From a practical side it doesn’t really matter which uses the most resources as long as neither approach gets near the limits of what your system can support. Any unused system capacity is gone the moment after it could have been used - unlike money you can’t save it to use tomorrow. Do whatever makes your workflow the easiest.
Here’s a tip for quick working quickly with events, say for comping. I’ve defined the ` key on the top left of my keyboard (UK keyboard) to be rewind. I then use my left hand on that key along with 1, 2, 3, 4, to select the tools (pointer, mute, scissors, audition, in that order) with my right hand on the mouse for trimming parts. Its very fast for detailed editing and reviewing of audio, I use this for chopping up and tidying vocals, guitar or bass.
Another tip for keeping things running smoothly is to avoid having too many audio events displayed. For example, if you’re comping a vocal then you’ll be creating an awful lot of small audio parts and that can slow down the gui in Cubase. So, do it in sections if you have a long song (or a live gig) and when you’ve completed the comping bounce this down and hide all the parts - e.g. by using Track Versions or a hidden track somewhere. This really will keep things responsive and flowing smoothly.
This last tip also applies to VariAudio. Before turning on VA, cut the full vocal up into sections (e.g. chorus/verse) and bounce them down so that the audio events are shorter - because VA creates an awful lot of blobs on the screen and this large number of gui items can really hit the gui performance.
Mike.
All great tips folks!
Does anyone know if there is a short cut to move all notes in a part to one key? For example you have a pitched 808 playing in different notes to the key of the song and you want to layer it with a single kick. Is there a way to highlight all notes and send to one note?
Not at my DAW so I can’t provide the exact steps. But you can easily do this using the midi Transformer. Then you can assign that to a Key Command if you want.
generally workflow, some chords progression on the Chord track which can be chopped with Nora(has own piano-roll, clip system so the ideas can be tried quickly like different bass layering, arps etc. same workflow as with the Session view of Ableton Live), creating some custom fxs with Reaktor Blocks, synth layering with BC PatchWork etc.
TASK
Use a single key command to:
- join/bounce selected MIDI clips/events into a single new one if you invoke it on MIDI events
- join/bounce selected Audio clips/events or a selected range into a new one if you invoke it on Audio events.
This is essentially mimicking Ableton Live’s “join” command (CTRL/CMD + J)
SOLUTION
Create a macro:
- MIDI > Bounce MIDI
- Audio > Bounce
It is important to put these in the correct order, otherwise it only works for audio and not for MIDI (i have no idea why, and it drove me crazy until i realized it makes a difference).
I guess you could also choose “Audio > Events to part” instead of “Audio > Bounce” if you want it to work non-destructively.
TASK
Drag an MIDI event’s edge to have it repeat/“loop” by creating shared copies.
SOLUTION
Hold either ALT+SHIFT or SHIFT only while dragging the middle right edge of an event (which usually repeats individual copies of the event, if SHIFT is not held).
EDITED
Can’t you just do this via drag and shift-alt?
I don’t know what the default behaviour is. I have customized most of my modifier keys because i come from other DAWs. At least i didn’t know that you can do it this way.
I only knew the “Edit > repeat” Key Command to create shared copies, which involves additional clicking.
Maybe it’s helpful to others like me who didn’t know or just want to know where to customize it 
.
EDIT: Seems like it has nothing to do with the “Common Position” modifier key but is the default behaviour 
At least it works with both, ALT+SHIFT or SHIFT only here, if i set “Common Position” to “none”.
- I found a very useful feature to have my orchestral templates organized in folders, then with the logical editor I can make macros to show just violins, brass, etc. (They hide any folder that don’t have the word “violins” and so on
Then, the best part, I have macros to add the other folders to that visibility config. So I can show nothing but violins, and add woodwinds only. Really useful.
Pair that with lemur or touchosc and becomes more intuitive.
- I also saved every section and library to track presets (the option to save a group of instrument tracks together), so, if I am working in a rock project but would like a touch of woodwins (nice example!) I can import them in order, color coded, with expression maps, and delete the tracks I won’t use.
very nice!
I just setup an orchestral template to use with a few Kontakt instances as Rack Instruments… and it took 5 minutes to load the template LOL. I would like to apply your suggested tip of “disabling” certain tracks because it makes sense, after all, it’s unlikely I will program every instrument in the same session.
Problem is, I don’t think this is doable with the way I’ve set things up (using Rack Instruments)… only tracks I can disable are the MIDI tracks that go along with them… is this what you are referring to? Would disabling the MIDI tracks speed up loading the template, or does your approach work better if I was using Track Instruments because its “Instrument” tracks, not MIDI tracks that need to be disabled?
I think the latter. Just try it quickly yourself. Save a new version of your template and replace all rack instruments with instrument track-instruments and disable them. See what difference it makes when loading. If it’s worth it, you can do the fine tweaking of your new template.
Great idea about the “disabled tracks.” I saw a youtube vid that showed a huge orchestral template, but many tracks were kept disabled until needed – very smart. P.S. cool new Avatar, the other one’s also good.
I had a basic MIDI Editing question and this thread has some very valuable information – worth seeing.
H/T: to Vic and Brian Roland for generously sharing their knowledge. 
Short story: From the main project window, experiment with “sizing moves contents” and "sizing applies time stretch.:
Take a simple part in straight eighth notes and make it play in 16th and so on. But, there’s a lot more – particularly making better use of the Logical Editors in Cubase.
Another template tip … set up visibility agents and assign them to keys. My orchestra template kind of combines the disabled instances approach with visibility agent hot keys.
For each of the following I have a wide range of libraries loaded with MIDI tracks, remote VEP instances and various Expression maps, audio routings, plugin presets etc…, all disabled and folderized.
Alt+1 = Strings
Alt+2 = Brass
Alt+3 = Woodwinds
Alt+4 = Drums/Percussion
Alt+5 = Keys/Synths
Alt+6 = Bass/Guitar
Alt+7 = Vocals
Alt+8 = Group Submixes, FX Sends
I can easily flip between “types” of setups. Then I can use the “Show tracks with data” filter once I start enabling particular libraries. Syncing that with one of the mixer views makes it really easy to have both a huge set of instruments on tap and still be able to get it into viewable sets. And, having everything start disabled makes the template load fast.
I’m assuming you are using Track Instruments (not Rack Instruments) ?
Yes. As some of you may know, I am a hater of the Track Instrument. But basically because of track preset and disable/enable capability, I’ve started using them warts and all.
OK thanks for clarifying. I prefer the workflow of Rack as well but with the ability to disable as you mention… it may just be enough to entice me to convert over to the dark side!
So, I’m sticking with the rack whilst it’s available as it’s the only way I see to deal with the various articulations. Obviously keyswitches are preferable but some libs just don’t have useful ones.
How do you keep it tidy with tracks?