Steinberg Cubase 6 Manual

101
Recording
Naming MIDI ports in Cubase
MIDI inputs and outputs are often displayed with unneces-
sarily long and complicated names. However, you can re-
name your MIDI ports to more descriptive names:
1.Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu.
2.Select the MIDI Port Setup item in the Device list.
The available MIDI inputs and outputs are listed. Under Windows, which 
device to choose depends on your system.
3.To change the name of a MIDI port, click in the “Show 
As” column and type in a...

102
Recording
Selecting a sound
You can select sounds from within Cubase by instructing 
the program to send Program Change and Bank Select 
messages to your MIDI device. This is done using the 
“Patch Selector” and “Bank Selector” fields in the Inspec
-
tor or track list.
Program Change messages give access to 128 different 
program locations. If your MIDI instruments have more 
than 128 programs, Bank Select messages (set in the 
“Bank Selector” field) allow you to select different banks, 
each...

103
Recording
To learn how to create a “perfect take” by combining the 
best parts from the different cycle laps after a stacked re
-
cording, see “Comping operations” on page 77.
About the Automatic MIDI Record Quantize 
function
If Auto Quantize is activated on the Transport panel (the 
“Auto Q” button), the notes you record are automatically 
quantized according to the current Quantize settings. For 
more information about quantizing, see 
“Quantizing MIDI 
and audio” on page 108.
Recording different...

104
Recording
The Reset function
The Reset function on the MIDI menu sends out note-off 
messages and resets controllers on all MIDI channels. 
This is sometimes necessary if you experience hanging 
notes, constant vibrato, etc. when punching in and out on 
MIDI recordings with pitchbend or controller data. 
There are two other options to perform a reset:
•Cubase can automatically perform a MIDI reset on stop.
You can turn this function on or off in the Preferences dialog (MIDI page).
•Cubase can...

105
Recording
Filtering MIDI
The MIDI–MIDI Filter page in the Preferences dialog allows 
you to prevent certain MIDI messages from being recorded 
and/or “thruput” (echoed by the MIDI Thru function).
The dialog is divided into four sections:
Options and Settings
Recording-related Transport Preferences
A couple of settings in the Preferences dialog (Transport 
page) are relevant for recording. Set these according to 
your preferred method of work:
Deactivate Punch In on Stop
If this is activated, punch in...

106
Recording
An example:
1.Set the locators to where you want to start and end re-
cording.
2.Activate Punch in and Punch out on the Transport 
panel.
3.Activate the “Stop after Automatic Punch Out” option 
in the Preferences dialog (Transport page).
4.Set suitable pre-roll and post-roll times by clicking in 
the corresponding fields on the Transport panel and typ
-
ing in time values.
5.Activate pre-roll and post-roll by clicking the buttons 
next to the pre-roll and post-roll times so that they light...

107
Recording
Further configuration options for MIDI and audio clicks are 
available in the Click Outputs section:
Lock and Unlock Record
During recording it can happen that you accidentally de-
activate the record mode, e. g. by pressing [Space]. In or-
der to prevent this, you can set up a key command for this 
in the Key Commands dialog. If you use the Lock Record 
key command, the Record button will turn gray and the re
-
cord mode is locked until you use the Unlock Record key 
command or enter Stop...

9
Quantizing MIDI and audio 

109
Quantizing MIDI and audio
Introduction
What is quantizing?
Quantizing is a function that moves recorded audio or 
MIDI, positioning it on the nearest grid position that is mu
-
sically relevant. Quantizing can be used to correct errors, 
or in a creative way. 
In Cubase, you can quantize audio and MIDI to a grid (see 
“Options for quantizing to a musical grid” on page 113) or 
to a groove (see “Options for quantizing to a groove” on 
page 113). You can also quantize multiple audio tracks...

110
Quantizing MIDI and audio
Quantize functions on the Quantize Panel
The Quantize Panel provides different settings and parame-
ters (see “The Quantize Panel” on page 111). You can 
open it by clicking on the corresponding button on the tool-
bar or by opening the Edit menu and selecting “Quantize 
Panel”. 
Quantize functions on the Transport panel (MIDI only)
On the Transport panel, you can activate the Auto Q button. 
The Auto Q function quantizes MIDI automatically on re
-
cording, according to the...