Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Operation Manual

							CUBASE SX/SLSynchronization 28 – 691
MIDI Machine Control
Machine Control commands can be sent using MIDI Machine Control 
(MMC):
1.Set up and test basic timecode synchronization, as described earlier 
in this chapter.
2.Connect a MIDI Out on your MIDI interface to MIDI In on the tape re-
corder (or similar device).
If you have not already done so (when setting up for MIDI Timecode), also connect a 
MIDI cable from the MIDI Output on the tape recorder to a MIDI In on the computer.
3.Make sure you have timecode recorded on the tape recorder, and that 
it is set up to utilize MMC.
4.Open the Synchronization Setup dialog on the Transport menu in 
Cubase SX/SL.
5.Activate the MMC Active checkbox in the MIDI Machine Control Set-
tings section.
6.Select the correct MMC Inputs and Outputs from the pop-ups below.
7.Make sure that the MMC Device ID corresponds to the ID of the con-
trolled device.
If only one machine is connected it can also be set to ”All", the ”Broadcast” device ID. 
8.Cubase SX: Set the “Number of Audio Tracks” setting to the number 
of tracks on the external tape recorder.
MIDI Machine 
Control selected
MIDI ports selected for MMC  
						

							CUBASE SX/SL28 – 692 Synchronization
9.Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu (on the Mac, this is 
located on the Cubase SX/SL menu), select the MIDI Filter section 
and make sure Sysex is activated in the Thru section.
This is necessary since MMC uses two-way communication (the tape recorder “replies” 
to the MMC messages it receives from Cubase SX/SL). By filtering out Sysex Thru, you 
ensure that these MMC System Exclusive replies are not echoed back to the tape re-
corder.
10.Close the Preferences and open the Project Setup dialog from the 
Project menu.
11.As when synchronizing without using transport control, use the Start 
value to specify which frame on the tape should correspond to the be-
ginning of the project.
12.Close the Project Setup dialog.
How to proceed from here depends on whether you are using 
Cubase SX or Cubase SL.
Cubase SX:
13.Pull down the Devices menu and select MMC Master.
The MIDI Machine Control master transport panel appears.
It is now possible to control the external tape recorder independently 
or together with Cubase SX:
•If you activate the Online button on the MMC Master panel you can 
use the transport buttons on the panel to control the transport of the 
device.
•You can use the buttons to the left on the MMC Master panel to arm 
tape tracks for recording.
The number of record arm buttons depends on the “Number of Audio Tracks” setting 
in the MMC section of the Synchronization Setup dialog.
•The “A1, A2, TC, VD” items refer to additional tracks usually found on 
video tape recorders.
Refer to the manual of your VTR device to see if these tracks are supported.  
						

							CUBASE SX/SLSynchronization 28 – 693
•If you activate the Sync button on Cubase SX’s Transport panel, the 
MMC Master transport buttons (or the buttons on the main Transport 
panel) will control the external tape recorder and Cubase SX in sync.
14.On the Transport panel, activate the Sync button.
15.Try to Stop, Fast Forward and Rewind from Cubase SX and activate 
Play from different positions in the project. 
The tape transport should follow.
•To turn off the synchronization between the tape recorder and 
Cubase SX, simply deactivate Sync on the Transport panel.
Cubase SL:
13.On the Transport panel, activate the Sync button.
14.Try to Stop, Fast Forward and Rewind from Cubase SL and activate 
Play from different positions in the project. The tape transport should 
follow.
•To turn off the synchronization between the tape recorder and 
Cubase SL, simply deactivate Sync on the Transport panel.
Cubase SX as MMC slave
This is set up in the MIDI Machine Control Settings section in the 
Sync Setup dialog.
Some mixers support the MMC-Master protocol for controlling exter-
nal devices, including Tascam DM-24, Yamaha DM2000 and SSL. 
This means that Cubase SX can be used as a “recorder”, where track 
arming and transport commands can be sent from the master device. 
In addition, some digital audio workstations (DAWs) can only operate 
in MMC-Master mode.  
						

