This is the stupidest thing, and I feel like a complete numbskull, but there’s something very basic that I’m just not getting in Wavelab:
I have two clips butted up against each other, there is plenty of audio outside of the boundaries of both clips, now I just want to select across the edit some arbitrary length (say one second), and place an equal power xfade the length of the selection. How?? I can drag the clips across each other and have Wavelab auto-create fades, but that’s not what I want. I can manually drag the fade in and fade out handles to create fades, but surely there’s a way to just place a crossfade across an edit without faffing about like that.
Where is the command for this in Wavelab’s montage? I’ve looked everywhere and searched the manual but I just can’t find it. I know I’m gonna feel really stupid when it’s pointed out to me, but such is life…
I’m honestly not sure if this is possible but if it is, maybe PG or somebody can weigh in.
If I need to crossfade two clips to blend them, I usually drag one edge over the other, to create the crossfade, and then you can hold shift and drag to change the length/size of the crossfade, or hold command and drag to change the placement of the crossfade.
Thanks Justin! That’s helpful actually. I’m hoping someone else jumps in with knowledge about this. I mean, I’ve been editing in about every DAW out there for decades and I’m just so used to butting clips against each other for timing, then selecting across for desired length, pressing a hot key and having your default fade applied - then tweaking fade location/shape/length as desired to fine tune. Would love to know what the “Wavelab-approved” way of doing this kind of editing is.
If it’s not possible, it seems like a valid request. If it is possible, it seems to be hidden enough that I’ve just gotten used to dragging to create the crossfade, and then using the key commands to edit the length and/or placement of the crossfade.
There are also Automatic Crossfade settings but I’m not sure of a way to apply a crossfade when two clips are butted up.
Yeah, the other side of the workflow is applying a desired crossfade shape / length across multiple edits with a batch command - used on a daily basis here: Go through a track moving notes around clip by clip, then once it’s all done, batch crossfade across the 50 or 60 clip boundaries with (for example) 10msec Xfades so there’s no glitches. Must be a way…
There is no shortcut for this, but there is a facility: place the mouse cursor while pressing Alt + Shift exactly at the limit between the two clips. Then drag horizontally. This is how the cursor should look like:
However, while testing this, I found a small bug: the xfade with be made with linear fades and not with the default xfade shapes that you might have defined as default.
This being said, to have a one button click function to achieve the same, is a feature I could welcome in the future.
OK, thanks so much for that! All very helpful. I guess I’m not feeling so dumb now… I had seen the shortcuts for altering/moving existing fades (though I don’t see the “alt-shift” one in the manual) but it’s good to have them spelled out again here. The thing I was missing was a way to create a symmetrical fade across an edit in the first place - definitely more work than I’m used to, and it precludes the possibility of batch crossfades, but at least I know the right way to do it and I can get by with this.
It does seem like a few things would be nice improvements: Perhaps a simple keystroke to create a crossfade the length of a selection, and the same keystroke perhaps for batch crossfading that pulls up a shape and duration dialog when the selection includes multiple edits.
Ah, re-reading this I see it’s very useful and is a partial solution! I do have to then move it since it’s not centered on the edit - still that’s great to have. FWIW, it actually does seem to use the default I’ve set (equal power) here.
Did I just miss this in the manual, or is it not there?
Thank you! BTW, I am also seeing some squirreliness in the “shift-alt drag” workflow - sometimes it seems to get my default (equal power) and sometimes comes up equal gain…might just be my unfamiliarity with the whole fade tab, but not sure.
