I want to export around 20 Parts, so I've created 20 Markers, each 89 bars apart.As you might expect, this involves a slightly tortuous use of Cubase's Macro function. After some experimentation, I found that if you don't mind a little extra work at the start and end of the process, there is a way to eliminate this particular bugbear. Every track has to be named manually, so you have to be watching your computer for the entire time you're creating the export files. To my mind, the really tedious thing about the track-by-track method I've just described is that you can't just leave the computer to get on with it. Unless, that is, it's possible to automate the process. Instead, you're faced with having to solo each MIDI track individually, select 'Export Audio Mixdown' from the File menu, choose a meaningful filename, decide whether it needs to be stereo or mono, and then wait for it to bounce before going on to the next one. What's more, the Freeze function works on entire Instruments, rather than channels or MIDI tracks, so it offers no way to export multiple MIDI Parts routed to a single VST Instrument as separate files. There's no way to incorporate soft-synth parts in an OMF dump, for example nor is it possible to use the 'Bounce Selection' command on MIDI parts. However, doing this can be a colossal pain in the arse, because Cubase really doesn't make it easy to export individual soft-synth parts as audio files. Similarly, if you ever want to give a Cubase Project to someone else to mix, you'll probably need to turn it into a set of multitrack audio files first. My ideal compromise, therefore, is to get MIDI backing tracks together in Cubase, before exporting them to Pro Tools for mixing. Pro Tools won't let you edit multiple MIDI parts in one window, and more importantly, doesn't work well with several of my favourite soft synths. However, a lot of the music I work on is generated from the ground up using MIDI and soft synths, and when it comes to sequencing, my preferences are the other way around. That's fine when I'm working with a project that's predominantly based on multitrack audio, such as a band session. I prefer mixing in Pro Tools, especially as PT gives me access to some great plug-ins that aren't available in VST format. It doesn't offer side-chaining, the mixer is hard to navigate, the bundled plug-ins are mediocre and I find it difficult to work with a large mix on my laptop screen. It pains me to say this in an article aimed at Cubase users, but I don't really like mixing in Cubase. If you like Cubase's sequencing capabilities but prefer to mix your projects in another application, there's a hurdle to overcome: getting your soft-synth parts from one to the other. Here, I've placed Markers at the left and right locator positions, and we can see that the song is 89 bars long.
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