-14dB) , Medium volume (-4.4dB), and Full volume (0dB) presets available.

Note: Curiously, Full volume is not actually full. The Volume slider goes to +3db. That’s
three more than Full volume if you are keeping score.

Count-in
While recording, you can have the click start a bit before the cursor position. This gives you time
to get into the groove before performing. Enable the count-in from Click Track > Pre-record
count-in length. Select from none, one bar, two bar, or two beats for the count-in length.
Chapter 15 - Recording Audio 118

With count-in enabled, you will hear the click during recording. If the cursor is at the beginning of
the Edit, you will hear the count-in then the cursor will start moving. If the cursor is not at the start,
it will actually jump back by the count-in length and play from there.

Count-in Options

Click During Playback

If you want to hear the click during playback, make sure to leave Click Track > Only click
during recording disabled.
Emphasize Bars
To clearly hear the downbeat of each bar, enable Click Track > Use loud clicks to emphasize
bars. With that enabled, Waveform uses a different sound for the first beat of each bar.
Click Sound
To change what sounds are used for the click, select Click Track > Change Click Settings. This
opens the Click Track Settings dialog box. From here, you can change the samples used to make
the click sound. Just select the audio files for the normal and emphasized beats. If you leave
the File properties blank, you will get the default sounds.

Configuring the Click Sound

Not too many people still do this, but it’s possible to use an external MIDI sound module for your
click sound. If you are inclined to do that, you can set the MIDI note numbers in the Click Track
Settings dialog box.

Click Output Device

If you want to redirect your click so it’s not coming through your main speakers, look at the
click output device options (Click Track > Output device for click). Normally and by default
Chapter 15 - Recording Audio 119

this is set to Default audio output. You can pick any audio output on your system or even any
MIDI output. If you select a MIDI output, it should be a sound module of some sort. When
using MIDI for the click, you can set the click sound note numbers as explained in the previous
section.

Using a click is an essential reference tool for studio recording, so it is great to have a synchronized
click built-in and ready to go.

Listening on Headphones While Recording

Ideally, you will monitor what you’re recording through headphones, and set up the level and mix
on your audio interface outside of Waveform. Most audio interfaces give you the ability to mix
your live input with the playback from previous tracks. You use the mixer on the audio interface to
balance the live input sound with the sound being played back by Waveform.

Audio Interface Mix Knob

Simple audio interfaces have a mix knob that allows you to mix between the inputs (your mic) and
playback (previously recorded tracks). For example, when recording a vocal leave the mix knob just
about in the middle. Half of what you hear is the live input off your mic, the other half is what’s
being played back from Waveform.
Some audio interfaces do not have a specific knob on the front panel to control the mixer level,
and instead have an application that you run alongside Waveform that features a virtual mixer.
Chapter 15 - Recording Audio 120

These applications allow you to set up the monitor mix in your headphones separately from what’s
happening in the recording software.

Live Input Monitoring

There are situations where you need to use live input monitoring through Waveform, rather than
through your interface. The two main use cases for that that are when playing through virtual
instruments, or virtual guitar amps while recording. We will cover the details later in the book, but
here are a few points for those curious about such things.

Step 1. Disable Hardware Monitoring

To try live monitoring through Waveform, first set up a track and arm it for recording. Now,
play something into the input using a mic, guitar, or other instrument. At this point you
shouldn’t really hear anything through Waveform to your headphones or speakers.
Step 2. Enable Live Input Monitor
Now make sure the input is selected and look for the Live Input Monitoring option in Properties.
Click to enable it. You should hear the input going through Waveform and back out to your
speakers (or headphones).

The downside is latency. You might possibly notice a delay between when you play a note and when
you hear it. It’s a time lag between you sing and when you hear it in your headphones. At high buffer
settings it will sound like an annoying delay slap or echo. At lower buffer settings it might sound
like a hollowness if you are singing with headphones on. When playing an instrument, you might
not hear any problem at all.
To really hear the effect of latency, try turning the buffer size up to 1024 or even more. Then as you
play you’ll hear a noticeable delay between when you sing, speak or play a note and when you hear
it.

Note: Latency delay is more of a problem for singers than it is for somebody playing guitar
or another instrument. The sound of your voice is coupled through your skull right into
your ear with zero latency. When combined with your voice slightly delayed through the
interface and software the result might seem hollow or “phasey.” This won’t be recorded,
but might throw you off during recording.

Why then would you ever use live input monitoring? You need it for guitar amp simulators and for
virtual instruments. For normal vocal and instrument recording, it may be preferable to use your
audio interface to provide zero latency monitoring.
Chapter 15 - Recording Audio 121

If at First You Don’t Succeed

With a track armed, hit Record and record away. Press Record a second time (or Spacebar) to stop
recording. If you don’t like what you’ve recorded select the Audio clip and press Delete or Backspace.
Rewind and try again! You can alternatively press Undo (Cmd + Z / Ctrl + Z) to undo the last
recording take.

Recording in Process

Abort Record and Delete the Take

If you are impatient to delete a failed recording take, then you will love this feature: Abort recording
and delete the take. With a single keystroke you cancel the take, throw it out, rewind to the beginning,
and get set to try again. The Abort button on the transport does the same thing.

Abort Buttons on the Transport During Recording

There is a variation on this feature: Abort recording, delete take, and restart. That does the same thing,
but then drops right back into recording. This action appears on the transport during recording as
the button * *.

Recording a Stereo Signal

If you are recording a pair of microphones or a stereo source like a keyboard, you can treat two
adjacent inputs as a stereo pair. This is done in the Settings tab, Audio Devices page. Click on an
input then enable Treat as Stereo Pair in Properties.
Now instead of two inputs, you have one stereo input. This will appear over in the Edit when you
select inputs for a track. The pairs are always created with the odd numbered input on the left and
the even numbered input on the right.
 Chapter 15 - Recording Audio 122

Treat as Stereo Pair

When you record from a stereo input, you’ll wind up with a stereo clip showing both the left and
the right waveforms.

1 

Retrospective Record
You know how there are times where you wish you were recording because a practice take was so
amazing? Or maybe a singer sings a pickup just before the downbeat. Waveform’s “Retrospective
Record” feature actually keeps a recording buffer running for any track that has an input set up.
To enable this feature, from the Menu choose Option > Retrospective record and select the buffer
size. We find that the 30-second buffer is usually enough to safe-guard against chopped off picks or
endings. For live shows or recording speeches, set it to 10 minutes.

Enabling Retrospective Record

To recover lost audio, simply click the retrospective record icon in the upper right corner of the
Waveform window. The buffered audio will be added as Audio clips to the appropriate tracks. If you
click the icon while the transport is still running, the audio will be synched to the timeline. If you
click the icon with the transport stopped, the audio will be placed at the cursor. In that case you will
need to manually align the clip to the track.
Chapter 15 - Recording Audio 123

Click Retrospective Record Icon

Retrospective record doesn’t consume much CPU and is a great safeguard against losing important
audio or a killer take.

Safe-Record Mode
When recording shows, doing long recordings, or if you ever need to leave your computer
unattended while it’s recording, consider enabling Safe-Record (Options > Safe-Record mode).

Safe Record Mode

In safe-record mode, you starting recording in the normal way. However, as soon as recording starts,
Waveform shows a the Safe Record modal dialog box. You can’t do anything in Waveform including
stop the recording without entering the four key shortcut.
Here is how to get out of safe-record mode:
OS X: Shift + Opt + Cmd + R Windows: Shift + Alt + Ctrl + R

How to Exit Safe Recording

Those are the defaults, but you can change those to any other crazy key combination you want.

Moving On
That was a lot of information about recording audio in Waveform. In the next chapter we will
continue on with overdub recording.
Chapter 16 - Recording Overdubs
In this chapter we walk through an example of recording a simple song. In the previous chapter, we
explained how to use the Click feature to hear a metronome tempo reference while recording. In
this chapter we will use a drum loop instead. Later you will learn the steps to overdub guitars and
bass, in order to create a simple tune.

Tip: For overdub recording, you typically do all the recording wearing headphones with
your main speakers off. This prevents bleed from one track to the next for cleaner mixing
later on.

Here are the tracks we will have by the end of the chapter:

• Track 1: Drum Loop

• Track 2: Acoustic Guitar
• Track 3: Acoustic Guitar - Double
• Track 4: Bass

Set up the Drum Loop

1. First, set the desired tempo. Click on the tempo (e.g. 77 bpm) in the Master section. Then click
on the BPM value in Properties and type in the tempo.

Click BPM to Edit Tempo

1. Drag in a loop from the Browser, for example a two bar loop. This will create an Audio clip.
The example shown uses Track 1 for the loop, which has been renamed to “DrumLoop.”

Start With a 2-Bar Drum Loop

Tip: If the loop doesn’t align to the bars correctly, hold Opt / Alt and drag the right trim
arrow until it does.
Chapter 16 - Recording Overdubs 125

1. Click the L icon on the Audio clip to convert it to looping mode. Now drag the right trim handle
to roll out as many copies of the loop as you want.

Roll Out Repeats of the Drum Loop

Get Ready to Record

1. Set up the input. In this example, the drum loop is on the first track, and the second track is
used for recording the acoustic guitar rhythm part. We have selected Input 1 where the mic is
connected.

Configure the Input

1. We won’t use loop recording, so make sure the Loop button is turned off in the Transport
section.
2. Turn off Click because we are using the drum loop track for the timing reference.
3. Let’s use a two bar count-in. To set that up, select Click Track > Prerecord count-in length >
Use 2-bar count-in.

Record the Rhythm Guitar Part

1. Use your audio interface mix knob or app to balance the level of the guitar mic with the level
of the drum loop track. On the guitar mic input, make sure Live Input Monitoring is turned off.
2. Next, arm the track for recording by clicking the R icon on the input. When you try this you
will see the metering on the input moving if you play a chord.
3. Test the input level by playing at the loudest level you plan to use for the track. Adjust the level
using the gain control on the audio interface.
4. Verify that the cursor is at the beginning of the edit. If not, press Home.
Chapter 16 - Recording Overdubs 126

5. Press Record (R) on the Transport to start recording. Now record a take of your song. At the
end hit Spacebar to stop recording.

Recording the Guitar Part

Tip: If recording doesn’t go as planned, delete the Audio clip and try again. We went over
several ways to do this in Chapter 15.

Note: If you hear some kind of weird phasing as you play your instrument, then it probably
means you have Live Input Monitoring enabled while also monitoring through your audio
interface. Disable Live Input Monitoring.

Doubling the Rhythm Guitar

1. Following recording the initial rhythm guitar part, rewind and play it back. Use the Volume &
Pan plugins in the mixer section to balance the signal with the drum loop.
2. To double the rhythm guitar, drag the Input object to the the next track. Now track 3 is
immediately ready to go for recording an overdub.

Tip: You might want to lower the original track 3 to 6 dB using the Volume & Pan plugin to
better balance the recorded track with your live mic.

1. Rewind then click Record in the Transport.

Chapter 16 - Recording Overdubs 127

Recording the Second Guitar Part

1. After recording, play back and balance the new recording with the original guitar track. To get
a wide stereo effect from the doubled part, pan the tracks to opposite sides using the Pan slider
from the Volume & Pan plugin.

Panning Guitar Parts Left and Right

Overdub a Bassline
You can record the bass by connecting it directly to the audio interface; no amp, no mic.

High Impedance Inputs. Identify which input on your interface supports a direct 1/4” high
impedance input. This is often indicated by the guitar, gtr, or hi-z. Sometime you need to engage a
switch or button for the high impedance mode. Your bass or electric guitar will sound better if you
have the hi-z mode enabled.

1. Connect your bass to the interface using a normal 1/4” to 1/4” guitar cord.
Chapter 16 - Recording Overdubs 128

Engage High Impedance Mode on Your Audio Interface

1. From this point, recording works exactly the same as with a mic. Select the correct input and
adjust the input level. Make sure the bass has a good level but is not activating the clip LED on
the interface using the gain knob on the audio interface.
2. Arm the input for recording if it’s not already. Adjust the levels of the existing tracks so that
you can hear the the tracks. At the same time, you want to hear what you are playing on the
bass.
3. Rewind and hit Record. If if the take doesn’t go well, stop, press Undo and try again.

Overedubbed Bass Line

Tip: If you get a good take but think you can do better, don’t delete the clip. You can drag the
input to another track and try again. Just mute the original track or clip so that you don’t
hear it while recording the next take. The first take might wind up being the best take!

Rename Tracks
As you record overdubs, it’s good idea to stay organized. One key is to name the tracks appropriately.
Click directly on the track name then edit the Name property.
Chapter 16 - Recording Overdubs 129

Renaming a Track

Tip: It can get annoying when renaming several tracks. You keep mousing between the track
and the Properties section. To avoid all the extra mouse mileage, click the track name then
press Tab. Tab puts the focus directly on the Name property ready for typing.

Adding Additional Tracks

If you get to this point and you do not have enough tracks in your project, you can easily add tracks.
There are several ways to do that.

1. Press T. Select any existing track and press T. That creates a new track directly below the
selected one.
2. Right-click. Right-click in any blank space or on any track and select Create new track.
3. Track Menu. Another way is to select Tracks > Create a new track. using the Tracks menu. Or,
select Tracks > Create several new tracks to add up to sixteen new tracks in one go.

Create Tracks from the Tracks Menu

Tip: Like most things in Waveform, you can undo creating tracks using the Undo button
(Cmd + Z / Ctrl + Z). To remove a track from your project, select it and hit Delete or
Backspace.

Rearranging Tracks
To rearrange the tracks, drag the track from the track name area and drop it in the new position. As
you drag the track, a glowing bar will appear between tracks showing you the target for your drop.
When that bar is in the right spot, let go of the drag and the track will be repositioned.
Chapter 16 - Recording Overdubs 130

Adjust the Mix

At this point you can adjust the levels of all the recorded track or continue to record and overdub
vocals, keyboards, or other instruments. As you add more tracks, you will need to reduce the level
of each to avoid overloading the master level.

Adjust the Mix

Tip: If you temporarily overload the master meter, you can reset the overload indicators
using the backslash key ( \ ).

Moving on
That was a walk-through of overdubbing. At this point, you should be getting familiar with basic
recording in Waveform and have a handle on how to work with tracks in Waveform.
Chapter 17 - Clean-up Editing
After you have some basic tracks recored, you can use the Waveform editing tools to clean up the
clips and fix small problems with the takes. We covered Audio clip editing in Chapter 12. In this
chapter we will show you a few practical examples of how to use them.

Note: Sometimes it is easier to make timing edits if you move the part you’re working on
near the drum part. That way you can see the timing of your notes compared to the timing
of the essential rhythmic elements of the song.

Trimming
The trim handles are a great way to clean up the beginning and ending of recording takes. Trim the
beginning to keep the track silent until the part actually comes in. Then trim the end to silence any
extra noise that happens after the song is done.

Trimming an Audio Clip

To use the trim handle just grab and drag. If you leave Snap on, trimming will snap to the grid. With
Snap turned off, you can trim freely.

Tip: You can temporarily override snapping by holding Cmd / Ctrl while trimming.

You can also trim multiple Audio clips at the same time. Just select several clips using Opt-drag /
Alt-drag and then adjust the lengths using the trim handles on any of the select clips.
Chapter 17 - Clean-up Editing 132

Correcting Small Timing Problems

Bass Note Timing is Early

Look at this example baseline compared to the drum loop. One of the bass notes is early. Ideally, you
would re-record this part. If that’s not an option you can easily correct small issues like this. The
strategy is to separate the out-of-time note to its own Audio clip, them move it slightly.

1. Turn off Snap.

2. Select the Audio clip you want to fix.
3. Position the cursor just at the beginning of the note that needs fixing and press slash ( / ) to
split the clip.

Split the Beginning of the Note

1. Position the cursor just after the note and press slash ( / ) again. The bad note is now separated
to its own Audio clip.
Chapter 17 - Clean-up Editing 133

Split After the Note

1. Click to select the single note. Trim the clip to shorten it a bit.

Trim the Clip

1. Zoom in enough so you can see the alignment between the note and the drums. Grab the note
and slide it to line up with the correct drum hit.

Drag the Clip to the Correct Time

1. Complete the edit by trimming and crossfading into the other notes.
Chapter 17 - Clean-up Editing 134

The Completed Correction

Splitting & Selecting. Right after you split a clip, you’ll notice that the two resulting clips are both
selected. If you trim, slip or move a clip the action will apply to all selected clips. That might not be
what you want. To select a single clip, just click one of the clips. At any time, you may hit Escape
to de-select everything.

Correcting Timing by Slip Editing

Another way to correct timing is with slip editing. With this approach you “slip” the waveform
within the Audio clip rather than moving the clip. The key to this approach is to put the initial split
exactly where you want to the note to start.

1. Turn Snap off

2. Zoom in enough to see where the note should start and select the clip to fix.
3. Position the cursor at the exact spot you wish the note had started and press slash ( / ) to split
the clip.

Split the Clip Where the Note Should Start

1. If the note was early, trim back the previous clip to get rid of the extra bit.
Chapter 17 - Clean-up Editing 135

Trim Back the Extra Bit From the Previous Clip

1. Position the cursor at the end of the note and press slash to split it again. The bad note will will
have a separate Audio clip.

Split After the Note

1. Select only the note you want to adjust. Grab and drag the slip handle (solid box). The
waveform will slip within the window of the Audio clip. Align the waveform so it starts just
after the leading edge of the clip.

Drag the Slip Edit Handle to Adjust Timing Within the Clip

1. Clean up the edges with trimming and crossfading.

Chapter 17 - Clean-up Editing 136

The Completed Edit

Note: If you have automatic crossfade turned on then as you move one clip to overlap
another, a crossfade will be created automatically. See Chapter 12 for more about crossfades.

Fade-outs
You can also adjust the fade-outs at the end of takes simply by using the fade handle and dragging
it to the left for each track appropriately.

Adjusting Fade-outs

Remember, you can adjust the shape of the fade-out by selecting one of the four preset shapes in the
Properties section.

Fade-out Shapes in Properties

Stretch an Ending Note

If a note at the ending isn’t held out long enough, you can apply a time stretch quite easily. Re-
recording the take would be preferable, but if that’s not an option, here’s how you can do a quick
time stretch to lengthen an ending note.
Chapter 17 - Clean-up Editing 137

1. First, separate out the note that you want to stretch using split as in the other examples.
2. Hold Opt /Alt and drag the right trim handle to extend the note to the desired length.

Hold Opt / Alt While Trimming to Stretch a Clip

1. Audition the playback to make sure that it sounds clean. The more you stretch it the more
chance you have to degrade the audio quality, but you might be surprised at how well this
really works.

Note: Besides just simply cleaning up the takes, you can do detailed editing on Audio clips
to completely change the timing or even the arrangement. While writing songs, you can use
these tools to compose bass lines that tightly lock in with the drums. You can do this by
adjusting the timing, removing notes, or shortening notes; It all depends on the nature of
your music production. When writing a song, you can use these tools to try many different
ideas.

Fixing Clicks at the Edit Points

When you do this type of editing, you might occasionally hear a click at the beginning or ending of
a clip. This occurs when you split across a waveform that’s actually got some energy present. You
can easily correct those by putting a very tiny fade at the beginning of the clip.

Example of and Edge Fade

Chapter 17 - Clean-up Editing 138

You could zoom way in and add tiny fades to the beginning and ending of each clip. The easier way
is to select the clip and click Apply Edge Fade in Properties. This instantly puts 7 ms fades at the
beginning and ending of all selected clips.

Apply Edge Fade in Properties

Rendering to a Single Audio Clip

Chopped Up Audio Clip Following Editing

If clean-up editing leaves your track looking like a shredded mess, you can quickly render all the
clips back to a singled clip. To do so:

1. Select all the clips you want to combine to one clip. One way to do that is to click the first clip,
hold down Shift, then click on the last one.

Selected Clips before Rendering

1. In Properties select Render Clips > Merge the selected clips. In Waveform 6, merging is a single
command, which is a great enhancement to the workflow.

Render Clips > Merge the selected clips

Chapter 17 - Clean-up Editing 139

Audio Clip After Rendering

Moving On
Those are some of the basic techniques you can use to clean up your recorded tracks. Use these
techniques to trim clips, apply fade-outs, make minor timing adjustments, and then render all the
changes to a single clip.
Chapter 18 - Warp Time
Warp Time is an audio editing option that was introduced in T6. Rather than needing to split out
notes to move them, as discussed in the previous chapter, you can drag Warp points to bend and
stretch audio into time. Apart from simply correcting timing problems, you an apply it creatively to
compositions and loops to alter the feel of recorded audio.
The implementation is actually very simple. You can get up and running with Warp Time very
quickly.

Tip: Since T7, Warp time is also available as one of the Clip Layer Layer effects, as described
in Chapter 41

Warp Time Mode

Here is how to switch into the Warp Time mode:

1. Select an audio clip

2. In Properties, go to the Loop Properties tab
3. Enable the Warp Time option

Enable Warp Time Mode

The waveform view on the Loop Properties tab switches to the zoomable Warp Time editor.
Chapter 18 - Warp Time 141

The Warp Time Editor

Warp Time Editor on the Loop Properties Tab

The Warp Time Editor is working on the underlying audio in the clip so there might be much more
audio shown than you see on the Audio clip. This will usually be the case if you have trimmed the
Audio clip before hand.

Tip: If you want the Warp Time editor view to exactly match the waveform on the selected
Audio clip, render the clip using Render Clip > Flatten the selected clip. This will create a
new underlying file. After that, what you see and hear in the Warp Time editor will match
what you see and hear in the Audio clip.

Zooming In & Out

To zoom the waveform, use the mouse scroll wheel. On many laptops you can use a two finger
up/down gesture in place of a scroll wheel. On Mac laptops you can also use a two finger left
or right gesture to slide the waveform left and right.
Warp Points
Click on the timeline to add a Warp point. When you drag a Warp point left or right, time is
stretched or compressed between that point and next surrounding Warp points.

Tip: You can add a Warp point and drag in a single action. Just click on the timeline, hold
and start dragging. The waveform will stretch until you stop dragging.

Warp Point
Chapter 18 - Warp Time 142

Removing Warp Points

Shift-click any existing Warp Point to remove it. Right-click any existing Warp point for options
to rename it or remove all Warp points.

Warp Point Right Click Menu

Working with Warp Points

By default, the Warp Time editor will always have starting and ending Warp points. If you add a
Warp point and move it, the audio will be stretched between the beginning and ending of the wave.

Before Warping

Dragging a Warp Point to the Left

Chapter 18 - Warp Time 143

Dragging a Warp Point to the Right

To correct audio timing over a constrained area, you can think about a three point technique. You
typically want to add Warp points just before the beginning of notes or percussive hits. That would
be just before a transient. If you do that then stretching occurs over the note not in the middle of it.
With the three point technique, you insert Warp points before and after the note you want to alter
to lock down the timing. Then add a Warp point right at the transient you want to change and drag
it into to time.

Warp Points and Snapping

As you drag Warp points, you will notice they snap to the grid. The snap grid for Warp points is
based on the zoom level of the Warp Time editor, not the zoom level of the Edit.
To override snapping when adjusting Warp points, hold down Cmd / Ctrl as you drag the points.

Limitations of Warp Time editing

Warp Time editing works best for single track parts. If you use it on multitrack drum parts, you will
find it seriously affects the phase alignment of multi-miked drum kits. This is the same for other
instruments that are recorded with multiple mics.
You can use Warp Time on stereo tracks. If you have two mono tracks, first render them to a stereo
track before using Warp Time.

Time Stretch Algorithm

By default Warp Time uses Elastique Pro but you can switch it use any of the other modes as well.
There is little benefit in selecting other modes, since Waveform does the actual stretching offline.
Chapter 18 - Warp Time 144

Stretch Property Options

Most of the time, Elastique Pro will give you the best results. If you have specialized needs, you can
experiment with the other Elastique options under the spanner icon.

Elastique Options

Note: If the Stretch property is set to “Melodyne” or “No Time-Stretching,” Waveform still
uses the Elastique Pro algorithm for Warp Time.

Moving On
Here is a video demo of Warp Time that you might find interesting:
Warp Time Video Demo²¹
Warp Time, the standard editing tools, and Melodyne give you amazing potential to manipulate the
timing of your Audio clips.
²¹https://w-edstrom.wistia.com/medias/8klw4ees4u
Chapter 19 - Loop Recording
Loop recording is a really cool way to quickly record multiple takes of a part onto a single track.
Following loop recording, you can easily pick the best take and make it active, so that it is the one
you hear during playback.
Loop recording also sets you up to use the track comping tools that are built into Waveform. Comping
allows you to go phrase by phrase through the different takes and choose the best parts and create
a composite best take. We cover comping in detail in Chapter 20.

Getting into Loop Recording Mode

Getting into loop recording in Waveform is simple - enable Loop (L) in the Transport. Now when
you click Record, recording will only occur between the In-marker and Out-marker. The transport
will “loop” between the In-marker and Out-marker allowing you to automatically record take after
take, until you hit Stop.

Turn on Loop for loop recording mode

Loop Recording Step-by-Step

1. Set the In-marker and the Out-marker over the range that you would like to do the loop
recording. To set the In-marker, position the cursor and press I. To set the Out-marker, position
the cursor at the end of the loop and press O.

Set the In-marker & Out-marker

Note: The Click count-in works for loop recording. If you want a running start for each take,
set Click Track > Pre-record count-in length to one or two bars.

1. Configure the input and check your levels just like we did for standard recording.
Chapter 19 - Loop Recording 146

Configure the Input for Recording

1. Click Record (R) on the transport to start recording.

While recording when the cursor hits the Out-marker, Waveform will automatically loop back for
the next take. You can do as many takes as you like.

Selecting the Best Take

After loop recording, you will have a number of takes stacked within the Audio clip. The very last
take you recorded is what you will hear during playback. That is called the “active take.” To select a
different take for the active take, click the plus (+) sign in the lower right corner of the clip. You will
see a list of all takes there. Pick the one you want to promote to the active take. You can audition all
the takes and make your favorite one the active take.

Choosing the Active Take

Tip: With your takes recorded this way, it is perfectly set up for comping, which we will
cover in the next chapter.

Unpacking Takes to Tracks

If you want to work with your loop recorded takes as separate audio tracks, it is easy to unpack the
takes to tracks. To do so, click the plus (+) sign and then select Unpack to new tracks.
Chapter 19 - Loop Recording 147

Unpack Takes to Tracks

That instantly coverts an Audio clip full of takes to a series of tracks containing separate Audio clips.
Now you can use normal audio editing to move them around, chop them up, or arrange them into
a song.

