Cubase tips - post in here!

[dongrammar]

Ok here's some I found on a drum and bass forum, probably quite basic but invaluable to people who don't know


1. Ctrl + Alt + S = Save Project with a sequentially increasing number on the end. For example, "phatdnb-01.cpr, phatdnb-02.cpr, phatdnb-03.cpr, etc etc) Do this every 20 mins or when I'm about to do something utterly drastic so I can easily revert to a previous project.

2. The non-numpad numbers... 3 = Scissors, 4 =Glue, 7 = Mute and 8 = Draw. G and H for zooming in and out.

3. Finally, setup a nice template project with a spectrum analyser, L3, etc etc on the Master Buss, a few group channels and some FX channels with basic delay, reverb and chorus.

4. "Sizing Applies Timestretch" function (if you click and hold on the arrow tool, a menu will come up with this option).

Then, if you have a loop at any speed, of say, 4 bars.. set your Tempo Track under the project menu to the tempo you want, say 175... then all you have to do is grab your audio with the mouse and drag it to be 4 bars on your new tempo grid and shabam! it's stretched!

Just make sure your loop is cut right

5. Stereo side-chaining:
: define a new quadro group and in this group, 2 child groups, stereo and stereo Rs Ls
: route track to be sidechained (bass) to stereo of quadro group
: route track that will trigger sidechain (kick/snare) to stereo Rs Ls of the quadro group
: insert your sidechainer (I use otium compadre) into the group channel


6. On an audio track, add an FX - Dynamcis>MIDI Gate

Now also assign that MIDI Gate to a MIDI track (under OUT)

Now when you press a key on that MIDI track, the audio comes in and then out when you release it. What's really nice is that is has attack and release settings, so you can great some great effects (i used it on a high pass drum track and it sounds lursh).

Great for texturing.

Don't forget though, if you don't want to use it you'll have to bypass it.

 

[xtraclip.com]

The greatest feature is the ability to assign shortcuts, I actually have mine set up like a mac for Pro Tools (on PC) so Im not lost when in the studio.

 

[L. A. Stone]

My tip. Cubase 4. Too many cool ideas to even mention.

"6. On an audio track, add an FX - Dynamcis>MIDI Gate

Now also assign that MIDI Gate to a MIDI track (under OUT)

Now when you press a key on that MIDI track, the audio comes in and then out when you release it. What's really nice is that is has attack and release settings, so you can great some great effects"

This is interesting. I'm gonna take a look at this one later.

"4. "Sizing Applies Timestretch" function (if you click and hold on the arrow tool, a menu will come up with this option).

Then, if you have a loop at any speed, of say, 4 bars.. set your Tempo Track under the project menu to the tempo you want, say 175... then all you have to do is grab your audio with the mouse and drag it to be 4 bars on your new tempo grid and shabam! it's stretched!"

Yeah, make sure you set your audio parts to "musical" musical mode. Then, if you decide to change tempo, any audio in musical mode will simply stretch to fit the new tempo.

There's a lot of cool things I could add about Cubase but it takes a lot of explaining to the uninitiated. I would point to things like, Macros. I used Cubase forever without ever looking into Macros. Macros are awesome because you can basically add features to Cubase that weren't there originally. I made a macro that "previews" audio slices in the Arrange/project view. I beatslice audio, then if I need to know what a particular slice sounds like, I select the file and press a key, and Cubase jumps instantly to that file and plays it once. That's bananas. I made another macro I call the "sample maker". I can select a bunch of tracks, any kind of tracks. Press a key and Cubase will bounce down all those to a single audio file, reimport the new audio file, and mute all the original tracks that were involved in making this new sample.

I'd also mention the beatslicer in Cubase is crazy.

Another great feature is the "disolve midi" part. Let's say you're using some bootleg sampler for drums and it doesn't have multi-outs. No problem in Cubase. Just make your drums. Select the midi part and choose this feature and select "pitch" and Cubase will place all the Kicks on a track, all the snares on another track, all the hats on another tracks, and everything else according to their pitch. And all of them will now have their own channels at the mixer. Now you might say, you can't edit them all in the same piano roll, but Cubase got you covered there too. If you select multiple midi parts from different tracks, and double click, Cubase will open them all in a single piano roll and you can edit them all as if they were still on one track.

If you have a Motif or other external instruments or FX, Cubase will allow you to treat them just like plugin instruments. If I use my Motif Rack in a Cubase song, I just save the Cubase file and the next time I open it up, all the Motif's settings come back together.

