Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Getting Started Manual

							CUBASE SX/SLQuick start for former Cubase users 8 – 101
Drum tracks
There is no specific track class for drums. Instead, you can assign a 
drum map to any MIDI track – this gives you the same drum editing 
features as in previous Cubase versions.
Where’s the MIDI Track Mixer?
Mixing MIDI is done in the Mixer together with your audio channels. The 
MIDI channel strips are similar to the channel strips in the MIDI Track 
Mixer, allowing you to set levels, panning and other parameters for your 
MIDI tracks.
General differences
Multiple Undo/Redo
Cubase SX/SL offers wide-ranging, multiple Undo, allowing you to 
undo virtually any action you perform. See page 79.
Edit History
The Edit History dialog allows you to undo or redo several actions in 
one go. This is described on page 80.
Offline Process History
The Offline Process History allows you to remove and modify applied 
processing, and is different from the “regular” Undo in that you don’t 
have to undo processing functions in the order they were performed. 
The Offline Process History is described in the chapter “Audio pro-
cessing and functions” in the Operation Manual.
Graphic editing of automation events
Automation handling is greatly improved in Cubase SX/SL. Automa-
tion events can be drawn graphically in the Project window. Each au-
dio and MIDI track in the Track list has an automation track containing 
all parameters for the track. You can select which parameters to view 
and edit by opening subtracks for the automation track.  
						

							CUBASE SX/SL8 – 102 Quick start for former Cubase users
•You can of course also use normal “Write/Read” automation to record 
your actions just like in previous versions of Cubase. 
•All effect control panels also feature Write/Read buttons.
Each automated effect and VST Instrument will have its own automation track in the 
Track list, with subtracks for each parameter.
See the chapter “Automation” in the Operation Manual.
Surround sound (SX only)
Cubase SX has integrated surround sound features with support for 
several formats. See the Operation Manual chapter “Surround sound” 
for descriptions.
Integration 
The graphic design in Cubase SX/SL integrates the various windows in 
a much clearer way than before. For example, the Inspector, the Track 
list and the Mixer have many shared parameters, which all have buttons 
of the same style. This allows you to make settings quickly and intu-
itively in whatever window you are currently working. 
Customizing
You can customize the program in several ways, from specifying cus-
tom key commands to rearranging toolbars, transport panels and track 
lists. You will find an introduction to this in the Customizing tutorial on 
page 227. 
						

							9
Tutorial 1: Recording and
playing back audio 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL9 – 104 Tutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio
About this tutorial
This chapter contains a step-by-step description of how to make a 
simple audio recording and play it back. The purpose is for you to try 
out some of the most common recording and playback features. How-
ever, you should make sure to read the Recording chapter in the Op-
eration Manual before doing any “serious” recording, as there are a lot 
of settings, options and methods that are not mentioned here. 
Before you start
This chapter assumes that:
•You have installed and set up your audio hardware.
•Your audio source (a mixer or tape recorder, for example) is properly 
connected to the inputs of the audio hardware.
•The outputs of the audio hardware are connected to some sort of lis-
tening equipment, allowing you to listen to the recorded audio during 
playback.
•You are monitoring your audio source through Cubase SX/SL.
This means that when you are recording, the audio source is sent into Cubase SX/SL 
and then back out again to your monitoring equipment. This way of monitoring allows 
you to adjust monitoring levels from within the program, add effects to the monitor sig-
nal, etc. However, it also requires audio hardware with low latency – otherwise the mon-
itored signal will be noticeably delayed.
Even if you find that the latency is too high for monitoring through Cubase SX/SL – 
please bear with us through this tutorial! In the Operation Manual you will find other 
methods for monitoring that may suit you better.
•You have launched Cubase SX/SL. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLTutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio 9 – 105
Creating a new project
Before you can start recording, you need a working environment – a 
project:
1.Pull down the File menu and select “New Project”.
A dialog appears, listing a number of project templates for various purposes.
2.Make sure the “Empty” item in the list is selected and click OK.
A file dialog appears, allowing you to specify a location for the project folder. This will 
contain all files related to the project. 
3.Navigate to the desired location of the project folder, and select it by 
clicking OK, or click “Create” to create and name a new folder.
The project folder is created on disk, and an empty Project window appears.
At this point, you can make various settings for the project, such as 
sample rate, resolution, etc. However, to keep things simple we will 
use the default settings for now.   
						

							CUBASE SX/SL9 – 106 Tutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio
The next step is to create an audio track to record on:
4.Pull down the Project menu and select “Add Track”.
A submenu appears, listing the various types of tracks available in Cubase SX/SL.
5.Select “Audio”.
In the dialog that appears you can select whether the track should be mono or stereo. 
If you are using Cubase SX, you can also select one of several different surround con-
figurations.
6.In this example, set the track to stereo by selecting Stereo from the 
pop-up menu and clicking “OK”.
An empty audio track appears in the Project window.    
						

							CUBASE SX/SLTutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio 9 – 107
Preparing to record
Before you can start recording, there are some preparations to make:
Setting up input and output busses
When you record in Cubase SX/SL, the signal passes from the inputs 
on your audio hardware to an input bus in the program. This is where 
you check levels and adjust the sound to be recorded. From the input 
bus the signal is written to an audio file on your hard disk, and sent to 
the track’s channel in the mixer for monitoring etc.
You can have as many input busses as you like, but for this example 
we only need a stereo input bus:
1.Pull down the Devices menu and select “VST Connections”.
The VST Connections window appears. This is where you view, add and set up input 
and output busses.
Audio Hardware Sound to be 
recorded
Input bus in Cubase SX/SLMixer channel for 
the audio track
Audio file on hard disk  
						

							CUBASE SX/SL9 – 108 Tutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio
2.Select the “Inputs” tab by clicking on it.
By default, there is a stereo bus present – if there wasn’t you could easily add one by 
clicking the Add Bus button.
3.Click the “+” button to the left so that the individual inputs in the bus 
are shown.
The Device Port column shows the physical inputs on your audio hardware that are 
used by the bus.
4.Click in the Device Port column for the “Left” channel.
A pop-up menu appears, listing all inputs on your audio hardware.
5.Select the input you want to use for the left channel in the stereo bus.
6.Select the input for the right channel in the same way.
7.Click the “Outputs” tab and set up a stereo output bus in the same way.
This is strictly not required for recording – but you need it for monitoring and for play-
ing back the recording afterwards.
8.Close the VST Connections window and open the Mixer from the De-
vices menu.
This is Cubase SX/SL’s Mixer window, used for setting levels, etc. The mixer contains 
channel strips for all tracks in the project and all busses (input busses are not shown in 
Cubase SL).   
						

							CUBASE SX/SLTutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio 9 – 109
•In addition there is an “Audition” output bus (SX only). This is a dedi-
cated output bus exclusively for monitoring when previewing, scrub-
bing or editing in the Sample editor. The Audition bus is set up on the 
“Studio” tab in the VST Connections window, and is described in the 
Operation Manual.
•Right now the mixer should contain one input bus (Cubase SX only), 
one stereo audio channel and one output bus (apart from the Audition 
bus) – just like the picture above. 
If not, check the Hide buttons to the left. If any of these is lit (orange), click on it so that 
it goes grey.
When this button is lit, the output busses are hidden.   
						

							CUBASE SX/SL9 – 110 Tutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio
9.At the very top of the channel strip for the audio track, you find an In-
put Routing pop-up menu. Click this and make sure your stereo input 
bus is selected.
The input bus is now routed to the audio track.
Leave the Mixer window open for now.
Checking the input level
When you record digitally, it’s important to set the input level correctly. 
Above all, you don’t want the signal to be too loud, as this will cause 
clipping, digital distortion. 
Clipping typically occurs in the audio hardware, when a too loud ana-
log signal is converted to digital in the hardware’s A/D converters. 
•If you are using Cubase SX clipping might also happen when the sig-
nal from the input bus is written to a file on your hard disk.
This would only happen if you made the signal louder in the input bus (by raising the 
bus level, adding effects or EQ, etc.).
Checking the input level is done in slightly different ways depending 
on whether you have Cubase SX or Cubase SL: