Steinberg Cubase 4 Getting Started Manual

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Tutorial 4: Working with loops 
						

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Tutorial 4: Working with loops
Loop Browser
The “Loop Browser” allows you to have a single window 
that gives you quick and easy access to all your loops. In 
the “Loop Browser” you can search for audio files, use 
tags to categorize, audition the audio in the open project’s 
tempo and a whole lot more.
Adding loops
1.Select “Open Loop Browser” from the Media menu.
2.Once the Loop Browser has finished scanning your 
hard disk(s) for loop files, they will be displayed in the 
Viewer section.
3.Selecting a loop file in the Viewer section will display it 
graphically below in the Scope section.4.Click the Start button to listen to the loop. The “Play in 
Project context” option allows you to audition the loop in 
the project’s tempo. This is handy if the loop you are audi-
tioning has a tempo that is different from the one you are 
using in your project.
5.If you have many loops you can search for them using 
the Filter options at the top of the Viewer section.
6.Once you have found the loop you like, drag and drop 
it into your project. If you haven’t made an extra audio track 
for the loop, one will be created automatically for you.
7.Rename the new track to “Loop 1”.
!Load the project called “Loops” found in the 
“Tutorial 4” folder.
Search for sounds here
Your Loops Audition loops
Audition controls (Start, Stop, Pause, Cycle and level slider)
Play in Project context button
Auto Play – this automatically starts playback for the selected file.
Drag from the 
Loop Browser 
into your project 
						

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Tutorial 4: Working with loops
Making copies
Now that we have our loop let’s copy it using the “Repeat” 
function.
1.Click on the loop event in the Project window to select it.
2.Choose “Repeat” from the Edit menu.
3.In the dialog that opens, set the “Count” field to “13”.
4.Click “OK”. The loop will be copied 13 times and all 
repeats will be placed one after the other.
Insert into Project
We are now going to add one more loop. This time we’ll 
use the “Insert into Project” command.
1.Create a new stereo audio track.
2.Rename the track to “Loop 2” and make sure it is se-
lected, as “Insert into Project” works using a selected track.
3.Position your cursor where you would like the loop to 
be inserted. In our case, let’s choose bar 9.
4.In the “Loop Browser” right-click on the loop you want 
and choose “Insert into Project at cursor”. This will drop the 
loop into the Project window at bar 9 on the “Loop 2” track.5.Use the “Repeat” command to repeat the loop out un-
til the end of the project.
Make sure you read up on the “Loop Browser” in the 
chapter “The MediaBay” in the Operation Manual. 
						

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Tutorial 5: External MIDI instruments 
						

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Tutorial 5: External MIDI instruments
Introduction
In this tutorial we are going to show you how to set up 
your MIDI devices and how to record them into Cubase. 
You may have a MIDI keyboard that is playing back MIDI 
data from Cubase and you want the data recorded as au-
dio for further processing for the final mix. Learning to use 
the right tools will make these steps easy.
By adding External instruments (Cubase only) you can 
have a MIDI keyboard’s audio outputs plugged directly 
into your audio card’s inputs so that Cubase can monitor 
and record the signal in realtime.
Setting up MIDI devices
First let’s set up the MIDI devices that you have connected 
to your computer. Please note that every setup is different 
and that you’ll have to do some further reading in the Op-
eration Manual to get everything 100% the way you want 
it. This tutorial covers a basic setup with the Steinberg 
MI4 interface and the Kurzweil K2000 keyboard.
1.Start off by first opening the “MIDI Device Manager” 
from the Devices menu.
2.Next click the “Install Device” button, so we can add 
the K2000. Select it in the list and then click “OK”.
You may have another keyboard other than the Kurzweil K2000 in this 
list. Feel free to select it now.
3.We can then add a MIDI output to the “K2000”. Se-
lect it in the “Output” pop-up menu.
This will make things very handy later on!
4.Close the MIDI Device Manager when you are done.
MIDI devices contain all the necessary information to 
select patches on the MIDI device that you are using. If 
your device is in the list, make sure you have it set up. If 
your MIDI device is not in the list, you can choose “Define 
New…” to create it. Make sure you read the separate pdf 
document “MIDI Devices” for more detailed information.
Setting up VST connections for 
external instruments (Cubase only)
Now we have our MIDI device all set up. We are now go-
ing to set up our inputs so that we can listen to the audio 
output of our keyboard play into the Steinberg MI4’s audio 
inputs. This is what is meant by “external instruments”: 
having your external MIDI instruments play into Cubase.
1.On the Devices menu, choose “VST Connections”.
The default key command for this is [F4].
2.Open the “External Instruments” tab.
3.Click on the “Add External Instrument” button and type 
in “K2000” into the “Name” field.
You can use any name you choose if you have a different setup than what 
we are using in this tutorial.
!Load the project called “External MIDI 1” found in the 
“Tutorial 5” folder.
!Load the project called “External MIDI 2” found in the 
“Tutorial 5” folder. 
						

