Steinberg Cubase Essential 4 Operation Manual

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The Arranger track
Introduction
The Arranger track allows you to work with sections of 
your project in a non-linear fashion, to simplify arranging to 
the maximum extent. Instead of moving, copying and past-
ing events in the Project window event display to create a 
linear project, you can define how different sections are to 
be played back, like a playlist.
For this, you can define arranger events, order them in a list, 
and add repeats as desired. This offers a different and more 
pattern-oriented way of working, which complements the 
usual linear editing methods in the Project window. 
You can create several Arranger chains, making it possi-
ble to store different versions of a song within the project 
without sacrificing the original version. When you have 
created an Arranger chain that you like, you have the op-
tion of “flattening” the list, which creates a normal linear 
project based on the Arranger chain. You can chose to 
keep the Arranger track or to remove it. 
You can also use the Arranger track for live performances 
on the stage, in clubs or at parties.
Setting up the Arranger track
Let’s say you have prepared a number of audio files that 
form the base of a typical pop song, with introduction, 
verse, chorus and bridge. Now you want to arrange these 
files.
The first step is to create an Arranger track. On the Ar-
ranger track, you define specific sections of the project by 
creating arranger events. These can be of any length, may 
overlap and are not bound to the start or end of existing 
events and parts. Proceed as follows:
1.Open the project for which you want to create arranger 
events.
2.Open the Project menu and select “Arranger” from the 
Add Track submenu (or right-click in the Track list and se-
lect Add Arranger track).
An Arranger track is added. There can be only one Arranger track in a 
project, but you can set up more than one Arranger chain for this track, 
see “Managing Arranger chains” on page 74.
3.On the Project window toolbar, make sure that Snap 
is activated, and that the Grid resolution is set to a mode 
that allows your arranger events to snap to appropriate 
positions in the project.
Snap to events is activated, i. e. when drawing in the Project window, 
new events will snap to existing events.
4.On the Arranger track, use the Pencil tool to draw an 
event of the desired length.
An Arranger event is added, called “A” by default. Any following events 
will be named in alphabetical order. 
You can rename an Arranger event by selecting it and 
changing its name in the Project window info line or by 
holding down [Alt]/[Option], double-clicking on the name 
in the Arranger chain (see below) and entering a new 
name.
You may want to name your arranger events according to the structure of 
your project, e. g. Verse, Chorus etc.
5.Create as many events as you need for your project.
In this example, arranger events have been created that correspond to a 
classic pop song structure. Note how there is no real time line in the 
project: the music sequence is determined by the arranger events.
Events can be moved, resized and deleted using the stan-
dard techniques. Please note:
If you want to change the length of a event, select the 
Arrow tool and click and drag the bottom corners of the 
event in the desired direction.
If you copy an Arranger event (by [Alt]/[Option]-drag-
ging or by using copy/paste), a new event will be created 
with the same name as the original.
However, this new event will be totally independent from the original event.
Double-clicking on an arranger event adds it to the cur-
rent Arranger chain. 
						

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The Arranger track
Working with arranger events
You now have a number of arranger events that form the 
basic building blocks for your arrangement. The next step 
is to arrange these events using the functions of the Ar-
ranger Editor.
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 Arranger track. 
To the right in the Arranger Editor, the available arranger 
events are listed, in the order they appear on the time line. 
To the left you find the actual Arranger chain, which shows 
in which order the events will be played back, from top to 
bottom, and how many times they should be repeated.
Initially the Arranger chain will be empty – you set up the 
Arranger chain by adding events from the right list to the 
Arranger chain. There are several ways to add events to 
the Arranger chain.Double-clicking on the name of an event in the window 
section on the right (or in the project window).
When an event is selected in the Arranger chain on the left will add the 
event above the selected event. When no events are selected in the Ar-
ranger chain on the left will add the event to the end of the list.
By selecting one or more events in the right list, right-
clicking and selecting “Append Selected In Arranger 
Chain”.
This will add the selected events at the end of the list.
By dragging and dropping arranger events from the 
right list to the left list.
A blue insertion line shows you where the dragged event will end up in the 
list.
Here, the Verse event is dragged into the Arranger chain and placed af-
ter the first chorus.
By dragging arranger events from the Project window 
and dropping them in the Arranger chain.
If you followed our example, you should now have arranger 
events arranged in a very basic pop song pattern. How-
ever, we have used audio files that are only a few bars 
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 de-
sired number of repeats and press [Enter].
When playing back the Arranger chain, the Counter column indicates 
which repeat of this event is currently playing.
Click in the Inspector…
…or the Track list…
…to open the Arranger Editor. 
						

