Steinberg Cubase 6 Manual

							91
Recording
Activating recording
Activating recording, i e. performing and setting up manual 
and automatic punch in recording is identical for audio 
and MIDI. 
ÖPunching in and out on MIDI recordings with pitch-
bend or controller data (modulation wheel, sustain pedal, 
volume, etc.) may lead to strange effects (apparently 
hanging notes, constant vibrato, etc.). If this happens, you 
may need to use the Reset item on the MIDI menu (see 
“The Reset function” on page 104).
Manually
You activate recording by clicking the Record button on 
the Transport panel or toolbar or by using the correspond
-
ing key command (by default [*] on the numeric keypad).
Recording can be activated in Stop mode (from the current 
cursor position or from the left locator) or during playback:
•If you activate recording in Stop mode, and the “Start 
Record at Left Locator” option is activated on the Trans
-
port menu, recording will start from the left locator.
The pre-roll setting or the metronome count-in will be applied (see 
“About Pre-roll and Post-roll” on page 105).
•If you activate recording in Stop mode, and “Start Record 
at Left Locator” is deactivated, recording will start from the 
current project cursor position.
•If you activate recording during playback, Cubase will 
immediately enter Record mode and start recording from 
the current project cursor position.
This is known as “manual punch in”.
ÖIf you are synchronizing the Cubase transport to exter-
nal equipment (Sync is activated on the Transport panel) 
and you activate recording, the program will go into “re
-
cord ready” mode (the record button on the Transport 
panel will light up). In this case, recording will start when a 
valid timecode signal is received (or when you click the 
Play button). See the chapter 
“Synchronization” on page 
493 for more information.
Automatically
Cubase can automatically switch from playback to record-
ing at a given position. This is known as “automatic punch 
in”. A typical use for this is if you need to replace a section 
of a recording, and want to listen to what is already re
-
corded, up to the recording start position. Proceed as fol-
lows:
1.Set the left locator to the position where you want re-
cording to start.
2.Activate the Punch In button on the Transport panel.
Punch In activated
3.Activate playback from some position before the left 
locator.
When the project cursor reaches the left locator, recording is automati-cally activated.
Stopping recording
Again, this can be done automatically or manually:
•If you click the Stop button on the Transport panel (or 
use the corresponding key command, by default [0] on the 
numeric keypad), recording is deactivated and Cubase 
goes into Stop mode.
•If you click the Record button (or use the key command 
for recording, by default [*]), recording is deactivated but 
playback continues.
This is known as “manual punch out”.
•If the Punch Out button is activated on the Transport 
panel, recording will be deactivated when the project cur
-
sor reaches the right locator.
This is known as “automatic punch out”. By combining this with auto-
matic punch in, you can set up a specific section to record – again very 
useful if you want to replace a certain part of a recording (see also 
“Stop after Automatic Punch Out” on page 105).
Punch In and Out activated 
						

							92
Recording
Cycle recording
Cubase can record and play back in a cycle – a loop. You 
specify where the cycle starts and ends by setting the left 
and right locators. When the cycle is active, the selected 
section is seamlessly repeated until you hit Stop or deac
-
tivate cycle mode.
•To activate cycle mode, click the cycle button on the 
Transport panel.
Cycle activated
•To record in cycle mode, you can start recording from 
the left locator, from before the locators or from within the 
cycle, in Stop mode or during playback.
As soon as the project cursor reaches the right locator, it will jump back 
to the left locator and continue recording a new lap.
•The results of cycle recording depend on the selected 
cycle record mode and are different for audio (see 
“Re-
cording audio” on page 97) and MIDI (see “Recording 
MIDI” on page 102).
Audio recording specifics
Selecting a recording file format
The format for recorded files is set in the Project Setup di-
alog on the Project menu. There are three settings: Sam-
ple Rate, Bit Resolution, and Record File Type. While the 
sample rate is set once and for all when you start working 
on a new project, the bit resolution and file type can be 
changed at any time.
Record File Type
The Record File Type setting determines which type of 
files will be created when you record:
•If you select Broadcast Wave File or AIFF format, you 
can specify Author, Description and Reference text strings 
that will be embedded in the recorded file.
This is done on the Record–Audio–Broadcast Wave page in the Prefer-ences dialog.
Bit Resolution
The available options are 16 bit, 24 bit, and 32 bit float. 
Use the following guidelines:
•Normally, select the record format according to the bit 
resolution delivered by your audio hardware.
For example, if your audio hardware has 20 bit A/D converters (inputs), 
you may want to record at 24 bit resolution to capture the full bit resolu-
tion. On the other hand, if your hardware has 16 bit inputs, it is pointless 
to record with a higher bit resolution – this will only make the audio files 
larger, with no difference in audio quality. The exception is if you record 
with effects – see 
“Recording with effects (Cubase only)” on page 98. 
•The higher the bit resolution, the larger the files and the 
more strain is put on the disk system.
If this is an issue, you may want to lower the record format setting.
RAM requirements for recording
When recording live music performances, you will often 
simultaneously record on a large number of tracks at the 
same time.
Each track on which you record requires a certain amount 
of RAM, and the memory usage increases the longer the 
recording lasts. 
File typeDescription
Wave FileWave files have the extension “.wav” and are a common 
file format on the PC platform.
Wave 64 FileWave 64 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 for long live recordings, where the 
audio files can become huge.
Broadcast  Wave FileIn 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 FileAudio Interchange File Format, a standard defined by Ap-ple 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).
!For further information on the options in the Project 
Setup dialog, see 
“The Project Setup dialog” on 
page 54.
File type Description 
						

							93
Recording
Please consider the RAM limitation (see “RAM” on page 
22) of your operating system when setting up your project 
for recording.
For each audio channel, 2.4 MB of RAM are required for 
mixer settings, etc. One minute of audio recording with a 
sample rate of 96
 kHz on a mono track will increase mem-
ory usage by another 176 KB (Windows Task Manager, 
average).
Examples:
•Recording on a 32-bit system with 64 mono tracks at a 
sample rate of 44.1
 kHz, lasting 60 minutes.
This would require a total of 403 MB of memory – not a problem on a 
modern computer.
•Recording on a 32-bit system with 128 mono tracks at 
a sample rate of 96
 kHz, lasting 60 minutes.
This would require 1658 MB of memory – dangerously close to the 2 GB 
limit for RAM on a 32-bit Windows computer.
ÖAlso note that the maximum file size for regular Wave 
files is 2
 GB. If you want to record larger files, use the 
Waves 64 format (see 
“Record File Type” on page 92).
Setting up the track
Creating a track and selecting the channel configuration
Audio tracks can be configured as mono, stereo, or sur-
round tracks (Cubase only). This allows you to record or 
import a file containing multiple channels and treat it as 
one entity, with no need to split it up into several mono 
files, etc. The signal path for an audio track maintains its 
channel configuration all the way from the input bus, via 
EQ, level and other Mixer settings to the output bus.
You specify the channel configuration for a track when you 
create it:
1.Select “Add Audio Track” from the track list context 
menu or the Project menu (or, if an audio track is already 
selected, double-click in an empty area of the track list).
A dialog opens with a channel configuration pop-up menu.
2.Select the desired format from the pop-up menu.
In Cubase Artist, you choose between mono and stereo. In Cubase, the 
most common formats are listed directly on the pop-up menu, with the 
remaining surround formats listed on the “More…” submenu. For a list of 
the available surround formats, see 
“Output bus configuration” on page 
219. 
•The Browse item in this dialog allows you to browse 
your disks for created track presets, which can be used as 
a basis (or template) for tracks.
This is described in detail in the chapter “Working with track presets” on 
page 331.
3.Click the Add Track button.
A track is added, set to the specified channel configuration. In the Mixer, 
a corresponding channel strip appears. You cannot change the channel 
configuration for a track.
Selecting an input bus for a track
Here we assume that you have added and set up the re-
quired input busses (see “Setting up busses” on page 26). 
Before you record, you need to specify from which input 
bus the track will record. You can do this in the Inspector or 
in the Mixer. 
