E-mu 1212m, 1820, 1820m Tutorials

Digital Audio System

Tutorials

• E-MU Proteus X LE

• Steinberg Cubase LE

• Steinberg WaveLab Lite

• Cakewalk Sonar LE

• Ableton Live Lite 4 for E-MU

E-MU 1212m/1820/1820m PCI Digital Audio System 1

E-MU 1212m, 1820, 1820m Digital Audio System

Tutorials

• E-MU Proteus X LE

• Steinberg Cubase LE

• Steinberg WaveLab Lite

• Cakewalk Sonar LE

• Ableton Live Lite 4 for E-MU

Software Version: 1.8

E-MU World Headquarters

E-MU Systems

1500 Green Hills Road

Scotts Valley, CA

95067-0015

USA

Europe, Africa, Middle East

Creative Labs

Ballycoolin Business Park

Blanchardstown

Dublin 15

IRELAND

E-MU Japan

Creative Media K K

Kanda Eight Bldg., 3F

4-6-7 Soto-Kanda

Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0021

JAPAN

www.japan.creative.com

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Table of Contents

Introduction ..................................................................... 5

Before you Begin ................................................................................................................. 5

The Product Default Session ............................................................................................... 5

To Open PatchMix .................................................................................................... 5



Steinberg Cubase LE ......................................................... 6

1 - Setting up Cubase LE ..................................................................................................... 6

2 - Basic Multitrack Recording ............................................................................................ 7

Recording Path Block Diagram .......................................................................................... 9

Recording Mono Inputs as Stereo ...................................................................................... 9

3 - Export Audio Mixdown to Stereo ............................................................................... 10

4 - Running Proteus X LE VSTi from Cubase LE .............................................................. 12

To Record a MIDI Track .......................................................................................... 14



To Record a MIDI Track on another MIDI Channel ............................................. 14



Steinberg WaveLab Lite .................................................. 15

1 - Setting up WaveLab Lite .............................................................................................. 15

2 - Turning on the PatchMix WAVE Send ........................................................................ 16

3 - Recording ..................................................................................................................... 17

Cakewalk Sonar LE ......................................................... 19

1 - Setting up Sonar LE ...................................................................................................... 19

2 - Basic Multitrack Recording .......................................................................................... 21

Record Path Block Diagram .............................................................................................. 23

3 - Export Audio to Stereo ................................................................................................ 24

4 - Running Proteus X LE VSTi from Sonar LE ................................................................ 26

To Record a MIDI Track .......................................................................................... 29



To Record a MIDI Track on another MIDI Channel ............................................. 29



Ableton Live Lite 4 for E-MU ........................................... 30

1 - Setting up the Preferences ........................................................................................... 30

2 - Running Proteus X LE VSTi from Ableton Live Lite 4 ................................................ 33

3 - Recording Audio into Ableton Live Lite 4 .................................................................. 38

E-MU 1212m/1820/1820

PCI Digital Audio System 3

Recording & Monitoring with Effects .............................. 39

The Order of Effects .......................................................................................................... 39

Creating a Headphone Submix ........................................................................................ 40

To Create a Headphone Submix: ...........................................................................40



About PatchMix DSP ......................................................................................................... 41

About ASIO ........................................................................................................................ 41

IMPORTANT -> Activating ASIO ...................................................................................... 41

An Example: ............................................................................................................ 41



ASIO Channels are STEREO! ............................................................................................ 41

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f Verify that both Aux 1

Insert slots are ﬁlled with Send Inserts as shown.

Tutorials

Introduction

This guide contains step-by-step walk-throughs of basic recording operations using PatchMix DSP and a variety of popular software applications. We encourage you to perform the steps on your computer as you read so that you become familiar with the process. The ﬁrst tutorial only takes about half an hour to complete, by which time you should be comfortable with multitrack recording using your new Digital Audio System.

Once you’re up and recording, you can ﬁnd detailed information on all aspects of PatchMix DSP and your E-MU interface hardware in the pdf Owner’s Manual.

Before you Begin

•You should have already installed the E-MU hardware and software on your computer according to the instructions in your printed “Getting Started” manual.

•You should hear the computer sounds coming out of the E-MU hardware and your speakers when you play a CD or an MP3 using Windows Media Player. If not, make sure your E-MU hardware is properly connected according to the diagrams in the “Getting Started” and “Owner’s Manual”.

