Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Operation Manual

							CUBASE SX/SLThe mixer 10 – 211
2.Repeat this for all channels you want to hide.
3.Click the bottom “hide button” in the common panel.
This hides all channels set to “Can Hide”. To show them, click the button again.
Channel view sets
Channel view sets are saved configurations of the mixer windows, al-
lowing you to quickly switch between different layouts for the mixer. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Set up the mixer the way you wish to store it as a view set.
The following settings will be stored:
• Settings for individual channel strips (e. g. narrow or wide mode and whether 
the channel strip is (or can be) hidden or not).
• The hide/show status for channel types.
• The mixer’s display status (fader panel, extended panel, input/output panel
• Settings for what is shown in the extended view of the mixer.
2.Click the “Store View Set” button (the plus sign) at the top of the 
(non-extended) common panel.
3.A dialog appears, allowing you to type in a name for the view set.
Do so and click OK to store the current mixer view set.
•You can now return to this stored configuration at any time, by clicking 
the “Select Channel View Set” button (the down arrow at the top of 
the common panel) and selecting it from the pop-up menu.
•To remove a stored channel view set, select it and click the “Remove 
View Set” button (the minus sign).
Some remote control devices (such as Steinberg’s Houston) feature 
this function, which means that you can use the remote device to switch 
between the channel view sets. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL10 – 212 The mixer
The audio channel strips
The mixer in normal mode (faders and input/output settings panel visible), showing 
(from left to right): the common panel, a VST Instrument channel, a stereo audio 
channel, an effect return channel and a group channel strip.
All audio related channel types (audio, input/output channels, group, 
effect return, VST Instrument or ReWire) basically have the same 
channel strip layout, with the following differences:
• Only audio track channels have an Input Routing pop-up, a Record Enable 
and Monitor button.
• Input/output channels do not have sends.
• VST Instrument channels have an additional button for opening the instru-
ment’s control panel.
• Input channels (Cubase SX only) and output channels have clip indicators.
The common panel 
(see page 215).Level meter Level fader
Channel automation controlsPan control
Edit button 
(opens the Channel 
Settings window).
Insert/EQ/Send indicators and 
bypass buttons (see below).
Record Enable and Monitor buttons
Channel input/output routing
Channel name field Opens the control panel 
for the VST Instrument.
 Channel View 
options pop-up
Input Gain control 
(Cubase SX only)
The speaker configu-
ration for the channel.
Input Phase switch 
(Cubase SX only) 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLThe mixer 10 – 213
About the Insert/EQ/Send indicators and bypass buttons
The three indicator buttons in each audio channel strip have the fol-
lowing functionality:
•If an Insert or Send effect or EQ module is activated for a channel, the 
corresponding button is lit. 
The effect indicators will be blue, the EQ indicator will be green.
•By clicking these buttons when lit, the corresponding EQ or effects 
section will be bypassed.
Bypass is indicated by yellow buttons. Clicking the button again deactivates bypass. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL10 – 214 The mixer
The MIDI channel strips
The MIDI channel strips allow you to control volume and pan in your 
MIDI instrument (provided that they are set up to receive the corre-
sponding MIDI messages). The settings here are also available in the 
Inspector for MIDI tracks.
Level fader 
(MIDI volume) Level (velocity) meter
Channel automa-
tion controlsPan control
Monitor and 
Record Enable 
buttons
MIDI output routing pop-up
MIDI input pop-up
Edit button
Mute and Solo
Bypass Inserts
Disable Sends
Input Transformer 
buttonMIDI channel pop-up
This opens the 
control panel for a 
connected VST In-
strument. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLThe mixer 10 – 215
The common panel
The common panel appears to the left in the mixer windows and con-
tains settings for changing the look and behavior of the mixer, as well 
as global settings for all channels.
Global automation Read/Write buttons, 
see the “Automation” chapter.
Channel settings copy/paste, see page 235. Global Solo/Mute Off, 
see page 222.
These indicator buttons select what channel 
types are shown/hidden in the mixer.
Channel select pop-up
The View options buttons determine what to dis-
play in the extended panels of channel strips ([Alt]/
[Option]-click to affect busses as well). Only visi-
ble in extended mixer mode (Cubase SX only).
Store/Remove View set buttons (+/-) and 
Select View set pop-up, see page 211.
Show/hide buttons for the 
extended and input/output 
settings panels.Toggles “All Wide” (left arrows) or “All Narrow” 
channel strips in the mixer.
Opens the VST Connections 
window, see page 17.Shows/hides the input/
output settings panel
Shows/hides the extended 
panel (Cubase SX only).
Resets the settings to default 
(for all or selected channels). 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL10 – 216 The mixer
The input & output channels
The busses you have set up in the VST Connections window are rep-
resented by input and output channels in the mixer. These are shown 
in separate “panes” (to the left and right of the regular channel strips, 
respectively), with their own dividers and horizontal scrollbars. The i/o 
channel strips are very similar to other audio channels and are identi-
cal for input and output channels (except that input channels don’t 
have Solo buttons).
• If you are using Cubase SL, only output channels are shown in the mixer.
