Steinberg Cubase 4 Mackie Control Manual

							11
Basic mixing
A note about automation
The Read and Write buttons in the top row of the Action 
Keys section control the status of the Read and Write but-
tons in the Mixer of Cubase, allowing remote control of 
Mixer automation.
Press the Read button to enable or disable the reading 
of automation data for the selected channel.
Hold down the Shift button and press the Read button 
to enable or disable the reading of automation data for all 
channels.
Press the Write button to enable or disable the record-
ing of automation data for the selected channel.
Hold down the Shift button and press the Write button 
to enable or disable the recording of automation data for 
all channels. 
						

							3
Control strip assignment 
						

							13
Control strip assignment
About this chapter
This chapter describes the assignment of the control strip 
to access all VST settings in Cubase: EQ, effect sends, 
effect and VST Instrument parameters and so on. It also 
contains descriptions of the available parameter pages, as 
shown in the display of Mackie Control.
Basic procedures
Selecting a parameter group
To be able to view the settings of a parameter in the dis-
play and edit the values with the V-Pots, you need to se-
lect the corresponding parameter group. This is done by 
pressing one of the buttons in the Assignment and Action 
Keys sections of Mackie Control.
About the three modes
Mackie Control operates in one of three modes: Selected 
Channel, Fader Set or Global. Which mode is used de-
pends on which parameter group is selected. For exam-
ple, pushing the Pan button in the Assignment section 
puts Mackie Control in Fader Set mode.
The functionality of the three modes is described on the 
following pages.
Selected Channel mode
This mode gives you access to up to eight different pa-
rameters at the same time for a single, selected channel. 
You can think of this as working with a single, vertical 
channel strip on a mixer desk, having access to pan, EQ, 
sends, etc. for a single channel.
When you have selected a parameter group in this mode, 
the display shows the following information:
You select which channel to edit in Selected Channel 
mode by pressing one of the eight Select buttons directly 
above the faders.
See “Using the Select buttons” on page 10.
The Action Keys section
The Assignment section
The upper row shows the names of the available parameters. Each 
parameter can be controlled with the corresponding V-Pot. In this ex-
ample, V-Pot 1 would control the “Freq1” parameter, V-Pot 2 would 
control “Gain1” and so on.
The name of the 
selected pa-
rameter group.The selected 
channel.This indicates which page is shown, 
and how many pages there are in 
the selected parameter group. In 
this example, the display shows 
page 1 out of 2 pages. 
						

							14
Control strip assignment
Fader Set mode
In this mode, you can view and edit a single parameter for 
eight different channels (the current Fader Set). You can 
think of this as working with a horizontal segment of a 
mixer desk, e.g. the pan controls for eight consecutive 
channels:
You select which set of eight channels to edit by using 
the buttons in the Fader Banks and/or the Fader Groups 
section, as described on “Selecting which channels to 
control” on page 9.
Global mode
This is where you make global settings, i.e. settings that 
are not related to the individual channels. Examples in-
clude parameter settings for the send effects, master ef-
fects and VST Instruments.The contents of the display depend on the selected pa-
rameter group. Here, the “Instruments” group is selected, 
and the display shows settings for one of the active VST 
Instruments:
Using the control strip
When you have selected a parameter group (or parameter 
sub-group – see below), you need to go to the page con-
taining the desired parameter. This is done by pressing 
the two buttons labeled I/O for Page Down and Sends for 
Page Up at the top of the Assignment section.
Holding down the Shift button (on the right in the sec-
ond row of buttons in the Action Keys section) and press-
ing Page Up or Page Down takes you to the first or last 
available parameter page.
Once the parameter is shown in the display, you can ad-
just its value by moving the corresponding V-Pot.
When you move the V-Pot, the display will switch to 
show the parameter values instead of the parameter 
names.
After you have moved a V-Pot, the display will keep the values shown for 
a short while before switching back to parameter names.
The lower row shows the names of the eight channels in the current 
Fader Set. You can control the selected parameter for each one of the 
eight channels by using the corresponding V-Pot. In this example, V-
Pot 1 would control the Pan parameter for the channel “Ch1”, V-Pot 2 
would control the same parameter for the channel “Ch2” and so on.
The name of the 
selected pa-
rameter group.The parame-
ter available 
for editing.This indicates which page is 
shown, and how many pages there 
are in the selected parameter 
group. In this example, the display 
shows page 1 out of 2 pages.
The upper row shows the names of the available parameters. As you 
can see, only four parameters are shown on one page, allowing longer 
parameter names. Each parameter can be controlled with any of the 
two V-Pots above it. Here, the “Octave” parameter would be controlled 
with V-Pot 1 or 2, “Semitone” would be controlled with V-Pot 3 or 4 
and so on.
The name of the selected 
parameter sub-group. 
See “About parameter 
sub-groups” on page 15 
for an explanation of 
parameter sub-groups.The name 
of the VST 
Instrument.This indicates which page is 
shown, and how many pages 
there are in the selected pa-
rameter group. In this exam-
ple, the display shows page 
2 out of 8 pages. 
						

