hi,
since i use 7.5 i can’t find a good way to use the show hide function in edit window there’s always some misconception on the way. i would like to know how you work with it. Here are 3 ways i found but none is perfect:
A- using the track visibility configuration
pro :
ment to do this
show hide tracks / folders / midi etc
cons :
only 8 slots
when you add a new track it is by default added to all your configuration witc takes a huge amount of clics and “update” configuration (with no shortcut!) to get it right. so if you add some vsti that has 16 out like KONTAKT it takes you ages wich makes it useless.
no store/save/by default function so each session you have to do it all again
B- using the Visibility tab
pro :
no need to program anything
cons :
constantly have to switch between Inspector / Visibility
have to pregroup tracks by folders
need several clics + scroll if you want to display both midi/audio tarcks and linked instruments track/groups
C- using the project logical editor
pro :
more slots than the visibility configuration
available for all your new and old projects
cons :
only works with “tracks” not instruments tracks or group
have to name all your tracks using specific terms like #dr to improve filter results
using # to name tracks is not good idea if you plan to channel Batch export for pro tools
if you want some commun tracks to stay such as “tempo / arranger / video / signature” it becomes a little tricky to set the logical editor right or update it when any you want some chanes
Hi,
Possibly this is a function you don’t need. Just because a function exists doesn’t mean you have to use it.
I think however that you are more interested in understanding why others might find this useful - perhaps a philosophy or workflow you hadn’t considered but may open up possibilities for you - or maybe not as the case may be.
I’d say it depends to a great extent on what you are doing - at a given time. There’s a part of mixing where you’re concentrating on just a few tracks in respect of their “sitting well together”. Being able to clear the slate and just visually work on these tracks temporarily can be a boon.
Visibility control is then primarily a concentration helper, but when you need the big picture, you won’t tend to use it much.
Perhaps you’ve got all your MIDI tracks down and now want to concentrate just on the audio outputs, you might find getting rid of the midi tracks visually helps reduce the clutter, thereby increasing your ability to focus on what your doing.
Or for something different - Last week I had a project consisting of 18 tracks running simultaneously, which would end up being exported as 8 consecutive tracks on a CD, each CD track comprised of a different arrangement/mix of a selection of the 18 tracks.
The visibilty tab allowed me to concentrate on just the tracks and events with their respective automation I required for a given mixdown, being able to shut out everything else without having to shuffle tracks about. This was a massive efficieny boost in the workflow and a major element in helping me retain my sanity in the otherwise chaotic track hopping.
Hope this helps in some way.
Let’s say that you have a total of 30 tracks. Now you want to edit automation curves for certain audio tracks only, e.g. 2 or 3 tracks with lead vox. While doing this you want to be able to see and klick the arranger track for navigation purposes. Also, you want to have the tracks height rather maximized in order to see small edit steps. This is where the hide function comes in handy. Hide everything but the tracks you want to edit and the arranger track and you won’t find yourself scrolling up and down through 30 tracks. Further, since only the relevant tracks are visible, you can maximize them in height all at once in one step without ending up with 30 height maxed tracks to scroll through.
Just because a function exists doesn’t mean you have to use it.
well i’ve been waiting for that function since 2001 when i left protools to go cubase.
so i used it a lot already and it is higly powerfull in protools and really increase the workflow.
30 track is not how i use it. i do musics for series for TV and start doing a music and when it’s over i keep it as a template for next musics and next episodes. it’s always over 200 tracks concidering divis strings / winds sections / drums / percu / sound design etc.
take only 2 kontakt 1 omnisphere and you already have 80 tracks (40 midi tracks 40 instruments tracks)
so having some display presets by types of instruments commun with all sessions is important so you don’t have to waste time for each new session (over 200 !).
now that’s for TV. for some show i do outdoor you add some surround to this and really it’s capital to use hide/show functions.
yeah i assume below 30 tracks you can simply have them all together and use the “display selected” function then store configuration to get some A/B and it’s not a problem to clic/scroll
Wish you had posted that last bit in your original post; I totally missed the point of your question initially.
I’m not sure, and am not in the studio ATM, but can one not save configurations as loadable presets in addition to the 8 configuration slots?
If I’m not mistaken, the configurations are mixer specific - i.e. using all 3 mixers, you actually have a total of 24 presets. I know, this isn’t ideal - just adding to the facts so that nothing goes amiss.
I understand your problem now and it will be interesting to see what ideas come forth.
using the display configurations is really not ok today even if the 8 slots could be ok you still have this problem that makes it almost useless otherwise it would be the best solution i guess. and the question is more for the editing window then the mix ofr me:
when you add a new track it is by default added to all your configuration witch takes a huge amount of clics and “update” configuration (with no shortcut!) to get it right. so if you add some vsti that has 16 out like KONTAKT it takes you ages wich makes it useless.
i think sticking to a naming convention and making use of it using the PLE can get very powerful (ie. all your drum tracks include a ‘[DR]’ string, which you can use in a macro that will only display those tracks and hide the rest). you can even write macros that will prepend strings to the tracknames, so if you forgot to name your tracks properly, you can select all the drum tracks for instance, run the macro to ‘prepend the [DR] string’ to the track name, after which they will be compatible with your visibility macros.