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Tutorial 5: External MIDI instruments
4.We want the audio from the K2000 to be in stereo. 
This means we are going to physically plug audio cables 
from the K2000’s output into the MI4 input. Since the MI4 
has 4 inputs we are going to plug them into the Line In 3 
and 4. Choose “1” for “Stereo Return(s)” since the K2000 
has a left and right output.
5.We created a MIDI device earlier, so let’s click on “As-
sociate MIDI Device” and choose the “K2000”.
To create a new MIDI Device (e. g. if you didn’t find yours on the list), 
select “Create Device”.
6.Click “OK” to close the dialog.
7.Make sure you set the correct inputs and outputs for 
your new external instrument bus in the Device Port column.
This is what our external instrument bus should look like.
8.Close the “VST Connections” window and select the 
“Loop 2” track.
We are going to add a new track. By selecting the “Loop 2” track, the 
new track will be added below this.
9.Open the Project menu and, on the “Add Track” sub-
menu, select “Instrument”.10.For “instrument”, choose the external instrument that 
we created. In our case it’s the “K2000”. For “count” 
choose “1”.
11.Click “OK” to close the dialog.
Now let’s go to the next section and monitor our external 
instrument. We’ll also choose a sound and record some 
MIDI.
Monitoring external MIDI 
instruments (Cubase only)
1.Activate the Record Enable and Monitor buttons on the 
“K2000” track.
2.Play some notes on the actual K2000 keyboard. You’ll 
see the MIDI indicators on the Transport panel light up and 
you’ll be able to hear the K2000 playing through Cubase.
Play whichever keyboard you have created in the MIDI Device Manager 
for this tutorial.
3.Let’s rename the track “K2000” to “Piano” since it’s 
piano that we’ll be recording on this track.
This doesn’t rename the external instrument name in the “VST Connec-
tions” window, but only in the Project window.
!Load the project called “External MIDI 3” found in the 
“Tutorial 5” folder.
K2000’s audio playing through Cubase
MIDI in and MIDI out indicators 
						

