# Cubase : how to modify the tempo of a cue without moving the others cues on a film ?



## Bacbé (May 20, 2018)

Hi,
I'm working on a film. I have already composed the music of the end of the film. Now, I would like to compose the music of the begining but I have these problem : if I modify the tempo, all the music after is moved and not synchronised to the image anymore.

Is there a solution to avoid this problem ? The better would be to tell to Cubase that theses informations (midi, etc) stay here no matter what I do before with the tempo. And, if it's possible, without to have to lock the midi containers so that I can alway work on theses cues.

Thank's!

(sorry for my bad english)


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## Lionel Schmitt (May 20, 2018)

Bacbé said:


> Hi,
> I'm working on a film. I have already composed the music of the end of the film. Now, I would like to compose the music of the begining but I have these problem : if I modify the tempo, all the music after is moved and not synchronised to the image anymore.
> 
> Is there a solution to avoid this problem ? The better would be to tell to Cubase that theses informations (midi, etc) stay here no matter what I do before with the tempo. And, if it's possible, without to have to lock the midi containers so that I can alway work on theses cues.
> ...


Maybe this helps?

It's mainly about switching all your tracks to linear mode, rather than musical mode. 
Will be explained in the videos. 

Or this.


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## wickedw (May 20, 2018)

You need to set all your tracks to musical timebase and use a tempo track to set the tempo.

https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro_a..._handling_defining_the_track_time_base_t.html

https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=120844

Hope that helps


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## fretti (May 20, 2018)

DarkestShadow said:


> Maybe this helps?
> 
> It's mainly about switching all your tracks to linear mode, rather than music mode. Will be explained in the video(s).
> 
> Or this.



Great videos! Thanks


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## shomynik (May 20, 2018)

Yes, changing the time domain of all tracks will do it. You can use logical editor to switch/toggle time domain of all tracks at once.


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## Bacbé (May 20, 2018)

Thank for all your help!

Maybe I am wrong, but there is still a flaw : to be sure, the end music stays on the good timing thanks to the linear time even after having changed the tempo before but... I if I want to work again on this music, I'm a little stuck because the music is off the grid (the beats) of his time signature...
I didn't find the linear button of the time signature track and the marker track. I think it would solve this problem.

Isn't a way to tell to Cubase that from here, all informations (midi, markers...) stay inchanged, no matter if it's breaks the previous time signature.


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## resound (May 20, 2018)

It's best to create a separate Cubase project for each cue, then you don't have to worry about these issues.


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## Saxer (May 20, 2018)

resound said:


> It's best to create a separate Cubase project for each cue, then you don't have to worry about these issues.


Exactly that. Just make an audio bounce of your existing track and import it into an new project.


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## samphony (May 21, 2018)

Or use a second DAW on the same computer or another one with the master session/project where you layback (record) or add your main mix or stems of each cue to keep a broad overview.


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## Bacbé (May 21, 2018)

I thought to the method to make one project for une cue, but it doesn't suit to my workflow. 
I like to compose each cue at the same time with a piano track or some first ideas of orchestral instruments to see if it's works on the whole rather that concentrate on one cue at a time. And after, I work the orchestration, sometimes two cues at the same time, I modify an entire cue, copy some midi containers to another cue... 
It would be very time consuming if I always have to, after each modification, import the cue, close the session, open a session with another cue, import the first cue at the good timecode...
Or am I wrong ??


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## europa_io (May 21, 2018)

It is a complete pain but there's no perfect workaround.

One way to keep things on-grid/bar is to create two MIDI tracks, one musical time domain and one linear time domain. Then, just in front of each cue use the pencil tool to create two empty MIDI regions time-aligned with each other, one on the musical track and one on the linear track you just created. Now when you change the tempo before this point on the timeline, the two MIDI regions will go out of alignment. When you've made the tempo changes you need to for the earlier cue, go to a point on the timeline after that cue and before the next cue and add some tempo changes to bring the two empty MIDI regions you created back into alignment. Once they are, the other material should also be in line. It's not perfect and you will probably at least have to muck about with time signatures so starts of bars are also in the right place.

