Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Getting Started Manual
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CUBASE SX/SL Introduction 1 – 11 MIDI Devices and Features Contains descriptions of the included MIDI effect plug-ins; how to manage MIDI Devices and device panels; how to work with MIDI Sys- tem Exclusive messages and how to use the Logical Editor and Input Transformer. Audio Effects and VST Instruments Describes the features and parameters of the included VST plug-ins (real-time audio effects and VST instruments). Remote Control Devices This pdf document lists the supported MIDI remote control devices and describes how to set them up and use them with Cubase SX/SL. Score Layout and Printing (Cubase SX only) Describes the score editing features in Cubase SX. • There is a more basic Score editor in Cubase SL – this is described in the Operation Manual. Using Cubase SX/SL with DSP Factory (Windows only) Describes how to set up and use a Yamaha DSP Factory audio card with Cubase SX/SL.
CUBASE SX/SL 1 – 12 Introduction The Help System Cubase SX/SL comes with a detailed help system, making it easy to look up procedures and descriptions from within the program. The contents of the help basically mirror the complete Operation Manual text. The help systems are slightly different depending on which oper- ating system you use, Windows or Mac OS X: HTML Help (Windows) You use the HTML Help in the following way: • To open the HTML Help for browsing, select “HTML Help” from the Help menu in the program. This brings up the HTML Help browser in which you can browse the help table of con- tents, search the index or perform a free text search. • To get information about the active window or a dialog, press [F1] on the computer keyboard or click the Help button in the actual dialog. Within a topic, related topics are sometimes directly accessible via clickable links. Apple Help (Mac OS X) You use the Apple Help in the following way: • To open the Apple Help for browsing, select “Cubase SX/SL Help” from the Help menu in the program. This brings up the Apple Help Viewer window. There, you can either browse the help table of contents, use the index or type any words into the Search field at the top of the window. • To get information about the active window or a dialog, press [F1] on the computer keyboard or click the Help button in the actual dialog. Within a topic, related topics are sometimes directly accessible via clickable links. Please note that you can open the Cubase SX/SL Help even when the program isn’t running: 1. Select “Mac Help” from the Help menu in the Finder. 2. In the Apple Help Viewer, bring up the “Help Center”. 3. Click the “Cubase SX/SL Help” link in the Help Center.
CUBASE SX/SL Introduction 1 – 13 About the program versions The documentation covers two program versions; Cubase SX and Cubase SL, for two different operating systems or “platforms”; Win- dows and Mac OS X. Some features described in the documentation are only applicable to the Cubase SX version. Whenever this is the case this will be clearly indicated in the heading of the related subject. Similarly, some features and settings are specific to one of the plat- forms, Windows or Mac OS X. This is also clearly stated. In other words: • If nothing else is said, all descriptions and procedures in the documen- tation are valid for both Cubase SX and Cubase SL, under Windows and Mac OS X. The screenshots are taken from the Windows version of Cubase SX. Key command conventions Many of the default key commands in Cubase SX/SL use modifier keys, some of which are different depending on the operating system. For example, the default key command for Undo is [Ctrl]-[Z] under Windows and [Command]-[Z] under Mac OS X. When key commands with modifier keys are described in this manual, they are shown with the Windows modifier key first, in the following way: [Win modifier key]/[Mac modifier key]-[key] For example, [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Z] means “press [Ctrl] under Win- dows or [Command] under Mac OS X, then press [Z]”. Similarly, [Alt]/[Option]-[X] means “press [Alt] under Windows or [Op- tion] under Mac OS X, then press [X]”.
CUBASE SX/SL 1 – 14 Introduction How you can reach us On the Help menu in Cubase SX/SL, you will find items for registering online, getting additional information and help: • On the “Steinberg on the Web” submenu you can find links to various Steinberg websites. Selecting one will automatically launch your browser application and open the page. You can find support and compatibility information, answers to frequently asked ques- tions, links for downloading new drivers, etc. This requires that you have a web browser application installed on your computer, and a working Internet connection.
CUBASE SX/SL 2 – 16 Installation and Requirements for Windows About this chapter This chapter describes the system requirements and installation pro- cedures for Cubase SX/SL for Windows. Installing Cubase SX/SL for Mac OS X is described on page 28. Requirements To use Cubase SX/SL, you need the following: • A PC with Windows XP installed. A USB Port is also required. For more details about the computer requirements, see below. • Compatible audio hardware. By audio hardware we mean a card capable of recording and playing back digital audio using your hard disk as a storage medium. It must also have an appropriate ASIO driver (see page 18) or be Windows Multimedia compatible. Also, to take full advantage of Cubase’s channel i/o bus architecture and surround features (SX only), audio hard- ware with multiple inputs and outputs is required. For MIDI • At least one MIDI interface. • At least one MIDI instrument. • Any audio equipment necessary to listen to the sound from your MIDI devices.
