Steinberg Cubase LE - 6.0, Cubase Elements - 6.0, Cubase AI - 6.0 Operation Manual

Operation Manual

Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Marion Bröer, Sabine Pfeifer, Heike Schilling, Benjamin Schütte Thanks to: Ashley Shepherd This PDF provides improved access for vision-impaired users. Please note that due to the complexity and number of im-

ages 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

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8 About this manual

9 Welcome!

10 Setting up your system

11 Setting up audio 15 Setting up MIDI 17 Connecting a synchronizer 17 Setting up video 17 Optimizing audio performance

21 VST Connections

22 About this chapter 22 The VST Connections window 22 Setting up busses 24 Routing 24 About monitoring 25 Editing operations

27 The Project window

28 Window Overview 29 The track list 29 The Inspector 32 The toolbar 33 The status line 33 The info line 34 The overview line 34 The ruler 35 The Snap function 37 Auto-Scroll

38 Working with projects

39 Creating new projects 40 Opening projects 40 Closing projects 40 Saving projects 42 The Archive and Backup functions 43 Startup Options 44 The Project Setup dialog 45 Zoom and view options 47 Audio handling 48 Auditioning audio parts and events 48 Scrubbing audio 48 Editing parts and events 55 Range editing 57 Region operations 57 The Edit History dialog 58 The Preferences dialog

60 Working with tracks

61 Setting up tracks 63 Editing tracks 64 Organizing tracks in folder tracks 66 Dividing the track list

67 Playback and the Transport panel

68 Background 69 Operations 71 Options and Settings 73 The Virtual Keyboard

74 Recording

75 Background 75 Basic recording methods 77 Audio recording specifics 82 MIDI recording specifics 86 Options and Settings

89 Quantizing MIDI and audio

90 Introduction 91 Quantize functions 91 Advanced Quantize functions 92 The Quantize Panel

95 Fades and crossfades

96 Creating fades 97 The Fade dialogs 98 Creating crossfades 99 The Crossfade dialog 100 Auto fades and crossfades

101 The arranger track

(Cubase Elements only)

102 Introduction 102 Setting up the arranger track 103 Working with arranger events 105 Flattening the arranger chain 106 Live mode 106 Arranging your music to video

108 Using markers

109 Introduction 109 The Marker window 111 The marker track 113 Marker key commands 113 Exporting and importing markers

Table of Contents

114 The Mixer

115 Overview 116 Configuring the Mixer 118 Basic mixing procedures 121 Audio-specific procedures 127 Routing 129 MIDI-specific procedures 130 Utilities

165 Audio processing and functions

166 Background 166 Audio processing 171 Freeze Edits 172 Detect Silence 173 The Spectrum Analyzer 175 Statistics 175 About time stretch and pitch shift algorithms

131 Audio effects

132 About this chapter 132 Overview 133 Insert effects 136 Send effects 140 Editing effects 140 Effect presets 142 Installing and managing effect plug-ins

145 VST instruments and instrument

tracks

146 Introduction 146 VST instrument channels vs. instrument tracks 146 VST instrument channels

(not in Cubase LE)

148 Instrument tracks 150 What do I need? Instrument channel or instrument

track?

150 Instrument Freeze 151 VST instruments and processor load 151 Using presets for VSTi configuration 154 About latency

156 Automation

157 Introduction 157 Working with automation curves 158 Enabling and disabling the writing of automation

data

158 Writing automation data 160 Editing automation events 161 Automation track operations 164 MIDI part data vs. track automation 164 Hints and further options

176 The Sample Editor

177 Window overview 180 General functions 185 Warping audio 186 Working with hitpoints and slices

190 The Audio Part Editor

191 Background 191 Opening the Audio Part Editor 191 Window overview 192 Operations 194 Options and Settings

195 The Pool

196 Background 196 Window overview 198 Operations

206 The MediaBay

207 Introduction 208 Working with the MediaBay 209 The Define Locations section 210 The Locations section 211 The Results list 213 Previewing files 215 The Filters section 217 The Loop Browser and Sound Browser windows 217 Preferences 218 Key commands 218 Working with MediaBay-related windows 220 Working with Volume databases

221 Working with track presets

222 Introduction 222 Types of track presets 223 Applying track presets 225 Creating a track preset 226 Creating tracks from track presets or VST presets

Table of Contents

227 Remote controlling Cubase

228 Introduction 228 Setting Up 229 Operations 230 The Generic Remote device 232 Apple Remote (Macintosh only)

233 MIDI realtime parameters

234 Introduction 234 The Inspector – general handling 234 The Inspector sections

238 Using MIDI devices

239 Background 239 MIDI devices – general settings and patch

handling

243 About Studio Connections

244 MIDI processing

245 Introduction 246 Making your settings permanent 247 Dissolve Part 248 Repeat Loop 248 Other MIDI functions

252 The MIDI editors

253 Introduction 253 Opening a MIDI editor 255 The Key Editor – Overview 257 Key Editor operations 273 The Drum Editor – Overview 274 Drum Editor operations 276 Working with drum maps 279 Using drum name lists 279 Working with SysEx messages 280 Recording SysEx parameter changes 280 Editing SysEx messages 282 The Score Editor – Overview 283 Score Editor operations

290 Editing tempo and signature

291 Background 291 Tempo and signature display 292 Editing tempo and signature 294 The Beat Calculator 294 Adjusting the audio to the project tempo

296 Export Audio Mixdown

297 Introduction 297 Mixing down to audio files 298 The Export Audio Mixdown dialog 299 The available file formats

303 Synchronization

304 Background 304 Timecode (positional references) 305 Clock sources (speed references) 306 The Project Synchronization Setup dialog 308 Synchronized operation 308 Working with VST System Link 311 Activating VST System Link

316 Video

317 Before you start 318 Preparing a video project in Cubase 319 Video files in the Project window 320 Playing back video 322 Editing video 322 Extracting audio from a video file 323 Replacing the audio in a video file

324 ReWire

(not in Cubase LE)

325 Introduction 325 Launching and quitting 326 Activating ReWire channels 326 Using the transport and tempo controls 327 How the ReWire channels are handled in Cubase 327 Routing MIDI via ReWire2 327 Considerations and limitations

328 File handling

329 Importing audio 332 Exporting and importing standard MIDI files 334 Exporting and importing MIDI loops

335 Customizing

336 Background 336 Using the Setup options 337 Customizing track controls 339 Appearance 339 Applying colors in the Project window 342 Where are the settings stored?

Table of Contents

343 Key commands

344 Introduction 344 Setting up key commands 347 Setting up tool modifier keys 347 The default key commands

351 Index

Table of Contents

About this manual

Welcome!

This is the Operation Manual for Steinberg’s Cubase. Here you will find detailed information about all the features and functions in the program.

About the program versions

The documentation covers three program versions, Cubase Elements, Cubase AI, and Cubase LE, for two different operating systems or “platforms”, Windows and Mac OS X. Whenever the program is only called “Cubase” in this document, this refers to all three program versions.

Some features described in the documentation are not applicable to all three Cubase versions. Whenever this is the case, it is clearly indicated in the heading of the related subject. For example, if a heading is followed by “ (Cubase Elements only)”, the corresponding feature is not available in Cubase AI and Cubase LE. Likewise, if you see “ (not in LE)”, the corresponding feature is only available in Cu base Elements and Cubase AI.

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 all Cubase versions for both Windows and Mac OS

The screenshots are taken from the Windows version of Cubase Elements.

Ö This manual often refers to right-clicking, for example, to open context menus. If you are using a Mac with a singlebutton mouse, hold down [Ctrl] and click.

Key command conventions

Many of the default key commands in Cubase use modifier keys, some of which are different depending on the oper ating system. For example, the default key command for Undo is [Ctrl]-[Z] under Windows and [Command]-[Z] un der 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]”.

About this manual

Setting up your system

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 sec tions can only serve as examples.

How you connect your equipment, i. e. whether you use digital or analog connections, also depends on your indi vidual 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. g. the inputs of your audio card or your audio interface, directly to the input source and the outputs to a power amplifier and speaker.

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 Mixer in side 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.

A multi-channel audio setup using an external mixer

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

A simple stereo audio setup

have mixing hardware that can be connected via FireWire.

This is probably the simplest of all setups – once you have set up the internal input and output busses, you can con

nect your audio source, e. g. a microphone, to your audio interface and start recording.

Setting up your system

• When using the Mixer 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.

(-10

dBV) or professional line level (+4 dBV), or you may be able to adjust input characteristics on the audio 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. Ad justing input levels is either done in a special application included with the hardware or from its control panel (see below).

Mixing inside Cubase

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).

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

“File han-

dling” on page 328).

Word clock connections

If you are using a digital audio connection, you may also need a word clock connection between the audio hard

ware 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 done correctly or there might be clicks and crackles in recordings that you make!

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

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 moni-

toring” on page 15).

• 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 MR816 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 MR816 series and will re-map the VST connections accordingly.

Setting up your system

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.

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.

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 hard

ware 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 hard

ware 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 documen tation that came with your audio hardware for information on where to make hardware settings.

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 14.

Setting up your system

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 “Re-

cording” on page 74.

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 44. 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)

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.

• 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.

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 full advantage of DirectX Full Duplex, the audio hardware must support WDM (Windows Driver Model) in combination with DirectX version 8.1 or higher. In all other cases, the audio inputs will be emulated by DirectX (see the dialog help for the ASIO DirectX Full Duplex Setup di

alog for details about how this is reported). Ö During the installation of Cubase, the latest DirectX

version will be installed on your computer.

Setting up your system

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 chap ter “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.

About monitoring

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

ASIO Direct Monitoring

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 hard ware, 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 “Record-

ing” on page 74. 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 card’s preferences.

Setting up MIDI

dB in the

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.

Setting up your system

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

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”

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.

Setting MIDI Thru and Local On/Off

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 “trig gering” its own sounds.

A typical MIDI Setup

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 al ways 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.

• 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 set ting 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 “Recording” on page 74 for more information.

Setting up your system

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.

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. How ever, 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 es pecially useful if your system provides several instances of the same physical MIDI input – by deactivating the dupli cates 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

“Synchronization” on page 303.

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 de pends on the video codecs installed on your system, see the chapter

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.

“Video” on page 316.

“Video output devices” on page 317.

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.

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

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 Mixer 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 sys

tem 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 GB of RAM. On a Macintosh computer running Mac OS sions of Windows and Mac OS X are able to assign considerably more than 4 64-bit application.

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.

X, this limit is 4 GB.The 64-bit ver-

GB of RAM to a running

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 pow erful 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,

“Multi processing” on page 19.

see

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 en abled by default, but may be turned off by the system should hardware problems occur.

Setting up your system

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).

Optimizing processor scheduling (Windows only)

To get the lowest possible latencies when using ASIO under Windows (on a single-CPU system), the “system performance” has to be optimized for background tasks:

1. Open the Control Panel and select the System settings.

2. On the left, select the “Advanced system settings”

option.

The System Properties dialog opens.

3. Select the Advanced tab and click the “Settings…” button in the Performance section.

The Performance Options dialog opens.

4. Select the Advanced tab and activate the “Adjust for best performance of: Background services” option.

5. Click OK to close the dialogs.

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.

About the VST Performance window

The VST Performance window is opened from the Devices menu. The window shows two meter displays: The ASIO meter, which indicates CPU load, and the Disk me ter, which shows the hard disk transfer rate. It is recommended that you check this from time to time, or keep it always open. Even if you have been able to activate a number of audio channels in the project without getting any warning, you may run into performance problems when adding EQ or effects.

Setting up your system

• The ASIO meter (at the top) shows the ASIO time usage, i. e. the time required to complete the current processing tasks. The more tracks, effects, EQ, etc. you use in your project, the longer processing will take, and the longer the ASIO meter will show activity.

