Steinberg Cubase LE 4 Getting Started Manual
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Tutorials by Steve Kostrey Revision for Cubase LE and Quality Control: Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Sabine Pfeifer The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media except as specifically allowed in the License Agreement. No part of this publica- tion may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. All product and company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective owners. Windows XP is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. The Mac logo is a trademark used under license. Macintosh and Power Macintosh are registered trademarks. © Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, 2007. All rights reserved.
4 Table of Contents 5Introduction 6Welcome 6About the manuals and the help 7About the program versions 7Key command conventions 8System requirements and installation 9About this chapter 9Minimum requirements 10Hardware Installation 11Installing Cubase LE 11Registering your software 11Defragment the hard disk (Windows only) 11Installing the Additional Content 12Setting up your system 13Setting up audio 17Setting up MIDI 18Connecting a synchronizer 19Setting up video 19Optimizing audio performance 22Tutorial 1: Recording Audio 23Creating a new project 24Setting up the VST Connections 25Level settings and recording 28Playback 29Recording modes with cycle off 29Cycle recording 31Tutorial 2: Editing Audio 32Event operations 38The Sample Editor 38Processing audio 40Tutorial 3: Recording and Editing MIDI 41Introduction 41Creating an Instrument Track 42Browsing sounds 42MIDI recording 43MIDI playback 44Recording modes with cycle off 44Cycle recording 46The Key Editor 47The Controller lane 49Tutorial 4: Mixing and Effects 50Introduction 50Setting levels 51Setting Pan 51Mute and solo 52Adding EQ 54Audio effects 54About Automation 55Exporting 57Index
6 Introduction Welcome Congratulations and welcome to the world of Cubase. You have now become a member of the worlds largest commu- nity of music production software users. Looking back at more than 20 years of innovation in computer-based music production, Steinberg has always been the driving force behind software technology and Cubase is the benchmark for this development. With Version 4, Cubase is taking the next evolutionary step towards a totally integrated software and hardware system. Whether youre already a user of some computer-based music production software or this is your first hands-on experience with a software-based sequencer/digital audio workstation: this version of Cubase gives you full access to the Cubase workflow and provides you with a powerful yet easy-to-use music production system. Cubase LE fea- tures the same professional audio engine used in Stein- bergs flagship version of Cubase - Cubase 4. It supports both Windows XP and OS X operating systems, including the latest Intel Mac systems from Apple Computers. With a brand-new set of great-sounding plug-ins, new instru- ment tracks, and the ability to play ACIDized audio files matching a songs tempo. Take some time to find your way around in this new version of Cubase. If you are a first-time user, you will find a lot of help in the tutorial section, which is included in this manual. It comes with matching Cubase LE project files and even short training videos, which you will find on your program DVD. Even if you are already familiar with Cubase, it makes sense to study these tutorials in order to learn about some of the new features, and how they are integrated. Last but not least, by registering your software you will have access to Steinbergs personal user area on the Steinberg website! It gives you access to special offers from Stein- berg and ensures that you are always up-to-date on the la- test news about tips and tricks, updates or special events. Finally, you are also invited to join our Cubase user forum at www.steinberg.net, which is the best way to communicate directly with us and other Cubase users around the world. See you around! The Steinberg Cubase Team About the manuals and the help The Cubase LE documentation is divided into several sec- tions, as listed below. The documents are in Adobe Acro- bat format (extension “.pdf”) – these can be accessed in the following ways: You can open the pdf documents from the Documentation submenu on the Help menu in the program. Under Mac OS X the pdf documents are located in the folder “/Library/Documentation/Steinberg/Cubase LE 4”. ÖTo read the pdf documents, you need to have a suit- able pdf reader application installed on your computer. An installer for Acrobat Reader is provided on the program DVD. The Getting Started This is the manual you are reading now. The Getting Started covers the following areas: Computer requirements. Installation issues. Setting up your system for audio, MIDI and/or video work. Tutorials describing the most common procedures for record- ing, playing back, mixing and editing in Cubase LE. In other words, this book does not go into detail on any Cubase LE windows, functions or procedures. The Operation Manual The Operation Manual is the main Cubase LE reference documentation, with detailed descriptions of Cubase LE operations, parameters, functions and techniques. You should be familiar with the concepts and methods de- scribed in the Getting Started manual before moving on to the Operation Manual. Plug-in Reference This manual describes the features and parameters of the included VST plug-ins, real-time audio effects and VST in- strument. Remote Control Devices This pdf document lists the supported MIDI remote control devices and describes how to set them up and use them with Cubase LE.
7 Introduction Menu Reference This pdf document provides a list of all menus and their options with a brief description, for quick reference. The dialog help To get information about the active dialog, click its Help button. About the program versions The documentation covers two different operating sys- tems or “platforms”; Windows and Mac OS X. Some features and settings are specific to one of the plat- forms, Windows or Mac OS X. This is clearly stated in the applicable cases. In other words: ÖIf nothing else is said, all descriptions and procedures in the documentation are valid for both Windows and Mac OS X. The screenshots are taken from the Windows version. Key command conventions Many of the default key commands in Cubase LE use mod- ifier keys, some of which are different depending on the op- erating system. For example, the default key command for Undo is [Ctrl]+[Z] under Windows and [Command]+[Z] under Mac OS X. When key commands with modifier keys are described in this manual, they are shown with the Windows modifier key first, in the following way: [Win modifier key]/[Mac modifier key]+[key] For example, [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Z] means “press [Ctrl] un- der Windows or [Command] under Mac OS X, then press [Z]”. Similarly, [Alt]/[Option]+[X] means “press [Alt] under Windows or [Option] under Mac OS X, then press [X]”. ÖPlease note that this manual often refers to “right- clicking”, e. g. to open context menus, etc. If you are using a Macintosh computer with a single-button mouse, hold down [Ctrl] and click.