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The Arranger track
Click in the Mode field for an event and select the de-
sired repeat mode.
When you now play back the Arranger chain, you will hear 
the complete arrangement. Proceed as follows:
1.Make sure that Arranger mode is activated.
When Arranger mode is activated, the project will be played back using 
the Arranger settings.
The Arranger mode button must be activated.
2.Position the Arranger Editor window so that you can 
see the Arranger track in the Project window, and click in 
the arrow column for the event at the top of the list so that 
the arrow becomes blue.
You should see the project cursor jump to the beginning of the first event 
specified in the Arranger chain.
3.Activate playback, either from the Arranger Editor or 
on the Transport panel.
The events are played back in the specified order.
Editing the Arranger chain
In the Arranger chain to 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 while holding [Alt]/[Option] to create cop-
ies of the selected items.
The insert location for both move and copy operations is indicated by a 
blue or red line in the list. A blue line indicates that the move or copy is 
possible; a red line indicates that if the current position were to be used, 
a move or copy is not allowed.
Use the Repeats column to specify how many times 
each event should be repeated.
Click the arrow to the left of an event in the Arranger 
chain to move the playback position to the start of that 
event.
To remove an event from the list, right-click on it and se-
lect “Remove Touched” from the pop-up menu that ap-
pears. To remove several events, select them, right-click 
and select “Remove Selected”.
Navigating
To navigate between arranger events, you use the Ar-
ranger transport buttons:
These controls are available in the Arranger Editor, the 
Project window toolbar, and the Transport panel.
In the Arranger Editor, the event that is currently played 
back is indicated by an arrow in the leftmost column, and 
the indicators in the Counter column.
Option Button Description
Normal In this mode, your Arranger chain will be played 
back normally, just as you set it up.
Repeat 
foreverIn this mode, the current Arranger event will be re-
peated in a loop until you either click on another 
event in the Arranger Editor or press play once 
again.
Pause after 
RepeatsIn this mode, the playback of the Arranger chain 
will be stopped after having played back all re-
peats of the current Arranger event.
First repeat of current chain step Previous chain step
Next chain stepLast repeat of current chain step 
						

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The Arranger track
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:
In the Inspector, these functions are accessed from the 
Arranger pop-up menu (opened by clicking on the Ar-
ranger name field).
The Arranger chains you create will be listed on the Name 
pop-up menu, found in the Arranger Editor to the left of 
the buttons, at the top of the Arranger track Inspector, and 
in the Track list. Please note that to be able to select an-
other Arranger chain from the pop-up menu, Arranger 
mode must be activated.
Flattening the Arranger chain
When you have found an Arranger chain that suits your pur-
poses, you can “flatten” it, i. e. convert the list into a linear 
project. Proceed as follows:
1.Click the Flatten button (or select Flatten Chain from 
the pop-up menu in the Inspector for the Arranger track).
The events and parts in the project are reordered, repeated, resized, 
moved and/or deleted (if these are not within the boundaries of any used 
Arranger event), so that they correspond exactly to the Arranger chain.
The Flatten button
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.
Flattening options
Sometimes it might be useful to keep the original Arranger 
events even after flattening the Arranger track. By using flat-
tening options you can define which chain should be flat-
tened (Source section), where it should be stored and how 
it should be named (Destination section) together with 
other options (Options section). 
1.Click the Flattening options button.
2.In the window that appears, select the desired options.
In the Source section you can specify, which Arranger 
chain should be flattened. The available options are:
Button Description
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 avail-
able if you have created more than one Arranger chain.
!Flattening the Arranger chain may remove events 
and parts from the project. Only use the Flatten func-
tion when you know you don’t want to edit the Ar-
ranger track/chain any more. If in doubt, save a copy 
of the project before flattening the Arranger chain.
Option Description
Current  Chain If you activate this option, only the current chain will be 
flattened.
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. 
						

