dmbaer
 
The control room is not for everybody, so it makes little sense to force that option on users who don't need it (if you use IKM's ARC, you *do* need it, however).
 
I suggest that you take a look at project templates.  Set up a project that way you like to start all (or most) new efforts, save that as a template, and use that template as the starting point of any new project.  It works nicely once you get used to the flow of things and I suspect it will address your issues regarding the active state of inputs and outputs.

Thanks - I don't use ARC but I do use Sonarworks' Headphone Reference, maybe it's a similar setup on an output.
I will definitely have a look at the templates, so far I've been concentrating on transferring OMFs from Sonar to different DAWs and comparing the mixing capabilities, no new recording yet. 
 

dmbaer
The control room is not for everybody, so it makes little sense to force that option on users who don't need it

... especially considering it appears to be rather involved.  I spent 3 hours today doing a fairly simple mix of holiday program I tracked on 4 channels over the weekend.  That is the best way to learn for me -- just dive into a project where the stakes aren't too high.
 
One thing I discovered is that if you have an effects bus (such as reverb), it is impossible to hear only the effect.  If you solo the effect track, it will in turn solo any tracks that send to the effects track.  One user (I am not kidding) said the best solution was to temporarily make all the sends pre-fader and then cut the faders on the raw tracks.  Yeah, I guess that would work, but come on ...
 
There is one other way, which is to use the "listen" function.  But that is only available with the control room enabled, and I just wasn't ready to tackle all the routing required to set up the control room.
 
I thought that was all pretty stupid -- and can't believe it works this way.  But there you go.  I'll eventually do the control room thing.
 
On the other hand, Cubase has a concept called "Cycle markers" which essentially are markers that have a range (start time to end time).  In my case, the program had 12 tunes. It is simple to add 12 cycle markers to delineate exactly where I want the exports to start and end for each song.  This is very similar to the way Audacity works.  This was always a hassle for me in SONAR.  Exporting in general I thought was SONAR's most absurd area, but the old-timers really liked it and didn't want any changes.  With Cubase cycle markers I can set the bounds for each song and never have to change them.  I can set the end a few seconds long to catch effects tails.  During export, I can export all the cycle markers or select them individually.  It works great -- much better than SONAR.
 
=========
 
Here's another head scratcher, as in "WTF was Steinberg thinking?"
They don't do cross-fades automatically.  In every DAW I have used, if clips overlap, the DAW automatically sets up a cross-fade -- because that's what a person would want to do 99% of the time.
 
With Cubase, the first clip overlays and silences the second clip!?  I guess there are some non-default settings where you can get an automatic cross-fade, but only for a very short fade duration, not for the general case.  If you want to do a normal crossfade, you must select all the clips involved, then type "X".  That adds crossfades at all the overlay points.
 
Not the end of the world, but it really makes you wonder how they could be so insular and oblivious to something so obvious.

JohanSebatianGremlin

valsolim

JohanSebatianGremlin
Next issues is monitor insert plugins on live inputs. What's the work-around? I can't be the first Cubase user who wanted to hear amp sim plugins while recording guitar.

You really don't need any workaround. Cubase monitoring works very intuitively. Most probably, you are not hearing the insert effects due to one of the following two reasons:
 
1. Either you have engaged the "Constrain Delay Compensation" button.
2. Or, you have activated the Direct Monitoring option (Studio Setup -> VST Audio System).
 
Disable both those functions and you will hear the audio track insert effects during recording.
--
Miloslav

Thanks for the suggestions. I will check both. You've said where to find the Direct Monitoring option. But what is Constrain Delay Compensation and where is the button?

Also while we're on the subject, what does the direct monitoring option do (besides make the inserts not work)?

