Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Getting Started Manual

							CUBASE SX/SLTutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio 9 – 111
Cubase SX
1.Locate your stereo input bus to the left in the mixer window.
2.Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) somewhere in the Mixer window 
to bring up the Mixer context menu.
3.Select the VU-Meter Settings submenu and make sure “Input VU” is 
activated.
Now the input bus meter displays the signal level coming in to your hardware – note 
that this level cannot be adjusted from within the program!
The input bus.  
						

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4.Play the audio source that you want to record and check the level 
meter for the input bus.
The signal should be as loud as possible without exceeding 0 dB (the Clipping indica-
tor for the input bus shouldn’t light up).
5.Adjust the output level of your audio source so that the meters go as 
high as possible without going up to 0.0 dB.
Check the numerical peak level indicator below the meter in the bus channel strip. To 
reset the Clipping indicator and the peak level indicator, click on either one.
Now you’ve made sure there’s no clipping in the audio hardware.
6.Bring up the Mixer context menu again and select “Post-Fader VU” or 
“Post-Panner VU” from the VU-Meter Settings submenu.
These metering modes show levels after the channel faders. The “Post Panner VU” 
also takes pan settings into account.
7.If you now play back the audio source you can check the output level 
of the input bus – the signal that is to be recorded on your hard disk.
Since we haven’t made any adjustments in the input bus there should be no risk of clip-
ping here. If you had made level adjustments in the input bus and the Clipping indicator 
lit up at this point, you would simply lower the input bus fader, reset the indicators and 
try again.
Clipping indicator
Numerical peak level indicator  
						

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Cubase SL
In Cubase SL, the input busses are not shown in the mixer. Instead, 
you need to check the level at the channel strip for the track on which 
you are recording:
1.Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) somewhere in the Mixer window 
to bring up the Mixer context menu.
2.Select the VU-Meter Settings submenu and make sure “Input VU” is 
activated.
In this mode, the level meters show the levels “pre-fader” – that is, unaffected by level 
fader changes, etc.
3.Locate the channel strip for the track you’re about to record on.
4.Activate monitoring for the channel by clicking the speaker button next 
to the fader.
When monitoring is activated, the meter shows the level of the incoming audio signal.
5.Play the audio source that you want to record and check the level 
meter for the channel.
6.Adjust the output level of your audio source so that the meters go rea-
sonably high without reaching 0.0 dB.
Check the numerical peak level indicator below the meter in the bus channel strip. To 
reset the peak level indicator, click on it.
• You must adjust the output level of the audio source – you cannot use 
the faders in Cubase SL to adjust the input level!
• An alternative way of checking the input levels would be to use the control 
panel for your audio hardware (if it’s equipped with input level meters).
See the documentation of the audio hardware for details.  
						

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Making the track ready for recording
1.If the “Record Enable” button next to the fader on the mixer channel 
strip isn’t already red, click on it so that it lights up.
2.Make sure the Transport panel is visible.
If not, pull down the Transport menu and select the “Transport Panel” item at the top.   
						

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3.The Transport panel contains a lot of options that affect how record-
ing is done – in this example we want most of them to be turned off. 
Check that the following buttons are off (grey or unlit):
4.Click in the ruler (the time scale area above the track in the Project 
window), at the position where you want to start recording.
When you click, the project cursor (the black vertical line) is automatically moved to 
the click position. In our example, recording will start from the project cursor position.
Setting the project cursor position in the ruler.
5.To set recording to start at the cursor position, pull down the Trans-
port menu and make sure the item “Start Record at Left Locator” is 
deactivated (unticked).
Setting up monitoring
When you are monitoring through Cubase SX/SL, you can choose to 
activate monitoring manually or automatically, in several different ways. 
In this example we choose the “Tapemachine Style” monitoring, in 
which the input signal is automatically monitored in Stop mode and 
during recording – but not during playback. This is convenient since it 
allows you to play back and listen to your recording without having to 
turn off monitoring first.
Punch In and Punch Out deactivated.Cycle deactivated.
Click and Precount deactivated.
Sync deactivated.   
						

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1.Pull down the File menu (Win) or Cubase SX/SL menu (Mac) and se-
lect “Preferences…”.
2.In the Preferences dialog, click the VST item to the left.
3.Pull down the Auto Monitoring pop-up menu and make sure “Tape-
machine Style” is selected.
4.Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
5.Bring up the Mixer and locate the channel strip for the audio track.
Since the track is record enabled (the red button is lit) and Cubase SX/SL is in Stop 
mode, monitoring should now be activated.
6.Check the monitoring by playing back your audio source and listening 
to your monitoring equipment.
You should see the meters move in the channel strip for the audio track and in the out-
put bus to the right.
7.If you like you can adjust the monitoring level with the fader for the au-
dio track.
This will not affect the level in the recorded audio file.
You are ready to record!  
						

							CUBASE SX/SLTutorial 1: Recording and playing back audio 9 – 117
Recording
1.Start recording by clicking the Record button on the Transport panel.
The project cursor will start moving.
2.Play your instrument, etc.
During recording, a rectangle with an audio waveform will appear, covering the recorded 
area. This is the recorded audio event.
3.When you are done, click the Stop button on the Transport panel.
Recording stops and you can see the resulting audio event on the track.
4.If you are done recording, click the Record Enable button in the area 
to the left of the track, so that it goes dark.
Playing back what you just recorded
1.Move the project cursor to the beginning of the recorded audio event.
This could either be done by clicking in the ruler, or by using the Rewind button on the 
Transport panel.
2.Click the Play button on the Transport panel.
Your recording will be played back.
3.When you are done, stop playback by clicking the Stop button on the 
Transport panel.  
						

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Recording more events
At this point, you may want to continue recording audio, on the same 
track or on a new track.
Recording more on the same track
To record more audio on the same track, move the project cursor to a 
new start position and proceed as when you recorded the first time.
It is possible to record audio events that overlap each other, but only the 
visible events (the events at the top) will be heard when you play back.
Recording a new audio track
This example shows how to record a new audio track, while listening 
to the first recording.
1.Create a new audio track by using the “Add Track” submenu on the 
Project menu.
2.Decide whether you want the new track to be stereo or mono in the 
dialog that appears.
3.Pull down the Devices menu and open the Mixer.
As you can see, a new channel strip has been added to the mixer.
4.Use the Input pop-up menu at the top of the channel strip to make 
sure that the same stereo input bus is selected for the new track.
If the audio source is another than the one you first recorded, you need to check the 
input level again – see page 110.
5.Record enable the new track by clicking the red Record Enable button 
in its mixer channel strip.
Make sure that the Record Enable button for the first track is disabled – otherwise you 
will be recording on both tracks at the same time.
6.Move the project cursor to the desired start position.
7.Activate recording by clicking the Record button on the Transport panel.
While you are recording, the first audio track is played back.
8.When you are done, click the Stop button on the Transport panel. 
						

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Playing back in a cycle
You could continue starting and stopping playback this way, moving 
the project cursor manually each time. However, if you want to try out 
some mixing features (see the chapter “Tutorial 3: Mixing”), it is more 
convenient to have Cubase SX/SL play back your recorded audio re-
peatedly, over and over again:
1.Click on the recorded audio event to make sure it is selected.
A selected audio event has a red border and white and blue handles at its beginning 
and end.
2.Pull down the Transport menu and select “Locators to Selection”.
This moves the left and right locator (two special Cubase SX/SL markers) to the begin-
ning and end of the selected audio event, respectively. In the ruler, the area between 
the left and right locator is indicated by a blue highlight.
3.Click the Cycle button on the Transport panel so that it lights up.
4.Move the project cursor to the beginning of the recording and click Play.
Playback starts. When the project cursor reaches the end of the recording (the right 
locator), it will immediately jump back to the left locator and continue playback. When 
you’re done, click the Stop button on the Transport panel.   
						

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