•In the Inspector, you select an input bus on the Input 
Routing pop-up menu in the top section.
As described in the section “The Inspector” on page 39, the Inspector shows the settings for the selected track.
!When a recording has used up all the memory made 
available by the operating system, the computer may 
crash.
Click here to select an input bus for 
the track. 
						

							94
Recording
•In the Mixer, you select an input bus on the Input Rout-
ing pop-up menu at the top of the track’s channel strip.
If this pop-up menu is not shown, you need to open the Mixer Routing 
View by clicking the “Show Routing” button in the extended Mixer com
-
mon panel or by selecting “Show Routing View” from the Window sub-menu of the Mixer context menu. See “Configuring the Mixer” on page 
148 for more information about the Mixer.
Recording from busses (Cubase only)
You can also select an output bus, a group bus or an FX 
channel bus as an Input for your recording. 
Let’s assume you want to create a downmix of separate 
tracks, e.
 g. bass drum, hihats, snare, etc. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Set up your separate tracks as desired and add a 
group track.
2.For each of the drum tracks, open the Output Routing 
pop-up menu and select the Group track as output. 
3.Create a new audio track, open the Input Routing pop-
up menu for it and select the Group track as input for this 
audio track.
4.Record enable this audio track and start recording.
Now, the output of the group track will be recorded on the 
new track and you will get a mix of your separate tracks.
ÖYou can also select an FX channel as recording 
source. In this case, only the output of the FX channel will 
be recorded. 
For more information about the routing possibilities, see 
“Routing” on page 164.
Selecting a folder for the recorded audio files
Each Cubase project has a project folder containing 
(among other things) an “Audio” folder. By default, this is 
where recorded audio files are stored. However, you can 
select record folders independently for each audio track if 
needed.
Proceed as follows:
1.To select the same record folder for several audio 
tracks, select them by pressing [Shift] or [Ctrl]/[Com
-
mand] and clicking on them in the track list.
2.Right-click the track list for one of the tracks to bring 
up the context menu.
3.Select “Set Record Folder”.
A file dialog opens.
4.Navigate to the desired folder (or create a new folder 
with the Create button).
Tip: if you want to have separate folders for different types of material 
(speech, ambient sounds, music, etc.), you can create subfolders within 
the project’s “Audio” folder and assign different tracks to different sub
-
folders. This way, all audio files will still reside within the project folder, 
which will make managing the Project easier.
•It is possible to have different tracks record to totally dif-
ferent locations, even on different disks. However, if you 
need to move or archive the project, there is a risk of miss
-
ing some files. The solution is to use the “Prepare Archive” 
function in the Pool to gather all external files into the proj
-
ect folder first, see “Prepare Archive” on page 309.
Setting input levels
When recording digital sound, it is important to set the in-
put levels correctly – loud enough to ensure low noise and 
high audio quality, but not so loud that clipping (digital dis
-
tortion) occurs.
Clipping typically occurs in the audio hardware when a 
too loud analog signal is converted to digital in the hard
-
ware’s A/D converters. 
•It is also possible to get clipping when the signal from 
the input bus is written to a file on your hard disk. 
This is because in Cubase, you can make settings for the input bus, add-
ing EQ, effects, etc. to the signal as it is being recorded. This may raise 
the level of the signal, causing clipping in the recorded audio file.
Click here to select an input 
bus for the track. Click here to show or hide the 
input and output settings. 
						

							95
Recording
To check the level of the “unprocessed” signal coming 
into the audio hardware, you need to switch the level me
-
ters to “Meter Input”. In this mode, the input channel level 
meters will show the level of the signal at the input of the 
bus, before any adjustments such as input gain, EQ, ef
-
fects, level or pan:
1.Right-click in the Mixer window to open the context 
menu.
2.Select the Global Meter Settings submenu and make 
sure that “Meter Input” is activated.
3.Play back the audio and check the level meter for the 
input channel.
The signal should be as loud as possible without exceeding 0 dB (the 
Clipping indicator for the input bus should not light up).
The Clipping indicator
4.If necessary, adjust the input level in one of the follow-
ing ways:
•Adjust the output level of the sound source or external 
mixer.
•Use the audio hardware’s own application program to 
set the input levels (if possible).
See the documentation for the audio hardware.
•If your audio hardware supports the ASIO Control Panel 
function, it may be possible to make input level settings.
To open the ASIO control panel, open the Device Setup dialog via the De-
vices menu and, in the list to the left (below “VST Audio System”), select 
your audio card. When this is selected, you can open the Control Panel by 
clicking the Control Panel button in the settings section to the right.
The next step is to check the level of the audio being writ-
ten to a file on your hard disk. This is only necessary if you 
have made any adjustments to the input channel (level 
settings, EQ, insert effects, etc.). 
Also note the following:
•If you record in 32-bit float format, the bit resolution will 
not be reduced – which means there is no risk of clipping 
at this stage.
Also, this preserves the signal quality perfectly. Therefore, you should 
consider using 32-bit float format when you are recording with effects 
(see 
“Recording with effects (Cubase only)” on page 98).
•If you record in 16- or 24-bit format, the available head-
room is lower, which means clipping can occur if the sig-
nal is too loud. To avoid this, set the signal as described 
below.
1.Bring up the Mixer context menu, open and select 
Global Meter Settings “Meter Post-Fader”.
2.Set up the input channel, by adding EQ and/or effects.
With some effects you may want to adjust the level of the signal going 
into the effect – use the Input Gain knob for this. Note that you need to 
press [Shift] or [Alt]/[Option] to adjust the Input Gain.
Adjusting the Input Gain.
3.Play back the audio and check the level meter of the 
input channel.
The signal should be reasonably loud without exceeding 0 dB (the Clip-
ping indicator for the input bus should not light up).
4.If necessary, use the input channel fader to adjust the 
signal level.
Audio pre-record
This feature allows you to capture up to 1 minute of any in-
coming audio you play in Stop mode or during playback, 
“after the fact”. This is possible because Cubase can cap
-
ture audio input in buffer memory, even when not record-
ing. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Preferences dialog (Record–Audio page).
2.Specify a time (up to 60 seconds) in the “Audio Pre-
Record Seconds” field.
This activates the buffering of audio input, making Pre-Record possible.
3.Make sure an audio track is record-enabled and re-
ceives audio from the signal source.
4.When you have played some audio material you want 
to capture (either in Stop mode or during playback), click 
the Record button. 
						

							96
Recording
5.After a few seconds stop the recording.
An audio event is created, starting at where the cursor position was 
when you activated recording. If you were in stop mode and the cursor 
was at the beginning of the project, you may have to move the event to 
the right in the next step. If you were playing along to a project you, leave 
the event where it is.
6.Select the Arrow tool and place the cursor on the bot-
tom left edge of the event so that a double arrow appears, 
then click and drag to the left. 
Now the event is extended and the audio you played before activating re-
cord is inserted – this means that if you played along during playback, 
the captured notes will end up exactly where you played them in relation 
to the project.
Monitoring
In this context, “monitoring” means listening to the input 
signal during recording. There are three fundamentally dif
-
ferent ways to do this: via Cubase, externally (by listening 
to the signal before it reaches Cubase), or by using ASIO 
Direct Monitoring (which is a combination of both other 
methods – see below).
Monitoring via Cubase
If you monitor via Cubase, the input signal is mixed in with 
the audio playback. The advantage of this is that you can 
adjust the monitoring level and panning in the Mixer, and 
add effects and EQ to the monitor signal just as during 
playback (using the track’s channel strip – not the input 
bus!). 
The disadvantage of monitoring via Cubase is that the 
monitored signal will be delayed according to the latency 
value (which depends on your audio hardware and driv
-
ers). Therefore, monitoring via Cubase requires an audio 
hardware configuration with a low latency value. You can 
check the latency of your hardware in the Device Setup 
dialog (VST Audio System page).
ÖIf you are using plug-in effects with large inherent de-
lays, the automatic delay compensation function in Cubase 
will increase the latency. If this is a problem, you can use the 
Constrain Delay Compensation function while recording, 
see 
“Constrain Delay Compensation” on page 216.
