Operation Manual
Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Marion Bröer, Sabine Pfeifer, Heike Schilling, Benjamin Schütte Thanks to: Ashley Shepherd This PDF provides improved access for vision-impaired users. Please note that due to the complexity and number of images in this document, it is not possible to include text descriptions of images. The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.
Table of Contents
8 About this manual 60 Working with tracks 9 Welcome! 10 Setting up your system 11 15 17 17 17 Setting up audio Setting up MIDI Connecting a synchronizer Setting up video Optimizing audio performance 61 63 64 66 Setting up tracks Editing tracks Organizing tracks in folder tracks Dividing the track list 67 Playback and the Transport panel 21 VST Connections 22 22 22 24 24 25 About this chapter The VST Connections window Setting up busses Routing About monitoring Editing operations 68 69 71
114 The Mixer 165 Audio processing and functions 115 116 118 121 127 129 130 166 166 171 172 173 175 175 Overview Configuring the Mixer Basic mixing procedures Audio-specific procedures Routing MIDI-specific procedures Utilities Background Audio processing Freeze Edits Detect Silence The Spectrum Analyzer Statistics About time stretch and pitch shift algorithms 131 Audio effects 176 The Sample Editor 132 132 133 136 140 140 142 177 180 185 186 About this chapter Overview Insert effects Send effect
227 Remote controlling Cubase 296 Export Audio Mixdown 228 228 229 230 232 297 297 298 299 Introduction Setting Up Operations The Generic Remote device Apple Remote (Macintosh only) 233 MIDI realtime parameters 234 234 234 Introduction The Inspector – general handling The Inspector sections 238 Using MIDI devices 239 239 243 Background MIDI devices – general settings and patch handling About Studio Connections 244 MIDI processing 245 246 247 248 248 Introduction Making your settings permanent Diss
343 Key commands 344 344 347 347 Introduction Setting up key commands Setting up tool modifier keys The default key commands 351 Index 7 Table of Contents
1 About this manual
Welcome! This is the Operation Manual for Steinberg’s Cubase. Here you will find detailed information about all the features and functions in the program. Ö This manual often refers to right-clicking, for example, to open context menus. If you are using a Mac with a singlebutton mouse, hold down [Ctrl] and click. About the program versions The documentation covers three program versions, Cubase Elements, Cubase AI, and Cubase LE, for two different operating systems or “platforms”, Windows and Mac OS X.
2 Setting up your system
Setting up audio ! Multi-channel input and output Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections! Connecting audio Exactly how to set up your system depends on many different factors, e. g. the kind of project you wish to create, the external equipment you want to use, or the computer hardware available to you. Therefore, the following sections can only serve as examples. How you connect your equipment, i. e.
• When using the Mixer inside Cubase, you can use the inputs on your audio hardware to connect microphones and/or external devices. Use the outputs to connect your monitoring equipment. (-10 dBV) or professional line level (+4 dBV), or you may be able to adjust input characteristics on the audio interface or in its control panel. Please check the audio hardware documentation for details. Using the correct types of input is important to avoid distortion or noisy recordings.
Steinberg cannot guarantee that this will work with other hardware. If you are unsure of whether your device supports plug and play, please consult its documentation. ! If a device that does not support Plug and Play is connected/disconnected while the computer is running, it may get damaged. Selecting a driver and making audio settings in Cubase The first thing you need to do is select the correct driver in Cubase to make sure that the program can communicate with the audio hardware: 1.
8. If your audio hardware and its driver support ASIO Direct Monitoring, you may want to activate the Direct Monitoring checkbox on the page for the driver. Read more about monitoring later in this chapter and in the chapter “Recording” on page 74. 9. Click Apply and then OK to close the dialog. If your hardware setup is based on an external clock source For proper audio playback and recording, it is essential that you set the project’s sample rate to the sample rate of the incoming clock signals.
2. To hide a port, click in the “Visible” column for the port (deselecting the checkbox). Ports that are not visible cannot be selected in the VST Connections window where you set up your input and output busses – see the chapter “VST Connections” on page 21. ! If you attempt to hide a port that is already used by a bus you will be asked whether this is really what you want – note that this will disable the port! 3. To rename a port, click on its name in the “Show as” column and type in a new name.
Connecting the MIDI equipment Setting MIDI Thru and Local On/Off In this example we assume that you have a MIDI keyboard and an external MIDI sound module. The keyboard is used both for feeding the computer with MIDI messages for recording and for playing back MIDI tracks. The sound module is used for playback only. Using Cubase’s MIDI Thru feature (described later) you will be able to hear the correct sound from the sound module while playing the keyboard or recording.
Connecting a synchronizer Setting up MIDI ports in Cubase The Device Setup dialog lets you set up your MIDI system as follows: Ö When you change MIDI port settings in the Device Setup dialog, these are automatically applied. Showing or hiding MIDI Ports The MIDI ports are listed in the Device Setup dialog on the MIDI Port Setup page. By clicking in the “Visible” column for a MIDI input or output, you can specify whether or not it is listed on the MIDI pop-up menus in the program.
Short response times (latency) Another aspect of performance is response time. The term “latency” refers to the “buffering”, i. e. the temporary storing, of small chunks of audio data during various steps of the recording and playback process on a computer. The more and larger those chunks, the higher the latency. High latency is most irritating when playing VST instruments and when monitoring through the computer, i. e. when listening to a live audio source via the Cubase Mixer and effects.
Audio hardware and driver Optimizing processor scheduling (Windows only) The hardware and its driver can have some effect on regular performance. A badly written driver can reduce the performance of your computer. But where the hardware driver design makes the most difference is with latency.
• The ASIO meter (at the top) shows the ASIO time usage, i. e. the time required to complete the current processing tasks. The more tracks, effects, EQ, etc. you use in your project, the longer processing will take, and the longer the ASIO meter will show activity. If the overload indicator (on the far right) lights up, you need to decrease the number of EQ modules, active effects, and/or audio channels playing back simultaneously. • The lower bar graph shows the hard disk transfer load.
3 VST Connections
About this chapter This chapter focuses on the settings you can perform in the VST Connections window. Here you can set up input and output busses. Since input and output busses are vital for working with Cubase, a large part of this chapter concentrates on busses and this is also the reason why you find this chapter at the beginning of the Operation Manual. When you start working on new projects, you start from this template.
To assign names to the inputs and outputs of your audio hardware, proceed as follows: 1. Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu. 2. On the VST Audio System page, make sure that the correct driver for your audio hardware is selected.
Setting the Main Mix bus (the default output bus) The Main Mix is the output bus that each new audio, group or FX channel is automatically routed to. Any of the output busses in the VST Connections window can be the default output bus. By right-clicking on the name of an output bus, you can set it as the Main Mix bus. Routing When you play back an audio track (or any other audio-related channel in the Mixer), you route it to an output bus.
Editing operations Selecting/Deselecting multiple entries On the different tabs of the VST Connections window the corresponding busses are shown in a table containing a tree view with expandable entries. After you have set up all the required busses for a project it might be necessary to edit the names and/or change port assignments. Cubase provides a number of features to make such tasks easier.
! When using letters instead of numbers, it is important to note that these must be preceded by a space. If you leave out the space before the letter or if you do enter neither a letter nor a number, only the first selected entry is renamed. Ö You do not have to begin renaming with the topmost selected entry. The renaming will start from the bus where you edit the name, will go down the list to the bottom and then continue from the top until all selected busses have been renamed.
4 The Project window
Window Overview The Project window is the main window in Cubase. This provides you with an overview of the project, allowing you to navigate and perform large scale editing. Each project has one Project window. Toolbar Status line Info line Project overview Ruler Inspector The track list with various track types The event display, showing audio parts and events, MIDI parts, automation, markers, etc.
Track type The track list Description Arranger The arranger track is used for arranging your project, by (Cubase Ele- marking out sections in the project and determining in ments only) which order they are to be played back. See the chapter “The arranger track (Cubase Elements only)” on page 101 for details. Ruler Ruler tracks contain additional rulers, displaying the timeline from left to right. You can use any number of ruler tracks, each with a different display format if you wish.
2. In the gray area in the middle, activate the Inspector option. Not all Inspector tabs are shown by default. You can show/hide Inspector sections by right-clicking on an Inspector tab and activating/deactivating the desired options on the Inspector Setup context menu. Inspector handling For most track classes, the Inspector is divided into a number of sections, each containing different controls for the track. Which sections are available in the Inspector depends on the selected track.
Parameter Description Arranger track (Cubase Elements only) Output Routing Here you decide to which output the track is routed. For audio tracks you select an output bus (see “Setting up busses” on page 22) or Group channel, for MIDI tracks you select a MIDI output and for instrument tracks, you select the instrument to which it is routed. For the arranger track, the Inspector displays the lists of available arranger chains and arranger events.
• • • • Equalizer Curve section Sends section Channel section Notepad section Just like FX channel tracks, all group channel tracks are placed in a separate folder – when this is selected, the Inspector shows the folder and the group channels it contains. You can click one of the group channels shown in the folder to have the Inspector show the settings for that group channel – this way, you do not have to “open” a folder track to access the settings for the group channels in it.
• To change the number of rows in which the tools are arranged on the toolbox, keep the right mouse button pressed on the toolbox until the mouse pointer changes to a double arrow, and drag to the bottom or right. The info line The info line is displayed below the status line in the Project window. The tools can be arranged in one, two, or three horizontal or vertical rows. The status line The status line is displayed below the toolbar in the Project window.
Editing transpose and velocity for MIDI parts The ruler When one or several MIDI parts are selected, the info line contains Transpose and Velocity fields. • Adjusting the Transpose field transposes the selected parts in semitone steps. Note that this transposition does not change the actual notes in the part – it is just a “play parameter”, affecting the notes on playback. The transposition you specify for a part on the info line is added to the transposition set for the whole track.
The Snap function Using multiple rulers – ruler tracks As described above, the Cubase Project window contains a main ruler at the top of the event display, displaying the timeline from left to right. If needed, you can have several rulers in the Project window, by adding ruler tracks to the project. Each ruler track contains an additional ruler. • To add a ruler track, open the “Add Track” submenu from the Project menu and select “Ruler”.
The Snap Type pop-up menu To determine how the Snap function works, open the Snap Type pop-up menu and select one of the available options. For example, if an event starts at the position 3.04.01 (one beat before bar 4), Snap is set to Grid Relative and the Grid Type pop-up menu is set to “Bar”, you can move the event in steps of one bar – to the positions 4.04.01, 5.04.01 and so on. The event will keep its relative position to the grid, i. e. stay one beat before the bar lines.
Magnetic Cursor Suspending Auto-Scroll This grid type lets the project cursor become “magnetic”. Dragging an event near the cursor causes the event to be aligned with the cursor position. When editing parts or events during playback with AutoScroll enabled, you may suddenly “lose sight” of the edited material as the display follows the project cursor. Grid + Cursor This is a combination of “Events” and “Magnetic Cursor”.
5 Working with projects
Creating new projects Choosing a template The Project Assistant dialog is opened by selecting the “New Project…” command on the File menu. In this dialog you can access recently opened projects and create new projects, which can either be empty or based on a template. Category bar Template list In the category bar of the Project Assistant dialog, the available factory templates are sorted into the predefined categories Recording, Production, Scoring, and Mastering.
Open Other About the “Missing Ports” dialog The “Open Other” button allows you to open any project file on your system. This is identical to using the Open command from the File menu, see below. If you open a Cubase project created on a different system (other audio hardware), the program tries to find matching audio inputs and outputs for the i/o busses (this is one of the reasons why you should use descriptive, generic names for your input and output ports – see “Preparations” on page 22).
File Extension in File Dialog” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (General page). When this is activated, the proper file name extension is automatically added when you save a file. • Templates can contain clips and events just like regular projects. If this is not what you want, make sure to remove all clips from the Pool before you save the project as a template. Templates are always stored in the Templates folder, see “Where are the settings stored?” on page 342.
Auto Save Once you have performed a Prepare Archive operation, you can use the “Back Up Project” function to create a backup of the project file, containing copies of all necessary media files (with the exception of VST Sound content, see below). If you activate the Auto Save option in the Preferences dialog (General page), Cubase will automatically save backup copies of all open projects with unsaved changes. These backup copies are named “-xx.bak”, where xx is an incremental number.
This dialog contains the following options: 4. When the scan is complete, you can select files by clicking in the list. Option Description Project Name Enter a project name if you want to change it from the default (the current name of the project). Keep Current Project Active When this option is activated, the current project will still be the active project after clicking OK. If you wish to switch to the new backup project instead, deactivate this option.
Option Description Show Open Options Dialog The Open dialog opens on launch, allowing you to manually locate and open the desired project. Show Project Assistant The Project Assistant dialog opens on launch, allowing you to open a recently opened project or to create a new project from one of the templates (see “Creating new projects” on page 39). The Project Setup dialog General settings for the project are made in the Project Setup dialog.
Zoom and view options Setting Description Bar Offset This works just like “Display Offset” described above, in that it offsets the time positions in the ruler by a number of bars, allowing you to compensate for the Start position setting. The difference is that Bar Offset is only used when the “Bars+Beats” display format is selected (see “The ruler” on page 34). Sample Rate The sample rate at which Cubase records and plays audio.
• You can zoom the contents of parts and events vertically, using the waveform zoom slider in the top right corner of the event display. This is useful when viewing quiet audio passages. The upper part of the menu lists the zoom presets: • To store the current zoom setting as a preset, select Add from the pop-up menu. A dialog opens, allowing you to type in a name for the preset. • To select and apply a preset, select it from the pop-up menu.
• Double-click with the Zoom tool (magnifying glass) to Undo Zoom. Press [Alt]/[Option] and double-click to Redo Zoom. Adjusting how parts and events are shown The Preferences on the File menu (the Cubase menu, under Mac OS X) contains several settings for customizing the display in the Project window. The Event Display page contains common settings for all track types: Option Description Show Event Names Determines whether the names of parts and events are shown in the Project window.
