Waveform Editor Quick Start

Using the Waveform Editor, you can edit Sound Waves with basic transformations, such as trim fade and normalization.

The Waveform Editor is not intended to replace a traditional digital audio workstation (DAW).

Prerequisites

• The Waveform Editor plugin is disabled by default. To enable it, open the Plugin panel by selecting Edit > Plugins, use the search bar to find the plugin, and then select the corresponding checkbox.
• This guide also requires you to have a Sound Wave asset in your project. See Importing Audio Files for information on how to create Sound Waves.

1 - Open the Waveform Editor

To edit your Sound Wave asset, you need to open the Waveform Editor.

1. Right-click the Sound Wave file you want to edit in the Content Browser.
2. Select Edit Waveform from the context menu. This opens the Waveform Editor in a new window.

2 - Get Familiar with the UI

Now that you have the Waveform Editor open, take a moment to get familiar with the user interface.

1. File Controls: Save the current Sound Wave or locate it in the Content Browser.
2. Transport Controls: Play, pause, and stop the active Sound Wave.
3. Zoom Controls: Zoom the waveform in or out.
4. Export Options: Export the current edits to another Sound Wave asset or change the channel format (mono or stereo).
5. Processing Panel: View or apply waveform transformations.
6. Details Panel: View or modify the Sound Wave asset details.
7. Time Ruler: Display the timing of the current Sound Wave or track and change playback by moving the playhead.

You can change colors, line thickness, and other display settings for the Waveform Editor in Editor Preferences > Waveform Editor Display.

3 - Trim Fade

You can use the Trim Fade transformation to edit timing and add fades to the beginning and end of a sound.

1. Find the Transformations array in the Processing panel.

2. Click Add Element to add a transformation to the array.

   

   The Add Element button

3. Select Waveform Transformation Trim Fade from the new index's dropdown.
4. Expand the transformation properties by clicking the arrows on the left of the index, the Trim group, and the Fade group.
5. Change the Trim properties to your liking.
   • Start Time: The time (in seconds) to start the trimmed sound.
   • End Time: The time (in seconds) to stop the trimmed sound.
6. Change the Fade properties to your liking.
   • Fade-In Duration: The duration (in seconds) of the fade-in.
   • Fade-In Curve: The shape of the fade-in.
   • Fade-Out Duration: The duration (in seconds) of the fade-out.
   • Fade-Out Curve: The shape of the fade-out.

You can use your mouse to control the properties of the Trim Fade transformation.

• Drag the trim boundary to change the Start Time and End Time.
• Drag from the top-left corner to change the Fade-In Duration.
• Drag from the top-right corner to change the Fade-Out Duration.
• Scroll the mouse-wheel over a fade line to change the Fade Curve.

4 - Normalize

You can use the Normalize transformation to apply a constant amount of gain to target a maximum volume level. By doing this after the Trim Fade transformation, the normalization will apply only to the trimmed section of the waveform.

1. Find the Transformations array in the Processing panel.
2. Click Add Element to add another transformation to the array.
3. Select Waveform Transformation Normalize from the new index's dropdown.
4. Expand the Transformation properties by clicking the arrows on the left of the index and the Normalization group.
5. Change the Normalization properties to your liking.
   • Target: The target maximum volume (in decibels).
   • Max Gain: The maximum gain to apply.
   • Mode: The type of analysis used to find the peak value.

5 - Export the Edits

Once you've made your edits, you can export the edited waveform to a new Sound Wave asset.

1. Click Export Options and select your desired channel format.

   

   The Export Options button

2. Click the Export button. A Save Content window appears.

   

   The Export button

3. Click Save Selected in the Save Content window.
4. Using the Content Browser, you can now find the new edited Sound Wave asset in the same directory as the original with _Edited appended to its original name.
5. If you want to rename the asset, right click and select Rename from the context menu.

Result

Your edited Sound Wave asset is now ready for use in your project.

You can set default transformations to be applied every time the Waveform Editor is opened within Editor Preferences > Waveform Editor Transformations.