Constrain Delay Compensation disables some plugins in order to keep the latency low when monitoring via DAW (i.e. Non-Direct Monitoring). The corresponding button is available on the Project window toolbar and in the Transport zone.
 
https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro_artist/v9.5/en/cubase_nuendo/topics/vst_instruments/vst_instruments_constrain_delay_compensation_c.html?hl=constrain%2Cdelay%2Ccompensation
 
On the other hand, Direct Monitoring is actually done just through the hardware - despite the fact that Cubase can control it. Therefore, in Direct Monitoring, you can switch the monitoring on/off from within Cubase, however, the monitored signal does not pass through the computer at all. This way, you will obtain the lowest latency possible but obviously you cannot hear the software insert effects.
 
https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro_artist/v9.5/en/cubase_nuendo/topics/recording/recording_asio_direct_monitoring_t.html?hl=direct%2Cmonitoring
 
--
Miloslav
 

dmbaer
The feature I miss most may sound trivial but ...
 
In SONAR, when you freeze a track, the audio waveform shows up in the track view window.  Most of the time you don't care if you see it or you don't.  But if you actually want to look at the audio (or grab the image for demonstration purposes), it's just not there.  In Cubase, you must export the track and then import it into the project to see the audio in the DAW.  And then you've got to clean up after yourself.  All in all, a total PITA.

Have you tried Cubase > Edit > Render in Place?  It's still no replacement for Sonar's Freeze function but will save you the import/export steps and provides options for rendering with/without effects, etc.  You'll then have to manually Disable the original track(s) to recover any CPU or disk resources.  Fortunately, that's just a right-click and click.
 
Why Render in Place is located in the Edit menu rather than the Audio menu, MIDI menu, or the right-click (Track) menu is beyond me.  I mean, it's absolutely the last place anyone would expect to find it.
 
It just occurs to me that there might be a way to "macro-ize" these two steps (but probably not the converse, being that it would require deleting a track of uncertain nomenclature), but haven't investigated it yet.  Just a thought.
 
I hope this is helpful.

husker
Note that if you save all your connectivity options as a preset named "Default" they wiill not be project dependent. 

This is sort of correct but not quite. You need to save your connection setup as presets i.e. as in multiple presets. You need to save one for inputs and you need to save a separate one for outputs both named Default. Its a feature. Enjoy. 

Just posting it so others would know. Don't take it personally.

cparmerlee

dmbaer
The control room is not for everybody, so it makes little sense to force that option on users who don't need it

 
Here's another head scratcher, as in "WTF was Steinberg thinking?"
They don't do cross-fades automatically.  In every DAW I have used, if clips overlap, the DAW automatically sets up a cross-fade -- because that's what a person would want to do 99% of the time.
 
With Cubase, the first clip overlays and silences the second clip!?  I guess there are some non-default settings where you can get an automatic cross-fade, but only for a very short fade duration, not for the general case.  If you want to do a normal crossfade, you must select all the clips involved, then type "X".  That adds crossfades at all the overlay points.

Maybe you are looking for this?
"Cubase features an Auto Fade function that can be set both globally and separately for each audio track. Auto fades allow you to create smoother transitions between events by applying fade ins and fade outs with a length between 1 and 500 ms." Look at: Project > Auto Fades Settings
If you need crossfades that are longer than 500ms, you have indeed to trigger that by hand.
Best,
Frank

Resort Records

ooblecaboodle
I need to be able to give out raw multitracks, and expect to receive raw multitracks. Extra steps such as removing all plugins and so forth just isn't tolerable.

 
Here's what I got from the Steinberg forums:  While there aren't dedicated checkboxes in the Export panel, as one might expect, there are multi-function buttons on the MixConsole that can bypass certain processes.  Hold the Alt key and press "I," "E," "CS," or "S" to disable Inserts, EQs, Channel Strips, and Sends, respectively.  These functions are also available via key commands so, for example, you could create a batch command that disables all of them with a keystroke and another to re-enable them.
 
Other options are available but sorta messy.  For example, you can render files in place (with the desired wet/dry options), but this drops the resulting audio files into your project's general audio pool and would need to be dug out manually.  Hrmmmph.

