Annual Request: Tempo/Time Sig Object

Cubase
,
1

I’m working on a score right now that has me pretty fed up so it’s time for another pointless rant…

  1. The Time Sig track and Tempo Tracks need to be folded into one thing. When one opens the Tempo Editor it already does this so WTF is the point of them being separate?

  2. The Time Sig Markers and Tempo Markers also need to be folded into a single Tempo Object. Face it: tempi and time sig are -not- independent things in real music. In -real- notated music, the tempo mark is -often- accompanied by a fresh time sig. Sometimes a tempo change triggers a new time sig and sometimes not, but they are joined at the hip.

  3. Each of these Tempo Objects should have their own click. This is critical because in ‘real’ music, when the time sig changes, the beat pattern changes. Just watch any conductor QED. This also solves the problem of indicating in the score that ‘dotted eighth = eighth’ when shifting meters from 3 to 2.

  4. There need to be -grouped- Tempo Objects. ie… 4 bars of 3/8 followed by 1 bar of 4/8 is one -group-.

  5. These Tempo Objects need to be freely copy/pasted so that when yer working on a piece with compound time (See #4) you can set up an entire letter of a score as quickly as one could with pencil and // repeat signs.

  6. The Tempo Object Track needs to be accessible from EVERYWHERE. Key Editor. Project Editor. So you should be able to grab a bunch of Tempo Objects on the top of the window (which is always in view) and paste them anywhere you want as yer trying out ideas.

  7. In fact… get rid of the whole Tempo Track thing as a ‘track’. Just put make it like it is with markers now… a ribbon at the top of the Project (or any Editor) that you can show/hide as needed. I can’t imagine needed multiple simultaneous tempo tracks since they aren’t likely to be made independent any time soon. Save the real estate and give us -consistent- functionality throughout the program.

The whole point of the above is to make Cubase work like people WRITE music. Too much focus has been on Cubase as a -recorder- and a -mixer-. I’m not concerned about -notation- per se so much as I am having Cubase let me write music in the same -way- that I would notate… ie. as -fast- as I can notate.

Word processors let people write WORDS faster than they can hand write. But Cubase is actually MUCH -slower- than pencil for arranging any music more complex than EDM… And THAT should be job #1. The above would help in a big way.

Working with compound time sigs is just painful beyond words and IMO that’s one reason music today is so simplistic and repetitive. This is one of those things I put in my meta-rant ‘Focus On MIDI for the next cycle’.

2

Yes! I agree with so much of this. I have been using PT for a few years now and I love that you can specify a dotted quarter for compound time sig (and customize how you want the click to click 3+2+2 for ex), it’s the right thing to do musically.

"Word processors let people write WORDS faster than they can hand write. But Cubase is actually MUCH -slower- than pencil for arranging any music more complex than EDM… And THAT should be job #1. The above would help in a big way.

Working with compound time sigs is just painful beyond words and IMO that’s one reason music today is so simplistic and repetitive. This is one of those things I put in my meta-rant ‘Focus On MIDI for the next cycle’."

Yes Yes and Yes! spot on Suntower

3

+1 for a programmable metronome which can play patterns I specify rather than the ones Steinberg have decided upon currently. For example, 12/8, this could be 4 groups of 3 or 3 groups of 4 and that needs a different metronome pattern.

+1 for a way of grouping time-sigs together as you say to get a long compound time-sig change that can be repeated.

I’m not sure I can agree with rolling time-sigs and tempos together because they way I work mostly I’m either changing the tempo or changing the time-sig, very rarely both. For example, I’ll be riding the tempo through a piece of music between verse/chorus, but I’ll not be changing the time signature. Another example is that I’ll be skipping a beat say at the bar before the chorus, so I’ve n x 4/4 and then 1 x 3/4, no tempo changes there.

I’m also happy with the way it works at the moment on two separate tracks. I tend to use the Tempo Editor window for tempo changes and the TimeSig track for changes there. Works for me.

Mike.

4

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Cubase is in charge for stupid narrow-minded people. I mean they are crazy about that dull noise, that DJs produce in clubs (and for some reason call it music :confused: ) and this happens because of Cubase score Editor’s imperrfectness. :laughing:

5

Couldn’t agree more - this is long overdue. And what a great way to push Cubase ahead of the competition!

6

+1…
Cubase really needs to go ahead on this area.