Steinberg Cubase SX/SL 3 Operation Manual
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CUBASE SX/SLVST System Link 29 – 711 Setting up a larger network This is not much more difficult than a two computer network. The main thing to remember is that VST System Link is a daisy chain system. In other words, the output of Computer 1 goes to the input of Computer 2, the output of Computer 2 goes to the input of Computer 3, and so on around the chain. The output of the last computer in the chain must always go back into the input of Computer 1, to complete the ring. Once you've done this, the transmission of all the transport, sync, and MIDI information to the whole network is handled pretty much auto- matically. However, where you may run into confusion in a large net- work is in the transmission of audio signals back to a central mix computer. If you have lots of hardware inputs and outputs on your ASIO cards you don't need to send audio via the chain at all, but can transmit it directly to the master mix computer via one or more of its other hardware Inputs. For example, if you have a Nuendo Digiset interface or 9652 card on Computer 1 you could use ADAT cable 1 for networking, ADAT cable 2 as a direct audio input from Computer 2, and ADAT cable 3 as a direct audio input from Computer 3. You can also transmit audio via the ring system if you don't have enough hardware I/Os for direct audio transmission. For example, in a four computer scenario you could send audio from Computer 2 into a channel in the mixer in Computer 3, and from there to a channel in the mixer in Computer 4, and from there back to the master mixer in Com- puter 1. This can certainly be tricky to set up, so generally it is recom- mended that if you want to set up a complex network, you should make sure to use ASIO cards with at least three separate digital I/Os.
CUBASE SX/SL29 – 712 VST System Link Application examples Using one computer for VST instruments In this example, you are using one computer as your main record and playback machine, and want to use another computer as a virtual synth rack. 1.Record a MIDI track into Computer 1. 2.Once you have finished recording, route the MIDI output of that track to System Link MIDI port 1. 3.Now go to Computer 2, open up the VST Instrument rack and assign an instrument to the first slot in the rack. 4.Route the VST Instrument channel to the desired output bus. If you are using Computer 1 as your main mixing computer, this would be one of the VST System Link output busses, connected to Computer 1. 5.Create a new MIDI track in the Project window of Computer 2, and assign the MIDI output of the track to the VST Instrument you created. 6.Assign the MIDI input of the track to be VST System Link port 1. Now, the MIDI track on Computer 1 is routed to the MIDI track on Computer 2, which in turn is routed to the VST Instrument. 7.Now activate monitoring for the MIDI track on Computer 2, so that it will listen and respond to any MIDI commands coming in. In Cubase SX/SL, you would click the monitor button in the Track list or Inspector. 8.Press play on Computer 1. It will now send the MIDI information on the track to the VST Instrument loaded on Computer 2. Even with a slow computer you should be able to stack a whole bunch of extra VST Instruments this way, expanding your sound palette con- siderably. Don't forget that VST System Link MIDI is also sample ac- curate, and thus has much tighter timing than any hardware MIDI interface ever invented!
CUBASE SX/SLVST System Link 29 – 713 Creating a virtual effect rack The effect sends for an audio channel in Cubase SX/SL can either be routed to an FX channel track or to any activated Group or output bus. This allows you to use a separate computer as a “virtual effect rack”, by setting things up in the following way: 1.Go to Computer 2 (the machine you will use as effect rack) and add a new stereo audio track. You cannot use an FX channel track in this case, since the track must have an audio input. 2.Add the desired effect as an insert effect for the track. Let’s say you add a high-quality reverb plug-in. 3.In the Inspector, select one of the VST System Link busses as input for the audio track. You want to use a separate System Link bus, which will only be used for this purpose. 4.Route the channel to the desired output bus. If you are using Computer 1 as your main mixing computer, this would be one of the VST System Link output busses, connected to Computer 1. 5.Activate monitoring for the track. 6.Now, go back to Computer 1 and select a track to which you want to add some reverb. 7.Bring up the effect sends for the track, in the Inspector or the mixer. 8.Pull down the send routing pop-up menu for one of the sends, and select the VST System Link bus assigned to the reverb in step 3. 9.Use the send slider to adjust the amount of effect as usual. The signal will be sent to the track on Computer 2 and processed through its insert effect, without using any processor power on Com- puter 1. You can repeat the steps above to add more effects to the “virtual ef- fect rack”. The number of effects available this way is only limited by the number of ports used in the VST System Link connection (and of course by the performance of Computer 2, but given that it won’t have to handle any recording or playback, you should be able to use quite a lot of effects).
CUBASE SX/SL29 – 714 VST System Link Getting extra audio tracks All computers on a VST System Link network are locked with sample accuracy. Therefore, if you find that the hard drive on one computer isn’t fast enough to run as many audio tracks as you need, you could record new tracks on one of the other computers instead. This would create a “virtual RAID system”, with several disks all operating together. All tracks will remain locked together just as tightly as if they were all running on the same machine. This means that you effectively have an unlimited track count! Need another 100 tracks? Just add another computer.
