Steinberg Cubase 8 Manual

Arranger Track
Working with arranger events
261
Creating an arranger chain
You can set up an arranger chain in the Arranger Editor or in the Inspector for the 
arranger track. The Arranger Editor is opened by clicking the “e” button in the 
Inspector or in the track list.
PROCEDURE
1. Click the “e” button to open the Arranger Editor.
On the right in the Arranger Editor, the available arranger events are listed, in the order 
they appear on the timeline. To the left you find the actual arranger chain,...

Arranger Track
Working with arranger events
262
long – to turn our pattern into a “song” (or at least into a basic sketch of the song 
structure), these files must be looped. This is where the Repeats function comes in.
If you want an event to repeat several times, proceed as follows:
• Click in the Repeats field for an event, type in the desired number of repeats 
and press [Enter].
When playing back the arranger chain, the Counter column indicates which 
repeat of this event is currently playing.
•...

Arranger Track
Working with arranger events
263
Editing the arranger chain
In the arranger chain on the left, you can do the following:
• Select multiple events by [Ctrl]/[Command]-clicking or [Shift]-clicking as 
usual.
• Drag events to move them in the list.
• Drag events holding [Alt]/[Option] to create copies of the selected items.
The insert location for both move and copy operations is indicated by a 
colored insertion line. A blue line indicates that the move or copy is possible; 
a red line...

Arranger Track
Flattening the arranger chain264
Managing arranger chains
You can create several arranger chains. This way, you can create alternative 
versions for playback.
In the Arranger Editor, the toolbar buttons on the right are used for this:
Click this to rename the current arranger chain.
Creates a new, empty arranger chain.
Creates a duplicate of the current arranger chain, containing the same events.
Removes the currently selected arranger  chain. Only available if you have 
created more than...

Arranger Track
Flattening the arranger chain
265
2. Activate Playback.
The project will now play back exactly as in Arranger mode, but you can view it and 
work with it as usual.
IMPORTANT
Flattening the arranger chain may remove events and parts from the project. Only use 
the Flatten function when you know you do not want to edit the arranger track/chain 
any more. If in doubt, save a copy of the project before flattening the arranger chain.
Flattening options
Sometimes it might be useful to keep the...

Arranger Track
Flattening the arranger chain
266
Checked Chains…
If you activate this option, you can select the arranger chains you want to 
flatten in the list to the left.
All Chains
If you activate this option, all arranger chains of the current project will be 
flattened.
The Destination section allows you to choose where the result of the flattening is 
saved. The available options are:
Current Project
This is only available if you have selected “Current Chain” as Source. If you 
activate this...

Arranger Track
Live mode
267
Live mode
If you have set up an arranger track and play it back, you have also the possibility to 
influence the playback order “live”. Note that the Arranger mode has to be activated 
to be able to use the Live mode.
PROCEDURE
1. Set up an arranger chain in the Inspector or in the Arranger Editor for an 
arranger track, activate the Arranger mode and play back your project.
Now you can use your arranger events listed in the lower section of the Inspector to 
play back your...

Arranger Track
Live mode
268
Jump Mode options
In the Jump Mode pop-up menu, you can define how long the active arranger event 
will be played, before jumping to the next one.
The following options are available:
None
Jumps to the next section immediately.
4 bars, 2 bars
When one of these modes is selected, a grid of 4 or 2 bars (depending on the 
setting) will be placed on the active arranger event. Whenever the respective 
grid line is reached, playback will jump to the next arranger event. An...

Arranger Track
Arranging your music to video
269
When an event is shorter than 4 (or 2) bars and this mode is selected, 
playback will jump to the next section at the event end.
1 bar
Jumps to the next section at the next bar line.
1 beat
Jumps to the next section at the next beat.
End
Plays the current section to the end, then jumps to the next section.
You can stop Live mode by clicking the Stop button or go back to “normal” playback 
in Arranger mode by clicking on any arranger event in the upper...

Arranger Track
Arranging your music to video
270
6. Start at 00:01:10:00 (within the range of what originally was “B”).
In your project, the position 00:01:10:00 will be located and you will hear “A” playing, 
because it plays twice in the arranger track.
7. Start external timecode at position 00:02:10:00 (within the range of what 
originally was “C”).
In your project, the position 00:02:10:00 will be located and you will hear “B” playing, 
because it plays “later” in the arranger track.
NOTE
If the...