Steinberg Cubase LE Getting Started Manual

							4
Setting up your system 
						

							CUBASE LE4 – 32 Setting up your system
Setting up audio
❐Always make all connections with all equipment turned off!
Connecting audio
Exactly how to set up your system is a very personal matter, the follow-
ing connection diagrams should be taken as examples.
The audio connections below may be digital or analog, it doesn’t matter.
Stereo input and output – the simplest connection
If you only use a stereo input and output from Cubase LE, you might 
connect your audio hardware directly to the input source, a mixer for 
example, and the outputs to a power amplifier and speaker.
A simple stereo audio setup.
Audio card inputsAudio card outputs
Amplifier and speakers
Source to be recorded
LRLR 
						

							CUBASE LESetting up your system 4 – 33
Multi-channel input and output
Most likely however, you will have other audio equipment that you 
want to integrate with Cubase LE. This will require a mixer, preferably 
one with a group or bus system that can be used for feeding inputs on 
the audio hardware.
In the example below, four buses are used for feeding signals to the 
sound hardware’s inputs. The four outputs are connected back to the 
mixer for monitoring and playback. Remaining mixer inputs can be used 
for connecting audio sources like microphones, instruments, etc.
A multi-channel audio setup.
• When connecting an input source (like a mixer) to the audio hardware, 
you should use output buses, sends or similar that are separate from the 
mixer’s master output to avoid recording what you are playing back.
Recording from a CD player
Most computers come with a CD-ROM drive that can also be used as 
a regular CD player. In some cases the CD player is internally con-
nected to the audio hardware so that you can record the output of the 
CD player directly into Cubase LE (consult the audio hardware docu-
mentation if you are uncertain).
• All routing and level adjustments for recording from a CD (if available) are 
done in the audio hardware setup application (see page 34).
• You can also grab audio tracks directly from a CD in Cubase LE (see the 
Operation Manual). 
Audio    card inputsAudio card outputs
Amplifier and speakers Mixer Inputs
1 to 4Bus
1 to 4
LR 
						

							CUBASE LE4 – 34 Setting up your system
Word Clock connections
If you are using a digital audio connection you may also need a word 
clock connection between the audio hardware and external devices. 
Please refer to the documentation that came with the audio hardware 
for details.
❐It is very important that word clock synchronization is done correctly or 
there might be clicks and crackles in recordings that you make!
Driver and helper application setup
The audio hardware setup application
Most audio cards come with one or more small applications that allow 
you to configure the inputs of the hardware to your liking. 
This includes:
• Selecting which in/outs are active.
• Setting up word clock synchronization (if available).
• Turning monitoring via the hardware on/off (see page 39).
• Setting levels for each input. This is very important!
• Setting levels for the outputs, so that they match the equipment you use for 
monitoring.
For more details about your audio hardware setup application please 
refer to the documentation that came with the hardware. 
						

							CUBASE LESetting up your system 4 – 35
VST Multitrack setup – Basic Settings
1.In Cubase LE, select Device Setup from the Devices menu and click on 
VST Multitrack in the list.
Make sure the “Setup” tab is selected.
The VST Multitrack panel in the Device Setup dialog.
2.Select your audio hardware from the ASIO Driver menu.
There may be several options here that all refer to the same audio hardware:
❐Under Windows we strongly recommend that you access your hardware 
via an ASIO driver written specifically for the hardware, if available. If no 
ASIO driver is installed we recommend that you check with your audio 
hardware manufacturer if they have an ASIO driver available, for exam-
ple for download via the Internet.
3.Bring up the control panel for the audio hardware and adjust the set-
tings as recommended by the audio hardware manufacturer. 
						

							CUBASE LE4 – 36 Setting up your system
•Under Windows, you can open the control panel by clicking the Con-
trol Panel button in the VST Multitrack panel.
The control panel that appears when you click this button is provided by the audio 
hardware manufacturer and not Cubase LE (unless you use DirectX or MME, see be-
low). Hence it will be different for each audio card brand and model. The settings may 
include options for buffering, synchronization, digital input and output formats etc.
The Control panels for the ASIO Multimedia and ASIO DirectX drivers are an excep-
tion, as they are provided by Steinberg. They are described in the HTML Help, opened 
by clicking the Help button in the respective dialog. See also the notes below.
•Under Mac OS X, you will find the control panel for your audio hard-
ware in the System Preferences (“Other” section), opened from the 
Apple menu or from the Dock.
If you are using the built-in audio hardware of the Macintosh, you use the “Sound” con-
trol panel in the System Preferences to set levels, balance, etc.
If you are using ASIO audio hardware, you can click the Control Panel button to bring 
up its panel.
4.If you plan to use several audio applications simultaneously, you may 
want to activate the option “Release ASIO Driver in Background”. 
This will allow another application to play back via your audio hard-
ware even though Cubase LE is running.
The application that is currently active (i.e. the “top window” on the desktop), will get 
access to the audio hardware. Make sure that any other audio application accessing 
the audio hardware is also set to release the ASIO (or Mac OS X) driver so Cubase 
can use it when becoming the active application again.
5.If your audio hardware and its driver support ASIO Direct Monitoring, 
you may want to activate the Direct Monitoring checkbox.
Read more about monitoring later in this chapter and in the Recording chapter in the 
Operation Manual.
6.Click Apply and then OK to close the dialog. 
						

