Steinberg Cubase 5 Operation Manual

111
The mixer
About the multiple mixer windows
You may have noticed that there are in fact several separate 
mixer items selectable from the Devices menu (in Cubase 
Studio there are two mixer items). These are not separate 
mixers, but rather separate views of the same mixer. 
Each of the mixer windows can be configured to show 
any combination of channels, channel types, narrow and 
wide channel strips, etc. (how to do this is described later 
in this chapter).
You can for example configure one mixer...

112
The mixer
About multi-channel audio (Cubase only)
Cubase has full support for surround sound. Each audio 
channel and bus in the mixer can carry up to 6 speaker 
channels. This means that if you have an audio track con-
figured for 5.1 surround sound, for example, it will have a 
single channel strip in the mixer, just like mono or stereo 
tracks, but its level meter will have six meter bars, one for 
each speaker channel.
Another thing to note is that the look of a channel strip dif-
fers slightly...

113
The mixer
The common panel
The common panel appears to the left in the mixer windows 
and contains settings for changing the look and behavior of 
the mixer, as well as global settings for all channels.
Selecting what to display in the extended 
channel strips
You can select what to display in the extended channel 
strip either globally from the common panel or individually 
from each channel strip. 
The available options vary depending on the channel type.
 For a description of the options for...

114
The mixer
To set the “Can Hide” status for individual channels in 
the mixer, see below.
The View options pop-up is opened by clicking the down 
arrow located just above the fader panel of a channel strip.
To select what to display in the extended panel from the 
View options pop-up menu, you must first open the ex-
tended mixer.
Selecting what channel types to show/hide
You can specify what channel types to show or hide in the 
mixer. In the lower part of the common panel you find a 
vertical strip...

115
The mixer
About the Command Target
Command targets let you specify which channels should 
be affected by the “commands” (basically all the functions 
that can be assigned key commands) when working with 
the Mixer, e.g. what to display in the extended mixer, the 
width setting of the channel strips, etc. You can set com-
mand targets using the Mixer common panel or the con-
text menu.
The following options are available:
 All Channels – Select this if you want your commands to af-
fect all channels....

116
The mixer
The audio-related channel strips
All audio-related channel types (audio, instrument track, 
input/output channels, group, effect return, VST Instru-
ment and ReWire) basically have the same channel strip 
layout, with the following differences:
 Only audio track channels have an Input Routing pop-up menu.
 Only audio and instrument track channels have a Monitor and 
Record Enable button.
 Input/output channels do not have sends.
 Instrument track and VST Instrument channels have an addi-...

117
The mixer
The MIDI channel strips
The MIDI channel strips allow you to control volume and 
pan in your MIDI instrument (provided that they are set up to 
receive the corresponding MIDI messages). The settings 
here are also available in the Inspector for MIDI tracks.
The input and output channels
The busses you set up in the VST Connections window 
are represented by input and output channels in the mixer. 
These are shown in separate “panes” (to the left and right 
of the regular channel strips,...

118
The mixer
MIDI channels handle fader volume changes in the mixer 
by sending out MIDI volume messages to the connected in-
strument(s).
Connected instruments must be set to respond to MIDI messages (such 
as MIDI volume in this case) for this to function properly.
The fader settings are displayed numerically below the 
faders, in dB for audio channels and in the MIDI volume 0 
to 127 value range for MIDI channels.
You can click in the fader value fields and enter a volume setting by typing.
To make...

119
The mixer
Adjusting Input Gain (Cubase only)
Each audio channel and input/output channel features an 
Input Gain control. This controls the gain for the incoming 
signal, before EQ and effects.
The Input Gain is not meant to be used as a volume con-
trol in the mixer, as it is not suited for continuous level ad-
justments during playback. It can, however, be used to cut 
or boost the gain in various circumstances:
To change the level of a signal before the effects section.
The level going into...

120
The mixer
You can un-mute or un-solo all channels by clicking the 
Mute or Solo indicator on the common panel.
Listen Mode (Cubase only)
The Listen button for a channel strip and the global Listen button on the 
Common panel
Clicking the Listen button for a channel routes that chan-
nel to the Control Room without interrupting the normal 
signal flow. The following applies:
When the channel is set to after-fader (also referred to 
as post-fader), the signal being routed to the Control 
Room channel...