CUBASE SX/SL Installation and Requirements for Windows 2 – 17 Computer requirements Hardware – PC The minimum requirements for running Cubase SX/SL on a PC are: • A 800 MHz Pentium processor or Athlon processor and Windows XP. • 384 MB of RAM. • Monitor and graphics card supporting 1024 x 768 resolution. • A free USB drive for the copy protection key. • A DVD ROM drive. For optimum performance we recommend the following: • Pentium or Athlon processor at 2.8 GHz or faster. • 512 MB of RAM. • A dual monitor setup with 1152 x 864 screen resolution or higher. RAM Audio work requires a lot of RAM! In fact, there is a direct relation be- tween the amount of available RAM and the number of audio channels that you can have running. As specified earlier, 384 MB is the minimum requirement, but as a general rule “the more the better” applies. Hard disk size • The size of the hard disk determines how many minutes of audio you will be able to record. Recording one minute of stereo CD quality audio, requires 10 MB of hard disk space. That is, eight stereo tracks in Cubase SX/SL use up at least 80 MB of disk space per recording minute. Hard disk speed The speed of the hard drive also determines the number of audio tracks you can run. That is the quantity of information that the disk can read, usually expressed as “sustained transfer rate”. Again, “the more the better” applies. Wheel mouse Although a regular mouse will work fine with Cubase SX/SL, we rec- ommend that you use a wheel mouse, as this will speed up value edit- ing and scrolling considerably. See page 68 and page 73.
CUBASE SX/SL 2 – 18 Installation and Requirements for Windows Audio hardware Cubase SX/SL will run with audio hardware that meets the following basic specifications: • Stereo. • 16 bit. • Support of at least the 44.1kHz sampling rate. • Is supplied with a special ASIO driver, or a DirectX or Windows Multimedia compatible driver as described below. About drivers A driver is a piece of software that allows a program to communicate with a certain piece of hardware. In this case, the driver allows Cubase SX/SL to use the audio hardware. For audio hardware, there are three different cases, each requiring different driver configurations: If the audio hardware has a specific ASIO driver Professional audio cards often come with an ASIO driver written es- pecially for the card. This allows for communication directly between Cubase SX/SL and the audio card. As a result, audio cards with spe- cific ASIO drivers can provide lower latency (input-output delay), which is crucial when monitoring audio via Cubase SX/SL or using VST Instruments. The ASIO driver may also provide special support for multiple inputs and outputs, routing, synchronization, etc. Audio card-specific ASIO drivers are provided by the card manufac- turers. Make sure to check the manufacturer’s web site for the latest driver versions. If your audio hardware comes with a specific ASIO driver we strongly recommend that you use this.
CUBASE SX/SL Installation and Requirements for Windows 2 – 19 If the audio card communicates via DirectX DirectX is a Microsoft “package” for handling various types of Multime- dia under Windows. Cubase SX/SL supports DirectX, or to be more precise, DirectSound, which is a part of DirectX used for playing back and recording audio. This requires two types of drivers: • A DirectX driver for the audio card, allowing it to communicate with DirectX. If the audio card supports DirectX, this driver should be supplied by the audio card manufacturer. If it isn’t installed with the audio card, please check the manufacturer’s web site for more information. • The ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver, allowing Cubase SX/SL to communicate with DirectX. This driver is included with Cubase SX/SL, and does not require any special installation. If the audio card communicates via Windows Multimedia system If the card is Windows compatible, it can be used in Cubase SX/SL. The card then communicates with Windows Multimedia system, which in turn communicates with Cubase SX/SL. This requires two types of drivers: • A Windows Multimedia driver for the audio card, allowing it to communicate with the Windows Multimedia system. This driver should be supplied by the au- dio card manufacturer, and is normally installed when you install the audio card. • The ASIO Multimedia driver, allowing Cubase SX/SL to communicate with the Windows Multimedia system. This driver is included with Cubase SX/SL, and does not require any special installation.
CUBASE SX/SL 2 – 20 Installation and Requirements for Windows Hardware installation Installing the copy protection key – please read! New users Included with the Cubase SX/SL package, you will find a hardware key (sometimes referred to as a “dongle”) that is part of the Cubase SX/SL copy protection scheme. Cubase SX/SL will not run if this key isn’t in- stalled properly. •The copy protection key should be plugged into the computer’s USB port after installing Cubase SX/SL and restarting the computer! When the copy protection key is plugged into the USB port, Windows will automati- cally register it as a new hardware device and will attempt to find drivers for it – these necessary drivers won’t be there until Cubase SX/SL has been installed and the com- puter restarted. If you’re upgrading from a previous version of Cubase SX/SL In this case you already have a copy protection key – all you need to do is authorize that key for use with your new Cubase SX/SL version. This is done by means of the Authorization Code included in the up- grade package, after installing the program, see page 24! Installing the audio hardware and its driver 1.Install the audio card and related equipment in the computer, as de- scribed in the card’s documentation. 2.Install the driver for the card. There are three types of drivers that could apply: card-specific ASIO drivers, DirectX drivers and Windows Multimedia drivers: Specific ASIO driver If your audio card has a specific ASIO driver it may be included with the audio card, but you should always make sure to check the audio card manufacturer’s web site for the most recent drivers. For details on how to install the driver, refer to the manufacturer’s instructions.