Moving on
The secret to loop recording is to set the In-marker and Out-marker over the section you want to
record, make sure Loop is turned on, and then record like you normally would. Loop recording also
sets you up for comping, which is covered in the next chapter.
Chapter 20 - Comping
In this chapter, we’re going to go over the cool comping features in Waveform. Comping is an editing
technique where you select the best phrases from numerous takes to build a composite or “comp.”
The idea is to create the best possible take. Engineers have been doing this for years, but Traction
makes it much easier than the traditional methods.
Comping typically starts with takes recorded in Loop mode, covered in Chapter 19 - Loop Recording.
Loop recording used to be a prerequisite for doing comping. Starting with T6, Waveform also allows
you to build composites from any collection of tracks, using the new Comp Groups feature. More
on that later in the chapter.

Copy Your Edit

Before you start comping, it is a good to create a copy of the Edit. This is so you can return to the
raw takes, in the event you later wish to do the composite a different way.

Note: We are assuming that you have already recorded using the technique in the previous
chapter. If not, go back to Chapter 19 and get some takes recorded!

1. When you finish loop recording, make sure to save the Edit with Save > Save edit (Cmd + S /
ctrl + S).
2. Go to the Projects tab and select the correct Edit. In the Controls panel, click Create a Copy.
3. It is recommended to keep your Edits organized by adding a revision number. Do so by clicking
on each Edit, then editing the Name property.
4. On the original Edit, add a comment that says, “This version is before comping” or similar.
5. Close the tab for the original Edit and open the new copied version.

Strategically creating copies of your Edits and naming them in a logical way, works like a revision
control system. You can always roll back if something goes wrong, or if you just change your mind.

Comping Takes
Now that everything is setup, it’s time to get to the creative, part of the process.

1. Select the Audio clip that contains the takes you want to comp.
Chapter 20 - Comping 149

Show the Takes Following Loop Recording

1. Click on the plus (+) icon in the lower right corner of the clip and select Show takes. That
expands the clip to show all of the individual takes. If you play back over this section of the
Edit, you will hear the very last take you did during loop recording.

Takes in the Expanded View

1. To build a composite take, click and drag a range over a phrase from any take. That phrase is
instantly promoted to the active take. This drag-to-select action is called “swiping.”

Swipe a Phrase to Add it to the Active Take

Tip: While comping, sometimes it’s helpful to have the cursor return where you started
playback whenever you stop playback. Do so by enabling Options > Return cursor to start
position when play stops. This makes it easier to audition phrase by phrase without needing
to constantly reposition the cursor.

1. Continue swiping and auditioning to build up the composite. If you want to switch a selected
phrase to a different take, just click another take. The selection instantly moves to that take.

Building the Composite Take

1. If the swipe selection doesn’t fully enclose a phrase, adjust either edge of the selection by simply
dragging the edge to trim it.
Chapter 20 - Comping 150

Trim the Edges of a Selection

Note: While comping sometimes you’ll use a little bit from every take. Other times you’ll
predominantly use one take and just fix a couple of bad phrases.

Once you have finished, click the plus (+) icon and select Hide takes. At that point, you’re finished
comping!

Hide Takes

Tip: After comping, it is a great time to create another copy of the Edit and add a note that
this was saved after comping. This gives you the option to roll back if you ever want to make
some changes.

Flatten Comp
If you feel compelled to remove the underlying takes from the Edit, click the plus (+) icon on the clip
and select Flatten current comp. This gives you the option to delete the source files. Keep in mind
that this operation is permanent.
Chapter 20 - Comping 151

Flatten Current Comp

Tip: Don’t flatten the comp without first saving a copy of the Edit. Also, we do not
recommend selecting the option to delete the source files as this will remove them for your
other saved Edits.

Setting up a Comp Group

T6 introduced Comp Groups, a feature that allows you to use swipe comping with any group of
tracks. This works similarly to the techniques described above for comping takes. The difference is
that you first add the tracks involved to a Comp Group.

Select Tracks to Comp

Select all the tracks you want use to build the composite. These are typically recorded as various
takes of a lead vocal or solo instrument. However you can use any collection of tracks you want.

Select the Tracks to Comp

Create a Comp Group

In Properties, open the Comp Group menu and select Add group. This opens the Comp Group
Name dialog box. The name will default to Comp Group 1 which is fine. You can change it to
something more descriptive if you want. Click OK.
Chapter 20 - Comping 152

Creating a Comp Group

Add a Track to a Comp Group

Any tracks pre-selected at the time you created Comp Group 1 are automatically added as you
create the Comp Group. To add another track to Comp Group 1, select the track, open the Comp
Group menu and select Comp Group 1.

Adding Another Track to Comp Group 1

Removing a Track from a Comp Group

To take a track out of a comp group, first, select the track. In the Comp Group menu, select
None.

Comping Tracks Using a Comp Group

With some tracks added to a Comp Group, it is easy to start comping.

1. Select one of the tracks then in the Comp Group menu select Show Editor > Edit track comps.
This puts the tracks in to comp mode.

Enable Comp Mode

1. Now you can start swiping to select phrases from any of the tracks. On playback only the
selected phrases are played back.
Chapter 20 - Comping 153

Swiping Phrases to Create a Composite

1. You can adjust the window of your selection by dragging either edge of range. This works very
similarly to comping takes which we covered earlier in the chapter.

Tip: If you want to have good control over the silent parts of a comp, it helps to add a blank
track to the Comp Group. For the parts you want to silence, simply swipe over that range
on the blank track.

Comp Group Editor

Here are few more things to know about the Comp Group Editor.

Show Track Comps

When you enable comp group editing using Show Editor > Edit track comps, another option,
Show track comps is also turned on. This enables the color coding of the swipe selections on the
tracks. You can turn this on separately if you want. This way you can see the comp selections
but leave Edit comp groups turned off so you don’t accidentally change them.

Show Track Comps

Render Comp
When you have the composite complete, you can render the result to single track. The Comp
Group menu gives you two options for this. Render and replace comp group replaces the all
the comp group tracks with the resulting track. Render comp group to a new track leaves the
existing tracks in place and adds a new track with the composite.
Chapter 20 - Comping 154

Rendering a Comp to a New Track

Add, Rename, Remove

These options on the Comp Group menu give you all the features need to manage your comp
groups.

Comp Group Management Features

One interesting thing about comp groups is that you can have as many of them active in the Edit as
you want. There are many uses beside typical comping, for example you could comp silence with
tom tracks instead of gating. Comping is also a fast way to mash up two beats or two different songs.

Moving On
The comping features in Waveform are very easy to use. As you are learning Waveform, make sure
to explore these powerful features.
Chapter 21 - Using an Amp Simulator
Plugin
In this chapter, you will learn how to use an amp simulator plugin while recording direct with an
electric guitar in Waveform. Out of the box, Waveform doesn’t include an amp simulator plugin.
However, most of the third party amp simulator plugins will work. If you don’t have any of these,
there is a great sounding free amp sim plugin from Voxengo called Boogex, used as an example for
this chapter. You can download it from Voxengo.com²².

Free Boogex Amp Simulator from Voxengo

Setting Up the Track

Here is the setup:

1. Connect your guitar to the high impedance input on your audio interface as described in
Chapter 16. If your interface doesn’t have a guitar input then use a suitable preamp.
²²http://www.voxengo.com/product/boogex/
Chapter 21 - Using an Amp Simulator Plugin 156

Connect Your Guitar to your Interface

1. Create a new track, select the input, and arm it for recording.
Chapter 21 - Using an Amp Simulator Plugin 157

Select the Input and Arm It

1. Make sure that direct monitoring of your signal though the audio interface is turned all the way
down or disabled. To make this work you need to monitor 100% of your guitar signal through
Waveform.

Turn off Any Input Monitoring on Your Interface

1. Select the input and turn on Live Input Monitoring. At this point you should be able to hear
your dry unprocessed guitar signal.

Enable Live Input Monitoring

1. Open the Browser and go to the Search tab, and type in a few characters of the name of your
amp simulator plugin. Drag the plugin to the mixer section.

Drag the Amp Sim Plugin to the Mixer

Chapter 21 - Using an Amp Simulator Plugin 158

1. If the UI window for the plugin didn’t open, double click it. If you have Live Input Monitoring
enabled you should hear sound through the plugin when you play. Select a preset and it should
sound like you are playing through a guitar amp, maybe even amps, effects, cabinets, whatever
your plugin simulates.

Tip: To bypass the plugin just click on the plugin to select it and press F. You can also enable
or disable it using the Enabled control in Properties. The shortcut F will enable or disable
any selected plugins.

Amp Sim Plugin Shown Disabled

Recording with the Amp Sim

At this point, recording works the same as before.

1. Record-enable the track, make sure the cursor is at the beginning.

2. Click Record in the Transport. If you want to do loop recording then have Loop on and then
you can record several takes in a quick succession.
3. Once you have actually recorded the part, you can still tweak the sound.

Recording with the Amp Sim

A big advantage of recording this way is the ability to tweak the sound after the fact. You can also
record using an endless variety of guitar rigs that you don’t own. Plus, you can do this without
disturbing the neighbors!
An important but subtle advantage is when you go to edit your guitar tracks. Edits that occur
before the amp and distortion sounds more natural and are way less apparent when you edit a
fully processed guitar part.
Chapter 21 - Using an Amp Simulator Plugin 159

Guitar & Impedance

Guitars connect to your audio interface through a quarter-inch, unbalanced connection. This is
a high impedance connection. It might not be super important to understand what that means
electrically. You will get a better tone and feel if connect to a proper high impedance input. It’s just
the nature of guitar pickups. Going into a standard input loads them down and you lose articulation
and punch. On most audio interfaces, the first one or two channels of the interface have guitar inputs.
Many times there is a switch or button to enable high impedance on those channels, meaning that
it will accept high impedance pickup like a guitar or bass. So while your guitar might actually work
through a normal low impedance input, it is going to give you better picking dynamics and tone if
you go through the high impedance input and have the high impedance mode engaged.

Managing Latency
When working with guitar amp simulators, latency can be a factor. If you have the Audio buffer size
set too high, you get a big delay between when you play and when you hear a note. If you set it too
low the you might get pops and clicks if the computer doesn’t have adequate CPU power to handle
the low latency you have chosen. The challenge is to find a good setting the feels responsive, but
still has perfect sound quality.
Latency is determined by Audio Buffer Size parameter. Here is how to set that:

1. Navigate to the Settings tab, Audio Devices page.

2. Locate the Audio buffer size setting. The value shows a number of samples followed by a
calculated latency delay.

3. Enter an Au-
dio Buffer Size value. Values around 256 or lower tend to work pretty well depending on what else
is going on in the Edit.

Speed of Sound Through Air

Here is some background on the impact of the buffer size. In this example, a buffer setting of 256
samples offers 5.8 ms of latency.
Chapter 21 - Using an Amp Simulator Plugin 160

What this means is that when you play a note on your guitar, you are going to hear the sound about
5.8 ms later. Now the speed sound through air is about 1 ms per foot (1ms per .3 meters). A 5 ms delay
would be similar to playing your guitar amp if it were 5.8 feet (1.8 meters) away from your ears. You
would need to add in the actual distance from your monitor speakers as well. If your speakers are
two or three feet away, it might be like having your amplifier nine feet away. Most guitar players
can deal with latency delay in that range. It’s similar to the distance you would be standing from
your guitar amp on stage. If it starts getting much longer than that, then you are going to hear a
noticeable lag and that will affect the feel and potential impact your playing.
As another example, if you have your Audio buffer size set to 1024 samples, that gives you 23 ms of
delay, That is going to give you the feeling of playing with your amplifier 23 feet (7 meters) from
your ears. That is going to be really hard to work with.
Why not just set the buffer size as low as it will possibly go? That could affect the performance of
the computer. If you set the buffer size too low, especially if you have a lot of other plugins and other
virtual instruments going, the playback might halt or it might not sound clean.

Note: It’s always a balancing act between setting the buffer size as low as possible to get the
latency down while keeping it high enough to have clean, solid playback. When mixing, you
can increase latency to approximately 1024, mostly because that is required for Melodyne
ARA.

Dialing in the Guitar Tone

You can dial in your ideal guitar tone using the controls on the amp simulator. Flip through the
presets or start with a preset and tweak the controls until you get what you like. Keep in mind, one
of the powerful things about recording guitar this way is you don’t really have to commit to the
sound at this point. Just dial in something that’s inspiring so that you can get a good performance.
You can always come back and tweak the amp settings later.

Using a Tuner Plugin

If you are recording direct with a guitar or bass, you might want to add a tuner plugin before the
amp sim. Waveform does not include a native tuner, but if you have a tuner plug-in, you can just
drop it into the effects section of the mixer for the track. That will give you a quick and easy way
to tune up.

Tip: If you don’t have a tuner plugin, consider downloading one as part the the MFreeEf-
fectsBundle from Melda Production²³.
²³http://www.meldaproduction.com/plugins/product.php?id=MFreeEffectsBundle
Chapter 21 - Using an Amp Simulator Plugin 161

Tuning with the MTuner Plugin

Assuming you have a tuner plugin available, here is how to get it going:

1. Open the Browser, go to the Search tab. Make sure Plugins is selected from the search options
drop down menu. Type in a few characters of the name of your tuner plugin. The plug-in will
show up in the search list.
2. Drag the tuner and drop it in the plug-ins area of the track. Normally, as soon as you drop it,
the user interface window will pop open. If not double click the plugin to open the UI.
3. Play a note on your guitar. If the tuner does not respond make sure to arm the track for
recording and enable Live Input Monitoring. This is necessary for the signal to flow through
the track to the mixer section and to the tuner plugin.

Tip: To keep the plugin open, click the pin icon in the upper right corner.

When you are finished with tuning, click the red X in the upper left corner of the tuner to hide its
user interface.

Note: In earlier versions of Waveform, Live Input Monitoring was called “End to end
monitoring.” It has been renamed to reduce confusion about this feature.
Chapter 21 - Using an Amp Simulator Plugin 162

Moving On
You can always record in the traditional way by miking your guitar amplifier. It’s also interesting
to split your guitar signal and record the direct signal along with your miked guitar amp. That way
you can blend the sound of the amp sim with the real amp when mixing.
Chapter 22 - MIDI Setup
We’re going to move on to MIDI recording and editing in this and the next few chapters. The first
step is to set up a MIDI keyboard so that you can play notes into Waveform. If you don’t have a
MIDI keyboard, you can enter notes manually into the MIDI editor, or you can use the computer
keyboard as a virtual MIDI device.
The setup is quite simple. We are using a USB external keyboard controller, but the setup works
much the same for other types of controllers.

MIDI Drivers
Before you dive in here, you might need drivers for your controller. Check the manufacturer’s
website for drivers for the controller model and your operating system. With Waveform closed,
download and install the drivers. Once you’ve done that, the rest is easy.

Set Up the MIDI Inputs

Go to the Settings tab, MIDI devices page. You will see a list of all available MIDI inputs and outputs
that are connected to your system. In this example I have four of them. To enable the MIDI inputs
and outputs, click to toggle between Enabled and Disabled next to each entry.

Click to Enable/Disable MIDI Inputs and Outputs

Tip: If you don’t see your devices listed, make sure the controller is connected and has power.
If that checks out, then make sure the latest drivers are installed. At any time you can click
Refresh. Refresh initiates a scan for connected MIDI devices.
Chapter 22 - MIDI Setup 164

Naming MIDI Inputs/Outputs

From the Settings tab, MIDI Devices page, click on a MIDI input or output in the MIDI devices
list. Notice that in Properties, there is an Alias value. Edit that to give your MIDI input or output a
friendly name. I often make this match the name of the controller that is connected.

Tip: You can customize Alias for a specific Edit, by selecting the input in the Edit tab and
changing it in Properties. Changing Alias on the Edit tab takes precedence over the Alias
property in the Settings tab.

Disabling Unused MIDI Inputs

Your audio interface might also include MIDI in and out hardware connections. Those allow
connecting legacy controllers that don’t support USB. If you don’t plan to use the hardware MIDI
in and out connections, you can leave them disabled. In this example we have disabled.

Disable Unused MIDI I/O

This hides those from the selection list when setting up a track.

Configuring the Track

Back in your Edit, choose a blank track or create a new one.

1. Click on an input and select the MIDI input that matches the controller you just configured.
Chapter 22 - MIDI Setup 165

Select the MIDI Input Device

1. Play some notes on your keyboard. You will see the meter registering the MIDI activity on that
track.

Input Meter Activity

1. With the input selected look in Properties. Turn on Enable Input Monitoring if it isn’t already
on.

Enable MIDI Input Monitoring

With this done, MIDI events come into the track from your keyboard and the pass through to the
virtual instrument that we’re going to setup next.

Insert a Synth Plugin

To hear what you play, you will need to insert a virtual instrument. Use the Browser Search tab to
locate a synth plugin. In this example we are using the Waveform FM Synth.
Chapter 22 - MIDI Setup 166

Search for a Synth Plugin

1. Insert your synth plugin ahead of the Volume & Pan plugin. By ahead, we mean ahead in the
signal path. So in this example, we have dropped FM Synth to the left of Volume & Pan.

FM Synth Installed in the Mixer

1. Play some notes on your keyboard and at this point you should hear synth notes.

Note: There is no difference between a MIDI track and an audio track in Waveform. To
configure a MIDI track, just set a MIDI input and insert a virtual instrument plugin as a
sound generating source. Then, as you record your performance, you’ll create a MIDI clip
instead of an audio clip like we did in the previous examples.

Using a Virtual Keyboard

If you don’t have a physical MIDI keyboard, you can use your computer qwerty keyboard to play
notes. Here is how to set it up:

1. Go to the Settings tab, MIDI Devices page

2. Click Create New Virtual MIDI Input
Chapter 22 - MIDI Setup 167

Create New Virtual MIDI Input

1. Enter a name such as ‘Qwerty Piano’ into the Virtual MIDI device dialog box

Name the Virtual MIDI Device

1. Back in your Edit create a track

2. Choose Qwerty Piano as the input

Select the Virtual Device as the Input

Chapter 22 - MIDI Setup 168

1. Notice the piano keyboard along the bottom of the screen. To play the keyboard first click on
any key with the mouse then use keys A,S,D,F,G,H,J,K,L as white keys. Use W, E,T,Y,U,O,P as
black keys. This virtual keyboard lets you play notes in the range from C4 to E5.

Tip: Click the ‘lock’ icon in the upper left corner Properties. This locks the Waveform
keyboard to the Virtual MIDI Piano feature. Also, when attempting to record, it helps to
start recording using a keyboard shortcut. If you click record, the qwerty piano loses focus
until you click a key on the virtual keyboard.

Lock the Input Properties While Playing the Virtual

Note: When you are finished using the virtual keyboard, unlock Properties by clicking on
the lock icon again. It will stay stuck on the virtual keyboard until you do that.

Moving On
In the next chapter, you’ll learn how to record a MIDI performance onto the track!
Chapter 23 - MIDI Recording
In this chapter you’ll learn how to record a MIDI performance from your controller. Your controller
could be a keyboard or any other sort of instrument that you can use to generate MIDI note data.
We covered how to set up a MIDI controller in the previous chapter.
In this chapter, we’ll go further and cover the details of how to record your MIDI performance. You
will also learn about the various MIDI recording modes. The MIDI implementation in Waveform is
fairly comprehensive while also being quite easy to use. Let’s get started.

Setting up a Track
There isn’t a special type of MIDI track in Waveform. Any track can be used for audio, MIDI, or
Step Clips. To record MIDI, pick any unused track or create a new track. On the track, set up the
input by selecting your MIDI controller. Play a few notes on your MIDI controller to see if you have
MIDI activity.

A Track Set Up for MIDI Recording

To hear any sound, you’ll need to insert a virtual instrument. Do so by dragging the plugin object to
the mixer section, or search for the synth plugin in the Search tab on the Browser. When you find
it, drag it over to the mixer section of your track. We usually recommend dropping it to the left of
the Volume & Pan plugin. As soon as you drop it, the user interface will open up for the instrument
plugin. Choose a suitable preset for the part.
We covered all of this in the previous chapter. If when you play notes on your controller you don’t
hear anything, go back to Chapter 22 and make sure the MIDI input is set up correctly.

Recording a MIDI Performance

Recording MIDI is very much like recording audio:

1. Enable the track for recording by clicking the red R on the track input

Enable Recording
Chapter 23 - MIDI Recording 170

1. In the Transport, click the red Record button to start recording. You can also do this using the
keyboard shortcut R.

Start Recording

1. Record your MIDI performance

MIDI Recording in Process

1. To stop, either press R again or just hit the space bar.

Tip: To record your MIDI performance with a metronome click, configure and enable Click
using the procedure outlined inChapter 15.

Playing Back a MIDI Performance

If everything went according to plan, you’ll have created a MIDI clip. Notice, the MIDI notes on the
clip. If you zoom the track vertically, the MIDI clip will, at one point, flip to the MIDI editor mode.
In this mode, you can edit MIDI notes, which we cover in Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing.

MIDI Clip Following Recording

Position the cursor before the newly recorded MIDI clip, the press the spacebar again to playback.
You should be able to hear the exact performance.

Tip: If you don’t like what you recorded, simply select the MIDI clip and press backspace to
delete it.
Chapter 23 - MIDI Recording 171

Piano Roll View

As I mentioned above, as you expand the track vertically, you’ll notice that at a certain point MIDI
clips will switch to edit mode. The Waveform MIDI editor is what is commonly called a piano roll
view (PRV). In this view, you can clearly see the notes along with a vertical piano graphic located
along the left.

Track Expanded to the MIDI Editor

Note: The PRV in Waveform allows you to see the timing of notes as they relate to the
timeline, and the pitch of notes as they relate to a piano keyboard. The graphic length of a
note represents how long that note is held in musical time.

The MIDI editor PRV includes everything you need to edit MIDI data. You can add notes, delete
notes, copy notes, and duplicate them. You can also work with velocity and other controller values.
We’ll get into the details later when we go deeper into MIDI editing.

MIDI Record Modes - The Action Property

Select a MIDI input and look in Properties at the item labeled Action. The drop down menu for
Action gives you a variety of record modes.

MIDI Record Modes

Merge Mode
By default, Action is set to Merge newly recorded MIDI into any existing clips. If you rewind and
record in some more notes, you will find that they’re merged into the MIDI clip that you created
in the first pass. It doesn’t replace notes that you recorded before; it just adds new notes and and
merges them with the original MIDI clip.
If you mess up an otherwise good performance in merge mode, undo the new notes by pressing Cmd
+ Z / Ctrl + Z.

Tip: Merge mode can be very helpful if you’re building up a part pass by pass, particularly
when layering a drum part and adding additional drum hits in each pass.
Chapter 23 - MIDI Recording 172

Replace Mode
If you wanted to replace what you played previously, change Action in Properties for the input
to Replace existing clips with newly recorded MIDI clips. Now when you start to record, the new
recording will create an entirely new MIDI clip and it will gradually overwrite what you had before.
It doesn’t exactly erase the original clip. If any portion of the clip is still visible, you can trim the
edges of it and expose the original data. Of course, Undo will get you back to where you started from
if things don’t go well.

Note: You can envision replace mode as being similar to tape recording. As you record
something new onto tape, you are erasing the section you are recording over.

Overlay Mode
In overlay mode, as you record you’ll get a new MIDI clip stacked on top of the original clip. After
you have recorded this way, you’ll hear the output from both clips mixed together.
During playback, you will hear the overlapping MIDI clips merged together.

MIDI Input Quantize

To find MIDI Input Quantize, click on the input and locate the Quantize property. The drop down
menu for Quantize offers a wide variety of beat subdivisions.
Notice how this works; you are selecting a subdivision of the beat (not the bar). For example, if you
want to quantize your input to the nearest eighth note, you don’t select 1/8 beat from this list, you
select 1/2 beat, because an eighth note is half of a quarter note (when working in 4/4 time).

Input Quantize Options

As you record, you’re going to hear the notes however you play them, but on playback all of your
notes will be snapped to the value you set in Quantize.
Chapter 23 - MIDI Recording 173

Note that the results of quantizing can sound somewhat unnatural, because this approach quantizes
both the note start and the note ending. Notes get stretched out and tend to sound mechanical. In
general, input quantize is more useful for drum programming than playing something like a piano
part.

Note: Input quantizing does not happen in real time. You hear the result during playback.

There are other ways (Apply Groove) to quantize after the fact. We’ll be getting into that in Chapter
26 - Quantizing MIDI Notes.

Moving On
That’s an introduction to MIDI recording. You learned the essential options to set up a MIDI input.
You learned about the MIDI record modes. We also took a quick look at input quantizing. Next up,
loop recording with MIDI!
Chapter 24 - MIDI Loop Recording
In this chapter you’ll learn about loop recording and MIDI. Loop recording in merge mode can be
useful for layering up a drum part, or building a chord over a couple of passes through the loop.
Waveform also supports MIDI loop recording to layers, which gives you the capability to build a
composite MIDI performance in the same way you can do with audio.

Loop Recording in Merge Mode

In the last chapter you learned about MIDI merge mode. Here are the steps again:

1. To put your track into MIDI merge mode, click on the track input, then in Properties set Action
to Merge newly recorded MIDI into any existing clip.

MIDI Merge Mode

1. To prepare for loop recording, set the In-marker and the Out-marker over the area you want
to loop.

Set the In-marker & Out-marker

1. Toggle the Loop button to until it’s enabled.

Enable Loop
Chapter 24 - MIDI Loop Recording 175

1. As Waveform cycles through the loop, you’ll immediately hear the results of what you played
in previous passes. Keep adding passes until you’re happy with the part.
2. To stop recording, either click Record again or hit Spacebar.

MIDI Clip After Recording

Following loop recording, you’ll have a single MIDI clip containing the part you built up over
successive recording passes.
This technique is particularly useful for programming drum parts, especially if drumming is not
your main skill. For example, on the first pass play in the high hat. Then, on the second pass add the
kick and snare. Finally, strategically add a crash on the downbeat.

Recording to Prepare for MIDI Comping

Comping is usually associated with audio recording and editing. With comping, you record multiple
takes of a part then use simple editing tools to select the best phases from the various takes.
To prepare to comp with a MIDI recording, leave everything set up the same way as for merge mode,
but change the Action parameter to Overlay new clips containing newly recorded MIDI.

Enable Overlay Mode

Set the In-marker and Out-marker and turn Loop on. Hit Record and record a performance during
each cycle through the loop.
When you hit Stop you’ll have separate takes in the MIDI clip for each loop pass, just like in audio
loop recording.

Comping MIDI Takes

To see the takes, click the plus icon in the lower right corner of the MIDI clip; You’ll see a list of all
your takes. From here, you can choose the best take from the list and that will make it active.
Chapter 24 - MIDI Loop Recording 176

Takes Following Loop Recording

You can also expand the view to show all the takes below the track. Click the plus icon and select,
Show takes.

View following Show takes

Not only does this show the takes, but it puts you in comping mode. Swipe over the phrases you
want to keep and build a composite from the best parts of each take.
Chapter 24 - MIDI Loop Recording 177

Comping the Takes

Flattening the Composite to a Single Clip

Once you have the composite assembled, you can convert it to a single MIDI clip. Click the plus icon
and select Flatten current comp. You will need to press Delete on the Delete Unused Takes dialog
box to proceed.

