✐ Draw Tool: Draw last clicked Midi or Audio Clip

Hello again @Steinberg,

Short version:
Draw last clicked clip
Just like @anzwers said,
I want to be able to draw samples like I draw midi notes.
And as @KHS said,
It would be wise to consider this FR as an option in the preferences as somehow it seems to be disrupting legacy user’s workflow:
[ :heavy_check_mark: ] Draw last-clicked Audio or Midi clip

Long version:
When I drag & drop a Clip in the Sequencer (thus creating a new audio track), I’d love for Cubase to remember which clip (and the clip’s size and content’s position + clip’s in & out fades + clip’s volume level etc.), so that when I use the Draw tool, it draws this very last clip I lastly clicked.

And when I use an alternative “Brush” tool (that would be underneath the “Draw” tool drop-down menu), it would “paint” repetitively the same clip I lastly clicked.

If no clip has been selected, Cubase would then understand I want to draw (with the Draw tool) an Empty Clip (to record in if it’s an Audio track, or to draw notes in, if it’s a Midi/Instrument track, that would be named accordingly with incremental numbers, to the track’s name I’m working on)

Just use alt+drag.

The Draw tool have a different purpose in Cubase and i dont want to remember to deselect any eventually selected clips everytime i want to use the draw tool.

Thanks @KHS,

I’ll try it and see how it works.
Yes I feel you on this one. Remembering which clip you lastly clicked is just annoying. But drawing an empty clip is nonsense. Why, once I’ve dragged a Wave file to the Sequencer, wouldn’t I be able to just draw it or paint it (repetively)? This is how it’s been for years.
I just don’t understand Steinberg’s concept of their Draw & Paint tool.

Normally you don’t draw a .WAV file as there is no need to do that unless you wanna draw in the wave form yourself. When you record it will be drawn automatically and the same goes for when you are importing audio files. That is not how it has ever been in Cubase, maybe in the DAW that you are coming from, but that doesn’t mean it has to be like that in every DAW and Cubase is not the only DAW that doesn’t do that. Remember Cubase was not designed for loop based composing.
The Draw tool has many other purposes like drawing automation, editing stuff, drawing a midi file and many others.
In Cubase there is no paint tool, it’s a color tool just for coloring tracks and/or events/clips.

@KHS,

I didn’t meant to literally draw the wave form like in Sound Forge (in Audition it’s a feature request). This could be useful in the Lower Zone’s Sample though. I was speaking about “Drawing” the Clips of a Wave (a “one-shot” closed hat for instance).

Oh so the paint tool is just for design UI purposes. Got it. Well, in other DAW’s (not only loop-based), Painting means drawing repetitively.

I think this feature should not replace what’s it doing, but ass all my feature request, it should be added to it as a functionality. Drawing a last used clip should be in option, but at least it should draw the wave form I just dragged & dropped in the sequencer window.

Again, it’s not a paint tool. It’s a color tool and called that when you hover your mouse on it.

Drawing a clip or ALT+dragging will take about the same time to do. Just set snap accordingly.

@KHS,

ALT+Drag draws an empty clip…
See the difference between Cubase Pro’s Draw Tool + Drag / ALT+Drag and ACID Pro’s Draw Tool + Drag.
Am I missing something? If not I stand by this FR.
Paint tool.gif

This assumes you already have one copy of the event you want to repeat on a track.
Have the object selection tool selected.
Hold ALT while dragging the already existing event to a new place. By holding ALT it wont move the event but make a new copy and place it where you drag it to.

It’s dragging not drawing like you do in the gif and what you use is called the draw tool, not paint tool. Again there is no such thing as a paint tool in Cubase. It’s just leading to a lot of confusion when you don’t use the correct naming for the tools you are talking about.

Oh okay I get your workflow now.
So you need to hold ALT while clicking+holding the clip, and releasing it where I want it to be copied.
That’s a good enough workaround for now.

The correct nomenclature is:

  • Draw Tool (Cubase, Studio One, FL Studio, Acid Pro)
  • Paint Tool (FL Studio, Acid Pro) = Paint current clip multiple times according to grid

So in Cubase (and Studio One), the Draw Tool = Create an Empty Clip with the current Track Name on it.
In Studio One, the Draw Tool also serves to draw a Waveshape and (if I recall) a Automation Curves / Bezier Curves

Hence why my Feature Request. The Draw Tool should draw something, and by something I think the most logical thing to draw would be the last clicked audio or midi clip. Remembering what clip you lastly used is something you get used to pretty quickly, it’s not annoying at all, and make perfect sense: in Photoshop, when you draw something, it’s the last color / shape / thickness you’ve set.

