User manual

68
Recording
Audio pre-record
This feature allows you to capture up to 1 minute of any in-
coming audio you play in Stop mode or during playback,
“after the fact”. This is possible because Cubase can cap-
ture audio input in buffer memory, even when not recording.
Proceed as follows:
1. Open the Preferences (Record-Audio page).
2. Specify a time (up to 60 seconds) in the “Audio Pre-
Record Seconds” field.
This activates the buffering of audio input, making Pre-Record possible.
3. Make sure an audio track is record-enabled and re-
ceives audio from the signal source.
4. When you have played some audio material you want
to capture (either in Stop mode or during playback), click
the Record button.
5. After a few seconds stop the recording.
An audio event is created, starting at where the cursor position was
when you activated recording. This means that if you were in stop mode,
and the cursor was at the beginning of the project, you may have to move
the event to the right in the next step. If you were playing along to a
project you should leave the event where it is.
6. Select the Arrow tool and place the cursor on the bot-
tom left edge of the event so that a double arrow appears,
then click and drag to the left.
Now the event is extended and the audio you played before activating
record is inserted – this means that if you played along during playback,
the captured notes will end up exactly where you played them in relation
to the project.
The recording was activated at the start of bar 9. This is indicated by a
blue line in the audio event.
Audio recording specifics
Selecting a recording file format
The format for recorded files is set in the Project Setup dia-
log on the Project menu. There are three settings: sample
rate, record format (bit depth) and record file type. While
the sample rate is set once and for all when you start work-
ing on a new project, the bit depth and file type can be
changed at any time.
Record file type
The Record File Type setting determines which type of
files will be created when you record:
• If you select Broadcast Wave File or AIFF format, you
can specify Author, Description and Reference text strings
that will be embedded in the recorded file.
This is done on the Record–Audio–Broadcast Wave page in the Prefer-
ences.
Record format (bit depth)
The available options are 16 bit, 24 bit and 32 bit float.
Use the following guidelines:
• Normally, select the record format according to the bit
depth delivered by your audio hardware.
For example, if your audio hardware has 20 bit A/D converters (inputs),
you may want to record at 24 bit resolution to capture the full bit depth.
On the other hand, if your hardware has 16 bit inputs, it’s pointless to
record with a higher bit depth – this will only make the audio files larger,
with no difference in audio quality. The exception is if you record with ef-
fects – see “Recording with effects (Cubase only)” on page 77.
File type Description
Wave File Wave files have the extension “.wav” and are a common
file format on the PC platform.
Wave 64 File
(Cubase only)
Wave64 is a proprietary format developed by Sonic
Foundry Inc. Audio-wise it is identical to the Wave format,
but the internal file structure makes much larger file sizes
possible. This is useful e.g. for long live recordings in sur-
round format, where the audio files can become huge.
Broadcast
Wave File
In terms of audio content, the same as regular Wave files,
but with embedded text strings for supplying additional
information about the file (see below).
AIFF File Audio Interchange File Format, a standard defined by Ap-
ple Computer Inc. AIFF files have the extension “.aif” and
are used on most computer platforms. Like Broadcast
Wave files, AIFF files can contain embedded text strings
(see below).