Steinberg Cubase Essential 4 Plug-In Reference Manual

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MIDI effects
Searching for MIDI channels
Each MIDI event contains a MIDI channel setting (1-16). 
Normally, these settings are not used, since the MIDI event 
plays back on the MIDI channel set for its track. However, 
you can come across MIDI parts with events set to differ-
ent channels, for example in the following scenarios:
 If you have recorded MIDI from an instrument sending on sev-
eral different channels (e.g. a master keyboard with different 
key zones).
 If you have imported a MIDI file of type 0 (with a single track, 
containing MIDI events with different channel settings).
Searching for MIDI channel values is straightforward; you 
select a Condition and enter a MIDI channel (1–16) in the 
Parameter 1 column (and, if you’ve selected one of the 
Range Conditions, a higher channel in the Parameter 2 
column, creating a value range).
Searching for event types
Selecting Type as the Filter Target allows you to find events 
of a certain type only.
The Condition column contains only three options: Equal, 
Unequal and All Types.
Clicking the Parameter 1 column displays a pop-up menu, 
listing the available event types (Note, PolyPressure, Con-
troller, etc.).
The Transformer will find all events matching or not match-
ing the selected type (depending on the Condition).
Searching for properties
On the Filter Target pop-up menu you will find an option 
called Property. This allows you to search for properties 
that are not part of the MIDI standard but rather event-
specific program settings.When the Property option is selected, the Condition col-
umn has two options: “Property is set” and “Property is not 
set”. Which property to look for is specified in the Parame-
ter 1 column. The options are “muted” and “selected”. Two 
examples:
Here, the Transformer will find all muted events.
Here, the Transformer will find all events that are selected and muted.
Searching for event contexts
On the Filter Target pop-up menu you will find an option 
called “Last Event”. This can be used to perform context-
dependent searches.
“Last Event” indicates the state of an event which has al-
ready passed the Transformer. The condition has to be 
combined with Parameter 1 and Parameter 2. 
Below follow a few examples on how the Last Event filter 
target can used.
Here, the action will only be performed when the sustain 
pedal is down:
In this example, the action will be performed when the 
note C1 is pressed:
!As mentioned above, selecting “Type = Note” or 
“Type = Controller” adds some additional functional-
ity to the Transformer. You should make it a habit to 
add a Type condition when applicable.Fiter Target Condition Parameter 1 Parameter 2
Last Event Equal MIDI Status 176/Controller
Last Event Equal Value 1 64
Last Event Bigger Value 2 64
Fiter Target Condition Parameter 1 Parameter 2
Type is Equal Note 
Last Event Equal Note is playing 36/C1 
						

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MIDI effects
In this example, the action will be performed after playing 
the C1 note:
Combining multiple condition lines
As described above, you can add condition lines by click-
ing the Add Line button to the right of the list. The result of 
combining condition lines depends on the boolean And/
Or operators and the brackets.
The bool column
By clicking in the “bool” column to the right in the list, you 
can select a boolean operator: “And” or “Or”. A boolean 
operator combines two condition lines and determines the 
result in the following way:
ÖIf two condition lines are combined with a boolean And, 
both conditions must be fulfilled for an event to be found.
The Transformer will only find events that are notes and are muted.
If two condition lines are combined with a boolean Or, one 
of the conditions (or both) must be fulfilled for an event to 
be found.
The Input Transformer will find all events that are notes (regardless of 
mute status) and all events that are muted (regardless of their type).
Using brackets
The bracket (parenthesis) columns let you enclose two or 
more condition lines, dividing the conditional expression 
into smaller units. This is only relevant when you have three 
or more condition lines and want to use the boolean Or op-
erator. This is how it works:
ÖWithout brackets, the conditional expressions are 
evaluated according to their order in the list.
In this case we have the expression Type = Note AND Event is muted 
OR Channel = 1, without brackets. This means that the Transformer will 
find all muted MIDI notes, as well as all events (regardless of their type) 
set to MIDI channel 1.
Maybe you wanted to find all notes that are either muted 
or use the MIDI channel 1 (but no non-note events)? Then 
you need to add some brackets:
Here the expression is Type = Note AND (Event is muted OR Channel 
= 1), which will find what you want. The rule behind this is:
ÖExpressions within brackets are evaluated first.
If there are several layers of brackets, these are evaluated “from the in-
side out”, starting with the innermost brackets.
You add brackets by clicking in the bracket columns and 
selecting an option. Up to triple brackets can be selected.
Editing filter conditions as text
The area directly below the filter condition list shows you 
the current filter conditions as text. It also allows you to 
enter and edit the filter conditions in textual form. For tips 
on the syntax, please study the included presets.
Fiter Target Condition Parameter 1 Parameter 2
Last Event Equal Value 1 36/C1
!When you add a new condition line, the boolean set-
ting defaults to And. Therefore, if all you want to do is 
set up two or more conditions that all must be met for 
an event to be found, you don’t have to think about the 
boolean column – just add the required lines and 
make the usual filter settings. 
						

