Steinberg Cubase AI - 4.0 Plug-in Reference

Plug-in Reference

Manual by Anders Nordmark Revision for Cubase AI and Quality Control: Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Birgit Grossmann, Sabine Pfeifer, Claudia Schomburg

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Table of Contents

3 Table of Contents

5 Audio effects

6 About this chapter 6 Overview 7 Insert effects 9 Send effects 12 Making settings for the effects 13 Effect presets 15 Installing and managing effect plug-ins

18 The included effect plug-ins

19 Introduction 19 Delay plug-ins 20 Dynamics plug-ins 22 Filter plug-ins 23 Modulation plug-ins 25 Other plug-ins 26 Spatial plug-ins 27 Earlier VST plug-ins

34 VST Instruments

35 Introduction 35 Activating and using VST Instruments 37 Using VST presets 39 About latency

40 HALionOne

41 Introduction 41 HALionOne parameters

42 Index

Table of Contents

Audio effects

About this chapter

Cubase AI comes with a number of effect plug-ins included. This chapter contains general details about how to assign, use and organize effect plug-ins. The effects and their parameters are described in the chapter “The in-

cluded effect plug-ins” on page 18.

Overview

Smart plug-in processing

Another feature of the VST3 standard is “smart” plug-in processing. Previously, any loaded plug-in was processing continuously, regardless of whether a signal was present or not. In VST3, there is a smart functionality builtin which disengages processing by a plug-in if there is no signal present. This can greatly reduce CPU load, thus allowing for more effects to be used. There are no settings involved for this functionality, it is fully automatic.

There are two ways to use audio effects in Cubase AI:

• As insert effects.

An insert effect is inserted into the signal chain of an audio channel, which means that the whole channel signal passes through the effect. This makes inserts suitable for effects for which you don’t need to mix dry and wet sound, e.g. distortion, filters or other effects that change the tonal or dynamic characteristics of the sound. You can have up to eight different insert effects per channel (and the same is true for output busses).

• As send effects.

Each audio channel has eight effect sends, each of which can be freely routed to an effect (or to a chain of effects). Send effects are practical for two reasons: you can control the balance between the dry (direct) and wet (processed) sound individually for each channel using the sends, and several different audio channels can use the same send effect. In Cubase AI, send effects are handled by means of FX channel tracks.

About VST 3

The new VST 3 plug-in standard offers many improvements over the previous VST 2 standard, yet retains full backwards compatibility so you can still use your old VST effects and presets.

VST Preset management

From a user perspective, the main difference between VST 2 and VST 3 is in the effect preset management. The new preset handling replaces the old “.fxp/.fxb” files with VST 3 Presets (extension “.vstpreset”). You can also preview effect presets before you load them. A large number of presets for effects are included with the program. Should you have any previous VST plug-ins installed on your computer, you can still use them, and you can also chose to convert their programs to VST 3 Presets. See

“Effect presets” on page 13 for details.

About plug-in delay compensation

A plug-in effect may have some inherent delay or latency. This means that it takes a brief time for the plug-in to process the audio fed into it – as a result, the output audio will be slightly delayed. This especially applies to dynamics processors featuring “look-ahead” functionality.

However, Cubase AI provides full plug-in delay compensation throughout the entire audio path. All plug-in delays are compensated for, maintaining the sync and timing of all audio channels.

Normally, you don’t have to make any settings for this. However, VST3 dynamics plug-ins with look-ahead functionality have a “Live” button, allowing you to disengage the look-ahead to minimize latency if they are to be used during real-time recording (see the chapter “The included

effect plug-ins” on page 18 for details).

You can also constrain the delay compensation, which is useful to avoid latency when recording audio or playing a VST Instrument in real time. See “Constrain Delay Com-

pensation” on page 39.

About tempo sync

Plug-ins can receive MIDI timing information from the host application (in this case, Cubase AI). A typical use for this feature are tempo-based effects (delays, auto-panning, etc.), but it is also used in other ways for certain plug-ins.

