Steinberg Cubase Essential 4 Plug-In Reference Manual

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The included effect plug-ins
Octaver
This plug-in can generate two additional voices that track 
the pitch of the input signal one octave and two octaves 
below the original pitch, respectively. Octaver is best used 
with monophonic signals. The parameters are as follows:
Tuner
This is a guitar tuner. Simply connect a guitar or other in-
strument to an audio input and select the Tuner as an in-
sert effect (make sure you deactivate any other effect that 
alters pitch, like chorus or vibrato). When the instrument is 
connected, proceed as follows:
Play a note.
The key is shown in the middle of the display. In addition, the frequency in 
Hz is shown in the bottom left corner and the octave range in the bottom 
right corner. If the key is wrong (e.g. if you wish to tune the E string and the 
key is shown as Fb), first tune the string so that the correct key is shown.
The two arrows indicate any deviation in pitch by their 
position. If the pitch is flat, they will be positioned in the 
left half of the display, if the pitch is sharp they will be in 
the right half.
The deviation is also shown (in Cent) in the upper area of the display.
Tune the instrument so that the two arrows are in the 
middle.
Repeat this procedure for each string.
Parameter Description
Direct This adjusts the mix of the original signal and the gener-
ated voice(s). A value of 0 means only the generated and 
transposed signal is heard. By raising this value, more of 
the original signal is heard.
Octave 1 This adjusts the level of the generated signal one octave 
below the original pitch. Set to 0 means the voice is 
muted.
Octave 2 This adjusts the level of the generated signal two octaves 
below the original pitch. Set to 0 means the voice is 
muted. 
						

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The included effect plug-ins
Restoration plug-ins
This section contains descriptions of the plug-ins in the 
“Restoration” category.
Grungelizer
The Grungelizer adds noise and static to your recordings 
– kind of like listening to a radio with bad reception, or a 
worn and scratched vinyl record. The available parameters 
are as follows:
Reverb plug-ins
This section contains descriptions of the plug-ins in the 
“Reverb” category.
RoomWorks SE
RoomWorks SE is a high-quality reverb plug-in. Room-
Works SE has the following parameters:
Parameter Description
Crackle This adds crackle to create that old vinyl record sound. 
The farther to the right you turn the dial, the more crackle 
is added.
RPM switch When emulating the sound of a vinyl record, this switch 
lets you set the RPM (revolutions per minute) speed of 
the record (33/45/78 RPM).
Noise This dial regulates the amount of static noise added.
Distort Use this dial to add distortion.
EQ Turn this dial to the right to cut off the low frequencies, 
and create a more hollow, lo-fi sound.
AC This emulates a constant, low hum of AC current.
Frequency 
switchThis sets the frequency of the AC current (50 or 60 Hz), 
and thus the pitch of the AC hum.
Timeline This dial regulates the amount of overall effect. The far-
ther to the right (1900) you turn this dial, the more notice-
able the effect.
Parameter Description
Pre-Delay The amount of time before the onset of reverb. This al-
lows you to simulate larger spaces by increasing the time 
it takes for first reflections to reach the listener.
Reverb Time Reverb Time in seconds.
Diffusion This affects the character of the reverb tail. Higher diffu-
sion is smoother while less diffusion can be clearer. This 
emulates changing the types of surfaces in a room (brick 
vs. carpet for instance).
High Level 
AmountThis affects the decay time of high frequencies. Normal 
room reverb decays quicker in the high and low frequency 
range than in the midrange. Lowering the level percentage 
will cause high frequencies to decay quicker. Values above 
100 % will cause high frequencies to decay longer than 
the midrange.
Low Level 
AmountThis affects the decay time of low frequencies. Normal 
room reverb decays quicker in the high and low frequency 
range than in the midrange. Lowering the level percentage 
will cause low frequencies to decay quicker. Values above 
100 % will cause low frequencies to decay longer than the 
midrange.
Mix Determines the blend of dry (unprocessed) signal to wet 
(processed) signal. When using RoomWorks SE inserted 
in an FX channel, you will most likely want to set this to 
100 % or use the Send button. 
						