Plus, since this feature doesn’t exist yet, if it gets integrated, it won’t not bother legacy users, since they’re not using it for this purpose.
All other purposes of Cubase’s Draw Tool (not quite yet sure which other purposes it has) would stay untouched, of course.

In Cubase Draw tool also serves to draw Waveshape and automation and a lot more, just like in Studio One.

Remember what clip i lastly used is very annoying to me and not part of my workflow. Basically you are telling all existing Cubase user to change their workflow so you don’t have to change yours coming from another DAW. It would be more correct that you changed your workflow to fit the DAW you have chosen to use than we all have to change ours so you can have your FL Studio features in Cubase. Hope this will never happen.

KHS, are you even able to understand the feature request? What will the addition of a paint tool change the normal use of the draw drawing tool? You just being Cubase supremist. No one wanna change Cubase, but Cubase need to change yo meet the current demands, not being the 90s DAW in this current dispensation.

+1

Using the feature in this request, you still have to place the cursor, and you still have to click. So it doesn’t save any mouse or keyboard moves. And, since the OP did not know what alt-dragging objects does in Cubase, he couldn’t try it out for a while to see if that could replace the previous familiar workflow. I don’t mean to offend, but I do speak frankly in asking, how well versed is he in Cubase, even though he is experienced with DAWs generally?

There is also the Duplicate command, and the Repeat function, used via a key command or by dragging the middle handle at the right edge of audio and midi events/parts. Dragging repeats the event (and a counter is displayed).

Additionally, if you use the range tool, you can select the duration of an event plus some silence to create the correct rhythm, and then paste multiple times.

My point is that there are many ways to achieve the function here, and the feature request might carry more weight if the requester was fluent in Cubendo.

Your feature request is still here, visible to all, including the SB devs, so the comments that don’t support it don’t lessen the chance that it will be implemented.

Op didn’t ask for a new paint tool, but were asking for the draw tool to be able to draw in selected clips. Confusion comes from OP calling the draw tool for a paint tool (probably because that is how it is named in another DAW)
And i absolutely don’t agreeing with you that Cubase is a 90’s DAW, if that’s what you think then maybe it’s time for you to find another DAW. Maybe it’s better if OP either start to learn Cubase and it’s functions properly first, or find a DAW that has the workflow that he like.

Maybe I’m a Cubase supremist, but i have chosen Cubase because i like the workflow compared to other DAW’s and if someone is suggesting stuff that will change the workflow i will raise my voice against it.

Now if OP would have just asked for a new paint tool to be added i wouldn’t have discussed against it, i also wouldn’t have given a +1. But again, that was not what he asked for. This goes along with OPs many other threads regarding feature request, where in most of them he want these workflow changing features added to make Cubase have same workflow as FL Studio.
Frankly, as Steve said above, there are plenty of ways to do this stuff in Cubase, so better do some learning first. If OP have a specific thing he wanna do then ask in the forums and I’m sure people will help him out to find the key commands used in Cubase.

Who’s this OP guy? Oh please… Just call me Zac. We’re like, virtual feuding friends now :slight_smile:

@-steve

  • I’ve used Cubase since v5.5, I’m re-discovering Cubase v9.5.
  • I’ve tried ALT+CLICK+DRAG and it’s fast, but returning every time to the original clip to copy-drag it, is more time-confusing than drawing it out of thin air.

Why would I want to draw an empty midi or audio clip more often than a drawing a clip I’ve already recorded / dropped?

To make sure everyone’s on board, let me rephrase my Feature Request:
Hello @Steinberg,
Could you please add an Option for the Draw Tool:
[ :heavy_check_mark: ] Draw last-clicked Audio or Midi clip instead of an Empty clip.

Seriously I’d be as happy with it being an option. As soon as they make it happen.

OP = Original Poster

You don’t need to return to original clip, just ALT+drag the new clip. Or try some of the other ways suggested by Steve.

Hello @KHS,

Well I’ve tried those but issue is, when I want to duplicate a clip that’s at the beginning of the song, very far off in the song, it’s time-consuming because:

  1. Locate the clip
  2. ALT+Clip or use the Shortcut / Handles
  3. Zoom out completely (while holding the clip)
  4. Zoom in to the place where I want to drop the duplicate
  5. Drop the clip

Whereas with the Draw tool, I’d just have to, be sure the midi or audio clip I want to draw is selected, and just draw it.

In that case a simple copy/paste would be faster.

When you check to see whether the object is selected, just select it and hit copy.

One idea would be to learn the program, rather than redesigning a daw you just started in.

+1 Like this idea. Dislike current ‘draw’ implementation, particularly in Audio editor.

but not as fun or creative.