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Tutorial 5: External MIDI instruments
4.Remember that we created a MIDI device in the MIDI 
Device Manager. MIDI Devices contain valuable informa-
tion about patch names, bank selections and a few other 
things. This helps us in that we already have all the pro-
gram names for the K2000 at our disposal. Click on the 
“Programs” button in the inspector and choose the “Ste-
reo Grand” piano sound.
If your MIDI device is different from the one in this tutorial choose a piano 
sound from your device.
That’s it. We are now monitoring and playing our external 
instrument. You can add effects and EQ to the external in-
strument just like a virtual instrument or an audio track. We’ll 
do this in the next tutorial. For now let’s record some MIDI.
Recording MIDI and external 
instruments (Cubase only)
Now let’s record some MIDI on our instrument track.
1.Activate the Record Enable and Monitor buttons on the 
Piano track if they aren’t already on.
2.If you find the levels low, you can click on the “Edit In-
strument” button and move the “Return Gain” slider so 
that you hear more of the external instrument.
3.Click the Record button on the Transport panel and 
record a piano line.
4.Click the Stop button when you are finished. 
5.Turn off the “Record Enable” and “Monitor” buttons on 
the “Piano” track so that you don’t hear the input any more 
and that you won’t accidentally record on it.
Congratulations! You’ve just recorded your first external 
MIDI instrument. Move on to the next tutorial as we will 
discuss mixing, EQs, effects, automation and exporting.
Click the “Programs” 
button to select a pi-
ano sound.
!Load the project called “External MIDI 4” found in the 
“Tutorial 5” folder.
!Load the project called “External MIDI 5” found in the 
“Tutorial 5” folder to hear all the changes we’ve 
made so far. 
						

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Tutorial 6: Mixing and effects 
						

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Tutorial 6: Mixing and effects
Introduction
In this section we’ll draw from the last 5 tutorials and finally 
get a mix ready with proper levels, EQs and effects. Auto-
mation will be added and then we’ll export the audio.
Setting levels
The first thing we want to do is to set the levels for our 
project. This helps us get a preliminary balance of the mix 
so we can add EQ and effects later.
1.Select the Mixer from the Devices menu.
The default key command for this is [F3].
2.Cubase only: Hide the input channels from view (we 
won’t be using them any more), by clicking the “Hide Input 
Channels” button in the common panel to the left of the 
Mixer.
3.Click the Start button on the Transport panel and lis-
ten to your mix.4.Move the faders for each track so that you can hear all 
of the mix the way you like it.
5.If for any reason you need to get the fader back to 0dB 
(the default setting), you can [Ctrl]/[Command]-click di-
rectly in the fader area.
6.You can also change the fader by double-clicking in 
the “Channel Level” area and entering the level manually.
7.Be careful when it comes to how loud you raise the 
faders. Make sure you keep levels at a good volume so 
that they are as loud as possible without clipping. You will 
always know when you are clipping: when the “CLIP” indi-
cator lights up on the output channel. If it does, lower your 
levels and click on “CLIP”. This will reset the warning light.
That’s it for setting the levels. Let’s look at pan next.
!Load the project called “Mixing 1” found in the “Tuto-
rial 6” folder.
Channel metersChannel fader
Channel Level Peak Meter Value 
						

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Tutorial 6: Mixing and effects
Setting pan
1.Setting the pan for each track moves its position in the 
stereo mix. It will either keep the signal balanced in the 
middle of the left and right speaker, lean to the left or lean 
to the right or be completely in the left or right speaker.
2.Right-clicking in the panner for certain track types pre-
sents you with three different types of pan options.
The different pan options are described in detail in the chapter “The 
Mixer” in the Operation Manual.
To get the panner back to the middle (the default posi-
tion), [Ctrl]/[Command]-click anywhere in the panner area.
3.Let’s pan our two guitars slightly left and slightly right. 
This will spread them out a bit.4.Keep the “Drums” track in the middle but let’s move 
“Loop 1” a bit to the left and “Loop 2” a bit to the right.
This will give our rhythm section a larger, more spacious sound.
That’s it for pan, let’s move on to Mute and Solo.
Mute and solo
For each track there is an “M” for mute and “S” for solo 
button. Mute will prevent you from hearing the track and 
solo will only play that track or tracks which have “S” high-
lighted.
You can have several tracks muted or soloed at a time.
When you solo a track, the other tracks become muted.
!Load the project called “Mixing 2” found in the “Tuto-
rial 6” folder.
Panner
Pan amount
Right click the pan area to open the pan mode pop-up menu.
!Load the project called “Mixing 3” found in the “Tuto-
rial 6” folder.
Solo
Mute