Steinberg Cubase 5 Operation Manual

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
If you do not want the plug-in control panels to open ev-
ery 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.If you now look in the Project window Track list, you 
will find that a dedicated folder for the chosen instrument 
has been added, within a “VST Instruments” folder (where 
all your VST Instrument channels will be listed).
The separate folder for the added VST Instrument contains two or more 
automation tracks: one for automating the plug-in parameters and one for 
each mixer channel used by the VST Instrument. For example, if you add a 
VST Instrument with four separate outputs (four separate mixer channels), 
the folder will contain five automation tracks. To keep the screen less clut-
tered, you may want to close the folder for the VST Instrument until you 
need to view or edit any of the automation tracks. For more about automa-
tion, see the chapter “Automation” on page 188.
When you select the MIDI track routed to the VST in-
strument, you will see that the Inspector contains a sepa-
rate section for the instrument.
This section contains the audio channel settings for the VST Instrument 
(inserts, EQs, Sends and fader settings). The tab has two buttons for 
opening the Channel Settings window (for the VST Instrument channel) 
and the Edit Instrument button which opens the control panel for the VST 
Instrument.
5.Depending on the selected VST Instrument, you may 
also need to select a MIDI channel for the track.
For example, a multitimbral VST Instrument can play back different 
sounds on different MIDI channels – check the documentation for the 
VST Instrument for MIDI implementation details.
6.Make sure the option “MIDI Thru Active” is activated in 
the Preferences dialog (MIDI page).
7.Activate the Monitor button for the MIDI track (in the 
Track list, Inspector or mixer). 
When this is activated (or when the track is record enabled), incoming 
MIDI is passed on to the selected MIDI output (in this case the VST In-
strument), see the chapter “Recording” on page 66.
8.Open the mixer.
You will find one or more channel strips for the audio outputs of the VST 
Instrument. VST Instrument channel strips have the same features and 
functionality as group channel strips, with the addition of an Edit button at 
the bottom of the strip for opening the VST Instrument control panel. You 
will also find Output Routing pop-up menus at the top of the channel 
strips, for routing the VST Instrument channels e. g. to output channels or 
groups. Routing is described in detail in the chapter “VST Connections: 
Setting up input and output busses” on page 13.
9.Play the VST Instrument from your MIDI keyboard.
You can use the mixer settings to adjust the sound, add EQ or effects, etc., 
just as with regular audio channels. Of course, you can also record or man-
ually create MIDI parts that play back sounds from the VST Instrument.
VST Instrument channels give you full access to multi-
timbral instruments.
You can have several MIDI tracks routed to the VST Instrument, each 
playing a different part.
Similarly, you can route channels to any available output 
provided by the VST Instrument.
The VST Instruments window
When a VST Instrument is loaded, six controls are dis-
played for this slot in the VST Instruments window.
The button on the far left is used for the Freeze function, 
see “Instrument Freeze” on page 174.
The second button is used to activate or deactivate the 
VST Instrument.
When an instrument is selected from the instrument pop-up menu, it is 
activated automatically, i. e. the on/off control lights up in blue.
For some instruments you may also bypass the instrument by clicking the 
Bypass button to the right of the on/off button.
Opens the Channel 
Settings window. Opens the control 
panel for the VST 
Instrument.
!You can have up to 64 (32 in Cubase Studio) VST In-
struments activated at the same time, either different 
instruments or several instances of the same instru-
ment. However, software instruments can consume a 
lot of CPU power – keep an eye on the VST Perfor-
mance window to avoid running out of processor 
power. See also “Instrument Freeze” on page 174.
Instrument 
on/off
Instrument 
FreezeActivate outputs Bypass 
instrument
Open instrument panel
Event received 
						

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
Click the Edit (“e”) button to open the control panel for 
the VST Instrument. 
Below the Edit button is a small LED that will light up 
when MIDI data is received by the instrument.
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 num-
ber 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.
Instrument tracks
An instrument track is a combination of a VST Instrument, a 
MIDI track, and a VST Instrument channel, in other words: 
it is a track coupled with a sound – it allows you to think in 
terms of sounds rather than in terms of track and instru-
ment settings.
Adding Instrument tracks
To open and use an Instrument track, proceed as follows:
1.Open the Project menu and select Instrument from the 
Add Track submenu.
You can also right-click in the Track list and select “Add Instrument 
Track” on the context menu.
