Steinberg Cubase 7 User Manual

Part I:
Getting into the details 

12
Setting up your system
Setting up audio
Connecting audio
Exactly how to set up your system depends on many different 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 sections can only serve as 
examples.
How you connect your equipment, i. e. whether you use digital or analog connections, 
also depends on your individual setup.
Stereo input and output – the simplest connection
If you only...

13
Setting up your systemSetting up audio
Multi-channel input and output
Most likely however, you will have other audio equipment that you want to integrate 
with Cubase, using several input and output channels. Depending on the equipment 
available to you, there are two ways to go: either mixing using an external mixing desk, 
or mixing using the MixConsole inside Cubase.
•External mixing means having a hardware mixing device with a group or bus system 
that can be used for feeding inputs on your audio...

14
Setting up your systemSetting up audio
Connecting for surround sound (Cubase only)
If you plan to mix for surround sound, you can connect the audio outputs to a multi-
channel power amplifier, driving a set of surround channels.
Surround 
sound 
playback 
configuration
Cubase supports a number of surround formats. 
Recording from a CD player
Most computers come with a CD-ROM drive that can also be used as a regular CD 
player. In some cases the CD player is internally connected to the audio hardware...

15
Setting up your systemSetting up audio
Making settings for the audio hardware
Most audio cards come with one or more small applications that allow you to 
configure the inputs of the hardware 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 monitoring” on page 18).
- Setting levels for each input. This is very important!
- Setting levels for the outputs, so that...

16
Setting up your systemSetting up audio
3.On the ASIO Driver menu, select your audio hardware driver.
There may be several options here that all refer to the same audio hardware. When 
you have selected a driver, it is added to the Devices list.
4.Select the driver in the Devices list to open the driver settings for your audio 
hardware.
5.Bring up the control panel for the audio hardware and adjust the settings as 
recommended by the audio hardware manufacturer.
•Under Windows, you open the control...

17
Setting up your systemSetting up audio
If your hardware setup is based on an external clock source
For proper audio playback and recording, it is essential that you set the project’s 
sample rate to the sample rate of the incoming clock signals. If you load a project with 
a sample rate that is different from your clock source, the program will try to change 
the settings of the clock source, which may not be what you want.
By activating the “Externally Clocked” option, you “tell” Cubase that it...

18
Setting up your systemSetting up audio
Setting up the input and output ports
Once you have selected the driver and made the settings as described above, you 
need to specify which inputs and outputs will be used and name these:
1.In the Device Setup dialog, select your driver in the Devices list on the left to 
display the driver settings for your audio hardware.
All input and output ports on the audio hardware are listed.
2.To hide a port, click in the “Visible” column for the port (deselecting the...

19
Setting up your systemSetting up MIDI
Via Cubase
In this case, the audio passes from the input into Cubase, possibly through Cubase 
effects and EQ and then back to the output. You control monitoring via settings in 
Cubase.
This allows you to control the monitoring level from Cubase and add effects to the 
monitored signal only. 
ASIO Direct Monitoring
If your audio hardware is ASIO 2.0 compatible, it may support ASIO Direct Monitoring 
(this feature may also be available for audio hardware with Mac...

20
Setting up your systemSetting up MIDI
If you want to use even more instruments for playback, simply connect MIDI Thru on 
the sound module to MIDI In on the next instrument, and so on. In this hook-up, you 
will always play the first keyboard when recording. But you can still use all your 
devices for providing sounds on playback.
Setting MIDI Thru and Local On/Off
On the MIDI page in the Preferences dialog (located on the File menu under Windows 
and on the Cubase menu under Mac OS X), you will find...