Hope that helps.


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## Saxer (May 21, 2018)

Bacbé said:


> Or am I wrong ??


Whatever works for you... but with single songs per cue can you avoid problems like this.
If work with Logic and when I have to add an intro with a different tempo I set a tempo event on the bar of the existing music and notate the SMPTE time of that event. Lets call this tempo event A. Than I insert the bars I need and set the tempo of the intro at the beginning. Lets call it B. After that I insert another bar in front of that and insert a third tempo event called C.
Now I tweak the tempo C while watching the SMPTE location of tempo event A. Hast to be the same as before. Probably the tempo hast to be a strange value like 28,967413 bpm or whatever. Should work in Cubase the same way.
A bit of fiddling around but works somehow.

C....B(intro).........A(existing music)


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## brek (May 21, 2018)

Bacbé said:


> Or am I wrong ??



Nope. Although I've been following this thread hoping to glean a missed nugget of wisdom from the community here. This is one of the reasons I'm always looking over my fence at DP's different-shade-of-green lawn (since each cue gets it's own "arrangement" within a project). 

I definitely follow the one cue per project rule - creating each new cue as a "Save As" from the first one I complete (I could probably just save it as a template). If I _really_ want to put another cue in the same project, I write down the timecode at the start of the later cue and use the time warp tool to adjust measures in between until it's at the right spot again.


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## Sekkle (May 21, 2018)

I feel your pain and struggled with this in Cubase for years. I tried every possible solution but my projects always ended up a giant mess of versions and cost me a lot of time! As mentioned DP sounded like a great option but since I’m on PC it wasnt really a solid option (when i tested it, it crashed and closed down within a few minutes). I then found out about the Reaper subprojects workflow which basically solved it. I can have as many cues as i want in my ‘master’ Reaper project as subprojects with easy copy/paste between them. It also has all the time warping capabilities of Cubase along with a lot of cool options! If you cant make Cubase fit with your workflow I definitely suggest trying Reaper subprojects.


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## Rctec (May 21, 2018)

europa_io said:


> It is a complete pain but there's no perfect workaround.
> 
> One way to keep things on-grid/bar is to create two MIDI tracks, one musical time domain and one linear time domain. Then, just in front of each cue use the pencil tool to create two empty MIDI regions time-aligned with each other, one on the musical track and one on the linear track you just created. Now when you change the tempo before this point on the timeline, the two MIDI regions will go out of alignment. When you've made the tempo changes you need to for the earlier cue, go to a point on the timeline after that cue and before the next cue and add some tempo changes to bring the two empty MIDI regions you created back into alignment. Once they are, the other material should also be in line. It's not perfect and you will probably at least have to muck about with time signatures so starts of bars are also in the right place.
> 
> Hope that helps.


...and don’t forget to use “Process Tempo”. It’ll work it out for you.
-Hz-


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## europa_io (May 22, 2018)

Rctec said:


> ...and don’t forget to use “Process Tempo”. It’ll work it out for you.
> -Hz-


Awesome. Thanks Hans.


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## Jeremy Spencer (May 22, 2018)

Bacbé said:


> It would be very time consuming if I always have to, after each modification, import the cue, close the session, open a session with another cue, import the first cue at the good timecode...
> Or am I wrong ??



VEPro is your new best friend  It keeps everything loaded between projects, no need to load anything...it takes like ten seconds to close and open a different (or new) cue. If you score the film as one big project, you are going to have inevitable headaches when the director starts tweaking the scenes at the last minute (which will happen).


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## NDRU (May 22, 2018)

Lots of great solution here! Another alternative, perhaps... Think of video slaving..

For example, have a video hosting software running outside of Cubase or on another computer.

MIDI Timecode is your friend 

Breakdown your cues into manageable parts.

And send Timecode to software which hosts your video. Such as Video Slave 3? 

Pro tools? (It's a beast since you can live export and dub in Pro Tools, hear back your previous cue and plan accordingly)

I prefer working this way so I don't get into unnecessary clutter. Also it is easier when I am required to show my work to my clients.


