AI Assistant for Function and Preset Navigation

Cubase
1

As a long-time Cubase user, I would like to suggest a possible direction for AI integration.

Many AI discussions currently focus on music generation, composition, mixing, or mastering. However, I believe AI could also be very useful as a navigation and workflow assistant.

Modern versions of Cubase contain a huge number of features, menus, presets, instruments, and sound libraries. In many cases, the challenge is not creating music itself, but finding the right function or sound quickly.

Examples:

- “Where is Render In Place?”

- “How do I reverse an audio file?”

- “Show me the bass presets I use most often.”

- “Find a warm analog pad.”

- “Show similar sounds to this preset.”

- “Where is the automation write function?”

Many experienced users already know these functions exist, but sometimes forget where they are located because Cubase has become so feature-rich over the years.

For me, AI would be most valuable as a workflow assistant that helps users quickly find functions, presets, and sounds, allowing more time to focus on music creation instead of searching through menus and MediaBay.

Thank you for considering this idea.

2

Hi @FUJI001,

true, good point.
Ever growing complexity is an issue, I agree.

The traditional way would be to create own templates which have everything “on” and visible that a specific workflow or project type needs, including own macros, etc.

In this case, one can get along pretty well without a personal AI assistant. In this respect, the biggest hurdle has always been to take the time to really know and understand the full user manual, and to use as many time saving features in a productive context as it would make sense for the sake of a (professional) project, like own key commands, UI presets, section visibility, etc.

An “AI function finder” might not be a bad thing at all - but how would it change one’s perception of the software’s inner logic itself? How stable / persistant / reliable would one’s (hopefully growing) skill be? (open question)

Best,
Markus

3

I completely agree. I ask ChatGPT sometimes where I can find a certain feature or a menu in Cubase, but unfortunately, most of the time, it’s just wrong.

The problem is also that certain menus and hotkeys get moved or renamed in newer versions of Cubase, and this adds to the wrong information in AI.

It would be pretty useful to be able to explain in simple terms what it is you want to do, specifically, and have an AI assistant guide you to the right place in such a complex software as Cubase.

And especially when it comes to improving your workflow with hotkeys, macros, the logical editor and other useful features. This could save you all the extra button presses, mouse clicks and headaches, so you can focus more on the creation of music itself.

And honestly I wouldn’t mind additional AI features in the future, that could do specific technical tasks for you. You could say things like: “make the volume fade out on this selected midi part over the next 10 seconds” or “add reverb and chorus effects to these selected tracks”.

Or maybe even something more sophisticated like: “create a new track with a similar instrument as this one that I ranked as 5 stars in the Media Bay” or “create me a template that has a solo lead instrument, a bass, a hihat and some drums only using presets ranked as 4 stars or higher in the MB”.

I’m getting kind of offtopic here, but in my opinion, it would also be pretty awesome if you could hum or sing something and make AI convert it into midi notes. And then tell it something along the lines: “right after the “la di daaa” part, make this kind of automation and let me tweak it myself from there”.

4

Agreed +1

5

You’ve been using cubase for how long?

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You’ve never bothered to join the forum in this long time? You are interested in slightly faster queries but never asked a single thing here? The grammar of your post seems AI generated. Interesting story you got there.

Or is it big tech companies send propaganda to their competitors, like militaries’ bomb propaganda leaflets over the population centers of their adversaries.

Reverse an audio file? Did you get this idea from Image Line? Cause their main example for their gopher AI was asking it about reversing audio samples. My initial reaction was LOL if someone doesn’t even have enough work ethic to find the reverse button then give up.

Having onboard tools is a good thing I think. I don’t even like having online manuals. I like the old school way of the manual being baked right into the program, as they used to do it.

But since online manuals are 2% easier for pushing updates, it saves the companies’ sixty cents in labour cost, and so all us serfs have to suffer for the greed of the rich.

…

Let’s get out the stopwatch. We can run trial tests of how long it takes me to learn about something in cubase, using a web browser. Which they all have AI baked into the search engine too. So even the amount of time you spent on this request, you will never recover with the couple seconds here and there saved with an AI bot in the daw.

Ya, statistics and things like that are always helpful. But this is why I demand a proper metadata system for audio assets. We could quickly find answers with sorting and grouping etc.

This is why tags exist.

Is that really the strength of your desire for AI? Put it in the daw cause new features are hard to find? …Really?