							23
The included effect plug-ins
Spatial plug-ins
This section contains descriptions of the plug-ins in the 
“Spatial” category.
MonoToStereo
This effect will turn a mono signal into a “pseudo-stereo” 
signal. The plug-in must be inserted on a stereo track 
playing a mono file to work.
The parameters are as follows:
StereoEnhancer
This plug-in will expand the stereo width of (stereo) audio 
material. It cannot be used with mono files.
The parameters are as follows:
    
Parameter Description
Width This controls the width or depth of the stereo enhance-
ment. Turn clockwise to increase the enhancement.
Delay This parameter increases the amount of differences be-
tween the left and right channels to further increase the 
stereo effect.
Color This parameter also generates differences between the 
channels to increase the stereo effect.
Mono This switches the output to mono, to check for possible 
unwanted coloring of the sound which sometimes can 
occur when creating an artificial stereo image.
Parameter Description
Width This controls the width or depth of the stereo enhance-
ment. Turn clockwise to increase the enhancement.
Delay This parameter increases the amount of differences be-
tween the left and right channels to further increase the 
stereo effect.
Color This parameter also generates differences between the 
channels to increase the stereo enhancement.
Mono This switches the output to mono, to check for possible 
unwanted coloring of the sound which sometimes can 
occur when enhancing the stereo image. 
						

							2
HALionOne 
						

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HALionOne
Introduction
HALionOne is a sample player that can play sound content 
in the *.hsb (HALion Sound Bank) format. These samples 
have associated preset files that store the panel settings 
and reference the HSB samples. Included are several pre-
sets (as *.vstpreset and *.trackpreset files).
The operation of HALionOne is very simple; load a preset 
(*.vstpreset or *.trackpreset file for an Instrument Track) and 
start playing! You do, however, have the option to tweak the 
basic parameters to tailor the sound to your liking.
HALionOne parameters
The HALionOne differs from other VST Instruments in that 
the panel parameters shown can vary according to which 
parameters are stored in the HSB file. HSB files cannot 
be created with HALionOne – you need the full version of 
HALion to do this – but when created, certain parameters 
are assigned as part of the file and the associated pro-
gram (or preset). This means that for each preset, only 
these assigned parameters are shown on the instrument 
panel. Typically, these are filter cutoff, DCA and DCF pa-
rameters and any assigned effect parameters (the effects 
are “built in”).
If you load HALionOne for an Instrument track and select, 
for example, the “Draw Organ” preset, the following pa-
rameters are shown:These parameter assignments are used for many of the 
HALionOne presets, but not for all. As stated above, other 
parameters may be shown; these will be clearly labelled 
on the panel. For most of the presets there are also asso-
ciated effects – the effect parameters are usually as-
signed to the quick controls on the right and typically 
control the dry/wet mix of the effect.
Effect Bypass
This button, located at the bottom right in the box dis-
playing the preset name, allows you to bypass any effects.
The blue LED beside the button is lit if any effects are used in the preset.
Efficiency slider
The Efficiency slider provides a way of balancing audio 
quality vs. conservation of computer power. The lower the 
setting, the more voices are available. As a trade-off, 
sound quality is reduced.
Voices allocated
The Voices field dynamically displays the number of 
voices currently used.
MIDI and Disk activity LEDs
The MIDI activity LED indicates received MIDI input. The 
Disk LED will light up green when samples are streamed 
from disk, and red when samples cannot be loaded from 
disk in time. In such a case you should consider lowering 
the Efficiency slider. When the disk LED doesn’t light up, 
samples are read from memory.
Parameter Description
Cutoff This allows you to adjust filter frequency or cutoff. The fil-
ter used is a Waldorf Low Pass filter with a 24 dB slope.
Resonance Raising the filter resonance value will emphasize the fre-
quencies around the set filter frequency.
DCF Amount Controls the amount of the DCF (filter) envelope.
DCA Attack Controls the time it takes for the DCA signal to reach its 
highest level.
DCA Decay Controls the time it takes the DCA signal to decay to the 
sustain level.
DCA Sustain Controls the DCA signal level after the Decay phase, as 
long as you press the key on your MIDI keyboard.
DCA Release Controls the DCA signal after a key is released.
DCA Amount Controls the amount of the DCA (amplifier) envelope. Parameter Description 
						