The Media Bay in C4 is bananas. Suddenly, every single sample on my entire computer is at my disposal. everything. If I need a kick, I type "kick" and every kick on my computer is listed in the media bay window. Click on a sample and cubase plays it. Loops can be played back at project tempo regardless of Acid or whatever, any loop. They can play once, or loop with the project. Sample rate don't matter, any sample is converted when you drag and drop or import into Cubase.

Key commands are fully customizeable. I can even control the very windows, screensets, zooming or pretty much anything from my midi keyboard.

Yeah, I'm definitely a big Cubase fan. On the minus side though, the new instruments and FX in Cubase are toys compared to what Logic has had for the last 2 years. There are also a good many bugs that need to be ironed out. Everyone's mileage is varying on the bugs though. I'm doing fine except I wish Media Bay were a little faster. Maybe with the next update.

 

[TrakNyce]

My tip. Cubase 4. Too many cool ideas to even mention.

"6. On an audio track, add an FX - Dynamcis>MIDI Gate

Now also assign that MIDI Gate to a MIDI track (under OUT)

Now when you press a key on that MIDI track, the audio comes in and then out when you release it. What's really nice is that is has attack and release settings, so you can great some great effects"

This is interesting. I'm gonna take a look at this one later.

"4. "Sizing Applies Timestretch" function (if you click and hold on the arrow tool, a menu will come up with this option).

Then, if you have a loop at any speed, of say, 4 bars.. set your Tempo Track under the project menu to the tempo you want, say 175... then all you have to do is grab your audio with the mouse and drag it to be 4 bars on your new tempo grid and shabam! it's stretched!"

Yeah, make sure you set your audio parts to "musical" musical mode. Then, if you decide to change tempo, any audio in musical mode will simply stretch to fit the new tempo.

There's a lot of cool things I could add about Cubase but it takes a lot of explaining to the uninitiated. I would point to things like, Macros. I used Cubase forever without ever looking into Macros. Macros are awesome because you can basically add features to Cubase that weren't there originally. I made a macro that "previews" audio slices in the Arrange/project view. I beatslice audio, then if I need to know what a particular slice sounds like, I select the file and press a key, and Cubase jumps instantly to that file and plays it once. That's bananas. I made another macro I call the "sample maker". I can select a bunch of tracks, any kind of tracks. Press a key and Cubase will bounce down all those to a single audio file, reimport the new audio file, and mute all the original tracks that were involved in making this new sample.

I'd also mention the beatslicer in Cubase is crazy.

Another great feature is the "disolve midi" part. Let's say you're using some bootleg sampler for drums and it doesn't have multi-outs. No problem in Cubase. Just make your drums. Select the midi part and choose this feature and select "pitch" and Cubase will place all the Kicks on a track, all the snares on another track, all the hats on another tracks, and everything else according to their pitch. And all of them will now have their own channels at the mixer. Now you might say, you can't edit them all in the same piano roll, but Cubase got you covered there too. If you select multiple midi parts from different tracks, and double click, Cubase will open them all in a single piano roll and you can edit them all as if they were still on one track.

If you have a Motif or other external instruments or FX, Cubase will allow you to treat them just like plugin instruments. If I use my Motif Rack in a Cubase song, I just save the Cubase file and the next time I open it up, all the Motif's settings come back together.

The Media Bay in C4 is bananas. Suddenly, every single sample on my entire computer is at my disposal. everything. If I need a kick, I type "kick" and every kick on my computer is listed in the media bay window. Click on a sample and cubase plays it. Loops can be played back at project tempo regardless of Acid or whatever, any loop. They can play once, or loop with the project. Sample rate don't matter, any sample is converted when you drag and drop or import into Cubase.

Key commands are fully customizeable. I can even control the very windows, screensets, zooming or pretty much anything from my midi keyboard.

Yeah, I'm definitely a big Cubase fan. On the minus side though, the new instruments and FX in Cubase are toys compared to what Logic has had for the last 2 years. There are also a good many bugs that need to be ironed out. Everyone's mileage is varying on the bugs though. I'm doing fine except I wish Media Bay were a little faster. Maybe with the next update.

Damn Stone... you make me almost wish I hadn't got that refund on C4. I like that MIDI gate trick, I'm gonna try that in SX3 and see if it works out.

