Steinberg Cubase 6.0 User Manual [es]

Quick Start Guide

Guía de Inicio Rápido

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English

Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Marion Bröer, Sabine Pfeifer, Heike Schilling The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not repre-

sent 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 pub lication 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 docu ment for their personal use.

All product and company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective owners. Windows 7 is a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The Mac logo is a trademark used under license. Macin tosh and Power Macintosh are registered trademarks. MP3SURROUND and the MP3SURROUND logo are registered trademarks of Thomson SA, registered in the US and other countries, and are used under license from Thomson Licensing SAS.

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8 Introduction

9 Welcome! 10 About the documentation and the help 12 About the program versions 13 Key command conventions 13 How you can reach us

14 System requirements and installation

15 About this chapter 15 Minimum requirements 18 Installing Cubase 20 License activation 20 Register your software 20 Hardware installation

24 Creating your first project

25 About this chapter 25 The Project Assistant dialog 26 Saving, closing, and opening projects 28 Selecting the driver for your audio device 29 Setting up the VST connections

32 Recording audio

33 About this chapter 33 Creating a mono track 34 Turning on the metronome click 35 Setting levels 37 Recording 38 Playback

42 Recording MIDI

43 About this chapter 43 Creating an instrument track 44 Browsing sounds 46 Recording

5 — Table of Contents

48 Mixing and effects

49 About this chapter 49 Setting levels for the mix 50 Setting panorama 51 Mute and solo 51 Adding EQ 53 Audio effects 57 Exporting a mixdown

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Table of Contents — 6

7 — Table of Contents

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Introduction

Welcome!

Congratulations and thank you for purchasing Steinberg’s Cubase 6 or Cubase Artist 6.

First released in 1989, Cubase has grown from a classic MIDI sequencer to possibly the most advanced music production system used by countless musicians, producers and composers all over the globe. The Cubase philosophy puts the latest computer and audio technologies at your disposal, inviting you to venture into new artistic territory and give your creativity free reign. Combining the very best sound quality, intuitive handling and a vast range of highly advanced audio and MIDI tools for composition, recording, editing and mixing, the sixth ver sion of the Cubase family condenses over 25 years of Steinberg development into the most cutting-edge set of digital audio workstations anywhere.

Whether you are a professional, a hobby musician, a student or a teacher — Cubase has it all covered and supports you through every stage of music production, from the inception of the first fleeting idea through its development, right to the final mix. And because it has been built to support individual creativ ity, Cubase owners are among the most successful artists in just about any musical genre or activity conceivable, from engineers recording and mixing rock albums to dance DJs, hip-hop producers, songwriters creating pop hits, film composers scoring for Hollywood blockbusters or anything in between. If you are entirely new to Cubase, you just became a member of this large community of professionals and music enthusiasts! Check out the official Cubase world wide community at Cubase.net, for tips and tons of other useful information.

If you take a closer look at your software package, you’ll notice that we included several trial versions which will further encourage you to push your creative envelope as you explore other Steinberg software titles. Detailed infor mation on the trials is available in the Start Center which automatically runs as soon as you insert the Cubase DVD.

Please do not forget to register on MySteinberg in order to gain access to online support offers and additional exclusive services.

We wish you a lot of musical inspiration working with your brand-new Cubase DAW.

See you around! Your Steinberg Cubase Team

9 — Introduction

About the documentation and the help

The Cubase documentation is divided into several sections, as listed below. The documents are available in Adobe Acrobat format (extension .pdf) and can be accessed as follows:

• You can open the PDF documents from the Documentation submenu on the Help menu in the program.

• Under Windows you can also open these documents from the Cubase Documentation subfolder on the Windows Start menu.

• Under Mac OS X the PDF documents are located in the folder “/Library/ Documentation/Steinberg/Cubase 6”.

To read the PDF documents, you need to have a suitable PDF reader appli-

cation installed on your computer.

The Quick Start Guide

This is the document you are reading. It covers the following areas without going into details:

• Computer requirements, installation procedure, and license activation.

• Setting up your system for audio and MIDI work.

• Creating a project, recording, and mixing.

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The Operation Manual

The Operation Manual is the main Cubase reference documentation, with detailed descriptions of operations, parameters, functions, and techniques.

MIDI Devices

This document contains descriptions of how to manage MIDI Devices and device panels.

