Steinberg Cubase 4.0 Mackie Control and Cubase

Mackie Control and Cubase

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
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Release Date: October 19, 2007

© Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH 2007.

All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

5 Introduction

6 About this chapter
6 The Steinberg layout for Mackie Control
7 About Mackie Control XT

8 Basic mixing

9 About this chapter
9 Selecting which channels to control
10 Using the faders
10 Rec/Rdy
10 Mute and Solo
10 Using the Select buttons
11 A note about automation

12 Control strip assignment

13 About this chapter
13 Basic procedures
15 About the symbols used in this chapter
16 Selected Channel: EQ
16 Selected Channel: FX Send
17 Selected Channel: Inserts
18 Selected Channel: Studio Sends
18 Selected Channel: Instruments
19 Fader Set: Pan
19 Global: Send Effects
20 Global: Master Effects
20 Global: Instruments

22 Transport control

23 About this chapter
23 The transport controls
23 Working with markers
24 Switching the time display

25 Other functions

26 About this chapter
26 Project functions
26 Edit functions
26 Working with windows
27 Function keys
27 Cursor keys
27 Showing level meters in the parameter display

28 Index

4

Table of Contents

1

Introduction

About this chapter

This chapter describes the Steinberg-specific layout for
Mackie Control, and also provides information regarding
the Mackie Control XT 8 channel extender unit.

Display section

Function keys
F1 to F8

Fader Groups
section

The Steinberg layout for Mackie Control

An overlay is included with your Mackie Control that
shows all Steinberg-specific key assignments for this de­vice. The overlay can be placed over the top right part of
Mackie Control, above the transport controls. These key
assignments are used to remote control Cubase.

You can also order this overlay from Mackie. Contact your
hardware dealer for details.

The following figure shows the Steinberg overlay for
Mackie Control.

Action Keys
section

!

Please note that we will refer to the key assignments
of the Steinberg overlay throughout this manual, i.e.
the original key labels replaced by this overlay are not
used.

The Shift button

Markers section

6

Introduction

About the Shift button

In the Action Keys section, to the right in the second row
of buttons, you will find the Shift button. The Shift button is
always used in combination with another button to extend
that button’s functionality. Pressing the Shift button alone
has no effect.

About Mackie Control XT

Mackie Control XT 8 channel extender units are also sup­ported. All faders and encoder/displays are combined into
one continuous surface. The following applies:

• When the encoder section is used to display the data
for one channel (channel strip mode, or for plug-ins), the
parameters are presented over the encoder section of all
devices, from left to right.

• Fader bank navigation and encoder section assignment
is controlled by the Mackie Control unit.

• For each Mackie Control and Mackie Control XT unit, a
new device needs to be added in the Device Setup.

For each device select the appropriate MIDI ports.

• In the Device List, the top-most device represents the
right-most channels, and vice versa.

Please make sure that the used MIDI ports are deactivated in the “All
MIDI Inputs” device.

7

Introduction

2

Basic mixing

About this chapter

This chapter describes how to work with the faders and
the rows of buttons above them (Solo, Mute, Select and
Rec), and how to select which channels are affected by
the fader settings.

Selecting which channels to control

Mackie Control’s fader section controls eight different
channels in Cubase (plus the master level, which has its
own fader). You select which channels to control with the
aid of the Fader Banks section and the Fader Groups sec­tion of Mackie Control.

The Fader Banks section

Using the controls in the Fader Banks section

In the Fader Banks section, press the left or right Bank
button to switch from one set of eight channels to the
next. For example, if you are currently controlling Mixer
channels 1 to 8, pressing the right Bank button will switch
to the next eight channels, i.e. channels 9 to 16. To go
back to the previous eight channels, press the left Bank
button.

Selects the
previous eight
channels.

• If you press the left or right Channel button in the Fader
Banks section, the fader assignment will shift in steps of
one channel instead.

Let’s say the faders currently control audio channels 9-16. If you press
the left Channel button, the faders will shift one step to the left and con­trol audio channels 8-15.

• Pressing the Flip button in the Fader Banks section
switches the parameter assignment between the faders
and the V-Pots, i.e. what was controlled with a fader is
now controlled with the corresponding V-Pot and vice
versa.

• Press the Edit button in the Fader Banks section to
open an editor for the current selection.

• Hold down Shift and press Edit to close the currently
active window.

Selects the
next eight
channels.

The Fader Groups section

Using the controls in the Fader Groups section

In Cubase, you can create so called channel view presets
in your Mixer window, by selecting the channels to be dis­played and clicking the symbol button at the bottom left of
the Mixer window.

The Steinberg key assignments for Mackie Control make
use of the channel views feature. In the Fader Groups
section, the first channel view defined in Cubase is as­signed to button 1, the second channel view is assigned
to button 2 and so on. In this way, you can switch between
any of the first eight channel views of Cubase by pressing
one of the buttons in the Fader Groups section.

9

Basic mixing