The amount of grifting over AI, cause people don’t want to admit it’s lure is just an addiction to novelty. Which they initially aquired from social media and porn. It’s just slot machine gambling, nothing more noble than that.

Maximum AI integration is not as useful as people are claiming it is. Why not? Cause what it handles already existed anyway.

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6

Hi @ASUNDER,

IMO in the case of absolute beginners, a “beginner’s training module” wouldn’t be that bad, as long as it isn’t intended to “fully” (impossible anyway, haha! :laughing: ) replace human expert trainers and as long as the module itself could be switched off any time.

Another thing the OP didn’t even remotely touch, and which IS indeed a most serious topic: speech controlled UI for visually impaired musicians / engineers. The longer people live, the more their visual abilites can suffer from aging.

Also, as of now, Cubase is ZERO barrier-free, which means that not even OpenSource utilities for the visually impaired like NVDA(*) can access (or better :“not even reach”) UI functions, buttons, handlers, menus inside Cubase.

It seems as if visually impaired users just don’t exist from Steinberg’s point-of-view.
AI controlled navigation (voice control) could perhaps change that…

Cheers,
Markus

(*)
https://nvda.bhvd.de/
https://www.nvaccess.org/

7

I would love an assistant in Cubase. I’m still, after all these years, struggling to find the fastest, most efficient way to export film score stems. It is still a headache, even with all the incredible innovation Steinberg offers.

I bought Dorico not long ago and had no idea how some stuff worked. Google was a Godsent.

I don’t know if it is supposed to be AI, or whatever; some assistant would be good. However, I completely understand that this addition will be an unnecessary headache to Steinberg whose people are having better functions to improve and deal with for Cubase.

8

Hi @ASUNDER,

I simply haven’t asked about Cubase’s features before because I didn’t really need to. Not having asked questions here for a long time doesn’t make my opinion any less valid. I think it’s perfectly fine for anyone to ask a question for the first time.

You seem concerned about the text being AI-generated, but it actually *was* generated by an AI (laughs). English isn’t my native language, and considering how easily subtle nuances can be conveyed, it’s natural to use AI to organize my text.

The examples like reversed audio playback were simply chosen and presented by the AI to make the explanation easier to understand, so that specific detail isn’t particularly important.

However, whether learning Cubase is easy or difficult for beginners, it is inevitable that it takes time and effort to reach a point where they can use it effectively. Even when beginners learn by conversing with an AI, they will still need to search on Google themselves, so I think both are necessary steps.

Asking questions to an AI itself requires knowledge and skills, and understanding what the AI explains also requires experience, so I think beginners will struggle either way. However, I believe that conversation is a faster way to understand knowledge deeply. The younger generation has less resistance to using AI, so if we’re going to use it anyway, it would be more effective to implement AI directly into Cubase itself for higher accuracy.

I have always researched and learned about Cubase’s functions myself, taking notes and organizing my memos. As the number of notes increased, finding them became time-consuming, so I’ve recently started searching more. I’ve also started asking AI more questions, so I thought that if someone who has already studied and understood the software wants to increase their music creation time, it would be better if a highly accurate built-in AI could guide them, saving wasted time.

Regarding my opinion on having AI suggest sounds:

I’ve always kept a collection of my favorite sounds so I can quickly access them. But I think AI makes it easier to discover new timbres and sounds I hadn’t noticed before. Of course, it’s best to try out all the sounds yourself and use the ones that feel right, but time is limited. Being presented with sounds that are different from your own usual choices can be a new stimulus and lead to discoveries, so I think that’s fine too. Well, if you’re not comfortable with AI, then you don’t have to use it. Or maybe Steinberg could make it a selectable plugin.

The most important thing is that the time you have to experiment and try different things when creating music is crucial, so I think it’s okay to let AI help with the tedious parts. I make music while working my regular job, so I want to use my limited time effectively.

If AI makes mistakes in its support or diminishes essential human skills, then it will naturally be phased out anyway.

I don’t have any particular aversion to AI, so I was just making a simple suggestion. But I understand that, as you said, it’s important to hone your skills and improve them on your own.

Well, it was a good learning experience in terms of understanding the mindset of people who aren’t comfortable with AI.

9

Hi @Markus_Leuthel,

Thank you for your thoughtful question.

I also set up custom templates and macros for myself to save time, and they are incredibly useful because I can dive straight into music production whenever inspiration strikes. While I always try to register frequently used functions into my workflow or organize them in my notes, I still tend to forget features I haven’t used in a while.