CUBASE SX/SL30 – 716 Video Background Video support in Cubase SX/SL Cubase SX/SL plays back video films in a number of formats. Under Windows, video playback can be done using one of three play- back engines: Video for Windows, DirectShow or Quicktime. This en- sures compatibility with as wide a range of video files as possible. The following file formats are supported: AVI, Windows Media Video, Quicktime or MPEG formats (in Cubase SX you can also import files in Windows Media Video Pro format). Under Mac OS X, Quicktime is always used as playback engine. QuickTime supports the following video file formats: AVI, MPEG, QuickTime and DV. Generally there are two ways to play back video: • Without any special hardware at all. While this will be fine in many situations it does put a limit on the size of the video win- dow as well as the quality of the image. • Using video hardware that for example connects to an external monitor. Mac OS X: Using a FireWire port, you can play back video on an external monitor us- ing a DV-to-analog converter or a DV camera. This is valid for DV video and QuickTime is used for playback. Windows: Multi-head graphics cards which support overlay functionality can be used to display the video picture on an external monitor. As of this writing, the folllowing manufacturers have working solutions available: nVIDIA and Matrox.
CUBASE SX/SLVideo 30 – 717 Operations About the video playback engine In Cubase SX/SL for Windows, you select a playback engine in the Device Setup - Video Player page: What playback engine to select depends largely on which type of video system you are using, as well as on the file format and codec of the video files you want to work with. • Make sure to read the section “Before you start” on page 722. • Generally, you can expect most Windows hardware to work with Direct- Show. On a Windows system, the DirectShow and Video for Windows players are provided by the operating system, you don’t have to install any additional software.
CUBASE SX/SL30 – 718 Video • For the Quicktime playback method to be available, you must have QuickTime installed on your computer (Windows). There is a freeware version (a QuickTime installer is included on the Cubase SX/SL DVD if required, or you can download it from www.quicktime.com) and a “pro” version, which offers additional video cutting options. The player engine is the same in both versions, so for mere playback in Cubase SX/SL there is no need to purchase the “pro” version. Under Mac OS X, there is only one standard player option. The Quick- time playback engine is always used, supporting the formats AVI, MPEG, QuickTime and DV. If your system has a FireWire port, there is also a FireWire option – see below. Importing a video file Video files are imported in the same manner as audio files. •By using the File menu (Import Video File). •By using drag and drop. •By importing to the Pool first and then dragging to the Project window (see the Pool chapter for details). Note: • To be able to play back the video, you must add a video track (by using the Add Track submenu on the Project menu or Quick menu). You can only have one video track in each project. • All video files on the track must be of the same size and compression format. • The Import dialog has an option for extracting the audio from a video file – see page 720.
CUBASE SX/SLVideo 30 – 719 Playing back a video file Video files are displayed as events/clips on the video track, with thumbnails representing the frames in the film (if the option Show Video Thumbnails is activated in the Preferences dialog). A video event on a video track. In the track list and Inspector, you will find two options for how the thumbnails should be shown: To view the video on the computer screen (as opposed to on an exter- nal monitor, see below), proceed as follows: •If you’re running MacOS X, first open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu, click Video Player in the list and make sure “Onscreen Window” is selected in the Video Output section of the dialog. •Pull down the Devices menu and select Video (or use a key command – by default [F8]). A video window appears. In Stop mode, this displays the video frame at the project cur- sor position. Playback is done together with all other material, using the Transport panel. Button Description Show Frame NumbersWhen this is activated, each thumbnail is shown with the corre- sponding video frame number. Snap Thumbnails When this is activated, the individual thumbnail images will be positioned exactly at their respective start time position. Also, no more than one thumbnail per frame will be shown, even if you zoom in a lot.
CUBASE SX/SL30 – 720 Video Setting the Window size If you are playing back video in a window on your computer screen, you may want to adjust the size: •Open Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu, click Video Player in the list and use the Video Window buttons to select a size. Playing back video in full screen mode When viewing video on the computer screen you can choose to let the video occupy the whole screen, during playback or in Stop mode: •Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) in the video window to switch to full screen. Click again to exit full screen. Playing back a video file via FireWire (Mac OS X only) For Apple computers equipped with a FireWire port, you can easily connect external video hardware via this, as OS X has built-in video support for the most common formats (NTSC/PAL/DVCPRO). FireWire is capable of high data-transfer speed and is the most com- mon standard for communicating with video-related peripheral equip- ment. •To play back a video file via hardware connected to the FireWire port, select “FireWire” in the Outputs pop-up of the Device Setup–Video Player dialog. When FireWire is selected as output, a number of format options appear on the For- mat pop-up, allowing you to select between various video formats and resolutions. Extracting audio from a video file If a video file contains audio, it can be extracted. Regardless of the au- dio format in the actual file, the resulting audio file will always be in the format (Sample Rate and Record Format) that is specified for the Project in the Project Setup dialog.