Editing Mediabay Categories and sub-categories

Cubase
#1

Hi all!

I’m new to newer Cubase (last one I used was SX 3) so this mediabay thing is new for me. I’ve been importing my samples to that, but I’ve ran into a problem that I can’t edit the categories and when I’ve tried to google about that (and search this forum as well) I haven’t found an answer. One forum suggested that the only way was to edit some database file (which I couldn’t find though)

I mean, this Mediabay lacks certain quite common sub-categories for drums such as claps.

Is there a way to create new Categories and Sub-categories inside Mediabay or is there some kind of a work-around for that?

Other than that, after few problems with first use (unregistered old plugins that came from my old Saffire soundcard which crashed the program whenever launched) this seems like quite few steps forward since SX 3. No wonder, though as it was quite a few years old :smiley:

#2

See where it says “Various”? You can create whatever custom categories you want there. I chose to call mine “Key Words”. Then you can tag your samples (or vstpresets, midiloops, patternbanks, etc…) by writing in “CLAP” or whatever other custom tags you want to apply. Cubase will then save that custom tag so you don’t have to retype every time you want to tag a sample. Hope that helps… :slight_smile:

#3

Hi, and thanks for that tip, but it is only a somewhat of a workaround which can also be done with “Notes” section.

But I would like to be able to edit these ‘Category’ and ‘Sub Category’ parts, not create extra notes or keywords.

But thanks anyways for that tip!

#4

So there’s no way to add/edit Categories and sub-categories?

#5

See the manual section - Media Bay - The Attribute Inspector

Pgs 410 - 415 in the current V7 English Manual (Dec 3 2012)

#6

Yes, I read the manual about this particular thing before even posting here for the first time :slight_smile:

I don’t know if my English isn’t fluent enough or am I just blind but I couldn’t find any information regarding my question.

There is Category (like Drum&Perc)

There is Sub Category (like Snare Drum)

I would like to add more Sub Categories (like Clap or Shaker) but can’t find a way to do that.

#7

Category and Subcategory are attributes.
“Drum&Perc” and “Snare Drum” are values.
“Clap” or “Shaker” would then also be values and not attributes.

I believe you can type in anything you want into the attributes, unless the file is protected or display only.
Media bay is not my forte, but I don’t think you are restricted only to the values in the pull down lists. I might venture to say that possibly your new entries might appear on these pulldown lists afterwards, possibly after updating and/or possibly closing and reopening the media bay.

#8

So where do you believe these drop down menu items can be added? Because I actually have spent quite amount of time trying to figure that out rather than just believing on something and haven’t found more than a hack way of editing the .xml file which seemed to work in Cubase 6 but the same file doesn’t exist anymore in 7.

So at least in 6 those were hard-coded AFAIK. So in other words they were restricted only to those certain “values”

What new entries do you mean? Where is it possible to make these? Or are you just wild-guessing?

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all help and suggestions, but I get the feeling that you haven’t even lurked around too much in the Mediabay, rather just wild-guessing, because EVERYTHING I’ve found by googling, suggests that those Categories and Sub Categories are indeed hard-coded values which can’t be added / changed by user. And that’s the reason I am asking here if someone has found a work-around for it as Manual nor spending considerable amount of time trying to find out a way myself hasn’t brought an answer.

#9

Hi

I can’t find a way of assigning custom definitions to the Category / Sub Category Tags via the “Attributes” Filter.

When I’m looking to audition / find Audio Files:

I prefer to (I only ever) use the “Logical” Button - which then displays the orange colored bar.
Where it says ‘Any Attribute’ - this can limit the results field to specific categories - which the user ‘can’ define.
I then use a combination of logical operators (matches, contains, equals) and type in specific words for each of these.

On the whole - I use the “BWF Description” (Broadcast Wave Description) to search for sounds quickly.

I use a program called Stamp ID3 Tag Editor to add BWF Descriptions to wav files (if I need to).
The ‘Comments’ box in Stamp ID3 - is the same as the BWF Description in MediaBay.
So you can ‘Stamp’ a very specific description in a wav file if you need to.
And MediaBay could instantly filter your results to find only those files with ‘Clap’ in the BWF Description.

(Although on the whole, the name of the wav file is usually enough to find most sounds.)