2.The Add Instrument Track dialog is opened.
You can select an instrument for the track from the pop-up (but you can 
also leave this until later if you wish). Specify the number of instrument 
tracks you wish to create in the “count” field. If you click the “Browse 
Presets” button, the dialog expands to show the Presets browser, where 
you can browse for sounds.
3.Click OK to add the Instrument track.
When you select an Instrument in the Add Track dialog, the new track 
will get the name of the instrument. When no instrument is selected, the 
track is named “Instrument track”.
An instrument track in the Track list
Properties
Each Instrument track has a corresponding channel 
strip in the mixer.
In the Inspector, you can select a VST Instrument from 
the Instrument pop-up menu.
When you select an instrument from this pop-up, its control panel will 
open automatically.
You can also exchange the “sound” of an instrument 
track (i. e. the VST Instrument and its settings) by extract-
ing these data from another instrument track or a VST pre-
set, see “Extracting sound from an instrument track or VST 
preset” on page 292.
On the Input Routing pop-up menu, you can select a 
MIDI input.
Instrument tracks have only one MIDI input.
To open the control panel for the VST Instrument, click 
the “Edit Instrument” button in the Inspector.
As with MIDI tracks, you can perform the usual MIDI edit-
ing procedures on the instrument track, like duplicate, split 
repeat or lock the track, use the In-Place Editor, drag and 
drop the MIDI parts of an instrument track etc. For more in-
formation, see the chapter “MIDI realtime parameters and 
effects” on page 305.
As with the MIDI track inspector and track controls, you 
can adjust track delay, choose MIDI input, work with VST 
Instrument panels, choose drum maps etc. For more infor-
mation, see the chapter “MIDI realtime parameters and ef-
fects” on page 305.
Instrument tracks have all options that VST Instrument 
channels have, i.e. Inserts, Sends, EQ, etc.
ÖVST Instruments used in Instrument tracks do not ap-
pear in the VST Instruments window.
For an overview of all used VST Instruments, open the Plug-in Information 
window via the Devices menu. For further information, see the section “The 
Plug-in Information window” on page 167. 
						

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
Restrictions
Instrument tracks have no MIDI Sends.
MIDI volume and pan cannot be controlled (there is no 
“MIDI fader” tab in the Inspector); instead, the VST Instru-
ment volume and pan are used (via the “Channel” tab in the 
Inspector). This applies also to the respective automation 
parameters.
ÖDue to there being only one volume and pan control for 
the instrument track, the Mute button will mute the com-
plete track including the VST Instrument. (As opposed to a 
MIDI track with an assigned VST Instrument, for which mut-
ing the MIDI track still allows you to monitor and record the 
VST Instrument.)
Instrument tracks always have one stereo output chan-
nel only. This means that VST Instruments that do not pro-
vide a stereo output as their first output channel cannot be 
used with instrument tracks, and must be loaded via the 
VST Instruments window.
Due to the limitation to one output channel, instrument 
tracks play only the first voice of a multi-timbral VST In-
strument. If you want to use all voices, you have to load the 
instrument via the VST Instruments window and set up a 
MIDI channel to play it.
Import and export options
Importing MIDI loops
You can import “MIDI loops” (file extension “*.midiloop”) in 
Cubase. These files contain MIDI Part information (MIDI 
notes, controllers, etc.) as well as all the settings that are 
saved in Instrument track presets (see “About track pre-
sets and VST presets” on page 175). This way, you can 
easily reuse instrument patterns you really like in other 
projects or applications for example.
Proceed as follows:
1.Open the MediaBay window via the Media menu.
2.In the Filter section, activate the “Show MIDI Loops” 
button.
This is not necessary, but will help you locate your MIDI loops more quickly.
3.In the Viewer section, select the desired MIDI loop and 
drag it in an empty section in the Project window.
An Instrument track is created and the Instrument part is inserted at the 
position where you dragged the file. The Inspector will reflect all settings 
saved in the MIDI loop, e. g. the VST instrument that was used, applied 
Insert effects, Track parameters, etc.
ÖYou can also drag MIDI loops onto existing Instrument 
or MIDI tracks. However, this will only import the part infor-
mation.
This means this part will only contain the MIDI data (notes, controllers) 
saved in the MIDI loop, but no inspector settings or instrument parameters.
Exporting MIDI loops
Exporting MIDI loops is a great way of saving a MIDI part 
together with its instrument and e. g. effect settings. This 
allows you to easily reproduce patterns you once created 
without having to search for the correct sound, style or 
effect.
Proceed as follows:
1.Select the desired Instrument part.
2.On the File menu–Export submenu, select “MIDI 
Loop…”.
A file dialog opens.
3.Enter the desired name for the MIDI loop in the Name 
field in the lower section of the dialog.
If you want to save attributes for the MIDI loop, click the 
Tag Editor button.
This lets you specify e. g. a category and a sub category for your MIDI 
loop.
4.Click OK to close the dialog and save the MIDI loop.
MIDI Loop files are saved in the following folder:
 Windows: \Documents and Settings\\Applica-
tion Data\Steinberg\MIDI Loops
 Mac: /Users//Library/Application Support/
Steinberg/MIDI Loops/
This default folder cannot be changed, you can however 
create subfolders within this folder to organize your MIDI 
loops. Simply click the “Create New Folder” button in the 
Save MIDI Loop dialog. 
						

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
Exporting instrument tracks as MIDI file
You can also export instrument tracks as standard MIDI 
files, see “Exporting MIDI files” on page 464.
Please note: 
As there is no MIDI patch information in an instrument 
track, this information is missing in the resulting MIDI file.
If you activate “Export Inspector Volume/Pan”, volume 
and pan information of the VST Instrument will be con-
verted and written into the MIDI file as controller data.
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 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.
If you need to use multitimbral parts and/or multiple out-
puts, set up a VST Instrument channel. 
Instrument Freeze
Like all plug-ins, VST Instruments may require a lot of pro-
cessor power. If you are using a moderately powerful com-
puter or if you are using a large number of VST Instruments, 
you may come to a point where your computer cannot han-
dle all VST Instruments playing back in realtime (the CPU 
overload indicator in the VST Performance window lights 
up, you get crackling sounds, etc.).
Enter the Instrument Freeze function! This is how it works:
When you freeze a VST Instrument, the program renders 
an audio file of the instrument output (taking into account 
all unmuted MIDI parts routed to that VST Instrument). This 
file is placed in the “Freeze” folder within the Project folder.
All MIDI tracks routed to the VST Instrument, or the in-
strument track associated with the VST Instrument, are 
muted and locked (the controls for these tracks will ap-
pear “grayed-out” in the Track list and Inspector).When you start playback, the rendered audio file is 
played back from an “invisible” audio track, routed to the 
VST Instrument’s mixer channel. Thus, any effects, EQ or 
mixing automation will still be applied.
You can also freeze the mixer channel of the VST Instru-
ment. This freezes any pre-fader insert effects for the chan-
nels, just as when freezing audio tracks (see “Freezing 
(rendering) insert effects for a track” on page 156).
The result of the Freeze is that you get exactly the same 
sound as before, but the computer processor does not 
have to calculate the sound of the VST Instrument in real-
time.
Performing the freeze
The instrument freeze function is available in the VST In-
struments window, and in the Track list and the Inspector 
for instrument tracks.
1.Set up the project so that the VST Instrument plays 
back the way you want it to.
This includes editing the MIDI tracks routed to the VST Instrument, or ed-
iting the instrument track, and making parameter settings for the VST In-
strument itself. If you have automated parameter changes for the VST 
Instrument, make sure the Read (R) button is activated.
2.Open the VST Instruments window from the Devices 
menu, or, if you are using an instrument track, select the 
track and open the top Inspector tab.
3.Click the Freeze button for the VST Instrument (the 
button to the left of the VST Instrument slot), or the Freeze 
button in the Inspector for the instrument track.
The Freeze button in the 
VST Instruments window……and in the Inspector. 
						

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
The Freeze Instrument Options dialog appears with the 
following options for the Freeze operation:
Select “Freeze Instrument Only” if you do not want to 
freeze any insert effects for the VST Instrument channels.
If you are using insert effects on the VST Instrument channel(s) and want 
to be able to edit, replace or remove these after freezing the VST Instru-
ment, you should select this option.
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.
Otherwise, the sound might be cut off at the very end of the freeze file.
When you activate “Unload Instrument when Frozen”, 
the frozen VST Instrument will be removed.
This is useful if you are freezing an instrument that uses a lot of RAM, e.g. 
for pre-loading samples. By unloading the instrument, the RAM becomes 
available for other plug-ins, etc.
4.Click OK.
A progress dialog is shown while the program renders the VST Instru-
ment audio to a file on your hard disk.
The Freeze button lights up. If you check the Project win-
dow at this point, you will find that the relevant MIDI/in-
strument tracks have grayed out controls in the Track list 
and Inspector. Furthermore, the MIDI parts are locked and 
cannot be moved.
5.Play back the project.
You will hear exactly the same sound as before freezing the VST Instru-
ment – but the CPU load will be considerably less! 
If you selected “Freeze Instrument and Channels”, any 
insert effects used by the VST Instrument are also frozen 
(except for the post-fader inserts – Cubase only). How-
ever, you can always adjust level, pan, sends and EQ for 
frozen VST Instruments.
Unfreezing
If you need to make adjustments (either to the MIDI tracks, 
to the VST Instrument parameters or to the VST Instru-
ment channels if these were frozen) you need to unfreeze 
the VST Instrument:
1.Click the Freeze button for the VST Instrument again 
(either in the VST Instruments window or in the Inspector).
You will be asked to confirm this operation.
2.Click “Unfreeze”.
The tracks and VST Instrument are restored and the rendered “freeze 
file” is deleted.
VST instruments and processor load
If you are working with VST 3 instruments, another way to 
relieve processor load is the option “Suspend VST3 plug-in 
processing when no audio signals are received” in the Pre-
ferences dialog (VST–Plug-ins page). This is described in 
the section “Smart plug-in processing” on page 151. 
Using presets for VSTi configuration
About track presets and VST presets
Track presets and VST presets allow you to quickly set up 
tracks or instruments with all the settings required for the 
sound you want. Cubase provides various types of pre-
sets for various purposes. Two of these are of relevance 
for VST Instruments:
Track presets for instrument tracks store the parameter 
settings of a VST Instrument together with all track/chan-
nel settings (applied audio and MIDI insert effects, etc.).
Instrument track presets can only be applied to instrument tracks, not to 
instrument channels activated in the VST Instruments window.
VST presets store all panel settings for a plug-in (VST In-
struments and VST effects), but no track/channel settings.
Note that you can create instrument tracks from VST 3 presets, i. e. se-
lecting a VST 3 preset will create an instrument track with all settings 
stored in the VST preset plus an “empty” track.
As described in the chapter “Audio effects” on page 150, 
there are two types of VST presets that can be used: the 
VST 2 standard “.fxb/.fxp” files and the VST 3 preset stan-
dard with the extension “.vstpreset”. Some of the included 
VST Instruments use the VST 2 preset standard, and oth-
ers use the VST 3 standard.  
						

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
All VST 2 instruments can import “.fxb/.fxp” files and also 
convert them to the VST 3 standard. Once converted, you 
can use all VST 3 features. See “About earlier VST Instru-
ment presets” on page 178.
ÖFor further information on Track presets and VST pre-
sets, see the chapter “Working with Track Presets” on 
page 288.
Browsing for sounds
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. 
This is why Cubase features extensive browsing possibili-
ties, allowing you to preview all available presets without 
having to load them first! 
In addition, you can filter your search by specifying cate-
gory, style, etc.
For example, if you are looking for a bass sound, simply 
select the Bass category and you can browse and preview 
all bass sounds for all instruments. If you know you want a 
synth bass sound, select Synth Bass as sub-category and 
all synth bass sounds will be shown, etc.
You can also browse and preview track presets for instru-
ment tracks, i. e. instrument sounds plus all track settings 
and all channel insert effect settings for this track.
These features combined speed up the process of finding 
the right sound immensely. 
When creating your own presets, it is always a good 
idea to set up attributes for them, as it allows you to fully 
use the browsing features for your files, too.
This is described in detail in the chapter “The MediaBay” on page 273.
There are two ways of browsing for sounds:
Using the Presets browser.
This will apply preset settings to an existing track.
Using the Browse Sounds dialog.
Use this dialog if you have not set up a track yet.
Using the Presets browser
1.Create an instrument track and select it in the Track list.
You do not have to assign an instrument to the track, but make sure to 
specify a MIDI input.
2.Make sure that the track settings are shown in the 
Inspector.
3.Click in the Track Preset field in the Inspector (the text 
field currently reads “No Track Preset”).
4.The Presets browser is opened. It contains three sec-
tions (Browser, Search & Viewer and Filter). By default, only 
the Search & Viewer section is shown. Note that it may take 
a moment before all available sounds appear in the Viewer.