Flattening the MIDI Composite

Note: When you select Flatten current comp Waveform asks if you want to delete the unused
takes. If you want to flatten the takes to a single MIDI clip, you need to accept this. Note
that you can use Undo following this action.
Chapter 24 - MIDI Loop Recording 178

Delete Clips Warning Message

Moving On
Loop recording and comping are really powerful tools for MIDI composition, just as they are when
working with audio. Next up, learn how to edit MIDI clips and MIDI notes.
Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing
In this chapter you will learn MIDI editing. There are two aspects to MIDI editing. You can, of
course, edit individual MIDI notes, but you can also edit the MIDI clip. Editing a MIDI clip is similar
to editing an Audio clip, but with a few key differences. We will go over both approaches in this
chapter.
Many of the tools for working with clips work much like they do with Audio clips. Each MIDI clip
header has several drag handles. Let’s take a look at how they work.

Trimming MIDI Clips

To trim a MIDI clip, drag one of the trim handles left or right. The trim handles are the hollow
arrows at the left and right of the MIDI clip header.

Trim MIDI Clips by Dragging a Trim Handle

Note: One difference between Audio clips and MIDI clips is that the MIDI clips don’t have
fade handles.

Moving MIDI Clips

To move a MIDI clip forward or backward in time, drag from the header area. Don’t drag starting
from any of the icons, but instead drag from the blank space in the header area.
Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing 180

Moving a MIDI Clip

Moving a MIDI Clip Track-to-Track

To move a MIDI clip track-to-track, grab the header area and drag it up or down. To move track-to-
track without affecting the timing, hold down Shift as you drag.

Slip Editing MIDI Clips

The three solid color handles are used for slip editing: left arrow, right arrow, and the box. The
essential tool for slip editing is the solid box in the center of the header. Grab the solid box and drag,
in order to slip edit the notes within the frame of the window.

MIDI Clip Slip Handles

Use the left solid arrow to slip the notes later in time, while leaving the ending of the clip anchored.
The right solid arrow works the opposite way. You can slip the end of the clip, while leaving the
beginning of the clip anchored.

Reframing a MIDI Clip

The hollow box tool in the center of a MIDI clip allows you to reframe the entire window of the clip,
leaving the notes in their original place. This is done by dragging the hollow box left or right.
Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing 181

Splitting a MIDI Clip

To split a MIDI clip, select it then position the cursor at the time you want to make the split. Press
the slash key (/). This is the exact same workflow you use for splitting Audio clips.

Split MIDI Clips Using the Slash Key

You can also split using the Split Clips actions at the right side of Properties. The various actions
give you more control over splitting.

Split Actions Button in Properties

Note: As you split MIDI clips, any notes that are sustained across the split area are separated
into two notes.

You can even split a mixture of Audio clips and MIDI clips across multiple tracks, by selecting a
combination of them at once.

The MIDI Note Editor

As you increase the vertical size of a track holding MIDI clips, you’ll see that there’s a point at
where it switches to the inline MIDI note editor. This gives you a comprehensive view of the notes
contained within the MIDI clip. This type of view is commonly called a piano roll view (PRV).
Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing 182

The MIDI Note Editor

Another way to see the MIDI note editor is to double-click on the MIDI clip header to toggle track
height.

Note: Clip header double-click behavior is dependent on a global setting. Go to the Settings
tab, General behavior page and find the Track Resizing property. You can choose a number
of options, based on how you would like that resizing to occur when you double-click. This
setting also holds for audio tracks.

Setting the Number of Octaves & Note Height

You can adjust how many octaves you see on the MIDI editor in the Options menu. By default
Options > Default MIDI editor vertical scale is set to 2 octaves, a reasonable starting point. If you
want you can set this to show more or fewer octaves.

Default MIDI Editor Vertical Scale Setting

Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing 183

To fine tune the vertical size of MIDI notes, drag the arrows above and below the piano graphic.

Use Arrows to Adjust Vertical Size

Mouse Wheel Options for MIDI Editing

You can use your mouse wheel to scroll vertically within the MIDI editor. During mixing you may
prefer to disable this function, in order to prevent scrolling within the MIDI clips unintentionally.

Mouse Wheel MIDI Scrolling Setting

You may find it’s generally helpful to have MIDI scrolling on during MIDI editing. You’ll find this
setting in the menu under Options > Mouse wheel action > Mouse wheel scrolls MIDI grid.
Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing 184

Basic MIDI Editing - Pitch

Next, let’s look at the tools for editing the actual MIDI notes. In general, editing works by selecting
notes and then doing an action.

Select a Note and Drag Up or Down to Change Pitch

The most basic edit? Click a note to select it. Drag it up or down to change the pitch.

Per Note Automation

As you start to drag MIDI notes around, you will immediately see the per-note controller editing
area appear above or below selected notes.

Drawing Per Note Automation

If you don’t see the per-note automation editing area, you can turn it on and off in Properties.

Turn Per Note Automation Editing On or Off

To begin, select any single note. The automation editing area will appear for the full length of the
note. By default you will be editing Volume (controller 7). Select the pencil tool and draw in the
desired automation curve by click-dragging over the editing area.

Note: You need to select the pencil tool to draw in the per-note automation.

The curve will appear as steps based on the current snap resolution. The snap resolution is set by
the zoom level; To draw in a more detailed curve, zoom in more.
Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing 185

Selecting the Controller Type for Per Note Automation

You can select any other control by clicking the Type button on the MIDI editor toolbar. This type
of editing gives you detailed control over performance details and articulations.

Note: Not all virtual instruments respond to this type of data.

Nudging Notes
Nudging works much like it does for Audio clips and MIDI clips. You hold down Shift and use the
arrow keys. Shift-up and Shift-down change the pitch. Shift-left and Shift-right change the timing.
Nudging is particularly helpful when changing the pitch, since there there’s no chance of altering
the timing of the note.

Tip: Cmd + Z / Ctrl + Z works as undo for most editing operations.

Note Length
You can trim the length of a note by grabbing the right edge and dragging it left or right.
Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing 186

Trimming a MIDI Note

Snapping During Note Editing

Many of these editing operations will snap to the grid as long as you have Snap enabled. To edit
freely, disable Snap. The keyboard shortcut Q enables or disables snapping.

Note Editing Will Snap if Snap is On

Copying and Duplicating Notes

To copy a note, hold down Cmd / Ctrl and drag the note to create a copy. Another way to do this is
with the Duplicate keyboard shortcut. First select the note that you would like to copy, make sure
the cursor is where you’d like the copy placed and then hit the keyboard shortcut D.

Copying a Note

Adjusting Pitch and Velocity in Properties

Another way to adjust pitch and velocity is to select the note and then edit the values directly in
Properties. Both Pitch and Velocity can easily be edited this way.

Adjust Pitch and Velocity in Properties

Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing 187

Note Start, Length, & End

You can also make very precise adjustments to the Length, Start Time, and End Time by editing the
values directly in Properties for the selected note.

Start, Length, & End Settings in Properties

The Pencil Tool

The pencil tool is used to draw in notes. Simply select the pencil tool and then start painting in notes
where you’d like them to appear on the piano roll.

Draw in New Notes with the Pencil Tool

The Eraser Tool

Use the eraser tool to swipe over any series of notes that you would like to erase.
Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing 188

The Eraser Tool

The Line Tool

There’s also a line tool. We usually recommend using this for drawing in controllers, but it is also
possible to use it for notes as well. Draw a line to create a stepped series of notes.

Draw a Series of Notes with the Line Tool

Note Colors
The color selection along the top edge of the MIDI editor allows you to select set a note color. Select
a group of notes, click on a color and then it will change those notes to that color. It doesn’t affect
Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing 189

playback, but it gives you a way to visually organize a sequence. For example, when programming
drums you could make snares, hi-hats, and kick drum all different colors.

Note Colors

Selecting Multiple Notes

Selecting multiple notes is easy. Use the arrow tool and drag a selection around any group of notes
that you’d like to select together.

Note Multiple Selection

You can also add or remove notes from a multiple selection by holding down Shift (or Cmd / Ctrl)
then clicking additional notes you’d like to toggle in and out of the selection.
To select an entire row of notes that are the same pitch, hold down Cmd / Ctrl and click on the PRV
keyboard key corresponding to that row of notes; doing so selects the full row of notes.

Selecting a Row of Notes with Cmd / Ctrl

Once you have a multiple selection, move all the notes in time or by pitch by dragging with the
arrow tool. Alternatively, you can change values in Properties that will apply to all notes in the
Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing 190

selection. Nudge also works on well on a multiple selection of notes (Shift plus the arrow keys).

Editing the Note Velocity

To quickly change the velocity of a note, select the note and then select a value from the Velocity
drop down menu. This gives you a variety of preset values at popular levels.

Quickly Set Note Velocity

If you choose Other, from the velocity drop down, you can type in whatever value you want from
0 to 127.

You’ll See this if you Select Other

Tip: Here’s another trick way to adjust velocity. Select a note then hold Shift as you drag up
and down over the note. Notice the Velocity value changing in Properties as you drag.

Step Entry Mode

When the Step button is toggled on, the MIDI clip goes into step entry mode. In this mode, any notes
you play to the track will be entered at the cursor position. Then, the cursor will advance to the next
step based on the Snap grid resolution. You can adjust that based on the level of zoom.
Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing 191

Step Entry Mode

Hearing Notes While Editing

You have the option to trigger notes that are being moved so you can hear the pitch. You can enable
or disable this using the speaker icon at the far right at the top of the MIDI editor tool bar.

Enable Speaker Button to Trigger Notes During Editing

The Velocity Editor

You can edit MIDI note velocity from the velocity area below the PRV. Click the Velocity button at
the left of the MIDI editor toolbar to expose the velocity editor. For the selected note, grab the stalk
which represents the velocity and drag it up or down. You will notice the Velocity parameter moving
in Properties for that note as you drag.
Chapter 25 - MIDI Editing 192

The Velocity Editor

You can also edit multiple velocities together by first selecting several velocities. Say we want to edit
the velocity of all the C4s. Hold down Cmd / Ctrl and select all the C4s, then, just grab one of them
and they will all adjust together.

Editing other Controller Data

You can use a view similar to the velocity editor with any kind of controller. Click the Control button
and then click Type to choose which controller to edit.

Editing Other Controller Data

Example editing aftertouch: In the MIDI editor click Control > Type > Channel Pressure. Now the
channel pressure data will appear in the same way velocity appears.

Moving On
Those are the fundamentals of MIDI editing. We’re going to get into quantizing MIDI notes in the
next chapter.
Chapter 26 - Quantizing MIDI Notes
The idea of quantizing is to correct the timing your MIDI performances. At a basic level, quantizing
snaps each note to the nearest correct note on a virtual grid defined by the bars and beats of your
song. Waveform gives you tools to define that grid in musical increments like quarter note, eighth
note, but it does so using divisions of a beat.
Waveform takes quantizing further with groove templates. Groove templates allow you to quantize
in a way that’s not perfectly aligned to straight timing. An important use of this is to introduce
musical swing to the timing. You have all the tools needed to impart the desired feel into your
performance.

How to Quantize
Within a MIDI clip, select all the notes you want to quantize. If you want to quantize all of them,
you can use select all (Cmd + A / Ctrl + A). The quantize actions are available by clicking Quantize
in Properties.

MIDI Quantize Actions

There are four different quantize actions available, as shown above. The most common option is the
first one - Quantize note start times. To complete the action, you pick which beat division to use.
The beat division selection can be a little confusing. Musical divisions in Waveform are represented
as fractions of one beat. For example, if you want to quantize to eighth notes and you’re in 4/4 time,
Chapter 26 - Quantizing MIDI Notes 194

then you select To nearest 1/2. One half of one beat would be an eighth note. If you want to quantize
to sixteenth notes, then select To nearest 1/4 beat from this menu.

MIDI Notes Before Quantizing

MIDI Notes After Quantizing Note Starts to Nearest 1/2 Beat

You’ll will notice right away that quantizing perfectly tightens up up the performance. It will snap
the notes to the nearest increment of the division that you selected.

Note: If you’re playing was so far off that it actually snaps it to the wrong note, then you
might need to do some MIDI editing to clean that up!

Tip: Some styles of music are based on perfectly quantized timing while other styles aren’t.
To get a more natural feel but also fix timing errors, you can always edit timing note-by-
note manually with Snap turned off. Groove quantizing also gives you other options for
“quantizing with feel”. More on that later.

Quantizing Note Lengths

If you choose the option to quantize the note lengths you’ll see that the notes become the full length
of that particular note value.
Chapter 26 - Quantizing MIDI Notes 195

Note Lengths Quantized to 1/2 beat

With something like a piano part, this can lead to a choppy, unnatural feel. You could try quantizing
the note lengths to 1/4 beat (sixteenth note) if the playing is that inconsistent.
In most cases, it’s not really important to quantize the note lengths. It can be useful for things like
quantizing the note lengths on drum parts, because it helps play out the full attack and decay of a
drum hit.

Quantizing with Groove

Next let’s look at how to quantize with groove. This feature can be as simple a choosing a preset, or
as complex as finely programming a groove template. Groove can be applied to both MIDI clips and
Step clips, which we will cover in the next chapter.
First lets look at the basics:
Select the notes to quantize and click Apply Groove in Properties.

Apply Groove in Properties

You will then get a large menu of groove presets. These are custom templates that allow you to apply
fine adjustments to the timing.
Chapter 26 - Quantizing MIDI Notes 196

Apply Groove Presets in Options

The most common scenario is to apply swing: Delaying the eighth notes that follow the four primary
beats in a bar. To locate the groove templates for standard swing, look at those starting with Swing
1/2. Swing 1/2 as in half beat. In normal musical terms, that’s eighth note swing. To apply a nice
groovy swing, try Swing 1/2 60%.
Chapter 26 - Quantizing MIDI Notes 197

Groove Presets for Swing

Note: In 4/4 music, eighth note timing is counted 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &. In swing timing, the
“&” beats are delayed. The swing presets in Waveform let you pick how much delay as a
percentage from subtle (10%) to dramatic (90%).

Before Applying Groove

After Applying Groove - Swing 1/2 60%

After you apply swing, you’ll see it lays back all of the “and” notes to be a little late; groovy!
Waveform will also adjust the note lengths appropriately as shown above.
Chapter 26 - Quantizing MIDI Notes 198

Defining Groove Templates

To take groove to the next level, you can build grooves to your own definition using the Groove
Template Editor. At the bottom of the Apply Groove menu, you’ll find Edit groove templates. This is
also available in the Menu section under Snapping > Edit Groove Templates.

Snapping > Edit groove templates

Select this to open the groove template editor. Click on any of the presets to see how the logic works.

Groove Template Editor

In the image above, we have selected the Swing 1/4 60% template we used for the examples in this
chapter. A groove template consists of a pattern length, note subdivision, and the timing for each
note. For each step of the pattern, you choose the amount that that note falls ‘early’ or ‘late’ relative
to perfect timing.
Chapter 26 - Quantizing MIDI Notes 199

Swing 1/2 60% Template Example

The example in the figure shown above is the setup for a basic swing beat, with each ‘and’ eighth-
note delayed. You can adjust the intensity of the swing feel by how much delay you put on the
eighth notes.

Complex Groove Templates

Since you can create groove templates with as many steps as you want, you can dial in exactly the
feel you want. For example if you want to vary the swing within the bar of music, you could create
a template with eight notes with each swing element slightly different.

Groove Template with Variable Swing

Alternatively, you can create a groove that pushes the timing over two bars, which will give
excitement and tension like the FastSlow2 preset.
Chapter 26 - Quantizing MIDI Notes 200

FastSlow2 Groove Template

Tip: It can also be useful to create a ‘No Groove’ template to help you remove the effect of
groove. This is particularly useful when applying groove templates to Step clips; more on
that in the next chapter!

Creating a ‘No Groove’ Template

Managing Groove Templates

Waveform gives you all the tools you need to create new groove templates, rename them, and import
and export them. Exported templates have the .trkgroove file extension. This allows you to share
them with other Waveform users or installations.

Create, Rename, Import, or Export Groove Templates

While editing a groove template, you may reset it. This removes the late/early timing for the pattern,
but doesn’t change the length or note division settings.
Chapter 26 - Quantizing MIDI Notes 201

Resetting a Groove Template

Any groove template that you don’t need, you can delete using Delete Template.

Deleting a Groove Template

Moving On
You should now have a pretty good understanding of MIDI, MIDI recording, MIDI editing, and even
quantizing with MIDI. But there is one more thing: Step clips. And that is up next!
Chapter 27 - Step Clips
On the surface, a Step clip is a simple MIDI step sequencer, allowing you to turn notes on and off
with a simple click. That is correct but Step clips go much deeper.
In this chapter, you’ll learn all about Step clips and how to use them to create drumbeats, synth lines,
or bass lines.
This tutorial is an excellent introduction to working with Step clips:
Video: Explaining Step Clips²⁴

Step Clips Overview

Step clips act like a special type of MIDI clip. However, the notes are represented on a grid where each
column is a ‘step’ indicating a musical increment. By default, there are 16 steps similar to common
drum machines and step sequencers. That means in 4/4 timing, there are four steps per beat. You
can change this to other values, but this is usually a good starting point.
Here is a breakdown of the key concepts you need to work with Step clips:

Parts of a Step Clip

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Chapter 27 - Step Clips 203

Step Clip
Step clips are similar to MIDI clips. You can add, delete, and copy them. They are always in
loop mode so you can drag the right trim handle to roll out repetitions. Step clips need a synth
plugin in order to make sound, just like MIDI clips.
Header
Click the Step clip header to select it. With the clip selected, you have access to a wide variety
of settings in Actions or Properties. Drag the Step clip by the header to move it forward or
backward in time, or track-to-track. Right-click the Step clip header for a context menu of the
most used options.
Footer
Click the Step clip footer for access to a drop down menu and additional options in Actions or
Properties. These options are related to working with variations and patterns sections.
Variation
A variation is a table of rows and columns (steps). It looks like a mini spreadsheet - click a cell
to trigger a note at that step. Click and active cell again to turn it off. A Step clip can hold any
number of variations.
Step
A variation is defined by how many steps it has, and what each step represents musically. By
default a new variation has 16 steps with a step length of 1/4 beat. A step is one column of the
grid that makes up a variation.
Row
Each row is assigned to a single MIDI note. Rows are defined for the entire Step clip. Row
assignments are the same for all variations within the clip. It is possible to assign rows within
one Step clip to different MIDI channels or virtual instruments. More on that later.
Note
A note is the cell formed at the intersection of steps and rows. You program by clicking notes
to toggle them on or off.
Section
By default, a Step clip has a single pattern section which holds one variation. You can create
longer Step clips by adding more pattern sections. Each pattern section is assigned a variation.
Variation Number
Variations are numbered within each Step clip. The variation number appears on the footer for
each pattern section.
Chapter 27 - Step Clips 204

A Step Clip with Four Pattern Sections

Tip: You can think about Step clips as follows: Step clips are a sequence of pattern sections.
Each pattern section is assigned to a variation. You can assign the same variation to more
than one pattern section if you so desire.

Note: Variations can exist in a Step clip that are not assigned to any pattern section.

Inserting a Step Clip Into the Edit

There are several ways to insert a Step clip onto a track:

Insert Using the Clip Object

Like all the other kinds of clips, you can drag the Clip object to a track and then choose Insert
Step Clip from the menu.

Insert by Dragging the Clip Object

Insert with Right-click Menu

Right-click at the point on a track where you want to put it and choose Insert Step Clip from
the context menu.
Chapter 27 - Step Clips 205

Insert from the Track Header

Another way is to select the track where you’d like the Step clip to go, position the cursor where
you’d like it to start, then right-click on the track header and select “Insert Step Clip”.

Right-click Track Header

Insert from Track Actions

Select a track by clicking on the track name. In Actions, click “Insert New Clip > Insert New
Step Clip.”
Chapter 27 - Step Clips 206

Insert from Track Actions

Inserting a Step Clip Preset

Since you can save Step clip setups as presets, a great way to get a starting point is to drag in
a preset. You can find any existing Step clip presets in the Browser Presets tab. Filter or search
by “Step clip”.
Chapter 27 - Step Clips 207

Use a Step Clip Preset from the Browser

Waveform includes a wide variety of Step clip presets to get you started.

Programming a Drum Beat with a Step Clip

Once you insert a new Step clip, notice that the rows are pre-assigned to General MIDI drum notes.
This makes it really fast to get started programming beats.

Tip: Use one of the Waveform drum instruments - Micro Drum Sampler, Drum Sampler, or
Multi Sampler. Add the instrument first and load a preset drum kit. Next, insert a blank Step
clip. The row names will match the pad names of the preset!
Chapter 27 - Step Clips 208

Default Step Clip

Here are the basic steps to programming a drum beat using a Step clip:

1. Insert a drum instrument onto a track and select a preset.

2. Insert a Step clip on the track.
3. Set Loop in and Loop out over the Step clip and turn Loop on.
4. Start playback, and turn notes on and off by clicking on the individual note cells.

Programming a Step Clip

As you toggle notes you will hear the result. You are are now programming a variation!

Video Clip: This video overview is a great way to get a better understanding of how all
this works. While the video was created using Tracktion version 6, the workflow is almost
identical in Waveform version 8.

Step Clips Overview²⁵

Step Clip Actions & Properties

A Step clip has a header that is similar to that of MIDI clips and Audio clips. Click the header to
reveal all the actions and settings in Actions. The following things are the most important when
working with Step clips:
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Chapter 27 - Step Clips 209
Chapter 27 - Step Clips 210

Name
Give your Step clip a descriptive Name. This will be particularly helpful when you go to save
a Step clip as a preset. The Step clip name is used as the basis for presets.
Color
Use the color selection to give your Step clip a unique color.
Clear All Variations
Clear All Variations clears all the notes from all variations for this Step clip.

Warning: Clear All Variations clears all variations whether you can see them or not.
Fortunately, you can click Undo (Cmd + Z / Ctrl + Z) if you change your mind right after
zeroing out all your variations!

Delete All Unused Variations

With Step clips, you can string together a series of pattern sections - each one assigned to a
variation. Delete All Unused Variations remove any variation that is not in use.
Add Row
Add Row inserts a row as you might expect. You can also insert a row using the context menu
for the Step clip header or Step clip row header.
Render Clip
Use any of the Render Clip options to convert a Step clip to an Audio clip.

Note In the Render dialogue box, make sure you have Pass Through Plugins selected. If you
don’t, the resulting audio clip will be silent.

Standard Clip Operations

Step clip properties also includes Select Clip, Set Edit Tempo, Split Clips, and Move Clip. These
are standard operations shared by all the other kinds of clips.
Convert to MIDI Clip
Convert to MIDI Clip is an important feature of Step clips. This will convert any selected Step
clips to a MIDI clip. This allows you to continue editing in the MIDI editor, using the piano
roll view.
Create Preset
Create Preset gives you tools to create presets from Step clips. Presets are searchable from the
Browser.
Delete
Delete allows you to delete the selected Step clip. Alternatively, just select the Step clip, press
Delete, Backspace, or Cmd + X / Ctrl + X. Any of these will delete a clip.
Chapter 27 - Step Clips 211

Tip Just like any other clip, Step clips can be copied (Cmd + C / Ctrl + C), pasted (Cmd + V
/ Ctrl + V), or duplicated (D).

Step Clip Header Context Menu

Right-click the Step clip header and the most essential actions are available from the context
menu.

Step-click Context Menu (Right-click)

The Step Clip Footer

When you click on the Step clip footer, you select the pattern section and its variation. The active
variation number is indicated on the footer. Click the footer to see the most important actions in a
popup context menu.
Chapter 27 - Step Clips 212

Section Footer Context Menu

If you have more than one pattern section in a Step clip, you select a specific section by clicking its
footer. Right-click a footer (or click the footer if the clip’s already selected) to pop up the context
menu. All of the actions also appear in Actions and Properties.
Chapter 27 - Step Clips 213

Step Clip Footer Shows Variation & Pattern Section Options

Note: The pattern section and variation numbers are shown in the title line of Properties
when a footer is selected. For example, “Section 1 (Pattern 8).”
Chapter 27 - Step Clips 214

Variation Options

Variation Options in Actions

Use (Set Active Pattern)

“Use” sets which variation to use for this pattern section. You can also set this from the footer
context menu.
Name
Give your clip a meaningful name if you want.
Step Length
By default, step length is one-quarter beat. This means each beat is divided into four steps. This
creates a 16 step sequencer. If you change this to some other value, it will change it for this
variation but not for the entire Step clip.
Number of Steps
Number of Steps is the number of steps in the variation. By default, this is 16. With a step length
of one-quarter beat and the Number of Steps set to 16, each beat in 4/4 timing is divided into
four steps. This is the most common setup for a step sequencer. This also gives you one bar of
music.
Select a Common Setup
“Select a common setup” gives you preset combinations of Step Length and Number of Steps to
create one or two bar variations.
Chapter 27 - Step Clips 215

Select a Common Setup in Actions

Step Clip Variation Actions

Variation Actions

Clear All Steps

Clear All Steps clears all steps of any notes that have been turned on. This is a simple way to
erase the variation and start over with some new programming.
Randomize Each Step
Randomly turns on and off notes at each step of the variation. This might give you some quick
creative inspiration.
Chapter 27 - Step Clips 216

New Variation
Duplicates what you have to a new variation. The variation number is automatically assigned.
New Blank Variation
Creates a new blank variation and makes it active. The variation number is automatically
assigned.

Video Clip: Step Clips Randomize Each Step²⁶

Note: You can also randomize a row of notes. We’ll get to that shortly.

Apply Common Groove

Apply Common Groove is usually used to impart a swing feel. Here you selected a template.
The most common settings are for basic swing. This setting applies groove to all rows in the
Step clip. There is a way to apply groove to separate rows - we’ll cover that a bit later.
Apply Common Groove Amount
With groove amount set to minimum the groove template selected in the previous option has
no effect. Increase it for more and more impact.

Step Clip Pattern Section Actions

These options are available from the Actions for Step clip footers. Some are available directly from
the footer context menu as well.

Step Clip Section Actions

Add Pattern Section Here

Puts in a new pattern section along with a copy of the variation and pushes any existing pattern
sections to the right.
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Chapter 27 - Step Clips 217

Add Pattern Section at End

Creates a new pattern section at the end along with a copy of the variation.

Tip: Keep in mind that you choose which variation to sue for each pattern section. Click the
footer and select a variation.

Choosing a Variation for a Pattern Section

Remove this Pattern Section

Select a pattern section by clicking its footer. Choose “Remove the pattern section” from the
menu or Actions. This doesn’t remove any variations; they’re still there and can be assigned
to other pattern sections.

