Steinberg Cubase SX 1.0 User manual

Operation Manual

Operation Manual by Ludvig Carlson, Anders Nordmark, Roger Wiklander

VST System Link chapter by Rodney Orpheus

Quality Control: C.Bachmann, H. Bischoff, S. Pfeifer, C. Schomburg

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tered trademarks.

Table of Contents

CUBASE SX/SL

4 Table of Contents

9 Playback and the

Transport panel

10 Background

13 Operations

15 Options and Settings

19 Recording

20 Background

21 Basic recording methods

25 Audio recording specifics

37 MIDI Recording Specifics

47 Options and Settings

51 The Project Window

52 Background

54 Window Overview

62 Operations

97 Options

101 Folder tracks

102 About folder tracks

103 Using folders

109 Using Markers

110 About markers

111 The Marker Window

114 Using the Marker track

121 Fades and Crossfades

122 Creating Fades

125 The Fade Dialogs

128 Creating Crossfades

130 The Crossfade Dialog

133 Auto Fades and Crossfades

135 The Mixer

136 About this chapter

137 Overview

146 The audio channel strips

148 The MIDI channel strips

149 The Common panel

150 The Master section

151 The VST Outputs window

152 Basic mixing procedures

156 Audio specific procedures

169 MIDI specific procedures

171 Utilities

177 Audio effects

178 Background

180 Using effects

196 The included effects

197 Installing and managing

effect plug-ins

205 VST Instruments

206 Introduction

207 Activating and using VST

instruments

211 A1 Synthesizer

225 VB-1 Bass Synth

227 LM-7 Drum Machine

231 Surround sound

(Cubase SX only)

232 Background

234 Window overview

237 Operations

CUBASE SX/SL

Table of Contents 5

249 Automation

250 Background

253 Automation subtrack

operations

258 Using Write/Read

automation

261 Working with automation

curves

268 Tips and common methods

269 Options and Settings

271 Remote Controlling

the Mixer

272 Background

272 Operations

276 Remote control device

specifics

293 Audio processing and

functions

294 Background

295 Audio processing

314 Applying plug-ins

(Cubase SX only)

317 The Offline Process History

dialog

320 Detect Silence

323 The Spectrum Analyzer

(Cubase SX only)

326 Statistics (Cubase SX only)

329 The Sample Editor

330 Background

330 Opening the Sample Editor

331 Window overview

336 Operations

348 Options and settings

351 The Audio Part Editor

352 Background

352 Opening the Audio Part

Editor

353 Window overview

356 Operations

358 Common methods

360 Options and Settings

361 Working with hitpoints

and slices

362 Background

363 Using Hitpoints

366 Editing hitpoints

375 Creating slices

376 Creating Groove Quantize

maps

377 Divide audio events

377 Using the Close Gaps func-

tion

379 The Pool

380 Background

382 Window Overview

386 Operations

405 Options and Settings

407 MIDI devices and

patches

408 About program change and

bank select

409 Opening the MIDI Device

Manager

410 Installing a MIDI Device

413 Selecting a patch for an

installed device

414 Renaming patches in a

device

CUBASE SX/SL

6 Table of Contents

415 Defining a new device

419 Exporting and importing

device setups

421 MIDI realtime param-

eters and effects

422 Introduction

423 The Inspector – General

handling

424 Basic track settings

426 Track parameters

430 MIDI effects

433 The available effects

460 Managing plug-ins

461 The Channel section

462 Merge MIDI in Loop

465 MIDI processing and

quantizing

466 Introduction

467 Quantizing

477 Other MIDI menu functions

483 Dissolve Part

485 The MIDI Editors

486 About editing MIDI

487 Opening a MIDI editor

488 The Key Editor – Overview

493 Key Editor operations

515 The Drum Editor – Overview

518 Drum Editor operations

521 Working with drum maps

530 Using drum name lists

532 The List Editor – Overview

534 List Editor operations

540 The Score Editor –

Overview (Cubase SL only)

