Global mute preset in the Project Logical Editor of Cubase 12

How to mute a track from within the Key Editor in Cubase 12

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This is a short guide on how to mute the currently selected track without closing the Key Editor in newer versions of Cubase.

A common music transcription scenario

Switching between two listening modes (listening to the audio + recorded MIDI notes, and listening to the audio alone) is an invaluable technique when transcribing music.

Imagine this scenario: you’re transcribing the bass line of a track, listening to the reference material and recording small parts at a time using a MIDI keyboard. You’re working in the Key Editor in full screen, which allows for fast post-record editing, before moving on to the next part. Most likely you have everything muted besides the audio track containing the source material and the MIDI track you’re working with. To keep the transcription accurate, you listen to both the audio and the recorded MIDI notes in unison. Some of the notes sounds off so you want to temporarily mute the MIDI track and focus on just the audio while scrubbing back and forth to fix them. But you don’t have that option without exiting the Key Editor; there is a solo button, but not a mute one.

Muting the currently selected MIDI track from within the Key Editor was the default behavior when hitting the M key in older versions of Cubase, but has been removed in recent ones.

Restoring the mute toggle

Fortunately, this functionality can be restored with a little trick that involves the Project Logical Editor. You can achieve it following these steps:

  1. Open the Project Logical Editor by going to Project -> Project Logical Editor -> Setup.
  2. Under Event Target Filters, insert the two lines as seen in the screenshot below. (Container Type is | Equal | Track | And Property | Property Is Set | Is Selected)
  3. Under Event Transform Actions, insert Track Operation | Mute | Toggle
  4. Give the preset a name (“Global_Mute” in my case) and save it.
  5. To assign the preset you just created to a hotkey, go to Edit -> Key Commands...
  6. Search for the preset by typing its name (“Global_Mute” in this case) and assign the key of your choice to it. Press OK to apply the newly defined hotkey.
Global mute preset in the Project Logical Editor of Cubase 12

That’s it! Now you can easily mute and unmute the track you’re working on without exiting the Key Editor.

You can find more MIDI related guides and articles here.

Happy music transcribing!