Steinberg Cubase 5 Operation Manual

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Surround sound (Cubase only)
Background
What is Surround sound?
Surround is a common name for various techniques for po-
sitioning audio in reference to the listener. Whereas regular 
stereo is limited to left/right positioning, within a relatively 
narrow field, surround sound opens possibilities of posi-
tioning an audio source anywhere around the listener.
Surround sound comes in many flavors, from the ill-fated 
Quadraphonic format for vinyl discs launched in the 70’s, 
to today’s more successful incarnations.
The differences between the formats are in two areas:
The number and configuration of speakers.
This varies from two speakers up to 6.
The intended final coding format.
This depends on the media the audio will be “stored” on: film, broadcast 
video or DVD, for example.
Surround sound is a large topic, there are entire books 
and regular publications devoted to the subject. This 
chapter will not provide an in-depth introduction to sur-
round sound as such. Instead it will concentrate on the 
specific implementation in Cubase.
Surround sound in Cubase
Cubase has integrated surround sound features with sup-
port for several formats. This support goes all the way 
through the audio path – all audio channels and busses 
can handle multiple speaker channel configurations (up to 
6 channels). A channel in the mixer can either carry com-
plete surround mixes, or an individual speaker channel 
which is part of a surround setup.
 Audio channels can be routed freely to surround channels.
 The SurroundPanner function in the mixer allows you to 
graphically position channels in the surround field. This plug-
ins is described in detail in the section “Using the Surround-
Panner” on page 184.
 Cubase is ready for surround specific plug-ins, that is plug-ins 
with multi-channel support specifically designed for surround 
sound mixing tasks (the included “Mix6to2” plug-in is an exam-
ple of this). Due to their multi-channel support, plug-ins con-
forming to the VST 3 standard will work well in a surround 
configuration, even if the are note specifically designed for sur-
round. The plug-ins that are included with Cubase are de-
scribed in the separate pdf document “Plug-in Reference”. You configure Cubase for surround by defining input and out-
put busses in the desired surround format, and specifying 
which audio inputs and outputs should be used for the differ-
ent channels in the busses. This is done in the VST Connec-
tions window.
Encoding
The result of a surround mix in Cubase is either the multi-
channel audio sent from the surround output bus to your 
surround speaker setup, or (if you use the Export audio 
feature) audio file(s) on your hard disk. Exported surround 
mixes can either be split (one mono file per speaker chan-
nel) or interleaved (a single file containing all the surround 
channels).
Getting from this step to the final product (surround sound 
on DVD, etc.) requires special software and possibly 
hardware. This equipment will encode the signal into the 
desired format, possibly compress the audio and store it 
on the final media.
Exactly what type of software and/or hardware you need 
depends on what kind of format you are mixing for and is 
not dependent on Cubase in any way.
The VST Connections window
In this window you can add input and output busses. 
There is a complete selection of common surround con-
figurations available, as well as standard mono or stereo 
busses.
The Bus Name column contains the currently configured 
busses as they will appear in the Input and Output Rou-
ting pop-ups in the mixer.
VST Connections showing the Outputs page. The “5.1 Out” bus is un-
folded, displaying the individual speaker channels, with their physical 
output ports displayed in the Device Port column to the right.
Click here to add a bus.
The currently configured busses
The outputs selected for the 
channels of the bus 
						

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Surround sound (Cubase only)
Surround in the mixer
Surround sound is supported throughout every stage of 
the signal path in the Cubase mixer, from input to output 
bus. Each bus or audio channel can carry up to 6 surround 
speaker channels.
In the output channel section of the mixer you can control 
the master levels for configured busses. The level meter 
for a bus (or channel in the mixer) that carries multiple sur-
round channels will show multiple level bars, one for each 
speaker channel in the surround configuration.
