Steinberg Cubase Essential 4 Operation Manual

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ReWire
Activating ReWire channels
ReWire supports streaming of up to 64 separate audio 
channels, while ReWire2 supports 256 channels. The ex-
act number of available ReWire channels depends on the 
synthesizer application. Using the ReWire Device panels 
in Cubase Essential, you can specify which of the avail-
able channels you want to use:
1.Pull down the Devices menu and select the menu item 
with the name of the ReWire application. All recognized 
ReWire compatible applications will be available on the 
menu.
The ReWire panel appears. This consists of a number of rows, one for 
each available ReWire channel.
The ReWire panel for Reason
2.Click on the power buttons to the left to activate/de-
activate the desired channels.
The buttons light up to indicate activated channels. Please note that the 
more ReWire channels you activate, the more processing power is re-
quired.
For information about exactly what signal is carried on 
each channel, see the documentation of the synthesizer 
application.
3.If desired, double-click on the labels in the right col-
umn, and type in another name.
These labels will be used in the Cubase Essential mixer to identify the 
ReWire channels.
Using the transport and tempo 
controls
Basic transport controls
When you run ReWire, the transports in the two programs 
are completely linked. It doesn’t matter in which program 
you Play, Stop, Fast Forward or Rewind. However, record-
ing (if applicable) is still completely separate in the two 
applications.
Loop settings
If there is a loop or cycle facility in the synthesizer applica-
tion, that loop will be completely linked to the cycle in Cu-
base Essential. This means that you can move the start 
and end point for the loop or turn the loop on or off in ei-
ther program, and this will be reflected in the other.
Tempo settings
As far as tempo goes, Cubase Essential is always the 
master. This means that both programs will run in the 
tempo set in Cubase Essential.
However, if you are not using the Tempo track in Cubase 
Essential, you can adjust the tempo in either program, and 
this will immediately be reflected in the other.
!This is only relevant if the synthesizer application has 
some sort of built-in sequencer or similar.
!If you are using the Tempo track in Cubase Essential 
(i.e. the Tempo button is activated on the Transport 
panel), you should not adjust the tempo in the syn-
thesizer application, since a tempo request from Re-
Wire will automatically deactivate the Tempo track in 
Cubase Essential! 
						

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ReWire
How the ReWire channels are 
handled in Cubase Essential
When you activate ReWire channels in the ReWire De-
vice panels, they will become available as channel strips in 
the mixer. The ReWire channel strips have the following 
properties:
ReWire channels appear to the right of the other audio 
and MIDI channel strips in the mixer.
ReWire channels may be any combination of mono and 
stereo, depending on the synthesizer application.
ReWire channels have the same functionality as regular 
audio channels.
This means you can set volume and pan, add EQ, insert effects and 
sends and route the channel outputs to groups or busses (done in the In-
spector). However, ReWire channels have no monitor buttons.
All ReWire channel settings can be automated using 
the Read/Write buttons.
When you write automation, channel automation tracks will automatically 
appear in the Project window. This allows you to view and edit the auto-
mation graphically, just as with VST Instrument channels, etc.
You can mix down the audio from ReWire channels to a 
file on your hard disk with the Export Audio Mixdown func-
tion (see “Mixing down to an audio file” on page 273).
You can export the output bus to which you have routed the ReWire 
channels. 
Routing MIDI via ReWire2
When using Cubase Essential with a ReWire2-compati-
ble application, additional MIDI outputs will automatically 
appear on the MIDI Output pop-up menus for MIDI tracks. 
This allows you to play the synthesizer application via MIDI 
from Cubase Essential, using it as one or several separate 
MIDI sound sources.
The MIDI outputs for a Reason song. Here, each output goes directly to 
a device in the Reason rack.
The number and configuration of MIDI outputs depends 
on the synthesizer application.
Considerations and limitations
Sample rates
Synthesizer applications may be limited to audio playback 
in certain sample rates. If Cubase Essential is set to a 
sample rate other than those, the synthesizer application 
will play back at the wrong pitch. Consult the documenta-
tion of the synthesizer application for details.
ASIO drivers
ReWire works well with ASIO drivers. By using the Cubase 
Essential bus system you can route sounds from the syn-
thesizer application to various outputs on an ASIO compat-
ible audio card.
!This feature is only available with ReWire2-compati-
ble applications. 
						

