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● Knowledge Base · Panels

Marker Panel Standard / Ultra

Edit and create four types of markers on the waveform — cue points, regions, loops, and sync points.

Marker Panel

What are markers used for? Music editors use them to flag tempo or mood changes. Sound designers use them to mark a favorite whoosh out of a take of 10, so they can find it instantly next time.

Marker types

Marker types
  • Cue Marker — single or looped (orange)
  • Region Marker (purple)
  • Loop Region (blue)
  • Sync Point (yellow)

Create markers from the panel’s marker buttons or with keyboard shortcuts.

Cue Marker (orange)

Standard markers stored in the CUE chunk, written by tools like Wavelab, SoundForge, OcenAudio, REAPER. Press M to drop a cue at the current playhead, or to mark a selection with In/Out times.

Pro Tools doesn’t read CUE-chunk markers (last we checked).

Region Marker (purple)

Marks a waveform selection with start and end positions for one-shot playback. Designed to highlight a section of a longer file.

Loop Marker (blue)

Sets a loopable region. Most DAWs support these as sustained-playback loop regions. Within basehead, playback loops between the markers when triggered.

Sync Point (yellow)

The only marker on the panel not written to the CUE chunk — sync points are stored in the iXML chunk as <AudioSyncPoint>. Designed to set a sync reference when spotting files to a track. Most major DAWs support it now.

To insert a sync point: hold Alt / Cmd + click on the waveform.

Sync point on waveform

Auto-Write

Auto-Write toggle

Sync Points always write into the file immediately. The other marker types write based on the Auto-Write option:

  • Auto-Write ON — playback stops and the marker is written the moment you create it.
  • Auto-Write OFF — markers buffer in memory. Press Write to commit them all at once. Recommended when adding multiple markers per file — much faster than writing each one.

Walkthrough video

Older video, but still relevant.

FAQ

I hear an old aXML region playing but can’t see it.

Some older rogue markers may be lurking in the file. Press Ctrl+M to wipe them.

How do I disable showing markers?

The Waveform Options panel has a Disable Markers option that hides them in the waveform but keeps them visible in the panel list.

Are markers searchable?

Yes — create a search field, set it to [markers], and you can search marker text. Files must have been scanned in v2024 or later for this to work.