Quick Start Guide
Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Marion Bröer, Sabine Pfeifer, Heike Schilling, Benjamin Schütte This PDF provides improved access for vision-impaired users. Please note that due to the complexity and number of images 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 of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.
Table of Contents
6 Introduction 7 8 9 11 11 Welcome! About the documentation and the help About the program versions Key command conventions How you can reach us 12 System requirements and installation 13 13 16 17 19 About this chapter Minimum requirements Installing Cubase License activation and registration Hardware installation 21 Creating your first project 22 22 23 25 26 About this chapter The Project Assistant dialog Saving, closing, and opening projects Selecting the driver for your audio device Setting up
44 Mixing and effects 45 45 46 47 47 50 53 About this chapter Setting levels for the mix Setting panorama Mute and solo Adding EQ Audio effects Exporting a mixdown Table of Contents — 5
1 Introduction
Welcome! Congratulations and thank you for purchasing a high-quality Steinberg product! Building on the core technologies used in the Cubase 6 advanced music production system, Cubase Elements 6 and the hardware-bundled versions, Cubase AI 6 and Cubase LE 6, offer all the basic tools for composing, recording, editing, and mixing your latest idea into a true masterpiece.
About the documentation and the help The Cubase documentation is divided into several sections, as listed below. The documents are available in Adobe Acrobat format (extension .pdf) and can be accessed as follows: • You can open the PDF documents from the Documentation submenu on the Help menu in the program. • Under Windows you can also open these documents from the Cubase Documentation subfolder on the Windows Start menu.
Remote Control Devices This document lists the supported MIDI remote control devices. Menu Reference This document provides a list of all menus and their options with a brief description, for quick reference. The dialog help To get information about the active dialog, click its Help button. 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.
In some cases the difference between the five available versions of Cubase is not the presence or absence of a feature, but rather how often an element (e. g.
Key command conventions Many of the default key commands in Cubase use modifier keys, some of which are different depending on the operating system. For example, the default key command for Undo is [Ctrl]-[Z] under Windows and [Command]-[Z] under Mac OS X.
2 System requirements and installation
About this chapter In this chapter the requirements and installation procedures for the Windows version and the Mac version of Cubase are described.
Starting Cubase 64-bit on a 64-bit Mac OS X system When you install Cubase on a 64-bit Mac OS X system, the program is set to start in 32-bit mode. • To start Cubase in 64-bit mode, right-click the application symbol in the Mac OS X Finder, select “Get Info” and deactivate the “Open in 32-bit mode” option in the dialog that appears.
Audio requirements In music production it is very important to work with low latencies. Therefore we recommend you to use a dedicated ASIO audio interface. Although Cubase can run with many audio cards that are installed in a computer, they might not offer you low enough latencies. For an overview of the audio hardware offered by Steinberg, see http://www.steinberg.net/products/hardware.html. Cubase will run with audio hardware that meets the following specifications: • • • • Stereo. 16 bit.
Installing Cubase Starting the installation The installation procedure puts all files in the right places, automatically. Depending on your system, the Start Center program on the DVD may start automatically. If no interactive start center appears, open the DVD and doubleclick the file “Start_Center.exe” (Win) or “Start_Center.app” (Mac). From the Start Center you can initiate the installation of Cubase and browse through the additional options and information presented there.
License activation and registration ! The process for license activation is described in detail on the Steinberg web site. To open the corresponding page, follow the Activation & Registration link in the Start Center. Cubase Elements, Cubase AI, and Cubase LE use a software-based copy protection scheme. The so-called Soft-eLicenser is installed automatically with your version of Cubase. It can be accessed via the eLicenser Control Center application that is installed automatically with the product.
Cubase AI and Cubase LE The Soft-eLicenser that came with your product allows you to use the program out-of-the-box for 30 days. After this period, you have to register your program and activate your license permanently. When you start Cubase AI or Cubase LE, a dialog opens that informs you for how much longer you can use the program without registration and activation.
