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Synchronization
Setting up the audio card for external synchronization
1. Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu
and, on the VST Audio System page, select the name of
your audio interface.
2. Click the Control Panel button to open the card’s pro-
prietary setup dialog.
If this card is accessed via a special ASIO driver (as opposed to Di-
rectX or the Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver), this dialog is provided
by the card, not by Cubase AI. Hence the settings vary with the card
brand and model.
3. Adjust the settings as recommended by the card man-
ufacturer, then close the dialog.
The dialog may also contain various diagnostic tools that allow you to
verify for example whether word clock is arriving correctly.
4. From the Clock Source pop-up, select the input to
which you routed the word clock signal.
This pop-up menu may not be used if you selected an input in the Con-
trol Panel dialog instead.
You can now set up the synchronization:
1. Open the Project Synchronization Setup dialog and
set the Timecode Source to “ASIO Audio Device”.
2. Make the necessary settings in the dialog.
For information on the different sections, click the Help button in the dialog.
3. Close the Project Synchronization Setup dialog.
4. Open the Project Setup dialog from the Project menu
and use the Start value to set which frame on the external
device (e.g. a video tape) should correspond to the begin-
ning of the project.
5. A message appears, asking you whether you want to
keep the project content at its timecode positions. Select
“No”.
This will make all events and parts keep their positions relative to the pro-
ject start.
6. Close the Project Setup dialog.
7. On the Transport panel, activate the Sync button (or
select “Use External Sync” from the Transport menu).
8. Start the tape (or video, or other master device) that
contains the timecode. Cubase AI starts playing when it
receives timecode with a position “higher” than or equal to
the project Start frame.
You can wind the device that sends the timecode to any
position and start from there.
You should also take a look at the Sync Options, see
“Sync Options” on page 240.
The Sync indicator
On the Transport panel you can check the status of incom-
ing timecode by observing the sync indicator. It switches
between “Offline” (not waiting for sync), “Idle” (ready for
sync but no signal is coming in), and “Lock xx” (where xx
indicates the frame rate of the incoming signal).
VST System Link
The ASIO
Audio Device
is selected as
Timecode
Source.
Outputs for
MIDI Clock
Options for
incoming
timecode
!
When the master device is stopped, you can use the
Cubase AI transport controls as you normally do,
when it is not synchronized.
!
For a description of the VST System Link feature
(with which you can synchronize separate computers
running Cubase AI or Nuendo for example) see
“Working with VST System Link” on page 240.
Set this to the timecode
position where you want the
project to start.