Steinberg Cubase Studio 4 Plug In Reference Studio Manual

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The included VST Instruments
Monologue – Monophonic Analog 
Modeling Synthesizer (Cubase only)
Monologue is a monophonic analog synthesizer based on 
physical modeling technology. It offers full, rich and color-
ful sounds without consuming a lot of CPU power. The 
Monologue synthesizer is the perfect tool for bass, lead 
and sequenced sounds.
The Monophonic Analog Modeling Synthesizer has the 
following properties:
 2 oscillators with sawtooth, square and triangle waveforms.
 An additional noise generator for white noise.
 Monologue has two filters: a high pass filter and a versatile 
multimode filter.
 Monologue has a single LFO.
 Monologue has 4-stage ADSR mod and amp envelopes.
 Monologue has an effects section with chorus, phaser, and 
flanger effects, plus separate delay and overdrive units.
 Monologue has a X/Y matrix pad for additional realtime modu-
lation with access to all Monologue parameters.
Osc 1 and 2Mix
Filter
Parameter Description
Waveform
(pop-up menu)This is where you select the waveform: Saw, Square and 
Sub for oscillator 1 and Saw, Square and Triangle for 
Oscillator 2.
Coarse Sets the coarse pitch in semitones. The available range is 
+/- one octave.
Fine Allows you to fine-tune the pitch in cent increments. The 
available range is +/- 50 cents.
Depth Controls the pitch modulation depth for the mod source 
defined in the “mod src” field. The available range is +/- 
one octave.
Mod Src Defines the pitch modulation source. Available sources 
are: Modwheel, Aftertouch, Pitchbend, Velocity, LFO and 
Mod Env.
PWM 
(OSC2 only)Controls the pulse width of the square wave. In the cen-
ter position, pulse width is 50/50. Turning the PWM knob 
clockwise or counter clockwise creates a positive or neg-
ative pulse, respectively.
Sync
(OSC2 only)Activating the sync button synchronizes the pitch of os-
cillator 2 to the pitch of oscillator 1. When this is active, 
changing or modulating the pitch of oscillator 2 will 
change the tone and not the pitch. For the typical sync 
sound, turn osc 1 down in the mix and use osc 2 only.
Parameter Description
Osc 1 Sets the pre-filter level for oscillator 1.
Noise Sets the pre-filter noise level.
Osc 2 Sets the pre-filter level for oscillator 2.
Parameter Description
Mode Sets the filter type. Available filter types are 24 dB Low 
pass, 18 dB Low pass, 12 dB Low pass, 6 dB Low pass, 
12 dB Band pass and 12 dB High pass.
Cutoff Sets the filter cutoff frequency. How this parameter oper-
ates is governed by the filter type.
High Pass Sets the cutoff frequency of the additional high-pass fil-
ter.
Res Changes the resonance of the multi-mode filter. Full res-
onance puts the filter into self-oscillation.
Key Track Determines the amount of key tracking applied to the fil-
ter cutoff frequency. The available range is 0 to 100 %. A 
range of 100 % tunes the filter cutoff frequency to the 
keyboards pitch 1:1.
Mod Src 
(A+B)Defines the filter modulation source. The available 
sources are: Modwheel, Aftertouch, Pitchbend, Velocity, 
LFO, and Mod Env.
Depth 
(A+B)Controls the filter modulation depth for the mod source 
set in the “mod src” field.  Parameter Description 
						