Plug-in Reference

This document describes the features and parameters of the included VST plug-ins, VST instruments, and MIDI effects.

Introduction — 10

HALion Sonic SE

This document describes the features and parameters of the included VST instrument HALion Sonic SE.

Remote Control Devices

This document lists the supported MIDI remote control devices.

Menu Reference

This document provides a list of all menus and their options with a brief description, for quick reference.

The dialog help

To get information about the active dialog, click its Help button.

11 — Introduction

About the program versions

The documentation covers two program versions, Cubase and Cubase Artist, for two different operating systems or “platforms”, Windows and Mac OS X.

Some features described in the documentation are only applicable to the Cubase version. Whenever this is the case, it is clearly indicated in the heading of the related subject.

In some cases the difference between the five available versions of Cubase is not the presence or absence of a feature, but rather how often an element (e. a certain track type) can be used in a project:

Maximum number of

Audio tracks unlimited 64 48 32 16

MID tracks unlimited 128 64 48 24

Instrument tracks unlimited 32 24 16 8

VST instrument slots

Group channels 256 32 16 8 8

FX channels 64 64 8 4 4

Audio channel insert slots

Audio channel send slots

MIDI inserts/ sends

Physical I/Os* 256 32 24 16 8 Max. audio

resolution

Cubase Cubase

Artist

64 32 16 8 0

8884 4

4400 0

192 kHz 96 kHz 96 kHz 96 kHz 96 kHz

Cubase

Elements

Cubase AI Cubase LE

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* This determines the number of input and output busses that can be defined in the VST Connections window (256 I/Os equal 128 stereo or 256 mono busses, for example).

Introduction — 12

Some features and settings are also 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 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] under Windows and [Command]-[Z] under Mac OS X.

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] For example, [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Z] means “press [Ctrl] under Windows or

[Command] under Mac OS X, then press [Z]”. Similarly, [Alt]/[Option]-[X] means “press [Alt] under Windows or [Option]

under Mac OS X, then press [X]”.

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.

How you can reach us

On the Help menu in Cubase you will find items for getting additional information and help.

The menu contains links to various Steinberg web pages. Selecting a menu item automatically launches your browser and opens the page. On these pages you can find support and compatibility information, answers to frequently asked questions, information about updates and other Steinberg products, etc. This requires that you have a web browser installed on your computer, and a work ing Internet connection.

13 — Introduction

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System requirements and installation

About this chapter

In this chapter the requirements and installation procedures for the Windows version and the Mac version of Cubase are described.

Minimum requirements

To use Cubase (32-bit or 64-bit version), your computer must meet the following minimum requirements:

Windows

• Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)

• Intel or AMD dual-core processor

•2 GB RAM

•8 GB of free hard-disk space

• Windows-compatible audio hardware (ASIO-compatible audio hardware recom-

mended for low-latency performance)

• Display resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels recommended

• USB port for USB-eLicenser (license management)

• DVD ROM dual-layer drive required for installation

• QuickTime 7.1 and video card supporting OpenGL 1.2 (OpenGL 2.0 recommended)

• Internet connection required for license activation

Mac OS X

• Mac OS X 10.6 (32-bit or 64-bit)

•

Intel dual-core

•2 GB RAM

•8 GB of free hard-disk space

• CoreAudio compatible audio hardware

• Display resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels recommended

• USB port for USB-eLicenser (license management)

• DVD ROM dual-layer drive required for installation

• Video card supporting OpenGL 1.2 (OpenGL 2.0 recommended)

• Internet connection required for license activation

processor

15 — System requirements and installation

Starting Cubase 64-bit on a 64-bit Mac OS X system

When you install Cubase on a 64-bit Mac OS X system, the program is set to start in 32-bit mode.

• To start Cubase in 64-bit mode, right-click the application symbol in the Mac OS X Finder, select “Get Info” and deactivate the “Open in 32-bit mode” option in the dialog that appears.

General notes on how to set up your system

On the Steinberg web site, under “Support–DAW Components”, you can find detailed information on what to consider when setting up a computer system dedicated to audio work.

• RAM – There is a direct relation between the amount of available RAM and the number of audio channels that you can have running.

The amount of RAM specified above is the minimum requirement, but as a general rule “the more the better” applies.