•A source of audio should be connected to the inputs (instr./tape/cd/MP3 player).

Tutorials

Introduction

Important Note:

If you need additional help with the bundled applications, please see the “Technical Support Information” pdf located in the “Creative Professional, Documents” folder.

The Product Default Session

Before we begin, you should verify that the Product Default session is selected. This session has everything connected for you. A Session is a stored connection/mixer setup. You can create your own custom Sessions later on if you wish.



To Open PatchMix

Left-click once on the E-MU

icon on the Windows

System Tray.

The PatchMix DSP mixer window appears.

The Product Default session

contains two Aux 1 Sends as shown at right. If you’re not sure the Product Default session is loaded, see the “Comment” box in the “Session Settings”.

If the Product Default session is NOT selected, click once on the Open Session button and select “Product Default” from the list.

Close PatchMix by clicking the “X” in the upper right corner.

OK, now we’re ready to

proceed!

Open Session Close PatchMix

Click Here to Open PatchMix

Session Settings

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Tutorials Steinberg Cubase LE

Steinberg Cubase LE

Steinberg Cubase LE is a 24-bit/96kHz multi-track audio/MIDI recorder with highquality effects, automation, virtual instruments (VSTi) and many other professional features.

The following step-by-step tutorials are designed to get you recording as quickly as possible. After you have ﬁnished the tutorial we encourage you to read the Cubase LE pdf manual in order to learn about the many features of this powerful program. We have provided a PatchMix DSP Session, as well as a special Cubase LE Project to go along with the following tutorials.

1 - Setting up Cubase LE

Follow these instructions carefully to ensure that Cubase LE runs smoothly the ﬁrst time. Cubase LE will remember these settings, so you’ll only have to do this once.

Open Cubase LE from the Start menu or by double-clicking the desktop icon. An

ASIO multimedia driver test dialog box will pop up to ask if you want to run the ASIO test. Choose No, because you won’t be using the driver anyway.

Select Device Setup… from the Devices menu.

Select VST Multitrack from the list and the following screen appears.

In the Setup section of the dialog box, select E-MU ASIO as the ASIO Driver. A pop

up dialog box asks, “Do you want to switch the ASIO driver?” Select Switch .

Click the Control Panel button. The pop-up dialog

box shown at right appears.

Set the ASIO Buffer Latency to 10 ms or less. A low

latency setting is important to assure fast MIDI response time and to minimize delay when monitoring through Cubase. Click OK .

Make sure the Direct Monitoring box is Unchecked .

Close the Device Setup screen by selecting OK .

Close Cubase LE by clicking the button. (Close

the application even if you’re going to continue with the tutorials, in order to “lock-in” your Preference settings.)

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2 - Basic Multitrack Recording

In this tutorial, we’ll assume you’re using a single input or pair of inputs. For more advanced recording, refer to the Cubase LE manual.

Select the Cubase LE Recording Template

Choose ( 1820) Cubase LE or (1212) Cubase LE from the Start -> Programs menu.

The path is: (Program Files\Creative Professional\E-MU PatchMix DSP\VST\ Recording Templates). Cubase LE will launch and load the Project.

A pop-up dialog box will appear, asking you to Select Directory . Choose a location on your hard disk where you wish to store your audio ﬁles, then click

The Cubase LE Project window shown below appears. Five empty tracks are ready to record. Each track is already connected to an input or pair of inputs in PatchMix.

Select the Track that matches the inputs

you’ve connected to the Digital Audio System by clicking on it. Note that the selected track brightens as you select it. In the example below, we are using Line Inputs 1L/1R.

Turn the Monitor button OFF for the track. You will be monitoring the input

through PatchMix DSP which has zero-latency.

If you want to record in mono, set the track to mono by clicking the Mono/Stereo

Selector button. Use the Left input of the stereo pair for mono recording.

Tutorials

Steinberg Cubase LE

Tip: If you have two

or more hard disks, it’s better to store audio ﬁles on a disk that isn’t running your OS.

The Cubase LE Project Window

Turn Monitor OFF

Mono/Stereo

Track Select

Track Input

Track Output

(

Bus 1 is routed to ASIO

31/32 in VST Outputs.)

You should see activity on the Track Input Meter when feeding a signal into the

Digital Audio System. If not, open PatchMix to verify meter activity on the input

Selected Track

Track Input Meters

E-MU 1212

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Tutorials Steinberg Cubase LE

channel (strip). Make sure the PatchMix input channel (strip) matches the Cubase LE Track Input.