If the overload indicator (on the far right) lights up, you need to decrease the number of EQ modules, active effects, and/or audio channels playing back simultaneously.

• The lower bar graph shows the hard disk transfer load.

If the overload indicator (on the far right) lights up, the hard disk is not supplying data fast enough to the computer. Cubase Elements only: You may need to reduce the number of tracks playing back by using the Dis able Track function (see “About track disable/enable (Cubase Elements

only)” on page 71). If this does not help, you need a faster hard disk.

Ö The overload indicator may occasionally blink, e. g. when you locate during playback. This does not indicate a problem, but happens because the program needs a mo ment for all channels to load data for the new playback position.

Ö The ASIO and Disk load meters can also be shown on the Transport panel (as “Performance”) and on the Project window toolbar (as “Performance Meter”). There they are shown as two miniature vertical meters (by default at the left side of the panel/toolbar).

Setting up your system

VST Connections

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

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

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

plate” on page 41).

“Save as Tem-

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 store your configurations as presets

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

(see also contain other 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.

Output busses

• 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.

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 in puts 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 with out having to change the settings.

VST Connections

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 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.

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

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

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

• 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!

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:

Column Description

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

Speakers Indicates the speaker configuration (mono, stereo) of

Audio Device This shows the currently selected ASIO driver. Device Port If a bus entry is expanded to show all speaker channels,

Click (Outputs tab only)

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.

• Alternatively, you can right-click in the VST Connections

window and add a bus in the desired format directly from the context menu.

The new bus appears with the ports visible.

4. 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.

clicking on them in this column.

each bus.

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

You can route the click to a specific output bus.

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.

Setting the default output bus.

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

Presets

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).

Routing

When you play back an audio track (or any other audio-related channel in the Mixer), 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.

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 Mixer.

VST Connections

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.

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 “+ tively) above the tree view.

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 an other 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 or the “- All” button (respec-

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 num-

bers, 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.

VST Connections

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.

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 se lected entry (i. e. the topmost bus) and select a 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.

e. the topmost bus) and 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, rightclick and select Remove Bus from the pop-up menu, or press [Backspace].

VST Connections

The Project window

Window Overview

Project

overview

The event display, showing audio parts and events, MIDI parts, automation, markers, etc.

Inspector

Ruler

Status line

Toolbar

The track list with various track types

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.

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

Folder Folder tracks function as containers for other tracks, mak-

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

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

ing it easier to organize and manage the track structure. They also allow you to edit several tracks at the same time, see

“Organizing tracks in folder tracks” on page 64.

channel can contain up to eight effect processors – by rout ing effect 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 strip in the Mixer – in essence an effect return channel, see the chapter

“Audio effects” on page 131.

All FX channel tracks are 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 Mixer channel parameters, effect settings, etc.

The Project window

Track type Description

Group Channel

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

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

Marker Marker tracks display markers which can be moved and re-

By routing several audio channels to a Group channel, you can submix them, apply the same effects to them, etc. (see

“Using group channels” on page 128).

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 corre sponding channel strip in the Mixer. In the Project window, Group channels are organized as tracks in a special Group Tracks folder.

making VST instrument handling easier and more intuitive. In strument tracks have a corresponding channel strip in the Mixer. Each instrument track can have any number of auto mation tracks in the Project window. However, Volume and Pan are automated from within the Mixer. For more informa tion on instrument tracks, see the chapter “VST instruments

and instrument tracks” on page 145.

has a corresponding MIDI channel strip in the Mixer. A MIDI track can have any number of automation tracks for automating Mixer channel parameters, insert and send ef fect settings, etc.

named directly in the Project window (see the chapter “Us-

ing markers” on page 108). A project can have only one

marker track.

Track type Description

Arranger (Cubase Ele ments only)

Ruler Ruler tracks contain additional rulers, displaying the time-

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

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

“The arranger track (Cubase Elements only)” on page 101

for details.

line from left to right. You can use any number of ruler tracks, each with a different display format if you wish. See

“The ruler” on page 34 for more information about the ruler

and the display formats.

video track.

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 edi tor (see “The MIDI editors” on page 252).

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

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

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

“Resizing tracks” on page 62).

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

“Customizing track controls” on page 337.

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.

An audio event and an audio part

Getting on-the-fly info with the Arrow tool

If the “Select Tool: Show Extra Info” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Tools page), a tooltip will be shown for the Arrow tool, displaying information de

pending 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 Project window

Opening the Inspector

To show the Inspector, proceed as follows:

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

A transparent pane appears, covering the Project window.

2. In the gray area in the middle, activate the Inspector option.

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]/[Op tion]-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 com-

mands” on page 344.

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.

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 Setup context menu.

Ö Make sure that you right-click on an Inspector tab and not on the empty area below the Inspector, as this will open the Quick context menu instead.

Inspector sections

The Inspector contains the controls that can be found on the track list, plus some additional buttons and parame ters. In the table below, these additional settings and the different sections are listed. Which sections are available for which track type is described in the following sections.

Parameter Description

Auto Fades Settings button

Edit Channel Settings

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

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

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

Input Routing

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

settings for individual tracks” on page 100.

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

“Using Channel Settings” on page 122.

setting will move the track’s fader in the Mixer window, and vice versa. See

118 to learn more about setting levels.

Volume setting, this corresponds to the Pan setting in the Mixer.

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

This lets you specify the input bus or MIDI input for the track. See tion about input busses.

“Setting volume in the Mixer” on page

“Setting up busses” on page 22 for informa-

“Making Auto Fade

The Project window

Parameter Description

Output Routing

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

Equalizers section

Equalizer Curve section

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

Channel section

Notepad section

Here you decide to which output the track is routed. For audio tracks you select an output bus (see

busses” on page 22) or Group channel, for MIDI tracks

you select a MIDI output and for instrument tracks, you select the instrument to which it is routed.

chapters

“Audio effects” on page 131 and “MIDI realtime parameters” on page 233. The Edit button at the top of

the section opens the control panels for the added insert effects.

Lets you adjust the EQs for the track. You can have up to four bands of EQ for each track, see

tings” on page 123. The Edit button at the top of the sec-

tion opens the Channel Settings window for the track. Lets you adjust the EQs for the track graphically, by click-

ing and dragging points in a curve display.

channels, see the chapter The Edit button above a slot opens the control panel for the first effect in each FX channel.

Shows a duplicate of the corresponding Mixer channel strip. The channel overview strip to the left lets you acti vate and deactivate insert effects, EQs and sends.

This is a standard text notepad, allowing you to jot down notes about the track. If you open the File menu and se lect “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 131.

“Setting up

“Making EQ set-

Audio tracks

For audio tracks, all settings and sections listed above are available.

Instrument tracks

As explained in the chapter “VST instruments and instru-

ment tracks” on page 145, the Inspector for an instrument

track shows some of the sections from VST instrument channels and MIDI tracks.

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.

g. on playback). Which sections are available for MIDI tracks is described in the chapter

“MIDI realtime parameters” on page 233.

Arranger track (Cubase Elements only)

For the arranger track, the Inspector displays the lists of available arranger chains and arranger events. See the chapter “The arranger track (Cubase Elements only)” on

page 101 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

When an FX channel track is selected, the following controls and sections are available:

• Edit button

• Volume control

•Pan control

• Output Routing pop-up menu

• Inserts section

• Equalizers section

• Equalizer Curve section

• Channel section

• Notepad section 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 chan nels it contains. You can click one of the FX channels shown in the folder to have the Inspector show the set tings 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.

Group channel tracks

When a group channel track is selected, the following controls and sections are available:

• Edit button

• Volume control

•Pan control

• Output Routing pop-up menu

• Inserts section

• Equalizers section

The Project window

• Equalizer Curve section

• Sends section

• Channel section

•Notepad section 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.

Marker tracks

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

ing markers” on page 108.

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.

Video tracks make use of the Notepad Inspector tab.

The toolbar

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

Option Description

Automation Mode When this is activated, the automation mode and a

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

Locators When this is activated, the left and right locator posi-

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

Arranger Controls (Cubase Elements only)

Time Display When this is activated, the Transport panel’s time

Markers When this is activated, the Transport panel’s marker

Snap to Zero Crossing

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

Color menu This shows/hides the color pop-up menu, see “Ap-

Nudge Palette Activate this to display the nudge buttons. These

Snap/Quantize These options are described in the sections “The

button to open/close the Automation panel are dis played on the toolbar. For details, see the chapter

“Automation” on page 156.

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

tions are displayed on the toolbar.

Transport panel are also displayed on the toolbar. When this is activated, the controls used when work-

ing with the arranger track are displayed, see the chapter

only)” on page 101.

display is displayed on the toolbar.

buttons are displayed on the toolbar. This is described in the section “Snap to Zero

Crossing” on page 37.

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

the toolbox” on page 32.

plying colors in the Project window” on page 339.

buttons can be used to nudge events or parts in the Project window or for trimming (see on page 50 and “Resizing events” on page 52).

Snap function” on page 35 and “Quantizing MIDI and audio” on page 89.

“Auto-Scroll” on page 37.

“The arranger track (Cubase Elements

“Using

“Moving events”

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 & Mixer Windows

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

This is described in the section “Constrain Delay

Compensation” on page 154.

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

and hard disk transfer load are displayed, see

the VST Performance window” on page 19.

“About

The Project window

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

“Using the Setup options” on page 336.

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 info line

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

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,

Record Format This displays the sample rate and the bit resolution

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 44).

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 high lighted in a different color, there is a sample rate mismatch and you should check the settings in the Project Setup dialog.

• 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.

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

used for recording.

“The Project Setup dialog” on

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 cur rently selected for the ruler (see “The ruler” on page 34).

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

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)

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 re sized 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).

The Project window

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 trans position 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 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/hide the overview line, proceed as for the info line (see above), but activate the Overview Line option instead.

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.

• 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

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 44), as do all other rulers and posi-

tion 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

Seconds Hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds. Timecode This format displays hours, minutes, seconds, and

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

Bars+Beats Linear

are 120 ticks per sixteenth note, but you can adjust this with the “MIDI Display Resolution” setting in the Prefer ences dialog (MIDI page).

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

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

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 dis tance between seconds will vary depending on the tempo changes.

“The Project Setup dialog” on page 44).

• 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 for mat in any ruler.

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

There are 80 subframes per frame.

“The Project

The Project window

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.

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 dis plays 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

page 44).

• Ruler tracks are not affected if you set the display format glob-

ally 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

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

the snap point” on page 181). However, you can also set

the snap point directly in the Project window, in the following way:

1. Select an event.

2. Place the project cursor at the desired position within

the selected audio event.

3. Pull down 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.

“Adjusting

The Project window

The Snap Type pop-up menu

12345

52431

Dragging event 2 past event 4…

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

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

In the Snap Type pop-up menu the following options are available:

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 se lected, the Grid Type pop-up menu contains time or frame-based grid options, etc.

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. stay one beat before the bar lines.

• 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 an other 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

“Adjusting the snap

point” on page 181).

• Note that this includes marker events on the marker track.

This allows you to snap events to marker positions, and vice versa.

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.

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.

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

The Project window

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 Auto-Scroll button on the toolbars of the Project window and all editors.

Suspending Auto-Scroll

When editing parts or events during playback with AutoScroll 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, auto-scrolling 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 AutoScroll 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 AutoScroll button again, Cubase will return to the normal AutoScroll behavior.

“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

Working with projects

Creating new projects

Category bar

Template list

Location options

Open Other button

The Project Assistant dialog is opened by selecting the “New Project…” command on the File menu. In this dialog you can access recently opened projects and create new projects, which can either be empty or based on a template.

The Project Assistant dialog will also open in the following cases:

• If you launch Cubase with the “Show Project Assistant” option selected on the “On Startup” pop-up menu in the Preferences dialog (General page).

• If you hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] while launching Cubase.

