User manual

288
The MediaBay
Introduction
Modern music production involves having to deal with a
multitude of media files, e.g. audio, MIDI, video, etc.
Cubase features a powerful media file management data-
base that allows you to control all your media files from
within your sequencer program. This may involve several
different tasks:
• You can browse the folders of your file system to view
folders and files.
• You can define searches to find specific files and filter
the search results.
• You can organize your files in a folder structure.
• You can use the tagging features to assign your files to
specific categories, and use these categories as the basis
for your searches.
Which file formats are supported?
The following media file formats are supported by the Cu-
base Media Management System:
• Audio: .wav, .w64, .aiff, .aifc, .rex, .rx2, .mp3, .mp2, .ogg,
.sd2, .wma (Windows only)
• MIDI: .mid and .midiloop
• Track Presets: .trackpreset
These are templates for audio tracks, MIDI tracks and instrument tracks.
Track Presets are described in detail in the chapter “Track Presets” on
page 300.
• VST Presets: .vstpreset
VST presets are files containing all parameter settings for a particular
VST plug-in. VST preset files are described in detail in the section “In-
serts and EQ settings from track presets” on page 310.
• Video: .avi, .mov, .qt, .mpg, .wmv (Windows only)
• Project files (from Cubase, Nuendo, Sequel): .cpr, .npr,
.steinberg-project
Accessing the Media Management System
Cubase provides the following options to access the
Media Management System:
• Pull down the Media menu and select “Open MediaBay”,
“Open Loop Browser” or “Open Sound Browser” (or use
the respective key commands).
When one of these windows is open, selecting the menu option or using
the key command will close it instead.
The preconfigured windows of the Media
Management System
The Media Management System in Cubase can be ac-
cessed via the MediaBay, the Loop Browser or the Sound
Browser.
Which of these to use depends entirely on your working
environment, and you may find that you want to change
the default setup to better meet your requirements.
• By default, the MediaBay is configured to show all win-
dow sections and display all file types. The default search
mode is Details search.
If you want to work on media files of various types, if you have to move
files to different locations using the Browser section, or if you want to
perform other general file management tasks, the MediaBay is probably
the best view configuration.
• The Loop Browser is configured to show audio files, with
Category search mode selected by default.
Use this if your focus is on audio files of any kind.
• The Sound Browser is focussed on the VST Sound
node (see “The VST Sound node” on page 291). Its filter
buttons are set to showing track preset and VST preset
files. Its default search mode is the Category search.
Use this if you want to work with the available presets.
Whenever you read about the “MediaBay” in this manual,
please remember the following:
Ö The MediaBay is only one of these three preconfigured
views of the Cubase Media Management System. In the
MediaBay window, all controls of the Media Management
System are visible by default, so we will refer to the Media-
Bay throughout this manual when describing functions.
However, what you can do in the MediaBay can also be
done in the Loop Browser and the Sound Browser.