User manual

518
ReWire
Introduction
ReWire and ReWire2 are special protocols for streaming
audio between two computer applications. Developed by
Propellerhead Software and Steinberg, ReWire provides
the following possibilities and features:
• Realtime streaming of up to 64 separate audio channels
(256 with ReWire2), at full bandwidth, from the “synthe
-
sizer application” into the “mixer application”.
In this case, the “mixer application” is of course Cubase. An example of a
“synthesizer application” is Propellerhead Software’s Reason.
• Automatic, sample accurate synchronization between
the audio in the two programs.
• The possibility to have the two programs share one au-
dio card and take advantage of multiple outputs on that
card.
• Linked transport controls that allow you to play, rewind,
etc., either from Cubase or from the synthesizer applica
-
tion (provided it has some kind of transport functionality).
• Automatic audio mixing functions of separate channels
as required.
In the case of Reason, for example, this allows you to have separate
mixer channels for the different devices.
• Additionally, ReWire2 offers the possibility to route MIDI
tracks in Cubase to the other application, for full MIDI
control.
For each ReWire2 compatible device, a number of extra MIDI outputs
will be made available in Cubase. In the case of Reason, this allows you
to route different MIDI tracks in Cubase to different devices in Reason,
with Cubase serving as the main MIDI sequencer.
• The overall load on your system is much reduced, com-
pared to when using the programs together in the conven-
tional way.
Launching and quitting
When using ReWire, the order in which you launch and
quit the two programs is very important:
Launching for normal use with ReWire
1. First launch Cubase.
2. Enable one or several ReWire channels in the ReWire
Device dialog for the other application.
This is described in detail in the section “Activating ReWire channels” on
page 519.
3. Launch the other application.
It may take slightly longer for the application to start when you are using
ReWire.
Quitting a ReWire session
When you are finished, you also need to quit the applica-
tions in a special order:
1. First quit the synthesizer application.
2. Then quit Cubase.
Launching both programs without using
ReWire
We cannot think of any scenario, in which you would need
to run Cubase and the synthesizer application simultane
-
ously on the same computer, without using ReWire, but
you can:
1. First launch the synthesizer application.
2. Then launch Cubase.
Ö Please note that the two programs now compete for
system resources such as audio cards, just as when run
-
ning either with other, non-ReWire audio applications.