Opening recent projects

The Recent category in the category bar of the Project Assistant dialog contains a list of recently opened projects. When you select an item in this category, the Create but ton 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 Project Assistant dialog, 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 41) and all templates that are not as-

signed to any of the other categories. When you click on one of the category items, the list be-

low the category bar shows the available factory templates for this category that were installed with Cubase. Any new templates that you create (see “Save as Tem-

plate” on page 41) are added at the top of the corre-

sponding 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.

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

Choosing a project location

The options in the lower part of the dialog 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.

Working with projects

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.

Ö If you open a project from a different program version that contains data for functions not available in your ver sion, this data may get 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.

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, ge neric names for your input and output ports – see “Prepa-

rations” on page 22).

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 spec ified in the project to ports available in your system.

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.

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

• 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. The list can also be found in the Project Assistant dialog, see

• You can also set Cubase to automatically open a project when you launch the program (see “Startup Options” on

page 43).

“Creating new projects” on page 39.

Working with projects

in their project folders, to keep the projects as manageable as possible.

A word about file extensions

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

Under Mac OS X, 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 ver

sions 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 proj-

ects” on page 39).

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

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 Project Assistant dialog (see on page 39) 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 Project Assistant dialog.

3. Click OK to save the template.

“Creating new projects”

• 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.

Templates are always stored in the Templates folder, see

“Where are the settings stored?” on page 342.

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. For details on the other Startup options, see

“Startup Options” on page 43.

Ö In the Project Assistant dialog, 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

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).

Ö With this option only the project files themselves will be backed up. If you want to include the files from the Pool and save your project in a different location, you need to use the “Back up Project” function.

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.

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 un touched). 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 copyprotected 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.

The Archive and Backup functions

Prepare Archive

The “Prepare Archive” function verifies that every clip ref-

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

2. Click OK.

The “Back up Project Options” dialog opens.

erenced 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.

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

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.

Working with projects

This dialog contains the following options:

Option Description

Project Name Enter a project name if you want to change it from the de-

Keep Current Project Active

Minimize Audio Files

Freeze Edits This will perform a Freeze Edits operation, making all pro-

Remove Unused Files

Do Not Back up Video

fault (the current name of the project). 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.

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.

cessing and applied effects permanent to each clip in the Pool, see

“Freeze Edits” on page 171.

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.

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:

• If you have moved or renamed files or folders (without updat-

ing 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.

Startup Options

The “On Startup” pop-up menu in the Preferences dialog (General page) allows you to specify what happens when you launch Cubase.

The following options are available:

Option Description

Do Nothing Cubase launches without opening a project. Open Last

Project Open ‘Default’

Template

The last saved project is opened on launch.

The default template is opened, see “Setting up a de-

fault template” on page 41.

Working with projects

Option Description

Show Open Options Dialog

Show Project Assistant

The Open dialog opens on launch, allowing you to manually locate and open the desired project.

The Project Assistant dialog opens on launch, allowing you to open a recently opened project or to create a new project from one of the templates (see

new projects” on page 39).

“Creating

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 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

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

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

Length The length of the project. Frame Rate This setting determines both the timecode standard and

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

Display Offset Offsets the time positions displayed in the ruler, etc., al-

author into the iXML chunk when exporting audio files with the corresponding option activated (see

page 300). The default setting for this can be set in the

Preferences dialog (General–Personalization page).

pany name into the iXML chunk when exporting audio files with the corresponding option activated (see on page 300). The default setting for this can be set in the Preferences dialog (General–Personalization page).

start at another time than zero. Also used for setting the sync start position when synchronizing Cubase to external devices (see the chapter 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 po sitions – i. e. they will be moved in relation to the start of the project. “No” means that all events keep their position rela tive to the project start.

frame rate for the project, see the section

standards” on page 304. 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 on page 319. When 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 proj ect frame rate. In this case, the frame rate mismatch will be indicated on the Transport panel in the Sync section.

sition displays in the program, except ruler tracks (see

“Ruler tracks” on page 32). However, you can make inde-

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

“The ruler” on page 34.

see

lowing 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 posi tion to this value. However, if you still want the display in Cubase to start at zero, set the Display Offset to the same value.

“Synchronization” on page 303).

“Adopting the video frame rate”

“AIFF files” on

“AIFF files”

“Timecode

Working with projects

Setting Description

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

Sample Rate The sample rate at which Cubase records and plays au-

Bit Resolution/ Record File Type

Stereo Pan Law

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

“The ruler” on page 34).

dio. The order of the menu items depends on the sample rates available for your audio hardware. Supported set tings are displayed in the upper part of the menu, nonsupported settings are displayed in the lower part. Re garding the sample rate, there are two possible scenarios: Either your audio hardware generates the audio clock signals itself or it is clocked externally, i. nals from an external sample clock source (see “If your

hardware setup is based on an external clock source” on page 14).

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 dif ferent 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 proj ect sample rate.

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

a recording file format” on page 77.

Decides whether panning uses power compensation or not, see

“About the “Stereo Pan Law” setting” on page

122.

e. receives sig-

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 sam ple 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

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 verti cally.

• 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

Zoom to Selection

Zoom to Selection (Horiz)

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

Zoom In Vertically Zooms in one step vertically. Zoom Out

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. Zoom Selected

Tracks Undo/Redo

Zoom

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

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

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

“Zooming” on page 180).

Zooms out one step vertically.

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

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.

Working with projects

• You can zoom the contents of parts and events verti-

Click here…

…to open the context menu.

cally, 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 toggle between different zoom settings (e. played in the project window and 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 dis-

The upper part of the menu lists the zoom presets:

• To store 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.

• 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 44).

• 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 win-

dow” on page 109.

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.

Working with projects

• Double-click with the Zoom tool (magnifying glass) to Undo Zoom.

Press [Alt]/[Option] and double-click to Redo Zoom.

Adjusting how parts and events are shown

The Preferences 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

Show Event Data on Small Track Heights

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

Option Description

Interpolate Audio Images

Show Event Volume Curves Always

Show Waveforms

Background Color Modulation

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

Option Description

Default Edit Action

Part Data Mode

Show Controllers

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

If this is activated, the contents of events and parts will be shown, even if the height of a track is very small.

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.

Determines whether audio waveforms are shown at all.

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.

Determines which editor is opened when you doubleclick a MIDI part, or select it and press [Ctrl]/[Com mand]-[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.

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.

Governs whether non-note events (controllers, etc.) are shown in MIDI parts in the Project window.

Option Description

Edit as Drums when Drum Map is assigned

Note Name Style

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 De fault Edit Action setting above).

Determines how MIDI note names (pitches) are displayed in editors, etc.

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 re fers 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 orig inal 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 pro gram 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 au dio event has an Offset value and a Length value. These determine at which positions in the clip the event will start and end, i. back by the audio event. For 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.

e. which section of the audio clip will be played

Working with projects

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.

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.

Scrubbing audio

The Scrub tool allows you to locate positions in the audio part or event 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 audio 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 audio 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 “Playing back with the

shuttle speed control” on page 70.

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.

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

Arrow tool creates a copy of the dragged event). On the following pages, the default modifier keys are de-

scribed – you can customize these in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Tool Modifiers page), see “Setting up tool

modifier keys” on page 347.

Working with projects

Selecting events

Selecting events is done using any of the following methods:

• Use the Arrow tool.

The standard selection techniques apply.

• Use the Select submenu on the Edit menu.

The options are:

Option Description

All Selects all events in the Project window. None Deselects all events. Invert Inverts the selection – all selected events are dese-

In Loop Selects all events that are partly or wholly between

From Start to Cursor

From Cursor to End

Equal Pitch These are available in the MIDI Editors (see “Select-

Select Controllers in Note Range

All on Selected Tracks

Events under Cursor

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

Left/Right Selection Side to Cursor

lected and all events that were not selected are selected instead.

the left and right locator. Selects all events that begin to the left of the project

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

cursor.

ing notes” on page 261) and the Sample Editor (see “Using the Select menu” on page 182).

This is available in the MIDI Editors (see “Selecting

controllers within the note range” on page 261).

Selects all events on the selected track.

Automatically selects all events on the selected track(s) that are “touched” by the project cursor.

overview” on page 177).

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

“Creating a selection range” on page 55).

• 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 naviga tion 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” op tion 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 com

puter 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.

• If the “Auto Select Events under Cursor” option is acti-

vated 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.

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

“Creating a

selection range” on page 55).

• Select all events on a track by right-clicking on it in the track list and selecting “Select All Events” from the con text 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 55).

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 edit

ing, 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 Selection tool (or one of its subtools) is se-

lected, the cross hair cursor appears when you start mov-

ing/copying a part/event, or when using the event trim handles.

Working with projects

• When the Pencil tool, the Scissors 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.

• The cross hair cursor is only available for tools where such a function is of any use. The Mute tool, for example, does not use a cross hair cursor, as you have to click directly on an event to mute it.

Moving events

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

• Click and drag to a new position.

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

function” on page 35).

Note also that you can restrict movement to be either horizontal or vertical only, by holding down [Ctrl]/[Command] while dragging.

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.

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

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

If there are 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.

the positions at which they were originally recorded.

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.

“The Snap

• 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 di-

alog” on page 44) 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 56).

Ö The Nudge buttons are not visible on the toolbar by default. You can decide which items are visible by rightclicking on the toolbar and activating the corresponding option on the context menu (see

“The setup context

menus” on page 336).

• 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

“The Snap function” on page 35).

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.

Working with projects

• 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.

• 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.

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 166).

• 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

“Exporting regions as audio files” on

page 203).

• 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).

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 se-

lected 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 the snap point.

“The Snap function” on page 35 for information about

• If you use the “Paste at Origin” function on the Function

submenu of the Edit menu, the event is pasted at its origi nal position (the position from which you cut or copied it).

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 47.

Splitting events

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

• Click with the Scissors tool on the event you want to

split.

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

Snap function” on page 35). You can also split events by pressing [Alt]/

[Option] and clicking with the Arrow tool.

Working with projects

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

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.

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

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

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.

Gluing events together

You can glue events together using the Glue Tube tool. There are three possibilities:

• Clicking on an event with the Glue Tube 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 Tube tool.

A single part is created.

• When you hold down [Alt]/[Option] while clicking on an event with the Glue Tube 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).

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

Sizing Moves Contents

Sizing Applies Time Stretch

To select one of the resizing modes, select the Arrow tool and then click again on the Arrow tool icon on the toolbar. This opens a pop-up menu from which you can select one of the options.

The icon on the toolbar will change, indicating the selected 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

Snap function” on page 35).

Normal sizing

end point of 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

time stretch” on page 53).

“Resizing events using

“The

Sizing moves contents

• If several events are selected, all will be resized in the

same way.

Working with projects

• It is also possible to resize events by using the Trim but-

tons (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 se lected 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

336 for instructions on how to show and hide items on the

toolbar. 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 Arrow icon 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.

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 individual events in the Project window, proceed as follows:

• To mute or unmute a single event, click on it with the

Mute tool.

• To mute or unmute several events, select them – either

by using the standard selection techniques, or by using one of the options on the Select submenu on the Edit menu – and click on one of the selected events with the Mute tool.

All selected events will be muted.

• You can also click in an empty area with the Mute tool

and drag a selection rectangle around several events you want to mute or unmute, and then click on one of them with the Mute tool.

Working with projects

• 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.

• You can also change the mute status of selected events on the info line.

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 Mixer.

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 & Mixer page) and you have soloed a track, 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

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.

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.

“Creating fades” on page 96.