							30
File handling 
						

							304
File handling
Working with Projects
New Project
The New Project command on the File menu allows you to 
create a new project, either empty or based on a template:
1.Select New Project from the File menu.
The templates list is displayed. When you install Cubase Essential, tem-
plates for various purposes are included, but you can also create your 
own (see “Save as Template” on page 305).
2.Select a template from the list or select “Empty”.
A file dialog opens, allowing you to specify a folder for the new project.
3.Select an existing project folder or click on Create and 
enter a name for a new one in the dialog that opens.
A new, untitled project is created.
Open
The Open command on the File menu is used for opening 
saved project files. 
1.Select “Open…” from the File menu.
A file dialog opens, allowing you to select a project.
2.Click Open.
The project opens in the Project window.
Several projects can be open at the same time.
This is extremely useful, if you want to copy parts or entire sections from 
one project to another.
3.If a project is already opened, opening another project 
brings up a warning.
Click “No” to open the other project inactive.
This significantly reduces load times, especially for large projects. 
Click “Activate” to open and activate the new project.
The active project is indicated by the blue Activate button in the upper 
left corner of the Project window. To make another project active, simply 
click its Activate button.
An active project
You can also open project files by selecting an entry 
from the “Recent Projects” submenu on the File menu.
This submenu lists the projects you have recently worked with, with the 
most recent one at the top of the list.
Projects can also automatically be opened when you 
launch Cubase Essential (see “Startup Options” on page 
306).
About the “Pending Connections” dialogs
If you open a Cubase Essential project created on another 
setup (other audio hardware), the program tries to find 
matching audio inputs and outputs for the i/o busses (this is 
one of the reasons why you should use descriptive, generic 
names for your input and output ports – see “Preparations” 
on page 10).
If the program cannot resolve all audio/MIDI inputs and 
outputs used in the project, a Pending Connections dialog 
will open. This will allow you to manually re-route any ports 
specified in the project to ports available in your system.
Close
The Close command on the File menu closes the active 
window. If a Project window is active, selecting Close will 
close the corresponding project.
If the project contains unsaved changes, you will be 
asked whether you want to save it before closing.
If you select “Don’t Save” and have recorded or created new audio files 
since saving, you get the choice to delete or keep these. 
						

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File handling
Save and Save As
The commands Save and Save As allow you to save the 
active project as a project file (file extension “.cpr”). The 
Save command stores the project under its current name 
and location, while Save As allows you to rename and/or 
relocate the file. If a project has not been saved yet or if it 
hasn’t been changed since it was last saved, only Save As 
will be available.
A word about file extensions
Under Windows, file types are indicated by three letter file 
name extensions (such as *.cpr for Cubase Essential 
project files). 
Under Mac OS X, it is not necessary to use file name exten-
sions, since the file types are stored internally in the files. 
However, if you want your Cubase Essential projects to be 
compatible with both platforms, you should make sure the 
option “Use File Extension in File Dialog” is activated in the 
Preferences (General page). When this is activated (de-
fault), the proper file name extension is automatically added 
when you save a file.
Save New Version
This function is only available as a key command, by de-
fault [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Alt]/[Option]+[S]. When you use 
this function, a new version of the project will be saved. 
The new file will get the same name as the original project, 
but with an incremental number attached. For example, if 
your project is called “My Project”, you will get new versions 
called “My Project-01”, “My Project-02”, and so on.
Save New Version is useful if you are experimenting with 
edits and arrangements and want to be able to go back to 
a previous version at any time. The newest versions are al-
ways listed on the Recent Projects submenu on the File 
menu for instant access.
Save as Template
This function allows you to save the current project as a 
template. When you create a new project, the available 
templates will be listed, allowing you to base the new 
project on a template.
Proceed as follows:
1.Set up a project.
2.Select “Save As Template…” from the File menu and 
save the project template under the desired name.
Templates can contain clips and events just like regular 
projects.
If this is not what you want, make sure to remove all clips from the Pool 
before you save the project as template.
Templates are always stored in the Templates folder. 
On a Windows system, it is located at \Documents and 
Settings\\Application data\Steinberg\Cu-
base Essential 4	emplates. On a Mac system, it is lo-
cated inside Users//Library/Preferences/
Cubase Essential 4.
Setting up a default template
If you always want the same default project to open when 
you launch Cubase Essential, you can save a default tem-
plate. Proceed as follows:
1.Set up a project.
2.Select “Save As Template…” from the File menu and 
save the project template with the name “default”. 
3.Open the Preferences dialog and select the General 
page.
4.Open the “On Startup” pop-up and select “Open ’De-
fault’ Template”.
The next time you launch Cubase Essential, the default 
template will automatically be opened. For details on the 
other Startup options, see “Startup Options” on page 306.
!Generally, we recommend that you save project files 
in their project folders, to keep the projects as 
manageable as possible. 
						

