Steinberg Cubase 5 Operation Manual

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The MediaBay
The condition pop-up menu contains the following 
options:
Note that for all conditions except “range”, you can en-
ter more than one string in the text field (separate different 
search strings with a space).
These strings form an AND condition, i. e. the files found will match all 
strings entered in the field.
To open a new filter line, move the mouse pointer to the 
right end of the text field and click the “+” button.
This way, you can add up to five filter lines in which you can define further 
search conditions. Note that two or more filter lines form an AND condi-
tion, i. e. the files searched for must match the conditions defined in all fil-
ter lines. Click the “-” button for a filter line to remove it.
Performing a Category search
The MediaBay allows you not only to view and edit some 
of the standard file attributes found in all computer files, 
but it also provides preconfigured tags, or “categories”, 
that you can use to organize your media files. 
The advantages of such categorization become obvious 
when having to find one specific file, e. g. a certain guitar 
sound, among a large number of media files from various 
contexts, without knowing the name of that file.When you select the Category search mode, the Filter 
section will show the tag columns, each with its own list of 
tag values. If the columns are wide enough, a number dis-
played before a filter name indicates how many files match 
this criteria.
Category search mode. These tag values were found in the currently 
selected folder.
By clicking on individual tag values in the tag columns, you 
define the search filter: only the files that match the se-
lected tag values will be shown in the Viewer display. Se-
lect more tag values from other columns to further refine 
your search.
Option Description
contains The search result must contain the text or number specified in 
the text field to the right.
omits The search result must not contain the text or number specified 
in the text field to the right.
equals The search result must match the text or number specified in 
the text field to the right, including any file extension. Note, how-
ever, that detail searches for text are not case sensitive.
>= The search result must be higher than, or equal to, the number 
specified in the field to the right.

						

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Selected tag values in the same tag column form an OR 
condition.
This means that files must be tagged according to either one or the other 
value to be displayed in the Viewer section.
For the “Style” tag, the files found either have the “Blues” OR the “Jazz” 
tag value.
Tag values in different columns form an AND condition.
This means that files must be tagged according to all these values to be 
shown in the Viewer display.
The files found belong to the “E. Guitar” Sub Category AND show 
“Blues” for the Style tag.
Categorization by tagging makes it easy to organize your 
media files. How to assign tag values to your files is de-
scribed in the section “The Tag Editor (Cubase only)” on 
page 284 and in the section “Tagging media files” on 
page 286.
ÖCubase only: Note that you can use existing tags or 
use the user tag feature (see “Defining user tags” on page 
286) to create your own categories.
Category searches are used not only in the MediaBay, but 
throughout Cubase in various VST Sound-related con-
texts (see “What is VST Sound?” on page 274).
Further options for Category searches
The text field at the top serves as an additional name fil-
ter: you can enter a file name or part of a file name here.
This corresponds to a “Name: contains” Details search, which means 
that the name of the file must contain the text you enter here. See also 
“Performing a Details search (Cubase only)” on page 280.
In addition to the filter defined by the tag columns, the file name must 
contain “120”.
You can change which tag type is displayed in each 
column by clicking on the column title and selecting an-
other tag from the tag list pop-up menu.
How to configure the tag list is described in the section “Managing the 
tag lists” on page 284.
To select a tag value, simply click on it. To deselect it, 
click the value again.
Note that you can select more than one value in each tag column.
Click the Reset Filter button at the top right of the Filter 
section to clear all settings in the tag columns.
This will also reset the tag list settings.
Performing a context menu search
You can use the “Search for” options on the context 
menus of the Viewer tabs and the Tag Editor to automati-
cally show only those files that correspond with a certain 
tag value of the currently selected file.
Right-click the file with the desired tag value to open the 
context menu and select it from the “Search for…” sub-
menu. This way you can easily find all the files that have a 
value in common, e. g. if you want to view all files that be-
long to a certain family.
ÖWhen you used the context menu search functions, 
the “Reset Filter” button in the Filter section will be re-
placed by the “Go Back” button. Clicking this button will 
return you to the previous view, rather then resetting all 
search options.
Additional Viewer operations
You can move/copy a file from the Viewer section to an-
other location by clicking and dragging it to another folder 
in the Browser section.
You will be asked if you wish to copy or move the file to the new location.
To insert a file into the project, right-click the file and se-
lect one of the “Insert into project” options from the con-
text menu.
This will import this file into your current project, either at the start of the 
project or at the current cursor position.
To delete a file, right-click it in the Viewer and select 
“Delete” from the context menu.
A warning message is displayed, asking you to confirm that you really 
want to move this file to the operating system’s trash folder. 
						