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The included VST Instruments
Envelope
LFO
X/Y Pad
EffectsMaster
Parameter Description
A – (Attack) Sets the attack time.
D – (Decay) Sets the decay time.
S – (Sustain) Sets the sustain level.
R – (Release) Sets the release time.
Mod Src (A+B) Defines the envelope modulation source. You can select: 
Modwheel, Aftertouch, Pitchbend, Velocity, LFO and 
Mod Env.
Depth (A+B) Controls the envelope modulation depth for the mod 
source defined in the “mod src” field.
Parameter Description
Waveform
(pop-up menu)Here, you can select the waveform for the low frequency 
oscillator. Available waveforms are: Triangle, Square, 
Sawtooth, Sample & Hold and Random.
Rate Adjusts the frequency of the LFO, thus changing the rate 
of the modulation. Depending on the LFO sync parame-
ter, you can edit the rate in Hertz or in note values. 
Sync When “Sync” is “on” the LFO speed will be synchronized 
to the sequencer’s tempo. This also affects the LFO rate 
format.
Mod Src Defines the LFO modulation source. Available sources 
are: 
Modwheel, Aftertouch, Pitchbend, Velocity, LFO and 
Mod Env.
Depth Controls the LFO modulation depth for the mod source 
defined in the “mod src” field. 
Parameter Description
X Par Sets the parameter to be modulated on the x axis of the 
XY Pad. All of Monologue’s parameters are available as 
destinations.
Y Par Sets the parameter to be modulated on the y axis of the 
XY Pad.
XY Pad  Use the mouse to control any two of Monologue’s param-
eters in combination. By moving the mouse horizontally, 
you can control the x parameter, by moving it vertically, 
you can control the y parameter. You can also record 
controller movements as automation data.
Parameter Description
FX Type
(pop-up menu)Selects the effect type for Monologue’s pitch effects. The 
available types are Chorus, Flanger and Phaser.
Rate Use this to adjust the rate of the effect modulation.Depth Use this to adjust the depth of the effect modulation.
FBK Controls the feedback of the effect.
Mix Controls the balance between dry and wet (effect) signal. 
Set to 0, the effect will be off. Set to 50, the balance be-
tween dry and wet signal is 50/50.
Overdrive Controls the amount of overdrive (distortion) added to 
the signal. A slight amount of overdrive will create punch 
and bottom. Higher amounts will add distortion.
Delay Sets the delay time in musical values. The delay effect is 
always in sync with the song tempo.
Spread Controls the stereo spread of the delay signal. If you set 
this to 0, the delay will be centered mono. Higher 
amounts of spread will shift the left and right delay chan-
nels. If you set this to 100, the delays will “ping-pong” 
between the left and right channels at an even rate.
Tone Adds a low pass filter to the delay. Increasing “tone” will 
make every delay repetition darker in tone.
FBK Controls the amount of feedback of the delay. High feed-
back levels will create infinite delays. Use this parameter 
with caution.
Mix Controls the balance between dry and wet (effect) signal. 
Set to 0, the effect will be off. Set to 50, the balance be-
tween dry and wet signal is 50/50.
Parameter Description
Glide Mode The available modes are: “held”, “on” and “off”. With 
“held” selected, a glide effect only occurs for notes 
played legato.
Rate Controls the glide rate – the time it takes for a note to 
reach its destination pitch.
PB  Range Controls the range of a pitch bend MIDI controller. Range 
can be set between 1 and 24 semitones for a total of two 
octaves.
Env Trigger When set to “Multi”, each keystroke will re-trigger the en-
velopes. When set to “single”, legato notes will not retrig-
ger the envelopes, effectively holding the envelopes on 
the sustain level until all keys are released before a new 
note is triggered.
Note  Priority Defines which note is played when multiple keys are held. 
Options are: First, Lowest, Highest, and Last.
Oct Controls the master pitch of Monologue in octave steps. 
Range is +/- 4 octaves.
Master Out Controls the master output level that is sent to the VST 
mixer. Use it to adjust the balance between different pre-
sets. Use the VST mixer channel volume to control or au-
tomate the Monologue master volume.
Keyboard Pressing the “keyboard” button will reveal a six octave 
virtual keyboard. Pressing the “keyboard” button again 
will hide the keyboard and display the master section 
again. Parameter Description 
						

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The included VST Instruments
Diagrams
Prologue
Mystic 
						

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The included VST Instruments
Spector 
						

