Steinberg Cubase 6 Manual

							41
The Project window
Instrument tracks
As explained in the chapter “VST instruments and instru-
ment tracks” on page 206, the Inspector for an instrument 
track shows some of the sections from VST instrument 
channels and MIDI tracks.
MIDI tracks
When a MIDI track is selected, the Inspector contains a 
number of additional sections and parameters, affecting the 
MIDI events in realtime (e.
 g. on playback). Which sections 
are available for MIDI tracks is described in the chapter 
“MIDI realtime parameters and effects” on page 348.
Arranger track
For the arranger track, the Inspector displays the lists of 
available arranger chains and arranger events. See the 
chapter 
“The arranger track” on page 124 for details.
Folder tracks
When a folder track is selected, the Inspector shows the 
folder and its underlying tracks, much like a folder struc
-
ture in the Windows Explorer or Mac OS X Finder.
ÖYou can click one of the tracks shown under the folder 
in the Inspector to have the Inspector show the settings 
for that track. This way, you do not have to “open” a folder 
track to make settings for tracks within it.
FX channel tracks
When an FX channel track is selected, the following con-
trols and sections are available:
• Edit button
• Volume control
• Pan control
• Output Routing pop-up menu
• Inserts section
• Equalizers section
• Equalizer Curve section
• Sends section (Cubase only)
• Studio Sends section (Cubase only)
• Surround Pan section (Cubase only)
• Channel section
•Notepad section
FX channel tracks are automatically placed in a special 
folder, for easier management. When this folder track is 
selected, the Inspector shows the folder and the FX chan
-
nels it contains. You can click one of the FX channels 
shown in the folder to have the Inspector show the set
-
tings for that FX channel – this way you do not have to 
“open” a folder track to access the settings for the FX 
channels in it.
Group channel tracks
When a group channel track is selected, the following 
controls and sections are available:
• Edit button
• Volume control
•Pan control
• Output Routing pop-up menu
• Inserts section
• Equalizers section
• Equalizer Curve section
• Sends section
• Studio Sends section (Cubase only)
• Surround Pan section (Cubase only)
• Channel section
• Notepad section
Just like FX channel tracks, all group channel tracks are 
placed in a separate folder – when this is selected, the In
-
spector shows the folder and the group channels it con-
tains. You can click one of the group channels shown in the 
folder to have the Inspector show the settings for that group 
channel – this way, you do not have to “open” a folder track 
to access the settings for the group channels in it.
Marker tracks
When the marker track is selected, the Inspector shows 
the marker list. For more information, see the chapter 
“Us-
ing markers” on page 138.
Ruler tracks
For ruler tracks, the Inspector is not used.
Transpose track
When the transpose track is selected, the following con-
trols and sections are available:
• Mute button
• Keep Transpose in Octave range 
						

							42
The Project window
• Toggle Time Base button
• Lock button
•Notepad section
The transpose track controls are described in detail in the 
chapter 
“The transpose functions” on page 131.
Signature track and tempo track
For the signature track and the tempo track, the Inspector 
displays a list of all time signature events or tempo events. 
See the chapter 
“Editing tempo and signature” on page 
462 for details.
Video tracks
When a video track is selected, the Inspector contains a 
lock button for locking the track (see the section 
“Locking 
events” on page 65), a Mute button for interrupting video 
playback and two settings for video thumbnails: Show 
Frame Numbers and Show Thumbnails (see the section 
“Video files in the Project window” on page 513). 
Video tracks make use of the Notepad Inspector tab.
The toolbar
The toolbar contains tools and shortcuts for opening other 
windows and various project settings and functions.
You can show/hide most of the toolbar elements (except 
the Activate Project and “Set up Window Layout” buttons) 
by activating/deactivating the corresponding options on 
the context menu. The following options are available:
ÖHow to further set up the toolbar is described in the 
section 
“Using the Setup options” on page 534.
Using the toolbox
The toolbox can be opened instead of the standard con-
text menus in the event display and editors. It makes the 
editing tools from the toolbar conveniently available at the 
mouse pointer position.
