I would like to see a swing function without having to create quantize presets.Something similar to Guru that you can choose a swing preset and add an amount to a midi track.Maybe even different amounts on separate parts.Cubase is very strong in the midi area and such a feature would be a great upgrade.Of course with some useful presets.
Rumors have been around lately saying that Logic is going to release such a feature.
There’s a Quantize MIDI insert that will do exactly this.
Yes but it lacks the useful presets and the usability that other software have.
+1000 
I would find this especially useful.
For those who have no experience with ‘other software’ where this is handled better, can you please describe what functionality is missing? A single slider for swing % is enough right? Why’d you need presets for that?
I have no need for presets on such a simple feature. (Weird how with C6 they started making EQ presets). Anyway, what I find most crippling is it being built into the quantizer. I may be missing something here, but when you apply the swing, it only works on the value indicated in the Quantize Note parameter. Not knowing what is possible for Steinberg to do in this case, as a user I would simply like to see a Swing slider (indepent of the quantizer) that would swing MIDI notes of all note values without using all my MIDI inserts slots in an attempt to name every value or having to adjust note values in the editors to achieve this effect instead. lol might be talking about something totally different though.
I must have a special version of Studio 5 
.
Oh. Well I don’t have any in CE5, and then Elements 6 had some and so I just…
Wait a minute, are you talking about your own presets? I was speaking of factory presets.
Yes, factory presets. Quite a few of them.
I think Steinberg develops things for Cubase and assumes the end-user is advanced enough to use quantise to his own preference. There just wouldn’t (erroneously in my opinion) ever be enough presets for the ideas about swing in all the heads in the world. Swing is a lot simpler in the real world than many computer composers suppose.
Swing is pretty much in the arsenal of any musician. In a DAW it rarely adds any magic or makes anything sound more “real”. If you’re an engineer or a songwriter with limited music skills it would pay to just set the triplet values and write away.
If you need to do swing just try adjusting the dynamics more than have swing presets. In the long run you get used to it.
Try importing a (audio) track with the feel you like and apply “Merge tempo from Tapping” (explained fairly simply in the manual). After creating a tempo track to match that song then delete both the song and the guide drum track (you used to creaete the tempo map). All you need is the tempo map. All your midi will follow the new tempo track and it can be exported for you to use as a preset of your specific need.
Many times, an exaggerated swing is prefered throughout the song as an effect rather than merely “humanizing” it. Dynamics may be sufficient when in pursuit of the latter, but it’s still alot of adjustmets. We are looking for an easier way to get a swing without a quantizer. The grid may mess this up, but if it’s possible, I think it could really come in handy to: Click, add a swing insert, adjust the slider, and the whole piece have the selected swing value regardless of the note value. Either I’m not “advanced” enough to use this to my preference, or this is a legitimate Feature Request. If it is indeed that I am ignorant, please instruct me in the ways of the quantization insert, proving your newly acquired status of Senior Member. 
Senior member? So I am! 
Many times, an exaggerated swing is prefered throughout the song as an effect rather than merely “humanizing” it.
Erm. What would be an example of this? Very few times I think. Think? Been in the business 30 odd years. Can’t think of any exaggerated swing. I think you’ll find that any recorded examples of “exaggerated” swing is due to sloppy playing. have heard some examples of lumpy swing but they did not enter the popular vernacular so were soon forgotten. Pink Floyd’s “Money” comes close but that is in 7/8.
Using the method in my previous post I’ve always found it very easy to roll my own rather than go through the rigmarole of getting a million dollar company to bend to my will.
A slider? Well, OK for beginners but most mature (NOT suggesting anyone is immature so calm down. Wrinkled didn’t seem right either ) users probably won’t look at it more than once and as they make up most of the Cubase user base it’s unlikely they’ll do it. Maybe in Sequel?
These examples talk about “exaggerated swing” but that is mostly dynamic swing rather than anyone pushing the timing about. Although musicians like to get timing as right as possible when it is made mechanically tight by machines it sounds unnatural. When a machine is programmed to sound “out” it takes a real creative soul to make it sound less than plug ugly. Creative souls like this are rare so I don’t think you’ll get that sliding bar very soon.
Even among the players I work with there are several terms used for swing and/or shuffle. Most of them are bunk and used by very good players who have not been conventionally taught music and they are the minority.
The programmers of Cubase do write for conventionally taught users and if you don’t state what you want in conventionally accepted terms it’s quite likely that they will not accept the request on the grounds that they don’t know what an unconventional user might actually want in the feature.
Guys I talk about a swing function that really swings.The quantise functions of cubase is rather a push all notes in a percentage position, or make your own from a loop’s hit point or midi file.I talk about a simple,fast and intuitive function like Guru…arm a good preset(like NTV which is my favorite)/apply the value that yo want to the track/swing it!!!
Thats all nothing special in my opinion.I am not saying that Cubase lacks of quantize functions.I am saying that life could have more fun.
Still not clear to me what the difference is between something that ‘really swings’ and a ‘push all notes in a percentage position’.
What is real swing according to you?
Apparently, it’s “A simple,fast and intuitive function like Guru”, whatever that may be…
Wow. Just wow.
For the record…I really like the swing functions that Cubase does have. Start with setting your grid to the value you want to work with (somewhere around 60% - a little less for faster swing). Humans can’t swing quite as much on super-fast material. It’s very easy to get a swing value from an existing MIDI clip. Just go into the clip and make your grid match up as closely as possible to the swung half of the beat with the swing slider, or there are methods to actually steal its groove accurately, but I usually don’t use that since I don’t want all the notes to always land exactly together. Work from there.
Only been playing drums for 30 years. What do I know?
You may get it to sound more “real” than straight triplets. I’m only guiding songwriters there who could be putting in more work than they have to. If you’re writing fast jazz swing then get a real player to play it because, as before unless you’re a real creative soul, you’ll never get near it using a machine. With or without a slider. If anyone says they do then good fortune to them because they are rare.
**That rarity is why I’m trying to explain why you may not get the feature in Cubase in a hurry.**I always write swings and shuffles in 12/8 in Cubase. The drums don’t swing if there’s no dynamics there it’s the weight of play (the accents if you like) makes the “swing” not the timing. Listen to any of the great drummers out there. Put a (merge tempo from tapping?) metronome on it. It won’t be far out. And rarely will they play at, say, 130 or 160bpm. They’ll be at 153.56bpm or something odd like that. So you can’t easily match the metronome to them.
We could argy all week with this but I know what works for this thirty year veteran. But I’m curious to learn more if anyone has any techniques they use.
I’m more concerned with the way the “quantise” concept has wrong footed many over the years. A better alternative would be to have “whole song” quantise slider that imparted (very subtle) speed variations throughout the song at busy points of solos or fills or where the user marks (at changes between verses and choruses) that he wants them rather than for individual beats. This would impose more of a “breathing” to the song than little beats jittering in and out of time everywhere.
If I’ve got my drift across.
You should know about 94% of what I know 
Exactly! Swing is lot more about dynamics, than it’s about timing. You can quantize the hell out of drum track timing and it still “swings”, if played with “swinging” dynamics. Now quantize all dynamics out and leave timing “swing” there … and you’re busted!
Personally I do prefer both: “swing” on both timing and dynamics.