Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Operation Manual

							CUBASE SX/SLAutomation 14 – 341
Tips and common methods
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to describing which au-
tomation method you should use. You can for example never even open 
an automation subtrack, and stick with write automation throughout a 
project. Or you can stick to drawing automation curves to automate 
settings in a project. Both methods have their advantages, but it is of 
course up to you to decide what to use and when.
•Editing curves on automation subtracks offers a graphical overview in 
relation to the track contents and the time position.
This makes it easy to quickly change parameter values at specific points, without hav-
ing to activate playback. For example, this method gives you a good overview if you 
have a voice-over or a dialog on one track and a music bed on another track, the level 
of which needs to be lowered with a specific amount every time the dialog occurs.
•By using write automation in the mixer you don’t have to manually se-
lect parameter subtracks from the Add Parameter list.
You can work much like you would using a “real” physical mixer. Every action you per-
form is automatically recorded on subtracks which you can later open for viewing and 
editing of the parameters you changed.
These are just two examples of advantages for each method. Generally, 
editing curves and using write automation are two methods that com-
plement each other, and depending on the nature of your projects you 
will probably work out what method works best for a given situation. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL14 – 342 Automation
Options and Settings
About the Automation Reduction Level preference
This item can be found on the Editing page in the Preferences dialog. 
Automation reduction reduces the number of automation events after 
you have used write automation or added automation events manually. 
When you write (or draw with the Pencil tool) automation events, these 
are added as a continuous stream of densely packed events. This is 
necessary because the program cannot “guess” what you will be doing 
next! However, when you are done, the reduction function will remove 
all superfluous event points and the automation curve now contains 
only the event points necessary to reproduce your actions.
For example, all event points that might exist between two other 
points, but do not deviate from the curve, will be automatically re-
moved by reduction.
If you try to add an event that doesn’t deviate from the existing curve between two 
existing points...
...it will be removed when the mouse is released. If you moved the selected event by 
any amount so that the resulting curve isn’t a straight line, the event would of course 
be added.
•If you feel you need a lower (or higher) reduction level of events than 
the default setting of roughly 75% reduction, you can change it, but 
normally the default setting works well. 
•A minimum reduction level setting is not recommended as this will 
simply retain a lot of unnecessary events. 
						

							15
Remote controlling the mixer 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL15 – 344 Remote controlling the mixer
About this chapter
It is possible to control the Cubase SX/SL mixer via MIDI. A large 
number of MIDI control devices are supported. This chapter describes 
how to set up Cubase SX/SL for remote control.
•For specific information about the supported remote control devices, 
see the separate “Remote Control Devices” pdf document.
•There is also a Generic Remote Device, allowing you to use any MIDI 
controller to remote control Cubase SX/SL.
How to set this up is described on page 348.
Setting Up
Connecting the remote device
Connect the MIDI Out on the remote unit to a MIDI In on your MIDI in-
terface. Depending on the remote unit model, you may also need to 
connect a MIDI Out on the interface to a MIDI In on the remote unit 
(this is necessary if the remote unit features “feedback devices” such 
as indicators, motorized faders, etc.).
If you will be recording MIDI tracks, you don’t want any MIDI data from 
the remote unit to accidentally be recorded as well. To avoid this, you 
should also make the following setting:
1.Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu.
2.Select “All MIDI Inputs” in the list to the left.
3.Check the list to the right and locate the MIDI input to which you have 
connected the MIDI remote unit.
4.Click in the “Active” column for that input to set it to “No”.
5.Click OK to close the Device Setup dialog.
Now you have removed the remote unit input from the “All MIDI Inputs” 
group. This means that you can record MIDI tracks with the “All MIDI 
Inputs” port selected without risking to record the data from the remote 
unit at the same time. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLRemote controlling the mixer 15 – 345
Selecting a remote device
1.Pull down the Devices menu and select Device Setup.
A dialog window opens with a list of devices shown in the left part of the window. 
2.If you can’t find the remote device you are looking for, click on the plus 
sign in the top left corner and select the device from the pop-up that 
appears.
It is added to the Devices list.
•Note that it is possible to select more than one remote device of the 
same type.
If you have more than one remote device of the same type, these will be numbered in 
the Devices list.
3.Now select your MIDI control device model from the Devices list.
Depending on the selected device, either a list of programmable function commands 
or a blank panel is shown in the right half of the dialog window.
A JL Cooper MCS-3000 selected as remote control device.
4.Select the correct MIDI input from the pop-up menu.
If necessary, select the correct MIDI output from the pop-up menu.
5.Click OK to close the dialog.
You can now use the MIDI control device to move faders and knobs, activate Mute and 
Solo, etc. The exact parameter configuration depends on which external MIDI control 
device you are using.  
						

