Steinberg Cubase Le 4 Manual
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41 Playback and the Transport panel This is explained in detail in the section “Customizing via the setup context menus” on page 244. The numeric keypad In the default Key Command settings, various Transport panel operations are assigned to the numeric keypad on the computer keyboard. The keypads are slightly different on PC and Macintosh computers: Operations Setting the project cursor position There are several ways to move the project cursor posi- tion: By using Fast Forward and Rewind. By dragging the project cursor in the lower part of the ruler. By clicking in the ruler. Double-clicking in the ruler moves the cursor and starts/stops playback. If the option “Locate when Clicked in Empty Space” is activated in the Preferences (Transport page) you can click anywhere in an empty section of the Project window to move the cursor position. By changing the value in the position display. By using the position slider above the transport buttons in the Transport panel. The range of the slider relates to the Length setting in the Project Setup dialog. Hence, moving the slider all the way to the right will take you to the end of the project. By using markers (see “About markers” on page 71).By using playback options (see “Playback functions” on page 43). By using functions on the Transport menu. The following functions are available: ÖIf Snap is activated when dragging the project cursor, the Snap value is taken into account. This is helpful for finding exact positions quickly. ÖThere are also numerous key commands available for moving the project cursor (in the Transport category in the Key Commands dialog). For example, you can assign key commands to the “Step Bar” and “Step Back Bar” functions, allowing you to move the project cursor in steps of one bar, backwards and forwards. About the Transport panel display format The time display in the transport panel The time unit shown in the ruler can be independent from the time unit shown in the time display on the Transport panel. This means that you can display timecode in the transport position display and bars and beats in the ruler, for example. The following rules apply: If you change the time format of the time display on the Transport panel, the time format of the ruler will be changed as well. This is the same as changing the display format in the Project Setup. Therefore, to have different display formats in the ruler and the time dis- play you should change the format in the ruler. Numeric Key Function [Enter] Play [+] Fast Forward [-] Rewind [*] Record [÷] (Win)/[/] (Mac) Cycle On/Off [,] Return to Zero [0] Stop [1] Go to Left Locator [2] Go to Right Locator [3-9] Go to marker 3 to 9 Function Description Locate Selection/ Locate Selection EndMoves the project cursor to the beginning or end of the current selection. For this to be available, you must have selected one or more events or parts, or made a selection range. Locate Next/ Previous MarkerThis moves the project cursor to the closest marker to the right or left (see “About markers” on page 71). Locate Next/ Previous EventThis moves the project cursor forwards or backwards respectively, to the closest beginning or end of any event on the selected track(s).
42 Playback and the Transport panel The time display format is set on the pop-up menu to the right in the position display. This setting also determines the time format displayed for the left and right locators on the Transport panel. The left and right locators The left and right locators are a pair of position markers used for specifying punch-in and punch-out positions dur- ing recording, and as boundaries for cycle playback and recording. ÖWhen cycle mode is activated on the Transport panel, the area between the left and right locator will be repeated (cycled) on playback. However, if the right locator is positioned before the left, this will work as a “jump” or “skip mode” – when the project cursor reaches the right lo- cator it will immediately jump to the left locator position and continue playback from there. There are several ways to set locator positions: To set the left locator, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click at the desired position in the ruler. Similarly, pressing [Alt]/[Option] and clicking in the ruler sets the right lo- cator. You can also drag the locator “handles” directly in the ruler. The locators are indicated by the “flags” in the ruler. The area between the locators is highlighted in the ruler and in the Project window (see “Appearance” on page 245). Note that if the right locator is before the left locator, the color of the ruler between the locators will change (from blue to red). Click and drag in the upper half of the ruler to “draw” a locator range. If you click on an existing locator range, you can drag to move it. Pressing [Ctrl]/[Command] and pressing [1] or [2] on the numeric keypad sets the left or right locator to the project cursor position. Similarly, you can press [1] or [2] on the numeric keypad (without [Ctrl]/ [Command]) to set the project cursor position to the left or right locator position. Note that these are default key commands – you can change these if you like. By creating cycle markers you can store any number of left and right locator positions, which can be recalled by simply double-clicking on the corresponding marker (see “About cycle markers” on page 72). The “Locators to Selection” item on the Transport menu (default key command [P]) sets the locators to encompass the current selection. This is available if you have selected one or several events or made a se- lection range. You can also adjust the locators numerically in the Transport panel. Clicking the L/R buttons in the locator section on the Transport panel will move the project cursor to the respective locator. If you press [Alt]/[Op- tion] and click the L or R button, the corresponding locator will be set to the current project cursor position. Options and Settings The “Return to Start Position on Stop” preference This setting is found on the Transport page in the Prefer- ences (found on the File menu under Windows, or on the Cubase LE menu under Mac OS X). If “Return to Start Position on Stop” is activated when you stop playback, the project cursor will automatically re- turn to the position where recording or playback last started. If “Return to Start Position on Stop” is deactivated, the project cursor will remain at the position where you stop playback. Pressing Stop again will return the project cursor to the position where recording or playback last started. About track disable/enable For audio tracks, the track context menu contains an item named “Disable Track”. This shuts down all disk activity for the track, as opposed to using Mute, which merely turns down the output volume for a track. For example, if you often record “alternative takes” you can easily build up a large number of takes on different tracks. Even though these tracks are muted, they are actually still “playing back” from the hard disk during playback. This puts an un- necessary load on your disk system, so using “Disable Track” is recommended for such situations.