An audio region is a section within a clip with a length value, a start time, and a snap point. Audio regions are shown in the Pool and are best created and edited in the Sample Editor. 3. Click at the desired position of your audio event or part and keep the mouse button pressed. Ö If you want to use one audio file in different contexts, or if you want to create several loops from one audio file, convert the corresponding regions of the audio clip to events and bounce them into separate audio files.
Selecting events • Use the arrow keys on the computer keyboard to select the closest event to the left, right, above, or below. Selecting events is done using any of the following methods: If you press [Shift] and use the arrow keys, the current selection will be kept, allowing you to select several events. • Use the Arrow tool. By default, tracks are selected with the up/down arrow keys on the computer keyboard. Therefore using these to select events, too, can be confusing.
• When the Pencil tool, the Scissors tool, or any other tool that makes use of this function is selected, the cross hair cursor appears as soon as you move the mouse over the event display. • Use the Nudge buttons on the toolbar. These move the selected events to the left or right. The amount of movement depends on the selected display format (see “The Project Setup dialog” on page 44) and the value set on the Grid pop-up menu.
• Audio and MIDI parts can also be duplicated by clicking on the part, pressing [Alt]/[Option]-[Shift], and dragging. This creates a shared copy of the part. If you edit the contents of a shared copy, all other shared copies of the same part are automatically edited in the same way. • Selecting “Fill Loop” from the Functions submenu on the Edit menu creates a number of copies starting at the left locator and ending at the right locator.
• Select “Split at Cursor” from the Edit menu, Functions submenu. This splits the selected events at the position of the project cursor. If no events are selected, all events (on all tracks) that are intersected by the project cursor will be split. • Select “Split Loop” from the Edit menu, Functions submenu. This splits events on all tracks at the left and right locator positions.
• It is also possible to resize events by using the Trim buttons (located in the Nudge palette) on the toolbar. 4. Release the mouse button. The part is “stretched” or “compressed” to fit the new length. This will move the start or end position of the selected event(s) by the amount set on the Grid Type pop-up menu. The sizing type currently selected applies to this method too, with the exception of “Sizing Applies Time Stretch” which is not possible with this method.
• You can mute events by selecting them and selecting “Mute” from the Edit menu. Similarly, you can unmute the selected events by selecting “Unmute” from the Edit menu. • You can also change the mute status of selected events on the info line. Muted events can be edited as usual (with the exception of adjusting fades), but are not played back. Creating new files from events An audio event plays a section of an audio clip, which in turn refers to one or more audio files on the hard disk.
Range editing Making selection ranges for several non-contiguous tracks Editing in the Project window is not necessarily restricted to handling whole events and parts. You can also work with selection ranges, which are independent from the event/part and track boundaries. Creating a selection range To make a selection range, drag with the Range Selection tool. You can create selection ranges that cover several tracks. It is also possible to exclude tracks from a selection range: 1.
• By using the Nudge buttons on the toolbar. These will move the whole selection range to the left or the right. The amount of movement depends on the selected display format (see “The Project Setup dialog” on page 44) and the value specified on the Grid pop-up menu. ! Note that the contents of the selection are not moved – using the Nudge buttons is the same as adjusting the start and end of the selection range at the same time, by the same amount.
Region operations To undo and redo your actions, proceed as follows: Regions are sections within a clip, with various uses. While regions are perhaps best created and edited in the Sample Editor (see “Working with regions” on page 183), the following region functions are available in the Advanced submenu of the Audio menu: Function Description Event or Range as Region This function is available when one or several audio events or selection ranges are selected.
The Preferences dialog Saving a preference preset When you have made your preferences settings, proceed as follows to save all settings as a preset: 1. Make sure that the “Store marked preferences only” option is not activated. This is because this option is used for saving partial settings (see below), as opposed to complete settings. 2. Click the Store button in the lower left section of the Preferences dialog.
When you have made your specific preferences settings, proceed as follows to save the partial settings as a preset: 1. Activate “Store marked preferences only”. A new “Store” column is added to the Preferences list. 2. Click in the Store column of the Preferences items you wish to save. Note that if you activate a Preferences page that contains subpages, these will also be activated. If this is not what you want, simply deactivated the subpages. 3.
6 Working with tracks
Setting up tracks Naming tracks To rename a track, proceed as follows: Adding tracks To add a track to the project, proceed as follows: 1. Double-click in the name field and type in a new name for the track. 1. Open the “Add Track” submenu from the Project menu or from the track list context menu. 2. Press [Return] to close the name field. The new track is added below the currently selected track in the track list.
Resizing tracks Data display on the tracks • To change the width of the track list area, drag the border between the track list and the event display. Changing the width and the height of tracks naturally has an effect on how the track controls and the parts or events on the track are displayed. The following happens when you resize a track’s height or width: • To change the height of an individual track, click on its lower border in the track list and drag up or down.
Editing tracks Creating parts Adding events to a track Parts are containers for MIDI or audio events, or even for tracks (see “Working with folder parts” on page 65). There are a number of ways to add events to a track: • By recording (see “Basic recording methods” on page 75). • By dragging files and dropping them on the track at the desired position.
Selecting tracks Moving tracks • To select a track, click on it in the track list. • To move a track, click and drag it up or down in the list. A selected track is indicated by a light gray color in the track list. • To move one or several selected tracks to a folder, select “Move Selected Tracks to New Folder” from the context menu. Disabling tracks (Cubase Elements only) This track is selected. • To select several tracks press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click on them.
• Moving tracks into a folder Working with folder parts Click on a track and drag it into the folder track. A folder part is a graphic representation of events and parts on the tracks in the folder. Folder parts indicate the position and length of the events and parts, as well as on which track they are (their vertical position). If part colors are used, these are also shown in the folder part.
Dividing the track list • You can resize the upper part by clicking and dragging the divider between the track list sections. It is possible to divide the track list into two parts. Both sections will have independent zoom and scroll controls (if needed), but resizing the window vertically will affect the lower section only (if possible). This is useful if you are working with a video track along with multi-track audio, for example.
7 Playback and the Transport panel
Background The MIDI Activity, Audio Activity and Audio Level Control sections This chapter describes the various methods available for controlling playback and transport functions in Cubase. The Transport panel The Transport panel contains the main transport functions in Cubase, as well as many other options related to playback and recording. The following sections can be shown on the Transport panel, from left to right: • Virtual Keyboard, see “The Virtual Keyboard” on page 73.
Operations On the Transport menu, the following functions are available: Setting the project cursor position Function Description There are several ways to move the project cursor position: Locate Selection/Locate Selection End Moves the project cursor to the beginning or end of the current selection. For this to be available, you must have selected one or more events or parts, or made a selection range.
• The primary time display format is set on the pop-up menu to the right in the main time display. • Click and drag in the upper half of the ruler to “draw” a locator range. If you click on an existing locator range, you can drag to move it. • Pressing [Ctrl]/[Command] and pressing [1] or [2] on the numeric keypad sets the left or right locator to the project cursor position. • This setting also determines the time format displayed for the left and right locators on the Transport panel.
• The “Use Inserts While Scrubbing” option in the Preferences dialog (Transport–Scrub page) allows you to activate insert effects for scrubbing with the shuttle speed control. By default, insert effects are bypassed. Ö You can also access the shuttle speed control via a remote control device.
Playback functions Apart from the standard transport controls on the Transport panel, you can also find a number of functions on the Transport menu that can be used to control playback. The items have the following functionality: Option Description Post-roll from Selection Start/End Starts playback from the beginning or end of the currently selected range and stops after the time set in the Post-roll field on the Transport panel.
The Virtual Keyboard The Virtual Keyboard can be displayed in the Transport panel. It allows you to play and record MIDI notes by using your computer keyboard or mouse. This is useful if you have no external MIDI instrument at hand and you do not want to draw in notes with the Pencil tool. The Virtual Keyboard can perform all functions that can be controlled by external MIDI keyboards, e. g. playing and recording MIDI notes.
8 Recording
Background This chapter describes the various recording methods that you can use in Cubase. As it is possible to record both audio and MIDI tracks, both recording methods are covered in this chapter. Before you start This chapter assumes that you are reasonably familiar with certain basic recording concepts, and that the following initial preparations have been made: • You have properly set up, connected and calibrated your audio hardware.
Manually You activate recording by clicking the Record button on the Transport panel or toolbar or by using the corresponding key command (by default [*] on the numeric keypad). 3. Activate playback from some position before the left locator. When the project cursor reaches the left locator, recording is automatically activated.
• To record in cycle mode, you can start recording from the left locator, from before the locators or from within the cycle, in Stop mode or during playback. As soon as the project cursor reaches the right locator, it will jump back to the left locator and continue recording a new lap. • The results of cycle recording depend on the selected cycle record mode and are different for audio (see “Recording audio” on page 80) and MIDI (see “Recording MIDI” on page 83).
Selecting an input bus for a track Here we assume that you have added and set up the required input busses (see “Setting up busses” on page 22). Before you record, you need to specify from which input bus the track will record. You can do this in the Inspector. • On the Input Routing pop-up menu in the top section, Select an input bus. As described in the section “The Inspector” on page 29, the Inspector shows the settings for the selected track.
Audio pre-record This feature allows you to capture up to 1 minute of any incoming audio you play in Stop mode or during playback, “after the fact”. This is possible because Cubase can capture audio input in buffer memory, even when not recording. Proceed as follows: 1. Open the Preferences dialog (Record–Audio page). 2. Specify a time (up to 60 seconds) in the “Audio PreRecord Seconds” field. This activates the buffering of audio input, making Pre-Record possible. 3.
When using external monitoring, you cannot control the level of the monitor signal from within Cubase 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 is not activated as well. Select the “Manual” monitoring mode in the Preferences dialog (VST page) and do not activate the Monitor buttons.
About overlap and the Audio Record Modes The Audio Record Mode setting lets you decide what happens to your recording and to any existing events on the track where you are recording. This is necessary because you will not always record on an empty track. There may be situations where you record over existing events – especially in cycle mode.
MIDI recording specifics Naming MIDI ports in Cubase Activating MIDI Thru MIDI inputs and outputs are often displayed with unnecessarily long and complicated names. However, you can rename your MIDI ports to more descriptive names: Normally, when working with MIDI, you will have MIDI Thru activated in Cubase, and Local Off selected in your MIDI instruments. In this mode, everything you play during recording will be “echoed” back out again on the MIDI output and channel selected for the recording track.
Setting the MIDI channel and output The MIDI channel and output settings determine where the recorded MIDI is routed during playback, but are also relevant for MIDI Thru in Cubase. Channel and output can be selected in the track list or in the Inspector. The procedure below describes how to make the settings in the Inspector, but it can be done in largely the same manner in the track list as well. 1.
Recording different types of MIDI messages The following options are available: Option Description New Parts Existing parts that are overlapped by a new recording are kept. The new recording is saved as a new part. Merge Existing events in parts that are overlapped by a new recording are kept. The newly recorded events are added to the existing part. Replace Existing events in parts that are overlapped by a new recording are replaced.
System Exclusive messages System Exclusive (SysEx) is a special type of MIDI message used to send data that only makes sense to a unit of a certain make and type. SysEx can be used to transmit a list of the numbers that make up the settings of one or more sounds in a synth. For details about viewing and editing SysEx messages, see the section “Working with SysEx messages” on page 279. The content of the MIDI buffer (i. e. what you just played) is turned into a MIDI part on the record enabled track.
Options and Settings Filtering MIDI Recording-related Transport Preferences A couple of settings in the Preferences dialog (Transport page) are relevant for recording. Set these according to your preferred method of work: Deactivate Punch In on Stop If this is activated, punch in on the Transport panel is automatically deactivated whenever you enter Stop mode.
An example: Metronome settings 1. Set the locators to where you want to start and end recording. You make settings for the metronome in the Metronome Setup dialog, opened from the Transport menu. 2. Activate Punch in and Punch out on the Transport panel. 3. Activate the “Stop after Automatic Punch Out” option in the Preferences dialog (Transport page). 4. Set suitable pre-roll and post-roll times by clicking in the corresponding fields on the Transport panel and typing in time values. 5.
Further configuration options for MIDI and audio clicks are available in the Click Outputs section: Option Description Activate MIDI Click Selects whether or not the metronome sounds via MIDI. MIDI Port/ Channel This is where you select a MIDI output and channel for the metronome click. For the metronome click you can also select a VST instrument previously set up in the VST Instruments window (not in Cubase LE).
9 Quantizing MIDI and audio
Introduction Where are the quantize functions located? Quantize functions on the Edit menu What is quantizing? Quantizing is a function that moves recorded audio or MIDI, positioning it on the nearest grid position that is musically relevant. Quantizing can be used to correct errors, or in a creative way. In Cubase, you can quantize audio and MIDI to a grid (see “Options for quantizing to a musical grid” on page 93) or to a groove (see “Options for quantizing to a groove” on page 94).
Quantize functions on the Quantize Panel MIDI – quantizing MIDI event starts The Quantize Panel provides different settings and parameters (see “The Quantize Panel” on page 92). You can open it by clicking on the corresponding button on the toolbar or by opening the Edit menu and selecting “Quantize Panel”. If you select several MIDI notes in a part and use the Quantize function on the Edit menu, the MIDI note starts are quantized, i. e.
The Quantize Panel Freeze MIDI Quantize The Freeze MIDI Quantize function on the Edit menu, Advanced Quantize submenu, makes the start and end positions of MIDI events permanent. This is useful in situations where you want to quantize a second time, based on the current quantized positions rather than the original positions. Create Groove Quantize Preset You can open the Quantize Panel by clicking on the corresponding button on the toolbar or by opening the Edit menu and selecting “Quantize Panel”.
