Half playback speed for midi

Hi all,

Let me preface this by saying I have definitely looked in the forum first for an answer but couldn’t find one.

So I’m a PT10 refugee, still getting used to the Cubase workflow - not convinced by it just yet but it does crash less than 3 times an hour (in fact no crashes to date, bravo Steinberg) so that clinches it so far!

Anyway one feature I really miss is the shift+spacebar half-speed playback shortcut. The closest direct equivalent I’ve found is the shortcut for shuttle speed but that doesn’t latch, nor does it playback midi, so that’s no good. The solution I’ve got at the moment is to take the project in and out of track and fixed tempo, which kinda works but it makes the cursor jump around the track so is a bit awkward.

Can anyone suggest a quicker way of doing this?

Thanks

Aloha E,
and welcome to the board.

I have not tried it much and don’t know if this will help but there IS a MIDI preset at:

Menu—>MIDI—>Logical Presets—>standard set 1—>‘half tempo’.
There is also a ‘double tempo’ at the same location.

Might be of some use.

Good Luck!
{‘-’}

You have found all the ways, unfortunately,

see Steinberg Forums

The problem with this is that it edits the midi data, whereas what is needed is simply the ability to playback at slower speeds. (via shuttle, preferably)

Ahhh that’s a shame, seems such an easily added feature… fingers crossed for Cubase 8?!

Thanks for the reply guys

I’m not sure how easily added it is, due maybe to the way the timeline works under the hood.

It is a long requested and highly desirable, but for some reason feature request threads about it don’t generate that much traffic.

There are unassigned Key commands that accomplish this (typically used in conjunction with a jog/scrub wheel shuttle controller).

BriHar, the shuttle key commands are for audio only. No midi playback.

The Cubase 7.5.20 new feature, is it called Track Versions? … anyway, I have heard one can have different versions of the tempo track as well. If true, having a “half-speed tempo track” to toggle into and out of might be helpful here, if I’m understanding the problem correctly.

While this is equivalent to switching the tempo track on and off, which makes the cursor jump, as mentioned by EdBeesley in the OP, it can be very useful, depending on the scenario.

Nice out of the box thinking… I did not think of that.

I seemed to have it in my head that this also works for midi tracks - or could it be VSTis?
Wasn’t in a position to try it specifically first. Sorry if I generated any false hope.

No. Audio only.

Well, I have a macro for this, though I know this will not be everyone’s cup of tea because it requires some setup, and will be quite limited compared to actual shuttle/scrub controls for multi-channel midi.

This is helpful to me, and I only post this to share something that might not be obvious. While it’s a bit of a hassle to create, once done you have a way to switch tempos without the cursor jumping to a different bar:

Add tempo track and set to your actual tempo.
Create a new track version for the tempo track and set that to another tempo (I used half…)

Create two macros, and assign key commands to them.

Select the tempo track.

(Thanks Alexis for the idea, which now seems so obvious to me)

No prob, and thanks for the cool Macros!