dull question on sequencing...

[ichabod]

OK.. pretty boring cubase sx question coming up. Wouldn't normally ask but it has been irritation me for ages now so...

When I have a long block with a repeated drum pattern I create a single midi part of a couple of bars (or more if pattern is longer) then repeat it using ghost copies. The problem is - if I want to drop the drum part out for a beat or two then I have to edit one of the ghost parts and convert it to a 'real' part.

If I then edit one of the original copies (e.g. put in an extra drum hit) then this'll be reflected in all of the ghost parts but not this real part variation. Is there any way around this? I've tried using automated mute and unmute on the track and leaving the actual midi part intact. This does the trick but causes really annoying problems.. now when I want to listen to another track in solo mode - other tracks all start automatically unmuting themselves :?

 

[Abstraction]

CTRL + K = repeat part, instead of making a load of ghost part it makes x number of real parts

hope thats what you were looking for

 

[ichabod]

But if they are all real parts then if for example I decided to reduce the velocity of one drum hit in each loop, I'd have to edit each one individually wouldn't I?

 

[makdaddy]

nah - you just copy the part with the edit over to the required locations

 

[JPsychodelicacy]

I've always found ghost parts to be more trouble than they're worth, to be honest - especially in something like trance, where the beats need to change and evolve enough to keep it interesting, yet have to stay reasonably hypnotic.

J.

 

[Faction]

Ghost parts rock IMO - I use them all the time. You can change their length without converting them to real parts, and without affecting any other ghosts. I've set up a key-command <#> to change ghost parts to real parts if I need to change just one out of a set - quick and easy.

Another good trick if you want to repeat one part lots is to make just one ghost part (making sure beforehand that the part is an exact number of bars or beats long) and then <CTRL-D> to duplicate the ghost until you have as many as you need.