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HALionOne
Locate Contents
If you have moved the HALionOne content files to a differ-
ent location (i. e. any other location than the folder in which 
it was stored at installation time), you need to use the Lo-
cate Contents function to inform HALion One about 
where to find its files. This is done as follows:
Right-click anywhere on the control panel and select 
“Locate contents”.
A file dialog opens where you can navigate to the folder location.
HALionOne and MIDI files
When the Preferences option “Import to Instrument Tracks” 
is activated (on the MIDI–MIDI File page), importing a MIDI 
file into Cubase Essential will automatically set up instru-
ment tracks, with HALionOne as the associated instrument. 
This allows you to quickly audition any imported MIDI files, 
to change parameter settings or to add effects, etc. 
						

							3
MIDI effects 
						

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MIDI effects
Introduction
This chapter describes the included MIDI realtime effects 
and their parameters.
How to apply and handle MIDI effects is described in the 
chapter “MIDI realtime parameters and effects” in the Op-
eration Manual.
Arpache 5
A typical arpeggiator accepts a chord (a group of MIDI 
notes) as input, and plays back each note in the chord 
separately, with the playback order and speed set by the 
user. The Arpache 5 arpeggiator does just that, and more. 
Before describing the parameters, let’s look at how to cre-
ate a simple, typical arpeggio:
1.Select a MIDI track and activate monitoring (or record 
enable it) so that you can play “thru” the track.
Check that the track is properly set up for playback to a suitable MIDI in-
strument.
2.Select and activate the arpeggiator.
For now, use it as an insert effect for the selected track.
3.In the arpeggiator panel, use the Quantize setting to 
set the arpeggio speed.
The speed is set as a note value, relative to the project tempo. For exam-
ple, setting Quantize to “16” means the arpeggio will be a pattern of six-
teenth notes.
4.Use the Length setting to set the length of the arpeg-
gio notes.
This allows you to create staccato arpeggios (Length smaller than the 
Quantize setting) or arpeggio notes that overlap each other (Length 
greater than Quantize).
5.Set the Semi-Range parameter to 12.
This will make the notes arpeggiate within an octave.
6.Play a chord on your MIDI instrument.
Now, instead of hearing the chord, you will hear the notes of the chord 
played one by one, in an arpeggio.
7.Try the different arpeggio modes by clicking the Play-
mode buttons.
The symbols on the buttons indicate the playback order for the notes (up, 
down, up+down, etc.). The Play Order settings are described below.
Parameters
The Arpache 5 has the following settings:
Setting Description
Playmode 
buttonsAllows you to select the playback order for the arpeggi-
ated notes. The options are down+up, up+down, up, 
down, random (“?” button) and “Order off”, in which case 
you can set the playback order manually with the Play Or-
der fields below.
Quantize Determines the speed of the arpeggio, as a note value re-
lated to the project tempo. The range is 32T (1/32 note 
triplets) to 1. (dotted note values).
Length Sets the length of the arpeggio notes, as a note value re-
lated to the project tempo. The range is the same as for 
the Quantize setting.
Semi-Range Determines the arpeggiated note range, in semitones 
counted from the lowest key you play. This works as fol-
lows:
– Any notes you play that are outside this range will be 
transposed in octave steps to fit within the range.
– If the range is more than one octave, octave-trans-
posed copies of the notes you play will be added to the 
arpeggio (as many octaves as fit within the range).
Thru If this is activated, the notes sent to the arpeggiator (i.e. 
the chord you play) will be passed through the plug-in 
(sent out together with the arpeggiated notes).
Play  Order If the “Order on” playmode is selected, you can use these 
“slots” to specify a custom playback order for the arpeg-
gio notes:
Each slot corresponds to a position in the arpeggio pat-
tern. For each slot, you specify which note should be 
played on that position by selecting a number. The num-
bers correspond to the keys you play, counted from the 
lowest pressed key.
So, if you play the notes C3-E3-G3 (a C major chord), 
“1” would mean C3, “2” would mean E3, and “3” would 
mean G3. Note that you can use the same number in sev-
eral slots, creating arpeggio patterns that are not possi-
ble using the standard play modes. 
						

