Pinnacle Systems Pro Tools AI 7 Operation Manual

Operation Manual

Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Marion Bröer, Christina Kaboth, Insa Mingers, Sabine Pfeifer, Benjamin Schütte

This PDF provides improved access for vision-impaired users. Please note that due to the complexity and number of images in this document, it is not possible to include text descriptions of images.

The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. The software 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. Registered licensees of the product described herein may print one copy of this document for their personal use.

All product and company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective owners. For more information, please visit www.steinberg.net/trademarks.

Release Date: May 08, 2013

6 Introduction

6 About the Program Versions 6 Key Command Conventions

7 Setting up your system

7 Setting up audio 14 Setting up MIDI 16 Connecting a synchronizer 16 Setting up video 16 Optimizing audio performance 19 The VST Performance Window 20 The ASIO-Guard Option

21 VST Connections

21 About this chapter 21 The VST Connections window 21 Setting up busses 24 Routing 25 About monitoring 25 Editing operations

28 The Project window

28 Window Overview 30 The track list 31 The Inspector 34 The toolbar 35 The status line 36 The info line 37 The overview line 37 The ruler 39 The Snap function 41 Auto-Scroll

43 Working with projects

43 Creating new projects 45 Opening projects 46 Closing projects 46 Saving projects 48 The Archive and Backup functions 51 The Project Setup dialog 53 Zoom and view options 58 Audio handling 58 Auditioning audio parts and events 59 Scrubbing 59 Editing parts and events 68 Range editing 71 Region operations 72 The Edit History dialog 73 The Preferences dialog

75 Working with tracks

75 Setting up tracks 78 Editing tracks 80 Organizing tracks in folder tracks 82 Dividing the track list

83 Playback and the Transport panel

83 Background 84 Operations 88 Options and Settings 90 The Virtual Keyboard

92 Recording

92 Background 92 Basic recording methods 95 Audio recording specifics 102 MIDI recording specifics 108 Options and Settings

112 Quantizing MIDI and Audio

112 Introduction 112 Quantizing Audio Event Starts 112 Quantizing MIDI Event Starts 113 Quantizing MIDI Event Lengths 113 Quantizing MIDI Event Ends 113 The Quantize Panel 117 Additional Quantizing Functions

118 Fades and crossfades

118 Creating fades 120 The Fade dialogs 122 Creating crossfades 123 The Crossfade dialog 124 Auto fades and crossfades

126 The arranger track

(Cubase Elements only)

126 Introduction 126 Setting up the arranger track 128 Working with arranger events 131 Flattening the arranger chain 133 Live mode 134 Arranging your music to video

135 Using markers

135 Introduction 136 The Marker window 139 The marker track 141 Exporting and importing markers

142 The MixConsole

142 Overview 144 Configuring the MixConsole 147 Keyboard Navigation in the MixConsole 149 Working with the Fader Section 153 Working with the Channel Racks 163 Using Channel Settings 166 Resetting MixConsole Channels 166 Adding Pictures 167 Adding Notes to a MixConsole Channel

168 Audio effects

168 Overview 169 Insert effects 174 Send effects 178 Editing effects 179 Effect presets 182 Installing and managing effect plug-ins

186 VST instruments and instrument

tracks

186 Introduction 186 VST instrument channels vs. instrument

tracks

186 VST instrument channels (not in Cubase

LE)

189 Instrument tracks 192 What do I need? Instrument channel or

instrument track?

192 Instrument Freeze 194 VST instruments and processor load 194 Using presets for VSTi configuration 198 About latency

200 Automation

200 Introduction 201 Working with automation curves 201 Enabling and disabling the writing of

automation data

202 Writing automation data 204 Editing automation events 206 Automation track operations 209 MIDI part data vs. track automation 210 Hints and further options

211 Audio processing and functions

211 Background 211 Audio processing 219 Freeze Edits 220 Detect Silence 222 The Spectrum Analyzer 224 Statistics 225 About time stretch algorithms

226 The Sample Editor

226 Window overview 231 General functions 238 Warping audio 239 Working with hitpoints and slices

245 The Audio Part Editor

245 Background 245 Window overview 246 Opening the Audio Part Editor 247 Operations 249 Options and Settings

250 The Pool

250 Background 251 Window overview 254 Operations

266 The MediaBay

266 Introduction 267 Working with the MediaBay 268 The Define Locations section 270 The Locations section 271 The Results list 275 Previewing files 277 The Filters section 280 The Loop Browser and Sound Browser

windows

280 Preferences 281 Key commands 282 Working with MediaBay-related windows 284 Working with Volume databases

287 Working with track presets

287 Introduction 287 Types of track presets 289 Applying track presets 291 Creating a track preset 292 Creating tracks from track presets or VST

presets

294 Remote controlling Cubase

294 Introduction 294 Setting Up 296 Operations 297 The Generic Remote device 301 The Remote Control Editor (Cubase

Elements only)

307 Apple Remote (Macintosh only)

308 MIDI realtime parameters

308 Introduction 308 The Inspector – general handling 309 The Inspector sections

314 Using MIDI devices

314 Background 314 MIDI devices – general settings and patch

handling

320 MIDI processing

320 Introduction 322 Making your settings permanent 323 Dissolve Part 324 Repeat Loop 325 Other MIDI functions

329 The MIDI editors

329 Introduction 330 Opening a MIDI editor 331 The Key Editor – Overview 335 Key Editor operations 357 The Drum Editor – Overview 359 Drum Editor operations 361 Working with drum maps 365 Using drum name lists 365 Working with SysEx messages 367 Recording SysEx parameter changes 367 Editing SysEx messages 368 The Score Editor – Overview 370 Score Editor operations

380 Working with the Chord Functions

380 Introduction 380 The Chord Track 383 The Chord Track Inspector Section 387 The Chord Editor 388 Creating a Chord Progression from

Scratch (Chords to MIDI)

389 Extracting Chords from MIDI (Make

Chords)

390 Controlling MIDI Playback with the Chord

Track (Follow Chords)

391 Editing tempo and signature

391 Background 391 Tempo and signature display 393 Editing tempo and signature 395 The Beat Calculator 397 Adjusting the audio to the project tempo

398 Export Audio Mixdown

398 Introduction 398 Mixing down to audio files 400 The Export Audio Mixdown dialog 402 The available file formats

408 Synchronization

408 Background 408 Timecode (positional references) 410 Clock sources (speed references) 411 The Project Synchronization Setup dialog 413 Synchronized operation 414 Working with VST System Link 417 Activating VST System Link

424 Video

424 Before you start 426 Preparing a video project in Cubase 428 Video files in the Project window 429 Playing back video 431 Editing video 432 Extracting audio from a video file 432 Replacing the audio in a video file

433 ReWire (not in Cubase LE)

433 Introduction 433 Launching and quitting 434 Activating ReWire channels 435 Using the transport and tempo controls 435 How the ReWire channels are handled in

Cubase

436 Routing MIDI via ReWire2 436 Considerations and limitations

437 File handling

437 Importing audio 442 Exporting and importing standard MIDI

files

445 Exporting and importing MIDI loops

446 Customizing

446 Background 446 Using the Setup options 448 Customizing track controls 451 Appearance 453 Applying colors in the Project window 456 Where are the settings stored?

458 Key commands

458 Introduction 459 Setting up key commands 462 Setting up tool modifier keys 463 The default key commands

469 Index

About the Program Versions

The documentation covers two different operating systems or “platforms”, Windows and Mac OS X. Some features and settings are specific to one of the platforms.

This is clearly stated in the applicable cases. If nothing else is said, all descriptions and procedures in the documentation are valid for both Windows and Mac OS X.

The screenshots are taken from the Windows version of Cubase.

Key Command Conventions

Many of the default key commands in Cubase use modifier keys, some of which are different depending on the operating system. For example, the default key command for Undo is [Ctrl]-[Z] on Windows and [Command]-[Z] on Mac OS X systems.

When key commands with modifier keys are described in this manual, they are shown with the Windows modifier key first, in the following way:

[Win modifier key]/[Mac modifier key]-[key]

Introduction

For example, [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Z] means “press [Ctrl] on Windows or [Command] on Mac OS X systems, then press [Z]”.

Similarly, [Alt]/[Option]-[X] means “press [Alt] on Windows or [Option] on Mac OS X systems, then press [X]”.

Ö This manual often refers to right-clicking, for example, to open context menus. If you

are using a Mac with a single-button mouse, hold down [Ctrl] and click.

Setting up audio

Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections!

Connecting audio

Exactly how to set up your system depends on many different factors, e. g. the kind of project you wish to create, the external equipment you want to use, or the computer hardware available to you. Therefore, the following sections can only serve as examples.

How you connect your equipment, i. e. whether you use digital or analog connections, also depends on your individual setup.

Stereo input and output – the simplest connection

If you only use a stereo input and output from Cubase, you can connect your audio hardware, e. input source and the outputs to a power amplifier and speaker.

Setting up your system

g. the inputs of your audio card or your audio interface, directly to the

Simple stereo audio setup

This is probably the simplest of all setups – once you have set up the internal input and output busses, you can connect your audio source, e. audio interface and start recording.

g. a microphone, to your

Multi-channel audio setup using an external mixer

Setting up audio

Multi-channel input and output

Most likely however, you will have other audio equipment that you want to integrate with Cubase, using several input and output channels. Depending on the equipment available to you, there are two ways to go: either mixing using an external mixing desk, or mixing using the MixConsole inside Cubase.

• External mixing means having a hardware mixing device with a group or bus system that can be used for feeding inputs on your audio hardware.

In the example below, four busses are used for feeding signals to the audio hardware’s inputs. The four outputs are connected back to the mixer for monitoring and playback. Remaining mixer inputs can be used for connecting audio sources like microphones, instruments, etc.

Mixing inside Cubase

Ö When connecting an input source (like a mixer) to the audio hardware, you should use

output busses, sends or similar that are separate from the mixer’s master output, to avoid recording what you are playing back. You may also have mixing hardware that can be connected via FireWire.

• When using the MixConsole inside Cubase, you can use the inputs on your audio hardware to connect microphones and/or external devices. Use the outputs to connect your monitoring equipment.

Cubase supports a number of surround formats.

Recording from a CD player

Most computers come with a CD-ROM drive that can also be used as a regular CD player. In some cases the CD player is internally connected to the audio hardware so that you can record the output of the CD player directly into Cubase (consult the audio hardware documentation if you are uncertain).

• All routing and level adjustments for recording from a CD (if available) are done in the audio hardware setup application (see below).

Setting up your system

Setting up audio

• Cubase Elements only: You can also grab audio tracks directly from a CD in Cubase (see the chapter

“File handling” on page 437).

Word clock connections

If you are using a digital audio connection, you may also need a word clock connection between the audio hardware and external devices. Please refer to the documentation that came with the audio hardware for details.

It is very important that word clock synchronization is set up correctly, or you may experience clicks and crackles in your recordings.

About recording levels and inputs

When you connect your equipment, you should make sure that the impedance and levels of the audio sources and inputs are matched. Typically, different inputs may be designed for use with microphones, consumer line level (-10 level (+4

dBV), or you may be able to adjust input characteristics on the audio

dBV) or professional line

interface or in its control panel. Please check the audio hardware documentation for details.

Using the correct types of input is important to avoid distortion or noisy recordings.

Cubase does not provide any input level adjustments for the signals coming in to your audio hardware, since these are handled differently for each card. Adjusting input levels is either done in a special application included with the hardware or from its control panel (see below).

Making settings for the audio hardware

Most audio cards come with one or more small applications that allow you to configure the inputs of the hardware to your liking. This includes:

- Selecting which inputs/outputs are active.

- Setting up word clock synchronization (if available).

- Turning monitoring via the hardware on/off (see “About monitoring” on page 13).

- Setting levels for each input. This is very important!

- Setting levels for the outputs, so that they match the equipment you use for monitoring.

- Selecting digital input and output formats.

- Making settings for the audio buffers.

In many cases all available settings for the audio hardware are gathered in a control panel, which can be opened from within Cubase as described below (or opened separately, when Cubase isn’t running). In some cases, there may be several different applications and panels – please refer to the audio hardware documentation for details.

Plug and Play support for ASIO devices

The Steinberg UR824 hardware series supports Plug and Play in Cubase. These devices can be plugged in and switched on while the application is running. Cubase will automatically use the driver of the UR824 series and will re-map the VST connections accordingly.

Steinberg cannot guarantee that this will work with other hardware. If you are unsure of whether your device supports plug and play, please consult its documentation.

If a device that does not support Plug and Play is connected/disconnected while the computer is running, it may get damaged.

Setting up your system

Selecting a driver and making audio settings in Cubase

The first thing you need to do is select the correct driver in Cubase to make sure that the program can communicate with the audio hardware:

1. Launch Cubase and select Device Setup from the Devices menu.

2. In the Devices list to the left, click on “VST Audio System”.

The VST Audio System page is shown.

Setting up audio

3. On the ASIO Driver menu, select your audio hardware driver. There may be several options here that all refer to the same audio hardware. When

you have selected a driver, it is added to the Devices list.

Under Windows, we strongly recommend that you access your hardware via an ASIO driver written specifically for the hardware. If no ASIO driver is installed, we recommend that you check with your audio hardware manufacturer if they have an ASIO driver available, for example, for download via the Internet. You can use the Generic Low Latency ASIO driver if no specific ASIO driver is available.

4. Select the driver in the Devices list to open the driver settings for your audio hardware.

5. Bring up the control panel for the audio hardware and adjust the settings as recommended by the audio hardware manufacturer.

• Under Windows, you open the control panel by clicking the Control Panel button. The control panel that opens when you click this button is provided by the audio

hardware manufacturer – not Cubase (unless you use DirectX, see below). Hence it will be different for each audio card brand and model. The control panels for the ASIO DirectX driver and the Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver (Windows only) are exceptions, in that they are provided by Steinberg and described in the dialog help, opened by clicking the Help button in the dialog. See also the notes on DirectX below.

• Under Mac OS X, the control panel for your audio hardware is opened by clicking the “Open Config App” button on the settings page for your audio device in the Device Setup dialog.

Note that this button is available only for some hardware products. If “Open Config App” is not available in your setup, refer to the documentation that came with your audio hardware for information on where to make hardware settings.

Setting up your system

Setting up audio

6. If you plan to use several audio applications simultaneously, you may want to activate the “Release Driver when Application is in Background” option on the VST Audio System page. This will allow another application to play back via your audio hardware even though Cubase is running.

The application that is currently active (i. e. the “top window” on the desktop) gets access to the audio hardware. Make sure that any other audio application accessing the audio hardware is also set to release the ASIO (or Mac OS X) driver so Cubase can use it when it becomes the active application again.

7. If your audio hardware receives clock signals from an external sample clock source, you may want to activate the “Externally Clocked” option on the page for the driver.

This is described in detail in the section “If your hardware setup is based on an

external clock source” on page 11.

8. If your audio hardware and its driver support ASIO Direct Monitoring, you may want to activate the Direct Monitoring checkbox on the page for the driver.

Read more about monitoring later in this chapter and in the chapter “Recording” on page 92.

9. Click Apply and then OK to close the dialog.

If your hardware setup is based on an external clock source

For proper audio playback and recording, it is essential that you set the project’s sample rate to the sample rate of the incoming clock signals. If you load a project with a sample rate that is different from your clock source, the program will try to change the settings of the clock source, which may not be what you want.

By activating the “Externally Clocked” option, you “tell” Cubase that it receives external clock signals and therefore derives its speed from that source. The program will not try to change the hardware sample rate any longer. The sample rate mismatch is accepted and playback will therefore be faster or slower. For more information about the Sample Rate setting, see

“The Project Setup dialog” on page 51.

Ö When a sample rate mismatch occurs, the Record Format field on the status line is

highlighted in a different color.

If you are using audio hardware with a DirectX driver (Windows only)

A DirectX driver is the next best option to a specific ASIO driver and the Generic Low Latency ASIO driver.

Cubase comes with a driver called ASIO DirectX Full Duplex, available for selection on the ASIO Driver pop-up menu (VST Audio System page).

Ö To take advantage of DirectX Full Duplex, the audio hardware must support WDM

(Windows Driver Model).

When the ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver is selected in the Device Setup dialog, you can open the ASIO Control Panel and adjust the following settings (for more details, click the Help button in the control panel):

• Direct Sound Output and Input Ports In the list on the left in the window, all available Direct Sound output and input

ports are listed. In many cases, there will be only one port in each list. To activate or deactivate a port in the list, click the checkbox in the left column. If the checkbox is ticked, the port is activated.

Setting up your system

• You can edit the Buffer Size and Offset settings in this list if necessary, by double-

clicking on the value and typing in a new value. In most cases, the default settings will work fine. Audio buffers are used when audio

data is transferred between Cubase and the audio card. While larger buffers ensure that playback will occur without glitches, the latency (the time between the moment Cubase sends out the data and when it actually reaches the output) will be higher.

• Offset If a constant offset is audible during playback of Audio and MIDI recordings, you

can adjust the output or input latency time using this value.

Setting up the input and output ports

Once you have selected the driver and made the settings as described above, you need to specify which inputs and outputs will be used and name these:

1. In the Device Setup dialog, select your driver in the Devices list on the left to display the driver settings for your audio hardware.

Setting up audio

All input and output ports on the audio hardware are listed.

2. To hide a port, click in the “Visible” column for the port (deselecting the checkbox). Ports that are not visible cannot be selected in the VST Connections window

where you set up your input and output busses – see the chapter

“VST

Connections” on page 21.

If you attempt to hide a port that is already used by a bus you will be asked whether this is really what you want – note that this will disable the port!

3. To rename a port, click on its name in the “Show as” column and type in a new name.

• It is a good idea to give your ports names that are related to the channel configuration (rather than to the actual hardware model)!

4. Click OK to close the Device Setup dialog and apply your changes.

Setting up your system

About monitoring

In Cubase, monitoring means listening to the input signal while preparing to record or while recording. There are three ways to monitor:

External monitoring

External monitoring (listening to the input signal before it goes into Cubase) requires an external mixer for mixing the audio playback with the input signal. This can be a classic mixing desk or a mixer application for your audio hardware, if this has a mode in which the input audio is sent back out again (usually called “Thru”, “Direct Thru” or similar).

Via Cubase

In this case, the audio passes from the input into Cubase, possibly through Cubase effects and EQ and then back to the output. You control monitoring via settings in Cubase.

This allows you to control the monitoring level from Cubase and add effects to the monitored signal only.

ASIO Direct Monitoring

Setting up audio

If your audio hardware is ASIO 2.0 compatible, it may support ASIO Direct Monitoring (this feature may also be available for audio hardware with Mac OS X drivers). In this mode, the actual monitoring is done in the audio hardware, by sending the input signal back out again. However, monitoring is controlled from Cubase. This means that the audio hardware’s direct monitoring feature can be turned on or off automatically by Cubase.

Monitoring is described in detail in the chapter “Recording” on page 92. However, when setting up, there is one thing to note:

• If you want to use the external monitoring via your audio hardware, make sure that the corresponding functions are activated in the card’s mixer application.

Ö If you are using RME Audio Hammerfall DSP audio hardware, make sure that the pan

law is set to -3

dB in the card’s preferences.

Setting up your system

Setting up MIDI

Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections!

This section describes how to connect and set up MIDI equipment. If you have no MIDI equipment, you can skip this section. Note that this is only an example – you might need or want to hook things up differently!

Connecting the MIDI equipment

In this example we assume that you have a MIDI keyboard and an external MIDI sound module. The keyboard is used both for feeding the computer with MIDI messages for recording and for playing back MIDI tracks. The sound module is used for playback only. Using Cubase’s MIDI Thru feature (described later) you will be able to hear the correct sound from the sound module while playing the keyboard or recording.

A typical MIDI Setup

Setting up MIDI

If you want to use even more instruments for playback, simply connect MIDI Thru on the sound module to MIDI In on the next instrument, and so on. In this hook-up, you will always play the first keyboard when recording. But you can still use all your devices for providing sounds on playback.

If you plan to use more than three sound sources, we recommend that you either use an interface with more than one output, or a separate MIDI Thru box instead of the Thru jacks on each unit.

Setting up your system

Setting MIDI Thru and Local On/Off

When “MIDI Thru” is active in Cubase, MIDI data received is immediately “echoed” back out.

When you press a key, it is sent out via MIDI to Cubase.

MIDI data coming in to the instrument is played by the “Synth” inside it.

When Local Control is turned on in the instrument, the keys you press will be played by the “Synth” inside the instrument. When Local Control is turned off, this connection is cut off.

