Steinberg Cubase 6 Manual
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201 Audio effects •Inserts presets that contain insert effect combinations These can contain the whole insert effects rack, complete with settings for each effect, see “Saving insert effect combinations” on page 203. Selecting effect presets Most VST effect plug-ins come with a number of useful presets for instant selection. To select an effect preset in the Presets browser, proceed as follows: 1.Load an effect, either as a channel insert or into an FX channel. The control panel for the effect is displayed. 2.Click in the preset field at the top of the control panel. This opens the Presets browser. •You can also open the Presets browser from the In- spector (Inserts tab) or the Channel Settings window. 3.In the Results section, select a preset from the list. 4.Activate playback to audition the selected preset. Simply step through the presets until you find the right sound. It may be helpful to set up cycle playback of a section to make comparisons be- tween different preset settings easier. 5.When you have found the preset that you want, dou- ble-click on it (or click outside the Presets browser). The preset is applied. •To return to the preset that was selected when you opened the Presets browser, click the “Revert to Last Set - ting” button. •You can also open the Presets browser by clicking the button to the right of the preset field an selecting “Load Preset” from the pop-up menu. ÖThe preset handling for VST 2 plug-ins is slightly differ- ent, see “About earlier VST effect presets” on page 202. The Browser sections The Presets browser contains the following sections: •The “Results” section lists the available presets for the selected effect. •The Filters section shows the available preset attributes for the selected effect. This section is similar to the Filters section in the MediaBay, see “The Fil-ters section” on page 321. To show the Filters section, click the “Set Up Window Layout” button and activate the Filters option. •The Location Tree section allows you to specify the folder that is searched for preset files. To show the Location Tree section, click the “Set Up Window Layout” button and activate the Location Tree option. Note that this is only avail- able if the Filters section is also active. Saving effect presets You can save your edited effect settings as presets for further use (e. g. in other projects): 1.Open the Preset Management pop-up menu.
202 Audio effects 2.Select “Save Preset…” from the pop-up menu. The Save Preset dialog opens. 3.In the New Preset section, enter a name for the new preset. •If you want to save attributes for the preset, click the button below the “New Preset” section at the bottom left. The Attribute Inspector section opens, allowing you to define attributes for the preset. For further information about attributes, see “The Attribute Inspector” on page 323. 4.Click OK to store the preset and exit the dialog. User-defined presets are saved in the following location: • Windows: \Users\\AppData\Roaming\VST3 presets\\ • Mac: /Users//Library/Audio/Presets// ÖYou cannot change the default folders, but you can add further subfolders inside the individual effect preset folders (by clicking the New Folder button). About earlier VST effect presets As stated previously, you can use any VST 2.x plug-ins in Cubase. For a description of how to add VST plug-ins, see “Installing and managing effect plug-ins” on page 203. When you add a VST 2 plug-in, any previously stored pre- sets for it will be in the old FX program/bank format (.fxp/ .fxb). You can import such files, but the preset handling will be slightly different. You will not be able to use the new fea - tures like the Attribute Inspector until you have converted the old “.fxp/.fxb” presets to VST 3 presets. If you save new presets for the included VST 2 plug-ins, these will automat - ically be saved in the new “.vstpreset” format. Importing and converting FXB/FXP files To import FXB/FXP files, proceed as follows: 1.Load any VST 2 effect you may have installed, and open the Preset Management pop-up menu. 2.Select “Import FXB/FXP…” from the pop-up menu. This menu item is only available for VST 2 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 pro- grams. If you load a single program, it will replace the currently selected effect program only. Note that such files exist only if you created your own .fxp/.fxb presets with a previous version of Cubase (or any other VST 2 application). 4.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 menu. After converting, the presets will be available in the Presets browser, and you can use the Attribute Inspector to add attributes and audition the presets. The converted presets will be stored in the VST3 Preset folder. !All VST 2 presets can be converted to VST 3 presets.
