I just realized something while working in Cubase 7.5 the other day that totally messed me up.
Often times I sketch out parts with midi then go back and replace them with real instruments. So typically I make a midi part, pull up the key editor so I can see the notes, and do audio recording on a separate monitor.
What happened was, I was recording audio like normal, I then needed to hear some midi notes so I went to click on them to hear, I then realized I recorded the wrong notes so I went to undo. This then DID NOT undo the audio I had just recorded so I kept hitting CMD-Z thinking my computer got stuck, and oddly it was undoing what I had done awhile back in the Key Editor! All was fine in the end, but I had to retrace my steps and double check everything, wasting time… but what’s the deal with that???
I’m relatively new to Cubase, so if anyone can explain to me the concept, maybe I can wrap my head around it…
So are there 2 different Undo’s? like a Main Layout Undo and a Key Editor Undo? Is there a preference where I can just have normal Undo’s like every other program? Or maybe from now on I just have to be very cautious of what window i’m clicked into when undoing… sucks since i want to be musical and then I have to worry about small trivial things like that… but if that’s the way it is, then so be it.
You’re saying that, after recording audio, repeated presses of undo did not undo that audio? That would be weird.
Check History? Repeat the procedure exactly as before. When you’re done taking the audio, look at the undo history and see what steps show.
Damn, just left studio to go see Interstellar! I’ll check this behavior out when I get back. It doesn’t sound right, each editor having its own undo history… If I do a few things in the Arranger window, then go to the Key Editor, I’m pretty damned sure it’ll undo what I just did in Arranger–not what I last did in KE. Anyway, I’ll check it out!
I’ll do some more tests when i’m at the studio tomorrow… try and replicate it.
It happened when the Key Editor is still in focus. off the top of my head I think I did this:
Record audio in main page
click on midi notes in KE - thus putting KE in focus
cmd-Z to undo (what I thought would undo the audio recording) but it started undoing midi notes/midi edits that I did prior to even starting to record audio…
thanks for the help… i’ll give some more details tomorrow
OK, I got back from Interstellar (f’in amazing movie, btw!) and tried it in my already-open comp that I’m in mixdown on.
The short answer: Yes, MHSound, Key Editor does have its own undo… Kind of. More like, Undo is more dynamic than I thought.
Here are my steps to recreate:
add MIDI notes in KE (Green dots next to the 3 new notes):
Close KE and record audio (green arrow):
Reopen KE. “Record” shows as latest action (Ignore #6 “Move.” That was an accidental key stroke!:
Hit ⌘+Z repeatedly. The added notes undo. New audio remains in Arranger window. “Record” undo line item moves up higher in the ranking:
*NOTE: If I continue to undo, it will delete the recorded audio after undoing any KE edits.
**NOTE: If focus leaves the KE at any time—even clicking on the History window, the spell is broken, and undo shifts back to total-linear mode and deletes the newly-recorded audio!
Close KE. ⌘+Z. Undo recorded audio:
This is great to know. For me, I guess it hasn’t come up—I suppose I tend to get my undos done (_un_done?) while I’m in the area—or, it’s just so logical I didn’t even notice it happening! (But, this could explain the rare, but odd, feeling of, “I swear I undid that already…”)
To me this is highly useful and logical. It adds another layer of power to the usually-only-linear undo. Just have to watch out for the "NOTE"s I noticed above.
Now that I know it exists, I’m going to exploit this!
This seems Not Good becasue it’s possible to be undoing things without realizing. (If MHSound had not noticed the midi events were going away they would have been gone without him knowing)
Having multiple monitors really helps so you can keep the history open and see what’s going on. Also keep the project page window and key editor window open at the same time. Remember to always keep the key editor window focused.
You could easily undo something you didn’t mean to undo. For example draw a couple notes in the key editor (history shows each note as an added step) then go record something. Then draw another note in the key editor. History window will show
add note
add note
record
add note
Now with the key editor still in focus (don’t touch the history window) ctr+z=undo #4, ctrz+z (2nd time)=undo#2 Step 3 record should have been undone. Instead Step 3 record automatically moves up which is incorrect. If you undo a 3rd time then the first added note will be deleted only record as step 1 when it should have been undone previously. And finally with only record in the history window, undo a 4th time and record is undone.