“Synth”

On the MIDI page in the Preferences dialog (located on the File menu under Windows and on the Cubase menu under Mac OS X), you will find a setting called “MIDI Thru Active”. This is related to a setting in your instrument called “Local On/Off” or “Local Control On/Off”.

- If you use a MIDI keyboard instrument, as described earlier in this chapter, MIDI Thru should be activated and that instrument should be set to Local Off (sometimes called Local Control Off – see the instrument’s operation manual for details). The MIDI signal from the keyboard will be recorded in Cubase and at the same time be re-routed back to the instrument so that you hear what you are playing, without the keyboard “triggering” its own sounds.

Setting up MIDI

- If you use a separate MIDI keyboard – one that does not produce any sounds itself

– MIDI Thru in Cubase should also be activated, but you don’t need to look

for any Local On/Off setting in your instruments.

- The only case where MIDI Thru should be deactivated is if you use Cubase with only one keyboard instrument and that instrument cannot be set to Local Off mode.

- MIDI Thru will be active only for MIDI tracks that are record enabled and/or have the Monitor button activated. See the chapter information.

Setting up MIDI ports in Cubase

The Device Setup dialog lets you set up your MIDI system as follows:

Ö When you change MIDI port settings in the Device Setup dialog, these are

automatically applied.

Showing or hiding MIDI Ports

The MIDI ports are listed in the Device Setup dialog on the MIDI Port Setup page. By clicking in the “Visible” column for a MIDI input or output, you can specify whether or not it is listed on the MIDI pop-up menus in the program.

If you are trying to hide a MIDI port which is already selected for a track or a MIDI device, a warning message will appear, allowing you to hide – and disconnect – the port or to cancel the operation and keep the MIDI port visible.

“Recording” on page 92 for more

Setting up your system

Setting up the “All MIDI Inputs” option

When you record MIDI in Cubase, you can specify which MIDI input each recording MIDI track should use. However, you can also select the “In ‘All MIDI Inputs’” option for an input port, which causes any MIDI data from any MIDI input to be recorded.

The “In ‘All MIDI Inputs’” option on the MIDI Port Setup page allows you to specify which inputs are included when you select All MIDI Inputs for a MIDI track. This can be especially useful if your system provides several instances of the same physical MIDI input – by deactivating the duplicates you make sure only the desired MIDI data is recorded.

Ö If you have a MIDI remote control unit connected, you should also make sure to

deactivate the “In ‘All MIDI Inputs’” option for that MIDI input. This will avoid accidentally recording the data from the remote control when the “All MIDI Inputs” option is selected as input for a MIDI track.

Connecting a synchronizer

Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections!

When using Cubase with external tape transports, you will most likely need to add a synchronizer to your system. All connections and setup procedures for synchronization are described in the chapter

Connecting a synchronizer

“Synchronization” on page 408.

Setting up video

Cubase plays back video files in a number of formats, such as AVI, QuickTime, or MPEG. QuickTime is used as playback engine. Which formats can be played back depends on the video codecs installed on your system, see the chapter

page 424.

There are several ways to play back video, e. g. without any special hardware, using a FireWire port, or using dedicated video cards, see

If you plan to use special video hardware, install it and set it up as recommended by the manufacturer.

Before you use the video hardware with Cubase, we recommend that you test the hardware installation with the utility applications that came with the hardware and/or the QuickTime Player application.

Optimizing audio performance

This section gives you some hints and tips on how to get the most out of your Cubase system, performance-wise. Some of this text refers to hardware properties and can be used as a guide when upgrading your system. This text is very brief. Look for details and current information on the Cubase web site.

Two aspects of performance

There are two distinct aspects of performance with respect to Cubase.

“Video” on

“Video output devices” on page 425.

Tracks and effects

Simply put: the faster your computer, the more tracks, effects and EQ you will be able to play. Exactly what constitutes a “fast computer” is almost a science in itself, but some hints are given below.

Setting up your system

Optimizing audio performance

Short response times (latency)

Another aspect of performance is response time. The term “latency” refers to the “buffering”, i.

e. the temporary storing, of small chunks of audio data during various steps of the recording and playback process on a computer. The more and larger those chunks, the higher the latency.

High latency is most irritating when playing VST instruments and when monitoring through the computer, i.

e. when listening to a live audio source via the Cubase MixConsole and effects. However, very long latency times (several hundred milliseconds) can also affect other processes like mixing, e.

g. when the effect of a

fader movement is heard only after a noticeable delay.

While Direct Monitoring and other techniques reduce the problems associated with very long latency times, a system that responds fast will always be more convenient to work with.

• Depending on your audio hardware, it may be possible to “trim” your latency times, usually by lowering the size and the number of buffers.

For details, refer to the audio hardware documentation, or, if you are using a DirectX driver under Windows, the dialog help.

System factors that affect performance

RAM

Generally speaking, the more RAM is installed in your computer, the better.

On computers running a Windows 32-bit operating system, a running application can address a maximum of 2 this limit is 4

GB.The 64-bit versions of Windows and Mac OS X are able to assign

considerably more than 4

This limitation is imposed by the operating system, and it is independent of the amount of RAM that you may have installed in your computer.

Some program functions may “eat up” all the available memory, e. g. recording, the use of effect plug-ins, and the pre-loading of samples.

When a function has used up all the memory made available by the operating system, the computer will crash.

Always keep in mind the RAM limitation of your operating system when setting up your projects.

CPU and processor cache

It goes without saying that the faster the computer processor, the better. But there are a number of factors that affect the apparent speed of a computer: the bus speed and type (PCI is strongly recommended), the processor cache size and of course, the processor type and brand. Cubase relies heavily on floating point calculations. When shopping for a processor, please make sure that you get one that is powerful in calculating floating point arithmetics.

Note also that Cubase features full support for multi-processor systems. So, if you own a computer system with more than one processor, Cubase can take advantage of the total capacity and evenly distribute the processing load to all available processors. For further information, see

GB of RAM. On a Macintosh computer running Mac OS X,

GB of RAM to a running 64-bit application.

“Multi processing” on page 18.

Setting up your system

Optimizing audio performance

Hard disk and controller

The number of hard disk tracks you can record and play back at the same time also depends on the speed of your hard disk and hard disk controller. If you use E-IDE disks and controllers, make sure that the transfer mode is DMA Busmaster. Under Windows, you can check the current mode by launching the Windows Device Manager and looking for properties of the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller’s primary and secondary channel. DMA transfer mode is enabled by default, but may be turned off by the system should hardware problems occur.

Audio hardware and driver

The hardware and its driver can have some effect on regular performance. A badly written driver can reduce the performance of your computer. But where the hardware driver design makes the most difference is with latency.

Again, we strongly recommend that you use audio hardware for which there is a specific ASIO driver!

This is especially true when using Cubase for Windows:

• Under Windows, ASIO drivers written specifically for the hardware are more efficient than the Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver or a DirectX driver and produce shorter latency times.

• Under Mac OS X, audio hardware with properly written Mac OS X (Core Audio) drivers can be very efficient and produce very low latency times.

However, there are additional features currently only available with ASIO drivers, such as the ASIO Positioning Protocol.

Making settings that affect performance

Audio buffer settings

Audio buffers affect how audio is sent to and from the audio hardware. The size of the audio buffers affects both the latency and the audio performance. Generally, the smaller the buffer size, the lower the latency. On the other hand, working with small buffers can be demanding for the computer. If the audio buffers are too small, you may get clicks, pops or other audio playback problems.

• Under Mac OS X, you can adjust the size of the buffers on the VST Audio System page in the Device Setup dialog.

You may also find buffer settings in the control panel for the audio hardware.

• Under Windows, you adjust the buffer size settings in the control panel for the audio hardware (opened by clicking the Control Panel button on the driver page in the Device Setup dialog).

Multi processing

On the VST Audio System page you will find the “Advanced options” section. Here you find advanced settings for the VST Engine, including a Multi Processing option. When this is activated and there is more than one CPU in your system, the processing load is distributed evenly to all available CPUs, allowing Cubase to make full use of the combined power of the multiple processors.

Setting up your system

The VST Performance Window

The VST Performance window shows the audio processing load and the hard disk transfer rate. This allows you to verify that you do not run into performance problems when adding effects or plug-ins, for example.

• To open the VST Performance window, open the Devices menu and select “VST Performance”.

• The “Average Load” indicator shows how much of the available CPU power is used for audio processing.

• The “Real-time Peak” indicator shows the processing load in the realtime path of the audio engine.

The higher this value, the higher the risk that drop outs might occur.

• The Overload indicator to the right indicates overloads of the average or real-time indicator.

If it lights up, try decreasing the number of EQ modules, active effects, and audio channels that play back simultaneously. You can also activate the ASIO-Guard, see

“The ASIO-Guard Option” on page 20.

• The disk indicator shows the hard disk transfer load.

The VST Performance Window

• The overload indicator to the right of the disk indicator lights up, if the hard disk does not supply data fast enough.

Try using the Disable Track function to reduce the number of tracks playing back. If this does not help, you need a faster hard disk.

Ö You can show a simple view of the performance meter on the Transport panel and on

the Project window toolbar. These meters only feature the average and the disk indicator.

Setting up your system

The ASIO-Guard Option

The ASIO-Guard option in the VST Audio System page of the Device Setup dialog allows you to shift as much processing as possible from the ASIO realtime path to the ASIO-Guard processing path. This results in a more stable system.

The ASIO-Guard allows you to preprocess all audio channels that do not need to be calculated in realtime. This leads to less drop-outs, the ability to process more tracks or plug-ins, and the ability to use smaller buffer sizes.

To activate ASIO-Guard, proceed as follows:

1. Open the Devices menu, and select “Device Setup…”.

2. Open the VST Audio System page and activate the ASIO-Guard option.

This is only available if the Multi Processing option is activated, see “Multi

processing” on page 18.

Restrictions

Only the audio channels with their plug-ins as well as VST instruments support the ASIO-Guard technology. To get an overview of the plug-ins that support it, open the Devices menu and select “Plug-in Information” to open the Plug-in Information window. To activate or deactivate the processing of a plug-in in the ASIO-Guard path, check or uncheck it in the ASIO-Guard column.

The ASIO-Guard cannot be used for:

The ASIO-Guard Option

- Realtime-dependent signals

- VST instruments with more than one MIDI source

- External effects and instruments

- Plug-ins that have a different bit version than Cubase If you activate the monitoring for an input channel, the audio channel is automatically

switched from ASIO-Guard to realtime processing and vice versa. This results in a gentle fade out and fade in of the audio channel.

Setting up your system

About this chapter

This chapter focuses on the settings you can perform in the VST Connections window. Here you can set up input and output busses.

Since input and output busses are vital for working with Cubase, a large part of this chapter concentrates on busses and this is also the reason why you find this chapter at the beginning of the Operation Manual.

The VST Connections window

VST Connections

The VST Connections window is opened from the Devices menu. It contains an Inputs and an Outputs tab, which allow you to set up your busses.

Setting up busses

Cubase uses a system of input and output busses to transfer audio between the program and the audio hardware.

- Input busses let you route audio from the inputs on your audio hardware into the program. This means that when you record audio, you will always do this through one or several input busses.

- Output busses let you route audio from the program to the outputs on your audio hardware. When you play back audio, you will always do this through one or several output busses.

Once you understand the bus system and know how to set up the busses properly, it will be easy to go on with recording, playing back and mixing.

Strategies

Setting up busses

The bus configuration is saved with the project – therefore it is a good idea to add and set up the busses you need and save these in a template project (see

Template” on page 47).

When you start working on new projects, you start from this template. That way you get your standard bus configuration without having to make new bus settings for each new project. If you need to work with different bus configurations in different projects, you can either create several different templates or save your configurations as presets (see settings that you regularly use – sample rate, record format, a basic track layout, etc.

Input busses

- Most likely you need at least one stereo input bus assigned to an analog input pair. This will let you record stereo material. If you want to be able to record in stereo from other analog input pairs as well, you add stereo input busses for these, too.

- Although you can record mono tracks from one side of a stereo input, it may be a good idea to add a dedicated mono input bus. This can be assigned to an analog input to which you have connected a dedicated microphone pre-amp, for example. Again, you can have several different mono busses.

- You probably want a dedicated stereo input bus assigned to the digital stereo input, for digital transfers.

“Presets” on page 24). The templates can of course also contain other

“Save as

Output busses

Preparations

Before you set up busses, you should name the inputs and outputs on your audio hardware.

The reason for this is compatibility – it makes it easier to transfer projects between different computers and setups. For example, if you move your project to another studio, the audio hardware may be of a different model. But if both you and the other studio owner have given your inputs and outputs names according to the setup (rather than names based on the audio hardware model), Cubase will automatically find the correct inputs and outputs for your busses and you will be able to play and record without having to change the settings.

To assign names to the inputs and outputs of your audio hardware, proceed as follows:

1. Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu.

2. On the VST Audio System page, make sure that the correct driver for your audio

3. In the Devices list, select your audio card.

4. To rename a port, click on its name in the Show As column and enter a new name.

- You probably want one or several stereo output busses for monitoring and listening to stereo mixes.

- For digital transfers, you need a stereo bus assigned to the digital stereo output as well.

hardware is selected. If this is the case, your audio card is listed in the Devices list on the left of the

Device Setup window.

The available input and output ports on your audio hardware are listed on the right.

• If needed, you can also disable ports by deactivating them in the Visible column. Disabled ports are not shown in the VST Connections window. If you attempt to

disable a port that is used by a bus, you will be asked whether this is really what you want – note that this will remove the port from the bus!

VST Connections

5. Click OK to close the Device Setup dialog.

Ö If you open a project created on another computer and the port names do not match

(or the port configuration is not the same), the Missing Ports dialog will appear. This allows you to manually re-route ports used in the project to ports available in your system.

Mac OS X only: Port selection and activation

On the settings page for your audio card (opened via the Device Setup dialog, see above), you can specify which input and output ports are active. This allows you to use the Microphone input instead of the Line input or even to deactivate the audio card input or output completely, if required.

Ö This function is only available for Built-In Audio, standard USB audio devices and a

certain number of other audio cards.

Adding input and output busses

Depending on whether you have selected the Inputs or the Outputs tab in the VST Connections window, the corresponding busses are listed, with the following information:

Setting up busses

Column Description

Bus Name Lists the busses. You can select and rename busses by clicking

on them in this column.

Speakers Indicates the speaker configuration (mono, stereo) of each bus.

Audio Device This shows the currently selected ASIO driver.

Device Port If a bus entry is expanded to show all speaker channels, this

column shows which physical inputs/outputs on your audio hardware are used by the bus. If the bus entry is collapsed, only the first port used by this bus is visible here.

Click (Outputs tab only) You can route the click to a specific output bus.

To add an input or output bus, proceed as follows:

1. Open the Inputs or Outputs tab depending on the type of bus that you want to add.

2. Click the Add Bus button. A dialog opens.

3. Select a (channel) configuration. You can add stereo and mono busses.

4. Enter a name for the bus. If you do not specify a name, the bus is named according to the channel

configuration.

5. Click the Add Bus button. The new bus appears with the ports visible.

6. For each of the speaker channels in the bus, click in the Device Port column to select a port on your audio hardware.

The pop-up menu that opens lists the ports with the names you have assigned in the Device Setup dialog.

VST Connections

Setting the Main Mix bus (the default output bus)

The Main Mix is the output bus that each new audio, group or FX channel is automatically routed to.

Any of the output busses in the VST Connections window can be the default output bus. By right-clicking on the name of an output bus, you can set it as the Main Mix bus.

The Main Mix is indicated by an orange colored speaker icon next to its name.

Routing

Presets

Routing

On the Inputs and Outputs tabs you will find a Presets menu. Here you can find three different types of presets:

• A number of standard bus configurations.

• Automatically created presets tailored to your specific hardware configuration.

On startup, Cubase analyzes the physical inputs and outputs provided by your audio hardware and creates a number of hardware-dependent presets with the following possible configurations:

- One stereo bus.

- Various combinations of stereo and mono busses.

- A number of mono busses.

• Your own user presets that you can save by clicking the Store button (“+” symbol). You can then select the stored configuration directly from the Presets pop-up menu at any time. To remove a stored preset, select it and click the Delete button (“-” symbol).

When you play back an audio track (or any other audio-related channel in the MixConsole), you route it to an output bus. In the same way, when you record on an audio track you select from which input bus the audio should be sent.

• You can select input and output busses in the Inspector using the Input and Output Routing pop-up menus.

Ö For audio-related channel types other than audio track channels (e.g. VST instrument

channels), only the Output Routing pop-up menu is available.

When selecting an input bus for a track you can only select busses that correspond to the track’s channel configuration. Here are the details for input busses:

- Mono tracks can be routed to mono input busses or individual channels within a stereo input bus.

- Stereo tracks can be routed to mono or stereo input busses.

VST Connections

For output busses any assignment is possible.

Assignments that will lead to feedback are not available in the pop-up menu. This is also indicated by a one-way symbol.

• To disconnect input or output bus assignments, select “No Bus” from the corresponding pop-up menu.

About monitoring

The Main Mix bus (the default output bus) is used for monitoring (see “Setting the

Main Mix bus (the default output bus)” on page 24). You can adjust the monitoring

level in the MixConsole.

Editing operations

On the different tabs of the VST Connections window the corresponding busses are shown in a table containing a tree view with expandable entries. After you have set up all the required busses for a project it might be necessary to edit the names and/or change port assignments. Cubase provides a number of features to make such tasks easier.

About monitoring

Expanding and collapsing entries

• Bus entries can be expanded or collapsed to show or hide the corresponding

speaker channels or sub-busses by clicking the “+” or “-” sign in front of the corresponding list entry.

• To expand or collapse all entries on a tab at the same time, use the “+ All” button or the “-

Determining how many busses a device port is connected to

To give you an idea how many busses a given port is already connected to, the busses are shown in square brackets on the Device Port pop-up menu, to the right of the port name.

Up to three bus assignments can be displayed in this way. If more connections have been made, this is indicated by a number at the far right.

Therefore, if you see the following:

Adat 1 [Stereo1] [Stereo2] [Stereo3] (+2)…

this means that the Adat 1 port is already assigned to three stereo busses plus two additional busses.

Identifying exclusive port assignments

In some cases (i. e. for certain channel types), the port assignment is exclusive. Once a port has been assigned to such a bus or channel, it must not be assigned to another bus, otherwise the connection to the first bus will be broken.

To help you identify such exclusive port assignments and avoid accidental reassignment, the corresponding ports are marked in red on the Device Port pop-up menu.

All” button (respectively) above the tree view.

VST Connections

Editing operations

Selecting/Deselecting multiple entries

• Using the key commands [Ctrl]/[Command]-[A] (Select All) and [Shift]-

[Ctrl]/[Command]-[A] (Select None), you can select and deselect all entries in the Bus Name column.

Note that for this to work, the table on the current tab needs to have the focus. This can be achieved by clicking anywhere on the background of the table.

• By holding [Shift] when selecting entries in the Bus Name column, you can select multiple entries at the same time.

This is useful for automatic renaming or changing the port assignments globally, see below.

Ö If you select a subentry (e. g. a speaker channel in a bus) the parent entry is

automatically selected as well.

Selecting entries by typing the name

In the Bus Name list you can jump to an entry by typing the first letter of the bus name on the keyboard.

This will only work if the table has the focus. To do this, simply select any list entry.

Navigating the Bus Name list using the [Tab] key

By pressing the [Tab] key you can jump to the next entry in the Bus Name list, allowing you to rename your busses quickly. Similarly, by pressing [Shift]-[Tab] you can return to the previous list entry.

Automatically renaming selected busses

You can rename all the selected busses at once using incrementing numbers or letters.

• To use incrementing numbers, select the busses that you want to rename and enter a new name for one of the busses, followed by a number.

For example, if you have eight inputs that you want to be named “In 1, In 2, …, In

8”, you select all the busses and enter the name “In 1” for the first bus. All other

busses are then renamed automatically.

• To use letters from the alphabet, proceed as with numbers, but enter a capital letter instead of a number.

For example, if you have three FX channels that you want to be named “FX A, FX B, and FX C”, you select all the channels and enter the name “FX

A” for the first. All other channels are then renamed automatically. The last letter that can be used is Z. If you have more selected entries than there are letters available, the remaining entries will be skipped.

When using letters instead of numbers, it is important to note that these must be preceded by a space. If you leave out the space before the letter or if you do enter neither a letter nor a number, only the first selected entry is renamed.

Ö You do not have to begin renaming with the topmost selected entry. The renaming will

start from the bus where you edit the name, will go down the list to the bottom and then continue from the top until all selected busses have been renamed.

