Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Getting Started Manual

CUBASE SX/SLSetting up your system 4 – 51
Setting up a default MIDI input and output
The Default MIDI Ports page in the Device Setup dialog allows you to 
select which MIDI ports should be selected by default when you create 
a new MIDI track. In other words, newly created tracks will always use 
the input and output specified on this page. However, you can later 
change this setting for each individual track in the Project window.
Connecting a synchronizer
Always make all connections with all equipment...

CUBASE SX/SL4 – 52 Setting up your system
Setting up video
Always make all connections with all equipment turned off!
Cubase SX/SL plays back video films in AVI, Quicktime or MPEG for-
mats. Under Windows, video playback can be done using one of the 
following playback engines: Video for Windows, DirectShow or Quick-
time. This ensures compatibility with as wide a range of video files as 
possible. Under Mac OS X, Quicktime is always used as playback en-
gine.
Generally there are two ways to play back...

CUBASE SX/SLSetting up your system 4 – 53
Optimizing audio performance
This section gives you some hints and tips on how to get the most out 
of your Cubase SX/SL system, performance-wise. Some of this text 
refers to hardware properties and can be used as a guide when up-
grading your system. This text is very brief. Look for details and current 
information on the Cubase SX/SL web site (see page 14)!
Two aspects of performance
There are two distinct aspects of performance in respect to Cubase 
SX/SL:...

CUBASE SX/SL4 – 54 Setting up your system
System factors that affect performance
CPU and processor cache
It goes without saying that the faster the computer processor, the bet-
ter. But there are a number of factors that affect the apparent speed of 
a computer: the bus speed and type (PCI is strongly recommended), 
the processor cache size and of course, the processor type and brand. 
Cubase SX/SL relies heavily on floating point calculations. When shop-
ping for a processor, please make sure you get...

CUBASE SX/SLSetting up your system 4 – 55
• Under Mac OS X, audio hardware with properly written Mac OS X (Core 
Audio) drivers can be very efficient and produce very low latency times.
However, there are additional features currently only available with ASIO drivers, such 
as the ASIO Positioning Protocol.
Making settings that affect performance
Choosing a driver for your audio hardware
As described on page 41, it is recommended to install and use a stan-
dard ASIO driver if available for your specific...

CUBASE SX/SL4 – 56 Setting up your system
Optimizing processor scheduling (Windows only)
To get the lowest possible latencies when using ASIO under Windows 
XP (on a single CPU system), the “system performance” has to be op-
timized for background tasks:
1.Open the Control Panel from the Start menu and select System.
2.Select the Advanced tab and click the Settings button in the Perfor-
mance section.
The Performance Options dialog appears.
3.Select the Advanced tab.
4.In the Processor Scheduling...

5
Basic Cubase SX/SL concepts 

CUBASE SX/SL5 – 58 Basic Cubase SX/SL concepts
About this chapter
This chapter describes the basic “building blocks” and terminology in 
Cubase SX/SL. Please take your time to read this chapter thoroughly 
before moving on!
The project
The native document format of Cubase SX/SL is called a project. Be-
fore you can start recording, playing back or editing you always have 
to create a new project, or open a saved project file from disk. There 
can be several projects open at the same time, but one is...

CUBASE SX/SLBasic Cubase SX/SL concepts 5 – 59
About the file and folder structure
A project file (file extension “.cpr” under Windows) is always associated 
with a project folder on your hard disk. Several projects can share the 
same project folder (which is practical if you have several versions of 
your project, for example).
•The Audio folder contains audio files referenced by the project.
It is also possible for the project to refer to audio files elsewhere on your disk(s) – you 
can even specify...

CUBASE SX/SL5 – 60 Basic Cubase SX/SL concepts
Audio terminology
When you record audio in Cubase SX/SL, this is what happens:
• An audio file is created on the hard disk.
• In Cubase SX/SL, an audio clip is created. The audio clip refers to the audio 
file on disk.
• An audio event is also created in Cubase SX/SL. This plays back the audio clip.
There are good reasons for this long chain of references:
• The audio event is the object that you place on a time position in Cubase SX/
SL. If you make copies...