User manual

Table Of Contents
265
VST instruments and instrument tracks
External instruments (Cubase only)
Constrain Delay Compensation
Cubase features full delay compensation throughout the entire audio path. This means
that any delay inherent in the VST plug-ins you use will automatically be compensated
for during playback, so that all channels are kept in perfect sync (see
“About plug-in
delay compensation” on page 228).
However, when you play a VST instrument in realtime or record live audio (with
monitoring through Cubase activated), this delay compensation may sometimes result in
added latency. To avoid this, you can activate the Constrain Delay Compensation
button on the Project window toolbar. This function tries to minimize the latency effects
of the delay compensation, while maintaining the sound of the mix as far as possible.
In the Preferences dialog (VST page) you will find a setting called Delay
Compensation Threshold. Only plug-ins with a delay higher than this setting will
be affected by the Constrain Delay Compensation function.
VST plug-ins (with higher delay than the threshold value) which are activated for
VST instrument channels, audio track channels that are record enabled, group
channels and output channels will be turned off when you activate Constrain Delay
Compensation.
VST plug-ins activated for FX channels are not turned off but their delay is
disregarded by the program (delay compensation is turned off).
After recording or using a VST instrument with Constrain Delay Compensation, turn
off the function in order to restore full delay compensation.
External instruments (Cubase only)
An external instrument bus is an input (return) to your audio hardware, along with a
MIDI connection via Cubase and few additional settings. External instrument busses
are created in the VST Connections window. All external instrument busses you have
created will appear on the VST Instrument pop-up menus and can be selected in the
same way as any VST instrument plug-in. If you select an external instrument, you play
it via MIDI as usual (you have to create a MIDI device to play it) and the sound (synth
audio output) will come in to the VST environment where you can apply processing,
etc. For more information on external instruments, see
“Setting up external
instruments” on page 34.