Steinberg Cubase Studio 4 Operation Manual Studio Manual

431
Synchronization
Cubase as MMC slave (Cubase only)
This is set up in the MIDI Machine Control Slave section. 
Simply specify the MIDI ports and the MMC Device ID.
Some mixers support the MMC-Master protocol for con-
trolling external devices, including Tascam DM-24, Yamaha 
DM2000 and SSL. This means that Cubase can be used 
as a “recorder”, where track arming and transport com-
mands can be sent from the master device. In addition, 
some digital audio workstations (DAWs) can only operate 
in...

432
Synchronization
The audio hardware must have digital inputs and out-
puts.
Of course, to be able to connect the computers, the digital connections 
must be compatible (i.e. the same digital formats and connection types 
must be available).
At least one digital audio cable for each computer in the 
network.
A VST System Link host application installed on each 
computer.
Any VST System Link applications can connect to each other.
Additionally, we recommend that you use a KVM switch-
box:
Using a KVM...

433
Synchronization
Typically, the ASIO control panel for an audio card con-
tains some indication of whether the card receives a proper 
sync signal or not, and the sample rate of that signal.
This is a good indication that you have connected the cards and set up 
clock sync properly. Check your audio hardware’s documentation for de-
tails.
The only exception to this procedure is if you are using an 
external clock – which could be from a digital mixing desk 
or special Word Clock synchronizer for...

434
Synchronization
Settings for the audio hardware
When you send VST System Link data between comput-
ers, it is important that the digital information isn’t changed 
in any way between the programs. Therefore, you should 
open the control panel (or additional application) for your 
audio hardware and make sure that the following condi-
tions are met:
If there are additional “format settings” for the digital 
ports that you use for VST System Link data, make sure 
these are turned off.
For example, if...

435
Synchronization
You can double-click on the name in bold (which is the 
name of the computer you’re currently working on) and set 
it to whatever other name you wish.
This name will appear in the System Link window of every computer on 
the network.
ÖIf you dont see the name of each computer appearing 
once you have made it active, you may have to check your 
settings. 
Go through the procedure above again and make sure that all ASIO 
cards are listening to the digital clock signals correctly, and...

436
Synchronization
This allows you to route MIDI tracks to VST instruments 
running on another computer, as described in the applica-
tion examples (see “Using one computer for VST instru-
ments” on page 437).
The “Active ASIO Ports for Data only” setting
If you are sending huge amounts of MIDI data at once, 
there is a small possibility that you might run out of band-
width on your VST System Link network. This will manifest 
itself by notes “choking” or timing becoming erratic.
If this happens, you...

437
Synchronization
tem Device Setup panel (see “ASIO Direct Monitoring” on 
page 73). Most modern ASIO cards support this function. 
If yours doesnt you may want to change the Offset value 
in the VST System Link Setup panel to compensate for 
any latency issues.
Setting up a larger network
This is not much more difficult than a two computer net-
work. The main thing to remember is that VST System Link 
is a daisy chain system. In other words, the output of com-
puter 1 goes to the input of computer 2,...

438
Synchronization
Creating a virtual effect rack
The effect sends for an audio channel in Cubase can ei-
ther be routed to an FX channel track or to any activated 
Group or output bus. This allows you to use a separate 
computer as a “virtual effect rack”, by setting things up in 
the following way:
1.Go to computer 2 (the machine you will use as effect 
rack) and add a new stereo audio track.
You cannot use an FX channel track in this case, since the track must 
have an audio input.
2.Add the desired...

35
Video 

440
Video
Background
Cubase plays back video films in a number of formats. 
Under Windows, video playback can be done using one 
of three playback engines: Video for Windows, Direct-
Show or QuickTime 7.1. This ensures compatibility with 
as wide a range of video files as possible. The following 
file formats are supported: AVI, Windows Media Video 
(Cubase only: you can also import files in Windows Media 
Video Pro format), QuickTime and MPEG.
Under Mac OS X, QuickTime is always used as playback...