43 Playback and the Transport panel Select “Disable Track” for tracks that you want to keep in the project for later use (but don’t want to play back now). Select “Enable Track” from the track context menu to re-enable disabled tracks. Playback functions Apart from the standard transport controls on the Trans- port panel, you can also find a number of functions that can be used to control playback on the Transport menu. The items have the following functionality: About Chase Chase is a function that makes sure your MIDI instruments sound as they should when you locate to a new position and start playback. This is accomplished by the program transmitting a number of MIDI messages to your instru- ments each time you move to a new position in the project, making sure all MIDI devices are set up correctly with regard to program change, controller messages (such as MIDI Volume), etc. For example, let’s say you have a MIDI track with a pro- gram change event inserted at the beginning. This event makes a synth switch to a piano sound. At the beginning of the first chorus you have another pro- gram change event which makes the same synth switch to a string sound.You now play back the song. It begins with the piano sound and then switches to the string sound. In the middle of the chorus you stop and rewind to some point between the beginning and the second program change. The synth will now still play the string sound although in this section it really should be a piano! The Chase function takes care of that. If program change events are set to be chased, Cubase LE will track the mu- sic back to the beginning, find the first program change and transmit it to your synth, setting it to the correct sound. The same thing can apply to other event types as well. The Chase Events settings in the Preferences (MIDI page) de- termine which event types will be chased when you locate to a new position and start playback. ÖEvent types for which the checkbox is activated here will be chased. In the Chase Events section of the Preferences (MIDI page), you will find the option “Chase not limited to Part Boundaries”. When you activate this option, MIDI controllers are also chased outside the part boundaries, i.e. the Chase will be performed on the part touched by the cursor as well as on all the parts to the left of it. Please note that this option should be deactivated for very large projects, as it consider- ably slows down operations such as positioning and soloing. When you deactivate this option, the MIDI controllers are only chased within the parts under the position cursor. Option Description Play from Selection Start/EndActivates playback from the beginning or end of the current selection. Play until Selection Start/EndActivates playback two seconds before the start or end of the current selection and stops at the selec- tion start or end, respectively. Play until Next Marker This activates playback from the project cursor and stops at the next marker. Play Selection Range This activates playback from the start of the current selection and stops at the selection end. Loop Selection This activates playback from the start of the current selection and keeps starting over again when reaching the selection end. !The functions listed above (except “Play until Next Marker”) are only available if you have selected one or more events or made a selection range.
45 Recording Background This chapter describes the various recording methods that you can use in Cubase LE. As it is possible to record both audio and MIDI tracks, both recording methods are covered in this chapter. Before you start This chapter assumes that you are reasonably familiar with certain basic recording concepts, and that the following initial preparations have been made: You have properly set up, connected and calibrated your audio hardware. You have opened a project and set the project setup parameters to your specifications. Project setup parameters determine the record format, sample rate, project length etc. that affect the audio recordings you make during the course of the project. See “The Project Setup dialog” on page 21. If you plan to record MIDI, your MIDI equipment should be set up and connected correctly. Basic recording methods This section describes the general methods used for re- cording. However, there are additional preparations and procedures that are specific to audio and MIDI recording respectively. Make sure to read these sections before you start recording (see “Audio recording specifics” on page 47 and “MIDI recording specifics” on page 50). Record-enabling a track Cubase LE can record on a single track or on several tracks (audio and/or MIDI) simultaneously. To make a track ready for recording, click the Record Enable button for the track in the Track list, in the Inspector or in the mixer. When acti- vated, the button(s) turn red, indicating record ready mode. Record Enable in the Inspector, Track list and mixer. ÖIf the option “Enable Record on Selected Track” is ac- tivated in the Preferences (Editing–Project & Mixer page), tracks are automatically record-enabled when you select them in the Track list. ÖThe exact number of audio tracks you can record si- multaneously depends on your computer CPU and hard disk performance. In the Preferences (VST page), you can find the option “Warn on Pro- cessing Overloads”. When this is activated, a warning message will be displayed as soon as the CPU clip indicator (on the Transport panel) lights up during recording. Manually activating recording You activate recording by clicking the Record button on the Transport panel or toolbar or by using the correspon- ding key command (by default [*] on the numeric keypad). Recording can be activated in Stop mode (from the current cursor position or from the left locator) or during playback: If you activate recording in Stop mode, and the option “Start Record at Left Locator” is activated on the Trans- port menu, recording will start from the left locator. The preroll setting or the metronome count-in will be applied (see “About Preroll and Postroll” on page 55). If you activate recording in Stop mode, and “Start Record at Left Locator” is deactivated, recording will start from the current project cursor position. If you activate recording during playback, Cubase LE will immediately enter Record mode and start recording from the current project cursor position. This is known as “manual punch in”.