If your input signal is either too weak or too strong, adjust your input source or the

Digital Audio System gain controls.

If you are using the front panel Mic/Line inputs (1820), adjust the input gain knobs as follows. If you can’t get a proper level from the line inputs, open the PatchMix DSP, Session Settings by clicking the O button above the TV screen, then select I/O . If your input signal is too strong, use +4 . If your input signal is too weak, use -10 .

Record a Track

Press Record on the Cubase LE Transport control and start playing.

RecordPlayStopReturn-To-Zero

Press Stop when you’re ﬁnished recording the ﬁrst track.

10.

Press the R eturn-to-Zero button on the Cubase Transport.

11.

Press Play on the Cubase Transport to play back your track. The audio from Cubase

12.

comes back into PatchMix on the ASIO Out 31/32 Strip.

Record Another Track

13.

Press the Return to Zero button on the Cubase Transport.

14.

Add another track by selecting Add Track , from the Project menu. Select Audio .

15.

A new audio track is added. Notice that the red Record Enable button has been automatically turned on in the new track. (If you wish to record multiple tracks simultaneously, simply turn Record Enable on for each track you wish to record.)

16.

Again, set up the track to be either mono or stereo , then choose the Track Input routing. The input can be the same one you used for the ﬁrst track or you can choose a different input.

Save your Project

Choose

17.

name and location that will make the project easy to ﬁnd later.

To record into Cubase LE, you must have a PatchMix session containing these 4 basic components:

a) a

b) an

c) an

d) an

Save As…

from the Cubase LE ﬁle menu to save your project. Choose a

physical input strip

ASIO Send

on the physical input strip (so that Cubase can receive your input).

ASIO output strip

output assigned

to any physical output (to your monitor speakers).

for your input source.

for Cubase to output its audio back through PatchMix.

A quick way to record additional tracks using the same input is to simply drag the Part (audio region) you just recorded down to another location in the Cubase Arrange window, then hit Record again and go.

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These diagrams may be helpful to visualize the signal routing path.

Recording Path Block Diagram

Tutorials

Steinberg Cubase LE

Mic or Line

Input

Digital

Audio

System

Hardware

PatchMix

Input

Strip

ASIO Send

1/2

PatchMix Main Mix

Cubase LE

VST

Inputs

Mixer

Track

VST

Outputs

ASIO

31/32

Monitor

PatchMix

Strip

ASIO Out

31/32

PatchMix

Main

Mix

Digital

Audio

System

Hardware

Monitor

Speakers

Recording Mono Inputs as Stereo

Hardware

PatchMix

Full RightFull Left

Aux Send 1

PatchMix Main Mix

Mono Input

Digital

Audio

System

Input

Strip

PanPan

Amount

Full

Combined

into Stereo

Aux Bus 1

ASIO Send

9/10

Cubase LE

Inputs

Stereo

Outputs

Mono

Input

Digital

Audio

System

Hardware

PatchMix

Input

Strip

Aux Send 1

Amount

Full

PatchMix

Main Mix

VST

Mixer

Track

VST

ASIO

31/32

Monitor

PatchMix

Strip

ASIO Out

31/32

PatchMix

Main

Mix

Digital

Audio

System

Hardware

Monitor

Speakers

E-MU 1212m/1820/1820m PCI Digital Audio System 9

Tutorials Steinberg Cubase LE

3 - Export Audio Mixdown to Stereo

At some point, you’ll want to mix down your multitrack project to stereo. Cubase LE has a special function (Audio Mixdown) that makes this job a breeze. The Cubase LE Project window below shows a short song with 4 stereo tracks recorded.

Locator

Drag the Right Locator (little blue triangle) to the right. Keep dragging until the blue

Locator Bar encompasses the entire song or section you want to mix down. See above.

Mix your Song

2. From the Cubase LE Project window, select Mixer from the Devices menu (or press

F3). The Cubase LE Track Mixer appears.

…to hereDrag from here…

3. Play your song and use the Faders to set the levels of each part. (Note: These moves

can be automated in Cubase LE. See the online documentation for details.)

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Export Audio

4. From the Cubase LE Project window, select Export from the File menu and choose

Audio Mixdown.

