Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Getting Started Manual

							CUBASE SX/SLTutorial 11: Customizing19 – 241
Setting up a typical bus configuration
1.Open the VST Connections window from the Devices menu.
2.Select the Outputs tab and click the Add Bus button.
A dialog appears.
3.Select “Stereo” and click OK.
You should now have two separate stereo output busses.
4.Use the ASIO Device Port column to select the desired audio outputs 
on your audio hardware for the two stereo busses.
5.Click the Inputs tab and set up input busses in the same way.
6.Close the VST Connections window.
Adding tracks
Let’s start with the audio tracks – let’s say you want 8 stereo tracks 
and 8 mono tracks:
1.Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) anywhere in the Track list, and se-
lect “Add Multiple Tracks…” from the pop-up menu that appears.
A dialog appears, allowing you to specify the type of tracks, the track configuration and 
the number of tracks.
2.Set “Track” to Audio, “Configuration” to Stereo and “Count” to 8. 
Click OK.
Eight stereo audio tracks are now added to the project.
3.Repeat this procedure but set “Configuration” to Mono.
Eight mono audio tracks are added.
•By default, all audio tracks will be routed to/from the first output/input 
busses – if you want to change the routing you can do that with the 
“in:” and “out:” pop-up menus in the Inspector or the Mixer.
A tip: to change the input or output routing of several tracks in one go, select the tracks 
by [Shift]-clicking in the track list, press [Alt]/[Option] and change the routing in the In-
spector. This changes the setting for all selected tracks.
Next up are the MIDI tracks.
4.Use the “Add Multiple Tracks” function again, but set “Track” to MIDI 
and “Count” to 16. 
						

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5.If you need to change the output routing for the MIDI tracks, use the 
“out:” column in the Track list or Inspector.
To change the routing for all MIDI tracks, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and change the set-
ting for one track.
There are a lot of tracks in the Project window now – you may find it 
useful to put all MIDI tracks in a folder:
6.Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) in the Track list, and select “Add 
Folder Track”.
A new folder track appears. This track type is simply a “container” for other tracks, 
helping you to manage and organize the track list.
7.Select all MIDI tracks by [Shift]-clicking.
8.Click on one of the MIDI tracks and drag it onto the Folder track.
A green arrow indicates that you are about to move the track(s) into the folder.
9.Release the mouse button.
Now all MIDI tracks are placed inside the folder.
10.If you like, “close” the folder by clicking the minus sign to the left in the 
track list.
This hides all MIDI tracks from view.
You could add other tracks and make settings for them in the same 
manner – you might for example want a Marker track, Group channel 
tracks or a track for some standard send effects (FX Channel tracks). 
Setting up your work space
Before saving the template, you should position the windows the way 
you want them. You may want to hide unwanted windows from view, 
position the Transport panel, maximize the Project window, etc. The 
open windows and their positions will be included in the template.
Saving the template
To create the template, pull down the File menu and select “Save as 
Template…”. A dialog appears, asking you to name the template. This 
could be a descriptive name such as “Audio/MIDI Production”.
•If you now select “New Project” from the File menu, your template will 
be listed in the dialog that appears.
Selecting it will create a new project with the track layout you’ve created. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLTutorial 11: Customizing19 – 243
Setting up Zoom presets
When working in the Project window and the editors, you will typically 
need to zoom in and out depending on what you’re doing. In the project 
window, zooming can be done with the zoom sliders to the right, with 
the Zoom submenu on the Edit menu or with the magnifying glass tool 
(see page 73 for more about zooming).
Zoom presets are a handy way to toggle between different zoom set-
tings. In this example we will set up a two presets: One that displays 
the whole project for a good overview, and one with a high zoom fac-
tor for detailed editing. We will continue working with the track layout 
you set up for the template.
1.Locate the vertical zoom slider in the lower right corner of the project 
window.
Just above the slider is a small arrow button – this opens the vertical zoom menu.
2.Pull down the vertical zoom menu and select the option “Zoom Tracks 
Full”.
The project is zoomed vertically so that the eight tracks we added before take up the 
entire project window (or rather, the entire lower track list area). This way, we get a 
nice, compact layout.
3.Use the horizontal zoom slider to set a suitable horizontal zoom.
Check the rulers to see how much of the project will be visible at different zoom factors.
Vertical zoom menu.
Horizontal zoom menu. Horizontal zoom slider.
Vertical zoom slider.  
						