Step Clip Row Properties

Each row of a Step clip has a name, and a variety of actions you can use to manipulate the notes
on that row across all the pattern sections. Individual rows can be set to separate MIDI channels or
even routed to different virtual instruments using the “Set Destination” option. We’ll be covering
that shortly.
Chapter 27 - Step Clips 218

Step Clip Row Properties

Here are the things you can do with Step clip rows:

Assign a Note Value

If you know the MIDI note value, then you can set it with the Note property. Alternatively,
drag the yellow arrow along the virtual keyboard at the bottom of Properties and set it to the
desired note there. As you drag the arrow, you’ll hear the notes play.
Velocity
Velocity sets maximum MIDI velocity for the row. Using the Step clip V/G editor (more on that
shortly), you can set each note to a percentage of this value. The default Velocity value is 96.
MIDI Channel
MIDI Channel sets the output MIDI channel number. If you’re playing into a multi-timbral
virtual instrument, then this would set which instrument is being played from this Step clip
row.
Note On Every
The Note On Every parameter is followed by a series of buttons. Those buttons complete the
sentence “Note on every (blank) steps.” For example, click 2 to mean “Note on every 2 steps.”
Groove
Earlier, I explained how you can set the groove for an entire Step clip and choosing Apply
Common Groove. You can set the groove for an individual row using Groove. Also, if groove
has been applied to the Step clip, that groove setting will show up here. In reality, groove is set
at the row level. When you apply common groove it sets all rows to the same groove template.

Note: Typically groove is used to apply swing. Chose “Basic 8th Swing” or “Basic 16th Swing”
to get started.

Video Clip: Step Clip Groove²⁷

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Chapter 27 - Step Clips 219

Name
Name is the Step clip row name. As you hover the mouse pointer over a Step clip, row names
appear along the left. If you want to set a unique name for a channel, then select the channel
and update Name in Actions or Properties. These are often set to drum sounds like “Kick” or
“Snare”. You can also right-click any row now and choose “Rename row”.

Step Clip Row Actions

These actions are available from Actions or Properties when a Step clip row is selected. Key actions
are also available from the row header context menu.

Step Clip Row Actions

Insert Row
Select a row and click Insert Row. This inserts a new row right after whichever channel you
started from. Rows are always numbered from the top down, so if you insert a row all of the
following rows get renumbered.
Clear Row
Clear Row simply erases any notes that have been programmed in to that channel.
Randomized Row
Randomize Row randomly selects an on or off state for each step that row. This applies to
variations across all the pattern sections.
Shift Notes
The left and right arrow buttons following Shift Notes do exactly that - hey shift the series of
notes in each step one increment left or one increment right per click.
Set Destination
Set Destination opens up one of the coolest hidden features of Step clips. It allows you to
choose which, of many, virtual instruments you assign that particular row. For example, you
could have your bass drum being played by EZdrummer while your high hat is played by Drum
Sampler. Then, you can set up a hand clap being played by some other virtual instrument.

Note: For this feature to function, Waveform automatically wraps the virtual instruments
in a plugin rack. For the most part, Waveform handles the details automatically when you
apply Set Destination.
Chapter 27 - Step Clips 220

Video Clip: Route Step Clips to Different Synths Video²⁸

Deleting a Row
Select any row in your Step clip, click Delete Row to remove that entire row. All the following row
numbers are then re-sequenced to keep them in numerical order.

Delete Row in Properties

Tip: When programming Step clips, there’s really no reason to have all eight default rows
taking up space on your screen if you are not using that many. Use Delete Row to simplify
your Step clips. It’s easy to add another row at any time using Insert Row.

Velocity Gate Editor

Take your Step clip programming to the next level using the Velocity Gate editor. When you click
V/G in the upper left corner of any Step clip, the V/G view appears below the patterns. This give
you a quick graphical view of the velocity per note for the selected row.
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Chapter 27 - Step Clips 221

Step Clip Velocity Gate Editor

Here is how to use it:

1. Click V/G at the upper corner of the Step clip to toggle the V/G view. If you don’t see it, expand
the vertical height of the track a bit until it appears.
2. Select one the rows in your Step clip by clicking its name. The V/G editor shows the velocity
of each note in a bar graph format. Click or drag within one of the velocity bars to adjust its
percentage.

Adjusting a Velocity Bar in the V/G Editor

Chapter 27 - Step Clips 222

Note: The V/G setting is a percentage of the velocity value set in Actions or Properties for
the row. By default it starts at 100%. If you want the notes to hit harder, then increase the
row Velocity and adjust the V/G percentage to taste.

1. To adjust the velocity for a series of notes, hold down Shift and drag across the bars. This allows
you to paint in velocities for an entire sequence of notes. This is really useful for rows with
lots of notes like high-hats or snares.

Adjusting a Series of Velocities with Shift Drag

1. You can also gate the length of notes by dragging the right side of any velocity bar to narrow
it. This gives you freedom to get gated, glitchy notes if you want, or just to tighten up the hits.

Adjusting Note Gating in the V/G Editor

Video Clip: Step Clip Velocity/Gate²⁹

Looping Step Clips

Step clips are always in loop mode. Grab right trim handle at any time to loop it over part or all
over you song. By contrast, MIDI Clips and Audio clips have a loop mode that allows you to roll out
repetitions by dragging the right trim handle.
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Chapter 27 - Step Clips 223

Looping a Step Clip

If your Step clip loops only the last pattern section, enable Repeat Whole Sequence in Actions or
Properties.

Enable Repeat Whole Sequence

Render a Step Clip to MIDI

When you get to a point where you want to do more detailed ending on your Step clip sequence,
convert it to a MIDI clip and use the MIDI editor. To do this, right-click the Step clip header and
choose Convert to MIDI clip. A MIDI clip is created, replacing the Step clip.

Convert a Step Clip to a MIDI Clip

Step Clip Presets

Waveform includes the ability to save presets of your Step clips. This is very useful for creating a
library of sequences for use in future productions. You may want to create presets and use them as
templates, holding your preferred starting points for Step clip channel assignments and names.

Always use Create Preset > Include patterns

Chapter 27 - Step Clips 224

To save a preset, select the Step clip by clicking the header. Then click Create Preset > Include patterns
in Actions. You can name and tag your preset. To find it later choose Load Preset. Alternatively use
the Browser Presets tab and filter by Step Clips.

Preset Details Dialog Box for a Step Clip

Tip: I suggest you always use Create Preset > Include patterns. Create Preset > Exclude
Patterns is also available, but that will always have the default 16 step blank pattern since the
save function doesn’t include any patterns. If you use this option, you may be disappointed
to see that presets don’t appear to save correctly. If you want a blank preset, clear all the
notes, then save it using Create Preset > Include patterns.

Moving On
Step clips are incredibly powerful and a fun way to work with MIDI data and virtual instruments.
They are also unique to Waveform. Use this tool as a secret weapon for creating cool and expressive
beats!

Video Clips: Check out this tutorial series to learn more about Step clips:

Step Clips Overview³⁰

Step Clips Velocity/Gate³¹
³⁰https://w-edstrom.wistia.com/medias/pjf2cdmm4t
³¹https://w-edstrom.wistia.com/medias/mz2dg3v98s
Chapter 27 - Step Clips 225

Step Clips Randomize Each Step³²

Step Clips Groove³³
Step Clips Route Channels to Different Synths³⁴
³²https://w-edstrom.wistia.com/medias/ztgsqpw2y5
³³https://w-edstrom.wistia.com/medias/mz2dg3v98s
³⁴https://w-edstrom.wistia.com/medias/vncjr2ilh9
Chapter 29 - Using Plugins
In this chapter, we will show you how to apply effects plugins using the In-line mixer or the separate
mixer window.

Note: Scanning plugins and setting up a favorites plugin list are done on the Settings tab,
Plugins page. Check the reference section Chapter 70to learn more about that.

The In-line Mixer

The In-line mixer section resides along the right side of the Edit, and completes the left-to-right
signal flow on each track. You can open and close the Mixer using the open/close icon at the upper
right, or also using keyboard shortcut M.

Button to Open Close the In-line mixer (M)

Whenever you create a new track, it will automatically have a Volume & Pan plugin and a Level
Meter plugin inserted. These behave just like any other plugin. You can change the order, remove
them, or even add additional instances of them on the same track.
Chapter 29 - Using Plugins 227

Default Plugins Volume & Pan and Level Meter

For example, you might want a level meter before and after a compressor. Of course, you can add
other plugins, both built-in and third party to the Mixer section.

Level Meter Before and After a 3rd Party Compressor

Tip: Each Mixer channel is stereo. If the track contains mono clips, you will still typically
want to choose stereo versions of plugins for the Mixer, as mono plugins will only effect the
left side of the signal.

Adjusting the Size of the In-line Mixer Section

Try moving the mouse pointer from the arrangement slowly to the Mixer section. As your pointer
crosses over from the arrangement to the Mixer, notice the vertical highlight line.

Resizing the Mixer

Chapter 29 - Using Plugins 228

Drag the highlight line to the left to expand the Mixer section. If you drag it right, then you can
make the Mixer section smaller. All of the plugins on the Mixer are dynamically resized.

Tip: If you accidentally delete, change, or move a plugin, or simply change your mind, click
Undo on the Menu (Ctrl + Z / Cmd + Z) to restore it.

Working with Plugins

You can fully customize the mixer for each track by inserting a chain of plugins. This is one of the
most compelling features of Waveform, as there is no need to switch between a horizontal track
view and a vertical console view.
Here are the essentials for working with plugins in the Mixer:

Inserting Plugins
To insert additional Waveform plugins or third-party plugins, drag the Plugin Object to a track
and then select the plugin that you would like from the list.

Drag the Plugin Object to Insert a Plugin

For third-party plugins, the UI window will pop up. Apart from the core built-in plugins, each has
its own graphical user interface.

Right-click to Insert
Right-click on any existing plugin and select Add new plugin. This pulls up the plugin selector
menu and you may pick any plugin to add. It will be added to the left of plugin you started
from.

Note: If you don’t see some of your plugins, review the previous chapter that details how to
scan your system for all available plugins.
Chapter 29 - Using Plugins 229

Plugin Properties
To select a plugin, click on it. When selected, Properties shows a wide variety of settings and
actions related to that plugin. Most of the built-in plugins have the entire user interface in
Properties.

Select a Plugin to See its Properties

Duplicating Plugins
To duplicate a plugin, select it and press D. This gives you a new instance of the plugin to drag
to a different position or to another track.

Duplicate Plugins by Pressing D

Deleting Plugins
To delete a plugin, simply select the plugin and hit Delete or Backspace. You may alternatively
click the red Delete Plugin button in Properties.
Moving Plugins
To move a plugin from one track to another track, simply grab the plugin and drag it wherever
you would like to put it, even to a different track. As you drag, a red insert illumination will
appear showing where the plugin will be after you drop it.
Chapter 29 - Using Plugins 230

Moving a Plugin

Copying Plugins
To copy a plugin, hold down Opt / Alt and drag it to where you want the copy. Alternatively,
press D to duplicated it then drag the duplicate to the target location.
Bypassing a Plugin
To bypass a plugin, select the plugin then turn off Enabled in Properties. Or, simply select the
plugin and press the keyboard shortcut F. A bypassed plugin appears with a red X through it
on the Mixer.

A Bypassed Plugin

Tip: You can bypass several plugins at once, by first selecting them and then pressing F.

Assigning a Quick Control Parameter

You can assign a quick control parameter to any instance of a plugin. This allows you immediate
access to tweak one parameter without mousing back to Properties or opening the UI for the plugin.
For example, I often set the mix control for delay plugins as quick control.
Chapter 29 - Using Plugins 231

Delay Mix Set as a Quick Control Parameter

To set up a quick control parameter, right-click the plugin and choose Select quick control parameter.
Next, choose which parameter to use.

Right-click to Set the Quick Control Parameter

Waveform Delay has only two parameters, but many third-party have many more to to choose from.

Third-Party Plugins
Third-party plugins are inserted in the same way as built-in plugins. One difference is that the UI
(user interface) does not appear in Properties. Each plugin has its own UI window.

Sonimus SonEQ, an Example 3rd Party Plugin

Chapter 29 - Using Plugins 232

To open the UI for a third-party plugin, double-click the plugin in the Mixer.

Note: You can change to a single-click to open plugin windows the Settings Tab, Plugins
page. The parameter is Opening Plugin Windows.

Setting to Open Plugins with a Single-click

Searching for Plugins

The Waveform Browser includes a Search tab. This allows you to search for plugins. When you find
one you want to use, drag it to your Edit. Here are the steps:

1. Open the Browser and click the Search tab

2. Type in a few characters of the name of the plugin
3. From the search results, drag the plugin from the Browser to the Mixer.

Searching for Plugins Using the Browser, Search tab

The search uses an index that includes plugin names, tags, and manufacturer. We covered how to
set tags in the previous chapter.

Tip: It often helps to disable the options for Loops and Presets when searching for a specific
plugin. This gives you more targeted results.

Limiting Search Filters to Plugins

Chapter 29 - Using Plugins 233

Using Master Plugins

To apply processing to the full stereo mix, add plugins to the Master section. The drop target says
Drop Master Plugins Here.

Master Section Plugins Area

Typically, you may put a bus compressor, a limiter, and maybe an EQ on the master. Another great
option is Waveform’s own Final Mix plugin, which combines all of those functions in to one package
expressly designed for use on a full mix.

Master Mix inserted in the Master Section

Tip: You can right click the Drop Master Plugins Here area then choose Add new plugin to
open the plugin selector menu. You may find this a bit faster than dragging the plugin object
down there!

Right-click to Add new plugin

Chapter 30 - Built-in Effects Plugins
The Waveform built-in effects are really quite simple. They act as plugins that you can combine to
build up more complex effects chains in the mixer, or within plugin racks. While we won’t touch on
every single effect here, we will go over the essential ones. Let’s get started.

Waveform Effects
Drag the plugin object to the mixer and select Waveform Plugins. You’ll see the list of built-in effects.

Built-in Plugin Effects in Waveform

In this chapter, we will go into more detail about the plugins hightailed in the image above. The
other effects provide specialized functions, or are not typical audio effects. We’ll get into some of
those in later chapters.

Volume & Pan Plugin

Whenever you create a track, you will see a Volume & Pan plugin at the right in the mixer section.
This gives you basic level and pan controls like you’d expect to find on any mixer channel. Since
the Waveform mixer is made up of plugins, the Volume & Pan plugin can be moved before other
plugins or deleted entirely. You can even add another Volume & Pan and use it as a trim control for
gain staging.
Chapter 30 - Built-in Effects Plugins 235

Adjusting Volume
To control volume, click and drag the volume slider up and down. A large volume slider appears
as drag giving you nice readable dB markings for fine level adjustment. The numeric value for
Volume setting appears in Properties.

Volume & Pan Plugin, Adjusting Volume

Adjusting Panning
The pan adjustment works similarly. Click the panner graphic then drag left or right to adjust
left to right stereo positioning.

Volume & Pan Plugin, Adjusting Panning

Resetting Controls
To reset either Volume or Pan to their default position, hold down Opt / Alt as you click the
control.
Properties
With a Volume & Pan plugin selected its values and actions appear in Properties.
Chapter 30 - Built-in Effects Plugins 236

Volume & Pan Plugin Properties

The Volume slider is repeated in Properties along with buttons for Reset and Mute. Pan is repeated
in Properties along with a Centre Panning button that resets panning.

Pan Law
Properties also holds a setting for Pan Law. By default this is set to Linear but you can change
it to other popular formats. For example, many DAWs use a -3 dB pan law so that as you pan
to the center it lowers the volume slightly to make it easier to keep a track in balance as you
adjusting panning.

Tip: To apply a velocity offset to notes going into a virtual instruments, insert a Volume &
Pan plugin before it and enable Apply to MIDI velocities. Adjust the fader to offset MIDI
velocity to increase or reduce the velocity. This is a quick way make your MIDI drums hit
harder - much easier than going back to editing the MIDI data. This only works if you insert
Volume & Pan ahead (to the left) of the virtual instrument.

Level Meter
The Level Meter plugin is also at the right end of the mixer for every track by default. Level Meter
is stereo and shows what the left and right levels are doing.

Level Meter Plugin

When you select a Level Meter, Properties displays a large horizontal version of the meter, that also
includes dB markings.
Chapter 30 - Built-in Effects Plugins 237

Large Meter in Properties

The meter indicates signal overload with a red indicator at the top of the meter. You can reset the
meter by clicking the red overload indicator.

Tip: To clear all overload indicators in the Edit, right-click any level meter and choose Reset
all overload indicators ( Backslash ).

By default the Level Meter is set to peak mode. This is typical of the metering in most DAWs. You
may change the meter mode in Properties or from the right-click menu. Here is an explanation of
each of the modes:

Meter Modes for the Level Meter Plugin

Peak Mode
Peak mode shows the digital peak. This is the normal mode for Waveform and most other
DAWs. From a technical point of view, you want to keep this out of the red to prevent ugly
digital clipping.
RMS Mode
To get a sense of the overall perceived volume your signal, try RMS mode; it emulates the
response of legacy VU meters and gives you a better indication of how loud one track is
perceived, compared to others.
Sum & Difference Mode
Sum & difference is a specialized mode that gives you a visual representation of both the level
and the stereo spread. The left part of the meter shows the level of sum of left plus right. This
represents the combined level of the stereo signal.

The right side of the meter shows the difference between left and right. The more difference you see
the wider the stereo spread between the two channels. This gives you a visual indication of stereo
spread. If both channels are playing exactly the same thing, then left minus right will cancel to zero
and the right side of the meter will show no activity: a mono signal.

Tip: The level meter will also indicate MIDI activity if you enable Show MIDI activity in
Properties. This can be a very useful diagnostic if you ever wonder why a virtual instrument
is not triggering.
Chapter 30 - Built-in Effects Plugins 238

Level Meter, Show MIDI activity

The 4-Band Equalizer

The 4-band Equalizer has a graphical interface that shows up in Properties. You’ll immediately notice
that there are four bands, which correspond to four movable nodes on the frequency response plot.
The high band and the low band are shelving filters, the middle two bands are peaking filters.

The 4-Band Equalizer

To adjust the gain of any of the bands, grab the node directly in the middle by the small square and
drag up or down. To set the frequency of any band, drag the node left or right. To adjust the width
(or Q) of the filter drag within the perimeter of the node clockwise to make the band narrower or
counterclockwise to make it broader.
On the shelving bands, drag clockwise to make the slope increase or drag counterclockwise to make
the slope shallower. As you adjust these values you’ll see the actual numeric values over to the right
for Frequency, Gain, and Q.
Just under the frequency plot, notice the Reset button. Click Reset to return all four bands back to
their default values giving you a flat frequency response plot.
Also, the notice the controls for saving and loading presets. Using these you can create a library of
common presets to use in your mixing projects. The 4-band Equalizer is very simple and the graphic
adjustment makes it very quick to sweep through the frequencies to quickly locate your cuts and
boosts.

Reverb
Waveform’s Reverb plugin doesn’t have a fancy user interface; You get just a few simple sliders. It
is however a very effective, low-CPU tool to add some depth to a track, and may be all you need to
get a nice variety of reverb sounds.
Chapter 30 - Built-in Effects Plugins 239

Traction Reverb

Tip: You may find it speeds up mixing to assign Wet Mix (Wet Level) as the quick control
parameter when using Reverb. Mixing with a little reverb on a track gives you another
dimension to mix with, in addition to level and panning. More reverb pushes the track
further back, less reverb sounds closer. Combine that with left and right placement from
panning for more spacious mixes.

Reverb, Wet Level as the Quick Control Parameter

Delay
The Waveform Delay is an extremely simplified mono delay effect, with delay times up to one
second. You control Length with a slider, allowing you to enter delay times between zero and
1000 milliseconds. You can also adjust the Feedback amount with the Feedback slider, from no
feedback all the way up to 0 dB (which is essentially full feedback). The Amount parameter
is a mix control, and allows you to set the percentage of the effected signal to pass through.

The Delay plugins also has a Tempo parameter. It is not really a host sync, but rather just helps you
calculate delay times based on musical divisions of the beat at the current tempo.
Chapter 30 - Built-in Effects Plugins 240

Waveform Delay Tempo Selection

For example, if you want to get an eighth note delay, click Tempo and select Set delay length to 1/2
beat and it calculates that delay time and sets the value int Length. It is a one time calculation; If
you change the Edit tempo, then you need to set it again.

Chorus
The Chorus plugin gives you the classic chorusing effect. It works as a type of doubling effect but
it provides a shimmery, smooth quality. It can be used on just about any source, but is common on
guitars, pads, electric pianos, bass, and vocals.

The Chorus Plugin Parameters

To get the classic chorus effect, the plugin modulates the delay time; the delay time is gradually
changing, getting longer and shorter. The amount of variation is controlled by the Depth parameter.
The Speed slider controls the quickness of modulation to get results from warbling to smooth. The
Width slider adjusts how far apart the dry signal and the wet signal are panned to give you a wide
stereo effect or a narrow doubling. Finally, Amount controls the overall mix of the original signal
with the chorus effect.
Chapter 30 - Built-in Effects Plugins 241

The Phaser
Phase shifter pedals became popular in the late ‘60’s and during the ‘70’s. It gives you an intense
swirling impression you will instantly recognize. While a phaser is most commonly used as a guitar
effect, it is also frequently used on synths or any track that needs some movement.

The Phaser Plugin

The Speed parameter controls the speed of the LFO that modulates the phase shifting effect. Depth
controls the number of octaves the phase shift will sweep through. Feedback lets you adjust
resonance which makes the phasing more or less intense. The Tempo parameter allows you to set
the Speed of the LFO to a musically useful division of a beat based the current tempo.

Tip: As you work with effects you can easily change the order of effects on any track by
grabbing the plugin and dragging it left or right. As you drag, a red drop target will glow in
the spot where the effect will be inserted when you drop it.

The Compressor/Limiter
Waveform’s Compressor/Limiter is a very basic compressor, that includes most of the common
parameters you expect to find in a compressor: Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release, and make-up gain
(Output).

The Compressor/Limiter Plugin

As the signal goes above the Threshold, the compressor reduces the output signal by the amount set
by Ratio. So, if you set Ratio to 4:1, Attack sets how long it takes for the 4:1 ratio to fully kick in.
Chapter 30 - Built-in Effects Plugins 242

Release is the amount of time it takes for the compressor to recover after the signal goes back below
the threshold.
You can set Threshold and the Ratio by dragging the appropriate nodes on the frequency response
transfer plot.
Compressor/Limiter functions as a limiter when you set the Ratio to the maximum of 20:1. When
used as a limiter you also want to set a very fast attack time. In this mode it really clamps down on
transients.

Compressor/Limiter Configured as a Limiter

Note: The built-in Compressor/Limiter lacks metering, but you can insert a Level Meter
before and after the compressor and look at the difference between the two meters get an
idea of gain reduction.

Pitch Shifter
The Pitch Shifter plugin uses DSP processing to change the pitch of the signal in real time. For
audio tracks, this uses the Elastique Pro algorithm, or whichever algorithm you select in the Type
parameter.

The Waveform Pitch Shifter Plugin

Pitch Shifter is set in semi-tones; if you want to go up an octave, set Pitch to 12. If you want to go
down one octave set it to -12. To reset back to the original pitch, select Pitch and type in zero.
Chapter 30 - Built-in Effects Plugins 243

Pitch Shifter, Set Pitch

Tip: You nay find it’s usually a lot easier to control the Pitch value by typing in the digits
than it is to use the slider.

Note: If you insert Pitch Shifter ahead of a MIDI instrument, it works on the MIDI data
stream to transpose notes up or down by the value you set in the Pitch parameter.

The Low/High-Pass Filter

You may use this plugin frequently because of its simplicity. Drag the Low/High-Pass Filter to any
track; in Properties choose if you want it to be Low-pass or High-pass.
Chapter 30 - Built-in Effects Plugins 244

High/Low-Pass Filter Properties

Once you’ve made that selection, drag the Frequency slider or type in the frequency. For example,
if you want to just create a common rumble filter to apply to a vocal, Choose High-pass and set
Frequency to 100 Hz.

Tip: A quick way to create a low-fi effect on any track is to insert two of these filters, one
set to High-pass and one set to Low-pass. For example, set the high-pass frequency to about
300 and set the low-pass frequency to about 3,000. That will give you a nice starting point
for a low-fi sound.

Text Plugin
The text plugin is a convenient tool to keep your Edit organized as you record, edit, and mix. Drag
Text it to a track, give it a Name and then type in a Description.

Text Plugin Example

You can type in as much text as you’d like describing how the recording was made, the kind of
microphones used, the artist name, and really anything you’d like to make a note of. Text plugin
Name appears right in the mixer on the thumbnail. While Text doesn’t do anything to your audio
path it can help you remember what you were doing when you come back to a project later on.

Tip: You can enable or disable several plugins at once by simply selecting all of them and
using the keyboard shortcut F.
Chapter 30 - Built-in Effects Plugins 245

Saving Presets
Most of the built-in plugins allow you to load, save, and delete presets. Once you have your favorite
presets saved, you can search for presets on the Presets tab or the Search tab of the Browser.

Load, Save, or Delete Presets

As you create presets you can also add tags to make it quick to filter to exactly what you are looking
for; Vocal EQ, Guitar Focus, Bass Boost for example.

Moving On
Now we’ve touched on most of the built-in plugins in Waveform. The built-in effects, along with
third-party plugins give you tremendous creative potential when composing or mixing.
Chapter 31 - Effects Bus Tracks
In this chapter, you’ll learn how to set up an effects bus track in Waveform. A bus track is configured
to be shared by multiple tracks within your Edit. Sometimes this is called a master effects bus.
This is an extremely common production technique that originated when recording was done using
large mixing consoles. When mixing with a console, effects like reverb and delay are created using
outboard hardware. In the early days, studios only had a limited number of reverbs and chambers
to use. The solution was to use a common bus for the effect and then send the desired amount of
each track over to the effect bus.
It works the same way in Waveform. You dedicate a track to the effect and then use a special Aux
Send plugin to send part of the signal from your instrument, vocal, or drum tracks to over to the
effects bus track.

Create the Bus Track

To get started create a new track. The fastest way is select any track and hit T. That creates a new
blank track right after the one that you started with. You can drag the new track anywhere you’d
like.
Next, click on the track name, and rename the track by editing Name in Properties. In this example
you can use a reverb effect and name it “Master Reverb.”

New, Blank Track

Adding the Effect Plugin

The next step is to insert an effect plugin on the bus track. In this example we’re using Waveform
Reverb.

Insert the Reverb Plugin

Chapter 31 - Effects Bus Tracks 247

Check that the Dry Mix fader is turned all the way down. You want only the wet signal to go through
Reverb. You can tweak the other parameters later, after you get some sound going through it.