Changing the port assignment for a single bus

To change the port assignment for a single bus, you proceed as when you added it: Make sure that the channels are visible and click in the Device Port column to select ports.

VST Connections

Editing operations

Changing the port assignment for multiple busses

To change the port assignment (or the output routing in case of groups/FX channels) for multiple entries in the Bus Name column at the same time, you need to select the corresponding busses first.

• To assign different ports to the selected busses, press [Shift], open the Device Port pop-up menu for the first selected entry (i. device port.

All subsequent busses are automatically connected to the next available port.

• To assign the same port to all selected busses, press [Shift]-[Alt]/[Option], open the Device Port pop-up menu for the first selected entry (i. select a device port.

Ö You can also set all selected busses or channels to Not Connected.

Removing busses

To remove a bus you do not need, select it in the list, right-click and select Remove Bus from the pop-up menu, or press [Backspace].

e. the topmost bus) and select a

e. the topmost bus) and

VST Connections

Window Overview

Project

overview

Event display

Inspector

Ruler

Status line

Toolbar

Track list

Info line

The Project window is the main window in Cubase. This provides you with an overview of the project, allowing you to navigate and perform large scale editing. Each project has one Project window.

The Project window

About tracks

The Project window is divided vertically into tracks, with a timeline running horizontally from left to right. The following track types are available:

Track type Description

Audio For recording and playing back audio events and audio parts. Each

Folder Folder tracks function as containers for other tracks, making it easier to

FX Channel FX channel tracks are used for adding send effects. Each FX channel can

audio track has a corresponding audio channel in the MixConsole. An audio track can have any number of automation tracks for automating channel parameters, effect settings, etc.

organize and manage the track structure. They also allow you to edit several tracks at the same time, see on page 80.

contain up to eight effect processors – by routing sends from an audio channel to an FX channel, you send audio from the audio channel to the effect(s) on the FX channel. Each FX channel has a corresponding channel in the MixConsole – in essence an effect return channel, see the chapter automatically placed in a special FX channel folder in the track list, for easy management. An FX channel can also have any number of automation tracks for automating channel parameters, effect settings, etc.

“Audio effects” on page 168. All FX channel tracks are

“Organizing tracks in folder tracks”

Window Overview

Track type Description

Group Channel By routing several audio channels to a Group channel, you can submix

them, apply the same effects to them, see

page 155.

A Group channel track contains no events as such, but displays settings and automation curves for the corresponding Group channel. Each Group channel track has a corresponding channel in the MixConsole. In the Project window, Group channels are organized as tracks in a special Group Tracks folder.

Instrument This allows you to create a track for a dedicated instrument, making VST

instrument handling easier and more intuitive. Instrument tracks have a corresponding channel in the MixConsole. Each instrument track can have any number of automation tracks in the Project window. However, Volume and Pan are automated from within the MixConsole. For more information on instrument tracks, see the chapter

instrument tracks” on page 186.

MIDI For recording and playing back MIDI parts. Each MIDI track has a

corresponding MIDI channel in the MixConsole. A MIDI track can have any number of automation tracks for automating MixConsole channel parameters, insert and send effect settings, etc.

Marker Marker tracks display markers which can be moved and renamed directly

in the Project window (see the chapter project can have only one marker track.

Arranger (Cubase Elements only)

Ruler Ruler tracks contain additional rulers, displaying the timeline from left to

Video For playing back video events. A project can only have one video track.

Chord The chord track allows you to create chord events, see “Working with

The arranger track is used for arranging your project, by marking out sections in the project and determining in which order they are to be played back. See the chapter

only)” on page 126 for details.

right. You can use any number of ruler tracks, each with a different display format if you wish. See the ruler and the display formats.

the Chord Functions” on page 380.

“The ruler” on page 37 for more information about

“The arranger track (Cubase Elements

“About Group Channels” on

“VST instruments and

“Using markers” on page 135). A

About parts and events

The tracks in the Project window contain parts and/or events. Events are the basic building blocks in Cubase. Different event types are handled differently in the Project window:

- Video events and automation events (curve points) are always viewed and rearranged directly in the Project window.

- MIDI events can always be found in MIDI parts, which are containers for one or more MIDI events. MIDI parts are rearranged and manipulated in the Project window. To edit the individual MIDI events in a part, you have to open the part in a MIDI editor (see

“The MIDI editors” on page 329).

The Project window

- Audio events can be displayed and edited directly in the Project window, but you

An audio event and an audio part

Getting on-the-fly info with the Object Selection tool

If the “Object Selection tool: Show Extra Info” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Tools page), a tooltip will be shown for the Object Selection tool, displaying information depending on where you point it. For example, in the Project window event display, the tool will show the current pointer position and the name of the track and event you are pointing at.

The track list

can also work with audio parts containing several events. This is useful if you have a number of events which you want to treat as one unit in the project. Audio parts also contain information about the time position in the project.

The track list displays all the tracks used in a project. It contains name fields and settings for the tracks. Different track types have different controls in the track list. To see all available controls, you may have to resize the track in the track list (see

“Resizing tracks” on page 76).

The track list showing a MIDI track, an audio track with an automation track, and a VST instrument track

• Using the Track Controls Settings dialog you can decide which controls are visible for each track type, see

“Customizing track controls” on page 448.

The Project window

The Inspector

The area to the left of the track list is called the Inspector. This shows additional controls and parameters for the track you have selected in the track list. If several tracks are selected, the Inspector shows the setting for the first (topmost) selected track.

Opening the Inspector

To show the Inspector, proceed as follows:

1. On the toolbar, click the “Set up Window Layout” button.

2. Activate the Inspector option.

The Inspector

Inspector handling

For most track classes, the Inspector is divided into a number of sections, each containing different controls for the track. Which sections are available in the Inspector depends on the selected track.

• You can hide or show sections by clicking on their names. Clicking the name for a hidden section brings it into view and hides the other

sections. [Ctrl]/[Command]-clicking the section name allows you to hide or show a section without affecting the other sections. [Alt]/[Option]-clicking a section name shows or hides all sections in the Inspector.

• You can also use key commands to show different Inspector sections. These are set up in the Key Commands dialog, see “Setting up key commands” on

page 459.

Ö Hiding a section does not affect its functionality. For example, if you have set up a

track parameter or activated an effect, your settings will still be active even if you hide the respective Inspector section.

The Project window

Not all Inspector tabs are shown by default. You can show/hide Inspector sections by right-clicking on an Inspector tab and activating/deactivating the desired options on the Inspector context menu.

Inspector sections

The Inspector contains the controls that can be found on the track list, plus some additional buttons and parameters. In the table below, these additional settings and the different sections are listed.

The Inspector

Parameter Description

Auto Fades Settings button

Edit Channel Settings

Volume Use this to adjust the level for the track. Changing this setting will

Pan Use this to adjust the panning of the track. As with the Volume

Delay This adjusts the playback timing of the audio track. Positive values

Input Routing This lets you specify the input bus or MIDI input for the track. See

Output Routing Here you decide to which output the track is routed. For audio tracks

Chord Track section

Inserts section Allows you to add insert effects to the track, see the chapters “Audio

Strip section Here you can set up the channel strip modules, see “Using Channel

Opens a dialog in which you can make separate Auto Fade settings for the audio track, see

tracks” on page 125.

Opens the Channel Settings window for the track, allowing you to view and adjust effect and EQ settings, etc., see

Settings” on page 163.

move the track’s fader in the MixConsole, and vice versa. See

“Setting the Volume in the MixConsole” on page 152 to learn more

about setting levels.

setting, this corresponds to the Pan setting in the MixConsole.

delay the playback while negative values cause the track to play earlier. The values are set in milliseconds.

“Setting up busses” on page 21 for information about input busses.

you select an output bus (see Group channel, for MIDI tracks you select a MIDI output and for instrument tracks, you select the instrument to which it is routed.

Here you can decide how the track follows the chord track, see

“Working with the Chord Functions” on page 380.

effects” on page 168 and “MIDI realtime parameters” on page 308.

The Edit button at the top of the section opens the control panels for the added insert effects.

Strip Modules” on page 160.

“Making Auto Fade settings for individual

“Using Channel

“Setting up busses” on page 21) or

The Project window

The Inspector

Parameter Description

Equalizers section Lets you adjust the EQs for the track. You can have up to four bands

of EQ for each track, see Edit button at the top of the section opens the Channel Settings window for the track.

Sends section Allows you to route an audio track to one or several FX channels, see

the chapter slot opens the control panel for the first effect in each FX channel.

Channel Fader section

Notepad section This is a standard text notepad, allowing you to jot down notes about

Shows a duplicate of the corresponding MixConsole channel.

the track. If you open the File menu and select “Notepad Data…” from the Export submenu, your data will be exported as text file and opened in an external text editor from where you can print it. Note that you have to save your project first. If you have entered any notes about a track, the icon next to the “Notepad” heading will light up to indicate this. Moving the pointer over the icon will display the Notepad text in a tooltip.

“Audio effects” on page 168. The Edit button above a

“Making EQ Settings” on page 158. The

Instrument tracks

The Inspector for an instrument track shows some of the sections from VST instrument channels and MIDI tracks, see

MIDI tracks

When a MIDI track is selected, the Inspector contains a number of additional sections and parameters, affecting the MIDI events in realtime (e. sections are available for MIDI tracks is described in the chapter

parameters” on page 308.

Arranger track (Cubase Elements only)

For the arranger track, the Inspector displays the lists of available arranger chains and arranger events. See the chapter

page 126 for details.

Folder tracks

When a folder track is selected, the Inspector shows the folder and its underlying tracks, much like a folder structure in the Windows Explorer or Mac OS X Finder.

Ö You can click one of the tracks shown under the folder in the Inspector to have the

Inspector show the settings for that track. This way, you do not have to “open” a folder track to make settings for tracks within it.

FX channel tracks

FX channel tracks are automatically placed in a special folder, for easier management. When this folder track is selected, the Inspector shows the folder and the FX channels it contains. You can click one of the FX channels shown in the folder to have the Inspector show the settings for that FX channel – this way you do not have to “open” a folder track to access the settings for the FX channels in it.

“VST instruments and instrument tracks” on page 186.

g. on playback). Which

“MIDI realtime

“The arranger track (Cubase Elements only)” on

Group channel tracks

Just like FX channel tracks, all group channel tracks are placed in a separate folder – when this is selected, the Inspector shows the folder and the group channels it contains. You can click one of the group channels shown in the folder to have the Inspector show the settings for that group channel – this way, you do not have to “open” a folder track to access the settings for the group channels in it.

The Project window

Marker tracks

When the marker track is selected, the Inspector shows the marker list. For more information, see the chapter

Ruler tracks

For ruler tracks, the Inspector is not used.

Video tracks

When a video track is selected, the Inspector contains a Mute button for interrupting video playback.

Chord track

When the chord track is selected, the Inspector contains a number of settings for the chord events. For more information, see the chapter

Functions” on page 380.

The toolbar

The toolbar contains tools and shortcuts for opening other windows and various project settings and functions.

The toolbar

“Using markers” on page 135.

“Working with the Chord

You can show/hide most of the toolbar elements (except the Activate Project and “Set up Window Layout” buttons) by activating/deactivating the corresponding options on the context menu. The following options are available:

Option Description

Constrain Delay Compensation

Media & MixConsole Windows

Auto-Scroll When this is activated, buttons for the options “Auto-Scroll”

Transport Buttons When this is activated, the transport buttons from the Transport

Arranger Controls (Cubase Elements only)

Tool Buttons When this is activated, tool buttons for editing in the Project

Color Menu This shows/hides the color pop-up menu, see “Applying colors

Nudge Palette Activate this to display the nudge buttons. These buttons can

This is described in the section “Constrain Delay

Compensation” on page 199.

When this is activated, buttons for opening or closing the MediaBay, the Pool, and the MixConsole are displayed on the toolbar.

and “Suspend Auto-Scroll when Editing” are displayed, see

“Auto-Scroll” on page 41.

panel are also displayed on the toolbar.

When this is activated, the controls used when working with the arranger track are displayed, see the chapter

track (Cubase Elements only)” on page 126.

window are displayed on the toolbar. The tools are also accessible via the toolbox, see

in the Project window” on page 453.

be used to nudge events or parts in the Project window or for trimming (see

events” on page 65).

“Moving events” on page 61 and “Resizing

“Using the toolbox” on page 35.

“The arranger

The Project window

Option Description

Snap/Quantize The Snap to Zero Crossings option is described in the section

Performance Meter When this is activated, meters for ASIO time usage and hard

Ö How to further set up the toolbar is described in the section “Using the Setup

options” on page 446.

Using the toolbox

The toolbox can be opened instead of the standard context menus in the event display and editors. It makes the editing tools from the toolbar conveniently available at the mouse pointer position.

• To open the toolbox by right-clicking (Win)/[Ctrl]-clicking (Mac), activate the “Popup Toolbox on Right-Click” option in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Tools page).

When this option is activated, you need to press any modifier key and right-click (Win)/[Ctrl]-click (Mac) to open the context menu. When it is deactivated, you need to press a modifier key to open the toolbox instead of the context menu.

• To change the number of rows in which the tools are arranged on the toolbox, keep the right mouse button pressed on the toolbox until the mouse pointer changes to a double arrow, and drag to the bottom or right.

The tools can be arranged in one, two, or three horizontal or vertical rows.

The status line

“Snap to Zero Crossing” on page 41. The other options are

described in the sections “The Snap function” on page 39 and

“Quantizing MIDI and Audio” on page 112.

disk transfer load are displayed.

The status line

The status line is displayed below the toolbar in the Project window.

It displays the following information:

Option Description

Record Time Max This displays the time you have left for recording, depending

Record Format This displays the sample rate and the bit resolution used for

Project Frame Rate This displays the frame rate used in the project.

Project Pan Law This displays the current Pan Law setting.

Ö Clicking on any of the fields except the Record Time Max display opens the Project

Setup dialog, where you can adjust the settings (see

page 51).

Cubase permits different sample rate settings for a project and the audio hardware. However, as a result the audio files in a project will not play back in their original pitch. If the “Record Format” field is highlighted in a different color, there is a sample rate mismatch and you should check the settings in the Project Setup dialog.

on your project settings and the available hard disk space. Click in this field to display the remaining record time in a separate window.

recording.

“The Project Setup dialog” on

• To show or hide the status line, click the “Set up Window Layout” button on the toolbar and activate or deactivate the Status Line option.

The Project window

The info line

The info line is displayed below the status line in the Project window.

The info line shows information about the currently selected event or part in the Project window. You can edit almost all values on the info line using regular value editing. Length and position values are displayed in the format currently selected for the ruler (see

• To show or hide the info line, click the “Set up Window Layout” button on the

The following elements can be selected for display and editing on the info line:

- Audio events

-Audio parts

-MIDI parts

- Video events

-Markers

- Automation curve points

- Arranger events (Cubase Elements only)

- Chord events

The info line

“The ruler” on page 37).

toolbar and activate or deactivate the Info Line option.

When several elements are selected

• If you have selected several elements, the info line shows information about the

first item in the selection. The values are displayed in color to indicate that several elements are selected.

• If you edit a value on the info line, the value change is applied to all selected elements, relatively to the current values.

If you have selected two audio events, the first being one bar long and the second two bars, the info line shows the length of the first event (one bar). If you now change this value to 3 bars in the info line, the other event will be resized by the same amount – and will thus be 4 bars long.

• To enter absolute values for the selected elements, press [Ctrl]/[Command] while modifying the value on the info line. In the example above, both events would be resized to 3 bars.

[Ctrl]/[Command] is the default modifier key for this – you can change this in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Tool Modifiers page, in the Info Line category).

Editing transpose and velocity for MIDI parts

When one or several MIDI parts are selected, the info line contains Transpose and Velocity fields.

• Adjusting the Transpose field transposes the selected parts in semitone steps. Note that this transposition does not change the actual notes in the part – it is just

a “play parameter”, affecting the notes on playback. The transposition you specify for a part on the info line is added to the transposition set for the whole track.

• Adjusting the Velocity field shifts the velocity for the selected parts – the value you specify is added to the velocities of the notes in the parts.

Again, this velocity shift only affects the notes on playback, and again, the value you specify is added to the Vel.Shift. value set for the whole MIDI track in the Inspector.

The Project window

The overview line

The overview line is displayed below the info line in the Project window. In the overview line, events and parts on all tracks are displayed as boxes.

• To show or hide the overview line, click the “Set up Window Layout” button on the toolbar and activate or deactivate the Overview Line option.

You can use the overview line to zoom in or out, and for navigating to other sections of the project. This is done by moving and resizing the track view rectangle in the overview line.

• The track view rectangle indicates the section of the project currently displayed in the event display.

• You zoom in or out horizontally by resizing the rectangle. Resize it by dragging the edges of the rectangle.

The overview line

The ruler

• You can drag the track view rectangle to view other sections of the project.

This can also be done by clicking anywhere in the upper part of the overview – the track view rectangle will be moved to where you clicked.

The ruler at the top of the event display shows the timeline. Initially, the Project window ruler uses the display format specified in the Project Setup dialog (see

Setup dialog” on page 51), as do all other rulers and position displays in the project.

However, you can select an independent display format for the ruler by clicking the arrow button to the right of it and selecting an option from the pop-up menu (you can also bring up this pop-up menu by right-clicking anywhere in the ruler).

Option Positions and lengths displayed as

Bars+Beats Bars, beats, sixteenth notes and ticks. By default there are 120 ticks

per sixteenth note, but you can adjust this with the “MIDI Display Resolution” setting in the Preferences dialog (MIDI page).

Seconds Hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds.

Timecode This format displays hours, minutes, seconds, and frames. The

number of frames per second (fps) is set in the Project Setup dialog with the Frame Rate pop-up menu (see

page 51).

Samples Samples.

Time Linear When this is selected, the ruler will be linear relative to time. This

means that if there are tempo changes on the tempo track, the distance between the bars will vary in Bars+Beats mode.

Bars+Beats Linear When this is selected, the ruler will be linear relative to the meter

position – bars and beats. This means that if there are tempo changes on the tempo track, there still will be the same distance between bars in Bars+Beats mode. If the ruler is set to a time-based mode, the distance between seconds will vary depending on the tempo changes.

“The Project Setup dialog” on

“The Project

The Project window

• The selection you make here affects the ruler, the info line and tooltip position values (which appear when you drag an event in the Project window).

You can also select independent formats for other rulers and position displays.

• To set the display format globally (for all windows), use the primary display format pop-up on the Transport panel, or hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and select a display format in any ruler.

• If you use the “Timecode” option and the “Show Timecode Subframes” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Transport page), the frames will also display subframes.

There are 80 subframes per frame.

Using multiple rulers – ruler tracks

As described above, the Cubase Project window contains a main ruler at the top of the event display, displaying the timeline from left to right.

If needed, you can have several rulers in the Project window, by adding ruler tracks to the project. Each ruler track contains an additional ruler.

• To add a ruler track, open the “Add Track” submenu from the Project menu and select “Ruler”.

A ruler track showing an additional ruler is added to the track list.

The ruler

You can add any number of ruler tracks to a project, and position them as needed by dragging them up or down in the track list. Each of the rulers can show a separate display format.

• To select a display format for a ruler track, click on its name in the track list and select an option from the pop-up menu.

Note that ruler tracks are completely independent from the main event display ruler, as well as rulers and position displays in other windows. This means that:

- Each ruler track in a project can have its own display format.

- Ruler tracks are not affected by the display format setting in the Project Setup dialog (see

- Ruler tracks are not affected if you set the display format globally with the primary time display in the Transport panel.

Ö Ruler tracks are affected by the “Show Timecode Subframes” option in the

Preferences dialog (Transport page, see above).

“The Project Setup dialog” on page 51).

The Project window

The Snap function

The Snap function helps you to find exact positions when editing in the Project window. It does this by restricting horizontal movement and positioning to certain positions. Operations affected by Snap include moving, copying, drawing, sizing, splitting, range selection, etc.

• You turn Snap on or off by clicking the Snap icon on the toolbar.

When you are moving audio events with Snap activated, it is not necessarily the beginning of the event that is used as Snap position reference. Instead, each audio event has a snap point, which you can set to a relevant position in the audio (such as a downbeat, etc.).

Cubase Elements only

The snap point is preferably set in the Sample Editor since it allows for a higher degree of precision (see also set the snap point directly in the Project window, in the following way:

1. Select an event.

The Snap function

“Adjusting the snap point” on page 232). However, you can

2. Place the project cursor at the desired position within the selected audio event.

3. Open the Audio menu and select “Snap Point To Cursor”.

The snap point is set at the cursor position.

The snap point for an event is displayed as a vertical line in the Project window.