Hardware installation Installing the audio hardware and its driver 1. Install the audio hardware and related equipment in the computer, as described in the hardware documentation. 2. Install the driver for the audio hardware. A driver is a piece of software that allows a program to communicate with a certain piece of hardware. In this case, the driver allows Cubase to use the audio hardware. Depending on the operating system of your computer, there are different types of drivers that can be used.
DirectX drivers (Windows only) DirectX is a Microsoft “package” for handling various types of multimedia data under Windows. Cubase supports DirectX, or to be more precise, DirectSound, which is a part of DirectX used for playing back and recording audio. This requires one of the following types of drivers: • A DirectX driver for the audio device, allowing it to communicate with DirectX. If the audio hardware supports DirectX, this driver should be supplied by the manufacturer.
3 Creating your first project
About this chapter In this chapter you will learn how to create a new project, save a project, and open a saved project. You will also learn how to set up your audio device in Cubase. The Project Assistant dialog To create a new project, proceed as follows: 1. Start Cubase. The Project Assistant dialog opens. It allows you to open existing projects and create new projects, which can either be empty or based on a project template.
2. In the “Project folder” field, enter a name for the project folder (e. g. “My first project”). 3. If you want to start with a preconfigured project for a specific purpose instead, select a template from one of the categories (Recording, Scoring, Production, or Mastering). If you do not select a template, a blank new project is created. 4. Click Create. You are looking at your very first project in Cubase.
Closing a project 1. Make sure that the Project window is selected. The Project window is the main window that you work in. 2. On the File menu, select the Close command. If you have made any changes to the project since you last saved it, you will be prompted to “Save”, “Don’t Save”, or “Cancel”. Click Save if you want your changes saved. Opening a project After you have saved and closed your project, you have several possibilities to open it again. Opening a project using the Open command 1.
Selecting the driver for your audio device Before you can set up the routing for your audio signals and start recording, you need to make sure that the correct ASIO driver is selected: 1. Open the Devices menu and select the “Device Setup…” option. 2. In the Device Setup dialog, click on the “VST Audio System” entry in the list on the left. The VST Audio System page is shown on the right. 3. On the ASIO Driver pop-up menu, select the driver that you want to use.
Setting up the VST connections The VST Connections window allows you to set up the routing of input and output signals between Cubase and your audio hardware. These connections are called “busses”. In this section you will learn how to set up the busses so that you can get playback and recording working. Adding outputs In this section you will learn how to set up the outputs for playing back audio in Cubase. Let’s start from scratch and remove any outputs that were automatically added by Cubase: 1.
3. Click OK. A new stereo bus (Left and Right) is added, allowing you to have audio in Cubase routed to your audio hardware. 4. If you want to change the output ports that were selected automatically, open the “Device Port” pop-up menu and select different ports. Depending on your audio hardware, more than two output ports might be available. For most cases we recommend to use the main stereo outputs.
Having a stereo input is useful for recording audio with two channels, for example, to record a keyboard with a left and a right audio channel. If you want to record with two mono channels instead, you can set up separate mono busses: 6. Click the “Add Bus” button. The Add Input Bus dialog opens. 7. Choose “Mono” for Configuration and “2” for Count. 8. Click OK. Two new mono busses are added. 9.
4 Recording audio
About this chapter In this chapter you will learn how to record a bass guitar in mono from the “Mono In” input. Make sure that you have your audio hardware set up and you have read through the section “Setting up the VST connections” on page 26. You also need an empty project, see “Creating your first project” on page 21. Creating a mono track Let’s create an audio track for recording: 1. On the Project menu, open the “Add Track” submenu, and select the “Audio” option. 2.
4. Open the “Input Routing” pop-up menu and select “Mono In” for the audio track’s input. By selecting “Mono In”, you will be able to record the audio from the left input of the audio device. 5. Open the “Output Routing” pop-up menu and select “Stereo Out” for the audio track’s output. Setting the output to “Stereo Out” allows you to hear what you are recording. See the chapter “VST Connections” in the Operation Manual for more detailed information.