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MIDI effects 
						

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MIDI effects
Introduction
This chapter describes the included MIDI realtime effects 
and their parameters.
How to apply and handle MIDI effects is described in the 
chapter “MIDI realtime parameters and effects” in the Op-
eration Manual.
Arpache 5
A typical arpeggiator accepts a chord (a group of MIDI 
notes) as input, and plays back each note in the chord 
separately, with the playback order and speed set by the 
user. The Arpache 5 arpeggiator does just that, and more. 
Before describing the parameters, let’s look at how to cre-
ate a simple, typical arpeggio:
1.Select a MIDI track and activate monitoring (or record 
enable it) so that you can play “thru” the track.
Check that the track is properly set up for playback to a suitable MIDI in-
strument.
2.Select and activate the arpeggiator.
For now, use it as an insert effect for the selected track.
3.In the arpeggiator panel, use the Quantize setting to 
set the arpeggio speed.
The speed is set as a note value, relative to the project tempo. For exam-
ple, setting Quantize to “16” means the arpeggio will be a pattern of six-
teenth notes.
4.Use the Length setting to set the length of the arpeg-
gio notes.
This allows you to create staccato arpeggios (Length smaller than the 
Quantize setting) or arpeggio notes that overlap each other (Length 
greater than Quantize).
5.Set the Semi-Range parameter to 12.
This will make the notes arpeggiate within an octave.
6.Play a chord on your MIDI instrument.
Now, instead of hearing the chord, you will hear the notes of the chord 
played one by one, in an arpeggio.
7.Try the different arpeggio modes by clicking the Play-
mode buttons.
The symbols on the buttons indicate the playback order for the notes (up, 
down, up+down, etc.). The Play Order settings are described below.
Parameters
The Arpache 5 has the following settings:
Setting Description
Playmode 
buttonsAllows you to select the playback order for the arpeggi-
ated notes. The options are down+up, up+down, up, 
down, random (“?” button) and “Order off”, in which case 
you can set the playback order manually with the Play Or-
der fields below.
Quantize Determines the speed of the arpeggio, as a note value re-
lated to the project tempo. The range is 32T (1/32 note 
triplets) to “1.” (dotted note values).
Length Sets the length of the arpeggio notes, as a note value re-
lated to the project tempo. The range is the same as for 
the Quantize setting.
Semi-Range Determines the arpeggiated note range, in semitones 
counted from the lowest key you play. This works as fol-
lows:
– Any notes you play that are outside this range will be 
transposed in octave steps to fit within the range.
– If the range is more than one octave, octave-trans-
posed copies of the notes you play will be added to the 
arpeggio (as many octaves as fit within the range).
Thru If this is activated, the notes sent to the arpeggiator (i.e. 
the chord you play) will be passed through the plug-in 
(sent out together with the arpeggiated notes).
Play  Order If the “Order on” playmode is selected, you can use these 
“slots” to specify a custom playback order for the arpeg-
gio notes:
Each slot corresponds to a position in the arpeggio pat-
tern. For each slot, you specify which note should be 
played on that position by selecting a number. The num-
bers correspond to the keys you play, counted from the 
lowest pressed key.
So, if you play the notes C3-E3-G3 (a C major chord), 
“1” would mean C3, “2” would mean E3, and “3” would 
mean G3. Note that you can use the same number in sev-
eral slots, creating arpeggio patterns that are not possi-
ble using the standard play modes. 
						

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MIDI effects
Arpache SX
This is an even more versatile and advanced arpeggiator, 
capable of creating anything from traditional arpeggios to 
complex, sequencer-like patterns. The Arpache SX has 
the following parameters:
Seq mode
When Seq mode is selected in the Arp Style section, the 
Arpache SX uses an additional MIDI part as a pattern. This 
pattern then forms the basis for the arpeggio, in conjunc-
tion with the MIDI input.
To import a MIDI part into the Arpache SX, drag it from 
the Project window and drop it in the “Drop a MIDI Part” 
section on the Arpache SX.
Now, the notes in the dropped MIDI part will be sorted in-
ternally, either according to their pitch (“Sort Phrase by 
Pitch” checkbox activated) or according to their play order 
in the part. This results in a list of numbers. For example, if 
the notes in the MIDI part are C E G A E C and they are 
sorted according to pitch, the list of numbers will read 1 2 
3 4 2 1. Here, there are 4 different notes/numbers and 6 
trigger positions.
Now the MIDI input (the chord you send into the Arpache 
SX) will also generate a list of numbers, with each note in 
the chord corresponding to a number depending on the 
Sort Mode setting. 
The two lists of numbers will now be matched – the Ar-
pache SX tries to play back the pattern from the dropped 
MIDI file but using the notes from the MIDI input (chord). 
The result depends on the Trigger Mode setting:
Parameter Description
Arp Style Determines the basic behavior of the Arpache SX. In the 
Seq mode, the arpeggiator uses an imported MIDI part 
as a starting point for the pattern – this is described be-
low. All other modes describe how the notes in the chord 
you play should be arpeggiated – up, down, up & down, 
mostly up or mostly down.
Quantize Determines the resolution of the arpeggio, i.e. its “speed”. 
The “Source” setting is used in Seq mode, see below.
Length Determines the length of the arpeggio notes. The 
“Source” setting is used in Seq mode, see below.
Transpose When a mode other than “Off” is selected, the arpeggio 
will be expanded upwards, downwards or both (depend-
ing on the mode). This is done by adding transposed re-
peats of the basic arpeggio pattern. The “Octave” setting 
sets the number of transposed repeats and the “Semi-
Steps” setting determines how much each repeat will be 
transposed.
Play Mode See the description of Seq mode below!
Trigger Mode See the description of Seq mode below!
Velocity Source Determines the velocity of the notes in the arpeggio. The 
options are Seq (used in Seq mode only), Input (the 
same as the velocity values of the corresponding notes in 
the chord you play) or Fixed, in which case all arpeggio 
notes will get the velocity set in the value field to the right.
Thru If this is activated, the notes sent to the arpeggiator (i.e. 
the chord you play) will be passed through the plug-in 
(sent out together with the arpeggiated notes).
Poly Determines how many notes should be accepted in the 
input chord. The “All” setting means there are no limita-
tions.
Sort Mode When you play a chord into the Arpache SX, the arpeg-
giator will look at the notes in the chord as sorted in the 
order specified here. For example, if you play a C-E-G 
chord, with “Note Lowest” selected, C will be the first 
note, E will be the second and G the third. This affects 
the result of the Arp Style setting.
Trigger Mode Description
Trigger The whole pattern from the dropped MIDI file will be 
played back, but transposed according to one of the 
notes in the MIDI input. Which note is used for transpos-
ing depends on the Sort Mode setting.
Trigger Cnt. As above, but even when all keys are released, the 
phrase continues playing from the last position (where it 
stopped), when a new key is pressed on the keyboard. 
This is typically used when playing “live” through the Ar-
pache SX. Parameter Description 
						

