Annual Request: CPR File Tags

Windows, Mac and Unix all support user-defined ‘tags’ for files. (eg. ‘Artist’ in MP3 files is a standard)

I’d like to be able to save tags such as ‘Genre’ or ‘Tempo’ to CPRs and have those tags appear in the File Open dialog.

Use Case: I frequently save little snippet ideas ALL OVER THE PLACE on various drives. It would be great, when opening a CPR to be able to search by those tags in Explorer.

As opposed to the current system which is… ‘Gee, where was that samba thing I worked on last August?’ Which can easily waste 1/2 hour.

how much metadata can these things store?

I like the idea, but I would forget to use it :laughing:

If something like this could store plugin information, like a quick text list of the VST Info, I think it would be helpful, as I am likely to know how to look for something by which instruments it used. I think if I had a check box to tick while saving that would auto generate that list and throw it in the working folder, it would be helpful, and would have saved by backside a few times.

Since this is implemented already in Mediabay I imagine there is very little chance that SB would add such a feature.

Mediabay, which is built in to Cubase, is a file database that by default has a variety of useful tags and views. Included in the Music category are tags like Genre, Key and a bunch of others. Tempo and Time Sig are automatically read from the Project. The Content Summary field (found in the Media category) appears in the Hub when it is displaying templates.

I post this not for the benefit of the OP, but for users who are not aware of what Mediabay can be used for, and to clarify that the feature does exist.

The frog makes a valid point. All the functionality I desire -is- in Mediabay.

However, the problem with Mediabay is that it’s… well, ‘Mediabay’. :smiley: It has pretty low ease of use factor IMHO. And that’s being kind.

Plus. at the risk of sounding pedantic, it’s never great UI practice to provide multiple ways to do the same thing:

  1. When I want to work on a CPR? I go to the ‘Files’ menu. So I should be able to see/search the attributes for a file from the File dialog.

  2. When I save a CPR, I should be able to assign tags right then and there.

I would probably never discipline myself to cataloging CPRs with Mediabay as a separate task. It’s just yet another piece of busy work to have to remember. The functionality should be available to operations I already use: File Open dialog, File Save dialog.

IOW: There are two ways one can program something like this: you can do a Mediabay and make people go to that new portal -or- you can do like MS Office or Adobe and provide the functionality in the conventional File dialogs. The latter is -much- easier for users.

At the end of the day… Cubase does everything except deliver a pizza. And because it’s such a Swiss Army Knife, whenever a feature is suggested it’s very often ignored because “We already do that!”. This attitude speaks volumes about the value placed on ease of use.