3. Click the Tempo button so that the text field to the right reads “Fixed” (instead of “Track”), then click in the value field and enter a new tempo value. The tempo is set in bpm (beats per minute). Setting levels For this example, we assume that you have an instrument playing through an amplifier with a microphone in front of the amplifier’s speaker. This microphone is plugged directly into the audio device’s input. The level has to be set so that there is enough volume without clipping.
3. In the Inspector, open the Channel tab. This will display the channel fader for the selected track. Click here to display the channel fader. 4. Do the best you can to send the maximum amount of volume to the audio inputs of your audio device, but avoid distortion. Most audio devices show some kind of level or volume indication. If yours does not, don’t worry, you can change the amount using the channel fader.
5. Move the fader up or down so that the volume is loud enough without going into the red on the channel meter. If the meter goes into the red, clipping or distortion can occur. You will see a line near the top of the channel meter – make sure that the level does not go over this line! Do not allow the audio level to go past this line! This is the safe area for recording.
Recording To record the instrument you are playing (in our example a bass guitar), proceed as follows: 1. Position the cursor at the beginning of the project. This will make sure you start recording on bar 1. 2. Click the Record button to start recording. Since the “Precount/Click” button is activated, you will hear two bars of click before recording begins. 3. Click Stop when you are finished. 4. Turn off the Monitor and “Record Enable” buttons on the track.
Playback In this section, you will learn how to play back in Cubase. You might think this is very simple – just hit Play. It is actually this simple, but there are a few tricks to learn so that you will be playing back what you want with precision. Starting playback There are a few ways you can start playback in Cubase: • Click the Play button on the Transport panel. Playback starts at the project cursor position. • Press the [Enter] key on the numeric keypad.
Stopping playback There are also several ways to stop playback in Cubase: • Click the Stop button on the Transport panel. Clicking the Stop button twice moves the cursor to the position in the project where you started playback. • Press [Space] on your computer keyboard. This toggles between stop and start. • Press the [0] key on the numeric keypad. Cycle playback In Cubase, you can play back a section of your project in a continuous cycle or loop. Proceed as follows: 1.
5 Recording MIDI
About this chapter In this chapter you will learn how to record MIDI. You can record MIDI with virtual instruments, i. e. a synthesizer inside your computer, or using a hardware keyboard. This chapter describes how to use virtual instruments. Creating an instrument track Before you start, you need to create a new project, see “Creating your first project” on page 21. You can then add an instrument track and select a virtual instrument. Proceed as follows: 1.
5. Click the “Edit Instrument” button. The control panel for HALion Sonic SE opens. Browsing sounds In this section you will learn how to load sounds into the virtual instrument HALion Sonic SE: 1. At the top of the HALion Sonic SE plug-in panel, click in the Presets field. The Preset browser opens.
2. Click the “Set Up Window Layout” button in the bottom left corner of the Preset browser and activate the Filters option. The Preset browser expands. It now has a Filter section. 3. In the Category column in the Filters section select “Strings”. This filters the list on the right to only show string sounds. 4. In the preset list on the right, double-click on the string sound that you want to use. The sound is applied and the Preset browser closes.
Recording Now that you have selected a sound, you can record something. You will learn how to route a MIDI keyboard to your track so that HALion Sonic SE plays the sound you selected. Proceed as follows: 1. Connect a MIDI keyboard to your computer. This can be done directly through USB or via a MIDI interface. 2. In the Inspector, on the Input Routing pop-up menu, choose the MIDI input that you want to use. If you are not sure which input to choose, leave this set to “All MIDI Inputs”.
4. Press [1] on the numeric keypad of your computer keyboard. The project cursor jumps to the left locator. 5. Click the Record button and record a few bars of music. 6. Click the Stop button when you are finished. 7. Turn off the Monitor and “Record Enable” buttons on the track. By turning off the “Record Enable” button you make sure that you do not accidentally record on the track again. Congratulations! You have just created your first MIDI recording in Cubase.
