I’ve seen some posts about a feature in another popular DAW called “folding.” To achieve much the same result in Cubase consider using a Drum Map with the setting “Show Drum Sounds with Events” turned on (see screen shot).
In the example I’m using Groove Agent SE, but there’s no reason on god’s green earth those notes have to play drum sounds.
So, with the drum map, you may see only notes you need and “fold away” those you don’t. A drum map like this might be very close to, and I could argue even better than, the “folding” behavior of that other program. Establish the map, create a measure with all the pitches you need, then turn on “Show Drum Sounds with Events,” and also use “Reverse Order” to have the low notes at the bottom of the screen. Start the actual project further down the time line. Also, with GA in particular, it is possible to create the map from the instrument.
If you had a kit that contained names other than typical drum names, those will appear in the Drum Editor when a map is created from the instrument. Kick could be “Loop 12” etc. There’s also the subject of Input Notes and Output notes, but that is, I think, beyond the scope of this post.
In the Drum Editor (Pro 9), the display of note lengths may be enabled or disable (diamonds). If a note is playing a part that needs a long tone, a pad for example, the precise note length, with its name, may be displayed as such in the Drum Editor, rather than a single diamond. Lastly, note length display on/off may be assigned to a physical control on your midi controller via Generic Remote. If you’re doing a drum track you might want the diamonds, but if its a melody or chords, then note lengths may be needed. Being able to toggle Note Lengths on/off via MIDI control in Generic Remote is very helpful. In a part with long or over-lapping notes, being able to turn them all to Diamonds may provide a useful, uncluttered display of the part and make some editing tasks easier.
I hope some of you find this useful, it has been for me. Do you already use similar Drum Map techniques in your own projects?