Steinberg Cubase Essential 4 Getting Started French Version Manual

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Tutorial 6: Media management
Background
The MediaBay is an area in Cubase Essential that helps to 
find, identify, tag and organize your sounds (VST 3 Pre-
sets and track presets), audio loops, video and project 
files.
You’ll hear and read about two different terms associated 
with the MediaBay: SoundFrame and MediaBay.
SoundFrame is the overall concept of managing the ever-
growing number of plug-ins, instruments, presets, etc. The 
tool that links all of the plug-ins, instruments and presets 
together is the MediaBay.
Why is the MediaBay important to me?
The MediaBay:
 Provides different views allowing you to find and tag media 
files, quickly import media files into projects. Media files in-
clude: audio, MIDI and video files.
 Allows you to find sounds easily so that you can begin working 
on your music quickly without endlessly searching for the 
‘right’ instrument.
 Allows you to find and apply audio, MIDI and instrument pre-
sets quickly to your tracks.
 Shows you all of the Cubase Essential project files that are on 
your computer to quickly load them.
 MediaBay frees you from thinking in a folder structure or by in-
strument. Just think about the sound you are looking for and 
find it across your entire library.
MediaBay, Loop Browser and Sound 
Browser
There are three menu options on the Media menu that al-
low you to call up the various MediaBay views.
It really doesn’t matter which one you pick as they all pro-
vide the same functionality. The reason you would pick 
one from the other is that they have various buttons and 
features turned on or off so that you can easily find what 
you are looking for.
For example, if you are looking for loops you would select 
the Loop Browser as this has been pre-configured for 
searching specifically for loops. Or if you were looking for 
Track Presets or VST Plug-in Presets, the Sound Browser 
would suit you best.
To open the MediaBay
We are going to use the MediaBay view as this view has 
been pre-configured to allow all of the controls by default 
to be visible. Everything we learn in the MediaBay can be 
applied to the Loop or Sound Browser.
On the Media menu, select “Open MediaBay” (or press 
[F5] on your computer keyboard).
!Load the project “Media Management” found in the 
“Tutorial 6” folder.
MediaBay, Loop 
Browser, Sound 
Browser 
						

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Tutorial 6: Media management
Making visible the different sections of the 
MediaBay
At the bottom left hand side of the MediaBay window 
there are 2 buttons allowing you to show/hide the different 
MediaBay sections. These are:


1.Hide the Browser and Scope sections.
We are left with the Viewer display and Filter section. These two sections 
allow us to view and find files.
2.Show the Browser section.
This is where you can specify locations on your computer so that the 
MediaBay can find all of your media files.
3.Show the Scope section.
The Scope section allows you to view and play back files selected in the 
Viewer section.
Scanning with the browser
When you open the MediaBay, the Loop Browser or the 
Sound Browser, a scan for the media files is performed. 
Specify which folders or directories should be included in 
the scan by activating their check boxes to the left of the 
name. The result of the scan is saved in the MediaBay 
database.
Physical and virtual scanning locations
There are 2 different locations that you can scan for media 
files on your computer. The File system location and the 
Sound Frame location.
File System
The File system locations are the physical or actual loca-
tions on your computer. These locations include local and 
removable disks such as hard drives, external drives, CD 
or DVD-ROM drives, etc.
Browser and Scope
Viewer display
Filter section
Browser section
Click here to show/hide the Browser section
Click here to show/hide the Scope sectionScope section 
						