203 Audio effects Saving insert effect combinations You can save the complete insert effect rack for a channel together with all parameter settings as an inserts preset. Inserts presets can be applied to audio, instruments, FX channel, or group tracks. Proceed as follows: 1.Select the desired track in the track list and open the Inserts Inspector section. 2.Load a combination of insert effects and adjust the pa- rameters (or select effect presets) for each effect. 3.At the top of the Inserts tab, click the VST Sound but- ton to open the Preset Management pop-up menu for the inserts and select “Save Preset…”. his can also be done from the Channel Settings window using the VST Sound button at the top of the Inserts section. 4.In the dialog that opens, type in a name for the preset. 5.Select the track (audio/group/instrument/FX channel) you wish to apply the new preset to, and open the Preset Management pop-up menu. As you can see, the new preset is available at the top of the pop-up menu. 6.Select the preset you created from the pop-up menu. The effects are loaded into the Insert slots of the new track, and the con- trol panels for all effects are opened. •Note that when loading insert combination presets, any plug-ins that were previously loaded for the track will be removed, regardless of whether these slots are used in the preset. In other words, saving an inserts preset means saving the states of all in- sert slots. •You can use the Preset Management pop-up menu to save your settings as preset, or to rename or remove the current preset. Extracting insert effect settings from track presets You can extract the effects used in a track preset and load them into your inserts “rack”: •On the Preset Management pop-up menu, select “From Track Preset…” to open a dialog where all track presets are shown. •Select an item in the list to load the effects used in the track preset. Track presets are described in the chapter “Working with track presets” on page 331. Installing and managing effect plug-ins Cubase supports two plug-in formats; the VST 2 format (with the file name extensions “.dll” on the PC and “.VST” on the Mac) and the VST 3 format (extension “.vst3” on both platforms). The formats are handled differently when it comes to installation and organizing. Installing additional VST plug-ins Installing VST 3 plug-ins under Mac OS X To install a VST 3.x plug-in under Mac OS X, quit Cubase and drag the plug-in file into one of the following folders: •/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ This is only possible if you are the system administrator. Plug-ins in- stalled in this folder will be available to all users, for all programs that support them. •/Users//Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ “” is the name you use to log on to the computer (the easi-est way to open this folder is to go to your “Home” folder and use the path /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ from there). Plug-ins installed in this folder are only available to you. When you launch Cubase again, the new effects will ap- pear on the effect pop-up menus. In the VST 3 protocol, the effect category, subfolder structure, etc. are built-in and cannot be changed. Therefore you will find the ef - fect(s) in the assigned category folder(s) on the Effect pop-up menu.
204 Audio effects Installing VST 2.x plug-ins under Mac OS X To install a VST 2.x plug-in under Mac OS X, quit Cubase and drag the plug-in file to one of the following folders: •/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/ This is only possible if you are the system administrator. Plug-ins in-stalled in this folder will be available to all users, for all programs that support them. •/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/ “” is the name you use to log on to the computer (the easi-est way to open this folder is to go to your “Home” folder and use the path /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/ from there). Plug-ins installed in this folder are only available to you. When you launch Cubase again, the new effects will ap- pear on the effect pop-up menus. ÖIf an effect plug-in comes with its own installation ap- plication, you should use this. As a general rule, always read the documentation or readme files before installing new plug-ins. Installing VST 3 plug-ins under Windows Under Windows, VST 3 plug-ins are installed by dragging the files (with the extension “.vst3”) into the VST3 folder in the Cubase application folder. When you launch Cubase again, the new effects will appear on the Effect pop-up menus. In the VST 3 protocol, the effect category, sub - folder structure, etc. are built-in and cannot be changed. Therefore you will find the new effect(s) in the assigned category folder(s) on the effect pop-up menu. Installing VST 2 plug-ins under Windows Under Windows, VST 2.x plug-ins are installed by drag- ging the files (with the extension “.dll”) into the Vstplugins folder in the Cubase application folder, or into the Shared VST Plug-in folder – see below. When you launch Cubase again, the new effects will appear on the effect pop-up menus. ÖIf an effect plug-in comes with its own installation ap- plication, you should use this. As a general rule, always read the documentation before installing new plug-ins. Organizing VST 2 plug-ins If you have a large number of VST 2 plug-ins, having them all on a single pop-up menu in the program may become unmanageable. For this reason, the VST 2 plug-ins in - stalled with Cubase are placed in appropriate subfolders according to the effect type. •Under Windows, you can organize VST plug-ins by moving, adding or renaming subfolders within the Vstpl - ugins folder. When you launch the program and pull down an effects pop-up menu, the subfolders will be represented by hierarchical submenus, each listing the plug-ins in the corresponding subfolder. •Under Mac OS X, you cannot change the hierarchic ar- rangement of the “built-in” VST plug-ins. However, you can arrange any additional plug-ins you have installed (in the /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/ folders, see above) by placing them in sub- folders. In the program, the subfolders will be represented by hierarchical submenus, each listing the plug-ins in the corresponding subfolder. About the effects from previous Cubase versions Effect plug-ins from previous versions of Cubase are avail- able through the Steinberg web site. Go to http://know- ledgebase.steinberg.net, search for “legacy plug-ins” and follow the link to the download page you require. Installing older plug-ins will allow you to import projects created with previous versions of Cubase, without loosing effect settings. The Plug-in Information window On the Devices menu, you will find an item called “Plug-in Information”. Selecting this opens a dialog listing all the available VST compatible plug-ins in your system (includ - ing VST instruments), along with all MIDI plug-ins.
