Suppose you’re working on a project with loops, and the
tempo of the loop that you are using is different to the tempo of the project
that you are working on. If you go forward with this same loop without adjusting the tempo, your song might not sound very nice. 

You need to correct the tempo, stretch and join according to the song and make it sound better. Cubase’s AudioWarp provides you with a solution to fix the loop automatically or by manual methods. 

AudioWarp to the Rescue

AudioWarp is an editing tool that helps you to match your
loops to your project’s tempo and beat using automation or manual setup. Using
this feature, you’ll be able to fix loops and also add swing effects and
other effects to loops.

If the loop has straight beats or clear beats, you can use
the Musical Mode to fix the loop automatically. Musical Mode allows you to
stretch and cut down the loops to fit the project tempo automatically. It uses
real-time stretching to lock the loops. 

If you want to change
the tempo of the song later, you can change it and the loop will automatically
adjust to the new tempo. You will not have to worry about matching the loop to
the tempo again. This way, you can concentrate on creating music and worry less
about fixing music.

In order to activate Musical Mode, double-click the loop and select the AudioWarp feature in the Inspector of the Editor window.
Activate the Musical Mode by clicking on the Quarter note symbol.

You can also activate it from the Pool window. Open the Pool window from the Media menu or press Ctrl-P. Here, select the required loop
from the Audio folder. You can activate the Musical Mode by checking the box
under Musical Mode. This will make the loop playback at the specified tempo of
the whole project and it will change according to the tempo changes made in the
project.

After processing the loop through the Musical Mode, if you
feel that the loop is not sounding how you want it to sound, select
the manual mode for correcting the loop.

Editing in Manual Mode 

The Manual Mode is very useful if you find that the automatic
matching does not sound satisfactory or if your loop is too complex to be
matched automatically. In order to active the Manual Mode, open the loop in the
Editor by double clicking the loop and activate Manual Adjust from the
Definition menu in the Inspector. You’ll also have to set the grid for your
project according to the beat. 1/4 to 1/16 is pretty much what you need for
editing simple loops or moderately complex loops.

Once you’ve activated the Manual Mode, listen to the loop and
find the start of the bar. Go to the start of the loop and put the cursor
over the loop, the cursor will change to a green color and Set Grid Start option will appear. Click and drag it to the first beat of the loop and keep it
there. Now the loop will start playing and the Grid will have started from the
place that you placed the green cursor.

Move on to the next beat. Listen to the loop and find
where the next downbeat is. Once you’ve found that, Control-click on the grid
and set the Stretch Bars to the downbeat. Now the second bar is also set. All
the grid positions will automatically move according to the new setting. If you
feel that some bars are not in the right place, you can adjust the grid to fix it.
If the beats are not in the right place, select the grid for the beats and drag
it to fit the tempo and the timing.

See what each function in the grid does and how it
affects the loop. The first one that you notice is the Set Grid Start. It is
usually seen at the start of the loop. You can drag it anywhere to mark the
beginning of the loop. This means that the loop will start playing from the
location that you set up the Set Grid Start marker.

Adjust Beat Position is the next one that you might
notice. It is blue in color and will help you to change the position of
individual beats. This will not affect the surrounding beats if they are
locked. This function helps you to fix timing problems or non-alignment of the
beat to the grid.

Stretch Bars is used for setting the start of the next bar
from the beat positions. You have to select it using the Ctrl key and click on
the bars. The marker will change to red color and you can move it around to fix
on the position of the next bar. All the surrounding grid positions will be
adjusted according to what you set here.

Stretch Previous/Move Next is usually shown at the bars.
You can move it around to set the position of the next bar. The marker would be
in a pinkish color. The rest of the bars and the beats will be changed
accordingly.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, I’ve shown you how to correct timing
problems and to enhance loops to stay on time. With AudioWarp, you can
also change the feel of the loop by adding Swing and grid effects. If you feel
that the loop is not in the right lock, you can either use automatic or manual
correction methods to make the loops sound perfect. 

So the next time that you are
doing a remix or redoing a song and find that the loops are causing you
trouble, correct and fix them using AudioWarp and make the song sound more
solid and tight instantly. 

Remember that you can always reset the loop in case
you mess up something and want to start from the top again. Use the Reset option under AudioWarp. With this knowledge, go on and make all your loops and
samples stay perfect in time and make your music awesome.