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4.When you’re satisfied, pull down the horizontal zoom menu and select 
“Add”.
A dialog appears, allowing you to type in a name for the preset, e.g. “Overview”.
5.Click OK to save the zoom preset.
This will now be available on the horizontal zoom menu, from which it can be selected 
and applied.
6.Use the vertical and horizontal zoom sliders to zoom in for a detailed 
view, and repeat the procedure of saving the zoomed factor as a preset.
The preset could be called “Detailed”.
Now it will be possible to toggle between these two zoom factors 
simply by selecting the corresponding preset from the zoom menu.
Setting up workspaces
The final task in this tutorial will be to set up workspaces. A workspace 
is a configuration of windows and their properties – their sizes and po-
sitions etc. This makes it possible to quickly switch between different 
working modes.
In the following example, we will work with two workspaces: The Main 
(default) workspace, with the Project window and the Project Browser 
displayed, and one for mixing purposes, with the Mixer and the VST 
Performance window displayed.
1.Let’s start by opening the Project Browser, which lets you view and 
edit the events of a project in list form.
This is opened from the Project menu.
2.Now arrange the Project window and the Project Browser next to 
each other, so that they fill the whole screen but don’t overlap. 
If you are using Cubase SX/SL for Windows, you can quickly do this by selecting “Tile 
Horizontally” from the Window menu.
You will probably also want to move the Transport panel so that it 
doesn’t obscure the view.
OK, now you set up your Main workspace for editing. Let’s now create 
a workspace for mixing purposes: 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLTutorial 11: Customizing19 – 245
3.From the Workspaces submenu on the Window menu, select “New 
Workspace” and type in a name for the workspace (e.g. Mixing).
The number in brackets displayed next to the Window menu name indicates that a dif-
ferent Workspace is now active.
4.Close the Project Browser, minimize the Project window, and instead 
open the Mixer and the VST Performance window from the Devices 
menu.
5.Resize the windows the way you want them and arrange them as you 
see fit.
Now you can quickly switch between these two workspaces:
6.Pull down the Window menu and display the Workspaces submenu.
Both workspaces are listed at the bottom of the menu.
7.Select “Main”.
The mixer and VST Performance window are closed, the Project Browser is opened 
and the Project window displayed and the windows are instantly positioned in the way 
you stored them. It’s also possible to switch workspaces by using key commands.
That concludes this tutorial!  
						

							CUBASE SX/SL19 – 246 Tutorial 11: Customizing 
						

							20
Shortcuts & key commands 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL20 – 248 Shortcuts & key commands
About this chapter
Most of the main menus in Cubase SX/SL have key command short-
cuts for certain items on the menus. In addition, there are numerous 
other Cubase SX/SL functions that can be performed via key com-
mands. These are all factory default settings, but can be customized if 
you like (see the chapter “Key commands” in the Operation Manual 
for details).
The default key commands
Below, the default key commands are listed according to category.
•As described on page 13, modifier keys are written as:
[Win modifier key]/[Mac modifier key].
For example, “[Ctrl]/[Command]+N” in the list below means “press [Ctrl] under Windows 
or [Command] under Mac OS X, then press N”.
Audio category
Devices category
Option Key command
Adjust Fades to Range [A]
Crossfade [X]
Find Selected in Pool [Ctrl]/[Command]+[F]
Option Key command
Mixer [F3]
Video [F8]
VST Connections [F4]
VST Instruments [F11]
VST Performance [F12] 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLShortcuts & key commands 20 – 249
Edit category
Option Key command
Autoscroll [F]
Copy [Ctrl]/[Command]+[C]
Cut [Ctrl]/[Command]+[X]
Cut Time [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Shift]+[X]
Delete [Del] or [Backspace]
Delete Time [Shift]+[Backspace]
Duplicate [Ctrl]/[Command]+[D]
Edit In-place [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Shift]+[I]
Group [Ctrl]/[Command]+[G]
Insert Silence [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Shift]+[E]
Left Selection Side to Cursor [E]
Lock [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Shift]+[L]
Move Insert Cursor to Part Start [0]
Move to Cursor [Ctrl]/[Command]+[L]
Mute [M]
Mute Events [Shift]+[M]
Mute/Unmute Objects [Alt]/[Option]+[M]
Open Default Editor [Ctrl]/[Command]+[E]
Open Score Editor [Ctrl]/[Command]+[R]
Open/Close Editor [Return]
Paste [Ctrl]/[Command]+[V]
Paste at Origin [Alt]/[Option]+[V]
Paste Time [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Shift]+[V]
Record Enable [R]
Redo [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Shift]+[Z]
Repeat [Ctrl]/[Command]+[K]
Right Selection Side to Cursor [D] 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL20 – 250 Shortcuts & key commands
Editors category
File category
Select All [Ctrl]/[Command]+[A]
Select None [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Shift]+[A]
Snap On/Off [J]
Solo [S]
Split At Cursor [Alt]/[Option]+[X]
Split Range [Shift]+[X]
Undo [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Z]
Ungroup [Ctrl]/[Command]+[U]
Unlock [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Shift]+[U]
Unmute Objects [Shift]+[U]
Option Key command
Show/Hide Infoview [Ctrl]/[Command]+[I]
Show/Hide Inspector [Alt]/[Option]+[I]
Show/Hide Overview [Alt]/[Option]+[O]
Option Key command
Close [Ctrl]/[Command]+[W]
New [Ctrl]/[Command]+[N]
Open [Ctrl]/[Command]+[O]
Quit [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Q]
Save [Ctrl]/[Command]+[S]
Save As [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Shift]+[S]
Save New Version [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Alt]/[Option]+[S] Option Key command