Steinberg Cubase 7 User Manual

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VST instruments and instrument tracksUsing presets for VSTi configuration
In addition, you can filter your search by specifying category, style, etc. For example, if 
you are looking for a bass sound, simply select the Bass category to browse and 
preview all bass sounds for all instruments. If you know you want a synth bass sound, 
select Synth Bass as subcategory to filter out all other sounds, etc.
You can also browse and preview track presets for instrument tracks, i. e. instrument 
sounds plus all track settings and all channel insert effect settings for this track.
These features combined speed up the process of finding the right sound immensely. 
•When creating your own presets, it is always a good idea to set up attributes for 
them, as it allows you to fully use the browsing features for your files, too.
This is described in the section “Editing attributes (tagging)” on page 411.
Using the Presets browser
You can open the Presets browser for an existing track or when creating a new track. 
Proceed as follows:
•In the Add Instrument Track dialog, click the Browse button.
The dialog expands to show the Presets browser.
•Click in the “Load Track Preset” field at the top of the Inspector (above the track 
name) or right-click the track in the track list and select “Load Track Preset…”.
The Presets browser opens (see also “Loading track or VST presets in the 
Inspector or the context menu of the track” on page 425).
To find an appropriate preset, proceed as follows:
1.Select a preset from the Results list.
If needed, filter the list by activating the attributes you are looking for in the Filters 
section. This section is similar to the Filters section in the MediaBay, see 
“The 
Filters section” on page 406.
2.Play a few notes on your MIDI keyboard to hear the preset sound. You can switch 
between presets and hear the sound while you play. Alternatively, you can play 
back/loop a MIDI part on a track.
Each time you select a preset, all associated track and/or instrument settings are 
automatically loaded.
3.When you have found the preset that you want, double-click on it (or click OK).
The preset is applied.
•To return to the preset that was selected when you opened the Presets browser, 
click the “Revert to Last Setting” button. 
						

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VST instruments and instrument tracksUsing presets for VSTi configuration
Using the “Choose Track Preset” dialog
1.Right-click the track list to open the context menu and on the Add Track submenu 
select “Add Track Using Track Preset…”.
The Choose Track Preset dialog opens. It contains the same sections as the 
Presets browser.
2.Select a preset from the Results list.
The Results section of the Choose Track Preset dialog displays all preset sounds 
for all track types and VST instruments.
3.To preview the presets, you have to play MIDI notes on a MIDI keyboard or load a 
MIDI file because there is no track connected.
The previewing options are described in detail in the section “Previewing VST 
presets and track presets for MIDI and instrument tracks” on page 404.
4.When you have found the right sound, click the Add Track button to close the 
dialog.
An instrument track is created with all track and/or instrument settings that were 
saved in the preset.
Selecting VST instrument presets
The previous sections focused on selecting presets for the creation of new instrument 
tracks, or for changing the setup of an existing track. However, you can also use 
presets to change the settings of the VST instrument itself.
To select a VST instrument preset, proceed as follows:
1.Load a VST instrument (either in the VST Instruments window or via an instrument 
track).
2.If you use the VST Instruments window, select a MIDI track routed to the 
instrument. If you use an instrument track, select this track. 
3.Make sure that the Inspector section with the basic track settings is visible.
If this is not the case, click on the track name at the top of the Inspector.
!The Preview functions work in the same way in the MediaBay and its related dialogs. 
Note however that not all Preview functions available in the MediaBay are also 
available in the dialogs.
!Note that the following refers to the selection of VST 3 presets (.vstpreset). If you 
want to apply FXP/FXB presets to your VST 2 instruments in this way, see 
“A b o u t  
earlier VST instrument presets” on page 264. 
						