•To open the toolbox by right-clicking (Win)/[Ctrl]-click-
ing (Mac), activate the “Popup Toolbox on Right Click” 
option in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Tools page).
When this option is activated, you need to press any modifier key and 
right-click (Win)/[Ctrl]-click (Mac) to open the context menu. When it is 
deactivated, you need to press a modifier key to open the toolbox instead 
of the context menu.
OptionDescription
Constrain Delay 
CompensationThis is described in the section “Constrain Delay Compensation” on page 216.
Media & Mixer 
WindowsWhen this is activated, buttons for opening or clos-ing the MediaBay, the Pool, the Mixer, and the Con-trol Room Mixer (Cubase only) are displayed on the 
toolbar. 
Performance MeterWhen this is activated, meters for ASIO time usage 
and hard disk transfer load are displayed, see “About the VST Performance window” on page 24.
Automation ModeWhen this is activated, the automation mode and a 
button to open/close the Automation panel are dis-played on the toolbar. For details, see the chapter “Automation” on page 227.
Auto-ScrollWhen this is activated, buttons for the options “Auto-
Scroll” and “Suspend Auto-Scroll when Editing” are 
displayed, see 
“Auto-Scroll” on page 47.
LocatorsWhen this is activated, the left and right locator posi-tions are displayed on the toolbar.
Transport ButtonsWhen this is activated, the transport buttons from the 
Transport panel are also displayed on the toolbar.
Arranger ControlsWhen this is activated, the controls used when work-ing with the arranger track are displayed, see the 
chapter “The arranger track” on page 124.
Time DisplayWhen this is activated, the Transport panel’s time 
display is displayed on the toolbar.
MarkersWhen this is activated, the Transport panel’s marker 
buttons are displayed on the toolbar.
Snap to Zero 
CrossingThis is described in the section “Snap to Zero Crossing” on page 47.
Tool ButtonsWhen this is activated, tool buttons for editing in the 
Project window are displayed on the toolbar. The 
tools are also accessible via the toolbox, see 
“Using the toolbox” on page 42.
Color menuThis shows/hides the color pop-up menu, see “Ap-plying colors in the Project window” on page 537.
Nudge PaletteActivate this to display the nudge buttons. These 
buttons can be used to nudge events or parts in the 
Project window or for trimming (see 
“Moving events” on page 61 and “Resizing events” on page 63).
Project Root KeyActivate this to display the Project Root Key. For de-tails, see the chapter “The transpose functions” on page 131.
Snap/QuantizeThese options are described in the sections “The Snap function” on page 45 and “Quantizing MIDI and audio” on page 108.
Option Description 
						

							43
The Project window
•To change the number of rows in which the tools are 
arranged on the toolbox, keep the right mouse button 
pressed on the toolbox until the mouse pointer changes to 
a double arrow, and drag to the bottom or right.
The tools can be arranged in one, two, or three horizontal or vertical 
rows.
The status line
The status line is displayed below the toolbar in the Proj-
ect window. 
It displays the following information:
ÖClicking on any of the fields except the Record Time 
Max display opens the Project Setup dialog, where you 
can adjust the settings (see 
“The Project Setup dialog” on 
page 54).
•To show or hide the status line, click the “Set up Win-
dow Layout” button on the toolbar and activate or deacti-
vate the Status Line option.
The info line
The info line is displayed below the status line in the Proj-
ect window. 
The info line shows information about the currently se-
lected event or part in the Project window. You can edit al-
most all values on the info line using regular value editing. 
Length and position values are displayed in the format cur
-
rently selected for the ruler (see “The ruler” on page 44).
•To show or hide the info line, click the “Set up Window 
Layout” button on the toolbar and activate or deactivate 
the Info Line option.
The following elements can be selected for display and 
editing on the info line:
• Audio events
•Audio parts
• MIDI parts
• Video events
•Markers
• Automation curve points
• Transpose events
• Arranger events
When several elements are selected
•If you have selected several elements, the info line shows 
information about the first item in the selection. The values 
are displayed in color to indicate that several elements are 
selected.
•If you edit a value on the info line, the value change is 
applied to all selected elements, relatively to the current 
values.
If you have selected two audio events, the first being one bar long and the 
second two bars, the info line shows the length of the first event (one bar). 
