Hey. I'm learning to work with this sequencer. I did update to 3.5 also. I'm trying to learn Get and Put Phrase. It seems simple enough. I made a sample song to have something to work with. I "get" a 4 measure phrase from that song, selecting all tracks, and "put" it to a scene in a selected Pattern. That wasn't working at first. I would go to the correct Pattern and scene afterwards and it would be empty. I tried several times and I could not figure out why. Then it just started working. I don't know what I did.

Undoubtedly the dialog box was filled in incorrectly. We should provide the tip: in order to use GET PHRASE you have already opened a Pattern. To “Get” 4 Measures you set the Measure setting to 001 - 005 this equals four complete measures. Always from the the “top of the start measure” to the “top of the measure following the last measure”.

Name your Song and Pattern location as soon as you can... this way it is clear that you are Getting and Putting data from/to the right location. If nothing happens you get an error message about the input to the dialog box (“illegal Input” or “No data” )...
if it executes something, that data went somewhere (perhaps not where you expected, but it went somewhere).

Anyway, now I'm trying to change a track in the pattern scene and "put" the changed part back in the proper place of the song. For instance "get" all tracks. Make changes to the drum track and "put" only the drum track back. When I "put" the edited drum part back where i want it to go in the song, it is overdubbed with the old part. Is there anyway to replace the old part with the new one using these functions?

sounds like you want grab a bunch of measures from a linear Song... bring them into the Pattern Sequencer... make some changes to the Drums... then put just the drums back into the linear Song. I hope I understand correctly...

I think the best way to approach data that is initially Recorded in a linear Song... use the Pattern “Edit/Job“ > “Get Phrase“ to bring portions of the linear structure that you want to work on by bringing in “All” Tracks to a Pattern Scene — this way not only can you work on things in the proper context, but what you are doing is actually constructing an entirely new version as you grab it.

You can use the “Get Phrase” Job to grab chunks as big as 256 measures from a linear Song — so there is no worry about the size of the chunks you want to work on. Once you have the corrected data in the Pattern Sequencer make a new linear Song by Chaining these new Scenes into a proper linear structure. Or use the Append Job, to add one Scene to the end of another.

Putting data back into the original linear Song does not replace track data; it is added/merged to the existing data.
Getting data from a linear Song replaces the data in the target Scene; it overwrites the existing data.

Also, can you insert measures? For example, if I decided to create a 4 measure intro to a song, could I insert it at the beginning, extending the length of the song instead of simply overwriting or overdubbing what is there?

There is no “Insert” job in the Song portion of the Performance Recorder. If you want to add four measures to the front of a linear Song — you can record the four Measures to a blank Pattern linked to this same Performance, as Scene 1.

Then use the “Get Phrase” Job to import the rest of the linear Song (All Tracks) to Scene 2.
Chain Scene 1 and Scene 2 to create a new linear Song. You can do this with the “Chain” function or you simply use the “Edit/Job” called “Append” — this would allow you to lengthen Scene 1 by adding Scene 2 to the end of Scene 1

In both cases, you are using the Pattern Sequencer to create a *new* version of the data (rather than replacing data in the original).
In both cases, you are assembling the new data in the Pattern Sequencer.

Alternative Method:
Using MONTAGE CONNECT you can move your entire linear Song into your DAW. simply drag n drop the icon representing your data into your DAW using the IMPORT feature. You can have Cubase automatically send each Part’s data to its own MIDI Track...where you can edit it and export it as a new .mid File.

.mid Files can be loaded back to the MONTAGE as either a Song or to a Pattern Scene (as long as it is less than 256 measures) by using a USB stick to make the transfer.

*Edit* I totally see what I did wrong! Or what I misunderstood. Sorry!

Ok. I created a performance and linked Pattern 1 to the performance. I used the 8 scenes to write most of my song. I chained the scenes together and created that song on the Montage. I wanted an intro and some different things near the end so i used Get Phrase to get 85 measures of that song and "Put" those measures in Pattern 2, Scene 1. (which is linked to the same performance) I then used 4 other Scenes in Pattern 2 to add the parts I wanted around those 85 measures. I was ready to chain the 5 scenes in Pattern 2 together so I could create a new song. When I turn on "Chain" while in Pattern 2, Scene 1's length changes from 85 measures to 7 measures, which is the length of Scene 1 in Pattern 1. It turns black and will not let me select it to edit the length. When I turn off Chain, it goes back to 85 measures. How can I chain the scenes together in Pattern 2? Thank you!

Chain, Chain, Chain
If you turn Chain = On the Scene box turns black and indicates the first Scene in the Chain, the Length box turns black and indicates the total Length of your Chain.
The black background means you cannot change this in the current screen... rather it is displaying the current Scene for the Measure Position, and the total Length of all Scenes as listed on the Chain.

When Chain is ON, it can only follow the current Chain as set: touch “Edit/Job” > “Chain” to review your current instructions.
A CHAIN consists of two column: The first column is the Measure #, and the second column is what Scene should start playing at that particular Measure. You can keep a Scene playing over and over by setting the Measure of change far away.

If your Scene reads “1” and your Length reads “7” (both in a black background) it means your current Chain has just 7 measures total length, and is made up of Scene 1 to start.

Length-wise
Understanding the “Length” parameter is tricky in that there is the Record Length and the Playback Scene Length and the Total Chain Length

Record Track Length is set prior to recording and is a fact. You must set it before recording so that the Sequencer ‘knows’ when to cycle back to the top. It will determine the maximum number of different measures possible in a Track before it cycles. If you set the Record Length to 6 measures — that becomes the maximum number of measures the Track will playback before cycling to the top. 1-2-3-4-5-6, 1-2-3-4-5-6, and so on.

Playback Scene Length is set during playback and is dynamic. You can change the playback length as it plays. It determines the Length of the Scene - all tracks together. When playing back our example of a 6 measure recording, if the Length during playback is set to 8, you will hear 1-2-3-4-5-6-1-2, 1-2-3-4-5-6-1-2, and so on. If you set the Playback Scene Length to 4, then only the first 4 measures of the 6 will play: 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4 and so on.

Record Length is documented and remains the Length of the original recording... it is set per Track.
Track 1 could be 4 measures
Track 2 could be 8 measures
Track 3 could be 32 measures

When playing back you might initially set the Scene Length to 16.
Track 1 will cycle 4 times, Track 2 will cycle twice, and Track 3 will play halfway through before cycling.

You can understand the Pattern Chain, as setting down on a list the Playback Scene Length... to create a linear timeline. When CHAIN = ON, you can have the Pattern Sequencer automatically playback the list of Scenes making the changes at the appropriate Measures.

Thanks so much for this information! There is a lot to learn but it is making more sense to me.