There is something I am trying to figure out if it’s possible and I’ve been searching all across the internet and forums. It’s simple actually: let’s say you have a piece in 4/4, but want to set one measure with a longer time signature for an extended gap, say 5/4.
Forgive me since I’m more of a Dorico user, but when doing this you can turn on “insert” mode and when you add 5/4, it moves all music down accordingly, effectively adding the one quarter note rest you would need in the music.
I’ve tried doing this with the Signature Track in Cubase and ensuring tracks are set to a musical timebase - the music stays put.
Maybe that’s not a paradigm employed by Cubase or DAWs – I am not sure. It would be nice if it is though, since added time signatures inserted in the middle of music can be helpful with scoring to picture among other reasons. If it’s not possible, what is the best workaround method?
Take a look on the manual pages about the tempo track and time signatures.
That would be the first place where I would start, since the tempo track is made for tempo changes.
Could be audio but in my scenario most often just midi! However, adding or modifying time signatures doesn’t appear to have a result with the music on the timeline (only changes the grid).
Yes, I think this can work for me! I just tested it with my basic example, creating my 5/4 then with a 1/4 range selected on the grid, inserting silence moved all my music down to resume on the downbeat of the 4/4 measure as expected (effectively creating the quarter note rest I was seeking). I didn’t know if there was a more automated way to do this, but perhaps I can figure out a macro (still learning my way around). But all in all this is great, thanks for your help.
Excellent, this indeed worked. Required some fiddling but Process Type: “Replace Bars” did exactly what I want, when selecting a measure I want and change to 5/4 - it then rippled all the music down accordingly, leaving all at the same tempo.
Reinterpret bars will also be handy - turns out that keeps the overall timing of the sequence the same, converts the selection to the new signature, and then automatically adjusts tempo to account for the required math to make up that time.
