Getting the most from Cubase - Part 4

Ian Waugh, our resident Cubase expert has a wealth of power user tips to let you get the most from the world's most popular sequencer. In Part 4 he continues his look at Cubase VST/32

18 Great find

Okay, we know that reading manuals is a pain and you can't read the on-disk Adobe Acrobat files in the bath but the PDF files are better than a printed manual when it comes to searching. Use Acrobat's Find function to search the entire document for words which may not appear in the index.

19 Tools for the job

If you really hate hot Key Commands and love using the mouse, the Toolbar is for you. This was added in VST 4 and 5 and is opened from the Windows menu (Show Toolbar). To add functions to the Toolbar, open Edit>Preferences>Key Commands, and click in the Icon column to toggle Toolbar items on and off. You must click the Apply button before they appear in the Toolbar.

20 Get out of that

If you've been editing a part in an editor and realise you've made a complete pig's ear of it, press the Escape key. A dialogue box will give you the option of cancelling all edits you've made.

21 Audio import

You can import audio files into the Audio Pool but there's a faster way to get a file onto a Track. Highlight a Track in the Arrange page then select Import Audio from the Functions menu and the audio file will appear at the left Locator position.

22 Groovy

The handling of Grooves was changed after VST 3. In VST 3 they were stored in a special file format containing all the Grooves. To use these in VST 5 select Files>Import>Cubase 3.x Grooves and each Groove will be converted and saved in a sub-folder.

23 Rename that file

If you have audio files that are used in a song, do not rename them on your hard disk or Cubase can lose track of them. Instead, rename them in the Audio Pool by double-clicking on their name and typing in a new one.

24 Make a note

Cubase has a built-in Notepad which must be its least-known feature. It's selected from the Edit menu. Use it make notes about the song - sounds, outboard effects used, settings and so on. You may think you'll remember all this but you won't!

25 Key assignment

Using Key Commands can speed up your use of the program and turn you into a real Power User. You can redefine commands and create your own. But before you redefine commands, consider if others will be using your system or if you will be using other systems. If you have a customised set of commands this could lead to confusion. You can, however, save your preferred Key Commands and take them with you, and load the standard Commands back into the program. To save Commands, select Save As from the File menu then select Keyboard Layout from the Files of type drop down menu. The standard set of Commands is called 'standard cubase layout.kbd' and can be imported from File>Open from Library.

26 Quantize undone

Quantise is always undoable, even after a file has been saved to disk. The original data is always available until you use the Freeze function (Functions menu).

27 Track with a view

In the Arrange page, click on a Track column header such as Track, Chn or Instrument and down pops a list of all the Track columns you can choose to display. Selecting them all, however, would take up far too much screen space. You might want a certain collection of columns for recording, another for editing and another for mixing. This is where Track Views come in. Make your Track column selection then hold down Alt (Option on the Mac) and click on a column header and the Track View menu appears. Select Store View to save the Track View. Existing Views will appear at the bottom of the menu.

28 Moving views

Move the mouse to a point between the Track columns and it will turn into a double-arrow. Click and drag to resize the column. Hold down Ctrl, click on a column header and drag left or right to move the column to another position.

29 Pop it up

In older versions of Cubase you selected the MIDI channel in the Inspector by scrolling through the numbers. An easier way is to select the channel from a pop up menu. To do this go to Edit>Preferences>General and tick the Set MIDI Channels with pop-up box.

30 Slide it

The Edit>Preferences>General dialogue also has tick boxes for adjusting the Volume and Pan parameters in the Inspector and Track columns with a slider, and for setting Transpose with a mini keyboard.

 

Mini-Tips!

Quick copy Hold down Alt on the PC (Option on the Mac), select the Pencil tool, click on a part and drag to the right to create multiple copies of it. Ghost story Hold down Ctrl on the PC (Option+Command on the Mac) and use the Pencil tool to drag a part to the right to create multiple Ghost parts. Independence play The stereo faders in the Mixer are ganged and if you drag one with the mouse, they both move. To move them independently hold down the Alt key while dragging. Kicker If a note in the Score editor isn't quite on the beat, rather than risk dragging it too far, use the Kicker tool to kick it into place. Filing system Cubase shows the last x-number of songs you've worked on at the bottom of the File menu for quick selection. Specify the number of files in Edit>Preferences>General. Quick Parts Create a new Part quickly by selecting a Track and pressing Ctrl+P and a new Part will appear between the Locators. Automation undoing If you've been recording automation data in the Mixer and it's not right, selecting Undo from the Edit menu will undo all recorded actions since the Write button was last activated. And Finally..... RTFM Read the manual. You know it makes sense.

 

Ian Waugh
Read More of Ian's music reviews and tips at www.making-music.com