User manual

228
Automation
Introduction
In essence, automation means recording the values for a
particular Mixer or effect parameter. When you create your
final mix, you will not have to worry about having to adjust
this particular parameter control yourself – Cubase will do
it for you.
Working with automation curves
Within a Cubase project, the changes in a parameter
value over time are reflected as curves on automation
tracks.
About automation curves
There are two kinds of automation curves: “ramp” and
“jump”:
• Jump curves are created for on/off parameters such as
Mute.
• Ramp curves are created for any parameter that gener-
ates continuous multiple values, such as fader or encoder
movements, etc.
Examples of jump and ramp automation curves
About the static value line
When you open an automation track for the first time, it
does not contain any automation events (unless you have
previously adjusted the corresponding parameter with
Write automation activated). This is reflected in the event
display as a straight horizontal black line, the “static value”
line. This line represents the current parameter setting.
• If you have manually added any automation events or
used write automation for the corresponding parameter
and then disable the reading of automation data, the auto
-
mation curve will be grayed-out in the event display and
the static value line will be used instead.
As soon as Read is enabled, the automation curve will become available.
Enabling and disabling the writing
of automation data
You can automation enable tracks and Mixer channels in
Cubase by activating their automation Write buttons.
Write (W) and Read (R) buttons for all plug-in effects and
VST instruments can be found on the corresponding con
-
trol panels.
• If you activate Write for a channel, virtually all Mixer pa-
rameters you adjust during playback for that specific
channel are recorded as automation events.
• If Read is activated for a channel, all your recorded Mixer
actions for that channel are performed during playback.
The Read and Write buttons for a track in the track list are
the same as the Read and Write buttons in the corre-
sponding channel strip in the Mixer.
Ö Note that the Read button is automatically enabled
when you enable the Write button. This allows Cubase to
read existing automation data at any time. You can sepa
-
rately deactivate Write if you want to only read existing
data. It is not possible to activate Write and deactivate
Read at the same time.
There are also global Read and Write indicator buttons
(“Toggle Read/Write for all tracks”) in the common panel
of the Mixer and at the top of the track list:
These buttons light up as soon as there is an enabled Read
or Write button on any channel/track within your project.
Furthermore, they can be clicked to activate or deactivate
the Read/Write buttons of all tracks simultaneously.
The Write and Read buttons for a channel in the Mixer
and for an automation track in the track list
The global Read/Write buttons in the Mixer, and in the
track list