Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Operation Manual

							CUBASE SX/SLAudio effects 11 – 251
About VST plug-ins and tempo sync
Version 2.0 of the VST plug-in standard (and later) allows plug-ins to 
receive MIDI from the host application (in this case, Cubase SX/SL). A 
typical use for this feature is tempo-based effects (such as delays, 
auto-panning, etc.), but it is also used in other ways for certain plug-ins.
•MIDI timing information is automatically provided to any VST 2.0 plug-
in that “requests it”.
You don’t need to make any special settings for this.
•In many cases you set up tempo sync by specifying a base note value 
and a multiplier. The resulting timing interval is the base note value 
multiplied with the multiplier value.
For example, if you set the base note value to 1/16 (a sixteenth note) and the multiplier 
to 3, the resulting timing is 3/16. In the case of a delay effect, this means the interval 
between each delay repeat will be three sixteenth notes.
•When MIDI receive is available (or necessary) for other purposes than 
timing, the setting up and operation is described in the documentation 
for the corresponding effect.
Please refer to the pdf document “Audio Effects and VST Instruments” for details 
about the included effects.
About plug-in delay compensation
A plug-in effect may have some inherent delay or latency. This means 
that it takes a brief time for the plug-in to process the audio fed into 
it – as a result, the output audio will be slightly delayed. This may hap-
pen with dynamics processors featuring “look-ahead” functions, etc.
However, Cubase SX/SL provides full plug-in delay compensation 
through-out the entire audio path. All plug-in delays are compensated 
for, maintaining the sync and timing of all audio channels.
Normally, you don’t have to make any settings for this. However, in the 
“Plug-In Information” dialog, you can switch off plug-in delay compen-
sation for individual plug-ins by unchecking the corresponding option 
in the “Use Delay Compensation” column (see page 284). Note that 
you have to re-load the plug-in for the change to take effect.
You can also constrain the delay compensation, which is useful to 
avoid latency when recording audio or playing a VST Instrument in 
real time. See page 294. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL11 – 252 Audio effects
Insert effects
Background
As the name implies, insert effects are inserted into the audio signal 
path – this means that the audio will be routed through the effect. You 
can add up to eight different insert effects (five in Cubase SL) indepen-
dently for each audio channel (audio track, group channel track, FX 
channel track, VST Instrument channel or ReWire channel) or bus. The 
signal passes through the effects in series from the top downwards, 
with the signal paths shown in this figures (for Cubase SX and Cubase 
SL, respectively):
As you can see, in Cubase SX the last two insert slots (for any chan-
nel) are post-EQ and post-fader. In Cubase SL, the last insert slot for 
an output channel is post-EQ and post-fader. Post-fader slots are 
best suited for insert effects where you don’t want the level to be 
changed after the effect, such as dithering (see page 259) and maxi-
mizers – both typically used as insert effects for output busses.
Input gain
Insert effect 1
Insert effect 2
Insert effect 3
Insert effect 6
EQ
Volume (fader)
Insert effect 7
Insert effect 8
Insert effect 4
Insert effect 5
Insert effect 6Insert effect 1
Insert effect 2
Insert effect 3
EQ
Volume (fader)
Insert effect 4
Insert effect 5
Cubase SX: Cubase SL:
Insert effect 1
Insert effect 2
Insert effect 3
EQ
Volume (fader)
Insert effect 4
Insert effect 5
Cubase SL output channel: 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLAudio effects 11 – 253
• Applying insert effects on many channels uses up a lot of CPU power!
It might often be more efficient to use send effects, especially if you want to use the 
same type of effect on several channels. Remember that you can use the VST Perfor-
mance window to keep an eye on the CPU load.
Which effect plug-ins can I use as insert effects?
Most effect plug-ins will work fine as insert effects. In general, the only 
restrictions are with the number of inputs and outputs in the effects:
•For a plug-in to be usable as an insert effect, it has to have at least 1 
or 2 inputs and 1 or 2 outputs.
Different effects feature different amounts of inputs and outputs, but the number of in-
puts and outputs actually used is determined by whether you use the insert effects on 
a single (mono) audio channel, a stereo channel pair or a surround audio channel (mul-
tiple channels – Cubase SX only).
•For stereo audio channels, you need to use an effect with at least two 
inputs (stereo).
