Batch Rename Tracks and Audio Outs?

Is there a way to rename a group of selected tracks?

When working on some parts, I tend to add midi and audio tracks quickly and then prefer to go back and rename them after recording.

So, I’ll add, say, five MIDI tracks
Midi 1
Midi 2
Midi 3…

and then go back and rename them –
Strings 1
Strings 2
Strings 3…

Is there a way to do this in Cubase? I tried the “append date” macro but either I don’t understand how to use it (likely) or it’s not doing what I’d like it to do. If the Operations Manual explains this, I’ve not been able to parse it.

Also, on the Audio Output Tracks, the names assigned are rather arbitrary and need to be renamed and colors assigned for grouping clarity.

Re: Audio Outputs:
Groove Agent assigns names one way, HESS uses another convention, Loop Mash yet another. Other multi-out instruments use other output names and need to be re-named and re-colored when setting up a mix. I understand that Templates need to become my friend here I guess. I know I need to develop better templates and more track archives, but, nevertheless, I’d still like to be able to batch re-name a set of selected tracks. Is there a way to do this?

Also, can we sort tracks by name, re-number them and sort tracks by track number? You get the idea… (Other programs I’ve used in the past did track sorting and renaming very well and I miss it).

As always, any tips, references or general thoughts about track sorting, renaming and general Track Name management – MIDI and Audio greatly appreciated. Thanks. :slight_smile:

Hi,

You can use Project Logical Editor:
Filter
(Container Type is | Equal | Part | And
Media Type is | Equal | MIDI | And
Name | Contains | MIDI)

Action
Name | Replace Search String | String

  • but this doesn’t work to me. So you can use use:
    Name | Generate Name | String | 1.

Does it work to you?

Martin,

This worked like a charm. I noticed that if I used “part” it renames the parts and not the tracks, but using “tracks” renames the tracks. I’m assuming both “tracks” and “parts” could be combined with an additional “and” line. I’ll have to work on that some more.

I did not try the “replace string” function, but I’ll get back to you if I find that it either does or does not work on my system.

Martin, thank you for helping me understand this better. I can’t say I’m delighted with how Cubase deals with track sorting and naming, but, I’ll keep working on with this and I’m sure become more conversant and comfortable with how the PLE works. I saved the what I ended up with as a Preset and I’ll use that as a kind of PLE sandbox.

Martin, (and anyone else reading)

In working with the PLE, based on your kind assistance, I was able to re-name the audio outputs for Instrument Outputs from the Default assignments to ones I found more useful. However, I had to use “Device” in order for this to work. (See Screen shot) When I used “track” the program incremented the value of Parameter 1 by twos (2), 2, 4, 6…, however, when I used “Device” it incremented by single numbers, 1, 2, 3…, which is what I was after.


Note: I use HSE rather than HESS and Out 1 rather than Main for HALion Sonic Se.

Thanks again for this and for all your posts. :slight_smile:

Nice!

VERY helpful!

PLE confused me, and as a result I’ve not gotten much use from it.

I’ve read the PLE documentation, but not yet studied it carefully. That said, actually using PLE is easy and it seems like there’s lots more it can do. Over time I’ll create more Presets for various tasks. If I find any really useful ones, I’ll be glad to share them.

I do wish Cubase had an out-of-the-box method for track re-naming and track sorting, but at least now I can rename things like this and that’s very useful. I’m sure there’s a lot more to learn, but PLE seems less opaque after seeing this work.

(As I work on a project I add instrument or part names to the individual outputs, resulting in names such as, “Piano - HSE Out 01”)

So there is no way to sort tracks by name in Cubase or Nuendo that anyone knows of right?

The Project Logical Editor works great for me to rename tracks, but I cannot find a way to make it work to rename audio files in the pool. Anyone find this?

Hi,

Project Logical Editor cannot control Pool.

OK, thanks!

Is there a way to replace just part of a track name? Say I have tracks named “Orchestral Strings 01,” “Orchestral Strings 02,” etc. and I want to rename them to “Orchestral Brass 01,” “Orchestral Brass 02,” etc. How would I do this?

In addition, is there a way to remove text in question from a track name (I,e, search all “Strings” and remove them so it’s just “Orchestral 01,” “Orchestral 02,” etc.?)

Hi,

Yes, it’s possible. Use Edit > Project Logical Editor.

Container Type Is | Equal | Track | And
Name | Contains | Strings

Action
Name | Replace Search String | Strings | Brass

Function: Transform

Is there a way to prepend (prefix) the name of existing tracks with incremental numbers?

Kick
Snare
Hihat

Becomes…

001 Kick
002 Snare
003 Hihat

It seems like the PLE only does prepend incrementally with “generate” new names. It doesn’t seem to be available for just adding an incremental numerical prefix to the existing name. Does anyone have a method for this?

(Wonderful for exporting raw waves for sending to mix engineer working in another DAW…)

I completely hear you, I used this just this weekend with the awesome batch renamer in Pro Tools Opift (Option+Shift (⌥⇧)) + r and padded 160 tracks with 1 or 2 zeros and it went across VCA’s, subgroups, video tracks etc. So nice when brining things over into Reaper after consolidating files. That way they all import in order and show what tracks are missing with the gapped numbers.

https://www.avidblogs.com/rename-groups-of-tracks-and-clips-in-pro-tools-12-8-2-with-batch-rename

Yeah, I ended up cross grading to Nuendo, which can do this…