Grid display In the middle of the Quantize Panel the grid display is shown. The green lines indicate the quantize grid, i. e. the positions that audio or MIDI is moved to. Ö Iterative quantizing is based on the current, quantized positions and not on the original event positions. This makes it possible to repeatedly use Iterative Quantize, gradually moving your audio or MIDI closer to the quantize grid until you have found the desired timing.
Catch Range Position This parameter allows you to specify that only audio or MIDI within a certain distance from the grid lines is affected by quantizing. This allows for complex quantization tasks, e. g. quantizing only the heavy beats near each beat, and not the events in-between. This parameter lets you determine how much the timing of the groove affects the music (expressed as a percentage).
10 Fades and crossfades
Creating fades There are two types of fade ins and fade outs in audio events in Cubase: event-based fades that you create by using the fade handles and clip-based fades created by processing (see “Clip-based fades” on page 97). Event-based fades Selected audio events have triangular handles in the upper left and right corners. These can be dragged to create a fade in or fade out, respectively. The fade handles are visible when you point the mouse at the event. Creating a fade in.
About the volume handle A selected audio event also has a square handle in the top middle: the volume handle. It provides a quick way of changing the volume of an event in the Project window. Note that dragging the volume handle also changes the value on the info line. The volume change is displayed numerically on the info line. Drag the Volume handle up or down to change the volume of the event.
The available options are: The Process Fade dialogs have the following buttons: Option Description Button Function Curve Kind These buttons determine whether the fade curve consists of spline curve segments (left button), damped spline segments (middle button), or linear segments (right button). Preview Plays back the fade area. Playback will repeat until you click the button again (the button is labeled “Stop” during playback). Process Fade display This shows the shape of the fade curve.
• Once you have created a crossfade, you can edit it by selecting one or both crossfaded events, and selecting “Crossfade” from the Audio menu again (or by doubleclicking in the crossfade zone). Option Description Equal Gain Activate this parameter to adjust the fade curves so that the summed fade in and fade out amplitudes will be the same all along the crossfade region. This is often suitable for short crossfades.
Auto fades and crossfades 6. If you want to use your settings in future projects, click the “As Default” button. Cubase features an Auto Fade function that can be set both globally, and separately for each audio track. The idea behind the Auto Fade function is to create smoother transitions between events by applying short (1–500 ms) fade ins and fade outs.
11 The arranger track (Cubase Elements only)
Introduction The arranger track allows you to work with sections of your project in a non-linear fashion, to simplify arranging to the maximum extent. Instead of moving, copying and pasting events in the Project window to create a linear project, you can define how different sections are to be played back, like a playlist. 3.
Working with arranger events • By dragging and dropping arranger events from the list on the right to the arranger chain on the left. You now have a number of arranger events that form the basic building blocks for your arrangement. The next step is to arrange these events using the functions of the Arranger Editor. A blue insertion line shows you where the dragged event will end up.
When you now play back the arranger chain, you will hear the complete arrangement. Proceed as follows: 1. Make sure that Arranger mode is activated. In Arranger mode the project will be played back using the arranger settings. Navigating To navigate between arranger events, you use the arranger transport buttons: Previous chain step Next chain step 2.
Flattening the arranger chain When you have found an arranger chain that suits your purposes, you can “flatten” it, i. e. convert the list into a linear project. Proceed as follows: In the Source section you can specify which arranger chains are flattened. The available options are: Option Description Current Chain If you activate this option, only the current chain will be flattened. 1. Click the Flatten button (or select Flatten Chain from the pop-up menu in the Inspector for the arranger track).
4. Click the “Go Back” button to go back to the Arranger Editor or close the window by clicking its Close button. In the Jump Mode pop-up menu, you can define how long the active arranger event will be played, before jumping to the next one. The following options are available: Live mode Option Description None Jumps to the next section immediately. 4 bars, 2 bars When one of these modes is selected, a grid of 4 or 2 bars (depending on the setting) will be placed on the active arranger event.
An example: 1. Set up a project with a MIDI track and three MIDI parts. The first part should start at position 00:00:00:00 and end at position 00:01:00:00, the second should start at position 00:01:00:00 and end at position 00:02:00:00 and the third should start at position 00:02:00:00 and end at position 00:03:00:00. 2. Activate the Sync button on the Transport panel. 3. Add an arranger track and create arranger events that match the MIDI parts. 4.
12 Using markers
Introduction Editing cycle markers using tools Markers are used to locate certain positions quickly. If you often find yourself jumping to a specific position within a project, you should insert a marker at this position. You can also use markers to make range selections (see “Using markers to make range selections in the Project window” on page 112) or for zooming (see “Zooming to cycle markers” on page 109). Markers are located on the marker track.
To open the Marker window, you have the following possibilities: • Open the Project menu and select “Markers”. • Click the Show button in the marker section on the Transport panel. • Use a key command (by default [Ctrl]/[Command]-[M]). The Type pop-up menu • By selecting an entry from the Type pop-up menu, you specify which markers (position markers, cycle markers, or all) are shown in the marker list.
Sorting and reordering columns You can customize the display of the marker attributes in the marker list by sorting or reordering the columns. Proceed as follows: • To sort the marker list by a specific attribute, click on the corresponding column header. • To reorder the marker attributes, drag and drop the corresponding column headers. • To adjust the width of a column, place the mouse pointer between two column headers and drag left or right.
Ö Markers shown on the marker track are exactly the same as shown in the Marker window, and any changes made on the marker track are reflected in the Marker window and vice versa. • Drawing in cycle markers. To draw a cycle marker range, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and use the Pencil tool or the Arrow tool. If Snap is activated on the toolbar, this determines at which positions you can draw markers.
• If you hold down [Alt]/[Option] while you drag the range, the selection in the Project window is copied instead. Exporting and importing markers In Cubase, markers and marker tracks can be imported and exported in different ways. You have the following possibilities: Marker key commands You can check or change any key command assignments for the marker commands in the Transport categories of the Key Commands dialog. In the following section, the available key commands for markers are listed.
13 The Mixer
Overview What channel types can be shown in the Mixer? The following track-based channel types are shown in the Mixer: • Audio • MIDI • Effect return channels (referred to as FX channels in the Project window) • Group channels • Instrument track channels The Mixer offers a common environment for controlling levels, pan, solo/mute status, etc. for both audio and MIDI channels. This chapter contains detailed information about the elements used when mixing audio and MIDI.
For output channel strips the following controls are available: The Mixer window can be configured in various ways to suit your needs and to save screen space. The Mixer shows the channel faders for the various tracks of your project. On the right of the fader panel you find the output channel fader. On the left is the common panel which allows for global settings affecting all channels.
Showing/hiding channel types In the lower part of the common panel you will find a vertical strip with icons representing the different channel types: “Can Hide” options, see below Below the “Hide Channels set to ‘Can Hide’” button, there are three additional buttons. These have the following functionality: Option Description Set Target Channels to ‘Can Hide’ This activates “Can Hide” for all channels that you specified as “Command Targets”, see below.
To create a view set, proceed as follows: 1. Set up the Mixer configuration that you want to save. • Narrow channel strips contain a narrow fader, miniature buttons, and the View Options pop-up menu. 2. At the bottom of the common panel, click the “Store View Set” button (the “+” sign). 3. A dialog opens, allowing you to enter a name for the view set. 4. Click OK to store the current Mixer view set.
• If you hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and click on a fader, it is reset to its default value, i. e. to 0.0 dB for audio-related channels, or to 100 for MIDI channels. Most Mixer parameters can be reset to their default values like this. You can use the faders to set up a volume balance between the audio and MIDI channels, and perform a manual mix by moving the faders and other controls while playing back.
• Several channels can be soloed at the same time. However, if you press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click the Solo button for a channel, any other soloed channels are automatically un-soloed (i. e. this Solo mode is exclusive). • [Alt]/[Option]-clicking a Solo button activates “Solo Defeat” for that channel. In this mode the channel will not be muted if you solo another channel. To turn off Solo Defeat, [Alt]/[Option]-click the Solo button again. Solo Defeat is activated for this channel.
Audio-specific procedures This section describes the options and basic procedures regarding audio channels in the Mixer.
About the “Stereo Pan Law” setting In the Project Setup dialog you will find a pop-up menu named “Stereo Pan Law”, which allows you to select one of several pan modes. These modes are required for power compensation. Without power compensation, the power of the sum of the left and right side is higher (louder) if a channel is panned center than if it is panned left or right. Every channel has its own Channel Settings window (although you can view each in the same window if you like – see below).
You can also select a channel manually (thereby changing what is shown in the open Channel Settings window). Proceed as follows: 1. Open the Channel Settings window for any channel. 2. Open the “Choose Edit Channel” pop-up menu by clicking the arrow button to the left of the channel number at the top of the Fader view. Ö By default, only the Equalizers tab is shown.
5. Set the Q value with the bottom slider. This determines the width of the affected frequency range. Higher values give narrower frequency ranges. 6. To invert the EQ curve (i. e. reflect it along the x axis), click the Inverse Equalizers button to the right of the curve display. 6. To invert an EQ band (i. e. reflect the curve along the x axis), click the Inverse button to the right of its On/Off button. This button is hidden when the EQ module is deactivated.
Using EQ presets Copying settings between audio channels Some useful basic presets are included with the program. You can use them as they are, or as a starting point for further “tweaking”. It is possible to copy all channel settings for an audio channel and paste them to one or several other channels. This applies to all audio-based channel types. For example, you can copy EQ settings from an audio track and apply these to a group or VST instrument channel, if you want them to have the same sound.
The default settings are: • There is also a “Meter Post-Panner” mode. This is similar to “Meter Post-Fader”, but the meters will reflect pan settings as well. • All EQ, insert and send effect settings are deactivated and reset. • Solo/Mute is deactivated. • The fader is set to 0 dB. • Pan is set to center position. • If Fast Release is activated, the meters respond very quickly to level peaks. If Fast Release is deactivated, the meters respond more like standard meters.
Routing Loading selected channels To load Mixer settings saved for selected channels, proceed as follows: 1. Select the same number of channels as when you saved your Mixer settings. • The Mixer settings are applied in the same order as they were saved. For example, if you save the settings for channels 4, 6 and 8, and apply these settings to channels 1, 2 and 3, the settings saved for channel 4 are applied to channel 1, the settings saved for channel 6 to channel 2, and so on. 2.
Using group channels You can route the outputs from multiple audio channels to a group. This enables you to control the channel levels using one fader, apply the same effects and equalization to all the channels, etc. For example, group channels can be used as “effect racks” (see the chapter “Audio effects” on page 131). To set up a group channel, proceed as follows: 1. Pull down the Project menu, open the Add Track submenu and select the “Group Channel…” option. 2.
MIDI-specific procedures Using Channel Settings This section describes basic procedures for MIDI channels in the Mixer. Clicking this opens the MIDI Channel Settings window. By default, this window contains a duplicate of the Mixer channel strip.
Utilities What will be linked? The following rules apply to linked channels: Link/Unlink channels This function is used to “link” selected channels in the Mixer so that any change applied to one channel will be mirrored by all channels in that group. Only channels of the same type (audio-related or MIDI) can be linked with each other. You can link as many channels as you like, and you can also create as many groups of linked channels as you like.
14 Audio effects
About this chapter Smart plug-in processing Cubase comes with a number of effect plug-ins included. This chapter contains general details about how to assign, use and organize effect plug-ins. The effects and their parameters are described in the separate PDF document “Plug-in Reference”. ! This chapter describes audio effects, i. e. effects that are used to process audio, group, VST instrument, and ReWire (not in Cubase LE) channels.
About tempo sync Plug-ins can receive timing and tempo information from the host application (in this case, Cubase). Typically, this is used to synchronize certain plug-in parameters (such as modulation rates or delay times) to the project tempo. • This information is automatically provided to any VST plug-in (2.0 or later) that “requests it”. In Cubase Elements, slots 7 and 8 are post-EQ and postfader.
• To remove an effect, pull down the effect type pop-up menu and select “No Effect”. • To bypass all inserts for a track, click the “Bypass Inserts” button. To reduce the CPU load, do this for all effects that you do not intend to use. This button can be found on the right of the title bar of the Inserts section in the Inspector or the Channel Settings window. It lights up in yellow to indicate that the inserts of this track are bypassed.
Adding insert effects to output busses Applying dithering All output busses have insert slots, just like regular audio channels. The procedures for adding insert effects are the same. 1. Open the VST Output Channel Settings window by clicking the “e” button for the Output channel in the Mixer. • Insert effects added to an output bus will affect all audio routed to that bus, like a “master insert effect”.
Here is another solution: 1. Create a group channel track in stereo and route it to the desired output bus. 2. Add the desired effect to the group channel as an insert effect. After freezing the Inserts for a track, you hear the track play back as before but the insert effects do not have to be calculated in real time, easing the load on the computer processor. Typically, you would freeze a track when it is finished and you do not need to edit it anymore. 3.
• If you have added several effects to the FX channel, the signal passes through the effects in series, from the top (the first slot) downward. This allows for “custom” send effect configurations – e. g. a chorus followed by a reverb followed by an EQ and so on. • All FX channel tracks you create will appear in a dedicated “folder” track in the track list. This makes it easy to manage and keep track of all your FX channel tracks, and also allows you to save screen space by folding in the FX Channel folder.
4. When you add an effect, its control panel will automatically appear. When you set up send effects, you normally set the wet/dry Mix control to all “wet”. This is because you control the balance between the wet and the dry signal with the effect sends. For more information, see “Editing effects” on page 140. • You can add up to eight effects for an FX channel. The signal will pass through all the effects in series.
• In the Fader section of the Channel Settings window, select the FX channel from the pop-up menu and adjust its effect return level. By adjusting the return level, you control the amount of the signal sent from the FX channel to the output bus. Ö Use the channel’s Mute button to determine whether a send in pre-fader mode is affected. This is done with the “Mute Pre-Send when Mute” option in the Preferences dialog (VST page).
