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Revision for Cubase LE and Quality Control: Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Sabine Pfeifer The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media except as specifically allowed in the License Agreement. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. All product and company names are or trademarks of their respective owners. Windows XP is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. The Mac logo is a trademark used under license. Macintosh and Power Macintosh are registered trademarks. Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, 2007. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
7
8
75
76 76 76 79 80 80 80 80 83 87 88
The mixer
About this chapter Overview Configuring the mixer The audio-related channel strips The MIDI channel strips The common panel The output channels Basic mixing procedures Audio specific procedures MIDI specific procedures Utilities
9
10 10 12 13
14
15 16 21 37
90
91 91 92 94 96 98 99 101 101 105 107 107 107 109 112 114 114 114 116 117 117 119 119 121 121
Automation
Background What can be automated? Automation track operations Using Write/Read automation Working with automation curves Tips and common methods Options and Settings Background Audio processing Freeze Edits Background Opening the Sample Editor Window overview Operations Options and settings Background Opening the Audio Part Editor Window overview Operations Common methods Options and Settings Background Determining the tempo of an audio loop and activating Musical mode Realtime pitch shifting of audio events Freezing the realtime processing
39
40 41 42
44
45 45 47 50 55 57
Recording
Background Basic recording methods Audio recording specifics MIDI recording specifics Options and Settings Recovery of audio recordings after system failure
58
59 60 62 63 64
66
67 67 68
Folder tracks
About folder tracks Handling folder tracks Working with folder parts
70
71 71 72 74
Using markers
About markers The Marker window Using the Marker track Marker key commands
4 Table of Contents
216 Synchronization
5 Table of Contents
231 Video
232 232 233 237 239 240 240 241 244 244 245 245 248 250 250 253 253 Background Before you start Operations Working with Projects Startup Options Revert Importing audio Exporting and importing MIDI files Background The Setup dialogs Appearance Applying track and event colors Where are the settings stored? Background Setting up key commands Setting up tool modifier keys The default key commands
243 Customizing
257 Index
6 Table of Contents
1
About this manual
Welcome!
This is the Operation Manual for Steinbergs Cubase LE 4. Here you will find detailed information about all the features and functions in the program.
2
VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses
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 could 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 inputs and outputs names according to the setup rather than names based on the audio hardware model, Cubase LE will automatically find the correct inputs and outputs for your busses and you will be able to play and record without having to change the settings. Use the Device Setup dialog to assign names to the inputs and outputs of your audio hardware: 1. Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu. 2. Make sure that the correct driver for your audio hardware is selected on the VST Audio System page, so that the audio card is listed in the Devices list. 3. Select your audio card in the list.
The available input and output ports on your audio hardware are listed on the right.
Setting up busses
Strategies
In Cubase LE, you can create up to 8 stereo busses or up to 16 mono busses, respectively. The bus configuration is saved with the projects therefore its a good idea to add and set up the busses you need and save these in a template project (see Save as Template on page 238).
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 (see Other bus operations on page 12). The templates can of course 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 could add stereo input busses for these, too.
4. To rename a port, click 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 wont show up in the VST Connections window when you are making bus settings. 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. If you open a project created on another computer and the port names dont match (or the port configuration isnt the same e.g. the project is created on a system with multi-channel i/o and you open it on a stereo in/out system), a Pending Connections dialog will appear.
This allows you to manually re-route ports used in the project to ports available in your system.
Adding a bus 1. Open the Inputs or Outputs tab depending on which you want to add. 2. Click the Add Bus button.
A dialog appears.
Alternatively you can right-click in the VST Connections window and add a bus in the desired format directly from the context menu that appears.
The new bus appears with the ports visible.
4. Click in the Device Port column to select an input/output port for a channel in the bus. This window contains the Inputs and Output tabs for viewing input busses or output busses, respectively. Depending on which tab you have selected, the window lists the current input or output busses, with the following columns:
Column Bus Name Speakers Audio Device Device Port Description Lists the busses. You can select busses and rename them by clicking on them in this column. Indicates the speaker configuration (mono, stereo) of each bus. This shows the currently selected ASIO driver. When you have opened a bus (by clicking its + button in the Bus Name column) this column shows which physical input/output on your audio hardware is used by the bus. You can route the click to a specific VST output bus.
The pop-up menu that appears lists the ports with the names you have assigned in the Device Setup dialog. Repeat this for all channels in the bus.
Setting the Main Mix bus (the default output bus) The Main Mix is the output bus that each new channel in the mixer will be assigned to when it is created. Any one 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 this bus as the Main Mix bus.
Click
When creating new audio, group or FX channels in the mixer, they will automatically be routed to the default bus.
!
The default bus is indicated by an orange speaker icon next to its name in the VST Connections window.
For audio-related channel types other than audio track channels (i.e. Group channels and FX channels), only the Output Routing pop-up menu is available. Select one of its subtracks in the Track list to open it. When selecting an input bus for a track you can only select busses that correspond to the tracks 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 stereo or mono input busses. For output busses any assignment is possible.
Other bus operations To change the port assignment for a bus, you proceed as when you added it make sure the channels are visible (by clicking the + button next to the bus, or by clicking the + All button at the top of the window) and click in the Device Port column to select ports. To remove a bus you dont need, select it in the list, right-click and select Remove Bus from the pop-up menu, or press [Backspace]. You can store and recall bus presets with the pop-up menu at the top of the window.
To store the current configuration as a preset, click the Store + button and enter a name for the preset. 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 - button.