i’ve just recently started w/cubase, having jumped ship from another program [which shall remain nameless], due to increasing frustration w/that product. so far, so good. i’m pleasantly surprised at how intuitive cubase is, and how much thought seems to have gone into it. …but there are still many things i can’t figure out. i hope you will bear with me in this long post !
i have a few vsti’s in a project. i’d like to mix down some of the outputs to audio files on audio tracks and play w/them there, rather than mixing the sound from the outputs directly via the mix console. is this possible ? if so, how can i do it ?
i’d like to pan an effects send. for example, suppose i have a stereo effect on an effects buss, and i have a stereo channel w/a send to that effect. i’d like to be able to pan what goes onto the fx buss independently from how i’ve got the track’s own pan set. is this possible ?
how do i get my markers to appear in the key editor (piano roll) view ?
the operations guide mentions a ‘random’ pop-up [p.650, ‘setting up random variations’]. i can’t figure out where this is or how to get to it in the program, and it isn’t mentioned in any other location in the manual.
i have several windows open, spread across 2 video screens. i’d like to be able to select a different window with just keystrokes, rather than having to click on the border w/the mouse. i’ve tried looking for key bindings like ‘next window’, ‘choose window’, and ‘select window’, but can’t find anything. what i’m looking for is functionality similar to windows ‘alt-tab’, but within cubase. using alt-tab does work – in some instances – but it seems like some types of windows will obey this and others won’t.
in the track view, i’d like to have selected tracks expand while others remain collapsed. for example, if i select tracks 1, 2, and 4, then hit a key combination, those tracks would expand, while all others remain closed. i’ve found the option ‘expand selected track’, and that does something very close to what i want, but it seems to work on only one track at a time.
i’d like to bind mouse operations similar to key combinations. for example, suppose i wanted to select a track and expand it in one go, and want to do that by binding ‘left click’ with ‘shift’. or if i want to scroll the mouse wheel and have it do one thing in a given context, but have it do another thing if i’m pressing the shift key at the same time.
if any of this is in the manual, my apologies. i’m still working my way through the 1300 pages so if you know of a place that tells about any of this, by all means hit me with a ‘rtfm’
Get familiar with the audio export dialogue. You can set all kinds of outputs there. Cubase exports what’s between locators 1 and 2 (the loop thing).
Another method is ‘render in place’. It does different things, depending on what you’ve selected (track or events) and set in its dialogue.
Check out the channel settings window. On the right side you’ll find fx send levels. There’s a tab above that enables the corresponding fx panners.
No idea, sorry.
No idea as well. I prefer to not have Cubase making too much random stuff
Nothing I’d know about…
You can choose several tracks and just press ‘Z’. Depending on screen size and resolution that might just be enough for two tracks… Lots of visibility options though. Try to find the section about visibility management in the manual and see if you’ll get where you want to.
Check out the key commands and macros (> build your own macros) and you’ll get pretty far. Key commands are not mouse operations of course and there’s no way I’d know about to include them.
Welcome to the forums. A couple of tips about getting the most out of them. It usually works better to make multiple posts with one question each rather than a big bunch all at once. That way you can be specific in the post’s title which increases the odds that someone who knows the answer will read it. Also it’s nice to put your system config in your signature. This is really useful when you’ve got an odd problem that might be related to hardware or software. Of course none of your questions here are, so…
They can’t, although it has been requested multiple times. However if you use Edit In Place you can edit in the Project Window where the markers are displayed.
I don’t know why it says “pop-up” but the function is located in the MIDI Modifiers tab in the track’s Inspector. Bonus hint on randomizing: If you randomize the start position make sure the length is shortened a bit so you don’t end up randomly having note-1’s midi off occur after note-2’s midi on. If note 1 & 2 are the same pitch this effectively silences note-2.
Yeah alt-tab is all you’ve got. The hit & miss nature is due to the way Cubase handled windows in the past. Prior to C8 they handled various windows internally so as far as the Windows OS knew there was only one window for Cubase. With C8 they have half-way started using the OS for windows management. But some windows seem to still use the old method. Those are the one’s you can’t alt-tab between. Also you might notice that those same windows disappear when another program besides Cubase is active. Hopefully they sort this out soon.
I got a gaming mouse with lots of buttons to do this. It’s software lets me associate a button with a key combination. So I set them up to issue Cubase Key Commands. You can customize the Key Commands under the File menu. You can also create macros to do several things and assign a Key Command to it. Once you are feeling comfortable with the basics you should check out the Logical Editor where you can build presets to do all sorts of fancy midi editing which can also be assigned to Key Commands.
Yeah it takes awhile to sort your way around the manual. While the content is generally pretty good, the index is only so-so. So using the PDF reader’s search function is sometimes needed to locate the info you want.
Also Steinberg have a lot of videos showing how to do stuff. Most of the basic stuff hasn’t changed much recently so videos for older versions can help too. You might also check out some of the on-line Cubase courses from Groove 3.
I am a relic from the analog planet existing in a digital world. I have given up on making sense trying to make references from analog tape. So here it goes.
Click track, preroll set at two measures. I record on the down beat for 20 measures or so. Not a song, just a bass mimicking the click track. Play it back and the bass is on the upbeat before the downbeat. I know it is something simple that I have overlooked or am unaware of. Even has a few studio guys scratching their heads.
There is so much to be said in favor of digital, no tape hiss. No real track limitations and lots of flexibility. But, you gotta have a pulse if your going to be tracking. Any help will be appreciated.
My partner in crime and I finally figured it out. He is in the business in Nashville and I had the Pre-Roll and Pre-Count going at the same time. Live and learn. It is just going to take some time to learn much of this stuff. The first lessen is this: If ya buy cheap…you’re gonna pay for it later.
I bought a cheap interface (no names please) and had to give up on it. It was USB 1, too slow and had a high pitched whine to it that went right onto a track. Me having a pretty bad case of Tinnitus never heard it and sent it on the the publisher just like nothing had happened. I got an email asking if my nose was whistling when I was recording my vocals. Re-Du.
so if you know of a place that tells about any of this, by all means hit me with a ‘rtfm’ 
this will definitely help.