agree with the the note on automatically updating the configuration with any newly added channel, and no kc assignable to ‘update configuration’. seems like bad design or bug.
i’ve been using PLE all day long and it’s ok… but not 100% so far.
a big problem i find is when you want to display a track that is inside a folder !
it’s a problem because the filter will not display the folder if it hasn’t got the proper string.
so you have to create a string for the “commun” things you want to keep visible at all time.
it works for folders but not for instrument tracks that has been automatically added by cubase.
if you take KONTAKT say you have 3 tracks
you will end up with :
3 MIDI tracks
1 VST Instruments (folder created by cubase that you can’t rename)
— 1 Kontakt 5 (folder created by cubase that you can’t rename)
------ 3 intrument tracks
even if your 3 instrument tracks have got the right string name they don’t show up
if you try to move only the intrument tacks outisde the folders then they stay visible at all time …
maybe my PLE program is wrong ? i opened a post here to try to get the code right.
I just came across an issue for me using the visibility tracks. I have created enormous templates which are all divided into sections, i.e. Violins 1, Violins 2, Violas etc. containing all the different libraries I own in one template.
My idea was then to hide all the ones I didn’t want for a particular song I could be left with only the ones that create the sound I wanted for the song.
The problem with this is that I just realized that if I have all my Violins 1 in a folder track, then hide all the ones I don’t want, click on the record enable on the folder track, it record enables ALL my instruments inside the folder. Including the hidden ones!
How frustrating and a bit disappointing as it renders this feature useless for what I had intended to use it for. I guess I can keep using the template but delete whatever I don’t use, but that defeats the purpose of being able to bring anything back I wanted to test or change the color of the sound with easily. I certainly don’t see this as useful as I did originally when they released it and certainly/obviously didn’t understand the true purpose of this feature.
maybe there’s an option in preference not to record hidden tracks.
else you can try with the PLE. say you use “*” as a keycommand to record you could create a PLE that says :
container type is all type and
Proprety is set Hidden
Track operation record disable.
[/b]
then you create a macro with that PLE and add “RECORD” after it and set your “*” keycommand to that macro.
EDIT–
i tried it it’s working
hi,
i’ve watched your video.
but do you really need this script ? because adding colors by groups or displaying groups is somehting you can do with PLE only. no need for a second program (?)
that’s true, but remembering and assigning a keycommand to ‘prepend DRUMS’, ‘BASS’, ‘FOLEY’, ‘VOX’, ‘SFX’ … then ‘show DRUMS’, ‘BASS’, or ‘assign default DRUMS colour’ etc., one soon runs out of keycommands, not to mention it’s difficult to memorize all. (you can indeed run these manually by calling up the PLE, or going through menu’s, but that’s not good workflow.) i prefer keycommands for the most frequent actions, for things like these, for me personally, a solution like this context menu seems convenient.
yeah. it makes sense.
i’ll keep learning more about PLE and see how far it can get ubntil i’m traped in memory and keycommands
but for what you say i also hope it is possible to sum up operation in a single one.
for exemple :select all track containing the word DRUM = add color red + show.
this means the first time you display them they all turn to red and then it’s like a show/hide function
later on if you add a new track and name it drum it will turn red like the others the moment you show/hide it.
(if only there were more PLE orders such as = MOVE TO FOLDER “x”) let’s hope more will come.
am i wrong or is it the video you did but there’s a little delay bettween your order and the moment it’s done ?
yes, good observation-- there is a delay. it’s because my implementation is very inefficient, executing an external script that loads a midi-controlling library each time. i have some music deadlines to meet (shocking ;p), so i plan to make this more efficient, if my hobbyist programming skills allow, once i have more time.
(what you’re describing, if i understand well, ie. tracks changing colours on their own once added, based on their name… i don’t reckon that is possible. the ple is powerful, but quite limited at the same time as you’ll find out if you start digging deeper.)
to display only the tracks related to drums :
container types is all type and
name contains not #dr (i’m using this to label any DRUMS related tracks) and
media type is unequal tempo / marker / transpose / arrange / signature / chord / video
—transform
track operation hide track enable
to change colors of these tracks a second PLE does :
container types is all type and
Property property is not set is hidden and
media type is unequal tempo / marker / transpose / arrange / signature / chord / video
—transform
set color set to fixed value DRUMS (i have a set of default colors based on my stems)
then you create a macro doing PLE 1 chained to PLE2 and add a single keycommand to it.
there’s other ideas you can add to the previous macro like :
zoom track heights
remove rec / monitor on hidden tracks …
i think it can be quite powerfull when you get into it.
I think you already have the best “solutions” mentioned in your initial post.
I think you mean this: Unfortunately when you right click “add track” in your project… even when right clicking inside the created audio folder, the new audio channel is going to show up on the left side of the mixer console by default. (this is assuming you have previously assigned certain channels to be on the right side in the zones.)
Which is from an old post shortly after Cubase7 was released.
IMO it’s just not very thought out logic. They rushed out the mix console, and after 14 months there are very few improvements.
It’s a workflow issue. Good luck seeing them address it.
