While working with the mouse in Cubase, I want a way to make copies of audio/midi blocks through drag&drop with constraint direction on. (means whatever you copy won’t move sideways on the timeline while you drag&drop it). I often use blocks that doesn’t correspond to perfectly even values on the timeline.
However this seems like a real obstacle and I could use tips/help.
Making a straight copy (without constraint direction) via drag&drop, means you gotta hold down ALT while dragging and dropping. To move an object with constraint direction on, means you gotta hold down CTRL while dragging and dropping.
It would make sense to have CTRL+ALT create a copy via drag&drop with constraint direction, right? But instead, CTRL+ALT switches the mouse tool into… drum roll … Slip Editing mode. (tadaa!). Can’t even make copys in that mode.
When looking in Preferences>Editing>Tool Modifiers dialog, the operations - such as ‘Drag&drop’ or ‘Size objects’ - are not presented as sub-settings for each tool they are relevant to. Instead, these operations are presented as independent entries in the same column as the tools themselves - even though these operations don’t even correspond to any action for all tools.
So for starters, I wouldn’t know if I could change this behavior in the ‘Object selection tool’ settings, or in the ‘Drag&drop’ settings.
And second, there is no operation entry for ‘copy with constraint direction’ anyway, which I could attach a key combination to. And you can’t enter such operations into the list yourself. I feel kindof stuck.
I would like to know if there is any simple way to make copies (not ‘Shared copies’) with constraint direction?
However I’m uncertain about this. The slip modifier is available in the Object selection settings and can be changed to ALT+SHIFT. But in the Drag&drop settings - drag&drop is the operation I plan to use - ALT+SHIFT already corresponds to ‘Copy as shared copy’.
This creates a two-folded suspicion: 1. will the presence of the same key command, corresponding to two different operations for the same exact tool mess things up? and 2. If this works, will this create ‘shared copies’ while I need ‘real copies’? (Shared = whatever you do to the copy will be duplicated onto the original).
When there is a conflict, it is the order in which you press the mouse button and modifier keys that determines the function. Easier to try oneself than to explain.
I changed the slip editing to ALT+SHIFT, to open up CTRL+ALT to use for constrained time copy. I should note that there is no operation to assign CTRL+ALT to. Constraint Direction is one operation, while Copy is one.
But ahaa … only through trying it out hands on, did I realize that these two operations combine when both keys are depressed. Not used to that, and I bet most other people won’t figure this out in a hurry. Usually, one key corresponds to one operation and the other key to another operation, while the two combined correspond to a third operation. And just like I asked for, it did not create a shared copy.
I will seize the opportunity to add, hoping for future improvement:
I drag&dropped the copied object onto a new track (of the same type). But before I released the mouse button, I held the object over the correct (new) track and intentionally dragged the mouse pointer way off on the timeline, several bars, and then I released the mouse button.
During the time I kept my mouse button depressed, the small object icon - that represents the copied object - did remain correctly over the intended track and on the correct spot on the timeline while I dragged the mouse pointer way off.
However when I released the mouse button, the copy ended up on the original(!) track, and under the timeline location where my mouse pointer were when I released the mouse button. (Snap was turned off at the time).
When I did not drag my mouse pointer way off however, the copy ended up on the intended new track and correctly seated on the timeline. It would seem one must use caution and be mindful when using this operation still. This could certainly be improved, as could the very cumbersome layout of settings principle in the Preferences>Editing>Tool Modifiers dialog.