The input channels (busses) you have set up in the VST Connections window are 
available for selection on the input routing pop-up menus but you cannot view them or 
make settings for them in the mixer. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLThe mixer 10 – 217
•How to set up input and output busses is described in the chapter 
“VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses”.
•How to route audio channels to busses is described on page 239.
•The output channel section also contains the channel strip for the Au-
dition bus (Cubase SX only). This is the output bus used for audition-
ing, scrubbing, etc. The only settings here are a level fader and a mute 
button. For more about the Audition bus, see page 26.
Input gain (Cubase SX only)
Bus volume fader
Bus level meter
Read/Write 
Automation
Clip indicator
The Speaker configuration for 
the bus.
Edit button
Inserts indicator and 
Bypass button
EQ indicator and 
Bypass button
Pan control (no Panner 
used for surround busses)
Input Phase switch 
(Cubase SX only)
Mute and Solo 
buttons 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL10 – 218 The mixer
Basic mixing procedures
Setting volume in the mixer
In the mixer, each channel strip has a fader for volume control. 
•For audio channels, the faders control the volume of the channels be-
fore they are routed directly or via a group channel to an output bus.
Each channel can in turn handle up to 6 speaker channels – see page 300.
•An output channel fader determines the master output level of all au-
dio channels routed to that output bus.
•MIDI channels handle fader volume changes in the mixer by sending 
out MIDI volume messages to the connected instrument(s).
Connected instruments must be set to respond to MIDI messages (such as MIDI vol-
ume in this case) for this to function properly.
•The fader settings are displayed numerically below the faders, in dB 
for audio channels and in the MIDI volume 0 to 127 value range for 
MIDI channels.
You can click in the fader value fields and enter a volume setting by typing.
•To make fine volume adjustments, hold down [Shift] when you move 
the faders.
•If you hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and click on a fader, it will auto-
matically be set to position 0.0 dB for audio channels, or MIDI volume 
100 for MIDI channels.
Most mixer parameters can be reset to default values by [Ctrl]/[Command]-clicking 
this way.
You can use the faders to set up a volume balance between the audio 
and MIDI channels and perform a manual mix, by moving the faders 
and other controls while playing back. By using the Write function (see 
page 328), you can automate the levels and most mixer actions.
It is also possible to create volume envelopes for separate events in the 
Project window or Audio Part Editor (see page 195) as well as to make 
static volume settings for an event on the info line or with the volume 
handle (see page 182). 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLThe mixer 10 – 219
About the level meters for audio channels
When playing back audio in Cubase SX/SL, the level meters in the 
mixer show the level of each audio channel.
•Directly below the level meter is a small level readout – this shows the 
highest registered peak level in the signal.
Click this to reset the peak levels.
•Peak levels can also be shown as static horizontal lines in the meter 
(there are options for how this is displayed – see page 237).
If the peak level of the audio goes above 0dB, the numerical level indi-
cator will show a positive value (i.e. a value above 0dB).
Cubase SX/SL uses 32 bit floating point processing internally, so 
there is virtually limitless headroom – signals can go way beyond 0dB 
without clipping. Therefore:
• Having higher levels than 0 dB for individual audio channels is not a 
problem in itself. The audio quality will not be degraded by this. 
However, when many high level signals are mixed in an output bus this may require that 
you lower the output channel level a lot (see below). Therefore it’s good practice to 
keep the max levels for individual audio channels roughly around 0 dB.
About the level meters for input and output channels
For the input and output channels things are different. I/O channels 
have clip indicators (input channels are only shown in Cubase SX).
•When you are recording, clipping can occur when the analog signal is 
converted to digital in the audio hardware. 
With Cubase SX, it’s also possible to get clipping in the signal being recorded to disk 
(when 16 or 24 bit record format is used and you have adjusted the mixer settings for 
the input channel). Read more about checking and setting input levels on page 52.
•In the output busses, the floating point audio is converted to the reso-
lution of the audio hardware. In the integer audio domain, the maxi-
mum level is 0dB – higher levels will cause the clip indicator for each 
bus to light up.
If the clip indicators light up for a bus, this indicates actual clipping – digital distortion 
which should always be avoided.
If the clip indicator lights up for an output channel, reset the clip indicator 
by clicking on it, and lower the level until the indicator doesn’t light up. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL10 – 220 The mixer
Adjusting Input Gain (Cubase SX only)
Each audio channel and input/output channel features an Input Gain 
control. This controls the gain for the incoming signal, before EQ and 
effects.
The Input Gain is not meant to be used as a volume control in the 
mixer. It can, however, be used to cut or boost the gain in various cir-
cumstances:
•To change the level of a signal before the effects section.
The level going into certain effects can change the way the signal is affected. A com-
pressor, for example, can be “driven” harder by raising the Input Gain.
•To boost the level of poorly recorded signals.
To change the Input Gain, you need to press [Shift] and adjust the 
control (to avoid accidental gain changes). You can also press [Alt]/
[Option] – this lets you adjust the Input Gain with a fader.
• You should set the Input Gain once and for all for a channel – it is not 
suited for continuous level adjustments during playback.