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MIDI effects
ÖThere is no additional functionality involved when edit-
ing filter conditions as text; it is simply another way to make 
settings. 
When you enter something in the text field you will see the correspond-
ing settings appear in the filter condition list (provided that you have used 
the correct syntax).
Selecting a function
The pop-up menu in the top left corner of the Transformer 
is where you select the function – the basic type of editing 
to be performed. When you select an option from the pop-
up menu, the field to the right displays a clarifying text, 
making it easier to see what the function does.
The current settings are automatically applied in real time 
during playback or live playing.
The following options are available:
Delete
This function will remove (or “mute”) all found events from 
the “output stream” – the actual events on the track are 
not affected.
Transform
Changes one or several aspects of the found events. You 
set up exactly what should be changed in the action list, 
see below.
Insert
This will create new events and insert these into the out-
put stream. The new events will be based on the events 
found by the Transformer effect’s filter conditions, but with 
any changes you have set up in the action list applied. 
Another way of expressing this is that the Insert function 
copies the found events, transforms them according to the 
action list and inserts the transformed copies among the 
existing events.
Insert Exclusive
This will transform the found events according to the action 
list. Then, all events that were not found (that didn’t meet 
the filter conditions) are removed from the output stream.
Specifying actions
The lower list in the Transformer window is the action list. 
This is where you specify any changes that should be 
made to the found events (relevant for all function types 
except Delete).
The handling of the action list is similar to the filter condi-
tion list, but without the brackets and booleans. You sim-
ply add lines by clicking the Add Line button to the right, 
and fill out the columns as required. To remove a superflu-
ous action line, select it and click the Delete Line button.
Action Target
This is where you select the property that should be 
changed in the events:
Option Description
Value 1 This adjusts value 1 in the events. As described in the 
section “Searching for Value 1 or Value 2” on page 40, 
the property of value 1 depends on the event type. For 
notes, value 1 is the pitch.
Value 2 This adjusts value 2 in the events. As described in the 
section “Searching for Value 1 or Value 2” on page 40, 
the property of value 2 depends on the event type. For 
notes, value 2 is the velocity value.
Channel Allows you to change the MIDI channel setting. See 
“Searching for MIDI channels” on page 41.
Type Allows you to change an event from one type to another, 
e.g. transform aftertouch events to modulation events.
Value 3 This adjusts value 3 in the events, which is used for han-
dling note-off velocity when searching for properties. See 
“Searching for properties” on page 41. 
						