							CUBASE SX/SL15 – 346 Remote controlling the mixer
Operations
Writing automation using remote controls
Automating the mixer using a remote control device is basically done in 
the same way as when you operate on-screen controls in Write mode. 
However, when it comes to replacing existing automation data, there is 
one important difference:
•If you activate Write mode and move a control on the remote control 
device, all data for the corresponding parameter is replaced from the 
position where you moved the control, up until the position where 
playback is stopped!
In other words, as soon as you have moved a control in Write mode, it remains “active” 
until you stop playback. The reason for this is explained below.
As a consequence, an additional precaution must be taken:
•Make sure you move only the controller you want to replace!
In order to replace existing automation data for a control, the computer 
needs to know how long the user actually “grabbed” or used the con-
trol. When doing this “on screen”, the program simply detects when the 
mouse button is pressed and released. When you are using an external 
remote control device, however, there is no mouse button involved, and 
Cubase SX/SL cannot tell whether you “grab and hold” a fader, or sim-
ply move it and release it. Instead, you have to indicate that you have 
“released” the control by stopping playback.
The above does not apply to the JLCooper MCS 3000 device. This de-
vice has touch sensitive faders, which means that it stops writing as 
soon as you release the fader.
This is only relevant when you are using a remote control device and 
Write mode is activated in the mixer. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLRemote controlling the mixer 15 – 347
Assigning remote key commands
For some of the supported remote devices, you can assign any Cubase 
SX/SL function (that can be assigned a key command) to generic but-
tons, wheels or other controls. As of this writing, these devices are:
• JL Cooper MCS 3000
• JL Cooper CS-10
• Tascam US-428
• Yamaha 01x
• Yamaha DM 2000v2
• Yamaha DM 1000v2
• Radical SAC-2k
• Steinberg Houston
Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Device Setup dialog and select one of the remote devices 
that support this feature.
On the right side of the window there are three columns. This is where you assign 
commands.
2.Use the “Button” column to locate a Remote device control or button 
to which you wish to assign a Cubase SX/SL function.
3.Click in the “Category” column for the control, and select one of the 
Cubase SX/SL function categories from the pop-up menu that ap-
pears.
4.Click in the “Command” column, and select the desired Cubase SX/
SL function from the pop-up menu that appears.
The available items on the pop-up menu depend on the selected category.
5.Click “Apply” when you are done.
The selected function is now assigned to the button or control on the 
remote device.
A note about remote controlling MIDI tracks
While most remote control devices will be able to control both MIDI 
and audio channels in Cubase SX/SL, the parameter setup may be 
different. For example, audio-specific controls (such as EQ) will be 
disregarded when controlling MIDI channels. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL15 – 348 Remote controlling the mixer
The Generic Remote device
If you have a generic MIDI controller, you can use this for remote con-
trol of Cubase SX/SL by setting up the Generic Remote device:
1.Open the Device Setup dialog on the Devices menu.
If the Generic Remote device isn’t on the Devices list, you need to add it:
2.Click the “+” sign in the top left corner and select the “Generic Re-
mote” device from the pop-up menu.
•When the Generic Remote device is added in the Device Setup dia-
log, you can open the Remote Status window by selecting “Generic 
Remote” from the Devices menu.
The Remote Status window 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLRemote controlling the mixer 15 – 349
3.Select the Generic Remote device in the Devices list to the left.
The settings for the Generic Remote device are displayed, allowing you to specify 
which control on your device should control which parameter in Cubase SX/SL.
4.Use the MIDI Input and Output pop-up menus to select the MIDI 
Port(s) to which your remote device is connected.
5.Use the pop-up menu to the right to select a bank.
The concept of banks is based on the simple fact that most MIDI devices can control 
a limited number of channels at a time (often 8 or 16). For example, if your MIDI control 
device has 16 volume faders, and you are using 32 mixer channels in Cubase SX/SL, 
you would need two banks of 16 channels each. When the first bank is selected you 
control channel 1 to 16; when the second Bank is selected you control channel 17 to 
32. Since you can control Transport functions as well, you may need several banks.
6.Set up the upper table according to the controls on your MIDI control 
device.  
						

							CUBASE SX/SL15 – 350 Remote controlling the mixer
The columns have the following functionality:
•If you find that the upper table holds too many or too few controls, you 
can add or remove controls with the Add and Delete buttons to the 
right of the upper table.
•If you are uncertain of which MIDI message a certain controller sends, 
you can use the Learn function:
Select the control in the upper table (by clicking in the Control Name column), move 
the corresponding control on your MIDI device and click the Learn button to the right 
of the table. The MIDI Status, MIDI Channel and Address values are automatically set 
to those of the moved control.
Column Description
Control Name Double clicking this field allows you to enter a descriptive name for the 
control (typically a name written on the console). This name is automat-
ically reflected in the Control Name column in the lower table.
MIDI StatusClicking in this column pulls down a pop-up menu, allowing you to specify 
the type of MIDI message sent by the control. The options are Controller, 
Program Change, Note On, Note Off, Aftertouch and Polyphonic Pres-
sure. Also available are Continuous Control NRPN and RPN, a way to ex-
tend the available control messages. The “Ctrl JLCooper” option is a 
special version of a Continuous Controller where the 3rd byte of a MIDI 
message is used as address instead of the 2nd byte (a method supported 
by various JL-Cooper remote devices).
MIDI Channel Clicking in this column pulls down a pop-up menu, allowing you to se-
lect the MIDI channel on which the controller is transmitted.
Address The Continuous Controller number, the pitch of a note or the address of 
a NRPN/RPN Continuous Controller.
Max. Value The maximum value the control will transmit. This value is used by the 
program to “scale” the value range of the MIDI controller to the value 
range of the program parameter.
Flags Clicking in this column pulls down a pop-up menu, allowing you to acti-
vate or deactivate three flags:
• Receive – activate this if the MIDI message should be processed on 
reception.
• Transmit – activate this if a MIDI message should be transmitted 
when the corresponding value in the program changes.
• Relative – activate this if the control is an “endless” dial, which re-
ports the number of turns instead of an absolute value.