What it’s About?
I wonder if Cubase will support automated scripting so that it can record and mix thousands (or tens of thousands) of discreet tracks that are uploaded to a server whereby Cubase processes those sound files in real time, say in batches, and exports a mix every hour.
Using an app (to be developed), users (school kids in Australia) will sing 3 words (part of a song) which gets recorded to a file and uploaded to a server where it will then be mixed together and finally mixed down with the instrumental tracks and exported.
In Practice…
They will sing the voice recording one at a time because they are all in different places and doing it at different times, so in real terms there will be thousands of students who upload the sound file at different times of day and night. So there will be a queue, and the system must be automated to handle the audio processing (multitrack recording and mixdown) and export the file at regular intervals for listening on SoundCloud.
Does anyone have any experience with Cubase’s scripting abilities and does this project sound feasible?
Many thanks!
(I don’t have Cubase software yet… doing some feasibility study first to see if it will do what is required in terms of scripting before buying.)
Cubase doesn’t natively have any scripting ability that could do that. Sonar may have… Or perhaps you could find an open source DAW and try to modify that?
Reaper has lua scripting, Cubase does not, although the new Halion 6 sampler has.
One could hope that would spill over to Cubase in a few years time.
Then there is AHK that would work in any Windows based daw, but would require a tremendous effort to get working.
I make a living as a software developer (and I’m not available so this isn’t me looking for work), so I have a pretty good idea of what you’re asking for.
For this kind of project you really need to hire a programmer to write the custom application and server to your specs. You can try stitching together various apps / scripting engines / etc. to come up with these results, but I can assure you that it’s going to end in tears.
Of course, when I tell people things like this the response is often, “But that costs money!” Well, you’re trying to create something that will ultimately be worth money, so that’s kinda how it works.
All joking aside though, figure out your platform (operating system, fat client or thin web interface, technologies, etc.), write up your spec, and then find a programmer whose skills match your needs. It’s not cheap, and I promise it will take longer than you think it should, but in the end you’ll be very happy with the results you get.
ChucK is a music oriented programming language that is pretty easy to learn. In part it is designed to let non-programmers learn to program. It could handle the music side, recording, mixing, etc. But the hosting/accessing side of your project would need to be managed on their own. The whole thing is going to get waaaaay more complicated than you initially anticipate, especially when aesthetics come into play (e.g. how do you generate automated mixes that sound even marginally OK when clips are submitted that have severe sonic problems).
Here is a MOOC that covers beginning ChucK programing.