• MIDI timing information is automatically provided to any VST (2.0 or later) plug-in that “requests it”.

You don’t need to make any special settings for this.

• You set up tempo sync by specifying a base note value.

You can use straight, triplet or dotted note values (1/1 - 1/32).

Audio effects

• When MIDI receive is available (or necessary) for other purposes than timing, the setting up and operation is described in the documentation for the corresponding effect.

Please refer to the chapter “The included effect plug-ins” on page 18 for details about the included effects.

Insert effects

Background

As the name implies, insert effects are inserted into the audio signal path – this means that the audio will be routed through the effect. You can add up to eight different insert effects independently for each audio channel (audio track, group channel track, FX channel track or VST Instrument channel) or bus. The signal passes through the effects in series from the top downwards, with the signal path shown below:

Input gain

Insert effect 1

Insert effect 2

Insert effect 3

Insert effect 4

Insert effect 5

Insert effect 6

Which effect plug-ins can I use as insert effects?

Most effect plug-ins will work fine as insert effects. In general, the only restrictions are with the number of inputs and outputs in the effects:

• For a plug-in to be usable as an insert effect, it has to have at least 1 or 2 inputs and 1 or 2 outputs.

Different effects feature different amounts of inputs and outputs, but the number of inputs and outputs actually used is determined by whether you use the insert effects on a single (mono) audio channel or a stereo channel pair.

Routing an audio channel or bus through insert effects

Insert effect settings are available in the Channel Settings window and the Inspector. The examples below show the Channel Settings window, but the procedures are similar for both send sections:

1. Bring up the Channel Settings window or the Inserts section in the Inspector.

In the Channel Settings window, the inserts are located to the far left.

2. Pull down the effect type pop-up for one of the insert slots, and select an effect.

Volume (fader)

Insert effect 7

Insert effect 8

As you can see, the last two insert slots (for any channel) are post-EQ and post-fader. Post-fader slots are best suited for insert effects where you don’t want the level to be changed after the effect, such as dithering and maximizers – both typically used as insert effects for output busses.

Ö Applying insert effects on many channels uses up a lot of CPU power!

It might often be more efficient to use send effects or use insert effects on Group tracks, especially if you want to use the same type of effect on several channels. Remember that you can use the VST Performance window to keep an eye on the CPU load.

Audio effects

The effect is loaded and automatically activated and its control panel appears. You can hide or show the control panel by clicking the “e” button for the insert slot.

• If the effect has a Dry/Wet Mix parameter you can use this to adjust the balance between the dry signal and the effect signal.

See “Making settings for the effects” on page 12 for details about editing effects.

• When one or several insert effects are activated for a channel, the insert effects buttons light up in blue in the mixer, the Inspector and the Track list. Click the button for a channel to bypass (disable) all its inserts.

When the inserts are bypassed, the buttons are yellow. Click the button again to enable the inserts. Note that the bypass button is also available in the Inspector and the Channel settings window for the audio track.

• To remove an effect, pull down the effect type pop-up menu and select “No Effect”.

You should do this for all effects that you don’t intend to use, to minimize unnecessary CPU load.

• When you have several insert effects for a channel, you can bypass separate effects by clicking the bypass button of the respective slot.

When an effect is bypassed, the button is yellow.

The “PingPongDelay” insert effect slot is bypassed.

Insert effects in the channel overview

If the “Channel” section is selected in the Inspector, you will get an overview of which EQ modules, insert effects and effect sends are activated for the channel.

You can activate or deactivate individual insert effect slots by clicking the corresponding number (in the upper part of the overview).

The channel overview in the Inspector.

About adding insert effects to busses

As already stated, output busses have eight insert slots, just like regular audio channels. The procedures for adding insert effects are the same (except you cannot use the Inspector here).

• Insert effects added to an output bus will affect all audio routed to that bus, like a “master insert effect”.

Typically you would add compressors, limiters, EQ or other plug-ins to tailor the dynamics and sound of the final mix.