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Cubase only: When the option “Allow Editing in Viewer” 
is activated in the Preferences dialog (MediaBay page), 
you can also edit tags in the Viewer.
Otherwise this is possible only in the Tag Editor.
Previewing files in the Scope section
Below the Viewer you will find the Scope section. It allows 
you to play back files selected in the Viewer section.
The elements visible in this section and their functions 
depend on the type of media file selected in the Viewer.
Previewing audio files
The Scope section for an audio file
To preview an audio file, simply click the Play button.
When Auto Play is activated, selecting a file in the 
Viewer will automatically start playback.
When “Play in Project context” is activated, the file will 
be played back together with the current project, starting 
at the current project cursor position.
Note that activating “Play in Project context” may apply realtime time-
stretching to your audio file. When you import an audio file into your pro-
ject, the setting for “Play in Project context” determines whether Musical 
mode is activated automatically for this file. 
When “Sync to Main Transport” is activated, the Play 
and Stop functions from the Transport panel also control 
Play and Stop in the Scope section. To use this, the “Play 
in Project context” option also has to be activated.
This option is very useful for previewing audio loops. To use it to its full 
extent, set the left locator on the beginning of a bar, then start playing 
back the project using the Transport panel. The loops that you now se-
lect in the Viewer section will start together with the project in perfect 
sync. Play and Stop of the scope transport can still be used on its own if 
needed.
Previewing MIDI files
The Scope section for a MIDI file
To preview a MIDI file (.mid), you first have to select an 
output device in the Output pop-up.
Auto Play and “Play in Project context” work as for audio 
files, see above.
Previewing MIDI loops
To preview a MIDI loop file, click the Play button.
Auto Play works as for audio files, see above.
MIDI Loops are always played in the project context.
Previewing track and instrument presets
The Scope section for a MIDI track preset
Track presets for MIDI or instrument tracks and VST plug-
in presets require MIDI notes for previewing. There are 
two ways these notes can be sent to the track preset:
Click the “MIDI Input” button and play MIDI notes on a 
MIDI keyboard connected to your system.
Clicking “Choose MIDI File” will open a file dialog where 
you can navigate to a MIDI file. When you now click “Play”, 
the notes received from the MIDI file will be played with 
the settings of the track preset applied.
You can also set the preview level.
Track presets for audio tracks cannot be previewed in the 
MediaBay. You can do this in the Presets browser (for fur-
ther information, see “Applying track or VST presets in the 
Inspector or the context menu of the track” on page 291).
!The Scope section does not play back video files or 
project files. Also, it is not possible to preview audio 
track presets in the MediaBay (see below).
Sync to 
Main 
Transport Auto Play Preview 
level Transport 
controls
Play in Project 
context
Output Auto Play
Play in 
Project 
context Transport controls
 MIDI In activity 
						

