Is there an easier way to rename markers?

Prior to Cubase, I lived for many years in the Cakewalk / Sonar world. In that environment, you could simply double click on a marker to edit the name, a trick that doesn’t seem to work in Cubase.

Currently, to rename a marker, this is the process I take:

  1. Select the locate / markers track.

  2. In the markers pane at far left, go down to the bottom, select the horizontal scroll bar, and drag it to the right so that I can see the marker names (my resolution is 1920x1080 but there doesn’t seem to be a way to widen this pane to show more than the id and position, so I have to scroll the pane).

  3. Double click in the Description field for the appropriate marker and edit.

As you can imagine, this is exceedingly tedious to do on a regular basis. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that I’ve overlooked a simpler way to accomplish this, so I’m hoping someone can point me in that direction.

Thanks!

It’s available on the floating transport bar. Rightclick and add visibility of this.

And there are key command to open the list of markers and rename them as you like in the list.

And fast button to position at a marker.

Thanks, man.

Sorry to be dense, but I’m looking through the key commands under Transport and am not seeing an entry that would allow me to open the markers list. I can bring it up via a click on the floating transport panel but I don’t usually display it as it gets in my way.

Would you mind pointing me to where in key commands I look to set a command for opening the marker window?

Hovering mouse over the transport button gave me Ctrl M - so I guess it should be there.

EDIT: It’s Project Open markers

Open Markers-------[Ctrl]/[Command]-[M]
Operation Manual Pg. 720

Got it, thanks.

[edit] Thanks to you both![/edit]

It’s still clumsy to have to open another window to edit what’s already on the screen, but I guess it is what it is.

Appreciate the help, this will be better than having to show and scroll the markers pane.

Just adding my 2 cents here…

I agree that it is a PIA to have to open the marker list widow to rename them but it’s pretty simple to open it by clicking on the “e” in the inspector for that track. Of course, like previously mentioned, if you are not into mouse clicking just use “ctrl+m” to open it.

For me, I find it easy to edit several markers quickly… after I add a few markers I just hit the “e”, click on the marker description area then change it. Then I use the down arrow to get to the next one. Of course if you are editing each marker as you place them then yes, I suppose it could be a lot of extra clicks/keystrokes.

Regards :sunglasses:

Yeah, my workflow tends to be naming them as I place them so I don’t have to look at a list of markers and think, “Now what the heck was marker 14 for?”

Of course, no matter what the software, there’s always a long list of enhancement requests, and developers have to use their time on the things that will most likely increase sales for the next version. Consequently, a sexy sounding new feature is where time will go rather than improving usability on something boring like placing a market. It’s just the nature of things.

You can also edit the selected Marker’s Description via the Info Line as well (which can be shown along the top of the project window). That’s is how I usually rename them.

+1 for double clicking the marker and editing the name, that’d make it a lot easier.

Mike.

+5 for the info line tip. I’d missed that, and it’s certainly easier than dealing with yet another window. Also fits into my short-term-memory-defecient approach of labeling as I go.

Thanks, Mike!

I use the insert key to create markers, and it’s just so annoying that the resulting marker isn’t automatically selected… Also kind of annoying that there’s no keyboard shortcut to jump to the Description field otherwise it’d be a one click macro with included rename as well !!

Mike.

I’m using the CMC controllers (which are awesome), so I press a button and get the marker. Would be great if I didn’t then have to reach for the mouse.

Also, the Marker Description column can be re-ordered (drag and drop), so that it’s first in the inspector (making it easier to see at a glance and edit) – no more dragging scrollbar right.

Fortunately, it’s saved between Cubase launches, too.

You 'll also notice that you can’t rename Parts, Regions, audio files, etc easily either.

I’ve been asking to have this functionality returned to cubase since SX.
Back in the Cubase VST days you could change the name of markers, parts, regions right on the item - as it should be.
When SX was introduced the info line became the only way to change these fields - NOT as it should be.
I was told that Cubase SX was a complete rewrite and that those type of functions would be added back in over time.
I stopped asking somewhere around SX3.

Now more than a decade later we still have to go into the info line to rename almost any field.
So your desire to make intuitive changes to the interface is completely reasonable.
IMHO making the program more intuitive is just as valuable as adding bells & whistles.

Good to know about the reordering (thought I replied to that but I don’t see it).

Yeah, while I’m a big fan of usability, I don’t pay the bills with music anymore. I’m a professional software developer, so I have some sympathy for the lives of developers, who almost never get to make the call on what should go into the next release.

If it were up to the devs, we’d have the most kickass, fully featured, easy to use software on the planet.

It would also never ship. :slight_smile:

Not true unless it’s different compared to Nuendo.
Just use the key command “insert and name marker”. This automatically selects the newly created marker, opens the marker window, and readies the description field to input text.
You do have to assign it to a key your self as it isn’t assigned per default IIRC.

Appreciate the thought but I just took a quick look and in Cubase, there’s only Insert Marker.

Oh, well. It was certianly worth a try!

Indeed. This “two in one” command is only available in Nuendo.

A partial workaround can be a macro:

open markers
insert marker

Then you have to close the marker window for it to work the next time. Fewer moves than using the mouse anyway.

Indeed, but it’s just another one of those little omissions that always make me upgrade my Nuendo.