My top choice would be further enhancements to the batch export facility, for example to make it easier to export karaoke versions and instrumental versions in a single export batch, do different bit-depth exports in the same export batch (including the karaoke and instrumental versions at each bit-depth/sample rate), and so on. What we have now in that area was decidedly a first version, but it hasn’t been enhanced in subsequent major releases to this point.
There is a thread from November 2020, shortly after Cubase first got the batch export facility, that gives more detail on this topic at:
Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much (if any) development on this front since then.
What I have in mind has the potential of making project archival much simpler, with the goal being ability to batch up most (preferably all) audio exports needed for different formats into a single batch operation, instead of needing a minimum of ten batches for my most common need.
Those batches are:
CD quality full mix plus 4 MP3 files (128k, 192k, 256k, 320k)
CD quality karaoke mix
CD quality instrumental mix
24-bit/48 kHz and 24-bit/96 kHz full mix
24-bit/48 kHz and 24-bit/96 kHz karaoke mix
24-bit/48 kHz and 24-bit/96 kHz instrumental mix
24-bit/48 kHz stems (because they don’t use noise shaping unlike the other 24-bit mixes)
32-bit (and possibly 64-bit)/96 kHz unmastered mix (because these aren’t trimmed like the all the above
It would be possible to combine 1, 4 and 7; 2 and 5; and 3 and 6 if dithering and noise shaping were moved to the export operation instead of requiring a plugin on the stereo output (I was used to this from Cakewalk SONAR, which always placed it there).
It would be possible to combine 1-7 if, in addition to the move of dithering and noise shaping to export, the export dialog also allowed selecting which tracks are included (or not included) in the export. As it is now, I have to mute the lead vocals for a karaoke mix and the lead and background vocals for an instrumental mix and do separate operations from the full mix exports.
For 8-10 to also be possible to include in a single batch with the others, it would further (i.e. beyond the selecting tracks to not be included) be necessary to allow specifying different boundaries for the export within the same batch.
Another useful thing would be able to code the file name include the text from a MixConsole Snapshot name in the file name. The utility here would be that, in the course working on a project, I make a lot of mixes along the way, sometimes progressing through multiple demo mixes, work mixes, rough mixes, and final mix candidates. Each time I make a mix, I save a snapshot, for example named “Work Mix 3” (or whatever), when I export those mixes now (typically at least a CD-quality mix for use on my computer and a 320 kbps MP3 for listening in my car), I just change the basic file names manually, and they are basically SongName, “, ”, MixConsoleSnapshotName, plus the mix format’s file extension. So it might be something like “Chasing Rainbows, Work Mix 3” or “Chasing Rainbows, Rough Mix 6”, etc. (I increment the numbers every time, so, for example, work mixes will always have lower numbers than rough mixes, which will always have lower numbers than final mix candidates.) That way, I might be able to set up some presets that would avoid my having to remember to change the base file name.
In Direct-Offline-Processing when I delete a favorite, all other favorites fill the gap. They should not. I would like to put a plugin from the upper zone in DOP to a favorite (1-9) of my choice.
The naming schema in the Export / Mixdown menu could include more options like date, time… Reaper has a TON.
Render-In-Place should have the same naming schema like Export → Selected Events.
Cross-Fade-Menü should have key commands for Equal Gain and Equal Power.
Compressor should have a knee-Knob (not just buttons)
Channel can switch between mono and stereo. I would like to switch to 5.1 or other formats.
I would like to see a preview function on the Pattern Editor, that way you could preview the pattern before putting it into your project. This would be especially useful when you use the randomizer.
Something simple but that still annoys me a lot. when we place a midi event on top of another they both play! this should work like audio events and the one that is on top the will play! I think this could be as all other DAWs.
Sure. It is a simple case of “this is always how Cubase worked” and for me personally for the last 30 years.
I do understand where you are coming from with your request, though.
It is funny for someone like me because midi always worked this way and when audio was added to Cubase it was “crippled” compared to midi. E.g. you could not simply stack events on top of each other and have them all play back like you can with midi parts.
For somebody like me the way that midi works is the “correct” way and audio deviates from that. For many others it is the other way round.
Part of my first reply was serious, another part not so much.
We can’t always stick to old concepts if that gets in the way of a more modern workflow.
Getting audio and midi to be treated as similiar as possible was already a focus of Steinberg in the past. It might be a good idea to introduce the possibility to have midi stack recordings and midi part on top of midi part behave the same way as audio tracks do - if the user can chose.
My fave would be to make MIDI remote more capable by supporting digital mixing consoles with moving faders. That would make my life when mixing very rewarding.
For those that say it works, (Or can work) - It doesn’t, and cant without limiting it to be all but useless.
Hi
Im not talking about recording MIDI, im aware of the different types of midi recording in cubase, i am my self a long time cubase user too.
Imagine this:
You create a bass line for a part of a song but you want to try some variations, you either create a new track version , or create another lane where you put the first take or duplicate that same instrument track so you have separate tracks.
Problems in my opinion:
Track version is time consuming when trying to comp compared to audio comping using lanes,
Take lane on MIDI, even if a midi event is on another lane ( lets say lane 1 take 1, lane 2 take 2), they both play!
What i´ve been doing is to use lanes and mute the midi events so they dont play at same time. Audio events dont behave like this. I believe there could be a good option at least that creates a new midi lane but automatically mutes it .
This may have been mentioned in other posts, but the ability to instantly convert folder tracks containing audio into group tracks in the Mix Console would be an amazing workflow improvement.
While I tend to agree with the (at least optional) ability to have MIDI take lanes work like audio take lanes with respect to muting previous lanes in the scenario where you start recording another batch of takes (they do mute for me when I am doing a bunch of takes in loop mode, but only within that batch of takes – I don’t recall if that was default behavior or something I set in preferences for recording MIDI), I’m don’t understand the comping reference.
In particular, when I’m comping with the Comp tool, selecting one take to bring it forward does mute the takes in the same area. It may be relevant that I usually use the split tool to cut things down into likely phrases, doing that at the level that cuts all takes at the same point (I can always adjust boundaries later if needed for the specific parts I choose). I haven’t used track versions, so I don’t know how those might come into play here.
Which current feature in Cubase do you think could use the most improvement, and what changes would make it better for your workflow?