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Previewing pattern banks
Pattern banks containing drum patterns can be created 
with the MIDI plug-in “Beat Designer”. Detailed informa-
tion on the Beat Designer and its functions can be found 
in the chapter “MIDI effects” in the separate PDF docu-
ment “Plug-in Reference”. One pattern bank contains 4 
subbanks which in turn contain 12 patterns each. In the 
Scope section for a pattern bank file, a keyboard-style dis-
play allows you to select a subbank (click on a number at 
the top) and a pattern (click on a key).
The Scope section for a pattern bank
To preview a pattern, select the pattern bank in the 
Viewer section. In the Scope section, choose the desired 
subbank and pattern. Then click the Play button.
Note that it is possible that a subbank may also contain empty patterns. 
Patterns that contain data are indicated by a circle in the upper part of 
the key in the keyboard display. Selecting an empty pattern will have no 
effect.
When Auto Play is activated, selecting a file in the 
Viewer will automatically start playback.
When you have found the pattern bank you want to use in 
your project, double-click on it in the Viewer section to 
create a new MIDI track in the Project window which con-
tains one instance of the Beat Designer using this pattern 
bank.
The Tag Editor (Cubase only)
When a file is selected in the Viewer section, the Tag Editor 
shows a two-column list of tags and tag values for this file.
Tags (or “attributes”) for media files are sets of metadata 
providing additional information on the file. The different 
types of media files have different tags: for example, for 
.wav audio files you will find standard tags like name, 
length, size, sample rate, etc., while for .mp3 files, addi-
tional tags such as “Artist” or “Genre” are available.
The Media Management System provides further tags, 
such as “Category” or “Character”.
You have access not only to the standard tags and the 
preconfigured tags provided by Cubase, but you can also 
define your own tags and add these to your files (Cubase 
only).
Managing the tag lists
Lists of tags and tag values are used in various places in 
the MediaBay window. You can configure these lists and 
define certain tag properties in the Manage Tags dialog.
Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Manage Tags dialog by clicking on the Man-
age Tags button in the lower right corner of the MediaBay 
window.
2.Click one of the filter buttons at the top of the Manage 
Tags dialog to select the file type for which you want to 
configure the tag lists.
The Manage Tags dialog shows a list of all tags available for the media 
files supported by the MediaBay, and three columns of checkboxes, one 
for the Filter section, one for the Viewer and one for the Tag Editor.
Auto Play Transport 
controls
!In Cubase Studio, tags can be edited only in the 
Viewer. 
						

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3.To display a certain tag in the Filter section, the Viewer 
display or the Tag Editor, activate the corresponding check-
box for this tag:
4.Close the Manage Tags dialog by clicking its close 
button.
Your settings will be applied.
The Type column shows whether the value for a tag is a 
number, text or a Yes/No-type switch. The Precision col-
umn shows the number of decimals displayed after a point 
for number tags.
Click and drag in the tag display to select several tags 
(click somewhere outside the selected area to deselect).
This way, you can activate/deactivate all selected checkboxes in one go.
To return to the default tag display settings for the Filter, 
Viewer and Tag Editor sections, click the “Reset to Default” 
button (above the tag display) in the Manage Tags dialog.
Displaying tags in the Tag Editor
You can switch the tag display in the Tag Editor:
Click on “Managed” to show only the tags activated for 
display in the Manage Tags dialog.
Use this view to limit the tag display to those tags that are of interest to you.
Click on “All” to show all tags for the file selected in the 
Viewer for which values are available.
Use this display if you wish to see all tags, including standard file at-
tributes such as Name, Size or Date Modified.
Displaying tags in the Viewer
Most of the time, tags displayed in the MediaBay are 
sorted alphabetically. Only in the Viewer can you change 
the tag display order:
Move the mouse pointer to a column heading, click and 
drag that heading to another position in the display.
Editing tags in the Tag Editor
You can use the Tag Editor to edit tag values of the vari-
ous media files. Tag values can be chosen from pop-up 
lists, entered as text or numbers or set to Yes or No.
ÖNote that changing a tag value in the Tag Editor may 
permanently change the corresponding file.
When it comes to editing, you will notice that there are dif-
ferent types of tags:
“Display only” tags cannot be edited. Their values are 
displayed in a lighter color.
In this case, the file format probably does not permit changing this value, 
or changing a particular value makes no sense (e. g. you cannot change 
the file size in the MediaBay, because you have no way of adding or re-
moving media information).
When clicking in the Value column for most attributes, a 
pop-up menu opens from which you can choose a value. 
For some of the pop-up menus there is a “more…” button 
to open a window with even more tag values.
These tag selection windows also feature a Text Search button that you 
can use to find specific values more quickly.
Many tag values can also be edited by double-clicking 
in the Value column of the Tag Editor.
Simply enter/change the text or number setting in the field displayed for a 
value.
Some of the tags (“Category” and “Sub Category” as 
well as “Style” and “Sub Style”) are directly linked to each 
other. The “Category” pop-up for example allows you to 
set a category, and the “Sub Category” pop-up contains 
the corresponding sub categories sorted according to the 
categories. 
By picking a sub category belonging to a different category, the Category 
tag will be changed as well (the same is true for Style and Sub Style).
Clicking in the Value column for the “Character” tag 
opens the Edit Character dialog.
Click a radio button on the left or the right side and then click OK to de-
fine values for the Character tag.
By clicking in the Value column for the Rating tag and 
dragging to the left or right, you can rate the file on a scale 
from 1 to 5.
For example, use this to indicate the file’s sound quality or its suitability 
for a certain purpose.
The “Category” tag 
is selected for dis-
play in the Filter tag 
lists, the Viewer and 
in the Tag Editor.
!In Cubase Studio, tags can be edited only in the 
Viewer. 
						

