Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 MIDI Devices And Features Manual

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Octave mode
The Octave mode is similar to the Normal mode, but you can only set 
up one chord for each key in an octave (that is, twelve different chords). 
When you play a C note (regardless of whether it’s a C3, C4 or any 
other octave) you will hear the chord set up for the C key.
Global mode
In the Global mode, you only set up a single chord, using the Chord 
Setup keyboard display (the lower keyboard display is hidden). This 
chord is then played by all keys on the keyboard, but transposed ac-
cording to the note you play. 
						

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Using switches
The Switch Setup section at the bottom of the panel allows you to set 
up variations to the defined chords. This works with all three modes 
and provides a total of eight variations for each assignable key (that is, 
a maximum of 8 different chords in Global mode, 12x8 chords in Oc-
tave mode and 128x8 chords in Normal mode).
The variations can be controlled by velocity or note range. Here’s how 
you set it up:
1.Select one of the two switch modes: velocity or note.
How to use these is explained below.
The velocity switch mode selected.
2.Specify how many variations you want to use with the Use value box.
3.Click the first Switch Select button and set up the chord(s) you want 
for the first variation.
4.Click the next Switch Select button and set up the chord(s) you want 
for that variation.
5.Repeat this for the number of variations you specified with the Use 
setting.
Each Switch Select button corresponds to a variation.
6.Now you can play the keyboard and control the variations according 
to the selected switch modes.
These work as follows:
Switch mode Description
Velocity The full velocity range (1-127) is divided into “zones”, according to 
the number of variations you specified. For example, if you’re using 
two variations (Max is set to 2) there will be two velocity “zones”: 1-
63 and 64-127. Playing a note with velocity at 64 or higher will trig-
ger the second variation, while playing a softer note will trigger the 
first variation. 
						

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•To turn the variation switch feature off, select the “No Switch” mode.
Compress
This MIDI compressor is used for evening out or expanding differ-
ences in velocity. Though the result is similar to what you get with the 
Velocity Compression track parameter, the Compress plug-in pre-
sents the controls in a manner more like regular audio compressors. 
The parameters are:
Note In this mode, the chorder will play one chord at a time – you cannot 
play several different chords simultaneously. When the Note switch 
mode is selected, you play a key to determine the base note for the 
chord, then press a higher key to select a variation. The variation 
number will be the difference between the two keys. To select varia-
tion 1, press a key one semitone higher than the base note, for vari-
ation 2, press a key two semitones higher, and so on.
Parameter Description
Threshold Only notes with velocities over this value will be affected by the com-
pression/expansion.
Ratio This determines the rate of compression applied to the velocity values 
above the threshold level. Ratios greater than 1:1 result in compres-
sion (i.e. less difference in velocity) while ratios lower than 1:1 result in 
expansion (i.e. greater difference in velocity).
What actually happens is that the part of the velocity value that is 
above the threshold value is divided by the ratio value.
Gain This adds or subtracts a fixed value from the velocities. Since the max-
imum range for velocity values is 0-127, you may need to use the Gain 
setting to compensate, keeping the resulting velocities within the 
range. Typically, you would use negative Gain settings when expand-
ing and positive Gain settings when compressing. Switch mode Description 
						

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Context Gate (Cubase SX only)
The Context Gate allows for selective triggering/filtering of MIDI data. 
It can be used for context selective control of MIDI devices. The fol-
lowing parameters are available:
Poly Mode – Chord Gate
When Chord Gate is activated, only notes in recognized chords are 
let through. There are two modes of chord recognition available; Sim-
ple and Normal. In Simple mode, all standard chords (major/minor/b5/
dim/sus/maj7 etc.) are recognized, whereas Normal mode also takes 
more tensions into account.
Poly Mode – Polyphony Gate
This allows you to filter MIDI according to the number of pressed keys 
within a given key range. This can be used independently or in con-
junction with the Chord Gate function. 
•The Minimum value field allows you to specify the minimum number of 
notes needed for the notes to be let through.
•The Upper/Lower Range sets the key range.
Only notes within this range will be let through.  
						

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Mono Mode – Channel Gate
When this is activated, only single note events in a specified MIDI 
channel are let through, which can be used with MIDI controllers that 
can send MIDI over several channels simultaneously, for example gui-
tar controllers which send data for each string over a separate chan-
nel. You can either set this to a specific channel (1-16), or to “Any”, 
i.e. no channel gating.
Mono Mode – Key Range Gate
This can be used independently or in conjunction with the Channel 
Gate function. Played notes will sound (no note off message) until a 
note is played inside the set Upper and Lower range (and additionally 
the set Channel Gate channel, if checked).
Learn button
When this is activated, you can specify a Reset trigger event via MIDI. 
Whenever this specific MIDI event is sent, it triggers an “All Notes 
Off” message. When you have set the Reset event, the Learn button 
should be deactivated.
Auto Release time
If there is no input activity, all resounding notes are sent a note off 
message after the set time, in seconds or milliseconds.
Min Velocity
Notes below a set velocity threshold value will be gated.
Panic button
Sends an “All Notes Off” message over all channels, in case of hang-
ing notes. 
						

