Incorporating controllers & Vol.-Vel. levels as defaults i

RUNNING: WIN 7, CUBASE 8.5, KONTAKT 5, VEP PRO,RME 400, AKAI MPK88, 5 2TB 7500 DRIVES, 64 GB


Hi. I’d appreciate any input as pertains to setting up default volume controllers and their levels in Cubase 8.5 Templates.
The principal volume controllers I work with are the Mod Wheel, cc11, and the TEC Breath Controller.
I assign these cc’s to faders with Kontakt instruments by using the “Auto-Midi Automation” drag & drop method. With libraries like the LASS there are specific routing techniques defined by the developer, which is the “Auto-Midi Automation” drag & drop process.
I assign all of the cc info in the VSL libs within the Instruments Pro player.
I went away from Cubase’s Quick Controls in Cubase 7 when forums began running problem messages with them.

I want these controllers, in all templates, set up in an 2 empty bars that will be prior to bar 0. In these empty bars I want the Mod Wheel, a fader assigned to cc11 and the TEC B.C. levels set, per track, so that the velocity & volume levels in the Controller lanes is set at the opening for every track for all instruments in the template so as to begin every instrument at the volume -velocity level that equivilates to my idea of an “mp” (approximately 65 on the Akai). (I know there are large variables from developer to developer, library to library to be accounted for.)

In Cubase, all of these controllers have lanes that they are visible within, similar to automation lanes. and like automation these controller levels remain visible in their respective lanes & active throughout a project .

I want these opening “65’s” volume levels sustained through out the entire project templates in their respective controller lanes to serve as my project default volume-velocity levels for the controllers, so that throughout a project every new recorded pass will begin with the controllers always at my “65” volume.

This default would change only by my riding faders et al for crescendos-decrescendos as I record in phrases.

At the completion of each recorded pass I want Cubase to snap back to the “65” default in the lanes regardless of the elevated or diminished velocity levels the faders finish at at the end of recorded phrases .

This way, for me, when I bring back in, say the Flt that was first recorded back at measure #4 for a second entrance at Bar 30, the Flt’s entrance volume (65) will be consistent with its opening 65 level, and that 65 default will be current throught the entire project.


The failure that I had in Cub. 7 & 7.5 was that the opening 65 default is over ridden by the final position of a controller at the end of a recorded pass after a crescendo-dimenuendo, leaving me with “pps” or "ff’s in the various lanes to begin phrases with instead of Cubase “snapping back” to my wanted “mp” opening levels.

For me, the way I want to record is, for example, in recording an 8 bar Woodwind section’s phrase. I want to be able to loop out the 8 bars where the Woodwind phrase I’m working on is at on the time line , plus an additional 2 bars prior to that phrase’s entrance.

To record I want to then activate the Flt 1 track and hit record.

Then at the end of the 1st phrase, as Cubase loops back to beginning of the loop, I want to be able to hit the down arrow on the querty K.B.to will activate Flt 2 (whose opening volume level will be the preassigned “mp”) and in this manner record passes on down through the entire Woodwinds, or whatever combo of instruments the orchestration at the time calls for, without ever having to stop, or break my flow.
However, as all of my the phrases will contain and thus end with some dynamic movement this approach of mine becomes impossible because when my 1st Flute makes its second entrance in the piece, its “new” vel.-vol. level was restablished by the ending vel-vol level at the end of that Flt’s last recorded pass 20 odd bars ago, a level usually of 00 or 117 etc., but not my “mp”. This goes on ad infinitum throughout the piece and happens with every instrument in the ensemble, per entrance.

Without being able to set up my temps as described above I currently have to stop prior to every new instruments entrance, open that instrument in an Editor and scuffle around manually drawing into their respective lanes an approximation of that intro “mp” per lane, per instrument, to get all of the controller(s) back to my wanted mp level. The alternative, if I don’t do this, is that after recording a part, I have to redraw all controller info, again, per part, per recorded pass, so as to be able to balance, say, todays 1st Flute part’s entrances to the recorded 1st Flute parts of a day or week before.

For tuttis & “Shout” Choruses this function has to be done 100’s of times in a piece across every project , daily.

It’s is a huge time consumer, time waster, particularly when spread across the entirety of all of the controller info used to massage an 80 piece orchestra with multiple articulations!

For me, this re leveling process consumes the largest part of my writing time, takes the largest percentage of time from from me every work day and worst, defeats any concept of a productive workflow.
What I want from Cubase with all of my project templates is that when I hit stop, ending a recorded pass, Cubase will SNAP BACK all of the used controllers to their opening levels set up in their lanes as that original default “mp” set up in those opening lanes at Bar -02.
Is there anyway in Cubase 8.5 to accomplish this?
Or for that matter does anyone have a more efficient method for handling controller volumes as relates to creating a continuing workflow process?
I want the hours I have to apply to writing to be about writing, not file restructuring.

I’m hoping with this query that my failures to accomplish what I wished in Cubase 7-7.5 were those of my lack of knowledge(s) and not the lacking of Cubase’s potential.

Thank you!
g.c.

I don’t quite see why having a quick wiggle of the mod wheel to around half way at the start of recording is a deal breaker.

i WORK IN orchestral music, which is why I have Cubase .
3-4 movement works can entail 400 to 500 bars. Add 80 instruments, every artic, per every project?
Its not a little wiggle for me, it 100’s of wiggles, and then there are fader moves, automation moves, Breath Controllers, it starts to consume more time then writing does.
g.c.

Sorry to have kept you.

Not sure if this solves your problem and maybe there is a much more clever way to do this, but at least it should make it easier:

What I usually do is record one bar of midi where I set the cc’s (controllers) right (for instance centering the pitch and mod wheels). Then open it in List Editor and delete all the control changes except one (for each controller) containing the correct initial value that I want. Then move those remaining few events to the beginning of the part. Exit editor.

I then give that part a bright color so it´s easy to spot in the project, and shorten the part to a 1/4 bar or so, so it won’t take up unnecessary space on the timeline.

Then put this part on the track at the beginning of the song, before any “real” parts (with notes), so the first thing that happens when playing the song is setting those values right. You would need a copy of this part on each instrument track obviously (though you don’t need it on every track if you have several tracks/lanes for one instrument/midi destination/midi channel).

Then you would just drag a copy of this part in between all your takes, and put one before each new recorded pass. You would preferably use SHARED copies (shift+alt+drag the part => new shared copy), so that editing one and changeing a value would change all of them through the whole project.

Hope this helps.

/Ville