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The Arranger track
The Destination section allows you to choose where the 
result of the flattening should be saved. The available op-
tions are:
In the Options section you can make further settings. The 
available options are:
3.You can now flatten the Arranger track by clicking the 
Flatten button.
If you realize that you want to do further arrangements, you can also click 
the “Go Back” button and make your adjustments. Your Flattening set-
tings will be kept.
4.Click the “Go Back” button to go back to the Arranger 
Editor or close the window by clicking its Close button.
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. 
1.Add an Arranger track by selecting “Arranger” from the 
Add Track submenu of the Project menu.
2.Create the desired Arranger events by drawing with 
the Pencil tool on Arranger track.
3.Set up an Arranger chain in the Inspector for the Ar-
ranger track or in the Arranger Editor, activate the Ar-
ranger mode and play back your project.
Now you can use your Arranger events listed in the lower 
section of the Arranger track Inspector to play back your 
project in Live Mode:
4.Switch into Live mode by clicking on the little arrow in 
the lower list of the Arranger track Inspector to the left of 
the Arranger event you want to trigger.
The Arranger event will be looped endlessly, until you click on another Ar-
ranger event. This might be useful, if you want to loop e.g. a guitar solo with 
a flexible length.
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 list.
In the latter case, playback will be continued from the arranger event 
where you clicked. The “Select grid” pop-up menu will always be taken 
into account. When the grid is set to “1 Bar” and you click the STOP 
button e.g., playback will be stopped after the next bar.
Option Description
Current  Project This option is only available, if you have selected “Current 
Chain” as Source. If you activate this option, the result of 
the flattening of the current chain will be saved in the cur-
rent project.
New Project If you activate this option, you can flatten one or several 
chains in a new project. In this case it might be useful to 
use naming options. If you activate “Append Chain 
Name”, the Chain Name(s) will be appended in brackets 
to the project name. If you activate “Use Chain Name”, 
the new project(s) will have the name of the current Ar-
ranger chain(s). If you activate “Add Number”, the new 
project(s) will be named like the old ones and a number 
will be appended in brackets.
Option Description
Keep Arranger 
TrackIf you activate this option, the Arranger Track will be kept 
when flattening the Arranger chain. If you activate the op-
tion “Rename Arranger Events” a number will be ap-
pended to the events according to their use. If e.g. you 
use Arranger event “A” two times, the first occurrence 
will be renamed “A 1” and the second “A 2”.
Make Real 
Event CopiesNormally, you will get shared copies when flattening the 
Arranger track. If you activate this option, real copies will 
be created instead.
Don’t Split 
EventsIf the option is activated, MIDI notes that start before or 
are longer than the Arranger event will not be included. 
Only MIDI notes that begin and end inside the Arranger 
event boundaries will be taken into account.
Open New 
ProjectsIf you activate this option, a new project will be created 
for every flattened Arranger chain. If you activate the op-
tion “Cascade New Projects” the opened projects will be 
cascaded. 
						

