Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Operation Manual

							CUBASE SX/SLSurround sound  (Cubase SX only) 13 – 301
• Cubase SX is ready for surround specific plug-ins, that is plug-ins with multi 
channel support specifically designed for surround sound mixing tasks (the 
included “Mix6to2” plug-in is an example of this). 
There are also surround aware plug-ins, which are not designed specifically 
for Surround but which due to their multi-channel support work well in a Sur-
round configuration. An example is the Surrounddither plug-in.
• You configure Cubase SX for surround by defining input and output busses in 
the desired surround format, and specifying which audio inputs and outputs 
should be used for the different channels in the busses. This is done in the 
VST Connections window.
Requirements for using Surround
The following additional equipment is required for taking advantage of 
Cubase SX’s surround sound implementation:
• An audio card with more than two outputs.
The card must have as many outputs as the surround format you plan to select.
• A matching amplifier/speaker configuration.
Encoding
The result of a surround mix in Cubase SX is either the multi-channel 
audio sent from the surround output bus to your surround speaker 
setup, or (if you use the Export audio feature) audio file(s) on your hard 
disk. Exported surround mixes can either be split (one mono file per 
speaker channel) or interleaved (a single file containing all the surround 
channels).
Getting from this step to the final product (surround sound on DVD 
disc etc.) requires special software and possibly hardware. This 
equipment will encode the signal into the desired format, possibly 
compress the audio and store it on the final media.
Exactly what type of software and/or hardware you need depends on 
what kind of format you are mixing for and is not dependent on Cubase 
SX in any way. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL13 – 302 Surround sound  (Cubase SX only)
About surround plug-ins
Included with the program are some specific surround-plug-ins. 
These are:
•Mix6to2
The Mix6to2 effect allows you to control the levels of up to six surround channels, and 
to mix these down to a stereo output.
•SurroundDither
This is a dithering plug-in capable of handling six channels at the same time – use this 
for applying dithering to a surround output bus.
•SurroundPanner
This is described on page 309.
• Surround plug-ins (apart from the SurroundPanner) are described in the 
separate pdf document “Audio Effects and VST instruments”. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLSurround sound  (Cubase SX only) 13 – 303
Window overview
VST Connections
In this window you can add input and output busses. There is a com-
plete selection of common surround configurations available, as well 
as standard mono or stereo busses.
The Bus Name column contains the currently configured busses as 
they will appear in the input and output routing pop-ups in the mixer.
VST Connections showing the Outputs page.
The outputs selected for 
the channels in the busses.Click here to add a bus.
The currently configured busses.  
						

							CUBASE SX/SL13 – 304 Surround sound  (Cubase SX only)
Surround in the mixer
Surround sound is supported throughout every stage of the signal 
path in the Cubase SX mixer, from input to output bus. Each bus or 
audio channel can carry up to 6 surround speaker channels.
In the output channel section of the mixer you can control the master 
levels for configured busses. The level meter for a bus (or channel in 
the mixer) that carries multiple surround channels will show multiple 
level bars, one for each speaker channel in the surround configuration.
Here, the SurroundPanner is used for 
positioning the sound “dynamically” in 
the surround field.
Using the Output Routing pop-up, audio 
channels can be routed directly to sur-
round channels.  
						