Audio effects

Using group channels for insert effects

Like all other channels, group channels can have up to eight insert effects. This is useful if you have several audio tracks that you want to process through the same effect (e.g. different vocal tracks that all should be processed by the same compressor). Another special use for group channels and effects is the following:

If you have a mono audio track and want to process this through a stereo insert effect (e.g. a stereo chorus or an auto panner device), you cannot just insert the effect as usual. This is because the audio track is in mono – the output of the insert effect will then be in mono as well, and the stereo information from the effect will be lost.

One solution would be to route a send from the mono track to a stereo FX channel track, set the send to pre fader mode and lower the fader completely for the mono audio track. However, this makes mixing the track cumbersome, since you cannot use the fader.

Here’s another solution:

1. Create a group channel track in stereo and route it to the desired output bus.

2. Add the desired effect to the group channel as an insert effect.

3. Route the mono audio track to the group channel.

Now the signal from the mono audio track is sent directly to the group, where it passes through the insert effect, in stereo.

Send effects

Background

Send effects are handled through FX channel tracks. These are special tracks that each can contain up to eight insert effects. The signal path is as follows:

• By routing an effect send from an audio track to an FX channel track, the audio is sent to the FX channel and through its insert effect(s).

Each audio channel has eight sends, which can be routed to different FX channels. You control the amount of signal sent to the FX channel by adjusting the effect send level.

• If you have added several effects to the FX channel, the signal passes through the effects in series, from the top (the first slot) downward.

This allows for “custom” send effect configurations – you could e.g. have a chorus followed by a reverb followed by an EQ and so on.

• The FX channel track has its own channel strip in the mixer, the effect return channel.

Here you can adjust the effect return level and balance.

• Each FX channel track has an automation subtrack, for automating various effect parameters.

See the chapter “Automation” in the Operation Manual for more information.

Setting up send effects

Adding an FX channel track

1. Pull down the Project menu and select “FX Channel” from the “Add Track” submenu.

A dialog appears.

2. Select a channel configuration for the FX channel track.

Normally, stereo is a good choice since most effect plug-ins have stereo outputs.

3. Select an effect for the FX channel track.

This is not strictly necessary at this point – you can leave the Plug-in pop-up menu set to “No Effect” and add effects to the FX channel later if you like.

4. Click OK.

An FX channel track is added to the Track list, and the selected effect, if any, is loaded into the first insert effect slot for the FX channel (in that case, the lit Inserts tab for the FX channel track in the Inspector indicates that an effect has been assigned and automatically activated).

Audio effects

• All FX channel tracks you create will appear in a kind of “folder” in the Track list.

This makes it easy to manage and keep track of all your FX channel tracks, and also allows you to save screen space by folding the FX Channel folder.

FX channel tracks are automatically named “FX 1”, “FX 2” etc., but you can rename them if you wish. Just double click the name of an FX channel track in either the Track list or the Inspector and type in a new name.

Adding and setting up effects

As mentioned above, you can add a single insert effect when you create the FX channel track if you like. To add and set up effects after the FX channel track is created, you can either use the Inspector for the track (click the Inserts tab) or the FX Channel Settings window:

1. Click the Edit (“e”) button for the FX channel track (in the Track list, mixer or Inspector).

The FX Channel Settings window appears, similar to a regular Channel Settings window.

4. When you add an effect, its control panel will automatically appear. Typically you should set the Wet/Dry Mix control to all “wet”.

This is because you control the balance between wet and dry signal with the effect sends. For more information about making settings in the effect control panels, see “Making settings for the effects” on page 12.

• You can add up to eight insert effects for an FX channel.

Note that the signal will pass through all the effects in series. It is not possible to adjust the effect send and return levels separately for each effect – this is done for the FX channel as a whole. If what you want is several separate send effects (where you can control their send and return levels independently) you should instead add more FX channel tracks – one for each effect.

• To remove an insert effect from a slot, click the slot and select “No Effect” from the pop-up menu.

