Editing Tab (Audio Files Preferences)

Display

Show Overview When Opening New Audio Files

If this option is activated and you open an audio file, the overview is also displayed. If this option is deactivated, only the main view is displayed.

Show Overview for Mono and Stereo Files Only

If this option is activated, the overview window is displayed when opening mono and stereo files, and hidden when opening multichannel audio files. To show the overview for multichannel audio files, click at the top of the main window and drag down.

Overview: Passive Range Indicator Also Covers the Waveform

If this option is activated, the range indicator that is displayed in the time ruler of the overview also covers the waveform area. Unlike the time ruler indicator, the range indicator is passive and cannot be modified.

Analog Waveform Emulation at Sample Level Zooming

If this option is activated and a waveform is zoomed at the sample level in the timeline, an analog emulation of the waveform is displayed.

Auto-Zoom for Overviews

If this option is activated and you open an audio file, the zoom of the overview is set to display the whole file.

Display File Extension on Tabs

If this option is activated, tabs display file names with their extension. For example, “piano.mp3” instead of “piano”.

Number of Seconds to Display on Opening

Allows you to specify the time range to display when opening an audio file for the first time. WaveLab Elements converts this time range to the appropriate zoom factor.

Whole Audio File

If this option is activated, the horizontal zoom is set to display the whole file.

Process Whole File If There is No Selection

If this option is activated and a process is to be applied to an audio file, the whole file is processed if no audio is selected. In the same situation, if the option is deactivated, a warning appears.

Allow Undoing Edits after Saving File

If this option is activated, you can undo edits after you have saved the file. You can deactivate this option if you want to use less disk space or if you want to remove all temporary files when saving the file.

Playback Scrubbing

Restrict to Play Tool

If this option is activated, this function only works if the Play Tool is used.

Sensitivity

Allows you to set the micro audio loop duration that is performed when you move the mouse cursor over the time ruler.

Snap Selection to Zero-Crossing

Do Not Snap at High Zoom Factors

If this option is activated, snapping does not occur if the waveform is displayed at a high zoom factor.

Scan Range

Allows you to define how far WaveLab Elements searches a zero-crossing point in the left and right direction.

Upward Crossing Point/Any Crossing Point

Allows you to choose whether you want WaveLab Elements to detect any zero crossing point in the audio (Any Crossing Point), or to limit the search to zero crossing points that mark an upward slope (Upward Crossing Point).

Note

We recommend choosing Upward Crossing Point for loop selections. Note that, as only positive slopes are taken into account, selecting this option generates fewer results, with a greater distance between the individual zero crossing points, than Any Crossing Point.

Loudness Waveform Overlay

AES-17 Scaling

With this option activated, the RMS Loudness of a sine wave matches its peak value.

Tip

To clearly distinguish between the RMS Loudness and the peak values of an audio signal, we recommend deactivating this option, as this slightly reduces the height of the loudness display.

Resolution

Allows you to set the duration of audio slices for RMS Loudness processing. The lower the value, the more closely the display matches the peaks; the higher the value, the less responsive it is to peaks.

Tip

To highlight highly dynamic sections, with a significant difference between peaks and loudness, we recommend setting a higher value.

Note

Changing the resolution results in rebuilding the display for all audio images.