• Hard-disk size – The size of the hard disk determines how many minutes of audio you will be able to record.

Recording one minute of stereo CD quality audio requires 10 MB of hard-disk space. That is, eight stereo tracks in Cubase use up at least 80

• Hard-disk speed – The speed of the hard drive also determines the number of audio tracks you can run.

That is the quantity of information that the hard disk can read, usually expressed as “sustained transfer rate”. Again, “the more the better” applies.

• Wheel mouse – Although a mouse without a wheel will work fine with Cubase, we recommend that you use a wheel mouse.

This will speed up value editing and scrolling considerably.

MB of disk space per recording minute.

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MIDI requirements

If you intend to use the MIDI features of Cubase, you need the following:

• A USB MIDI keyboard or a MIDI instrument and a MIDI interface to connect external MIDI equipment to your computer

• Any audio equipment required to listen to the sound from your MIDI devices

System requirements and installation — 16

Audio requirements

In music production it is very important to work with low latencies. Therefore it is strongly recommended to use a dedicated ASIO audio interface. Although Cubase can run with many audio cards that are installed in a computer, they might not offer you low enough latencies. For an overview of the audio hardware offered by Steinberg, see http://www.steinberg.net/products/hardware.html.

Cubase will run with audio hardware that meets the following specifications:

•Stereo.

• 16 bit.

• Support of at least the 44.1kHz sampling rate.

• Windows – If there is no dedicated ASIO driver available, you can also use the Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver.

• Mac – The audio hardware must be supplied with Mac OS X-compatible drivers (CoreAudio or ASIO).

Using the built-in audio hardware of Macintosh computers

Although Cubase is designed with multi-channel input and output in mind, it is of course possible to use the program with “basic” stereo inputs and outputs. All current Macintosh models provide at least built-in 16 bit stereo audio hardware. For detailed information, refer to the documentation describing your computer.

Depending on your preferences and requirements, using the built-in audio hardware may be sufficient for use with Cubase. It is always available for selection in Cubase – you do not have to install any additional drivers.

17 — System requirements and installation

Installing Cubase

Copy protection

Please read the following section before installing Cubase.

Many Steinberg products use the USB-eLicenser (also referred to as a “dongle”), a hardware copy protection device.

The USB-eLicenser is a USB device on which your Steinberg software licenses are stored. All hardware-protected Steinberg products use the same type of device, and you can store more than one license on one device. Also, licenses can (within certain limits) be transferred between USB-eLicensers – which is helpful, e. g., if you want to sell a piece of software.

In the eLicenser Control Center (which can be found on the Start menu on Windows systems or in the Applications folder on a Mac) you can check which licenses are installed on your USB-eLicenser.

If you are using other copy-protected Steinberg products, you may want to transfer all licenses for your applications to only one USB-eLicenser, thus using up only one USB port of your computer. Please refer to the eLicenser Control Center Help for information on how to transfer licenses between USBeLicensers.

Cubase is sold with a USB-eLicenser and an activation code. The USB-eLicenser contains a time-limited license that allows you to use Cubase out-of-the-box for a total of 25 non-consecutive hours.

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System requirements and installation — 18

However, to be able to make unlimited use of your version of Cubase, you must activate your permanent license (see

“License activation” on page 20).

Steinberg software products always come with a license activation code, but not always with an USB-eLicenser:

• If you want to activate a license for such a Steinberg software (e. g. an update/upgrade, or a VSTi) and store this license on the USB-eLicenser you received with your original version of Cubase, click the “Enter Activation Code” button in the eLicenser Control Center and follow the instructions.

More information on the transfer or activation of licenses can be found in the help for the eLicenser Control Center.

Starting the installation

The installation procedure puts all files in the right places, automatically. Depending on your system, the Start Center program on the DVD may start

automatically. If no interactive start center appears, open the DVD and doubleclick the file “Start_Center.exe” (Win) or “Start_Center.app” (Mac). From the Start Center you can initiate the installation of Cubase and browse through the additional options and information presented there.

In case you do not want to install Cubase via the interactive Start Center, follow the procedure below.

