Steinberg Cubase 4 User Manual

							New Features in Cubase 4.5 
						

							Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Marion Bröer, Sabine Pfeifer
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. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement 
and may not be copied to other media except as specifically allowed in the License Agreement. No part of this publica-
tion may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission 
by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.
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are registered trademarks.
Release Date: July 15, 2008
© Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, 2008.
All rights reserved. 
						

							Table of Contents 
						

							4
Table of Contents
5Introduction
6Welcome!
7Working with the new features
8VST Sound
8Plug and Play support for ASIO devices
8Automatically generated VST Connection presets
9Monitoring improvements (Cubase only)
9Mac OS X improvements
9Remote Devices
10Key Commands for MediaBay options
10Importing OMF files (Cubase only)
10Routing the metronome click to a VST Instrument
10Suspending Autoscroll
11New option in the Project Synchronization Setup 
dialog
12Index 
						

							Introduction 
						

							6
Introduction
Welcome!
Welcome to Cubase 4.5! This version adds support for the 
Advanced Integration Controller CC121 and the Advanced 
Integration FireWire Interfaces MR816 X/MR816 CSX  to-
gether with new features for every Cubase user.
This document lists and describes the features that have 
been added to or modified in the program since version 4.1.
About the program versions
The documentation covers two different operating sys-
tems or “platforms”; Windows and Mac OS X. 
Some features and settings are specific to one of the plat-
forms. This is clearly stated in the applicable cases. In 
other words:
ÖIf nothing else is said, all descriptions and procedures 
in the documentation are valid for both Windows and Mac 
OS X.
Key command conventions
Many of the default key commands in Cubase use modifier 
keys, some of which are different depending on the oper-
ating system. For example, the default key command for 
Undo is [Ctrl]-[Z] under Windows and [Command]-[Z] un-
der Mac OS X.
When key commands with modifier keys are described in 
this manual, they are shown with the Windows modifier 
key first, in the following way:
[Win modifier key]/[Mac modifier key]-[key]
For example, [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Z] means “press [Ctrl] 
under Windows or [Command] under Mac OS X, then 
press [Z]”. 
Similarly, [Alt]/[Option]-[X] means “press [Alt] under Win-
dows or [Option] under Mac OS X, then press [X]”.
ÖPlease note that this manual might refer to right-click-
ing, e.g. to open context menus, etc. If you are using a Mac 
with a single-button mouse, hold down [Ctrl] and click. 
						

							Working with the new features 
						

							8
Working with the new features
VST Sound
With version 4.5, Steinberg introduced VST Sound, a new 
version of the SoundFrame media management system that 
is directly integrated into VST3. VST Sound allows direct 
integration into the MediaBay to third party manufacturers 
of plug-ins and instruments, and encompasses all formats 
and file types previously supported by SoundFrame such as 
audio, loops, VSTi presets, video, MIDI files and track pre-
sets. VST Sound has now replaced SoundFrame, which 
was part of previous versions of Steinberg applications.
Plug and Play support for ASIO 
devices
The Steinberg MR816 hardware series supports Plug and 
Play in Cubase. These devices can be plugged in and 
switched on while the application is running. Cubase will 
automatically use the driver of the MR816 series and will 
re-map the VST connections accordingly.
•Please note that 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.
Automatically generated VST 
Connection presets
In the VST Connections window (opened from the Devices 
menu), on the Inputs and Outputs tabs, you will find a Pre-
sets menu. A number of standard bus configurations are 
provided by default, and you can also save your own cus-
tomized setups as presets.
In this version of Cubase, a new type of preset has been 
added to complement the standard presets as known from 
the previous program version: On each startup, Cubase 
will analyze the physical inputs and outputs provided by 
your audio hardware, and will automatically create presets 
tailored to your specific hardware configuration. These hardware-dependent presets can have the follow-
ing configurations:
 one stereo bus
 various combinations of stereo and mono busses
 a number of mono busses
 Cubase only: one 5.1 bus (if you have 6 or more inputs)
 Cubase only: various combinations of 5.1 and stereo busses 
(if you have 6 or more inputs)
 Cubase only: various combinations of 5.1 and mono busses 
(if you have 6 or more inputs)
The Presets menu on the Outputs tab of the VST Connections window, 
with the standard presets (top) and the automatically generated presets 
(bottom).
The automatically generated presets make it easy to install 
and use an audio hardware device very quickly, as it is no 
longer necessary to manually specify the bus-port assign-
ments for the current device in the VST Connections win-
dow every time before you can start working. This is very 
handy, especially if you have a number of different devices 
you want to use or if you are working in different studios.
!If a device that does not support Plug and Play is 
connected/disconnected when the computer is run-
ning, it might get damaged. 
						