							CUBASE SX/SLSurround sound  (Cubase SX only) 13 – 305
Operations
Setting up the surround configuration
Output bus configuration
Before you can start working with surround sound, you have to config-
ure a surround output bus, through which all the speaker channels of 
the chosen surround format are routed. How to add and set up bus-
ses is described in detail on page 14. Here is a brief run through:
1.Open the VST Connections window from the Devices menu.
2.Click the “Outputs” tab.
3.Click the “Add Bus” button and select one of the preset formats from 
the Configuration pop-up (see below).
The new bus appears with the ports visible.
4.By clicking in the Device Port column you can now route the speaker 
channels to the desired outputs of your audio hardware.
5.If you like, rename the output bus by clicking its name and typing in a 
new one.
This name will appear in the mixer and on routing pop-ups.
The following surround configurations are included:
Format Description
LRCS LRCS refers to Left Right Center Surround, where the surround speaker 
is center-rear positioned. This is the original surround format that first ap-
peared as Dolby Stereo in cinema and later as the home cinema format 
Dolby ProLogic.
5.0 This is the same as 5.1 (see below) but without the LFE channel. The LFE 
channel is optional in 5.1 and if you don’t plan to use it, you might find this 
option more convenient.
5.1 This format is one of the most popular in cinema and DVD. In its various 
cinema and DVD encoding implementations (established by different 
manufacturers) it is referred to as Dolby Digital, AC-3, DTS and MPEG 2 
Multichannel. 5.1 has one center speaker (mainly used for speech) and 
four surround speakers (for music and sound effects). Additionally a sub-
channel (LFE – Low Frequency Effects) with lower bandwidth is used for 
special low frequency effects. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL13 – 306 Surround sound  (Cubase SX only)
Child busses
Essentially a child bus is a bus within a (“bigger”) bus. Typically you may 
want stereo child busses within your surround bus – this allows you to 
route stereo tracks directly to a stereo speaker pair within the surround 
bus. You may also want to add child busses in other surround formats 
(with fewer channels than the “parent bus”).
Once you have created a surround bus, you can add one or several 
child busses to it by right-clicking (Windows) or [Ctrl]-clicking (Mac) 
the bus and selecting “Add Child Bus”. This is described in detail on 
page 19.
LRC Same as LRCS, but without the surround speaker channel.
LRS Left-Right-Surround, with the surround speaker positioned at center-rear.
LRC+Lfe Same as LRC but with an Lfe sub-channel added.
LRS+Lfe Same as LRS but with an Lfe sub-channel added.
Quadro The original Quadraphonic format for music, with one speaker in each 
corner. This format was intended for vinyl record players.
LRCS+Lfe Same as LRCS but with an Lfe sub-channel added.
Quadro+Lfe Same as Quadro but with an Lfe sub-channel added.
6.0 Cine A Left-Right-Center front speaker arrangement with 3 (Left-Right-Center) 
surround channels.
6.0 Music This uses 2 (Left/Right) front channels with Left and Right surround chan-
nels and Left and Right Side channels. Format Description 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLSurround sound  (Cubase SX only) 13 – 307
Input bus configuration
To work with surround sound in Cubase SX, it is often not necessary 
to configure a surround format input bus. You can record audio files via 
standard inputs, and easily route the resulting audio channels to sur-
round outputs at any stage. You can also directly import multichannel 
files of specific surround format onto audio tracks of the same format.
You should add a surround input bus in the following circumstances:
•You have existing audio material in a specific surround format, and you 
wish to transfer this material into Cubase SX as a single, multi-channel 
file.
•You wish to record a surround setup “live”.
In both cases, you can add and configure an input bus of the format 
you wish to use in the VST Connections dialog so that each input on 
your audio hardware is routed to the corresponding speaker channel.
To add an input bus, use the same general method as described on 
page 305, but select the “Inputs” tab instead. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL13 – 308 Surround sound  (Cubase SX only)
Routing channels directly to surround channels
If you want to place an audio source in one separate speaker channel 
only, you can route it directly to that speaker channel. This is useful for 
pre-mixed material or multi-channel recordings that don’t require pan-
ning.
1.Open the mixer and locate the channel you wish to route.
2.From the output routing pop-up menu, select the corresponding sur-
round speaker channel.
•If a stereo audio channel is routed directly to speaker channel, the left/
right channels will be mixed to mono.
The pan control for the audio channel governs the balance between the left and right 
channel in the resulting mono mix. Center pan will produce a mix of equal proportion.
Routing channels using Child busses
Child busses provide a way to route stereo (or multichannel) audio 
channels to specific speaker channels in a surround configuration. 
The most obvious application of a child bus is when you wish to add a 
stereo channel to two specific left/right surround speaker channels.
If you have added a child bus within a surround bus (see page 306), it 
appears as a submenu item within the surround bus on the output rout-
ing pop-up menu. Select this to route a stereo audio channel directly to 
that stereo speaker pair in the surround bus. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLSurround sound  (Cubase SX only) 13 – 309
Using the Surround Panner
Cubase SX has a special feature for graphically positioning a sound 
source in a surround field. This is actually a special plug-in which dis-
tributes the audio from the channel in various proportions to the sur-
round channels.
1.Open the mixer and locate the channel you wish to position.
This could be a mono or stereo channel.
2.From the output routing pop-up menu, select the “whole surround 
bus” (not a surround speaker channel).
A miniature graph of the surround plug-in interface appears above the fader in the 
channel strip.
When the “whole surround bus” is selected, the channel strip shows a miniature 
surround control. 
3.Click and drag directly in the miniature image to move the sound in 
the surround field.
The horizontal red strip to the right controls the subbass (LFE) level (if available in the 
selected surround format).
•You can also view a slightly larger version of this control by selecting 
“Surround Pan” on the view options pop-up for the extended mixer 
panel.
This mode offers click and drag-panning as well as numerical values for left/right bal-
ance, front/rear balance and LFE amount – type or use a mouse wheel to adjust them.
•For total control over surround panning, you can double click on the 
miniature image to open the full Surround Panner interface in a sepa-
rate window. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL13 – 310 Surround sound  (Cubase SX only)
The SurroundPan controls
The SurroundPan plug-in interface in Standard, Position and Angle mode, 
respectively.
The SurroundPan plug-in allows you to position your audio in the sur-
round field. It consists of an image of the speaker arrangement, as de-
fined by the output bus selected on the output routing pop-up menu, 
with the sound source indicated as a grey ball. 
The following options and methods are available:
Mode – Standard/Position/Angle
The Standard Mode/Position Mode/Angle Mode switch allows you to 
work in three modes:
• In both Standard and Position mode, the speakers in the front are aligned, as 
they would normally be in a cinema-type situation. This means that the front 
speakers are at a varying distance from the center. Standard mode (default) is 
the best mode for moving sources between speakers without level attenuation.
• Angle Mode is the traditional surround sound mixing definition. Note that here 
the speakers are defined as being at equal distance from the center. This is 
not really a true representation of for example a cinema, but has still proven to 
work well in many situations.