Just select all events on the track or tracks you like, then go to Audio -> Bounce selection and Cubase will bounce all the selected tracks as RAW. It will also ask you if you wanna replace the events in the project, just select no and you can find the files in the audio folder under your project folder.

cparmerlee

Frank-US

cparmerlee

dmbaer
The control room is not for everybody, so it makes little sense to force that option on users who don't need it

 
Here's another head scratcher, as in "WTF was Steinberg thinking?"
They don't do cross-fades automatically.  In every DAW I have used, if clips overlap, the DAW automatically sets up a cross-fade -- because that's what a person would want to do 99% of the time.
 
With Cubase, the first clip overlays and silences the second clip!?  I guess there are some non-default settings where you can get an automatic cross-fade, but only for a very short fade duration, not for the general case.  If you want to do a normal crossfade, you must select all the clips involved, then type "X".  That adds crossfades at all the overlay points.

Maybe you are looking for this?
"Cubase features an Auto Fade function that can be set both globally and separately for each audio track. Auto fades allow you to create smoother transitions between events by applying fade ins and fade outs with a length between 1 and 500 ms." Look at: Project > Auto Fades Settings
If you need crossfades that are longer than 500ms, you have indeed to trigger that by hand.
Best,
Frank

Yes, thanks.  I just think it is really peculiar:

• That is is not the default behavior
• That it is limited to 500 ms.

OK, most cross-fades are probably less than 500 ms, especially if you are trying to make a smooth cut.  But there have been many times that I have done cross-fades of a second or longer.  It makes no sense at all to me for this to be limited arbitrarily to 500 ms.  But it is just one of those things, I guess.
Overall, Cubase will get the job done for me.  I am not thrilled with the included plug-in effects, especially that rather spartan UI in most of them.  But over time, I have come to rely more on 3rd party plug-ins anyway, so that part of my world doesn't change much -- except for Melodyne, which really sucks in Cubase.  If I have a project where I expect to use Melodyne a lot, I will be very tempted to use StudioOne instead of Cubase.
 
There are certainly some things that Cubase does that SONAR didn't do at all, so I am not unhappy.  I just think Steinberg would be better off having a more open mind about things.  But Steinberg probably has the same user base problem everyone else has.  Those who are long-time users really don't like change and probably give the company some poor advice.  Listening to the current user base isn't always the best idea.  I'm not saying the user base should be ignored, but in a competitive environment, chances are good that some of the best ideas will come from outside -- and be strongly resisted by the old-time users.

You can make this a default behaviour. The implemented crossfade is for avoiding clicks due to zero crossing. Having crossfades of a second and more is different job. In addition, autocross fade is RAM based and might eat up your memory if you have such high values.
I personally think, that some great PlugIns coming with the program. But it is all a matter of taste.
I do have Melodyne on a second computer but in most cases the included Vari-Audio is doing the job for me. But I can understand everyone who want's a more complete integration of Melodyne in Cubase.
 
Best,
Frank
 
 
 

KHS
the one in Cubase is absolutely on par with Melodyne.

Uhhh, no.  I've tried it.  It is only 1/100th the power of Melodyne, IMHO.  The Cubase feature isn't bad (especially for a free feature), but it isn't Melodyne.
 

KHS
best results are usually with a crossfade length between 2-5ms only. Not sure what you are doing that requires more than 500ms?

Does it matter why?  There are times that is the effect I am looking for.  It just seems goofy for the feature to be limited arbitrarily to 500 ms.

That a reason why I didn't go for Cubase the UI doesn't seem to fit fit in with what it can do every thing seems to be under the hood. I wanted something that was similar to Sonar where I can work in one screen yet delve into the programme with out searching for what may be hidden. If Cubase is the same way as it once was which I believe it to be only because of old code then I would be reticent to use it. I had comments when I showed Sonar to a programmer and they said everything is right there. I think looking for a DAW a fresh DAW was the best option for me. Not something that had been established for over twenty years as things change and things develop. Hence I'm giving Studio One a chance and loving it's simplicity but again I think they are many things under the hood which I would expect seeing that the development team have come across from Cubase. I think they took the best of most DAWs and put it together. I have had Studio One for less than a week so I will continue to use it as see how it develops as my new main DAW. Sure I will be giving Sonar a spin but I am looking to throw all my songs into Studio One at some point. 

