Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Getting Started Manual

							CUBASE SX/SLTutorial 6: Using VST Instruments 14 – 181
Routing
1.Go back to the Project window and select the “MIDI Bass” track by 
clicking in the Track list.
You will notice that a set of tracks has been added for the vb-1 at the bottom of the 
Track list, within a “VST Instruments” folder. These tracks are for viewing and editing 
the automation of the vb-1 and its mixer channel - see the Operation Manual.
2.Make sure the Inspector is open.
The Inspector is the area to the left of the Track list. If it’s not visible, click the Show 
Inspector button on the toolbar.
3.Make sure the top section of the Inspector is shown.
If not, click on the Track Name title bar of the Inspector:
The Inspector shows the settings for the selected track – in this case, 
the MIDI Bass track. 
4.Pull down the “out:” pop-up menu in the Inspector.
This shows all available MIDI outputs, including any MIDI interfaces you have installed, 
any audio card-based synthesizers in your computer and all loaded VST Instruments.
5.Select the VB-1 from the pop-up menu.
The track is now routed to the VB-1. This VST Instrument receives MIDI on any channel, 
so you don’t have to care about the MIDI channel setting. However, some VST Instru-
ments are multitimbral and can receive different MIDI data on several different channels 
– if that had been the case you would have had to set the “chn:” setting properly.   
						

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Playing back
Now it’s time to replace the audio bass with the VB-1:
1.Click the Mute (“M”) button in the Track list for the “Bass” track.
This mutes (silences) the track.
2.Click the lit Mute button in the Track list for the “MIDI Bass” track so 
that it goes dark.
You have now unmuted the MIDI Bass track.
3.Start playback from the beginning of the song.
You should now hear the VB-1 play the bass line. You may have to ad-
just the volume so that the VST Instrument matches the audio tracks:
4.Pull down the Devices menu and select Mixer.
The Mixer window appears. As you can see, there are separate mixer channel strips for 
the four audio tracks, the three MIDI tracks and the VB-1.
A mixer channel strip for a VST Instrument is indicated by a light green fader panel.
5.Use the volume fader in the VB-1 channel strip to adjust the level of 
the bass line.  
						

							CUBASE SX/SLTutorial 6: Using VST Instruments 14 – 183
Adding another instrument
The next MIDI track is called “MIDI Perc” and contains a MIDI percus-
sion pattern. This is an excellent opportunity to check out another of 
the included VST Instruments – the LM-7 drum machine:
1.Open the VST Instruments window from the Devices menu.
2.Pull down the pop-up menu for the next slot and select “lm-7” from 
the Drums submenu.
Make sure its power button is activated.
3.In the Project window, click the Mute (“M”) button for the MIDI Perc 
track so that it goes dark.
4.Select the track by clicking in the Track list.
5.Use the “out:” pop-up in the Inspector to route the track to the LM-7.
As soon as you activate a new VST Instrument, it is added to the list of available MIDI 
outputs in Cubase SX/SL.
Now, let’s listen to the percussion track all by itself:
6.Click the Solo (“S”) button in the Track list for the MIDI Perc track.
All other tracks are muted (their Mute buttons light up).
7.Start playback.  
						

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Hmmm, nothing can be heard – but the indicator in the Track list shows 
that MIDI notes are being played! The problem here is that the wrong 
program (drum set) is selected for the LM-7. For this track to play back 
properly, we should choose a percussion set. This can be done directly 
in the Inspector or the VST Instruments window, but let’s check out the 
control panel for the LM-7 instead:
8.Click the Instruments Settings button for the track in the Inspector 
(next to the “chn:” pop-up).
Since the track is routed to a VST Instrument, this opens the control panel for the in-
strument. This way, you don’t have to go via the VST Instruments window to make set-
tings for a VST Instrument.
The LM-7 panel. The labels underneath the buttons show the available sounds in 
the selected program – not many percussion sounds here.
9.Pull down the program pop-up menu in the control panel and select 
“Percussion”.
Under Windows, you will find this pop-up menu at the top of the panel; on a Mac it is 
at the bottom of the panel.
10.Start playback again.
That’s more like it.   
						

							CUBASE SX/SLTutorial 6: Using VST Instruments 14 – 185
11.Go back to the Project window and click the lit Solo button for the 
track to turn off the Solo function.
All tracks are unmuted again – except the tracks that were muted from the beginning 
(Bass and MIDI Strings).
Again, you may want to adjust the volume of the LM-7. If you open the 
mixer, you will find that a new channel strip has appeared – use the 
fader as before.
Playing a VST Instrument in real time
The next part of this tutorial requires two things:
• That you have a MIDI keyboard or similar connected to a MIDI input on 
your MIDI interface.
• That you are using audio hardware with fairly low latency (see page 53).
If the latency is too high, it will be almost pointless to try to play a VST Instrument in 
real time – the delay between when you press a key and when you hear the sound will 
be too large. If you’re uncertain about your latency, just proceed with the steps below 
– you’ll find out whether it’s OK or not.
Now we’ll make use of the third included VST Instrument: the a1 syn-
thesizer. Here, we will use it with a string sound (replacing the “Strings” 
audio track) but you can of course choose another sound if you like.
1.Open the VST Instruments window from the Devices menu.
2.Pull down the pop-up menu for the third VST Instrument slot and select 
“a1” from the Synths submenu.
Make sure its power button is activated.
3.In the Project window, mute the “Strings” track and unmute the “MIDI 
Strings” track, by clicking their respective Mute buttons in the Track list.
4.Select the MIDI Strings track.
5.In the Inspector, pull down the “out:” pop-up menu and select “a1”. 
						

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This routes the track to the a1 synthesizer. However, now we also need 
a MIDI input, since you’re going to play the VST instrument “live”:
6.Pull down the “in:” pop-up menu and make sure the correct MIDI input 
is selected.
This should be the MIDI input to which your keyboard (or other controller) is connected. 
If in doubt, you can select the “All MIDI Inputs” option, in which case the track will ac-
cept MIDI from all available inputs.
7.Click the monitor button in the Track list for the MIDI Strings track, so 
that it lights up.
When the monitor button is activated, incoming MIDI is sent directly to the selected 
output – in this case the a1 synthesizer.
8.Try playing your MIDI keyboard.
You should hear the sound from the a1. However, you may not want to use the default, 
first sound:
9.Use the pop-up menu below the “chn:” setting in the Inspector to 
select a suitable synth sound.
Since we’re supposed to replace the Strings part, you may for example want to try the 
“Solina WMF” patch (under the PAD heading).
10.Start playback and play along!  
						

							CUBASE SX/SLTutorial 6: Using VST Instruments 14 – 187
Recording
When you’ve figured out something to play, it’s time to record this. Re-
cording for a VST Instrument is done just like “normal” MIDI recording:
1.Click the record enable button for the MIDI Strings track.
In previous tutorials we recorded from the project cursor position – 
now we will start recording at the left locator, with a precount.
2.Pull down the Transport menu and make sure the “Start Record at 
Left Locator” setting is activated.
3.Move the left locator to where you want the recording to start.
You can drag the locator flag in the ruler, edit the position numerically in the Transport 
panel or press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click in the ruler.
4.Move the right locator to a position to the right of the left locator.
This can be done by pressing [Alt]/[Option] and clicking in the ruler.
5.Activate Precount on the Transport panel.
6.Click the Record button on the Transport panel to start recording.
You will hear a two bar count-in and then the recording will start.
7.Play along with the background tracks.  
						

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8.When you’re done, click Stop.
A MIDI part has been created on the MIDI Strings track.
9.Play back to listen to your recording.
If you want to try again, select Undo from the Edit menu and proceed from step 3 above.
10.When you’re done, click the record enable button for the track to de-
activate it.
Making parameter settings
After you’ve recorded your synth or string part (and possibly adjusted 
its volume in the mixer) you may want to adjust the actual sound as well. 
This can either be done by selecting another patch in the Inspector or 
VST Instruments window, or by using the synth parameters in the con-
trol panel for the a1.
First, you may want to set things up so that the whole piece plays back 
over and over again.
1.In the Project window, press [Ctrl]/[Command]-[A] to select all events 
and parts.
2.Pull down the Transport menu and select “Locators to Selection”.
This moves the left locator to the start of the first event and the right locator to the end 
of the last.  
						

							CUBASE SX/SLTutorial 6: Using VST Instruments 14 – 189
3.Make sure Cycle is activated on the Transport panel, and start playback.
The whole “song” will now play back repeatedly.
Cycle activated on the Transport panel.
4.Click the Instrument Settings button in the Inspector (to the left of the 
“chn:” pop-up) for the MIDI Strings track, to bring up the a1 control 
panel.
5.While the music is playing, try adjusting the parameters by clicking 
and dragging the controls in the panel.
The a1 is laid out much like a traditional analog synthesizer. You may for example want 
to adjust the Cutoff and Resonance settings in the Filter section.   
						

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Automating the changes
Just like other mixer and effect settings in Cubase SX/SL, parameter 
changes for VST Instruments can be automated. Proceed as follows:
1.Stop playback and move the project cursor to the start of the project.
2.Turn off the Cycle button on the Transport panel.
This is simply a “safety measure” – if you record automation in Cycle mode, you may 
accidentally overwrite parameter changes you have made on a previous Cycle lap.
3.Click the Write (“W”) button in the a1 control panel.
4.Start playback.
5.Adjust the parameters you want – create filter sweeps, add modula-
tions, etc.
6.When you’re done, click Stop.
7.Deactivate the Write (“W”) button in the a1 control panel.
8.Click the Read (“R”) button next to it.
This makes the VST Instrument “read” the recorded automation during playback.
9.Start playback from the beginning of the project.
You will now see the controls moving, replicating your recorded parameter adjustments.
That concludes the VST Instrument tutorial! If you’re satisfied with 
what you recorded, you may want to save the project under a new 
name by selecting “Save As...” from the File menu.