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File handling
Save Project to New Folder
This function is very useful if you want to move or archive 
your project. 
1.Select “Save Project to New Folder”. 
A file dialog opens in which you can choose an existing, empty folder or 
create a new folder to save the project.
2.Click OK to confirm your choice.
The “Save to Folder Options” dialog opens with the following options:
3.Make the desired settings.
4.Click OK. 
The project is saved in the new folder. The original project is not affected. 
However, now you could e. g. delete the original project without losing 
your project data.
Startup Options
Auto Save
If you activate the Auto Save option in the Preferences 
(General page), Cubase Essential will automatically save 
backup copies of all open projects with unsaved changes.
Backup copies of projects are named “-
xx.bak”, where xx is an incremental number. Unsaved 
projects are backed up in a similar way as “UntitledX-
xx.bak”, with X being the incremental number for unsaved 
projects. All backup files are saved in the project folder. 
Use the “Auto Save Interval” setting to specify the time 
intervals in which a backup copy will be created.
Use the “Maximum Backup Files” option to specify how 
many backup files will be created with the Auto Save 
function.
When the maximum number of backup files is reached, the existing files 
will be overwritten (starting with the oldest file). 
On Startup
The “On Startup” pop-up menu in the Preferences (Gen-
eral page) allows you to specify what should happen each 
time you launch Cubase Essential. 
Option Description
Project Name Enter a project name if you want to change it from the de-
fault (the current name of the project).
Minimize Audio 
FilesIf this is activated, only the audio file portions that are ac-
tually used in the project will be included. This can signi-
ficantly reduce the size of the project folder (if you are 
using small sections of large files), but it also means you 
cannot use other portions of the audio files if you con-
tinue working with the project in its new folder.
Freeze Edits This will perform a Freeze Edits operation, making all pro-
cessing and applied effects permanent to each clip in the 
Pool, see “Freeze Edits” on page 148.
Remove 
Unused FilesWhen this is activated, only files in the Pool that are actu-
ally used in the project will be stored in the new folder. 
						

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File handling
The following options are available:
Cubase Essential Open Document Options Dialog
This dialog will open in two cases:
If you launch Cubase Essential with the option “Show 
Open Options Dialog” selected on the “On Startup” pop-
up menu in the Preferences (General page).
If you hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] while launching Cu-
base Essential.
The Open Document Options Dialog.
The dialog lists your recently used projects.
To open a project, select it and click the “Open Selec-
tion” button. 
To open another project not listed here, click the “Open 
Other…” button. 
A file dialog opens that allows you to look for the desired file on your disk. 
To create a new project, click the “New Project” button.
Revert
If you select “Revert” from the File menu, you will be asked 
whether you really want to revert to the last saved version 
of the project. If you click “Revert”, all changes you have 
made since saving will be discarded.
If you have recorded or created new audio files since sav-
ing, you will be asked whether you want to delete or keep 
these.
Importing audio
ÖFor exporting Audio, see the chapter “Export Audio 
Mixdown” on page 272.
Importing audio files
For information on audio file import preferences, please 
see “Audio file import options” on page 27. For informa-
tion on import into the Pool and import options, see “Im-
port Medium…” on page 179.
Importing audio CD tracks
You can import audio from audio CDs into Cubase Essen-
tial projects in two ways:
To import the CD tracks directly into project tracks, 
choose the “Audio CD…” option from the Import sub-
menu on the File menu.
The imported audio CD track(s) will be inserted on the selected audio 
track(s) at the project cursor position.
To import the CD tracks into the Pool, select “Import 
Audio CD” from the Media menu.
This might be the preferred method if you want to import several CD 
tracks in one go. For more information, see “Importing audio CD tracks” 
on page 180.
Option Description
Do Nothing Cubase Essential launches without opening a project.
Open Last 
ProjectThe last saved project is opened on launch.
Open ’Default’ 
TemplateThe default template is opened, see “Setting up a default 
template” on page 305.
Show Open 
DialogThe Open dialog opens on launch, allowing you to manu-
ally locate and open the desired project.
Show Template 
DialogThe Template dialog opens on launch, allowing you to 
create a new project from one of the templates.
Show Open 
Options DialogThe Open Document Options dialog opens on launch, 
see below. It allows you to make a different choice each 
time you launch Cubase Essential. 
						