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

None Removes the current selection range. Invert Only used for event selection (see “Selecting events” on

In Loop Makes a selection between the left and right locator, on

From Start to Cursor

From Cursor to End

All on Selected Tracks

Select Event This is available in the Sample Editor (see “Using the

Left Selection Side to Cursor

Right Selection Side to Cursor

• 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.

the project to the end (as defined by the Length setting in the Project Setup dialog).

page 49).

all tracks. Makes a selection on all tracks, from the start of the proj-

ect to the project cursor. Makes a selection on all tracks, from the project cursor

to the end of the project. Only used for event selection (see “Selecting events” on

page 49).

Select menu” on page 182).

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.

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 de-

sired 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 selec-

tion 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.

Working with projects

• 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

“The Project Setup dialog” on page 44) and the value specified on the Grid

pop-up menu.

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 336 for instructions on how to show and hide items on the toolbar.

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

“Duplicating events” on page 50).

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

Copy Copies the data in the selection range to the clipboard. Paste Pastes the clipboard data at the start position and track

Paste at Origin

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.

of the current selection. Existing events are not moved to make room for the pasted data.

Pastes the clipboard data back at its original position. Existing events are not moved to make room for the pasted data.

Function Description

Cut Time Cuts out the selection range and moves it to the clip-

Paste Time Pastes the clipboard data at the start position and track

Paste Time at Origin

board. Events to the right of the removed range are moved to the left to fill out the gap.

of the current selection. Existing events are moved to make room for the pasted data.

Pastes the clipboard data back at its original position. Existing events are moved to make room for the pasted data.

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.

Other functions

On the Range submenu on the Edit menu, you will find three 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 se-

Crop All events or parts that are partially within the selection

Insert Silence

lection range, at the positions of the selection range edges.

range are cropped, that is, sections outside the selection range are removed. Events that are fully inside or outside the selection range are not affected.

Inserts empty track space from the start of the selection range. The 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.

Working with projects

Region operations

Regions are sections within a clip, with various uses. While regions are perhaps best created and edited in the Sample Editor (see “Working with regions” on page 183), 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 accord ing to the Region(s).

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 possi ble 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” 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 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

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.

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.

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.

Working with projects

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 deactivated 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, prefer ably 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

Working with tracks

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.

The new track is added below the currently selected track in the track list.

2. Select the desired 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 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

“Working with track presets” on page 221.

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.

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 (Editing–Project & Mixer page).

The available options are described in the section “Applying track colors

automatically” on page 340.

• 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 340.

• 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. This method works in several places where the track color is visible, i. e. in the track list, the track name field in the Inspector, and the channel name field in the Mixer.

• To override the track color for individual events and parts, use the Color tool or the Select Colors pop-up menu.

For more information, see “Coloring tracks, parts, or events manually” on

page 340.

Working with tracks

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

Enlarge Selected Track option” on page 62).

“About the

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

track controls” on page 337).

“Customizing

• The contents of events and parts will not be shown if the height of a track is very small.

You can change this behavior by activating “Show Event Data on Small Track Heights” in the Preferences dialog (Event Display).

• 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.

About the Enlarge Selected Track option

When this option is activated on the Edit menu (or in the Preferences dialog, Editing–Project & Mixer 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 fac tor 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. e. their “original” height, before “Enlarge Selected Track” was ac tivated). 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 acti vating “Enlarge Selected Track” again, you can resize a track in the track list without selecting it.

Proceed as follows:

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

75).

• 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 the Pool, the “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.

• By importing a MIDI file using the Import submenu.

See “Exporting and importing standard MIDI files” on page 332.

• By grabbing audio CD tracks and converting them to audio files.

See “Importing audio CD tracks” on page 329.

• By using Copy and Paste on the Edit menu.

This allows you to copy all kinds of events between projects. You can also copy events within the project, e.

• By drawing.

This is possible for marker and automation tracks e. g. For audio, MIDI and instrument tracks, you can only draw parts (see

page 63).

“The MediaBay” on page 206),

g. from the Sample Editor.

“Creating parts” on

Creating parts

Parts are containers for MIDI or audio events, or even for tracks (see “Working with folder parts” on page 65).

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 Pencil tool.

You can also draw parts by pressing [Alt]/[Option] and using the Arrow tool.

• Double-click with the Arrow tool on a MIDI track, between the left and right locator.

To add events to a MIDI part, you use the tools and functions in a MIDI editor (see “The Key Editor – Overview” on

page 255).

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 indepen dent 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 Pencil tool.

You can also draw parts by pressing [Alt]/[Option] and using the Arrow tool.

• Double-click with the Arrow 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 191).

Working with tracks

Selecting tracks

This track is selected.

A folder track

Tracks in the folder

• To select a track, click on it in the track list.

A selected track is indicated by a light gray color 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 mixer

The respective track is automatically displayed in the track list as well. For this to work you have to select “Track” on the “Scroll to Selected…” pop-up menu in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Project & Mixer).

• Selecting an event in the Project Window

The corresponding track is automatically selected, if the “Track Selection Follows Event Selection” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Editing).

• Activating the solo button for the track

The track gets automatically selected, if the “Select Channel/Track on Solo” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Project & Mixer).

• 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–Proj ect & Mixer).

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, se-

lect “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 is similar to muting it (see

“Muting events” on page 53), since a dis-

abled track will not be played back. However, disabling a track not only “zeroes” the output volume from the track, but actually shuts down all disk activity for it. For more in formation, see “About track disable/enable (Cubase Ele-

ments only)” on page 71.

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 includ ing other folder tracks.

Duplicating tracks

• To duplicate a track together with all contents and channel settings, right-click the track list and select “Du plicate tracks” from the context menu, or select “Duplicate tracks” from the Project menu.

The duplicated track will appear below the original track.

Working with folder tracks

• Creating a folder track

On the Project menu open the “Add Track” submenu and select “Folder”, or right-click the track list and select “Add Folder Track” from the context menu.

Working with tracks

• 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.

• 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 fol lowing 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 in cludes:

• 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 Scissors tool.

• Gluing folder parts together with the Glue tube 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.

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 259).

• 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.

Working with tracks

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 sepa rately 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.

• 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

Playback and the Transport panel

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 play back and recording.

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]).

The following sections can be shown on the Transport panel, from left to right:

• Virtual Keyboard, see “The Virtual Keyboard” on page 73.

• Performance, this is related to the VST Performance window,

“About the VST Performance window” on page 19.

see

• Record Mode, see “Recording audio” on page 80 and “Re-

cording MIDI” on page 83.

• Locators, see “Setting the left and right locators” on page 70

and “About Pre-roll and Post-roll” on page 86.

•Jog/Scrub, “Playing back with the shuttle speed control” on

page 70 and “Project scrubbing – the jog wheel” on page 71.

• Main Transport, see below.

• Arranger, see “The arranger track (Cubase Elements only)”

on page 101.

• Master + Sync, see “Using the metronome” on page 87.

• Marker, see “Using markers” on page 108, “Editing tempo and

signature” on page 290, and “Synchronized operation” on page 308.

• MIDI Activity, see below.

• Audio Activity, see below.

• Audio Level Control, see below.

The main transport controls

In the Main Transport area, you will find the basic transport controls, as well as the time display options, see

“Setting

the time format in the Transport panel” on page 69.

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.

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 con-

text menus” on page 336.

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

Playback and the Transport panel

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 Trans-

port panel (see “Playing back with the shuttle speed con-

trol” on page 70).

• 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 win dow 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.

On the Transport menu, the following functions are available:

Function Description

Locate Selection/Locate Selection End

Locate Next/ Previous Marker

Locate Next/ Previous Event

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 32).

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” func tions, allowing you to move the project cursor in steps of

one bar, backwards and forwards.

Setting the time format in the Transport panel

• By using markers (see the chapter “Using markers” on

page 108).

• By using playback options (see “Playback functions” on

page 72).

• Cubase Elements only: By using the arranger function (see

“The arranger track (Cubase Elements only)” on

page 101).

• By using functions on the Transport menu.

Playback and 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 dis play 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 35.

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 dis play 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.

• Cubase Elements only: You can swap time formats between the primary and secondary time displays by clicking the double arrow symbol (Exchange Time Formats) be

tween 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 dur ing 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.

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 (see

“Appearance” on page 339). 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 store 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 112).

• 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]/[Op tion] and click the L or R button, the corresponding locator will be set to the current project cursor position.

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), for wards 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.

Playback and the Transport panel

• 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.

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 back wards – 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.

Options and Settings

The “Return to Start Position on Stop” preference

This setting is found on the Transport page in the Preferences dialog (opened from the File menu under Windows, or the Cubase menu under Mac OS X).

• 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 shuts down all disk activity for the track, as opposed to using Mute, which merely turns down the output volume for a track. For example, if you often record “alternative takes” you can easily build up a large number of takes on different tracks. Even though these tracks are muted, they are actually still “playing back” from the hard disk during playback. Because this puts an unnecessary load on your disk system, using “Dis able Track” is recommended for such situations.

• Select “Disable Track” for tracks that you want to keep in the project for later use but do not want to play back now.

The track color changes to indicate that the track is disabled.

• Select “Enable Track” from the track context menu to re-enable disabled tracks.

Playback and the Transport panel

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

Play Selection Range

Loop Selection This activates playback from the start of the current

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 play back start position is set in the Pre-roll 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 selec tion start or end, respectively.

This activates playback from the project cursor and stops at the next marker.

This activates playback from the start of the current selection and stops at the selection end.

selection 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.

Ö In the Preferences dialog (Editing–Audio page) you will find the “Treat Muted Audio Events like Deleted” option. When you activate this option, any events overlapped by a muted event will become audible.

About Chase

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 instru ments each time you move to a new position in the project, making sure all MIDI devices are set up correctly with re gard 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. by the cursor as 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 consider ably 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.

e. the Chase will be performed on the part touched

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 Pencil tool. The Virtual Keyboard can perform all functions that can be controlled by external MIDI keyboards, e.

• 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.

g. playing and recording MIDI notes.

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

[1] (Jump 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 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 operat ing 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.

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 HiHats.

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.

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 Key-

• 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 crosshair tool and drag upwards/downward to introduce modulation or left/right to create pitchbend.

board” 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.

Playback and the Transport panel

Recording

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

• If you plan to record MIDI, your MIDI equipment has to be set up and connected correctly.

“The Project Setup dialog” on page 44.

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

77 and “MIDI recording specifics” on page 82).

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 Mixer.

“Audio recording specifics” on page

Record Enable in the Inspector, track list, and Mixer

Ö If “Enable Record on Selected Audio Track” or “Enable Record on Selected MIDI Track” is activated in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Project & Mixer 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 En able for all audio tracks (Arm/Disarm all Audio Tracks). You will find these commands in the Key Commands dialog, in the Mixer category (see “Setting up key commands” on page 344).

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 dis played 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 on page 85).

“The Reset function”

Recording

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 86).

• 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 “re

cord 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

303 for more information.

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 cur sor 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

after Automatic Punch Out” on page 86).

Punch In and Out activated

“Stop

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 re

corded, 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

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 deac tivate cycle mode.

• To activate cycle mode, click the cycle button on the Transport panel.

Cycle activated

Recording

• 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 “Re-

cording audio” on page 80) and MIDI (see “Recording MIDI” on page 83).

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

Wave 64 File Wave 64 is a proprietary format developed by Sonic

Broadcast Wave File

AIFF File Audio Interchange File Format, a standard defined by Ap-

• 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.

file format on the PC platform.

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.

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).

ple Inc. AIFF 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).

Bit Resolution

The available options are 16 bit, 24 bit, and 32 bit float. Use the following guidelines:

• 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 resolu tion. 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.

• The higher the bit resolution, the larger the files and the more strain is put on the 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 44.

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 Mixer 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.

• 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 221.

3. Click the Add Track button.

A track is added, set to the specified channel configuration. In the Mixer, a corresponding channel strip appears. You cannot change the channel configuration for a track.

Recording

Selecting an input bus for a track

Click here to select an input bus for

the track.