543 Score Editor operations

(Cubase SL only)

559 Common MIDI editor op-

tions and settings

561 The Logical Editor,

Transformer and In-

put Transformer

562 Introduction

564 Opening the Logical Editor

564 Window overview

565 Selecting a preset

566 Setting up filter conditions

577 Selecting a function

579 Specifying actions

583 Performing the Logical

editing

584 Working with presets

585 The Input Transformer

589 The Tempo Track

Editor

590 Background

590 Opening the Tempo Track

Editor

591 Window overview

594 Operations

599 Options and settings

600 The Beat Calculator

603 The Project Browser

604 Background

604 Opening the Project

Browser

604 Window Overview

605 Navigating in the Browser

607 Customizing the View

607 About the Sync Selection

option

608 Editing audio tracks

610 Editing MIDI tracks

CUBASE SX/SL

Table of Contents 7

613 Editing Automation tracks

614 Editing the Video track

615 Editing the Marker track

616 Editing the Tempo track

616 Editing Time Signatures

617 Working with System

Exclusive messages

618 Introduction

618 Bulk dumps

621 Recording System Exclusive

parameter changes

622 Editing System Exclusive

messages

625 Export Audio Mixdown

626 Background

627 Mixing down to an audio file

629 File Format Specifics

641 Synchronization

642 Background

649 Window Overview

650 Operations

658 Options

661 VST System Link

662 Introduction

663 Preparations

671 Activating VST System Link

678 Application examples

681 Video

682 Background

683 Operations

686 Options

687 ReWire

688 Introduction

689 Launching and quitting

690 Activating ReWire channels

691 Using the transport and

tempo controls

692 How ReWire channels are

handled in Cubase SX/SL

693 Routing MIDI via ReWire2

694 Considerations and limita-

tions

695 File Handling

696 File Operations

711 Options and Settings

715 Key Commands

716 Background

717 The Key Commands dialog

724 Setting up tool modifier keys

725 Troubleshooting/FAQ

726 Frequently Asked Questions

729 Menu reference

730 About this chapter

730 Cubase SX/SL menu

(Mac OS X only)

731 File menu

736 Edit menu

743 Project menu

745 Audio menu

750 MIDI menu

756 Scores menu

(Cubase SX only)

756 Pool menu

760 Transport menu

763 Devices menu

765 Window menu

766 Help menu

767 Index

CUBASE SX/SL

8 Table of Contents

1

Playback and the Transport

panel

CUBASE SX/SL

1 – 10 Playback and the Transport panel

Background

This chapter describes the various methods available for controlling

Playback and Transport functions in Cubase SX/SL.

The Transport panel

Below you can find a brief description of each item on the Transport

panel.

Right locator: punch out

point and end of Cycle

Activates punch outActivates punch in

Cycle on/off

Left locator: record start point, punch

in point and beginning of Cycle

Preroll setting

Postroll setting

Activates Auto Quantize

Position display

Position slider

Record

Play

Fast forwardRewind Stop

Display format

pop-up

Go to project end

Nudge position right

Go to project start

Nudge position left

Synchronization on/off

Tempo follows Tempo

track on/off

The tempo and time signature display

Metronome click on/off

CUBASE SX/SL

Playback and the Transport panel 1 – 11

• The main Transport functions (Play/Stop/Cycle/Record) are also

available on the toolbar.

In addition, various play options are available on the Transport menu.

Hiding and showing

The Transport panel is shown by default when you launch a new

project. To hide or show it, select the “Transport Panel” item from the

Transport menu (or use the corresponding key command, by default

[F2]).

About Preroll and Postroll

These items are described in the Recording chapter – see page 48.

Resizing

You can change the size of the Transport panel by deciding which

parts of it you wish to be visible. If you right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click

(Mac) anywhere within the Transport panel area, a pop-up menu will

appear. On this menu, you can check or uncheck elements of the

Transport panel as desired.

