# Loading every articulation separate in Cubase. What's your workflow?



## maxchristensenaudio (Sep 28, 2018)

Hey guys, I've always preferred the way of keyswitching inside an instrument to access all the articulations, had to switch to a "one articulation - one midi track" approach due to Ram reasons.
It always seemed ridiculous to me how anyone could work that way and manage that many midi tracks. 
So my question to you, what do you do to manage this process and to make it easier for composing and editing? 
I'm on Cubase 9.5 Pro.


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## trscomposer (Sep 28, 2018)

You could still work this way by setting up your own expression maps in Cubase.


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## maxchristensenaudio (Sep 28, 2018)

trscomposer said:


> You could still work this way by setting up your own expression maps in Cubase.


I really dislike those. I find that they're not consistent. Also I'm just curious how composers use this approach. It just seems very inconvenient to me


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## Chr!s (Sep 28, 2018)

maxchristensenaudio said:


> It always seemed ridiculous to me how anyone could work that way and manage that many midi tracks



I know, right?

What most people I know who use this method do, is arm all of the articulations they'll be using for the given phrase and record them all at once. After, they go in and delete the ones that are not needed.

It can work.

_velocity-switch master race tho_


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## maxchristensenaudio (Sep 29, 2018)

Chr!s said:


> I know, right?
> 
> What most people I know who use this method do, is arm all of the articulations they'll be using for the given phrase and record them all at once. After, they go in and delete the ones that are not needed.
> 
> ...


Jesus... no thanks....


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## Henu (Sep 29, 2018)

Chr!s said:


> _velocity-switch master race tho_



Please educate us lesser races! I've tried it a couple of times and it's such a pain in the ass I gave up after a while. How are you doing that? 

For what it comes to the question, I have a very simple articulation list in my template where all the instruments are loaded into their own Kontakt, and all articulations are on separate midi channels. Using this, it's not only very easy to balance the different articulations but also piss-easy to try out a different library or layer stuff quickly. 

As all the articulations are midi-channel based, a Spitfire staccato flute is the exact same channel than when using e.g. Cinewinds staccato flute. Naturally the dynamics need to be adjusted a bit, but otherwise it's really a walk in the park this way.


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## David Chappell (Sep 29, 2018)

Disabled tracks and the "show/hide tracks with data" functions are the two biggest ones for me. I've also been moving somewhat into libraries that focus on single track playability (such as Performance Samples'), as some libraries I just don't feel are fluid enough switching between articulations.


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## InLight-Tone (Sep 30, 2018)

Stay with the keyswitched patches to keep track count down, even if you don't use expression maps which are quite easy really. Just duplicate the track and set the new keyswitch. I use a lot of Spitfire so they're always on the interface by clicking.

I once started creating a template of single arts per track, and about 500 tracks into it, I said forget this. Creating expression maps is the way to go even if you end up using one art per track and duplicating the instrument.

For this you need 32gb ram minimum, but 64-128 is better...


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## Chr!s (Sep 30, 2018)

Henu said:


> Please educate us lesser races! I've tried it a couple of times and it's such a pain in the ass I gave up after a while. How are you doing that?



Well, for me, I almost always start from a notated score, but I imagine it would be more difficult if you're the type who usually composes "directly in" with the VIs and comes up with the ideas by messing around with those instruments.

But as for playing it in, on the libraries I have that are velocity switch (like Cinesamples) I usually just play softly, which triggers the 8th notes; to get the pitch and rhythm down. After, I just select the notes that are supposed to be different lengths, right click, and set them all at once to the appropriate velocity and choose where to depress and release the pedal via CC 64 for any legato segments. Lastly, record the modwheel.

and that's about it.


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## Henu (Oct 3, 2018)

Heh, that's basically what I kinda do- I play things in using one articulation and then change the ones needed to be changed afterwards.


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