Editing effects Effect presets All inserts and sends have an Edit (“e”) button. Clicking this opens the control panel for the effect, in which you can make parameter settings. Effect preset management in Cubase is very versatile. In the MediaBay – or with certain limits in the Save Preset dialog – you can assign attributes to presets which allow you to organize and browse them according to various criteria. Cubase comes with categorized track and VST presets that you can use straight out of the box.
5. When you have found the preset that you want, double-click on it (or click outside the Presets browser). 2. Select “Save Preset…” from the pop-up menu. The Save Preset dialog opens. The preset is applied. • To return to the preset that was selected when you opened the Presets browser, click the “Revert to Last Setting” button. • You can also open the Presets browser by clicking the button to the right of the preset field an selecting “Load Preset” from the pop-up menu.
About earlier VST effect presets As stated previously, you can use any VST 2.x plug-ins in Cubase. For a description of how to add VST plug-ins, see “Installing and managing effect plug-ins” on page 142. When you add a VST 2 plug-in, any previously stored presets for it will be in the old FX program/bank format (.fxp/ .fxb). You can import such files, but the preset handling will be slightly different. You will not be able to use the new features until you have converted the old “.fxp/.
Ö If an effect plug-in comes with its own installation application, you should use this. As a general rule, always read the documentation or readme files before installing new plug-ins. Installing VST 3 plug-ins under Windows The Plug-in Information window On the Devices menu, you will find an item called “Plug-in Information”. Selecting this opens a dialog listing all the available VST compatible plug-ins in your system (including VST instruments).
Column Description Latency This shows the delay (in samples) that will be introduced if the effect is used as an Insert. This is automatically compensated for by Cubase. I/O This column shows the number of inputs and outputs for each plug-in. Path The path and name of the folder in which the plug-in file is located. Update button Clicking this button will make Cubase re-scan the designated VST folders for updated plug-in information. VST 2.
15 VST instruments and instrument tracks
Introduction VST instruments are software synthesizers (or other sound sources) that are contained within Cubase. They are played internally via MIDI. You can add effects or EQ to VST instruments, just as with audio tracks. Some VST instruments are included with Cubase, others can be purchased separately from Steinberg and other manufacturers. In Cubase AI and Cubase LE, the VST instrument HALion Sonic SE is included.
• If you do not want the plug-in control panels to open every time you load a plug-in, open the Preferences dialog (VST–Plug-ins page) and deactivate “Open Effect Editor After Loading it”. You can open a plug-in panel at any time by clicking the “e” button of the corresponding plug-in slot. 4.
• The rightmost button allows you to activate the desired output for the instrument. This is useful when you are using VST instruments that have a large number of audio busses, which may be confusing. Click one of the entries in the pop-up list to activate/deactivate output busses for this instrument. • You can also exchange the “sound” of an instrument track (i. e.
Ö Due to there being only one volume and pan control for the instrument track, the Mute button will mute the complete track including the VST instrument. (As opposed to a MIDI track with an assigned VST instrument, for which muting the MIDI track still allows you to monitor and record the VST instrument.) • Instrument tracks always have one stereo output channel only.
What do I need? Instrument channel or instrument track? • If you need a particular sound without knowing which VST instrument to use, create an instrument track and use the preview features of the Presets browser to find the sound you want. • Do likewise if the instrument track restrictions described above do not matter. • If you are planning to create an instrument track preset, complete with inserts and EQ settings, you have to use an instrument track.
• Select “Freeze Instrument and Channels” if you want to freeze all pre-fader insert effects for the VST instrument channels. If your VST instrument channels are set up with the desired insert effects and you do not need to edit these, select this option. • You can set a Tail Size time to let sounds complete their normal release cycle.
Browsing for sounds To find an appropriate preset, proceed as follows: One important and often time-consuming aspect of music creation is the search for the right sounds. You might spend a huge amount of time trying out the presets for a particular instrument only to find out later that the preset for another instrument contains the sound you were looking for. 1. Select a preset from the Results list.
3. To preview the presets, you have to play MIDI notes on a MIDI keyboard or load a MIDI file because there is no track connected. 4. In the Inspector, click in the Programs field. The Presets browser opens. The previewing options are described in detail in the section “Previewing VST presets and track presets for MIDI and instrument tracks” on page 214. ! The Preview functions work in the same way in the MediaBay and its related dialogs.
Presets are saved into a default folder named VST3 Presets. Within this folder, there is a folder called “Steinberg Media Technologies” where the included presets are arranged in subfolders named after each instrument. You cannot change the default folder, but you can add further subfolders inside the instrument’s preset folder. • Under Windows, the default preset folder is in the following location: \Users\\AppData\Roaming\ VST3 Presets.
• In the Preferences dialog (VST page) you will find a setting called Delay Compensation Threshold. Only plug-ins with a delay higher than this setting will be affected by the Constrain Delay Compensation function. • VST plug-ins (with higher delay than the threshold value) which are activated for VST instrument channels, audio track channels that are record enabled, group channels and output channels will be turned off when you activate Constrain Delay Compensation.
16 Automation
Introduction In essence, automation means recording the values for a particular Mixer or effect parameter. When you create your final mix, you will not have to worry about having to adjust this particular parameter control yourself – Cubase will do it for you. Recording your actions – an example If the settings in your current project are crucial, you may not want to “experiment” with automation until you know more about how it all fits together.
• If you have manually added any automation events or used write automation for the corresponding parameter and then disable the reading of automation data, the automation curve will be grayed-out in the event display and the static value line will be used instead. These buttons light up as soon as there is an enabled Read or Write button on any channel/track within your project. Furthermore, they can be clicked to activate or deactivate the Read/Write buttons of all tracks simultaneously.
4. Disable Write. 6. When you release the mouse button, the number of automation events is reduced, but the basic shape of the curve remains the same. The Read button remains enabled. 5. Start playback. All actions you recorded will be reproduced exactly. Ö When dragging a plug-in to a different insert slot on the same channel, any existing automation data will move with the plug-in.
• Line tool – Sine, Triangle, or Square mode Editing in the automation track editor To activate the Line tool in these modes, click on the Line tool and click again to open a pop-up menu where you can select the desired option. If you click and drag on the automation track with the Line tool in Sine, Triangle, or Square mode and snap to grid is activated, the period of the curve (the length of one curve “cycle”) is determined by the grid setting.
Editing mode To activate this mode… Description Automation track operations Stretch Click and drag in the lower part of the editor. This allows you to stretch the selected curve. Most of the tracks in your project have automation tracks, one for each automated parameter. Automation tracks are hidden by default. Ö If you hold down [Shift] while clicking on any of the smart spots, you get the vertical scaling mode.
Assigning a parameter to an automation track 2. Select “More…”. Default parameters are already assigned to automation tracks when you open them, according to their order in the Add Parameter list. The Add Parameter dialog opens. This dialog shows a list with all parameters that can be automated for the selected channel (sorted into different categories), including the parameters for any assigned insert effects.
Removing automation tracks • To remove an automation track together with all automation events, click the parameter name and select “Remove Parameter” from the pop-up menu. • To remove all automation tracks from a track that do not contain automation events, select “Remove Unused Parameters” from any of its automation parameter name pop-up menus.
MIDI part data vs. track automation In Cubase, you can enter (or record) MIDI controller data in two ways: as automation data on an automation track or as part data in the MIDI part. The following applies: • When the Automation Read button for a track is enabled, controller data will be written as automation data on an automation track in the Project window. • When the Read button is disabled, the controller data will be written in the MIDI part and can be viewed and edited for example in the Key Editor.
17 Audio processing and functions
Background Audio processing in Cubase can be called “non-destructive”, in the sense that you can always undo changes or revert to the original versions. This is possible because processing affects audio clips rather than the actual audio files, and because audio clips can refer to more than one audio file. This is how it works: If you attempt to process an event that is a shared copy (i. e.
The Preview, Process, and Cancel buttons Envelope display These buttons have the following functionality: Shows the shape of the envelope curve. The resulting waveform shape is shown in dark gray, with the current waveform shape in light gray. You can click on the curve to add points, and click and drag existing points to change the shape. To remove a point from the curve, drag it outside the display.
Noise Gate Clipping detection text If you use the Preview function before applying the processing, the text below the slider indicates whether the current settings result in clipping (audio levels above 0 dB). If that is the case, lower the Gain value and use the Preview function again. • If you want to increase the level of the audio as much as possible without causing clipping, use the Normalize function instead (see “Normalize” on page 169).
Normalize Remove DC Offset This function will remove any DC offset in the audio selection. A DC offset is when there is too large a DC (direct current) component in the signal, sometimes visible as the signal not being visually centered around the “zero level axis”. DC offsets do not affect what you actually hear, but they affect zero crossing detection and certain processing, and it is recommended that you remove them. The Normalize function allows you to specify the desired maximum level of the audio.
Silence Time Stretch Replaces the selection with silence. There are no parameters for this function. Stereo Flip This function works with stereo audio selections only. It allows you to manipulate the left and right channel in various ways. This function allows you to change the length and “tempo” of the selected audio without affecting the pitch.
Resulting Length section Freeze Edits These settings are used if you want to stretch the audio to fit within a specific time span or tempo. The values will change automatically if you adjust the Time Stretch Ratio (see below). The Freeze Edits function on the Audio menu allows you to make all processing and applied effects permanent for a clip: Option Description Samples The desired length in samples. 1. Select the clip in the Pool or one of its events in the Project window.
Detect Silence The Detect Silence function searches for silent sections in an event and either splits the event, removing the silent parts from the project, or creates regions corresponding to the non-silent sections. • To open the Detect Silence dialog, select one or several audio events in the Project window or the Audio Part Editor. On the Audio menu, open the Advanced submenu and select “Detect Silence”.
6. Click the Process button. Setting Description Min. time open Determines the minimum time that the function will remain “open” after the audio level has exceeded the Open Threshold value. If the audio contains repeated short sounds, and you find that this results in too many short “open” sections, try raising this value. Min. time closed Determines the minimum time that the function will remain “closed” after the audio level has dropped below the Close Threshold value.
The default values give good results in most situations, but you can adjust the settings if you like: Setting Description Min. Sets the lowest frequency shown in the graph. Option Description Max. Size in Samples The function divides the audio into “analysis blocks”, the size of which is set here. The larger this value, the higher the frequency resolution of the resulting spectrum. Sets the highest frequency shown in the graph.
Statistics About time stretch and pitch shift algorithms The Standard algorithm is optimized for CPU efficient realtime processing. The following presets are available: The Statistics function on the Audio menu analyzes the selected audio (events, clips or range selections) and displays a window with the following information: Item Description Min. Sample Value The lowest sample value in the selection, as a value between -1 and 1 and in dB. Max.
18 The Sample Editor
Window overview The Sample Editor allows you to view and manipulate audio by cutting and pasting, removing, or drawing audio data, and by processing audio (see the chapter “Audio processing and functions” on page 165). This editing is “non-destructive”: The actual file will remain untouched so that you can undo modifications or revert to the original settings at any time. The Sample Editor also contains most of the realtime time stretching functions in Cubase.
In the Musical Information section at the right of the toolbar, the estimated length of your audio file is displayed in bars and beats (PPQ) together with the estimated tempo and the time signature. These values are important for using Musical Mode, see “Musical Mode” on page 185. The Algorithm pop-up menu allows you to select an algorithm for the realtime time stretching. For more information about the time stretch algorithm, see “Selecting an algorithm for realtime playback” on page 185.
The info line The overview line Event Start The info line is displayed below the toolbar. It shows information about the audio clip, such as the audio format and the selection range. Initially, length and position values are displayed in the format specified in the Project Setup dialog. For information about configuring the info line, see “Using the Setup options” on page 336.
General functions The waveform display and the level scale Zooming Zooming in the Sample Editor is done according to the standard zoom procedures, with the following special notes to keep in mind: • The vertical zoom slider changes the vertical scale relative to the height of the editor window, in a way similar to the waveform zooming in the Project window (see “Zoom and view options” on page 45).
Auditioning Scrubbing While you can use the regular play commands to play back audio when the Sample Editor is open, it is often useful to listen to the edited material only. The Scrub tool allows you to locate positions in the audio by playing back, forwards, or backwards, at any speed: 1. Select the Scrub tool. Clicking the Audition icon on the toolbar plays back the edited audio, according to the following rules: 2. Click in the waveform display and keep the mouse button pressed.
• Cubase Elements only: You can also adjust the snap point by setting the project cursor at the desired position and selecting “Snap Point To Cursor” on the Audio menu. The snap point will be set to the position of the cursor. This method can also be used in the Project window and the Audio Part Editor. It is also possible to define a snap point for a clip (for which there is no event yet). To open a clip in the Sample Editor, double-click it in the Pool.
Ö If you activate the “Please, don’t ask again” option in the dialog, any further editing will conform to the selected method (“Continue” or “New Version”). You can change this setting at any time with the “On Processing Shared Clips” pop-up menu in the Preferences dialog (Editing– Audio page). Creating a new event from the selection using drag & drop Cut, Copy, and Paste 2. Drag the selection range to an audio track in the Project window.
3. Click the Add Region button above the regions list (or select “Event or Range as Region” from the Advanced submenu of the Audio menu). A region is created, corresponding to the selected range. 4. To name the region, double-click on it in the list and enter a new name. Using this procedure, regions can be renamed at any time. • When you click on a region in the regions list, it is instantly displayed in the Sample Editor.
Selecting an algorithm for realtime playback On the Algorithm pop-up menu on the toolbar you can select the algorithm preset to be applied during realtime playback. This setting affects warp changes in Musical Mode. Ö It is also possible to activate/deactivate Musical Mode from within the Pool by clicking the corresponding checkbox in the Musical Mode column. ! Cubase supports ACID® loops. These loops are standard audio files but with embedded tempo/length information.
