Steinberg Cubase SL/SX 3.1 Manual

							CUBASE SX/SL
Working with the new features  51
Bar Range – Start This is where you specify the desired start position for the 
bar range. Click on the small arrows to raise/lower the value 
by one step or click directly in the value field and enter the 
desired number manually.
Bar Range – Length This is where you specify the desired length of the bar range. 
Click on the small arrows to raise/lower the value by one 
step or click directly in the value field and enter the desired 
number manually.
Action – Insert Bars When you select this action, clicking the Process button will 
insert the specified number of empty bars with the set time 
signature at the desired start position in the project.
Action – Delete Bars When you select this action, clicking the Process button will 
delete the specified number of bars beginning at the set start 
position.
Action – 
Reinterpret BarsWhen you select this action, clicking the Process button will 
reinterpret the bar range to fit the specified time signature. 
This is very special in the sense that both bars+beats posi-
tions of the notes and the tempo are being changed to fit the 
new time signature, but the playback of the notes will stay just 
the same.
If you want to reinterpret e.g. a bar with the time signature 3/4 
so that it gets the time signature 4/4, quarter notes will be-
come half note triplets. If you reinterpret a bar with the time 
signature 4/4 to attain 3/4, you will get quadruplets.
Action – Replace Bars When you select this action, clicking the Process button will 
cause the time signature of the specified bar range to be re-
placed by the one you specify in this dialog. 
Action – Signature This lets you specify the desired time signature for the action 
you select in the Action pop-up menu (except for the Delete 
Bars action).
Process Click this button to apply your changes to the desired bar 
range.
Close Clicking this button closes the Process Bars dialog. Please 
note that you have to click the Process button first to apply 
your settings. Clicking this button without clicking on “Pro-
cess” first will close the dialog without applying your settings. Option Description 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL
 52 Working with the new features
Pool Operations
The extended search functionality in the Pool 
(Cubase SX only)
A number of new features have been added to the Search pane in the 
Pool window. When you click the Search button in the Pool toolbar, a 
lower Pool pane is displayed, allowing you to search for files on your 
hard disk or other media. This is described in detail in the chapter “The 
Pool” in the Operation Manual. The new program version allows for a 
more extensive search, including a range of additional search filters.
This works as follows:
1.Click the Search button on the toolbar.
The Search pane is displayed in the lower part of the Pool window.
•By default, the search parameters available in the lower Pool pane are 
“Name” and “Location”.
When you move the mouse pointer over the “Name” text to the right of the name field, 
an arrow is displayed to the right. Click on it to open a pop-up menu.
Move the mouse pointer over the “Name” text to the right of the name field…
… to show the Extended Search pop-up menu.  
						

							CUBASE SX/SL
Working with the new features  53
2.When you click on “Name”, the Extended Search pop-up menu opens.
This contains six options determining which settings will be displayed above the Loca-
tion parameter (Name, Size, Bitsize, Channels, Sample Rate or Date) and the Add Fil-
ter and Presets submenus.
The pop-up menu with the extended search options.
3.Select one of the topmost 6 options in the pop-up menu to change 
the search option above the Location pop-up menu.
This way, you can choose e.g. to display the Size or Sample Rate parameter instead of 
the Name field.
4.If you want to display more search options, select the desired element 
from the Add filter submenu.
This allows you e.g. to add the Size or the Sample Rate parameters to the already dis-
played Name and Location parameters.
This allows for a very detailed search, helping you to master even the 
largest, most chaotic sound database.   
						

							CUBASE SX/SL
 54 Working with the new features
Pool key commands
•It is now possible not only to open, but also to close the Pool window 
using a key command. By default, this is [Ctrl]/[Command]+[P], but you 
can change this as usual in the Key Commands dialog (Project page).
Video
When working with video in Cubase SX/SL, video files are displayed 
as events/clips on the video track, with thumbnails representing the 
frames in the film (if the option “Show Video Thumbnails” is activated 
in the Preferences dialog). In the previous program versions, these 
were calculated in real time and had to be redrawn during e.g. scroll-
ing or moving. As this does consume quite a lot of processor power, 
the reaction sometimes seemed sluggish. To remedy this, you now 
have the possibility to generate a thumbnail cache file which will be 
used in situations requiring a lot of processor power. This is a very 
handy new feature, allowing you to economize system performance 
during CPU intensive tasks.
Generating thumbnail cache files during video import
When you import a video file into Cubase SX/SL 3.1, you will find that 
the additional option “Generate Thumbnail Cache” is available on the 
Import dialog. 
The Generate Thumbnail Cache option activated in the Import Video dialog.  
						