Windows

1. Double-click the file “Setup.exe”.

2. Follow the instructions on screen.

Macintosh

1. Double-click the file “Cubase 6.mpkg”.

2. Follow the instructions on screen.

19 — System requirements and installation

License activation

When you start Cubase, a dialog opens that informs you for how many hours you can still use the trial version. This dialog also contains an option to launch the license activation process:

1. Make sure that your USB-eLicenser is connected to a USB port on your computer.

2. Click the “Start License Activation” button.

A dialog opens, allowing you to enter your activation code and download your permanent license.

Register your software

We encourage you to register your software! By doing so you are entitled to technical support and kept aware of updates and other news regarding Cubase.

• To register your software, open the Help menu in Cubase and select the Registration option.

The Registration page of the Steinberg web site opens in your web browser. Continue by following the instructions on screen.

You can also directly go to www.steinberg.net/mysteinberg, log in to the exclusive MySteinberg online customer portal and register your product by fol lowing the instructions on screen.

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Hardware installation

Installing the audio hardware and its driver

1. Install the audio hardware and related equipment in the computer, as described in the hardware documentation.

2. Install the driver for the audio hardware.

A driver is a piece of software that allows a program to communicate with a certain piece of hardware. In this case, the driver allows Cubase to use the audio hardware. Depending on the operating system of your computer, there are different types of drivers that can be used.

System requirements and installation — 20

Dedicated ASIO drivers

Professional audio hardware often comes with an ASIO driver written especially for the device. This allows for direct communication between Cubase and the audio hardware. As a result, the devices with specific ASIO drivers can provide lower latency (input-output delay), which is crucial when monitoring audio via Cubase or using VST instruments. The ASIO driver may also provide special support for multiple inputs and outputs, routing, synchronization, etc.

ASIO drivers are provided by the audio hardware manufacturers. Make sure to check the manufacturer’s web site for the latest driver versions.

If your audio hardware comes with a specific ASIO driver, we strongly recommend that you use this.

Generic Low Latency ASIO driver (Windows only)

On Windows systems, you can use the Generic Low Latency ASIO driver. This is a generic ASIO driver that provides ASIO support for any audio hardware supported by Windows 7, thus allowing for low latency. The Generic Low Latency ASIO driver provides the Windows Core Audio technology in Cubase. No additional driver is needed. This driver is included with Cubase and does not require any special installation.

This driver should be used if no specific ASIO driver is available. Although the Generic Low Latency ASIO driver supports all audio devices, you might get better results with on-board audio cards than with external USB audio interfaces.

DirectX drivers (Windows only)

DirectX is a Microsoft “package” for handling various types of multimedia data under Windows. Cubase supports DirectX, or to be more precise, Direct

Sound, which is a part of DirectX used for playing back and recording audio. This requires one of the following types of drivers:

• A DirectX driver for the audio device, allowing it to communicate with DirectX. If the audio hardware supports DirectX, this driver should be supplied by the manufacturer. If it is not installed with the audio hardware, please check the manufacturer’s web site for more information.

21 — System requirements and installation

• The ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver, allowing Cubase to communicate with DirectX. This driver is included with Cubase, and does not require any special installation.

Mac OS X drivers (Mac only)

If you are using a Macintosh computer, make sure that you are using the latest Mac OS X drivers for your audio hardware. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to install the driver.

Testing the audio hardware

To make sure that the audio device works as expected, perform the following tests:

• Use any software included with the hardware to make sure that you can record and play back audio without problems.

• If the hardware is accessed via a standard operating system driver, try playing back audio using the computer’s standard audio application (e. g. Windows Media Player or Apple iTunes).

Installing a MIDI interface or USB MIDI keyboard

Although many USB MIDI keyboards and MIDI interfaces are plug&play devices, you may have to install a dedicated device driver. Please follow the installation procedure described in the documentation that came with the device.

You should also make sure to check the manufacturer’s web site for the lat-

est driver updates.

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23 — System requirements and installation

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Creating your first project

About this chapter

In this chapter you will learn how to create a new project, save a project, and open a saved project. You will also learn how to set up your audio device in Cubase.

The Project Assistant dialog

To create a new project, proceed as follows:

1. Start Cubase.

The Project Assistant dialog opens. It allows you to open existing projects and create new projects, which can either be empty or based on a project template.

If Cubase is already running, you can open the Project Assistant by select-

ing the “New Project…” command from the File menu.

25 — Creating your first project

2. In the “Project folder” field, enter a name for the project folder (e. g. “My first

The name of the project

project”).

