digital audiom manual.com today let's
talk about the transpose functions in
Cubase but before we start I want to
remind you that there's a link below to
the content navigation guide which is an
easy to navigate web page with links to
all the content on this channel and
besides that in the near future I'm
going to begin adding tips and other
bits of information that will only be
available there if you're working with
programs like wavelab or q-based plugins
or the cable guide shaper box and many
any other projects that are in the works
then I know you're going to find just
like I have that this is an invaluable
study Aid and the other thing I want to
make sure you understand is that this is
not a simple PDF this is a constantly
updated page that has any information
that is new or anytime videos are
changed really anything updated and once
you have it you will always have the
latest information constantly updated so
if you haven't gotten it already go to
the link below click on it and save it
to your favorites it's my gift to you
okay so let's get started transpose
functions this is one thing that
probably most people hardly ever touch
and yet when you start playing with it
is probably one of the most fun things
to play around with and where something
like this comes in so valuable is if you
have a vocalist or you're a singer
yourself and you just need to hear your
song in different Keys when you're
testing out to sing with it or anything
along those lines you're going to find
having an understanding of this concept
to be so valuable so let's dig into it
I'm going to start right off by giving
you an example sample and that will help
illuminate this whole concept if I go up
on my toolbar there's a little button up
here it stands for the project root key
it kind of has this little alpha omega
symbol on it if you don't see it and you
just right click on your toolbar and you
look for the option that says project
root key make sure that's checked then
you'll see this option for this drop
down and when you click the drop down
you'll see the various Keys available c
c Shar D and right up the scale you
really don't need to have any musical
understanding of what this stuff does of
course it always helps when you do but
it operates whether whether you
understand it or not and I'm going to
show you what I mean the very first
option up here is this kind of a little
Dash and what that means is when it's
set on the little Dash everything is
kind of staying exactly where it
originally supposed to be wherever it
was recorded Etc that's where it's at
the minute you start changing these
different letters you're basically going
to start transposing your tracks but
there are some conditions and if you
don't meet those you'll hear no
difference so let me show you what I
mean if I start playing my song right
now and I go up to this drop- down list
and I start changing
it it's making no difference whatsoever
I'm moving to the a option or I'm going
to dsh no matter what I do it makes no
difference go back to the dash so if you
were to do just that you'd think well
this feature doesn't even work well
here's the next concept let me take one
event I'm going to choose this bass
option this is just a vsti of a bass
sound on when I click this the info line
for this particular event also lights up
with all kinds of information but one of
those options is a root key and if I
click on this root key once again I'm
given all these options for c c Shar d d
sh so this gives me the exact same
information as what I see up here in
this project rot key the difference one
this one on the info line is specific to
the event that I have highlighted now
you can click each thing you want one at
a time or you can just select them all
at once and you can change this I want
to demonstrate two different things
because when it comes to Drums as
opposed to musical sounds like your bass
and your synthesizer there's definitely
some things you want to understand so
what I'm going to do is I'm going to
start by clicking this bass I'm going to
pick anything else that's kind of
musical here I have an ARP I have
another kind of synthesizer here I have
a string sound these other sounds are a
kick drum a clap and a high hat I'm
going to leave those alone now I'm going
to go back up to this root key on the
info line and again I'm given all these
different choices of the keys get into a
long discussion of what the value of
these different keys are but I'm going
to keep it real simple and just say take
the letter c the only concept you're
trying to understand right now is when
you're on the dash nothing is happening
none of these tracks are going to be
affected on the other hand if you pick a
letter out of this list now you're going
to hear a result so I'm going to go to
the letter c and before I do anything
I'm going to verify it when I click my
base event again now when I look up on
the info line it shows me the letter c
if I go to this next ARP it still shows
me the letter c and on each one of these
it does that on the other hand if I go
back to my kick drum for example it
still shows the dash which means I
haven't done anything to it yet that's
all the information you need at the
moment to start seeing a result now I'm
going to start playing my song again and
at this point I'm going to go back up to
the project rot key and I'm just going
to pick any random letter out of this
list I'll go down to the F listen to
what
happens and now you have it
transposed and you can pick any letter
out of this list and have an instant
transposition let me go to
a and just like that just like I was
saying if you have a singer or you're a
singer yourself and you're trying to go
through your song and it's too high you
can just go through these various
letters and bring your song down or
raise it up whatever you need to do
until you find it where it needs to be
once you're done fooling with this all
you have to do is go back to the little
Dash option again and everything returns
back to the normal key again now here's
why you have to be careful about drums
if I go down to my kick drum I might as
well do all these at once I'll hit the
clap and I'll hit the high hat I'm going
to go back and turn a root key on for
those for C now every single event has
the root key of C on it and again I
could have made any one of these a
different root key I would definitely
advise you to make sure it's the same
always on all of these unless you're
looking for something really strange but
the bottom line is as long as these are
all C or all D or all e or whatever you
want to make them as long as they share
the same root key be able to do this
without any problem but now I have every
one of these events on a rot key of SE
and I'm going to start playing again and
listen to what happens this time so far
up on top I'm on my little Dash now I'm
going to change this to F Watch What
Happens look what happened to the drum
they totally went off the
chart let me go to
G the problem is with drums you don't
really want those changing keys because
you'll all of a sudden have a clap
turned into a tambourine or your Kick
Drum will turn into a snare drum it'll
be changing keys but it won't be
changing keys in a way that you'll like
again unless you're looking for
something unusual or experimental now
you have a couple ways to solve that
problem you could go back and click each
one of these drums and go back and take
their root key out but there's another
option up here and let me pick the drums
