Steinberg Cubase SE 3 Operation Manual

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•Similarly, you can also add additional Shared Plug-ins folders by click-
ing the “Add” button and browsing to another Vstplugins folder on 
your hard drive.
If you have several folders assigned as Shared Plug-ins Folders, you can at any time 
use the text field pop-up menu to decide which of the assigned folders should be the 
designated active one.
•To remove a Shared Plug-ins Folder, select it and click the “Remove” 
button.
Managing and selecting DirectX plug-ins...

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11
VST Instruments 

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Introduction
VST Instruments are software synthesizers (or other sound sources) 
that are contained within Cubase SE. They are played internally via 
MIDI, and their audio outputs appear on separate channels in the 
mixer, allowing you to add effects or EQ, just as with audio tracks.
Some VST Instruments are included with Cubase SE, others can be 
purchased separately from Steinberg and other manufacturers.
Activating and using VST Instruments
1.Pull down the Devices...

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3.Select the mixer channel automation track(s) for the VST Instrument 
and use the “Out” pop-up menu in the Inspector to route them to the 
desired output channels or groups.
4.Select an unused MIDI track in the Project window.
5.Pull down the output pop-up menu for the MIDI track in the Track list 
or in the Inspector.
The pop-up menu will now contain an additional item, with the name of the activated 
VST Instrument.
6.Select the VST Instrument on the MIDI output...

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11.Play the instrument from your MIDI keyboard.
You can use the mixer settings to adjust the sound, add EQ or effects, etc. – just as 
with regular audio channels. Of course, you can also record or manually create MIDI 
parts that play back sounds from the VST Instrument.
You can have up to 16 VST Instruments activated at the same time, dif-
ferent models or several instances of the same instrument. However, 
software synthesizers can consume quite a lot of CPU power –...

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Constrain Delay Compensation
Cubase SE features full delay compensation throughout the entire au-
dio path. This means that any delay inherent in the VST plug-ins you 
use will automatically be compensated for during playback, so that all 
channels are kept in perfect sync (see page 189).
However, when you play a VST Instrument in real time or record live 
audio (with monitoring through Cubase SE activated), this delay com-
pensation may sometimes result in added...

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Selecting patches and making settings
•To select a patch for a VST Instrument, use its patch pop-up menu in 
the VST Instruments window.
The available patches depends on the VST Instrument. Not all VST Instruments come 
with pre-made patches.
•To access the parameters for the VST Instrument, click the Edit button 
in the VST Instruments window or in its channel strip (at the bottom of 
the fader strip) in the mixer.
This opens a “control panel” for the VST Instrument....

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Automating a VST Instrument
•Automation of the VST Instrument channel settings is done in the 
same way as automating regular channels.
•Automation of the specific parameters for a VST Instrument is done in 
the same way as automating VST effect parameters.
See page 222. 

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