It is possible to use a mono-input effect with a stereo channel pair, but then only the 
one channel in the pair will be processed, which is probably not what you want. It is 
also possible to use an effect with more than two inputs of course, since both chan-
nels in the stereo pair will be processed even though the effect actually accommo-
dates more.
•For mono audio channels, you can use mono- or stereo-input effects.
However, since the audio channel is in mono, the output of the effect will also be in 
mono. For stereo output effects, the left channel will then be used.
•For multi-channel audio tracks (Cubase SX only), you can use effects 
with any number of inputs.
If you use an effect with only one or two inputs however, this will have the effect that 
only one or two channels (most often L and/or R) in a surround configuration will be af-
fected, leaving the other channels unprocessed by the effect. See page 256. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL11 – 254 Audio effects
Routing an audio channel or bus through insert effects
Insert effect settings are available in the mixer (in extended mode), the 
Channel Settings window and the Inspector (audio tracks, group tracks 
and FX tracks only). The examples below show the Channel Settings 
window, but the procedures are similar for all three send sections:
1.Bring up the Channel Settings window, the Inserts pane in the ex-
tended mixer or the Inserts section in the Inspector.
In the Channel Settings window, the inserts are located immediately to the right of the 
channel strip.
2.Pull down the effect type pop-up for one of the insert slots, and select 
an effect.
The effect is loaded and automatically activated and its control panel 
appears. You can hide or show the control panel for the effect by 
clicking the “e” button for the insert slot.
•If the effect has a Dry/Wet Mix parameter you can use this to adjust 
the balance between the dry signal and the effect signal.
See page 278 for details about editing effects.
•When one or several insert effects are activated for a channel, the in-
sert effects buttons light up in blue in the mixer and Track list. Click 
the button for a channel to bypass (disable) all its inserts.
When the inserts are bypassed, the buttons are yellow. Click the button again to en-
able the inserts. Note that the bypass button is also available in the Inspector and the 
Channel settings window for the audio track.
•To remove an effect, pull down the effect type pop-up menu and se-
lect “No Effect”.
You should do this for all effects that you don’t intend to use, to minimize unnecessary 
CPU load. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLAudio effects 11 – 255
•When you have several insert effects for a channel, you can bypass 
separate effects by clicking the bypass button of the respective slot.
When an effect is bypassed, the button is yellow.
The “Reverb A” insert effect slot is bypassed.
Insert effects in the channel overview
If the “Channel” section is selected in the Inspector or the “Channel 
Overview” view mode is selected in the extended mixer, you will get 
an overview of which EQ modules, insert effects and effect sends are 
activated for the channel.
You can activate or deactivate individual insert effect slots by clicking 
the corresponding number (in the upper half of the overview).
The channel overview in the Inspector. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL11 – 256 Audio effects
Using mono or stereo effects with a surround channel 
(Cubase SX only)
Normally, when you apply a mono or stereo insert effect to a surround 
(multi channel) track, the first speaker channel(s) of the track (often L 
and/or R) are routed through the effect’s available channels, and the 
other channels of the track are left unprocessed.
However, you may want to apply the effect to other speaker channels. 
This is done in the Channel Settings window:
1.Click in the small window to the left above the inserts section to open 
up the Display Modes pop-up menu.
2.Select “Routing” from the menu.
The inserts section changes appearance, to display a row of small signal diagrams. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLAudio effects 11 – 257
3.Double click on the small signal diagram for the effect to open up an 
editor window.
The columns in the diagram represent the channels in the current sur-
round configuration, with signals passing from top to bottom. The grey 
field in the middle represents the actual effect plug-in.
• The squares above the effect represent inputs to the effect plug-in.
• The squares below the effect represent outputs from the effect plug-in.
• A line that passes through the effect (with no square input/output indicators) 
represent a bypass connection – the audio on that speaker channel passes 
the effect without being processed.
• A “broken” line indicates a broken connection – the audio on that speaker 
channel will not pass on to the output at all.
Here, the effect will process the L and R channels. The Ls, Rs and C channels will 
pass through unaffected, while the Lfe connection is broken. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL11 – 258 Audio effects
Operations
You can move connections to the effect inputs and outputs sideways 
to route the audio to/from other inputs/outputs than the standard con-
figuration. To do this, you click the arrow buttons to the right.
•The upper two arrows move the input connections, and the lower two 
arrows move the output connections.
If the “Link” checkbox is activated the input and output connections will be moved at 
the same time. This is the mode to use when you simply want to process other chan-
nels than the default, without any cross-connections.