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Tutorial 6: Media management
By default File system is checked, however, it contains 
many locations you would not want scanned. Be sure to 
check which areas/folders you want MediaBay to manage. 
The areas/folders that you pick will automatically be 
scanned and the result of that scan can be seen in the 
Viewer section.
Sound Frame
The Sound Frame locations are the virtual locations on 
your computer to any factory content or user presets cre-
ated for plug-ins, instruments or MIDI-loops. Make sure 
that this is not turned off.
Choosing scanning locations
Generally you’ll want to make sure that SoundFrame is al-
ways checked since this is the factory content or content 
that either came with Cubase Essential or other compati-
ble product such as Steinberg’s Sequel. This is also the 
location of any user presets that were created.
1.Click the plus symbol on File system to reveal its scan-
ning locations.
These are the physical locations on your computer that you can specify 
so that MediaBay will search for media content. Be sure to check the ar-
eas/folders that you want the MediaBay to scan.
2.Click the plus symbol on SoundFrame to reveal the 
scanning locations found there.
There are many locations that do not need to be checked. 
Spend the time un-checking the locations you feel do not 
need to be searched. By doing this the MediaBay is kept 
clean of any useless information which speeds up searches 
and general handling.
If you are in doubt about any of the locations, don’t worry 
– just leave them checked.
Selecting a location (folder) automatically initiates a scan 
and updates the database.
Deep Results
Before we begin the scan of all our media on the com-
puter, make sure the “Deep Results” button is activated.
Activating “Deep Results” will show any files inside the 
currently selected folder, as well as any sub folder in a 
“flat” view - as if they were inside the same folder. This al-
lows you to look at your media files sorted by attributes, 
even if they reside in a complex folder structure.
Deep Results 
						

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Tutorial 6: Media management
Right-click on Media and select “Refresh” from the con-
text menu to begin scanning.
This starts the scanning process and now the MediaBay is looking for 
media on your computer within the locations you have specified.
Scanning indicator and status
When the MediaBay is scanning for media on your com-
puter, a visual indicator in the upper right hand corner of 
the Viewer section will be displayed.
The scanning status for the individual folders in the 
Browser section is indicated by the color of the icons:
 A red icon means that this folder is currently being scanned.
 A light blue icon means this folder has been scanned.
 Orange folder icons are displayed when a scanning process 
was interrupted.
 Yellow icons are displayed for folders that have not been 
scanned.
Searching for media
Now that we have selected the folders on our computer 
and scanned for media we can now search for an audio 
file and drop it into our project.
We are now going to shift our attention to the Viewer sec-
tion. The Viewer section consists of two panes: the filter 
section at the top and below it, the Viewer display.
Scanning indicator
!You should still have the project called “Media Man-
agement” loaded for this tutorial.
Viewer display
Filter section 
						

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Tutorial 6: Media management
1.Choose a main category from the filter section (like 
“Drum/Perc”).
This will show us any files that have been tagged with the category Drum 
& Perc. See “Tagging” on page 66.
2.Choose a sub category if appropriate (like “Beats”).
This allows us to narrow down our search even more.
There is a list of drum loops that are now available to us in 
the Viewer display with our filter criteria. We can simply 
drag and drop any of these audio files into our project. Al-
ternatively we could use the Text Search field and search 
for a media file by name.
Auditioning media with the Scope
We have narrowed down our search to just drum beats 
and now we want to audition our results before we drop it 
into our project.
1.Show the Scope section and select an audio file from 
the Viewer display.
You will see the Scope display the audio file as a waveform.
You can start, stop, pause and cycle the audio file to hear 
what it sounds like. You can also set the preview level.
It’s a good idea to hear our project playing while we audi-
tion our audio loop.
2.Activate Play in Project context.
The loop will now play along with our project in the project tempo.
Text Search field
Click here to show/hide the Scope section. The Scope section displaying an audio file.
Preview level (Volume)Start, stop, pause and cycle
Play in Project context 
						

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Tutorial 6: Media management
3.Activate Auto Play.
With Auto Play activated we can click on many different audio files in the 
Viewer display and audition them quickly.
4.Click Start on the Transport panel.
The project will begin to play and the audio files you have selected in the 
Viewer display will play along in time with the project.
5.Click on different audio files to find the one that works 
best with the project.
You can use the up and down arrow keys on your computer keyboard to 
quickly audition many files.
6.When you have selected the file you wish to use, drag 
and drop it right into the project.
You don’t have to click Stop, the project will continue to play and the Me-
diaBay will stop auditioning the file automatically.
Tagging
You are able to add musical tags to your media files so that 
you are able to quickly organize and find your media files for 
later use. Tagging also helps you to group large amounts of 
media into a more usable and searchable format.
For further details refer to the MediaBay chapter in the 
Operation manual.
Auto Play 
						

