Steinberg Cubase 7 User Manual

271
Surround sound (Cubase only)Using the SurroundPanner V5
•By clicking and dragging the positioning handle.
Note that you do not have to click exactly on the handle in order to move it. You 
can click anywhere in the pan area and start moving the mouse, the handle then 
moves in the same direction as the mouse.
The pan area 
showing a 
stereo sound 
source
The positioning handle can be positioned freely in the pan area and even be moved 
out of the pan area. The panning balls, though, will never move...

272
Surround sound (Cubase only)Using the SurroundPanner V5
Restricting movement
By default, you can click anywhere in the pan area and drag the mouse to move the 
sound source. If you want the positioning handle to jump to a specific position, you 
can click once at that position.
However, you can also limit movement to a specific direction, using the corresponding 
modifier keys (or the arrow icons above the pan area). That way you can scale down 
your movements, or have the sound source move along a...

273
Surround sound (Cubase only)Using the SurroundPanner V5
ÖTo move one of the panning balls in this mode, you do not have to click directly on 
them. You will always move the panning ball that is nearer to the position of the mouse 
pointer.
Overview Mode
When moving the sound source in the pan area, you will notice that the positioning 
handle can leave the visible pan area (although the channel panning balls cannot). It 
can be moved so far outside that all channels end up on the perimeter where the...

274
Surround sound (Cubase only)Using the SurroundPanner V5
Rotating signals
The Rotate Signal control is used to rotate the source channels around the positioning 
handle. All input channels circle around the handle (but they cannot move beyond the 
borders of the surround field).
Orbit controls
The Orbit controls are used to rotate the sound source (including all input channels 
and the positioning handle) around the center of the surround field.
Orbit Center
This is the main control that allows you to...

275
Surround sound (Cubase only)Using the SurroundPanner V5
The LFE encoder
Use the LFE encoder in the plug-in panel to set the signal amount sent to the LFE 
(Low Frequency Effects) channel.
ÖThe LFE channel is used as a full range channel, no low-pass filtering is applied.
Center Distribution
The Center Distribution control is used to distribute part or all of the center signal to 
the left and right front speakers.
For example, this can be useful in the following situation: The center signal is panned...

276
Surround sound (Cubase only)Using the SurroundPanner V5
Scaling
The Scale controls allow you to control the horizontal (Width) and vertical (Depth) 
expansion of the sound source. 100
 % corresponds to the complete width or depth of 
the surround field. If you reduce both values to 0
 %, the distance is reduced to zero 
and all source channels are centered in one spot.
These controls influence the perception of spatiality and ambience, as well as the 
traceability of signals.
-At 100 % you get a very...

277
Surround sound (Cubase only)Using the MixConvert V6 plug-in (Cubase only)
Resetting all parameters
[Alt]/[Option]-click the Reset button in the lower right corner of the plug-in panel to 
reset all controls to their default values.
Constant power
“What goes in, must come out again.” This principle can be taken literally with regard 
to the SurroundPanner V5. It means that the power of a source channel is identical to 
the power of the corresponding output signal.
The advantage of this is that the...

278
Surround sound (Cubase only)Exporting a surround mix
Exporting a surround mix
When you have set up a surround mix, you can choose to export it using the Export 
Audio Mixdown function. 
You have the following export options when working with a surround configuration:
•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 surround channels).
•On Windows...

279
Automation
Introduction
In essence, automation means recording the values for a particular MixConsole or 
effect 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. 
Working with automation curves
Within a Cubase project, the changes in a parameter value over time are reflected as 
curves on automation tracks. 
About automation curves 
There are two kinds of automation curves: “ramp” and...

280
AutomationEnabling and disabling the writing of automation data
Enabling and disabling the writing of automation data
You can automation enable tracks and MixConsole channels in Cubase by activating 
their automation Write buttons. Write (W) and Read (R) buttons for all plug-in effects 
and VST instruments can be found on the corresponding control panels.
•If you activate Write for a channel, virtually all MixConsole parameters you adjust 
during playback for that specific channel are recorded as...