Steinberg Cubase SE 3 Operation Manual

							CUBASE SE
The mixer 9 – 181
Utilities
Link/Unlink channels
This function is used to “link” selected channels in the mixer so that 
any change applied to one channel will be mirrored by all channels in 
that group. You can link as many channels as you like, and you can 
also create as many groups of linked channels as you like. To link 
channels in the mixer, proceed as follows:
1.Press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click on the strip just above the name 
field for all the channels that you want to link.
There is an identical select channel field just above the pan control. Selected channels 
are indicated by highlighted select fields. [Shift]-clicking allows you to select a continu-
ous range of channels.
2.Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) somewhere on the grey mixer 
panel.
The Mixer context menu appears.
3.Select “Link Channels” from the context menu.
•To unlink channels, select one of the linked channels and select “Unlink 
Channels” from the Mixer context menu.
The channels are unlinked. Note that you do not need to select all the channels that are 
linked, only one of them.
• It is not possible to remove individual channels from Link status. 
To make individual settings to a linked channel, press [Alt]/[Option] when changing the 
setting. 
						

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What will be linked?
The following rules apply for linked channels:
•Fader levels will be “ganged”.
The relative level offset between channels will be kept if you move a linked channel 
fader.
The three channels shown are linked. Pulling down one fader changes the levels for 
all three channels, but keeps the relative level mix.
•Any individual channel settings you have made before linking will re-
main until you alter the same setting for any of the linked channels.
For example, if you link three channels, and one of them was muted at the time you ap-
plied the Link Channel function, this channel will remain muted after linking. However, 
if you mute another channel then all linked channels will be muted. Thus, the individual 
setting for one channel is lost as soon as you change the same parameter setting for 
any of the linked channels.
•Only level, mute, solo, select, monitor and record enable will be linked 
between channels.
Effect/EQ and pan settings are not linked.
•By pressing [Alt]/[Option], you can make individual settings and 
changes for channels that are linked.
Linked channels can also have individual automation subtracks. These 
are completely independent, and are not affected by the Link function. 
						

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Saving mixer settings
Saving/Loading mixer settings does not apply to MIDI channels in the 
mixer – only audio related channels (group, audio, effect return, VSTi 
and ReWire) are saved with this function!
It is possible to save complete mixer settings for selected or all audio 
channels in the mixer. These can later be loaded into any project. Chan-
nel settings are saved as mixer settings files. These have the Windows 
file extension “.vmx”. 
Right-clicking (Win) or [Ctrl]-clicking (Mac) somewhere on the mixer 
panel or in the Channel Settings window brings up the Mixer context 
menu where four Save/Load items can be found. The following options 
are available:
•“Save Selected Channels” will save all channel settings for the selected 
channels.
•“Save All Mixer Settings” saves all channel settings for all channels.
When you select any of the above options, a standard file dialog 
opens where you can select a name and storage location on your disk 
for the file.  
						

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Loading mixer settings 
Load Selected Channels
To load mixer settings saved for selected channels, proceed as follows:
1.Select the same number of channels in the new project to match the 
number of channels you saved settings for in the previous project.
For example, if you saved settings for six channels, then select six channels in the mixer.
•Mixer settings will be applied in the same order as they appear in the 
mixer, when saved. 
Thus, if you save settings from channels 4, 6 and 8 and apply these settings to chan-
nels 1, 2 and 3, the settings saved for channel 4 would be applied to channel 1, the 
settings saved for channel 6 to channel 2 and so on.
2.Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) the mixer panel to open the 
context menu, and select “Load Selected Channels”.
A standard file dialog appears, where you can locate the saved file.
3.Select the file and click “Open”.
The channel settings are applied to the selected channels.
If you choose to apply mixer settings to fewer channels than you saved, 
the order of the saved channels in the mixer applies – i.e. the saved 
channels that are “left over” and not applied will be the channels with 
the highest channel numbers (or furthest to the right in the mixer).
Load All Mixer Settings
Selecting “Load All Mixer Settings” from the context menu allows you 
to open a saved mixer settings file, and have the stored settings ap-
plied to all channels for which there is information included in the file. 
All channels, master settings, VST Instruments, sends and master ef-
fects will be affected.
• Please note that if the saved mixer settings were 24 channels, and the 
mixer you apply it to currently contains 16 channels, only the settings for 
channels 1 to 16 will be applied – this function will not automatically add 
channels. 
						

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The mixer 9 – 185
About the VST Performance window
The VST Performance window is opened by selecting it from the De-
vices menu. It indicates the current load on the CPU and the hard disk 
transfer rate. It is recommended that you check this from time to time, 
or keep it open always. Even though you have been able to activate a 
number of audio channels in the project without getting any warning, 
you may possibly run into performance problems when adding EQ or 
effects.
•The upper bar graph shows the CPU (processor) load.
If the red Overload indicator lights up, you need to decrease the number of EQ mod-
ules, active effects and/or audio channels playing back simultaneously.
•The lower bar graph shows the hard disk transfer load.
If the red overload indicator lights up, the hard disk is not supplying data fast enough to 
the computer. You may need to reduce the number of tracks playing back by using the 
Disable Track function (see page 29). If this doesn’t help, you need a faster hard disk. 
Note that the overload indicator may occasionally blink, typically when you locate dur-
ing playback. This does not indicate a problem, but happens because the program 
needs an instant for all channels to load data for the new playback position.
• The CPU and Disk load meters can also be shown on the Transport 
panel and on the Project window toolbar.
There they are shown as two miniature vertical meters (by default at the left side of the 
panel/toolbar). 
						

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							10
Audio effects 
						

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About this chapter
Cubase SE comes with a number of effect plug-ins included. This 
chapter contains general details about how to assign, use and orga-
nize effect plug-ins. The effects and their parameters are described in 
the separate pdf document “Audio Effects and VST Instruments”.
This chapter describes audio effects, i.e. effects that are used to process 
audio, group, VST Instrument and ReWire channels. For info on how to 
use MIDI effects, see page 352.
Overview
There are two ways to use audio effects in Cubase SE:
•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 ef-
fects for which you don’t need to mix dry and wet sound, e.g. distortion, filters or other 
effects that change the tonal or dynamic characteristics of the sound. You can have up 
to five different insert effects per channel. 
•As send effects.
Each audio channel has eight effect sends, each of which can be freely routed to an ef-
fect (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 ef-
fect. In Cubase SE, send effects are handled by means of FX channel tracks. 
						

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About VST plug-ins and tempo sync
Version 2.0 of the VST plug-in standard (and later) allows plug-ins to 
receive MIDI from the host application (in this case, Cubase SE). A 
typical use for this feature is tempo-based effects (such as 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 plug-
in that “requests it”.
You don’t need to make any special settings for this.
•In many cases you set up tempo sync by specifying a base note value 
and a multiplier. The resulting timing interval is the base note value 
multiplied with the multiplier value.
For example, if you set the base note value to 1/16 (a sixteenth note) and the multiplier 
to 3, the resulting timing is 3/16. In the case of a delay effect, this means the interval 
between each delay repeat will be three sixteenth notes.
•When MIDI receive is available (or necessary) for other purposes than 
timing, the setting up and operation is described in the documentation 
for the corresponding effect.
Please refer to the pdf document “Audio Effects and VST Instruments” for details 
about the included effects.
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 process the audio fed into 
it – as a result, the output audio will be slightly delayed. This may hap-
pen with dynamics processors featuring “look-ahead” functions, etc.
However, Cubase SE provides full plug-in delay compensation 
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, in the 
“Plug-In Information” dialog, you can switch off plug-in delay compen-
sation for individual plug-ins by unchecking the corresponding option 
in the “Use Delay Compensation” column (see page 208). Note that 
you have to re-load the plug-in for the change to take effect.
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 page 217. 
						

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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 five different insert effects independently for each audio 
channel (audio track, group channel track, FX channel track, VST Instru-
ment channel or ReWire channel) or bus. The signal passes through 
the effects in series from the top downwards, with the signal paths 
shown in this figure:
• Applying insert effects on many channels uses up a lot of CPU power!
It might often be more efficient to use send effects, especially if you want to use the 
same type of effect on several channels. Remember that you can use the VST Perfor-
mance window 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 general, 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 in-
puts and outputs actually used is determined by whether you use the insert effects on 
a single (mono) audio channel or a stereo channel pair.
Insert effect 1
Insert effect 2
Insert effect 3
EQ
Volume (fader)
Insert effect 4
Insert effect 5