Steinberg Cubase 4 Operation Manual
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471 Customizing 2.To bring up the color palette, click the track color se- lector. Click the arrow in the track name title bar or… …click the color strip in the Track list. In the Mixer, click the track color selector below the channel name. 3.Select a color from the color bar. The track color is now reflected in the Inspector title palette and the Track list as well as in the Mixer and any parts and events on the selected track. Applying track colors automatically In the Preferences (Editing–Project & Mixer page), you can find the option “Auto Track Color Mode”. This offers you several options for automatically assigning colors to tracks that are added to the project. Coloring parts and events There are two ways to color parts and events in the Project window: Using the color selector 1.Select the desired parts or events. 2.Choose a color from the color selector in the toolbar. Using the color tool 1.On the toolbar, select the color tool. 2.Click the small strip below it to bring up the color pal- ette. 3.Select the desired color. 4.Click on a part/event to assign the color. The color is applied to all selected parts/events and over- rides the track color (if used). If you press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click on a part/event with the color tool, the color palette is displayed and you can choose the desired color for an event. If you press [Alt]/[Option], the color tool cursor be- comes a pipette, which can be used to select a color by clicking on a part/event. Option Effect Use Default Event ColorThe default color (gray) is assigned. Use Previous Track ColorUses the color of the track above the new one (i. e. the track that is selected when you add a new track). Use Previous Track Color +1Uses the color next to the color of the track above the new one (+1 refers to the color number in the palette). Use Last Applied ColorThe last manually assigned color is used. Use Random Track ColorTrack colors are assigned randomly.
472 Customizing Customizing the event background On the Event Display page in the Preferences, you can find the option “Colorize Event Background”. This option affects the display of events in the project win- dow. When this is activated, the background of the events and parts in the event display will be shown in the se- lected color. When this is deactivated, the event “content”, i.e. MIDI events, audio waveforms, etc. will be displayed in the se- lected color and the event background will be displayed in gray. The Event Colors dialog You can open the Event Colors dialog in two ways: Double-click the small strip below the color tool. Open the Color pop-up menu on the toolbar and select “Select Colors…”. In the Event Colors dialog, you can fully customize the color palette, apart from the default color (gray). To add new colors to the color palette, proceed as follows: 1.Click the Insert New Color button in the Event Colors section to add a new color. A new color icon and color name are added to the Event Colors section. 2.Click the color field next to the name field to activate the new color for editing. 3.In the Standard Colors section, select the standard color. You can modify the selected color in the following way: Drag the cursor to another point in the color circle. Move the handle in the color meter. Enter the values for red, green and blue and hue, saturation and luminosity manually. 4.Click the Apply button in the Standard Colors section. The color setting is applied to the selected color item. You can edit every existing event color in the same way. To delete an event color item, select it and click the “Remove Selected Color” button in the Event Colors sec- tion. To increase or decrease the intensity and the brightness of all colors, use the corresponding buttons in the Event Colors section. To save the current set as default, click the button “This set as default set” in the Event Colors section. You can then click the button “Use default set” to the right to apply the saved default set. To return to the standard setting of the palette in Cu- base, click Reset. Remove new colorIncrease/decrease in- tensity for all colors This Set as Default Set Increase/decrease brightness for all colorsInsert new color Use Default Set
473 Customizing Where are the settings stored? As you have seen, there are a large number of ways in which you can customize Cubase. While some of the set- tings you make are stored in each project, others are stored in separate preference files. If you need to transfer your projects to another computer (e. g. in another studio), you can bring all your settings along by copying the desired preference files and install- ing them on the other computer. ÖIt’s a good idea to make a backup copy of your prefer- ence files once you have set things up the way you want! This way, if another Cubase user wants to use his or her personal set- tings when working on your computer, you can restore your own prefer- ences afterwards. Under Windows, preference files are stored in the folder “\Documents and Settings\\Applica- tion Data\Steinberg\Cubase 4\”. If you run the 64 bit version of Cubase, this folder is called “Cubase 64 bit”. On the Start menu, you will find a shortcut to this folder for easy access. Under Mac OS X, preference files are stored in the folder “Library/Preferences/Cubase 4/” under your home directory. The full path would be: “/Users//Library/Preferences/ Cubase 4/”. ÖThe RAMpresets.xml file, which contains various pre- sets settings (see below), is saved when exiting the pro- gram. ÖProgram functions (e. g. crossfade) or configurations (e. g. panels) not