Locating Events and Clips
Sometimes you may have to figure out which events in a project refer to a clip, you can use the Select in Project option in the right-click context menu of a clip. As soon as you select this option, all the events in the project that uses the clip will be selected. Now you can edit them all together or delete them according to your needs.
You can perform this method the other way round as well.
If you need to find the clip in the Pool Window that is being used in the project, select the required clip in the project and click on the Audio menu. Select Find Selected in Pool and the clip that is being used will be selected and highlighted in the Pool Window.
Now you can edit the clip or select the remaining instances that the clip is being used via the method mentioned in the above paragraph.
Searching for Files
In the Pool Window, you can search for audio files and other formats, just like a normal search box, but with many other features and filters. You will be able to pin point the correct file using the Search option in the Pool Window.
- In order to open the Search box, select the Search button on the top of the Pool Window
- Once the Search Window appears, type in the name of the file that you require. You can also use wildcards, using an asterisk, to extend the search criteria
- Select the location drop down menu to narrow down the search location
All the hard disks and removable drives along with the Pool Window can be selected in this menu.
If you want to narrow down the search to a specific folder, select the Select Search Path option and choose the required folder in the Folder selection dialog box.
If you have searched using this option before, the folders that you selected will also be listed in this menu.
Once you are done with setting the location and typing in the name of the file, click Search. Once the search is completed, the list of files that match the criteria are displayed.
If you have enabled the AutoPlay option, the file will be played back automatically once you click on the file. Otherwise you can use the transport controls on the left to playback and audition the files. You can play, stop, pause or loop using the buttons available here.
To import the selected file into the session, you can either double-click on it or select the Import into Project option from the secondary-click menu.
Cubase also provides you with the option to customise and extend the search capabilities.
In order to do so, click on the Name drop down menu that appears on the right side of the search text box. You can find a number of filters that can help you narrow down the search and find the file that you are looking for very easily.
The following options are available here:
Name
Here you can use partial name of the file or include wildcards, using an asterisk, in the search term.
Size
Find the file by size by estimating the size of the file via Less than, More than, Equal, Between in Seconds, Minutes, Hours, KB,MB, or GB.
Bit-size
Set the resolution of the files for which you're searching. The values available are 8, 16, 32, 64.
Channels
If you know the number of channels that the file that you are searching for has, you can specify it here.
Channels 1 to 16 are selected here. If the file that you are searching for has only a single track, select Mono, if the file has two channels, select Stereo and so on.
Sample Rate
If you're aware of the sample rate of the file for which you're searching, select it from the drop down menu that is available here.
Sample rates from 8k to 96k are available. If the sample rate of the file falls somewhere in between these rates, you can specify any value by using the Other option that is available and manually entering the required sample rate.
Date
Various dates formats such as Today, Yesterday, Last Week are available. If you remember the date that you recorded or created the file, you can select from the various options that are available here.
If you want to select a custom date instead, select At Date and select the date that you want.
Combining Filters
You may combine two or more filters to narrow down the search, for example, you want to find a Stereo track that you created on a specific date.
Select the Add Filter option and select the Date option and Channel option. Now you'll be able to pin point the exact file that was created on that date.
If you feel that you are using this method very often to find the files, you have the option to create presets so that the next time that you want to combine two or more filters, you just have to load the preset.
In order to do so, click on Presets and select Add Preset. Then type in the name of the preset that you want. Note, it would be easier to give a meaningful name including the filters that you have used rather than giving an arbitrary file name.
Once you are done creating presets, you have the option to remove or add presets in the same menu.
Conclusion
In this tutorial, I've shown you a number ways that you can find the files that you require.
The Search option in the Pool Window can help you find your files very easily and can help you speed up your workflow. In the next part of this tutorial, I will talk about how to deal with missing files.