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The Arranger track
The active Arranger event will be played back as long as 
defined before jumping to the next.
Arranging your music to video
The relative time of your Arranger track can be taken as a 
reference instead of the project time. This is useful, if you 
want to use the Arranger track to compose music for 
video and fill e.g. a specific video section with music, by 
repeating the corresponding number of Arranger events. If you position your external sync master device to a posi-
tion that does not match the Project Start time, Cubase 
Essential will jump automatically to the right position in the 
Arranger track and will start playback from there, i.e. the 
correct relative position and not the absolute project time 
will be found. The reference for the external timecode can 
be MIDI or any other Timecode that can be interpreted/
read by Cubase Essential. 
ÖIf the Arranger mode is not activated or no Arranger 
track exists, Cubase Essential will work as usual. 
Below follows an example, that will help you understand 
this functionality:
1.Set up a project with a MIDI track and three MIDI parts. 
The first should start at position 00:00:00:00 and end at 
position 00:01:00:00, the second should start at position 
00:01:00:00 and end at position 00:02:00:00 and the 
third should start at position 00:02:00:00 and end at po-
sition 00:03:00:00.
2.Activate the Sync button on the transport panel.
3.Add an Arranger track and create Arranger events that 
match the MIDI parts.
4.Set up the Arranger chain “A-A-B-B-C-C”, activate 
the Arranger mode and play back your project.
5.Start external Timecode at position 00:00:10:00 
(within the range of “A”).
In your project, the position 00:00:10:00 will be located and you will hear 
“A” playing. Nothing special!
Now, let’s see what happens if your external sync master 
device starts at a position that does not match the Project 
Start time:
6.Start at 00:01:10:00 (within the range of what origi-
nally 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.
Option Description
Now Jumps to the next section immediately.
4 bars, 
2 barsWhen one of these modes is selected, a grid of 4 or 2 bars (de-
pending 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 example:
Let’s say you have an Arranger event which is 8 bars long and 
the grid is set to 4 bars. When the cursor is anywhere within the 
first 4 bars of the Arranger event when you hit the next Arranger 
event, playback will jump to the next event when the end of the 
fourth bar of the Arranger event is reached. When the cursor is 
anywhere within the last 4 bars of the Arranger event, playback 
will jump to the next event at the end of the event.
When an event is shorter than 4 (or 2) bars when 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 sec-
tion. 
						

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Folder tracks 
						

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Folder tracks
About folder tracks
Just as the name implies, a folder track is a folder that con-
tains other tracks. Moving tracks into a folder is a way to 
structure and organize tracks in the Project window. For 
example, grouping several tracks in a folder track makes it 
possible for you to “hide” tracks (thus giving you more 
working space on the screen). You can solo and mute 
several tracks in a quicker and easier way and perform ed-
iting on several tracks as one entity. Folder tracks can 
contain any type of track including other folder tracks. 
Handling folder tracks
Creating a folder track
Folder tracks are created just like any other track: Select 
“Add Track” from the Project menu and select “Folder” 
from the submenu that appears, or right-click in the Track 
list and select “Add Folder Track” from the context menu.
Moving tracks into a folder
You can move any type of track into a folder by using drag 
and drop:
1.In the Track list, click on a track that you want to move 
into a folder and drag it onto a folder track.
A green arrow pointing to a folder appears when you drag the track onto 
the folder track in the list.
2.Release the mouse button.
The track is now placed in the folder track, and all parts and events on 
the track will be represented by a corresponding folder part (see “Wor-
king with folder parts” on page 79), which is a graphical representation 
of all parts and events in the folder.
Since you can move any type of track into a folder track, it 
is possible to create sub-folders by moving one folder 
track into another. This is called “nesting”. For example, 
you could have a folder containing all the vocals in a 
project, and each vocal part could have a nested folder 
containing all the takes for easier handling etc.
Removing tracks from a folder
To remove a track from a folder, simply drag it out of the 
folder and release it in the Track list.
Hiding/showing tracks in a folder
You can hide or show the tracks located in a folder by 
clicking on the “Expand/Collapse Folder” button (the 
folder icon). Hidden tracks are still played back as usual.
When a folder is “closed” this way, the folder part(s) still 
give you a graphic representation of the parts and events 
within the folder.
Muting and soloing folder tracks
One of the main advantages of using folder tracks is that 
they provide you with a way to mute and solo several tracks 
as one unit. Muting and soloing a folder track affects all 
tracks in the folder. You can also solo or mute individual 
tracks in the folder. 
A folder track
Tracks in the 
folder 
						