Tutorials

Steinberg Cubase LE

5. The following screen appears. First choose a location for your ﬁle.

6. Next choose the ﬁle type. Cubase LE can export as: WAVE (.wav), AIFF (.aif), MPEG

Layer 3 (.mp3), RealAudio G2 (.rm), or Windows Media Audio (.wma). WAVE is a good choice for a master ﬁle since it is an uncompressed format. “Stereo Interleaved” creates a single stereo ﬁle.

7. Select the desired Sample Rate and bit Resolution.

8. Press Save to process your Audio Mixdown.

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Tutorials Steinberg Cubase LE

4 - Running Proteus X LE VSTi from Cubase LE

These instructions explain how to start Proteus X LE from within Cubase LE. If you have a MIDI keyboard, you should connect it now using the setup diagrams and instructions that came with your E-MU Digital Audio System. Without a keyboard, you will only be able to play one note at a time using the mini keyboard on Proteus X LE.

1. From the Cubase LE Project window, select Add Track from the Project menu and

choose MIDI Track.

E These instructions also

apply to Proteus X or Emulator X.

2. The Cubase Project Window should now look like this with one MIDI track.

Select

ProteusXLE

MIDI Track

Inspector Area

3. Click on the Devices menu pull-down and select VST Instruments (or press F11).

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4. The VST Instruments window appears. Select ProteusXLE.

Tutorials

Steinberg Cubase LE

5. The VST Instruments window now looks like this.

Edit Button

6. Take a look at the Inspector area on the left side of the Cubase LE project window

(diagram on following page). The input to the MIDI track is connected to E-DSP MIDI Port, but the Output is not yet connected to anything. Click on the Output and select ProteusXLE. Now you’re ready to play.

f Tip: Unlike some

VSTi’s, Proteus X LE is multitimbral, and able to play up to 16 MIDI channels at once.

It’s far more CPU-efﬁcient to have multiple MIDI channels playing on one instance of Proteus X LE, rather than to have multiple VSTi’s running.

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Tutorials Steinberg Cubase LE

7. Click the Edit button of the VST Instruments window to open Proteus X LE.

You can also click on the Edit button of the track Inspector to open Proteus X LE.

Load the Proteus X Composer Bank

8. Proteus X LE is now running, but you need to load a bank of sounds.

9. Choose Open from the File menu on Proteus X LE. Locate and load the Proteus X

Composer bank, which is located here: (“Program Files/Creative Professional/ E-MU Sound Central”) The bank takes a few seconds to load.

Play the Proteus X Composer Bank

10. Click on the mini keyboard at the bottom of the window. You should be hearing

sound. If not, close Cubase LE, and verify that you have the PatchMix DSP Product Default session loaded. Then close and restart Cubase LE.

11. Play your MIDI keyboard (if connected) and verify that it plays Proteus X LE.

12. Change the Preset using the preset inc/dec keys.

13. Feel free to play around for awhile and don’t worry about losing anything. Nothing

is made permanent until you Save the bank, so have fun.

 To Record a MIDI Track

14. Just hit Record on the Cubase LE Transport control and start playing.

15. Press Stop when you’re ﬁnished recording the ﬁrst track and press the Return-to-

Zero button .

16. Press Play on the Cubase Transport to play back your track.

 To Record a MIDI Track on another MIDI Channel

Proteus X LE VSTi can play back up to 16 MIDI tracks at once. It’s much better to use several channels on one VSTi than to use multiple VSTi’s with one channel each.

17. Select Add Track from the Project menu and choose MIDI Track. Notice that the

channel number in the Inspector section is now set to chn:2.

18. Select Proteus XLE as the Output destination in the Inspector section.

19. Click on the Edit button of the track Inspector to open Proteus X.

20. Select MIDI Channel 2 using the channel inc/dec keys .

21. Select a Preset on Channel 2. Place the cursor in the preset number ﬁeld and use

the up/down arrow keys on your computer keyboard to scroll through the list.

22. When you’re ready, hit Record on the Cubase LE Transport and start playing.

23. Press Stop when you’re ﬁnished recording, then RTZ (return-to-zero), then Play.

Proteus X LE now plays both MIDI channels.

f There are several ways

to select presets. See the Proteus X LE Operation manual for details.

On Your Own

Cubase LE includes excellent online documentation and help ﬁles. Take the time to learn all the features of this powerful program, and most of all have fun.

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