Resort Records

joegab
If you record a track (maybe a guitar) for some bars, then you need to record a second section on the same track starting on the following bar (so you need to start recording a couples of bars before) you can't hear what it was recorded before because cubase mutes the track while recording it and this is not so nice.
 
And - similar scenario - using the lanes you cannot hear overlapping clips (if the clips are overlapping a bit, you can only hear one lane at a time and the other lanes are muted)...

I submitted a feature request to Steinberg here: https://www.steinberg.net...c.php?p=698881#p698881

Hi,
We would like to understand completely the purpose behind this feature request.
It is not about playing back different audio files on one track simultaneously (because that would end up easily in a mess) but having a defiend transition between different audio files?
Or are you asking for something like cyle recording like with MIDI just for Audio?
 
Best,
Frank

Dear Frank:
I also asked for a second feature request here:
https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=252&t=128909
 
In both case (my suggestion during Recording, the other suggestion AFTER you recorded some audio with a bit of overlapping clips) Cubase mutes something, and using Sonar we are used to do the same things without having the daw muting anything.
 
For the overlapping lanes please consider this example: I record my electric guitar and I use also my lovely delay unit (Binson Echorec - a very old device) which has a particular sound, ok?
 
I record my first section from bar 1 to bar 8 and, using my delay unit, the recording will go through the following bar completely.... (9).
 
Now I need to record a second section FROM bar 9 to bar .... 15....
As you can understand in bar 9 of the first recording I have the tail of my delay, but ALSO the new section.
 
Now, using Cubase it will be not handy at all for manage this situation (I need to move to a different track the second clip, or I need to press X and to "try" to do a complicate CrossFade hoping to have all my material playing).
 
I hope that this could be useful for understanding this problem.
 
Please let us know: in a future release / update of Cubase it would be a nice idea to have fixed these small issues.
 
Regards,
 
Giorgio
 
 

Frank-US
We would like to understand completely the purpose behind this feature request.
It is not about playing back different audio files on one track simultaneously (because that would end up easily in a mess) but having a defiend transition between different audio files?
Or are you asking for something like cyle recording like with MIDI just for Audio?

 
For myself, it is about playing back different audio files on one track simultaneously without crossovers.
 
Here's my typical workflow for guitars and vocals:
 

1. Setup loop-recording of eight bars (sometimes, with an extra 1/2 bar before and after).
2. Loop-record the first verse until there's a good take (usually 2-dozen takes, thanks to my crappy guitar skills ).
3. Delete unwanted takes
4. Clean up the "keeper" take, removing silence from tip and tail, and applying fade ins/outs to eliminate clicks.  The final clip is usually longer than eight bars.
5. Duplicate the clip and move it to verse #2.  The duplicates will overlap a bit around bar 9.  This is where we want to hear both clips simultaneously, and because the clips are cleaned up, they require no crossfades. 
6. Done.  And because they're the same instrument, it makes sense to have both clips on the same track.  It's as if we punched in, but actually sounds better (usually) and with less effort.  This also has the advantage of using just one set of insert effects on the one Audio Track, whereas, if the duplicate must be copied to another track, the insert effects must also be duplicated, wasting computer resources.  On the other hand, if those insert effects are moved to a Group or FX track, the option to Freeze those tracks and recover computer resources is lost, again wasting resources.
7. Repeat for bridge, chorus, etc., recording subsequent clips onto the same Audio Track.  Arranging and re-arranging song sections is effortless because there's no crossfades to worry about.  Admittedly, some of those sections will end up in dedicated Audio Tracks anyways for specific processing and automation, but not always.  And, by this time, we're usually well into the mix phase, where computer resources are more manageable (e.g., virtual instruments are rendered to Audio Tracks, sound card buffers are maxed).

Does this help?
 
Maybe there's an easier way to do this, but personally, I avoid crossfades.  I only use them when punching a fix into an otherwise good take.