Steinberg Cubase SE 3 Operation Manual

							 
3
 
Playback and the Transport
panel 
						

							 
CUBASE SE
3 – 22 Playback and the Transport panel 
Background
 
This chapter describes the various methods available for controlling 
Playback and Transport functions in Cubase SE.
The Transport panel
Below you can find a brief description of each Transport panel item.
• You can customize the look of the Transport panel, hiding unneeded 
controls and moving controls as desired – see page 559.
The pictures below show the Transport panel with all controls visible and in their default 
position. The Transport panel is divided into sections, from left to right.
Activates Auto 
Quantize
Record mode pop-up Cycle Record 
mode pop-up
CPU load and Disk 
Cache metersPreroll setting and 
on/off switch
Postroll setting and 
on/off switch
Left locator: record start point, punch 
in point and beginning of Cycle
Right locator: 
punch out point and end of Cycle
Primary Time Display and format pop-up
Position slider
Record
Play
Fast forward Rewind Stop
Go to next marker or project end
Nudge position 
right/left
Go to previous 
marker or project 
start
Secondary Time Display 
and format pop-up Exchange time formats
Cycle on/off   
						

							CUBASE SE
Playback and the Transport panel 3 – 23
•The main Transport functions (Cycle/Stop/Play/Record) can also be 
shown on the toolbar.
In addition, various play options are available on the Transport menu.
Hiding and showing
The Transport panel is shown by default when you launch a new 
project. To hide or show it, select the “Transport Panel” item from the 
Transport menu (or use a key command – by default [F2]).
About Preroll and Postroll
These items are described in the chapter “Recording” – see page 62.
Tempo track on/off 
Synchronization on/off The tempo and time signature display
Metronome click on/offShow Markers 
(opens Marker window)
Jump to Marker
Precount on/off
MIDI In (left meter)/
MIDI Out activity
Level Control (Output bus 1)
Audio activity (Output bus 1) Audio input activity (Input bus 1)  
						

							CUBASE SE
3 – 24 Playback and the Transport panel
Customizing the Transport panel
You can customize the appearance of the Transport panel by right-
clicking (Win) or [Ctrl]-clicking (Mac) anywhere on the panel and 
making selections on the pop-up menu that appears.
• On the upper half of the pop-up menu you can hide or show elements on the 
panel by activating or deactivating the corresponding menu items.
• Selecting the Show All item displays all sections of the Transport panel.
• Selecting Default shows all sections in their default positions on the panel.
• The items in the lower half of the pop-up menu are preset configurations for 
the Transport panel. You will find all your own stored presets here, for quick 
selection.
• Selecting Setup brings up a dialog where you can set show/hide status for 
the separate sections, configure where the sections should be placed on the 
panel and store different Transport panel layouts as presets for instant recall.
For more about customizing the Transport panel, see page 559.  
						

							CUBASE SE
Playback and the Transport panel 3 – 25
The numeric keypad
In the default Key Command settings, the numeric keypad on the 
computer keyboard is assigned various Transport panel operations:
Numeric Key Function
[Enter] Play
[+] Fast Forward
[–] Rewind
[*] Record
[÷] (Win) or [/] (Mac) Cycle On/Off
[,] Return to Zero
[0] Stop
[1] Go to Left Locator
[2] Go to Right Locator
[3 - 9] Go to marker 3 to 9 
						

							CUBASE SE
3 – 26 Playback and the Transport panel
Operations
Setting the project cursor position
There are several ways to move the project cursor position:
• By using Fast Forward and Rewind.
• By dragging the project cursor in the lower part of the ruler. 
• By clicking in the ruler.
Double clicking in the ruler moves the cursor and starts/stops playback. 
• If the option “Locate when Clicked in Empty Space” is activated in the Prefer-
ences dialog (Transport page) you can click anywhere in an empty section of 
the Project window to move the cursor position.
• By changing the value in any of the position displays.
• By using the position slider above the transport buttons.
The range of the slider relates to the Length setting in the Project Setup dialog. Hence, 
moving the slider all the way to the right will take you to the end of the project. 
• By using markers (see page 128).
• By using playback options (see page 30).
• By using functions on the Transport menu.
The following functions are available:
• If Snap is activated when dragging the project cursor, the Snap value is 
taken into account. This is helpful for finding exact positions quickly.
Function Description
Locate Selection / 
Locate Selection EndMoves the project cursor to the beginning or end of the cur-
rent selection. For this to be available, you must have selected 
one or more events or parts, or made a selection range.
Locate Next/Previous 
MarkerThis moves the project cursor to the closest marker to the 
right or left (see page 128).
Locate Next/Previous 
EventThis moves the project cursor forwards or backwards respec-
tively, to the closest beginning or end of any event on the se-
lected track(s). 
						

