5.0

52
Recording
Selecting an input bus for a track
Here we assume that you have added and set up the re-
quired input busses (see “Setting up busses” on page
10). Before you record, you need to specify from which in-
put bus the track should record. You can do this in the In-
spector.
• Select an input bus on the Input Routing pop-up menu
in the top section.
As described in the section “The Inspector” on page 18, the Inspector
shows the settings for the selected track. You show or hide the Inspector
by clicking the “Show/Hide Inspector” button on the Project window
toolbar.
Setting input levels
When recording digital sound, it is important to set the in-
put levels correctly – loud enough to ensure low noise and
high audio quality, but not so loud that clipping (digital dis-
tortion) occurs.
Clipping typically occurs in the audio hardware when a
too loud analog signal is converted to digital in the hard-
ware’s A/D converters.
You need to check the level at the channel strip for the
track on which you are recording:
1. Locate the channel strip for the track you’re about to
record on.
2. Activate monitoring for the channel by clicking the
speaker button next to the fader.
When monitoring is activated, the meter shows the level of the incoming
audio signal.
3. Play the audio source that you want to record and
check the level meter for the channel.
4. Adjust the output level of your audio source so that the
meters go reasonably high without reaching 0.0dB.
Check the numerical peak level indicator below the meter in the bus
channel strip. To reset the peak level indicator, click on it.
Ö You must adjust the output level of the audio source –
you cannot use the faders in Cubase AI to adjust the input
level!
Ö An alternative way of checking the input levels would
be to use the control panel for your audio hardware (if it
features input level meters). It may also be possible to ad-
just the input level in the control panel.
See the documentation of your audio hardware for details.
Monitoring
In this context, “monitoring” means listening to the input
signal during recording. There are three fundamentally dif-
ferent ways to do this: via Cubase AI, externally (by listening
to the signal before it reaches Cubase AI), or by using
ASIO Direct Monitoring (which is a combination of both
other methods – see below).
Monitoring via Cubase AI
If you monitor via Cubase AI, the input signal is mixed in
with the audio playback. The advantage of this is that you
can adjust the monitoring level and panning in the mixer,
and add effects and EQ to the monitor signal just as dur-
ing playback (using the track’s channel strip – not the in-
put bus!).
The disadvantage of monitoring via Cubase AI is that the
monitored signal will be delayed according to the latency
value (which depends on your audio hardware and driv-
ers). Therefore, monitoring via Cubase AI requires an au-
dio hardware configuration with a low latency value. You
can check the latency of your hardware in the Device
Setup dialog (VST Audio System page).
Ö If you are using plug-in effects with large inherent de-
lays, the automatic delay compensation function in Cubase
AI will increase the latency.
If this is a problem, you can use the Constrain Delay Compensation func-
tion while recording, see “Constrain Delay Compensation” on page 106.
Click here to select an input
bus for the track.
Click here to show/hide
the Inspector.