Introduction
You can open the Pool Window by pressing Ctrl-P or by selecting Open Pool Window from the Media menu.
The Pool window contains three categories by default:
- Audio,
- Video, and
- Trash
As the name suggests, all the audio files that are recorded or imported to the project can be found in the Audio folder
The videos that are imported into the project can be found in the Video folder and the clips and files that are not used in the project can be moved to the Trash folder and then permanently removed from the hard disk.
The Basics
The Pool Window provides information about the available files in various columns such as:
Media
This shows the Audio, Video and Trash folders. You can open the folders and the files that are available in the project can be seen in this column.
You can change the name of the files by double-clicking on the file name.
Used
This column shows the number of times that the clip is used in the project.
If this column is empty, it means that the clip has not been used in the project. You can click on this column to sort the clips by the frequency of their usage
Status
This shows the various states of the clips and files in the project. If Record is displayed on the Audio folder, it means that this folder is being used for the location of the audio files that are being recorded.
If a red wave icon is shown near the audio clip, it means that the file has been processed in some way. This way you can easily find the clips that have been processed by you.
If there is a ? symbol beside a clip, it means that the clip was being used in the project, but is missing now.
If there is a blue X near the clip, it means that the file is not present in the project’s folder, but is referenced from some other location.
The last icon is a red R that shows that the clip was recorded recently in the project. You can sort through it to find the most recent recorded clips and use them accordingly.
Musical Mode
This option allows you to activate or deactivate the Musical Mode for a clip. If there are ??? in the tempo column, you have to enter the correct tempo in order to activate the Musical Mode.
Tempo
This displays the current tempo of the clip. You can adjust the tempo of the clip by clicking on this item and entering the new tempo. If a tempo is not available for the clip, ??? will be displayed instead.
Sign
This column displays the time signature of the clip. You can edit it by clicking on this column and editing the values.
Info
This displays various information related to the clip or regions. It includes details such as sample rate, bit depth, channels, length, frame rate etc.,
Type
This shows the format of the clip. This value is not editable.
Date
This column displays the last date and time that it was edited.
Origin Time
This displays the time and place where the clip was recorded. You can use this value to determine the position of the clip according to the project.
You have the option to edit this value and it will be automatically applied to the clip.
Image
The waveform of the clip or the regions are displayed in this column. You can use this information to find out an overview of the clip. You can easily find out if there are any clipping or any other noise in the clip.
Path
This is the location of the clip on the hard disk. You can find out the folder and the file name in this column.
Reel Name
This displays the reel from which the clip has been included.
Other features
Other features that can be used in the Pool Window includes the sorting function. You can click on any of the top headings and the list will be arranged according to the sort order.
You can sort it in ascending or descending order just by clicking on the arrow besides the column’s name.
Common Operations
All the common functions like renaming, deleting, duplicating etc., can be done in the Pool Window.
You also have the option to select the various information that is shown in the columns. Click on the View/Attributes drop down menu and select the ones that you want and deselect the ones that you don’t want.
You can rearrange the order of the columns by dragging the name of the column towards the left or the right according to your need. Clicking on the left or right border of the column allows you to change the width of the column.
To rename a clip, select the clip and then click on it to type in the new name. This method is safer than manually renaming in the hard disk. If you rename a file in the Pool Window, it will automatically be updated and re-linked in the project folder. If you do it the other way, the file will not be properly linked and will be shown as missing.
To duplicate a clip, select the clip and right-click on it. Choose the New Version option on it and a copy of the clip will be created. Remember that this will not create a new file on the disk, but will create an edited copy referring to the same file.
To insert the clips from the Pool Window to the project, you can either drag and drop it onto the project or select Insert Into Project option in the right-click context menu of the clip. In this menu, you can insert the clip at three positions:
- At Cursor: This will insert the clip on the position of the cursor. It is always a good idea to position the cursor where you want the clip to be positioned and then select this option
- At Left Locator: This will insert the clip on the left locator if it has been set. Else it will be posted at the start of the project
- At Origin: This will insert the clip on the Origin Time that is stamped on the clip. You can always change this according to your need by typing in the new values in the Pool Window
Deleting Clips
There are two ways that you can remove a clip from the Pool Window. The first one is to move the clip to the Trash, and the next is to remove it permanently from the hard disk. In order to move the clip to the Trash, select the clip that you want to delete and press the Delete or Backspace key.
If the clip is being used in the project, Cubase will show you a dialog box telling you that it is being used in the project. After this dialog box, you will be again shown a dialog box which asks you to move the clip to the trash or remove from the pool. If you remove it from the pool, the clip will not be associated with the project, but can be still used in other projects.
The next option is to permanently remove the clip from the hard disk. To do so, select the clip and press the Delete or Backspace key. Select the Move to Trash option.
Alternatively, you can drag the clip from the pool and drop it into the Trash. Now secondary-click the Trash folder and select Empty Trash, or select this option from the Media menu.
After a warning message, the clip will be permanently removed from the hard disk and can not be recovered through Cubase.
Another useful option in Cubase is the Remove Unused Clips option. This allows you to save valuable hard disk space.
To do so, select the Remove Unused Clips option from the Media menu. Here select the Trash and press OK. You can also directly remove it from the Pool. Now you can empty your trash and the file will be completely removed from the hard disk.
Conclusion
In this part, you learned about the basics of using the Pool Window. You can perform the basic functions in the Pool Window by following this tutorial. In the next part of this tutorial, I'll show you how to perform advanced functions.