							15
Control strip assignment
To view the parameter values without making any 
changes, press the Name/Value button in the Display 
section.
This makes the display switch to showing parameter values. Click the 
Name/Value button again to go back to parameter names.
The parameter values are also indicated by the LED 
rings around the V-Pots.
About parameter sub-groups
Most of the settings are structured in the following way: a 
parameter group (accessed by pressing a button in the 
Assignment or Action Keys sections) contains one or sev-
eral pages, each holding one or several parameters.
However, in the case of send effects, master effects, in-
struments (Global mode) and inserts (Selected Channel 
mode), there is one more hierarchical level, called a pa-
rameter sub-group. For example, the parameters for mas-
ter effects are structured in the following way:
The “Master Effects” parameter group contains eight sub-
groups – one for each insert effect slot in Cubase. Each 
sub-group contains a number of pages which contain a 
number of parameters (both numbers depending on the 
activated effects).
To select another parameter sub-group, go to the first 
page of the current sub-group and use V-Pot 1.
The figure below shows the first page of the first parameter sub-group in 
the Master Effects group.
About the symbols used in this 
chapter
On the following pages, all the different parameter groups 
are described. The parameter groups are divided accord-
ing to the three modes, Selected Channel, Fader Set and 
Global. 
For quick navigation in this manual, an icon at the top of 
each manual page shows to which mode it belongs:
This icon indicates the “vertical” Selected Channel mode.
This icon indicates the “horizontal” Fader Set mode.
This icon indicates Global mode.
When a group of parameters has more than one page of 
parameters in the Mackie Control display, this is indicated 
by the following symbol:
This corresponds to the I/O and Sends buttons in the 
Assignment section of Mackie Control.
For example, in the picture below, you would use the I/O 
and Sends buttons to switch between the “Level” and the 
“Enable” parameter pages:
This indicates Master Effect slot 1. Use V-Pot 1 to select an-
other parameter sub-group (i.e. another Master Effect slot). 
						

							16
Control strip assignment
Selected Channel: EQ
Accessing the EQ controls for the currently selected 
channel is achieved by pressing the EQ button in the As-
signment section. If you press Shift + EQ one band per 
page will be shown for the selected channel.
Please select a channel by pressing one of the Select but-
tons above the faders.
The controls for the equalizers are divided into 2 pages:
Page 1
Frequency and Gain pairs for the four bands. 
Page 2
Enable and Q controls for the four bands.
Selected Channel: FX Send
Accessing the FX Send (auxiliary) controls for the cur-
rently selected channel is done by pressing the DYN but-
ton in the Assignment section. Pressing Shift+ DYN will 
step through Fader Set mode “FX Send 1” to “FX Send 
8”.
Please select a channel by pressing one of the Select but-
tons above the faders.
The controls for the sends are divided into 4 pages:
Page 1
Send Levels for each of the 8 FX Sends.
Page 2
Enable switches for each of the 8 FX Sends.
Page 3
Switches to change between pre/post fader mode. 
						

