" Sub Clock" Time Display in transport bar

I use cycle markers to bracket several songs within a single project. I can quickly select the cycle marker then export a mix for a client for that particular song.

The client will give me feedback such as: “please turn down the vocal 2:21-2:45”. “I hear a mistake at 3:12” etc. So then I will make those changes in the project.

It would be really convenient if I did not have to use math every time I make those changes. Of course if I had one song in the project starting at the zero position, then my client’s edits would line up with my time display in cubase.

My suggestion is a sub clock in the trasport bar that is hinged to cycle markers. So if song A starts at 4:30 in the project window, then the subclock will have a relative position of 0:00 at 4:30. Then if a client wants an edit for that particular song at 0:12 , I can quickly locate using the subclock–instead of adding 12 seconds to 4:30. Similarly, if song B started later in the project at 25:13, then i could select the cycle marker for song b and the sub clock would have a new position of 0:00 at 25:13 (relative to that particular song). So all my client’s edits for all 10 songs on their album line up easily with my 10 different cycle markers within my single cubase project. No calculator required.

I can do math. But it is tedious when I have 10 plus songs in one session and I’m trying to find a position of 2:21 relative to 01:23:45.

Does this make sense? I don’t see this on any DAWS and I cannot be the only engineer who records and mixes several songs from one singular project. Cubase 5,6,7.5,and 8 have handled this incredibly well for years BTW.

PS I know that I can select a section of time with the selection tool and then that selection will show me a value in the info bar. That’s a sloppy solution but not as efficient as my suggestion. If I am missing something let me know.

Nice idea, +1. In the mean time you can ease the pain somewhat- You can use the “Set Timecode at Cursor” command to set zero where you need it. (saying no to the subsequent dialog “…Do you want to keep the project content at its timecode position?”)