The Project window

The Snap Type pop-up menu

To determine how the Snap function works, open the Snap Type pop-up menu and select one of the available options.

Grid

If you select this Snap type, the Snap positions are set with the Grid Type pop-up menu. The options depend on the display format selected for the ruler. For example, if the ruler is set to show bars and beats, the grid can be set to bars, beats, or the quantize value set with the selected quantize preset. If a time or frame-based ruler format is selected, the Grid Type pop-up menu contains time or frame-based grid options, etc.

The Snap function

When Seconds is selected as ruler format, the Grid Type pop-up menu contains time-based grid options.

Grid Relative

If you select this Snap type, events and parts will not be “magnetic” to the grid. Rather, the grid determines the step size for moving the events. This means that a moved event will keep its original position relative to the grid.

For example, if an event starts at the position 3.04.01 (one beat before bar 4), Snap is set to Grid Relative and the Grid Type pop-up menu is set to “Bar”, you can move the event in steps of one bar – to the positions 4.04.01, 5.04.01 and so on. The event will keep its relative position to the grid, i.

• This only applies when dragging existing events or parts – when you create new events or parts this snap type works like “Grid”.

Events

This grid type makes the start and end positions of other events and parts become “magnetic”. This means that if you drag an event to a position near the start or end of another event, it is automatically aligned with the start or end of the other event. For audio events, the position of the snap point is also magnetic (see

point” on page 232).

• Note that this includes marker events on the marker track. This allows you to snap events to marker positions, and vice versa.

e. stay one beat before the bar lines.

“Adjusting the snap

The Project window

Auto-Scroll

12345

52431

Dragging event 2 past event 4…

…changes the order of events 2, 3 and 4.

Shuffle

Shuffle is useful when you want to change the order of adjacent events. If you have two adjacent events and drag the first one to the right, past the second event, the two events will change places.

The same principle works when changing the order of more than two events:

Magnetic Cursor

This grid type lets the project cursor become “magnetic”. Dragging an event near the cursor causes the event to be aligned with the cursor position.

Grid + Cursor

This is a combination of “Grid” and “Magnetic Cursor”.

Events + Cursor

This is a combination of “Events” and “Magnetic Cursor”.

Events + Grid + Cursor

This is a combination of “Events”, “Grid” and “Magnetic Cursor”.

Snap to Zero Crossing

When this option is activated on the toolbar, splitting and sizing of audio events is done at zero crossings (positions in the audio where the amplitude is zero). This helps you avoid pops and clicks which might otherwise be caused by sudden amplitude changes.

Auto-Scroll

When the Auto-Scroll option is activated, the waveform display will scroll during playback, keeping the project cursor visible in the window. You can find the AutoScroll button on the toolbars of the Project window and all editors.

“Auto-Scroll” and “Suspend Auto-Scroll when Editing” are activated.

• If the “Stationary Cursors” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Transport page), the project cursor will be positioned in the middle of the screen (if possible).

The Project window

Suspending Auto-Scroll

When editing parts or events during playback with Auto-Scroll enabled, you may suddenly “lose sight” of the edited material as the display follows the project cursor.

If you do not want the Project window display to change when editing during playback, you can activate the “Suspend Auto-Scroll when Editing” button. You will find this button right next to the Auto-Scroll button. When this option is enabled, autoscrolling is suspended as soon as you click anywhere in the event display during playback.

Proceed as follows:

1. Open a project that contains audio or MIDI parts/events.

2. Enable both the “Auto-Scroll” and the “Suspend Auto-Scroll when Editing”

buttons.

3. Start playback.

4. Edit an audio or MIDI part/event of your project (e. g. click and drag it to a different

location on its track). The Auto-Scroll button turns orange.

Auto-Scrolling is now suspended, i. e. when the project cursor moves to the right edge of the Project window, the display will not follow to keep the cursor visible.

As soon as playback stops or when you click the Auto-Scroll button again, Cubase will return to the normal Auto-Scroll behavior.

Auto-Scroll

The Project window

Creating new projects

The New Project command on the File menu allows you to create new projects, either as empty projects or based on a template. Depending on the settings on the General page in the Preferences dialog, either Steinberg Hub or the Project Assistant dialog opens.

Steinberg Hub

When you start Cubase or create new projects using the File menu, Steinberg Hub opens. Steinberg Hub keeps you up to date with the latest information and assists you with organizing your projects. Steinberg Hub shows two sections:

• The News and Tutorials section displays Steinberg news, tutorial videos as well as links to the user forum, downloads, and Knowledge Base. Ensure that you have an active internet connection to access this material.

Working with projects

• The Projects section lets you create new projects, which can either be empty or

based on a template, and specify where to save the projects. It also allows you to access recently opened projects or projects that are stored in other locations. For further information about the individual functions, see the following sections.

Ö To start Cubase or to create new projects without Steinberg Hub, you can deactivate

the Use Steinberg Hub option on the General page in the Preferences dialog. This starts Cubase without opening a project and opens the Project Assistant when you create a new project using the File menu. You can still open Steinberg Hub through the Steinberg Hub menu.

Project Assistant

Category bar

Template list

Location options

When you deactivate Steinberg Hub and create new projects, the Project Assistant dialog opens. This dialog offers the same functions as the Projects section in Steinberg Hub.

Creating new projects

Opening recent projects

The Recent category in the category bar of the Projects section contains a list of recently opened projects. When you select an item in this category, the Create button changes to “Open”, allowing you to open the corresponding project. This list is similar to the list in the Recent Projects submenu of the File menu.

Choosing a template

In the category bar of the Projects section, the available factory templates are sorted into the predefined categories Recording, Production, Scoring, and Mastering. Furthermore, there is a More category which contains the default project template (see

“Setting up a default template” on page 47) and all templates that are not

assigned to any of the other categories.

When you click on one of the category items, the list below the category bar shows the available factory templates for this category that were installed with Cubase. Any new templates that you create (see top of the corresponding list for convenient access.

• To create an empty project that is not based on a template, select the “Empty” entry in the More category and click the Create button.

An empty project is also created if no template is selected in the currently shown category.

• You can rename or delete a template by right-clicking it in the list and selecting the corresponding option on the context menu.

“Save as Template” on page 47) are added at the

• To open the folder in which the selected template is stored in the Windows Explorer/Mac OS Finder, right-click the template in the list and select “Show in Explorer” (Win) or “Reveal in Finder” (Mac).

Working with projects

Choosing a project location

The location options in the Projects section allow you to specify where the project is stored.

• Select “Use default location” to create the project in the default project location (as shown in the path field), and click Create.

In the “Project folder” field you can specify a name for the project folder. If you do not specify a project folder here, the project will reside in a folder named “Untitled”.

Ö To change the default project location, simply click in the path field. A file dialog

opens, allowing you to specify a new default location.

• Select “Prompt for project location” and click Continue to create the project in a different location.

In the dialog that appears, specify a location and a project folder.

Open Other

The “Open Other” button allows you to open any project file on your system. This is identical to using the Open command from the File menu, see below.

Opening projects

The “Open…” command on the File menu is used for opening saved project files.

If you open a project saved with a different program version that contains data for functions not available in your version, this data may be lost when saving the project with your version.

• Several projects can be open at the same time. This is useful if you want to copy parts or entire sections from one project to

another.

• If there is already an open project, you will be asked if you want to activate the new project.

• Click No to open the project inactive. This significantly reduces load times, especially for large projects.

• Click Activate to open and activate the new project. The active project is indicated by the lit Activate Project button in the upper left

corner of the Project window. To activate a different project, simply click its Activate Project button.

• You can also open project files by selecting an entry from the “Recent Projects” submenu of the File menu.

This submenu lists the projects you have recently worked with, with the most recent at the top of the list. When you create new projects, the Recent category in the Projects section of Steinberg Hub also displays a list of the recently opened projects. For further information, see

Working with projects

“Creating new projects” on page 43.

About the “Missing Ports” dialog

If you open a Cubase project created on a different system (other audio hardware), the program tries to find matching audio inputs and outputs for the i/o busses (this is one of the reasons why you should use descriptive, generic names for your input and output ports – see

If the program cannot resolve all audio/MIDI inputs and outputs used in the project, a Missing Ports dialog will open. This allows you to manually re-route any ports specified in the project to ports available in your system.

“Preparations” on page 22).

Closing projects

The Close command on the File menu closes the active window. If a Project window is active, selecting this closes the corresponding project.

• If the project contains unsaved changes, you are asked whether you want to save it before closing.

If you select “Don’t Save” and have recorded or created new audio files since saving, you will be asked if you want to delete or keep these.

Closing projects

Saving projects

Save and Save As

The commands Save and Save As allow you to save the active project as a project file (file extension “.cpr”). The Save command stores the project under its current name and location, while Save As allows you to rename and/or relocate the file. If a project has not been saved yet or if it has not been changed since it was last saved, only Save As is available.

Generally, we recommend that you save project files in their project folders, to keep the projects as manageable as possible.

A word about file extensions

On Windows systems, file types are indicated by three letter file name extensions (such as *.cpr for Cubase project files).

On Mac OS X systems, it is not necessary to use file name extensions, since the file types are stored internally in the files. However, if you want your Cubase projects to be compatible with both platforms, make sure that the “Use File Extension in File Dialog” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (General page). When this is activated, the proper file name extension is automatically added when you save a file.

Save New Version

This function is only available as a key command, by default [Ctrl]/[Command][Alt]/[Option]-[S]. When you use this function, an identical, new project file is being created and activated.

The new file will get the same name as the original project, but with an incremental number attached. For example, if your project is called “My Project”, you will get new versions called “My Project-01”, “My Project-02”, and so on.

Save New Version is useful if you are experimenting with edits and arrangements and want to be able to go back to a previous version at any time. The newest versions are always listed on the Recent Projects submenu of the File menu for instant access (see also

“Opening recent projects” on page 44).

Working with projects

Save as Template

This function allows you to save the current project as a template. When you create a new project, the available templates are listed, allowing you to base the new project on a template.

Proceed as follows:

1. Set up a project.

2. Select “Save As Template…” from the File menu, and in the New Preset section,

enter a name for the new project template.

• In the Attribute Inspector section you can assign the template to one of the four template categories shown in the Projects section (see on page 43) and/or enter a description for the template.

Simply select a category value from the Template Category pop-up menu and/or enter a description in the Content Summary field.

Ö If you do not choose a Template Category attribute, the new template will be shown in

the More category in the Projects section.

3. Click OK to save the template.

• Templates can contain clips and events just like regular projects. If this is not what you want, make sure to remove all clips from the Pool before you

save the project as a template.

Saving projects

“Creating new projects”

Templates are always stored in the Templates folder, see “Where are the settings

stored?” on page 456.

Setting up a default template

If you always want the same default project to open when you launch Cubase, you can save a default template. Proceed as follows:

1. Set up a project.

2. Select “Save As Template…” from the File menu and save the project template

with the name “default”.

3. Open the Preferences dialog and select the General page.

4. Open the “On Startup” pop-up menu and select “Open ‘Default’ Template”.

The next time you launch Cubase, the default template will automatically be opened.

Ö In the Projects section of Steinberg Hub, the default project template is found in the

More category.

Reverting to the last saved version

If you select “Revert” from the File menu, you will be asked whether you really want to revert to the last saved version of the project. If you click “Revert”, all changes you have made since saving will be discarded.

If you have recorded or created new audio files since saving, you will be asked whether you want to delete or keep these.

Working with projects

Auto Save

Ö With this option only the project files themselves will be backed up. If you want to

The Archive and Backup functions

If you activate the Auto Save option in the Preferences dialog (General page), Cubase will automatically save backup copies of all open projects with unsaved changes.

These backup copies are named “<project name>-xx.bak”, where xx is an incremental number. Unsaved projects are backed up in a similar way as “UntitledX-xx.bak”, with X being the incremental number for unsaved projects. All backup files are saved in the project folder.

• Use the “Auto Save Interval” setting to specify the time intervals in which a backup copy will be created.

• Use the “Maximum Backup Files” option to specify how many backup files will be created with the Auto Save function.

When the maximum number of backup files is reached, the existing files will be overwritten (starting with the oldest file).

include the files from the Pool and save your project in a different location, you need to use the “Back up Project” function.

The Archive and Backup functions

Prepare Archive

The “Prepare Archive” function verifies that every clip referenced in the project is located in the same folder, and takes actions if that is not the case:

• Any files that are located outside the current project folder will be copied into it. Please note that audio files residing within the project folder are not copied to the

audio folder. Therefore, you have to copy them there manually before backing up the audio folder or save them separately during backup, see below.

• If any processing has been applied, you will be asked whether you want to Freeze Edits.

If you do this, you do not have to archive the Edits folder. Everything belonging to the project will be contained in the project file and the Audio folder.

Once you have performed a Prepare Archive operation, you can use the “Back Up Project” function to create a backup of the project file, containing copies of all necessary media files (with the exception of VST Sound content, see below).

It is not necessary to archive the Images folder, since these images can be recreated by Cubase. You may also find a file with the extension “.csh” in the project folder. This contains image information for edited clips and other data that can be recreated, so it can safely be deleted.

Video clips are always referenced and not stored in the project folder.

Working with projects

Back up Project

This function is very useful if you want to create a backup copy of a project for your archive. It can also be used to prepare projects for delivery so that they only contain the necessary work data (while leaving the original project untouched). When you back up a project, all media files (except those coming from VST Sound archives) can be included as a copy.

VST Sound content provided by Steinberg is copy-protected and will not be included in the backup project. If you want to use a backup copy of a project using such data on a different computer, make sure that the corresponding content is also available on that computer.

1. Select “Back up Project…” from the File menu.

2. Click OK.

The Archive and Backup functions

A file dialog opens in which you can choose an existing empty folder or create a new folder to save the project.

The “Back up Project Options” dialog opens.

This dialog contains the following options:

Option Description

Project Name Enter a project name if you want to change it from the default (the

current name of the project).

Keep Current Project Active

When this option is activated, the current project will still be the active project after clicking OK. If you wish to switch to the new backup project instead, deactivate this option.

Minimize Audio Files

If this is activated, only the audio file portions that are actually used in the project will be included. This can significantly reduce the size of the project folder (if you are using small sections of large files), but it also means you cannot use other portions of the audio files if you continue working with the project in its new folder.

Freeze Edits This will perform a Freeze Edits operation, making all processing and

applied effects permanent to each clip in the Pool, see

“Freeze Edits”

on page 219.

Remove Unused Files

Do Not Back up Video

When this is activated, only files in the Pool that are actually used in the project will be stored in the new folder.

When this is activated, any video clips on the video track or in the Pool of the current project will not be included in the backup project.

3. Make the desired settings.

4. Click OK.

A copy of the project is saved in the new folder. The original project is not affected.

Working with projects

Cleanup (Cubase Elements only)

The Cleanup function on the File menu helps you to save hard disk space by locating and – if you like – deleting unused audio files in the project folders on your disk.

1. Select “Cleanup…” from the File menu. If there are any open projects, an alert shows. Clicking “Close” closes all open

projects and brings up the dialog “Cleanup Cubase Project Folders”.

2. To restrict the Cleanup function to a certain folder, click the “Search Folder” button and select the folder.

The default setting is that the Cleanup function is applied to all folders on all hard disks. Only select a specific folder if you are certain it does not contain audio files used in other projects (outside the folder), see below. You can reset the function to search all folders by opening the “Search Folder” dialog again and clicking “Cancel”.

3. Click the Start button. Cubase will now scan the selected folder (or all hard disks) for Cubase project

folders and check for audio and image files (in the Audio, Edits and Images subfolders) that are not used by any project. The found files are listed in the dialog.

4. When the scan is complete, you can select files by clicking in the list. Use [Ctrl]/[Command]-click to select several files, and [Shift]-click to select a

range of files. You can also click the Select All button to select all files in the list.

In the following situations, the Cleanup function will list files that are not unused:

The Archive and Backup functions

- If you have moved or renamed files or folders (without updating the project files to use the new paths), there is no way for Cubase to know that these files are used in a project.

- If you perform the Cleanup function on a folder in which there are audio files belonging to other projects (outside the folder), these files will be considered “unused”.

• Also, make sure that you do not delete any files used in other applications, or files that you generally want to keep!

However, you can always safely delete image files since these can be reconstructed by the program, if necessary.

5. Delete any files you do not want to keep by selecting them and clicking Delete.

6. Close the dialog by clicking the Close button.

Working with projects

The Project Setup dialog

General settings for the project are made in the Project Setup dialog. This is opened by selecting “Project Setup…” from the Project menu.

Ö If the “Run Setup on Create New Project” option is activated in the Preferences dialog

(General page), the Project Setup dialog will open automatically when you create a new project.

The Project Setup dialog

The following settings are available in the Project Setup dialog:

Setting Description

Author Here you can add a name that will be written as the project author

into the iXML chunk when exporting audio files with the corresponding option activated (see default setting for this can be set in the Preferences dialog (General– Personalization page).

Company Here you can add a name that will be written as the company name

into the iXML chunk when exporting audio files with the corresponding option activated (see default setting for this can be set in the Preferences dialog (General– Personalization page).

Start The start time of the project. Allows you to have the project start at

another time than zero. Also used for setting the sync start position when synchronizing Cubase to external devices (see the chapter

“Synchronization” on page 408). The format of this value is always in

timecode. When you change this setting you will be asked whether you want to keep the project content at its timecode positions. “Yes” means that all events will stay at their original timecode positions – i. they will be moved in relation to the start of the project. “No” means that all events keep their position relative to the project start.

Length The length of the project.

“AIFF files” on page 403). The

Working with projects

The Project Setup dialog

Setting Description

Frame Rate This setting determines both the timecode standard and frame rate

for the project, see the section The frame rate of a video file used in a project should match the frame rate set for a project. The “Get From Video” button allows you to set the project frame rate to the frame rate of an imported video file, see the section synchronizing Cubase to an external device, make sure that this setting corresponds to the frame rate of any incoming timecode. However, there might be situations where perfect synchronization does not matter to you and you do not want to change the project frame rate. In this case, the frame rate mismatch will be indicated on the Transport panel in the Sync section.

Display Format This is the global display format used for all rulers and position

displays in the program, except ruler tracks (see

page 34). However, you can make independent display format

selections for the individual rulers and displays if you like. For descriptions of the different display format options, see

page 37.

Display Offset Offsets the time positions displayed in the ruler, etc., allowing you to

compensate for the Start position setting. Typically, if you synchronize Cubase to an external source starting at a frame other than zero, you set the Start position to this value. However, if you still want the display in Cubase to start at zero, set the Display Offset to the same value.

Bar Offset This works just like “Display Offset” described above, in that it offsets

the time positions in the ruler by a number of bars, allowing you to compensate for the Start position setting. The difference is that Bar Offset is only used when the “Bars+Beats” display format is selected (see

Sample Rate The sample rate at which Cubase records and plays audio. The order

of the menu items depends on the sample rates available for your audio hardware. Supported settings are displayed in the upper part of the menu, non-supported settings are displayed in the lower part. Regarding the sample rate, there are two possible scenarios: Either your audio hardware generates the audio clock signals itself or it is clocked externally, i. source (see

source” on page 11).

If the sample rate is generated internally, the following applies: When you select a sample rate non-supported by your audio hardware (from the lower part of the menu), it is highlighted in a different color and the corresponding tooltip shows a warning. In this case you must set a different sample rate to make your audio files play back properly. When you specify a project sample rate that your audio hardware supports but which is different from the current audio hardware sample rate, and you confirm your settings by clicking OK, the sample rate setting of the audio hardware is automatically changed to the project sample rate.

Bit Resolution/ Record File Type

Stereo Pan Law Decides whether panning uses power compensation or not, see

When you record audio in Cubase, the files that are created will be of this resolution and file type, see

page 95.

“Stereo Pan Law” on page 151.

“Adopting the video frame rate” on page 427. When

“The ruler” on page 37).

e. receives signals from an external sample clock

“If your hardware setup is based on an external clock

“Timecode standards” on page 409.

“Ruler tracks” on

“The ruler” on

“Selecting a recording file format” on

Working with projects

Setting Description

Volume Max The maximum fader level. By default this value is set to +12 dB. If you

HMT Type (MIDI only, Cubase Elements only)

HMT Depth (MIDI only, Cubase Elements only)

While most Project Setup settings can be changed at any time, you should set the sample rate directly after creating a new project! If you change the sample rate at a later stage, you must convert all audio files in the project to the new sample rate to make them play back properly.

Zoom and view options

load projects created with Cubase versions before 5.5, this value is set to the old default value of +6 impact on the sound of your project.

