Steinberg Cubase 7 User Manual

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Setting up your systemConnecting a synchronizer
Setting up MIDI ports in Cubase
The Device Setup dialog lets you set up your MIDI system as follows:
ÖWhen you change MIDI port settings in the Device Setup dialog, these are 
automatically applied.
Showing or hiding MIDI Ports
The MIDI ports are listed in the Device Setup dialog on the MIDI Port Setup page. By 
clicking in the “Visible” column for a MIDI input or output, you can specify whether or 
not it is listed on the MIDI pop-up menus in the program.
If you are trying to hide a MIDI port which is already selected for a track or a MIDI 
device, a warning message will appear, allowing you to hide – and disconnect – the 
port or to cancel the operation and keep the MIDI port visible.
Setting up the “All MIDI Inputs” option
When you record MIDI in Cubase, you can specify which MIDI input each recording 
MIDI track should use. However, you can also select the “In ‘All MIDI Inputs’” option 
for an input port, which causes any MIDI data from any MIDI input to be recorded.
The “In ‘All MIDI Inputs’” option on the MIDI Port Setup page allows you to specify 
which inputs are included when you select All MIDI Inputs for a MIDI track. This can be 
especially useful if your system provides several instances of the same physical MIDI 
input – by deactivating the duplicates you make sure only the desired MIDI data is 
recorded.
ÖIf you have a MIDI remote control unit connected, you should also make sure to 
deactivate the “In ‘All MIDI Inputs’” option for that MIDI input. This will avoid 
accidentally recording the data from the remote control when the “All MIDI Inputs” 
option is selected as input for a MIDI track.
Connecting a synchronizer
When using Cubase with external tape transports, you will most likely need to add a 
synchronizer to your system. All connections and setup procedures for 
synchronization are described in the chapter 
“Synchronization” on page 650.
Setting up video
Cubase plays back video files in a number of formats, such as AVI, QuickTime, or 
MPEG. QuickTime is used as playback engine. Which formats can be played back 
depends on the video codecs installed on your system, see the chapter 
“Video” on 
page 670.
There are several ways to play back video, e. g. without any special hardware, using a 
FireWire port, or using dedicated video cards, see 
“Video output devices” on page 
671.
If you plan to use special video hardware, install it and set it up as recommended by 
the manufacturer.
Before you use the video hardware with Cubase, we recommend that you test the 
hardware installation with the utility applications that came with the hardware and/or 
the QuickTime Player application.
!Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections! 
						

							22
Setting up your systemOptimizing audio performance
Optimizing audio performance
This section gives you some hints and tips on how to get the most out of your Cubase 
system, performance-wise. Some of this text refers to hardware properties and can be 
used as a guide when upgrading your system. This text is very brief. Look for details 
and current information on the Cubase web site.
Two aspects of performance
There are two distinct aspects of performance with respect to Cubase.
Tracks and effects
Simply put: the faster your computer, the more tracks, effects and EQ you will be able 
to play. Exactly what constitutes a “fast computer” is almost a science in itself, but 
some hints are given below.
Short response times (latency)
Another aspect of performance is response time. The term “latency” refers to the 
“buffering”, i.
 e. the temporary storing, of small chunks of audio data during various 
steps of the recording and playback process on a computer. The more and larger 
those chunks, the higher the latency.
High latency is most irritating when playing VST instruments and when monitoring 
through the computer, i.
 e. when listening to a live audio source via the Cubase 
MixConsole and effects. However, very long latency times (several hundred 
milliseconds) can also affect other processes like mixing, e.
 g. when the effect of a 
fader movement is heard only after a noticeable delay.
While Direct Monitoring and other techniques reduce the problems associated with 
very long latency times, a system that responds fast will always be more convenient to 
work with.
•Depending on your audio hardware, it may be possible to “trim” your latency times, 
usually by lowering the size and the number of buffers.
For details, refer to the audio hardware documentation, or, if you are using a 
DirectX driver under Windows, the dialog help.
System factors that affect performance
RAM
Generally speaking, the more RAM is installed in your computer, the better.
This limitation is imposed by the operating system, and it is independent of the amount 
of RAM that you may have installed in your computer.
Some program functions may “eat up” all the available memory, e. g. recording, the 
use of effect plug-ins, and the pre-loading of samples (see also 
“RAM requirements 
for recording” on page 114 and “Smart plug-in processing” on page 228).
Always keep in mind the RAM limitation of your operating system when setting up your 
projects.
!On computers running a Windows 32-bit operating system, a running application can 
address a maximum of 2
 GB of RAM. On a Macintosh computer running Mac OS X, 
this limit is 4
 GB.The 64-bit versions of Windows and Mac OS X are able to assign 
considerably more than 4
 GB of RAM to a running 64-bit application.
!When a function has used up all the memory made available by the operating system, 
the computer will crash. 
						

