Using Lanes for first time - what a mess!

Cubase
1

Hi all,

I don’t normally make a fuss about software anomalies, but this week I have had an important client here who likes to record multiple vocal and instrumental takes in loops. No problem, I thought, I’ll use the lanes feature and compile in the usual sort of way…

I now have issues! I know much will have been written about this subject already, most of which frankly I have ignored, not realising how serious the issues are, I am no doubt duplicating other peoples’ comments, but I make no apology for repetition.

1 In arrange page use of Cntrl inhibits horizontal sliding when dragging parts about, why doesn’t lanes behaviour work the same? As it is by default it’s next to useless. Maybe I can reprogram key shortcuts, but I don’t have time to muck around, I want predictable behaviour across the whole of Cubase please.

2 When I mute a part, later, select it to play and then move away again, I would expect it to return to mute - it doesn’t do this, why on earth not?

3 When I have a number of takes recorded in lanes, close lanes and then open in the editor, my selected audio is all over the place - why not in an orderly line at the top where I can immediately see it?

4 I wish to add a piece of audio from another track, I drag it to Lane 15, it doesn’t stay there, it frequently jumps to another lane - not even the first available lane, or Lane 1 - just another lane quite randomly

5 Why don’t lanes have activity meters, at least then I would be able to quickly realise that the vocal I am listening to is one that I thought I had just muted (see rant 2) not the lane I want to listen to

All in all it’s a brilliant system potentially, but for me at least, it’s back to using multiple audio tracks until the lanes behave in a more logical way. Yes I did get a lead vocal recorded and compiled eventually, but it was much harder work than it should have been - I felt like I was battling Cubase, not being supported whilst I try to make artistic decisions.

I celebrate daily, the brilliance of Cubase and the programmers who have made such magic a reality. Today, was not one of those days, I now need a valium and a cool dark place to retreat to.

Thanks for reading my rant

P

2

Agree - the lanes are a mess. If you want to get even more frustrated, try contacting tech supporting and discussing it with them. I spent hours and days on the phone trying to convince them that new lane paradigm is not only full of bugs, but an absolute poor design. It took me days and hours to convince one of the tech guys that if you move audio parts from lane to another, delete some lanes, etc, then hit save, your changes ARE NOT saved and are not in the same state as when you saved and closed the project.

3

Not being an antagonist by any means, so please try not to interpret my post in such a way, but why not simply use the “Events to part” and comp that way using the audio editor window? Typically, since I came from Cubase SX3 and VST5 before it, I would always do loop based recording of my singer or instrument parts or whatever. Then I would select the audio part and do Events to Part. Then I double click the part and it displays in the same Lame type mode. The cool thing about Cubase 6 is now I don’t have to mute every damn part and leave the one I want to hear unmuted. With Cubase 6 I simple click on the cut part I want to hear and it auto-mutes all the other parts.

True, I originally was excited about the lane feature but eventually realized I would have to edit in the main project window which means I have to stretch down the part to see all the audio parts. I may be doing something wrong so if I’m off base someone please correct me - I am VERY new to Cubase 6. But with the typical way of comping I’m used to it’s even easier now in Cubase 6.


Rev.

4

the basic idea behind is great but it defenitely needs some more fixes.
working on xp and 6.02 all in all very stable but lanes puuuhhhhh.
group editing with multiple lanes is in my opinion not working at all, all the time it looses some lanes which are not highlighted. impossible to work with. :mrgreen: so i’m back to group und ungroup with a shortcut here. :slight_smile:

the most annoying things is this(ckeck my jpg attached to this).
audio 51(right down in the corner on the virtual lane) is active and PLAYING but not highlighted in the main track.
if you close lanes you think it’s muted but it’s not. this is horror to be honest, cause you always have to check whats real and what’s not.
let me know your thoughts on that.
please don’t tell me it’s XP.
rolf

S3700166.JPG
S3700166.JPG1600×1200 349 KB

5

I share some of your pain but some of it - some of it - will disappear as you get used to the way lanes works. However, they are a bit buggy and there are traps for the unwary, the nastiest being the single-click to activate, which is ironically also its best bit.