4. Activate the Musical Mode button. Your loop is warped and stretched automatically to adapt it to the project tempo. • Create new files from individual slices using the “Bounce Selection” function on the Audio menu. • Edit slice envelopes. Hitpoints can also be used to quantize audio material without creating slices. For details about the quantizing functions, see the chapter “Quantizing MIDI and audio” on page 89.
• To filter out hitpoints by their musical position, use the Beats pop-up menu. Only hitpoints within a certain range of a defined beat value are allowed. The following options are available: Option Description All All hitpoints are shown (taking the Threshold slider into account). 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 Only hitpoints that are close to the selected note value positions within the loop are shown (e. g. close to exact sixteenth note positions).
• To reset hitpoints to their original state, press [Ctrl]/ [Command]-[Alt]/[Option] so that the tooltip “Enable/Unlock Hitpoints” is shown and drag a rectangle over the hitpoints. All disabled and locked hitpoints within the area defined by the rectangle are reset. Note that some of the hitpoints may still appear as disabled due to the Threshold slider and Beats pop-up menu settings. Inserting hitpoints If you get too few hitpoints using the filter options, you can insert hitpoints manually.
If the project tempo is higher than the tempo of the original audio event, the slice events are overlapping. Activate auto crossfades for the track to smooth out the sound (see “Making global Auto Fade settings” on page 100). Furthermore, you can select the overlapping events inside the part and apply the “Delete Overlaps” function from the Advanced submenu of the Audio menu.
19 The Audio Part Editor
Background Window overview The Audio Part Editor allows you to view and edit the events inside audio parts. Essentially, this is the same type of editing that you do in the Project window, which means that this chapter contains a lot of references to the chapter “Working with projects” on page 38. Audio parts are created in the Project window in one of the following ways: • By selecting one or several audio events on the same track, and selecting “Events to Part” from the Audio menu.
About lanes By using the Audition icon If you make the editor window larger, this will reveal additional space below the edited events. This is because an audio part is divided vertically in lanes. The Audition and Audition Loop icons Clicking the Audition icon on the toolbar plays back the edited audio, according to the following rules: Lanes can make it easier to work with several audio events in a part. Moving some of the events to another lane can make selection and editing much easier.
The independent track loop function The independent track loop is a sort of “mini-cycle”, affecting only the edited part. When the loop is activated, the events in the parts that are within the loop will be repeated continuously and completely independent – other events (on other tracks) are played back as usual. The only “interaction” between the loop and the “regular playback” is that the loop starts every time the cycle starts over again.
Options and Settings The following options and settings are available in the Audio Part Editor: • Snap The Snap functionality in the Audio Part Editor is exactly the same as in the Project window, see “The Snap function” on page 35. • Auto-Scroll When Auto-Scroll is activated on the toolbar, the window will scroll during playback, keeping the project cursor visible in the editor. This setting can be activated or deactivated individually for each window.
20 The Pool
Background The content of the Pool is divided into the following main folders: Every time you record on an audio track, a file is created on your hard disk. A reference to this file – a clip – is also added to the Pool. Two general rules apply to the Pool: • The Audio folder This contains all audio clips and regions currently in the project. • The Video folder • All audio and video clips that belong to a project are listed in the Pool. This contains all video clips currently in the project.
The Pool window columns About the Status column symbols Various information about the clips and regions can be viewed in the Pool window columns. The columns contain the following information: The Status column can display various symbols that relate to the clips status. The following symbols can be shown: Column Description Media This column contains the Audio, Video and Trash folders. If the folders are opened, the clip or region names are shown and can be edited. This column is always shown.
• You can rearrange the order of the columns by clicking on a column heading and dragging the column to the left or right. The mouse pointer changes to a hand when you place it on the column heading. Inserting clips into a project To insert a clip into a project, you can either use the Insert commands on the Media menu or use drag and drop. Using menu commands • The width of a column can also be adjusted by placing the pointer between two column headers and dragging left or right.
Deleting clips Removing unused clips Removing clips from the Pool To remove a clip from the Pool without deleting it from the hard disk, proceed as follows: This function finds all clips in the Pool that are not used in the project. You can then decide whether to move them to the Trash folder (from where they can be permanently deleted) or to remove them from the Pool: 1. Select the clip(s) and select “Delete” from the Edit menu (or press [Backspace] or [Delete]). 1.
Searching for audio files Extended Search functionality The search functions can help you locate audio files in the Pool, on your hard disk or on other media. This works much like the regular file search, but with a couple of extra features: Apart from the search criterion Name, additional search filters are available. The Extended Search options allows for a very detailed search, helping you to master even the largest sound database. 1. Click the Search button on the toolbar.
5. If you want to display more search options, select the desired element from the “Add filter” submenu. This allows you, for example, to add the Size or the Sample Rate parameters to the already displayed Name and Location parameters. Locate missing files 1. Select “Find Missing Files…” from the Media or context menu. The Resolve Missing Files dialog opens. • You can save presets of your search filter settings. To do this, click Save Preset on the Presets submenu and enter a name for the preset.
Proceed as follows: Opening clips in the Sample Editor 1. Open the Pool and locate the clip(s) for which files are missing. The Sample Editor allows you to perform detailed editing on the clip (see “The Sample Editor” on page 176). You can open clips in the Sample Editor directly from the Pool in the following ways: 2. Check the Status column – if it says “Reconstructible”, the file can be reconstructed by Cubase.
Ö It is also possible to use the commands on the Import submenu of the File menu to import audio or video files into the Pool. When you select a file in the Import Medium dialog and click Open, the Import Options dialog opens. About the Import Audio CD dialog You can import tracks (or sections of tracks) from an audio CD directly into the Pool by using the “Import Audio CD…” function on the Media menu.
2. Select “Create Folder” on the Media or context menu. A new empty subfolder named “New Folder” appears in the Pool. 3. Select the new folder and rename it as desired. 4. Select “Set Pool Record Folder” on the Media or context menu, or click in the Status column of the new folder. The new folder now becomes the Pool Record folder, and any audio recorded in the project will be saved in this folder.
Convert Files Conform Files By using this command, you will change all selected files that have different file attributes than what is specified for the project, to conform to this standard. Proceed as follows: 1. Select the clips in the Pool. 2. Select “Conform Files…” on the Media menu. A dialog opens allowing you to choose between keeping or replacing the original unconverted files in the Pool.
21 The MediaBay
Introduction One of the biggest challenges in typical computer-based music production environments is how to manage the evergrowing number of plug-ins, instruments, presets, etc. from multiple sources. Cubase features an efficient database for media file management that allows you to handle all your media files from within your sequencer program.
Working with the MediaBay Setting up the MediaBay window You can show and hide the different sections of the MediaBay (except for the Results list). This is handy, as it allows you to save screen space and enables you to display only the information you need for your work. Proceed as follows: 1. Click the “Set up Window Layout” button in the lower left corner of the MediaBay window. A transparent pane appears, covering the window.
The Define Locations section The scanning status for the individual folders themselves is indicated by the color of the folder icons: • A red icon means that the folder is currently being scanned. • A light blue icon means the folder has been scanned. • A dark blue icon is displayed for folders which are excluded from the scan. • An orange icon is displayed when the scanning process for the folder was interrupted. • A yellow icon is displayed for folders that have not yet been scanned.
Updating the display To define a location, proceed as follows: You can update the display in two ways: by rescanning or by refreshing. 1. In the list to the left, select the desired folder. Rescanning A naming dialog for the new location is displayed. When you click the Rescan button, the selected folder is rescanned. If a folder contains a large number of media files, the scanning process may take some time.
• To select the parent folder of the selected folder, click the “Browse Containing Folder” button. Select this option to display all types. • To remove a location from the pop-up menu, select it and click the “Remove Browse Location Definition” button. Here, the last four media type selections are listed. • To show the files contained in the selected folder and any subfolders (without showing these subfolders), activate the Deep Results button.
Setting up the Results list columns For each media type, or for combinations of media types, you can specify the attribute columns that are displayed in the Results list. In most cases, you will probably only want to display a few main attributes in the Results list and use the Attribute Inspector to view the complete list of attribute values for the files. Proceed as follows: 1. Select the media type (or combination of media types) that you want to make settings for.
Inserting the files into the project ! You can insert files into the project by right-clicking on them and selecting one of the “Insert into project” options from the context menu, or you can double-click them. What happens next depends on the track type: Audio files, MIDI loops, and MIDI files can be inserted into the project by double-clicking them in the Results list. They will be inserted on the active track, if this matches the file type or onto a new track if no corresponding track is active.
• When “Wait for Project Play” is activated, the Play and Stop functions from the Transport panel are synchronized with the Play and Stop buttons in the Previewer section. Previewing VST presets and track presets for MIDI and instrument tracks This option is very useful for previewing audio loops. To use it to its full extent, set the left locator at the beginning of a bar, then start playing back the project using the Transport panel.
The Filters section Previewing presets using the Memo Recorder The Memo Recorder function continually repeats a given sequence of notes as a loop. With the MediaBay, you can perform very refined file searches. To use the Memo Recorder, proceed as follows: 1. On the Sequence Mode pop-up menu, select Memo Recorder. 2. Enter the notes via the MIDI or computer keyboard. The Play button is automatically activated and you will instantly hear the notes you play with the preset settings applied.
! Each attribute column displays only the attribute values found in the currently selected location! This means that selecting another location may lead to the display of different attributes. • Selected attribute values in the same column form an OR condition. This means that files must be tagged according to either one or the other attribute value to be displayed in the Results list.
Editing the attributes of write-protected files Media files may be write-protected due to a number of reasons: They may belong to content that was provided by someone else who write-protected the files, you may have write-protected them yourself in order not to overwrite them accidentally, or the file format could restrict write operations by the MediaBay. In the MediaBay, the write protection status of files is shown in the Write Protection column in the Results list.
2. Configure the MediaBay to your liking by activating/ deactivating the options. The following options are available in the Locations section: Option Description Show Managed Locations Only Activate this to hide all folders that are not scanned for files. This will keep the tree view in the Define Locations section less cluttered. Use Current Selection as Base Location Activate this to show only the selected folder and its subfolders.
Click the Browse button to expand the dialog to show the Results list (as you can find it in the MediaBay). However, only file types that can be used in this context are shown. Applying instrument presets When working with VST instruments, you can choose from a variety of presets via the Presets pop-up menu. The Presets browser opens: You can also apply track presets to existing tracks. The dialog that opens in this case is the same as above.
Working with Volume databases When the new database file is available, this is reflected by the symbol to the left of the drive name. Cubase stores all media file information used in the MediaBay, such as paths and attributes, in a local database file on your computer. However, in some cases, it might be necessary to browse and manage this kind of metadata on an external volume. For example, a sound editor might have to work both at home and in a studio, on two different computers.
22 Working with track presets
Introduction Instrument track presets Track presets are templates from audio, MIDI or instrument tracks that can be applied to newly created or existing tracks of the same type. They contain sound and channel settings, and allow you to quickly browse, preview, select and change sounds, or reuse channel settings across projects. Track presets are organized in the MediaBay (see the chapter “The MediaBay” on page 206).
Applying track presets Multi-track presets You can use multi-track presets, for example, when recording setups that require several microphones (a drum set or a choir, where you always record under the same conditions) and you have to edit the resulting tracks in a similar way. Furthermore, they can be used when working with layered tracks, where you use several tracks to generate a certain sound instead of manipulating only one track.
Ö You can also drag and drop track presets from the Windows Explorer or the Mac OS Finder, but in this case, no preview for track presets is possible. Loading track or VST presets in the Inspector or the context menu of the track 1. In the Project window, select a track. 2. Click in the Load Track Preset field at the top of the Inspector (above the track name) or right-click the track in the track list and select “Load Track Preset”. The Presets browser opens. Applying a multi-track preset 1.
Extracting sound from an instrument track or VST preset For instrument tracks, you can extract the “sound” of an instrument track preset or VST preset, that means the VST instrument and its settings. Proceed as follows: 1. Select the instrument track to which you want to apply a sound. 2. Click the VST Sound button below the Output Routing field in the Inspector. The Presets browser opens, showing a list of all available presets. 3. Select an instrument track preset or VST preset by double-clicking on it.
change the patch afterwards. To ensure this, use a template project with the VSTi setup included and save the sounds (track presets) of this template project in specific subfolders, as they only work within this setup. Creating tracks from track presets or VST presets Using drag and drop 1. Open the MediaBay from the Media menu. 3. To preview MIDI and instrument track presets or VST presets, you have to play MIDI notes on a MIDI keyboard or load a MIDI file because there is no track connected.
23 Remote controlling Cubase
Introduction Selecting a remote device It is possible to control Cubase via MIDI. A large number of MIDI control devices is supported. This chapter describes how to set up Cubase for remote control. The supported devices are described in the separate PDF document “Remote Control Devices”. 1. Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu. 2. If you cannot find the remote device you are looking for, click on the plus sign in the top left corner and select the device from the pop-up menu.
• In the Project window (track list) and the Mixer (bottom of channel strips) you will now see white stripes indicating which channels are currently linked to the remote control device. Audio 06 can be remote controlled, while Audio 07 is not linked to the remote control device. ! Sometimes communication between Cubase and a remote device is interrupted or the handshaking protocol fails to create a connection.
• Click “Reset” to revert to the default settings. The selected function is now assigned to the button or control on the remote device. A note about remote controlling MIDI tracks While most remote control devices will be able to control both MIDI and audio channels in Cubase, the parameter setup may be different. For example, audio-specific controls (such as EQ) will be disregarded when controlling MIDI channels.
Column Description Column Description Address The Continuous Controller number, the pitch of a note, or the address of a NRPN/RPN Continuous Controller. Value/Action Max. Value The maximum value the control will transmit. This value is used by the program to “scale” the value range of the MIDI controller to the value range of the program parameter.
