Remote Control Devices

9
Remote controlling Cubase
5. Use the pop-up menu to the right to select a bank.
Banks are combinations of a certain number of channels, and are used
because most MIDI devices can control only a limited number of chan-
nels at a time (often 8 or 16). For example, if your MIDI control device has
16 volume faders, and you are using 32 mixer channels in Cubase, you
would need two banks of 16 channels each. When the first bank is se-
lected you control channel 1 to 16; when the second Bank is selected
you control channel 17 to 32. Since you can control Transport functions
as well, you may need several banks.
6. Set up the table at the top according to the controls
on your MIDI control device.
The columns have the following functionality:
• If you find that the table at the top holds too many or too
few controls, you can add or remove controls with the Add
and Delete buttons to the right of the table.
• If you are uncertain of which MIDI message a certain
controller sends, you can use the Learn function:
Select the control in the upper table (by clicking in the Control Name co-
lumn), move the corresponding control on your MIDI device and click the
Learn button to the right of the table. The MIDI Status, MIDI Channel and
Address values are automatically set to those of the moved control.
7. Use the table at the bottom to specify which Cubase
parameters you want to control.
Each row in the table is associated to the controller in the corresponding
row in the first table (as indicated by the Control Name column). The
other columns have the following functionality:
8. If necessary, select another bank and make settings
for it.
Note that you only need to make settings in the bottom table for this bank.
The table at the top is already set up according to the MIDI remote device.
• If necessary, you can add banks by clicking the Add
button below the Bank pop-up.
Clicking the Rename button allows you to assign a new name to the cur-
rently selected bank, and you can remove an unneeded bank by select-
ing it and clicking the Delete button.
Column Description
Control Name Double clicking this field allows you to enter a descriptive
name for the control (typically a name written on the con-
sole). This name is automatically reflected in the Control
Name column in the lower table.
MIDI Status Clicking in this column pulls down a pop-up menu, allow-
ing you to specify the type of MIDI message sent by the
control. The options are Controller, Program Change,
Note On, Note Off, Aftertouch and Polyphonic Pressure.
Also available are Continuous Control NRPN and RPN, a
way to extend the available control messages. The “Ctrl
JLCooper” option is a special version of a Continuous
Controller where the 3rd byte of a MIDI message is used
as address instead of the 2nd byte (a method supported
by various JL-Cooper remote devices).
MIDI Channel Clicking in this column opens a pop-up menu, allowing
you to select the MIDI channel on which the controller is
transmitted.
Address The Continuous Controller number, the pitch of a note or
the address of a NRPN/RPN Continuous Controller.
Max. Value The maximum value the control will transmit. This value is
used by the program to “scale” the value range of the
MIDI controller to the value range of the program para-
meter.
Flags Clicking in this column pulls down a pop-up menu, allow-
ing you to activate or deactivate three flags:
Receive – activate this if the MIDI message should be
processed on reception.
Transmit – activate this if a MIDI message should be
transmitted when the corresponding value in the program
changes.
Relative – activate this if the control is an “endless” dial,
which reports the number of turns instead of an absolute
value.
Column Description
Device Clicking in this column pulls down a pop-up menu, used
for determining which device in Cubase should be con-
trolled. The special option “Command” allows you to per-
form certain command actions by remote control. One
example of this is the selection of remote banks.
Channel/
Category
This is where you select the channel to be controlled or, if
the “Command” Device option is selected, the Command
category.
Value/Action Clicking in this column pulls down a pop-up menu, allow-
ing you to select the parameter of the channel to be
controlled (typically, if the “VST Mixer” Device option is
selected you can choose between volume, pan, send
levels, EQ, etc.).
If the “Command” Device option is selected, this is where
you specify the “Action” of the category.
Flags Clicking in this column pulls down a pop-up menu, allow-
ing you to activate or deactivate three flags:
Push Button – When activated, the parameter is only
changed if the received MIDI message shows a value
unequal to 0.
Toggle – When activated, the parameter value is
switched between minimum and maximum value each
time a MIDI message is received. The combination of
Push Button and Toggle is useful for remote controls
which do not latch the state of a button. One example is
controlling mute status with a device on which pressing
the Mute button turns it on, and releasing the Mute button
turns it off. If Push Button and Toggle are activated, the
Mute status will change between on and off whenever
the button is pressed on the console.
Not Automated – When activated, the parameter will not
be automated.