 

[sleepy]

Another great feature is the "disolve midi" part. Let's say you're using some bootleg sampler for drums and it doesn't have multi-outs. No problem in Cubase. Just make your drums. Select the midi part and choose this feature and select "pitch" and Cubase will place all the Kicks on a track, all the snares on another track, all the hats on another tracks, and everything else according to their pitch.

^^Nice tip on the dissolve midi part ^^

I didn't know you could use that function that way.

I use it for when I record a workstation sequence into Cubase (no floppy drive) and use it to split the 1 channel I record onto into all 16 parts (or however many are used).

Another tip, read the manual, seriously. I myself had no idea Cubase could do so much until I read the section on time-stretching, working with tempos, etc... and I've been a Cubase user for a while now.

It helps me a lot because I come accross a lot of unpredictable scenarios where I really have to get creative or know what Cubase can do.

I'll post if I can think of any handy tips. Only the basic stuff comes to mind at the moment.

 

[dongrammar]

I like that MIDI gate trick, I'm gonna try that in SX3 and see if it works out.

That trick was written for sx3 so it should work fine!

Also definately check out drum and bass producers/forums, their knowledge is on a different level all together. Their mixing tips are second to none

 

[L. A. Stone]

Ok here's some I found on a drum and bass forum, probably quite basic but invaluable to people who don't know

6. On an audio track, add an FX - Dynamcis>MIDI Gate

Now also assign that MIDI Gate to a MIDI track (under OUT)

Now when you press a key on that MIDI track, the audio comes in and then out when you release it. What's really nice is that is has attack and release settings, so you can great some great effects (i used it on a high pass drum track and it sounds lursh).

Great for texturing.

Don't forget though, if you don't want to use it you'll have to bypass it.

I just did that and that tip is serious. I also threw a Tonic in there instead of the Midi Gate and that offered even more possibilities for freaking samples. I also realized something else, I could use this to do "manual ducking". It's like sidechaining except I'd play the midi notes that would control the ducking. Good stuff. But for freaking a sample, that's awesome.

On another note, I just got finished setting up my Motif Rack Es so that it shows up in the VST Plugins menu, along side other VST plugins. I didn't even know I could do it but I believe I could have done it in SX3 as well. So, Now I load the Motif, Multi or single voice just like any other instrument plugin. I also set it up with the Midi Devices so that all the patches on the Motif are visible in the inspector drop down menu. Another cool thing about that drop down menu is that it's searchable. At the very top it says Filter: Type what you want there on any VST 2 plugin and it will find it. Type Bass, lead, brass etc and it will filter out everything else and show you only those presets. Of course, C4 has the new Media Bay that will be used for any VST3 plugins, but I can use this method to find any sound on the Motif Rack Es. I also have the Yamaha Studio Manager set up so that I can completely program or use any sound on the Motif Rack, just like a VST plugin. I can program it like a synth, edit the FX and save anything to my computer without ever, ever touching the Motif except to turn it on.

Edit:

LOL. Update. OK, now I'm really I'm impressed. I had this idea that I could probably set it up to where it wouldn't even need the extra audio channel for monitoring the sound. I was right. I got it set up now where Cubase sees the Motif as purely another VST plugin instrument. It has it's own "audio" channel strip in the project/arranger view so I can add audio FX to it like any other instrument and it all works. I can call up the multi or the voice Motif, or both at the same time from the VST plugins menu as long as I leave channel 1 for the Voice version. Channels 2-16 are free to be used so I can play 15 instruments back from the Motif, plus one more as a "Voice". I still got 16 simultaneous instruments going from the Motif, and the beauty of it all is that it doesn't require almost any of the computers system resources and the sounds are excellent. Consider my Cubase thoroughly pimped out. LOL.

 

[JMaCTraX]

damn that vst/rack feature is BANGIN does pro-tools do that? aye stone u still messin wit reason?

 

[L. A. Stone]

I don't know about Pro Tools. It may or may not have a way of doing the same thing. Studio Manager is a kind of open source technology developed by Yamaha and Steinberg so it will work with any software/hardware that supports it. Cubase SX 3 is probably the first one to do so along with the Motif series keyboards/racks. You can checkout studioconnections.org to read about Studio Manager or to download it if it is supported on Pro Tools.

Yeah, I'm still using Reason. More now than before actually. I use it as a sound module for Cubase and also for sound design. I don't sequence anything in it though.

