Steinberg Cubase Ai 5 Manual

							11
VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses
ÖIf you open a project created on another computer and 
the port names do not match (or the port configuration is 
not the same), 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: Retrieving channel names
For some audio cards, you can automatically retrieve the 
ASIO channel names for the ports of your audio hardware:
1.Open the Device Setup dialog via the Devices menu.
2.On the VST Audio System page, select your audio 
card on the “ASIO driver” pop up menu.
3.In the Devices list to the left, select your audio card.
The available settings are displayed.
4.In the settings section to the right, click the Control 
Panel button.
This opens the control panel for your audio hardware.
5.Activate the “Use CoreAudio Channel Names” option.
6.When you now open the VST Connections window to 
set up the busses in your system, you will find that the port 
names in the Device Port column correspond to the names 
that are used by the CoreAudio driver.
ÖIf you want to use the project later on with an earlier 
version of Cubase AI, you will have to re-assign the port 
connections in the VST Connections window (see below).
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 which output port should be active. This allows 
you, for example, 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, stan-
dard USB audio devices and a certain number of other au-
dio cards (e. g. Pinnacle CineWave).
The VST Connections window
You add and set up busses in the VST Connections win-
dow, opened from the Devices menu.
This window contains the Inputs and Output tabs for view-
ing input busses and output busses.
Depending on which tab you have selected, the window 
lists the current input or output busses, with the following 
columns:
Adding a bus
1.Click the Inputs or Outputs tab depending on which 
you want to add.
2.Click the Add Bus button.
A dialog appears.
3.Select the desired (channel) configuration.
You can add stereo and mono busses.
Column Description
Bus Name Lists the busses. You can select busses and rename 
them by clicking on them in this column.
Speakers Indicates the speaker configuration (mono, stereo) of 
each bus.
Audio Device This shows the currently selected ASIO driver.
Device Port When you have “opened” a bus (by clicking its + button 
in the Bus Name column) this column shows which phys-
ical inputs/outputs on your audio hardware are used by 
the bus.
Click You can route the click to a specific output bus. 
						

							12
VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses
Alternatively you can right-click in the VST Connections 
window and add a bus in the desired format directly from 
the context menu.
The new bus appears with the ports visible.
4.Click in the Device Port column to select an input/out-
put port for a channel in the bus.
The pop-up menu that appears lists the ports with the names you have as-
signed in the Device Setup dialog. Repeat this for all channels in the bus.
Setting the Main Mix bus (the default output bus)
The Main Mix is the output bus that each new channel in 
the mixer will be assigned to when it is created.
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 this bus as the Main 
Mix bus.
Setting the default output bus in the VST Connections window.
When creating new audio, group or FX channels in the 
mixer, they will automatically be routed to the default bus.
Presets
On the Inputs and Outputs tabs, you will find a Presets 
menu. Here you can find three different types of presets:
A number of standard bus configurations.
Automatically created presets tailored to your specific 
hardware configuration.
On each startup, Cubase AI will analyze the physical inputs and outputs 
provided by your audio hardware and create a number of hardware-
dependent presets with the following possible configurations:
 one stereo bus
 various combinations of stereo and mono busses
 a number of mono busses
You can also save your own setups as presets.
To store the current configuration as a preset, click the Store “+” button 
and enter a name for the preset. You can then select the stored configu-
ration directly from the Presets pop-up menu at any time. To remove a 
stored preset, select it and click the “-” button.
Other bus operations
To change the port assignment for a bus, you proceed 
as when you added it: Make sure the channels are visible 
(by clicking the “+” button next to the bus, or by clicking 
the “+ All” button at the top of the window) and click in the 
Device Port column to select ports.
To remove a bus you do not need, select it in the list, 
right-click and select “Remove Bus” from the pop-up 
menu, or press [Backspace].
Using the busses
This section describes briefly how to use the input and out-
put busses you have created. For details refer to the chap-
ters “Recording” on page 48 and “The mixer” on page 69.
Routing
When you play back an audio track (or any other audio-re-
lated channel in the mixer), you route it to an output bus. In 
the same way, when you record on an audio track you se-
lect from which input bus the audio should be sent.
You can select input and output busses in the Inspec-
tor, using the Input and Output Routing pop-up menus.
ÖFor audio-related channel types other than audio track 
channels (i.e. VST Instrument channels, Group channels 
and FX channels), only the Output Routing pop-up menu 
is available.
!The default bus is indicated by an orange colored 
speaker icon next to its name in the VST Connec-
tions window. 
						

