Quick Start

10
System requirements and installation
Using the built-in audio hardware of the Macintosh
(Mac only)
Although Cubase is designed with multi-channel input
and output in mind, it’s of course possible to use the pro-
gram with “basic” stereo inputs and outputs. As of this
writing, all current Macintosh models provide at least built-
in 16 bit stereo audio hardware. For detailed information,
refer to the documentation describing your computer.
Depending on your preferences and requirements, using
the built-in audio hardware may be sufficient for use with
Cubase. It is always available for selection in Cubase –
you don’t need to install any additional drivers.
About drivers
A driver is a piece of software that allows a program to
communicate with a certain piece of hardware. In this
case, the driver allows Cubase to use the audio hardware.
For audio hardware, there are two different cases, requir-
ing different driver configurations:
If the audio hardware has a specific ASIO driver
Professional audio cards often come with an ASIO driver
written especially for the card. This allows for communica-
tion directly between Cubase and the audio card. As a re-
sult, audio cards with specific ASIO drivers can provide
lower latency (input-output delay), which is crucial when
monitoring audio via Cubase or using VST Instruments.
The ASIO driver may also provide special support for mul-
tiple inputs and outputs, routing, synchronization, etc.
Audio card-specific ASIO drivers are provided by the card
manufacturers. Make sure to check the manufacturer’s
web site for the latest driver versions.
If the audio card communicates via DirectX (Windows
only)
DirectX is a Microsoft “package” for handling various
types of multimedia data under Windows. Cubase sup-
ports DirectX, or to be more precise, DirectSound, which
is a part of DirectX used for playing back and recording
audio. This requires two types of drivers:
• A DirectX driver for the audio card, allowing it to communicate
with DirectX. If the audio card supports DirectX, this driver
should be supplied by the audio card manufacturer. If it isn’t
installed with the audio card, please check the manufacturer’s
web site for more information.
• The ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver, allowing Cubase to com-
municate with DirectX. This driver is included with Cubase,
and does not require any special installation.
Hardware installation
The Steinberg Key
Included with the Cubase package, you will find the Stein-
berg Key (also referred to as a “dongle” or “eLicenser”), a
hardware copy protection device that is part of the Cu-
base copy protection scheme. Cubase will not run if there
is no Steinberg Key.
The Steinberg Key
The Steinberg Key is, in fact, a little computer on which
your Steinberg software licenses are stored. All hardware-
protected Steinberg products use the same type of key,
and you can store more than one license on one key. Also,
licenses can (within certain limits) be transferred between
keys – which is helpful, e.g. if you want to sell a piece of
software.
!
Some Macintosh models have audio outputs but no
inputs. This means that you can only play back audio
– recording is not possible without additional audio
hardware.
!
If your audio hardware comes with a specific ASIO
driver we strongly recommend that you use this.
!
Please read the following section before installing
the Cubase software.