Operations
Setting up the surround configuration
Output bus configuration
Before you can start working with surround sound, you 
have to configure a surround output bus, through which all 
the speaker channels of the chosen surround format are 
routed. How to add and set up busses is described in de-
tail in the section “Setting up busses” on page 14. Here is 
a brief run through:
1.Open the VST Connections window from the Devices 
menu.
2.Click on the “Outputs” tab.
3.Click the “Add Bus” button and select one of the pre-
set formats from the Configuration pop-up (see below).
The new bus appears with the ports visible.
4.By clicking in the Device Port column you can now 
route the speaker channels to the desired outputs of your 
audio hardware.
5.If you like, rename the output bus by clicking its name 
and typing in a new one.
This name will appear in the mixer and on routing pop-ups.
The following surround configurations are included:
Here, the SurroundPanner 
is used for positioning the 
sound “dynamically” in the 
surround field.
Using the Output Routing pop-up menu, 
audio channels can be routed directly to 
surround channels.
Format Description
LRCS LRCS refers to Left Right Center Surround, where the sur-
round speaker is center-rear positioned. This is the original 
surround format that first appeared as Dolby Stereo in cin-
ema and later as the home cinema format Dolby ProLogic.
5.0 This is the same as 5.1 (see below) but without the LFE 
channel. The LFE channel is optional in 5.1 and if you do 
not plan to use it, you might find this option more conve-
nient.
5.1 This format is one of the most popular in cinema and DVD. 
In its various cinema and DVD encoding implementations 
(established by different manufacturers) it is referred to as 
Dolby Digital, AC-3, DTS and MPEG 2 Multi-channel. 5.1 
has one center speaker (mainly used for speech) and four 
surround speakers (for music and sound effects). Addition-
ally a sub-channel (LFE – Low Frequency Effects) with 
lower bandwidth is used for special low frequency effects.
LRC Same as LRCS, but without the surround speaker channel.
LRS Left-Right-Surround, with the surround speaker positioned 
at center-rear.
LRC+Lfe Same as LRC but with an Lfe sub-channel added.
LRS+Lfe Same as LRS but with an Lfe sub-channel added. 
						

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Surround sound (Cubase only)
Child busses
Essentially a child bus is a bus within a (wider) bus. Typi-
cally you may want stereo child busses within your sur-
round bus – this allows you to route stereo tracks directly 
to a stereo speaker pair within the surround bus. You may 
also want to add child busses in other surround formats 
(with fewer channels than the “parent bus”).
Once you have created a surround bus, you can add one or 
several child busses to it by right-clicking the bus and se-
lecting “Add Child Bus”, see “Adding a child bus (Cubase 
only)” on page 16.
Input bus configuration
To work with surround sound in Cubase, it is often not 
necessary to configure a surround format input bus. You 
can record audio files via standard inputs, and easily route 
the resulting audio channels to surround outputs at any 
stage. You can also directly import multi-channel files of 
specific surround format onto audio tracks of the same 
format.
You should add a surround input bus in the following cir-
cumstances:
You have existing audio material in a specific surround 
format, and you wish to transfer this material into Cubase 
as a single, multi-channel file.
You wish to record a surround setup “live”.
In both cases, you can add and configure an input bus of 
the format you wish to use in the VST Connections dialog 
so that each input on your audio hardware is routed to the 
corresponding speaker channel.
To add an input bus, use the same general method as de-
scribed for output busses (see “Output bus configuration” 
on page 182), but select the “Inputs” tab instead.
Routing channels directly to surround channels
If you want to place an audio source in one separate 
speaker channel only, you can route it directly to that 
speaker channel. This is useful for pre-mixed material or 
multi-channel recordings that do not require panning.
1.Open the mixer and locate the channel you wish to 
route.
2.From the Output Routing pop-up menu, select the 
corresponding surround speaker channel.
If a stereo audio channel is routed directly to a speaker 
channel, the left/right channels will be mixed to mono.
The pan control for the audio channel governs the balance between the 
left and right channel in the resulting mono mix. Center pan will produce 
a mix of equal proportion.
