Here are basic things that need to be added to the DM / Pattern Editor to make it viable:
Optional: Provide pattern banks based on Music genre!
source:
It seems none of these request are for Drum Machine. Will you remove the DM reference from your title and mark your topic as a feature-request, please?
Groove quantize usage
Copy paste lanes
Copy paste patterns between tracks
Tools in lane
Randomize single pad
Assign outputs of pad without sample
Auto assign pads to outputs
Resizable gui
Zoom sample
Preview
Phase flip for samples
Maybe Steinberg would be better off doing something unique instead providing those gimmicky implememtations. Eg offering an api/possibility for 3rd party devs to interact with the daw. Step sequencers could e. G. Print their content in the pattern part, integrated selection of pattern from cubase part in the plugin and so on. This would really be something which makes a difference to other daws (given vst3 or else allows such)
I have explored the new Pattern Editor in Cubase 14, and find it disappointingly rudimentary to work with, for the following reasons:
Firstly, as mentioned by others, obvious feature like undo, save, load are missing.
Secondly, a way to quickly reset a parameter (velocity, variation, etc.) over a pattern is missing.
Thirdly, a better way of handling other instruments that the Drum Machine is missing. It is possible to use Drum Maps when available, but the assignment of sounds is very confusing . Even though the drum map has e.g. B0 assigned to a Kick, B0 still appears on the list of assignable notes.
Moreover, the Drum Map is tagged to the very bottom of the list of assignable notes, making a particular setup rather time-consuming.
Finally, once assigned, lanes cannot be moved around in the pattern. An example: Say you have a pattern with a kick, a snare, a hi-hat and a single tom, but later you realize that in the chorus of the song you would want a tom roll. You can then add another lane and assign the tom roll note to it, but it will stay at the very bottom of your lane list. It should be possible to move it up next to the tom lane, at least to avoid sound conflicts by having the two sounding together.
This inevitably brings me to a final feature request; The possibility to have a randomized pattern ‘avoid’ placing hits corresponding to another selected drum pattern, much like the ‘choke’ feature of e.g. a hi-hat.
The Pattern Editor, although a welcome addition to Cubase, at least for now seems too rudimentary for any serious use.
Really! There is no undo… I thought I might be doing something wrong (true for all VSTi’s), but Cubase really does not support this. Incredible, in 2025… I start to miss S1… 