							13
VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses
When selecting an input bus for a track you can only se-
lect busses that correspond to the track’s channel config-
uration. Here are the details for input busses:
 Mono tracks can be routed to mono input busses or individual 
channels within a stereo input bus.
 Stereo tracks can be routed to mono or stereo input busses.
For output busses any assignment is possible.
To disconnect input or output bus assignments, select 
“No Bus” from the corresponding pop-up menu.
Viewing the busses in the mixer
ÖNote that only the output busses are available in the 
mixer – not the input busses.
The available output busses are represented as output 
channel strips in the mixer (shown in a separate pane to 
the right). You can show or hide output channels by click-
ing the corresponding button in the mixer common panel:
Output channels
The output channels are shown to the right in the mixer. 
Here you can do the following:
Adjust the output level for the busses with the faders.
Open the Channel Settings window to add effects or EQ.
These will affect the whole bus. Examples of effects you may want to add 
here include compressors, limiters and dithering, see the chapter “Audio 
effects” on page 85.
About monitoring
The Main Mix bus (the default output bus) is used for mon-
itoring (see “Setting the Main Mix bus (the default output 
bus)” on page 12).
You can adjust the monitoring level in the Mixer.
!Assignments that will lead to feedback are not avail-
able in the pop-up menu. This is also indicated by a 
one-way symbol.
Hide Output Channels 
						

							3
The Project window 
						

							15
The Project window
Background
The Project window is the main window in Cubase AI. This 
provides you with an overview of the project, allowing you 
to navigate and perform large scale editing. Each project 
has one Project window.
About tracks
The Project window is divided vertically into tracks, with a 
timeline running horizontally from left to right. The follow-
ing track types are available:About parts and events
The tracks in the Project window contain parts and/or 
events. Events are the basic building blocks in Cubase AI. 
Different event types are handled differently in the Project 
window:
 Video events and automation events (curve points) are always 
viewed and rearranged directly in the Project window.
 MIDI events can always be found in MIDI parts, which are con-
tainers for one or more MIDI events. MIDI parts are rearranged 
and manipulated in the Project window. To edit the individual 
MIDI events in a part, you have to open the part in a MIDI edi-
tor (see “The MIDI editors” on page 181). 
 Audio events can be displayed and edited directly in the 
Project window, but you can also work with audio parts con-
taining several events. This is useful if you have a number of 
events which you want to treat as one unit in the project. Au-
dio parts also contain information about the time position in 
the project.
An audio event and an audio part
Audio handling
When you work with audio files, it is crucial to understand 
how audio is handled in Cubase AI:
When you edit or process audio in the Project window, 
you always work with an audio clip that is automatically 
created on import or during recording. This audio clip re-
fers to an audio file on the hard disk that itself remains un-
touched. This means, that audio editing and processing is 
“non-destructive”, in the sense that you can always undo 
changes or revert to the original versions.
Track type Description
Audio For recording and playing back audio events and audio 
parts. Each audio track has a corresponding audio chan-
nel in the mixer.
An audio track can have an automation track for automat-
ing mixer channel parameters, effect settings, etc.
Folder Folder tracks function as containers for other tracks, mak-
ing it easier to organize and manage the track structure. 
They also allow you to edit several tracks at the same time, 
see “Folder tracks” on page 37.
FX Channel FX channel tracks are used for adding send effects. Each 
FX channel can contain up to eight effect processors – by 
routing effect sends from an audio channel to an FX chan-
nel, you send audio from the audio channel to the effect(s) 
on the FX channel. Each FX channel has a corresponding 
channel strip in the mixer – in essence an effect return 
channel, see the chapter “Audio effects” on page 85.
All FX channel tracks are automatically placed in a special 
FX channel folder in the Track list, for easy management.
An FX channel can also have an automation track for au-
tomating mixer channel parameters, effect settings, etc.
Group 
ChannelBy routing several audio channels to a Group channel, 
you can submix them, apply the same effects to them, 
etc. (see “Using group channels” on page 80).
A Group channel track contains no events as such, but 
displays settings and automation curves for the corre-
sponding Group channel. Each Group channel track has 
a corresponding channel strip in the mixer. In the Project 
window, Group channels are organized as tracks in a 
special Group Tracks folder. 
Instrument This allows you to create a track for a dedicated instru-
ment, making e.g. VST instrument handling easier and 
more intuitive. Instrument tracks have a corresponding 
channel strip in the mixer. Each instrument track can have 
an automation track in the Project window. However, Vol-
ume and Pan are automated from within the mixer. For 
more information on instrument tracks, see the chapter 
“VST Instruments and Instrument tracks” on page 99.
MIDI For recording and playing back MIDI parts. Each MIDI 
track has a corresponding MIDI channel strip in the mixer.
A MIDI track can have an automation track for automating 
mixer channel parameters, etc. 
Marker The Marker track displays markers which can be moved 
and renamed directly in the Project window (see “Mark-
ers” on page 38). A project can have only one marker 
track.
Video For playing back video events. A project can have only 
one video track. Track type Description 
						