Apple Remote (Macintosh only) Many Apple computers come with an Apple Remote Control, a small hand-held device akin to TV remote controls. It allows you to remotely control certain features in Cubase. Proceed as follows: 1. Open the Device Setup dialog and select Apple Remote Control from the Add Device pop-up menu. 2. In the list on the right, the Apple Remote’s buttons are listed. For each button you can open a pop-up menu from which you can select a Cubase parameter.
24 MIDI realtime parameters
Introduction • You can fold or unfold the sections individually by clicking on the section name. For each MIDI track, you can set up a number of track parameters, or modifiers. These affect how the MIDI data is played back, “transforming” MIDI events in realtime before they are sent to the MIDI outputs. Clicking the name for a hidden section brings it to view and hides the other sections. [Ctrl]/[Command]-clicking the tab allows you to hide or show a section without affecting other sections.
Parameter Description In/Out/Chn pop-up menus This is where you select MIDI input, MIDI output, and MIDI channel for the track. Edit Instrument button If the MIDI track is routed to a VST instrument, clicking this button opens the control panel for the VST instrument. Bank and Patch Selector pop-up menu Allows you to select a sound, see below. (If no bank is available, only the Patch selector is shown.
An example: Let’s say you have three notes with the velocity values 60, 90 and 120, and wish to “even out” the velocity differences somewhat. If you set the Velocity Compression value to 1/2, the notes will play back with the velocities 30, 45 and 60. By adding 60 in the Velocity Shift field, the notes will play back with the velocities 90, 105 and 120, meaning you have compressed the velocity range.
Mode Description New subpanels will also be added in the following cases: Note Limit This function allows you to specify a pitch range, and forces all notes to fit within this range. Notes outside the specified range are transposed up or down in octave steps until they fit within the range. Note: If the range is too “narrow”, so that some notes cannot be fit within the range by octave-transposing, these notes will get a pitch in the middle of the range.
25 Using MIDI devices
Background The MIDI Device Manager allows you to specify and set up your MIDI devices, making global control and patch selection easy. MIDI devices – general settings and patch handling On the following pages, we will describe how to install and set up preset MIDI devices, and how to select patches by name from within Cubase.
• A device setup can include device mapping and/or patch information. Device setups are also added to the list of installed devices when imported. The Patch Banks list in the left half of the window shows the patch structure of the device. This could simply be a list of patches, but it is usually one or several layers of banks or groups containing the patches (much like a folder structure on a hard disk for example).
The selection here will affect which bank is displayed when you select programs by name for the device in the track list or Inspector. For example, many instruments use MIDI channel 10 as an exclusive drum channel, in which case you would want to select the “Drums” (or “Rhythm Set”, “Percussion”, etc.) bank for channel 10 in this list. This would then let you choose between different drum kits in the track list or Inspector.
New Folder Add Multiple Presets Creates a new subfolder in the selected bank or folder. This could correspond to a group of patches in the MIDI device, or just be a way for you to categorize sounds, etc. When you select this item, a name dialog opens, allowing you to name the folder. You can also rename the folder afterwards by clicking it and typing in the list. This opens a dialog, allowing you to set up a range of presets to be added to the selected bank or folder.
Other editing functions Total Recall • You can move presets between banks and folders by dragging them to the Patch Banks list. • You can remove a bank, folder or preset by selecting it in the Patch Banks list and pressing [Backspace]. • If you specify more than one bank, a Bank Assignment item is added to the pop-up menu at the top of the window. Use this to assign banks to the different MIDI channels (see “About Patch Banks” on page 240).
26 MIDI processing
Introduction This chapter describes the various MIDI processing functions available on the MIDI menu. They offer various ways to edit MIDI notes and other events, either in the Project window or from within a MIDI editor. MIDI functions vs. MIDI modifiers • In the Project window, the MIDI functions apply to all selected parts, affecting all events (of the relevant types) in them. • In the MIDI editors, the MIDI functions apply to all selected events.
Use Range Merge MIDI in Loop When this is activated, transposed notes will remain within the limit that you specify with the Low and High values. The “Merge MIDI in Loop” function combines all unmuted MIDI events on all unmuted tracks, applies MIDI modifiers and effects, and generates a new MIDI part, containing all the events as you would hear them during playback.
Applying effects to a single part Dissolving parts into separate channels Normally, the MIDI modifiers affect a whole MIDI track. This may not always be what you want. For example, you may want to apply some MIDI modifiers to a single part (without having to create a separate track for that part only). The “Merge MIDI in Loop” function can help: Setting a track to MIDI channel “Any” will cause each MIDI event to play back on its original MIDI channel, rather than a channel set for the whole track.
Repeat Loop An example: With this function, the events inside the independent track loops will be repeated until the end of the part, i. e. the notes that were previously only played repeatedly are now actual notes on the MIDI track. Events to the right of the independent track loop (within the same part) will be replaced by this function. For more information about independent track loops, see “The independent track loop” on page 258. This part contains events on MIDI channels 1, 2, and 3.
Fixed Lengths ! The parameters have the following functionality: This function is only available from within the MIDI editors. This function resizes all selected notes to the length set with the Length Quantize pop-up menu on the MIDI editor toolbar. Delete Doubles This function removes double notes, i. e. notes of the same pitch on the exact same position from the selected MIDI parts. Double notes can occur when recording in Cycle mode, after Quantizing, etc.
Restrict Polyphony The following types of velocity processing are available: Selecting this item opens a dialog in which you can specify how many “voices” are used (for the selected notes or parts). Restricting the polyphony this way is useful when you have an instrument with limited polyphony and want to make sure all notes will be played. The effect is achieved by shortening notes as required, so that they end before the next note starts.
Extract MIDI Automation This is an extremely useful function as it allows you to quickly and easily convert the continuous controllers of your recorded MIDI parts into MIDI track automation data, making them available for editing in the Project window. Proceed as follows: 1. Select the desired MIDI part containing the continuous controller data. 2. On the MIDI menu, open the Functions submenu and select “Extract MIDI Automation”. 3.
27 The MIDI editors
Introduction Opening a MIDI editor There are several ways to edit MIDI in Cubase. You can use the tools and functions in the Project window for largescale editing, or the functions on the MIDI menu to process MIDI parts in various ways (see “What is affected by the MIDI functions?” on page 245).
Handling several parts When you open a MIDI editor with several parts (or a MIDI track containing several parts) selected, the editor contains a few functions that make working with multiple parts easier and more comprehensive: • Key commands allow you to cycle between parts (making them active). In the Key Commands dialog – Edit category, you will find two functions for this: “Activate Next Part” and “Activate Previous Part”.
The Key Editor – Overview Toolbar Status line Info line Ruler Note display Controller display The toolbar Option Description The toolbar contains tools and various settings for the Key Editor. The following toolbar elements are available: Snap/Quantize The Snap controls are described in the section “The Snap function” on page 35 and the quantize functions in the chapter “MIDI processing” on page 244.
The status line The status line is displayed below the toolbar in the Key Editor. At the bottom of the pop-up menu, there are two additional items: It displays the following information: Option Description Mouse Time Position This displays the exact time position of the mouse pointer, in the format selected for the ruler, allowing you to perform editing or to insert notes at exact positions.
• Use the “Scale Length/Legato” slider to change the length of the selected MIDI events (or all events of the active part if no events are selected). At the maximum value the notes reach the beginning of the next note. • • • • • Use the “Freeze MIDI Lengths” button to the right of the “Scale Length/Legato” slider to make the new length settings permanent. To change the size of the controller display, drag the divider between the controller display and the note display.
Using the Trim tool Playing back The Trim tool allows you to change the length of note events by cutting off the end or the beginning of notes. You can play back your music as usual when working in a MIDI editor. There are several features designed to make editing easier during playback. Using the Trim tool means moving the note-on or the noteoff event for one or several notes to a position defined with the mouse. Proceed as follows: The Solo Editor button 1. Select the Trim tool on the toolbar.
Ö If you have previously set up a loop range in the Project window, this is now hidden from the ruler in the MIDI editor. 2. Specify the length of the independent track loop by [Ctrl]/[Command]-clicking and [Alt]/[Option]-clicking in the ruler to set the start and end of the loop, respectively. Alternatively, you can click and drag in the upper part of the ruler to move the locators to the desired positions. The independent track loop is indicated in purple in the ruler.
Creating and editing notes To draw in new notes in the Key Editor, use the Pencil tool or the Line tool. Ö To determine another mode for the Line tool you can click on the Line tool and click again to open a pop-up menu where you can select the desired option. Drawing notes with the Pencil tool With the Pencil tool, you can insert single notes by clicking at the desired time (horizontal) and pitch position (vertical).
• Selecting a predefined velocity value from the Insert Velocity pop-up menu. The menu contains five different predefined velocity values. The “Setup…” item opens a dialog that allows you to specify which five velocity values are available on the pop-up menu. (This dialog can also be opened by selecting “Insert Velocities…” from the MIDI menu.) Option Description Equal Pitch – same Octave As above, but selects notes of the exact same pitch only (same octave).
• When you select “Select Controllers in Note Range” on the Select submenu of the Edit menu, the controllers within the note range (i. e. between the first/leftmost and last/rightmost note) will be selected. Duplicating and repeating notes Please note that for this to work, only two notes have to be selected. • Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and drag the note(s) to a new position. • A note range lasts until the start of the next note or the end of the part.
• “Paste Time” inserts at the project cursor position, but moves (and if necessary, splits) existing notes to make room for the pasted notes. • If you select “Split at Cursor” from the Functions submenu on the Edit menu, all notes that are intersected by the project cursor are split at the cursor position.
Editing on the info line How the Key Editor handles drum maps The info line shows the values and properties of the selected events. If a single event is selected, its values are displayed on the info line. If several events are selected, the info line shows the values of the first of these events (in color). When a drum map is assigned to a MIDI or instrument track (see “Working with drum maps” on page 276), the Key Editor will display the drum sound names as defined by the drum map.
3. Use the note buttons on the toolbar to decide which properties are changed by the MIDI input. 4. Specify the desired note spacing and length with the Quantize and Length Quantize pop-up menus. You can enable editing of pitch, note-on and/or note-off velocity. The notes you input will be positioned according to the Quantize value and have the length set with the Length Quantize value.
Each MIDI track has its own controller lane setup (number of lanes and selected event types). When you create new tracks, they get the controller lane setup used last. Selecting the event type Each controller lane shows one event type at a time. To select which type is displayed, use the “Controller Selection and Functions” pop-up menu to the left of the lane.
Entering and editing controller events 3. Click OK. ! The MIDI Controller Setup dialog can be opened from different areas in the program. The settings are global, i. e. the setup you choose here affects all areas of the program where MIDI controllers can be selected. Controller lane presets Once you have added the required number of controller lanes and selected the event types you need, you can store this combination as a controller lane preset.
• Clicking and dragging with the Line tool in Line mode allows you to create events in a straight line. This is the best way to draw linear controller ramps. Converting a controller curve to a ramp using the Line tool. Ö In Line and Parabola modes, the Length Quantize value determines the “density” of created controller curves (if Snap is activated). For very smooth curves, use a small Length Quantize value or turn off Snap.
Moving events Deleting events in the controller display You can move events in a controller lane, much like you can with notes: You delete events by clicking on them with the Erase tool or by selecting them and pressing [Backspace]. Deleting a controller event makes the last event before this valid up until the next event. It does not “zero” any controller changes. 1. Click with the Arrow tool to select the events that you want to move or copy.
Editing velocity values When “Velocity” is selected, the lane shows the velocity of each note as a vertical bar. • Use the Line tool in Line mode for creating linear velocity ramps. Click where you want the ramp to start and drag the cursor to where you want the ramp to end. When you release the mouse button, the velocity values are aligned with the line between the two points. Velocity values are edited with the Pencil or the Line tool.
Ö You can also adjust the velocity of a single note by selecting it and changing its velocity value on the info line. Adding and editing Poly Pressure events Poly Pressure events are special, in that they “belong to” a specific note number (key). That is, each Poly Pressure event has two editable values: the note number and the amount of pressure.
Editing mode To activate this mode… Description Scale Around Absolute Center Click the smart spot in the middle of the right border of the editor. This mode allows you to scale the curve around the absolute center, i. e. horizontally around the center of the editor. Scale Around Relative Center [Alt]/[Option]-click the smart spot in the middle of the right border of the editor. This mode allows you to scale the curve relative to its center.
The Drum Editor – Overview Toolbar Status line Info line Ruler Note display Drum sound list Drum maps Controller display The toolbar, status line, info line, and Inspector • The status line does not contain a chord display.
Drum map and names pop-up menus Column Description Quantize This value is used when entering and editing notes as described in the sections “Creating and editing notes” on page 274 and “Moving, duplicating, or repeating notes” on page 275. Mute Allows you to mute a drum sound, excluding it from playback, see “Muting notes and drum sounds” on page 275. I-Note This is the “input note” for the drum sound. When this MIDI note is sent into Cubase, (i. e.
The position of the created note depends on the following factors: • If Snap is deactivated on the toolbar, the note appears exactly where you clicked. In this mode, notes can be positioned freely. • If Snap is activated and Use Global Quantize is deactivated on the toolbar, the note snaps to positions according to the quantize value set for the sound in the drum sound list. You can set up different quantize values for different drum sounds.
Working with drum maps Drum map settings Background A drum kit in a MIDI instrument is most often a set of different drum sounds with each sound placed on a separate key (i. e. the different sounds are assigned to different MIDI note numbers). One key plays a bass drum sound, another a snare, and so on. Unfortunately, different MIDI instruments often use different key assignments. This can be troublesome if you have made a drum pattern using one MIDI device, and then want to try it on another.
I-notes (input notes) The Channel and Output settings When you play a note on your MIDI instrument, the program looks for this note number among the I-notes in the drum map. If you play the note A1, the program finds that this is the I-note of the Bass Drum sound. You can set separate MIDI channels and/or MIDI outputs for each sound in a drum map. The following rules apply: This is where the first transformation happens: the note gets a new note number according to the Pitch setting for the drum sound.
The Drum Map Setup dialog Button Description To set up and manage your drum maps, select Drum Map Setup from the Map pop-up menu or the MIDI menu. This opens the following dialog: Remove Removes the selected drum map from the project. Load… Opens a file dialog, allowing you to load drum maps from disk. The Cubase DVD contains a number of drum maps for different MIDI instruments – use this function to load the desired maps into your project.
Using drum name lists Bulk dumps Even if no drum map is selected for the edited MIDI track, you can still use the Drum Editor. As previously mentioned, the drum sound list then only has four columns: Audition, Pitch, Instrument (drum sound name), and Quantize. There is no I-note and O-note functionality. Recording a bulk dump in Cubase In this mode, the names shown in the Instrument column depend on the selection on the Names pop-up menu, just below the Map pop-up menu in the Drum Editor.
Recording SysEx parameter changes Transmitting a bulk dump back to a device 1. Make sure that the MIDI track with the System Exclusive data is routed to the device. You may want to check your device’s documentation to find details about which MIDI channel should be used, etc. 2. Solo the track. This might not be necessary, but it is a good safety measure. 3. Make sure that the device is set up to receive SysEx messages (often, receiving SysEx is turned off by default). 4.
The display shows the entire message on one or several lines. SysEx messages always begin with F0 and end with F7 with a number of arbitrary bytes in between. If the message contains more bytes than fit on one line, it continues on the next. The Address indication to the left helps you find out on which position in the message a certain value resides. You can edit all values except for the first (F0) and last one (F7).
The Score Editor – Overview Toolbar Status line Info line Extended toolbar The Score Editor shows MIDI notes as a musical score. The toolbar The Score Editor toolbar is similar to the toolbar in the Key Editor, but tailored to working with scores: • There are an Insert Note tool and an Insert Text tool instead of the Pencil, Trim, Mute, Zoom, and Line tools. • Parts on different tracks are shown on different staves. Therefore there are no part controls.
Enharmonic Shift About editing parts on different tracks Allows you to manually select whether a note is shown with flat or sharp accidentals, see “Enharmonic Shift” on page 288. If you have selected parts on two or more tracks and open the Score Editor, you will get one staff for each track (although you can split a staff in two, e. g. when scoring for piano). The staves are tied together by bar lines and placed in the order of the tracks in the Project window.
• Activate a staff by clicking in it, and select “Staff Settings…” from the Scores submenu of the MIDI menu. Display Quantize The Staff Settings dialog appears. Notes are not an absolute language, and you must give the program a few hints on how you want the score to be displayed. This is done using the Display Quantize section of the Staff Settings dialog. ! These are only display values used for the graphics in the Score Editor. They do not affect the actual playback in any way.
Clef and Key Interpretation Options The correct Clef and Key are set using the two scroll bars in the Clef/Key section. These provide additional options for how the score is displayed: If you activate the “Auto Clef” checkbox, the program attempts to guess the correct clef, judging from the pitch of the music. Parameter Description Clean Lengths When this is activated, notes that are considered to be chords will be shown with identical lengths.
Entering notes with the mouse Entering a note To enter notes into a part in the Score Editor, you use the Note tool. However, first you need to set the note value (length) and spacing: To add a note to the score, proceed as follows: Selecting a note value for input 2. Select the type of note by selecting a note value. This can be done in two ways: This is described in detail above. • By clicking the note symbols on the extended toolbar.
Using a selection rectangle Moving notes 1. Press the mouse button with the Arrow tool in some free (white) space in the score. To move or transpose notes, proceed as follows: 2. Drag the mouse pointer to create a selection rectangle. 1. Set the Quantize value. 3. Release the mouse button. 2. If you want to hear the pitch of the note while moving, activate the Acoustic Feedback button (speaker icon) on the toolbar. All notes with their note heads inside the rectangle get selected.
Changing the length of notes Enharmonic Shift As described earlier (see “Getting the score displayed correctly” on page 283), the displayed length of a note is not necessarily the actual note length, but also depends on the Notes and Rests values for Display Quantize in the Staff Settings dialog. This is important to remember when you change the length of a note, since it can lead to confusing results.
• To delete a text block, select it with the Arrow tool and press [Backspace] or [Delete]. • You can move or duplicate text blocks by dragging (or [Alt]/[Option]-dragging) them, just as with notes. Changing the text font, size and style To change the font settings for the text you have added, proceed as follows: Printing To print your score, proceed as follows: 1. Open the parts you want to print in the Score Editor. Printing is only available from within the Score Editor. 2.
28 Editing tempo and signature
Background Tempo and signature display Whenever you create a new project, Cubase will automatically set the tempo and time signature for this project. The tempo and signature settings can be displayed in the Tempo Track Editor. You can view the current tempo and signature settings of your project in a number of ways: Tempo modes • In the Tempo Track Editor. Before we go into detail about tempo and signature settings, you should understand the different tempo modes.
• The tools for Object Selection, Erase, Zoom and Draw are used in the same way as in other editors. The Snap and Auto-Scroll functions also work exactly like in the Project window. Note that in the Tempo Track Editor, the Snap function affects tempo events only. Time signature events always snap to the beginning of bars. 3. Click and drag in the tempo curve display to draw a tempo curve. When you click, the tempo display on the toolbar shows the tempo value.
Editing tempo curve points Setting the fixed tempo Curve points can be edited in the following ways: When the tempo track is deactivated, the tempo track curve is grayed out (but still visible). Since the tempo is fixed throughout the whole project, there are no tempo curve points. Instead, the fixed tempo is displayed as a horizontal black line in the tempo curve display. • By clicking and dragging horizontally and/or vertically with the Arrow tool.
The Beat Calculator 3. Click the Tap Tempo button. The Tap Tempo window appears. The Beat Calculator is a tool for calculating the tempo of freely recorded audio or MIDI material. It also allows you to set the tempo by tapping. 4. Tap the tempo on the Spacebar of the computer keyboard or with the mouse button. The tempo display will update the calculated tempo between each tap. 5. Click OK to close the Tap Tempo dialog. Calculating the tempo of a recording 1.
3. Select whether you want to save the tempo information in the project file only or in the selected audio clips. Writing the definition into the audio files allows you to use these in other projects, complete with tempo information. 4. Select if you want to set all tracks to musical timebase. If you do not activate this option, only the tracks containing the selected events are set to musical timebase. 5. Click OK.
29 Export Audio Mixdown
Introduction 3. Pull down the File menu and select “Audio Mixdown…” from the Export submenu. The Export Audio Mixdown function in Cubase allows you to mix down audio from the program to a file on your hard disk. The Export Audio Mixdown dialog opens. You always mix down an output channel. For example, if you have set up a stereo mix with tracks routed to a stereo output bus, mixing down that output bus would give you a mixdown file containing the whole mix.
10. If you activate Update Display, the meters will be updated during the export process. Path Options This allows you to check for clipping, for example. • Select “Choose…” to open a dialog in which you can browse for a path and enter a file name. 11. Click Export. The file name will automatically be shown in the Name field. A dialog with a progress bar is displayed while the audio file is created. To cancel the operation, you can click the Abort button.
Option Description Bit Depth (uncompressed file formats only) Allows you to select 8, 16, 24 bit or 32 bit (float) files. If the file is an “intermediate mixdown” that you plan to reimport and continue working on in Cubase, we recommend that you select the 32 bit (float) option. 32 bit (float) is a very high resolution (the same resolution as used internally for audio processing in Cubase), and the audio files will be twice the size of 16 bit files.
• When the mp3 format is selected and you click the Export button, a window opens showing you how many trial encodings you have left. You can upgrade to an unlimited mp3 export function by clicking the “Go to Online Shop” button in the dialog. This will take you to Steinberg’s online shop where you can purchase the upgrade. Note that a working internet connection is required. AIFC files AIFC stands for Audio Interchange File Format Compressed, a standard defined by Apple Inc.
MPEG 1 Layer 3 files MPEG 1 Layer 3 files have the extension “.mp3”. By use of advanced audio compression algorithms, MP3 files can be made very small, yet maintaining good audio quality. In the File Format section, the following options are available for MPEG 1 Layer 3 files: Option Description Bit Rate fader By moving this fader, you can select a bit rate for the MP3 file. As a rule, the higher the bit rate, the better the audio quality and the larger the file.
• Mode pop-up menu The WMA encoder can use either a constant bit rate or a variable bit rate, or it can use lossless encoding for encoding to stereo. The options on this menu are as follows: Mode Description Constant Bitrate This will encode to a file with a constant bit rate (set in the Bit Rate/Channels menu, see below). Constant bit rate is preferably used if you want to limit the size of the final file.
30 Synchronization
Background Timecode (positional references) What is synchronization? The position of any device is most often described using timecode. Timecode represents time using hours, minutes, seconds, and frames to provide a location for each device. Each frame represents a visual film or video frame. Synchronization is the process of getting two or more devices to play back together at the same exact speed and position.
• 30 fps drop-frame SMPTE (D) The 30 fps drop-frame count is an adaptation that allows a timecode display running at 29.97 fps to actually show the clock-on-the-wall-time of the timeline by “dropping” or skipping specific frame numbers in order to “catch the clock up” to realtime. Confused? Just remember to keep the timecode standard (or frame count) and frame rate (or speed) separate.
MIDI clock Timecode Source MIDI clock is a signal that uses position and timing data based on musical bars and beats to determine location and speed (tempo). It can perform the same function as a positional reference and a speed reference for other MIDI devices. Cubase supports sending MIDI clock to external devices but cannot slave to incoming MIDI clock. The Timecode Source setting determines whether Cubase is acting as timecode master or slave.
Timecode Preferences ! When MIDI Timecode is selected, additional options become available in the Cubase section, providing several options for working with external timecode. If there is a discrepancy between the project frame rate in Cubase and incoming timecode, Cubase might still be able to lock to the incoming timecode. If the user is unaware of these differences, problems can arise later in postproduction. MIDI Timecode Destinations Cubase can send MTC to any MIDI port.
Ö Some older MIDI devices might not respond well to these positioning messages and could take some time synchronizing to the new location. Always Send Start Message MIDI clock transport commands include Start, Stop, and Continue. However, some MIDI devices do not recognize the Continue command. By activating the “Always Send Start Message” option, you can avoid this problem with specific MIDI devices.
• At least one digital audio cable must be available for each computer in the network. ! • A VST System Link host application must be installed on each computer. Any VST System Link application can connect to another. Additionally, use of a KVM switchbox is recommended.
The only exception to this procedure is if you are using an external clock – from a digital mixing desk or a special word clock synchronizer, for example. In that case you must leave all your ASIO cards in clock slave or AutoSync mode and make sure that each of them is listening for the signal coming from the synchronizer. This signal is usually passed through your ADAT cables or word clock connectors in a daisy chain fashion.
• If your audio hardware has a mixer application allowing you to adjust the levels of digital inputs and outputs, make sure that this mixer is disabled or that the levels for the VST System Link channels are set to ±0 dB. • Similarly, make sure no other forms of DSP (pan, effects, etc.) are applied to the VST System Link signal.
Putting the network online Scrubbing via VST System Link After each computer’s name you will see whether it is online or not. When a computer is online, it will receive transport and timecode signals, and its sequencer application can be started and stopped by remote control. If it is offline, it can only be started from its own keyboard – it is effectively an independent machine, although it is still on the network.
This allows you to route MIDI tracks to VST instruments running on another computer, as described in the application examples (see “Using one computer for VST instruments (not in Cubase LE)” on page 314). The “Use Selected ASIO Ports for Data only” setting If you are sending huge amounts of MIDI data at once, there is a small possibility that you might run out of bandwidth on your VST System Link network. This will manifest itself by notes “choking” or timing becoming erratic.
Internal mixing and latency One problem with mixing inside the computer is the latency issue we mentioned earlier. The VST engine always compensates for record latencies, but if you are monitoring through computer 1 you will hear a processing delay while you listen to signals coming from your other computers (not on your recording!). If your audio card in computer 1 supports ASIO Direct Monitoring you should definitely turn this on.
Creating a virtual effect rack Getting extra audio tracks The effect sends for an audio channel in Cubase can either be routed to an FX channel track or to any activated group or output bus. This allows you to use a separate computer as a “virtual effect rack”, by setting the system up as follows: All computers on a VST System Link network are locked with sample-accuracy.
31 Video
Before you start When working on a project involving a video file, you first need to set up your system according to your equipment and your demands. The following sections provide some general information about video file formats, frame rates, and video output devices. Video file compatibility Because there are many types of video files, it can be difficult to determine if one will work on your system.
Multi-head video cards Preparing a video project in Cubase One of the most common methods is the use of a multihead video card installed in the computer. Multi-head video cards allow you to connect more than one computer monitor to the card, in some cases up to four. If you direct the video output of Cubase to one of these outputs, the video file is displayed in fullscreen mode on a computer monitor or HD television screen.
! Ö Cubase can only detect the supported frame rates (these are the frame rates listed in the Frame Rate pop-up menu in the Project Setup dialog). Video files with non-supported frame rates can be played back, but the time displays are not correct in this case and proper positioning is not guaranteed. Furthermore, audio and video may not be in sync. Therefore, we recommend that you use an external application to convert the video file to a frame rate supported by Cubase.
Playing back video About thumbnail cache files When importing video, Cubase automatically creates a thumbnail cache file. The cache file is used in situations where the processor load is very high and the correct redrawing or realtime calculation of thumbnails might use system resources necessary for editing or processing. When you zoom in on the thumbnails, you see that they are in a lower resolution, i. e. the pictures are not as clear as when they are calculated.
3. From the pop-up menu in the Format column, select an output format. For the Onscreen Window output, only a “fixed” format is available. For the other output devices, you can select different output formats for playback depending on the device. 4. Adjust the Offset setting to compensate for processing delays. Due to delays while processing video, the video image may not match with the audio in Cubase. By using the Offset parameter, you can compensate for this effect.