When monitoring via Cubase, you can select one of four 
Auto Monitoring modes in the Preferences dialog (VST 
page):
•Manual
This option allows you to turn input monitoring on or off by clicking the 
Monitor button in the Inspector, the track list or in the Mixer.
•While Record Enabled
With this option, you will hear the audio source connected to the channel 
input whenever the track is record enabled.
•While Record Running
This option switches to input monitoring only during recording.
•Tapemachine Style
This option emulates standard tapemachine behavior: input monitoring in 
Stop mode and during recording, but not during playback.
•In the Preferences dialog (VST–Metering page) you can 
find the “Map Input Bus Metering to Audio Track (in Direct 
Monitoring)” option.
When Direct Monitoring is activated in the Device Setup dialog, this op-tion allows you to map the input bus metering to monitor-enabled audio 
tracks. This gives you the opportunity to watch the input levels of your 
audio tracks when working in the Project window. 
When Direct Monitoring is activated in the Device Setup 
dialog, this function works as follows:
• When “Map Input Bus Metering to Audio Track (in Direct 
Monitoring)” is activated, audio tracks show the metering sig
-
nal from the input bus they are routed to as soon as the track 
is record-enabled.
 
Note that the tracks are mirroring the input bus signal, i. e. you 
will see the same signal in both places. When using mapped 
metering, any functions (e.
 g. trimming) you apply to the audio 
track are not reflected in its meters.
• When “Map Input Bus Metering to Audio Track (in Direct 
Monitoring)” is not activated, metering works as usual. 
						

							97
Recording
External monitoring
External monitoring (listening to the input signal before it 
goes into Cubase) requires some sort of external mixer for 
mixing the audio playback with the input signal. This can 
be a stand-alone physical mixer or a mixer application for 
your audio hardware, if this has a mode in which the input 
audio is sent back out again (usually called “Thru”, “Direct 
Thru” or similar).
When using external monitoring, you cannot control the 
level of the monitor signal from within Cubase or add VST 
effects or EQ to the monitor signal. The latency value of 
the audio hardware configuration does not affect the mon
-
itor signal in this mode.
ÖIf you want to use external monitoring, you need to 
make sure that monitoring via Cubase is not activated as 
well. Select the “Manual” monitoring mode in the Prefer
-
ences dialog (VST page) and do not activate the Monitor 
buttons.
ASIO Direct Monitoring
If your audio hardware is ASIO 2.0 compatible, it may sup-
port ASIO Direct Monitoring (this feature may also be avail-
able for audio hardware with Mac OS X drivers). In this 
mode, the actual monitoring is done in the audio hardware, 
by sending the input signal back out again. However, moni
-
toring is controlled from Cubase. This means that the audio 
hardware’s direct monitoring feature can be turned on or off 
automatically by Cubase, just as when using internal moni
-
toring. 
•To activate ASIO Direct Monitoring, open the Device 
Setup dialog on the Devices menu and activate the Direct 
Monitoring checkbox on the page for your audio hardware.
If the checkbox is grayed out, your audio hardware (or its driver) does not 
support ASIO Direct Monitoring. Consult the audio hardware manufac
-
turer for details.
•When ASIO Direct Monitoring is activated, you can se-
lect a monitoring mode in the Preferences dialog (VST 
page), as when monitoring via Cubase (see 
“Monitoring 
via Cubase” on page 96).
•Depending on the audio hardware, it may also be possi-
ble to adjust the monitoring level and panning from the 
Mixer (including the Control Room section, but excluding 
the Talkback and External Return channels – Cubase 
only) by adjusting the volume faders, and the input gain 
controls and the send levels for Control Room studios.
Consult the documentation of the audio hardware if in doubt.
•VST effects and EQ cannot be applied to the monitor 
signal in this mode, since the monitor signal does not pass 
through Cubase.
•Depending on the audio hardware, there may be special 
restrictions as to which audio outputs can be used for di
-
rect monitoring.
For details on the routing of the audio hardware, see its documentation.
The latency value of the audio hardware configuration 
does not affect the monitor signal when using ASIO Direct 
Monitoring.
When using Steinberg hardware (MR816 series) in com-
bination with ASIO Direct Monitoring, monitoring will be 
virtually latency-free.
ÖIf you are using RME Audio Hammerfall DSP audio 
hardware, make sure that the pan law is set to -3
 dB in the 
card’s preferences.
Recording audio
You can record audio using any of the general recording 
methods (see 
“Basic recording methods” on page 90). 
When you finish recording, an audio file is created in the 
Audio folder within the project folder. In the Pool, an audio 
clip is created for the audio file, and an audio event that 
plays the whole clip appears on the recording track. Fi
-
nally, a waveform image is calculated for the audio event. If 
the recording was very long, this may take a while.
ÖIf the “Create Audio Images During Record” option is 
activated in the Preferences dialog (Record–Audio page), 
the waveform image will be calculated and displayed dur
-
ing the actual recording process. This realtime calculation 
uses some processing power – if your processor is slow 
or if you are working on a CPU-intensive project, consider 
deactivating this option. 
						

							98
Recording
Undoing recording
If you decide that you do not like what you just recorded, 
you can delete it by selecting Undo from the Edit menu. 
The following will happen:
• The events you just created will be removed from the Project 
window.
• The audio clips in the Pool will be moved to the Trash folder.
The recorded audio files will not be removed from the hard 
disk. However, since their corresponding clips are moved 
to the Trash folder, you can delete the files by opening the 
Pool and selecting “Empty Trash” from the Media menu, 
see 
“Deleting from the hard disk” on page 303.
About overlap and the Audio Record Modes
The Audio Record Mode setting lets you decide what 
happens to your recording and to any existing events on 
the track where you are recording. This is necessary be
-
cause you will not always record on an empty track. There 
may be situations where you record over existing events – 
especially in cycle mode. 
To select an Audio Record Mode, proceed as follows:
1.On the Transport panel, click the audio symbol in the 
upper left section.
2.Activate the desired option.
The following options are available:
3.Click anywhere outside the panel to close the Audio 
Record Mode panel. 
To learn how to create a “perfect take” by combining the 
best parts from the different cycle laps, see 
“Working with 
lanes” on page 76.
Handling overlapping audio
The basic rule for audio tracks is that each track can only 
play back a single audio event at a time. If two or more 
events overlap, you will only hear one of them: the one that 
is actually visible (e.
 g. the last lap of a cycle recording). 
If you have a track with overlapping (stacked) events/re-
gions, use one of the following methods to select the 
event/region that is played back:
•Open the context menu for the audio event in the event 
display and select the desired event or region from the “To 
Front” or “Set to Region” submenu.
The available options depend on whether you performed a linear or a cy-
cle recording and the record mode you used. When recording audio in 
cycle mode, the recorded event is divided in regions, one for each take. 
•Use the handle in the middle of a stacked event and se-
lect an entry from the pop-up menu that appears.
•Activate the “Show Lanes” button and click on the de-
sired take.
For details about lane editing, see “Working with lanes” on page 76. 
Recording with effects (Cubase only)
Normally you record the audio signals “dry” and add ef-
fects non-destructively during playback as described in 
the chapter 
“Audio effects” on page 187. However, Cu-
base also allows you to add effects (and/or EQ) directly 
while recording. This is done by adding insert effects and/
or making EQ settings for the input channel in the Mixer.
This will make the effects become part of the audio file it-
self – you cannot change the effect settings after record-
ing.
OptionDescription
Keep HistoryExisting events (or portions of events) that are over-lapped by a new recording are kept. 
Click here…
…to open the Audio Re-
cord Mode panel.
Cycle History + 
ReplaceExisting events (or portions of events) that are over-lapped by a new recording are replaced by the new 
recording.  However, if you record in cycle mode, all takes from 
the current cycle recording are kept. 
ReplaceExisting events (or portions of events) that are over-lapped by a new recording are replaced by the last re-corded take.