You should do this for all effects that you don’t intend to use, to minimize unnecessary CPU load.

• You can also bypass individual effects (or all effects) by clicking the corresponding Bypass Inserts button(s) for the FX channel track.

See “Routing an audio channel or bus through insert effects” on page 7.

• You can also adjust level, pan and EQ for the effect return in this window.

Ö Remember that effects rely heavily on the CPU power in your computer.

The more activated effect units, the more computer power will be used for effects.

To the left in the window is the Inserts section with eight effect slots.

2. Make sure the FX channel is routed to the correct output bus.

This is done with the output routing pop-up menu at the top of the fader section (also available in the Inspector).

3. To add an insert effect in an empty slot (or replace the current effect in a slot), click on the slot and select an effect from the pop-up menu.

This works just like when selecting insert effects for a regular audio channel.

Audio effects

Setting up the sends

The next step is to set up and route a send for an audio channel to the FX channel. This can be done in the Channel Settings window or in the Inspector for the audio track. The example below shows the Channel Settings window, but the procedure is similar for both sections:

1. Click the “e” button for an audio channel to bring up its Channel Settings window.

In the Inspector you would click the Sends tab.

In the channel settings window, the send section is located to the left of the channel strip. Each of the eight sends has the following controls and options:

• A send on/off switch

• A send level slider

• A pre/post fader switch

•An Edit button

Note that the last three items are not shown until the Send is activated and an effect has been loaded.

2. Pull down the routing pop-up menu for a send by clicking in the empty slot, and select the desired routing destination.

6. If you want the signal to be sent to the FX channel before the audio channel’s volume fader in the mixer, click on the Pre Fader button for the send so that it lights up.

Normally you want the effect send to be proportional to the channel volume (post fader send). The picture below shows where the sends are “tapped” from the signal in pre and post fader mode:

Input gain

Insert effects 1-6

Pre-fader sends

Volume (fader)

• If the first item on this menu, “No Bus” is selected, the send isn’t routed anywhere.

• Items called “FX 1”, “FX 2” etc. correspond to existing FX tracks. If you have renamed an FX track (see “Adding an FX

channel track” on page 9) that name will appear on this menu

instead of the default.

• The menu also allows for routing a send directly to output busses, separate output bus channels or Group channels.

3. In this case, select an FX channel track from the pop-

up menu.

Now the send is routed to the FX channel.

4. Click the power button for the effect send so that it

lights up in blue.

This activates the send.

5. Click and drag the send level slider to a moderate

value.

The send level determines how much of the signal from the audio channel is routed to the FX channel via the send.

Insert effects 7-8

Post-fader sends

A send set to pre fader mode.

Ö You can choose whether a send in pre fader mode should be affected by the channel’s Mute button or not.

This is done with the option “Mute Pre-Send when Mute” in the Preferences (VST page).

• When one or several sends are activated for a channel, the Send Effects buttons light up in blue in the mixer and the Track list. Click the button for a channel to bypass (disable) all its effect sends.

When the sends are bypassed, the button is yellow. Click the button again to enable the sends. Note that this button is also available in the Inspector and the Channel settings window.

Setting the Send level.

Click this button to bypass the sends.

Audio effects

• You can also bypass individual sends in the channel

overview.

See “Insert effects in the channel overview” on page 8.

• Alternatively, in the same manner you can bypass the

send effects by clicking the “Bypass Inserts” button for the FX channel.

The difference is that this bypasses the actual send effects which may be used by several different channels. Bypassing a send affects that send and that channel only. If you bypass the insert effect the original sound will be passed through. This may lead to unwanted side effects (higher volume). To deactivate all effects, use the mute button in the FX channel.

Setting effect levels

After you have set up the sends as described in the previous sections, the following is now possible:

• You can use the send level slider in the Channel Set-

tings or the Inspector to set the send level.

By adjusting the send level you control the amount of signal sent from the audio channel to the FX channel.

Setting the effect send level.

• In the mixer, you can use the level fader for the FX chan-

nel to set the effect return level.