							Index 
						

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Index
A
Adding
EQ 54
Loops 49
Mono Track 26
Adding a fade 37
Advanced settings 22
All MIDI Inputs 20
ASIO 2.0 18
ASIO Direct Monitoring 18
ASIO driver
About 10
DirectX 10
DirectX Setup 10, 17
Installing 11
Audio
Editing 32
Processing 38
Recording 23
Audio buffer size 22
Audio hardware
Connections 14
Setup application 15
Automation
About 57
B
Browser
Scanning 62
C
Click
Activating 27
Close
Project 25
Connecting
Audio 14
MIDI 18
Controller lane 47
Copying 36
Events 50
MIDI notes 46
Cycle
Playback 29
Recording 30
Recording (MIDI) 44
D
Defragmenting
Windows 12
E
Editing
Adding a fade 37
Audio 32
Copying 36
Erasing 37
Gluing 35
MIDI 40
Moving 35
Muting 37
Renaming 33
Repeating 36
Resizing 33
Splitting 34
Effects 56
About 51
FX channels 56
Insert 56
EQ 54
Equalization 54
Erasing 37
Event envelopes 38
Event operations
About 33
Adding a fade 37
Copying 36
Erasing 37
Gluing 35
Moving 35
Muting 37
Renaming 33
Repeating 36
Resizing 33
Splitting 34
Volume changes 38
Export
Mixdown 58
F
FX channels 56
G
Gluing 35
H
Hard disk
Considerations 21
I
Input
Adding 26
Input level 15
Input ports 17
Insert effects 56
Instrument Track
Creating 41
J
Joining 35
K
Key command conventions 7
Key Editor
About 45
L
Latency 21
Levels 52
Setting 26, 27
Loading Sounds 42
Local On/Off 19
Loop Browser 61
About 49
Insert into Project 50
Loops
Adding 49
Working with 48
M
Media Management
Background 61
MediaBay 61
Auditioning media 65
Open 61
Physical and virtual scanning 
locations 62
Scanning 62
Searching for media 64
Tagging 66
Metronome click
Activating 27 
						

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Index
MIDI
Copying notes 46
Cycle Playback 44
Cycle recording 44
Editing 40
Erasing notes 45
Playback 43
Quantizing 45
Recording 40, 42
Recording modes (cycle off) 44
MIDI Input
Setting 42
MIDI Interface
Connecting 18
Installing 11
MIDI notes
Creating 46
Drawing 46
MIDI ports
Setting up 20
MIDI Thru Active 19
Mixing
About 51
Modifier keys 7
Monitoring
About 18
Moving 35
Mute 53
Muting 37
N
New Project
Create 24
Save 25
Normalize 38
O
Open
Project 25
Recent Projects 25
Optimizing the Hard Disk
Windows 12
Output
Adding 25
Output ports 17
P
Pan
Setting 53
Playback
About 29
Cycle 29
MIDI 43
Start 29
Processing
Audio 38
Normalize 38
Reverse 39
Project
Close 25
Open 25
Q
Quantizing 45
R
Recent Projects 25
Recording
Audio 23
Cycle 30
Level Settings 26
MIDI 40, 42
Modes 30
Recording levels 15
Release Driver when Application is in 
Background 16
Rename 33
Repeating 36
Resizing 33
Reverse 39
S
Save
New Project 25
Setting 52
Setting levels 27, 52
Setting Pan 53
Solo 53
Sound Browser 61
Splitting 34Steinberg Key
About 10
License Activation 11
License Transfer 11
Syncrosoft LCC 10
T
Track
Adding 26
V
VST Audio System 16
VST Connections 25
VST input ports 17
VST output ports 17 
						

							Cubase Essential 4 – Einführung