Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Operation Manual

CUBASE SX/SLVST System Link 29 – 701
5.Now, you need to make sure that one audio card (and only one!) is set 
to be the Clock Master, and all the other cards must be set to listen 
for the clock signal coming from the Clock Master i.e. they must be 
Clock Slaves.
The naming and procedure for this differs depending on the audio hardware – consult 
its documentation if required. If you are using Steinberg Nuendo ASIO hardware, all 
cards default to the “AutoSync” setting – in this case you must set one of...

CUBASE SX/SL29 – 702 VST System Link
Minimizing the latency
The general definition of latency is the amount of time it takes any sys-
tem to respond to whatever messages are sent to it. For example, if 
your system’s latency is high and you play VST instruments in real 
time, you will get a noticeable delay between when you press a key 
and when you hear the sound of the VST instrument. Nowadays, most 
ASIO-compatible audio cards are capable of operating with very low 
latencies. Also, all VST...

CUBASE SX/SLVST System Link 29 – 703
Setting up your software
Now it’s time to set up your programs. The procedures below describe 
how to set things up in Cubase SX/SL; if you are using another pro-
gram on the other computer, please refer to its documentation.
Setting the sample rate
The projects in both programs must be set to use the same sample 
rate. Select “Project Setup…” from the Project menu and make sure 
the sample rate is the same in both systems.
Streaming digital audio between...

CUBASE SX/SL29 – 704 VST System Link
Settings for the audio hardware
When you send VST System Link data between computers, it is im-
portant that the digital information isn’t changed in any way between 
the programs. Therefore, you should open the control panel (or addi-
tional application) for your audio hardware and make sure that the fol-
lowing conditions are met:
•If there are additional “format settings” for the digital ports that you 
use for VST System Link data, make sure these are turned off....

CUBASE SX/SLVST System Link 29 – 705
Activating VST System Link
After setting up the inputs and outputs, you now need to define which 
input/output should carry the actual VST System Link information.
The System Link networking signal is carried on only one bit of one 
channel. This means that if you have an ADAT based system which 
normally carries eight channels of 24-bit audio, once you activate VST 
System Link you will have seven channels of 24-bit audio and one 
channel of 23-bit audio (the least...

CUBASE SX/SL29 – 706 VST System Link
3.Use the ASIO Input and ASIO Output pop-up menus to define which 
channel should be the networking channel (and thus become a 23-bit 
audio channel, in our example).
Quite often you will be able to just leave these pop-ups the way they are. 
4.Click the Active checkbox at the top of the panel.
5.Repeat the steps above for every computer on the network. 
As the computers are made active, you should see the small T (Trans-
mit) and R (Receive) lights flashing on each...

CUBASE SX/SLVST System Link 29 – 707
For now, let's put all computers online:
1.Activate the Online checkbox in the VST System Link panel for all 
computers. 
2.Check that the system is working by pressing Play on one computer – 
all computers should start almost instantly and play perfectly in time, 
with sample accurate precision.
•The Offset setting to the right allows you to adjust whether one ma-
chine will play back slightly ahead or behind the rest.
This is normally not needed, but...

CUBASE SX/SL29 – 708 VST System Link
Using MIDI
As well as supplying transport and sync control, VST System Link also 
supplies up to 16 MIDI ports, each with 16 channels. You set this up 
as follows:
1.Use the MIDI Ins and Outs value boxes to specify the number of MIDI 
ports you need.
The default value is 0 MIDI In and 0 MIDI Out ports.
2.Create a MIDI track in the Project window and open the Inspector 
(top section).
3.If you now pull down the “in” or “out” pop-ups, you will find the spec-
ified...

CUBASE SX/SLVST System Link 29 – 709
The “Active ASIO Ports for Data only” setting
If you are sending huge amounts of MIDI data at once, there is a small 
possibility that you might run out of bandwidth on your VST System 
Link network. This will manifest itself by notes “choking” or timing be-
coming erratic.
If this happens, you can devote more bandwidth to MIDI by selecting 
Active ASIO Ports for Data only in the VST System Link Setup panel. 
When this is active, the VST System Link information will...

CUBASE SX/SL29 – 710 VST System Link
4.Route the VST instrument channel to yet another bus (Bus 4).
5.Go back to Computer 1 and check the corresponding four VST System 
Link input busses.
If you start playback on Computer 2, the audio should “appear” on the input busses on 
Computer 1. However, to mix these audio sources you need actual mixer channels:
6.Add four new stereo audio tracks on Computer 1 and route these to 
the output bus you use for listening, e.g. to the analog stereo outputs.
7.For each...