The Viewer section to the right displays all track presets 
for instrument tracks and all VST 3 presets.
Track presets for audio tracks, MIDI tracks or “multi” track setups are not 
displayed. The preset icon to the left of the file name indicates the type of 
preset.
5.Select a preset in the list.
6.Play a few notes on your MIDI keyboard to hear the 
preset sound. You can switch between presets and hear 
the sound when you play. You can also play back/loop a 
MIDI part on a track. Each time you select a preset, all as-
sociated track and/or instrument settings are automati-
cally loaded.
7.Use the Filter section to search for specific attributes if 
you wish.
You can click on the attributes in the respective column (Category, Style 
etc.), to filter out all presets that do not match the selected attribute(s).
Click here…
…to open the Presets browser. 
						

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
8.Double-click the desired preset to select it and close 
the dialog.
Using the “Browse Sounds” dialog
1.Open the Project menu–Add Track submenu and se-
lect “Browse Sounds…”.
The Browse Sounds dialog is opened. It contains the same sections as the 
Apply Track Presets dialog (Browser, Viewer and Filter).
The Viewer section of the Browse Sounds dialog displays 
all preset sounds for all track types and all VST Instru-
ments. To preview the presets, you have play MIDI notes 
on your MIDI keyboard because at this stage there is no 
track connected. 
2.When you have found the right sound, click OK to 
close the dialog.
An instrument track is created with all track and/or instrument settings 
that were saved in the preset.
Selecting VST Instrument presets
The previous sections focussed on selecting presets for 
the creation of new instrument tracks, or for changing the 
setup of an existing track. However, you can also use pre-
sets to change the settings of a VST Instrument.
To select a VST Instrument preset, proceed as follows:
1.Load a VST Instrument (either in the VST Instruments 
window or via an instrument track).
2.If you use the VST Instruments window, select a MIDI 
track routed to the instrument. If you use an instrument 
track, select this. 3.If necessary, click on the track name at the top of the 
Inspector to open the basic track settings.
4.Click in the Programs field in the Inspector.
The Presets browser is opened.
5.Step through the presets during playback to find the 
sound you are looking for.
6.Double-click the desired preset to load it and close 
the Presets browser.
You can also open the Presets browser by clicking in 
the preset name field in the control panel of a VST Instru-
ment or by clicking the button next to the Preset name in 
the control panel and selecting “Load Preset…” from the 
pop-up menu.
Selecting another preset in the Presets browser will 
load it directly, replacing the previous preset.
When the Presets browser is open, you can still use 
Project window key commands, allowing you to start/stop 
playback or locate to different positions in the project.
Clicking the Reset button below the Viewer will reload 
the last loaded preset.
Saving VST Instrument presets
You can save your settings as presets for further use (e.g. 
in other projects):
1.In the VST Instrument panel, click the button to the right 
of the preset name and select “Save Preset…” from the 
pop-up menu.
This opens a dialog where you can save the current settings as a preset.
Presets are saved into a default folder named VST3 Pre-
sets. Within this folder, there is a folder called “Steinberg 
Media Technologies” where the included presets are ar-
ranged in subfolders named after each instrument.
!Note that the following refers to the selection of VST 3 
presets (.vstpreset). If you want to apply .fxp/.fxb pre-
sets to your VST 2 instruments in this way, see “About 
earlier VST Instrument presets” on page 178. 
						

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
You cannot change the default folder, but you can add fur-
ther subfolders inside the instrument’s preset folder.
Under Windows, the default preset folder is in the fol-
lowing location: Boot drive\Documents and Set-
tings\\Application data\VST3 Presets.
Under Mac OS, the default preset folder is in the follow-
ing location: /Users//Library/Audio/Presets/
/.
2.Enter a name for the new preset in the File name field 
in the lower part of the dialog.
If you wish to assign attributes to the preset, click the 
Tag Editor button.
Click in the Value column to select an appropriate “tag” for one or sev-
eral of the available categories in the Attributes column. Tagging is de-
scribed in detail in the chapter “The MediaBay” on page 273.
3.Click OK to store the preset and exit the dialog.
Extracting sounds from Track Presets
You can extract a sound from a Track preset (disregarding 
any track/channel settings) and save it as a VST preset. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Click the button “Extract sound from Track Preset” be-
low the Output Routing pop-up menu in the Inspector. 
This opens a dialog where all Track Presets are shown.
