Steinberg Cubase SE 3 Getting Started Manual

							CUBASE SESetting up your system 4 – 51
Optimizing audio performance
This section gives you some hints and tips on how to get the most out 
of your Cubase SE system, performance-wise. Some of this text refers 
to hardware properties and can be used as a guide when upgrading 
your system. This text is very brief. Look for details and current informa-
tion on the Steinberg web site (see page 12)!
Two aspects of performance
There are two distinct aspects of performance in respect to Cubase SE:
Tracks and effects
Simply put: the faster your computer, the more tracks, effects and EQ 
you will be able to play. Exactly what constitutes a “fast computer” is 
almost a science in itself, but some hints are given below.
Short response times (latency)
Another aspect of performance is response times. Latency is a phenom-
enon based on the fact that in a computer, audio has to be “buffered” 
(stored) in small chunks during various steps of the recording and play-
back process. The more and larger those chunks, the higher the latency.
High latency is most troublesome when playing VST Instruments and 
when monitoring through the computer, that is when listening to a live 
audio source via the Cubase SE mixer and effects. However, very long 
latency times (several hundred milliseconds) can hamper other pro-
cesses like mixing, since e.g. a fader movement will affect the audio 
noticeably late.
While Direct Monitoring and other techniques reduce the problems 
associated with very long latency times, a system that responds fast 
will always be more convenient to work with.
•Depending on your audio hardware, it may be possible to “trim” your 
latency times, usually by lowering the size and number of buffers.
For details, refer to the audio hardware documentation, or, if you are using a DirectX or 
MME driver under Windows, the HTML Help. 
						

							CUBASE SE4 – 52 Setting up your system
System factors that affect performance
CPU and processor cache
It goes without saying that the faster the computer processor, the bet-
ter. But there are a number of factors that affect the apparent speed of 
a computer: the bus speed and type (PCI is strongly recommended), 
the processor cache size and of course, the processor type and brand. 
Cubase SE relies heavily on floating point calculations. When shopping 
for a processor, please make sure you get one that is powerful in calcu-
lating floating point arithmetics.
Note also that Cubase SE features full support for multi-processor 
systems. So if you own a computer system with more than one pro-
cessor, Cubase SE can take advantage of the total capacity and 
evenly distribute the processing load to all available processors. See 
page 53.
Hard disk and controller
The number of hard disk tracks you can record and play back at the 
same time also depends on the speed of your hard disk and hard disk 
controller. If you use E-IDE disks and controllers, make sure that the 
transfer mode is DMA Busmaster. Under Windows, you can check 
the current mode by launching the Windows Device Manager and 
looking for properties of the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller’s primary and 
secondary channel. DMA transfer mode is enabled by default, but may 
be turned off by the system should hardware problems occur.
Audio hardware and driver
The hardware and its driver can have some effect on regular perfor-
mance. A badly written driver can reduce the performance of your 
computer. But where the hardware driver design makes the most dif-
ference is with latency.
Again, we strongly recommend that you use audio hardware for which 
there is a specific ASIO driver!
This is especially true when using Cubase SE for Windows:
• Under Windows, ASIO drivers written specifically for the hardware are more 
efficient than MME or DirectX drivers and produce shorter latency times. 
						

							CUBASE SESetting up your system 4 – 53
• Under Mac OS X, audio hardware with properly written Mac OS X (Core 
Audio) drivers can be very efficient and produce very low latency times.
However, there are additional features currently only available with ASIO drivers, such 
as the ASIO Positioning Protocol.
Making settings that affect performance
Choosing a driver for your audio hardware
As described on page 39, it is recommended to install and use a stan-
dard ASIO driver if available for your specific hardware. Check the 
manufacturers web site for the latest drivers etc.
Making audio buffer settings
Audio buffers affect how audio is sent to and from the audio hardware. 
The size of the audio buffers affects both the latency and the audio 
performance. Generally, the smaller the buffer size, the lower the la-
tency. On the other hand, working with small buffers can be demand-
ing for the computer. If the audio buffers are too small, you may get 
clicks, pops or other audio playback problems.
• Under Mac OS X, you can adjust the size of the buffers on the VST Audiobay 
page in the Device Setup dialog.
You may also find buffer settings in the control panel for the audio hardware.
• Under Windows, you adjust the buffer size settings in the control panel for the 
audio hardware (opened by clicking the Control Panel button on the driver 
page in the Device Setup dialog).
The Expert settings
On the VST Audiobay page you will find a button called “Expert…”. 
This opens a dialog with advanced settings for the VST Engine, includ-
ing a Multi Processing switch. When this is activated (default setting if 
you have a hyper-threading or multiple-CPU system – in a single-CPU 
system, this option is greyed out) and there is more than one CPU in 
your system, the processing load is distributed evenly to all available 
CPUs, allowing Cubase SE to make full use of the combined power of 
the multiple processors. See the Online Help for details.
Activating the “Lower Latency” option will basically disable the CPU 
overload protection, but allow for lower latencies. See the Online Help 
for details. 
						

							CUBASE SE4 – 54 Setting up your system
Optimizing processor scheduling (Windows only)
To get the lowest possible latencies when using ASIO under Windows 
XP (on a single CPU system), the “system performance” has to be op-
timized for background tasks:
1.Open the Control Panel from the Start menu and select System.
2.Select the Advanced tab and click the Settings button in the Perfor-
mance section.
The Performance Options dialog appears.
3.Select the Advanced tab.
4.In the Processor Scheduling section, select “Adjust for best perfor-
mance of: Background services”
5.Click OK to close the dialogs. 
						