CUBASE SX/SL

1 – 12 Playback and the Transport panel

The numeric keypad

In the default Key Command settings, the numeric keypad on the

computer keyboard is assigned various Transport panel operations

The keypads are slightly different on PC and Macintosh computers:

PC:

Mac:

Num

Lock

x —

7 8 9

4 5 6+

1 2 3

0

,

Enter

Stop

Return to Zero

Play

Fast Forward On/Off

Rewind On/Off

Cycle On/Off

Record

Go to right

locator

Go to left

locator

Go to Marker

number 3-9

num

lock

= / *

7 8 9 –

4 5 6 +

1 2 3

0

,

enter

Stop

Return to Zero

Play

Fast Forward On/Off

Rewind On/Off

Cycle On/Off

Record

Go to right

locator

Go to left

locator

Go to Marker

number 3-9

CUBASE SX/SL

Playback and the Transport panel 1 – 13

Operations

Setting the Project cursor position

There are several methods you can use to move the project cursor po-

sition:

• By using Fast Forward and Rewind.

• By dragging the project cursor.

• By clicking in the ruler.

Double clicking in the ruler will start or stop playback, moving the cursor at the same

time.

• If the option “Locate When Clicked in Empty Space” is activated in the Pref-

erences (Transport page) you can click anywhere in an empty section of the

Project window to move the cursor position.

• By changing the value in the position display.

• By using the position slider.

The range of the slider relates to the Length setting in the Project Setup dialog. Hence,

moving the slider all the way to the right will take you to the end of the project.

• By using the nudge position buttons (see page 14).

• By using markers (see page 110).

• By using playback options (see page 16).

• By using functions on the Transport menu.

The following functions are available:

❐

If Snap is activated when dragging the project cursor, the Snap value is

taken into account. This can be helpful for finding exact positions quickly.

Function Description

Locate Selection Moves the project cursor to the beginning of the current se-

lection. For this to be available, you must have selected one

or more events or parts, or made a selection range.

Locate Next/Previous

Marker

This moves the project cursor to the closest marker to the right

or left (see page 110).

Locate Next/Previous

Event

This moves the project cursor forwards or backwards respec-

tively, to the closest beginning or end of any event on the se-

lected track(s).

CUBASE SX/SL

1 – 14 Playback and the Transport panel

About the Transport panel display format

The time unit shown in the ruler can be independent from the time unit

shown in the Transport panel. This means that you can display time-

code in the transport position display and bars and beats in the ruler,

for example. The following rules apply:

• If you change the display format from the Transport panel, this will ap-

ply “globally” in the project.

This is the same as changing the display format in the Project Setup. Thus, to have dif-

ferent display formats in the ruler and the Transport panel, you should change the for-

mat in the ruler.

• The Transport panel display format is set on the pop-up menu to the

right in the position display.

• The setting here also determines the time format displayed for the left

and right locators.

Using the nudge position buttons

The + and – buttons to the left of the Position slider allows you to

nudge the project cursor position to the right or left, respectively. The

increments depend on the display format selected on the Transport

panel:

• If the Seconds format is selected, the position will be nudged by whole sec-

onds.

• If any frame-based format is selected, the position will be nudged by frames.

• If Bars+Beats is selected, the position will be nudged by ticks. There are 480

ticks per beat.

• If the Samples format is selected, the position will be nudged by samples.

CUBASE SX/SL

Playback and the Transport panel 1 – 15

Options and Settings

The “Return to Start Position on Stop” preference

You have the option to set the behavior of the project cursor when you

press Stop. This is done in the Preferences dialog on the Transport

page:

1. Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu (on the Mac, the

Preferences are located on the Cubase SX/SL menu) and select the

Transport page.

2. Activate or deactivate the “Return to Start Position on Stop” item.

• If activated (ticked), the project cursor will automatically return to the

position where recording or playback last was activated from, when

you press Stop.

• If deactivated, the project cursor will remain at the position where you

hit Stop.

Pressing Stop again will return the project cursor to the position where recording or

playback last was activated from.