used in the project will not be stored. Below, the available preferences files are listed. When files are not saved in the default preferences folder (see above), the complete path will be shown. When files are saved in a further subfolder of the default folder, the path will begin with the name of this folder: Setting Stored in Edit modifier keys Edit Modifiers.xml Key commands Key Commands.xml Preferences dialog settingsDefaults.xml Color setup saved in the project Default Color setupDefaults.xml Crossfade presetsApplication folder\Presets\RAMPresets.xml Control Room – Settings (Cubase only)\Presets\ControlRoomPresets.xml (pxml file) Control Room – External Plug-ins (Cubase only)External Plugins.xml Device setup filesApplication folder\Device Maps as *.xml file Drum maps Application folder\DrumMaps as *.drm file EQ presets Application folder\Presets\VstEqPresets.pxml Port Input/ Output settingsPort Setup.xml Audio Inserts presets\Presets\InsertsFolderPresets.pxml MIDI Inserts presets\Presets\MidiInsertsPresets as *.xml file Installed MIDI devicesMidi Devices.bin Key commands presets\Presets\KeyCommands\.xml Logical Editor presets\Presets\Logical Edit\.xml Project Logical Editor\Presets\Logical Edit Project\.xml MediaBay settingsMediaDefaults.xml MediaBay default settingsMediaFactoryDefaults.xml (these are applied on reset) MediaBay – Scanned foldersscannedfolders.bin MediaBay – Scanned disksFileSysObserver.xml (When changing the file system these disks are automatically scanned by the MediaBay – Windows only.) MediaBay databasemediabay.db MediaBay Content ContentManager.xml MIDI FX presets \Presets\\.xml Mixer (or channel) settingssaved in the last active folder as *.vmx file (VST Mixer settings) Mixer view presetsaved in project Panel files (Cubase only)\Panels\.xml Setting Stored in
474 Customizing Patch name scripts\Scripts\Patchnames as *.txt file Preferences presets\Presets\Configurations\.xml Quantize presets\Presets\RAMPresets.xml Score – Settings Score Setting Window.xml Score – Default fontScore Default Font.xml Score – Custom PalettesScore Custom Palettes.xml Score – Guitar symbolsGuitarLib.xml Score – Chord symbols\Presets\ChordSymbols.xml Staff Presets \Presets\Staff Presets as *.xml file Snapshot file \Presets\MIDI snapshot as *.xml file Toolbar presets \Presets\RAMPresets.xml Track controls presets\Presets\RAMPresets.xml Track presets (user-defined, for all programs)Win: \Documents and Settings\\Applica- tion Data\Steinberg\Track Presets Mac: Users//Library/Application Sup- port/Steinberg/Track Presets (with the subfolders \Audio, \Instrument, \Midi, \Multi) as *.trackpreset file Transport panel presets\Presets\RAMPresets.xml Usage profile logUsage Profile.xml (only saved if the corresponding op- tion in the Preferences is activated) User templates templates\.cpr VST connections presets\Presets\RAMPresets.xml VST 3 plug-ins and instrumentsVstPlugInfo.xml VST 2 plug-ins and instrumentsVst2xPlugins.xml VST3 presets (user-defined, for all programs)Win: \Common files\VST3 Presets\\ Mac: Users//Library/Audio/Presets/ / as *.vstpreset file VST3 presets (public, for all pro- grams)Win: \Documents and Settings\VST3 Presets\\ Mac: /Library/Audio/Presets// as *.vstpreset file Workspaces saved in project Setting Stored in Workspace pre- sets (global)Window Layouts.xml Zoom presets \Presets\RAMPresets.xml Quick Control SettingsQuick Controls MIDI.xml Setting Stored in
476 Key commands Introduction Most of the main menus in Cubase have key command shortcuts for certain items on the menus. In addition, there are numerous other Cubase functions that can be per- formed via key commands. These are all default settings. If you want, you can customize existing key commands to your liking, and also add commands for menu items and functions currently not assigned any. How are key commands settings saved? Every time you edit or add any key command assignment, this is stored as a global Cubase preference – not as part of a project. Hence, if you edit or add a key command as- signment, any subsequent projects that you create or open will use these modified settings. However, the de- fault settings can be restored at any time by clicking the button “Reset All” in the Key Commands dialog. In addition, you can save key commands settings as a “key commands file”, which is stored separately and can be im- ported into any project. This way you can quickly and easily recall customized settings, when moving projects between different computers, for example. The settings are saved in a file on disk with the windows extension “.xml”. How to save key commands settings is described in the section “About key commands presets” on page 478. Setting up key commands The following is a description of how you set up key com- mands and save them as presets for easy access. Key commands settings are accessed and edited mainly in the Key Commands dialog. You can find some key com- mand settings in the Preferences dialog as well, also ad- dressed in this chapter. Adding or modifying a key command In the Key Commands dialog you will find all main menu items and a large number of other functions, arranged in a hierarchical way similar to the Windows Explorer and Mac OS Finder. The function categories are represented by a number of folders, each containing various menu items and functions. When you open a category folder by clicking the plus-sign beside it, the items and functions it contains are displayed with the currently assigned key commands. !You can also assign tool modifier keys, i.e. keys that change the behavior of various tools when pressed. This is done in the Preferences dialog – see “Setting up tool modifier keys” on page 480.