By adjusting the return level you control the amount of the signal sent from the FX channel to the output bus.

FX channels and the Solo Defeat function

When mixing, you might sometimes want to solo specific audio channels, and listen only to these while other channels are muted. However, this will mute all FX channels as well. If the soloed audio channels have sends routed to FX channels, this means you won’t hear the send effects for the channels.

To remedy this, you can use the Solo Defeat function for the FX channel:

1. First press [Alt]/[Option] and click on the Solo button for the FX channel.

This activates the Solo Defeat function for the FX channel. In this mode, the FX channel will not be muted if you solo another channel in the mixer.

2. You can now solo any of the audio channels without having the effect return (the FX channel) muted.

3. To turn off Solo Defeat for the FX channel, [Alt]/[Option]-click the Solo button for the FX channel again.

Making settings for the effects

Editing effects

All inserts and sends have an Edit (“e”) button. Clicking this opens the selected effect’s control panel in which you can make parameter settings.

The contents, design and layout of the control panel depends on the selected effect. However, all effect control panels have a power button, a Bypass button, Read/Write automation buttons (for automating effect parameter changes (see the chapter “Automation” in the Operation Manual), a Preset selection pop-up menu and a Preset Management pop-up menu for saving or loading programs.

Setting the effect return level.

The Rotary effect control panel.

• Please note that all effects can be edited using a simplified control panel (horizontal sliders only, no graphics). To edit effects using this “basic” control panel instead, press [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Alt]/[Option]+[Shift] and click on the Edit button for the effect send or slot.

Audio effects

Making settings

Effect control panels may have any combination of knobs, sliders, buttons and graphic curves.

Ö For specifics about the included effects and their parameters, please refer to the chapter “The included effect

plug-ins” on page 18.

If you edit the parameters for an effect, these settings are saved automatically in the project. If you want to save the current settings, the following points apply:

• The basis for the current settings may have been a preset effect program, in which case there is a name in the preset field.

• The basis for the current settings may have been a default setting program location in which case “Default” is displayed in the preset field.

In both cases, if you have changed any effect parameter settings, these are automatically saved when you save the program. How to select and save effect presets is described below.

Automating effect parameters

Effects parameters can be automated – see the chapter “Automation” in the Operation Manual.

Effect presets

Cubase AI comes with a number of categorized VST presets that you can use straight out of the box. VST presets are stored parameter settings for a specific effect.

Selecting effect presets

Most VST effect plug-ins come with a number of useful presets for instant selection. The Preset browser can either be accessed from the control panel for the effect, from the Channel Settings window, or from the Inspector.

To select an effect preset, proceed as follows:

1. Load an effect, either as a channel Insert or into a FX

channel, it doesn’t matter.

The effect’s control panel is automatically shown when loaded.

2. Click in the name field at the top of the effect’s control panel.

This opens the Preset browser.

• The right half of the browser shows the available presets for the selected effect.

Selecting a preset loads it directly, replacing the previous preset.

• The lower left half of the Preset browser contains a section where all assigned attributes (to any preset) for the selected effect are shown in the respective column.

If no attributes have been specified for the effect presets, the various columns will be empty. If attributes have been assigned to a preset for this effect, you can click on the assigned attribute in the respective column (Category, Style etc.), to filter out all presets that do not match the selected attribute(s).

• The preset handling for VST 2 plug-ins is slightly different, see “About earlier VST effect presets” on page 15.

• You can also open the Preset browser from the Inspector. Click the Inserts tab for the channel with the effect and click in the Preset name field.

In the Inspector there is a dual functionality. When an effect is loaded into a slot you can click on the Preset name (or in the bottom half of the effect slot) to open the Preset browser. Clicking in the upper half of the slot will instead open the Effect selection pop-up.

• Click the VST Sound button (the cube symbol) to open the Preset Management pop-up menu and select “Load Preset…” from the pop-up menu that appears.

The “Load Preset” dialog opens.

Audio effects

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