							16
The Project window
An audio clip does not necessarily refer to just one origi-
nal audio file! If you apply e.g. some processing to a spe-
cific section of an audio clip, this will create a new audio 
file containing only this section. The processing will then 
be applied to the new audio file only, leaving the original 
audio file unchanged. Finally, the audio clip is automati-
cally adjusted, so that it refers both to the original file and 
to the new, processed file. During playback, the program 
will switch between the original file and the processed file 
at the correct positions. You will hear this as a single re-
cording, with processing applied to one section only. This 
feature makes it possible to undo processing at a later 
stage, and to apply different processing to different audio 
clips that refer to the same original file.
An audio event is the object that you place on a time po-
sition in Cubase AI. If you make copies of an audio event 
and move them to different positions in the project, they 
will still all refer to the same audio clip. Furthermore, each 
audio event has an Offset value and a Length value. These 
determine at which positions in the clip the event will start 
and end, i.e. which section of the audio clip will be played 
back by the audio event. For example, if you resize the au-
dio event, you will just change its start and/or end position 
in the audio clip – the clip itself will not be affected.
ÖIf you want to use one audio file in different contexts, 
or if you want to create several loops from one audio file, 
you should convert the corresponding regions of the au-
dio clip to events and bounce them into separate audio 
files. This is necessary since different events that refer to 
the same clip access the same clip information.  
						

							17
The Project window
Window Overview
The Track list
The Track list displays all the tracks used in a project. It 
contains name fields and settings for the tracks. Different 
track types have different controls in the Track list. To see 
all the controls you may have to resize the track in the Track 
list (see “Resizing tracks in the Track list” on page 23).
The Track list area for an audio track:The Track list area for an automation track (opened by 
clicking the Show/Hide Automation button on a track):
The Track list area for a MIDI track:
InspectorRuler Info lineToolbar
The Track list with various track types
The event display, showing audio parts and events, MIDI parts, automation, markers, etc.
Mute & 
SoloRecord Enable & 
Monitor Track 
name
Show/hide 
automationIndicate whether effect sends, EQ 
or insert effects are activated for the 
track. Click to bypass.Automation 
Read/Write
Track activity 
indicator
Edit channel 
settings
Automation Read/Write
Automation parameter (click to select parameter)
Mute
Record Enable & 
Monitor Track 
name
MIDI Output
Bank Patch MIDI channel
Drum map Automation 
Read/Write
Edit 
channel 
settingsMute & Solo
Track activity 
indicator 
						