9 System requirements and installation About this chapter This chapter describes the requirements and installation procedures for the Windows version and the Mac version of Cubase LE. Minimum requirements To use Cubase LE, your computer must meet the follow- ing minimum requirements: Windows Windows XP (Home or Professional) Intel Pentium or AMD Athlon 1.4 GHz processor Windows DirectX compatible audio hardware; ASIO compatible audio hardware recommended for low latency performance. Display resolution of 1024x768 pixels DVD ROM drive required for installation Internet connection required for license activation Macintosh Mac OS X 10.4 Power Mac G4 1 GHz or Core Solo 1.5 GHz Display resolution of 1024x768 pixels CoreAudio compatible audio hardware DVD ROM drive required for installation Internet connection required for license activation General notes on how to set up your system •RAM – There is a direct relation between the amount of available RAM and the number of audio channels that you can have running. The amount of RAM specified above is the minimum requirement, but as a general rule “the more the better” applies. Hard disk size – The size of the hard disk determines how many minutes of audio you will be able to record. Recording one minute of stereo CD quality audio requires 10 MB of hard disk space. That is, eight stereo tracks in Cubase LE use up at least 80 MB of disk space per recording minute. Hard disk speed – The speed of the hard drive also de- termines the number of audio tracks you can run. That is the quantity of information that the disk can read, usually expressed as “sustained transfer rate”. Again, “the more the better” applies. Wheel mouse – Although a regular mouse will work fine with Cubase LE, we recommend that you use a wheel mouse. This will speed up value editing and scrolling considerably. MIDI requirements If you intend to use the MIDI features of Cubase LE, you need the following: A MIDI interface to connect external MIDI equipment to your computer. Any audio equipment required to listen to the sound from your MIDI devices. Audio hardware Cubase LE will run with audio hardware that meets the fol- lowing specifications: Support of at least the 44.1kHz sampling rate. Windows – The audio hardware must be supplied with a spe- cial ASIO driver, or a DirectX compatible driver, see below. Mac – The audio hardware must be supplied with Mac OS X- compatible drivers (CoreAudio or ASIO). Using the built-in audio hardware of the Macintosh Although Cubase LE is designed with multi-channel input and output in mind, it’s of course possible to use the pro- gram with “basic” stereo inputs and outputs. As of this writing, all current Macintosh models provide at least built- in 16 bit stereo audio hardware. For detailed information, refer to the documentation describing your computer. Depending on your preferences and requirements, using the built-in audio hardware may be sufficient for use with Cubase LE. It is always available for selection in Cubase LE – you don’t need to install any additional drivers. !On the Steinberg web site, under “Support–DAW Components”, you can find detailed information on what to consider when setting up a computer system dedicated to audio work. !Some Macintosh models have audio outputs but no inputs. This means that you can only play back audio – recording is not possible without additional audio hardware.
10 System requirements and installation About drivers A driver is a piece of software that allows a program to communicate with a certain piece of hardware. In this case, the driver allows Cubase LE to use the audio hard- ware. For audio hardware, there are two different cases, requiring different driver configurations: If the audio hardware has a specific ASIO driver Professional audio cards often come with an ASIO driver written especially for the card. This allows for communica- tion directly between Cubase LE and the audio card. As a result, audio cards with specific ASIO drivers can provide lower latency (input-output delay), which is crucial when monitoring audio via Cubase LE or using VST Instruments. The ASIO driver may also provide special support for mul- tiple inputs and outputs, routing, synchronization, etc. Audio card-specific ASIO drivers are provided by the card manufacturers. Make sure to check the manufacturer’s web site for the latest driver versions. If the audio card communicates via DirectX (Windows only) DirectX is a Microsoft “package” for handling various types of multimedia data under Windows. Cubase LE supports DirectX, or to be more precise, DirectSound, which is a part of DirectX used for playing back and re- cording audio. This requires two types of drivers: A DirectX driver for the audio card, allowing it to communicate with DirectX. If the audio card supports DirectX, this driver should be supplied by the audio card manufacturer. If it isn’t installed with the audio card, please check the manufacturer’s web site for more information. The ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver, allowing Cubase LE to communicate with DirectX. This driver is included with Cu- base LE, and does not require any special installation. Hardware Installation Installing the audio hardware and its driver 1.Install the audio card and related equipment in the computer, as described in the card’s documentation. 2.Install the driver for the card. Depending on the operating system of your computer, there are different types of drivers that could apply: card-specific ASIO drivers, DirectX drivers (Windows) or Mac OS X (Mac) drivers: Specific ASIO driver If your audio card has a specific ASIO driver, it may be in- cluded with the audio card, but you should always make sure to check the audio card manufacturer’s web site for the most recent drivers. For details on how to install the driver, refer to the manufacturer’s instructions. DirectX driver (Windows only) If your audio card is DirectX compatible, its DirectX drivers will most likely be installed when you install the card. If you have downloaded special DirectX drivers for the audio card, you should follow the manufacturer’s installation in- structions. Mac OS X drivers (Mac) If you are using a Macintosh computer, make sure you are using the latest Mac OS X drivers for your audio hard- ware. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to install the driver. Testing the card To make sure the audio card will work as expected, perform the following two tests: Use any software included with the audio card to make sure you can record and play back audio without problems. If the card is accessed via a standard operating system driver, try playing back audio using the computer’s standard audio application (e. g. Windows Media Player or Apple iTunes). !If your audio hardware comes with a specific ASIO driver we strongly recommend that you use this.