Contents 1 What's new 1 2 Changelog 2 3 Introduction 4 3.1 System requirements......................................... 6 4 Getting Started 7 5 The Interface 11 5.1 The Toolbars.............................................. 12 5.1.1 The Tool Settings toolbar................................... 12 5.1.2 The Tools toolbar....................................... 12 5.1.3 Transport ........................................... 23 5.2 Waveform Display and overview bar ................................. 23 5.3 Spectral Display............................................ 24 5.4 Panels................................................. 25 5.4.1 The Display panel ...................................... 25 5.4.2 The History panel ...................................... 26 5.4.3 The Channels panel ..................................... 26 5.4.4 The Layers panel....................................... 27 5.5 Preferences.............................................. 30 5.5.1 Device ............................................ 30 5.5.2 Interface ........................................... 30 5.5.3 Display ............................................ 31 5.5.4 System ............................................ 32 5.5.5 Shortcuts........................................... 33 5.6 Saving and recalling layouts...................................... 33 CONTENTS ii 6 Working with projects 35 6.1 Creating a new project ........................................ 35 6.2 Opening a project or an audio file .................................. 35 6.3 Importing an audio file as a layer................................... 36 6.4 Recording to a layer ......................................... 36 6.5 Adding a new layer .......................................... 36 6.6 Grouping layers............................................ 36 6.7 Inserting time ............................................. 37 6.8 Deleting time ............................................. 37 6.9 Merging layers ............................................ 38 6.10 Resampling a project ......................................... 38 6.11 Reinterpreting a project........................................ 38 6.12 Exporting your mix .......................................... 39 6.13 Editing with ARA ........................................... 39 6.14 Editing with Pro Tools......................................... 39 6.15 Saving a project............................................ 40 6.16 Saving and renaming a project .................................... 40 7 Viewing and selecting spectral data 41 7.1 Measuring spectral data........................................ 43 7.2 Positioning the cursor......................................... 45 7.3 Selecting spectral data ........................................ 45 7.4 Adjusting a selection ......................................... 50 8 Modifying spectral data 52 8.1 Erasing spectral data ......................................... 52 8.2 Cloning spectral data ......................................... 52 8.3 Drawing a frequency ......................................... 53 8.4 Drawing noise............................................. 53 CONTENTS iii 9 Processing spectral data 54 9.1 Generating silence .......................................... 54 9.2 Generating a tone........................................... 54 9.3 Generating noise ........................................... 55 9.4 Adjusting the volume of a selection.................................. 55 9.5 Mixing channels............................................ 55 9.6 Reducing noise ............................................ 56 9.7 Reducing reverb (Pro only) ...................................... 56 9.8 Spectral Imprinting : casting and molding (Pro only)......................... 57 10 Working with metadata 60 10.1 Editing information .......................................... 60 10.2 Editing markers and regions ..................................... 60 11 Tips 62 11.1 Shortcuts ............................................... 62 11.2 Integration with DAWs and Samplers................................. 64 11.3 Editing in an external editor...................................... 68 11.4 Command line options......................................... 69 Index 70 Chapter 1 What's new New features in version 6.0 • ARA2 Integration • Reworked interface and look • New Advanced Selection System • New Move tool • New Master Mute and Solo in the Layers and Channels panels • New Target Active Layer Color switch and new Standard and Compact layout mode in the Layers panel • Frequency and Harmonics selection tool tracking improved See also Changelog The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media except as specifically allowed in the License Agreement. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced, or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. Registered licensees of the product described herein may print one copy of this document for their personal use. All product and company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective owners. For more information, please visit www.steinberg.net/trademarks. © Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, 2019. All rights reserved. Chapter 2 Changelog Release 6.0.30.201 (2020/01/10) • New Elements edition • Edition name (Pro/Elements) is now shown in ARA mode too • Save As/Export use the project folder by default • Playback is no longer stopped when the playhead is repositionned during playback • Fix a rare crash when initializing ARA • Fix undo not behaving properly after a group with layers is created • Fix undo not behaving properly when using paste to new layer • Fix ARA playhead synchronization when multiple regions are edited • Fix ARA layer activation when multiple regions are edited • Fix the AAX plugin not properly transferring data • Fix brush settings Release 6.0.20.195 (2019/11/01) • New customization settings for the selection display: border style and blending mode • Display settings, units and playhead position are now saved within project files • Better shortcuts management • Mouse wheel navigation can be customized • Shortcuts presets can be saved and loaded • macOS Catalina compatibility improved • Better auto assignment of channels from devices with more than 2 channels • Auto check graphic cards and graphic drivers capabilities • Handle more high-dpi screen ratios • Smoother playhead synchronization in ARA mode 3 • Fix crash on older macs (2009 and 2010) • Fix progress dialog not disappearing in ARA mode in some cases • Fix brush settings saving • Fix return to stop position in ARA • Fix wav markers and metadata import and export and big wav export • Minor graphic fixes • Documentation update Release 6.0.10.192 (2019/07/16) • New Copy to New action in the Edit menu • Up to 10 times faster selection engine • Fix a crash with imprinting (casting/molding) • Fix a crash occuring when processing very long selections (>30min) • Activating Move tool with long selection (>3min) now show a dynamic progress bar during selection preparion • Fix Move tool deleting repeatedly content if used during ARA playback or clicked outside its boundaries • Fix undo after Cut to New and Paste to New • Fix tracking limit bug with frequency and harmonics selection tool • Fix brief dialog flickering on startup and when creating a new project • When reformatting a project, properly default to current channel configuration • Documentation update Release 6.0.0.190 (2019/07/03) • Initial release Chapter 3 Introduction Spectral... In most audio applications, audio is displayed as a waveform that represents audio in the time domain (amplitude vs. time): This representation shows the global power of sound; however it doesn't show what's inside the sound. Spectral data represents sound in the frequency domain. You can think of it like a musical score: the higher the peaks, the higher the tones; the stronger the peaks, the stronger the tones. Everything can be analyzed with this representation: music, voice, even noise. Spectral analysis uses discrete FFT sampling: you have to choose between time and frequency accuracy. A FFT Size of 2048 or 4096 is usually good for most situations (with a file sampled at 44,100 Hz or 48,000 Hz). Feel free to change the size on the fly as the accuracy of your work highly depends on it. You should also play with the multiplier and gamma settings to see the small peak details in the spectral view. ...Layers The layer system allows you to refine your work extensively in a nondestructive way, thanks to the additive and subtractive nature of layer mixing. If you cut and paste data from one layer to a different layer, you add the layers nondestructively: the sum of the two layers is identical to the source data, but you have full control over the mute/volume state of the data you extracted to that new layer. If you copy and paste data from one layer to a different layer, and then invert the phase of that new layer, you subtract the layers nondestructively: the first layer still contain all the original data, and the new, inverted layer acts to subtract the original data. When this negative layer is muted, you get your original data back. The volume of this inverted layer controls how much you want to mask from the original data. 5 Processes and Tools Processes work the same way they do in usual audio