205 Audio effects Managing and selecting VST plug-ins To display all available VST plug-ins, open the “VST PlugIns” tab. •To enable a plug-in (make it available for selection), put a checkmark in the left column. Only the enabled plug-ins will appear on the effect menus. •The Instances column indicates how many instances of the plug-in are currently used in Cubase. Clicking in this column for a plug-in which is already in use produces a pop-up showing exactly where each use occurs. ÖA plug-in may be in use even if it is not enabled in the left column. You might for example have opened a project containing effects that are currently disabled on the menu. The left column only determines whether or not the plug-in will be visible on the effect menus. •All columns can be resized by dragging the divider in the column header. The other columns show the following information about each plug-in: Update button Clicking this button will make Cubase re-scan the desig- nated VST folders for updated plug-in information. VST 2.x Plug-in Paths button This opens a dialog where you can see the current paths to where VST 2.x plug-ins are located. You can add/re - move folder locations by using the corresponding buttons. If you click “Add”, a file dialog opens, where you can se - lect a folder location. About the “shared” plug-ins folder (Windows and VST 2.x only) You can designate a “shared” VST 2.x plug-ins folder. This will allow VST 2.x plug-ins to be used by other pro - grams that support this standard. You designate a shared folder by selecting a folder in the list and clicking the “Set As Shared Folder” button in the VST 2.x Plug-in Paths dialog. Exporting plug-in information files You can also save plug-in information as an XML file, e. g. for archiving purposes or troubleshooting. The Export function is available for VST, MIDI and Audio Codec plug- ins. Proceed as follows: 1.Right-click on the desired tab in the Plug-in Information window to open the context menu and select “Export”. A file dialog opens. 2.In the dialog, specify a name and location for the Plug- in Information export file and click OK to export the file. •The Plug-in Information file contains information on the installed/available plug-ins, their version, vendor, etc. •The XML file can then be opened in any editor applica- tion supporting the XML format. ColumnDescription NameThe name of the plug-in. VendorThe manufacturer of the plug-in. FileThis shows the complete name of the plug-in (with extension). CategoryThis indicates the category of each plug-in (such as VST in-struments, surround effects, etc.). VersionShows the version of the plug-in. SDKShows with which version of the VST protocol a plug-in is compatible. LatencyThis shows the delay (in samples) that will be introduced if the effect is used as an Insert. This is automatically compensated for by Cubase. Side- Chain InputsShows the number of side-chain inputs for a plug-in. I/OThis column shows the number of inputs and outputs for each plug-in. PathThe path and name of the folder in which the plug-in file is located.