							CUBASE LESetting up your system 4 – 37
If you are using audio hardware with a DirectX driver (Windows only)
❐If your Windows audio hardware doesn’t have a specific ASIO driver, a 
DirectX driver is the next best option.
There is an ASIO DirectX driver available with Cubase LE, “ASIO Di-
rectX Full Duplex”. This driver allows both audio recording and play-
back. However:
• To be able to take full advantage of DirectX Full Duplex, the audio hard-
ware must support WDM (Windows Driver Model) in combination with 
DirectX version 7 or higher (8.1 recommended for Windows 2000 – see 
below). 
In all other cases, the audio inputs will be emulated by DirectX (see the HTML Help for 
the ASIO DirectX Full Duplex Setup dialog for details about how this is reported). 
Since using emulated inputs will result in higher latency, you may want to use the ASIO 
Multimedia driver instead, as this gives you more possibilities to fine-tune the settings.
❐Windows 2000 users should use DirectX version 8.1. An installer is pro-
vided on the Cubase LE Program CD.
When the ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver is selected in the Device 
Setup you can open the ASIO Control Panel and adjust the following 
settings (for more details, click the Help button in the control panel):
• Direct Sound Output and Input Ports
In the list to the left in the window, all available Direct Sound Output and Input Ports 
are listed. In many cases, there will only be one Port in each list. To activate or deacti-
vate a Port in the list, click the check box in the left column. If the check box is ticked, 
the port is activated.
• You can edit the Buffer Size and Offset settings in this list if necessary, by 
double clicking on the value and typing in a new value. 
In most cases the default settings will work fine. The audio buffer is used when audio 
data is transferred between Cubase LE and the audio card. Having a large buffer en-
sures that playback will occur without glitches. However, the latency – the time be-
tween the moment Cubase LE sends out the data and when it actually reaches on the 
output – will be longer.
• Offset
If a constant offset is audible during playback of audio and MIDI recordings, you can 
adjust the output or input latency time using this value. 
						

							CUBASE LE4 – 38 Setting up your system
If you are using audio hardware with a Windows Multimedia (MME) driver
When you select the ASIO Multimedia Driver for the first time, the sys-
tem will ask you whether you want to test the configuration. We strongly 
recommend that you perform this test. If it fails, or if you for other rea-
sons need to make adjustments to your ASIO Multimedia configuration, 
click the Control Panel button to open the ASIO Multimedia Setup con-
trol panel included with Cubase LE. This control panel comes with an 
HTML Help describing the features and procedures.
About recording levels and inputs
When you connect your equipment, you should make sure that the im-
pedance and levels of the audio sources and inputs are matched. 
Typically, different inputs may be designed for use with microphones, 
consumer line level (-10 dBV) or professional line level (+4 dBV), or 
you may be able to adjust input characteristics on the audio interface 
or in its control panel. Please check the audio hardware documenta-
tion for details.
Using the correct types of input is important to avoid distortion or 
noisy recordings.
❐Cubase LE does not provide any input level adjustments, since these are 
done differently for each card. Adjusting input levels is either done in a 
special application included with the hardware or possibly from its Con-
trol Panel. 
						

							CUBASE LESetting up your system 4 – 39
About monitoring
In Cubase LE, monitoring means listening to the signal being recorded 
while preparing to record or while recording. There are basically three 
ways to monitor:
External monitoring
External monitoring (listening to the input signal before it goes into 
Cubase LE) requires an external mixer for mixing the audio playback 
with the input signal. This mixer could be a stand-alone physical mixer 
or a mixer application for your audio hardware, if this has a mode in 
which the input audio is sent back out again (usually called “Thru”, 
“Direct Thru” or similar).
Via Cubase LE
In this case, the audio passes from the input into Cubase LE, possibly 
through Cubase LE effects and EQ and then back to the output. You 
then control monitoring via settings in Cubase LE.
This is useful for monitoring an input signal with effects added by 
Cubase LE. Keep in mind that the latency of your audio card drivers 
may delay the output (see page 45).
ASIO Direct Monitoring
If your audio hardware is ASIO 2.0 compatible, it may support ASIO 
Direct Monitoring (this feature may also be available for audio hard-
ware with Mac OS X drivers). In this mode, the actual monitoring is 
done in the audio hardware, by sending the input signal back out 
again. However, monitoring is controlled from Cubase LE. This means 
that the audio hardware’s direct monitoring feature can be turned on 
or off automatically by Cubase LE.
Monitoring is described in detail in the Recording chapter in the Oper-
ation Manual. However, when setting up, there’s one thing to note:
•If you want to use the external monitoring via your audio hardware, 
make sure the corresponding functions are activated in the card’s 
mixer application. 
						

							CUBASE LE4 – 40 Setting up your system
Setting up MIDI
❐Always make all connections with all equipment turned off!
This section describes how to connect and set up MIDI equipment. If 
you have no MIDI equipment you can skip this section.
Connecting the MIDI equipment
Below follows a description of a typical but small setup example. You 
might need or want to hook things up differently!
In this example we assume that you have a MIDI keyboard and an ex-
ternal MIDI sound module. The keyboard is used both for feeding the 
computer with MIDI messages for recording and for playing back MIDI 
tracks. The sound module is used for playback only. Using Cubase 
LE’s MIDI Thru feature (described later) you will be able to hear the 
correct sound from the sound module while playing the keyboard or 
recording.
A typical MIDI Setup.
MIDI KeyboardMIDI Sound Module MIDI
Interface
MIDI MIDI
InMIDI In
OutOut In
Thru