3. If you want to start with a preconfigured project for a specific purpose instead, select a template from one of the categories (Recording, Scoring, Pro duction, or Mastering).

If you do not select a template, a blank new project is created.

4. Click Create. You are looking at your very first project in Cubase. Congratulations! If you look

at the top of the window (called the Project window), you will see that the name of this project is “Untitled1”.

You are not done yet! So far you have created a new Cubase project. There is a new folder on the hard drive, but the actual Cubase project has not been saved yet.

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Saving, closing, and opening projects

Saving a project

1. On the File menu, select the Save command.

If your project has not been saved before, this opens the Save As dialog. You will notice that the folder you created earlier (“My First Project”) is already selected. This is where you want to save your project.

2. Type in a name for your project (e. g. “My First Cubase Project”).

3. Click “Save” – and that’s it!

If a project has been saved before, the shortest way to save is pressing

[Ctrl]/[Command]-[S].

Creating your first project — 26

Closing a project

1. Make sure that the Project window is selected.

The Project window is the main window that you work in.

2. On the File menu, select the Close command.

If you have made any changes to the project since you last saved it, you will be prompted to “Save”, “Don’t Save”, or “Cancel”. Click Save if you want your changes saved.

Opening a project

After you have saved and closed your project, you have several possibilities to open it again.

Opening a project using the Open command

1. On the File menu, select the “Open…” command.

2. Navigate to the folder containing the project that you want to open.

3. Select the project and click Open.

The project is loaded in the Project window.

Opening a project using the Project Assistant dialog

In the Recent category in the Project Assistant dialog, you will find a list of recently opened projects. When you select a project in this category, the Cre ate button changes to an Open button and is used to load the corresponding project.

Opening a project using the “Recent Projects” submenu

Cubase remembers recently opened projects and lists them in the “Recent Projects” submenu of the File menu. On this menu, you can select a project name to load that project.

27 — Creating your first project

Selecting the driver for your audio device

Before you can set up the routing for your audio signals and start recording, you need to make sure that the correct ASIO driver is selected:

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

2. In the Device Setup dialog, click on the “VST Audio System” entry in the list

on the left.

The VST Audio System page is shown on the right.

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3. On the ASIO Driver pop-up menu, select the driver that you want to use.

The different types of drivers are described in the section “Hardware installation” on page 20.

Creating your first project — 28

Setting up the VST connections

The VST Connections window allows you to set up the routing of input and output signals between Cubase and your audio hardware. These connections are called “busses”. In this section you will learn how to set up the busses so that you can get playback and recording working.

Adding outputs

In this section you will learn how to set up the outputs for playing back audio in Cubase. Let’s start from scratch and remove any outputs that were automati cally added by Cubase:

1. Open the Devices menu, and select “VST Connections”.

The VST Connections window opens. The default key command for this is [F4].

2. If you see anything in the “Bus Name” column, right-click on the entry and select “Remove Bus” from the context menu.

3. Click the “Add Bus” button.

The Add Output Bus dialog opens.

4. Choose “Stereo” for Configuration and “1” for Count. Click OK.

A new stereo bus (Left and Right) is added, allowing you to have audio in Cubase routed to your audio hardware.

29 — Creating your first project

Depending on your audio hardware, more than two outputs might be available. In most cases you will want to choose the main stereo outputs. More sophisti cated setups may require you to choose different outputs.

• If you want to change the output ports that were selected automatically, open the “Device Port” pop-up menu and select the outputs that you want to use.

Adding inputs

In this section you will learn how to set up the inputs for recording into Cubase from scratch:

1. If you see anything in the “Bus Name” column, right-click on the entry and select “Remove Bus” from the context menu.

2. Click the “Add Bus” button.

The Add Input Bus dialog opens.

3. Choose “Stereo” for Configuration and “1” for Count. Click OK.

A new stereo bus (Left and Right) is added, allowing you to have audio from your audio device’s input routed to Cubase for recording.

Having a stereo input is useful for recording audio with two channels, for example, to record a keyboard with a left and a right audio channel. If you want to record with two mono channels instead, you can set up separate mono busses:

4. Click the “Add Bus” button.

The Add Input Bus dialog opens.

5. Choose “Mono” for Configuration and “2” for Count. Click OK.

Two new mono busses are added.

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