When working with MIDI, you can select a Hermode Tuning type for your project. For further information on the different tuning modes, see

“HMT: Follow (Cubase Elements only)” on page 312.

Determines the overall degree of retuning. With a setting of 100 %, fifths and thirds get maximum purity. For an equal tempered scale, deactivate hermode tuning or set the depth to 0

dB. Note that this will have a direct

Zooming in the Project window is done according to the standard zoom techniques, with the following special notes:

• When you are using the Zoom tool (magnifying glass), the result depends on the “Zoom Tool Standard Mode: Horizontal Zooming Only” option in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Tools page).

If this is activated and you drag a selection rectangle with the Zoom tool, the window will only be zoomed horizontally (track height will not change). If the option is off, the window will be zoomed both horizontally and vertically.

• When using the vertical zoom sliders, the tracks are scaled relatively. In other words, if you have made any individual track height adjustments (see

below), the relative height differences are maintained.

You find the following options are available on the Zoom submenu on the Edit menu:

Option Description

Zoom In Zooms in one step, centering on the project cursor.

Zoom Out Zooms out one step, centering on the project cursor.

Zoom Full Zooms out so that the whole project is visible. “The whole project”

means the timeline from the project start to the length set in the Project Setup dialog (see above).

Zoom to Selection

Zoom to Selection (Horiz.)

Zoom to Event This option is available only in the Sample Editor (see “Zooming”

Zoom In Vertically Zooms in one step vertically.

Zoom Out Vertically Zooms out one step vertically.

Zoom In Tracks Zooms in on the selected track(s) one step vertically.

Zoom Out Tracks Zooms out the selected track(s) one step vertically.

Zooms in horizontally and vertically so that the current selection fills the screen.

Zooms in horizontally so that the current selection fills the screen.

on page 231).

Working with projects

Zoom and view options

Click here…

…to open the

pop-up menu.

Option Description

Zoom Selected Tracks

This zooms in vertically on the selected track(s) and minimizes the height of all other tracks.

Undo/Redo Zoom These options allow you to undo/redo the last zoom operation.

• If the “Zoom while Locating in Time Scale” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Transport page), you can also zoom by clicking in the ruler and dragging up or down with the mouse button pressed.

Drag up to zoom out; drag down to zoom in.

• You can zoom the contents of parts and events vertically, using the waveform zoom slider in the top right corner of the event display.

This is useful when viewing quiet audio passages.

To get an approximate reading on the level of the audio events by viewing the waveforms, make sure this slider is all the way down. Otherwise, zoomed waveforms may be mistaken for clipped audio.

• If you activate the option Quick Zoom in the Preferences dialog (Editing page), the contents of parts and events will not be continuously redrawn when you zoom manually.

Instead, the contents are redrawn once you have stopped changing the zoom – activate this if screen redraws are slow on your system.

Zoom presets and cycle markers

The pop-up menu to the left of the horizontal zoom control allows you to select, create and organize zoom presets. These are useful if you want to set up different zoom settings (e. another with a high zoom factor for detailed editing). With this pop-up menu, you can also zoom in on the area between cycle markers in the project.

g. one where the whole project is displayed in the project window and

The upper part of the menu lists the zoom presets:

• To save the current zoom setting as a preset, select Add from the pop-up menu. A dialog opens, allowing you to type in a name for the preset.

Working with projects

Zoom and view options

• To select and apply a preset, select it from the pop-up menu.

• The “Zoom Full” preset is always available. Selecting this option zooms out so that

the whole project is visible. “The whole project” means the timeline from the project start to the length set in the Project Setup dialog (see

“The Project Setup

dialog” on page 51).

• If you want to delete a preset, select “Organize…” from the pop-up menu. In the dialog that opens, select the preset in the list and click the Delete button.

The preset is removed from the list.

• If you want to rename a preset, select “Organize…” from the pop-up menu. In the dialog that opens, select the desired preset in the list and click the Rename

button. A second dialog opens, allowing you to type in a new name for the preset. Click OK to close the dialogs.

Zoom presets are global for all projects, i. e. they are available in all projects you open or create.

The middle part of the pop-up menu lists any cycle markers you have added to the project:

• If you select a cycle marker from this menu, the event display is zoomed in to encompass the marker area.

• You cannot edit the cycle markers in this pop-up menu. For information on editing markers, see

“The Marker window” on page 136.

Only the cycle markers you create in the current project are available on the menu.

The Zoom history

Cubase maintains a history of recent zoom stages, allowing you to undo and redo zoom operations. This way you can zoom in several steps and then easily go back to the zoom stage at which you started.

There are two ways to invoke Undo Zoom and Redo Zoom:

• Use the items on the Zoom submenu on the Edit menu. You can also assign key commands for these.

• Double-click with the Zoom tool (magnifying glass) to Undo Zoom. Press [Alt]/[Option] and double-click to Redo Zoom.

Working with projects

Adjusting how parts and events are shown

The Preferences dialog on the File menu (the Cubase menu, under Mac OS X) contains several settings for customizing the display in the Project window.

The Event Display page contains common settings for all track types:

Option Description

Show Event Names

Hide Truncated Event Names

Show Overlaps When events overlap in the Project window, this setting allows you to

Grid Overlay Intensity

Event Handling Opacity

Smallest Track Height To Show Data

Smallest Track Height To Show Name

Determines whether the names of parts and events are shown in the Project window.

When zooming or resizing elements in the Project window, the events can become very small so that the name is no longer completely visible (the name gets truncated). When this option is activated, event names are hidden from the Project window if they do not fit into the event.

specify when the overlapping areas are displayed.

Increases or decreases the overlay intensity of the displayed grid lines in the Project window.

Increases or decreases the opacity of an overlying event background when you move it in the Project window.

Specifies from which track height the track contents are displayed.

Specifies from which track height the track names are displayed.

Zoom and view options

The Event Display–Audio page contains settings for audio events:

Option Description

Interpolate Audio Waveforms

Show Event Volume Curves Always

Show Waveforms Determines whether audio waveforms are shown at all.

Waveform Brightness

Waveform Outline Intensity

Fade Handle Brightness

Background Color Modulation

If the option is deactivated, single sample values are drawn as “steps”. If the option is activated they are interpolated to form “curves”.

If this is activated the “volume curves” created with the volume and fade handles are always shown – if not, the curves are only shown for selected events.

Increases or decreases the brightness of the displayed waveforms.

Increases or decreases the intensity of the waveform outline.

Increases or decreases the brightness of the set fade lines within audio events.

When this is activated, the backgrounds of audio waveforms are displayed in a different way, reflecting the waveform dynamics. This is especially useful to get an overview when working with small track heights.

Working with projects

Zoom and view options

The Event Display–MIDI page contains settings for MIDI parts:

Option Description

Default Edit Action Determines which editor is opened when you double-click a MIDI

part, or select it and press [Ctrl]/[Command]-[E]. Note that this setting is overridden for tracks with drum maps if the “Edit as Drums when Drum Map is assigned” option (see below) is activated.

Part Data Mode Determines if and how events in MIDI parts are shown in the Project

window: as lines, as score notes, as drum notes, or as blocks. If “No Data” is selected, events will not be shown at all. Note that this setting is overridden for tracks with drum maps if the “Edit as Drums when Drum Map is assigned” option (see below) is activated.

Show Controllers Governs whether non-note events (controllers, etc.) are shown in

MIDI parts in the Project window.

Note Brightness Increases or decreases the brightness of note events.

Controller Brightness

Edit as Drums when Drum Map is assigned

Increases or decreases the brightness of controller events.

If this is activated, parts on MIDI tracks with drum maps assigned will be shown with drum note symbols in the Project window. Also, the parts will automatically open in the Drum Editor when double-clicked (overriding the Default Edit Action setting above).

The Event Display–Chords page contains settings for chords:

Option Description

Pitch Notation

Chord Font Allows you to specify a font for all chord symbols.

Chord Symbols These options allow you to determine how chord types are

The Event Display–Tracks page contains settings for tracks:

Option Description

Colorize Track Controls

Auto Track Color Mode

The Note Name pop-up menu lets you determine how chords are be displayed. The Naming Format pop-up menu lets you determine how MIDI note names (pitches) are displayed in editors, etc. The options “Display ‘Bb’ as ‘B’” and “Display ‘B’ as ‘H’” allow you to change the corresponding pitch names.

displayed.

This slider allows you apply the track color to the track controls.

This offers you several options for automatically assigning colors to tracks that are added to the project, see

automatically” on page 453.

“Applying track colors

Working with projects

Audio handling

When you work with audio files, it is crucial to understand how audio is handled in Cubase:

When you edit or process audio in the Project window, you always work with an audio clip that is automatically created on import or during recording. This audio clip refers to an audio file on the hard disk that itself remains untouched. This means, that audio editing and processing is “non-destructive”, in the sense that you can always undo changes or revert to the original versions.

An audio clip does not necessarily refer to just one original audio file! If you apply some processing to a specific section of an audio clip, for example, this will create a new audio file containing only this section. The processing will then be applied to the new audio file only, leaving the original audio file unchanged. Finally, the audio clip is automatically adjusted, so that it refers both to the original file and to the new, processed file. During playback, the program will switch between the original file and the processed file at the correct positions. You will hear this as a single recording, with processing applied to one section only. This feature makes it possible to undo processing at a later stage, and to apply different processing to different audio clips that refer to the same original file.

An audio event is the object that you place on a time position in Cubase. If you make copies of an audio event and move them to different positions in the project, they will still all refer to the same audio clip. Furthermore, each audio event has an Offset value and a Length value. These determine at which positions in the clip the event will start and end, i. example, if you resize the audio event, you will just change its start and/or end position in the audio clip – the clip itself will not be affected.

An audio region is a section within a clip with a length value, a start time, and a snap point. Audio regions are shown in the Pool and are best created and edited in the Sample Editor.

Audio handling

e. which section of the audio clip will be played back by the audio event. For

Ö If you want to use one audio file in different contexts, or if you want to create several

loops from one audio file, convert the corresponding regions of the audio clip to events and bounce them into separate audio files. This is necessary since different events that refer to the same clip access the same clip information.

Auditioning audio parts and events

Audio parts and events can be auditioned in the Project window with the Play tool:

When auditioning, the Main Mix bus is used.

1. Select the Play tool.

2. Click where you want playback to start, and keep the mouse button pressed.

Only the track on which you click is played back, starting at the click position.

3. Release the mouse button to stop playback.

Working with projects

Scrubbing

The Scrub tool allows you to locate positions in MIDI or audio parts and in audio events by playing back, forwards or backwards, at any speed:

1. Select the Play tool and click a second time on the icon. A pop-up menu opens.

2. Select “Scrub”.

3. Click at the desired position of your event or part and keep the mouse button

pressed. The project cursor moves to the position where you click. The mouse pointer is not

visible anymore.

4. Drag to the left or right. The project cursor moves correspondingly and the event or part is played back.

The speed and thus the pitch of the playback depend on how fast you move the mouse.

You can adjust the volume of the Scrub function in the Preferences dialog (Transport– Scrub page).

Ö When scrubbing with the mouse, insert effects are always bypassed.

Ö It is also possible to “scrub” all audio and video tracks of your project with the Jog

wheel and Shuttle Speed control on the Transport panel see

shuttle speed control” on page 87. In this case, MIDI events are ignored.

Scrubbing can be quite a burden on your system. If playback problems occur, try deactivating the “Use High Quality Scrub Mode” option in the Preferences dialog (Transport–Scrub page). The resampling quality will then be lower, but scrubbing will be less demanding on the processor. This can be useful when scrubbing in large projects.

Editing parts and events

This section describes techniques for editing in the Project window. If not explicitly stated, all descriptions apply to both events and parts, even though we use the term “event” for convenience.

Ö When you are using the tools for editing, you can in many cases get additional

functions by pressing modifier keys (e. Object selection tool creates a copy of the dragged event).

On the following pages, the default modifier keys are described – you can customize these in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Tool Modifiers page), see

modifier keys” on page 462.

Selecting events

“Playing back with the

g. pressing [Alt]/[Option] and dragging with the

“Setting up tool

Selecting events is done using any of the following methods:

• Use the Object Selection tool. The standard selection techniques apply.

• Use the Select submenu on the Edit menu.

Working with projects

Editing parts and events

The following options are available:

Option Description

All Selects all events in the Project window.

None Deselects all events.

Invert Inverts the selection – all selected events are deselected and all

events that were not selected are selected instead.

In Loop Selects all events that are partly or wholly between the left and

right locator.

From Start to Cursor Selects all events that begin to the left of the project cursor.

From Cursor to End Selects all events that end to the right of the project cursor.

Equal Pitch These are available in the MIDI Editors (see “Selecting notes” on

page 341) and the Sample Editor (see “Using the Select menu”

on page 234).

Select Controllers in Note Range

This is available in the MIDI Editors (see “Selecting controllers

within the note range” on page 342).

All on Selected Tracks Selects all events on the selected track.

Events under Cursor Automatically selects all events on the selected track(s) that are

“touched” by the project cursor.

Select Event This is available in the Sample Editor (see “Window overview” on

page 226).

Left/Right Selection Side to Cursor

These two functions are only used for range selection editing (see

“Creating a selection range” on page 68).

Note that these functions work differently when the Range Selection tool is selected (see

“Creating a selection range” on page 68).

• Select all events on a track by right-clicking on it in the track list and selecting “Select All Events” from the context menu.

• It is also possible to select ranges, regardless of the event and track boundaries. This is done using the Range Selection tool (see “Range editing” on page 68).

• Use the arrow keys on the computer keyboard to select the closest event to the left, right, above, or below.

If you press [Shift] and use the arrow keys, the current selection will be kept, allowing you to select several events.

By default, tracks are selected with the up/down arrow keys on the computer keyboard. Therefore using these to select events, too, can be confusing. If you want to use the navigation controls for track selection only (a most vital operation in both editing and mixing), you can activate the “Use Up/Down Navigation Commands for selecting Tracks only” option in the Preferences dialog (Editing page). The following applies:

- When this option is deactivated and no event/part is selected in the Project window, the up/down arrow keys on the computer keyboard are used to step through the tracks in the track list.

- When this option is deactivated and an event/part is selected in the Project window, the up/down arrow keys still step through the tracks in the track list – but on the currently selected track, the first event/part will automatically be selected as well.

- When this option is activated, the up/down arrow keys are only used to change the track selection – the current event/part selection in the Project window will not be altered.

Working with projects

• If the “Auto Select Events under Cursor” option is activated in the Preferences

dialog (Editing page), all events on the selected track(s) that are “touched” by the project cursor are automatically selected.

This can be helpful when rearranging your project, because it allows you to select whole sections (on all tracks) by selecting all tracks and moving the project cursor.

Using the cross-hair cursor

Also in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Tools page), you can find the Cross-Hair Cursor section. When enabled, a cross-hair cursor is displayed when working in the Project window and in the editors, facilitating navigation and editing, especially when arranging large projects. You can set up the colors for the line and the mask of the cross-hair cursor, and define its width. The cross-hair cursor works as follows:

• When the Object Selection tool (or one of its subtools) is selected, the cross-hair cursor appears when you start moving/copying a part/event, or when using the event trim handles.

• When the Object Selection tool, the Cut tool, or any other tool that makes use of this function is selected, the cross-hair cursor appears as soon as you move the mouse over the event display.

Editing parts and events

• The cross-hair cursor is only available for tools where such a function is of any use.

Moving events

To move events in the Project window, use the following methods:

• Click and drag to a new position.

You will note that there is a slightly delayed response when you move an event by dragging. This helps you avoid accidentally moving events when you click on them in the Project window. You can adjust this delay with the Drag Delay setting in the Preferences dialog (Editing page).

• Select the event and edit the Start position in the info line.

• Use the “Move to” options on the Edit menu.

The following options are available:

Option Description

Cursor Moves the selected event to the project cursor position. If there are

Origin Moves the selected events to their original positions, i. e. the positions

The Mute tool, for example, does not use a cross-hair cursor, as you have to click directly on an event to mute it.

All selected events are moved, maintaining their relative positions. You can only drag events to tracks of the same type. If Snap is activated, this determines to which positions you can move the events (see Note also that you can restrict movement to be either horizontal or vertical only, by holding down [Ctrl]/[Command] while dragging.

several selected events on the same track, the first event will start at the cursor, and the following will be lined up end-to-start after the first one.

at which they were originally recorded.

“The Snap function” on page 39).

Working with projects

Editing parts and events

Option Description

Front/Back This function does not actually change the position of the events, but

moves the selected events to the front or back, respectively. This is useful if you have overlapping events and want to see one that is partially obscured. For audio events, this is an extra important feature, because only the visible sections of events will be played back. Moving an obscured audio event to front (or moving the obscuring event to back) will allow you to hear the whole event on playback. Note that it is also possible to use the “To Front” function on the event context menu for this.

• Use the Nudge buttons on the toolbar. These move the selected events to the left or right. The amount of movement

depends on the selected display format (see

“The Project Setup dialog” on page

51) and the value set on the Grid pop-up menu.

When the Range Selection tool is used, the Nudge buttons move the selection range (see “Moving and duplicating” on page 70).

Ö The Nudge buttons are not visible on the toolbar by default. You can decide which

items are visible by right-clicking on the toolbar and activating the corresponding option on the context menu (see

• Use the Up/Down key commands, found in the Nudge category in the Key Commands dialog.

These commands allow you to nudge one or more events (except folder parts) up or down to the nearest track.

Nudging up/down will not create new tracks: If there is no destination track that matches the track configuration of the nudged event, nothing happens.

Duplicating events

Events can be duplicated in the following ways:

• Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and drag the event to a new position. If Snap is activated, this determines to which positions you can copy the events

(see

If you hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] as well, movement direction is restricted to either horizontal or vertical. That means if you drag an event vertically it cannot be moved horizontally at the same time.

“The setup context menus” on page 446).

“The Snap function” on page 39).

• Audio and MIDI parts can also be duplicated by clicking on the part, pressing [Alt]/[Option]-[Shift], and dragging.

This creates a shared copy of the part. If you edit the contents of a shared copy, all other shared copies of the same part are automatically edited in the same way.

Note:

• When you duplicate audio events, the copies are always shared. This means that shared copies of audio events always refer to the same audio clip (see

“Audio

processing” on page 211).

Working with projects

Editing parts and events

• You can convert a shared copy to a real copy by selecting “Convert to Real Copy” from the Functions submenu on the Edit menu. This creates a new version of the clip (that can be edited independently) and adds this to the Pool. Note that no new files are created by this operation – for that you need to use the “Bounce Selection” function from the Audio menu (see

• Selecting “Duplicate” from the Functions submenu on the Edit menu creates a copy of the selected event and places it directly after the original.

If several events are selected, all of these are copied “as one unit”, maintaining the relative distance between the events.

• Selecting “Repeat…” from the Functions submenu on the Edit menu opens a dialog, allowing you to create a number of copies (regular or shared) of the selected events.

This works just like the Duplicate function, but you can specify the number of copies.

• You can also perform the Repeat function by dragging: Select the events to repeat, press [Alt]/[Option], click the handle in the lower right corner of the last selected event and drag to the right.

The longer to the right you drag, the more copies are created (as shown by the tooltip).

“Exporting regions as audio files” on page 262).

• Selecting “Fill Loop” from the Functions submenu on the Edit menu creates a number of copies starting at the left locator and ending at the right locator.

The last copy is automatically shortened to end at the right locator position.

Using Cut, Copy, and Paste

You can cut or copy selected events, and paste them in again, using the functions on the Edit menu.

• When you paste an audio event, it is inserted on the selected track, positioned so that its snap point is aligned with the cursor position.

If the selected track is of the wrong type, the event will be inserted on its original track. See

• If you use the “Paste at Origin” function on the Function submenu of the Edit menu, the event is pasted at its original position (the position from which you cut or copied it).

• If you use the “Paste Relative to Cursor” function on the Function submenu of the Edit menu, the event is pasted while keeping its relative position to the project cursor.

“The Snap function” on page 39 for information about the snap point.

Renaming events

By default, audio events show the name of their clip, but you can enter a separate descriptive name for separate events if you like. This is done by selecting the event and typing in a new name in the “Description” field on the info line.

• You can also give all events on a track the same name as the track by changing the track name, holding down a modifier key and pressing [Return].

See “Audio handling” on page 58.

Working with projects

Splitting events

You can split events in the Project window in the following ways:

• Click with the Cut tool on the event you want to split.

• Select “Split at Cursor” from the Edit menu, Functions submenu.

• Select “Split Loop” from the Edit menu, Functions submenu.