•If you move inputs or outputs independently of each other, this means 
you create a “cross-connection”.
The audio on the Ls-Rs channels is processed in the plug-in and output on the L-R 
channels. Since the L-R channels are bypassed, this means the final L-R output will 
contain both the original L-R signals and the processed Ls-Rs signals.
•If a channel is bypassed (a straight line is shown through the plug-in) 
you can click the line to break the connection.
Click again to replace the broken connection with a bypass.
•Clicking Reset gets you back to the original standard connection.
• Changes you make in this window are audible immediately. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLAudio effects 11 – 259
About adding insert effects to busses
As already stated, all input and output busses have eight insert slots, 
just like regular audio channels. The procedures for adding insert ef-
fects are the same (except you cannot use the Inspector here).
•Adding insert effects to an input bus (Cubase SX only) allows you to 
record with effects.
The effects will become a permanent part of the recorded audio file (see page 66).
•Insert effects added to an output bus will affect all audio routed to that 
bus, like a “master insert effect”.
Typically you would add compressors, limiters, EQ or other plug-ins to tailor the dy-
namics and sound of the final mix. A special case is dithering, as described below.
Dithering
Dithering is a method for controlling the noise produced by quantiza-
tion errors in digital recordings. The theory behind this is that during 
low level passages, only a few bits are used to represent the signal, 
which leads to quantization errors and hence distortion. 
For example, when “truncating bits”, as a result of moving from 24- to 
16-bit resolution, quantization errors are added to an otherwise im-
maculate recording. By adding a special kind of noise at an extremely 
low level, the effect of these errors is minimized. The added noise 
could be perceived as a very low-level hiss under exacting listening 
conditions. However, this is hardly noticeable and much preferred to 
the distortion that otherwise occurs.
When should I use dithering?
•Consider dithering when you mix down to a lower resolution, either in 
real-time (playback) or with the Export Audio Mixdown function. 
A typical example is when you mix down a project to a 16-bit stereo audio file for audio 
CD burning.
What is a “lower resolution” then? Well, Cubase SX/SL uses 32-bit 
float resolution internally, which means that all integer resolutions (16-
bit, 24-bit, etc.) are lower. The negative effects of truncation (no dither-
ing) are probably most noticeable in 8-bit, 16-bit and 20-bit format; 
whether to dither when mixing down to 24 bits is perhaps a matter of 
taste. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL11 – 260 Audio effects
Applying dithering
1.Click the “e” button to bring up the Output Settings window for the 
output bus, or display its Inserts section in the extended mixer pane, 
as described above.
2.Cubase SX: Pull down the Inserts pop-up menu in slot 7 or 8.
In Cubase SX, the two last Insert effect slots (for all channels) are post-fader, which is 
crucial for a dithering plug-in. The reason is that any master gain change applied after 
dithering would bring the signal back to the internal 32 bit float domain, rendering the 
dithering settings useless.
3.Cubase SL: Pull down the Inserts pop-up menu in the last slot (5).
In Cubase SL, the last insert effect slot for all output channels are post-fader, useful for 
dithering as explained above.
If you need to apply dithering to a channel other than the output channels, you must 
make sure that no other plug-ins are inserted after the dithering plug-in and that the 
level fader of the channel is set to 0.0 dB (no change).
4.Select a dithering plug-in from the pop-up menu.
Cubase SL only has one; the UV22 dithering plug-in. Additional dithering plug-ins in-
cluded with Cubase SX are: 
For a description of the included dithering plug-ins and their parame-
ters, please see the separate PDF document “Audio Effects and VST 
Instruments”. If you have installed another dithering plug-in that you 
prefer, you can of course select this instead.
5.Make sure the dithering plug-in is set to dither to the correct resolution.
This would be the resolution of your audio hardware (on playback) or the desired res-
olution for the mixdown file you want to create (as set in the Export Audio Mixdown di-
alog, see page 659).
6.Use the other parameters in the control panel to set up the dithering 
to your liking.
Plug-in Description
UV22HR UV22HR offers very high-quality dithering with support for multiple 
resolutions (8, 16, 20 or 24 bits).
SurroundDither SurroundDither is a surround-compatible plug-in capable of dither-
ing six channels at the same time. If you are applying dithering to a 
surround bus, this is the recommended dithering plug-in to use.