Steinberg Cubase Essential 4 Operation Manual

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
If you don’t want the plug-in control panels to open every 
time you load a plug-in, open the Preferences dialog 
(VST–Plug-ins page) and deactivate “Open Effect Editor 
After Loading it”.
You can open a plug-in panel at any time by clicking the “e” button of the 
corresponding plug-in slot.
4.If you now look in the Project window track list, you will 
find that a dedicated folder for the chosen instrument has 
been added, within a “VST Instruments” folder (where...

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
The second button is used to activate or deactivate the 
VST Instrument.
When an instrument is selected from the instrument pop-up menu, it is 
activated automatically, i. e. the on/off control lights up in blue.
For some instruments you may also bypass the instrument by clicking the 
Bypass button to the right of the on/off button.
Click the Edit (“e”) button to open the control panel for 
the VST Instrument. 
Below the Edit button is a small LED that will light...

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
Restrictions
Instrument tracks have no MIDI Sends.
MIDI volume and pan cannot be controlled (there is no 
“MIDI fader” tab in the Inspector); instead, the VST Instru-
ment volume and pan are used (via the “Channel” tab in the 
Inspector). This applies also to the respective automation 
parameters.
ÖDue to there being only one volume and pan control for 
the instrument track, the Mute button will mute the com-
plete track including the VST Instrument. (As opposed...

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
nection between, for example, the volume automation of 
the VST Instrument channel and the events on the MIDI 
track. If you move the MIDI part, the automated volume 
curve of the VST return channel will not move with it. 
In the instrument track, however, you have one track that 
includes the MIDI data, the VST Instrument and the chan-
nel you wish to automate. Therefore, the information on 
the automation track will move with the MIDI part.
For more information...

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
Performing the freeze
The instrument freeze function is available in the VST In-
struments window, and in the track list and the Inspector 
for instrument tracks.
1.Set up the project so that the VST Instrument plays 
back the way you want it to.
This includes editing the MIDI tracks routed to the VST Instrument, or ed-
iting the instrument track, and making parameter settings for the VST In-
strument itself. If you have automated parameter changes for the VST...

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
VST instruments and processor load
If you are working with VST 3 instruments, another way to 
relieve processor load is the option “Suspend VST3 plug-in 
processing when no audio signals are received” in the Pref-
erences dialog (VST–Plug-ins page). This is described in 
the section “Smart plug-in processing” on page 104. 
Using presets for VSTi configuration
About track presets and VST presets
Track presets and VST presets allow you to quickly set up 
tracks or...

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
3.Click in the Track Preset field in the Inspector (the text 
field currently reads “No Track Preset”).
4.The Presets browser is opened. It contains three sec-
tions (Browser, Search & Viewer and Filter). By default, only 
the Search & Viewer section is shown. Note that it may take 
a moment before all available sounds appear in the Viewer.
The Viewer section to the right displays all track presets 
for instrument tracks and all VST 3 presets.
Track presets for...

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
Selecting VST Instrument presets
The previous sections focussed on selecting presets for 
the creation of new instrument tracks, or for changing the 
setup of an existing track. However, you can also use pre-
sets to change the settings of a VST Instrument.
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...

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
Extracting sounds from Track Presets
You can extract a sound from a Track preset (disregarding 
any track/channel settings) and save it as a VST preset. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Click the button “Extract sound from Track Preset” be-
low the Output Routing pop-up menu in the Inspector. 
This opens a dialog where all Track Presets are shown.
2.Select an instrument track preset or VST preset and 
click OK.
The VST Instrument and the settings (but no inserts, EQs or...

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
In the Preferences dialog (VST page) you will find a set-
ting 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 chan-
nels and output channels will be turned off when you acti-
vate Constrain Delay...