Routing channels using child busses
Child busses provide a way to route stereo (or multi-chan-
nel) audio channels to specific speaker channels in a sur-
round configuration. 
The most obvious application of a child bus is when you 
wish to add a stereo channel to two specific left/right sur-
round speaker channels.
If you have added a child bus within a surround bus (see 
“Adding a child bus (Cubase only)” on page 16), it ap-
pears as a submenu item within the surround bus on the 
Output Routing pop-up menu. Select this to route a ste-
reo audio channel directly to that stereo speaker pair in 
the surround bus.
Quadro The original Quadraphonic format for music, with one 
speaker in each corner. This format was intended for vinyl 
record players.
LRCS+Lfe Same as LRCS but with an Lfe sub-channel added.
Quadro+Lfe Same as Quadro but with an Lfe sub-channel added.
6.0 Cine A Left-Right-Center front speaker arrangement with 3 
(Left-Right-Center) surround channels.
6.0 Music This uses 2 (Left/Right) front channels with Left and Right 
surround channels and Left and Right Side channels. Format Description 
						

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Surround sound (Cubase only)
Using the SurroundPanner
Cubase has a special feature for graphically positioning a 
sound source in a surround field. This is actually a special 
plug-in which distributes the audio from the channel in 
various proportions to the surround channels.
1.Open the mixer and locate the channel you wish to 
position.
This could be a mono or stereo channel.
2.From the Output Routing pop-up menu, select the 
“whole surround bus” option (not a specific speaker 
channel).
A miniature image of the surround plug-in interface appears above the 
fader in the channel strip.
The channel strip showing a miniature surround field. 
3.You can click and drag directly in the miniature image 
to move the sound in the surround field.
The horizontal red strip to the right controls the subbass (LFE) level (if 
available in the selected surround format).
You can also view a slightly larger version of this control 
by selecting “Panner” on the View options pop-up menu 
for the extended mixer panel.
This mode offers click and drag-panning as well as numerical values for 
left/right balance, front/rear balance and LFE amount – enter the desired 
number or use the mouse wheel to adjust them.
The SurroundPanner can also be displayed in the In-
spector for all audio channel track types. To display the 
Surround Pan tab in the Inspector, make sure the corre-
sponding option is enabled in the Inspector context menu.
For total control over surround panning, double-click on 
the miniature image to open the full SurroundPanner 
interface in a separate window.
The SurroundPanner controls
The SurroundPanner plug-in allows you to position your 
audio in the surround field. It consists of an image of the 
speaker arrangement, as defined by the output bus se-
lected on the Output Routing pop-up menu, with the 
sound source indicated as a gray ball. 
The SurroundPanner plug-in 
interface in Standard, 
Position and Angle mode 
						

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Surround sound (Cubase only)
Mode – Standard/Position/Angle
The Standard Mode/Position Mode/Angle Mode switch 
allows you to work in three modes:
 In both Standard and Position mode, the speakers in the front 
are aligned, as they would normally be in a cinema-type situa-
tion. This means that the front speakers are at a varying dis-
tance from the center. Standard mode (default) is the best 
mode for moving sources between speakers without level at-
tenuation.
 Angle Mode is the traditional surround sound mixing definition. 
Note that here the speakers are defined as being at equal dis-
tance from the center. This is not really a true representation of 
for example a cinema, but has still proven to work well in many 
situations.
Speakers
The speakers in the panel represent the chosen surround 
configuration.
You can turn speakers on and off by clicking them with 
[Alt]/[Option] pressed. When a speaker is turned off, no 
audio will be routed to that surround channel.
Positioning and levels
A sound source is positioned either by clicking or by drag-
ging the gray “ball” around in the panel (or by using key 
commands, see below). By dragging during playback you 
can record automation, see “Enabling and disabling the 
writing of automation data” on page 189.