Set the Mix to 100% Wet

Tip: If the plugin you’re using has a mix control, make sure it’s turned to the 100 % wet
position. The critical thing here is you don’t want any dry signal being mixed back in through
a different, parallel path.

Aux Return Plugin

So this seems like a pretty ordinary track. How do you make this track behave like a bus? You do
so by inserting the Aux Return plugin, one of the built-in plugins in Waveform. It pairs up with the
Aux Send plugin for just this purpose.
Insert the Waveform Aux Return plugin to the left of Reverb.

Insert the Aux Return Plugin

Notice that it is labeled Aux Return #1 in Properties. Also, you can see it is automatically assigned
to the next available bus: in this case *Bus #1.

Automatic Bus Assignment for Aux Return

It’s optional but you can type in something descriptive for the Bus Name property. In this case Verb
1.
Chapter 31 - Effects Bus Tracks 248

Adding a Descriptive Bus Name

The descriptive name appears right on the plugin thumbnail in the mixer, making things much
clearer. This will help even more when you have several effects buses configured.

How the Bus Name Appears in the Mixer

Adding Aux Sends to the Channels

Now that your effects bus track is set up, all you need to do is insert an Aux Send plugin on each
track where you would like to apply this effect.

Insert Aux Send on a Track

This is important. Insert Aux Send after the Volume & Pan plugin. This way as you adjust the track
volume, you’re also adjusting the amount sent to the bus track proportionally. Even if you lower the
volume all the way down, you won’t hear a ghosting of the effects bus from that track playing in
your mix.

Note: On a conventional mixing console, this position is called “post fader.” Hardware
consoles will have a special switch or maybe even a special knob that allows you to send
post fader. In Waveform you do this in a very direct way: rearrange the order of the fader
so that it comes before the Aux Send plugin.
Chapter 31 - Effects Bus Tracks 249

Adjusting the Send Level

Now that it’s all set up, as you play back, adjust the send level by clicking on the Aux Send plugin,
and adjusting the Send level slider that pops up.

Adjust the Aux Send Level

Alternatively, you can just click on the Aux Send plugin and adjust Send in the Properties section.
The more you turn it up the more effect you’ll get. As you turn it down, you get less and less of the
effect.

Assigning the Aux Bus

You can create as many effects bus tracks as you need for your mix. You might want a reverb for
drums, a different reverb for vocals, a delay for vocals, and other delay for guitars. The steps to set
up the additional buses are the same as outlined above. You just need to make sure your Aux Sends
and Aux Returns are assigned to the correct bus numbers.

Setup with Three Bus Effects Tracks

When we set up Verb 1, we used Bus #1. For DLY1 WE HAVE used Bus #2 and gave it a unique
name.
Chapter 31 - Effects Bus Tracks 250

Assigning Buses to the Aux Returns

As you insert the Aux Send plugin onto each track, select which effect you want to use by choosing
the correct bus.

Selecting the Effects Bus for Aux Send

Tip: Feel free to assign more than one Aux Send to the same track.

Your effects tracks aren’t limited to a single plugin. You can create an entire effects chain, for
exampling combining compression, EQ, reverb, or delay on a single bus track.

Solo Isolate
There’s a special solo mode that you will likely to want to use on bus tracks, called Solo isolate. To
do so, right-click the Solo button on one of your bus tracks and choose the option Solo isolate.

Enable Solo Isolate on Your Effects Tracks

Chapter 31 - Effects Bus Tracks 251

Notice how that the Solo button changes from “S” to “SI.” With Solo isolate enabled, if you solo any
track, this track will also be soloed. This is useful because when you solo a track, you usually want
to hear it along with its send effects. If you don’t use Solo isolate on your bus tracks, the effects get
muted when you solo a track.

Tip: Waveform includes a track tagging feature that allows you to quickly view any tracks
that share a tag. You can tag all of the effects buses with the tag “FX.”, which makes it really
easy to pull up a view of all of your effects bus tracks using the Tracks tab in the Browser.
Take organization one step further by giving your bus tracks a specific color.

Effects Bus Track Presets

If you commonly use a similar set of send effects, you can create some presets for your bus tracks,
and then recall them for your next project. To do so, right-click the track name and select Save preset
> whole track.

Saving an Effects Track Preset

In the Preset Details dialogue box, put in an appropriate name for your preset such as “Master
Reverb.” In the tags area, the tag Track will automatically be entered. You can also add another tag
such as Effects Bus.

Preset Details Dialog Box

Chapter 31 - Effects Bus Tracks 252

Remember to separate tags with a comma. Click OK, then the next time you want to create a very
similar effects bus track, go to the Presets tab in the Browser and filter by Effects Bus. Drag the preset
onto any track to instantly configure your favorite master effects set up.

Moving On
In a full mix, you may have four or more effects buses configured at once, such as two reverbs and
two delays: drum reverb, vocal reverb, stereo delay, and a mono slap back delay.
One key is to group the bus tracks together and to put them at the top of the Edit. You can also make
them a unique color, tag, and label them appropriately.
Once you get a hang of the set up, using effects bus tracks in Waveform is very straight forward.
Chapter 32 - Clip Effects
In Chapters 29 through 31 we covered using effects plugins in a variety of ways. Now, we want to
show you how to apply plugins to individual Audio clips. Let’s get started.

Inserting Plugins on Clips

To insert a plugin on an Audio clip, drag the plugin from the Browser or the plugin object, and drop
it onto the Audio clip. You’ll notice that the plugin thumbnail appears in the lower right corner of
the clip. You can add as many plugins as you’d like to create a chain of effects, all operating on that
one clip.

Plugins Using Clip Effects

Note: Clip effects work with Audio clips, but not MIDI clips or Step clips.

The rest of the operation is pretty much the same as using plugins in the mixer. Select a plugin and
hit F to enable or disable it. You can also enable or disable the effect with the Enabled button in
Properties.
For third-party plugins, clicking or double clicking on the plugin opens its user interface.

Tip: How plugins open, depends on a setting in the Settings tab Plugins page: Opening Plugin
Windows. It can be set to either Single-click on a plugin to open its GUI window or Double-
click on a plugin to open its GUI window.

Removing Clip Plugins

To remove a plugin, simply click on the plugin and press Delete or Backspace. You can also select
multiple plugins by holding down Cmd / Ctrl to select multiples, and then press Delete to remove
them.
Chapter 32 - Clip Effects 254

Creative Uses
One of the reasons to use clip effects is if you want to put an effect on just part of a track, even a
single word or a single phrase. Without using clip effects, you’d need to move a piece of the clip to
another track to apply a different type of an effect. This is really useful for something like an echo
throw where you’re applying an echo effect to a single word, or if you want to process one phrase
of a vocal line with a lo-fi effect. Just separate the phrase or word to its own cli, then apply the effect
only to that short clip.

Echo Throw Example

An echo throw is taking one word, usually the last word of a phrase and then applying an echo to
it. Here are the steps:

1. First, separate the final word of the phrase from the rest of the phrase. To do that position the
cursor where you’d like to make the split and hit the slash (/) key.
2. Now that clip is separated into its own clip, drag in the Delay plugin.
3. Dial in the Delay parameter so it echoes out in a musically useful way, maybe using eighth
notes or quarter notes. Add a little bit of Feedback so you get some echoes that die out over
time.
4. Playback and tweak the Delay parameters until you get the echo throw effect that you like.

Moving On
The same technique is great for lo-fi effects as well. Apply a high pass and a low pass filter in order
to cut the highs and the lows, or even apply chorusing to a few words in a vocal line. Clip effects
are super easy to use in Waveform, and they unlock all kinds of creative options!
Chapter 33 – Folder Tracks
With the Folder Tracks feature, you collect a group of tracks into a folder, allowing to you work with
them together as unit. The obvious advantage is to collapse the view so that related tracks, like your
drum tracks, can be viewed as a single entity.
Folder Tracks also give you a convenient way to apply volume automation, so that you can do a
fade across a number of tracks at the same time. Folder Tracks allow you to solo every track that is
contained within it with a single click. You can also do basic editing across the included. Let’s take
a closer look.

Creating a Folder Track

To create a Folder Track, right-click the track name for any existing track and select Create a new
Folder Track. The Folder Track appears below the original track.

New Empty Folder Track

Alternatively, right click on the background of the Track section and choose Create a new Folder
Track.
Either of these methods will create a new empty Folder Track. There are easy ways to create a Folder
Track containing existing tracks, which we will cover that shortly.

Working with Folder Tracks

Putting Tracks into a Folder Track
To put a track into a Folder Track, simply grab the track by the track name, drag it, and drop
it on the folder. Just before you drop it, the Folder Track will glow, usually with a red color,
indicating it’s ready to receive your track.

Folder Track after Dropping in One Track

Chapter 33 – Folder Tracks 256

If you already have some tracks in the folder you can drag it over the folder and then downward;
You’ll notice a red glowing insertion point, where you can put your track between other tracks to
get the order you would like.

Naming a Folder Track

Naming a Folder Track works exactly like any other track. Click on the header part of the track
where the name is, and then edit Name in Properties. By default, it will have a name similar
to Folder 1 or Folder 2.

Naming a Folder Track

Tip: One of the most common uses of Folder Tracks is to organize all of your drum parts
into a single folder. In this case, you might want to name it ‘Drums’ or ‘Drums Folder.’

Reorder Tracks within a Folder Track

To reorder the tracks within your Folder Track, grab any track and drag it to the correct position.
The red insertion line shows the target, so you know exactly where the track is going to go.
When you drag a track directly onto the Folder Track and drop it, that track goes to the topmost
position.

Reordering Tracks within a Folder

Collapsing and Expanding a Folder Track

Click the small triangle to the left of the Folder Track name to expand or collapse the folder.
When the folder is collapsed it doesn’t affect playback. All the tracks that are contained within
the folder still play and respond as normal.
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Expand/Collapse a Folder by Clicking the Triangle

Soloing/Muting a Folder Track

Folder Tracks have Solo and Mute buttons, just like any other track. However, they operate on
all of the tracks that are contained in the folder. So if you have a Folder Track set up for your
drums and you click Solo, you will solo all of your drum tracks. Likewise, Mute mutes all the
tracks with in the folder

Folder Track Solo

Note: When you solo a Folder Track, the tracks contained in it are soloed with a blinking
Solo button. This indicates that the track is being soloed by the Folder Track and not directly.
If you click the blinking Solo it will change to the standard solo state with a steady indicator.

The Solo and Mute functions are really good reasons to set up Folder Tracks for the different
instrument types. You can set up Folder Tracks for drums, for guitars, for keyboards, and another
for vocals.

The Folder Track VCA

VCA stands for “voltage controlled amplifier.” For those of you with experience with analog gear,
that name relates to a similar feature on automated mixing consoles. In essence, the VCA on the
Folder Track remotely controls the level of all the included tracks proportionally. This gives you
level control for the everything in the folder.
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Folder Track VCA

Keep in mind that no audio passes through the Folder Track itself. The VCA acts as a remote control,
proportionally controlling the volume of all of the individual Volume & Pan plugins of the tracks
contained within the Folder Track. It’s a very convenient way to add high-level mixing to your
groups of instruments, without going through the complexity of adding numerous additional bus.

Note: You can’t insert plugins on Folder Tracks, since no audio actually passes through the
track. To do so you would need to create a Submix Track, which we’ll cover in the next
chapter. ## Creating a Folder Track with Existing Tracks

With multi-track drums, you often have 10 tracks or more that you need to put into a Folder Track.
Rather than drag each track individually, there is a quick way to pack all of them into a Folder Track
at once:

Create a Folder Track Contain Existing Tracks

1. Select the first track by clicking on the track name. Hold down Shift and click on the last track.
All of the drum tracks will then be highlighted.
2. Next, right-click on the track name for any of the tracks and choose the option Create new folder
track containing. This instantly creates a Folder Track containing all of your drum tracks.
3. Finally, select on the Folder Track and give it a descriptive name in Properties.

Tip: This isn’t limited to drum tracks. Create new folder track containing is a great way to
create Folder Tracks for any related selection of instruments or vocals.
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Editing With Folder Tracks

Folder Tracks get even cooler when you discover the editing possibilities. Here is a rundown of
what’s possible:

Splitting Contained Clips

To split clips across all of the contained tracks by simply selecting the Folder Track clip, position
the cursor, then press Slash.

Split All Clips Within a Folder Track

Rearranging
After splitting the Folder Track clip, you can rearrange everything within the folder by dragging
the Folder Track clips to any order. You can use this rearrange a song or just swap verse 1 and
verse 2. If you put all your tracks in to a Folder Track you can use this for block arranging of
the song.

Rearranging Clips within a Folder Track

Trimming
The beginnings and the endings of the Folder Track clips have trim handles. Drag to trim all
the included clips.
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Trimming Using the Folder Track Clip

Deleting
In addition to moving and splitting clips, you can delete entire sections of the contained tracks
by separating out a section, selecting it, and pressing Delete or Backspace.

Automating a Fade within a Folder Track

You can automate the VCA fader to create fade-outs or fade-ins on Folder Tracks. We’ll get into more
detail about automation in a later chapter, but here is a step by step recipe for creating fade-outs:

1. Grab the little “A” icon. That is the automation icon for the track. Drag it and drop it on the
VCA fader. A red line appears on the Folder Track. That is the automation curve for the VCA
fader.

Activate Automation for the VCA

1. Double-click on automation curve add points. Add two points: one before and one after the
section you would like to fade.

Add Automation Points to the VCA Curve

Chapter 33 – Folder Tracks 261

1. Drag the last point all the way down to the bottom of the clip to draw in your fade-out.
2. Between the two points you added, notice an additional point was automatically added. This
is a curvature point. Drag the curvature point to adjust the shape of the fade.

Customizing the Fade with Curvature

You can further adjust the speed of the fade by dragging all these points until it sounds like what you
want. The automation points snap to the current snap increment. Turn Snap off for finer adjustment.
This technique is really a time-saver because you don’t have to go in and edit each individual clip
in order to do a fade-out.

Moving On
Folder Tracks are a powerful feature in Waveform. You may have seen this concept in other digital
audio workstations. Once you get the hang of how it works in Waveform, you will be amazed at the
creative things you can do with Folder Tracks.
Chapter 34 - Submix Tracks
In professional mixing, it is common to submix drums to a stereo bus to add compression, EQ, and
limiting before mixing it with other other tracks. Actually, it is common to submix other things like
vocals, guitars, or instruments. Starting with T6, awe added a Submix Tracks feature that resembles
Folder Tracks but with a twist: you can process a submix with plugins.
Like earlier versions, you still have the option to use any track as a submix. This still works and has
certain advantages. We will show you how to configure that later in the chapter.

Creating a Submix Track

Creating a Submix Track in Waveform is super easy:

1. First, select all the tracks you want to include.

Creating a Submix Track

1. Right-click any of the tracks and choose Create submix track containing. The same action is
also available in Properties as Create Submix Containing.
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A Submix Track

The result looks very similar to a Folder Track. It differs in that the audio actually passes through
the Submix Track. You can use the Volume & Pan plug and add any additional plugins you want.

Working with Submix Tracks

Adding Tracks
To add a track to a Submix, just drag and drop it on the Submix folder. You also drag tracks up
or down within the Submix Track to re-order them. This works exactly like it does for Folder
Tracks.
Removing Tracks
To remove a track from a Submix, simple grab it by the track name and drag it back out.

Tip: When dragging tracks, grab them by the track name.

Open/Close a Submix
A Submix works just a like Track Folder in that you can open and close it with triangular
control at the far left of the header.
Adding Effects
You can add any built-in or third-party effect you want (accept for the Waveform Freeze Point)
to Submix Tracks. Just drag them to the mixer like any other track.
Muting
Mute works like you would expect, muting everything within the Submix Track.
Soloing
soloing works a little differently than you might expect. When you click Solo on the Submix,
it mutes all other tracks, including the ones contained within the Submix Track.

Creating an Old School Submix Track

In older versions of Waveform, The way to setup a submix was to use a track. We will review how
this is done, since you may encounter older Projects that used this method.
Chapter 34 - Submix Tracks 264

1. Create a track in the normal way.

Creating an Old School Submix Track

1. Name the track appropriately. In this example, we have named it Drums Submix.
2. Select all the tracks you want to route to the submix.
3. In Properties, click Track Destination. Select your the Drums Submix track. This effectively
routes the output of each selected track through to the drum submix track.

Set the Track Destination on the Source Tracks

Now, you can use the Volume & Pan control on your Drum Submix track to control the volume of all
the tracks that you have just routed to it. You can also add any plugins you want to the new Submix
Track. In this example, we have inserted a tape simulator and a third party bus compressor.

Submix Using Third Party Plugins

Of course, you can use any processing that you like. That depends largely on which kind of tracks
and the style of music.
Chapter 35 - Automation
This chapter is an introduction to the automation features in Waveform. Automation allows you
to program changes to many of the parameters that exist within a track. You can easily program
changes to volume, pan, and plugin parameters. You can program automation using external
hardware, like controllers that have knobs and faders. Alternatively, you can program automation
by adding points and changing the shape of the graphic automation curve that appears as a line on
or below the track.
Waveform has excellent features designed to keep all of your automation nicely organized. For
example, you can add Automation Tracks that nest under your track. You can also open them when
you’re working on automation changes and edits, and then close them when you move onto other
parts of your project.
In this chapter, we’re going to focus on Volume & Pan automation and then offer an example of how
to extend automation to parameters within other plugins.

Activating Automation on a Track

The keys to automation are the A icon and the ‘plus’ icon that reside at the far right of each track.

The A and Plus Automation Icons

The first step is to click the plus sign, to add an Automation Track. You’ll instantly see the Automation
Track appear below your original track. The Automation Track will have minus, A, and plus icons.

Track with One Automation Track

The minus icon will remove the Automation Track, the A icon allows you to set up the track, and
the plus icon will add yet another Automation Track below this one.
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Choosing What to Automate

For this example, we’re going to automate volume on the track. To do that, click the A icon. Then
select the menu item, Automatable parameters for this track > Volume & Pan Plugin > Volume.

Select the Parameter to Automate

You’ll see an automation line appear. The line is labelled with the name of the parameter, and the
value of the parameter is listed over on the right. This line is the “automation curve.” There’s no
literal curve to it yet, because it’s just a line. As you will see shortly, it’s easy to draw curves, steps,
and ramps.

The Automation Curve Line

Click the curve to select it, then check out its Properties. You can change the Name or choose from
several actions. Those make more sense once you have some automation points on the curve.

Automation Curve Properties

Tip: A fast way to set the automation parameter for the track is to grab the A icon and just
drop it on the thing you would like to automate. Then choose the parameter from the list. So,
to automate panning, drag the A and drop it on the Volume & Pan plugin and then choose
Pan from the list. This also works for third party plugins.
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Adding Points to the Automation Curve

To give your Automation Curve some shape, you need to add some points on it. Add points with
either double-click or Opt-click / Alt-click. Here is how to work with the automation points:

Creating a Ramp
To draw a ramp add two points and the drag one of them up or down. This adjust the steepness
of the ramp. Drag the points left or right to adjust the start and ending of the ramp.

Drawing an Automation Ramp

Shaping with Curvature

To shape the line segment between points you can use the Curvature the point. A Curvature
point is automatically inserted midway between two automation points. Adjust Curvature by
dragging diagonally.

Adjusting a Curvature Point

Tip: The automation point can also be adjusted in Properties using the Value parameter
slider. You will also find a slider for Curvature in Properties.

Value and Curvature Properties

Drawing an Automation Step

Insert two points that define the position of the step. Hold down Cmd / Ctrl and drag the line
segment between the points up or down. You’ll see that the line segment moves separately
from the overall automation curve. This makes it really easy to draw in a step shape on your
automation. If you don’t hold down Cmd / Ctrl, then the entire automation curve moves.
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Hold Cmd / Ctrl to Draw a Step

Automating Fade-ins and Fade-outs

To program a fade shape with automation, add a point where you’d like the fade to start, then add
another point where you’d like the fade to end. Drag the second point all the way down until the
value reads zero. Adjust the speed of the fade by dragging point down to the left for a quicker fade
or up to the right for a more gradual fade. Dragging the Curvature point to adjust the shape of the
fade ramp. Of course, you always have the option to adjust that parameters directly in Properties.
As we discussed in a Chapter 33, if you program an automation curve for a track folder, you can
apply a fade across all the tracks together.

Converting a Clip Fade-in or Fade-out to Automation

As you’ve already learned you can easily apply fade-ins or fade-outs to Audio Clips with the fade
handles on the upper left and right corners of the clip. If, for some reason, you’d like more control
over the fade shape you can convert a clip level fade to and an automation curve.

Clip Fade

To convert a clip fade to automation, first select the clip and then click Copy Fade To Automation >
Transfer Fade-in to Automation, Transfer Fade-out to Automation in Properties.

Copy Fade to Automation

That will redraw the automation curve in the shape of the fade and remove the clip fade from the
clip. Now you can apply additional points and shaping using the automation tools.
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Result of Copy Fade to Automation

Reading Automation
Once you’ve drawn automation like this, Waveform performs the automation dynamically during
playback, as long as you have Automation Read enabled on the Transport.

Automation Read Enabled

As you playback, watch the controls changing in real time as the cursor moves through the Edit. If
you go back about three decades that feature would cost you about a million bucks!

Automation Curve Properties

The automation curve has several of its own properties. Click on the curve to selected it and look at
Properties. Here is a rundown of the controls:

Automation Curve Properties

Curve
The Curve property is the name that appears above the automation curve. This is here for
reference only. You can’t change it directly. It is made up of the track name, the plugin name,
and the parameter.
Displace Curve
Displace Curve allows you to drag left or right which offsets the curve up or down. It basically
takes the entire programmed curve and set of points, and moves them down if you drag left
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or up if you drag right. This is very useful to make minor mix changes after the automation is
already programmed.
Scale Curve
Think of Scale Curve to function like an intensity control. As you drag to the left, it
proportionately lowers all of the points on the curve, squashing the shape of the curve.
Dragging to the right expands the curve, scaling it upward.
Only Displace/Scale the Marked Region
This parameter works along with Displace Curve and Scale Curve. When enabled, any scaling
or displacing, only occurs between the In-marker and the Out-marker.
Simplify
If your automation curve becomes very complex with lots and lots of points, you use Simplify
to thin out the points. You can usually choose Simplify the entire curve and then pick from
Light, Medium, and Strong. The Light option does the least thinning where Strong thins the
most. This is particularly useful if you recorded automation from a hardware controller that
added hundreds of points.

Automation Curve Simplify

You also have the option to Simplify only in marked region. You can use this if you want to simply
just simplify a section that was recorded from hardware, leaving the rest of the curve unchanged.

Delete Points from Curve

This set of options allows you to completely reset the automation curve. If you delete all points
from the curve, you’ve basically taken it back to a flat line. Sometimes this results in the
automation value being set very low, so you might need to drag the curve line back to a good
starting position.

You can also Delete points within the marked region which means you’ll delete all the points between
the In-marker and the Out-marker. You can do the same thing and “close the gap,” means to take out
the time within the marked region.

Copy the Marked Region to the Clipboard

Set the In-marker and the Out-marker over a region of automation and click Copy Marked
Region to the Clipboard to copy that region of the curve. Then, position the cursor to the
destination and select Paste From Clipboard > Paste Curves at Cursor Position and that pastes
the automation. This makes it fast to create repeating patterns of automation.
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This is also useful if you’ve created a very specific effect using automation and want to reproduce
that effect in a later part of the song.
Paste from Clipboard has two options. Most of the time I would use Paste curves at cursor position.
You can alternatively do that with Cmd + V / Ctrl + V.
Alternatively, choose Paste curves to fit between the in/out markers. That allows targeting the
destination only within the merged region. Normally you paste at the cursor position.

Tip: You don’t need to manually copy automation when moving or duplicating clips on a
track. Enable Auto Lock in the Master section and the automation follows along as you move
or duplicate clips.

How to Find Out What Automation is Active for a Track

It’s pretty easy to program a lot of automation, but sometimes you don’t have all of the automation
curves visible. To see which ones are available click the A icon and select Active Parameter Curves
for This Track. This shows all automation curves for the track and you can choose which one to
make visible.

Active Parameters for a Track

This is particularly helpful if you don’t have each parameter on a separate Automation track.

Remap on Tempo Change

Each plugin has a Remap on Tempo Change setting in Properties. With that enabled, as you change
the tempo of the song, the automation will track the tempo changes. That means it will get smaller
if you speed up the tempo or it will get longer in order to match the clips in your Edit. This is a great
feature but is not enabled by default; You need to turn it on for each plugin.

Remap on Tempo Change

Tip: We suggest you turn Remap on Tempo Change on as a global option for all new Edits.
To do so, enable Timecode > Default remapping options > Remap plugin automation from
the Menu section.
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Make Remap the Default

Note: Remap Plugin Automation is not set as the default or turned on by default, to maintain
compatibility with older projects. This setting and the new default option were new for T6.

Writing Automation on the Fly

During playback, you can adjust a parameter in real time and have Waveform record it as
automation. You can do this with a MIDI controller, or simply by manipulating plugin controls on-
screen during playback. All you need to do is setup your automation track and enable Automation
Write mode.

Automation Write Enabled

To go into write mode, enable the Automation Write button on the Transport. Now, during playback,
Waveform will record any dynamic changes you make to the parameter.

Automation from Write Mode

Note: You don’t need to be in Record mode to record automation changes. All you need is
to have automation write turned on during playback.

Tip: When you’ve written automation this way, it’s often a good idea to use Simplify to thin
out the automation points. You may find you get good results with the Medium option.

Automation with Medium Simplification

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Automation Lock
Notice in the Master section, there is an Auto Lock button. By default that button is not engaged. If
you move a clip around on a track, the automation will not follow it to the new position.

Automation Lock Engaged

With Auto Lock engaged, automation will follow as you drag the clip to a different place in time. It’s
a great feature, assuming that’s what you want to do.

Moving On
There is a lot more you can do with automation, because you can automate almost any parameter.
You can automate sends to effects. You can even automate your Master plugins. Simply create a
separate track then drag the A icon from that track over to the Master section plugins to automate
them.
Chapter 36 - Mixing Down
In this chapter we’re going to go over the steps required to mix down your Edit to a WAV file or
MP3 file.

Master Section Processing

Before you mix down, you might want to add some Master effects, so that the entire stereo mix is
processed. Master plugins often include a compressor and a limiter to give the final mix a professional
sound.
We won’t get into the details about exactly what you’d apply there, although the included Waveform
Master Mix plugin is a nice choice. It’s a multi-band compressor, EQ, and limiter all in one.

Waveform Master Mix

Make sure that the metering for the Master section is not going into the red before you export the
mix. Exactly how you process the mix depends on what you plan to do with the file after it’s mixed
down.

Waveform Master Section

If you’re having professional mastering done, then you probably don’t want to put any plugins on
there. However, if you are immediately going to upload to your website or SoundCloud, you will
want to put some mastering effects on to make your mix into a finished product.

