I have got C6 and have had a good play with it. Liking it so far - good job.
However, there is one section which is, in my opinion, fundamentally lacking compared to (the hated and evil) Pro Tools. And that is Grouping (by which I mean in Cubase terms, linking and unlinking channels.)
With Cubase you can link a channel to another one/many channels and it will group only certain functions, such as fader etc, and not pan etc. That is the extent of the capibilities.
With ProTools, you create a āgroupā and to this you can add or remove multiple or individual tracks. You can of course have as many āGroupsā as you want. You can specify what in that group will be linked (i.e., you can add Pan if you want to, muting, soloing, and of course remove what you donāt want). More importantly, you can turn the groups on or off, so for example, you can have a drum kit group, and a guitars group and just turn the linking on/off at will, without having to delete the link and re-create it if you want it back again (which is the only way in Cubase). You can see which tracks are grouped by the colouring of the track/s in the mixer - which is SO useful. All in all it makes for a much, much easier mixing workflow, and there is no reason that Cubase canāt up itās game to be as good if not better with the linking, or grouping.
Iād very much appreciate it if this could be added to the dev list.
I would like to add something similar here.
It would be soooooooo helpful to hide all channels in the mixer except the grouped ones!!!
This can be done via grouping or (what would be even better) by color.
Itās nice to have a drum group in e.g. blue but to be able to hide all others in the mixer especially when having lots of tracks, would be awesome.
But itās not that same thing, as you say @Split. Iām talking about all the functions that you have in link/unlink channels in the mix environment. Take a drum group for example. Moving all faders at once. Muting all at once. Soloing all at once. Panning all at once. Pre-Fade selection all at once. And the ability to turn on/off each of those functions whenever you want within that group, and to be able to enable and disable that group without having to delete the linked channels and then relink them. Plus having the channel strips coloured based on which group they are in.
So for example, I create my drum group, I move the faders about. Then I want to solo all, and then un-solo all. Then I want to deselect just the overheads and then move the rest of the faders, and then reselect the overheads and then re-adjust the faders.
(I know you can use the alt and move to move outside of linked channels but itās just no where near as easy.)
Obivously not the same as editing, rather a mix workflow. I want to be able to see all of my, say, 6 groups in the mixer, colour co-ordinated, and then do whatever I want with the groups.
At the moment, by looking, you have no idea which channels are linked unless you move touch on a channel to see what else is highlighted.
Hi Rolf. The beauty of having it all coloured and then a separate āgroupsā window is that you then donāt need to do this because itās plainly obvious where everything is!
To be honest, another thing that has always annoyed me is that you canāt re-order channel strips in the mixer window, but only in the edit window. This doesnāt seem to be any real reason for this, and it just makes life less easy!
I had requested this some time ago and many times! Cause itās very useful.
I use it everyday on Protools or Logicā¦
On Cubase you have to guess which tracks are linkedā¦ Imagine a 100 tracks projectā¦
I agree the grouping in Protools is way way cool, I love the group list too. The new Cubase grouping is nice but no contender for Protools in the department.
That thought occurred to me the other day as I was fumbling back and forth between the project and mixer windows.
It is ātheā only feature Cubase now lacks before it can truly be crowned ā¦
āThe best DAW in the worldā
The Audio Pool is brilliant
The VIās support and efficiency is second to none (well Steinberg invented VST)
The GUI is excellent
The MIDI Brilliant
The automation Fantastic
The program is so intuitive it can be mastered virtually without looking at the manual (which is amazing in itself)
BUT ā¦ the lack of VCA style grouping and linked automation editing it a PITA.
It is literally the only feature Logic Pro has that I miss when I mix in Cubase.
In Logic every single function in the mixer can be linked in the groups/VCA or simply drag over the mixer with your mouse and you can set sends. pans, reverbs. plugins etc all at the same time ā¦ once you have used linked automation editing it is hard to mix without it.
Cubase 6 has stepped in the right direction as now you can set up sends by selecting multiple tracks and also the same for inserting plugins, we are definitely heading the right way.
However, I donāt imagine this is an easy programming job, it sounds so easy to say, but I imagine itās a fair bit of programming. Logic had a head start because Logics mixer is made up of individual objects which were already linked in the fundamental concept of the program. The Cubase mixer represents a āvirtual studioā so itās a different approach.
But as Cubase has beaten every feature of Logic so far. I know when Steinberg do introduce these features they will be spot on.
I would agree with everyone who would like to see more sophisticated groups in the mixer in the ways mentioned. Sonar was good at this too (but not good enough in other areas, which is why Iām here for the duration).
I would also like to see the mixer channels have an independent order, and re/moveable from the mixer as well as addable.
However, I would like to give a big thumbs up to the new grouping facilities - fantastic. Mid-Side editing is now a breeze and no chance of accidentally moving only one part. I would like to see it extended, though, so that edits to eg part lengths made in the sample editor are also picked up on the linked part.