 

[southern]

i got a question, how to I change the track view from the solid block to midi note view

 

[L. A. Stone]

Are you talking about how to get to the piano roll. If so, you double click on the midi clip and it will take you to the piano roll. There's also a "in place editor" which brings the piano roll into the arranger/project view. It's one of the track icons at the left of the track near the record, midi channel, instrument etc buttons.

 

[southern]

neither of those was what I was looking for. Maybe it was something from an earlier cubase version I saw. I've been watching the todaysbeats dvd and the guy using cubase has a diffrent setup. When he makes his two bar loop in cubase, it shows up as midi notes inside of a rectangle block. I wanna do that so that I can easily cut-off excess space.

 

[L. A. Stone]

What you just described is the ONLY way Cubase works. Anytime you record midi, you get the rectangular box (midi clip). So, you can't miss it. What I was saying earlier is if you want to edit those notes, you can double click on the box and it will launch the piano roll. That's all.

 

[cycloptic]

@Southern:

If you want to just see the notes, go to Preferences in the File menu, and under "Event Display/Midi" make sure the dropdown called "Part Data Mode" is set to "Lines" instead of "None".

Then try increasing the height of the midi track. Move the mouse to the border between tracks right under the track name, click and drag the border down. Once the clips are greater than a certain height, the midi notes should show.

On another note, I just got finished setting up my Motif Rack Es so that it shows up in the VST Plugins menu, along side other VST plugins.

Are you referring to the VST Instruments popup that you get when you press F11 in SX3, or is this something else? Is it a C4 thing? If it is the F11 popup where you got the rack to show up, where can I find the instructions to do that?

I see the Studio Manager listed in the Devices menu, but not in the instruments menu.

I also set it up with the Midi Devices so that all the patches on the Motif are visible in the inspector drop down menu. Another cool thing about that drop down menu is that it's searchable. At the very top it says Filter: Type what you want there on any VST 2 plugin and it will find it. Type Bass, lead, brass etc and it will filter out everything else and show you only those presets.

Does this involve an XML file of the Motif's patches? I remember doing this for a different synth a long time ago, but I never bothered to try this with the rack. If it is the XML thing, is that available at motifator.com?

Of course, C4 has the new Media Bay that will be used for any VST3 plugins, but I can use this method to find any sound on the Motif Rack Es. I also have the Yamaha Studio Manager set up so that I can completely program or use any sound on the Motif Rack, just like a VST plugin. I can program it like a synth, edit the FX and save anything to my computer without ever, ever touching the Motif except to turn it on.

You have the Motif patches listed in C4's Media Bay? Hmmm...

I was going to pass on C4 and just keep SX3, but I may have to take a closer look after your posts.

cycloptic

 

[L. A. Stone]

"You have the Motif patches listed in C4's Media Bay? Hmmm..."

No. When I said "this method", I meant the other way. However, I believe that it very well may be possible to get the Motif's patches to show up in Media Bay too because the manual seems to point in that direction. I just haven't done it yet.

"Does this involve an XML file of the Motif's patches? I remember doing this for a different synth a long time ago, but I never bothered to try this with the rack. If it is the XML thing, is that available at motifator.com?"

It's actually a txt file and I downloaded it from several different places. I see that it's also available on Motifator.

"Are you referring to the VST Instruments popup that you get when you press F11 in SX3, or is this something else? Is it a C4 thing? If it is the F11 popup where you got the rack to show up, where can I find the instructions to do that?"

Yes I do mean the regular "VST Rack", exactly where you normally get your VST instruments. I believe that this is also possible in SX3 but I never looked into it until I bought this magazine like publication that was all about Cubase. That's where I got the idea originally. The way you go about it is in VST Connections under the Devices menu. There's a tab called External Instruments. Choose install external instrument and you can choose whatever is installed in Studio Manager as well as the Motif that you install with the text file under Midi devices. After you do that, they all show up in the VST Rack. And when you choose one as an instrument, it creates the instrument and all the necessary connections. And you'll have everything in the inspector and you can put FX on the incoming signal just like you do with VST instruments. That part is dependent on the audio returns option in VST Connections. If you choose no audio returns, you'd have to create a regular audio channel and set it to monitor. That way you can hear what the Motif is playing. But if you choose an audio return for the Motif, it will monitor without the extra channel.