Ö If you split a MIDI part so that the split position intersects one or several MIDI notes, the

result depends on the “Split MIDI Events” option in the Preferences dialog (Editing– MIDI page). If the option is activated, the intersected notes will be split (creating new notes at the beginning of the second part). If it is deactivated, the notes will remain in the first part, but “stick out” after the end of the part.

Editing parts and events

If Snap is activated, this determines the exact split position (see “The Snap

function” on page 39). You can also split events by pressing [Alt]/[Option] and

clicking with the Object Selection tool.

This splits the selected events at the position of the project cursor. If no events are selected, all events (on all tracks) that are intersected by the project cursor will be split.

This splits events on all tracks at the left and right locator positions.

Gluing events together

You can glue events together using the Glue tool. There are three possibilities:

• Clicking on an event with the Glue tool glues it together with the next event on the track. The events do not have to touch one another.

The result is a part containing the two events, with one exception: If you first split an event and then glue the two sections together again (without moving or editing them first), they become a single event again.

• You can select several events on the same track and click on one of them with the Glue tool.

A single part is created.

• When you hold down [Alt]/[Option] while clicking on an event with the Glue tool, this event will be glued together with all following events on this track.

You can change the default key command for this in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Tool Modifiers page).

Working with projects

Resizing events

Resizing events means to move their start or end positions individually. In Cubase, there are three modes for resizing:

Resizing mode Description

Normal Sizing The contents of the event stay fixed, and the start or end point of

Sizing Moves Contents

Sizing Applies Time Stretch

To select one of the resizing modes, select the Object Selection tool and then click again on the Object Selection tool icon on the toolbar. This opens a pop-up menu from which you can select one of the options.

Editing parts and events

the event is moved to “reveal” more or less of the contents.

The contents follow the moved start or end of the event (see the figure below).

The contents will be time stretched to fit the new event length (see the separate section

“Resizing events using time stretch” on page

66).

Normal sizing

Sizing moves contents

The toolbar icon indicates the resizing mode

The actual resizing is done by clicking and dragging the lower left or right corner of the event. If Snap is activated, the Snap value determines the resulting length (see

“The Snap function” on page 39).

• If several events are selected, all will be resized in the same way.

• It is also possible to resize events by using the Trim buttons (located in the Nudge

palette) on the toolbar. This will move the start or end position of the selected event(s) by the amount set

on the Grid Type pop-up menu. The sizing type currently selected applies to this method too, with the exception of “Sizing Applies Time Stretch” which is not possible with this method. You can also use key commands for this (by default, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and use the left and right arrow key).

Ö Note that the Nudge palette is not visible on the toolbar by default. See “The setup

context menus” on page 446 for instructions on how to show and hide items on the

toolbar.

Working with projects

• You can also resize events with the Scrub tool.

For further information on the Scrub tool, see “Scrubbing” on page 59.

Ö When resizing events, any automation data will not be taken into account.

Resizing events using time stretch

If you want to resize a part and make its contents “fit” the new size, you should use this sizing mode. Proceed as follows:

1. Click the Object Selection tool on the toolbar and click again to select the “Sizing Applies Time Stretch” option from the pop-up menu.

2. Point close to the end point of the part you want to stretch.

3. Click and drag left or right.

When you move the mouse, a tooltip shows the current mouse position and length of the part. Note that the snap value applies, as with any part operation.

Editing parts and events

4. Release the mouse button. The part is “stretched” or “compressed” to fit the new length.

• For MIDI parts, this means that the note events are stretched (moved and resized). Controller data will be stretched, too.

• For audio parts, this means that the events are moved, and that the referenced audio files are time stretched to fit the new length.

A dialog shows the progress of the time stretch operation.

Sliding the contents of an event or part

You can move the contents of an event or part without changing its position in the Project window. By default, this is done by pressing [Alt]/[Option]-[Shift], clicking in the event or part and dragging to the left or right.

When sliding the contents of an audio event, you cannot slide past the start or end of the actual audio clip. If the event plays the whole clip, you cannot slide the audio at all.

Muting events

To mute events in the Project window, proceed as follows:

• You can mute events by selecting them and selecting “Mute” from the Edit menu. Similarly, you can unmute the selected events by selecting “Unmute” from the Edit

menu.

• To mute or unmute a single event, click on it with the Mute tool.

• To mute or unmute several events, click in an empty area with the Mute tool and

drag a selection rectangle around several events. All selected events will be muted.

Working with projects

• You can also change the mute status of selected events by [Shift]-clicking them.

Muted events can be edited as usual (with the exception of adjusting fades), but are not played back.

Muted events are “grayed out”.

• You can also mute whole tracks by clicking the Mute (“M”) button in the track list, the Inspector or the MixConsole.

Clicking the Solo (“S”) button for a track mutes all other tracks. Note that there are two modes for the track solo function: If the “Enable Solo on Selected Track” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Project selecting another track in the track list will automatically solo that track instead – the solo state “moves” with the track selection. If the option is not activated, the track you solo stays soloed, regardless of the selection.

Removing events

Editing parts and events

& MixConsole page) and you have soloed a track,

To remove an event from the Project window, use any of the following methods:

• Click on the event with the Erase tool. Note that if you press [Alt]/[Option] while you click, all following events on the

same track will be deleted, but not the event you clicked and all events before it.

• Select the event(s) and press [Backspace], or select “Delete” from the Edit menu.

Creating new files from events

An audio event plays a section of an audio clip, which in turn refers to one or more audio files on the hard disk. However, in some situations you may want to create a new file that consists only of the section played by the event. This is done with the function “Bounce Selection” on the Audio menu:

1. Select one or several audio events.

2. Set up fade in, fade out and event volume (on the info line or using the volume

handle) as desired. These settings will be applied to the new file. For details on fades and event

volume, see

3. Select “Bounce Selection” from the Audio menu. You are asked whether you want to replace the selected event or not.

• If you click “Replace”, a new file is created, containing only the audio in the original event. A clip for the new file is added to the Pool, and the original event is replaced by a new event playing the new clip.

• If you click “No”, a new file is created and a clip for the new file is added to the Pool.

The original event is not replaced.

“Creating fades” on page 118.

You can also apply the Bounce Selection function to an audio part. In that case, the audio from all events in the part will be combined into a single audio file. If you choose “Replace” when asked, the part will be replaced with a single audio event playing a clip of the new file.

Working with projects

Range editing

Editing in the Project window is not necessarily restricted to handling whole events and parts. You can also work with selection ranges, which are independent from the event/part and track boundaries.

Creating a selection range

To make a selection range, drag with the Range Selection tool.

When the Range Selection tool is selected, the Select submenu on the Edit menu has the following items for making selection ranges:

Option Description

All Makes a selection that covers all tracks, from the start of the project

None Removes the current selection range.

Invert Only used for event selection (see “Selecting events” on page 59).

In Loop Makes a selection between the left and right locator, on all tracks.

From Start to Cursor Makes a selection on all tracks, from the start of the project to the

From Cursor to End Makes a selection on all tracks, from the project cursor to the end of

All on Selected Tracks

Select Event This is available in the Sample Editor (see “Using the Select menu”

Left Selection Side to Cursor

Right Selection Side to Cursor

Range editing

to the end (as defined by the Length setting in the Project Setup dialog).

project cursor.

the project.

Only used for event selection (see “Selecting events” on page 59).

on page 234).

Moves the left side of the current selection range to the project cursor position.

Moves the right side of the current selection range to the project cursor position.

• Double-clicking on an event with the Range Selection tool creates a selection range encompassing the event.

If you hold down [Shift] you can double-click several events in a row, and the selection range will expand to encompass them all. Double-clicking a second time on an event opens it for editing in the Sample Editor.

Working with projects

Range editing

Making selection ranges for several non-contiguous tracks

You can create selection ranges that cover several tracks. It is also possible to exclude tracks from a selection range:

1. Create a selection range from the first to the last desired track.

2. Press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click in the selection range on the tracks that you

want to exclude from the selection.

3. In the same manner, you can add a track to the selection range by [Ctrl]/[Command]-clicking in the selection range area on the track.

Editing selection ranges

Adjusting the size of the selection range

You can adjust the size of a selection range in the following ways:

• By dragging its edges. The pointer takes the shape of a double arrow when you move it over an edge of

the selection range.

• By holding down [Shift] and clicking. The closest selection range edge will be moved to the position at which you clicked.

• By adjusting the selection range start or end position on the info line.

• By using the Trim buttons on the toolbar.

The left Trim buttons will move the start of the selection range and the right buttons will move the end. The edges will be moved by the amount specified on the Grid pop-up menu.

• By using the Nudge buttons on the toolbar. These will move the whole selection range to the left or the right. The amount of

movement depends on the selected display format (see

dialog” on page 51) and the value specified on the Grid pop-up menu.

“The Project Setup

Note that the contents of the selection are not moved – using the Nudge buttons is the same as adjusting the start and end of the selection range at the same time, by the same amount.

Ö The Trim buttons and the Nudge buttons are located in the Nudge palette, which is

not visible on the toolbar by default.

See “The setup context menus” on page 446 for instructions on how to show and hide items on the toolbar.

Working with projects

Range editing

Moving and duplicating

• To move a selection range, click and drag it to a new position.

This will move the contents of the selection range to the new position. If the range intersected events or parts, these will be split before moving, so that only the sections within the selection range are affected.

• To duplicate a selection range, hold down [Alt]/[Option] and drag. You can also use the Duplicate, Repeat and Fill Loop functions, just as when

duplicating events (see

Using Cut, Copy, and Paste

When working with selection ranges, you can either use Cut, Copy and Paste on the Edit menu, or use the functions “Cut Time” and “Paste Time” on the Range submenu on the Edit menu. These work differently to their related functions on the Edit menu:

Function Description

Cut Cuts out the data in the selection range and moves it to the clipboard.

The selection range is replaced by empty track space in the Project window, meaning that events to the right of the range keep their positions.

Copy Copies the data in the selection range to the clipboard.

Paste Pastes the clipboard data at the start position and track of the current

selection. Existing events are not moved to make room for the pasted data.

Paste at Origin Pastes the clipboard data back at its original position. Existing events

are not moved to make room for the pasted data.

Cut Time Cuts out the selection range and moves it to the clipboard. Events to

the right of the removed range are moved to the left to fill out the gap.

Paste Time Pastes the clipboard data at the start position and track of the current

selection. Existing events are moved to make room for the pasted data.

Paste Time at Origin

Pastes the clipboard data back at its original position. Existing events are moved to make room for the pasted data.

“Duplicating events” on page 62).

Deleting selection ranges

Again, you can either use “regular” Delete or “Delete Time”:

• If you use the Delete function on the Edit menu (or press [Backspace]), the data within the selection range is replaced by empty track space.

Events to the right of the range keep their position.

• If you use “Delete Time” on the Edit menu’s Range submenu, the selection range is removed and events to the right are moved to the left to close up the gap.

Working with projects

Other functions

On the Range submenu on the Edit menu, you will find more range editing functions:

Function Description

Global Copy This copies everything in the selection range.

Split Splits any events or parts that are intersected by the selection range,

Crop All events or parts that are partially within the selection range are

Insert Silence Inserts empty track space from the start of the selection range. The

Region operations

at the positions of the selection range edges.

cropped, that is, sections outside the selection range are removed. Events that are fully inside or outside the selection range are not affected.

length of the silence equals the length of the selection range. Events to the right of the selection range start are moved to the right to “make room”. Events that are intersected by the selection range start are split, and the right section is moved to the right.

Regions are sections within a clip, with various uses. While regions are perhaps best created and edited in the Sample Editor (see the following region functions are available in the Advanced submenu of the Audio menu:

Function Description

Event or Range as Region

Events from Regions

This function is available when one or several audio events or selection ranges are selected. It creates a region in the corresponding clip, with the start and end position of the region determined by the start and end position of the event or selection range within the clip.

This function is available if you have selected an audio event whose clip contains regions within the boundaries of the event. The function will remove the original event and replace it with event(s) positioned and sized according to the Region(s).

“Working with regions” on page 236),

Working with projects

The Edit History dialog

In the Edit History dialog you can undo and redo many edit actions. Actions that can be undone include all functions in the Project window as well as in the editors. It is also possible to undo audio processes or applied plug-in effects.

Ö In the Preferences dialog (General page) you can limit the Undo function by setting

the number in the “Maximum Undo Steps” field to the desired value. This is useful if you run out of hard disk space, for example.

To undo and redo your actions, proceed as follows:

1. On the Edit menu, select “History…”. The Edit History dialog opens.

The Edit History dialog

The dialog contains a list of all your edits, with the most recent action at the bottom of the list. The Action column displays the name of the action while the Time column tells you when this action was performed. In the Details column further details are shown. Here you can enter new text by double-clicking in the column.

2. Move the horizontal, colored line upwards to the desired position to undo your actions.

You can only undo your actions in reverse order, i. e. the last performed action is the first action to be undone.

3. Move the line down the List again to redo an action that was undone previously.

Working with projects

The Preferences dialog

When you open the File menu (the Cubase menu on a Mac) and select “Preferences…”, the Preferences dialog opens. This dialog provides a large number of options and settings that control the global behavior of Cubase.

The dialog has a number of pages, each containing options and settings belonging to a particular topic.

• In the list on the left, click on one of the entries to open the corresponding page.

• You can find detailed descriptions of all Preferences options in the dialog help,

opened by clicking the Help button at the bottom left of the dialog.

About preference presets

In the Preferences dialog it is possible to save complete or partial preference settings as presets. This lets you recall settings quickly and easily.

Saving a preference preset

When you have made your preferences settings, proceed as follows to save all settings as a preset:

1. Make sure that the “Store marked preferences only” option is not activated. This is because this option is used for saving partial settings (see below), as

opposed to complete settings.

2. Click the Store button in the lower left section of the Preferences dialog.

Working with projects

The Preferences dialog

A dialog opens, allowing you to type in a name for the preset.

3. Click OK to save the preset. Your saved settings are now available from the Preference Presets pop-up menu.

Loading a preference preset

To load a saved preference preset, simply select a preset from the Preference Presets pop-up menu. The preset is applied immediately.

Saving partial preferences settings

It is also possible to save partial preferences settings. This is useful when you have made settings that only relate to a certain project or situation, for example. When you apply a saved partial preference preset, you only change the saved settings. All other preferences will be left unchanged.

When you have made your specific preferences settings, proceed as follows to save the partial settings as a preset:

1. Activate “Store marked preferences only”. A new “Store” column is added to the Preferences list.

2. Click in the Store column of the Preferences items you wish to save. Note that if you activate a Preferences page that contains subpages, these will

also be activated. If this is not what you want, simply deactivate the subpages.

3. Click the Store button in the lower left section of the Preferences dialog. A dialog opens, asking you to type in a name for the preset. It is a good idea to

choose a descriptive name for a partial preference preset, preferably relating to the saved settings (for example “Editing–Controls”).

4. Click OK to save. Your saved settings are now available from the Preference Presets pop-up menu.

Working with projects

Setting up tracks

Adding tracks

To add a track to the project, proceed as follows:

1. Open the “Add Track” submenu from the Project menu or from the track list context menu.

Working with tracks

2. Select a track type. If you select the Audio, MIDI, Group Channel, or Instrument option from the Add

Track submenu, a dialog opens, allowing you to insert several tracks in one go. Just enter the desired number of tracks in the Count field.

• For Audio, MIDI, and Group Channel tracks, you can also specify a track name.

• For audio and group channel tracks, the channel configuration – mono or stereo –

can be set on the Configuration pop-up menu.

Ö The “Add Track Using Track Preset” option allows you to select a Track Preset. This is

described in the chapter

Once you have created tracks, you can manipulate and rearrange them in various ways. This is explained in the following sections.

Removing tracks

To remove tracks, you have the following options:

• Select the track you want to remove, open the Project menu, and select “Remove Selected Tracks”.

• In the track list, right-click on the track you want to remove, and select “Remove Selected Tracks” from the context menu.

• You can also remove all tracks not containing any events by selecting “Remove Empty Tracks” from the Project menu.

“Working with track presets” on page 287.

Naming tracks

To rename a track, proceed as follows:

1. Double-click in the name field and type in a new name for the track.

2. Press [Return] to close the name field.

• If you want all events on the track to get the same name, hold down any modifier while pressing [Return].

• If “Parts get Track names” is activated in the Preferences dialog (Editing page) and you move an event from one track to another, the moved event will automatically be named according to its new track. Otherwise the event will retain the name of the track it was previously on.

Coloring tracks

All tracks are automatically assigned a color.

• To control which colors are used for new tracks, use the “Auto Track Color Mode” pop-up menu in the Preferences dialog (Event Display–Tracks page).

The available options are described in the section “Applying track colors

automatically” on page 453.

• To change the color for existing tracks, use the Select Colors pop-up menu on the toolbar.

This is described in detail in the section “About the Select Colors pop-up menu” on page 454.

Setting up tracks

• To change the color for a track you can also press [Ctrl]/[Command], point the mouse at the strip where the track color is shown and click.

The color strip is shown, allowing you to select the desired color.

• To override the track color for individual events and parts, use the Select Colors pop-up menu.

For more information, see “Coloring tracks, parts, or events manually” on page 454.

Resizing tracks

• To change the width of the track list area, drag the border between the track list

and the event display.

• To change the height of an individual track, click on its lower border in the track list and drag up or down.

• To change the height of all tracks simultaneously, hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and resize one of the tracks in this way.

If “Snap Track Heights” is activated on the Track Scale pop-up menu (see below), the track height will change in fixed increments when you resize it.

This behavior is different when “Enlarge Selected Track” is activated on the Edit menu (see

“About the Enlarge Selected Track option” on page 77).

Working with tracks

Setting up tracks

• To set the number of tracks to view in the current Project window, use the Track Scale pop-up menu (opened by clicking the arrow button above the vertical zoom control).

The track height will be adjusted to show only the number of tracks specified on the pop-up menu. By selecting “Zoom N Tracks” from the pop-up you can manually set the number of tracks to fit in the current Project window.

Data display on the tracks

Changing the width and the height of tracks naturally has an effect on how the track controls and the parts or events on the track are displayed. The following happens when you resize a track’s height or width:

• The track controls will be placed where they best “fit in” by default. The controls shown for tracks in the track list will adapt to the track size.

If you prefer to have the controls in fixed positions, deactivate the “Wrap Controls” option in the Track Controls settings dialog (see

page 448).

Ö In the Preferences dialog (Event Display), you can specify a smallest track height for

the contents of events and parts (data) or the track name to be shown.

About the Enlarge Selected Track option

When this option is activated on the Edit menu (or in the Preferences dialog, Editing– Project & MixConsole page), the selected track is enlarged automatically. This is useful if you are stepping through the tracks in the track list, to check or edit the settings. The tracks will revert to the size they had before when they are deselected. You can adjust the size directly in the track list if the default enlargement factor does not suit you.

While this is the program behavior you will want in most cases, it may be a disadvantage when changing the track height you started out with for one or more tracks (i. “original” height, before “Enlarge Selected Track” was activated). As soon as you try to resize a track, it is selected and automatically enlarged. Instead of turning off “Enlarge Selected Track”, resizing the desired track(s) and the activating “Enlarge Selected Track” again, you can resize a track in the track list without selecting it.

Proceed as follows:

“Customizing track controls” on

e. their

1. Move the mouse pointer over the lower border of the (unselected) track you want to resize.

The mouse pointer turns into a divider symbol.

2. Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and drag the lower border of the track until it reaches the desired height.

Now, when you select this track, (and “Enlarge Selected Track” is activated), it will be enlarged. It will revert to the changed size, when you select a different track.

Working with tracks

Editing tracks

Adding events to a track

There are a number of ways to add events to a track:

• By recording (see “Basic recording methods” on page 92).

• By dragging files and dropping them on the track at the desired position.

You can drag from the following locations: the desktop, the MediaBay and its related windows (see the chapter “Find media” dialog, another open Project window, the Audio Part Editor, the Sample Editor (press [Ctrl]/[Command] and drag to create an event of the current selection.

When you drag the clip into the Project window, its position will be indicated by a marker line and a numerical position box.

• By importing an audio or video file using the Import submenu on the File menu. When you import a file this way, a clip is created for the file and an event that plays

the whole clip is inserted on the selected track, at the position of the project cursor.

Editing tracks

“The MediaBay” on page 266), the Pool, the

• By importing a MIDI file using the Import submenu.

• By grabbing audio CD tracks and converting them to audio files.

• By using Copy and Paste on the Edit menu.

• By drawing.

Creating parts

Parts are containers for MIDI or audio events, or even for tracks (see “Working with

folder parts” on page 81).

Creating MIDI parts

A MIDI part is automatically created when you record. This will contain the recorded events. However, you can also create empty MIDI parts and later add events to them.