Exporting to a WAV File

Here are the steps to export your song as a WAV file:

1. Set the In-marker exactly at the beginning of the song. This defines the start of the export.
Adjust the position of the In-marker to skip any extra bars or count-in at the beginning of the
Edit.
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Set the In-marker Just Before the Song Start

1. Set the Out-marker right after the end of the song. This allows you to control the exact length
of the exported file. We recommend leaving a couple of extra milliseconds after the final fade.

Set the Out-marker Just After the Song Ending

1. Select Export > Render to a file from the Menu section. The Render dialog box appears.

Export Render Dialog Box

The above example shows the most common settings for exporting a WAV file. You can customize
the file location and name if you want. Also, make sure to select Only Render Marked Region so that
the In-marker and Out-markers are used to define the export region.

1. Click Render and the export will begin. Waveform starts processing in the background as you
adjust the settings. Much of the time export is already done as soon as you click Render!

Locating the Exported File

Unless you change the file path, the file saves to the project folder. You can find the file either on
the Projects tab or from the Browser.

Locating the Export on the Projects Tab

Click the Projects tab and look at the Exported Audio/MIDI list at the right. Unless you have
changed the filename, your exported file will be there with the word “Export”, and an export
number appended.

The Exported File on the Project Page Files List

To locate the file in Finder or File Explorer on your computer, select the exported file and look at
Properties. In Properties, click the … button to the right of File and choose Open the folder containing
this file. That opens the folder on your system, giving you direct access to the file.
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Locating the Export in the Browser

Open the Browser and go to the Files tab. Click the folder icon and select Project folder.

Locate the Project folder from the Browser

Double-click the folder named Exported and you will see your file. To located it in Finder or File
Explorer, right-click and choose Open the folder containing this file.

Exported Folder in the Browser

Exporting to an MP3 File

The steps to create an MP3 file are almost identical. Follow the same steps above except when you
get to the Render dialog box select MP3 for Format. That selection gives you a few extra options for
Rendering.

Add ID3/Vorbis Info

With MP3 exports you can select this option to add metadata to the file.

Add ID3/Vorbis Info

To enter the metadata, click Edit to the right of the option. That gives you the ID3/Vorbis Info dialog
box. Fill in any information you want to include in your MP3 and click OK.
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ID3/Vorbis Info Dialog Box

This information is not required. So, if you don’t care to include the information, leave the Add
ID3/Vorbis Info deselected.

Quality
You can choose from common MP3 quality settings. VBR stands for “Variable Bit Rate” and
helps optimize the file size in exchange for a bit more complicated decoding. CBR stand for
“Constant Bit-rate” and gives you slightly larger files that are encoded consistently.
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MP3 Export Quality Options

With today’s fast internet speeds, including for mobile users, we recommend choosing the maximum
320 KB/s CBR. Those will give you good sounding MP3 files to upload to various sites or use in your
own player.

Additional Render Properties

The Render dialog box has numerous settings. Often you can skip looking at all of this stuff and just
hit Render and you will get an output file. However, it is a helpful to know what the other properties
do:

File Name and Location

The first line is the file name and the location of the output file. You can edit that to name the
file with the song name. You can also update the destination folder location on you system. By
default it will be export to an “Exported” folder location in the project folder.
Format
While exporting to WAV and MP3 files are the most common choices, Waveform supports
several other file types:
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Export File Format Options

Stereo
For music it is most common to export to stereo files. If you deselect Stereo the file is exported
as mono. You can use mono exports for voiceover files, fore example.

Export Stereo/Mono Selection

Remove Silence at Start/End

This does, as it says. If there is excess silence before the song or if there is a long silence at the
end, Waveform will take that out.

File Export Options

Dithering Enabled
If you don’t know anything about dithering, then leave this enabled and move on. If you do
know about dithering, then you can turn this off and add a third-party dither plugin in the
Master section, configuring it to dither as you please.
Only render the marked region.
Whenever Waveform indicates “marked region”, it means the range between the In-marker
and the Out-marker. When enabled, the exported file only includes the audio between the
In-marker and the Out-marker.
Render Each Track to a Separate File
If someone else is going to mix your song in a different digital audio workstation, then you
might want to export every single track in a fashion that can be imported into another system.
If that’s the case, turn this option on and you’ll wind up with a whole collection of files: one
for each track of your project. For a normal stereo export, leave this turned off.
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Render at 1X Play-Speed
If you are using the Insert plugin to mix through some external hardware effect, turn this option
on when exporting your mix. Normally, you leave this option turned off. When enabled the
Edit will render in real time, meaning, it will mix it down in exactly the same amount of time
it would take to play back once. Some feel you will get the best sound quality rendering at 1X
and for that reason, some Waveform users enable 1X rendering for the final master exports.
Normalize
Normalize adjusts the overall gain of the file so that the highest peak fills up the available bit
depth. Most of the time you will leave this turned off.

More File Export Options

Adjust Level Based on RMS

Adjusting the level based on RMS is a way to set the output to match a perceived volume level.
Modern broadcast standards require your files not to exceed standards based on the country
and use.
Render Automatically
With this feature, in the background, as soon as you open the Render dialog box, it starts mixing
down. It even shows you the progress on the lower waveform display. If you don’t make any
changes to the settings, as soon as you hit Render it’s done instantly. Waveform already created
the file in the background. It’s sort of like working ahead. If you do make changes, it will start
re-rendering right away. If you have a slower computer you can turn Render Automatically
off.
Add to Library
Add to library means you will add what you are mixing down to your loop library, so that you
can search for it and use it in another project. It’s a useful feature if you are mixing a lot of
things to add to your library to build it up.

Moving On
We have gone all the way from installing the program, to recording, editing, adding virtual
instruments, to using guitar amp sims, mixing, and mixing down. There’s still a lot more that you
can learn and explore about Waveform and your own music. Have fun, and make a lot of music.
Chapter 37 - Macros
Waveform includes not only programmable shortcuts, but also a full macro programming environ-
ment. You can develop keyboard shortcuts that combine actions in new ways to streamline your
workflow. If the standard keyboard shortcuts don’t meet your needs, you can create custom macros
and assign keyboard shortcuts to them.
While you might think of macros as keyboard macros, you don’t have to assign them to keyboard
shortcuts. You can always launch them from the Run Script button in the Menu section. This
approach can be useful because you don’t have to remember the shortcut to macros you only use
occasionally.

Script Editor
To open the Script Editor, go to the Settings tab, and select the Keyboard Shortcuts page. Enable
Show Script Editor at the bottom right of the Keyboard Shortcuts page. The Script Editor will open.

The Script Editor

You can resize the height of the Script Editor by dragging the line that separates it from the keyboard
shortcuts list. The Script Editor is a basic text editor that you use to enter and edit macro scripts.

Tip: With the Script Editor open, try clicking on some of the existing keyboard shortcuts.
The Script Editor will show you the underlying code, you can use this to get familiar with
the syntax of the actions triggered by each shortcut.

Creating a Macro
To create a new macro, click Add a new macro on the Script Editor. This adds a new macro named
“Untitled Macro” to the bottom of the keyboard shortcuts list under the Macros section.

Adding a New Macro

Chapter 37 - Macros 282

As soon as the new macro is created, the name defaults to Untitled Macro and is selected. Start
typing to give it a suitable name.
In the body of the macro, you can type in a list of actions to create the script. The easiest way is
to build your macros using the right-click menu; more on that in a bit! Actions are separated by
semicolons.

Deleting a Macro
While you can’t delete the built-in keyboard shortcuts, you can delete any custom macros you create.
To do so, select the macro to delete in the keyboard shortcuts list, and click Delete macro in the Script
Editor.

Programming a Macro
The simplest macro is made up of a single action. You can pick any available action by right-clicking
the Script Editor and navigating through the three collections of actions. When you find an action
you want to use, select it and the appropriate code will be inserted into the script.

Selecting Actions from the Script Editor Right-click Menu

• Actions > Standard Shortcuts includes all the built-in keyboard shortcuts shown on the
Keyboard Shortcuts page.
Chapter 37 - Macros 283

• Actions > Basic Actions includes available actions that are not necessarily available as pre-
assigned shortcuts.
• Actions > Advanced actions includes actions that allow you manipulate selected objects and
even display messages on the screen. Advanced actions are provided as tools for more advanced
script programming.

Running a Macro
There are several ways to run a macro:

1. Assign it to a keyboard shortcut. Keyboard shortcuts are assigned to macros in the very same
way as the built-in shortcuts. Find the macro in the list and click the “+” to the far right and
enter the desired key combination.
2. Click Run Script > User Macros from the Menu section of the Edit tab. All your custom macros
appear there automatically. Select the one you want to run.

Running Macros using Run Script > User Macros

1. Add macros to the Custom Menu. At the bottom of the Keyboard Shortcuts page, click to
enable Show Script Tree Editor. Then drag your macros (or any built-in actions) to the tree
editor. Arrange it using drag and drop, add groups, and rename groups. Access the Custom
Menu from the menu in the Edit: Run Script > Custom Menu.

The Script Tree Editor

Javascript Programming
Beyond creating simple step-by-step lists of actions, you can take macro programming to the next
level using the power of Javascript. The Script Editor allows you to program loops and conditions
using Javascript syntax. It even provides color coding for the elements of the script.
Chapter 37 - Macros 284

Javascript Macro Example

Note: Waveform actions are exposed as methods using ‘dot’ notation. By that, we mean that
they start with the word Waveform, then a dot, then the method. Following the method you
can provide one or more parameter in parenthesis.

Macro Actions ‘dot’ Notation Syntax

Hover Tooltip
If you hover over an action in the script editor for a second or two, you will see a tooltip bubble
explaining what parameters the action takes. If the action returns values, you will see the syntax of
that. These tooltips give you key information when programming macros. Waveform’s developers
use this to give you meaningful clues about how each of the actions work.

Hover Over an Action for a Tooltip

In the above example, the the tooltip shows that the zoom action takes two double precision numeric
parameters. The first is the x-proportion (the amount of vertical zoom), and the second is the y-
proportion (the amount of horizontal zoom).
Chapter 37 - Macros 285

RTZ Macro Example

By default Waveform doesn’t have a true return-to-zero (RTZ) keyboard shortcut. The built-in
command stops first if it encounters the In-mark so you need, to hit it twice to really get back
to zero. However, you can create a macro that performs does the action twice, always returning the
cursor to the start of the Edit.

True Return-to-Zero Macro Example

For example, you couldassign the RTZ macro to the Home key.

Merge Clips Macro Example

Another feature that you may use often is Merge Clips. Normally you use this by selecting a few
clips on a track that you want to combine to a single clip. Then you select Render Clips > Merge
the Selected Clips from Properties. If you do this frequently, you could do it with a single keyboard
shortcut, for example assigning it to Cmd + G / Ctrl + G.

Merge Clips Macro Assigned

Importing and Exporting Macros

Macros are actually just simple text. You can easily copy and paste the text directly in and out of
the script editor. In addition, Waveform has dedicated buttons to import and export macro scripts
as XML files with a .Waveformscript extension.

Script Input and Export Buttons

TSC Code Samples

Waveform’s engineers have supplied code samples of several macro scripts to get you started:
 Chapter 37 - Macros 286

1 // Rename Clips From Track

2 var tracks = Waveform.getSelectedEditElements ('track');
3
4 for (var i = 0; i < tracks.length; ++i)
5 {
6 var track = tracks[i];
7 var trackName = Waveform.getName (track);
8 var clips = Waveform.getClipsFromTracks (track);
9
10 for (var c = 0; c < clips.length; ++c)
11 {
12 var clipName = trackName + " " + (c + 1);
13 Waveform.setName (clips[c], clipName);
14 }
15 }

1 // Reset Tracks Solo/Mute

2 var tracks = Waveform.getEditElements ('track');
3 Waveform.setSolo (tracks, false);
4 Waveform.setSoloIsolate (tracks, false);
5 Waveform.setMute (tracks, false);

1 //Next Active Automation Parameter

2 var track = Waveform.getTrackFromSelectedObject();
3 Waveform.changeActiveAutomationParameter (track, 1);

1 // Insert Plugin with Preset

2 var track = Waveform.getTrackFromSelectedObject();
3 var plugin = Waveform.insertPlugin (track, "Massive", 0, "AudioUnit");
4 var preset = Waveform.getPresetFromLibrary ("Massive All Souls");
5 Waveform.setPluginPreset (plugin, preset);

1 // Jump to tab 2
2 var index = Waveform.getWindowTabIndex();
3 var delta = 2 - index;
4 Waveform.changeWindowTabIndex (delta);
 Chapter 37 - Macros 287

1 // Rename Selected Tracks

2 var tracks = Waveform.getSelectedEditElements ('track');
3 Waveform.setName (tracks[0], 'Kick');
4 Waveform.setName (tracks[1], 'Snare');
5 Waveform.setName (tracks[2], 'Hats');
6 // etc.

1 // Save Selected Plugins as Preset

2 var plugins = Waveform.getSelectedEditElements ('plugin');
3 Waveform.saveObjectsAsPreset (plugins);

My Code Samples
1 /* Park the In-Marker & Out-Markers
2 Parks the In-marker and Out-marker at Zero then Restores Cursor Position. I wrote th\
3 is macro to help a KVR forum member find a quick way to hide the In-marker and Out-m\
4 arker.
5 */
6 var SavePosition = Waveform.getPosition ('cursor');
7 Waveform.moveTransportToStart();
8 Waveform.moveTransportToStart();
9 Waveform.markIn();
10 Waveform.markOut();
11 Waveform.setPosition ('cursor', SavePosition);

1 /* Search Plugins
2 Opens the Browser to the Search tab, enables the Plugin searching while disabling se\
3 arching for Presets and Loops.
4 */
5 Waveform.showSidePanel ('search'); // Opens Browser to the Search tab
6 Waveform.enableSearchLibrary ('plugin', true);
7 Waveform.enableSearchLibrary ('preset', false);
8 Waveform.enableSearchLibrary ('loop', false);
9 Waveform.setSearchPanelText (''); // loads blank text so you can start typing the s\
10 earch term right away
 Chapter 37 - Macros 288

1 // Rename selected clips to 'Drums'

2 var clips = Waveform.getSelectedEditElements ('clip');
3 for (var i = 0; i < clips.length; ++i)
4 Waveform.setName (clips[i], 'Drums');

1 // Rename selected tracks to 'Drums'

2 var tracks = Waveform.getSelectedEditElements ('track');
3 for (var i = 0; i < tracks.length; ++i)
4 Waveform.setName (tracks[i], 'Drums');

Moving On
These are fairly simple examples. Waveform users are only just starting to explore the powerful
capabilities of macro programming in Waveform.
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform
Version 8
Waveform version 8 has many new and exciting features, that both enhance the workflow and open
up new creative potential. New features include:

• New vertical mixer panel that can be viewed in its own tab
• New MIDI editor panel that can be undocked
• Enhanced MIDI editing for easy note entry, CC adjustments and converting notes to chords
• New MIDI musicality generator tools for creating melodies, chords, bass lines and arpeggios
• The Master Mix and FM Synth plugins are now integrated directly into the application
• Improved crash recovery, complete with disabling of problematic plugins, enabling you to
recover work
• Newly optimized user interface
• Improved MIDI note expression editing and MPE generation
• New track and clip colour options for more consistent coloring
• New key commands, including:
– create triad chord: command + 3
– create 7th chord: command + 7
– invert chord up: + command + T
– invert chord down: command + shift + T
– fit notes: command + F
– transpose up octave: command + O
– transpose down octave: command + shift+O
– merge notes: command + M
– split notes: command + /
– legato notes: shift + L

The above new features will each be explained further, in greater detail, in an upcoming revision of
this beta user’s manual.

Tracktion 7 New Features

In addition, the previous version of Waveform, called Tracktion 7 or T7 for short, also included
several
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 290

New Interface Look

Tracktion T7 used a new look with bolder clip colors and a choice of a light or dark background. Its
UI featured a modern design, new text style, and subtle shading.

Tracktion T7’s Bold New Look

There are two new options in the Settings tab, General Behaviour page:

Use Light Color Scheme & Low Detail Options

Use Low-Contrast Interface

Enable Use Light Colour Scheme for a bright and clean look for the background, timeline, and
controls.

The New Light Colour Scheme

Use Low-Detail Interface

Enable Use Low-Detail Interface to eliminated gradient effects on clips and other interface
objects.
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 291

Note: Apart from these two options, the color scheme can’t be changed. The color editor
feature has been retired. The good news is that you won’t waste time tweaking the colors
so you can spend more time recording!

Compact Toolbar
To save space while recording, T7 offered an alternative to the traditional Controls Panel. The
compact Toolbar does most everything the standard Controls Panel does while taking up a fraction
of the screen space. Not only that, you can switch back and forth between the Toolbar and Controls
Panel easily.

The New Compact Toolbar

To open the full Controls Panel from the Toolbar, click the open icon at the far left.

Click the Open Icon

To shrink the Controls Panel down to the compact Toolbar, click the close icon at the top right of
the Menu Section.

Click the Close Icon

The left side of the Toolbar includes icons to open and close the Menu and Properties sections along
with dedicated Undo and Redo buttons. Also, all of the buttons from the Master section appear as
icons on the Toolbar.
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 292

The Toolbar Icons

Tip: Hover your mouse pointer over any icon on the Toolbar and look at the rollover help
in the upper right corner of the Waveform window to see what it does.

Working with Properties in Compact Mode

In Tracktion, you often need access to Properties. With the compact Toolbar, the pop-out Properties
panel closes every time you select a different object: clip, track, automation curve, or plugin.

Properties Lock Push-pin

To keep Properties open you can lock it using the push-pin icon at the upper right. With it pinned,
Properties will only close when you click its icon on the Toolbar. You can always leave it pinned all
the time, and open and close Properties manually.
 Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 293

Tip: There is a macro action in the script editor to enable the Properties lock push-pin under
Basic Actions > Editing > Lock properties panel.

1 // Lock Properties Panel

2 Tracktion.lockPropertiesPanel();

Keyboard Shortcut to Toggle the Toolbar

If you want to easily switch back and forth between the Toolbar and the standard Controls Panel,
T7 offered a new macro action to do so. Here is how to set it up:

1. Go to the Settings tab, Keyboard Shortcuts page.

2. Open the Script Editor at the bottom of the page.
3. Click Add a new macro.
4. Fill in a name such as “Toggle Controls Panel Size.”
5. Right-click the editor and navigate to Basic Actions > Zooming > Toggle between full and
minimal controls panel.

Selecting the Toolbar Toggle Action

1. That’s all there is to the macro. Now, assign it to a keyboard shortcut, such as F11.

The Completed Toggle Controls Panel Size Macro

Note: In the alternative key-mapping used in this book, F11 is assigned to Show/Hide
Controls Panel. You may find that toggling between the Toolbar and the Controls Panel
is a much better use of F11 and wish to change this on all your Tracktion installations.
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 294

Browser Position
If you ever wished the Browser were over on the right instead of being stuck on the left, you are in
luck. You can move it! Not only that, you can move it to the top of the screen if you want. There are
two ways to set the Browser position left, right, or top.

Drag the Browser

With the Browser open, drag the Browser open/close button to the top edge, right edge, or left
edge of the screen and drop it.

Drag Open/Close Move the Browser Right, Left, or Top

From the Settings Tab

Alternatively, you can configure Browser position as global preference. Go to the Settings tab,
General Behaviour page. Locate the Side Panel Position option and choose from Left, Right, or
Top.

Settings Tab, General Behaviour - Side Panel Position Setting

Multiple Browser Panes

With T7 it became possible to have multiple views into the Browser at the same time. To add a
Browser pane, click the tiny + icon at the top right.
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 295

Click the Plus to Add a Browser Pane

When you have multiple panes, each pane has a drop-down menu at the top to choose the Browser
view: Files, Tracks, Search, Notification, Markers, or Clipboard.

Choosing the View

You can open as many Browser panes as you want. You may want to have one pane showing your
Files and another set to Search by plugins.

My Setup With Two Pains

The above image above shows the Browser at the top.

To close a Browser pane, click the small X in the upper right.
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 296

Click X to Close a Browser Pane

Synchronized Previews
If you have multiple Browser views open and focused on loop files, you can audition the loops
against your song synced to the Edit tempo.

Multiple Browser Preview

Since Waveform allows multiple Browser panes, you can start previews for several loops at the same
time. The Browser preview options have been updated with this in mind. Click the preview options
button to open the selections.

Browser Preview Options

Play All
This is a new option to start the preview of all selected loops across all open Browser panes.
Stop All
This stops all preview playback in all Browser panes.
Re-trigger on play
Whenever you start playing back a new loop, all Browser panes that have loops playing will
re-start from the beginning. You will want to enable Re-trigger on play for each open Browser
pane for synced auditioning.
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 297

Auto-play
With Auto-Play enabled, each time you click a loop or select a new loop in a Browser, preview
playback will start.
Loop
With Loop on, preview playback will keep repeating until you stop it. With Loop disable, the
preview plays a single time then stops.

Tip: Enabling Re-trigger on play is essential to have multiple Browser panes preview in-sync.

When you find a set of loops that work well together using multiple Browser panes, you probably
want to drag them to your Edit. You can do this in a single operation by dragging one loop while
holding Shift. The Shift modifier causes all the loops to be included in the drag. Next, drop the all the
loops and you are presented with a list of options. Select how you would like the clips to be added
to the Edit.

Multiple Clip Shift-drag Options

Video Clip: This video tutorial³⁵ demonstrates this feature but was created before the
Options menu was implemented.

Zoom Tool
Tracktion T7 offered a new fast and efficient new way to zoom in and out. Hold down Shift-Opt
/ Shift-Alt and drag a selection over the arrangement. As you drag, a magnifier loop icon appears.
When you let go, you are zoomed in on that area of the screen.
³⁵https://youtu.be/KEVGBgm9U28
 Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 298

Dragging a Selection with the Zoom Tool

The zoom tool is multilevel. Zoom in several times then again hold Shift-Opt / Shift-Alt and click to
zoom back out. Each click steps you back one zoom level.

Tip: There are also new keyboard macro actions that you can assign to the keyboard to undo
and redo the action of the zoom tool. The actions are found at Basic Actions > Zooming >
undo mouse select+zoom and Basic Actions > Zooming > redo mouse select+zoom from the
Script Editor.

Zoom Tool Undo/Redo Macro Actions

1 // Undo Zoom
2 Tracktion.undoSelectZoom();

1 // Redo Zoom
2 Tracktion.redoSelectZoom();
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 299

Project Tab - Three Column View

Starting with T7, the Projects tab added a three column view. These columns represent the Edit list,
assets pool, and exported files. You can choose which columns to have on-screen using the View
Options selector at the top right.

Project Tab View Options Selector

If you prefer the long single list from earlier version of Tracktion, choose View as single list from
the View Options selector.

Selecting the Classic Single List View

Project Tab Two Column View

Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 300

Project Tab - Edit Previews

Starting with T7. the Project tab Edit list now includes a playable thumbnail preview of the mix of
each Edit. Waveform renders this preview in the background during idle time, when an Edit is open,
and then updates it periodically. You don’t need to do anything at all. Click the thumbnail to play
the preview and drag the play cursor around to hear different parts of the song.

Edit Preview Thumbnail

The Share button to the right of the preview thumbnail gives you two ways to share the Edit.

Preview Share Button Options

Share as archive of this edit takes you directly to the Create Archive dialog box. From here you can
export the Edit as a project bundled with with all necessary assets to load back in to Tracktion on
another computer.

Create Archive Dialog Box

The other option on the Share button is Share a preview of this edit. This simply locates the preview
audio file on your file system. From here you can do what you want with it. It’s in the Ogg Vorbis
format.
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 301

Share Preview Option

Note: Don’t drag, move, or erase the preview file. You need to leave it in this location for
the preview to work on the Project page. If you want to use it somewhere else, copy it first.

Project Tab - Get Demo Songs

The Menu at the lower left of the Project tab includes a new button: Get Demo Songs. Click that for
a quick way to download some Waveform demo Projects. For a full description of this feature refer
to Chapter 3 - Installing the Demo Projects.

Drag to Set In-marker & Out-marker

Users of other DAWs are used to dragging along the timeline to draw in the loop range. With
Waveform, the loop range is defined by the In-marker and Out-marker. In the past you always
needed to set both separately. Starting with T7, there is now a fast way to “draw” in the range
between the In-marker and Out-marker.
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 302

Double-click Drag to Set In/Out Markers

Double-click on the Timeline and start dragging right. The double-click positions the In-marker at
the starting point. As you drag right, the Out-marker drags along and is set when you lift the mouse
button.

Video Clip: Here is a video tutorial³⁶ demonstrating how to drag to set the In-marker and
Out-marker.

Auto Show Panels

With the Browser, Mixer, or Controls Panel hidden, move the mouse pointer to the appropriate edge
of the window, and the panel will slide open. When you move your pointer off the panel, it will be
hidden away again.
Give it a try and notice the animation of the new UI as the panels slide in and out. There is nothing
to configure. The auto show feature is available anytime you have a panel hidden.

Note: The auto show feature also works for the new compact Toolbar.

Tip: To turn off the auto show panels action, deselect Automatically hide and show panels
in the Settings tab, General Behaviour page.
³⁶https://youtu.be/zaPg04Iype4
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 303

Turning off Auto Show Panels

Visual Plugin Selector

With T7, The Plugin object shows a new right-click option to open the Visual Plugin Selector. Once
open, you can drag a plugin thumbnail to the mixer in the normal way. See Chapter 39 - Visual
Plugin Selector for a complete explanation of this feature.

Group Clips
With Group Clips, you can combine clips on a track into a single grouped clip without rendering.
The advantage of this is that you can ungroup at anytime for access to the individual clips.
To create a Group Clip, select the clips you want to group on a track. It doesn’t have to be a contiguous
selection, but the clips do need to reside on the same track.

)
Next, click Create Group Clip in Properties.

Click Create Group Clip in Properties

Notice that the resulting clip has a “Group” label and icon on the lower left which indicates the
number of clips it contains. It also has a simplified header.
 Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 304

A Group Clip

To ungroup the clip back to the original state, select it and click Ungroup in Properties.

Click Ungroup in Properties

If you like, you can create a macro and assign Group Clips and Ungroup to keyboard shortcuts. In
the Script Editor, locate the actions under Basic Actions > Editing > Group selected clips and Basic
Actions > Editing > Ungroup selected clips.
Here is the code:

1 // Group Clips Macro

2 Tracktion.groupSelectedClips();

1 // Ungroup Clips Macro

2 Tracktion.ungroupSelectedClips();

Group Clips can be useful when working with beats created from sliced up audio. You can treat the
Group Clip as a single single clip making move and duplicate operations straightforward. At any
point you can ungroup it to modify the various parts.