							9
Working with the new features
Monitoring improvements (Cubase 
only)
Regarding ASIO Direct Monitoring, some improvements 
have been made for this version of Cubase.
Depending on the audio hardware, you can now control 
the monitoring level and panning from the mixer (including 
the Control Room section) by adjusting the volume faders, 
the input gain controls and the Control Room’s studio 
send levels.
When using Steinberg hardware (MR816 series) in com-
bination with ASIO Direct Monitoring, monitoring will be 
virtually latency-free.
Mac OS X improvements
Retrieving channel names
For some audio cards, it is now possible to automatically 
retrieve the “ASIO” channel names for the ports of your 
audio hardware:
1.Open the Device Setup dialog via the Devices menu.
2.On the VST Audio System page, select your audio 
card on the “ASIO driver” pop up menu.
3.In the Devices list to the left, select your audio card.
The available settings are displayed.
4.In the settings section to the right, click the Control 
Panel button.
This opens the control panel for your audio hardware.
5.Activate the “Use CoreAudio Channel Names” option.
6.When you now open the VST Connections window to 
set up the busses in your system, you will find that the port 
names in the Device Port column correspond to the 
names that are used by the CoreAudio driver.
ÖIf you want to use the project later on with an earlier 
version of Cubase, you will have to re-assign the port con-
nections in the VST Connections window.
Port selection and activation
On the settings page for your audio card (opened via the 
Devices menu, see above), you can now specify which in-
put and which output port should be active. This allows 
you e. g. to use the Microphone input instead of the Line 
input or even to deactivate the audio card input or output 
completely, if required.
ÖThis function is only available for Built-In Audio, stan-
dard USB audio devices and a certain number of other au-
dio cards (e. g. Pinnacle CineWave).
Making settings for the hardware
When you click the “Open Config App” button on the set-
tings page for your audio device in the Device Setup dia-
log, the Control Panel for your audio device will be opened 
(if applicable). Here, you can make various settings relat-
ing to your audio hardware. The available settings depend 
on the installed hardware, so please refer to the documen-
tation that came with the audio hardware for information.
Remote Devices
On the Device Setup dialog, on the page for your remote 
device, some (or all) of the following new functions may be 
available (depending on your remote device):
Option Description
Reset This allows you to revert to the factory default settings for 
the remote device.
Bank If your remote device contains several banks, you can se-
lect the bank you want to use on this pop-up menu. 
The bank you select here will be the one used by default 
when Cubase is launched.
Smart Switch 
DelaySome of the Cubase functions (e. g. Solo and Mute) sup-
port the so called “smart switch” behavior: In addition to 
regular activation/deactivation of a function by clicking a 
button, you can also activate the function for as long as 
the button is pressed. Upon releasing the mouse button, 
the function is deactivated. 
This pop-up menu allows you to specify how long a but-
ton must be pressed before it goes into “smart switch” 
mode. When “Off” is selected, the “smart switch” func-
tion is deactivated in Cubase. 
						

							10
Working with the new features
Key Commands for MediaBay 
options
Several commands relating to the MediaBay can now be 
performed using keyboard shortcuts. These are set up in 
the Key Commands dialog (opened via the File menu). 
New key commands are available for the following actions: 
you can step through presets, open the Presets browser, 
and use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate in the 
MediaBay windows. Furthermore, you can reset the search 
criteria or revert to the MediaBay as it was when you 
launched the program.
ÖNote that this makes it possible to remote control 
several of the MediaBay functions.
Importing OMF files (Cubase only)
When importing OMF files, you can now choose between 
two options specifying at which time position the files will 
be placed in the project.
The Import options dialog for an OMF file
“Import at Timecode Position” will insert the elements 
contained in the OMF file at their original timecode posi-
tions.
This is useful when you want to position every imported element at its ex-
act timecode position, i. e. as it was saved in the OMF file. This way, the 
elements will end up at their correct time positions even when Cubase 
uses a different frame rate than the OMF file.
This is usually required in a picture-related context.
“Import at Absolute Time” will insert the elements con-
tained in the OMF file starting at the timecode position 
saved in the file and keeping the relative distances be-
tween the elements.
This is required when the relative positioning of the elements inside the 
OMF file needs to be maintained after importing it into the Cubase time-
line (even if Cubase is set to a different frame rate than the OMF file).
This is usually required in musical environments, where the timing be-
tween objects has highest priority.
Routing the metronome click to a 
VST Instrument
When setting up a metronome MIDI click, you can use a 
VST Instrument to provide the sound for the click.
1.On the Transport menu, select “Metronome Setup…”.
2.In the MIDI Click section, open the MIDI Port/Channel 
pop-up menu and select a VST Instrument from the list.
Note that the instrument must have been set up in the VST Instruments 
window. Make sure that Activate MIDI Click is activated.
When you now start playback and a sound is selected in 
your VST Instrument, the metronome click will be heard 
using the VSTi selected above.
Suspending Autoscroll
On the main toolbar in the Project window, as well as in 
the various editors, you will find the Autoscroll button. 
When this button is activated, the display will scroll during 
playback, keeping the project cursor visible in the window 
at all times.
When editing parts or events during playback with Auto-
scroll enabled, you may suddenly “loose sight” of the ed-
ited material as the display follows the project cursor.
If you don’t want the Project window display to change 
when editing during playback, you can activate the “Sus-
pend Autoscroll when Editing” button. You will find this 
button right next to the Autoscroll button.
Suspend Autoscroll when Editing
Options for 
positioning 
the data on 
the timeline