Aligning bars to tempo variable stems

Hi, this is a bit tricky to explain:

The way I make music with Cubase is to use the arranger track extensively. Not just for arranging but also afterwards in order to set locators around sections and line things up. One thing I also do is to add in some small tempo changes to aid with the tension / release of the sections. I do not time stretch anything though as the vocals (the only audio part of my tracks) is sung once the tempo for verse and chorus are fixed.

The final stage prior to mixing is to export all the tracks as audio (stems) which I then load into a new project for mixing. My problem is that even if I keep the arranger track the sections no longer line up since the stems have the tempo changes burned in and the bars and beats no longer match. So my question is, is there any way to have the bars and beats line up to the tempo changed stems so the sections still match start and end points? I could of course disable the tempo track when exporting the stems and instead have it in the mixing stage however that then leads to time stretching of all the audio stems which I wish to avoid.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

(just trying to get a clearer picture here :wink: )…
Is my understanding correct?..
After exporting, you now have re-imported into a new Project (whose own running tempo is currently a fixed 120 BPM?), but of course the re-imported audio reflects the tempo changes that you made in your original Project?

If so, I think I have the solution…
In your original Project (with the Arranger Track active), Flatten the Arrangement, then Export the Tempo Track.
Re-import that Tempo track into your new Project.

Thanks, you do seem to understand. If I do what you say though will the stems be time stretched? I think maybe I could switch them from musical to linear mode and they would stay the same? I think it is my misunderstanding of those modes that is the problem

Yes, just make sure that Musical Mode is switched off for each audio clip in the Pool. (Don’t confuse that with Musical vs Linear Timebase in the Project window… you could switch each track over to Linear, if you wish, but, so long as each audio track is a single clip and starts at the beginning of the project anyways, that shouldn’t make any difference :slight_smile: ).

Hi thanks a lot for your help that appears to be working! You also gave me a break through in understanding as I always thought the musical mode against the audio was the same as the project window one!