recording audio while cycling

Cubase
1

hello, group !

i’d like to record a number of takes, starting at a specific point in a song. i’d like to do this in a loop, one take each time, and allow a measure or two of pre-roll and post-roll for the musicians to get in the groove each time through the loop. i’ve tried several approaches but can’t figure out how to do this. the closest i got was trying this :

  • i set auto-punch-in at a specific point. this moves the left locator there.
  • i set auto-punch-out a couple of measures later. this moves the right locator there.
  • i set pre-roll and post-roll to 1 measure each.
  • i set ‘cycle’ on
  • i move the cursor to the auto-punch-in point and press ‘play’.

cubase starts playing 1 measure earlier [as it should], starts recording at the punch-in point [as it should], and stops recording at punch-out [all well and good], but when it loops back, it no longer takes pre-roll into acct, it just goes right back to the punch-in point. when i try w/cycle off, cubase doesn’t cycle back to 1 measure before the punch-in point. in fact, it doesn’t even stop after post-roll, it just keeps on playing.

also, when i stop playback, cubase deactivates auto-punch-in. i have to keep resetting it every single time i want to record.

so my questions -

  • how can i make it loop until i tell it to stop, including pre-roll and post-roll ?
  • how can i keep punch-in activated until i deactivate it ?

thanks !

2

i still can’t figure out how to do this. looked through the manual, tried all sorts of different things, no joy.

can anyone who’s not new to cubase either give me a hint about how to do this, or else confirm that cubase simply can’t do what i’m trying to do ?

thanks !

3

Not sure if this can be done, but can you not simply ignore punch in and out and record a larger area all the time?

4

+1, cycle record.

Turn pre and post roll to zero.
Set your loop to start one bar before and one bar after what your original loop was.
This is the way I always record, and it works grand for me.

5

yes, in fact this is what i’ve been doing. and all things considered, including the cost of hard drives these days, i guess you’re right. rather than worrying about the wasted disk space by recording a couple extra measures per loop on each end, i should just get on with it. :wink:

thanks !

6

Yep same way I am doing it. But it is kind of annoying that the pre/post roll is rather useless.
Anyway let’s make some music :wink: