Steinberg Cubase SE 3 Operation Manual

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Audio effects 10 – 191
•For stereo audio channels, you need to use an effect with at least two 
inputs (stereo).
It is possible to use a mono-input effect with a stereo channel pair, but then only the 
one channel in the pair will be processed, which is probably not what you want. It is 
also possible to use an effect with more than two inputs of course, since both chan-
nels in the stereo pair will be processed even though the effect actually accommo-
dates more.
•For mono audio channels, you can use mono- or stereo-input effects.
However, since the audio channel is in mono, the output of the effect will also be in 
mono. For stereo output effects, the left channel will then be used.
Routing an audio channel or bus through insert effects
Insert effect settings are available in the Channel Settings window 
and the Inspector (audio tracks, group tracks and FX tracks only). The 
examples below show the Channel Settings window, but the proce-
dures are similar for all sections:
1.Bring up the Channel Settings window or he Inserts section in the In-
spector.
In the Channel Settings window, the inserts are located immediately to the right of the 
channel strip.
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 for the effect by 
clicking the “e” button for the insert slot. 
						

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•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 page 204 for details about editing effects.
•When one or several insert effects are activated for a channel, the in-
sert effects buttons light up in blue in the mixer and 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 en-
able 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 se-
lect “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 “Reverb A” insert effect slot is bypassed. 
						

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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 effect sends are 
activated for the channel.
You can activate or deactivate individual insert effect slots by clicking 
the corresponding number (in the upper half of the overview).
The channel overview in the Inspector.
About adding insert effects to busses
As already stated, all output busses have five insert slots, just like reg-
ular audio channels. The procedures for adding insert effects are the 
same (except that 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 dynam-
ics and sound of the final mix. 
						

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Using group channels for insert effects
Like all other channels, group channels can have up to five insert ef-
fects. 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 ste-
reo 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 cumbersome, since you cannot use the fader. Here’s another 
solution:
1.Create a group channel track in stereo and route it to the desired out-
put bus.
2.Add the desired effect to the group channel as an insert 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. 
						

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Send effects
Background
Send effects are handled through FX channel tracks. These are spe-
cial tracks that each can contain up to five 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 adjusting 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 fol-
lowed 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, add EQ and route the effect 
return to any output bus.
•Each FX channel track has an automation subtrack, for automating 
various effect parameters. 
See page 233 for information. 
						

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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 auto-
matically activated).
•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 al-
lows 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 channel track in either the 
Track list or the Inspector and type in a new name.  
						

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Adding and setting up effects
As mentioned above, you can add a single insert effect when you cre-
ate 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 Inserts tab) or the FX Settings window:
1.Make sure the FX channel is routed to the correct output bus.
This is done with the output routing pop-up menu in the Inspector.
2.Click the Edit (“e”) button for the FX channel.
The FX Settings window appears, similar to a regular Channel Settings window.
To the left in the window is the Inserts section with five effect slots.
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 effect 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 automatically 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 about making settings in the effect control panels, see page 204.  
						

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•If you like, you can add up to five effects for the 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 return 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 page 191.
•You can also adjust level, pan and EQ for the effect return in this 
window.
As always, this can also be done in the mixer or in the Inspector.
• Remember 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 Channel Settings window or in the 
Inspector for the audio track. The example below shows the Channel 
Settings window, but the procedure is similar for all sections:
1.Click the “e” button for an audio channel to bring up its Channel Set-
tings window.
In the Inspector, you would click the Sends tab.
In the channel settings window, the send section is located to the far 
right. 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
• An Edit button 
						

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2.Pull down the routing pop-up menu for a send by clicking in the empty 
slot, and select the desired routing destination.
• If the first item on this menu, “No Bus” is selected, the send isn’t routed any-
where.
• Items called “FX 1”, “FX 2” etc. correspond to existing FX tracks. If you have 
renamed an FX track (see page 196) that name will appear on this menu in-
stead of the default.
• The menu also allows for routing a send directly to output busses, separate 
output bus channels or Group channels.
3.In this case, select an FX channel track from the pop-up menu.
Now the send is routed to the FX channel.
4.Click the power button for the effect send so that it lights up in blue.
This activates the send. 
						

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5.Click and drag the send level slider to a moderate value.
The send level determines how much of the signal from the audio channel is routed to 
the FX channel via the send.
Setting the Send level.
6.If you want the signal to be sent to the FX channel before the audio 
channel’s volume fader in the mixer, click on the Pre Fader button for 
the send so that it lights up.
Normally you want the effect send to be proportional to the channel volume (post fader 
send). The pictures below show where the sends are “tapped” from the signal in pre 
and post fader mode:
A send set to pre fader mode.
• You can choose whether a send in pre fader mode should be affected 
by the channel’s Mute button or not.
This is done with the option “Mute Pre-Send when Mute” in the Preferences (VST page).
Insert effects 1-5
EQ
Volume (fader)
Pre-fader sends
Post-fader sends