2.Select an instrument track preset or VST preset by 
double-clicking it.
The VST Instrument and the settings (but no inserts, EQs or modifiers) of 
the existing track are overwritten using the data of the track preset. The 
previous VST Instrument for this instrument track is removed and the 
new VST Instrument with its settings is set up for the instrument track.
Track Presets are described in detail in the chapter 
“Working with Track Presets” on page 288.
About earlier VST Instrument presets
You can use any VST 2.x Instrument plug-ins in Cubase. In-
stalling VST Instrument plug-ins works the same way as for 
audio effects – see “Installing additional VST plug-ins” on 
page 166.
When you install a VST 2 instrument, any previously stored 
presets for it will be of the old FX program/bank (.fxp/.fxb) 
standard. You can import such files, but the preset handling 
will be slightly different. You will not be able to use the new 
features like the Preview function or the Tag Editor until you have converted the old “.fxp/.fxb” presets to VST 3 presets. 
If you save new presets for a VST 2 plug-in these will auto-
matically be saved in the new “.vstpreset” format in the de-
fault location.
Importing and converting FXB/FXP files
To import .fxp/.fxb files, proceed as follows:
1.Load any VST 2 instrument you may have installed, and 
click on the VST Sound button to open the Preset Ma-
nagement pop-up menu.
2.Select “Import FXB/FXP” from the pop-up menu.
This menu item is only available for VST 2 instrument plug-ins.
3.In the file dialog that opens, locate the .fxp file and 
click “Open”.
If you load a bank (.fxb), it will replace the current set of all effect programs. 
If you load a single program, it will replace the currently selected effect pro-
gram only. Note that such files exist only if you created your own .fxp/fxb 
presets with a previous program version (or any other VST 2 application).
After importing, you can convert the current program list 
to VST presets by selecting “Convert Program List to VST 
Presets” from the Preset Management pop-up.
When the presets are converted, they will be available in the Presets 
browser, and you can use the Tag Editor to add attributes and audition 
the presets. The presets will be stored in the VST3 Preset folder.
About latency
Depending on your audio hardware and its ASIO driver, 
the latency (the time it takes for the instrument to produce 
a sound when you press a key on your MIDI controller) 
may simply be too high to allow comfortable realtime VST 
Instrument playback from a keyboard. 
If this is the case, a workaround is to play and record your 
parts with another MIDI sound source selected, and then 
switch to the VST Instrument for playback.
ÖYou can check the latency for your audio hardware in 
the Device Setup dialog (VST Audio System page).
The input and output latency values are shown below the ASIO Driver 
pop-up menu. For live VST Instrument playing, these values should ide-
ally be a few milliseconds (although the limit for “comfortable” live playing 
is a matter of personal taste). 
						

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
Constrain Delay Compensation
Cubase features full delay compensation throughout the 
entire audio path. This means that any delay inherent in the 
VST plug-ins you use will automatically be compensated 
for during playback, so that all channels are kept in perfect 
sync (see “About plug-in delay compensation” on page 
152).
However, when you play a VST Instrument in realtime or 
record live audio (with monitoring through Cubase acti-
vated), this delay compensation may sometimes result in 
added latency. To avoid this, you can activate the Con-
strain Delay Compensation button on the Project window 
toolbar. This function tries to minimize the latency effects 
of the delay compensation, while maintaining the sound of 
the mix as far as possible.
In the Preferences dialog (VST page) you will find a set-
ting 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 chan-
nels and output channels will be turned off when you acti-
vate Constrain Delay Compensation.
VST plug-ins activated for FX channels are not turned 
off but their delay is disregarded by the program (delay 
compensation is turned off).
After recording or using a VST Instrument with Constrain 
Delay Compensation, you should turn off the function to 
restore full delay compensation.
External instruments (Cubase only)
An external instrument bus is an input (return) to your au-
dio hardware, along with a MIDI connection via Cubase 
and few additional settings. External instrument busses 
are created in the VST Connections window. All external 
instrument busses you have created will appear on the 
VST Instrument pop-up menus and can be selected in the 
same way as any VST Instrument plug-in. If you select an 
external instrument, you play it via MIDI as usual (you have 
to create a MIDI device to play it) and the sound (synth au-
dio output) will come in to the VST environment where you 
can apply processing etc. For more information on exter-
nal instruments, see “Setting up external instruments” on 
page 22.  
						

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Surround sound (Cubase only)