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File handling
Selecting one of the Import Audio CD menu items brings 
up the following dialog:
To import one or more tracks, proceed as follows:
1.If you have more than one CD drive, select the correct 
one from the Drives pop-up menu top left.
On opening the CD, the program tries to retrieve the track names from 
CDDB (a CD database). If no connection to CDDB can be established 
or the CD track names are not found, you can manually change the ge-
neric track name in the Default Name field, see below.
2.Activate the “Secure Mode” option, if you want to use 
a Secure Read mode.
Activate this if you encounter problems when trying to import an audio 
CD. Error checking and correction will be done during the process. Note 
that this mode will take more time.
3.In the Windows version, select the data transfer speed 
from the Speed pop-up menu.
While you normally want to use the fastest possible speed, you may have 
to select a slower speed for flawless audio extraction.
4.Activate the Copy checkbox for every audio file you 
want to import.
You can also select a copy section for every file, see below.
5.Click on Copy to generate a local copy of the audio 
file(s) or section(s).
The copied files are listed at the bottom of the dialog. By default, imported 
a u d io  C D  tr ac k s  w il l  b e  s to re d  a s  W av e files (Windows) or AIFF files (Mac) 
in the Audio folder of the current project. To change the folder, click Folder 
and select another one from the dialog. During copying, the button is la-
beled “Stop”; click it to stop the process.
6.Click OK to import the copied audio files into the 
project, or click Cancel to stop the import and discard the 
copied files.
If you import more than one audio file into project tracks, 
a dialog opens in which you have to choose whether to in-
sert the tracks on one track or on different ones. 
The new track(s) are displayed in the Project window. New audio clips 
are created and added to the Pool.
The columns in the “Import from Audio CD” dialog have 
the following functionality:
By default, the complete tracks are selected. 
Column Description
Copy Activate the checkbox in this column for the track you 
want to copy/import. To activate more than one check-
box, click and drag over the checkboxes (or press [Ctrl]/
[Command] or [Shift] and click).
# Number of track.
CD Track When you import an audio CD track, the file will be 
named according to the name in this column. The names 
are pulled automatically from CDDB, if possible. You can 
rename a track by clicking in the Track column and typing 
a new name. You can also apply a generic name to all au-
dio CD tracks, if no name was available in CDDB.
Length The length of the audio CD track in minutes and seconds.
Size The file size of the audio CD track in MegaBytes.
Copy Start You can copy a section of a track if you like. This indi-
cates the start of the section to be copied in the track. By 
default, this is set to the start of the track (0.000) but you 
can adjust this on the copy selection ruler (see below).
Copy End Indicates the end of the section to be copied in the track. 
By default, this is set to the end of the track but you can 
adjust this on the copy selection ruler (see below). 
						

