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Audio effects
Insert effects in the channel overview
If the “Channel” section is selected in the Inspector, you will
get an overview of which insert effects, EQ modules and ef-
fect sends are activated for the channel.
You can activate or deactivate individual insert effect slots
by clicking the corresponding number (in the top part of
the overview).
The channel overview in the Inspector
Adding insert effects to output busses
All output busses have eight insert slots, just like regular
audio channels. The procedures for adding insert effects
are the same.
• Insert effects added to an output bus will affect all audio
routed to that bus, like a “master insert effect”.
Typically you would add compressors, limiters, EQ or other plug-ins to
tailor the dynamics and sound of the final mix. Dithering is a special case,
as described below.
Ö Please note that the output busses only appear as
tracks in the Track list, when their automation W(rite) but-
tons have been activated once. Therefore you can only
use the Inspector section to make Inserts settings for the
busses if you have activated Write automation for the re-
spective bus beforehand.
However, you can always make Inserts settings in the Channel Settings
window.
Dithering
Dithering is a method for controlling the noise produced
by quantization errors in digital recordings. The theory be-
hind this is that during low level passages, only a few bits
are used to represent the signal, which leads to quantiza-
tion errors and hence distortion.
For example, when “truncating bits”, as a result of moving
from 24 to 16 bit resolution, quantization errors are added
to an otherwise immaculate recording. By adding a spe-
cial kind of noise at an extremely low level, the effect of
these errors is minimized. The added noise could be per-
ceived as a very low-level hiss under exacting listening
conditions. However, this is hardly noticeable and much
preferred to the distortion that otherwise occurs.
Ö Note that there is no Dithering plug-in included with
Cubase AI. To use this function, you have to have a dither-
ing plug-in installed on your computer.
When should I use dithering?
• Consider dithering when you mix down to a lower reso-
lution, either in realtime (during playback) or with the Ex-
port Audio Mixdown function.
A typical example is when you mix down a project to a 16-bit stereo au-
dio file for audio CD burning.
What is a “lower resolution” then? Well, Cubase AI uses
32-bit float resolution internally, which means that all inte-
ger resolutions (16 bit, 24 bit, etc.) are lower. The negative
effects of truncation (no dithering) are most noticeable
when mixing down to 8 bit, 16 bit and 20 bit format;
whether to dither when mixing down to 24 bits is a matter
of taste.
Applying dithering
1. Open the VST Output Channel Settings window by
clicking the “e” button for the Output channel in the mixer.
2. Open the Inserts pop-up menu for slot 7 or 8.
The two last Insert effect slots (for all channels) are post-fader, which is
crucial for a dithering plug-in. The reason is that any master gain change
applied after dithering would bring the signal back to the internal 32 bit
float domain, rendering the dithering settings useless.
3. Select a dithering plug-in from the pop-up menu.
The blue color of inserts 1 and 2 and the
blue Inserts State button in the channel strip
indicate that this track has active inserts.