Here we assume that you have added and set up the required input busses (see “Setting up busses” on page 22). 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 29, the Inspector shows the settings for the selected track.

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 sub folders. 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 miss ing 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 “Prepare Archive” on page 204.

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 dis tortion) occurs.

Clipping typically occurs in the audio hardware when a too loud analog signal is converted to digital in the hard ware’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 next to 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!

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 in put level in the control panel. See the documentation of your audio hardware for details.

dB.

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 Arrow 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.

Monitoring

In this context, “monitoring” means listening to the input signal during recording. There are three fundamentally dif ferent 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 Mixer, and add effects and EQ to the monitor signal just as during playback (using the track’s channel strip – 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 driv ers). 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).

Ö If you are using plug-in effects with large inherent delays, the automatic delay compensation function in Cubase will increase the latency. If this is a problem, you can use the Constrain Delay Compensation function while recording,

“Constrain Delay Compensation” on page 154.

see When monitoring via Cubase, you can select one of four

Auto Monitoring modes in the Preferences dialog (VST page):

• 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 Mixer.

• 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).

Recording

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 mon itor 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 Prefer

ences dialog (VST page) and do not activate the Monitor buttons.

The latency value of the audio hardware configuration does not affect the monitor signal when using ASIO Direct Monitoring.

When using Steinberg hardware (MR816 series) in com-

bination with ASIO Direct 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 dB in the card’s preferences.

ASIO Direct Monitoring

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 hard ware, 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, just as when us ing internal 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 manufac turer 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 79).

• Depending on the audio hardware, it may also be possible to adjust the monitoring level and panning from the Mixer 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 di rect monitoring.

For details on the routing of the audio hardware, see its documentation.

Recording audio

You can record audio using any of the general recording methods (see 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. Fi nally, 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

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,

“Deleting from the hard disk” on page 199.

see

“Basic recording methods” on page 75).

Recording

Click here…

…to open the Audio Record Mode panel.

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.

2. Activate the desired option. The following options are available:

Option Description

Keep History Existing events (or portions of events) that are over-

Cycle History + Replace

Replace Existing events (or portions of events) that are over-

lapped by a new recording are kept. Existing events (or portions of events) that are over-

lapped by a new recording are replaced by the new recording. However, if you record in cycle mode, all takes from the current cycle recording are kept.

lapped by a new recording are replaced by the last recorded take.

3. Click anywhere outside the panel to close the Audio Record Mode panel.

Handling overlapping audio

The basic rule for audio tracks is that each track can only play back a single audio event at a time. If two or more events overlap, you will only hear one of them: the one that is actually visible (e.

g. the last lap of a cycle recording).

If you have a track with overlapping (stacked) events/regions, use one of the following methods to select the event/region that is played back:

• Open the context menu for the audio event in the event display and select the desired event or region from the “To Front” or “Set to Region” submenu.

The available options depend on whether you performed a linear or a cycle recording and the record mode you used. When recording audio in cycle mode, the recorded event is divided in regions, one for each take.

• Use the handle in the middle of a stacked event and select an entry from the pop-up menu that appears.

Recovery of audio recordings after system failure

Normally, when a computer crashes, all changes made to your current project since you last saved it will be lost. Usually, there is no quick and easy way to recover your work.

With Cubase, when your system crashes while you are recording (because of a power cut or other mishap), you will find that your recording is still available, from the moment when you started recording to the time when your computer crashed.

When you experience a computer crash during a recording, simply relaunch the system and check the project record folder (by default this is the Audio subfolder inside the project folder). It should contain the audio file you were recording at the time of the crash.

This feature does not constitute an “overall” guarantee by Steinberg. While the program itself was improved in such a way that audio recordings can be recovered after a system failure, it is always possible that a computer crash, power cut, etc. might have damaged another component of the computer, mak ing it impossible to save or recover any of the data.

Please do not try to actively bring about this kind of situation to test this feature. Although the internal program processes have been improved to cope with such situations, Steinberg cannot guarantee that other parts of the computer are not damaged as a consequence.

Recording

MIDI recording specifics

Record Enable button Monitor

button

Activating MIDI Thru

Normally, when working with MIDI, you will have MIDI Thru activated in Cubase, and Local Off selected in your MIDI instruments. In this mode, everything you play during re cording will be “echoed” back out again on the MIDI output and channel selected for the recording track.

1. Make sure that the “MIDI Thru Active” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (MIDI page).

2. Record enable the tracks on which you want to record.

Now, incoming MIDI is “echoed” back out again for all record-enabled MIDI tracks.

Ö If you just want to use the Thru function for a MIDI track without recording, activate the monitor button for the track instead. This is useful, for instance, if you want to try out different sounds or play a VST instrument in realtime without recording your playing.

Setting MIDI channel, input, and output

Naming MIDI ports in Cubase

MIDI inputs and outputs are often displayed with unnecessarily long and complicated names. However, you can rename your MIDI ports to more descriptive names:

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

2. Select the MIDI Port Setup item in the Device list.

The available MIDI inputs and outputs are listed. Under Windows, which device to choose depends on your system.

3. To change the name of a MIDI port, click in the “Show As” column and type in a new name.

After closing the dialog, the new name will appear on the MIDI Input and Output Routing pop-up menus.

Setting the MIDI input in the Inspector

You select MIDI inputs for tracks in the Inspector (the area to the left of the track list in the Project window):

1. Select the track by clicking in the track list.

To select multiple tracks, press [Shift] or [Ctrl]/[Command] and click. The Inspector shows the settings for the first selected track (for details, see

“The Inspector” on page 29).

2. Click the track name in the Inspector to make sure that the topmost section is shown.

Setting the MIDI channel in the instrument

Most MIDI synthesizers can play several sounds at the same time, each on a different MIDI channel. This is the key to playing back several sounds (bass, piano, etc.) from the same instrument. Some devices (such as General MIDI compatible sound modules) always receive on all 16 MIDI channels. If you have such an instrument, there is no specific setting you need to make in the instrument. On other instruments, you will have to use the front panel con trols to set up a number of “Parts”, “Timbres” or similar so that they receive on one MIDI channel each. See the manual that came with your instrument for more information.

3. Pull down the Input Routing pop-up menu and select an input.

The available MIDI inputs are shown. The items on the menu depend on the type of MIDI interface you are using.

• If you select the “All MIDI Inputs” option, the track will receive MIDI data from all available MIDI inputs.

• If you hold down [Shift]-[Alt]/[Option] and select a MIDI input, this will be used for all selected MIDI tracks.

Recording

Setting the MIDI channel and output

Click here…

…to open the MIDI Record Mode panel.

The MIDI channel and output settings determine where the recorded MIDI is routed during playback, but are also relevant for MIDI Thru in Cubase. Channel and output can be selected in the track list or in the Inspector. The proce dure below describes how to make the settings in the Inspector, but it can be done in largely the same manner in the track list as well.

1. To select the tracks and show the settings in the Inspector, proceed as when selecting a MIDI input (see above).

2. Pull down the Output Routing pop-up menu and select an output.

The available MIDI outputs are shown. The items on the menu depend on what type of MIDI interface you are using.

• If you hold down [Shift]-[Alt]/[Option] and select a MIDI output, this is selected for all selected MIDI tracks.

3. Use the Channel pop-up menu to select a MIDI channel for the track.

• If you set the track to MIDI channel “Any”, each MIDI event on the track will be sent out on the channel stored in the event itself.

In other words, the MIDI material will be played back on the channels used by the MIDI input device (the MIDI instrument you play during re cording).

Program Change messages give access to 128 different program locations. If your MIDI instruments have more than 128 programs, Bank Select messages (set in the “Bank Selector” field) allow you to select different banks, each containing 128 programs.

Ö Bank Select messages are recognized differently by different MIDI instruments. The structure and numbering of banks and programs may also vary. Consult the docu mentation of your MIDI instruments for details.

Recording MIDI

You can record MIDI according to the basic recording methods (see When you finish recording, a part containing MIDI events is created in the Project window.

About overlap and the MIDI Record Mode

MIDI tracks are different from audio tracks when it comes to overlapping parts: All events in overlapping parts are always played back. If you record several parts in the same locations (or move parts so that they overlap), you will hear the events in all parts.

When recording overlapping parts, the result depends on the MIDI Record Mode setting on the Transport panel. To select a MIDI Record Mode, proceed as follows:

1. On the Transport panel, click the MIDI symbol in the lower left section.

“Basic recording methods” on page 75).

Selecting a sound

You can select sounds from within Cubase by instructing the program to send Program Change and Bank Select messages to your MIDI device. This is done using the “Patch Selector” and “Bank Selector” fields in the Inspec tor or track list.

2. Activate the desired option.

Recording

The following options are available:

Option Description

New Parts Existing parts that are overlapped by a new recording are

Merge Existing events in parts that are overlapped by a new re-

Replace Existing events in parts that are overlapped by a new re-

kept. The new recording is saved as a new part.

cording are kept. The newly recorded events are added to the existing part.

cording are replaced.

The MIDI Cycle Record Modes

When you record MIDI in cycle mode, the result depends not only on the MIDI Record Mode, but also on which Cy cle Record Mode is selected in the MIDI Cycle Record Mode section:

Option Description

Mix For each completed lap, everything you record is added

Overwrite As soon as you play a MIDI note (or send any MIDI mes-

Keep Last Each completed lap replaces the previously recorded lap.

to what was previously recorded. This is useful for build ing up rhythm patterns. Record a hi-hat part on the first lap, the bass drum part on the second lap, etc.

sage), all MIDI you have recorded on previous laps is overwritten from that point. Make sure that you stop play ing before the next lap begins – otherwise you will overwrite the entire take.

If you deactivate recording or press Stop before the cur sor reaches the right locator, the previous take will be kept. If you do not play or input any MIDI during a lap, nothing happens (the previous take will be kept).

About the Automatic MIDI Record Quantize function

If Auto Quantize is activated on the Transport panel (the “Auto Q” button), the notes you record are automatically quantized according to the current Quantize settings. For more information about quantizing, see

and audio” on page 89.

“Quantizing MIDI

Recording different types of MIDI messages

Use MIDI filters to decide exactly which event types are recorded, see “Filtering MIDI” on page 86.

Notes

When you press and release a key on your synth or other MIDI keyboard, a Note On (key down) and a Note Off (key up) message are sent out. The MIDI note message also contains the information which MIDI channel was used. Normally, this information is overridden by the MIDI chan nel setting for the track, but if you set the track to MIDI channel “Any”, the notes will be played back on their orig

inal channels.

Continuous messages

Pitchbend, aftertouch, and controllers (like modulation wheel, sustain pedal, volume, etc.) are considered as MIDI

continuous events (as opposed to the momentary key down and key up messages). If you move the pitchbend wheel on your synthesizer while recording, this movement is recorded together with the key (Note On and Note Off

messages), just as you would expect. But the continuous messages can also be recorded after the notes have been recorded (or even before). They can also be recorded on

their own tracks, separately from the notes to which they belong.

Say, for instance, that you record one or several bass parts on track 2. If you now set another track, like track 55, to the same output and MIDI channel as track 2, you can make a separate recording of just pitchbends for the bass parts on track 55. This means that you activate recording as usual and only move the pitchbend wheel during the take. As long as the two tracks are set to the same output and MIDI channel, it will appear to the MIDI instrument as if the two recordings were made at the same time.

Program Change messages

Normally, when you switch from one program to another on your keyboard (or whatever you use to record), a number corresponding to that program is sent out via MIDI as a Program Change message. These can be recorded on the fly with the music, recorded afterwards on a separate track, or manually entered in the Key or List Editors.

Recording

System Exclusive messages

System Exclusive (SysEx) is a special type of MIDI message used to send data that only makes sense to a unit of a certain make and type. SysEx can be used to transmit a list of the numbers that make up the settings of one or more sounds in a synth. For details about viewing and ed iting SysEx messages, see the section “Working with

SysEx messages” on page 279.

The Reset function

The Reset function on the MIDI menu sends out note-off messages and resets controllers on all MIDI channels. This is sometimes necessary if you experience hanging notes, constant vibrato, etc. when punching in and out on MIDI recordings with pitchbend or controller data.

There are two other options to perform a reset:

• Cubase can automatically perform a MIDI reset on stop.

You can turn this function on or off in the Preferences dialog (MIDI page).

• Cubase can automatically insert a reset event at the end of a recorded part.

Open the Preferences dialog (MIDI page) and activate the “Insert Reset Events after Record” option. The inserted Reset event will reset controller data such as Sustain, Aftertouch, Pitchbend, Modulation, Breath Control, etc. This is useful if a MIDI part is recorded and the Sustain pedal is still held after stopping recording. Usually, this would cause all following parts to be played with Sustain, as the Pedal Off command was not recorded. This can be prevented by activating “Insert Reset Events after Record”.

Retrospective Record

This feature allows you to capture any MIDI notes you play in Stop mode or during playback and turn them into a MIDI part “after the fact”. This is possible due to the fact that Cubase can capture MIDI input in buffer memory, even when not recording.

Proceed as follows:

1. Enable the Retrospective Record option in the Preferences dialog (Record–MIDI page).

This activates the buffering of MIDI input, making Retrospective Record possible.

2. Make sure a MIDI track is record-enabled.

3. When you have played some MIDI material you want

to capture (either in Stop mode or during playback), select Retrospective Record from the Transport menu (or use the key command, by default [Shift]-Num[*]).

The content of the MIDI buffer (i. e. what you just played) is turned into a MIDI part on the record enabled track. The part will appear where the project cursor was when you started playing – this means that if you played along dur ing playback, the captured notes will end up exactly where you played them in relation to the project.

• The Retrospective Record Buffer Size setting in the Preferences dialog (Record–MIDI page) determines how much data can be captured.

MIDI Preferences

There are several other options and settings in the Preferences that affect MIDI recording and playback:

MIDI page

• Length Adjustment

Adjusts the length of notes so that there is always a short time between the end of one note and the start of another (of the same pitch and on the same MIDI channel). The time is set in ticks. By default there are 120 ticks per 1/16 note, but you can adjust this with the MIDI Display Reso lution setting on the same page.

Record–MIDI page

• Snap MIDI Parts to Bars

When this is activated, recorded MIDI parts will automatically be lengthened to start and end at whole bar positions. If you are working in a Bars+Beats-based context, this can make editing (moving, duplicating, repeating, etc.) easier.

• Solo Record in MIDI Editors

If this is activated and you open a part for editing in a MIDI editor, its track is automatically record-enabled. Furthermore, Record Enable is deacti vated for all other MIDI tracks until you close the editor again. This makes it easier to record MIDI data when you are editing a part – you will always be sure the recorded data ends up in the edited part and not on any other track.

• MIDI Record Catch Range in ms

When you record starting at the left locator, this setting helps you make sure that the very start of the recording is included. A very annoying scenario is when you have recorded a perfect MIDI take, only to find out that the very first note was not included – because you started playing a lit tle bit too early! If you raise the Record Catch Range, Cubase will catch the events played just before the recording start point, eliminating this problem.

For a description of the other options, click the Help button in the Preferences dialog.

Recording

Filtering MIDI

Post-roll value field and on/off switch

Pre-roll value field and on/off switch

The MIDI–MIDI Filter page in the Preferences dialog allows you to prevent certain MIDI messages from being recorded and/or “thruput” (echoed by the MIDI Thru function).

The dialog is divided into four sections:

Section Description

Record Activating any of these options prevents that type of MIDI

Thru Activating any of these options prevents that type of MIDI

Channels If you activate a channel button, no MIDI messages on

Controller Allows you to prevent certain MIDI controller types from

message from being recorded. It can, however, be thru put, and if already recorded, it will play back normally.

message from being thruput. It can, however, be recorded and played back normally.

that MIDI channel will be recorded or thruput. Already re corded messages will, however, be played back normally.

being recorded or thruput. To filter out a controller type, select it from the list at the top of the Controller section and click “Add”. It will ap pear on the list below. To remove a controller type from the list (allow it to be recorded and thruput), select it in the lower list and click “Remove”.

Options and Settings

Recording-related Transport Preferences

A couple of settings in the Preferences dialog (Transport page) are relevant for recording. Set these according to your preferred method of work:

Deactivate Punch In on Stop

If this is activated, punch in on the Transport panel is automatically deactivated whenever you enter Stop mode.

Stop after Automatic Punch Out

If this is activated, playback will automatically stop after automatic punch out (when the project cursor reaches the right locator and punch out is activated on the Transport panel). If the post-roll value on the Transport panel is set to a value other than zero, playback will continue for the set time before stopping (see below).

About Pre-roll and Post-roll

The pre-roll and post-roll value fields (below the left/right locator fields) on the Transport panel have the following functionality:

• By setting a pre-roll value, you instruct Cubase to “roll

back” a short section whenever playback is activated.

This applies whenever you start playback, but is perhaps most relevant when recording from the left locator (punch in activated on the Transport panel) as described below.

• By setting a post-roll value, you instruct Cubase to play back a short section after automatic punch out before stopping.

This is only relevant when punch out is activated on the Transport panel and “Stop after Automatic Punch Out” is activated in the Preferences di alog (Transport page).

• To turn pre-roll or post-roll on or off, click the corresponding button on the Transport panel (next to the pre/ post-roll value) or use the “Use Pre-roll” and “Use Postroll” options on the Transport menu.

Recording

An example:

Click on/off Precount on/off

1. Set the locators to where you want to start and end recording.

2. Activate Punch in and Punch out on the Transport panel.

3. Activate the “Stop after Automatic Punch Out” option in the Preferences dialog (Transport page).

4. Set suitable pre-roll and post-roll times by clicking in the corresponding fields on the Transport panel and typ

ing in time values.

5. Activate pre-roll and post-roll by clicking the buttons next to the pre-roll and post-roll times so that they light up.

6. Activate recording.

The project cursor “rolls back” by the time specified in the pre-roll field and playback starts. When the cursor reaches the left locator, recording is automatically activated. When the cursor reaches the right locator, re

cording is deactivated, but playback continues for the time set in the post-roll field before stopping.

Using the metronome

The metronome can output a click that can be used as a timing reference. The two parameters that govern the timing of the metronome are tempo and time signature, as set in the Tempo Track Editor (see on page 292). The metronome can use a either an audio click played back via the audio hardware, send MIDI data to a connected device which will play back the click or both.

You can also set up a precount (count-in) that will be heard when you start recording from Stop mode. This can be musical or time based.

• To activate the metronome click, activate the Click button on the Transport panel.

You can also select the “Metronome On” option on the Transport menu or use the corresponding key command (by default [C]).

• To activate the precount, click the Precount button on the Transport panel.

You can also select the “Precount On” option on the Transport menu or set up a key command for this.

“Editing the tempo curve”

Metronome settings

You make settings for the metronome in the Metronome Setup dialog, opened from the Transport menu.

In the Metronome Options section, the following options are available:

Option Description

Metronome in Record/Play

Allows you to specify whether the metronome is heard during playback, recording or both (when Click is acti vated on the Transport panel).

The following precount options are available:

Option Description

Precount Bars Sets the number of bars the metronome counts in before

Use Project Count Base

Use Count Base

Use Time Sign. at Rec. Start Time

Use Time Sign. at Project Time

Use Signature This lets you set a time signature for the precount. In this

recording starts. If this option is activated, the metronome plays one click

per beat according to the project count base. If this option is activated, a field appears to the right where

you specify the “rhythm” of the metronome. For example, setting this to “1/8”, gives you eighth notes (two clicks per beat). It is also possible to create unusual metronome rhythms such as triplets.

When this is activated, the precount automatically uses the time signature and tempo set at the position where recording starts.

When this is activated, the precount uses the time signature set on the tempo track. Furthermore, any tempo changes on the tempo track during the precount are applied.

mode, tempo changes on the tempo track do not affect the precount.

Recording

Further configuration options for MIDI and audio clicks are

available in the Click Outputs section:

Option Description

Activate MIDI Click

MIDI Port/ Channel

Hi Note/ Velocity

Lo Note/ Velocity

Activate Audio Click

Beeps When this is selected, the audio clicks will be beeps

Sounds When this is selected, you can click in the “Sound” fields

Selects whether or not the metronome sounds via MIDI.

This is where you select a MIDI output and channel for the metronome click. For the metronome click you can also select a VST instrument previously set up in the VST Instruments window (not in Cubase LE).

Sets the MIDI note number and velocity value for the “high note” (the first beat in a bar).

Sets the MIDI note number and velocity for the “low notes” (the other beats).

Selects whether or not the metronome sounds via the audio hardware. You can set the level of the click with the slider.

generated by the program. Adjust the pitch and level of the beeps for the “Hi” (first) beat and “Lo” (other) beats using the sliders below.

below to load any audio files for the “Hi” and “Lo” metro nome sounds. The sliders set the level of the click.

Lock and Unlock Record

During recording it can happen that you accidentally deactivate the record mode, e. g. by pressing [Space]. In order to prevent this, you can set up a key command for this in the Key Commands dialog. If you use the Lock Record key command, the Record button will turn gray and the record mode is locked until you use the Unlock Record key command or enter Stop mode.

• If Lock Record is activated and you want to enter Stop mode (by clicking Stop or pressing [Space]), you will see a dialog in which you need to confirm that you want to stop recording. You can also use the Unlock Record key command first and then enter Stop mode as usual.

• By default, no key commands are assigned to these functions. In the Key Commands dialog, you will find the corresponding key command entries in the Transport cat egory (see the chapter “Key commands” on page 343 for more information on how to set up key commands).

Ö These key commands are especially useful when combined with other commands (e. g. with Record/Stop) using the macro functions. That way you will receive powerful macros that can greatly enhance your workflow.

Ö Note that an automatic punch-out at the right locator position that you may have set on the transport panel, will be ignored in Lock Record mode.

Record Time Max display

The Record Time Max display lets you see how much time you have left for recording. The available time depends on the current setup, for example, on the amount of tracks that are record-enabled, your project setup (e. ple rate), and the amount of hard disk space available.

You can show and hide the display using the “Record Time Max” option on the Devices menu.

Ö The remaining record time is also shown in the status line above the track list.

If you are storing your tracks on different drives (by using individual record folders), the time display refers to the medium with the least storage space available.

g. the sam-

Recording

Quantizing MIDI and audio

Introduction

What is quantizing?

Quantizing is a function that moves recorded audio or MIDI, positioning it on the nearest grid position that is mu sically relevant. Quantizing can be used to correct errors, or in a creative way.

In Cubase, you can quantize audio and MIDI to a grid (see

“Options for quantizing to a musical grid” on page 93) or

to a groove (see “Options for quantizing to a groove” on

page 94).

Audio and MIDI can be quantized at the same time. However, what exactly happens during quantizing differs for audio and MIDI:

• Audio quantizing affects the audio event starts (see

“Audio – quantizing audio event starts” on page 91).

• MIDI quantizing can affect the starts of MIDI events in a part (see “MIDI – quantizing MIDI event starts” on page

91), the MIDI event lengths (see “Quantize MIDI Event Lengths” on page 91), or the MIDI event ends (see “Quantize MIDI Event Ends” on page 91).

Ö When you apply quantizing, the result is based on the original position of the events. Therefore, you can freely try out different quantize settings without the risk of “destroy ing” anything.

Where are the quantize functions located?

Quantize functions on the Edit menu

• To apply the quantize function, you can either open the Edit menu and select Quantize, or use the default key command [Q].

• To apply one of the advanced quantizing functions, open the Edit menu and select the desired function on the

Advanced Quantize submenu.

Quantize functions on the toolbar

The Quantize section on the Project window toolbar provides the following parameters:

• The “Q” button

If you click the “Q” button, it toggles to “iQ”. This changes the mode from default to iterative quantize (see

ting” on page 93).

• The Quantize Presets pop-up menu

On this pop-up menu, you can select a preset for quantizing (see “Quan-

tize Presets pop-up menu” on page 92).

• The “Open Quantize Panel” button

By clicking on this button you can open the Quantize Panel (see “The

Quantize Panel” on page 92).

Quantizing MIDI and audio

“iQ option and Iterative Strength set-

Quantize functions on the Quantize Panel

The Quantize Panel provides different settings and parameters (see “The Quantize Panel” on page 92). You can open it by clicking on the corresponding button on the toolbar or by opening the Edit menu and selecting “Quantize Panel”.

Quantize functions on the Transport panel (MIDI only)

On the Transport panel, you can activate the Auto Q button. The Auto Q function quantizes MIDI automatically on recording, according to the settings on the Quantize Panel.

Quantize functions in the key commands

In the Key Commands dialog (Quantize Category), you can set up key commands for the quantize functions. For further information about key commands, see “Key com-

mands” on page 343.

MIDI – quantizing MIDI event starts

If you select several MIDI notes in a part and use the Quantize function on the Edit menu, the MIDI note starts are quantized, i. e. The starts of MIDI notes that ended up slightly beside exact note positions are moved to the near est position of the grid. The grid is set up in the Quantize pop-up menu. The note lengths are maintained.

Ö If you quantize MIDI parts, all events are quantized, even if none is selected.

Reset Quantize

This command on the Edit menu reverts your audio or MIDI to its original, unquantized state. This function is in dependent from the regular Undo History.

Ö The Reset function will also reset any length changes that you performed using the “Scale Length/Legato” slider, see

“The Length section” on page 256.

Advanced Quantize functions

Quantize functions

Quantize

The Quantize function is found on the Edit menu. You can also use the key command [Q] or the “Quantize” button on the Quantize Panel. What exactly happens when you use the Quantize function depends on whether you apply it to audio or MIDI.

Audio – quantizing audio event starts

If you select one or several audio events or a sliced loop and use the Quantize function, the audio event starts are quantized.

The event snap points (or, if no snap point is available, the event start) that ended up slightly beside exact note positions are moved to the nearest position of the grid. The grid is set up in the Quantize pop-up menu.

Ö If you use the Quantize function on an audio part, the event starts inside the part are quantized.

Quantizing MIDI and audio

Quantize MIDI Event Lengths

The “Quantize MIDI Event Lengths” function on the Edit menu, Advanced Quantize submenu, quantizes the length of MIDI notes without changing their start positions. At its most basic level, this function sets the length of the notes to the Length Quantize value on the MIDI editor toolbar by cutting their ends.

However, if you have selected the “Quantize Link” option on the Length Quantize pop-up menu, the function resizes the notes according to the quantize grid, taking the Swing, Tuplet, and Catch Range settings into account.

Quantize MIDI Event Ends

The “Quantize MIDI Event Ends” function on the Edit menu, Advanced Quantize submenu, moves the ends of your MIDI notes to the nearest grid positions, taking the Quantize pop-up menu setting into account.

Freeze MIDI Quantize

The Freeze MIDI Quantize function on the Edit menu, Advanced Quantize submenu, makes the start and end positions of MIDI events permanent. This is useful in situations where you want to quantize a second time, based on the current quantized positions rather than the original positions.

Create Groove Quantize Preset

This lets you create a groove quantize preset from a MIDI part, a sliced audio part, or an audio event containing hitpoints.

To extract the timing, i. e. generate a groove quantize map based on hitpoints that you have created in the Sample Editor, proceed as follows:

1. Open the Sample Editor for the audio event from which you want to extract the timing.

2. Create and edit hitpoints.

For further information, see “Working with hitpoints and slices” on page

186.

3. On the Hitpoints tab in the Sample Editor, click the “Create Groove” button.

The groove is extracted.

If you open the Quantize pop-up menu on the Project window toolbar, you will find an additional item at the bottom of the list, with the same name as the file from which you have extracted the groove. You can select it as a base for quantizing, just like any other quantize value.

4. To save the groove, open the Quantize Panel and store it as a preset, see

“Save/Remove Preset” on page 92.

The Quantize Panel

You can open the Quantize Panel by clicking on the corresponding button on the toolbar or by opening the Edit menu and selecting “Quantize Panel”.

Using the Quantize Panel, you can quantize audio or MIDI to the grid or to a groove. Depending on what method you choose, different parameters are shown on the Quantize Panel. However, there is also a set of common settings.

Common settings

Quantize Presets pop-up menu

On this pop-up menu, you can select a quantize or a groove preset.

Save/Remove Preset

The preset controls allow you to store the current settings as a preset, making them available on all Quantize Presets pop-up menus. To save a preset, proceed as follows:

1. Set up the quantize parameters as desired.

This includes Swing, Catch Range, etc.

2. Click the Save Preset button (the plus sign) to the right of the Quantize Presets pop-up menu.

A preset name is generated automatically, according to your settings.

• If you want to rename the preset, open the Quantize Presets pop-up menu, select “Rename Preset” and enter the desired name in the dialog that appears.

• To remove a user preset, select it and click the “Remove Preset” button.

Non-Quantize

This setting allows you to set a “distance” in ticks (120 ticks correspond to one 16th note), so that events that are within the specified distance from the nearest quantize grid position are not quantized. This allows you to keep slight variations when you quantize, but still correct notes that are too far away from the grid.

Quantizing MIDI and audio

Grid display

In the middle of the Quantize Panel the grid display is shown. The green lines indicate the quantize grid, i. e. the positions that audio or MIDI is moved to.

The grid display showing a 1/32 grid

Randomize

This setting allows you to set a “distance” in ticks (120 ticks correspond to one 16th note), so that your audio or MIDI is quantized to random positions within the specified distance from the quantize grid. This creates a loose quantizing and allows for slight variations. At the same time, it prevents your audio or MIDI from ending up too far away from the grid.

Ö Iterative quantizing is based on the current, quantized positions and not on the original event positions. This makes it possible to repeatedly use Iterative Quantize, gradually moving your audio or MIDI closer to the quantize grid until you have found the desired timing.

Reset Quantize

This button is identical with the Reset Quantize function on the Edit menu (see “Reset Quantize” on page 91).

If you move an audio event manually, the original start time is changed to the new position. Therefore, the Reset Quantize function has no effect on an event that has been moved manually.

Quantize

Clicking this button applies your settings.

Options for quantizing to a musical grid

Quantizing to a grid is useful if you want to place your recorded audio or MIDI on the nearest position that is musically relevant.

Move MIDI CC

If this is activated, controllers related to MIDI notes (pitchbend, etc.) are automatically moved with the notes when these are quantized.

Auto Apply

If you activate this option, any changes you make are immediately applied to the selected parts or events. A way of using this feature is to set up a playback loop and adjust the settings until you get the desired result.

iQ option and Iterative Strength setting

If you quantize your audio or MIDI with the iQ option activated, a “loose” quantization is applied. This means that your audio or MIDI moves only part of the way to the closest quantize grid position. You can specify an Iterative Strength value to the right of the iQ option. This lets you specify how close your audio or MIDI moves towards the grid.

Quantizing MIDI and audio

Grid

On this pop-up menu you can determine the basic value for the quantize grid.

Swing

This parameter lets you offset every second position in the grid, creating a swing or shuffle feel. When you adjust the Swing parameter, the result is shown in the grid display.

This setting is only available when a straight value is selected for the grid and Tuplet is off (see below).

Catch Range

This parameter allows you to specify that only audio or MIDI within a certain distance from the grid lines is affected by quantizing. This allows for complex quantization tasks, e.

g. quantizing only the heavy beats near each beat,

and not the events in-between. With a value of 0 %, all audio or MIDI is affected by quan-

tizing. With higher percentages, wider Catch Ranges are shown around the green lines in the grid display and only the events within a Catch Range are quantized.

Tuplet

This parameter allows you to create rhythmically more complex grids by dividing the grid into smaller steps.

Options for quantizing to a groove

Groove quantizing is intended for creating certain rhythmic feels by matching your recorded music to a timing grid generated from a MIDI part or an audio loop.

To extract the groove from a MIDI part, from an audio loop, an audio event with hitpoints, or sliced audio, select the desired material and drag it onto the grid display in the middle of the Quantize Panel. Alternatively, you can use the “Create Groove Quantize Preset” function (see

ate Groove Quantize Preset” on page 92).

“Cre-

Position

This parameter lets you determine how much the timing of the groove affects the music (expressed as a percentage). 0 % means that the timing of the music remains unaffected, while 100 % means that the timing is adjusted to match the groove completely.

Velocity (MIDI only)

This parameter lets you determine how much the velocity values within the groove affect the music. Note that not all grooves contain velocity information.

Length (MIDI only)

Use this parameter to specify how much the length of the notes is affected by the groove. This is done by modifying the note-off value.

Ö For drums, the Length setting will be ignored as drum sounds cannot be sustained.

Pre-Quantize

This pop-up menu lets you quantize your audio or MIDI to a musical grid before groove quantizing. This helps you to get the notes closer to their groove destination.

For example, if you apply a shuffle groove to a 16th note pattern, you can try to set up a Pre-Quantize value of 16 to “straighten up” the timing before applying the groove quantizing.

Max. Move

Here, you can specify a note value that defines the maximum distance by which your audio or MIDI is moved within the quantize grid. This prevents you from moving material that you do not want to move.

Orig. Position

If you activate this option, the selected audio or MIDI reverts to its original position on the grid when quantizing.

Quantizing MIDI and audio

Fades and crossfades

Creating fades

The fade handles are visible when you point the mouse at the event.

Creating a fade in. The fade is automatically reflected in the shape of the event’s waveform, giving you a visual feedback of the result when

dragging the fade handle.

There are two types of fade ins and fade outs in audio events in Cubase: event-based fades that you create by using the fade handles and clip-based fades created by processing (see “Clip-based fades” on page 97).

Event-based fades

Selected audio events have triangular handles in the upper left and right corners. These can be dragged to create a fade in or fade out, respectively.

• If the “Show Event Volume Curves Always” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Event Display–Audio page), fade curves are shown in all events, regardless of whether they are selected or not.

If the option is deactivated, the fade curves are shown in selected events only.

• If the “Use Mouse Wheel for Event volume and Fades” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Audio page), pressing [Shift] while moving the mouse wheel moves the volume curve up or down.

When you position the mouse pointer somewhere in the left half of the event, the fade in end point is moved. When the mouse pointer is in the right half of the event, the fade out start point is moved.

Ö In the Key Commands dialog (Audio category) you can set up key commands for changing the event volume curve and any fade curves, see “Key commands” on page 343.

Creating and adjusting fades with the Range Selection tool

Fades created with the handles are not applied to the audio clip as such but calculated in realtime during playback. This means that several events referring to the same audio clip can have different fade curves. It also means that having a large number of fades may require more processing power.

• If you select multiple events and drag the fade handles of one of them, the same fade is applied to all selected events.

• A fade can be edited in the Fade dialog, as described on the following pages.

You open the dialog by double-clicking in the area above the fade curve, or by selecting the event and selecting “Open Fade Editor(s)” from the Audio menu (note that this will open two dialogs if the event has both fade in and fade out curves). If you adjust the shape of the fade curve in the Fade dialog, this shape will be maintained when you later adjust the length of the fade.

• You can make the fade longer or shorter at any time, by dragging the handle.

You can do this without selecting the event first, i. e. without visible handles. Just move the mouse pointer along the fade curve until the cursor turns into a bidirectional arrow, then click and drag.