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MIDI effects
Finally, the Play Mode setting affects the resulting arpeggio. 
Note also that you can choose to keep the original note tim-
ing, note length and note velocities from the dropped MIDI 
part, by selecting “Source” in the Quantize and Length 
fields, and “Seq” in the Velocity Source section.
Autopan
This plug-in works a bit like an LFO in a synthesizer, allow-
ing you to send out continuously changing MIDI controller 
messages. One typical use for this is automatic MIDI pan-
ning (hence the name), but you can select any MIDI Con-
tinuous Controller event type. The Autopan effect has the 
following parameters:
Waveform selectors
These determine the shape of the controller curves sent 
out. The results of most of these waveforms are obvious 
from looking at the buttons, but a few of them require 
some extra explanations:
This generates a “random” controller curve.
These generate curves with a “periodical envelope”. The amplitude will 
gradually increase or decrease over a time, set with the Period parame-
ter (see below).
Period
This is where you set the speed of the Autopan, or rather 
the length of a single controller curve cycle. The value can 
be set in ticks (1/480ths of quarter notes), or as rhythmi-
cally exact note values (by clicking the arrow buttons next 
to the value). The lower the note value, the slower the 
speed. For example, if you set this to 240 (“8th”) the 
waveform will be repeated every eighth note.
Density
This determines the density of the controller curves sent 
out. The value can be set in ticks (1/480ths of quarter 
notes), or as rhythmically exact note values (by clicking the 
arrow buttons next to the value). The higher the note value, 
the smoother the controller curve. For example, if you set 
this to 60 (shown as “32th”) a new controller event will be 
sent out every 60th tick (at every 1/32 note position).
Sort Normal Matches the notes in the MIDI input to the notes in the 
dropped MIDI part. If there are fewer notes (numbers) in 
the MIDI input, some steps in the resulting arpeggio will 
be empty.
Sort First As above, but if there are fewer notes in the MIDI input, 
the missing notes will be replaced by the first note.
Sort Any As above, but if there are fewer notes in the MIDI input, 
the missing notes will be replaced by any (random) note.
Arp. Style As above, but if there are fewer notes in the MIDI input, 
the missing notes will be replaced by the last valid note in 
the arpeggio. Trigger Mode Description
!You should probably avoid extremely low Density val-
ues, as these will generate a very large number of 
events (which may cause the MIDI instrument to 
“choke”, delaying notes etc.). 
						

