This is an issue with Interpolate Audio Waveforms.
This function should be modified such as the anti-aliasing does not occur on samples that have a value of 0 (silence).
I think this is simply related to the anti-aliasing threshold, just like in video games, should be fairly easy to fix, this just has to reach the devs.
Additionally, when you are in the Lower Zone Sample Editor and Interpolate Audio Waveforms is enabled, editing audio can cause the anti-aliasing to turn off until you click somewhere else on the waveform. (Just to remove any confusion, I’m speaking about the new Cubase 12 feature “Smooth waveform drawing”. The issue is only about that and does not concern the smoothing of the samples curve when you zoom in close enough)
How to reproduce that :
With the Select tool, select some audio, then click outside of the selection range but hold your click.
The blue box will disappear but you’ll notice that the content that were selected will not be anti-aliased until you release the click.
Resizing the Lower Zone Sample Editor also causes this issue.
All of the above do not happen with the windowed Sample Editor.
Sure, but still, why are the silence lines still bold when interpolate is enabled ? Since there is nothing to interpolate, the line should be thin. The interpolate function is supposed to smooth out the edges of the waveform, not making it bold when there is nothing to smooth out.
I think you are completely misunderstanding the issue.
On that post you show the difference between Cubase 11 and Cubase 12 :
If it is already turned off then why does the Cubase 12 image shows that it is clearly enabled ?
In the Cubase 11 image, the waveform is pixelated because it is disabled, but in the Cubase 12 image it clearly looks like it is activated.
If you Enable / Disable it on Cubase 12, do you see any change in the waveform display ?
If no, that means the interpolate function may be stuck to enabled, even if you disable it.
Sorry to disagree but the issue here is clearly caused by the Interpolate Audio Waveforms function.
So let’s recap :
There are two bugs :
MAC : Interpolate Audio Waveforms is stuck to the enabled position internally.
PC (MAC ? but because of the first issue it may not happen) : Editing the audio in the Sample Editor when Interpolate Audio Waveforms is enabled can cause the waveform display to revert to a non-interpolated state.
And one feature request (improvement?) :
Make silences not bold when Interpolate Audio Waveforms is activated
Interpolates sample values to form curves when you zoom in to one sample per pixel or less.
I don’t think this preference has anything to do with this. Maybe, @Louis_R, you are using the right term for what you see on the screen, but Cubase’s preference “Interpolate Audio Waveforms” has a very narrow meaning as you see. It’s not a general graphics setting. (I believe)
The waveforms can now be displayed smooth. It’s a new feature called “Smooth waveform drawing” that was added in Cubase 12 and is enabled with Interpolate Audio Waveforms in Preferences.
Interpolate Audio Waveforms now does two things :
When the waveform is zoomed out, it processes it with anti-aliasing to smooth out sharp pixels, just like in video games. As a result it makes the outline a bit thicker because it creates new gradient pixels in between so the waveform display is no longer pixel-perfect. This is more or less apparent depending on the zoom level when the waveform “merges” or not, and on your screen resolution.
When you zoom in enough to see the samples, it joins them with a curved line instead of flat steps. That’s what this setting did for many years and still does.
He kept talking about those silences being rendered thicker, but even after posting screenshots several times, never noticed the difference between aliased (C11) and smooth (C12) waveforms.
So, here are new screenshots so you guys can see better :
So finally, what @pgstudio complains about is that in the MAC version of Cubase 12, disabling Interpolate Audio Waveforms does not work and it stays on all the time.
Can you guys confirm those bugs once for all ?
And agree that the following could be an improvement ?
This function was added in Cubase 12 .
In previous versions it was just smoothing the samples at high zoom levels.
Now it also smooths the waveform globally.
We are aware of the issue and working on a fix for the next update. Actually it’s just one pixel. The silence line was one pixel and with the interpolated waveforms its two pixels in height.
Funny how the tiniest things can actually make a big difference. Perhaps that indicates just how mature Cubase has become. People are beyond “controlling a computer application” and are more in the mode of living organically with the software. Even a small distraction breaks that mental bond.
I don’t mean to get too metaphysical, but it is actually pretty cool.
I also checked and confirm that it is not fixed in 12.0.30. It has nothing to do with smooth waveform drawing either. That’s a red herring. For me, this causes me to revert to v11.
If I had Cubase 12 (only used trial for 30 days) I would open a support case. Everyone should who does not like thie new waveform display (which is really annoying).
Seeing CB12 in that state makes me already concerned that many things will be fixed with the new version release only. Being here with v11.0.x in “ok” (though there should have been more final maintenance updates even for 11).
That’s because you are on Mac, where Interpolate Audio Waveforms cannot be disabled because of a bug. It is enabled all the time even when the box is not checked.
Interpolate Audio Waveforms = Smooth Waveform Drawing, this is the same thing, in Cubase 12 Smooth Waveform Drawing was added as an improvement to Interpolate Audio Waveforms, but again since you are on Mac you can’t see the difference.
The official topic about these issues is that one, which includes all of the 3 issues related to the Interpolate Audio Waveforms setting :
