Steinberg Cubase LE 4 Getting Started Manual

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Setting up your system
Optimizing processor scheduling (Windows 
only)
To get the lowest possible latencies when using ASIO un-
der Windows XP (on a single CPU system), the “system 
performance” has to be optimized for background tasks:
1.Open the Windows Control Panel from the Start menu 
and select System.
2.Select the Advanced tab and click the Settings button 
in the Performance section.
The Performance Options dialog appears.
3.Select the Advanced tab.
4.In the Processor Scheduling section,...

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Tutorial 1: Recording Audio 

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Tutorial 1: Recording Audio
Creating a new project
In this section we are going to explain how to create a new 
project, save a project and open a saved project.
When you first open Cubase LE an empty screen appears 
before you. You need to either create a new project or 
open an existing one.
To Create a New Project:
1.Let’s create a new project by selecting “New Project” 
from the “File” Menu.
2.The Templates dialog box will open up. 
Templates are discussed in the “File Handling” section of the...

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Tutorial 1: Recording Audio
To save a project
1.Select “Save As…” from the File menu.
The difference between Save and Save As are discussed in the chapter 
“File Handling” in the Operation Manual.
2.You will notice that Cubase LE is in the “My First 
Project” folder that you created earlier. This is where you 
want to save your project. Type in a name for your Project 
– you can use “My First Cubase LE Project” for example.
3.Click “Save” – and that’s it!
To close a project
1.Make sure the Project...

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Tutorial 1: Recording Audio
5.Depending on your audio hardware, your outputs 
should be setup now. You can however select the outputs 
of your choice from the “Device Port” pop-up menu.
Normally you’ll want to choose “Out 1” and “Out 2” or “Left 1” and “Right 
2” as these are the main stereo outputs of your audio card. More sophisti-
cated setups may require you to choose different outputs and even add 
more busses.
Adding Inputs
Now let’s open the “Inputs” tab and set up the inputs we 
are going to...

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Tutorial 1: Recording Audio
3.Click on the new track you’ve created and make sure 
the Inspector is shown.
The Inspector allows us to see and manipulate a lot of information for the 
selected track.
4.Make sure that “Mono In” is selected for the audio 
track’s input and that “Stereo Out” is selected for the au-
dio tracks output.
You may have different inputs and outputs based on your audio hard-
ware. See the chapter “VST Connections” in the Operation Manual for 
more detailed information. By setting...

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Tutorial 1: Recording Audio
2.Now click the “Record Enable” button on the track.
Setting the track to Record Enable lets C u b a s e  L E  k n o w  t h a t  y o u  w a n t  t o  
record on this track and no other one. You can have many tracks Record 
Enabled at a time.
3.In the Inspector, open the “Channel” tab.
This will display the channel fader for the selected track.
Do the best you can to send the maximum amount of 
volume to the audio inputs of your audio card before you 
hear any distortion....

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Tutorial 1: Recording Audio
Playback
We are going to learn how to play back audio in Cubase 
LE. You might think this is very simple – just hit “Play”. It is 
actually this simple but there are a few tricks to learn so 
that you’ll be playing back what you want with precision.
To start playback
There are a few ways you can play back in Cubase LE.
Click the “Start” button on the Transport panel.
Press the space bar on your computer keyboard.
This toggles between start and stop.
Press the [Enter] key of...

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Tutorial 1: Recording Audio
Recording modes with cycle off
There are three different modes for recording when the 
cycle is turned off. This is called linear recording. The 
three modes are:
Normal
Merge
Replace
When recording audio, “Normal” and “Merge” are the 
same. Selecting either of these will allow you to record 
over the top of another audio event and it will appear as an 
overlap. You can then select between the overlapping 
events and determine which one will play. This is dis-
cussed in the...

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Tutorial 1: Recording Audio
5.Make sure “Cycle” is activated, set the left locator to 2 
and the right locator to 18.
This will loop or cycle between bars 2 and 18.
6.On the Transport panel, make sure “Mix (MIDI)” is se-
lected for the “Cycle Record Mode”.
This will allow us to record the electric guitar, and as each cycle repeats 
a new take will be created. We will then choose the best take to keep as 
our guitar line.
7.Activate the Record Enable and Monitor buttons on 
the “Elec Guitar” track....