Steinberg Cubase LE 4 Plug In Reference Manual

							
Plug-in Reference 
						

							
Manual by Anders Nordmark
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							Table of Contents 
						

							4
Table of Contents
5Audio effects
6About this chapter
6Overview
7Insert effects
9Send effects
12Making settings for the effects
13Effect presets
16Installing and managing effect plug-ins
18The included effect plug-ins
19Introduction
19Delay plug-ins
19Distortion plug-ins
20Dynamics plug-ins
21Filter plug-ins
22Modulation plug-ins
25Spatial plug-ins
26Reverb plug-ins
26Earlier VST plug-ins
33HALionOne
34Introduction
34HALionOne parameters
35Index 
						

							1
Audio effects 
						

							6
Audio effects
About this chapter
Cubase LE comes with a number of effect plug-ins in-
cluded. This chapter contains general details about how 
to assign, use and organize effect plug-ins. The effects 
and their parameters are described in the chapter “The in-
cluded effect plug-ins” on page 18.
Overview
There are two ways to use audio effects in Cubase LE:
•As insert effects.
An insert effect is inserted into the signal chain of an audio channel, which 
means that the whole channel signal passes through the effect. This makes 
inserts suitable for effects for which you don’t need to mix dry and wet 
sound, e.g. distortion, filters or other effects that change the tonal or dy-
namic characteristics of the sound. You can have up to eight different in-
sert effects per channel (and the same is true for output busses).
As send effects.
Each audio channel has eight effect sends, each of which can be freely 
routed to an effect (or to a chain of effects). Send effects are practical for 
two reasons: you can control the balance between the dry (direct) and 
wet (processed) sound individually for each channel using the sends, 
and several different audio channels can use the same send effect. In 
Cubase LE, send effects are handled by means of FX channel tracks. 
About VST 3 
The new VST 3 plug-in standard offers many improve-
ments over the previous VST 2 standard, yet retains full 
backwards compatibility so you can still use your old VST 
effects and presets. 
VST Preset management
From a user perspective, the main difference between 
VST 2 and VST 3 is in the effect preset management. The 
new preset handling replaces the old “.fxp/.fxb” files with 
VST 3 Presets (extension “.vstpreset”). You can also pre-
view effect presets before you load them. A large number 
of presets for effects are included with the program. 
Should you have any previous VST plug-ins installed on 
your computer, you can still use them, and you can also 
chose to convert their programs to VST 3 Presets. See 
“Effect presets” on page 13 for details.
Smart plug-in processing
Another feature of the VST3 standard is “smart” plug-in 
processing. Previously, any loaded plug-in was process-
ing continuously, regardless of whether a signal was 
present or not. In VST3, there is a smart functionality built-
in which disengages processing by a plug-in if there is no 
signal present. This can greatly reduce CPU load, thus al-
lowing for more effects to be used. There are no settings 
involved for this functionality, it is fully automatic.
About plug-in delay compensation
A plug-in effect may have some inherent delay or latency. 
This means that it takes a brief time for the plug-in to pro-
cess the audio fed into it – as a result, the output audio 
will be slightly delayed. This especially applies to dynam-
ics processors featuring “look-ahead” functionality. 
However, Cubase LE provides full plug-in delay compen-
sation throughout the entire audio path. All plug-in delays 
are compensated for, maintaining the sync and timing of 
all audio channels.
Normally, you don’t have to make any settings for this. 
However, VST3 dynamics plug-ins with look-ahead func-
tionality have a “Live” button, allowing you to disengage 
the look-ahead to minimize latency if they are to be used 
during real-time recording (see the chapter “The included 
effect plug-ins” on page 18 for details).
You can also constrain the delay compensation, which is 
useful to avoid latency when recording audio or playing a 
VST Instrument in real time. See the chapter “VST Instru-
ments and Instrument tracks” in the Operation Manual for 
more details.
About tempo sync
Plug-ins can receive MIDI timing information from the host 
application (in this case, Cubase LE). A typical use for this 
feature are tempo-based effects (delays, auto-panning, 
etc.), but it is also used in other ways for certain plug-ins.
MIDI timing information is automatically provided to any 
VST (2.0 or later) plug-in that “requests it”.
You don’t need to make any special settings for this.
You set up tempo sync by specifying a base note value. 
You can use straight, triplet or dotted note values (1/1 - 1/32). 
						