There are two ways to do this:

• Draw a part on a MIDI track with the Draw tool.

See “Exporting and importing standard MIDI files” on page 442.

See “Importing audio CD tracks” on page 438.

This allows you to copy all kinds of events between projects. You can also copy events within the project, e.

This is possible for marker and automation tracks e. g. For audio, MIDI and instrument tracks, you can only draw parts (see

You can also draw parts by pressing [Alt]/[Option] and using the Object Selection tool.

g. from the Sample Editor.

“Creating parts” on page 78).

• Double-click with the Object Selection tool on a MIDI track, between the left and right locator.

Working with tracks

Editing tracks

This track is selected.

To add events to a MIDI part, you use the tools and functions in a MIDI editor (see

“The Key Editor – Overview” on page 331).

Creating audio parts

There is no way of automatically creating audio parts on recording. On recording audio events are created always. To create audio parts, you have the following possibilities:

• Use the “Events to Part” function on the Audio menu to gather existing audio events into a part.

This creates an audio part containing all selected audio events on the same track. To remove the part and make the events appear as independent objects on the track again, select the part and use the “Dissolve Part” function on the Audio menu.

• Draw a part on an audio track with the Draw tool. You can also draw parts by pressing [Alt]/[Option] and using the Object Selection

tool.

• Double-click with the Object Selection tool on an audio track, between the left and right locator.

Ö You can use Copy and Paste or Drag and Drop in the Audio Part Editor to add events

to existing audio parts (see

“Window overview” on page 245).

Selecting tracks

• To select a track, click on it in the track list.

• To select several tracks press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click on them.

• To select a continuous range of tracks [Shift]-click on them.

You can also set up Cubase to select tracks on the following actions by activating Preferences:

• Selecting a channel in the MixConsole

• Selecting an event in the Project Window

• Activating the solo button for the track

A selected track is indicated by a light gray color in the track list.

The respective track is automatically displayed in the track list as well. For this to work you have to activate the “Scroll to Selected Track” option in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Project & MixConsole).

The corresponding track is automatically selected, if the “Track Selection Follows Event Selection” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Editing).

The track gets automatically selected, if the “Select Channel/Track on Solo” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Project & MixConsole).

• Clicking the Edit button (e) for the track The track gets automatically selected, if the “Select Channel/Track on Edit

Settings” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Project & MixConsole).

Working with tracks

Duplicating tracks

A folder track

Tracks in the folder

• To duplicate a track together with all contents and channel settings, right-click the track list and select “Duplicate tracks” from the context menu, or select “Duplicate tracks” from the Project menu.

The duplicated track will appear below the original track.

Moving tracks

• To move a track, click and drag it up or down in the list.

• To move one or several selected tracks to a folder, select “Move Selected Tracks

to New Folder” from the context menu.

Disabling tracks (Cubase Elements only)

Audio tracks can be disabled by selecting “Disable Track” from the track list context menu. Disabling a track “zeroes” the output volume from the track, shuts down all disk activity and processing for it, and hides the corresponding channel in the MixConsole. For more information, see

page 88.

“About track disable/enable (Cubase Elements only)” on

Organizing tracks in folder tracks

Creating folder tracks

Moving tracks into a folder is a way to structure and organize tracks in the Project window. By grouping tracks in folder tracks, you can solo and mute them in a quicker and easier way and perform editing on several tracks as one entity. Folder tracks can contain any type of track including other folder tracks.

Working with folder tracks

• Creating a folder track

On the Project menu open the “Add Track” submenu and select “Folder”, or rightclick the track list and select “Add Folder Track” from the context menu.

• Moving tracks into a folder Click on a track and drag it into the folder track.

• Removing tracks from a folder Drag a track out of the folder and release it in the track list to remove it from the

folder.

Working with tracks

Organizing tracks in folder tracks

• Hiding/showing tracks in a folder Click on the “Expand/Collapse Folder” button (the folder icon) to hide or show the

tracks located in a folder. Hidden tracks are played back as usual.

• Hiding/showing data on folder tracks Right-click on the folder track to open the context menu and from the “Show Data

on Folder Tracks” submenu select one of the options. This menu is also available in the Preferences dialog (Editing page). The following options are available:

Option Description

Always Show Data The data on the folder track is always visible.

Never Show Data The data on the folder track is never visible.

Hide Data When Expanded The data on the folder track is only visible if the folder is not

expanded.

• Muting and soloing folder tracks Click the Mute or Solo button on the folder track to mute or solo all tracks in the

folder as one unit.

Working with folder parts

A folder part is a graphic representation of events and parts on the tracks in the folder. Folder parts indicate the position and length of the events and parts, as well as on which track they are (their vertical position). If part colors are used, these are also shown in the folder part.

Any Project window editing you perform to a folder part affects all the events and parts it contains. You can select several folder parts if you like – this allows you to handle and edit them together. The editing you can perform includes:

- Moving a folder part. This will move its contained events and parts (possibly resulting in other folder parts, depending on how the parts overlap).

- Using cut, copy and paste.

- Deleting a folder part. This will delete its contained events and parts.

- Splitting a folder part with the Cut tool.

- Gluing folder parts together with the Glue tool. This will only work if the adjacent folder parts contain events or parts on the same track.

- Resizing a folder part resizes the contained events and parts according to the selected resizing method.

- Muting a folder part. This will mute its contained events and parts.

Working with tracks

Tracks inside a folder can be edited as one entity by performing the editing directly on the folder part containing the tracks. You can also edit individual tracks within the folder by showing the contained tracks, selecting parts and opening editors as usual.

Double-clicking a folder part opens the editors for the corresponding track classes present in the folder. The following applies:

• All MIDI parts located on the tracks within the folder are displayed as if they were on the same track, just like when opening the Key Editor with several MIDI parts selected.

To be able to easily discern the different tracks in the editor, give each track a different color in the Project window and use the “Part Colors” option in the editor (see

“Coloring notes and events” on page 337).

• If the folder contains tracks with audio events and/or audio parts, the Sample and/or Audio Part Editors are opened with each audio event and audio part in a separate window.

Dividing the track list

It is possible to divide the track list into two parts. Both sections will have independent zoom and scroll controls (if needed), but resizing the window vertically will affect the lower section only (if possible). This is useful if you are working with a video track along with multi-track audio, for example. This way, you can place the video track in the upper track list, letting you scroll the audio tracks separately in the lower track list, referencing them against the video track.

• To divide the track list, click the “Divide Track List” button in the top right corner of the Project window just below the ruler.

Dividing the track list

• To revert to a single track list, click the button again.

When the track list is divided into two parts, the following applies:

• If you add tracks from the Add Track submenu of the Project menu, video tracks, marker tracks, and arranger tracks (Cubase Elements only) are automatically placed in the upper part of the track list.

If the track list already contains any video, marker, or arranger tracks (Cubase Elements only), these are automatically moved to the upper part when you divide the track list. All other types of tracks are placed in the lower part.

• If you add tracks from the context menu invoked by right-clicking the track list, the tracks are added to the part of the track list in which you click.

• You can move any type of track from the lower track list to the upper and vice versa by right-clicking it in the track list and selecting “Toggle Track List” from the context menu.

• You can resize the upper part by clicking and dragging the divider between the track list sections.

Working with tracks

Background

This chapter describes the various methods available for controlling playback and transport functions in Cubase.

The Transport panel

The Transport panel contains the main transport functions in Cubase, as well as many other options related to playback and recording.

The following sections can be shown on the Transport panel, from left to right:

-Virtual Keyboard, see “The Virtual Keyboard” on page 90.

- Performance, this is related to the VST Performance window, see “The VST

Performance Window” on page 19.

- Record Mode, see “Recording audio” on page 100 and “Recording MIDI” on page

104.

- Locators, see “Setting the left and right locators” on page 86 and “About Pre-roll

and Post-roll” on page 108.

- Jog/Scrub, “Playing back with the shuttle speed control” on page 87 and “Project

scrubbing – the jog wheel” on page 87.

- Main Transport, see below.

- Arranger, see “The arranger track (Cubase Elements only)” on page 126.

- Master + Sync, see “Using the metronome” on page 109.

- Marker, see “Using markers” on page 135, “Editing tempo and signature” on page

391, and “Synchronized operation” on page 413.

- MIDI Activity, see below.

- Audio Activity, see below.

- Audio Level Control, see below.

Playback and the Transport panel

The main transport controls

In the Main Transport area, you will find the basic transport controls, as well as the time display options, see

Ö The main transport functions (Cycle/Stop/Play/Record) can also be shown on the

toolbar. In addition, various play options are available on the Transport menu.

The MIDI Activity, Audio Activity and Audio Level Control sections

These sections are useful to monitor the MIDI and audio input and output signals. The Audio Level Control section furthermore contains clipping indicators and an output level control.

Hiding and showing the Transport panel

The Transport panel is shown automatically when you launch a new project. To hide or show it, select “Transport Panel” on the Transport menu (or use the corresponding key command – by default [F2]).

“Setting the time format on the Transport panel” on page 85.

Changing the Transport panel setup

You can customize the appearance of the Transport panel by right-clicking anywhere on the panel and selecting/deselecting the corresponding options on the context menu.

This is described in detail in the section “The setup context menus” on page 446.

The numeric keypad

In the default Key Command settings, various Transport panel operations are assigned to the numeric keypad on the computer keyboard. The keypads are slightly different on PC and Macintosh computers:

Numeric Key Function

[Enter] Play

[+] Fast Forward

[-] Rewind

[*] Record

[÷] (Win)/[/] (Mac) Cycle On/Off

[,] Return to Zero

[0] Stop

[1] Go to Left Locator

[2] Go to Right Locator

[3-9] Go to marker 3 to 9

Operations

Setting the project cursor position

There are several ways to move the project cursor position:

• By using Fast Forward and Rewind.

• By using the Jog/Shuttle/Nudge control on the Transport panel (see “Playing back

with the shuttle speed control” on page 87).

• By dragging the project cursor in the lower part of the ruler.

• By clicking in the ruler.

Double-clicking in the ruler moves the cursor and starts/stops playback.

• If the “Locate when Clicked in Empty Space” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Transport page) you can click anywhere in an empty section of the Project window to move the cursor position.

• By changing the value in any of the position displays.

• By using the position slider above the transport buttons in the Transport panel.

The range of the slider relates to the Length setting in the Project Setup dialog. Hence, moving the slider all the way to the right will take you to the end of the project.

• By using markers (see the chapter “Using markers” on page 135).

• By using playback options (see “Playback functions” on page 88).

Playback and the Transport panel

Operations

• Cubase Elements only: By using the arranger function (see “The arranger track

(Cubase Elements only)” on page 126).

• By using functions on the Transport menu.

On the Transport menu, the following functions are available:

Function Description

Locate Selection/Locate Selection End

Locate Next/Previous Marker

Locate Next/Previous Event

Ö If Snap is activated when dragging the project cursor, the Snap value is taken into

account. This is helpful for finding exact positions quickly.

Ö There are also numerous key commands available for moving the project cursor (in the

Transport category in the Key Commands dialog). For example, you can assign key commands to the “Step Bar” and “Step Back Bar” functions, allowing you to move the project cursor in steps of one bar, backwards and forwards.

Moves the project cursor to the beginning or end of the current selection. For this to be available, you must have selected one or more events or parts, or made a selection range.

This moves the project cursor to the closest marker to the right or left (see

This moves the project cursor forwards or backwards respectively, to the closest beginning or end of any event on the selected track(s).

“Marker tracks” on page 34).

Setting the time format on the Transport panel

Primary time display (left) and secondary time display (right, Cubase Elements only)

The time unit shown in the ruler can be independent from the time unit shown in the main time display on the Transport panel. This means that you can display timecode in the transport time display and bars and beats in the ruler, for example. In Cubase Elements, there is an additional secondary time display to the right of the primary time display which is also independent, giving you three different time units shown at the same time. In the Project window, you can also create additional ruler tracks – see

“Using multiple rulers – ruler tracks” on page 38.

The following rules apply:

• If you change the time format of the primary time display on the Transport panel, the time format of the ruler will be changed as well.

This is the same as changing the display format in the Project Setup. Therefore, to have different display formats in the ruler and the time display you should change the format in the ruler.

• The primary time display format is set on the pop-up menu to the right in the main time display.

• This setting also determines the time format displayed for the left and right locators on the Transport panel.

• Cubase Elements only: The secondary time display is completely independent, and the display format is set on the pop-up menu to the right in the secondary time display.

Playback and the Transport panel

• Cubase Elements only: You can swap time formats between the primary and secondary time displays by clicking the double arrow symbol (Exchange Time Formats) between them.

Setting the left and right locators

The left and right locators are a pair of position markers used for specifying punch-in and punch-out positions during recording, and as boundaries for cycle playback and recording.

Ö When cycle mode is activated on the Transport panel, the area between the left and

right locators will be repeated (cycled) on playback. However, if the right locator is positioned before the left, this will work as a “jump” or “skip mode” – when the project cursor reaches the right locator it will immediately jump to the left locator position and continue playback from there.

There are several ways to set locator positions:

• To set the left locator, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click at the desired position in the ruler.

Similarly, pressing [Alt]/[Option] and clicking in the ruler sets the right locator. You can also drag the locator “handles” directly in the ruler.

Operations

The locators are indicated by the “flags” in the ruler. The area between the locators is highlighted in the ruler and in the Project window. Note that if the right locator is before the left locator, the color of the ruler between the locators will change.

• Click and drag in the upper half of the ruler to “draw” a locator range. If you click on an existing locator range, you can drag to move it.

• Pressing [Ctrl]/[Command] and pressing [1] or [2] on the numeric keypad sets the left or right locator to the project cursor position.

Similarly, you can press [1] or [2] on the numeric keypad (without [Ctrl]/[Command]) to set the project cursor position to the left or right locator position. Note that these are default key commands – you can change these if you like.

• By creating cycle markers you can save any number of left and right locator positions, which can be recalled by simply double-clicking on the corresponding marker (see

“Editing markers on the marker track” on page 140).

• The “Locators to Selection” item on the Transport menu (default key command [P]) sets the locators to encompass the current selection.

This is available if you have selected one or several events or made a selection range.

• You can also adjust the locators numerically on the Transport panel. Clicking the L/R buttons in the locator section on the Transport panel will move the

project cursor to the respective locator. If you press [Alt]/[Option] and click the L or R button, the corresponding locator will be set to the current project cursor position.

Playback and the Transport panel

Playing back with the shuttle speed control

The shuttle speed control (the outer wheel on the Transport panel) allows you to play back the project at any speed (four times the playback speed at maximum), forwards or backwards. This is a quick way to locate or “cue” to any position in the project.

• Turn the shuttle speed wheel to the right to start playback. The further to the right you move the wheel, the faster the playback speed.

• If you turn the wheel to the left instead, the project will play backwards. The speed depends on how far to the left you turn the wheel.

• The “Use Inserts While Scrubbing” option in the Preferences dialog (Transport– Scrub page) allows you to activate insert effects for scrubbing with the shuttle speed control.

By default, insert effects are bypassed.

Ö You can also access the shuttle speed control via a remote control device.

Operations

Project scrubbing – the jog wheel

The middle wheel on the Transport panel serves as a jog wheel. By clicking and turning it to the right or left you will move the playback position manually forwards or backwards – much like scrubbing on a tape deck. This helps you pinpoint exact locations in the project.

• Note that the jog wheel is an “endless rotary encoder” – you can turn it as many times as needed to move to the desired location.

The faster you turn the wheel, the faster the playback speed. The original playback speed is the fastest speed possible.

• If you click the jog wheel during playback, playback automatically stops and scrubbing starts.

• The “Use Inserts While Scrubbing” option in the Preferences dialog on the Transport–Scrub page allows you to activate insert effects for scrubbing with the jog wheel.

By default, insert effects are bypassed.

Ö You can also use a jog wheel on a remote controller for scrubbing.

Nudging the project cursor

The “+” and “–” buttons in the middle of the Shuttle/Jog section allow you to nudge the project cursor position one frame at a time to the right or left.

Playback and the Transport panel

Options and Settings

The “Return to Start Position on Stop” preference

This setting is found on the Transport page in the Preferences dialog.

• If “Return to Start Position on Stop” is activated when you stop playback, the project cursor will automatically return to the position where recording or playback last started.

• If “Return to Start Position on Stop” is deactivated, the project cursor will remain at the position where you stop playback.

Pressing Stop again will return the project cursor to the position where recording or playback last started.

About track disable/enable (Cubase Elements only)

For audio tracks, the track context menu contains an item named “Disable Track”. This is useful for tracks that you do not want to play back or process at the moment, but want to keep in the project for later use.

To disable a track, right-click in the track list and select “Disable Track” from the context menu. The following happens:

Options and Settings

- All disk activity and processing for the track is shut down.

- The track color changes.

- The corresponding channel in the MixConsole is hidden.

You can enable a disabled track by right-clicking in the track list and selecting “Enable Track”. All previous channel settings are restored.

Playback functions

Apart from the standard transport controls on the Transport panel, you can also find a number of functions on the Transport menu that can be used to control playback. The items have the following functionality:

Option Description

Post-roll from Selection Start/End

Pre-roll to Selection Start/End

Play from Selection Start/End

Play until Selection Start/End

Play until Next Marker This activates playback from the project cursor and stops at

Play Selection Range This activates playback from the start of the current selection

Loop Selection This activates playback from the start of the current selection

Starts playback from the beginning or end of the currently selected range and stops after the time set in the Post-roll field on the Transport panel.

Starts playback from a position before the start or end of the currently selected range and stops at the selection start or end, respectively. The playback start position is set in the Preroll field on the Transport panel.

Activates playback from the beginning or end of the current selection.

Activates playback two seconds before the start or end of the current selection and stops at the selection start or end, respectively.

the next marker.

and stops at the selection end.

and keeps starting over again when reaching the selection end.

The functions listed above (except “Play until Next Marker”) are only available if you have selected one or more events or made a selection range.

Playback and the Transport panel

Ö In the Preferences dialog (Editing–Audio page) you will find the “Treat Muted Audio

About Chase

Options and Settings

Events like Deleted” option. When you activate this option, any events overlapped by a muted event will become audible.

Chase is a function that makes sure your MIDI instruments sound as they should when you locate to a new position and start playback. This is accomplished by the program transmitting a number of MIDI messages to your instruments each time you move to a new position in the project, making sure all MIDI devices are set up correctly with regard to program change, controller messages (such as MIDI Volume), etc.

For example, let’s say you have a MIDI track with a program change event inserted at the beginning. This event makes a synth switch to a piano sound.

At the beginning of the first chorus you have another program change event which makes the same synth switch to a string sound.

You now play back the song. It begins with the piano sound and then switches to the string sound. In the middle of the chorus you stop and rewind to some point between the beginning and the second program change. The synth will now still play the string sound although in this section it really should be a piano!

The Chase function takes care of that. If program change events are set to be chased, Cubase will track the music back to the beginning, find the first program change and transmit it to your synth, setting it to the correct sound.

The same thing can apply to other event types as well. The Chase Events settings in the Preferences dialog (MIDI page) determine which event types will be chased when you locate to a new position and start playback.

Ö Event types for which the checkbox is activated here will be chased.

• In this section of the Preferences dialog, you will also find the “Chase not limited to Part Boundaries” option.

When you activate this option, MIDI controllers are also chased outside the part boundaries, i. well as on all the parts to the left of it. Please note that this option should be deactivated for very large projects, as it considerably slows down operations such as positioning and soloing. When you deactivate this option, the MIDI controllers are only chased within the parts under the position cursor.

• Never Reset Chased Controllers Activate this, if you work with Quick Controls, for example, and want to prevent

controllers to be reset to zero when you stop playback or move to a new position in the project. This function is deactivated by default.

e. the Chase will be performed on the part touched by the cursor as

Playback and the Transport panel

The Virtual Keyboard

The Virtual Keyboard can be displayed in the Transport panel. It allows you to play and record MIDI notes by using your computer keyboard or mouse. This is useful if you have no external MIDI instrument at hand and you do not want to draw in notes with the Draw tool. The Virtual Keyboard can perform all functions that can be controlled by external MIDI keyboards, e.

When the Virtual Keyboard is displayed, the usual key commands are blocked because they are reserved for the Virtual Keyboard. The only exceptions are: [Ctrl]/[Command][S] (Save), Num [*] (Start/Stop Record), [Space] (Start/Stop Playback), Num to left locator), [Delete] or [Backspace] (Delete), Num [/] (Cycle on/off), [F2] (Show/Hide Transport panel), and [Alt]/[Option]-[K] (Show/Hide Virtual Keyboard).