							17
Control strip assignment
Page 4
Controls to choose the destination of the FX send signal.Selected Channel: Inserts
Accessing the Insert Effect controls for the currently se-
lected channel is done by pressing the Plug Ins button in 
the Assignment section.
Please select a channel by pressing one of the Select but-
tons above the faders.
When Page 01 is selected, V-Pot 1 selects which of the 
insert slots is currently being edited (see “About parame-
ter sub-groups” on page 15).
If no effect is selected for the current insert slot, the dis-
play will show that ‘No Effect’ is selected. 
After a plug-in has been selected in Cubase, the display 
will change to show the selected plug-in in this effect slot 
and the ‘number of pages’ indicator will be updated to 
show the amount of pages necessary to display all the 
plug-in’s declared parameters.
Here the Reverb32 plug-in has been selected.
!The Bus destinations control whether the FX send 
signal is sent directly to the internal effects, to the 
Group channels or to a physical bus output (if your 
sound card has additional outputs.) 
						

							18
Control strip assignment
Selected Channel: Studio Sends
Accessing the Studio Sends controls for the currently se-
lected channel is done by pressing the Sends and the 
Shift button in the Action Keys section.
Please select a channel by pressing one of the Select but-
tons above the faders.
The controls for the Studio sends are divided into 4 
pages:
Page 1
Send Levels for each of the Studio Sends.
Page 2
Enable switches for each of the Studio Sends.
Page 3
Switches to change between pre/post fader mode.
Page 4
Controls the left/right panning of the Studio send signal.
Selected Channel: Instruments
Accessing the Instrument controls for the currently se-
lected channel is done by pressing the Instruments button 
in the Action Keys section.
Please select a channel by pressing one of the Select but-
tons above the faders. 
						

							19
Control strip assignment
Fader Set: Pan
Accessing the Pan controls for the current Fader Set is 
done by pressing the Pan button in the Assignment sec-
tion.
The left/right panning of a channel in the current Fader Set 
is controlled by the corressponding V-Pot.
Global: Send Effects
Mackie Control can control the parameters of the effects 
that are loaded in the first insert of FX channels. To access 
these effects, press the Sends button in the Action Keys 
section.
When Page 01 is selected, V-Pot 1 selects which ef-
fect of the FX channels is currently being edited (see 
“About parameter sub-groups” on page 15).
If no effect is selected for the current slot, the display will 
show that ‘No Effect’ is selected. 
After a plug-in has been selected in Cubase, the display 
will change to show the currently selected plug-in this ef-
fect slot and the ‘number of pages’ indicator will be up-
dated to show the amount of pages necessary to display 
all the plug-in’s declared parameters.
Here the Reverb32 plug-in has been selected. 
						

							20
Control strip assignment
Global: Master Effects
Mackie Control can control the parameters of the effects 
that are loaded in the master effects section of the main 
output. To access these effects, press the Master button 
in the Action Keys section.
When Page 01 is selected, V-Pot 1 selects which of the 
master effect slots is currently being edited (see “About 
parameter sub-groups” on page 15).
If no effect is selected for the current master effect slot, 
the display will show that ‘No Effect’ is selected. 
After a plug-in has been selected in Cubase, the display 
will change to show the currently selected plug-in this ef-
fect slot and the ‘number of pages’ indicator will be up-
dated to show the amount of pages necessary to display 
all the plug-in’s declared parameters.
Here the Symphonic plug-in has been selected.
Global: Instruments
Mackie Control can control the parameters of the instru-
ments that are loaded in the VST Instruments rack. To ac-
cess these, push the Instruments button in the Action 
Keys section and press Shift.
When Page 01 is selected, V-Pot 1 selects which of the 
VST Instrument slots is currently being edited (see “About 
parameter sub-groups” on page 15).
If no VST Instrument is selected for the current slot the 
display will read ‘No Effect’.
After an instrument plug-in has been selected in Cubase, 
the display will change to show the currently selected in-
strument in this effect slot and the ‘number of pages’ indi-
cator will be updated to show the amount of pages 
necessary to display all the plug-in’s declared parameters.