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VST instruments and instrument tracksUsing presets for VSTi configuration
4.In the Inspector, click in the Programs field.
The Presets browser opens.
5.In the Results section, select a preset from the list.
6.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 between different preset 
settings easier.
7.When you have found the preset that you want, double-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 Setting” button.
ÖYou can also open the Presets browser via the Presets pop-up menu in the control 
panel of the VST instrument.
Saving VST instrument presets
You can save your settings as presets for further use (e. g. in other projects):
1.In the VST instrument panel, click the button to the right of the preset name and 
select “Save Preset…”.
This opens a dialog where you can save the current settings as a preset.
2.In the New Preset section, enter a name for the 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 410. 
3.Click OK to save the preset and exit the dialog.
Presets are saved into a default folder named VST3 Presets. Within this folder, there 
is a folder called “Steinberg Media Technologies” where the included presets are 
arranged in subfolders named after each instrument.
You cannot change the default folder, but you can add further subfolders inside the 
instrument’s preset folder.
- On Windows systems, the default preset folder is in the following location: 
\Users\\AppData\Roaming\VST3 Presets.
- On Mac OS X systems, the default preset folder is in the following location: 
/Users//Library/Audio/Presets//. 
						

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VST instruments and instrument tracksAbout latency
About earlier VST instrument presets
You can use any VST 2.x instrument plug-ins in Cubase. Installing VST instrument 
plug-ins works the same way as for audio effects – see 
“Installing VST 2 plug-ins on 
Windows systems” on page 249 and “Installing VST 2.x plug-ins on Mac OS X 
systems” on page 248.
When you install a VST 2 instrument, any previously stored presets for it will be of the 
old FX program/bank (.fxp/.fxb) standard. You can import such files, but the preset 
handling will be slightly different. You will not be able to use the new features like the 
Preview function or the Attribute Inspector until you have converted the old “.FXP/.FXB” 
presets to VST
 3 presets. If you save new presets for a VST 2 plug-in these will 
automatically be saved in the new .vstpreset format in the default location.
Importing and converting FXB/FXP files
To import FXP/FXB files, proceed as follows:
1.Load any VST 2 instrument you may have installed, and click the VST Sound 
button to open the Preset Management pop-up menu.
2.Select the “Import FXB/FXP” option.
This menu item is only available for VST 2 instrument 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 programs. 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 program version (or any other VST
 2 application).
•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.
When the presets are converted, they are available in the Presets browser, and 
you can use the Attribute Inspector to add attributes and audition the presets. The 
presets will be stored in the VST3 Preset folder.
About latency
Depending on your audio hardware and its ASIO driver, the latency (the time it takes 
for the instrument to produce a sound when you press a key on your MIDI controller) 
may simply be too high to allow comfortable realtime VST instrument playback from a 
keyboard. 
If this is the case, a workaround is to play and record your parts with another MIDI 
sound source selected, and then switch to the VST instrument for playback.
•You can check the latency for your audio hardware in the Device Setup dialog 
(VST Audio System page).
The input and output latency values are shown below the ASIO Driver pop-up 
menu. For live VST instrument playing, these values should ideally be a few 
milliseconds (although the limit for “comfortable” live playing is a matter of 
personal taste). 
						

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VST instruments and instrument tracksExternal instruments (Cubase only)
Constrain Delay Compensation
Cubase features full delay compensation throughout the entire audio path. This means 
that any delay inherent in the VST plug-ins you use will automatically be compensated 
for during playback, so that all channels are kept in perfect sync (see 
“About plug-in 
delay compensation” on page 228).
However, when you play a VST instrument in realtime or record live audio (with 
monitoring through Cubase activated), this delay compensation may sometimes result in 
added latency. To avoid this, you can activate the Constrain Delay Compensation 
button on the Project window toolbar. This function tries to minimize the latency effects 
of the delay compensation, while maintaining the sound of the mix as far as possible.
•In the Preferences dialog (VST page) you will find a setting called Delay 
Compensation Threshold. Only plug-ins with a delay higher than this setting will 
be affected by the Constrain Delay Compensation function.
•VST plug-ins (with higher delay than the threshold value) which are activated for 
VST instrument channels, audio track channels that are record enabled, group 
channels and output channels will be turned off when you activate Constrain Delay 
Compensation.
•VST plug-ins activated for FX channels are not turned off but their delay is 
disregarded by the program (delay compensation is turned off).
After recording or using a VST instrument with Constrain Delay Compensation, turn 
off the function in order to restore full delay compensation.
External instruments (Cubase only)
An external instrument bus is an input (return) to your audio hardware, along with a 
MIDI connection via Cubase and few additional settings. External instrument busses 
are created in the VST Connections window. All external instrument busses you have 
created will appear on the VST Instrument pop-up menus and can be selected in the 
same way as any VST instrument plug-in. If you select an external instrument, you play 
it via MIDI as usual (you have to create a MIDI device to play it) and the sound (synth 
audio output) will come in to the VST environment where you can apply processing, 
etc. For more information on external instruments, see 
“Setting up external 
instruments” on page 34.  
						