Event-based fades can also be created and adjusted with the Range Selection tool.

Proceed as follows:

1. Select a section of the audio event with the Range Selection tool.

2. Pull down the Audio menu and select “Adjust Fades to Range”.

The result depends on your selection:

• If you select a range from the beginning of the event, a fade in

is created within the range.

• If you select a range that reaches the end of an event, a fade

out is created in the range.

• If you select a range encompassing a middle section of the

event, but not reaching neither the start nor the end, a fade in is created from the beginning of the event to the beginning of the selected range, and a fade out is created from the end of the selected range to the end of the event.

You can select multiple audio events on separate tracks with the Range Selection tool, and apply the fade to all of them simultaneously.

Fades and crossfades

About the volume handle

Drag the Volume handle up or down to change the volume of the event.

The volume change is displayed numerically on the info line.

The event waveform reflects the volume change.

A selected audio event also has a square handle in the top middle: the volume handle. It provides a quick way of changing the volume of an event in the Project window. Note that dragging the volume handle also changes the value on the info line.

If other events refer to the same audio clip, you will be asked whether you want the processing to be applied to these events or not.

• Continue will apply the processing to all events that refer to

the audio clip.

• New Version will create a separate, new version of the audio

clip for the selected event.

• You can also activate the “Please, don’t ask again” option. Regardless of whether you then choose “Continue” or “New Version”, any further processing will conform to the option you select.

You can change this setting at any time in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Audio page), under “On Processing Shared Clips”.

The Fade dialogs

Removing fades

To remove the fades for an event, select the event and select “Remove Fades” from the Audio menu.

If you want to remove the fades in a specific range only, select the fade area with the Range Selection tool and select “Remove Fades” from the Audio menu.

Clip-based fades

If you have selected an audio event or a section of an audio event (using the Range Selection tool), you can apply a fade in or fade out to the selection by using the “Fade In” or “Fade Out” function on the Process submenu of the Audio menu. These functions open the corresponding Fade dialog, allowing you to specify a fade curve. Fades created this way are applied to the audio clip rather than to the event.

The length of the fade area is determined by your selection. In other words, you specify the length of the fade before you open the Fade dialog. You can select multiple events and apply the same processing to all of them simultaneously.

• If you later create new events that refer to the same clip, these will have the same fades.

The Fade dialogs appear when you edit an existing fade or use the Fade In/Fade Out functions on the Process submenu of the Audio menu. The picture below shows the Fade In dialog; the Fade Out dialog has identical settings and features.

If you open the Fade dialog(s) with several events selected, you can adjust the fade curves for all these events at the same time. This is useful if you want to apply the same type of fade in to more than one event, etc.

Fades and crossfades

The available options are:

Crossfade area

Option Description

Curve Kind These buttons determine whether the fade curve con-

Fade display This shows the shape of the fade curve. The resulting

Curve shape buttons

Restore button This button is only available when editing fades made

Fade Length Value This parameter is only available when editing fades

Presets In this section you can set up presets for fade in or

As Default button This button is only available when editing fades made

sists of spline curve segments (left button), damped spline segments (middle button), or linear segments (right button).

waveform shape is shown in dark gray, with the cur rent waveform shape in light gray. Click on the curve to add points, and click and drag existing points to change the shape. To remove a point from the curve, drag it outside the display.

These buttons give you quick access to some common curve shapes.

by dragging the fade handles. Click this to cancel any changes you have made since opening the dialog.

made by dragging the fade handles. It can be used to enter fade lengths numerically. The format of values displayed here is determined by the Time Display in the Transport panel. When you activate the Apply Length option, the value entered in the Fade Length value field is used when clicking Apply or OK. When you set the current fade as the default fade, the length value is included as part of the default settings.

fade out curves that you want to apply to other events or clips. To apply a stored preset, select it from the pop-up menu. To rename the selected preset, double-click on the name and type in a new one. To remove a stored preset, select it from the pop-up menu and click Remove.

by dragging the fade handles. Click this to store the current settings as the default fade, to be used whenever you create new fades by dragging event handles.

Applying a fade

Depending on whether you are editing a fade made with the fade handles or applying a fade using processing, different buttons are shown in the bottom row of the Fade dialog.

The Edit Fade dialogs have the following buttons:

Button Function

OK Applies the set fade curve to the event, and closes the

Cancel Closes the dialog without applying any fade. Apply Applies the set fade curve to the event, without closing

dialog.

the dialog.

The Process Fade dialogs have the following buttons:

Button Function

Preview Plays back the fade area. Playback will repeat until you

Process Applies the set fade curve to the clip, and closes the

Cancel Closes the dialog without applying any fade.

click the button again (the button is labeled “Stop” during playback).

dialog.

Creating crossfades

Overlapping audio material on the same track can be crossfaded, for smooth transitions or special effects. You create a crossfade by selecting two consecutive audio events and selecting the Crossfade command on the Au dio menu (or by using the corresponding key command, by default [X]). The result depends on whether the two events overlap or not:

• If the events overlap, a crossfade is created in the overlapping area.

The crossfade will be of the default shape (linear, symmetric), but you can change this as described below.

Ö The default crossfade length and shape are set in the Crossfade dialog (see

99).

• If the events do not overlap but are directly consecutive (lined up end-to-start, with no gap) it is still possible to crossfade them – provided that their respective audio clips overlap! In this case, the two events are resized so that they overlap, and a crossfade of the default length and shape is applied.

• If the events do not overlap and cannot be resized enough to overlap, a crossfade cannot be created.

“The Crossfade dialog” on page

Fades and crossfades

• Once you have created a crossfade, you can edit it by selecting one or both crossfaded events, and selecting “Crossfade” from the Audio menu again (or by doubleclicking in the crossfade zone).

This opens the Crossfade dialog.

Removing crossfades

To remove a crossfade, proceed as follows:

• Select the corresponding events and select “Remove Fades” from the Audio menu.

• Use the Range Selection tool to select all fades and crossfades you wish to remove, and select “Remove Fades” from the Audio menu.

• Select a crossfade by clicking, and drag it outside the track.

The Crossfade dialog

Options and settings

The Crossfade dialog contains separate, but identical, sections for the fade-in and fade-out curve settings in the crossfade on the left, and common settings on the right:

Option Description

Fade curve displays

Curve buttons The curve kind buttons determine whether the corre-

These displays show the shape of the fade out and fade in curve, respectively. Click on a curve to add points, click and drag existing points to change their shape, or drag a point outside the display to remove it.

sponding fade curve consists of spline curve segments (left button), damped spline segments (middle button) or linear segments (right button).

Option Description

Equal Gain Activate this parameter to adjust the fade curves so

Equal Power Activate this parameter to adjust the fade curves so

Play buttons These buttons allow you to audition the whole cross-

Pre-roll and Post-roll

Length This specifies the length of the crossfade area. Cubase

Presets section Click the Store button to the right of the Presets pop-

Default buttons Click the As Default button to store the current settings

that the summed fade in and fade out amplitudes will be the same all along the crossfade region. This is of ten suitable for short crossfades.

that the energy (power) of the crossfade will be con stant all along the crossfade region. Equal Power curves have only one editable curve point. You cannot use the Curve kind buttons or the presets when this mode is selected.

fade, or the fade out part, or the fade in part. You can set up key commands for this in the following catego ries of the Key Commands dialog: Media category – Preview Start (triggers crossfade playback), Preview Stop (stops crossfade playback). Transport category – StartStop (triggers global playback), Stop (stops global playback) and StartStop Preview (triggers crossfade playback). For further information, see “Key commands” on page

343.

Activate pre-roll to start playback before the fade area. Activate post-roll to stop playback after the fade area. In the time fields you can enter the desired time (in seconds and milliseconds) for the pre-roll and post-roll length.

tries to center the crossfade, i. be applied equally to both sides. To be able to resize a crossfade, it must be possible to resize the corre sponding event. For example, if the fade out event already plays its audio clip to the end, its end point cannot be moved any further to the right.

up menu to store the settings of your crossfade so that you can apply them to other events later. To rename a preset, double-click on the name and type in a new one. To remove a preset, select it on the pop-up menu and click the Delete button.

as default. These settings will then be used whenever you create new crossfades. Click the Recall Default button to apply the curves and settings of the default crossfade to the Crossfade dialog.

e. the length change will

The curve shape buttons give you quick access to some common curve shapes.

Fades and crossfades

Auto fades and crossfades

Cubase features an Auto Fade function that can be set both globally, and separately for each audio track. The idea behind the Auto Fade function is to create smoother transitions between events by applying short (1–500 fade ins and fade outs.

As event-based fades are calculated in realtime during playback, a higher number of audio events provokes to a higher the demand on the processor when Auto Fades is activated.

Ö Auto fades are not indicated by fade lines!

Making global Auto Fade settings

1. To make Auto Fades settings globally for a project, select “Auto Fades Settings…” from the Project menu.

This opens the Auto Fades dialog for the project.

ms)

6. If you want to use your settings in future projects, click the “As Default” button.

7. Click OK to close the dialog.

Making Auto Fade settings for individual tracks

By default, all audio tracks will use the settings you have made in the project’s Auto Fades dialog. However, since Auto Fades use computing power, a better approach may be to turn Auto Fades off globally and activate them for in dividual tracks, as needed:

1. Right-click the track in the track list and select “Auto Fades Settings…” from the context menu (or select the track and click the “Auto Fades Settings” button in the In spector).

The Auto Fades dialog for the track opens. This is identical to the project’s Auto Fades dialog, with the addition of a “Use Project Settings” option.

2. Deactivate the “Use Project Settings” option.

Any settings you now make are applied to the track only.

3. Set up the Auto Fades as desired and close the dialog.

Reverting to project settings

If you want a track with individual Auto Fade settings to use the global Auto Fade settings, open the Auto Fades dialog for the track and activate the “Use Project Settings” checkbox.

2. Use the Length value field to specify the length of the Auto Fades or Crossfades (1–500

ms).

3. Use the checkboxes in the upper right corner to activate or deactivate Auto Fade In, Auto Fade Out, and Auto Crossfades.

4. To adjust the shapes of Auto Fade In and Auto Fade Out, select the Fades tab and make settings as in the reg

ular Fade dialogs (see “The Fade dialogs” on page 97).

5. To adjust the shape of the Auto Crossfade, select the “Crossfades” tab and make settings as in the regular Crossfade dialog (see “The Crossfade dialog” on page

99).

100

Fades and crossfades

Steinberg Cubase LE - 6.0, Cubase Elements - 6.0, Cubase AI - 6.0 Operation Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Table of Contents

About this manual

Welcome!

Setting up your system

Setting up audio

Setting up MIDI

Connecting a synchronizer

Setting up video

Optimizing audio performance

VST Connections

About this chapter

The VST Connections window

Setting up busses

Routing

About monitoring

Editing operations

The Project window

Window Overview

The track list

The Inspector

The toolbar

The info line

The status line

The overview line

The ruler

The Snap function

Auto-Scroll

Working with projects

Creating new projects

Opening projects

Closing projects

Saving projects

The Archive and Backup functions

Startup Options

The Project Setup dialog

Zoom and view options

Audio handling

Auditioning audio parts and events

Scrubbing audio

Editing parts and events

Range editing

Region operations

The Edit History dialog

The Preferences dialog

Working with tracks

Setting up tracks

Editing tracks

Organizing tracks in folder tracks

Dividing the track list

Playback and the Transport panel

Background

Operations

Options and Settings

The Virtual Keyboard

Recording

Background

Basic recording methods

Audio recording specifics

MIDI recording specifics

Options and Settings

Quantizing MIDI and audio

Introduction

Advanced Quantize functions

Quantize functions

The Quantize Panel

Fades and crossfades

Creating fades

The Fade dialogs

Creating crossfades

The Crossfade dialog

Auto fades and crossfades