Do you frequently answer questions here? If so, lets chat

Not long after the forum migration I posted an explainer on how Timebase and Musical Mode interact. The reason I did that was I’d noticed that I, and several others, were frequently providing partial descriptions on the topic because that was all that was needed for each specific question, but the overview was fragmented across multiple threads. So I figured if there was a more complete description then I could just link to it instead of creating even more partial answers.

So that got me wondering if as a group we can attack the most common & repeated questions (but not a FAQ model, more detail & focus than that) and also topics that folks find confusing. I mean some questions could almost be on Jeopardy

  • Clue: Sample rate mismatch
  • Answer: What is - my sound is all transposed dude?

OK, that one could be in a FAQ

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That’s actually a great idea. Your Timebase article was very very useful, but as you say it came as a compilation of fragments. Should we just shoot some frequent issues and then explore possible synergies? E.g.

  • Slightly out of tune, slightly faster/slower. [Sample rate mismatch.]
  • Greyed out plug-ins. [Constrain delay compensation, plug-in disabled because reasons]
  • Poltergeists, inexplicable track volume changes or other parameters. [MIDI controller’s pots gone bad, possible MIDI loop with virtual ports and companion applications such as BOME, Metagrid, Lemur, etc.]
  • Weird Inserts View [Switched to Routing Tab without noticing]
  • No panning for group [Group is mono]
  • Marker Numbers not showing [New option available in Markers window]
  • Fader colours won’t stick. [We have only ONE option for the channel meters.]
  • Getting no sound. [Driver loaded, but connections not set, if set maybe control room is not set]
  • Imported stems from DAW x, mix sounds different. [Pan law]
  • Pegged disk activity. [Room correction plug-in misbehaving.]
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Seems like a good starting point. Collect a list, see if any might be combined, prioritize them and recruit folks to write the posts.

There’s also value in addressing more conceptual topics. For example I always get confused when dealing with Tempo Detection and I’m pretty sure there is a key concept involved that I’m misunderstanding. So an explainer on how to effectively use Tempo Detection is something I’d personally find useful.

Another broad topic that generates a bunch of questions regards Audio Interfaces and configuring Connections. It gets complicated because 1) The specifics will vary on a case by case basis because of different hardware 2) For folks inexperienced in using DAWs this can be both a difficult task & one that must be resolved before they get to play with their new toy - which of course leads to frustration 3) To the uninitiated it can be confusing what Cubase controls and what the Audio Interface controls.

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Don’t we all! That’s a good candidate!

Yes, indeed, that would be a good idea. But I don’t like the form of a normal forum topic.
@steve tried this with some topics about MIDI remote and licensing…

The way we would provide this pages makes a big difference on how they get found.
Or should we maintain a single thread with beginners tips and tricks,
that allows no discussion, just the tips?

@ggmanestraki
Can you edit the list in the second post as the master list? Could be a starting point.

This is a great idea

This could be a forum wiki, which all users can edit. A mod or admin can set the wiki flag on any post, so let me know if I should do so… eg., @ggmanestraki has this one going: [WIKI] All Key Commands in Cubase 11.0.41

@st10ss I could do that, but I’m just writing down from memory what I’m seeing more often in the forum. There’s also OS specific quirks, maybe this should be taken into account as well.

(E.g. Macs need permission for the microphone(?) i think, or you get an error message when you’re trying to record(?)

Or in PCs, if you have numlock on, you can’t use shift+numpad numbers for a key command. Only the numpad number will go through, because it’s how windows works. Again, this is from memory.)

People that have solved the problems and now exactly what they’re about should contribute so that the FAQ is as clear as possible.

So, is it two things we’re discussing here? A FAQ for common troubleshooting issues, and some separate articles/threads/how-to, like @raino’s exceptional time bases/time modes? That go into methodological analysis instead of giving the solution in a certain number of steps that do the job albeit leave the underlying required knowledge unattained?

If people won’t read their own product manuals, they won’t read an FAQ wiki either. You might as well just get used to answering the same questions over and over again, unless you want to charge people for posting (as opposed to just searching for info), which I wholeheartedly endorse.

People would quickly find their own info if they knew it would save them money. They might actually read an FAQ wiki then.

I find the idea of having this kind of FAQ very interesting. I would even see something like “The real life manual, all the tips & tricks” in the form of a WIKI. It’s about finding the attractive way to present the information in order to capture users’ attention. Good Idea!

Whenever I try to direct people to written material, I fail. 85% of people who post on support forums do so precisely because they don’t want to read. They prefer waiting for someone to answer their questions, preferably in short, simple sentences.

I certainly agree that people don’t like to read manuals, but my experience is different than yours. These posts are the most recent ones in which I posted a link to the documentation.

I think what’s being proposed in this thread is a good idea.

You guys have fun posting for the minority demographic.

A big problem with FAQs is we’ve become trained to mostly ignore them because they are usually incomplete & inadequate.

While some topics are big enough to deserve a dedicated post. Others are more bite sized and suited to a FAQ style structure of a collection of small items. Rather than a general Cubase FAQ post I think it would be more effective to group a bunch of similar small facts together into a focused post e.g. 12 Things To Know About Importing and Exporting MIDI in Cubase

I guess a first step would be to identify some topic candidates. So here’s a question for everybody:
What do you think are the 3 top questions/topics being asked on the forum?

Here's my top 3 (but I'd recommend coming up with your own before looking at mine).
  • Audio Interface configuration/I don’t have any sound
  • Playback performance, crackling sound
  • Confusion over content (location, registration, Media Bay)
  1. Control Room.

It’s intimidating as neck to newbies, yet can be so helpful for them.

SOS had a two- or three-part series on Control Room in 2009 or so, that’s what it took for me to get on board. That might be a good starting point.

  1. Adjust the MIDI bars and beats to follow freely played MIDI (or even audio). So incredibly useful to those who play live without a click, but also very intimidating to the newbie.

  2. PLE. Disclosure: I personally am unsure how it would help me, but i have this nagging feeling it might.

Is there a way for me to know one way or another without committing to a full immersion to find out?

I’m guessing I’m not the only non-newbie to wonder!

As far as where to put these helpful ideas … the “Tips and Tricks” section?

I’m more in favor of not locking. Subsequent posters may have significant improvements, functions may evolve over time, etc., making updatability potentially quite helpful.

“Just edit the wiki …”. A lot of smart folks here know how to do that, but a lot of users don’t know how to use the techniques apparently needed to do that:

Blockquote

Before making any editing, I highly recommend to learn about Markdown and HTML syntax, although here it is quite basic. Just follow the same layout.

Blockquote

Questions about the Logical Editors, while certainly numerous, seem a bit different from other common questions. They are usually not general how do I use this thing questions but much more detailed & specific, how do I take the 3rd Note from the bottom of every Major Chord that falls on beat 1 and transform it into a beer.

I have a vague recollection of some talk about creating a collection of LE/PLE Presets around the time the forum switched…

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There’re tags for that, clicking on a tag in a topics list takes you to a list, or navigating to a tag wherever tags appear, and using links works too.

https://forums.steinberg.net/tag/ple-preset
https://forums.steinberg.net/tag/le-preset
https://forums.steinberg.net/tag/proj-logical-editor
https://forums.steinberg.net/tag/logical-editor

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Interesting idea. Can’t count how often I did answer various questions for example regarding problems with importing video files and how to check that and what to look out for (not just in the forums but in the FB groups as well)… :face_with_monocle:

Oh yes, and good to remind us on the discussion…