Linked Clips
You can also easily create linked copies of clips that reference the same underlying audio file or
MIDI data. Changes to the original clip then are reflected to any of the linked copies. This works for
Audio clips, MIDI clips and Step clips.
To create a linked clip, drag the Linked Clip handle from the clip header. As you drag, you are
dragging a copy referenced back to the source clip.
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 305

Linked Clip Handle

In the following image, we have dragged over a linked copy of an audio file. Notice that the lower
left of each clip shows a “link” icon indicating that this is a linked clip.

Linked Audio Clips

To test the link, we have reversed the audio on the first clip. Since this changes the underlying file,
the second clip is also reversed.

Reversed Linked Audio Clips

Non-destructive edits like splits and fades don’t affect the linked copy. However, anything that affects
the underlying file will. For other examples of this type of edit, select and audio clip then in Properties
open View Source Info > Edit Audio File > Basic Editing Operations.

Basic Audio Editing Operations

From this dialog you can perform several kinds of edits to the underlying file. These operations will
affect all linked copies as well as the original.
Linked clips might be even more useful for MIDI clips. Any changes made to one of the linked clips
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 306

are reflected to all the copies. This can be useful when creating a beat that is used many places in a
song. If you update one linked copy, they all get revised.

Linked MIDI Clips on Separate Tracks

While you could so something similar with looped clips, looped clips are a series of continuous
repeats on a single track. Linked clips appear as separate clips and can even be placed on separate
tracks.

Linked Step Clips Green Handle

Step clips can also be copied using the Linked Clips handle.

Tip: It’s a bit more difficult to identify linked Step Clips because they don’t have clip names
along with the link icon. You can identify linked Step Clips because the Linked Clip handle
in the header turns green whenever there are linked copies present. This holds true for linked
Audio clips and MIDI clips as well.
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 307

Automation Patterns
T7 lets you quickly create repeated automation patterns between the In-marker and the Out-marker
using a new feature located in Properties.

1. To get started, create an automation curve for a parameter you would like to modulate. In this
example we are using a simple volume curve.
2. Then, set the In-marker and Out-marker over the range to which you want to apply the pattern.

Volume Automation Between In-marker and Out-marker

1. Select the automation curve, then in Properties click Create Pattern Between the Marked
Region.

Create Pattern Between the Marked Region

1. Next, choose from the various pattern shape options. For this example we chose Triangle.

Select the Pattern Shape

Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 308

1. Choose a note division for the pattern or number of repeats. In typical Waveform fashion, we
chose 1/2 beat in order to repeat the pattern every 1/8th note.

Select Beat Division or Repetitions

Here is the resulting automation.

Repeating Triangle Automation

1. Adjust the curve using the Displace Curve and Scale Curve drag controls or by editing the
automation points in the usual way.
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 309

Displace and Scale Curve Controls

Here are examples of the other automation pattern shapes:

Sine Wave

Square Wave

Ramp Up
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 310

Ramp Down

Automation Ramps
As a companion to automation patterns, Waveform allows you to ramp patterns up or down in a
very simple and effective way. This works in conjunction with patterns to allow you to increase
or decrease the intensity of a pattern over time. The two Ramp options work as modifiers to the
existing Displace and Scale tools.
Automation Ramps are best explained with an example:

1. Set the In-marker and Out-marker over a segment of automation you would like to ramp in.

Selected Region of an Automation Pattern

Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 311

1. Click on the automation curve to select it.

2. In Properties, click Ramp from the start of Marked Region to enable the ramp behavior.

Enable Ramp from the start of Marked Region

1. In Properties, manipulate the Displace Curve and Scale Curve sliders. Notice how these affect
the left side of the curve allowing you to fade in the automation pattern.

Taper the Curve using Displace Curve and Scale Curve Sliders

The companion Ramp from the end of the Marked Region allows you to taper automation down.
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 312

Ramp from the end of the Marked Region

These new features are easy to miss at first glance, but they provide tremendous creative potential
when programming automation.

Tip: The automation ramp features are also available when working the Volume & Pan Clip
Layer effect which is explained in Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects.

Video Clip: Here is a video clip³⁷ that demonstrates the automation ramp modifiers.

Plugin Sidechains
In previous version of Tracktion, you needed to configure a Plugin Rack to use a sidechain input on
plugins that support a sidechain. Since T7 this has been greatly simplified.
Plugins that support a sidechain input will now have a side chain assignment list at the upper left
in the plugin header. Simply pick which track you want to route to the sidechain.
³⁷https://youtu.be/koDUoO3XD-0
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 313

Selecting a Sidechain Input

In the above example, we have routed the kick track to the sidechain input of a gate on the bass
track. It’s a common trick to lock the bass to the kick.

Video Clip: Here is a video tutorial³⁸ demonstrating how to use the new plugin sidechain
feature.

First Run Setup Progress

When you run Waveform for the first time, you will see the First Run Setup Progress panel over on
the left. As you click each item, it takes you directly to the page and feature on the Setup tab needed
to complete the task. The tasks are designed to streamline setup and get new users configured and
running quickly.
³⁸https://youtu.be/PEan2nhPCOA
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 314

First Run Setup Progress Panel

If you close the panel and wonder how to get it back. Navigate to Help > Show First Run Setup.

Turning First Run Setup On

Scroll Behaviour
Starting with T7 scroll behaviour options are consolidated on the Options menu into a new submenu:
Scroll Behaviour.

Options > Scroll Behaviour

Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 315

The Scroll Behaviour menu features the new default option Scroll with playback. Here is a rundown
of what each options does:

Scroll with playback (default)

During playback the cursor stays on screen. As the cursor goes past the right edge, the tracks
page over keeping the cursor in view.
Scroll smoothly
During playback, when the cursor arrives at a fixed position near the center of the screen, the
tracks scroll under the cursor. This is a matter of personal preference.
Keep cursor on screen
During playback the cursor will stay on the screen. Even while editing or manually panning,
the cursor always stays on screen. As you pan over right the cursor stays at the left edge of the
screen.
No options selected
During playback the cursor will move past the right edge of the screen and then move out of
site.

Tip: For most users we suggest leaving Scroll with playback enabled and the other two
options off.

Track LFOs
Starting with T7, Waveform offers a way to modulate plugin parameters without drawing in
automation curves. This is done using Track LFOs. Track LFOs can be assigned to one or more
plugin parameters. Track LFOs can also be beat synced to the Edit. Chapter 40 has a full explanation
of Track LFOs.

Clip Layer Effects

Clip Layer effects are an interesting way to apply common audio manipulations using layers. Clip
Layer effects are accessed from the FX icon that appears on the header of Audio clips. Learn all
about this powerful new feature in Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects.

Updated Plugin Racks

Plugin racks will be covered in more detail in a future revision of this user’s manual. In the meantime,
check out this video series at Groove 3 called Tracktion Plugin Racks Explained³⁹. The series covers
³⁹https://www.groove3.com/Tracktion-Software-training-video-tutorials/Tracktion-Plugin-Racks-Explained
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 316

all the essentials of creating effects chains as well as using racks to route multi-output virtual
instruments to different

New Collapsable Panels

We covered that in the Groove 3 series Tracktion T7 Update Explained⁴⁰.

Those two resources should get you well on your way to understanding how to use racks in your
projects.

Mastering with CloudBounce

CloudBounce⁴¹ is an automatic online mastering service that was developed as part of the Abbey
Road Red incubator program. It does nice general purpose mastering at a very low price. A single
track runs $4.90 USD but low monthly plans are also available.
Waveform is directly integrated with CloudBounce, making it very convenient to get quick masters
done without doing it yourself, or paying high fees for professional mastering. For many projects,
it’s all you really need.
⁴⁰https://www.groove3.com/Tracktion-Software-training-video-tutorials/Tracktion-T7-Update-Explained?itemid=10016
⁴¹https://www.cloudbounce.com
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 317

To use CloudBounce, first export your Edit in the normal way using Export > Render to a file. With
the export complete, switch over to the Projects tab and select the exported file from the Exported
Audio/MIDI list.

Select the Exported File on the Projects Tab

With the file selected, you see the waveform and other controls in Properties. This is where you find
the button Master With CloudBounce.

In Properties, Click Master with CloudBounce

Click Master With CloudBounce to upload the exported file to the service.
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 318

File Uploading to CloudBounce

When the upload is complete, CloudBounce immediately runs the file through its machine listening
and mastering processors, and creates a 45-second preview.
Chapter 38 - New in Waveform Version 8 319

Audition the Mastered File

Click play to listen to the Preview. If you like the results, login or sign up and select a payment
option or subscription plan. You can also access options to tweak the processing and then download
the finished file.
CloudBounce is fast, effective, and low cost. Would you use it for your most critical projects?
Probably not. But if your budget, time, or mastering skills are limited, it might be exactly what
you need.

Moving on
This chapter was a summary of new feature that were incorporated in the T7 release of Waveform.
There were hundreds of other changes and tweaks, and most of those have been incorporated in to
the text of this user’s manual as well. The following chapters go into full detail on the major new
additions.
Chapter 39 - Visual Plugin Selector
Waveform’s Plugin object has useful option when working with plugins: Right-click it to open the
Visual Plugin selector. This chapter walks through a full explanation on how to use the Visual Plugin
selector.

Using the Visual Plugin Selector

To open the window into the Visual Plugin selector, right-click on the Plugin object. You will see all
your plugins represented by thumbnail images along with the name.

Right-click to Open the Visual Plugin Selector

Note: If all you see are a lot of question marks, then read on; we will explain how to scan
your plugins to capture thumbnails in a bit.
Chapter 39 - Visual Plugin Selector 321

Visual Plugin Selector

From here you can scroll through all your plugins. When you find one you want to use, drag it and
the window will close but continue dragging. Now drop it on a track in the normal way.
The Visual Plugin selector window offers just few controls to make finding the right plugin more
simple.

Visual Plugin Selector Controls

1. After opening the Visual Plugin selector, start typing in search characters to filter the list.
Chapter 39 - Visual Plugin Selector 322

2. Adjust the size of the thumbnail images using the slider at the right.
3. If you decide not to pick a plugin, click the X at the upper left or press ESC to close the window.
4. As you drag a plugin, the window will close and you’ll be dragging a transparent image of the
plugin which you can drop wherever you want to use it.

Dragging a Plugin

Determining Plugin Technology

As you over the mouse pointer over a thumbnail, an icon will appear in the upper left corner. This
indicates which interface technology is used by that plugin: AU, VST, or VST3. This helps you pick
from plugin thumbnails that otherwise look the same.

Audio Units Icon

VST Icon
Chapter 39 - Visual Plugin Selector 323

VST3 Icon

These are the same icons are used in the Browser Search tab to differentiate the plugin technology.

Customizing the Thumbnail Image

Open any plugin in Waveform and notice the new camera icon in the upper right corner. Click that
camera to take a snapshot of the plugin window and update the thumbnail image. If you want more
interesting thumbnails, use this to capture the plugin in action with the meters moving or with an
interesting EQ curve.

Customize a Plugin Thumbnail

Scanning to Capture Thumbnails

When you first start using Waveform, the Visual Plugin selector thumbnails appear as blank question
marks. When you open a plugin for the first time, Waveform grabs the thumbnail image. Over time,
the thumbnails will begin to fill in.
If you are you want all of them populated with images right away, you can! Locate the Scan for
plugin thumbnails options on the Settings tab, Plugins page.

Capture Thumbnails Options

Chapter 39 - Visual Plugin Selector 324

There are three options: You can scan all plugins, scan for new plugins (those without thumbnails),
or scan from a selection in the list of installed plugins. When you first start with a new Waveform
installation you probably want to use Scan for all plugins.

Thumbnail Scan Progress

Opening Visual Plugin Selector with a Shortcut

There is a new macro action to open the Visual Plugin selector. To use it create a new macro then
right-click on the script editor on the Settings tab, Keyboard Shortcuts page. Navigate to Advanced
Actions > Plugins > Show or hide the plugin selector page.

Action to Open the Selector

That adds the necessary code to the macro.

The Completed Macro

Assign a keyboard combination that makes sense. In this example, we have used Option + F11 / Alt
+ F11.
Chapter 40 - Track LFOs
Track LFOs allow you to quickly provide movement to any automatable plugin parameter. In this
chapter, we will show you how to use the Track LFO feature.

Inserting a Track LFO

Assign a track LFO to a track by dragging the LFO Creator object to the mixer section of any track.
You either drag it to the top of the track then assign it to a parameter later, or drag it directly to any
plugin and choose the parameter to modulate right away.

Track LFO Creator Object

You can assign as many LFOs to a track as you want. The LFO objects appear above the plugins for
the track. The shape of the LFO is indicated on the object and you can choose from several colors in
Properties.

Track LFOs on a Track

Track LFO Properties

To control how a track LFO behaves and looks, select the LFO then adjust the parameters in
Properties. Properties also lists what parameters are being modulated.
Chapter 40 - Track LFOs 326

Track LFO Properties

To choose and LFO shape, select the LFO then click Wave in Properties and choose one of the five
shapes: Sine, Triangle, Saw Up, Saw Down, or Square. The shape will be represented in Properties
and on the thumbnail image on the LFO object.

Track LFO Shapes

With the shape selected you can choose how to control the modulation speed by clicking Sync and
then choosing Time or Beat. If you choose time adjust the speed by dragging the Frequency slider
left or right, or double click Frequency and type in a value in Hz.

Track LFO Sync Options

If you choose Beat, then the Beat divisions menu appears. Click it and select one of the musical
divisions.
Chapter 40 - Track LFOs 327

Beat Sync Musical Divisions

In addition to the speed you can adjust the Intensity, Phase, and Offset using additional parameters.
Also of the are useful but I find find Intensity to be the most essential.

Time Sync Properties

Other Properties
Properties for track LFOs contain several other useful controls. Here is an explanation of what these
do:

Enabled
Enabled turns the LFO on or off. If you want to suspend the operation of the LFO without
deleting it, turn Enabled off.
Remap on Tempo Change
If you choose Beat synced frequency the value is calculated at the time of the selection. If you
want to recalculate the value anytime tempo changes, then leave Remap on Tempo Change
enabled. Normally you will want to leave this on.
Highlight Controlled Plugins
With Highlight Controlled Plugins enabled it does exactly that. It draws a unique color outline
around any plugin that has a parameter tied to the LFO.
Color
Select one of the nine colors to use for the track LFO object. This is useful if you have several
of them on the same track.
Chapter 40 - Track LFOs 328

Tip: The LFO is also used for the highlight color if you have Highlight Controlled Plugins
enabled.

Learn
Click Learn then move any plugin parameter and it will be added to a temporary list. The
click the check symbol to confirm the assignments. This is a great way to assign numerous
parameters to the same LPO.

Confirm Learn Assignments

Removing LFO Assignments

When you select a track LFO, all assigned parameters are shown in the list at the right side of
Properties. To remove any assignment, click the “X” at the right of the assignment in the list.
Chapter 40 - Track LFOs 329

Track LFO Assignment List

Tip: To remove a track LFO entirely, simply select it then click Delete LFO in Properties.

Video Tutorial
We have published this video tutorial⁴² explaining Track LFOs. It shows a few examples of using
them with a virtual instrument.

Moving On
Track LFOs are a great way to add movement to effects or virtual instruments. They can also be
used to add subtle dynamic panning or aggressive tremolo. The best part is that the are super simple
to use.
⁴²https://youtu.be/9UVEAJAvFZ0
Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects
Clip Layer effects were introduced with T7. They offer quick offline rendering of many common
audio processes but arranged as layers. You can add or remove layers at will and the effects are
rendered in quickly. You can even rearrange the layers. Effects are applied from the top down through
the layers.
You may find Clip Layer effects to be most useful for things like applying clip based volume
automation, conversion to mono, and normalizing. However, those are just a few example of Clip
Layer effects capabilities.

Example Clip Layers

To use Clip Layer effects, click on new FX icon in the header for any Audio clip.
Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects 331

Audio Clip Header FX Menu

From there, select from any of effects. More details on each of these options follows.
Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects 332

FX Menu Add Effect Options

The Clip Layer will appear. As you hover your mouse over it, a set of controls appears to the right.
The following diagram illustrates the available options.
Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects 333

Clip Layer Controls Diagram

Volume - Volume
Adding a volume layer is the Waveform way to do clip based volume automation. You may find
yourself using this instead of track automation when it comes to automating volume.

Volume Clip Layer

When you click the “gear” icon for a volume layer, you will see the Volume & Pan control values in
Properties.
Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects 334

Volume Clip Layer Properties

While somewhat useful, you are probably more interested in working with the volume automation
curve itself. To do so, click on the volume curve (which initially shows up as a line) and then you
have access to the Properties for the that.

Tip: See Chapter 35 for more on editing the automation curve. Everything about editing
automation curves for tracks applies to volume Clip Layers as well.

Volume - Fade
Fade-ins and fade-outs are also available as layers. After creating the fade layer, drag the left or right
fade handles to create the fade in or fade out.

Fade In/Out

Tip: Right click a fade handle to set the fade shape.

Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects 335

Volume - Step
Add a step volume layer to rhythmically gate the clip.

Step Volume Layer

With the step Clip Layer in place, click the gear icon at the right of the layer and then work with all
the Properties to set the step size and divisions. You can then click on the steps to turn them on or
for unlimited synced gating options.

Step Volume Properties

Time/Pitch - Pitch Shift

Add a pitch shift Clip Layer to get access to an automation curve for pitch. Add points and automate
like any other effect to apply anything from simple pitch offsets to dramatic pitch sweeps.

Pitch Shift Layer

When you select the pitch curve on the clip, Properties gives you access to the normal range of
controls for automation curves.
Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects 336

Pitch Curve Properties

Time/Pitch - Tape Stop/Start (Pitch Fade)

You probably already know that you can right-click the fade handles on any Audio clip to apply
pitch fades. Now you can do the same thing as a Clip Layer effect.

Tape Stop/Start Layer

Right-click the fade handle to choose the shape for the curve.

Tape Stop/Start Fade Options

Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects 337

Time/Pitch - Warp Time

Before Clip Layers, you had to go to Properties and then to the click the Loop Properties tab… then
click Warp Time to get going. While that still works, it’s much easier with the clip layers feature;
Just add a warp time Clip Layer.
The header area of the Clip Layer will appears shaded. Click anywhere in the shaded area to add a
warp marker.

Warp Time Clip Layer - Click to Add Marker

Drag a warp points to time stetch audio between warp markers.

Drag to Warp

If you want to remove a warp marker, right-click and remove it or all markers.
Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects 338

Right-click to Remove Warp Markers

You may find this implementation of Warp Time much more convenient, especially if you want to
align transients to things happening on other tracks in the Edit. With the old way, you couldn’t
really see timing in relation to the rest of the Edit.

Effects - Plugin Layer

A plugin Clip Layer allows you to add any plugin including 3rd-party effects to a layer.

Plugin Layer

You will be prompted to select a plugin as you add the layer. The name of the plugin appears on the
Clip Layer at the lower right when the layer is selected.
Here are the key things to know when working with the plugin Clip Layers:

1. Click the gear icon at the right to open the plugin UI. When you tweak parameters, a few
second later the change is rendered in.

Note: Because of the way rendering works, it is a bit hard to audition changes to plugin
parameters. You may find plugin Clip Layers are best for applying known presets. If you
want to do a lot of real time tweaking, then you will probably be better off to use a Clip
effect or normal track plugin.
Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects 339

1. Click the A at the top right to show automation curves. Any exposed automation parameter
can be selected which makes its curves visible. Use all your standard automation editing tools
to draw in appropriate automation.

Effects - Reverse Clip Layer

Using the reverse Clip Layer is really easy. Add the layer and the audio within the clip will now play
backwards.

Reverse Layer

Mastering - Normalise Layer

Normalise adjusts the gain of audio so that it use all of the available the bit depth. The concept is
analogous to “zoom-to-fit” in image editing software.
To use it, first add Normalize layer.

Normalise Layer

Then adjust the Normalize value to keep peaks where you want. In voiceover work, many customers
request the audio to be normalized to -3db.

Normalise Property
Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects 340

Mastering - Mono Layer

To convert to mono, the mono Clip Layer is a greta feature. It is much more convenient to use this
than other approaches in Waveform.
First add a mono Clip Layer:

Mono Layer

The choose one of options for determine how to render to mono from stereo:

Mono Options

Note: Most of the time you will probably select Average of all Channels. This mixes the left
and right channels to to create a mono version.

Mastering - Phase Invert Layer

The phase invert Clip layer is pretty straightforward. It flips the polarity of the wave.
Chapter 41 - Clip Layer Effects 341

Phase Invert Layer

Moving On
We think you will enjoy exploring and working with Clip Layers. It is really only from experimenting
with this approach that you will understand how it works. There are likely many new editing
workflows that have yet to be discovered, that leverage the power of Clip Layers.
Chapter 42 - MIDI Effects
Waveform offers several MIDI effects. These effects don’t have any sound of their own. They modify
the MIDI data coming from the MIDI clips on a track or from your MIDI controller hardware. As
such you need to insert these before a virtual instrument to have any effect.

Waveform Effects
MIDI Arpeggiator (Pro edition)
The MIDI Arpeggiator allows you arpeggiate MIDI notes from chord on your track or from
your MIDI controller. It has a wide range of creative controls. Learn more about it from the
following videos.

MIDI Arpeggiator Tutorial Video⁴³

MIDI Arpeggiator Soloing Technique⁴⁴

MIDI Chord Companion (Pro edition)

Chord companion allows you to layout MIDI Chords so that you can play them from a single
note on your keyboard or pad controller. In addition it includes arpeggiator and note repeat
features. Learn the basics from this video tutorial

MIDI Chord Companion Tutorial Video⁴⁵

MIDI Chord Player

Allows you to play one note to harmonize full chords. It has key switches that allow you to
choose various types of chord extensions.

MIDI Chord Player Video Tutorial⁴⁶

MIDI Modifier (Pro edition)

MIDI modifier is a transposer for MIDI data. Use the controls to shift the pitch of MIDI notes
up or down by fixed intervals.
MIDI Note Repeater (Pro edition)
Note Repeater allows imparting rhythm patterns and echos to MIDI notes. It shares much of
its function and design with the MIDI Arpeggiator.
⁴³https://youtu.be/GKbKwc5bT88
⁴⁴https://youtu.be/Osve5gfWQlg
⁴⁵https://youtu.be/hJ-zvvK7Sk8
⁴⁶https://youtu.be/FEvS2vy7wl0
Chapter 42 - MIDI Effects 343

Waveform Utilities
MIDI Filter (Pro edition)
MIDI Filter allows notes to pass through only within the range defined. To see the range and
create a zone, drag the arrows from the left and right sides of the on-screen keyboard. Use two
or more of these within a Plugin rack to create zones that play different virtual instruments.
For example play bass on the left side of your controller and piano on the right

Video Explaining the MIDI Filter⁴⁷

MIDI Monitor
Shows the stream of MIDI data to debug your setup or better understand the output from your
controller or keyboard. This plugin does not alter the data so you won’t hear any effect when
it is active
MIDI Patch Bay
Allows mapping from one MIDI channel to another. Any of the 16 channels can be remapped
to any other channel. In addition you can selectively block channels from passing any MIDI
data through the plugin.
Rewire Device
Use this to use any Rewire compatible DAW as a plugin within Waveform.

⁴⁷https://youtu.be/RsxbP4Gys3U
Reference Section
Chapter 60 - Reference: Settings >
Appearance
Appearance: Set the language and overall look of Waveform. Tweak the look of tracks, clips and
notes to your preferences.

Settings > Appearance Page

Chapter 60 - Reference: Settings > Appearance 346

Controls and Parameters by Section

Language
Language: >English Waveform UI text is in English by default. Several other languages are available
which have been translated by users. Add other languages using the next option.
Get additional languages Click this to add another language choice to the preceding option. The
translations are maintained and improved through a user supported wiki which is linked from this
section.
Check for language updates:>(Choices: Never, At startup, Now)
Chose when to check for updates to language translation. If changes become available then you have
the option to download and install.

Look and Feel

Colour scheme:> Choices: Default, Grayscale (Dark), Grayscale (Medium), Grayscale (Light), Light,
Deep Ocean, T7 Low Contrast, T7
There are several preset schemes. Pick a color pallet that matches or you preference or mood. A
popular favorite is Greyscale (Medium). (Default: Default)
Display scale:> Allows you to scale up or down the entire interface in 25% increments. Scale it up
when working on a small laptop screen. Scale it down when working on an extra large monitor to
big screen TV. (Default:100%)
Font: Usually it is best to leave this set at Default. If you want to try other fonts you can do that
here.
Use low detail interface *Simplifies interface graphics which might make it feel more responsive.
Default: disabled)

Browser
Browser position:> Choices: Left, Right, Top
Choose where to open the Browser panel when working in the Edit tab. (Default: Left)

Tip: Within an Edit you can move the Browser location by dragging its representation within
the “eye” panel show/hide selector in the upper right.

Panels open side-by-side With this enabled you can open two or more side-by-side Browser panels.
With this deselected Browser panels are stacked. I prefer to keep this setting enabled. (Default:
enabled)
Chapter 60 - Reference: Settings > Appearance 347

Automatically hide and show panelsWith this enabled you can close the Browse and Controls
panel for more screen space. When your mouse pointer approaches the edge of the window, the
panel will open automatically. (Default: disabled)

Tip: I prefer to keep this setting deselected and use keyboard shortcuts to open and close the
panels. F11 for the Controls panel and B for the Browser.

Clips
Show waveforms Audio clips show a graphic thumbnail representation of the waveform. This is
typical of most any DAW. You will probably want to leave this enabled. If, for some reason you
prefer not to see waveforms on clips, you can disable this option. (Default: enabled)
Use hi-res waveforms This provides clearer more detailed waveform images on audio clips. It might
slow performance of older computers slightly but typically you will want to leave this enabled.
(Default: enabled)
Show extra slip handles on clip headers When enabled, clip headers have extra handles that allow
slipping the waveform from the edges (left and right solid triangles) or a using sliding frame (center
open box). These are useful for some workflows. (Default: disabled)
Show MIDI CC lines When working with MIDI data you might not want to see CC (continuous
controller) lines to simplify editing. If you want to hide CC lines, disable this setting. (Default:
enabled)
Reduce waveform height on selected clips When you select an Audio clip, the header appears and
the waveform image height is reduced slightly. This slight animation gives visual feedback that a
selection has been made. If you don’t like this effect you can disable it with this setting. (Default:
enabled)
Link clip colour to track colour When this enabled, clips on a track will inherit the track color.
When disabled clip colors are independent of the track color. (Default: enabled)

Tracks
Automatically assign colours to new tracks With this enabled, as you add tracks they will assigned
colors in this order: red, orange, yellow, light green, green, light blue, blue, magenta, pink. Track
colors will repeat through this assignment of nine colors. You will notice that there are 18 colors
available. Automatic assignment of colors uses every other available color. If you don’t use track
colors or prefer to assignment to your own liking, then disable this option. (Default: enabled)
Show coloured backgrounds on track With this enabled the background of tracks are slightly
tinted with the track color.
Chapter 60 - Reference: Settings > Appearance 348

Double-click track header to switch height between:> Choices: Small and medium, Small and
large, Small, medium, and large
Double-click a track header to switch track height according to this option. (Default: Small and
medium)
Show track outputs A speaker icon appears to the right of the Mute and Solo buttons on each track.
Click this to set the hardware output or virtual output for the track. Even with the turned off, the
output assignment appears under the plugs section as long as the track height is expanded. The point
of the option is to allow access to the track output assignment even then tracks are set to narrow
heights. I usually leave this turned off.