477 Key commands To add a key command, proceed as follows: 1.Pull down the File menu and select “Key Commands…”. The Key Commands dialog appears. 2.Use the list in the Commands column to navigate to the desired category. 3.Click the plus-sign to open the category folder and display the items it contains. Note that you can also click the “global” plus and minus-signs in the top left corner to open and close all category folders at once. 4.In the list, select the item to which you wish to assign a key command. Already assigned key commands are shown in the Keys column as well as in the Keys section in the top right corner. 5.Alternatively, you can use the search function in the dialog to find the desired item. For a description of how to use the search function, see “Searching for key commands” on page 477. 6.When you have found and selected the desired item, click in the “Type in Key” field and enter a new key com- mand. You can choose between any single key or a combination of one or sev- eral keys ([Alt]/[Option], [Ctrl]/[Command], [Shift]) plus any key. Just press the keys you want to use. 7.If the key command you entered is already assigned to another item or function, this is displayed below the “Type in Key” field. If a key command already is assigned to another function, you can either ignore this and proceed to assign the key command to the new function instead, or you can select another key command. 8.Click the Assign button above the field. The new key command appears in the Keys List. Note that you can have several different key commands for the same function. So adding a key command to a function that already has another key command will not replace the key command previously defined for the function. If you wish to remove an assigned key command, see “Removing a key command” on page 478. 9.Click OK to exit the dialog. Searching for key commands If you want to know which key command is assigned to a certain function in the program, you can use the Search function in the Key Commands dialog: 1.Click in the search text field at the top left of the dialog and type in the function for which you want to know the key command. This is a standard word search function, so you should type the command as it is spelled in the program. Partial words can be used; e.g., to search for all quantize related commands, type “Quantize”, “Quant”, etc. 2.Click the Search button (the magnifying glass icon). The search is conducted and the first matching command is selected and displayed in the commands list below. The keys column and the keys list show the assigned key commands, if any. 3.To search for more commands containing the word(s) you entered, click the Search button again. 4.When you’re done, click OK to close the dialog. If a selected item or function has a key command assigned already, it is displayed here……and here. !If the key command you enter is already assigned to another function, you will get a warning message asking if you want to reassign the command to the new function instead, or cancel the operation.
478 Key commands Removing a key command To remove a key command, proceed as follows: 1.If the key commands dialog isn’t already open, pull down the File menu and select “Key Commands…”. 2.Use the list of categories and commands to select the item or function for which you wish to remove a key com- mand. The key command for the item is shown in the Keys list and the Keys column. 3.Select the key command in the Keys list and click the Remove button (the trash icon). You will get a prompt asking if you want to remove the key command or cancel the operation. 4.Click Remove to remove the selected key command. 5.Click OK to close the dialog. Setting up macros A macro is a combination of several functions or com- mands, to be performed in one go. For example, you could select all events on the selected audio track, remove DC offset, normalize the events and duplicate them, all with a single command. Macros are set up in the Key Commands dialog as follows: 1.Click the Show Macros button. The macro settings are shown in the lower part of the dialog. To hide these from view, click the button (now renamed to Hide Macros) again. 2.Click New Macro. A new, unnamed macro appears in the Macros list. Name it by typing the desired name. You can rename a macro at any time by selecting it in the list and typing in a new name. 3.Make sure the macro is selected, and use the Catego- ries and Commands in the upper half of the dialog to se- lect the first command you want to include in the macro. 4.Click Add Command. The selected command appears in the list of Commands in the Macros section. 5.Repeat the procedure to add more commands to the macro. Note that commands are added after the currently selected command in the list. This allows you to insert commands “in the middle” of an existing macro. A macro with three commands. To remove a command from the macro, select it in the Macros list and click Delete. Similarly, to remove an entire macro, select it in the Macros list and click Delete. After you have closed the Key Commands dialog, all mac- ros you have created appear at the bottom of the Edit menu in the Macros submenu, available for instant selection. You can also assign key commands to macros. All macros you have created appear in the upper section of the Key Commands dialog under the Macros category – just se- lect a macro and assign a key command as with any other function. About key commands presets Saving key commands presets As mentioned above, any changes made to the key com- mands (and macros) are automatically stored as a Cubase preference. However, it is also possible to store key com- mands settings separately. This way, you can store any number of different key command settings as presets for instant recall. Proceed as follows: 1.Set up the key commands and macros to your liking. When setting up key commands, remember to click “Assign” to make the changes.
