Managing Multiple Takes

Following on from last month's exploration of recording multiple takes with Cycle Record, this month's Cubase Notes looks at some features to assist in managing multiple takes without using Cycle Record.

As we saw last month, Cubase's mechanism for recording multiple takes with Cycle Record is very useful, but there's one big limitation: what if you want to record multiple takes and you don't want to perform them one after the other without stopping? How do you record multiple takes without using Cycle Record, but maintaining the same level of editing flexibility? Unfortunately, the short answer is you can't, but there are several longer answers that can offer alternative ways of working.

The simplest solution is just to record each take on a different track, which is absolutely fine for MIDI tracks (and is in fact the only solution for MIDI tracks), although it presents a problem for audio tracks. Since each Track on the Project window represents a Channel on the Mixer window, and because it's impossible for multiple Tracks on the Project window to share the same Channel, you'll end up with each take being output on a different Channel. This could lead to a management nightmare since to ensure that every take sounds consistent, you'll be forced to assign the same settings to each Channel containing a take for what is essentially the same Track.

Here you can see multiple takes being compiled on the Project window. Note that the output of each Audio Track containing different takes is routed to the Group Channel.

However, there's a simpler solution. Cubase allows you to create Group Channels, which are basically virtual mixer busses, and route the output of any number of Audio Tracks to a Group Channel before they're mixed into the Master Channel. The most common use for a Group is submixing (a drum kit, for example), so for the 'multiple takes on multiple channels problem' you could create a Group Channel and route the outputs of all the relevant Audio Tracks to the Group Channel. If you do this, it's best to keep the Audio Channels themselves dry and at 0dB, using the Group Channel instead for applying effects and EQ.

To create a Group Channel, simply select Project / Add Track / Group Channel, and you'll notice a Group Channel Track is added to the Project window just under the location of the currently selected Track. Although you can't put Audio Events or Parts on a Group Channel Track, the Track appears on the Project window so you can edit the Group Channel's automation. For this reason, you might want to activate the Lock button on the Group Track to prevent you from accidentally making changes.

To route the output of an Audio Track to a Group Channel, simply select the Audio Track on the Project window, open the General Section of the Inspector, click the Out label and choose the Group Channel from the pop-up menu. If you start using many Group Channels in a Project, it's probably a good idea to give them more meaningful names than Group 01, 02, 03 and so on, by double-clicking the Group Channel Track's name on either the Project or Mixer windows, typing in a new name and pressing Return. Incidentally, you'll notice that Group Channels always appear to the far right of the Mixer window.

The only issue to bear in mind when using Group Channels is the dreaded subject of Plug-in Delay Compensation or, more accurately, the lack of plug-in delay compensation. We discussed this issue way back in March 2002's Cubase Notes, but the bottom line is that if you start using greedy (in terms of processing power required) plug-ins as inserts on Group Channels, you may start to notice the output of the Group Channel lagging behind the output of other Tracks. This happens because there is no timing compensation for the delay introduced by the processing of plug-ins used as inserts on Group Channels, although Steinberg are rumoured to be developing a clever solution for the next generation VST engine that powers both Cubase SX and Nuendo.

Before (above) and after (below): the display of Channels assigned as Hideable via the Channel View pop-up menus can be toggled with the Global View Options pop-up menu. In this example, the duplicate MIDI Channels assigned to the same physical MIDI channel are hidden to save confusion.

What About MIDI Tracks?

Creating multiple MIDI tracks for multiple takes still gives you many MIDI channels on the Cubase Mixer of course, but it's possible for many virtual MIDI Channels on the Mixer to be routed to the same physical MIDI channel on your external hardware MIDI device or VST Instrument. So if you have two MIDI Tracks both routed to channel 1 on the same MIDI port, moving the volume fader for either of these MIDI Channels on the Mixer will raise and lower the volume for both tracks playing on channel 1 of your MIDI device or VST Instrument.

Since you'll end up with superfluous MIDI Channels on the Mixer if you record multiple takes on multiple tracks, you may want to hide these confusing extra Channels. Although you can hide and show all the Channels of a specific track type by toggling the Channel Show and Hide button on the Mixer's Common Panel, it's also possible to set up a user-definable show and hide group across different Channels of any type that takes your fancy. In this case, however, we want to simply hide a few MIDI Channels, rather than hide all the MIDI Channels on the Mixer.

To hide Channels on the Mixer, first make sure the Hideable command is ticked in the Channel View pop-up menu for every Channel you want to hide. You can open a Channel View pop-up menu by clicking the little white arrow at the very top of that particular Channel. You can now hide and show any Channel that's been flagged as Hideable by toggling the Hideable command in the Common Panel's Global View Options pop-up menu. Again, this menu is displayed by clicking the little white arrow at the top of the Common Panel.

Although we've taken diversions through using Group Channels and hiding Mixer Channels, the idea, of course, is to use these features to help manage multiple takes on multiple tracks. And once you've recorded and routed the tracks as required, muting Tracks as required, you can use the flexible editing tools available on the Project window itself to compile the final take.

If you're going to use automation, with MIDI Tracks it makes sense to keep any automation on one master Track and to later remove the extra Tracks used for recording different takes when you've compiled your perfect track, having copied all the required Parts onto the master Track. However, with different takes stored across Audio Tracks routed to a single Group Channel, it's not necessarily as important to compile all the takes onto one master Track. On the other hand, if you want to use 'greedy' plug-ins as inserts, you might be forced to do this as Audio Tracks do feature Plug-in Delay Compensation.