Recently, I’ve been reviewing my workflow while conversing with AI, and I’ve noticed functions I had overlooked or hadn’t known about. This experience made me realize that conversation can be a powerful tool for discovering new things, which is what inspired me to suggest this AI feature.

Regarding your concerns about a potential decline in skills due to AI reliance, I don’t think it’s inherently a bad thing. Asking the right questions to an AI and deeply understanding its explanations actually require a high level of skill and experience. Even beginners will likely have to go through a process of trial and error just to figure out how to prompt the AI effectively. Conversely, understanding what the AI explains will still require a similar amount of practical experimentation.

While the ability to research and find useful articles on your own is undoubtedly important, I think that as AI becomes a standard part of our infrastructure, the younger generation will naturally rely less on traditional searching. Therefore, I believe the effort previously spent on searching will simply shift towards making new creative discoveries.

I think all creators are currently feeling the pressure, especially with the rise of tools like SUNO. However, we as human creators need to evolve, and I believe the most critical factor for that evolution is time. Ironically, in order to make the best use of our limited and precious time, I think it is highly effective to deliberately leverage AI. That is the core reason behind my suggestion.

Thank you again for your engaging question!

10

Alright, that’s fine. A month into it and I’m still a novice in this cubase learning curve myself. But I don’t see this as work. It’s the most enjoyable hobby of them all I think. So I wouldn’t want to trade the struggle for a shortcut anyway. The point in all this is the action forms us when we form the masterpiece. We are the end result of our lives, not the things we did. From glory to glory.

11

Hi, I’ve noticed you’ve created a similar thread to mine, since we’re on the same boat. It’d be great if you could support my thread by commenting and upvoting (you can see this in the left-hand corner at the beginning of the thread). I’ve done everything I mentioned in yours.

12

So when I’m reading something you wrote and replying I’m actually having a discussion with Open AI, not you. You’re a middleman in between me and the bot. The feature request is to *not have a middleman (web browser) to interact with AI, while you’re doing the very thing you’re asking to change in the daw.

Just as using Suno won’t make anyone better at music, using chatbots to help with your English will make sure you never get better at it.

Is this the same generation that doesn’t know what a woman is?

What do you mean “we” ?

I don’t know what a cubase zoom zap is so I typed it into a new browser tab. The AI thing gives an answer. I agree that is slightly faster than search engines we had before. And even a little faster than manually searching user manuals. But that’s all it is. The problem is inviting this directly onto our computers, and into our software. It’s a slippery slope. Today it’s user manual assistance. Tommorrow it’s make my drums for me. The next day it’s Suno and Cubase are the same thing.

The next day it’s you can’t login to Cubase cause your social credit score is insufficient. And your brain assistant battery is low, you have to recharge it.

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If something makes money then those who love money will always pursue that. It very much is a slippery slope.

Check out Sononym You might like it.

That’s what a MIDI keyboard is for. Orders of magnitude faster than experimenting with rectangles on a grid. MIDI controllers keep the wonderful process of making music, and can go fast as you can go.

If it is a cash cow, then no it will only increase. Look at the damage social media and smarphones have done. Have they phased out?

Because you’re fine with people being destroyed for your benefit.

13

Hi @ASUNDER

That’s a huge exaggeration.

I shared the text because, after reading what the AI organized, I believed it was the most effective way to convey my thoughts clearly to others. People who want to use AI can use it, and those who don’t want to don’t have to. For the record, I don’t personally use SUNO either.

What do you mean by “a generation that doesn’t know what a woman is”? I’m married, by the way (laughs). You are distorting the situation way too much.

Ultimately, I believe it’s inevitable that AI will gradually be incorporated into software like Cubase, so I was simply suggesting that it could be useful for explaining functions or providing sound support. I understand your point about MIDI keyboards, but I think everyone should just explore and use the workflow that suits them best.

I’m not exactly praising AI blindly either. If AI isn’t going to be phased out, then I think it actually makes sense to utilize it effectively. As for social credit scores—talking like this here might actually damage one’s social credibility. While it’s important to have opinions that view AI as dangerous, I have no intention of debating the political or societal dangers of AI here. Please take that discussion elsewhere.

I only made this suggestion because I thought it might be helpful. If the majority of users dislike the idea, it simply won’t end up in Cubase anyway. But thank you for sharing your opinion.