Editing video Setting the aspect ratio Resizing the Video Player window by dragging its borders may lead to a distorted image. To prevent this, you can set an aspect ratio for video playback. Video clips are played back by events just as audio clips are. You can use all the basic editing operations on video events, just as with audio events. You can take a single event and copy it many times for the creation of mix variations.
• By using the “Extract Audio from Video File” option on the Media menu. This creates an audio clip in the Pool, but does not add any events to the Project window. ! These functions are not available for MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video files. Replacing the audio in a video file Once you have edited all audio and MIDI data to the video and created a final mix, you will need to put the new audio back with the video. You can do this by embedding the audio in another stream within the video container file.
32 ReWire (not in Cubase LE)
Introduction Launching and quitting 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: When using ReWire, the order in which you launch and quit the two programs is very important: • Realtime streaming of up to 64 separate audio channels (256 with ReWire2), at full bandwidth, from the “synthesizer application” into the “mixer application”. 1.
Activating ReWire channels ReWire supports streaming of up to 64 separate audio channels, while ReWire2 supports 256 channels. The exact number of available ReWire channels depends on the synthesizer application. Using the ReWire Device panels in Cubase, you can specify which of the available channels you want to use: 1. Pull down the Devices menu and select the menu item with the name of the ReWire application. All recognized ReWire compatible applications will be available on the menu.
How the ReWire channels are handled in Cubase Routing MIDI via ReWire2 ! When you activate ReWire channels in the ReWire Device panels, they will become available as channel strips in the Mixer. The ReWire channel strips have the following properties: • ReWire channels appear to the right of the other audio and MIDI channel strips in the Mixer. • ReWire channels may be any combination of mono and stereo, depending on the synthesizer application.
33 File handling
Importing audio In Cubase audio can be imported in a variety of different formats. For example, you can import tracks from audio CDs, or import audio files saved in different formats (compressed and uncompressed). • When importing multiple files at the same time, you can select to convert the imported files automatically if necessary, i.e. if the sample rate is different than the project’s or the resolution is lower than the project setting.
Selecting one of the Import Audio CD menu items brings up the following dialog: 5. Click on the Copy button to create a local copy of the audio file(s) or section(s). The copied files are listed at the bottom of the dialog. By default, imported audio CD tracks will be stored as Wave files (Windows) or AIFF files (Mac) in the Audio folder of the current project. To change the folder, click Destination Folder and select a different folder from the dialog.
• If you want to copy and import a section of an audio CD track only, select the track in the list and specify the start and end of the selection to be copied by dragging the handles in the copy selection ruler. Ö For information about importing video files, see “Importing video files” on page 318. Play Stop ReCycle by Propellerhead Software is a program designed especially for working with sampled loops.
Ö You can achieve similar results by using Cubase’s own loop slicing features, see “Working with hitpoints and slices” on page 186. Importing compressed audio files Cubase can import (and export, see “Mixing down to audio files” on page 297) several common audio compression formats.
The dialog contains the following options: Option Description Export Inspector Patch If this is activated, the MIDI patch settings in the Inspector – Bank Select and Program Select (used for selecting sounds in the connected MIDI instrument) are included as MIDI Bank Select and Program Change events in the MIDI file. Export Inspector Volume/Pan If this is activated, Volume and Pan settings made in the Inspector are included as MIDI Volume and Pan events in the MIDI file.
Exporting and importing MIDI loops Option Description Import dropped File as single Part If this is activated and you drag and drop a MIDI file into the project, the whole file will be placed on a single track. Ignore Master Track Events on Merge If this is activated and you import a MIDI file into the current project, tempo track data in the MIDI file are ignored. The imported MIDI file will play according to the current tempo track in the project.
34 Customizing
Background The following general options are available on the setup context menus: The user can customize the appearance and functionality of Cubase in various ways. • “Show All” makes all items visible. • “Default” resets the interface to the default setting. User configurable items described in this chapter are: • “Setup…” opens the Setup dialog (see below).
The dialog is divided into two sections. The left section displays the currently visible items and the right section displays the currently hidden items. • Click the arrow in the bottom right corner of the track list and select “Track Controls Settings…”. • You can change the current show/hide status by selecting items in one section and then use the arrow buttons in the middle of the dialog to move them to the other section. Changes are applied directly.
Removing, adding, and moving track controls About Wrap Controls The dialog is divided into two sections. The left section displays controls currently visible in the track list, and the right section displays the controls currently hidden. This is activated by default. Wrap Controls allows the controls to be dynamically repositioned when resizing the track list. That is, as many controls as possible will be displayed depending on the current size of the track list.
Appearance In the Preferences dialog, you find a page called Appearance. The following settings are available: General The controls on the General page affect the appearance of the windows that surround the controls and workspaces in Cubase. • Color Intensity determines how rich the background colors are, from gray to blue. • Color Lightness lightens or darkens the background. • The Color Tone slider changes the background color. • Button Brightness can be used to separately lighten or darken the buttons.
Applying track colors automatically In the Preferences dialog (Editing–Project & Mixer page), you can find the “Auto Track Color Mode” option. This offers you several options for automatically assigning colors to tracks that are added to the project. The following options are available: Option Effect Use Default Event Color The default color (gray) is assigned. Use Previous Track Color Analyzes the color of the selected track and uses the same color for the new track.
About the Similar Tracks options Adding and editing individual colors You can use the selected color of one track to colorize other tracks of the same type (e. g. all audio tracks). In the Project Colors dialog, you can fully customize the color palette. To add new colors to the color palette, proceed as follows: Set up the desired color for a track of a certain track type and right-click this track in the track list to open a context menu.
Saving and resetting color settings • To return to your project colors, click the “Reset To Current Project Defaults” button. • To save the current set as default, click the “Save Current Set as Program Defaults” button. • To apply the default set, click the “Load Program Defaults to Current Set” button. • To return to Cubase’s standard color palette, click the “Reset Current Set to Factory Settings” button.
35 Key commands
Introduction Setting up key commands Most of the main menus in Cubase have key command shortcuts for certain items on the menus. In addition, there are numerous other Cubase functions that can be performed via key commands. These are all default settings. Adding or modifying a key command You can customize existing key commands to your liking, and also add commands for many menu items and functions that currently have no key command assigned.
4. In the list, select the item to which you want to assign a key command. Already assigned key commands are shown in the Keys column as well as in the Keys section in the top right corner. Searching for key commands If you want to know which key command is assigned to a certain function in the program, you can use the Search function in the Key Commands dialog: 1. Click in the search text field at the top left of the dialog and type in the function for which you want to know the key command.
3. In the file dialog, use the “Files of type” pop-up menu to specify if you want to import a key commands file (“.key”) or a macro commands file (extension “.mac”). Saving key commands presets Proceed as follows: 1. Set up the key commands and macros to your liking. When setting up key commands, remember to click “Assign” to make the changes. When you have imported an older file, you might want to save it as a preset (see above) to be able to access it from the Presets pop-up menu in the future. 2.
Setting up tool modifier keys The default key commands A tool modifier key is a key you can press to get an alternate function when using a tool. For example, clicking and dragging an event with the Arrow tool normally moves it – holding down a modifier key (by default [Alt]/[Option]) while dragging will copy it instead. Below, the default key commands are listed according to category. ! The default assignments for tool modifier keys can be found in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Tool Modifiers page).
Edit category File category Option Key command Option Key command Autoscroll [F] Close [Ctrl]/[Command]-[W] Copy [Ctrl]/[Command]-[C] New [Ctrl]/[Command]-[N] Cut [Ctrl]/[Command]-[X] Open [Ctrl]/[Command]-[O] Cut Time [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Shift]-[X] Quit [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Q] Delete [Delete] or [Backspace] Save [Ctrl]/[Command]-[S] Delete Time [Shift]-[Backspace] Save As [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Shift]-[S] Duplicate [Ctrl]/[Command]-[D] Save New Version [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Alt]/[Option]
Navigate category Project category Option Key command Option Key command Add Down: Expand/Undo selection in the Project window to the bottom/ Move selected event in the Key Editor down 1 octave [Shift]-[Down Arrow] Open Markers [Ctrl]/[Command]-[M] Open Pool [Ctrl]/[Command]-[P] Open Tempo Track Editor [Ctrl]/[Command]-[T] Remove Track [Shift]-[Del] Setup [Shift]-[S] Add Left: Expand/Undo selection in the Project window/Key Editor to the left [Shift]-[Left Arrow] Add Right: Expand/Undo s
Option Key command Windows category Input Tempo [Shift]-[T] Option Key command Insert Marker [Insert] (Win) Inline: Key Commands [Shift]-[F4] Locate Next Event [N] Inline: Settings [Shift]-[F3] Locate Next Hitpoint [Alt]/[Option]-[N] Inline: View Layout [Shift]-[F2] Locate Next Marker [Shift]-[N] Locate Previous Event [B] Locate Previous Hitpoint [Alt]/[Option]-[B] Locate Previous Marker [Shift]-[B] Locate Selection [L] Locators to Selection [P] Loop Selection [Shift]-[G] Me
Index
A ACID® loops 185 Acoustic Feedback 259 Activate Project button 40 ADAT Lightpipe 305 Advanced Quantize 91 AES/SPDIF Digital Audio 305 Aftertouch Deleting 269 Editing 267 Recording 84 AIFF files 300 Algorithms Sample Editor 185 Time stretching 175 All MIDI Inputs 17 Appearance 339 Meters 339 Apple Remote 232 Arranger tracks Adding 102 Creating a chain 103 Flattening 105 Renaming events 102 ASIO Direct Monitoring 15, 80 ASIO 2.
Automation tracks Assigning parameters to 162 Hiding and showing 163 Muting 163 Auto-Scroll 37 Marker window 110 MIDI editors 258 Project window 37 Sample Editor 178 B Back up Project 42 Backup (.
Drum maps About 276 Making settings 276 MIDI channel and output 277 Selecting 277 Setup dialog 278 Drum name lists 279 Drumstick tool 274 Duplicate Events and parts 50 MIDI notes 262 E Edit button Audio channel strips 122 Audio track Inspector 30 MIDI channel strips 129 MIDI track Inspector 234 Edits folder 166 Enharmonic Shift 288 Envelope Process 167 EQ Bypassing 124 Making settings 123 Presets 125 Equal Gain Crossfades 99 Equal Power Crossfades 99 Erase tool Project window 54 Events Audio 47 Creating fr
I Importing Audio CDs 203 Audio from video file 331 Markers 113 Media files in Pool 202 MIDI files 332 MPEG files 332 Ogg Vorbis files 332 REX files 331 Video files 318 WMA files 332 Independent track loop Audio Part Editor 193 MIDI editors 258 Info line Customizing 336 Drum Editor 273 Key Editor 256 Pool 196 Project window 33 Sample Editor 179 Score Editor (basic) 282 I-Notes 276 Input busses About 22 Adding 23 Input levels 12, 78 Input ports 14 Input selection Multiple MIDI channels 82 Inputs Audio 22 MID
Showing/Hiding sections 208 Viewing results 211 Volume databases 220 VST Sound node 209 Memory 18 Merge Clipboard (function) 168 Merge MIDI in Loop 246 Meters 126 Coloring of 339 Settings 126 Metronome Activating 87 Precount 87 Settings 87 MIDI Channel settings 83, 129 Cycle recording 84 Dissolve parts 247 Local On/Off 16 Record modes 83 MIDI channel In drum maps 277 Selecting for tracks 83 MIDI clock Destinations 307 Synchronization 306 MIDI devices Defining new for patch selection 240 Device Manager 239 E
O Ogg Vorbis files Exporting 301 Importing 332 O-Notes 276 Opening projects 40 Output busses About 22 Adding 23 Default 24 Mixer 116 Mixing down to file 297 Output ports 14 Output selection Multiple MIDI channels 83 Outputs Audio 22 MIDI 82 Overlapping events Project window 50 P Panning Stereo Pan Law 122 Parabola mode Automation 159 MIDI controllers 268 MIDI velocity 270 Parts Dissolving (MIDI) 247 Editing the active part only 254 Parts/events in selection range 56 Paste Events at origin 51 Paste Time MID
Swing 93 Tuplets 94 Using groove presets 92 Quick Zoom 46 R RAM 18 Range Selection tool 55 Creating fades 96 Realtime export 297 Reconstruct 201 Record file type 77 Record folder Selecting 78 Record format 77 Record modes Audio 81 MIDI 83 Record Time Max display 88 Record-enabling 75 Recording Levels 12 RAM limitation 18 Start at left locator 76 Recovering recordings 81 ReCycle files 331 Regions About 183 Auditioning 184 Create from hitpoints 184, 189 Creating 183 Creating from events 57 Creating with Dete
Solo Audio Part Editor 192 Folder tracks 65 MIDI editors 258 Mixer 119 Tracks 54 Solo Defeat 120 Speaker icon MIDI editors 259 Speaker tool Audio Part Editor 192 Project window 48 Sample Editor 181 Spectrum Analyzer 173 Splitting Events 51 Range 56 Square mode Automation 160 MIDI editing 268 Staff settings Score display 283 Startup options 43 Static value line (automation) 157 Statistics 175 Status line Drum Editor 273 Key Editor 256 Project window 33 Score Editor (basic) 282 Staves Active staff 283 Split s
Transpose Info line 34 MIDI function 245 MIDI Modifier 235 Triangle mode Automation 160 MIDI editing 268 Trim buttons 53 Trim tool 258 Tuplets Quantizing 94 U Undo Recording 80 Unlock Record 88 Update Origin 197 V Velocity Editing 270 Editing via MIDI 265 Info line 34 MIDI function 250 Velocity compression 235 Velocity shift 235 Video Codecs 317 Device Setup 320 Editing 322 Extracting audio from 322 Formats 317 Frame numbers 319 Importing 318 Muting 319 Output devices 317 Playback 320 Replacing audio 323
