Steinberg Cubase 6 Manual

Part I:
Getting into the details 

1
About this manual 

13
About this manual
Welcome!
This is the Operation Manual for Steinberg’s Cubase. 
Here you will find detailed information about all the fea
-
tures and functions in the program. 
About the program versions
The documentation covers two program versions, Cubase 
and Cubase Artist, for two different operating systems or 
“platforms”, Windows and Mac OS X.
Some features described in the documentation are only 
applicable to the Cubase version. Whenever this is the 
case this will be clearly indicated in...

2
Setting up your system 

15
Setting up your system
Setting up audio
Connecting audio
Exactly how to set up your system depends on many dif-
ferent factors, e. g. the kind of project you wish to create, 
the external equipment you want to use, or the computer 
hardware available to you. Therefore, the following sec
-
tions can only serve as examples.
How you connect your equipment, i. e. whether you use 
digital or analog connections, also depends on your indi
-
vidual setup.
Stereo input and output – the simplest connection
If...

16
Setting up your system
•When using the Mixer inside Cubase, you can use the 
inputs on your audio hardware to connect microphones 
and/or external devices. Use the outputs to connect your 
monitoring equipment.
Cubase only: You can create very complex setups using external instru-
ments and external effects, and integrate Cubase seamlessly with all 
your external equipment using the Control Room feature (see the chap-
ters “VST Connections” on page 25 and “Control Room (Cubase only)” 
on page 172)....

17
Setting up your system
Making settings for the audio hardware
Most audio cards come with one or more small applica-
tions that allow you to configure the inputs of the hard-
ware to your liking. This includes:
• Selecting which inputs/outputs are active.
• Setting up word clock synchronization (if available).
• Turning monitoring via the hardware on/off (see “About moni-
toring” on page 19).
• Setting levels for each input. This is very important!
• Setting levels for the outputs, so that they match...

18
Setting up your system
•Under Windows, you open the control panel by clicking 
the Control Panel button.
The control panel that opens when you click this button is provided 
by
 the audio hardware manufacturer – not Cubase (unless you use 
DirectX, see below). Hence it will be different for each audio card brand 
and model.
 
The control panels for the ASIO DirectX driver and the Generic Low La-
tency ASIO Driver (Windows only) are exceptions, in that they are pro-vided by Steinberg and described in...

19
Setting up your system
When the ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver is selected in 
the Device Setup dialog, you can open the ASIO Control 
Panel and adjust the following settings (for more details, 
click the Help button in the control panel):
•Direct Sound Output and Input Ports
In the list on the left in the window, all available Direct Sound output and 
input ports are listed. In many cases, there will be only one port in each 
list. To activate or deactivate a port in the list, click the checkbox in...

20
Setting up your system
ASIO Direct Monitoring
If your audio hardware is ASIO 2.0 compatible, it may sup-
port ASIO Direct Monitoring (this feature may also be 
available for audio hardware with Mac OS X drivers). In 
this mode, the actual monitoring is done in the audio hard
-
ware, by sending the input signal back out again. How-
ever, monitoring is controlled from Cubase. This means 
that the audio hardware’s direct monitoring feature can be 
turned on or off automatically by Cubase.
Monitoring is...