MIDI Note Colour

Highlight current key in MIDI background Normally the background for the piano roll in the
MIDI editor is shaded like a piano. This makes the white rows representing the key of C and grey
shading for black not rows which are out-of-key at all times. With this option selected, white rows
are based on the key signature assigned in the Tempo track. The shading will shift whenever the key
signature is changed. This allows you to use the background shading as a guide for MIDI editing to
stay in-key. (Default: enabled)
In-key chord note: When used along with the chord track, notes appearing in this color are both in
the key and scale and the chord. (Default: Green)
Out-of-key chord note: When used along with the chord track, notes appearing in this color are in
the chord but not naturally in the key and scale. (Default: Yellow)
In-key scale note: Notes appearing in this color are part of the key and scale as defined at that point.
If they are also part of the Chord they will use the Chord note color. Using the Chord track is not
required however to get In-key scale notes. (Default: Light Blue)
Out-of-key scale note: Notes appearing are not part of the key and scale as defined at that point.
If you see this color when using the Chord track, it means the note is not part of the chord or scale.
(Default: Red)

Tip: To use the chord and scale note colors, set MIDI notes to the multicolor option the MIDI
editor

Tip: Change the key and scale at any point on the timeline use Insert Pitch Change Opt + P
/ Alt + P.
Chapter 66 - Reference: Settings >
General
The Settings > General is the key settings page for customising Waveform to match the way you like
to work.

Settings > General

Chapter 66 - Reference: Settings > General 350

Controls and Parameters on the Page by Section

Profile
Username
The name you want to use when working in Waveform
Export User Settings
Creates a copy of the Waveform.settings file that holds user options along with patterns and
progressions. Use this as a backup or to load into other computers
Import User Settings
Use this to load a .settings file created by Export User Settings.

Startup
Upon launch reload edits
When enabled, Waveform will reload the same Edit tabs that were open during your last
session.
Upon launch:> (Choices: Go to the Projects tab, Go to the Settings tab, Go to the last viewed
tab, Go to the Welcome tab:
Choose which tab to see right after starting Waveform.

Browser
Search tab order (Plugins, loops, Presets)
The search tab in the browser allows you search for plugins, loops and presets. This option
allows you set the order of the search results. For example, if you like to see Plugins first, set
Plugins to number 1 on this list.

Editing
Default auto crossfade mode
When you drag an Audio clip to overlap another clip Waveform will create fade one clip to the
other. Auto crossfade is a property of clips so simply enabling this will not make it happen for
existing clips. With this enabled, new clips will have auto crossfade set on.
Default comping crossfade length: 20 ms
Sets the crossfade time for the swipe comping features.
Default marker type:> (Choices: Bars & Beats, Absolute timecode, Automatic)
When inserting a new marker this allows you to choose which type is preferred.
Enable separate edit cursor (Default = Disabled)
When enabled you will see a second cursor that always follows mouse movements. Editing,
zooming, and pasting will use this instead of the playback cursor. This allows an efficient
workflow since you don’t need to always move the playback cursor following simple edits.
Chapter 66 - Reference: Settings > General 351

Paste at edit cursor

Copy/Paste operations for clips typically paste following the source clip. With this enabled you
have better control over the paste position.
Number of undo levels: 30
You can undo using Cmd + Z / Ctrl Z or the undo buttons in the menu. This option allows you
to set how many levels of undo are available. The default is 30 but you can increase that if you
want.

Tempo change remapping:> * Remap audio clips * Remap auto-tempo audio clips * Remap MIDI
clips * Remap plugin automation
Remapping stretches clips lengths based on tempo changes and also allows them to move in order
to stay in-sync with the timebase. These options give you control over what aspects of clips and
automation are allowed to remap.

Features
Video playback:> (Choices: Standard player, Xjadeo player)
Xjadeo player is a Pro edition feature and gives more control over video playback. This allows
you to decide whether or not to use Xjadeo.

Typically the Standard player is preferred for macOS users while Xjadeo is preferred for Windows.
If you need support for a codec that does is not working with the standard player, then try switching
to Xjadeo.

Meters
Meter response:> (Choices: Slow decay, Quick decay, Instant decay)
Set how quickly level meters release after responding to transients. The default works well but
you can tune the response to your liking. (Default: Quick decay)
Peak hold:> (Choices: 2 seconds, 10 seconds, Until cleared)
Level meters keep the peak level illuminated for a while after hitting peaks. This setting allows
you to control how long the peak level is held.

Tip: In the “Until cleared” mode, meters will hold the highest peak indefinitely. In that case,
use the keyboard shortcut “Clear all meter peaks” to reset the meters.
Chapter 66 - Reference: Settings > General 352

MIDI
Automatically show MIDI editor toolbar
When enabled, the toolbar is automatically shown in the inline MIDI editor. When off, the
MIDI toolbar will be hidden. You can toggle this feature with a keyboard shortcut (By default
Opt + Cmd + T / Alt + Ctrl + T). This only affects the inline MIDI editor. The toolbar is always
visible in the MIDI editor panel.
MIDI toolbar position:> (Choices: Left side of track, Left side of MIDI clips)
Typically this works best when set to “Left side of MIDI clips” but some users prefer to have it
at the left side of the track.
Default MIDI editor vertical scale:> (Choices: 2 octaves, 4 octaves, 6 octaves, Full scale)
This sets the starting point for the range for MIDI clips. You can always adjust this by dragging
the arrows at the top or bottom of the piano roll keyboard.

Double-click MIDI clip header:> * Expands for in-line editing * Opens the MIDI editor * Opens the
MIDI editor (in-line editing disabled)
This gives you control over where to do MIDI editing. The most common setting is “Opens the MIDI
editor”. You can always adjust track height to expand for in-line editing. The final option allows you
avoid every using the in-line MIDI editor.

Set middle C to:> (Choices: C3, C4, C5)

This gives you control over what note to use for middle C. This is used by some internal features.
Usually this is best left set to the default value. (Default = C4)
Use incoming velocities for MIDI step entry
When in step mode you can play notes one by one for step entry and they will use the velocity
value set in the MIDI editor toolbar. With this option enabled, it will use the velocity played
on your controller instead of the fixed value.

Mixing Defaults
Default pan law:> (Choices: Linear, -2.5 dB Center, -3.0 dB Center, -4.5 dB Center, -6.0 dB
Center)
Many famous hardware consoles attenuate when centered. The point is to compensate for
perceived volume changes when adjusting panning. When the pan law is linear, you need to
adjust the volume slightly after making panning adjustments. (Default = Linear)
Freeze point creation:> (Choices: Manually freeze tracks, Freeze track when a freeze point is
created or copied)
Choose what triggers track freezing. Initiate track freezing by inserting a Freeze Point plugin.
The point of freezing a track is to render in effects and instruments to free CPU and reduce
latency.
Freeze point insert location:> (Choices: Before plugins, Pre-fader, Post-fader)
When using a macro to freeze tracks this determines where the freeze point should be inserted.
Chapter 66 - Reference: Settings > General 353

Mouse
There are numerous options to customize mouse drag, click, and wheel behavior. A good number of
these options are here to retain compatibility with legacy versions. It would be reasonable to start
with the defaults then tweak these settings to work the way you want.

Clicking the background locates the cursor (Default = enabled)

When enabled, the cursor will located to the point where you click in the arrangement area.
This includes clicking the body of clips and the background between clips. Clicking on clip
headers selects the clip but does not move the cursor.

Timeline drag:> * Drag to scroll view (default) * Drag to locate cursor

Set to “Drag to scroll view” as you drag left or right over the timeline you are dragging the enter
view of tracks left or right. Drag directly above the cursor to essentially drag the cursor location.
Click the timeline to position the cursor to that spot.
Set to “Drag to locate cursor” and as you drag left or right over the timeline, the cursor will follow.
Clicking the timeline will also position the cursor.
Tracks area drag:> * Drag to draw marked region * Drag to select clips (default) * Drag to move
playhead
Set to “Drag to draw marked region” the I-beam range cursor is the default. This is a powerful
editing mode and many users will want to choose this option. When in this mode hold Opt / Alt
while dragging to select clips.
Video Tutorial: Drag to Draw Marked Region⁴⁸
Set to “Drag to select clips” you have the standard cursor and dragging will allow marque style
selection of clips. This mode makes selecting clips work just like selecting MIDI notes for a consistent
workflow. When in this mode hold Shift + Opt / Shift + Alt to draw ranges with the I-beam cursor.
Set to “Drag to move playhead” you have the legacy Tracktion mode. Dragging within the tracks
area simply relocates the cursor.

Tracks area right drag:> (Choices: Zoom horizontally, Scroll tracks)

Drag over the tracks area while while holding the right mouse button to either zoom or scroll
tracks(Default = Scroll tracks)
Over tracks area:> (Choices: Wheel scrolls vertically, Wheel scrolls horizontally)
Choose what the mouse feel does with the pointer is over the tracks area. (Default = Wheel
scrolls vertically)
Allow wheel to scroll within MIDI clips (default = enabled)
When enabled the inline MIDI editor view will scroll up and down with the wheel when the
pointer is over a MIDI clips showing the piano roll. Sometimes this is annoying when you want
to just scroll the tracks vertically. This allows you to disable MIDI scrolling.
⁴⁸https://youtu.be/zTrAn9u_B18
Chapter 66 - Reference: Settings > General 354

Plugin Windows
Open plugin windows by:> (Choices: Single-clicking, Double-clicking)
If you want to prevent accidentally opening the UI for plugins you can set this to require a
double-click. (Default = Single-clicking)
Plugin windows:> (Choices: Are unpinned by default, Are pinned by default)
Pinned plugins stay open until you click “X” at the upper left. When not pinned plugin windows
close as soon as you click away from the plugin. (Default = Are unpinned by default)
New plugins open on:> (Choices: Active Display, Display 1, Display 2, etc.)
If you have multiple displays you can choose a certain display where plugin UIs will open.
(Default = Active Display)

Saving
Automatically backup entire project
Saves a back up all edits and the automatically.(Default = enabled)

When enabled, Edit files and project files will be backed up not more than once every 15 minutes.
Older backups are automatically deleted. The older the backups are the less frequently they will
be kept. You can also manually create a backup from the File menu button that will never be
automatically deleted (“File>Backup edit and project files”)
If you need and earlier Edit for some reason, select the backup from the Projects page. Select one
of the backup files then click Restore Edit. Choose and edit and it will it back to the current project
with the name “Edit (Restored)”. If you want the whole Project at a point in history, use the “Restore
Project” button and it will create a new Project and associated Edits from the backup file.
N>Note:* Only your Project file and Edits are backed up - not the audio files. If you delete source
audio files, this feature won’t help you.

Enable autosave
Periodically saves your Edit in the background while working. In the event of a crash, you can
restart from the last background save and avoid losing a lot of work. (Default = enabled)
Generate audio preview files automatically
Auto preview files are audio files that appear with the edit on the Welcome and Projects tabs.
Listen to the preview before opening an Edit to know what it is. (Default = Enabled)
When closing an edit:> (Options: Ask to save, Always save)
Most modern program always save but if you want to confirm saving when you close, set this
to “Ask to save.” (Default = Always save)

Track Inputs
Allow inputs to appear on multiple tracks
In some case you might want to use the same MIDI device or Audio input on multiple tracks. If
Chapter 66 - Reference: Settings > General 355

you need to do that, enable this. This is more of specialized situation and most users will leave
this off. (Default = disabled)
Default audio device follows selection
When you select a track the audio input will automatically follow to that track. Useful when
using the same input to overdub to several different tracks. (Default = enabled)
Default MIDI device follows selection
When you select a track the audio input will automatically follow to that track. Useful when
you want to immediately start playing from the same keyboard when you select a tracks with
different virtual instruments. (Default = enabled)
Chapter 70 - Reference: Settings >
Plugins
Use the Settings tab, Plugins page to scan for third-party plugins. Manage which plugins are available
to your edits. Create a list of favorite plugins. Create plugin thumbnail images for the visual plugin
selector. Also, you can validate plugins files from this page.

Tip: You can drag plugin files directly to this list to add them.

Settings > Plugins

Chapter 70 - Reference: Settings > Plugins 357

Controls and Parameters

Search
Type in search terms to filter the list of registered plugins. Click the magnifier glass icon to
narrow the search by enabling or disabling Name, Type, Category, and Manufacturer filters.
Plugin List
The plugin list shows all registered plugins in a table that includes Name, Image, Show,
Sandbox, Format, Category, Manufacturer, Version, Alias, Tags, Updated, and Description.
Drag the divider between the headers to resize the columns. Drag column headers to change
the position of columns. Double-click within the Alias column and type in friendly names for
any plugin. You can also drag plug files directly to this list from your system to register them.

Scanning for Plugins

Scanning for Plugins…
Click this button for a complete set of options to scanning plugins to register then with
Waveform or to remove selected plugins or categories of plugins. Each option is described
in more detail here next.
Clear list
Completely clears the plugins list. Be careful because this wipe the list and cannot be undone.
You can of course use the other options to scan plugins again.
Remove all AudioUnit plugins
Clears all AudioUnit (AU) plugins from the list.
Remove all VST plugins
Clears all VST plugins from the list. The includes VST2 but not VST3 plugins to be precise.
Remove all VST3 plugins
Clears all VST3 plugins from the plugins list.
Remove all SOUL Patch plug-ins
Clears all SOUL Patch plugin from the plugins list.
Remove selected plug-in from list
Select any plugins from the list and use this option to remove them. You can select multiple
plugins using Cmd-click / Ctrl-click. You can make a multiple contiguous selection with shift-
click.
Remove any plugin whose files no longer exist
Clean up the list by removing plugins that are no longer installed.
Show folder containing selected plug-in
Very quick way to open the folder on your system that contains the file for a selected plugin.

N>Note: If you have “Automatically check for newly added plugins” enabled on this page, then
Waveform will prompt to scan when it detects that new plugins have been installed. With that set
you rarely need to manually scan for each type of plugin separately.
Chapter 70 - Reference: Settings > Plugins 358

Scan for new or updated AudioUnit plugins

After installing new AudioUnit plugins this to scan for them.
Scan for new or updated VST plugins
After installing new VST2 plugins, use this to scan and add them to the plugins list.
Scan for new or updated VST3 plugins
After installing new VST3 plugins use this to scan for them.
Scan for new or updated SOUL Patch plugins
After installing new SOUL Patch plugins you can use this to scan for them.
Automatically check for newly added plugins
With this enabled anytime you add new plugins Waveform will prompt you to scan for them.
This applies to AU, VST2, VST3, and SOUL plugins. (Default = enabled)
Plugin selector:>
This option allows you to choose the layout of the menu used when you add plugins. The
recommended choice is Popup menu. Typically it is best to leave this set to Popup menu. Here
is a breakdown of each option:

• Popup menu (Recommended): The default which is the typical style of context menu in
Waveform. Recommended.
• Popup tree: Shows exactly the same organization but in a tree view where you can expand or
collapse the submenus.
• Custom popup menu: Typical context menu look but includes only what you have defined in
the Favourite Plugin List. Use this only if you want fully define the plugin selector by hand.
• Custom popup tree: Same as the previous option but using the tree view.
• Tag menu: This defines the plugin selector using your defined tags as the menu categories. This
is another way to define the plugin menu by hand. Interesting option but not typically the best
choice.

Video Tutorial: Plugin Selector and Favourite Plugins List⁴⁹

Plugin sorting:> (Options: Sort by manufacturer, Sort by category, Sort by disk location)
The default is “Sort by manufacturer.” Use this along with the Popup tree style Plugin selector.
You can try using category or disk location if you want to see if those work for you.
Show all plugins
This overrides any selections in the “Show” column of the plugin list on this page. Typically
leave this disabled if you want to be able to hide certain plugins.
Create plugin thumbnail images
This gives you a few different options to create pictures of plugin UIs for use in the visual plugin
selector. This will cause each plugin to be opened briefly while Waveform snaps a bitmap image.
You can alternatively create thumbnails by clicking on the camera icon on the header for any
plugin when it is open for normal use.
⁴⁹https://youtu.be/Ctw7KfCCo84
Chapter 70 - Reference: Settings > Plugins 359

Enable internal plugins: (Enable Legacy Plugins, Enable Artisan Plugins)

This features includes two different options to show or hide things from the plugin selector.

• With “Enable Legacy Plugins” enabled, you will see the FM Synth and Sampler from back in
the day. (Default = disabled)
• (Pro) With “Enabled Artisan Plugins” enabled, you will see the Artisan Plugins from AirWin-
dows. This allows Waveform Pro users to hide these plugins if desired. (Default = Enabled)

Enable plugin sandboxing

With sandboxing enabled, plugin run in a separate process. The idea is to separate plugins from
the main process so that a problematic plugin will not cause Waveform to crash. While this
is desirable there is some additional processing overhead when using this feature. For the best
performance, leave this feature disabled. If you have plugins that you want to sandbox turn this
on and enable sandboxing for potentially problematic plugins using the sandboxing column in
the plugins list. (Default = disabled)
Enable ReWire hosting
Some DAWs and audio software allow you route audio into them in realtime using ReWire. If
you want to use ReWire compatible software like a plugin in Waveform, then leave this enabled
(Default = enabled)

• Validate File…
• Validate Selected
• Add Tag
• Remove Tag
Chapter 72 - Reference: Settings >
Advanced
Advanced: This page includes technical options that can usually be left at the default settings.
Advanced users can tweak these settings to optimize performance, for diagnostics, or to tailor
Waveform for specific workflows.

Settings > Advanced

Chapter 72 - Reference: Settings > Advanced 361

Controls and Parameters on the Advanced Page by

Section:

Application
Feature set:> - Best available in Tracktion account - Pro - OEM - Free
Typically, leave this at “Best available in Tracktion account.” This feature is mostly to simplify testing.
Testers can select the edition without needing to reinstall the software and use multiple accounts.

Audio Engine
These features allow you to control various aspects when audio is processed.

Process audio tracks when muted

Typically leave this enabled for best responsiveness to muting and unmuting. Disable this to
free up some CPU processing.
Run audio engine when stopped
Typically leave this enabled. This is available for diagnostic purposes.
Stop all playback when application is minimized
Typically leave this enabled. Disable if you need Waveform to continue playback while
switching to other applications.
Stop other edits when changing tabs
Typically leave this enabled. This avoids the confusion of having other Edits playing back while
working on a different tab.

Automation
Glide
Waveform can optionally fade recorded automation curves into existing curves. Glide sets
the period over which the fade occurs. With Glide set to zero, no fade will be applied. The
purpose of Glide is to accommodate the slight mismatch in level between the end of your new
automation and the existing curve. If disabled you might hear an abrupt change in level or
click in this type of situation.
Simplify newly-recorded automation
When this option is enabled, automation curves are smoothed essential stripping unnecessary
points. Recorded automation often contains numerous points that are redundant or the result
of an unsteady hand. When disabled recorded automation is not altered.
Chapter 72 - Reference: Settings > Advanced 362

Experimental
Enable experimental Engine processing
The experimental engine (EE) changes the way mixing works to achieve much better delay
compensation for plugins, racks and buses. When fully tested, this will be the default. Ideally
leave this enabled unless you have problems.
Remove bypassed plugins from playback (reduced latency)
This can slightly reduce latency but might cause slight hesitation in the UI at times. Enable this
to optimize low latency performance.

Low Latency Mode

Max Monitoring Latency
This is the maximum allowed latency, when in low latency monitoring mode. If latency exceeds
this, Waveform will shut off some plugins. We suggest you leave this at the default 5 ms, as it
has no effect unless you engage low latency mode.
Low Latency Buffer Size
This is the alternative buffer size to use when in low latency mode. Leave this at the default
and don’t worry about it. This setting has no effect unless you engage low latency mode.

Tip: If you are curious about low latency mode, click the ‘i’ next to the Max Monitoring
Latency or Low Latency Buffer Size parameter. You enable low latency mode from the CPU
usage window which is opened by clicking on the icon in the upper right corner of the
Waveform window header.

CPU Usage Meter Icon

Internal Buffer Multiplier

Another setting related to low latency mode. Usually just leave this set at 1X and forget about
it.
Reset Low Latency Settings
If you change low latency setting and want to get back to the defaults, click to reset.
Chapter 72 - Reference: Settings > Advanced 363

MIDI
Use MIDI Driver for MIDI Timing
This is enabled by default. It is typically best to use the MIDI driver for timing. With this
disabled, Waveform uses your computer’s internal MIDI clock instead. If you experience jitter
you can try disabling this setting.
Send MIDI ‘all-Controllers-Off’ message on stop
This controls whether Waveform will send a reset message to MIDI devices when play stops.
This reduces the risk of stuck notes and is typically preferred. Some older MIDI devices react
strangely to this message. If you experience anomalies when playback stops, try disabling this
option.
Warn about lost MIDI notes on MIDI inputs
When this option is enabled, Waveform displays a warning message if MIDI notes are received
by a MIDI device that is not connected to a track.

Performance
CPU Cores to Use :This can be set from one to the number available. Usually you leave this at the
maximum cores available. The maximum is typically the number of CPU cores in your processor.
For processors that support simultaneous multithreading (what Intel calls “Hyper-threading”) this
number will be doubled. For example, if you run a four-core processor, the maximum cores will
be reported as eight. If you are running some other software alongside Waveform that needs to
share CPU power, then you can reduce this number to leave some cores open for other tasks. For
example, you might want to keep 1 or 2 cores free are when live streaming or screen recording while
demonstrating Waveform.

Use 64-bit Maths When mixing Tracks

Normally this setting is left on, especially if you have a modern fast computer. It adds track
outputs together using 64-bit samples rather than 32-bit. This avoids a noise floor build-up
from rounding errors. You probably won’t notice much difference if it’s on or off. If you have
a very old computer with limited CPU, leave it off. By default it’s off. I usually leave 64-bit
maths turned on.
Use Realtime Priority Mode (Windows)
Realtime priority mode can be enabled in Windows to make an application take precedence
over all other tasks that are running on the machine. This can mean that there’s less chance of
it glitching, but with most modern audio drivers it’s not necessary, and can even make things
glitch more often. It’s something to try turning on if you’re having playback problems, but is
best left turned off otherwise.(Default = disabled)

GUI Rendering Mode:> (Windows/Linux) * Open GL renderer * Software renderer

Allows your computer to use GPU graphics for faster and smoother user interface response. This
option will not appear for macOS users. Default is “Software renderer” however users with modern
PCs will probably want to try the Open GL option.
Chapter 72 - Reference: Settings > Advanced 364

Plugin Processing
Plugin scanning: Choices “Separate process” or “Main process” (Default = Separate process)
Leave this set to “Separate process”. This allow plugin scanning to proceed in the background
separated from the main functions of Waveform. If for some reason plugin scanning has some
problems, you can change this to “Main process” as a diagnostic.

Number of simultaneous plugin scans: Choices “1 -8 simultaneous scans. This option only appears
if you have Plugin scanning set to “Main process” as describe above. This allows you add scans
working in parallel. You can use this as a diagnostic. As said before, the best option is to set Plugin
scanning to “Separate process” above and then don’t worry about this option. (Default = 1)

Reset plugin scanning options to defaults

A quick way to set Plugin scanning options back to the defaults.

Source Files
Audio clip import:> * Ask if files should be copied into project * Always copy file into project * Only
copy files from external drives
When you drag audio files from the browser into the arrangement, this setting determines whether
or not not and under what conditions files get copied to the project folder. The preferred setting is
“Always copy file into project”. This allows keeps everything together in the most reliable way and
is easiest to back up.
The other options allow you to conserve disk space. “Ask if files should be copied into the project”
gives you the choice every time you import audio. While it seems like a reasonable option, it can get
annoying.
The final option, “Only copy files from external drives” is a compromise. If you drag in audio files
from a connected USB, Thunderbolt, or network drive, the files get copied into the project. Files that
are already local to your computer are not duplicated. This might seem like a good idea to save drive
space, but if you ever move a loop library, access to key files could be lost. In the age of huge drives,
the best option here is “Always copy file into project”.

Renaming also renames its source item

When enabled, renaming clips will cause the corresponding entry in the items list to be
renamed. Typically leave this disabled. You might want to turn this on to see the item list
on the project page show descriptive entries of takes or when authoring loop libraries. This
change is local to the project so you don’t need to worry about renaming files from external
libraries.
Rename Mode:>
Chapter 72 - Reference: Settings > Advanced 365

Always rename source file

Changing the name of an item will aways rename he source file, irrespective of where it is
located on your system. This can be dangerous, because if two or more projects make use of
the file, a simple clip rename in a one project will cause the other projects to lose the file. It
is best to stay away from this option. Changing clip names could alter names in your loop
libraries.
Only rename source file if it is in project folder
Changing the name of an item will only rename the source file if I is located in the project
folder. This is much safer but usually not necessary.
Never rename source file
Renaming a clip will never rename the file that contains the source material. This is the best
option for most users and most situations.

These options need more explanation because what is happening is more internal to the operation of
Waveform and not obvious. “Source item” is different than “Source file”. “Source Item” is the name
that is shown in the item list form the project. “Source file” is the file name on the disk
In an Edit clips are linked to the actual file on disk through named pointers. At a high level from
what you see in an Edit it looks like this: Clip -> Source item -> Source file (on disk)
Some users change these options when authoring loop libraries for example. The best approach is
to set this to “Never rename source file” and leave it alone.
Appendix A - Video Links
Listed below are links to helpful Waveform videos. Many are now featured on the Waveform website
and YouTube. For a complete commercial video series on T7 new features, check out Tracktion T7
Update Explained⁵⁰ from Groove3.com.
⁵⁰https://www.groove3.com/Tracktion-Software-training-video-tutorials/Tracktion-T7-Update-Explained
Appendix A - Video Links 367

Creating a Tempo Map

Punch In/Out on the fly

Tracktion Compressor Sidechain

Track Tags

Automation Improvements

Insert Plugin

Creating a Submix

Basic Audio Editing

Warp Time

Pitch Fade

Comp Groups

Merge Selected Clips

Step Clips Overview

Step Clips Velocity/Gate

Step Clips Randomize Each Step

Step Clips Groove

Step Clips Route Channels to Different Synths

Drag to Set the In-marker and Out-marker