3. Click OK to close the Preferences dialog and apply the changes.

About track disable/enable

For audio tracks, the track context menu contains an item named “Dis-

able Track”. This shuts down all disk activity for the track, as opposed

to using Mute, which merely turns down the output volume for a track.

If you often record “alternative takes”, you can easily build up a large

number of takes that are actually still “playing back” from the hard disk

during playback, although the tracks may be muted. This puts an un-

necessary load on your disk system, so using “Disable Track” is rec-

ommended for such situations.

• Select “Disable Track” when you have recorded many alternative

takes of a performance on separate tracks, that you want to keep for

later evaluation and/or editing.

Select “Enable Track” from the track context menu to re-enable disabled tracks.

CUBASE SX/SL

1 – 16 Playback and the Transport panel

Playback functions

Apart from the standard transport controls on the Transport panel, you

can also find a number of functions that can be used to control play-

back on the Transport menu. The items have the following functionality:

❐

The functions listed above (except “Play to Next Marker”) are only avail-

able if you have selected one or more events or made a selection range.

Option Description

Play from Selection Start This activates playback from the beginning of the currently

selected range.

Play from Selection End This activates playback from the end of the currently se-

lected range.

Play until Selection Start This activates playback two seconds before the start of the

currently selected range and stops at the selection start.

Play until Selection End This activates playback two seconds before the end of the

selected range and stops at the selection end.

Play until Next Marker This activates playback from the project cursor and stops at

the next marker.

Play Selection Range This activates playback from the start of the selected range

and stops at the selection end.

Loop Selection This activates playback from the start of the selected range

and continuously starts over again upon reaching the selec-

tion end.

CUBASE SX/SL

Playback and the Transport panel 1 – 17

About Chase

Chase is basically a function that makes sure your MIDI instruments

sound as they should when you locate to a new position and start

playback. This is accomplished by having the program transmitting a

number of MIDI messages to your instruments each time you move to

a new position in the project, making sure all MIDI devices are set up

correctly with regard to Program Change, controller messages (such

as MIDI Volume) etc.

For example, let’s say you have a MIDI track with a Program Change

event inserted at the beginning. This event makes a synth switch to a

piano sound.

In the beginning of the first chorus you have another Program Change

event which makes the same synth switch to a string sound.

You now play back the song. It begins with the piano sound and then

switches to the string sound. In the middle of the chorus you stop and

rewind to some point between the beginning and the second Program

Change. The synth will now still play the string sound although in this

section it really should be a piano!

The Chase function takes care of that. If Program Change events are

set to be chased, Cubase SX/SL will track the music back to the be-

ginning, find the first Program Change and send this out, so that the

synth is set to the right sound.

The same thing can apply to other event types as well. The Chase

Events Filter settings in the Preferences dialog (MIDI-Chase Events

Filter page) determine which event types will be chased when you lo-

cate to a new position and start playback.

• Event types for which the checkbox is activated in this dialog will not be

chased.

CUBASE SX/SL

1 – 18 Playback and the Transport panel

2

Recording

CUBASE SX/SL

2 – 20 Recording

Background

This chapter describes the various recording methods that you can

use in Cubase SX/SL. As it is possible to record both audio and MIDI

tracks in Cubase SX/SL, both of these recording methods are cov-

ered in this chapter.

Before you start

This chapter assumes that you are reasonably familiar with certain ba-

sic recording concepts, and that the following initial preparations have

been made:

• You have properly set up, connected and calibrated your audio hard-

ware.

This is described in the Getting Started book.

• You have opened a project and set the project setup parameters to

your specifications.

Project Setup parameters determine the record format, sample rate, project length etc.

that affect the resulting audio recordings you make during the course of the project.

See page 62.

• If you plan to record MIDI, your MIDI equipment should be set up and

connected correctly.

See the Getting Started book.

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Steinberg Cubase SX 1.0 User manual

Steinberg Cubase SX 1.0 User manual

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