207 VST instruments and instrument tracks Introduction VST instruments are software synthesizers (or other sound sources) that are contained within Cubase. They are played internally via MIDI. You can add effects or EQ to VST instru - ments, just as with audio tracks. Some VST instruments are included with Cubase, others can be purchased separately from Steinberg and other manufacturers. This chapter describes the general procedures for setting up and using VST instruments. The included VST instru - ments and their parameters are described in the separate PDF document “Plug-in Reference”. ÖDepending on the VST version the instrument is com- patible with, an icon may be displayed in front of the in- strument name, see “About VST 3” on page 188. VST instrument channels vs. instrument tracks Cubase allows you to make use of VST instruments in two different ways: •By activating instruments in the VST Instruments window. This creates a VST instrument channel, which can be played by one (or se- veral) MIDI track(s) routed to it. •By creating instrument tracks. Instrument tracks are a combination of a VST instrument, an instrument channel, and a MIDI track. You play and record MIDI note data directly for this track. Both methods have their advantages and should be se- lected according to what best suits your needs. The fol- lowing sections describe the two approaches. VST instrument channels You can access a VST instrument from within Cubase by creating a VST instrument channel and associating this channel with a MIDI track. Proceed as follows: 1.On the Devices menu, select “VST Instruments”. The VST Instruments window opens. 2.Click in one of the empty slots to open the instrument pop-up menu and select the desired instrument. 3.You will be asked if you want to create an associated MIDI track connected to the VST instrument. Click Create. The instrument is loaded and activated, and its control panel opens. A MIDI track with the name of the instrument is added to the track list. The output of this track is routed to the instrument. In the Preferences dialog (VST–Plug-ins page), you can specify what happens when loading a VST instrument in an instrument slot. Open the pop-up menu “Create MIDI track when loading VSTi” and select one of the available options: • When you select “Always”, a corresponding MIDI track will al- ways be created. • When you select “Do not”, no track will be created and only the instrument will be loaded. • Select “Always ask to” if you want to decide whether a MIDI track is created whenever you load an instrument. You can also use modifiers to specify what happens when you load a VST instrument (overriding the Preference set - ting): • When you hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] while selecting a VST instrument for an instrument slot, a corresponding MIDI track with the name of the instrument is automatically created. • When you hold down [Alt]/[Option] while selecting a VST in- strument for an instrument slot, no MIDI track will be created for the instrument.
208 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 types of 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 cluttered, you may want to close the folder for the VST in -strument until you need to view or edit any of the automation tracks. For details about automation, see the chapter “Automation” on page 227. •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 that the “MIDI Thru Active” option is acti- vated 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 89. 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, e. g. for routing the VST instrument channels to output channels or groups. 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 211. •The On/Off 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 button is lit.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 multiple VST instruments activated at the same time, either different instruments or multiple instances of the same instrument. However, software instruments can consume a lot of CPU power – keep an eye on the VST Performance window to avoid run - ning out of processor power (see also “Instrument Freeze” on page 211). Instrument on/off Instrument FreezeActivate outputs Bypass instrument Open instrument panel Event received
209 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 instrument settings. Adding instrument tracks To open and use an instrument track, proceed as follows: 1.Pull down the Project menu, open the Add Track sub- menu and select “Instrument”. You can also right-click the track list and select “Add Instrument Track” on the context menu. 2.The Add Instrument Track dialog opens. You can select an instrument for the track from the pop-up menu (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 but - ton, the dialog expands to show the Presets browser, where you can browse for sounds, see “Using the Presets browser” on page 213. 3.Click the Add Track button. If you have selected an instrument in the Add Track dialog, the new track gets the name of the instrument. Otherwise, the track is named “Instru- ment track”. 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 menu, 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 335. •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, or repeat the track, drag and drop the MIDI parts of an in - strument track, etc. For more information, see the chapter “MIDI realtime parameters and effects” on page 348. •As with the MIDI track inspector and track controls, you can adjust track delay, choose MIDI input, work with VST instrument panels, etc. For more information, see the chap - ter “MIDI realtime parameters and effects” on page 348. •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 win - dow via the Devices menu. For further information, see the section “The Plug-in Information window” on page 204.
210 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 automa - tion 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 212). 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 Results section, open the “Show Media Types” dialog and select “MIDI Loops & Plug-in Presets” (see “Filtering according to media type” on page 316). This is not necessary, but will help you locate your MIDI loops more quickly. 3.In the Results list, select a MIDI loop and drag it to 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 inspec - tor settings or instrument parameters. Exporting MIDI loops Exporting MIDI loops is a great way of saving a MIDI part together with its instrument and effect settings. This al - lows you to easily reproduce patterns you created without having to search for the correct sound, style, or effect. Proceed as follows: 1.Select the desired instrument part. 2.Pull down the File menu, open the Export submenu, and select “MIDI Loop…”. A file dialog opens. 3.In the “New MIDI Loop” section, enter a name for the MIDI loop. •If you want to save attributes for the MIDI loop, click the button below the “New MIDI Loop” section at the bottom left. The Attribute Inspector section opens, allowing you to define attributes 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: \Users\\AppData\Roaming\Steinberg\ MIDI Loops • Mac: /Users//Library/Application Support/ Steinberg/MIDI Loops/ This default folder cannot be changed, but you can create subfolders within this folder to organize your MIDI loops. Simply click the “New Folder” button in the Save MIDI Loop dialog.