I was wondering if anyone ever uses the marker track for notes that are from themselves or comments from clients.
For example:
I am writing a score on a film and the client responds with a few requests on timecodes he gives me:
00:00:20 make this brass louder
00:01:02 can this section play a little faster
00:02:12 fade this out earlier
ectect.
From what I could find during my research on custom marker track import was that it’s not easy except you’re really good with XML, which I am not. And I just don’t want to spend my time coding/importing/exporting in different apps just so I can have my notes at the position in my timeline where I need them.
Right now, I am simply copy/pasting notes into an external notes/todo app, which does the job but it could be a lot more effective.
What about cubase could recognize the timecodes in a text file or a pasted snippet and automatically convert them into custom markers on the track for me? I could see the notes at the timecode where needed and start working on it immediately.
Does this sound to much like stuffing up the turkey?
I would like to see a ‘notes track’, I think it’s overdue that we get one. Searching the forums there are quite a few requests and comments about this idea.
I like the idea to import as well, which could work well for when doing mix evaluations and you don’t have cubase open - you can just write them onto a text file in a certain format then import it.
It could also potentially have support for .jpg files, if they could work that somehow.
Thanks for responding after 2 years of me writing this
Yeah, it would be still cool to have that. If you look at how Youtube is handling timecodes, the possibilities would be endless.
E.g. Cubase could detect timecodes in some pasted text/or your clipboard and then convert these into separate markers with a note attached. The notes I receive or make for my projects always look like this:
00:01:23 - voices are too quiet
00:01:40 - choose another take
00:02:23 - fade out music earlier
I put these into apple notes so I can tick them off but yeah, having them directly inside cubase would so much nicer
Another thing: Movie cues. When you write a score for a TV show or movie as a composer, you will definately have to submit your music to a PRO at some point together with a cue sheet. As of now, I am always making a new project in which I import the score as a whole and then import the cycle marker track from the scoring project to help me set the marking points for the cues.
The next steps are:
deleting/adding cycle markers however they fit best
making sure the cue’s all fade to zero by cutting the audio clip and adding a tiny fadeout at the end
exporting the cues
exporting the final cycle marker track as an XML
uploading the XML to a website that I know and might be online or it might now…who knows? CUBASE :: MARKERS TO CUE SHEET
converting the XML into a PDF so I can send it off to my producer who then submits it to the PRO
uploading all my cue audio files to the PRO
Obviously the most tricky part is the conversion into a PDF. So if there was a way to turn all cycle marker tracks into a beautifully formatted PDF… that would be incredible - and it would even set Cubase even more apart from other DAW’s like Logic or Pro Tools.
This could all be stuff accessible from the marker track editor window.
I do have 3 different Marker Tracks included in my main Template. One is for regular Markers, another is for Notes and the third is a Marker Library which holds a bunch of predefined Markers that can be dragged onto the active Marker Track. I don’t need to import/export them for cue sheets and the like, which seems like the more difficult element.
While most of the time I use Markers to leave notes, blank MIDI Parts and Audio Events can also be used for notes. I find this more useful when the info is about a specific Track or item on a Track. By using Lanes you can kind of use them like physical sticky notes.
That is a really creative way of using markers. Haven’t seen that one before!
However, what do you do when a client sends you feedback on a track and includes timecodes?
Do you handle this via the phone or in person?
For some, me included, most of my client feedback comes in via email and it just would make things a lot easier and faster if there was a process that could take these notes and automatically convert them into markers, just like I described above. There are a couple of steps involved that can surely be automated.
I like your color scheme, it looks really organized. Almost like a database for taxes lol
As I alluded to above, that’s not a situation I’d find myself in. But some sort of Production Notes system clearly would be useful to lots of different types of users. I suspect trying to expand on Markers to get the job done is not the best approach.
Right now Cubase supports Notes on Tracks/Channels and on the Project. In both of those cases the Notes are part of the Track or Project. What if instead a Note is simply an item in a database. And you can attach or link a Note to any object in Cubase - Parts, Markers, Events, Tracks, VSTi Presets, the Control Room whatever. A scheme like that could accommodate all sorts of things like generating cue sheets, client billing hours, arrangement notes, musician logs, tips on how to best use a plug-in, etc.
I mean, since you can export the marker track as an XML, it is already in some kind of database.
I made 2 mockups demonstrating the added functionality and tried to keep it as minimal as possible. Since I used to work as a graphics designer some 10 years ago, I know how annoying it can be when a clients wants an extra button or form here and there until the whole thing looks like a Frankenstein apparatus.
The notepad could simply have a button underneath and a checkmark that looks for hh:mm:ss - formatted timecode with a regex expression of some sort. If that checkmark is not checked, it will instead convert every new linebreak into a marker - pretty straightforward.
The marker window already has a functions menu - it should be easy tying a PDF-generator in there or at least something that just opens up a file dialog and you just save it to your destination. It is possible to add further details (composer, producer, ect. via the file dialog).
