In the style of Cubase’s Chord Pads, new midi input devices for 3 new types of direct-to-track notation. Arpeggiator, Drum Sequencer, Melody Sequencer.
-Lower Zone consoles for Midi - Arp Console. Continuing in the line of Chord Pads/Players which act on a midi input which allows the processed input midi to be directly transferred to the active track for recording, an ‘Arpeggiator’ console would be a nice addition. Often when one would like to work with arpeggios you would use a midi plugin. The downside of this is that is requires routing setup, and you can’t share the settings across multiple tracks without duplications and management of those instances. If there was an Arpeggio Console you could more easily manage an assortment of arpeggios for your entire project in one place and quickly and easily record to whichever tracks you want.
-Lower Zone console for XOX type drum sequencer. I have often written posts of the limitations to using the Midi Insert pattern sequencers. In comparisons to other scenarios where pattern drum sequencing is desired, there are much better options than to use Cubase’s Midi Inserts. Usually, I find I just want to get straight to some patterns then begin dropping them to various tracks immediately - not wanting to create them for every track and the management that goes along with that. Having an LZ pattern sequencer would be a fantastic option for Cubase to allow for even better compositions and drum creation to patterns of notes directly onto any midi capable track in Cubase.
-Lower Zone console for XOX type melody sequencer. I always find that using quick and elegant melody sequencers extremely useful and fun but find that managing obscure VST plugins to be a big pain. Plugin developers stop updating or issues arise after DAW updates leaving projects not able to load correctly. I think a melody sequencer Console device would be fantastic to quickly allow for easy input of melodies which can be programmed by step-input or simply a mouse. No dummy tracks required, no extra plugins needed. Allow definable melodic phrases to be played and improvised by an internal sequencer and recording/played directly to any midi capable track in Cubase.
+1 I like all of you suggestions, but my thought has always been that it would be cool to expand the Chord Pad tab into more of a modular midi performance module. Maybe you would prefer separate tabs for each of the modules you described but I would like to see them combined so that they could be routed in creative ways. Either way, I agree that removing the current routing hassle of would definitely improve the workflow.
Below are some suggestions I made in the Cubase 8 forum a while ago in regards to adding more performance features to the Chord Pad section…
The Chord Pad module has so many possibilities like:
Adding a programmable arp w/ user presets (the chords from the pads would feed notes to the arp or you could turn the chords off and use the arp by itself). I realize this can be with a separate arp, but why not combine the features for the sake of better workflow.
Adding a programmable strum/chord pattern and strum/chord roll speed w/ user presets. Again this could be fed from the chord pads or the chords turned off to use a live midi input.
Assigning midi phrases to a pad (allow a different phrase on each pad or transpose one pattern across all of the pads) w/ user presets. Allow drag and drop of phrases from the arranger window. Essentially making this a midi phrase sampler. I realize we have the ability to assign a midi phrase in the player section, but sometimes it would better to create something new than to search for something that fits the project.
Allow for more complex/two hand chords in the Chord Assistant
Allow the Chord Pad section to expanded in size to see these new performance features with the option to hide them instead of the current layout that you have to click into different tabs. Similar to how you can show/hide features in the other windows. I don’t like switching between back and forth between the chord and player view and the chord pad preset should be visible at all times. These items would not take up much screen real estate and would make the workflow much better.
Yup. That sounds cool, too. I guess it depends on whether or not they want to make it completely user-friendly and have some basic modules which do specific things and have very familiar interfaces or go full on to advanced with a sandbox of midi connectivity devices…
I think that between various parts of Cubase and Halion, everything already exists. It sure would be cool to have extra event filters, quick controls, and other modules to throw in the mix.
I agree that pretty much everything is already there from a technical standpoint. I hope Steinberg decides to put it together for us. I would love to have a strumming \ rhythm module similar to Orange Tree’s Evolution series built in to Cubase.