46 Recording Activating recording in Sync mode If you are synchronizing the Cubase LE transport to exter- nal equipment (Sync is activated on the Transport panel) and you activate recording, the program will go into “record ready” mode (the record button on the Transport panel will light up). Recording then starts when a valid timecode signal is received (or when you manually click the Play button). See the chapter “Synchronization” on page 216 for more information. Automatically activating recording Cubase LE can automatically switch from playback to re- cording at a given position. This is known as “automatic punch in”. A typical use for this would be if you need to re- place a section of a recording, and want to listen to what is already recorded, up to the recording start position. 1.Set the left locator to the position where you want re- cording to start. 2.Activate the Punch In button on the Transport panel. Punch In activated. 3.Activate playback from some position before the left locator. When the project cursor reaches the left locator, recording is automati- cally activated. Stopping recording Again, this can be done automatically or manually: If you click the Stop button on the Transport panel (or use the corresponding key command, by default [0] on the numeric keypad), recording is deactivated and Cubase LE goes to Stop mode. If you click the Record button (or use the key command for recording, by default [*]), recording is deactivated but playback continues. This is known as “manual punch out”. If the Punch Out button is activated on the Transport panel, recording will be deactivated when the project cur- sor reaches the right locator. This is known as “automatic punch out”. By combining this with auto- matic punch in, you can set up a specific section to record – again very useful if you want to replace a certain part of a recording. See also “Stop after Automatic Punch Out” on page 55. Punch In and Out activated. Cycle recording Cubase LE can record and play back in a cycle – a loop. You specify where the cycle starts and ends by setting the left and right locators. When the cycle is active, the se- lected section is seamlessly repeated until you hit Stop or deactivate cycle mode. To activate cycle mode, click the cycle button on the Transport panel. If you now start playback, the section between the left and right locator is repeated indefinitely until you stop. Cycle activated To record in cycle mode, you can start recording from the left locator, from before the locators or from within the cycle, in Stop mode or during playback. As soon as the project cursor reaches the right locator, it will jump back to the left locator and continue recording a new lap. The results of cycle recording depend on the selected cycle record mode and are different for audio (see “Re- cording audio in cycle mode” on page 50) and MIDI (see “Recording MIDI in cycle mode” on page 53).
47 Recording Audio recording specifics Selecting a recording file format The format for recorded files is set in the Project Setup dialog on the Project menu. There are three settings: sam- ple rate, record format (bit depth) and record file type. While the sample rate is set once and for all when you start working on a new project, the bit depth and file type can be changed at any time. Record file type The Record File Type setting determines which type of files will be created when you record: Record format (bit depth) The available options are 16 bit and 24 bit. Use the follow- ing guidelines: Normally, select the record format according to the bit depth delivered by your audio hardware. For example, if your audio hardware has 20 bit A/D converters (inputs), you may want to record at 24 bit resolution to capture the full bit depth. On the other hand, if your hardware has 16 bit inputs, it’s pointless to record with a higher bit depth – this will only make the audio files larger, with no difference in audio quality. The higher the bit depth, the larger the files and the more strain is put on the disk system. If this is an issue, you may want to lower the record format setting. Setting up the track Creating a track and selecting the channel configuration Audio tracks can be configured as mono or stereo. This allows you to record or import a file containing multiple channels and treat it as one entity, with no need to split it up into several mono files etc. The signal path for an audio track maintains its channel configuration all the way from the input bus, via EQ, level and other mixer settings to the output bus. You specify the channel configuration for a track when you create it: 1.Select “Add Audio Track” from the Track list context menu or the Project menu (or double-click in an empty area of the Track list when an audio track is selected – when a MIDI track is selected, double-clicking in the Track list creates a new MIDI track). A dialog appears with a channel configuration pop-up menu. 2.Select the desired format from the pop-up menu. You can choose between mono and stereo. 3.Click OK. A track appears, set to the specified channel configuration. In the mixer, a corresponding channel strip appears. You cannot change the channel configuration for a track. Selecting an input bus for a track Here we assume that you have added and set up the re- quired input busses (see “Setting up busses” on page 10). Before you record, you need to specify from which in- put bus the track should record. You can do this in the In- spector: In the Inspector, you select an input bus on the Input Routing pop-up menu in the top section. As described in the section “The Inspector” on page 17, the Inspector shows the settings for the selected track. You show or hide the Inspector clicking the “Show Inspector” button on the Project window toolbar. File type Description Wave File Wave files have the extension “.wav” and are a common file format on the PC platform. AIFF File Audio Interchange File Format, a standard defined by Apple Computer Inc. AIFF files have the extension “.aif” and are used on most computer platforms. Like Broadcast Wave files, AIFF files can contain embedded text strings (see below). !For further information on the Project Setup dialog, see “The Project Setup dialog” on page 21. Click here to select an input bus for the track. Click here to show/hide the Inspector.