							5
Basic Cubase SE concepts 
						

							CUBASE SE5 – 56 Basic Cubase SE concepts
About this chapter
This chapter describes the basic “building blocks” and terminology in 
Cubase SE. Please take your time to read this chapter thoroughly be-
fore moving on!
The project
The native document format of Cubase SE is called a project. Before 
you can start recording, playing back or editing you always have to cre-
ate a new project, or open a saved project file from disk. There can be 
several projects open at the same time, but one is always the active 
project.
Two Project windows in Cubase SE. Here, the project “on top” is the active project, 
as indicated by the lit blue indicator in the upper left corner of the window.  
						

							CUBASE SEBasic Cubase SE concepts 5 – 57
About the file and folder structure
A project file (file extension “.cpr” under Windows) is always associated 
with a project folder on your hard disk. Several projects can share the 
same project folder (which is practical if you have several versions of 
your project, for example).
•The Audio folder contains audio files referenced by the project.
It is also possible for the project to refer to audio files elsewhere on your disk(s) – you 
can even specify different folders for different audio tracks when recording. However, 
having all audio files in the project’s Audio folder makes the project easy to move and 
archive, and is a good safety measure.
•The Edits folder contains audio files created automatically by editing 
and processing operations in Cubase SE.
As a rule, you shouldn’t touch the files in this folder. To remove unused edit files, it is 
better to use the Cleanup function, as described in the Operation Manual.
•The Images folder contains waveform images for the audio files in the 
project.
•The project file itself contains all references to audio and video files, 
along with playback information, MIDI data and settings for the project 
(such as sample rate, frame rate, etc.).
•Video files are never automatically copied to the project folder.
This is because video files are often very large, and it doesn’t make sense to copy them 
into different project folders. However, nothing stops you from creating a Video folder 
inside the project folder and storing your video files there.
•You may also find additional files in the project folder.
For example, Cubase SE’s Auto Save feature stores backup copies of the project file 
in its project folder. 
						

							CUBASE SE5 – 58 Basic Cubase SE concepts
Audio terminology
When you record audio in Cubase SE, this is what happens:
• An audio file is created on the hard disk.
• In Cubase SE, an audio clip is created. The audio clip refers to the audio file 
on disk.
• An audio event is also created in Cubase SE. This plays back the audio clip.
There are good reasons for this long chain of references:
• The audio event is the object that you place on a time position in Cubase SE. 
If you make copies of an audio event and move them to different positions in 
the project, they will still all refer to the same audio clip. 
Furthermore, each audio event has an Offset value and a Length value. These 
determine at which positions in the clip the event will start and end, i.e. which 
section of the audio clip will be played back by the audio event. For example, 
if you resize the audio event, you will just change its start and/or end position 
in the audio clip – the clip itself will not be affected.
• The audio clip does not necessarily refer to just one original recorded file! 
For example, if you apply some processing to a section of an audio clip, this will 
actually create a new audio file that contains only the section in question. The 
processing will then be applied to the new audio file only, leaving the original 
audio file unchanged. Finally, the audio clip is automatically adjusted, so that it 
refers both to the original file and to the new, processed file. During playback, 
the program will switch between the original file and the processed file at the 
correct positions. You will hear this as a single recording, with processing ap-
plied to one section only.
This feature makes it possible to undo processing at a later stage, and to apply 
different processing to different audio clips that refer to the same original file. 
						

							CUBASE SEBasic Cubase SE concepts 5 – 59
Audio tracks, parts and channels
For an audio event to be played back in Cubase SE, it has to be placed 
on an 
audio track. This is similar to a track on a multi-track tape recorder, 
and allows you to view the event and move it along the timeline. You 
can place any number of audio events on an audio track, but only one at 
a time can be played back. You can have a virtually unlimited number of 
audio tracks, although the number of tracks you can play back at the 
same time depends on your computer performance.
Even though audio events can be placed directly on audio tracks, some-
times it is convenient to gather several audio events into an 
audio part. 
This is simply a “container”, allowing you to move and duplicate several 
audio events as one.
An event and a part.
Each audio track has a corresponding audio channel in the mixer. This 
is much like a channel on a hardware mixer, allowing you to set levels 
and panning, add EQ and effects, etc.  
						

							CUBASE SE5 – 60 Basic Cubase SE concepts
MIDI terminology
When you are recording MIDI (or entering MIDI data manually in an 
editor), 
MIDI events are created. For example, each note you record is a 
separate MIDI event, and if you record the movement of a modulation 
wheel or other controller, a large number of densely spaced events 
are created.
MIDI events are always placed in 
MIDI parts. These are “containers”, al-
lowing you to move or copy a number of MIDI events (e.g. a recorded 
MIDI melody line) as one item.
MIDI parts are placed on MIDI tracks. For each MIDI track you can 
specify on which MIDI output and MIDI channel its MIDI events should 
be played back. This allows you to have different tracks play back dif-
ferent sounds, in the same or different MIDI instruments.
A MIDI part on a MIDI track. The black lines in the part indicate MIDI events.
Video terminology
• When you import a video file from disk into a Cubase SE project, a video clip 
is created that refers to the file.
• A video event is then created, referring to the video clip. Video events can be 
moved, copied and resized without affecting their video clips.
• For a video event to be played back, it has to be placed on the video track. 
There can only be one video track in a Cubase SE project.
The video support in Cubase SE is described in its own chapter in the 
Operation Manual.