In Standard Mode, the signal levels from the individual 
speakers are indicated by colored lines from the speakers 
to the center of the display.
Exactly how levels are handled may require some explana-
tion:
When you move a source around, a number will indicate 
the loudness in each speaker.
This is a value in dB (decibel) and is relative to the nominal level of the 
source. In other words, 0.0 (dB) represents full level.
If you position the source far enough away from a spea-
ker, its level will drop to zero (indicated by a negative infinity 
symbol).In Standard Mode, the signal levels from the individual 
speakers are indicated by colored lines from the speakers 
to the center of the display.
In Position Mode, the concentric circles will help you 
determine the level of the signal at a certain position.
The yellow circle represents -3 dB below nominal level, the red circle is at 
-6 dB and the blue is located at -12 dB. These are affected by attenua-
tion, see below.
In Angle Mode, a white arc helps you determine the per-
ceived “range” of a source (white and blue for stereo 
tracks). The sound will be at its loudest in the middle of 
the arc and will have dropped in level towards the ends.
You can use modifier keys to restrict movement in vari-
ous ways:
In Standard and Position Mode:
In Angle Mode:
There is also a special set of key commands for working in 
the SurroundPanner window.
!The text below assumes that the Mono/Stereo pop-
up is set to “Mono Mix”. For information on the other 
modes, see below.
Key Movement restriction
[Ctrl]/[Command] Vertically only
[Ctrl]/[Command]-
[Shift]Horizontally only
[Alt]/[Option] Diagonally (up left, down right)
[Ctrl]/[Command]- 
[Alt]/[Option]Diagonally (up right, down left)
[Shift] Mouse movements are scaled to allow very fine 
movements
Key Movement restriction
[Shift] From center to perimeter only
[Ctrl]/[Command] Along the perimeter only (at current distance from 
center)
!For a complete list of the available key commands, 
click on the SurroundPanner logo and then click 
again! 
						

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Surround sound (Cubase only)
The LFE encoder (all modes)
If the selected surround setup includes an LFE channel, a 
separate LFE level encoder is available in the Surround-
Panner window. Use this to set the signal amount sent to 
the LFE channel. You can also set this using the small red 
strip to the right of the SurroundPanner in the mixer chan-
nel strip, or by typing in a number in the LFE value field in 
the larger SurroundPanner that can be shown in the ex-
tended channel strip.
The SurroundPanner in the channel strip (bottom) and in the extended 
panel of the mixer channel strip (“Panner” selected on the View options 
pop-up menu).
Mono/Stereo pop-up (All Modes)
If you have a mono channel, the Mono/Stereo pop-up is 
set to Mono Mix by default. The panner will then behave as 
described above.
If you have a stereo channel, you have the option of using 
one of the three Mirror modes. Two gray balls will then ap-
pear, one for each channel (L/R). This will allow you to 
move the two channels symmetrically, by dragging one of 
them. The three modes allow you to select which axis 
should be used for mirroring.
 The default mode for stereo channels is the Y-Mirror mode.
 If you run a stereo signal through the panner in Mono Mix 
mode, the two channels will be mixed together before entering 
the plug-in.
 If you run a mono signal through the plug-in in one of the ste-
reo modes, the signal will be split before entering the plug-in.
Additional parameters (Standard mode)
Center Level.
This determines how center source signals should be reproduced by the 
front speakers. With a value of 100 %, the center speaker will provide the 
center source. With a value of 0 %, the center source will be provided by 
the ghost image created by the left and right speakers. Other values will 
produce a mix between these two methods.
Divergence Controls.
The three divergence controls determine the attenuation curves used 
when positioning sound sources, for X-axis front, X-axis back and Y-axis 
(front/rear), respectively. If all three Divergence values are 0 % (default), 
positioning a sound source on a speaker will set all other speakers to 
zero level (-×) (except for the center speaker which depends on the cen-
ter level). With higher values, the other speakers will receive a percent-
age of the sound source.
