Auto Cue

Location: Auto Cue button on tool window

Use the Auto Cue feature to automatically set cue points. If the button is selected, you can set options for detecting silence, such as marking quiet sections between songs. If the button is selected, you can set a fixed interval, such as placing cue points every 5 minutes.

The button on the tool window can be used later to split a file into individual pieces based on the cue points.

Existing cue points are not changed or removed. Use the Delete All button on the tool window first if you do not want to use any of the existing cue points.

A single cue is added in the center of each detected silent region.

The Threshold value sets the volume level for the silence. In most cases, like vinyl recordings, the value should be -40dB or higher so that any background hiss, pops, or clicks will be treated as silence. Otherwise no silence would be marked at all. If you find that no cue points appear, try increasing this value to -30dB or higher. If you find that too many points appear, delete them, then decrease this value or change the values below. Using the or filter effect first may improve silence detection.

The Silence length value determines how much silence is required before it is marked. Some songs contain brief silences that you usually do not want marked. This value helps to avoid marking any brief pauses within a song. Try values between 1.0 to 1.5 seconds to ignore these brief silences and only mark longer silences between songs.

The Minimum separation between cues value defines the minimum amount of time between one cue point and the next. If you know all the songs are longer than 2 minutes, then you can set this value to 2:00 to ensure no silences within a song are marked. All cue points will be at least two minutes apart.

The Cue placement within area value specifies where to place the cue point within the detected silent area. A value of 0 means at the beginning, a value of 100 means at the end. By default, a value of 50 places the cue point in the center of the silence area.

Cue points are added at the specific interval, starting at the given time.

The Start time value sets the time to begin marking the file. If you enter 1:00, then the first cue point is inserted at time 00:01:00 in the file. Normally this value would be zero.

The Interval value specifies the time interval to use between each cue point. A value of 5:00 would set cue points at five minute intervals (00:05:00, 00:10:00, 00:15:00, etc.).

The Cue naming options specify how cue points will be named as they are added. If Time based is selected, then the name of each cue point is set to its time position within the file. A cue point added at two minutes into the file, for example, will have the name 2:00.00000. If Numbered is selected, then each cue is sequentially numbered as they are added. The names will be 001, 002, 003, etc. The starting number depends on how many cue points are already in the file. If Lettered is selected, then each cue point is named alphabetically, with three letters, such as AAA, AAB, AAC, etc. The starting name depends on how many cue points are already in the file.

See Also