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MIDI effects
Autopan
This plug-in works a bit like an LFO in a synthesizer, allow-
ing you to send out continuously changing MIDI controller 
messages. One typical use for this is automatic MIDI pan-
ning (hence the name), but you can select any MIDI Con-
tinuous Controller event type. The Autopan effect has the 
following parameters:
Waveform selectors
These determine the shape of the controller curves sent 
out. The results of most of these waveforms are obvious 
from looking at the buttons, but a few of them require 
some extra explanations:
This generates a “random” controller curve.
These generate curves with a “periodical envelope”. The amplitude will 
gradually increase or decrease over a time, set with the Period parame-
ter (see below).
Period
This is where you set the speed of the Autopan, or rather 
the length of a single controller curve cycle. The value can 
be set in ticks (1/480ths of quarter notes), or as rhythmi-
cally exact note values (by clicking the arrow buttons next 
to the value). The lower the note value, the slower the 
speed. For example, if you set this to 240 (“8th”) the 
waveform will be repeated every eighth note.
Density
This determines the density of the controller curves sent 
out. The value can be set in ticks (1/480ths of quarter 
notes), or as rhythmically exact note values (by clicking the 
arrow buttons next to the value). The higher the note value, 
the smoother the controller curve. For example, if you set 
this to 60 (shown as “32th”) a new controller event will be 
sent out every 60th tick (at every 1/32 note position).
AmpMod
This is only used for the two waveforms with “periodical 
envelopes” (see above). The period value (set in beats) 
determines the length of the envelope. In the following fig-
ure, Period is set to 4th and the AmpMod is 4 beats. This 
results in a quarter note-based curve in which the top am-
plitude decreases gradually, repeated each bar.
Controller
Determines which Continuous Controller type is sent out. 
Typical choices would include pan, volume and brightness 
but your MIDI instrument may have controllers mapped to 
various settings, allowing you to modulate the synth pa-
rameter of your choice – check the MIDI implementation 
chart for your instrument for details!
Min and Max
These determine the minimum and maximum controller 
values sent out, i.e. the “bottom” and “top” of the control-
ler curves.
!You should probably avoid extremely low Density val-
ues, as these will generate a very large number of 
events (which may cause the MIDI instrument to 
“choke”, delaying notes etc.). 
						

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MIDI effects
Chorder
The Chorder is a MIDI chord processor, allowing you to as-
sign complete chords to single keys in a multitude of varia-
tions. There are three main modes of operation: Normal, 
Octave and Global. You switch between these modes by 
clicking the respective button to the left below the key-
board.
Normal mode
In this mode, you can assign a different chord to each sin-
gle key on the keyboard. Proceed as follows:
1.Select the key to which you want to assign a chord, by 
clicking in the lower “Trigger Note” keyboard display.
2.Set up the desired chord for that key by clicking in the 
upper “Chord Setup” keyboard display.
Clicking a key adds it to the chord; clicking it again removes it.
3.Repeat the above with any other keys you wish to use.
If you now play the keys you have set up, you will instead 
hear the assigned chords.
Octave mode
The Octave mode is similar to the Normal mode, but you 
can only set up one chord for each key in an octave (that 
is, twelve different chords). When you play a C note (re-
gardless of whether it’s a C3, C4 or any other octave) you 
will hear the chord set up for the C key.
Global mode
In the Global mode, you only set up a single chord, using 
the Chord Setup keyboard display (the lower keyboard dis-
play is hidden). This chord is then played by all keys on the 
keyboard, but transposed according to the note you play.
Using switches
The Switch Setup section at the bottom of the panel al-
lows you to set up variations to the defined chords. This 
works with all three modes and provides a total of eight 
variations for each assignable key (that is, a maximum of 8 
different chords in Global mode, 12 x 8 chords in Octave 
mode and 128 x 8 chords in Normal mode).
The variations can be controlled by velocity or note range. 
Here’s how you set it up:
1.Select one of the two switch modes: velocity or note.
How to use these is explained below.
The velocity switch mode selected.
2.Specify how many variations you want to use with the 
Use value box.
3.Click the first Switch Select button and set up the 
chord(s) you want for the first variation.
4.Click the next Switch Select button and set up the 
chord(s) you want for that variation.
5.Repeat this for the number of variations you specified 
with the Use setting.
Each Switch Select button corresponds to a variation.