48 Recording Setting input levels When recording digital sound, it’s important to set the in- put levels correctly – loud enough to ensure low noise and high audio quality, but not so loud that clipping (digital dis- tortion) occurs. Clipping typically occurs in the audio hardware when a too loud analog signal is converted to digital in the hard- ware’s A/D converters. You need to check the level at the channel strip for the track on which you are recording: 1.Locate the channel strip for the track you’re about to record on. 2.Activate monitoring for the channel by clicking the speaker button next to the fader. When monitoring is activated, the meter shows the level of the incoming audio signal. 3.Play the audio source that you want to record and check the level meter for the channel. 4.Adjust the output level of your audio source so that the meters go reasonably high without reaching 0.0 dB. Check the numerical peak level indicator below the meter in the bus channel strip. To reset the peak level indicator, click on it. ÖYou must adjust the output level of the audio source – you cannot use the faders in Cubase LE to adjust the in- put level! ÖAn alternative way of checking the input levels would be to use the control panel for your audio hardware (if it features input level meters). It may also be possible to ad- just the input level in the control panel. See the documentation of your audio hardware for details. Monitoring In this context, “monitoring” means listening to the input signal during recording. There are three fundamentally dif- ferent ways to do this: via Cubase LE, externally (by listening to the signal before it reaches Cubase LE), or by using ASIO Direct Monitoring (which is a combination of both other methods – see below). Monitoring via Cubase LE If you monitor via Cubase LE, the input signal is mixed in with the audio playback. The advantage of this is that you can adjust the monitoring level and panning in the mixer, and add effects and EQ to the monitor signal just as dur- ing playback (using the track’s channel strip – not the in- put bus!). The disadvantage of monitoring via Cubase LE is that the monitored signal will be delayed according to the latency value (which depends on your audio hardware and driv- ers). Therefore, monitoring via Cubase LE requires an au- dio hardware configuration with a low latency value. You can check the latency of your hardware in the Device Setup dialog (VST Audio System page). ÖIf you are using plug-in effects with large inherent de- lays, the automatic delay compensation function in Cu- base LE will increase the latency. If this is a problem, you can use the Constrain Delay Compensation func- tion while recording, see “Constrain Delay Compensation” on page 145. When monitoring via Cubase LE, you can select one of four Auto Monitoring modes in the Preferences (VST page): Manual. This option allows you to turn input monitoring on or off by clicking the Monitor button in the Inspector, the Track list or in the mixer. While Record Enabled. With this option, you will hear the audio source connected to the channel input whenever the track is record enabled. While Record Running. This option switches to input monitoring only during recording. Tapemachine Style. This option emulates standard tapemachine behavior: input monitoring in Stop mode and during recording, but not during playback.
