import tracks / automation without VCA faders

Hi there,

I am new here.
I am just forwarding few questions I asked the support from which I am waiting for an answer. Maybe some of you can find a good answer too :slight_smile:



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  • Is there a way to import tracks from a project to another? I am not talking about audio files only, but entire tracks, with its settings, insert, sends and automation. Both project have the same bpm.
    I.e. I made a project with solely instrumental parts that was very heavy on cpu, so I made a mixdown of it and imported the related audio file into a new project in which I have added all the vocals.
    But now I have a more powerful computer and I want to import all those vocals with automation and track settings back into the instrumental version, is there any way to do so?

another question:

  • There is a situation that happens to me quite frequently. I get the perfect mix of a project but sometimes some of the tracks need more volume, so instead of increasing their levels first, I take all the channels down of some dbs to avoid clipping, and then adjust their levels again. This is possible in Cubase 8 thanks to the VCA faders: even if your mix is full of automation data, with VCA Faders you can “move” down all the faders and automation follows the change proportionally. ( am I right?) Is there another way to do so? i.e. Cubase 6.5 doesn’t have VCA Faders function. The solely workaround I found is putting down by some db every single channel’s gain, but it is not the best solution as lots of inserts change the way they sound if they receive a lower signal from the track. Also, you cannot select all the channels and take their gain down at the same time, and doing this channel by channel sometimes is very very exhausting !

hope it is clear enough, as you might guess english is not my mother language!

To answer your first question…
First, export the desired track(s) from the source Project, via File menu>Export>Selected tracks, then, in the destination Project, File menu>Import>Track Archive.

As for the 2nd question, yes, it’s a pity that VCA faders have only just become available, but maybe, for Cubase 6.5, you could reduce your levels by “Linking” the desired channels together, setting them all to Write Enable, then performing “Trim Automation” on any one of the tracks.

thanks a lot for your answer, i’ll try this out :slight_smile:

if I trim automation, this means all the volume automation on all tracks will be overwritten completely or just moved down proportionally all over the project?

Moved proportionally :slight_smile:
If you are unfamilar with Trim Automation, I suggest you try it out on something unimportant… get the feel of how it works… it is quite well documented (pg. 236 of the Cubase 6 Operation Manual, and pg.584 of the Cubase 8 manual :wink: )

thanks a lot!