To select an event you need to ‘bracket’ it, not click on it. If you forget, then you have to go round re-clicking on the parts that (may) have just been over-ridden by the event you just clicked. There must be a way to do this better. Perhaps having edits and patches (i.e. the ‘prime’ stuff) on the top lane and pushing the rest down.

re 1) Ctrl-drag does work between lanes in 6.0.2. At least, it was yesterday…

re 3) Collapsed lanes look like a dog’s dinner, especially if there are muted parts around.

re 4) Lanes have to do with front/back position. I have had things skip lanes (and worse) and I think it’s to do with this. Before moving between tracks I’ve found it advisable to move the event to the equivalent lane first.

re 5) +1!

I agree with you that it is on the edge of brilliance but for me too, not quite there - yet! See these threads for other woes, if you’re interested (and to keep these thing together for future searches):

[issue] Events pushed into new lane by scrolling another ([issue] Events pushed into new lane by scrolling another - Cubase - Steinberg Forums)
[issue] Lane editing: drag to new lane creates new track! ([fixed!] Lane editing: drag to new lane creates new track! - Cubase - Steinberg Forums)

6

I feel your pain. And if it’s any consolation, 71% of all Cubase users who took the poll on this, feel it too.

7

I think I remember reading from JHP (SB moderator) in reply to this point, that its ‘Click, start the drag, then press and hold CTRL key to constrain horizontal movement’.

Now of course, as the OP says, thats counter-intuitive to how this action works on the Arrange page…

And a +1 to the OP from me too for that one - great idea…!

I think its safe to say there will be ‘improvements’ to this functionality, in future updates. And as JHP has also said, he has been diligent in making a report to various interested depts at SB HQ about the topic. He’s also requested more direct input from users, by sending in or posting here very specific and detailed use-cases where these improvements should be made - and more importantly, why…! (why, with the present system, your workflow is zapped…).

In summary, there is activity within SB and they are listening. (same with the ‘transparent events’ topic if you ask me).

8

It has to work like that because Ctrl-Click turns Select into Play and I couldn’t work without it, so don’t anyone dare try and talk Steinberg into ‘fixing’ it!

Very glad to hear the guys are looking at this, thanks for that little tidbit of news. It is after all only version 1 and only natural that needed improvements take time to emerge.

C

:smiley:

9

I have read everyone’s responses with interest. I know about using events to part of course and comping in the usual way but since lanes has been developed specifically for multiple takes, I felt it would hopefully be a more elegant solution. Certainly having one compressor on one channel insert is better than 15 channels or more in terms of CPU economy, so that at least is a good thing. Yes I could group all takes and compress there, but it’s more to set up and this system has it’s own drawbacks.

In addition to my earlier list of woes, I notice another piece of behaviour which can be confusing. If you click on the audio when lanes option has been open, and a part selected but lanes are now closed, only the active audio layer is picked up - if you then drag aside that event (say to copy elsewhere), only that layer is moved. In order to move all layers, use the lassoo. Although sort of logical, when in a rush, it is easy to move a part, and leave another part revealed from beneath which is then active. Safest behaviour here is to lassoo, then convert to part before moving elsewhere

Regarding the Cntrl drag issue,

This does indeed work, but is clearly counter-intuitive, because one must drag first (enough out of line to be sure of the action?) and then apply Cntrl to limit to vertical movement. This in addition to being different to arrange page behaviour

I have (for the most part) abandoned lanes use for now - although the future may be bright. At present it is so very easy to make mistakes when comping. Single click activate (I do see the potential speed gain here), illogical unmuting, unwanted parts activated for example by deleting another part…my list goes on …and sadly on

I suppose, to end on a positive note, a logical, professional and fully working solution will be something to look forward to in future updates.

Happy comping people!
P.

10

Try this fellas: