MIDI new parts... must I MUTE?

Cubase
#1

I’m trying to create a few new MIDI parts for an instrument track. Ya know… enable the lanes…take 1… meh… Try again… take 2… (Using “Lanes”!)

I find that I have to “Shift-M” to mute the prior take no matter what mode it’s in in order to keep being productive and create new takes. This behavior is totally inconsistent with audio takes (that always seem to mute prior takes). (Steinberg devs… ya there???)

How!!! Any tips? I’m sure this has been asked before, but I can’t seem to find anything in the manual or the magic forum search words. It’s starting to reallllly get annoying… (BTW Reaper has this aced!!! Why is this hard?)

Cheers!

  • Sean
#2

Yes, I stopped using MIDI lanes for the same reason, couldn’t work out why it was any different from just using multiple tracks.

#3

Hi,

Please, read the description of the sections in the Set up MIDI Record Mode:

  • Linear & Cycled MIDI Record: Defines what happens AFTER a linear or cycle Recording.
  • Cycled MIDI Recording Only: Defines what happens DURING cycle recording.

As far as I understand your description, you are not recording in cycle.

To make it short: no, you can’t define to mute previously recorded MIDI Parts on the MIDI track, once you hit record and the track is record enabled.

#4

@Martin: Correct. I have no interest in using “Cycle” recording for this purpose. I like to listen back… think for a few seconds… and then if I want to do another take, just hit “Stop” on my controller and record again. Not have to fiddle with clicking the prior take (that I want to keep “just in case”) and muting it.

The “Cycles” based recording should just be an extended behavior to normal recording. Not some special thing all it’s own.

#5

That’s always annoyed me. It’s not working the way one would expect based on the way audio takes work. There should be a way to easily mute the previous take so you can record a new take that mutes the earlier take(s). Instead, you have to open up the lanes and mute parts.

The problem is sometimes you want to overlay the previous lane and play both. I’m not sure how to make both use cases convenient.

#6

Hi, maybe I dont understand… but I do it the following way: Enable Cycle mode and “stacked”. This way every take is in a separate lane and the only the last take is audible. If I dont want to simply “loop” I just hit stop whenever I want. And I hit “record” again to continue. A minor thing is that I do have to “wait” for the next start of the cycle loop (iow start at the right time with my new take). But this (at least almost) does what the OP needs. Just stop in cycle mode and restart by pressing record again. In program settings you can even define that “stop” gets the cursor back to where you started. So… I dont see that “Cycle” would not do the trick…

#7

Hi,

The problem is Tonegroove doesn’t record and doesn’t want to record in Cycle.

#8

Martin, I understand that he does not want to record in cycle - but I think he means that he does not want to simply “loop” (continuously). What he describes can be done in “cycle mode” with interrupting the take (to think in beetween). But maybe I get him wrong.

#9

For me, it’s ALWAYS a case of wanting to do multiple takes, and so muting the previous take automatically would make sense. And like Tonegroove, I don’t use Cycle record. There’s no automatic way to do it currently, and just using multiple regular MIDI tracks seems less fiddly than using Lanes. So Lanes are useless to me.

#10

What exactly is the reason why cycle mode does not work for you despite the fact that you can at any time interrupt and restart it - even with an intermediate play and a stop that gets the cursor back to the starting point?

#11

Lively discussion :slight_smile:

So tonight I’m going back to cleanup a bass track for a song I’m working on. The current bass track currently has 7 lanes, of which I’ve “comped” bits and pieces from about three of the seven lanes.

I do admit, the “comp” tool actually does the right thing! when working with MIDI lanes that have been muted. It lets me work in the same fashion as audio, where it mutes other lanes… splits across lanes… it’s pretty fluid, and a wonderful tool.

HOWEVER>…

I want to now go and do a couple more takes for a section of the track… maybe even the whole thing. The problem is that I’m basically forced to create a whole new track so that I don’t screw up my current comped events. (Note: The way the comping seems to work with MIDI is by effectively muting all other lanes, so you’re left with unmuted events that make up the final track)

This is now a nuisance as I want to lay down a few more takes… Previously, prior to comping, I simply “Shift-M” after a take … and pause to breathe (sorry… cycle mode won’t work for me… I’m not on Adderralllll). But now that I’ve performed some slicing and dicing with the comp tool, the unmuted tracks make up my current track… that’s decent…

So. I’m here to rant a little. This is a very common thing I want to do… Come back to a track, add a few more takes, clean up some stuff. But now I’m thinking the only solution is to use the “MACRO” (oh god)… to “copy the track without events” and just mute the current track. I call HACKS.

Wanted to provide a little more color to the scenario where I want to be able to simply “record and ignore all the other lanes/takes - and not mess up any of my editing/comps”.

Cheers!

  • Sean

PS… Here’s a visual of what I’m facing…

Annotation 2020-07-24 230953.png
Annotation 2020-07-24 230953.png2126×1131 138 KB

#12

Maybe I am still missing something, but just to make sure there is no oversight: Cycle does not mean to record continuously in loops. It can be interrupted at any time in the process.

#13

Interesting indeed.

“Cycle” doesn’t mean… loops? So you’re proposing that I turn on “Cycle” recording that (according to the manual) is:
“You can record in a cycle, that is, you can record a selected section repeatedly and seamlessly.” (See: https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro_artist/v10/en/cubase_nuendo/topics/recording/recording_cycle_recording_t.html)

If what you’re proposing is to use a feature for “X” to solve a problem for a different scenario (use “Cycle” recording mode to workaround the limitation I’ve described), then … I guess that might work? It didn’t even occur to me to set the cycle markers to the whole length of the project (I only care about the “NOW”… and don’t want to be bothered by a range) and just go back to recording as I would normally.

I’ll have to give it a try. But to not think of this, and it CLEARLY be an unintended use case…

Nothin but more HACKS. :slight_smile:

Cubase is still in need of a usability and interface overhaul.

I’ll try this and report back. I really don’t like having to use the Cycle recording more in an unintended way like this just to be able to solve the problem of recording a MIDI take and being able to ignore the others.

I also found a slightly acceptable workaround: Copy the comped events down to a single lane, then I won’t forget what the comp was if I wanted to mute all prior takes.

Thanks again for the ideas!

#14

UPDATE: Using Cycle mode to implicitly mute prior takes doesn’t work unless the cycle cycles back around. Oh well. :slight_smile:

#15

I hope they will add another MIDI recording mode in Cubase 11 that will mute ALL the other lanes no matter what. Very simple addition and it would make the UX identical to recording audio. :+1:

#16

Honestly have NEVER understood why there isn’t an option for MIDI record to behave like audio record - punch in manually, punch out, move the start point forward or back (pre-record)… Auto mute the underneath lanes…

Seems really obvious to me, and it’s not like we haven’t asked…