In SX3 when I record my singer over looped portions of the song I typically start the recording at the last bar or two of the part. So basically if I have a 16 bar chorus for example I’ll place the locator at the beginning of bar 14, press record, and when it loops back to the start my singer starts singing. With SX3 the little bit that gets recorded before the first loop over isn’t kept, only full takes that go from marker 1 to marker 2 are kept, so even the little bit that is left (since it’s starting a new take) when I hit stop isn’t kept either. It’s nice and clean. With Cubase 6 I’m finding it’s recording and keeping everything which I don’t want it to do. I don’t need to see those small pieces of pre and end recording. Is there a way to set Cubase 6 to act like SX3 did and only keep the full marker to maker takes?
Rev.
Rev, since I learned this technique from you, I see the same thing. What I end up doing is - when the Edit to Part window is open and all the parts are stacked up, I click on that half part and then hit 'Control and the ‘X’ key to delete the part. I know you like things to flow better, but the two keys are close together and, eh, it is all I can figure out. 
OK, that offered, and thank you once again for again sharing this process with me here, I see that you, too, are ‘stuck’ with recording from the start of the loop. What I would like is to have some kind of pre roll before the loop on each pass, say a bar length. With all the things that Cubase can do, and all the things it does that I really don’t need, it seems that this wish should be possible. The obvious reason I want this is that I want my recorded clip to start and end exactly where I need it so I can edit the takes and slip it in without a lot of trouble.
Anybody?
Hiya Roos. FYI, you totally can setup Cubase for preroll. It’s in the recording options though I can’t recall where at the moment. But, I’ve seen it several times today poking around.
*edit - just wanted to note I’m not sure if the preroll in cubase works for each loop or if it only does it for the start of recording. You can try it and let us know 
Rev.
Pre and Post Roll is set up on the Transport.
OK, yes, I’ve tried placing the curser ahead of the loop, and although I can’t exactly recall the results, I think I either ended up with a longer first take - it recorded from where I set the curser - or it just jumped to the loop section. Either way, all subsequent loops were loop length - not what I had in mind.
I see the pre roll items in the Transport window but I am not clear how to intiate a continuous pre roll while doing loop recording. But man, that is what I want. Since the loop is set to part, and the curser fires on the playback markers above the loop - which are over the part - it seems not likely. Well, to me anyway.
Ah, but mashedmitten, somehow I think you would know how to do this if it were possible. Tell me a page to read and I will read it with glee. Or spill your guts. Either way I am here to learn something. 
I always do punches on a seperate track. This enables me to set the locators at say 13.4.0 and 16.2.0, for example given your situation, to catch any lead in or tail of the part. If I loop record, I set the left locator a full bar before I wat to punch to give me the pre-roll effect. Re: full length takes, Cubase seems to work in this fashion, if there is any audio at all in a take it will keep it. If there is silence, it doesn’t.
Mashedmitten - OK, I understand. I have only recently tried the idea of loop part recording and it is working out for me. Well, all except that pre roll thing. Like I said before, it seems it must be possible but then again, maybe it’s not possible.
I always break down recordings into phrases where edits/ punches don’t require X-fades. Top three of my tunes at Soundclick use this method. If you listen, you can’t even tell. Like I said, if I want to comp via Loop Record I set the punch point on a seperate track a full bar before the punch. This gives me a lead in to the take.
Just tested this again both in SX3 and in Cubase 6 and it’s not true. It doesn’t matter if there is signal or not:
SX3 does not keep any audio from a take that starts late or ends early if allowed to loop. If you start recording somewhere within the markers and stop before reaching the end marker it does save the take. But if you loop, that original partial take (or pre-roll style take for better words) does not get saved and does not show in the parts list.
Cubase 6, I found something new here, always keeps the partial take even when looping but I found that so long as you stop recording before the last loop reaches a few seconds in it won’t save the final loop. I haven’t determined the exact time but it does appear time based since the point where I can stop and not have it saved changes if I change the tempo of the project.
I do this too. Thing is there are times my other method of looping from the end is a better choice. For example, in one of my songs there’s a pause at the end of the second chorus and the bridge with just a reverb trail before the bridge kicks in. Since my singer doesn’t like to sing with a click track ticking in his ear he can’t time when the part comes in. Of course there are a million simple ways to work around this, I agree. However, with SX3 I didn’t have to work around it.
Rev.
Yeah, sorry, that’s the behavior since C4. Late, here. 
OK, I have a friend in Florida that uses Cubase 5 and he tested this for me and he gets the same behaviour as I do in SX3 - it doesn’t keep takes that aren’t full marker to marker passes.
I’ve emailed Steinberg support, but who knows when I’ll hear back. In the interim, does anyone else know if this behaviour can be changed in Cubase 6?
Rev.