							CUBASE SX/SL28 – 694 Synchronization
Options
Making Project Settings
About Frame Rates
The frame rate is the number of frames per second in a film or on a 
video tape. Just as there is always sixty seconds to a minute, there is al-
ways a certain number of frames to each second. However, the frame 
rate used varies with the type of media (film or video), which country 
the video tape has been produced in, and other circumstances.
In the Project Setup dialog are two settings for frame rates:
•The Frame Rate pop-up is automatically adjusted to the frame rate of 
the incoming timecode.
There is an exception to this when you are synchronizing Cubase SX/SL to MIDI Time-
code: If you have selected 29.97 fps or 30 dfps as Frame Rate in Cubase SX/SL, this 
selection will be kept, since these frame rates are not included in the MTC format.
The Project Setup dialog contains six frame rates to choose from:
•The Display Format pop-up contains a number of formats that when 
selected work as the “master” setting for the display format used in 
the various windows’ rulers and position displays.
The item “60 fps (user)” on this menu represents a user definable frame rate. To make 
editing with frame accuracy correspond to the actual frame rate in an external sync 
source, you need to set this frame rate to the same value as the Frame Rate pop-up.
Frame Rate Description
24 fps The traditional frame rate of 35mm film.
25 fps The frame rate used for all video and audio in Europe (EBU).
29.97 fps Straight 29.97 frames per second.
30 fps Straight 30 frames per second. This is often used in the United States 
for audio only work.
29.97 dfps “Drop frame” code running at 29.97 frames per second, most often 
used in the United States of America for work with color video.
30 dfps Very rarely used. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLSynchronization 28 – 695
Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Preferences dialog (accessed from the File menu under Win-
dows or the Cubase SX/SL menu on the Mac) and select the Transport 
page.
2.Enter the desired frame rate under “User Definable Framerate”.
Either type the desired value directly or use the arrow buttons to increase/decrease 
the value. You can enter any value between 2-200.
3.When you’re done, click OK to close the dialog and save the settings.
The Frame Rate you specified will now be the one used when you se-
lect “60 fps (user)” in the Display Format pop-up.
Sync Options
The following options are available in the Application section in the Syn-
chronization Setup dialog:
Drop Out Frame
On an analog tape with timecode, dropouts may occur. If a drop-out is 
very long, Cubase SX/SL may (temporarily) stop. In the Dropout 
Frame field you can set how long a drop-out (in frames) should be 
tolerated until Cubase SX/SL decides that the tape isn't good enough 
to synchronize to. If you have a very stable timecode source, you may 
lower this number to make Cubase SX/SL stop more swiftly after the 
tape recorder has been stopped.
Lock Frame
Using this field you can set how many frames of “correct” timecode 
Cubase SX/SL should receive before attempting to “lock” (synchro-
nize) to incoming timecode. If you have an external tape transport with 
a very short start-up time, you could try lowering this number to make 
lock-up even faster than it already is.  
						

							CUBASE SX/SL28 – 696 Synchronization
Inhibit Restart
Some synchronizers will still transmit MIDI Time Code for a short pe-
riod after an external tape machine has been stopped. These extra 
frames of timecode can sometimes cause Cubase SX/SL to restart 
suddenly. Inhibit Restart allows you to control the amount of time in 
milliseconds that Cubase SX/SL will wait to restart (ignoring incoming 
MTC) once it has stopped. 
						