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Folder tracks
Muting a folder track
You can mute a folder track (and thereby mute all tracks 
within it) the same way you mute other tracks by clicking in 
the Mute (“M”) button in the Track list.
Soloing a folder track
You can solo a folder track (and thereby mute all tracks 
outside the folder, except those already set to Solo) the 
same way you solo other tracks, by selecting it and click-
ing the Solo button.
Soloing or muting tracks within a folder
This can be done by showing the tracks in the folder and 
using the Mute and Solo buttons in the Track list as usual 
for any tracks inside the folder.
Working with folder parts
A folder part is a graphic representation of events and 
parts on the tracks in the folder. Folder parts indicate the 
position and length of the events and parts, as well as on 
which track they are (their vertical position). If part colors 
are used, these are also shown in the folder part.
Folder parts are created automatically when there are parts 
or events on the tracks within the folder. The following rules 
apply:
If there is a gap between parts/events on the tracks, 
there will be two separate folder parts.Parts or events that overlap within the folder may be 
represented by the same folder part or by two different 
folder parts – depending on how much they overlap.
If a part/event overlaps by half its length or less, it will be placed in a new 
folder part.
Handling and editing folder parts
Most of the editing you can do in the Project window ap-
plies to folder parts as well.
Any Project window editing you perform to a folder part 
affects all the events and parts it contains (those elements 
on the track within the folder that are represented by the 
folder part). You can select several folder parts if you like 
– this allows you to handle and edit them together. The 
editing you can perform includes:
 Moving a folder part. This will move its contained events and 
parts (possibly resulting in other folder parts, depending on 
how the parts overlap).
 Using cut, copy and paste.
 Deleting a folder part. This will delete its contained events and 
parts.
 Splitting a folder part with the Scissors tool (see the example 
below).
 Gluing folder parts together with the Glue tube tool. This will 
only work if the adjacent folder parts contain events or parts 
on the same track.
 Resizing a folder part resizes the contained events and parts 
according to the selected resizing method. This is set by click-
ing the Arrow tool icon on the toolbar and selecting “Normal 
Sizing”, “Sizing Moves Contents” or “Sizing Applies Time 
Stretch” from the pop-up menu – see “Resizing events” on 
page 32. Note that if you select “Sizing Applies Time Stretch”, 
any automation data is not taken into account.
 Muting a folder part. This will mute its contained events and 
parts.
The first event overlaps the sec-
ond event by more than half its 
length, which means it is included 
in the same folder part.
The third event does not over-
lap with any of the other events. 
This means a new folder part is 
created. 
						

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Folder tracks
An example
Editing tracks within folder parts
Tracks inside a folder can be edited as one entity by per-
forming the editing directly on the folder part containing 
the tracks as explained above. You can also edit individual 
tracks within the folder by showing the contained tracks, 
selecting parts and opening editors as usual.
Double-clicking a folder part opens the editors for the cor-
responding track classes present in the folder. The follow-
ing applies:
All MIDI parts located on the tracks within the folder are 
displayed as if they were on the same track, just like when 
opening the Key Editor with several MIDI parts selected.
To be able to easily discern the different tracks in the editor, give each 
track a different color in the Project window and use the “Part Colors” 
option in the editor (see “Coloring notes and events” on page 231).
If the folder contains tracks with audio events and/or au-
dio parts, the Sample and/or Audio Part Editors are opened 
with each audio event and audio part in a separate window.
Splitting the folder part 
with the Scissors tool……will split all contained parts or 
events present at that position.