							23
Setting up your systemOptimizing audio performance
CPU and processor cache
It goes without saying that the faster the computer processor, the better. But there are 
a number of factors that affect the apparent speed of a computer: the bus speed and 
type (PCI is strongly recommended), the processor cache size and of course, the 
processor type and brand. Cubase relies heavily on floating point calculations. When 
shopping for a processor, please make sure that you get one that is powerful in 
calculating floating point arithmetics.
Note also that Cubase features full support for multi-processor systems. So, if you 
own a computer system with more than one processor, Cubase can take advantage of 
the total capacity and evenly distribute the processing load to all available processors. 
For further information, see 
“Multi processing” on page 24.
Hard disk and controller
The number of hard disk tracks you can record and play back at the same time also 
depends on the speed of your hard disk and hard disk controller. If you use E-IDE 
disks and controllers, make sure that the transfer mode is DMA Busmaster. Under 
Windows, you can check the current mode by launching the Windows Device 
Manager and looking for properties of the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller’s primary and 
secondary channel. DMA transfer mode is enabled by default, but may be turned off 
by the system should hardware problems occur.
Audio hardware and driver
The hardware and its driver can have some effect on regular performance. A badly 
written driver can reduce the performance of your computer. But where the hardware 
driver design makes the most difference is with latency.
This is especially true when using Cubase for Windows:
•Under Windows, ASIO drivers written specifically for the hardware are more 
efficient than the Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver or a DirectX driver and 
produce shorter latency times.
•Under Mac OS X, audio hardware with properly written Mac OS X (Core Audio) 
drivers can be very efficient and produce very low latency times.
However, there are additional features currently only available with ASIO drivers, 
such as the ASIO Positioning Protocol.
Making settings that affect performance
Audio buffer settings
Audio buffers affect how audio is sent to and from the audio hardware. The size of the 
audio buffers affects both the latency and the audio performance. Generally, the 
smaller the buffer size, the lower the latency. On the other hand, working with small 
buffers can be demanding for the computer. If the audio buffers are too small, you may 
get clicks, pops or other audio playback problems.
•Under Mac OS X, you can adjust the size of the buffers on the VST Audio System 
page in the Device Setup dialog.
You may also find buffer settings in the control panel for the audio hardware.
•Under Windows, you adjust the buffer size settings in the control panel for the 
audio hardware (opened by clicking the Control Panel button on the driver page in 
the Device Setup dialog).
!Again, we strongly recommend that you use audio hardware for which there is a 
specific ASIO driver! 
						

