User manual

15
VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses
Preparations
Before you set up busses, you should name the inputs
and outputs on your audio hardware. For example, if you
are using a 5.1 surround speaker setup, you should name
the outputs according to which speaker they are con-
nected to (Left, Right, Center and so on).
The reason for this is compatibility – it makes it easier to
transfer projects between different computers and setups.
For example, if you move your project to another studio,
the audio hardware may be of a different model. But if
both you and the other studio owner have given your in-
puts and outputs names according to the surround setup
(rather than names based on the audio hardware model),
Cubase will automatically find the correct inputs and out-
puts for your busses and you will be able to play and
record without having to change the settings.
Use the Device Setup dialog to assign names to the in-
puts and outputs of your audio hardware:
1. Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu.
2. Make sure that the correct driver for your audio hard-
ware is selected on the VST Audio System page, so that
the audio card is listed in the Devices list.
3. Select your audio card in the list.
The available input and output ports on your audio hardware are listed on
the right.
4. To rename a port, click its name in the “Show as” col-
umn and enter a new name.
• If needed, you can also disable ports by deactivating
them in the “Visible” column.
Disabled ports won’t show up in the VST Connections window when you
are making bus settings. If you attempt to disable a port that is used by a
bus, you will be asked whether this is really what you want – note that
this will remove the port from the bus!
5. Click OK to close the Device Setup dialog.
Ö If you open a project created on another computer and
the port names don’t match (or the port configuration isn’t
the same – e.g. the project is created on a system with
multi-channel i/o and you open it on a stereo in/out sys-
tem), the Pending Connections dialog will appear.
This allows you to manually re-route ports used in the project to ports
available in your system.
The VST Connections window
You add and set up busses in the VST Connections win-
dow, opened from the Devices menu.
This window contains the following tabs:
• The Inputs and Outputs tabs are for viewing input busses or
output busses, respectively.
• The Group/FX tab allows you to create Group and FX chan-
nels/tracks and to make output assignments for these. See
“Setting up Groups and FX channels” on page 20.
• The External FX tab (Cubase only) allows you to create effect
send/return busses for connecting external effects which can
then be selected via the effect pop-up menus from inside the
program. See “External instruments/effects (Cubase only)” on
page 20 and “Using external effects (Cubase only)” on page
175 for further information.
• The External Instruments tab (Cubase only) allows you to cre-
ate input/output busses for connecting external instruments.
See “External instruments/effects (Cubase only)” on page 20
and the chapter “VST Instruments and Instrument tracks” on
page 182 for further information.
• The Studio tab (Cubase only) is where you enable and config-
ure the Control Room. See the chapter “Control Room (Cu-
base only)” on page 146.
For the time being, we shall focus on how to set up input
and output busses.