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## NDRU (May 22, 2018)

Lastly, the method mentioned will save you a lot of headache when you are required to write for a full length feature film, revisions (OMG!!), yes revisions, tempo changes, sudden change musical direction...

If you are writing the music, one pass without revision, you should be alright.


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## Emmanuel Rousseau (May 23, 2018)

Bacbé said:


> Thank for all your help!
> 
> Maybe I am wrong, but there is still a flaw : to be sure, the end music stays on the good timing thanks to the linear time even after having changed the tempo before but... I if I want to work again on this music, I'm a little stuck because the music is off the grid (the beats) of his time signature...
> I didn't find the linear button of the time signature track and the marker track. I think it would solve this problem.
> ...



In case you are still looking for a way to find the linear/musical switch in your Time Signature tracks and Marker tracks, here is how to solve this :

1. Right click on your marker track and go to "Track controls"






2. Click on "Toggle time base between linear and musical" and click "Add". Then, "Apply".






3. Done !


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## brett (May 23, 2018)

If you want to have all cues in a single project (which happens to be my own workflow) @europa_io is correct. Once you get the hang on it it’s pretty quick


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## Ethos (May 23, 2018)

Rctec said:


> ...and don’t forget to use “Process Tempo”. It’ll work it out for you.
> -Hz-


What does Process Tempo actually do? Don't think I've ever used it...


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## Rctec (May 23, 2018)

Ethos said:


> What does Process Tempo actually do? Don't think I've ever used it...


It’s an old thing Wolfgang Kundrus wrote for me in Cubase. It lets you take a region of music and - let’s say you want to hit bar 201 at a certain Timecode number - adjusts and re-calculates all the tempos relatively (keeping the “shape” of rittardandos and Accelerandos) in tact. It makes your music fit the scene... there is more to it than that, but RTFM


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## Ethos (May 23, 2018)

Rctec said:


> It’s an old thing Wolfgang Kundrus wrote for me in Cubase. It lets you take a region of music and - let’s say you want to hit bar 201 at a certain Timecode number - adjusts and re-calculates all the tempos relatively (keeping the “shape” of rittardandos and Accelerandos) in tact. It makes your music fit the scene... there is more to it than that, but RTFM



Uh... holy crap. How have I never used this before?! Thanks for the tip! I'm RTFM'ing right now!


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## Valérie_D (May 23, 2018)

Rctec said:


> It’s an old thing Wolfgang Kundrus wrote for me in Cubase. It lets you take a region of music and - let’s say you want to hit bar 201 at a certain Timecode number - adjusts and re-calculates all the tempos relatively (keeping the “shape” of rittardandos and Accelerandos) in tact. It makes your music fit the scene... there is more to it than that, but RTFM



This is a great tip! My pet peeves writing for picture : how do you convey gradual or subtle tempo change on sheet music and how do you record it so it will fit, it's an art in itself, rythm, image synchronisation and musicians recreating it.


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## Daniel James (May 23, 2018)

Rctec said:


> It’s an old thing Wolfgang Kundrus wrote for me in Cubase. It lets you take a region of music and - let’s say you want to hit bar 201 at a certain Timecode number - adjusts and re-calculates all the tempos relatively (keeping the “shape” of rittardandos and Accelerandos) in tact. It makes your music fit the scene... there is more to it than that, but RTFM



Gah fuck guess I will have to read it after all.

-DJ


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## Jeremy Gillam (May 23, 2018)

Daniel James said:


> Gah fuck guess I will have to read it after all.



Nah...


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## Daniel James (May 23, 2018)

Rctec said:


> It’s an old thing Wolfgang Kundrus wrote for me in Cubase. It lets you take a region of music and - let’s say you want to hit bar 201 at a certain Timecode number - adjusts and re-calculates all the tempos relatively (keeping the “shape” of rittardandos and Accelerandos) in tact. It makes your music fit the scene... there is more to it than that, but RTFM



BTW mate can you have a word. Can't count how many times I have accidentally hit f1 and had Chrome load up the manual. Gotta let us re-assign that key.

-DJ


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