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MIDI effects
Operation
This setting determines what to do with the Action Target. 
The options on this pop-up menu are different depending 
on the selected Action Target. Below, all available opera-
tions are listed:
Add
Adds the value specified in the Parameter 1 column to the 
Action Target.
Subtract
Subtracts the value specified in the Parameter 1 column 
from the Action Target.
Multiply by
Multiplies the Action Target value with the value specified 
in the Parameter 1 column.
Divide by
Divides the Action Target value by the value specified in 
the Parameter 1 column.
Round by
This “rounds” the Action Target value using the value 
specified in the Parameter 1 column. In other words, the 
Action Target value is changed to the closest value that 
can be divided by the Parameter 1 value.
Set Random Values between
This will set the Action Target value to a random value 
within the range specified with Parameter 1 and 2.
Set Relative Random Values between
This will add a random value to the current Action Target 
value. The added random value will be within the range 
specified with Parameter 1 and 2. Note that these can be 
set to negative values.
For example, if you set Parameter 1 to -20 and Parameter 
2 to +20, the original Action Target value will get a ran-
dom variation, never exceeding ±20.
Set to fixed value
This sets the Action Target to the value specified in the 
Parameter 1 column.
Transpose to Scale
This is only available when Action Target is set to Value 1, 
and when the filter conditions are specifically set up to 
find notes (a “Type = Note” filter condition line has been 
added). When “Transpose to Scale” is selected, you can 
specify a musical scale using the Parameter 1 and 2 col-
umns. Parameter 1 is the key (C, C#, D, etc.) while Pa-
rameter 2 is the type of scale (major, melodic or harmonic 
minor, etc.).
Each note will be transposed to the closest note in the se-
lected scale.
Use Value 2
This is only available when Action Target is set to Value 1. 
If this option is selected, the Value 2 setting in each event 
will be copied to the Value 1 setting.
For example, this would be useful if you are transforming 
all Modulation controllers to Aftertouch events (since con-
trollers use Value 2 for their amount, while Aftertouch uses 
Value 1 – see “Searching for Value 1 or Value 2” on page 
40).
Use Value 1
This is only available when Action Target is set to Value 2. 
If this option is selected, the Value 1 setting in each event 
will be copied to the Value 2 setting.
Mirror
This is only available when Action Target is set to Value 1 
or Value 2. When this option is selected, the values will be 
“mirrored” or “flipped” around the value set in the Parame-
ter 1 column.
In the case of notes, this will invert the scale, with the key 
set in the Parameter 1 column as “center point”.
Applying the defined actions
When using the Transformer effect, the processing is ap-
plied to the events played back from the track (or played 
live “thru” the track) as soon as you set it up.
Since no existing events on the track are affected by the 
Transformer setting, there is no need for undo. 
						

							Index 
						

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Index
A
Apogee UV22 HR 15
Arpache 5 28
Arpeggiator 28
Autopan (MIDI effect) 29
B
Bitcrusher 20
C
Chopper 20
Chorder (MIDI effect) 30
Compress (MIDI effect) 31
D
DaTube 8
Density (MIDI Effect) 32
Dither 15
F
Flanger 16
G
Gate 8
GS Control Panel 37
H
HALionOne 25
L
Limiter 9
M
Metalizer 16
Micro Tuner (MIDI Effect) 32
MIDI Echo (MIDI effect) 33
MIDI Step Sequencer 35
MIDIControl (MIDI Effect) 32
MonoDelay 6
MonoToStereo 23
N
Note to CC (MIDI effect) 34
O
Octaver 21
P
Pattern Sequencer 35
Phaser 17
PingPongDelay 7
Q
Quantizer (MIDI effect) 34
R
Ringmodulator 17
Roland GS Control Panel 37
RoomWorks SE 22
Rotary 18
S
Step Designer (MIDI effect) 35
StepFilter 12
StereoEnhancer 23
T
ToneBooster 14
Track Control (MIDI Effect) 37
Track FX (MIDI Effect) 38
Tranceformer 19
Transformer (MIDI effect) 39
Tremolo 19
U
UV22 HR 15
V
VSTDynamics 11
X
XG Control Panel 37
Y
Yamaha XG Control Panel 37