							29
VST System Link 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL29 – 698 VST System Link
Introduction
VST System Link is a network system for digital audio that allows you 
to have several computers working together in one large system. Un-
like conventional networks it does not require Ethernet cards, hubs, or 
CAT-5 cables; instead it uses the kind of digital audio hardware and 
cables you probably already possess in your studio.
VST System Link has been designed to be simple to set up and oper-
ate, yet give enormous flexibility and performance gains in use. It is ca-
pable of linking computers in a “ring” network (the System Link signal 
is passed from one machine to the next, and eventually returns to the 
first machine). VST System Link can send its networking signal over 
any type of digital audio cable, including S/PDIF, ADAT, TDIF, or AES, 
as long as each computer in the system is equipped with a suitable 
ASIO compatible audio interface.
So, why would you want to link up two or more computers? Well, the 
added computer power gives you vast possibilities:
• Dedicate one computer to running VST instruments while recording audio 
tracks on another.
• If you need lots of audio tracks, you may simply add tracks on another com-
puter.
• You could have one computer serve as a “virtual effect rack”, running CPU-
intensive send effect plug-ins only.
• Since you can use VST System Link to connect different VST System Link ap-
plications on different platforms, you can take advantage of effect plug-ins 
and VST instruments that are specific to certain programs or platforms.
This chapter describes how to set up and use VST System Link in 
Cubase SX/SL. 
						

							CUBASE SX/SLVST System Link 29 – 699
Preparations
Requirements
The following equipment is required for VST System Link operation:
•Two or more computers.
These can be of the same type or use different operating systems – it doesn’t matter. 
For example, you can link an Intel-based PC to an Apple Macintosh without problems.
•Each computer must have audio hardware with specific ASIO drivers, 
installed and working.
•The audio hardware must have digital inputs and outputs.
Of course, to be able to connect the computers the digital connections must be com-
patible (i.e. the same digital formats and connection types must be available).
•At least one digital audio cable for each computer in the network.
•A VST System Link host application installed on each computer.
As of this writing, VST System Link is implemented for Cubase SX/SL (version 1.6 or 
later), Nuendo and Cubase 5.2s (System Link version). Any VST System Link applica-
tions can connect to each other.
Additionally, we recommend that you use a KVM switchbox:
Using a KVM switchbox
If you want to set up a multi-computer network, or even a small net-
work in a limited space, it's a good idea to invest in a KVM (Keyboard, 
Video, Mouse) switchbox. With one of these switchers you can use 
the same keyboard, monitor, and mouse to control each computer in 
the system, and switch between computers very rapidly. KVM switch-
ers are not too expensive, and very easy to setup and operate. It you 
decide not to go this route, the network will function just the same, but 
you may end up doing a lot of jumping from one machine to the other 
while setting up! 
						

							CUBASE SX/SL29 – 700 VST System Link
Making connections
Below, we will assume that you are connecting two computers. 
Should you have more than two computers, it’s still best to start with 
two and add the others one by one once the system is working – this 
makes troubleshooting easier if you run into problems. For two com-
puters, you will need two digital audio cables, one in each direction:
1.Connect a digital audio cable from the digital output of Computer 1 to 
the digital input of Computer 2.
2.Connect the other cable from the digital output of Computer 2 into 
the digital input of Computer 1.
•If a card has more than one set of inputs and outputs, choose which-
ever one that suits you – for simplicity usually the first set is best.
Setting up clock sync
Before you proceed you need to make sure that the clock signals on 
your ASIO cards are synchronized correctly. This is essential when 
cabling any kind of digital audio system, not just VST System Link.
All digital audio cables by definition always carry a clock signal as well as 
audio signals, so you don't need to use a special Word Clock input and 
output for this (although you may find that you get a slightly more stable 
audio system if you do, especially when using multiple computers).
The Clock Mode or Sync Mode is set up in the audio hardware’s 
ASIO control panel. In Cubase SX/SL, you proceed as follows:
1.Pull down the Devices menu and open the Device Setup dialog.
2.Select your audio interface from the VST Audiobay subpage.
3.Click the Control Panel button.
The ASIO control panel appears.
4.Open the ASIO control panel on the other computer as well.
If you are using another VST System Link host application on that computer, check its 
documentation for details on how to open the ASIO control panel.