As for C4, it's definitely not without it's problems. Media Bay for one is a problem because it's way too slow and the new VST3 plugins all use Media Bay for their presets. VST 2 plugins will still use the regular way but have the option of listing all their plugins in Media Bay. I guess, the slowness of Media Bay is the biggest problem for me right now, but for browsing loops, it's working well for me. It's given me access to every single sample in my whole collection and that's great. I now easily build drumkits just by searching for kicks, then snares, then hats, shakers, whatever. Just drag and drop into the arranger. Loops play back at project tempo optionally (sometimes not really working though) And there are nice features in Media Bay like right click and go to the sample or preset on the hard drive.

Another complaint is that loading instruments or presets or FX or turning them on or off, or anything really causes glitches in Cubase's playback, like SX3, but worse.

I think the new FX are pretty nice and useable. The new synths are synths. HalionOne sample based rompler has some nice presets and some junk of course and is largely uneditable.

I wouldn't really advise you to get it now, but it's working out for me and I haven't even looked at SX3 since. Many other people who are suffering from various bugs have gone back to SX3.

 

[cycloptic]

Thanks for your thoughtful and substantive reply.

I will probably get that text file for installing the motif patches and try that external instrument procedure this weekend. I will probably try to get in some quality time with the manual too.

I've picked up the recent Computer Music Cubase special edition and another that I believe was published by Electronic Musician. I figured these magazines focused on Cubase 4 figuring that there would be some useful info for SX3 as well. Those mags, especially the CM one, painted too rosey a picture about C4 to be credible, though. Thanks for your assessment of it. I'm glad that you are still able to get work done with it.

That HalionOne rompler was supposed to feature sounds from the Motif. Does it sound close? I wouldn't expect it to surpass the motif but if they are usable, it would be great to have those sounds on my laptop on the road.

Right now, I am considering a move to the mac. I know I would have to upgrade to C4 then, though I might also pick up Logic Express as well, but that is for another thread.....

Thanks again!!

cycloptic

 

[L. A. Stone]

I've picked up the recent Computer Music Cubase special edition and another that I believe was published by Electronic Musician. I figured these magazines focused on Cubase 4 figuring that there would be some useful info for SX3 as well. Those mags, especially the CM one, painted too rosey a picture about C4 to be credible, though. Thanks for your assessment of it. I'm glad that you are still able to get work done with it.

I had the same opinion. Especially CM. Unbelievably, they said that it had "a couple bugs" that needed to be fixed. But I learned long ago that CM is completely bought and paid for by it's advertisers. The Electronic Musician one didn't say much in the way of "opinion or review". It focused on tips, tricks and techniques, and some history about Cubase.

That HalionOne rompler was supposed to feature sounds from the Motif. Does it sound close?

Well, I wouldn't really say that they're comparable, but there are some nice usable patches in it nonetheless. It's just a mish mosh of good and mediocre patches and as you know, there's pretty much no tweaking of any of it's patches. But it's definitely not a replacement for a Motif. I would also choose Hypersonic over it any day, mostly because of the amount of patches in Hypersonic and the fact that everything can be edited.

Right now, I am considering a move to the mac. I know I would have to upgrade to C4 then, though I might also pick up Logic Express as well, but that is for another thread.....

I'm actually using Cubase right now on my intel Imac 2Ghz, 2gigs Ram. Cubase seems to like running in Windows under Boot Camp somewhat better than on the Mac. Studio Manager too. I find a definitely sluggishness when editing audio in Cubase on the Mac and my favorite tool/function is not supported on the Mac at all in SX3 or C4. That's the 3rd mouse button (press down on the mousewheel) which allows you to "pan" windows around in any direction. It's killer for editing audio and moving around. Cubase on the PC has absolute perfect implementation of this and it works in EVERY window in Cubase, even the mixer.

I also use Logic on the Mac. I can tell you this if you haven't used Logic. There are tons of things to love about Logic. It's smoothness is unrivalled. In other words, you can load a track preset with an instrument and multiple HIGH QUALITY FX during audio playback and Logic won't skip a beat! If you're accustomed to Cubase where simply turning an FX on or off will glitch the audio playback, this will seem like a miracle. LOL. The instruments and FX are simply stunning. The new stuff in C4 are literally nothing compared to Logic. The other important thing about Logic is that the FX presets are PROFESSIONAL. They're real, not just a list of presets with clever names. Those are some of the things I appreciated about Logic. In the end though, Cubase's simplicity just brings me back to mainly using Cubase. I find Cubase to be far simpler in the areas that are most important to me. I bought Logic Pro over last summer and I'm determined to get my money's worth out of it so I'm gonna use it at least as a sound module.

Good Luck with C4 and/or Logic.