Scrubbing MIDI (and workarounds)

Is there any hope of getting the Scrub function for MIDI? I am a composer of “contemporary classical” music and frequently find myself needing to audit vertical sonorities of complex chords. Temporarily slowing down the tempo is not an option. I have been resorting to exporting my work to Pro Tools and using its Scrub MIDI tool. For all the phenomenal MIDI tools Cubase offers, I can’t believe the Scrub tool is missing.

Are you aware that when you hold ctrl/cmd and click on a note in a chord the entire chord sounds?

Yes, scrubbing midi would be great to have in the key and score editor.

Yes. The ctrl/cmd + click option only works for one instrument at a time. I have many instruments playing simultaneously.

The scrub tool does work for MIDI, as I use it plenty in the timeline, with the “edit-in-place” enabled for that track.

Are you talking about the (9) tool? i.e.
image

Or do you mean if you scrub the transport as a whole using a jog wheel, such as on an MCU?

Yes, it’s true you can use the scrub tool in the project view, but scrubbing in the project view still only can do one track at a time.

Big feature request.

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Yes, I am in the Key Editor 99% of the time so I can see all the instruments (individual notes) at once.

I added the feature request tag. It would be a wonderful thing to have.

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Have you tried the “Edit-in-place” views available on each track? It allows you to edit MIDI within the project view. I sometimes find it easier when working with multiple instruments as I don’t always want them overlayed but do like to edit in context.

And of course you can scrub MIDI in that view too. Not saying it’s an answer - As Steve has pointed out already, but rather a tip that it exists, if you’re unaware.

May I ask why? Maybe there are usable workarounds in your context.

Something like:

Use Track Versions on the Tempo track to instantaneously switch from one temp to another, and a key command can be assigned to this.

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That’s a great tip in general. Never thought of using track versions on tempo tracks.
Another similar way would be, assuming the tempo track is normally being used, to toggle the tempo track on/off. If I don’t completely misremember, Cubase remembers the non-tempo-track-tempo when toggling like this.

I am aware of this function but it doesn’t fit my workflow. For orchestral music, I actually want to see all instruments together in the key editor to know how they fit into each other’s ranges. When I want to edit one instrument at a time, I select that option from the edit menu.

Although not a solution, this actually might be a temporary work-around for me. I now have an alternative (slow) tempo track but how do I assign it to a key command? I understand how to assign shortcuts etc, but how do I toggle between the two tempo tracks? What is the shortcut for it or how do I create a shortcut for it?

OMG, it’s Ctrl +Shift + H for next track version and Ctrl +Shift +G for previous track version!

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nice, eh?

Another approach is to have the tempo track set to the slower tempo and then toggle between using the tempo track and the projects main tempo via the ‘Use Tempo Track’ key command:

Or the icon here:
image

You don’t have to worry about having the tempo track selected to go through next/prev versions, nor manage track versions. You can fire that key command off wherever you are.

Then just use the default + or - keyboard shortcuts to go forward and back while playing in the key editor view - which i’m sure you’re already aware of! :slight_smile:

Wow! This works nicely.

More or less what I proposed just a few posts up. :wink:

Except you worded it better and included fancy screenshots and stuff!

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Oops, sorry. I missed that, I was too busy trying to think of a way to use the PLE to automatically move to the tempo track and then change versions - so it could be wrapped in a single key command.

Then remembered the tempo track toggle option and posted without reading above… my bad! :slight_smile:

Best thing about helping others is that you learn some nice little tricks yourself, I may even make use of this myself moving forwards. It’s strange that MIDI isn’t part of the scrub playback though - you’d think it was easier to implement than audio.