Steinberg Studio Case VST Instruments Operation Manual
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The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not rep- resent a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. The soft- ware described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media except as specifically allowed in the License Agreement. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. All product and company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective owners. Windows XP is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. The Mac logo is a trademark used under license. Macintosh and Power Macintosh are registered trademarks. © Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, 2005. All rights reserved.
VST Instruments 4Table of Contents 7Introduction 8About this manual 9What are VST instruments? 9About the instruments included in Studio Case 11Optimizing the hard disk before installation 12Minimum system require- ments (PC version) 12Minimum system require- ments (Mac version) 13About the Steinberg Key 16Installation 18Register your software ! 19Activating VST instruments in Cubase SE 21Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition SE 22About Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition SE 23How do I use Virtual Guitarist? 23What is Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition SE ? 24How does Virtual Guitarist work ? 24What you can and can’t do with Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition SE 25First test 26How to play Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition SE 27Players 28Parts 29Chord recognition 31Latch mode31Expression and timing variations 35Sound variations 36MIDI controller assignments 37Reference 43Virtual Bassist SE 44About Virtual Bassist SE 45What is Virtual Bassist SE ? 45How does Virtual Bassist SE work ? 46What you can and can’t do with Virtual Bassist 47The first test 48Playing Virtual Bassist SE 48Using a MIDI keyboard 50Virtual Bassist SE terminology 52Loading and saving Styles 53Auditioning styles 54Virtual Bassist SE controls 60Guitar controls 62MIDI Controller assignments 63Assigning MIDI controllers in Virtual Bassist SE 64Chord recognition 67Groove Agent SE 68What is Groove Agent SE? 68First test 69Groove Agent SE terminology 70Using Groove Agent SE 71The LCD window 71Range 72Sliders and buttons 78Mute, grouping and instrument selection 79Stop/Run
VST Instruments Table of Contents 5 ENGLISH 81Using the automation in Cu- base SE 81Controlling Groove Agent SE from a MIDI keyboard 83The Grand SE 84Introduction 85Playing The Grand SE 86Opening the Edit window 86Sound Character 87Global 89D’cota SE 90Introduction 90Overview 93The synthesis section 94Creating a synth sound with PWM – a brief tutorial 96Analog parameters 106The modulation and output section 107The Controller strip 113Using external MIDI controllers 113LFO section 115The Envelope section 117Volume and Pan dials 118The Effect section 120The keyboard 121Tips and tricks 123HALion SE 124Introduction 125HALion SE overview 125How HALion SE plays samples 125About program banks and programs 132Tweaking programs 132The Filter section 135DCA and Envelope 136The LFO 137The Tune Section 137Glide 137The Options pop-up menu 139Importing samples and soundbanks into HALion SE 141Automation and MIDI controllers 141Recording dynamic control settings 142Using MIDI controllers 143Optimizing system performance 145Composer Set Documentation 151Index
VST Instruments 1 – 8 Introduction About this manual Steinberg Studio Case consists of two main parts: •Cubase SE software – the recording studio •A set of 6 software instruments – the band This manual describes the instruments included in Studio Case. They complement Cubase SE with a backing band that offers you sounds and instruments for a vast range of musical styles. Key command conventions Many of the key commands in Cubase SE use modifier keys, some of which are different depending on the operating system, Windows or Mac. When key commands with modifier keys are described in this manual, they are shown with the Windows modifier key first, in the fol- lowing form: [Win modifier key]/[Mac modifier key]-[key] or action For example, [Ctrl]/[Command]-click means “press [Ctrl] under Windows or [Command] under Mac OS, and mouse click”.
VST Instruments Introduction 1 – 9 ENGLISH What are VST instruments? With computers becoming more powerful and a more integral part of home and professional studios all over the world, instruments that used to be hardware move into the computer. VST instruments (short: VSTis) are software instruments which run un- der any VST compatible host, such as Cubase SE. They are plugged into the host software, which means that you set up and play them from within the host. This offers many advantages to external/hardware instruments: •First off, since VST instruments use your computer system and don’t need their own hardware, they’re a much better value and more portable. Even more, when you own one VST instrument, you can use multiple instances of it in one song without having to buy multiple copies of the instrument. Two acoustic Grand Pianos would be a significant investment in terms of money, space and mainte- nance – in Studio Case, a second Grand Piano is a matter of two mouse clicks. •VST instruments are part of the song. When you load up your song, the instru- ments used in it and their settings are automatically restored – “Total Recall“. •VST instruments offer a much better integration into your musical environment than external instruments can. They can be fully automated (you can record and play back knob or fader movements within the VSTi). •Software instruments do not have to deal with hardware limitations such as RAM, small graphic displays or missing hard disks. Their performance depends only on your computer system, and these instruments can make full use of the CPU power, RAM, hard disk or monitor your computer has to offer. About the instruments included in Studio Case Steinberg has gained a world-wide reputation for software instruments. You’ll hardly find a music studio without Steinberg software instruments. Award-winning products like The Grand, Virtual Guitarist or D’cota are used by high-profile artists world-wide and can be heard in countless chartbreaking music productions and film scores. Studio Case incorporates essential versions of six of these great instru- ments. SE versions are easier to use and less demanding on computer performance than their professional counterparts. At the same time, they offer the same sound quality the originals are well known for.
VST Instruments 1 – 10 Introduction The six instruments complement each other perfectly, representing a comprehensive collection of sounds for any musical style: •HALion SE is a powerful software sampler. A composer set from Wizoo is al- ready included, providing you with important sounds like basses, guitars, strings or even drumloops. It imports all HALion-compatible libraries (sepa- rately available) and even imports AIF/WAV and Soundfont files, so it can pro- duce a vast range of instruments, sounds and grooves. •The Grand SE is an emulation of the grandest instrument of all times – the acoustic concert grand piano. Apart from four characteristics to choose from, it offers you exactly the controls you’re used to from the real thing: Keys, ped- als and nothing else. •Groove Agent SE relieves you of the time-consuming task of programming your own grooves. Just hit a key and let him do his magic. You are in full con- trol of playing style, complexity, dynamics and fills. And if you like, you can of course create your own grooves using Groove Agent SE’s built-in drumkits. •Virtual Guitarist Electric Edition SE is a professional electric guitarist with a perfect sound, perfect timing and perfect playing technique. Tell him what style to play and he’ll beef up your tracks with juicy funk/wah licks or crunchy rock riffs – it’s all up to you. •Virtual Bassist SE is a professional bass player with a perfect sound, perfect timing and the ability to flexibly adapt the playing to suit most musical needs. With Virtual Bassist SE, you can easily add professional-sounding bass guitar tracks to your projects. •D’cota SE is a powerful analog synthesizer. It complements your backing band with a vast range of synth basses, leads, pads and other typical analog sounds. You can either choose from the 128 patches supplied or make your own ones. Although SE instruments are great tools that can last a lifetime, we’ve taken into account that maybe sooner or later you feel like you’ve made a lot of progress and your demand gets higher. In such a case, you can conveniently upgrade to the original versions of each of the instruments. For feature comparisons and upgrading options, check the Steinberg website.