If you now change this value to 3 bars in the info line, the other event will be 
resized by the same amount – and will thus be 4 bars long.
•To enter absolute values for the selected elements, 
press [Ctrl]/[Command] while modifying the value on the 
info line. In the example above, both events would be re
-
sized to 3 bars. 
[Ctrl]/[Command] is the default modifier key for this – you can change 
this in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Tool Modifiers page, in the Info 
Line category).
OptionDescription
Record Time MaxThis displays the time you have left for recording, 
depending on your project settings and the avail-able hard disk space. Click in this field to display 
the remaining record time in a separate window.
Record FormatThis displays the sample rate and the bit resolution 
used for recording.
Project Frame RateThis displays the frame rate used in the project.
Project Pan LawThis displays the current Pan Law setting.
!Cubase permits different sample rate settings for a 
project and the audio hardware. However, as a result 
the audio files in a project will not play back in their 
original pitch. If the “Record Format” field is high
-
lighted in a different color, there is a sample rate 
mismatch and you should check the settings in the 
Project Setup dialog.  
						

							44
The Project window
Editing transpose and velocity for MIDI parts
When one or several MIDI parts are selected, the info line 
contains Transpose and Velocity fields.
•Adjusting the Transpose field transposes the selected 
parts in semitone steps.
Note that this transposition does not change the actual notes in the part 
– it is just a “play parameter”, affecting the notes on playback. The trans
-position you specify for a part on the info line is added to the transposi-
tion set for the whole track. For more information on transposing, see the 
chapter 
“The transpose functions” on page 131. 
•Adjusting the Velocity field shifts the velocity for the se-
lected parts – the value you specify is added to the veloc-
ities of the notes in the parts.
Again, this velocity shift only affects the notes on playback, and again, 
the value you specify is added to the Vel.Shift. value set for the whole 
MIDI track in the Inspector.
The overview line
The overview line is displayed below the info line in the 
Project window. In the overview line, events and parts on 
all tracks are displayed as boxes.
•To show/hide the overview line, proceed as for the info 
line (see above), but activate the Overview Line option in
-
stead.
You can use the overview line to zoom in or out, and for 
navigating to other sections of the project. This is done by 
moving and resizing the track view rectangle in the over
-
view line:
•The track view rectangle indicates the section of the 
project currently displayed in the event display.
•You zoom in or out horizontally by resizing the rectangle.
Resize it by dragging the edges of the rectangle.
•You can drag the track view rectangle to view other 
sections of the project.
This can also be done by clicking anywhere in the upper part of the over-
view – the track view rectangle will be moved to where you clicked.
The ruler
The ruler at the top of the event display shows the time-
line. Initially, the Project window ruler uses the display for-
mat specified in the Project Setup dialog (see “The 
Project Setup dialog” on page 54), as do all other rulers 
and position displays in the project. However, you can se-
lect an independent display format for the ruler by clicking 
the arrow button to the right of it and selecting an option 
from the pop-up menu (you can also bring up this pop-up 
menu by right-clicking anywhere in the ruler).
•The selection you make here affects the ruler, the info 
line and tooltip position values (which appear when you 
drag an event in the Project window).
You can also select independent formats for other rulers and position 
displays. 
OptionPositions and lengths displayed as
Bars+BeatsBars, beats, sixteenth notes and ticks. By default there 
are 120 ticks per sixteenth note, but you can adjust this 
with the “MIDI Display Resolution” setting in the Prefer
-ences dialog (MIDI page). 
SecondsHours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds.
TimecodeThis format displays hours, minutes, seconds, and 
frames. The number of frames per second (fps) is set in 
the Project Setup dialog with the Frame Rate pop-up 
menu (see 
“The Project Setup dialog” on page 54).
SamplesSamples.
fps (User)Hours, minutes, seconds and frames, with a user-defin-able number of frames per second. You set the desired 
number of fps in the Preferences dialog (Transport page).
Time LinearWhen this is selected, the ruler will be linear relative to 
time. This means that if there are tempo changes on the 
tempo track, the distance between the bars will vary in 
Bars+Beats mode.