Additional parameters (Position and Angle mode)
Attenuate.
Attenuate can be used to amplify or weaken the source. Exactly what effect 
this has on the level in each speaker can be determined by the level read-
outs, the concentric circle (Position mode) and the arc (Angle mode).
Normalize.
Normalize is a function for controlling the overall loudness from all speak-
ers. When this is set to 1.0 (full normalization), the level from all speakers 
together is always exactly 0 dB. The individual levels will then be boosted 
or attenuated accordingly.
Automation
All parameters in the SurroundPanner plug-in can be au-
tomated, just as with any other plug-in. See “Enabling and 
disabling the writing of automation data” on page 189.
…or drag this control to set the LFE level.Click here and type in a LFE level value…
!Please note that this is not a dynamic feature, like 
compression or limiting. It is instead just a tool for 
scaling the nominal output levels from the surround 
channels. 
						

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Surround sound (Cubase only)
Exporting a Surround mix
When you have set up a surround mix, you can export it 
with the Export Audio Mixdown function. This function ex-
ports a single selected output bus – this means that all 
channels that you want to be part of the mix must be routed 
to the surround output bus.
You have the following export options when doing sur-
round work:
Export to “split” format, resulting in one mono audio file 
for each surround channel.
Export to interleaved format, resulting in a single multi-
channel audio file (e.g. a 5.1 file, containing all six sur-
round channels).
Under Windows you can also export a 5.1 surround mix 
to a file in Windows Media Audio Pro format.
This is an encoding format tailored for 5.1 surround – see “Windows 
Media Audio Pro files (Windows only)” on page 425.
For more about exporting to files, see the chapter “Export 
Audio Mixdown” on page 419.
Using effects in surround configurations
Cubase introduces a special surround format for VST 
plug-ins, that is plug-ins that can process more than two 
channels. Mix6to2 is an example of such a plug-in.
Applying a surround-aware plug-in
This is not different from applying a regular plug-in. The 
only difference is that the plug-in panel may have controls 
for more than two channels.
Using a stereo plug-in in a surround configuration
Normally, when you apply a stereo insert effect to a sur-
round configuration, the first two speaker channels (often 
L and R) are routed through the plug-in and other chan-
nels are left unprocessed. 
However, you may want to use the plug-in on other speaker 
channels. This is described in the chapter “Audio effects” 
on page 150. 
						

							14
Automation 
						

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Automation
Introduction
In essence, automation means finding and recording, for 
each and every moment of your project, the right values for 
a particular mixer parameter. When you create your final 
mix, you will not have to worry about having to adjust this 
particular parameter control yourself – Cubase will do it 
for you.
Cubase provides very powerful and yet intuitive automa-
tion of virtually every mixer and effect parameter.
The following sections provide detailed descriptions of the 
Cubase automation features.
Enabling and disabling the writing 
of automation data
Tracks and mixer channels in Cubase can be “automation 
enabled” by activating their automation Write (W) buttons.
The following track types feature Write (W) and Read (R) 
buttons in the mixer, in the Track list and in the Channel 
Settings window: Audio, MIDI, Instrument, FX Channel 
and Group Channel tracks. Furthermore, the control pan-
els for all plug-in effects and VST Instruments also feature 
Write and Read buttons.
If you activate Write for a channel, virtually all mixer pa-
rameters you adjust during playback for that specific 
channel will be recorded as automation events.
If Read is activated for a channel, all your recorded 
mixer actions for that channel will be performed during 
playback, just like you performed them in Write mode.
The W and R buttons for a track in the Track list are mir-
rors of the W and R buttons in the corresponding channel 
strip in the mixer.ÖNote that the Read button is automatically enabled 
when you enable the Write button. This allows Cubase to 
read existing automation data at any time.
You can separately deactivate Write, if you want to only read existing 
data. There is no status Write on/Read off.