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Density
This generic control panel affects the “density” of the notes being 
played from (or thru) the track. When this is set to 100%, the notes 
are not affected. Lowering the Density setting below 100% will ran-
domly filter out or “mute” notes. Raising the setting above 100% will 
instead randomly add new notes.
Micro Tuner
The Micro Tuner lets you set up a different microtuning scheme for the 
instrument, by detuning each key. 
•Each Detune field corresponds to a key in an octave (as indicated by the key-
board display). Adjust a Detune field to raise or lower the tuning of that key, in 
cents (hundreds of a semitone).
•Set the Convert setting according to whether the track is routed to a VST in-
strument or a “real” standard MIDI instrument (capable of receiving microtun-
ing information).
The Micro Tuner comes with a number of presets, including both clas-
sical and experimental microtuning scales. 
						

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MIDIControl
This generic control panel allows you to select up to eight different 
MIDI controller types, and use the value fields/sliders to set values for 
these. A typical use for this would be if you’re using a MIDI instrument 
with parameters that can be controlled by MIDI controller data (e.g. fil-
ter cutoff, resonance, levels, etc.). By selecting the correct MIDI con-
troller types, you can use the plug-in as a control panel for adjusting 
the sound of the instrument from within Cubase SX/SL, at any time.
•To select a controller type, use the pop-up menus to the right.
•To deactivate a controller slider, set it to “Off” (drag the slider all the way to 
the left).  
						

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MIDIEcho
This is an advanced MIDI Echo, which will generate additional echo-
ing notes based on the MIDI notes it receives. It creates effects similar 
to a digital delay, but also features MIDI pitch shifting and much more. 
As always it is important to remember that the effect doesn’t “echo” 
the actual audio, but the MIDI notes which will eventually produce the 
sound in the synthesizer.
The following parameters are available:
Quantize
The echoed notes will be moved in position to a quantizing grid, as set 
up with this parameter. You can either use the slider or type to set the 
value in ticks (1/480 ticks of quarter notes) or click the arrow buttons 
to step between the “rhythmically exact” values (displayed as note val-
ues – see the table below). This makes it easy to find rhythmically rele-
vant quantize values, but still allows experimental settings in between.
An example: setting this to “16th” will force all echo notes to be 
played on exact 16th note positions, regardless of the timing of the 
original notes and the Echo-Quant. setting.
•To disable quantizing, set this parameter to its lowest value (1).
Length
This sets the length of the echoed notes. This can either be the same 
as their original notes (parameter set to its lowest value, “Source”) or 
the length you specify manually. You can either set the length in ticks 
or click the arrow buttons to step between the “rhythmically exact” 
lengths (displayed as note values – see the table below).
•The length can also be affected by the Length Decay parameter. 
						

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Repeat
This is the number of echoes (1 to 12) from each incoming note.
Echo-Quant.
The Echo-Quant. parameter sets the delay time, i.e. the time between 
a played note and its first echo note. You can either use the slider or 
type to set the value in ticks (1/480 ticks of quarter notes) or click the 
arrow buttons to step between the “rhythmically exact” delay times 
(displayed as note values – see the table below). 
For example, setting this to “8th” will cause the echo notes to sound 
an eighth note after their original notes.
•The echo time can also be affected by the Echo Decay parameter.
Velocity Decay
This parameter allows you to add or subtract to the velocity values for 
each repeat so that the echo fades away or increases in volume (pro-
vided that the sound you use is velocity sensitive). For no change of 
velocity, set this to 0 (middle position).
Echo Decay
This parameter lets you adjust how the echo time should be changed 
with each successive repeat. The value is set as a percentage.
•When set to 100% (middle position) the echo time will be the same for all re-
peats (as set with the Echo-Quant. parameter).
•If you raise the value above 100, the echoing notes will play with gradually 
longer intervals (i.e. the echo will become slower).
•If you lower the value below 100, the echoing notes will become gradually 
faster, like the sound of a bouncing ball.
Pitch Decay
If you set this to a value other than 0, the repeating (echoing) notes 
will be raised or lowered in pitch, so that each successive note has a 
higher or lower pitch than the previous. The value is set in semitones.
For example, setting this to -2 will cause the first echo note to have a 
pitch two semitones lower than the original note, the second echo 
note two semitones lower than the first echo note, and so on. 
						

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Length Decay
This parameter lets you adjust how the length of the echoed notes 
should change with each successive repeat. The higher the setting 
(25 – 100), the longer the echoed notes will be compared to their 
original notes.
About ticks and note values
The timing- and position-related parameters (Echo-Quant., Length 
and Quantize) can all be set in ticks. There are 480 ticks to each quar-
ter note. While the parameters allow you to step between the rhythmi-
cally relevant values (displayed as note values), the following table can 
also be of help, showing you the most common note values and their 
corresponding number of ticks:
Note Value Ticks
1/32 note 60
1/16 note triplet 90
1/16 note 120
1/8 note triplet 160
1/8 note 240
Quarter note triplet 320
Quarter note 480
Half note 960