Bars+Beats 
LinearWhen this is selected, the ruler will be linear relative to 
the meter position – bars and beats. This means that if 
there are tempo changes on the tempo track, there still 
will be the same distance between bars in Bars+Beats 
mode. If the ruler is set to a time-based mode, the dis
-tance between seconds will vary depending on the 
tempo changes. 
						

							45
The Project window
•To set the display format globally (for all windows), use 
the primary display format pop-up on the Transport panel, 
or hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and select a display for
-
mat in any ruler.
•If you use the “Timecode” or “User” options and the 
“Show Timecode Subframes” option are activated in the 
Preferences dialog (Transport page), the frames will also 
display subframes.
There are 80 subframes per frame.
Using multiple rulers – ruler tracks
As described above, the Cubase Project window contains 
a main ruler at the top of the event display, displaying the 
timeline from left to right.
If needed, you can have several rulers in the Project win-
dow, by adding ruler tracks to the project. Each ruler track 
contains an additional ruler.
•To add a ruler track, open the “Add Track” submenu 
from the Project menu and select “Ruler”.
A ruler track showing an additional ruler is added to the track list.
You can add any number of ruler tracks to a project, and 
position them as needed by dragging them up or down in 
the track list. Each of the rulers can show a separate dis
-
play format.
•To select a display format for a ruler track, click on its 
name in the track list and select an option from the pop-up 
menu.
Note that ruler tracks are completely independent from the 
main event display ruler, as well as rulers and position dis
-
plays in other windows. This means that:
• Each ruler track in a project can have its own display format.
• Ruler tracks are not affected by the display format setting in 
the Project Setup dialog (see 
“The Project Setup dialog” on 
page 54).
• Ruler tracks are not affected if you set the display format glob-
ally with the primary time display in the Transport panel.
ÖRuler tracks are affected by the “Show Timecode 
Subframes” option in the Preferences dialog (Transport 
page, see above).
The Snap function
The Snap function helps you to find exact positions when 
editing in the Project window. It does this by restricting 
horizontal movement and positioning to certain positions. 
Operations affected by Snap include moving, copying, 
drawing, sizing, splitting, range selection, etc.
•You turn Snap on or off by clicking the Snap icon on the 
toolbar.
When you are moving audio events with Snap activated, it 
is not necessarily the beginning of the event that is used 
as Snap position reference. Instead, each audio event has 
a snap point, which you can set to a relevant position in 
the audio (such as a downbeat, etc.).
The snap point is preferably set in the Sample Editor since 
it allows for a higher degree of precision (see 
“Adjusting 
the snap point” on page 268). However, you can also set 
the snap point directly in the Project window, in the follow-
ing way:
1.Select an event.
2.Place the project cursor at the desired position within 
the selected audio event. 
						

							46
The Project window
3.Pull down the Audio menu and select “Snap Point To 
Cursor”.
The snap point is set at the cursor position.
The snap point for an event is displayed as a vertical line in the Project 
window.
The Snap Type pop-up menu
To determine how the Snap function works, open the 
Snap Type pop-up menu and select one of the available 
options.
In the Snap Type pop-up menu the following options are 
available:
Grid
If you select this Snap type, the Snap positions are set 
with the Grid Type pop-up menu. The options depend on 
the display format selected for the ruler. For example, if the 
ruler is set to show bars and beats, the grid can be set to 
bars, beats, or the quantize value set with the selected 
quantize preset. If a time or frame-based ruler format is se
-
lected, the Grid Type pop-up menu contains time or 
frame-based grid options, etc.
When Seconds is selected as ruler format, the Grid Type pop-up menu 
contains time-based grid options.
Grid Relative
If you select this Snap type, events and parts will not be 
“magnetic” to the grid. Rather, the grid determines the 
step size for moving the events. This means that a moved 
event will keep its original position relative to the grid.
For example, if an event starts at the position 3.04.01 (one 
beat before bar 4), Snap is set to Grid Relative and the Grid 
Type pop-up menu is set to “Bar”, you can move the event 
in steps of one bar – to the positions 4.04.01, 5.04.01 and 
so on. The event will keep its relative position to the grid, i.
 e. 
stay one beat before the bar lines.