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To remove the attribute value from the selected files, 
right-click in the Value column for the desired attribute 
and select “Remove Tag” from the context menu.
Defining user tags
You can define your own tags and save these in the 
MediaBay database and the corresponding media files. 
You can use such user tags for example to define your 
own filter categories, further refining the categorization of 
your media files.
To define a user tag, proceed as follows:
1.Open the Manage Tags dialog by clicking the Manage 
Tags button in the lower right corner of the MediaBay win-
dow.
2.Click on the Add User Tag button.
The Add User Tag dialog opens.
3.Enter a name for the new tag and define its type.
Tags can be of the types “Text”, “Number” or “Yes/No” switch.
For tags of the type “Number”, you can also specify how 
many decimals should be displayed after a decimal point.
Enter the corresponding value in the Precision field.
4.Click OK.
The new tag is added to the list of available tags and can be displayed in 
the Tag Editor and the Viewer.
To remove a user tag from the MediaBay views and da-
tabase, select it in the tag list and click the Remove User 
Tag button.
The tag will be removed from the Managed Tags lists in which it was pre-
viously displayed.
Cubase recognizes all user tags that are included in me-
dia files. If you load content from another user, for example, 
who has assigned his own user tags to the files, these tags 
will also be shown in the Tag Editor on the All tab.
Because of this, it can happen that user tags that you removed using the 
Remove User Tag button will still appear on the All tab in the Tag Editor.
Tagging media files
The search functions, especially the Category search 
mode, become a truly powerful media management tool 
when making extensive use of tagging.
Media files are usually organized in complex folder struc-
tures to provide a logical way of guiding the user to the 
desired files, with the folder and/or file names indicating 
the instrument, style, tempo, etc.
To find a particular sound or loop in such a folder structure 
can be very time consuming – tagging is the answer! To 
assign a number of meaningful tags, e. g. to a library of 
loop files, proceed as follows:
1.Copy the loop files to your hard disk.
Tagging means editing the files, so you need them on your system.
2.Open the MediaBay and browse to where the new 
loops are located.
3.Navigate to a folder containing loops.
For example, you might have a folder containing Metal style drum loops, 
at 120 bpm.
4.In the Viewer, select all files contained in this folder.
Make sure that the Deep Results button is deactivated, so that only files 
contained in this folder are displayed.
5.Assign tags that reflect the information indicated by 
the folder structure.
In the above example, you would put “Metal” as a value for the Style tag, 
and “Drums” for the Instrument tag. The Tag Editor also allows you to 
display a “Tempo” tag, for which you could specify a value of “120”.
You can now use the Category search mode to quickly find 
all Metal style drum loops at 120 bpm, without the need to 
navigate through a large number of folders and subfolders. 
						