							7
Audio effects
When MIDI receive is available (or necessary) for other 
purposes than timing, the setting up and operation is de-
scribed in the documentation for the corresponding effect.
Please refer to the chapter “The included effect plug-ins” on page 18 for 
details about the included effects.
Insert effects
Background
As the name implies, insert effects are inserted into the 
audio signal path – this means that the audio will be 
routed through the effect. You can add up to eight differ-
ent insert effects independently for each audio channel 
(audio track, group channel track, FX channel track or VST 
Instrument channel) or bus. The signal passes through the 
effects in series from the top downwards, with the signal 
path shown below:
As you can see, the last two insert slots (for any channel) 
are post-EQ and post-fader. Post-fader slots are best 
suited for insert effects where you don’t want the level to be 
changed after the effect, such as dithering and maximizers 
– both typically used as insert effects for output busses.
ÖApplying insert effects on many channels uses up a lot 
of CPU power!
It might often be more efficient to use send effects or use insert effects 
on Group tracks, especially if you want to use the same type of effect on 
several channels. Remember that you can use the VST Performance win-
dow to keep an eye on the CPU load.
Which effect plug-ins can I use as insert 
effects?
Most effect plug-ins will work fine as insert effects. In gen-
eral, the only restrictions are with the number of inputs and 
outputs in the effects:
For a plug-in to be usable as an insert effect, it has to 
have at least 1 or 2 inputs and 1 or 2 outputs.
Different effects feature different amounts of inputs and outputs, but the 
number of inputs and outputs actually used is determined by whether you 
use the insert effects on a single (mono) audio channel or a stereo channel 
pair.
Routing an audio channel or bus through 
insert effects
Insert effect settings are available in the Channel Settings 
window and the Inspector. The examples below show the 
Channel Settings window, but the procedures are similar 
for both send sections:
1.Bring up the Channel Settings window or the Inserts 
section in the Inspector.
In the Channel Settings window, the inserts are located to the far left.
2.Pull down the effect type pop-up for one of the insert 
slots, and select an effect.
The effect is loaded and automatically activated and its 
control panel appears. You can hide or show the control 
panel by clicking the “e” button for the insert slot.
Input gain
Insert effect 1
Insert effect 2
Insert effect 3
Insert effect 6
EQ
Volume (fader)
Insert effect 7
Insert effect 8
Insert effect 4
Insert effect 5 
						

							8
Audio effects
If the effect has a Dry/Wet Mix parameter you can use 
this to adjust the balance between the dry signal and the 
effect signal.
See “Making settings for the effects” on page 12 for details about editing 
effects.
When one or several insert effects are activated for a 
channel, the insert effects buttons light up in blue in the 
mixer, the Inspector and the Track list. Click the button for 
a channel to bypass (disable) all its inserts.
When the inserts are bypassed, the buttons are yellow. Click the button 
again to enable the inserts. Note that the bypass button is also available 
in the Inspector and the Channel settings window for the audio track.
To remove an effect, pull down the effect type pop-up 
menu and select “No Effect”.
You should do this for all effects that you don’t intend to use, to minimize 
unnecessary CPU load.
When you have several insert effects for a channel, you 
can bypass separate effects by clicking the bypass button 
of the respective slot.
When an effect is bypassed, the button is yellow.
The “PingPongDelay” insert effect slot is bypassed.
Insert effects in the channel overview
If the “Channel” section is selected in the Inspector, you will 
get an overview of which EQ modules, insert effects and ef-
fect sends are activated for the channel.
You can activate or deactivate individual insert effect slots 
by clicking the corresponding number (in the upper part of 
the overview).
The channel overview in the Inspector.
About adding insert effects to busses
As already stated, output busses have eight insert slots, 
just like regular audio channels. The procedures for add-
ing insert effects are the same (except you cannot use the 
Inspector here).
Insert effects added to an output bus will affect all audio 
routed to that bus, like a “master insert effect”.
Typically you would add compressors, limiters, EQ or other plug-ins to 
tailor the dynamics and sound of the final mix. 
						