•This only applies when dragging existing events or parts 
– when you create new events or parts this snap type 
works like “Grid”.
Events
This grid type makes the start and end positions of other 
events and parts become “magnetic”. This means that if 
you drag an event to a position near the start or end of an
-
other event, it is automatically aligned with the start or end 
of the other event. For audio events, the position of the 
snap point is also magnetic (see 
“Adjusting the snap 
point” on page 268).
•Note that this includes marker events on the marker 
track.
This allows you to snap events to marker positions, and vice versa.
Shuffle
Shuffle is useful when you want to change the order of ad-
jacent events. If you have two adjacent events and drag 
the first one to the right, past the second event, the two 
events will change places. 
						

							47
The Project window
The same principle works when changing the order of 
more than two events:
Magnetic Cursor
This grid type lets the project cursor become “magnetic”. 
Dragging an event near the cursor causes the event to be 
aligned with the cursor position.
Grid + Cursor
This is a combination of “Grid” and “Magnetic Cursor”.
Events + Cursor
This is a combination of “Events” and “Magnetic Cursor”.
Events + Grid + Cursor
This is a combination of “Events”, “Grid” and “Magnetic 
Cursor”.
Snap to Zero Crossing
When this option is activated on the toolbar, splitting and 
sizing of audio events is done at zero crossings (positions 
in the audio where the amplitude is zero). This helps you 
avoid pops and clicks which might otherwise be caused 
by sudden amplitude changes.
Auto-Scroll
When the Auto-Scroll option is activated, the waveform 
display will scroll during playback, keeping the project cur
-
sor visible in the window. You can find the Auto-Scroll but-
ton on the toolbars of the Project window and all editors.
“Auto-Scroll” and “Suspend Auto-Scroll when Editing” are activated
•If the “Stationary Cursors” option is activated in the 
Preferences dialog (Transport page), the project cursor 
will be positioned in the middle of the screen (if possible).
Suspending Auto-Scroll
When editing parts or events during playback with Auto-
Scroll enabled, you may suddenly “lose sight” of the ed
-
ited material as the display follows the project cursor.
If you do not want the Project window display to change 
when editing during playback, you can activate the “Sus
-
pend Auto-Scroll when Editing” button. You will find this 
button right next to the Auto-Scroll button. When this op
-
tion is enabled, auto-scrolling is suspended as soon as 
you click anywhere in the event display during playback.
Proceed as follows:
1.Open a project that contains audio or MIDI parts/
events.
2.Enable both the “Auto-Scroll” and the “Suspend Auto-
Scroll when Editing” buttons.
3.Start playback.
4.Edit an audio or MIDI part/event of your project (e. g. 
click and drag it to a different location on its track).
The Auto-Scroll button turns orange.
Auto-Scrolling is now suspended, i. e. when the project 
cursor moves to the right edge of the Project window, the 
display will not follow to keep the cursor visible.
As soon as playback stops or when you click the Auto-
Scroll button again, Cubase will return to the normal Auto-
Scroll behavior.
12345
5 2 4 3 1
Dragging event 2 past event 4…
…changes the order of events 2, 3 and 4. 
						

							5
Working with projects 
						

							49
Working with projects
Creating new projects
The Project Assistant dialog is opened by selecting the 
“New Project…” command on the File menu. In this dialog 
you can access recently opened projects and create new 
projects, which can either be empty or based on a template.
The Project Assistant dialog will also open in the following 
cases:
•If you launch Cubase with the “Show Project Assistant” 
option selected on the “On Startup” pop-up menu in the 
Preferences dialog (General page).
•If you hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] while launching Cu-
base.
Opening recent projects
The Recent category in the category bar of the Project As-
sistant dialog contains a list of recently opened projects. 
When you select an item in this category, the Create but
-
ton changes to “Open”, allowing you to open the corre-
sponding project. This list is similar to the list in the 
Recent Projects submenu of the File menu.
Choosing a template
In the category bar of the Project Assistant dialog, the 
available factory templates are sorted into the predefined 
categories Recording, Production, Scoring, and Master
-
ing. Furthermore, there is a More category which contains 
the default project template (see 
“Setting up a default 
template” on page 51) and all templates that are not as-
signed to any of the other categories.