• You can choose between two different keyboard display modes: computer keyboard and piano keyboard. To switch between these two modes, click the “Change Virtual Keyboard Display Type” button in the lower right corner of the Virtual Keyboard section or use the [Tab] key.

The Virtual Keyboard

g. playing and recording MIDI notes.

[1] (Jump

The Virtual Keyboard in computer keyboard display mode

The Virtual Keyboard in piano keyboard display mode

To record MIDI using the Virtual Keyboard, proceed as follows:

1. Create or choose a MIDI or an instrument track and activate the “Record Enable” button for it.

2. Open the Virtual Keyboard by selecting “Virtual Keyboard” on the Devices menu, by pressing [Alt]/[Option]-[K] or by right-clicking on the Transport panel and selecting “Virtual Keyboard” on the context menu.

The Virtual Keyboard is displayed in the Transport panel.

3. Activate the Record button and press a key on your computer keyboard to enter a note.

You can also click on the keys of the Virtual Keyboard to enter notes.

• You can also press several keys simultaneously to enter polyphonic parts. The maximum number of notes that can be played at one time varies between the different operating systems and hardware configurations.

4. Use the fader “Note velocity level” to the right of the virtual keyboard to adjust the volume.

You can also use the up and down arrow keys for this.

5. Enter the desired notes this way.

6. When you are done, hit the Stop button and close the Virtual Keyboard.

When the Virtual Keyboard is hidden, all key commands are available again.

Playback and the Transport panel

Options and settings

• In piano keyboard mode, you have a wider range of keys at your disposal, allowing

you to enter two voices simultaneously, for example bass and lead voice or bass drums and hi-hats.

In computer keyboard mode, you can use the two rows of keys that are displayed on the Virtual Keyboard to enter notes. In piano keyboard mode, you can also use the two rows of keys below these.

• You have seven full octaves at your disposal. Use the “Octave Offset” buttons at the bottom of the virtual keyboard to offset the octave range of the keyboard.

You can also use the left and right arrow keys to switch the keyboard range to a lower or higher octave, respectively.

• In piano keyboard mode, you can use the two sliders to the left of the keyboard to introduce pitchbend (left slider) or modulation (right slider).

You can also click on a key, hold the mouse button pressed until the mouse pointer becomes a cross-hair cursor and drag upwards/downward to introduce modulation or left/right to create pitchbend.

The Virtual Keyboard

Playback and the Transport panel

Background

This chapter describes the various recording methods that you can use in Cubase. As it is possible to record both audio and MIDI tracks, both recording methods are covered in this chapter.

Before you start

This chapter assumes that you are reasonably familiar with certain basic recording concepts, and that the following initial preparations have been made:

• You have properly set up, connected and calibrated your audio hardware.

• You have opened a project and set the project setup parameters to your

specifications. Project setup parameters determine the record format, sample rate, project length,

etc. that affect the audio recordings you make during the course of the project, see

“The Project Setup dialog” on page 51.

• If you plan to record MIDI, your MIDI equipment has to be set up and connected correctly.

Recording

Basic recording methods

This section describes the general methods used for recording. However, there are additional preparations and procedures that are specific to audio and MIDI recording respectively. Make sure to read these sections before you start recording (see

recording specifics” on page 95 and “MIDI recording specifics” on page 102).

Record-enabling tracks

Cubase can record on a single track or on several tracks (audio and/or MIDI) simultaneously. To make a track ready for recording, activate the Record Enable button for the track in the track list, in the Inspector, or in the MixConsole.

“Audio

Ö If “Enable Record on Selected Audio Track” or “Enable Record on Selected MIDI

Track” is activated in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Project & MixConsole page), audio or MIDI tracks are automatically record-enabled when you select them in the track list.

Ö You can set up key commands to record-enable all audio tracks simultaneously and to

deactivate Record Enable for all audio tracks (Arm/Disarm all Audio Tracks). You will find these commands in the Key Commands dialog, in the MixConsole category (see

“Setting up key commands” on page 459).

Ö The exact number of audio tracks you can record simultaneously depends on your

computer CPU and hard disk performance. In the Preferences dialog (VST page), you can find the “Warn on Processing Overloads” option. When this is activated, a warning message will be displayed as soon as the CPU clip indicator (on the Transport panel) lights up during recording.

Activating recording

Activating recording, i e. performing and setting up manual and automatic punch in recording is identical for audio and MIDI.

Ö Punching in and out on MIDI recordings with pitchbend or controller data (modulation

wheel, sustain pedal, volume, etc.) may lead to strange effects (apparently hanging notes, constant vibrato, etc.). If this happens, you may need to use the Reset item on the MIDI menu (see

Basic recording methods

“The Reset function” on page 106).

Manually

You activate recording by clicking the Record button on the Transport panel or toolbar or by using the corresponding key command (by default [*] on the numeric keypad).

Recording can be activated in Stop mode (from the current cursor position or from the left locator) or during playback:

• If you activate recording in Stop mode, and the “Start Record at Left Locator” option is activated on the Transport menu, recording will start from the left locator.

The pre-roll setting or the metronome count-in will be applied (see “About Pre-roll

and Post-roll” on page 108).

• If you activate recording in Stop mode, and “Start Record at Left Locator” is deactivated, recording will start from the current project cursor position.

• If you activate recording during playback, Cubase will immediately enter Record mode and start recording from the current project cursor position.

This is known as “manual punch in”.

Ö If you are synchronizing the Cubase transport to external equipment (Sync is activated

on the Transport panel) and you activate recording, the program will go into “record ready” mode (the record button on the Transport panel will light up). In this case, recording will start when a valid timecode signal is received (or when you click the Play button). See the chapter

“Synchronization” on page 408 for more information.

Recording

Automatically

Cubase can automatically switch from playback to recording at a given position. This is known as “automatic punch in”. A typical use for this is if you need to replace a section of a recording, and want to listen to what is already recorded, up to the recording start position. Proceed as follows:

1. Set the left locator to the position where you want recording to start.

2. Activate the Punch In button on the Transport panel.

Punch In activated

3. Activate playback from some position before the left locator. When the project cursor reaches the left locator, recording is automatically

activated.

Stopping recording

Again, this can be done automatically or manually:

• If you click the Stop button on the Transport panel (or use the corresponding key command, by default [0] on the numeric keypad), recording is deactivated and Cubase goes into Stop mode.

• If you click the Record button (or use the key command for recording, by default [*]), recording is deactivated but playback continues.

This is known as “manual punch out”.

• If the Punch Out button is activated on the Transport panel, recording will be deactivated when the project cursor reaches the right locator.

This is known as “automatic punch out”. By combining this with automatic punch in, you can set up a specific section to record – again very useful if you want to replace a certain part of a recording (see also on page 108).

Basic recording methods

“Stop after Automatic Punch Out”

Punch In and Out activated

Cycle recording

Cubase can record and play back in a cycle – a loop. You specify where the cycle starts and ends by setting the left and right locators. When the cycle is active, the selected section is seamlessly repeated until you hit Stop or deactivate cycle mode.

• To activate cycle mode, click the cycle button on the Transport panel.

Cycle activated

• To record in cycle mode, you can start recording from the left locator, from before the locators or from within the cycle, in Stop mode or during playback.

As soon as the project cursor reaches the right locator, it will jump back to the left locator and continue recording a new lap.

• The results of cycle recording depend on the selected cycle record mode and are different for audio (see

MIDI” on page 104).

“Recording audio” on page 100) and MIDI (see “Recording

Recording

Audio recording specifics

Selecting a recording file format

The format for recorded files is set in the Project Setup dialog on the Project menu. There are three settings: Sample Rate, Bit Resolution, and Record File Type. While the sample rate is set once and for all when you start working on a new project, the bit resolution and file type can be changed at any time.

Record File Type

The Record File Type setting determines which type of files will be created when you record:

File type Description

Wave File Wave files have the extension “.wav” and are a common file format on

the PC platform. For recordings larger than 4 GB, the EBU RIFF standard is used. If a FAT 32 disk is used (not recommended), audio files are split automatically.

Wave 64 File Wave 64 is a proprietary format developed by Sonic Foundry Inc.

Audio-wise it is identical to the Wave format, but the internal file structure makes much larger file sizes possible. This is useful for long live recordings, where the audio files can become huge.

Audio recording specifics

Broadcast Wave File

AIFF File Audio Interchange File Format, a standard defined by Apple Inc. AIFF

FLAC File Free Lossless Audio Codec is an open source format. Audio files

• If you select Broadcast Wave File or AIFF format, you can specify Author, Description and Reference text strings that will be embedded in the recorded file.

This is done on the Record–Audio–Broadcast Wave page in the Preferences dialog.

Ö If your recorded Wave file is larger than 4 GB and the “Use RF64 Format” option is

activated on the “When Recording Wave Files larger than 4 Preferences dialog (Record–Audio), your recording is saved as an RF64 file. This way, you do not have to worry about the file size during recording. However, keep in mind that this format is not supported by all applications.

Bit Resolution

The available options are 16 bit, 24 bit, and 32 bit float. Use the following guidelines:

In terms of audio content, the same as regular Wave files, but with embedded text strings for supplying additional information about the file (see below).

files have the extension “.aif” and are used on most computer platforms. Like Broadcast Wave files, AIFF files can contain embedded text strings (see below).

recorded in this format are typically 50 to 60 Wave files, for example.

% smaller than regular

GB” pop-up menu of the

• Normally, select the record format according to the bit resolution delivered by your audio hardware.

For example, if your audio hardware has 20 bit A/D converters (inputs), you may want to record at 24 bit resolution to capture the full bit resolution. On the other hand, if your hardware has 16 bit inputs, it is pointless to record with a higher bit resolution – this will only make the audio files larger, with no difference in audio quality.

Recording

• The higher the bit resolution, the larger the files and the more strain is put on the

Click here to select an input

bus for the track.

disk system. If this is an issue, you may want to lower the record format setting.

For further information on the options in the Project Setup dialog, see “The Project

Setup dialog” on page 51.

Setting up the track

Creating a track and selecting the channel configuration

Audio tracks can be configured as mono or stereo tracks. This allows you to record or import a file containing multiple channels and treat it as one entity, with no need to split it up into several mono files, etc. The signal path for an audio track maintains its channel configuration all the way from the input bus, via EQ, level and other MixConsole settings to the output bus.

You specify the channel configuration for a track when you create it:

1. Select “Add Audio Track” from the track list context menu or the Project menu (or, if an audio track is already selected, double-click in an empty area of the track list).

A dialog opens with a channel configuration pop-up menu.

2. Select the desired format from the pop-up menu. You can choose between mono and stereo.

Audio recording specifics

• The Browse item in this dialog allows you to browse your disks for created track presets, which can be used as a basis (or template) for tracks.

This is described in detail in the chapter “Working with track presets” on page 287.

3. Click the Add Track button. A track is added, set to the specified channel configuration. In the MixConsole, a

corresponding channel appears. You cannot change the channel configuration for a track.

Selecting an input bus for a track

Here we assume that you have added and set up the required input busses (see

“Setting up busses” on page 21). Before you record, you need to specify from which

input bus the track will record.You can do this in the Inspector.

• On the Input Routing pop-up menu in the top section, select an input bus. As described in the section “The Inspector” on page 31, the Inspector shows the

settings for the selected track.

Recording

Audio recording specifics

Selecting a folder for the recorded audio files

Each Cubase project has a project folder containing (among other things) an “Audio” folder. By default, this is where recorded audio files are stored. However, you can select record folders independently for each audio track if needed.

Proceed as follows:

1. To select the same record folder for several audio tracks, select them by pressing [Shift] or [Ctrl]/[Command] and clicking on them in the track list.

2. Right-click the track list for one of the tracks to bring up the context menu.

3. Select “Set Record Folder”.

A file dialog opens.

4. Navigate to the desired folder (or create a new folder with the Create button). Tip: if you want to have separate folders for different types of material (speech,

ambient sounds, music, etc.), you can create subfolders within the project’s “Audio” folder and assign different tracks to different subfolders. This way, all audio files will still reside within the project folder, which will make managing the Project easier.

• It is possible to have different tracks record to totally different locations, even on different disks. However, if you need to move or archive the project, there is a risk of missing some files. The solution is to use the “Prepare Archive” function in the Pool to gather all external files into the project folder first, see

page 264.

“Prepare Archive” on

Setting input levels

When recording digital sound, it is important to set the input levels correctly – loud enough to ensure low noise and high audio quality, but not so loud that clipping (digital distortion) occurs.

Clipping typically occurs in the audio hardware when a too loud analog signal is converted to digital in the hardware’s A/D converters.

You need to check the level at the channel strip for the track on which you are recording:

1. Locate the channel strip for the track you are about to record on.

2. Activate monitoring for the channel by clicking the speaker button below the fader.

When monitoring is activated, the meter shows the level of the incoming audio signal.

3. Play the audio source that you want to record and check the level meter for the channel.

4. Adjust the output level of your audio source so that the meters go reasonably high without reaching 0.0

Check the numerical peak level indicator below the meter in the bus channel strip. To reset the peak level indicator, click on it.

Ö You must adjust the output level of the audio source – you cannot use the faders in

Cubase to adjust the input level!

dB.

Ö An alternative way of checking the input levels is to use the control panel for your

audio hardware (if it features input level meters). It may also be possible to adjust the input level in the control panel. See the documentation of your audio hardware for details.

Recording

Audio pre-record

This feature allows you to capture up to 1 minute of any incoming audio you play in Stop mode or during playback, “after the fact”. This is possible because Cubase can capture audio input in buffer memory, even when not recording.

Proceed as follows:

1. Open the Preferences dialog (Record–Audio page).

2. Specify a time (up to 60 seconds) in the “Audio Pre-Record Seconds” field.

This activates the buffering of audio input, making Pre-Record possible.

3. Make sure an audio track is record-enabled and receives audio from the signal source.

4. When you have played some audio material you want to capture (either in Stop mode or during playback), click the Record button.

5. After a few seconds stop the recording. An audio event is created, starting at where the cursor position was when you

activated recording. If you were in stop mode and the cursor was at the beginning of the project, you may have to move the event to the right in the next step. If you were playing along to a project you, leave the event where it is.

6. Select the Object Selection tool and place the cursor on the bottom left edge of the event so that a double arrow appears, then click and drag to the left.

Now the event is extended and the audio you played before activating record is inserted – this means that if you played along during playback, the captured notes will end up exactly where you played them in relation to the project.

Audio recording specifics

Monitoring

Ö If you are using plug-in effects with large inherent delays, the automatic delay

In this context, “monitoring” means listening to the input signal during recording. There are three fundamentally different ways to do this: via Cubase, externally (by listening to the signal before it reaches Cubase), or by using ASIO Direct Monitoring (which is a combination of both other methods – see below).

Monitoring via Cubase

If you monitor via Cubase, the input signal is mixed in with the audio playback. The advantage of this is that you can adjust the monitoring level and panning in the MixConsole, and add effects and EQ to the monitor signal just as during playback (using the track’s channel – not the input bus!).

The disadvantage of monitoring via Cubase is that the monitored signal will be delayed according to the latency value (which depends on your audio hardware and drivers). Therefore, monitoring via Cubase requires an audio hardware configuration with a low latency value. You can check the latency of your hardware in the Device Setup dialog (VST Audio System page).

compensation function in Cubase will increase the latency. If this is a problem, you can use the Constrain Delay Compensation function while recording, see

Delay Compensation” on page 199.

When monitoring via Cubase, you can select one of four Auto Monitoring modes in the Preferences dialog (VST page):

“Constrain

Recording

Audio recording specifics

• Manual This option allows you to turn input monitoring on or off by clicking the Monitor

button in the Inspector, the track list or in the MixConsole.

• While Record Enabled With this option, you will hear the audio source connected to the channel input

whenever the track is record enabled.

• While Record Running This option switches to input monitoring only during recording.

• Tapemachine Style This option emulates standard tapemachine behavior: input monitoring in Stop

mode and during recording, but not during playback.

External monitoring

External monitoring (listening to the input signal before it goes into Cubase) requires some sort of external mixer for mixing the audio playback with the input signal. This can be a stand-alone physical mixer or a mixer application for your audio hardware, if this has a mode in which the input audio is sent back out again (usually called “Thru”, “Direct Thru” or similar).

When using external monitoring, you cannot control the level of the monitor signal from within Cubase or add VST effects or EQ to the monitor signal. The latency value of the audio hardware configuration does not affect the monitor signal in this mode.

Ö If you want to use external monitoring, you need to make sure that monitoring via

Cubase is not activated as well. Select the “Manual” monitoring mode in the Preferences dialog (VST page) and do not activate the Monitor buttons.

ASIO Direct Monitoring

• To activate ASIO Direct Monitoring, open the Device Setup dialog on the Devices menu and activate the Direct Monitoring checkbox on the page for your audio hardware.

If the checkbox is grayed out, your audio hardware (or its driver) does not support ASIO Direct Monitoring. Consult the audio hardware manufacturer for details.

• When ASIO Direct Monitoring is activated, you can select a monitoring mode in the Preferences dialog (VST page), as when monitoring via Cubase (see

“Monitoring via Cubase” on page 98).

• Depending on the audio hardware, it may also be possible to adjust the monitoring level and panning from the MixConsole by adjusting the volume faders, and the input gain controls.

Consult the documentation of the audio hardware if in doubt.

• VST effects and EQ cannot be applied to the monitor signal in this mode, since the monitor signal does not pass through Cubase.

• Depending on the audio hardware, there may be special restrictions as to which audio outputs can be used for direct monitoring.

For details on the routing of the audio hardware, see its documentation.

The latency value of the audio hardware configuration does not affect the monitor signal when using ASIO Direct Monitoring.

Recording

When using Steinberg hardware (MR816 series) in combination with ASIO Direct

Click here… …to open the Audio Record Mode panel.

Monitoring, monitoring will be virtually latency-free.

Ö If you are using RME Audio Hammerfall DSP audio hardware, make sure that the pan

law is set to -3

Recording audio

You can record audio using any of the general recording methods (see “Basic

recording methods” on page 92). When you finish recording, an audio file is created

in the Audio folder within the project folder. In the Pool, an audio clip is created for the audio file, and an audio event that plays the whole clip appears on the recording track. Finally, a waveform image is calculated for the audio event. If the recording was very long, this may take a while.

Ö If the “Create Audio Images During Record” option is activated in the Preferences

dialog (Record–Audio page), the waveform image will be calculated and displayed during the actual recording process. This realtime calculation uses some processing power – if your processor is slow or if you are working on a CPU-intensive project, consider deactivating this option.

Undoing recording

Audio recording specifics

dB in the card’s preferences.

If you decide that you do not like what you just recorded, you can delete it by selecting Undo from the Edit menu. The following will happen:

- The events you just created will be removed from the Project window.

- The audio clips in the Pool will be moved to the Trash folder.

The recorded audio files will not be removed from the hard disk. However, since their corresponding clips are moved to the Trash folder, you can delete the files by opening the Pool and selecting “Empty Trash” from the Media menu, see

hard disk” on page 255.

About overlap and the Audio Record Modes

The Audio Record Mode setting lets you decide what happens to your recording and to any existing events on the track where you are recording. This is necessary because you will not always record on an empty track. There may be situations where you record over existing events – especially in cycle mode.

To select an Audio Record Mode, proceed as follows:

1. On the Transport panel, click the audio symbol in the upper left section.

“Deleting from the

2. Select the desired option. The following options are available:

Option Description

Keep History Existing events (or portions of events) that are overlapped by a

new recording are kept.

100

Recording

Pinnacle Systems Pro Tools AI 7 Operation Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Table of Contents

About the Program Versions

Key Command Conventions

Introduction

Setting up audio

Setting up your system

Setting up MIDI

Connecting a synchronizer

Setting up video

Optimizing audio performance

The VST Performance Window

The ASIO-Guard Option

About this chapter

The VST Connections window

VST Connections

Setting up busses

Routing

About monitoring

Editing operations

Window Overview

The Project window

The track list

The Inspector

The toolbar

The status line

The info line

The overview line

The ruler

The Snap function

Auto-Scroll

Creating new projects

Working with projects

Opening projects

Closing projects

Saving projects

The Archive and Backup functions

The Project Setup dialog

Zoom and view options

Audio handling

Auditioning audio parts and events

Scrubbing

Editing parts and events

Range editing

Region operations

The Edit History dialog

The Preferences dialog

Setting up tracks

Working with tracks

Editing tracks

Organizing tracks in folder tracks

Dividing the track list

Background

Playback and the Transport panel

Operations

Options and Settings

The Virtual Keyboard

Background

Recording

Basic recording methods

Audio recording specifics