							24
Setting up your systemThe VST Performance Window
Optimizing processor scheduling (Windows only)
To get the lowest possible latencies when using ASIO under Windows (on a single-
CPU system), the “system performance” has to be optimized for background tasks:
1.Open the Control Panel and select the System settings.
2.On the left, select the “Advanced system settings” option.
The System Properties dialog opens.
3.Select the Advanced tab and click the “Settings…” button in the Performance 
section.
The Performance Options dialog opens.
4.Select the Advanced tab and activate the “Adjust for best performance of: 
Background services” option.
5.Click OK to close the dialogs.
Multi processing
On the VST Audio System page you will find the “Advanced options” section. Here 
you find advanced settings for the VST Engine, including a Multi Processing option. 
When this is activated and there is more than one CPU in your system, the processing 
load is distributed evenly to all available CPUs, allowing Cubase to make full use of 
the combined power of the multiple processors.
The VST Performance Window
The VST Performance window shows the audio processing load and the hard disk 
transfer rate. This allows you to verify that you do not run into performance problems 
when adding effects or plug-ins, for example.
•To open the VST Performance window, open the Devices menu and select “VST 
Performance”. 
•The “Average Load” indicator shows how much of the available CPU power is 
used for audio processing. 
•The “Real-time Peak” indicator shows the processing load in the realtime path of 
the audio engine. 
The higher this value, the higher the risk that drop outs might occur. 
•The Overload indicator to the right indicates overloads of the average or real-time 
indicator.
If it lights up, try decreasing the number of EQ modules, active effects, and audio 
channels that play back simultaneously. You can also activate the ASIO-Guard, 
see 
“The ASIO-Guard Option” on page 25.
•The disk indicator shows the hard disk transfer load. 
						

							25
Setting up your systemThe ASIO-Guard Option
•The overload indicator to the right of the disk indicator lights up, if the hard disk 
does not supply data fast enough.
Try using the Disable Track function to reduce the number of tracks playing back. 
If this does not help, you need a faster hard disk.
ÖYou can show a simple view of the performance meter on the Transport panel and on 
the Project window toolbar. These meters only feature the average and the disk 
indicator. 
The ASIO-Guard Option
The ASIO-Guard option in the VST Audio System page of the Device Setup dialog 
allows you to shift as much processing as possible from the ASIO realtime path to the 
ASIO-Guard processing path. This results in a more stable system. 
The ASIO-Guard allows you to preprocess all audio channels that do not need to be 
calculated in realtime. This leads to less drop-outs, the ability to process more tracks 
or plug-ins, and the ability to use smaller buffer sizes. 
To activate ASIO-Guard, proceed as follows:
1.Open the Devices menu, and select “Device Setup…”.
2.Open the VST Audio System page and activate the ASIO-Guard option.
This is only available if the Multi Processing option is activated, see “Multi 
processing” on page 24.
Restrictions
Only the audio channels with their plug-ins as well as VST instruments support the 
ASIO-Guard technology. To get an overview of the plug-ins that support it, open the 
Devices menu and select “Plug-in Information” to open the Plug-in Information 
window. To activate or deactivate the processing of a plug-in in the ASIO-Guard path, 
check or uncheck it in the ASIO-Guard column.
The ASIO-Guard cannot be used for:
- Realtime-dependent signals
- VST instruments with more than on e MIDI source
- External effects and instruments
- Plug-ins that have a different bit version than the operating system
If you activate the monitoring for an input channel, the audio channel is 
automatically switched from ASIO-Guard to realtime processing and vice versa. 
This results in a gentle fade out and fade in of the audio channel. 
						

							26
VST Connections
About this chapter
This chapter focuses on the settings you can perform in the VST Connections 
window. Here you can set up input and output busses, group and FX channels, 
external effects, and external instruments. Furthermore you can use this window to 
configure the Control Room (Cubase only) and access the Control Room itself. 
Since input and output busses are vital for working with Cubase, a large part of this 
chapter concentrates on busses and this is also the reason why you find this chapter 
at the beginning of the Operation Manual. How to use the busses is described in 
detail in the section 
“Setting up the Routing” on page 190. 
The VST Connections window
The VST Connections window is opened from the Devices menu. It contains the 
following tabs:
- The Inputs and Outputs tabs allow you to set up and configure input and output 
busses, see 
“Setting up busses” on page 27.
- The Group/FX tab allows you to create group and FX channels/tracks and to make 
output assignments for these, see 
“Setting up group and FX channels” on page 31. 
- The External FX tab (Cubase only) allows you to create send effect/return busses 
for connecting external effects which can then be selected via the effect pop-up 
menus from inside the program. For further information, see 
“External 
instruments/effects (Cubase only)” on page 32 and “Using external effects 
(Cubase only)” on page 242.
- The External Instruments tab (Cubase only) allows you to create input/output 
busses for connecting external instruments. For further information, see 
“External 
instruments/effects (Cubase only)” on page 32 and the chapter “VST instruments 
and instrument tracks” on page 252.
- The Studio tab (Cubase only) is where you enable and configure the Control 
Room, see 
“Setting Up the Control Room Channels” on page 212. 
						