There are also global Read and Write indicator buttons 
(“All Automation to Read/Write Status”) in the common 
panel of the mixer and at the top of the Track list:
These buttons light up as soon as there is a single en-
abled Read or Write button on any channel/track within 
your project.
When “All Automation to Read/Write Status” is dis-
abled and you click on one of these buttons, all Read/
Write buttons on all tracks/channels are enabled.
When “All Automation to Read/Write Status” is enabled, this means that 
at least one of the Read/Write buttons on one of the channels of your 
project is enabled.
When “All Automation to Read/Write Status” is enabled 
and you click on one of these buttons, any enabled Read/
Write buttons on the tracks/channels of your project are 
disabled.
ÖYou will also find global Read/Write buttons on the 
Automation panel. See the section “The Read/Write but-
tons in the Mode section” on page 193.
Creating automation data
Within a Cubase project, the changes in a parameter 
value over time are reflected as curves on so-called auto-
mation tracks. The curves are drawn in realtime while you 
write the automation data. Most of the tracks in your pro-
ject have automation tracks, one for each automated pa-
rameter.
ÖAutomation tracks are hidden by default. For informa-
tion on automation track handling, see the sections “Auto-
mation track operations” on page 196 and “Working with 
automation curves” on page 199.
The Write and Read buttons for a channel in the mixer 
and for an automation track in the Track list
The “All Automation to Read/Write Status” buttons in the 
mixer, and in the Track list 
						

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Automation
There are two approaches you can use to create automa-
tion curves:
“Offline”, by manually drawing the curves on automation 
tracks in the Project window.
See “Editing automation events” on page 200.
“Online”, by enabling the Read button and adjusting 
parameters in the mixer or channel settings window while 
rolling through the project in realtime. The value settings are 
recorded and displayed as a curve on the automation track.
In the following sections, this online writing of automation data is also re-
ferred to as an “automation pass”.
The methods are not different in terms of how the auto-
mation data is applied. They only differ in the way the au-
tomation events are created – manually drawing them or 
recording them during automation passes. Any applied 
automation data will be reflected in both the mixer (a fader 
will move for example) and in a corresponding automation 
track curve. 
There are no hard and fast rules regarding which method 
you should use. For example, you can create your automa-
tion data online without ever even opening an automation 
track. Or you can stick to drawing automation curves off-
line. Every method has its advantages, but of course it is 
up to you to decide what to use and when.
Editing curves on automation tracks offers a graphical 
overview in relation to the track contents and the time 
position.
This makes it easy to quickly change parameter values at specific points, 
without having to activate playback. For example, this method gives you a 
good overview if you have a voice-over or a dialog on one track and a 
music bed on another track, the level of which needs to be lowered by a 
specific amount every time the dialog occurs.
By using write automation in the mixer you do not have 
to manually select parameters from the Add Parameter list.
You can work much like you would using a “real” physical mixer. Every 
action you perform is automatically recorded on automation tracks which 
you can later open for viewing and editing.
The automation tracks themselves indicate the writing of 
automation data:
While writing automation data, the color of the automa-
tion track in the Track list changes to red.
The delta indicator in the automation track shows the 
relative amount by which the new parameter setting devi-
ates from any previously automated value.
This is an additional visual aid when writing new automation data.
What can be automated?
You can automate virtually every parameter in the Cubase 
mixer. 
To find out which parameters can be automated for a 
particular track, click in the Parameter display of the auto-
mation track to open a pop-up menu. Select “More…” to 
open the Add Parameter dialog.
This dialog lists all automatable parameters for a particular track type. It is 
described in detail in the section “Assigning a parameter to an automa-
tion track” on page 197.
The following actions CANNOT be automated, even 
though they are features of the Cubase mixer:
 Changing the input phase (Cubase only)
 Changing of routing settings
 Inserting a plug-in
 Moving of plug-ins to different insert slots
 Copying insert settings
 Changing the stereo panner mode
 Changing Control Room settings (Cubase only)
The delta indicator