							18
The Project window
The Inspector
The area to the left of the Track list is called the Inspector. 
This shows additional controls and parameters for the track 
you have selected in the Track list. If several tracks are se-
lected (see “Handling tracks” on page 26), the Inspector 
shows the setting for the first (topmost) selected track.
To hide or show the Inspector, click the Inspector icon in 
the toolbar.
The Inspector icon
For most track classes, the Inspector is divided into a 
number of sections, each containing different controls for 
the track. You can hide or show sections by clicking on 
their names.
Clicking the name for a hidden section brings it into view and hides the 
other sections. [Ctrl]/[Command]-clicking the section name allows you 
to hide or show a section without affecting the other sections. [Alt]/[Op-
tion]-clicking a section name shows or hides all sections in the Inspector.
You can also use key commands to show different In-
spector sections.
These are set up in the Key Commands dialog, see “Setting up key com-
mands” on page 269.
ÖHiding a section does not affect its functionality.
For example, if you have set up a track parameter or activated an effect, 
your settings will still be active even if you hide the respective Inspector 
section.
Which sections are available in the Inspector depends on 
the selected track.ÖPlease note that not all Inspector tabs are shown by 
default. You can show/hide Inspector sections by right-
clicking on an Inspector tab and activating/deactivating 
the desired option(s).
Make sure you right-click on an inspector tab and not on the empty area 
below the Inspector, as this will open the Quick context menu instead.
The Inspector Setup context menu
Inspector sections
The Inspector contains the controls that can be found on 
the Track list, plus some additional buttons and parame-
ters. In the table below, these additional settings and the 
different sections are listed. Which sections are available 
for which track type is described in the following sections.
Parameter Description
Auto Fades 
Settings 
buttonOpens a dialog in which you can make separate Auto 
Fade settings for the audio track, see “Making Auto Fade 
settings for a separate track” on page 68.
Edit Channel 
settingsOpens the Channel Settings window for the track, allow-
ing you to view and adjust effect and EQ settings, etc., 
see “Using Channel Settings” on page 76.
Volume Use this to adjust the level for the track. Changing this 
setting will move the track’s fader in the mixer window, 
and vice versa. See “Setting volume in the mixer” on page 
74 to learn more about setting levels.
Pan Use this to adjust the panning of the track. As with the 
Volume setting, this corresponds to the Pan setting in the 
mixer.
Delay This adjusts the playback timing of the audio track. Positive 
values delay the playback while negative values cause the 
track to play earlier. The values are set in milliseconds.
Input Routing This lets you specify which Input bus or MIDI input the 
track should use. See “Setting up busses” on page 10 
for information about Input busses.
Output 
RoutingHere you decide to which output the track should be 
routed. For audio tracks you select an output bus (see 
“Setting up busses” on page 10) or Group channel, for 
MIDI tracks you select a MIDI output and for Instrument 
tracks, you select the Instrument to which it is routed.
Inserts section Allows you to add insert effects to the track, see the 
chapters “Audio effects” on page 85 and “MIDI realtime 
parameters” on page 166. The Edit button at the top of 
the section opens the control panels for the added insert 
effects. 
						

							19
The Project window
Audio tracks
For audio tracks, all settings and sections listed above are 
available.
Instrument tracks
As explained in the chapter “VST Instruments and Instru-
ment tracks” on page 99, the Inspector for an Instrument 
track shows some of the sections you would find for VST 
Instrument channels and MIDI tracks.
MIDI tracks
When a MIDI track is selected, the Inspector contains a 
number of additional sections and parameters, affecting the 
MIDI events in realtime (e.g. on playback). Which sections 
are available for MIDI tracks is described in the chapter 
“MIDI realtime parameters” on page 166.
Folder tracks
When a folder track is selected, the Inspector shows the 
folder and its underlying tracks, much like a folder struc-
ture in the Windows Explorer or Mac OS X Finder.
ÖYou can click one of the tracks shown under the folder 
in the Inspector to have the Inspector show the settings 
for that track. This way, you don’t have to “open” a folder 
track to make settings for tracks within it.
FX channel tracks
When an FX channel track is selected, the following con-
trols and sections are available:
 Edit button
 Volume control
 Pan control
 Output Routing pop-up menu
 Inserts section
 Equalizers section
 Sends section
 Channel section
FX channel tracks are automatically placed in a special 
folder, for easier management. When this folder track is 
selected, the Inspector shows the folder and the FX chan-
nels it contains. You can click one of the FX channels 
shown in the folder to have the Inspector show the set-
tings for that FX channel – this way you don’t have to 
“open” a folder track to access the settings for the FX 
channels in it.
Group channel tracks
When a Group channel track is selected, the following 
controls and sections are available:
 Edit button
 Volume control