							27
VST ConnectionsSetting up busses
Setting up busses
Cubase uses a system of input and output busses to transfer audio between the 
program and the audio hardware.
- Input busses let you route audio from the inputs on your audio hardware into the 
program. This means that when you record audio, you will always do this through 
one or several input busses.
- Output busses let you route audio from the program to the outputs on your audio 
hardware. When you play back audio, you will always do this through one or 
several output busses.
Once you understand the bus system and know how to set up the busses properly, it 
will be easy to go on with recording, playing back, mixing, and doing surround work 
(Cubase only). 
Strategies
The bus configuration is saved with the project – therefore it is a good idea to add and 
set up the busses you need and save these in a template project (see 
“Save as 
Template” on page 58).
When you start working on new projects, you start from this template. That way you 
get your standard bus configuration without having to make new bus settings for each 
new project. If you need to work with different bus configurations in different projects, 
you can either create several different templates or save your configurations as 
presets (see 
“Presets” on page 31). The templates can of course also contain other 
settings that you regularly use – sample rate, record format, a basic track layout, etc.
So, which type of busses do you need? This depends on your audio hardware, your 
general audio setup (e.
 g. surround speaker setup) and what kind of projects you work 
with.
Let’s say you are using audio hardware with eight analog inputs and outputs and 
digital stereo connections (10 inputs and outputs all in all). Furthermore, you work 
with a surround setup in 5.1 format (Cubase only). In this scenario, you may want to 
add the following busses:
Input busses
- Most likely you need at least one stereo input bus assigned to an analog input pair. 
This will let you record stereo material. If you want to be able to record in stereo 
from other analog input pairs as well, you add stereo input busses for these, too.
- Although you can record mono tracks from one side of a stereo input, it may be a 
good idea to add a dedicated mono input bus. This can be assigned to an analog 
input to which you have connected a dedicated microphone pre-amp, for example. 
Again, you can have several different mono busses.
- You probably want a dedicated stereo input bus assigned to the digital stereo 
input, for digital transfers.
- Cubase only: If you want to transfer surround material directly to a surround track, 
e.
 g. from surround-configured location recording equipment, you need an input 
bus in that surround format – in this example, this will be a 5.1 input bus.
Output busses
- You probably want one or several stereo output busses for monitoring and 
listening to stereo mixes.
- For digital transfers, you need a stereo bus assigned to the digital stereo output as 
well. 
						

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VST ConnectionsSetting up busses
- Cubase only: You need a surround bus in the format of your speaker configuration 
(in this example, 5.1) assigned to the correct outputs (which in turn are connected 
to the correct speakers). You may want additional surround busses if you tend to 
work in different surround formats. 
Preparations
Before you set up busses, you should name the inputs and outputs on your audio 
hardware. For example, if you are using a 5.1 surround speaker setup, you should 
name the outputs according to which speaker they are connected to (Left, Right, 
Center, and so on). 
The reason for this is compatibility – it makes it easier to transfer projects between 
different computers and setups. For example, if you move your project to another 
studio, the audio hardware may be of a different model. But if both you and the other 
studio owner have given your inputs and outputs names according to the surround 
setup (rather than names based on the audio hardware model), Cubase will 
automatically find the correct inputs and outputs for your busses and you will be able 
to play and record without having to change the settings. 
To assign names to the inputs and outputs of your audio hardware, proceed as 
follows:
1.Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu.
2.On the VST Audio System page, make sure that the correct driver for your audio 
hardware is selected.
If this is the case, your audio card is listed in the Devices list on the left of the 
Device Setup window.
3.In the Devices list, select your audio card.
The available input and output ports on your audio hardware are listed on the right.
4.To rename a port, click on its name in the Show As column and enter a new name.
•If needed, you can also disable ports by deactivating them in the Visible column.
Disabled ports are not shown in the VST Connections window. If you attempt to 
disable a port that is used by a bus, you will be asked whether this is really what 
you want – note that this will remove the port from the bus!
5.Click OK to close the Device Setup dialog.
ÖIf you open a project created on another computer and the port names do not match 
(or the port configuration is not the same – e.
 g. the project is created on a system 
with multi-channel i/o and you open it on a stereo in/out system), the Missing Ports 
dialog will appear. This allows you to manually re-route ports used in the project to 
ports available in your system.
Mac OS X only: Port selection and activation
On the settings page for your audio card (opened via the Device Setup dialog, see 
above), you can specify which input and output ports are active. This allows you to 
use the Microphone input instead of the Line input or even to deactivate the audio 
card input or output completely, if required.
ÖThis function is only available for Built-In Audio, standard USB audio devices and a 
certain number of other audio cards.
!Different busses can use the same inputs/outputs on the audio hardware! For 
example, you may want a stereo output bus assigned to the same outputs as the front 
stereo channels in your surround bus – this enables you to listen to stereo mixes 
without having to reconnect your speakers. 
						