When you click on one of the category items, the list be-
low the category bar shows the available factory tem-
plates for this category that were installed with Cubase. 
Any new templates that you create (see 
“Save as Tem-
plate” on page 51) are added at the top of the corre-
sponding list for convenient access.
•To create an empty project that is not based on a tem-
plate, select the “Empty” entry in the More category and 
click the Create button.
An empty project is also created if no template is selected in the cur-rently shown category.
•You can rename or delete a template by right-clicking it 
in the list and selecting the corresponding option on the 
context menu.
•To open the folder in which the selected template is 
stored in the Windows Explorer/Mac OS Finder, right-
click the template in the list and select “Show in Explorer” 
(Win) or “Reveal in Finder” (Mac). 
Choosing a project location
The options in the lower part of the dialog allow you to 
specify where the project is stored. 
•Select “Use default location” to create the project in the 
default project location (as shown in the path field), and 
click Create. 
In the “Project folder” field you can specify a name for the project folder. 
If you do not specify a project folder here, the project will reside in a 
folder named “Untitled”. 
ÖTo change the default project location, simply click in 
the path field. A file dialog opens, allowing you to specify a 
new default location.
•Select “Prompt for project location” and click Continue 
to create the project in a different location.
In the dialog that appears, specify a location and a project folder.
Category 
bar
Template 
list
Location 
options
Open Other button 
						

							50
Working with projects
Open Other
The “Open Other” button allows you to open any project 
file on your system. This is identical to using the Open 
command from the File menu, see below. 
Opening projects
The “Open…” command on the File menu is used for open-
ing saved project files. Project files created with Cubase 
(file extension “.cpr”), Nuendo (file extension “.npr”) and 
Sequel (extension “.steinberg-project”) can be opened. 
ÖIf you open a project from a different program version 
that contains data for functions not available in your ver
-
sion, this data may get lost when saving the project with 
your version.
•Several projects can be open at the same time.
This is useful if you want to copy parts or entire sections from one project 
to another.
•If there is already an open project, you will be asked if 
you want to activate the new project.
•Click No to open the project inactive.
This significantly reduces load times, especially for large projects. 
•Click Activate to open and activate the new project.
The active project is indicated by the lit Activate Project button in the upper 
left corner of the Project window. To activate a different project, simply 
click its Activate Project button.
•You can also open project files by selecting an entry 
from the “Recent Projects” submenu of the File menu.
This submenu lists the projects you have recently worked with, with the 
most recent at the top of the list. The list can also be found in the Project 
Assistant dialog, see 
“Creating new projects” on page 49. 
•You can also set Cubase to automatically open a project 
when you launch the program (see 
“Startup Options” on 
page 54).
•You can drag projects from the MediaBay into the Cu-
base application window (not into an existing Project win-
dow) to open them.
About the “Missing Ports” dialog
If you open a Cubase project created on a different sys-
tem (other audio hardware), the program tries to find 
matching audio inputs and outputs for the i/o busses (this 
is one of the reasons why you should use descriptive, ge
-
neric names for your input and output ports – see “Prepa-
rations” on page 27).
If the program cannot resolve all audio/MIDI inputs and 
outputs used in the project, a Missing Ports dialog will 
open. This allows you to manually re-route any ports spec
-
ified in the project to ports available in your system.
Closing projects
The Close command on the File menu closes the active 
window. If a Project window is active, selecting this closes 
the corresponding project.
•If the project contains unsaved changes, you are asked 
whether you want to save it before closing.
If you select “Don’t Save” and have recorded or created new audio files 
since saving, you will be asked if you want to delete or keep these.
Saving projects
Save and Save As
The commands Save and Save As allow you to save the 
active project as a project file (file extension “.cpr”). The 
Save command stores the project under its current name 
and location, while Save As allows you to rename and/or 
relocate the file. If a project has not been saved yet or if it 
has not been changed since it was last saved, only Save 
As is available.
!Generally, we recommend that you save project files 
in their project folders, to keep the projects as 
manageable as possible.