• What's the difference between Musical and Linear time base settings for audio tracks in Cubase SX?
• Can I change the pitch and the actual sounds of the metronome in Cubase SX?
• Can I use the Time Warp button to create a tempo track in Cubase SX?
• Can I move tempo tracks from one project to another in Cubase SX?
• My audio drum loops sound great no matter what tempo is shown. Is there any reason I need to make the tempo correct?
• Why can't I change the tempo in the transport window in Cubase SX?
• When I use the repeat function to repeat my audio events in Cubase SX, sometimes I find they're out of sync over time. Why is this?
• I've snapped my drum loops to the grid in my Arrangement Window in Cubase SX, but they seem out of time with the arrangement. Why?

What's the difference between Musical and Linear time base settings for audio tracks in Cubase SX?

Linear and Musical based tracks are different in the way they respond to tempo changes in the Tempo Track and Transport Window. Both are highly precise in their positioning, using 64-bit floating point values. Musical based tracks have their positioning represented as bars, beats, sixteenth notes and ticks. If you change the tempo of the song in the Transport Window, the position of these tracks will change in relation to the new tempo. This doesn't just apply to files with ACID code or files with hit points. We're talking about how the file is positioned in the arrangement.

Linear time based files are positioned via clock positions and changing the tempo in the Transport Window will not affect their position in time. The makers of Cubase SX say the positioning of Musical and Linear based tracks take an equal amount of computing power (one is not easier on the machine than another), but they do warn against switching between the modes on a track because a small loss of precision takes place when the mathematics scales from one format to another.

In other words, switching between the modes once or twice is probably not going to do any damage, but switching between the modes 15 times might round off the math enough to pull your files into a Twilight Zone of sorts. The modes are toggled via the Linear and Musical enabling buttons on the Track List. The Linear button is represented by a clock icon, while the Musical button is show with a musical note.

Can I change the pitch and the actual sounds of the metronome in Cubase SX?

Yes you can. Open the Metronome Setup Dialog box in the Transport Menu. The metronome can be configured to play back via the sound card's audio hardware or by and external device or both. You can also adjust the metronome to sound during recording, playback or both. You must enable Click on the Transport panel for this to work properly.

You can also adjust the count base, which normally plays quarter notes, to play eighth notes, sixteenth notes, triplets and other rhythms. The Precount option is also configurable in bars, and this will work correctly as long as Precount is activated on the Transport Window. If you select the Use Time Signature at Project Time, the click track will follow the project's Tempo Track.

If you select Use Time Signature, you'll be able to alter the time signature for the Precount, and the Tempo Track has no affect on the Precount. Under MIDI Click, you can tell Cubase SX whether or not to use MIDI for the click as well as the location of the output channel and the MIDI notes themselves.

The Audio Click section toggles the preference for audio clicks on and off as well as providing options for how the sounds will be generated and what the note values will be.

Can I use the Time Warp button to create a tempo track in Cubase SX?

You can indeed use the Time Warp feature to adjust the Tempo Track. All Cubase SX sessions have a Tempo Track, but the software doesn't slave to the timing on the track until the mode is enabled on the Transport Window. This feature is useful if you're attempting to sync with the track from a live drummer. Even if he used a click track, his timing has probably drifted a bit within some measure in the song.

To allow MIDI parts to record in sync with this timing (as well as audio events in "musical" mode), you need to tell Cubase SX exactly where each of the drummer's hits occur over time. This allows Cubase SX to slave everything else to his timing, and it's done via the Time Warp tool in the Sample Editor.

Make sure Tempo Track is enabled before you make any adjustments. Move the beginning of the drum part (the first hit of any kind) to the top of the song. Open the Sample Editor and select the Time Warp button in the tool bar of the editor's window. If there's a roll before the first downbeat, you'll need to create a locked tempo event at the first downbeat by using Shift + click at the downbeat.

Go to the start of the next measure and drag the closest bar to match. The material should be fairly close to locked up with the drummer if he held pretty good meter, but you'll need to continue through the rest of the arrangement to make sure. Advance through the time line until you see the wave form drifting off tempo. You'll need to create a new "locked" tempo event, which, again, is done via Shift + click (the pencil will appear) and you will add your new tempo event where it began to drift.

Look for the downbeat in the next measure and drag the closest guide to match that position. Every time the tempo strays from the map, you'll need to repeat this procedure. Create a new Tempo Event by using Shift + click to correct the point it begins to stray and then adjust the following measure. This way you're locking everything you've already done.

In other words, if you didn't lock the points, they'd move with the Time Warp tool over the whole song. Once the process is complete, the Tempo Track should slave the software to the drummer's time, and any MIDI or "musical mode" audio files should follow in tempo.

Can I move tempo tracks from one project to another in Cubase SX?

You can export Tempo Tracks for use in other Cubase projects by selecting Tempo Track from the Export menu on the File menu. This saves all the tempo information and all signature events in what is really an .xml file, but it carries a .smt extension, which is native to the program. When you want to import the Tempo Track into another Cubase SX session file, select Tempo Track from the Import submenu in the File menu.

It's important to note that the new Tempo Track will replace all tempo track information in your session. However, this can be undone if you decide you're not happy with the result.

Tempo Tracks are extremely powerful in Cubase SX. They allow you to literally slave the timing of Cubase SX to any combination of tempo changes, including sudden instances of double time as well as slowing tempo ramps at the ends of songs and much more.

