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Recording
When monitoring via Cubase AI, you can select one of four
Auto Monitoring modes in the Preferences (VST page):
• Manual
This option allows you to turn input monitoring on or off by clicking the
Monitor button in the Inspector, the Track list or in the mixer.
• While Record Enabled
With this option, you will hear the audio source connected to the channel
input whenever the track is record enabled.
• While Record Running
This option switches to input monitoring only during recording.
• Tapemachine Style
This option emulates standard tapemachine behavior: input monitoring in
Stop mode and during recording, but not during playback.
External monitoring
External monitoring (listening to the input signal before it
goes into Cubase AI) requires some sort of external mixer
for mixing the audio playback with the input signal. This
can be a stand-alone physical mixer or a mixer application
for your audio hardware, if this has a mode in which the in-
put audio is sent back out again (usually called “Thru”,
“Direct Thru” or similar).
When using external monitoring, you cannot control the
level of the monitor signal from within Cubase AI or add
VST effects or EQ to the monitor signal. The latency value
of the audio hardware configuration does not affect the
monitor signal in this mode.
Ö If you want to use external monitoring, you need to make
sure that monitoring via Cubase AI is not activated as well.
Select the “Manual” monitoring mode in the Preferences (VST page) and
do not activate the Monitor buttons.
ASIO Direct Monitoring
If your audio hardware is ASIO 2.0 compatible, it may sup-
port ASIO Direct Monitoring (this feature may also be avail-
able for audio hardware with Mac OS X drivers). In this
mode, the actual monitoring is done in the audio hardware,
by sending the input signal back out again. However, moni-
toring is controlled from Cubase AI. This means that the au-
dio hardware’s direct monitoring feature can be turned on
or off automatically by Cubase AI, just as when using inter-
nal monitoring.
• To activate ASIO Direct Monitoring, open the Device
Setup dialog on the Devices menu and activate the Direct
Monitoring checkbox on the page for your audio hardware.
If the checkbox is grayed out, your audio hardware (or its driver) does not
support ASIO Direct Monitoring. Consult the audio hardware manufac-
turer for details.
• When ASIO Direct Monitoring is activated, you can se-
lect a monitoring mode in the Preferences (VST page), as
when monitoring via Cubase AI (see “Monitoring via Cu-
base AI” on page 52).
• Depending on the audio hardware, it may also be possi-
ble to adjust the monitoring level and panning from the
mixer by adjusting the volume faders, and the input gain
controls.
Consult the documentation of the audio hardware if in doubt.
• VST effects and EQ cannot be applied to the monitor
signal in this mode, since the monitor signal does not pass
through Cubase AI.
• Depending on the audio hardware, there may be special
restrictions as to which audio outputs can be used for di-
rect monitoring.
For details on the routing of the audio hardware, see its documentation.
The latency value of the audio hardware configuration
does not affect the monitor signal when using ASIO Direct
Monitoring.
When using Steinberg hardware (MR816 series) in com-
bination with ASIO Direct Monitoring, monitoring will be
virtually latency-free.
Ö If you are using RME Audio Hammerfall DSP audio
hardware, make sure that the pan law is set to -3dB in the
card’s preferences.