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MIDI effects
AmpMod
This is only used for the two waveforms with “periodical 
envelopes” (see above). The period value (set in beats) 
determines the length of the envelope. In the following fig-
ure, Period is set to 4th and the AmpMod is 4 beats. This 
results in a quarter note-based curve in which the top am-
plitude decreases gradually, repeated each bar.
Controller
Determines which Continuous Controller type is sent out. 
Typical choices would include pan, volume and brightness 
but your MIDI instrument may have controllers mapped to 
various settings, allowing you to modulate the synth pa-
rameter of your choice – check the MIDI implementation 
chart for your instrument for details!
Min and Max
These determine the minimum and maximum controller 
values sent out, i.e. the “bottom” and “top” of the control-
ler curves.
Chorder
The Chorder is a MIDI chord processor, allowing you to as-
sign complete chords to single keys in a multitude of varia-
tions. There are three main modes of operation: Normal, 
Octave and Global. You switch between these modes by 
clicking the respective button to the left below the key-
board.
Normal mode
In this mode, you can assign a different chord to each sin-
gle key on the keyboard. Proceed as follows:1.Select the key to which you want to assign a chord, by 
clicking in the lower “Trigger Note” keyboard display.
2.Set up the desired chord for that key by clicking in the 
upper “Chord Setup” keyboard display.
Clicking a key adds it to the chord; clicking it again removes it.
3.Repeat the above with any other keys you wish to use.
If you now play the keys you have set up, you will instead 
hear the assigned chords.
Octave mode
The Octave mode is similar to the Normal mode, but you 
can only set up one chord for each key in an octave (that 
is, twelve different chords). When you play a C note (re-
gardless of whether it’s a C3, C4 or any other octave) you 
will hear the chord set up for the C key.
Global mode
In the Global mode, you only set up a single chord, using 
the Chord Setup keyboard display (the lower keyboard dis-
play is hidden). This chord is then played by all keys on the 
keyboard, but transposed according to the note you play. 
						

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MIDI effects
Using switches
The Switch Setup section at the bottom of the panel al-
lows you to set up variations to the defined chords. This 
works with all three modes and provides a total of eight 
variations for each assignable key (that is, a maximum of 8 
different chords in Global mode, 12 x 8 chords in Octave 
mode and 128 x 8 chords in Normal mode).
The variations can be controlled by velocity or note range. 
Here’s how you set it up:
1.Select one of the two switch modes: velocity or note.
How to use these is explained below.
The velocity switch mode selected.
2.Specify how many variations you want to use with the 
Use value box.
3.Click the first Switch Select button and set up the 
chord(s) you want for the first variation.
4.Click the next Switch Select button and set up the 
chord(s) you want for that variation.
5.Repeat this for the number of variations you specified 
with the Use setting.
Each Switch Select button corresponds to a variation.
6.Now you can play the keyboard and control the varia-
tions according to the selected switch modes.
These work as follows:
To turn the variation switch feature off, select the “No 
Switch” mode.
Compress
This MIDI compressor is used for evening out or expanding 
differences in velocity. Though the result is similar to what 
you get with the Velocity Compression track parameter, the 
Compress plug-in presents the controls in a manner more 
like regular audio compressors. The parameters are:
Switch mode Description
Velocity The full velocity range (1–127) is divided into “zones”, 
according to the number of variations you specified. For 
example, if you’re using two variations (Max is set to 2) 
there will be two velocity “zones”: 1–63 and 64–127. 
Playing a note with velocity at 64 or higher will trigger the 
second variation, while playing a softer note will trigger 
the first variation.
Note In this mode, the chorder will play one chord at a time – 
you cannot play several different chords simultaneously. 
When the Note switch mode is selected, you play a key to 
determine the base note for the chord, then press a higher 
key to select a variation. The variation number will be the 
difference between the two keys. To select variation 1, 
press a key one semitone higher than the base note, for 
variation 2, press a key two semitones higher, and so on.
Parameter Description
Threshold Only notes with velocities over this value will be affected 
by the compression/expansion.
Ratio This determines the rate of compression applied to the 
velocity values above the threshold level. Ratios greater 
than 1:1 result in compression (i.e. less difference in ve-
locity) while ratios lower than 1:1 result in expansion (i.e. 
greater difference in velocity).
What actually happens is that the part of the velocity 
value that is above the threshold value is divided by the 
ratio value.
Gain This adds or subtracts a fixed value from the velocities. 
Since the maximum range for velocity values is 0–127, 
you may need to use the Gain setting to compensate, 
keeping the resulting velocities within the range. Typi-
cally, you would use negative Gain settings when ex-
panding and positive Gain settings when compressing.