So I have Cubase Pro 11 installed and I want to learn it. Can someone please help me understand how the documentation is organised?
For example, I decided I would start by learning about the Timeline so I went to the Help menu > Cubase Help and typed “Timeline” . . .
https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro/v11/en/search.html?searchQuery=timeline
. . . I got 32 hits but they were all articles that referenced the Timeline but none of them were an introduction to, and overview of, the Timeline. What manual has stuff like that in it?
I would download the PDF and then use control + F (command + F on a Mac) to find keywords:
You can see there are 36 hits for the word timeline in the manaul:
You can also just jump to the sections from here:
Or look at the TOCs:
Sometimes you may need to find out what a DAW officially calls something. They all have their own lexicon so you may need to try some synoynm-type terms. I think ‘parts and events’ would probably be covering the timeline content.
The PDF file has the same problem as the Web help: there are lots of places where it references the timeline, but the timeline is component of Cubase, so I’m looking for documentation that introduces the timeline itself. I was under the impression that Steinberg calls the timeline the Timeline.
There appear to be lots of Youtube tutorials that describe the Cubase Timeline but I want the official documentation.
Sounds like you may actually be looking for tutorials, rather than documentation.
No, I want documentation. A tutorial is “how to do” a specific task. I want a document that describes all the features, settings, and capabilities of this component. I want to do that for all the major components of Cubase. I’m coming from FL Studio where their version of a timeline is called the Playlist, and they have a whole chapter on that which describes every feature, control, and setting of it: https://www.image-line.com/fl-studio-learning/fl-studio-online-manual/html/playlist.htm
It’s normal for professional tools to have detailed documentation of their tool’s major features. Here’s another example from a non-DAW product - Adobe Premiere Pro’s Lumetri scopes: https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/lumetri-scopes.html.
I’d be very surprised if Cubase doesn’t have something like that for their Timeline - I just want to know where it is.
They mustn’t be using the word timeline in the way you are. Have you checked all the found entries based on the word ‘timeline’? The contextual information around the results should help. The word timeline is in there and appears 36 times – if it’s not what you had in mind then what you are looking for isn’t in there. However, as the official documentation is very comprehensive (1200 odd pages) I believe what you’re thinking of is in there – but it’s perhaps not referenced in the way you are thinking unless it is covered by one of the found 36 entries in the document.
The 2nd time the word timline appears they use the term Event Display:
I did a search for the phrase Event Display and that appears around 200 odd times:
Maybe that could help
Although it’s a higher level concept the phrase Project Zone may also cover what you are looking for.
I’m sure others here will chime in with ideas for you.
Kind regards,
Canaan
When I look at YouTube tutorials they appear to be calling the “event Display” the timeline. It also appears that some Youtube videos are using “Project Zone” anonymously with either “timeline” or “event display”.
But that makes it even MORE important that I can find the official Steinberg documentation so we can all be on the same page, terminology-wise. Random YouTubers are not a reliable source of information. So where is Steinberg’s “getting started” documentation for noobs so I can learn the right terminology for everything I see on the screen? Reference manuals are fine if you already know the terminology, but how do you get started with Steinberg?
The first thing I want to do is select a Grand Piano from a stock synth, write some music for it using the Piano Roll, and play it in the “Event Display”/Project Zone/“Timeline”, or whatever it’s called. How do I find out how to do that?
For MIDI recording I would start in the recording section and then follow through the basics to the MIDI sections:
The piano roll is called the Key Editor
The YouTube stuff can actually be pretty good where the documenation is a bit dry (the latter is also often text only/non-visual) but it depends on the videos. Vids vary in quality but there are good ones around.
I haven’t watched all of this but the person is recording a keyboard part and then going into the Key Editor and making some edits:
Sweetwater has a quickstart guide for Cubase here too:
https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/cubase-quickstart-guide/