Steinberg Cubase Ai 5 Manual

91
Audio effects
Setting up send effects
Adding an FX channel track
1.Pull down the Project menu and select “FX Channel” 
from the “Add Track” submenu.
A dialog appears.
2.Select a channel configuration for the FX channel track.
Normally, stereo is a good choice since most effect plug-ins have stereo 
outputs.
3.Select an effect for the FX channel track.
This is not strictly necessary at this point – you can also leave the plug-in 
pop-up menu set to “No Effect” and add effects to the FX channel later....

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Audio effects
You can reorder the effects by clicking in the area above 
the name field and dragging the effect onto another slot.
You can copy an effect into another effect slot (for the 
same channel or between channels) by holding down [Ctrl]/
[Command] and dragging it onto another effect slot.
To remove an insert effect from a slot, click in the slot 
and select “No Effect” from the pop-up menu.
You should do this for all effects that you do not intend to use, to reduce 
the CPU load.
You can...

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Audio effects
In the mixer, you can use the level fader for the FX chan-
nel to set the effect return level.
By adjusting the return level, you control the amount of the signal sent 
from the FX channel to the output bus.
Setting the effect return level.
6.If you want the signal to be sent to the FX channel be-
fore the audio channel’s volume fader in the mixer, click on 
the Pre-Fader button for the send so that it lights up.
A send set to pre-fader mode.
Normally you want the effect send to be...

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Audio effects
2.You can now solo any of the audio channels without 
having the effect return (the FX channel) muted.
To turn off the Solo Defeat function for the FX channel, 
[Alt]/[Option]-click the Solo button for the FX channel 
again.
Editing effects
All inserts and sends have an Edit (“e”) button. Clicking 
this opens the control panel for the effect, in which you 
can make parameter settings.
The contents, design and layout of the control panel de-
pends on the selected effect. However, all...

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Audio effects
5.Double-click on the desired preset (or click outside 
the Presets browser) to apply the preset.
To return to the preset that was selected when you 
opened the Presets browser, click the Reset 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 Preset Management pop-up menu.
The preset handling for VST 2 plug-ins is slightly differ-
ent, see “About earlier VST effect presets” on page 96.
The Browser...

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Audio effects
About earlier VST effect presets
As stated previously, you can use any VST 2.x plug-ins in 
Cubase AI. For a description of how to add VST plug-ins, 
see “Installing and managing effect plug-ins” on page 96.
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 until you have converted the old...

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Audio effects
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 AI application folder. When you launch Cubase 
AI again, the new effects will appear on the Effect pop-up 
menus. In the VST 3...

98
Audio effects
Update button
Clicking this button will make Cubase AI re-scan the des-
ignated 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 is opened, where you can 
select a folder location.
About the “shared” plug-ins folder (Windows and VST 
2.x only)
You can designate...

9
VST Instruments and Instrument tracks 

100
VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
Introduction
VST Instruments are software synthesizers (or other sound 
sources) that are contained within Cubase AI. They are 
played internally via MIDI. You can add effects or EQ to 
VST Instruments, just as with audio tracks.
The VST Instrument HALionOne is included with Cubase 
AI, others can be purchased separately from Steinberg 
and other manufacturers.
ÖThis chapter describes the general procedures for 
setting up and using VST Instruments.
For a...