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Surround sound (Cubase only)
Introduction
Cubase has integrated surround sound features with support for several formats. This 
support goes all the way through the audio path: all audio-related channels (i.
 e. audio 
and instrument tracks as well as group channels) and busses can handle multi-channel 
speaker configurations. A channel in the MixConsole can either carry complete surround 
mixes, or an individual speaker channel which is part of a surround setup.
Cubase offers the following surround-related features:
- Audio-related tracks can be routed freely to surround channels.
- The SurroundPanner V5 plug-in is automatically applied to audio-related tracks 
with a mono or stereo configuration that are routed to output channels with a multi-
channel configuration (other than stereo). It is available in the Inspector and 
MixConsole and can be used to graphically position channels in the surround field. 
The plug-in is described in detail in the section 
“Using the SurroundPanner V5” on 
page 269.
- Cubase only: The MixConvert V6 plug-in is used to convert a surround channel 
into a different format if the corresponding input/output configuration is not 
handled by the SurroundPanner
 V5. Cubase places MixConvert V6 automatically 
where needed. For more information, see 
“Using the MixConvert V6 plug-in 
(Cubase only)” on page 277. Furthermore, the plug-in is described in detail in the 
separate PDF document “Plug-In Reference”.
- Cubase supports 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 example of this). Furthermore, any VST3 plug-in features 
multi-channel support and can therefore be used in a surround configuration, even if 
it was not specifically designed for surround. This is described in detail in the section 
“Using effects in multi-channel configurations (Cubase only)” on page 231. All plug-
ins are described in the separate PDF document “Plug-in Reference”.
- You configure Cubase for surround sound by defining input and output busses in 
the desired surround format and specifying which audio inputs and outputs are 
used for the different channels in the busses, see 
“Preparations” on page 267.
Deliverables
The result of a surround mix in Cubase is either the multi-channel audio sent from the 
surround output bus to your dubber, or (if you use the Export Audio Mixdown feature) 
audio file(s) on your hard disk. Exported surround mixes can either be split (one mono 
file per speaker channel) or interleaved (a single file containing all the surround 
channels). 
						

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Surround sound (Cubase only)Preparations
Available surround configurations
The following surround configurations are supported in Cubase: 
Preparations
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 selected surround format 
are routed. How to add and set up busses in the VST Connections window is 
described in detail in the section 
“Setting up busses” on page 27. 
Child busses
A child bus is a bus within a (wider) bus. The most obvious application of a child bus is 
to create stereo busses within your surround 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 selecting “Add Child Bus”. This is described in detail in 
the section 
“Adding child busses (Cubase only)” on page 30.
FormatDescription
LRCSLRCS refers to Left Right Center Surround, where the surround 
speaker is center-rear positioned. This is the original surround format 
that first appeared as Dolby Stereo in cinema and later as the home 
cinema format Dolby ProLogic.
5.0This 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 convenient.
5.1This 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 Multichannel. 5.1 has one center speaker (mainly used for speech) 
and four surround speakers (for music and sound effects). Additionally 
a subchannel (LFE – Low Frequency Effects) with lower bandwidth is 
used for special low frequency effects.
LRCSame as LRCS, but without the surround speaker channel.
LRSLeft-Right-Surround, with the surround speaker positioned at center-
rear.
LRC+LFESame as LRC but with an LFE subchannel added.
LRS+LFESame as LRS but with an LFE subchannel added.
QuadroThe original Quadraphonic format for music, with one speaker in each 
corner. This format was intended for vinyl record players.
LRCS+LFESame as LRCS but with an LFE subchannel added.
Quadro+LFESame as Quadro but with an LFE subchannel added.
6.0 CineA Left-Right-Center front speaker arrangement with 3 (Left-Right-
Center) surround channels.
6.0 MusicThis uses 2 (Left/Right) front channels with Left and Right surround 
channels and Left and Right Side channels. 
						

