CUBASE Menu > Cubase SL help The Cubase.net website: http://www.cubase.net/phpbb2/ A project is the basic file type in Cubase, in the same way that a document is the basic file type in Microsoft Word. A project includes the audio, MIDI, automation, and settings for your sound work. INTERFACE THE TRANSPORT BAR let s you control playback, recording, and fast forwarding and rewinding for your project but it also does much more than this THE PROJECT WINDOW is where you will spend the most time using Cubase, because the complete view offered in this window makes it the best place to work. To change the appearance of the size of the tracks use the sliders at the bottom right hand of the Project Window. The bottom slider controls the zoom into the wave form in the track and the vertical slider controls the size of the height of the track.
THE PROJECT WINDOW TOOLBAR THE PROJECT WINDOW TRACK INSPECTOR shows practically every parameter for a single track in a project and it is where you need to select your input and output settings for each track. Open the TRACK by clicking on the SHOW INSPECTOR button
THE PROJECT WINDOW TRACK LIST The Track list is the area to the left in the Project window. It contains name fields and various settings for the tracks. Different track types have different controls in the Track list. To see all the controls you may have to resize the track in the Track list THE RULER The ruler at the top of the event display shows the timeline. THE PROJECT WINDOW EVENT DISPLAY shows all of the events in a project. THE PROJECT WINDOW INFO LINE shows volume, length, and other information about whatever is selected in the Event Display. You can change parameters for events directly on it
THE PROJECT WINDOW SNAP SETTINGS Among the most important things to learn about Cubase are the theory and practice of SNAP. What Snap does is quite simple; with Snap activated, when you move, resize, change, or otherwise edit an item, the item snaps to the nearest value. THE AUDIO SAMPLE EDITOR is use to perform the most exacting audio editing and processing the application offers. Double click an audio event in the Project Window to open the Audio Sample THE MIDI KEY EDITOR There are two ways to open a MIDI editor: Select one or several parts (or a MIDI track, with no parts selected) and select Open Key Editor, Open Score Editor, Open Drum Editor or Open List Editor from the MIDI menu (or use the corresponding key command). The selected parts (or all parts on the track, if no part was selected) will open in the chosen editor. Double click a part.
THE POOL provides a complete listing of all audio and video files contained in a project, as well as a convenient location to add audio and video files to a project without bringing them into the Project Window. POOL > OPEN POOL WINDOW
THE CUBASE MIXER You ve recorded, edited, and tweaked each individual sound that makes up a sound work now you need to turn the whole track into a cohesive statement. In audio circles, this is called MIXING, and it is as much an art as playing an instrument. The mixer can be opened in several ways: - By selecting Mixer from the Devices menu. - By clicking the Mixer icon on the toolbar This always opens the first Mixer window (see below). VST INSTRUMENTS VST Instruments are software synthesizers (or other sound sources) that are contained within Cubase SX/SL. They are played internally via MIDI, and their audio outputs appear on separate channels in the mixer, allowing you to add effects or EQ, just as with audio tracks.
TO START A PROJECT: Create a personal folder on the Workspace D: i.e. sean-cubase Open the Cubase program SYSTEM DRIVE C > PROGRAMS > STEINBERG > CUBASE FILE MENU > NEW In the New Project dialog box, select EMPTY > click OK Templates in Cubase work just like those in Word. Word for instance, offers templates for creating a resume, memo, or Web page, and it also includes a blank, empty document for creating whatever you want from scratch. Cubase operates the same way. For any new project you will be asked to find a directory to use for it. Select the folder that you have created on the Workspace D. The PROJECT WINDOW opens. A new project is created; save and name it using FILE > SAVE IMPORTING AN AUDIO TRACK FILE > IMPORT > AUDIO FILE Navigate to the file you want to import Click OPEN Under the Import Options Window check COPY FILE TO WORKING DIRECTORY and SPLIT CHANNELS ADDING TRACKS PROJECT > ADD TRACK > AUDIO You can choose Mono or Stereo and add as many tracks as you want. EVENT and PARTS Events are the smallest building blocks in Cubase. An event can be a MIDI note or a sound sample or a recorded piece of audio. In the pproject Window, every event is contained in a part, and parts contain one or many distinct events. Parts can contain MIDI or audio events. Parts are containers for events, and it make it easier to work with more than one event AUDIO PROCESSING Cubase supports 2 primary ways of processing audio. You can use such processes included within Cubase as gain, time stretching or you can apply a third-party VST audio plug-ins to a selection, event, or part Remember that if you don t like something you can always undo it: EDIT > UNDO You can also use the contextual menu RIGHT CLICK > EDIT > HISTORY Select a track AUDIO > PROCESS > choose the appropriate effects PITCH SHIFT: often used to correct small tuning mistakes in a live musician s performance. ENVELOPE: The Envelope function allows you to apply a volume envelope to the selected audio.
GAIN: Allows you to change the gain (level) of the selected audio. TIMESTETCH: Allows you to change the length and "tempo" of the selected audio, without affecting the pitch. NORMALIZE: Allows you to specify the desired maximum level of the audio. REVERSE: Reverses the audio selection, as when playing a tape backwards INSERTS An insert effect is the simplest kind of effect. The audio enters the effects, is modified, and then is routed to the fader for that channel and to whatever output channel feeds. Select the section that you want to apply an effect. Click on the e button (EDIT AUDIO CHANNEL SETTINGS) located on the right hand side of the track. The VST Audio Channel Settings box will open. Click in the boxes on the left side to choose the effect you want.
EXAMPLES OF EFFECTS: REVERB: A type of digital signal processing that produces a continuous wash of echoing sound, simulating an acoustic space such as a concert hall. DOUBLE DELAY: This effect provides two separate delays that can be either tempo based or use freely specified delay time settings. CHORUS: The Chorus plug-in adds short delays to the signal, and pitch modulates the delayed signals to produce a "doubling" effect DISTORTION: The Distortion effect plug-in is capable of producing anything from a soft "crunch" to all-out distortion. DYNAMICS: Includes a Compressor which reduces the dynamic range of the audio, making softer sounds louder or louder sounds softer, or both. EXPORTING You must set the LOCATORS for the segment you want to export. If the colour is red it is because the left and the right triangles are at not correctly set. FILE > EXPORT > AUDIO MIXDOWN FORMAT > AIFF or WAV CHANNELS > STEREO INTERLEAVED RESOLUTION > 16 BIT SAMPLE RATE > 44.100 SAVE About Format Wave File Wave files have the extension ".wav" and are the most common file format on the PC platform. Wave 64 File (Cubase SX only) Wave64 is a proprietary format developed by Sonic 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 e.g. for long live recordings in surround format, where the audio files could become huge. Broadcast Wave File 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). AIFF File Audio Interchange File Format, a standard defined by Apple Computer 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). About resolution The available options are 16 bit, 24 bit and 32 bit float CD uses 16 bit. You can use 24 bit and then transcode to a lower resolution later. About sample rate This refers to the number of samples taken of the piece of audio in one second during a digital recording. For example the Standard CD audio is 44.100 samples per second, or 44.100kHz. You should select 48.000kHz if you want to use your audio for video or DVD. The sample rate is set once and for all when you start working on a new project.