							9
Audio effects
Using group channels for insert effects
Like all other channels, group channels can have up to 
eight insert effects. This is useful if you have several audio 
tracks that you want to process through the same effect 
(e.g. different vocal tracks that all should be processed by 
the same compressor). Another special use for group 
channels and effects is the following:
If you have a mono audio track and want to process this 
through a stereo insert effect (e.g. a stereo chorus or an 
auto panner device), you cannot just insert the effect as 
usual. This is because the audio track is in mono – the 
output of the insert effect will then be in mono as well, and 
the stereo information from the effect will be lost.
One solution would be to route a send from the mono 
track to a stereo FX channel track, set the send to pre 
fader mode and lower the fader completely for the mono 
audio track. However, this makes mixing the track cumber-
some, since you cannot use the fader.
Here’s another solution:
1.Create a group channel track in stereo and route it to 
the desired output bus.
2.Add the desired effect to the group channel as an in-
sert effect.
3.Route the mono audio track to the group channel.
Now the signal from the mono audio track is sent directly 
to the group, where it passes through the insert effect, in 
stereo.
Send effects
Background
Send effects are handled through FX channel tracks. 
These are special tracks that each can contain up to eight 
insert effects. The signal path is as follows:
By routing an effect send from an audio track to an FX 
channel track, the audio is sent to the FX channel and 
through its insert effect(s).
Each audio channel has eight sends, which can be routed to different FX 
channels. You control the amount of signal sent to the FX channel by ad-
justing the effect send level.
If you have added several effects to the FX channel, the 
signal passes through the effects in series, from the top 
(the first slot) downward.
This allows for “custom” send effect configurations – you could e.g. have 
a chorus followed by a reverb followed by an EQ and so on.
The FX channel track has its own channel strip in the 
mixer, the effect return channel.
Here you can adjust the effect return level and balance.
Each FX channel track has an automation subtrack, for 
automating various effect parameters. 
See the chapter “Automation” in the Operation Manual for more informa-
tion.
Setting up send effects
Adding an FX channel track
1.Pull down the Project menu and select “FX Channel” 
from the “Add Track” submenu.
A dialog appears.
2.Select a channel configuration for the FX channel 
track.
Normally, stereo is a good choice since most effect plug-ins have stereo 
outputs.
3.Select an effect for the FX channel track.
This is not strictly necessary at this point – you can leave the Plug-in 
pop-up menu set to “No Effect” and add effects to the FX channel later if 
you like.
4.Click OK.
An FX channel track is added to the Track list, and the selected effect, if 
any, is loaded into the first insert effect slot for the FX channel (in that 
case, the lit Inserts tab for the FX channel track in the Inspector indicates 
that an effect has been assigned and automatically activated). 
						

							10
Audio effects
All FX channel tracks you create will appear in a kind of 
“folder” in the Track list.
This makes it easy to manage and keep track of all your FX channel tracks, 
and also allows you to save screen space by folding the FX Channel folder.
FX channel tracks are automatically named “FX 1”, “FX 2” etc., but you 
can rename them if you wish. Just double click the name of an FX chan-
nel track in either the Track list or the Inspector and type in a new name.
Adding and setting up effects
As mentioned above, you can add a single insert effect 
when you create the FX channel track if you like. To add 
and set up effects after the FX channel track is created, 
you can either use the Inspector for the track (click the In-
serts tab) or the FX Channel Settings window:
1.Click the Edit (“e”) button for the FX channel track (in 
the Track list, mixer or Inspector).
The FX Channel Settings window appears, similar to a regular Channel 
Settings window.
To the left in the window is the Inserts section with eight effect slots.
2.Make sure the FX channel is routed to the correct out-
put bus.
This is done with the output routing pop-up menu at the top of the fader 
section (also available in the Inspector).
3.To add an insert effect in an empty slot (or replace the 
current effect in a slot), click on the slot and select an ef-
fect from the pop-up menu.
This works just like when selecting insert effects for a regular audio 
channel.
4.When you add an effect, its control panel will automat-
ically appear. Typically you should set the Wet/Dry Mix 
control to all “wet”.
This is because you control the balance between wet and dry signal with 
the effect sends. For more information about making settings in the effect 
control panels, see “Making settings for the effects” on page 12.
You can add up to eight insert effects for an FX channel.
Note that the signal will pass through all the effects in series. It is not 
possible to adjust the effect send and return levels separately for each 
effect – this is done for the FX channel as a whole. If what you want is 
several separate send effects (where you can control their send and re-
turn levels independently) you should instead add more FX channel 
tracks – one for each effect.
To remove an insert effect from a slot, click the slot and 
select “No Effect” from the pop-up menu.
You should do this for all effects that you don’t intend to use, to minimize 
unnecessary CPU load.
You can also bypass individual effects (or all effects) by 
clicking the corresponding Bypass Inserts button(s) for 
the FX channel track.
See “Routing an audio channel or bus through insert effects” on page 7.
You can also adjust level, pan and EQ for the effect re-
turn in this window.
ÖRemember that effects rely heavily on the CPU power 
in your computer. 
The more activated effect units, the more computer power will be used 
for effects.
Setting up the sends
The next step is to set up and route a send for an audio 
channel to the FX channel. This can be done in the Chan-
nel Settings window or in the Inspector for the audio track. 
The example below shows the Channel Settings window, 
but the procedure is similar for both sections:
1.Click the “e” button for an audio channel to bring up its 
Channel Settings window.
In the Inspector you would click the Sends tab.
In the channel settings window, the send section is lo-
cated to the left of the channel strip. Each of the eight 
sends has the following controls and options:
 A send on/off switch
 A send level slider
 A pre/post fader switch