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Tagging multiple files simultaneously
There is no limit as to how many files can be tagged at the 
same time, but you need to be aware that the tagging of 
thousands of files in one go may take quite a while. This 
operation is executed in background, so that you can con-
tinue with your work as usual. By looking at the Tagging 
Counter in the MediaBay info line you can see how many 
files still have to be updated.
The Tagging Counter shows the number of files that still need to be up-
dated.
The display will be updated immediately in the different 
MediaBay sections, even if the values have not been writ-
ten to the corresponding media files yet.
If you close Cubase before the Tagging Counter has 
gone down to zero, a dialog with a progress bar is dis-
played, indicating how long the updating process will take. 
You can choose to abort this process if you need to close 
the application immediately.
In this case only the files that were updated before you clicked “Abort” 
will have the new tag value.
Tagging write-protected files
Media files may be write-protected due to a number of 
reasons: They may belong to content that was provided by 
someone else who write-protected the files, you may have 
write-protected them yourself in order not to overwrite 
them accidentally, or they could be generally unwritable 
because the file format does not allow write operations by 
the MediaBay.
In the MediaBay, the write protection status of files is 
shown as an attribute in the Tag Editor and in the Write 
Protection column in the Viewer display.
The Write Protection column in the Viewer display
Regardless of the write protection status, you can al-
ways change the attribute values of a file in the MediaBay. 
If the corresponding file is write-protected, however, these 
changes will not be written to disk and occur in the Media-
Bay only.If you have set new attribute values for a file that is 
write-protected, this will be reflected in the Pending Tags 
column.
Note that if you rescan the MediaBay content and a media file on your 
hard disk has changed since the last scan, all pending tags for this file 
will be lost.
If a file has pending tags, and you want to write the cor-
responding attributes to the file, you need to remove the 
write protection first, and then select the “Write Tags to 
File” command from the context menu.
You can change the write-protection status of your media 
files, provided that the file type allows write operations 
and you have the necessary operation system permis-
sions: 
To set or remove the write protection attribute for a file, 
simply select the file in the Viewer display and select “Set/
Remove Write Protection” from the context menu.
ÖIf the Write Protection and/or the Pending Tags col-
umn are not visible, you may have to enable the corre-
sponding attributes for the file type in question using the 
Manage Tags window, see “Managing the tag lists” on 
page 284.
ÖIf you use other programs than Cubase to change the 
write-protection status of a file, this will not be reflected in 
the MediaBay until you rescan the files! Be aware, how-
ever, that this might lead to further changes in the Media-
Bay content. 
						

							20
Working with Track Presets 
						

							289
Working with Track Presets
Introduction
Track presets are templates from audio, MIDI or instrument 
tracks that can be applied to newly created or existing 
tracks of the same type. They contain sound and channel 
settings, thus allowing you to quickly browse, preview, se-
lect and change sounds, or reuse channel settings across 
projects. 
Track Presets are organized in the Sound Browser (a view 
of the MediaBay, see “The MediaBay” on page 273) where 
you can categorize them with tags. 
Types of track presets
There are four kinds of track presets (audio, instrument, 
MIDI and Multi) and two kinds of VST presets (VST Instru-
ment presets and VST effect plug-in presets). These are 
described in the following sections.
ÖNote that volume, pan, input gain and input phase will 
be restored only when creating a new track from a track 
preset.
Audio track presets
Track presets for audio tracks include all settings that “de-
fine” the sound. You can use the factory presets as a start-
ing point for your own editing and save the audio settings 
that you optimized for an artist you often work with as a 
preset for future recordings. 
The following data will be saved in audio track presets:
 Insert FX settings (including VST effect presets)

 Volume + Pan
 Input Gain + Phase
Instrument track presets
Instrument track presets offer both MIDI and audio features 
and are best choice when handling sounds of simple, 
mono-timbral VST Instruments. Use instrument track pre-
sets for auditioning your tracks, inspiration, or saving your 
preferred sound settings. You can directly extract sounds 
from instrument track presets for use in instrument tracks. The following data will be saved in instrument track presets:


 Audio Volume + Pan
 Audio Input Gain + Phase
 MIDI Insert FX
 MIDI Track Parameters
 Input Transformer

 Staff settings
 Color settings
 Drum map settings
MIDI track presets
MIDI tracks should be used for multi-timbral VST Instru-
ments and external instruments. When creating MIDI track 
presets you can either include the currently set channel, or 
the currently set patch. See “Creating a track preset” on 
page 292 for details.
To ensure that saved MIDI track presets for external in-
struments will work again with the same instrument later, 
you should install the instrument as MIDI device, because 
in this case the MIDI interface and the connecting ports are 
irrelevant. (For this to work, the MIDI device has to have ex-
actly the same name as in the original setup.) For more in-
formation about this, see the separate pdf document “MIDI 
Devices”.
The following data will be saved in MIDI track presets:
 MIDI Modifiers (Transpose, etc.)
 MIDI Inserts (FX)
 Output + Channel or Program Change
 Input Transformer

 Staff settings
 Color settings
 Drum map settings 
						

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Working with Track Presets
Multi track presets
You can use multi track presets e.g. when recording setups 
that require several microphones (a drum set or a choir, 
where you record always under the same conditions) and 
have to edit the resulting tracks in a similar way, or for lay-
ered tracks, where you use several tracks to generate a 
certain sound instead of manipulating only one track.
If you select more than one track when creating a track 
preset, the settings of all selected tracks will be saved as 
one multi track preset. Since you can apply a multi track 
preset only if the target tracks are of the same type, num-
ber and sequence as the tracks in the track preset, multi 
track presets are useful when you have a recurring situa-
tion with very similar tracks and settings.
VST (Instrument) presets
VST Instrument presets (extension .vstpreset) are VST 
presets that behave like instrument track presets in the 
context of the Project window and contain a VST Instru-
ment and its settings but no modifiers, MIDI inserts, in-
serts or EQ settings. You can directly extract sounds from 
VST presets for use in instrument tracks. 
The following data is saved in VST Instrument presets:

 VST Instrument settings
VST effect plug-ins are available in VST3 and VST2 for-
mat. Presets for these effects are also saved as VST pre-
sets. These that can be part of audio track presets (see 
“Audio track presets” on page 289).
ÖIn this manual, “VST presets” stands for VST3 Instru-
ment presets, unless stated otherwise.
Pattern Banks
Pattern Banks are Presets created for the Beat Designer 
MIDI effect. They behave much like track presets. For de-
tailed information, see “Previewing pattern banks” on 
page 284 and the chapter “MIDI effects” in the separate 
PDF document “Plug-in Reference”.
Applying track presets
When you apply a track preset, all saved settings are ap-
plied, see “Types of track presets” on page 289. Track 
presets can be applied to tracks of their own type only, i. e. 
audio track presets to audio tracks, etc. The only excep-
tion are instrument tracks: for these VST presets are also 
available. Note that applying VST presets to instrument 
tracks leads to removal of modifiers, MIDI inserts, inserts 
or EQs, since these settings are not stored in VST pre-
sets, see “Previewing MIDI, instrument and VST presets 
independently of tracks” on page 293.
Applying track or VST presets via drag and drop
1.Open the Sound Browser from the Media menu.
The general handling of the Sound Browser is the same as for the 
MediaBay, see “The MediaBay” on page 273. 
The Sound Browser
2.Select a MIDI or instrument track preset, or a VST pre-
set.
3.Preview the preset using the preview functions in the 
Scope section (for further information, see “Previewing 
files in the Scope section” on page 283).
4.Drag and drop it onto a track of the same type.
!Once a track preset is applied, you cannot undo the 
changes! It is not possible to remove an applied pre-
set from a track and return to the previous state. If you 
are not satisfied with the track settings, you can either 
edit the settings manually or apply another preset.