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File handling
If you want to copy and import a section of an audio CD 
track only, select the track in the list and specify the start 
and end of the selection to be copied by dragging the 
handles in the copy selection ruler.
Use the start and end audition buttons to fine tune the selection bound-
aries.
ÖNote that you can import sections of several audio CD 
tracks by selecting them in turn and adjusting the selec-
tion. The start and end settings for each track will be dis-
played in the list.
You can audition the selected audio CD track by click-
ing the Play button.
The track will be played back from selection start to selection end (or un-
til you click the Stop button). 
The arrow up/down buttons allow you to audition the 
start and end of the selection only.
The arrow down button will play a short snippet beginning at the start of 
the selection, while the arrow up button will play a snippet starting just 
before the end of the selection.
In case no connection to CDDB could be established or 
no CD track names were found, you can change the ge-
neric audio file name in the Default Name field.
The imported audio files be will be named accordingly, i. e.  01 etc.
ÖNote that if there is a track name for a specific audio 
CD track in the list, the corresponding audio file will use 
that name instead.
To open the CD drive, click on the Eject button at the 
top of the dialog. 
Importing ReCycle files
ReCycle by Propellerhead Software is a program designed 
especially for working with sampled loops. By “slicing” a 
loop and making separate samples of each beat, ReCycle 
makes it possible to match the tempo of a loop and edit the 
loop as if it was built of individual sounds. Cubase Essential 
can import two file types created by ReCycle:
 REX files (export file format of the first versions of ReCycle, 
extension “.rex”).
 REX 2 files (file format of ReCycle 2.0 and later, extension 
“.rx2”).
Proceed as follows:
1.Select an audio track and move the project cursor to 
where you want the imported file to start.
You probably want to import REX files to tempo based audio tracks, since 
this will allow you to change the tempo later on (having the imported REX 
file automatically adjust).
2.Select “Audio File…” from the Import submenu on the 
File menu.
3.Select REX files or REX 2 files with the file type pop-
up menu in the file dialog.
4.Locate and select the file and click Open.
The file is imported and automatically adjusted to the current Cubase Es-
sential tempo. 
Unlike a regular audio file, the imported REX file will con-
sist of several events, one for each “slice” in the loop. The 
events will automatically be placed in an audio part on the 
selected track and positioned so that the original internal 
timing of the loop is preserved.
5.If you now open the part in the Audio Part Editor, you 
can edit each slice separately by muting, moving and re-
sizing events, adding effects and processing, etc.
You can also adjust the tempo and have the REX file automatically follow 
(provided that its track is tempo based).
ÖYou can achieve similar results by using Cubase Es-
sential’s own loop slicing features, see “Working with hit-
points and slices” on page 160.
Play
StopPlay start of selection
Play end of selection
Start of selection handle
End of selection handle 
						

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File handling
Importing compressed audio files
Cubase Essential can import (and export, see “Mixing 
down to an audio file” on page 273) several common au-
dio compression formats. The procedure is the same as 
when importing any non-compressed audio file, with one 
important thing to note:
When you import a compressed audio file, Cubase Es-
sential will create a copy of the file and convert this to Wave 
format (Windows) or AIFF format (Mac OS X) before im-
porting it. The original compressed file will not be used in 
the project.
The imported file will be placed in the designated project 
Audio folder.
The following file types are supported:
MPEG audio files
MPEG, which stands for Moving Picture Experts Group, is 
the name of a family of standards used for coding audio-
visual information (e. g. movies, video, music) in a digital 
compressed format. 
Cubase Essential can read two types of audio MPEG files: 
MPEG Layer 2 (*.mp2) and MPEG Layer 3 (*.mp3). Cur-
rently, mp3 is the most common of these formats, while the 
mp2 format is mostly used in broadcast applications.
Ogg Vorbis files
Ogg Vorbis is a relatively new format that is open and 
patent-free and offers very small audio files maintaining 
comparatively high audio quality. Ogg Vorbis files have the 
extension “.ogg”.
Windows Media Audio files (Windows only)
Windows Media Audio is an audio format developed by 
Microsoft Inc. Due to advanced audio compression algo-
rithms, Windows Media Audio files can be made very 
small, maintaining good audio quality. The files have the 
extension “.wma”.
Exporting and importing standard 
MIDI files
Cubase Essential can import and export Standard MIDI 
Files, which makes it possible to transfer MIDI material to 
and from virtually any MIDI application on any platform. 
When you import and export MIDI files, you can also spec-
ify whether certain settings associated with the tracks 
should be included in the files (automation subtracks, vol-
ume and pan settings etc.). 
Exporting MIDI files
To export your MIDI tracks as a Standard MIDI File, pull 
down the File menu and select “MIDI File…” from the Ex-
port submenu. A regular file dialog opens, allowing you to 
specify a location and name for the file.
When you have specified a location and a name for the file, 
click “Save”. The Export Options dialog opens, allowing you 
to specify a number of options for the file – what should be 
included in the file, its type and its resolution (see below for 
descriptions of the options).
The Export Options dialog
You will also find these settings in the Preferences (MIDI–
MIDI File page). If you set these up once and for all in the 
Preferences, you only need to click OK in the Export Op-
tions dialog to proceed.
!The resulting Wave/AIFF file will be several times 
larger than the original compressed file.