in particular I'm going to hit the kick
drum come down to the clap come back to
the high hat again and this time when I
look up on my info line even though I
have a root key assigned to these
different parts there's another option
over here that says the global transpose
and right now it says follow if I click
that it changes to Independent when it's
on Independent it's no longer going to
pay any attention to these root key
changes that I make so you can use
independent or follow depending on what
tracks you want to be affected so now
once again I'm going to go back and play
the project change the keys but watch
the drums will not be affected any
longer here I'm going to move it to
another
key and just like that and the drums
stay exactly where they're supposed to
be so a couple of tips to keep in mind
if you're going to be doing this kind of
transposing if you move the tracks
together that are going to be
independent and then the ones that are
going to be following keep those
together then it makes it very easy to
select these drum tracks for example and
then I can go up and click on the
independ an option then I can click my
tracks below that are going to be
following so that's tip one the other
thing is when you make a track
independent of the transpose you get a
little icon up here on the right which
looks like the icon in the root key drop
down so you know if you have that up
there in the corner those tracks are
independent the next option to consider
is actually using a transpose track if
we go back to our Track Inspector and
say add a track we have an option
towards the bottom that says transpose
you can only put one of these in but one
thing that the transpose track will
automate if you right click on it it
will automatically set the root key for
any of these unassigned events and that
will follow whatever This Global
transpose is for example if I set the
global transpose to C and all my other
parts so far are unassigned go to my
transpose track say set the root key for
the unassigned events every one of those
unassigned events now get the root key
of C the independent tracks continue to
be ignored but again keep in mind when
you're doing this you want to make sure
all these tracks are set on the same
transpose key or you can wi up with some
very unpredictable results result and
the fast easy way to get everything on
the right root key just remember that
you can edit multiple tracks at once if
I drag and select over all of these
tracks at that point I can come up and
change the root key to all of them or
change all of them to independent or
follow another thing to be aware of if
you set your project root key before you
even start any events that you create
whether you record them or just make
them will then be created with the
project root key already on it
everything applies the same way on audio
clips but with the audio clips you can
actually go into the pool as well and
there there's a column for the root key
if you don't see that make sure your
view attributes has it checked but you
can either select one piece of audio or
you can just hit control all and select
all your audio then you can click on the
root key and change it to whatever you
want as well and that will affect every
piece of audio at once if you go into
your media Bay and you pick an audio
file if you go over to your attribute
inspector you'll have an option for the
root key as well when you go over to the
right you'll have your usual list
difference in the media Baye you can
actually pick what octave it's in so you
have an extra set of options as well if
you want any of your audio files to
permanently be on a different root key
you want to go up to your audio and the
option to balance the selection and
that'll make whatever rot key you have
on there permanent so going back to the
transpose track I'm going to go to add
track transpose with the transpose track
you can actually draw separate events if
I switch to my draw tool and I just
click somewhere I have an event and it
goes all the way to the end of the
project I can take this event and I can
move it so I have it at the beginning of
the project as the project plays there's
a a little zero on here and I can click
on that with my mouse wheel or typing in
a number I can change that to some other
number and that'll transpose like the
other options did I can also go up to
the info line and find that same number
and I can spin my mouse wheel on that as
well if I click on the transpose event
then hit my delete key everything goes
back to normal you can draw more than
one of these events let's say I want to
transpose event there and I want one
here and maybe one here here and maybe
one here I'll leave this at the original
state I'll bump this up to three move
this one up to six and then I'll come
back to normal let's listen to what this
does that's the
three and that's the
six and then back to
zero of course you can change the colors
of these events either by using this
color drop down or you can use this
color tool on your toolbar you can hold
control before you click to change the
colors you have a lock button on the
transpose track and if you kick that on
the numbers will gray out on the info
line and you can't change them anymore
it keeps you from changing if you don't
mean to you have a mute option on the
transpose track and that completely
disables the transpose for a minute let
you hear it as a result if you weren't
even using it you have a button that
keeps the transpose in a certain octave
so things can't be raised too high or
too low you have an interesting option
that shows up in the key editor if I
open this part up this area right here
is being transposed by the transposed
track but the notes are still showing in
the original spots there's actually a
button up here on the menu that allows
you to indicate transpositions I click
on this the mini notes actually reflect
what they're being transposed to if you
don't see that and you right click just
make sure the one that says indicate
transposition is showing earlier I said
if you go ahead and set up a root key on
your project before you even start
recording that the events will take on
that root key the direct opposite
happens when you have a transpose track
in if you put a transpose track in and
you start recording it will ignore any
kind of root key on your recording and
whatever you record will automatically
be set to independent and that covers
all the information there is for the
transpose functions all right it's going
to wrap it up for today before you go if
you haven't already be sure to grab your
copy of the content navigation guide
from the link below this video a faster
better way to learn pick it up and look
over all the various topics that are
already gathered there and then get
started on your better way so we dug
into the topic of transpose functions
today we saw what the event rot keys are
and the project rot key we saw the
difference between follow and
independent on the events we learned
about the transpose tracks and how we
can get to the unassigned events with
the transpose track we saw the effects
of editing and recording with a project
rot key we saw various ways at the pool
in the media Bay introduced the option
for a root key we saw the indicate
transpose button in the key editor and
all the various ways the transposes up
on the info line as we continue to move
through all these different subjects in
qbase it's great to have you guys here
and I'll see you on the next
[Music]
video