 Output Routing pop-up menu
 Inserts section
 Equalizers section
 Sends section
 Channel section
Just like FX channel tracks, all Group channel tracks are 
placed in a separate folder – when this is selected, the In-
spector shows the folder and the Group channels it con-
tains. You can click one of the Group channels shown in 
the folder to have the Inspector show the settings for that 
Group channel – this way, you don’t have to “open” a folder 
track to access the settings for the Group channels in it.
Marker tracks
When the marker track is selected, the Inspector shows 
the marker list. For more information, see the section 
“Markers” on page 38.
Video tracks
When a video track is selected, the Inspector contains a 
Mute button for interrupting video playback.
Equalizers 
sectionLets you adjust the EQs for the track. You can have up to 
four bands of EQ for each track, see “Making EQ set-
tings” on page 77. The Edit button at the top of the sec-
tion opens the Channel Settings window for the track. 
Channel 
sectionShows a duplicate of the corresponding mixer channel 
strip. The channel overview strip to the left lets you acti-
vate and deactivate insert effects, EQs and sends. Parameter Description 
						

							20
The Project window
The toolbar
The toolbar contains tools and shortcuts for opening other 
windows and various project settings and functions:
ÖIn addition to these, the toolbar can contain a number 
of other tools and shortcuts, not visible by default. How to 
set up the toolbar and specify which tools should be dis-
played or hidden is described in the section “Using the 
Setup options” on page 262.
The info line
The info line shows information about the currently selected 
event or part in the Project window. You can edit almost all 
values on the info line using regular value editing. Length 
and position values are displayed in the format currently se-
lected for the ruler (see “The ruler” on page 21).
To hide or show the info line, click the Show Event Info 
Line button on the toolbar.
The following elements can be selected for display and 
editing on the info line:
 Audio events
 MIDI parts
 Video events

 Automation curve points
When several elements are selected
If you have several elements selected, the info line will 
show information about the first item in the selection. The 
values will be shown in yellow to indicate that several ele-
ments are selected.
If you edit a value on the info line, the value change is 
applied to all selected elements, relatively to the current 
values.
If you have two audio events selected and the first is one bar long and 
the other two bars long, the info line shows the length of the first event 
(one bar). If you now edit this value to 3 bars in the info line, the other 
event will be resized by the same amount – and will thus be 4 bars long.
If you press [Ctrl]/[Command] and edit on the info line, 
the values will be absolute instead. In our example above, 
both events would be resized to 3 bars. Note that [Ctrl]/
[Command] is the default modifier key for this – you can 
change this in the Preferences (Editing–Tool Modifiers 
page, under the Info Line category).
Editing Transpose and Velocity for MIDI parts
When one or several MIDI parts are selected, the info line 
contains Transpose and Velocity fields.
Adjusting the Transpose field transposes the selected 
parts in semitone steps.
Note that this transposition doesn’t change the actual notes in the part – 
it’s just a “play parameter”, affecting the notes on playback. The transpo-
sition you specify for a part on the info line is added to the transposition 
set for the whole track.
Adjusting the Velocity field shifts the velocity for the se-
lected parts – the value you specify is added to the veloc-
ities of the notes in the parts.
Again, this velocity shift only affects the notes on playback, and again, 
the value you specify is added to the Vel.Shift. value set for the whole 
MIDI track in the Inspector.
Active project 
indicator
Show/hide InspectorShow/hide info line
Open Mixer
Open Pool Constrain delay compensation (see “Constrain Delay Compensation” 
on page 106).
Project window tools
Transport controls 
(Previous/Next Marker, Cycle, Stop, Play, and Record)
Snap on/off
Snap modeGrid pop-up 
menu
Quantize 
valueColor pop-up 
menu Snap to Zero 
Crossing
Autoscroll and Suspend 
Autoscroll when Editing