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Surround sound (Cubase only)Preparations
Routing
You can use the Routing rack in the MixConsole to route audio-related tracks to 
output busses or group channels with a surround configuration. 
Routing channels to individual surround channels
If you want to place an audio source in one separate speaker channel, you can route it 
directly to that speaker channel. This is useful for premixed material or multi-channel 
recordings that do not require panning.
•To do this, simply select an individual speaker channel in the Routing rack.
•If a stereo audio channel is routed directly to a speaker channel, the left/right 
channels are 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 to child busses
If you have added a child bus within a surround bus (see above), it appears as a 
subentry of the surround bus on the routing selector. Select this option to route a 
stereo audio channel directly to that stereo speaker pair of the surround bus (e.
 g. to 
route a music track directly to the left and right front speakers in a surround channel).
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 a specific surround format onto audio tracks of 
the same format.
You should add a surround input bus in the following circumstances:
•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”.
•You have prepared surround premixes (e. g. stems) that you want to record on a 
new audio track with a surround configuration. 
						

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Surround sound (Cubase only)Using the SurroundPanner V5
Using the SurroundPanner V5
Cubase has a special feature for graphically positioning a sound source in the 
surround field or modifying existing premixes: the SurroundPanner V5. This plug-in 
distributes the audio from the input channels in various proportions to the output 
surround channels.
Whether the SurroundPanner V5 can be used for a specific input/output configuration, 
depends on whether this configuration can be mapped by the panner. The plug-in 
supports mapping of mono or stereo inputs to any surround configuration, as well as 
setups where the input and output channels have the same configuration. In all other 
cases (e.
 g. 5.1 to stereo), the MixConvert V6 plug-in is used to map the channel 
configuration (see 
“Using the MixConvert V6 plug-in (Cubase only)” on page 277).
While you need to open the plug-in panel to access all of the panner features, you can 
perform basic panning operations also in the following places:
•In the MixConsole, a miniature view of the surround plug-in appears at the top of 
the fader section.
You can click and drag directly in the miniature image to move the signal source in 
the surround field.
•In the Inspector, a miniature surround pan control can be displayed in the 
Surround Pan section.
This panner view offers click and drag panning as well as speaker channel icons 
reflecting the solo/mute and deactivation states.
ÖIn all miniature panner views you can scale down your movements by holding the 
[Shift] key while moving the sound source. This allows you to make fine adjustments. 
						

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Surround sound (Cubase only)Using the SurroundPanner V5
The plug-in panel
Double-click on any of the miniature panner controls to open the plug-in panel in a 
separate window.
The SurroundPanner V5 plug-in offers numerous possibilities to position a mono or 
stereo sound source. If you work visually oriented, you can simply drag the sound 
source around in the pan area. To help you execute very exact movements you can 
use modifier keys to limit the movement direction (e.
 g. for straight front/rear panning). 
To perform rotating movements that you cannot achieve by dragging the mouse, you 
can use the powerful rotation and orbit controls below the pan area. Here you will also 
find parameters for controlling the signal distribution to the different speaker channels 
and the advanced scaling controls with which you can influence the size of the sound 
source itself.
To the left and right of the surround field there are volume meters, showing the input 
and output levels of all speaker channels. For a detailed description of all the panning 
options available in the SurroundPanner V5, see below.
Positioning signals in the pan area
In the pan area, you see a graphical representation of the sound source, with the left 
and right channels shown in yellow and red. Here, you can position the sound source 
using the mouse:
•By clicking at the desired position in the pan area.
When you release the mouse button, the sound source jumps to that position (with 
the positioning handle, i.
 e. the circle located in the center of the sound source, 
ending up where you clicked).