							CUBASE SX/SL
Working with the new features  55
When you activate “Generate Thumbnail Cache” in the Import video 
dialog and click “Open”, a thumbnail cache file will be created before 
the file is inserted in the Project window. A window will be displayed 
showing you the progress and the estimated time for the process.
The thumbnail cache file is created.
After the cache file is created, the window will be closed and the 
video clip is inserted as usual. When you now start video playback 
and perform processor consuming operations, the thumbnail file is 
used to display the video frames in the Project window. When enough 
processor power is available, the “real” calculated thumbnail frames 
are displayed again.
• The generated thumbnail cache file will be stored in the same folder as 
the video file and will get the name of the file with the suffix “.videocache”.
Generating thumbnail cache files from within the Pool
When you have video files without thumbnail cache files (e.g. if you did 
not create a thumbnail cache file during import, if you imported the file 
by drag & drop or if you are working with an older project), you always 
have the possibility to generate the thumbnail cache file at a later stage. 
This is done from within the Pool.
Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Pool window and locate the video file you want to create a 
thumbnail cache file for.
2.Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) on the file to open the context 
menu and select “Generate Thumbnail Cache”.
Just as when creating the file during import, the status window opens (see above).
After the file is created, the window will be closed and the thumbnail 
cache file is used when necessary (see below).  
						

							CUBASE SX/SL
 56 Working with the new features
Please note that the cache file will not be automatically updated if a 
video file is edited. Whenever you change a video file (e.g. in a video ed-
iting application), you need to create a new thumbnail cache file manu-
ally, as described above.
When exactly is the cache file used?
The cache file is used in situations where the processor load is very 
high and the correct redrawing or real-time calculation might use sys-
tem resources necessary for editing or processing. When the cache 
file is used and you zoom in on the thumbnails, you will see that they 
are in a lower resolution, i. e. the pictures are not as clean as when they 
are calculated. When the processes that rely heavily on the computer 
CPU are finished, the frames will automatically be calculated again, i.e. 
the program switches automatically between real-time calculation of 
the pictures and the usage of the cache file.
The above paragraphs apply only if “Show Video Thumbnails” is acti-
vated in the Preferences dialog, i.e. if thumbnails are displayed in the 
Project window. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL
Working with the new features  57
Score editor operations
About the selection indicators
With version 3.1 of the program, the display of selected elements in 
the Score editor has changed. The following applies:
•Selected events are displayed in red.
•The active staff has blue lines and a blue rectangle to the left.
Please note that you can use this blue rectangle to select, move or edit the active staff.
•A selected system (grand staff) is indicated by a red line regrouping 
the staves.
•The active staff in a selected system has violet lines.
Showing/Hiding the custom colors
If you have specified colors for notes (or other elements) in the score 
(see the separate pdf document “Score Layout and Printing”), the score 
coloring may become confusing as you might e.g. mistake colored 
notes for selected notes and vice versa. Therefore, you have now the 
possibility to hide (ignore) all color settings you specified for the score:
To hide the color settings you specified, simply click the “Hide Colors” 
button on the Score editor toolbar.
Click the “Hide Colors” button to hide all your color settings.
• If the custom colors are hidden in the Score editor, only the selection 
indicator colors are used, as described above.
•To display your color settings again, simply click the button again.  
						

							CUBASE SX/SL
 58 Working with the new features
The Set Note Info dialog
The Set Note Info dialog now contains an option called “No Flag/
Beam”. Activate this to hide the flags or beams of the selected note(s).
The No Flag/Beam option in the Set Note Info dialog.  
						

							CUBASE SX/SL
Working with the new features  59
Remote Control
Accessing user panel parameters via remote 
control devices (Cubase SX only)
Cubase SX allows you to control external MIDI devices through user 
device panels. When you have assigned project parameters to a de-
vice panel to be displayed in the Mixer (i.e. when creating the panel, 
you must select the Channel Strip Size option in the Add Panel dia-
log), you can now access these parameters through some of the re-
mote control devices supported by Cubase SX.
This feature is supported for the following devices:
• Steinberg Houston
• Mackie Control
• Mackie HUI
• Yamaha DM 2000
• CM Motormix
• SAC2K
For these remote control devices, an extra display page has been 
added in the Inserts section for the selected channel.
This page is called User and is displayed as the 9th insert page for 
audio channels and as the 5th insert page for MIDI channels. It allows 
you to control the parameters assigned to your user device panel from 
your remote control device. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL
 60 Working with the new features
General improvements
Recovery of audio recordings after system 
failure
Stability and reliability of Cubase SX/SL have further improved with 
the release of version 3.1.
Normally, when a computer crashes, all changes made to your current 
project since you last saved it will be lost. Usually, there is no quick 
and easy way to recover your work.
With Cubase SX/SL 3.1, when your system crashes while you are re-
cording (because of a power cut or other mishap), you will find that 
your recording is still available, from the moment when you started re-
cording to the time when your computer crashed.
When you experience a computer crash during a recording, simply re-
launch the system and check the project record folder (by default this 
is the Audio subfolder inside the project folder). It should contain the 
audio file you were recording at the time of the crash.
Please note: This new feature does not constitute an “overall” guarantee 
by Steinberg. While the program itself was improved in such a way that 
audio recordings can be recovered after a system failure, it is always 
possible that a computer crash, power cut, etc. might have damaged 
any other component of the computer, making it impossible to save or 
recover any of the data.
Warning: Please do not try to actively bring about such a situation to test 
this new feature. Although the internal program processes have been 
improved to cope with such situations, Steinberg cannot guarantee that 
other parts of the computer may not be damaged as a consequence.