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VST ConnectionsSetting up busses
Adding input and output busses
Depending on whether you have selected the Inputs or the Outputs tab in the VST 
Connections window, the corresponding busses are listed, with the following 
information:
To add an input or output bus, proceed as follows:
1.Open the Inputs or Outputs tab depending on the type of bus that you want to 
add.
2.Click the Add Bus button.
A dialog opens.
3.Select a (channel) configuration.
The Configuration pop-up menu contains a Mono and a Stereo option as well as 
several surround formats (Cubase only). Additional surround formats are listed on 
the “More…” submenu. 
4.Enter a name for the bus.
If you do not specify a name, the bus is named according to the channel 
configuration.
5.Click the Add Bus button.
The new bus appears with the ports visible.
6.For each of the speaker channels in the bus, click in the Device Port column to 
select a port on your audio hardware.
The pop-up menu that opens lists the ports with the names you have assigned in 
the Device Setup dialog.
ColumnDescription
Bus NameLists the busses. You can select and rename busses by clicking 
on them in this column.
SpeakersIndicates the speaker configuration (mono, stereo, surround 
formats (Cubase only)) of each bus. 
Audio DeviceThis shows the currently selected ASIO driver.
Device PortIf a bus entry is expanded to show all speaker channels, this 
column shows which physical inputs/outputs on your audio 
hardware are used by the bus. If the bus entry is collapsed, only 
the first port used by this bus is visible here.
Click (Outputs tab only)You can route the click to a specific output bus, regardless of 
the actual Control Room output, or even when the Control 
Room is disabled.  
						

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VST ConnectionsSetting up busses
Setting the Main Mix bus (the default output bus)
The Main Mix is the output bus that each new audio, group or FX channel is 
automatically routed to.
Any of the output busses in the VST Connections window can be the default output 
bus. By right-clicking on the name of an output bus, you can set it as the Main Mix bus.
Adding child busses (Cubase only)
A surround bus is essentially a set of mono channels – 6 channels in the case of the 
5.1 format. If you have a mono track in the project, you can route it to a separate 
speaker channel in the bus (or route it to the parent surround bus and use the 
SurroundPanner to position it in the surround image). But what if you have a stereo 
track that you simply want to route to a stereo channel pair within the bus (Left and 
Right or Left Surround and Right Surround, for example)? For this you need to create 
a child bus.
Proceed as follows:
1.In the Bus Name column, select the surround bus and right-click on it to open the 
context menu.
2.Select a channel configuration from the “Add Child Bus” submenu.
As you can see, you can create stereo child busses (routed to various speaker 
channel pairs in the surround bus) or other surround bus formats (with fewer 
channels than the “parent bus”).
The child bus that you created will be available for routing in the MixConsole. It is a 
part of the parent surround bus, which means that it has no separate channel.
Although child busses are probably most useful in output busses, you can also create 
child busses within a surround input bus – for example if you want to record a stereo 
channel pair (e.
 g. front left-right) in the surround bus to a separate stereo track.
!The Main Mix is indicated by an orange colored speaker icon next to its name.