49 Recording External monitoring External monitoring (listening to the input signal before it goes into Cubase LE) requires some sort of external mixer for mixing the audio playback with the input signal. This can be a stand-alone physical mixer or a mixer application for your audio hardware, if this has a mode in which the in- put audio is sent back out again (usually called “Thru”, “Direct Thru” or similar). When using external monitoring, you cannot control the level of the monitor signal from within Cubase LE or add VST effects or EQ to the monitor signal. The latency value of the audio hardware configuration does not affect the monitor signal in this mode. ÖIf you want to use external monitoring, you need to make sure that monitoring via Cubase LE isn’t activated as well. Select the “Manual” monitoring mode in the Preferences (VST page) and don’t activate the Monitor buttons. ASIO Direct Monitoring If your audio hardware is ASIO 2.0 compatible, it may sup- port ASIO Direct Monitoring. In this mode, the actual mo- nitoring is done in the audio hardware by sending the input signal back out again. However, monitoring is con- trolled from Cubase LE. This means that the audio hard- ware’s direct monitoring feature can be turned on or off automatically by Cubase LE, just as when using internal monitoring. To activate ASIO Direct Monitoring, open the Device Setup dialog on the Devices menu and check the Direct Monitoring checkbox on the VST Audio System page. If the checkbox is greyed out, your audio hardware (or its driver) doesn’t support ASIO Direct Monitoring. Consult the audio hardware manufac- turer for details. When ASIO Direct Monitoring is activated, you can se- lect a monitoring mode in the Preferences (VST page), as when monitoring via Cubase LE (see “Monitoring via Cu- base LE” on page 48). Depending on the audio hardware, it may also be possi- ble to adjust monitoring level and panning from the mixer. Consult the documentation of the audio hardware if in doubt. VST effects and EQ cannot be applied to the monitor signal in this mode, since the monitor signal doesn’t pass through Cubase LE.Depending on the audio hardware, there may be special restrictions as to which audio outputs can be used for di- rect monitoring. For details on the routing of the audio hardware, see its documentation. The latency value of the audio hardware configuration does not affect the monitor signal when using ASIO Direct Monitoring. Recording Recording is done using any of the general recording methods (see “Basic recording methods” on page 45). When you finish recording, an audio file is created in the Audio folder within the project folder. In the Pool, an audio clip is created for the audio file, and an audio event that plays the whole clip appears on the recording track. Fi- nally, a waveform image is calculated for the audio event. If the recording was very long, this may take a while. ÖIf the option “Create Audio Images During Record” is activated in the Preferences (Record page), the waveform image will be calculated and displayed during the actual recording process. This real-time calculation uses some processing power – if your proces- sor is slow or you are working on a CPU-intensive project, you should consider turning this option off. Undoing recording If you decide that you don’t like what you just recorded, you can delete it by selecting Undo from the Edit menu. The following will happen: The event(s) you just created will be removed from the Project window. The audio clip(s) in the Pool will be moved to the Trash folder. The recorded audio file(s) will not be removed from the hard disk. However, since their corresponding clips are moved to the Trash folder, you can delete the files by opening the Pool and selecting “Empty Trash” from the Media menu, see “Deleting from the hard disk” on page 133.
50 Recording Recording overlapping events The basic rule for audio tracks is that each track can play back a single audio event at a time. This means that if two or more events are overlapping, only one of them will be heard at any given time. What happens when you record overlapping events (record in an area where there are already events on the track) depends on the Linear Record Mode setting on the Transport panel: In “Normal” or “Merge” mode, recording where some- thing has already been recorded creates a new audio event that overlaps the previous one(s). When you record audio, there is no difference between “Normal” and “Merge” mode – the difference only applies to MIDI recording (see “About overlap and the Record Mode setting” on page 52). In “Replace” mode, existing events (or portions of events) that are overlapped by the new recording will be removed. This means that if you record a section in the middle of a longer existing recording, that original event will be cut into two events with a gap for the new event. Which event will be heard? If two or more events are overlapping, you will only hear the events (or portions of events) that are actually visible. Overlapped (hidden) events or sections are not played back. The functions “Move to Front” and “Move to Back” on the Edit menu (see “Moving events” on page 29) are use- ful for managing overlapping events, as is the “To Front” function (see below). Recording audio in cycle mode If you are recording audio in cycle mode, the result de- pends on the “Cycle Record Mode” setting on the Trans- port panel: Cycle Record Modes on the Transport panel There are three different modes on the Transport panel. For audio cycle recording, the following applies: If “Keep Last” is selected, the last complete “take” (the last completely recorded lap) is kept as an audio event. MIDI recording specifics Activating MIDI Thru Normally, when working with MIDI, you will have MIDI Thru activated in Cubase LE, and Local Off selected in your MIDI Instrument(s). In this mode, everything you play dur- ing recording will be “echoed” back out again on the MIDI output and channel selected for the recording track. 1.Make sure the option “MIDI Thru Active” is activated in the Preferences (MIDI page). 2.Record enable the track(s) on which you want to record. Now, incoming MIDI is “echoed” back out again for all record-enabled MIDI tracks. ÖIf you just want to use the Thru function for a MIDI track without recording, activate the monitor button for the track instead. This is useful e.g. if you want to try out different sounds or play a VST instrument in real time without recording your playing. Record Enable button. Monitor button.