479 Key commands 2.Click the Save button next to the Presets pop-up menu. A dialog appears, allowing you to type in a name for the preset. 3.Click OK to save the preset. Your saved key commands settings will now be available in the Preset pop-up menu for your future projects. Loading key command presets To load a key command preset, simply select it from the Presets pop-up menu. ÖNote that this operation may replace existing key com- mands! The key command settings you load will replace the current key command settings for the same functions (if any). If you have macros of the same name as those stored in the preset you load, these will be replaced too. If you want to be able to revert to your current settings again, make sure to save them first, as described above! Loading saved key commands settings from earlier versions of Cubase If you have saved key commands settings with a previous version of Cubase, it is possible to use them in Cubase 4, by using the “Import Key Command File” function, which lets you load and apply saved key commands or macros: 1.Open the Key Commands dialog. 2.Click the “Import Key Command File” button to the right of the Presets pop-up menu. A standard file dialog opens. 3.In the file dialog, use the “Files of type:” pop-up to specify if you want to import a key commands file (Win- dows file extension “.key”) or a macro commands file (ex- tension “.mac”). Key commands files included any macro settings and were saved with the file extension “.xml”. When you have imported an older file, you might want to save it as a preset (see “About key commands presets” on page 478) to be able to access it from the Presets pop-up menu in the future. 4.Navigate to the file you want to import and click “Open”. The file is imported. 5.Click OK to exit the Key Commands dialog and apply the imported settings. The settings in the loaded key commands or macros file now replace the current settings. About the “Reset” and “Reset All” functions These two buttons in the Key Commands dialog will both restore the default settings. The following rules apply: “Reset” restores the default key command setting for the function selected in the Commands list. “Reset All” will restore the default key commands for all commands. About the default key commands As mentioned before, there are numerous default key commands. These are listed in the section “The default key commands” on page 480. !Note that the “Reset All” operation will cause any changes made to the default key commands to be lost! If you want to be able to revert to these settings again, make sure to save them first!
480 Key commands Setting up tool modifier keys A tool modifier key is a key you can press to get an alter- nate function when using a tool. For example, clicking and dragging an event with the Arrow tool normally moves it – holding down a modifier key (by default [Alt]/[Option]) will copy it instead. The default assignments for tool modifier keys can be found in the Preferences (Editing–Tool Modifiers page). Here, you can also edit them: 1.Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu (on the Mac, this is located on the Cubase menu) and select the Editing–Tool Modifiers page. 2.Select an option in the Categories list, and locate the action for which you want to edit the modifier key. For example, the “Copy” action mentioned above resides in the category “Drag & Drop”. 3.Select the action in the Action list. 4.Hold down the desired modifier key(s) and click the Assign button. The current modifier key(s) for the action is replaced. If the modifier key(s) you pressed are already assigned to another tool, you will be asked whether you want to overwrite them. If you do, this will leave the other tool without any modifier key(s) assigned. 5.When you’re done, click OK to apply the changes and close the dialog. The default key commands Below, the default key commands are listed according to category. As described in the section “Key command conventions” on page 12, modifier keys are written as: [Win modifier key]/[Mac modifier key]. For example, “[Ctrl]/[Command]+[N]” in the list below means “press [Ctrl] under Windows or [Command] under Mac OS X, then press [N]”. Audio category Automation category Devices category Edit category Option Key command Adjust Fades to Range [A] Crossfade [X] Find Selected in Pool [Ctrl]/[Command]+[F] Option Key command Toggle Read Enable All Tracks [Alt]/[Option]+[R] Toggle Write Enable All Tracks [Alt]/[Option]+[W] Option Key command Mixer [F3] Video [F8] VST Connections [F4] VST Instruments [F11] VST Performance [F12] Option Key command Autoscroll [F] Copy [Ctrl]/[Command]+[C] Cut [Ctrl]/[Command]+[X] Cut Time [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Shift]+[X] Delete [Del] or [Backspace] Delete Time [Shift]+[Backspace] Duplicate [Ctrl]/[Command]+[D] Edit In-place [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Shift]+[I] Group [Ctrl]/[Command]+[G]