							CUBASE SE
Playback and the Transport panel 3 – 27
• There are also numerous key commands available for moving the project 
cursor (in the Transport category in the Key Commands dialog). 
For example, you can assign key commands to the “Step Bar” and “Step Back Bar” 
functions, allowing you to move the project cursor in steps of one bar, backwards and 
forwards.
About the Transport panel display formats
Primary time display (left) and secondary time display (right).
The time unit shown in the ruler can be independent from the time unit 
shown in the main time display on the Transport panel. This means that 
you can display timecode in the transport position display and bars and 
beats in the ruler, for example. In addition, there is a secondary time dis-
play to the right of the primary time display which is also independent, 
giving you three different time units shown at the same time. 
The following rules apply:
•If you change the time format from the primary time display on the 
Transport panel, this will apply to the ruler as well.
This is the same as changing the display format in the Project Setup. Therefore, to have 
different display formats in the ruler and the main time display you should change the for-
mat in the ruler.
•The primary time display format is set on the pop-up menu to the right 
in the main position display.
•The setting here also determines the time format displayed for the left 
and right locators.
•The secondary time display is completely independent, and the display 
format is set on the pop-up menu to the right.
•You can swap time formats between the primary and secondary time 
displays by clicking the double arrow symbol between them.  
						

							CUBASE SE
3 – 28 Playback and the Transport panel
The left and right locators
The left and right locators are a pair of position markers used for 
specifying punch-in and punch-out positions during recording, and as 
boundaries for cycle playback and recording. 
• When cycle mode is activated on the Transport panel, the area between 
the left and right locator will be repeated (cycled) on playback. 
However, if the right locator is positioned before the left, this will work as a “jump” or 
“skip mode” – when the project cursor reaches the right locator it will immediately 
jump to the left locator position and continue playback from there.
There are several ways to set locator positions:
•To set the left locator, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click at the desired 
position in the ruler.
Similarly, pressing [Alt]/[Option] and clicking in the ruler sets the right locator. You can 
also drag the locator “handles” directly in the ruler.
The locators are indicated by the “flags” in the ruler. The area between the locators 
is highlighted in the ruler and in the Project window (see page 563). Note that if the 
right locator is before the left locator the area will be red in the ruler to indicate this.
•Click and drag in the upper half of the ruler to “draw” a locator range.
If you click on an existing locator range, you can drag to move it.
•Pressing [Ctrl]/[Command] and pressing [1] or [2] on the numeric 
keypad sets the left or right locator to the project cursor position.
Similarly, you can press [1] or [2] on the numeric keypad (without [Ctrl]/[Command]) to 
set the project cursor position to the left or right locator position. Note that these are 
default key commands – you can change these if you like.
•By creating cycle markers you can store any number of left and right 
locator positions, which can be recalled by simply double clicking on 
the corresponding marker (see page 132).
•The “Locators to Selection” item on the Transport menu (default key 
command [P]) sets the locators to encompass the current selection.
This is available if you have selected one or several events or made a selection range. 
						

							CUBASE SE
Playback and the Transport panel 3 – 29
•You can also adjust the locators numerically in the Transport panel.
Clicking the L/R buttons in the locator section on the Transport panel will move the 
project cursor to the respective locator. If you press [Alt]/[Option] and click the L or R 
button, the corresponding locator will be set to the current project cursor position.
Options and Settings
The “Return to Start Position on Stop” preference
This setting is found on the Transport page in the Preferences dialog 
(found on the File menu under Windows, on the Cubase SE menu un-
der Mac OS X).
•If “Return to Start Position on Stop” is activated when you stop play-
back, the project cursor will automatically return to the position where 
recording or playback last started.
•If “Return to Start Position on Stop” is deactivated, the project cursor 
will remain at the position where you stop playback.
Pressing Stop again will return the project cursor to the position where recording or 
playback last started.
About track disable/enable
For audio tracks, the track context menu contains an item named “Dis-
able Track”. This shuts down all disk activity for the track, as opposed to 
using Mute, which merely turns down the output volume for a track. For 
example, if you often record “alternative takes” you can easily build up a 
large number of takes on different tracks. Even though these tracks are 
muted, they are actually still “playing back” from the hard disk during 
playback. This puts an unnecessary load on your disk system, so using 
“Disable Track” is recommended for such situations.
•Select “Disable Track” for tracks that you want to keep in the project 
for later use (but don’t want to play back now).
Select “Enable Track” from the track context menu to re-enable disabled tracks. 
						

							CUBASE SE
3 – 30 Playback and the Transport panel
Playback functions
Apart from the standard transport controls on the Transport panel, you 
can also find a number of functions that can be used to control play-
back on the Transport menu. The items have the following functionality:
The functions listed above (except “Play until Next Marker”) are only avail-
able if you have selected one or more events or made a selection range.
About Chase
Chase is basically a function that makes sure your MIDI instruments 
sound as they should when you locate to a new position and start 
playback. This is accomplished by having the program transmitting a 
number of MIDI messages to your instruments each time you move to 
a new position in the project, making sure all MIDI devices are set up 
correctly with regard to program change, controller messages (such 
as MIDI Volume) etc.
For example, let’s say you have a MIDI track with a program change 
event inserted at the beginning. This event makes a synth switch to a 
piano sound.
In the beginning of the first chorus you have another program change 
event which makes the same synth switch to a string sound.
Option Description
Play from Selection 
Start/EndActivates playback from the beginning or end of the current se-
lection.
Play until Selection 
Start/ EndActivates playback two seconds before the start or end of the 
current selection and stops at the selection start or end, re-
spectively.
Play until Next Marker This activates playback from the project cursor and stops at the 
next marker.
Play Selection Range This activates playback from the start of the current selection 
and stops at the selection end.
Loop Selection This activates playback from the start of the current selection 
and keeps starting over again when reaching the selection end.