If you're using complete live drum tracks, chances are the tempo will drift even if the drummer was tracking to a click track. Tempo Tracks in Cubase SX allow you to slave the program's timing to the drummer's timing, but you must go measure by measure to make the corrections in the tempo track.

My audio drum loops sound great no matter what tempo is shown. Is there any reason I need to make the tempo correct?

If you're not using your drum loops in "musical mode" (that is, they're not snapping to the beat because they've been encoded with beat-matching software like ACID, LIVE, ReCycle, etc.), the loops will sound the same at any tempo. And you could conceivably record and edit and entire song in digital audio without changing the tempo and everything would be just fine. However, you're probably limiting your options unnecessarily by doing so.

Perhaps the most powerful element of modern digital recording is the ability to cut and paste segments of audio across the time line of a song's arrangement. Without an accurate grid, which allows parts to be snapped to bars, beats, etc., this powerful feature becomes useless.

Determine the exact BMP of your loops (using your sequencer's native beat-matching software or ReWire applications like ACID or Ableton LIVE) before you begin. Adjust the fixed tempo in your software accordingly. Make sure all of your loops will fill the measures correctly. If they do not, you'll need to use your beat-matching software to whip them into shape.

If you must use the drum track from a live drummer, slave the timing of the sequencer using tempo tracks. Getting into the habit of using DAW software correctly from the beginning will save you tons of time and trouble in the end.

Why can't I change the tempo in the transport window in Cubase SX?

You've got the Tempo Track enabled in the Transport Window. Locate the Tempo button on the Transport Window. It is right next to the tempo display, and it should be accompanied by text reading Fixed or Track. When you click on the Tempo button, the text toggles between Fixed and Track.

Cubase SX comes with a graphical interface for changing tempo with the song (a slowing tempo as a song ends for instance), and this "track" is saved with the session. When you initially set the tempo for your song, the Tempo button was in Fixed mode, and this fixed tempo has been saved in the tempo track.

In other words, if you need to change the tempo of the whole song, click on the Tempo button in the Transport Window until the Fixed mode is toggled on. You can now adjust the BPM by highlighting it and entering a new value with the keyboard. If you need the tempo of your song to change over time, you'll need to open the Tempo Track Editor by selecting Tempo Track on the Project Menu. By creating a new handle and dragging the mouse, you can alter the tempo anywhere in the time line with this window.

Once you've entered and tested your tempo changes, you'll need to keep the Tempo button toggled to Track so Cubase SX will know to follow the curve of your custom tempo track.

When I use the repeat function to repeat my audio events in Cubase SX, sometimes I find they're out of sync over time. Why is this?

If you look closely at the files (you'll have to zoom in on the project window to a high magnification to do this correctly) you'll notice that the tail of the file doesn't exactly line up to the last frame of the measure or beat over time. You can draw a region while holding the Alt (Option for Mac) keys and use Fill Loop to repeat events across a track, but if the events aren't sized properly and the Snap function isn't engaged, they'll drift from the grid given enough repeats.

If your files are in Musical Mode (the files are using ACID or other timing information to snap to tempo in Cubase SX), the ends of the files should fill to the next correct bar or measure for perfect looping, and the sync problem shouldn't arise. When using files outside of Musical Mode, the problem can be deceptive because the file will sound right when you loop using the Left and Right Locators, but if the end of the file is missing a tiny section of air, you need to copy each loop to the proper starting point in the grid.

Hold down the Alt key (Option for Mac) and drag a copy of your loop to the correct spot on the grid with the program's Snap button activated. (The Snap button is found at the top right hand side of the Project Window; the icon on the button looks like a vertical line with arrows on both sides.) Once you do this, you should have no more sync problems.

Once you have five or six instances of the events copied at their proper positions on the grid, you can select them all and copy the group to the next position on the grid, which saves time. This is especially important for drum loops because the drums are usually the basis for the rhythm of the track. Make sure your drum loops are correctly snapped to their proper positions on the grid before you begin recording other instruments.

It's important to remember that snapping files to the grid doesn't mean the first downbeat of the file will appear at the top of the event if you're not in Musical Mode. You need to open the clip in the Audio Editor and adjust the "Snap Point" to ensure your first downbeat snaps to the top of the loop in the grid.

I've snapped my drum loops to the grid in my Arrangement Window in Cubase SX, but they seem out of time with the arrangement. Why?

This can occur if you have a bit of space in front of the clip before the first downbeat and you're not in Musical Mode. If you haven't assigned a "snap point" to your audio events, they will snap to the top of the file. If a bit of space is present between the beginning of the file and the first downbeat, the loops will be off-tempo. You can correct this by opening the loop in the Sample Editor. At the beginning of the file, you'll find an "S" flag, which is the Snap Point. Click on this flag and drag it to the position in the file where the first downbeat occurs.

If you activate the Scrub Tool during this operation, you'll hear the contents of the file at a very slow speed, allowing you to locate minute parts very accurately. You can also perform this function without leaving the Project Window by dragging the cursor at the point in the file where the first downbeat occurs and selecting Snap Point to Cursor from the Audio Menu. The Snap Point will now reflect the new position to where your cursor is set, and you'll notice a vertical blue line across the file, which designates the Snap Point.