Steinberg Cubase Studio 4 Operation Manual Studio Manual

201
Surround sound  (Cubase only)
In Angle Mode, a white arc helps you determine the per-
ceived “range” of a source (white and blue for stereo 
tracks). The sound will be at its loudest in the middle of 
the arc and will have dropped in level towards the ends.
Exactly how levels are handled may require some explana-
tion:
When you move a source around, a number will indicate 
the loudness in each speaker.
This is a value in dB (decibel) and is relative to the nominal level of the 
source. In other...

202
Surround sound  (Cubase only)
Additional parameters (Standard mode)
Center Level.
This determines how center source signals should be reproduced by the 
front speakers. With a value of 100 %, the center speaker will provide the 
center source. With a value of 0 %, the center source will be provided by 
the ghost image created by the left and right speakers. Other values will 
produce a mix between these two methods.
Divergence Controls.
The three divergence controls determine the attenuation curves...

16
Automation 

204
Automation
Background
Cubase provides very comprehensive automation fea-
tures. Virtually every mixer and effect parameter can be 
automated.
There are two main methods you can use to automate pa-
rameter settings:
By manually drawing curves on automation subtracks in 
the Project window.
See “Editing automation events” on page 212.
By using the Write/Read buttons and adjusting para-
meters in the mixer.
See “Using Write/Read automation” on page 209.
The methods are not different in terms of how the...

205
Automation
What can be automated?
Mixing in Cubase can be completely automated. The fol-
lowing parameter settings can be recorded automatically 
– or manually drawn in – on automation subtracks:
For each audio or group track and ReWire channel:


 Linked Panner state (controlled with the button “Link Send 
Routing Panners to Channel Panner” on the Control Strip 
section of the Channel settings window).
 Pan (Depending on the channel configuration, you can make 
settings for the Standard Panner or...

206
Automation
Automation track operations
Opening automation subtracks 
Every track/channel has a number of automation sub-
tracks, each showing one automation parameter.
For audio, Instrument, group channel, MIDI and FX chan-
nel tracks, there are two ways you can open an automa-
tion subtrack for the channel:
By right-clicking the track in the Track list and selecting 
“Show Automation” from the context menu.
By clicking on the left border of the track in the Track 
list. (When you position the mouse...

207
Automation
Assigning a parameter to an automation track
Default parameters are already assigned to automation 
subtracks when you open them, according to their order in 
the Add Parameter list (see below).
To select what parameter an open subtrack should dis-
play, proceed as follows:
1.If none exists, open an automation subtrack using one 
of the methods described above.
2.Click in the parameter display for the automation sub-
track.
A pop-up list is shown, containing some of the automation...

208
Automation
You can click the “Append Automation Track” button (the 
“+” sign) for the automation subtrack several times to 
open additional subtracks and repeat the above proce-
dure to assign a parameter to each subtrack.
Removing automation subtracks 
To remove automation subtracks from the Track list, pro-
ceed as follows:
To remove a single subtrack, click the parameter name 
and select “Remove Parameter” from the pop-up menu.
Note that this will also delete any automation events on the subtrack,...

209
Automation
The “Automation follows Events” setting
If you activate “Automation follows Events” on the Edit 
menu (or in the Preferences–Editing page), automation 
events will automatically follow when you move an event or 
part on the track. 
This makes it easy to set up automation related to a spe-
cific event or part, rather than to a specific position in the 
project. For example, you can automate the panning of a 
sound effect event (having the sound pan from left to right, 
etc.) – if you need...

210
Automation
About the five automation modes (Cubase only)
When recording automation, you can choose one of five 
automation modes (available on the Project window tool-
bar):
When Touch Fader mode is selected, the program 
starts writing the automation as soon as you click the con-
trol and stops writing when you release the mouse button.
If you are overwriting existing automation, the Automation Return Time 
setting (next to the automation mode pop-up menu) determines how fast 
the automated...