Hi guys. I’ve am new to cubase, using it on Trial, thinking on using it instead of Logic Pro (that I use over 10 years).
I am trying to make sense of how things work on cubase, and trying not to do things as I used to, but I am struggling with pre roll, so maybe I can get a fresh view of how to work on it.
My struggle is that, I like to click where the region will start, and the system will start playing 1 bar previous than that. Ok, pre roll does that. But what makes no sense to me, is that it won’t record anything played during the pre roll, or I have to set the until 300ms pre record option. I don’t understand this limitation. Or maybe it’s there because it’s unnecessary to record more than that and I just need to get used to this? I know I can do a macro, but I am trying to think different, otherwise I can just go back to Logic Pro and keep doing the same.
One more thing is not being able to use the pre roll only when recording. I had to create a macro for that, so it will start where I want, but that doesn’t help with double click. How do you guys work with that? Should I just get used to recording on the previous bar instead and don’t use pre roll at all?
If you want to record during the “pre-roll” then why not just put the left locator there and hit record? . What exactly is the “pre” in your example? Maybe Ignore “pre-roll” and just utilize multiple markers / locators.
That said… TMI ALERT.
Steinberg broke Pre-roll when they introduced Cubase SX.
IMHO pre-roll should function like it did on tape machines. That is the genesis of the concept.
Pre-roll historically meant PRE RECORD ROLL TIME and it worked in RECORD mode only.
For example:
- You set your marker, (the left locator).
- Choose the amount of time or bars / beats you need for a pre-roll.
- You hit RECORD and the song plays through the pre-roll and punches in on the marker (left locator).
- After you record what you want, you stop, hit the locator command, in Cubase the NUM 1 for the left locator.
You hit PLAY to listen to your work and the song plays from the LOCATOR position, NOT the pre-roll time.
This way you have the count-in for recording purposes but it’s ignored on PLAYBACK. This is critical for fast paced sessions with artists.
Obviously tape machines were / are limited to absolute time rather than bars & beats and you are limited to whatever number locators your machine offers. But as a music producer of a certain age I can tell you that, for me, the way pre-roll ( Cubase SX and beyond ) works is useless. Just utilize your locators and markers to achieve whatever you want.
But to have a pre-roll forced onto ANY playback position all the time makes absolutely no sense.
Cubase VST and earlier used the correct behavior. Maybe that’s because people were still using tape machines back then.
my 2c
I can do that of course. But since Cubase has pre roll and count in, I was trying to understand how it works, because maybe I was just using it in the wrong way.
I got used to put the playhead where the region should start, and then drag the beginning later in case I needed a crossing point to cut (because logic would record the pre roll and cut the region automatically where the playhead was set, leaving it already organized) or even if something cool happened during the pre count. I guess just like you described about the pre roll before Cubase SX. By the way, thank you for the TMI section, it was very cool to read that! I didn’t know how the pre roll came to be!
It’s a bit disappointing to have those things left broken there, being not very useful. Or maybe they were left so because it makes sense in some way I still didn’t figure out.
Anyway, my goal changing DAW is to work differently, and this is part of it. What is your method of tracking? Do you just select a bit earlier, or do you use some macros and shortcut keys that work around this?
You mentioned ignoring the pre roll and utilize multiple markers/locators. Without the pre roll, it will start just at the marker for the section to be recorded. Do you overlap it with the end of the previous section of the song?
thank you