6 Mixing and effects
About this chapter In this chapter you will learn how to get a mix ready with proper levels, EQs, and effects. Afterwards you will export the audio. To complete the steps described here, start with a project that contains recorded data (e. g. for a standard rock song) and is ready to be mixed. Setting levels for the mix The first thing you want to do is to set the levels for your project. This helps you get a preliminary balance of the mix so you can add EQ and effects later. Proceed as follows: 1.
Setting panorama The panorama (pan) settings allow you to move the position of each channel in the stereo mix. By positioning some of the instruments on the left or right, you can create a rich and spacious sound. Pan settings depend greatly on the actual position of the instruments on a stage and on personal preferences. • To set the panorama for a channel, click on the pan control above the channel fader in the Mixer and move it to the right or left.
Mute and solo Each track has a Mute (M) and Solo (S) button. Activating Mute prevents you from hearing the track. When you solo a track, the other tracks become muted so that you hear only the soloed track(s). You can have several tracks muted or soloed at a time. • If you want to deactivate all the mutes or solos, click the “Deactivate all Mute” or “Deactivate all Solo” buttons in the common panel on the left side of the Mixer.
The VST Audio Channel Settings window opens, where you can make your EQ settings. There are four EQ bands on each track. 5. In the Equalizers section, activate the EQs by clicking the corresponding “EQ Band Active” buttons. You can also click in the EQ curve area to turn on an EQ. 6. Click and move the EQ point in the display. • Set up the gain by moving the EQ point up or down. The gain makes that particular EQ louder or softer. • Set up the frequency by moving the EQ point right or left.
• You can reset the EQ settings by [Alt]/[Option]-clicking the “Bypass Equalizers” button. Experiment with the EQs on all your tracks. It is usually better to take away EQ (lower the gain) than to add it. Using EQ presets If you do not want to set up your EQs from scratch, you can load a preset instead: 1. Click the “Preset Management” button and choose a sound from the list. 2. Adjust the settings to your liking. 3.
Audio effects You will now learn to use some effects. You can add effects by inserting them directly on a track or by creating an FX channel and using the auxiliary sends of each track to send the audio to that FX channel. Insert effects Insert effects let you apply an effect to a single channel. In this example, you will apply compression to a bass track to smooth it out. Proceed as follows: 1. Open the Mixer. 2. Set up a cycle using the left and right locators. 3.
6. Select “VSTDynamics” from the Dynamics submenu. The VSTDynamics plug-in is loaded into the insert slot and the plug-in panel opens. 7. Set up the parameters in the Compressor section to your liking. The plug-in parameters are described in detail in the PDF document “Plug-In Reference”. FX channels In this section you will learn how to create and use FX channels. This is very useful if you want to apply an effect to several channels at once.
3. Experiment with the reverb settings until you get the room ambience that you want. The effect parameters are described in detail in the PDF document “Plug-In Reference”. 4. Open the Mixer and click the “Edit Audio Channels Settings” button of one of your audio tracks. The VST Audio Channel Settings dialog opens. 5. In the Sends section, click on the first effect slot and choose “FX1-RoomWorks SE” from the pop-up menu. The FX channel is loaded into the send effect slot. 6.
Exporting a mixdown Now that the project is mixed, you can export it so that it can be imported into another program such as a CD burning application. Proceed as follows: 1. On the Transport panel, make sure that the left and right locators are set to the beginning and the end of your recording, respectively. Cubase will export the section between the left and right locators. 2. Open the File menu, and on the Export submenu select “Audio Mixdown…”. The Export Audio Mixdown dialog opens.
6. In the File Format section, select the file type. Most common is the “Wave File” format. Which format to choose depends on the application that you want to use the exported file in. 7. In the “Audio Engine Output” section, choose the sample rate and bit depth for your export. 44.100 kHz and 16 bit are common for CD burning. 8. In the “Import into Project” section, activate the Pool and “Audio Track” options.
