Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Audio Effects And VSTi Manual

 
CUBASE SX/SL
The included effect plug-ins 1 – 31 
MultibandCompressor (Cubase SX only)
The MultibandCompressor allows a signal to be split in up to five fre-
quency bands, each with its own freely adjustable compressor char-
acteristic. The signal is processed on the basis of the settings that you 
have made in the Frequency Band and Characteristics editors. You 
can specify the level, bandwidth and compressor characteristics for 
each band by using the various controls.
The Frequency Band editor
The...

CUBASE SX/SL
1 – 32 The included effect plug-ins
The Level handles can be moved by dragging them up or down. If you 
click and hold on a handle, its current value is displayed. Depending 
on the handle type, corner frequency or level is shown.
• The diamond-shaped handles at the bottom are used to define the corner fre-
quencies of the different frequency bands.
• By using the diamond-shaped handles on top of each frequency band you 
can cut or boost the input gain by +/- 12dB before compression.
• To...

CUBASE SX/SL
The included effect plug-ins 1 – 33
The Solo button
The Solo button in the lower right part of the MultibandCompressor 
panel can be used to separately monitor each of the frequency bands. 
This function is useful both when editing bandwidth settings and 
compressor characteristics.
•To select another band while solo is active, click somewhere in the 
(dark) area of the frequency band that you wish to monitor.
Using the Characteristics editor
By adding breakpoints and drawing curves you set...

CUBASE SX/SL
1 – 34 The included effect plug-ins
The Output dial
The Output dial controls the total output level that the MultibandCom-
pressor passes on to Cubase SX/SL. The range available is +/- 12 dB. 
If the SoftClip function (see below) is active, the Output dial instead 
controls the amount of soft clipping. 
The SoftClip function
The SoftClip function is positioned at the very last stage of the internal 
signal path, right after the Output dial. When active, it will ensure that 
the total output...

CUBASE SX/SL
The included effect plug-ins 1 – 35
VST Dynamics
The VST Dynamics plug-in is similar to the Dynamics plug-in (see 
page 18), but with the following differences:
• VST Dynamics has two additional modules: Auto Level and Soft Clip.
• The signal flow is fixed, in the order AutoGate-AutoLevel-Compressor-
SoftClip-Limiter.
Activating the individual processors
You activate the individual processors by clicking on their labels. Acti-
vated processors have highlighted labels. You can activate as...

CUBASE SX/SL
1 – 36 The included effect plug-ins
Auto Level section
Auto Level reduces signal level differences in audio material. It can be 
used to process recordings where the level unintentionally varies. It will 
boost low levels and attenuate high level audio signals. Only levels 
above the set threshold will be processed, so low level noise or rumble 
will not be boosted. If the input level is greater than 0dB, Auto Level will 
react very fast, because it “looks ahead” in the audio material for...

CUBASE SX/SL
The included effect plug-ins 1 – 37
Filter plug-ins
This section contains descriptions of the plug-ins in the “Filter” cate-
gory.
Q (Cubase SX only)
Q is a high-quality 4-band parametric stereo equalizer with two fully 
parametric midrange bands. The low and high bands can act as either 
standard shelving filters or fixed-gain high/low-cut filters.
Making settings
1.Click the corresponding On button below the EQ curve display to ac-
tivate any or all of the Low, Mid 1, Mid 2 or High...

CUBASE SX/SL
1 – 38 The included effect plug-ins
• By using the mouse to drag points in the EQ curve display window.
By using this method, you control both the Gain and Frequency parameters simulta-
neously. The knobs turn accordingly when you drag points. In addition, if the Mid 1 and 
Mid 2 bands (M1 and M2) are activated there will be two points on each side of the 
Gain/Frequency point that control the width (Q) parameter.
If you press [Shift] while dragging, values can be set in finer increments....

CUBASE SX/SL
The included effect plug-ins 1 – 39
StepFilter
StepFilter is a pattern-controlled multimode filter that can create 
rhythmic, pulsating filter effects.
General operation
StepFilter can produce two simultaneous 16-step patterns for the fil-
ter cutoff and resonance parameters, synchronized to the sequencer 
tempo.
Setting step values
•Setting step values is done by clicking in the pattern grid windows.
•Individual step entries can be freely dragged up or down the vertical 
axis, or directly...

CUBASE SX/SL
1 – 40 The included effect plug-ins
•The horizontal axis shows the pattern steps 1-16 from left to right, and 
the vertical axis determines the (relative) filter cutoff frequency and 
resonance setting.
The higher up on the vertical axis a step value is entered, the higher the relative filter 
cutoff frequency or filter resonance setting.
•By starting playback and editing the patterns for the cutoff and reso-
nance parameters, you can hear how your filter patterns affect the 
sound source...