Option Description 
						

							99
Recording
About the record format
When you record with effects, consider setting the bit res-
olution to 32 Bit Float. This is done in the Project Setup 
dialog opened via the Project menu. Note that this is not 
required in any way – you can also record with effects in 
24 or 16
 Bit format. However, there are two advantages to 
the 32 Bit Float format:
•You do not risk clipping (digital distortion) in the re-
corded files.
This can be avoided with 24 or 16 Bit recording as well, but requires 
more care with the levels.
•Cubase processes audio internally in 32 Bit Float for-
mat – recording in the same format means the audio qual-
ity will be kept absolutely pristine.
The reason is that the effect processing in the input channel (as well as any 
level or EQ settings you make there) is done in 32 Bit Float format. If you 
record at 16 or 24 Bit, the audio will be converted to this lower resolution 
when it is written to file – with possible signal degradation as a result.
ÖIt does not matter at which actual resolution your au-
dio hardware works. Even if the signal from the audio 
hardware is in 16 Bit resolution, the signal will be 32 Bit 
Float after the effects are added in the input channel.
An example
This example shows how to apply the “SoftClipper” effect 
while recording. The principle is the same for all effects (or 
combinations of effects).
1.Set up an audio track for recording and select the de-
sired input bus.
For best results, also activate monitoring as this allows you to hear and 
try out your settings before actually recording. See “Monitoring via Cu-
base” on page 96 for a description of monitoring via Cubase.
2.Open the Mixer and make sure that the full extended 
view is shown.
To show the extended Mixer view, either click the arrow icon (“Show Ex-tended Mixer”) in the Common Panel, select “Show Extended View” from 
the Window submenu of the Mixer context menu or use a key command 
(this can be set in the Key Commands dialog, see 
“Setting up key com-mands” on page 542).
3.Locate the input channel (bus) from which you record.
If the input channels are hidden, click on the Show/Hide Input Channels 
button to the left.
4.Check the input level (of the signal coming into the au-
dio hardware) as described in the section “Setting input 
levels” on page 94 and adjust the level of the source audio 
if necessary.
5.Pull down the View Options pop-up menu for the input 
channel and select “Inserts”.
The View Options pop-up menu is opened by clicking the arrow button 
between the fader panel and the extended panel.
Now the extended panel for the input channel shows the 
insert slots.
6.Click on an insert slot and select an effect from the 
context menu.
As you see, the included effects are sorted into submenus – you will find 
the SoftClipper effect on the “Distortion” submenu.
The effect is loaded and activated and its control panel is 
automatically opened.
7.Adjust the effect parameters to your liking.
For detailed information on the Effect parameters, see the separate PDF 
document “Plug-in Reference”.
8.When the effect is set up as desired, you can check 
the level of the input channel by setting the Meters to 
post-fader (see 
“Setting input levels” on page 94). 
Use the input channel fader to adjust the level if needed. 
						

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Recording
9.Activate recording.
10.When you are finished, you can play back the re-
corded audio track. 
As you can hear, the effect you applied is now a part of the actual audio file.
11.If you do not want to record more with the same plug-
in, deactivate it by clicking in the insert slot and selecting 
“No Effect”.
Recovery of audio recordings after system 
failure
Normally, when a computer crashes, all changes made to 
your current project since you last saved it will be lost. 
Usually, there is no quick and easy way to recover your 
work.
With Cubase, when your system crashes while you are re-
cording (because of a power cut or other mishap), you will 
find that your recording is still available, from the moment 
when you started recording to the time when your com
-
puter crashed.
When you experience a computer crash during a record-
ing, simply relaunch the system and check the project re-
cord folder (by default this is the Audio subfolder inside 
the project folder). It should contain the audio file you 
were recording at the time of the crash.
MIDI recording specifics
Activating MIDI Thru
Normally, when working with MIDI, you will have MIDI Thru 
activated in Cubase, and Local Off selected in your MIDI 
instruments. In this mode, everything you play during re
-
cording will be “echoed” back out again on the MIDI out-
put and channel selected for the recording track.
1.Make sure that the “MIDI Thru Active” option is acti-
vated in the Preferences dialog (MIDI page).
2.Record enable the tracks on which you want to re-
cord.
Now, incoming MIDI is “echoed” back out again for all record-enabled 
MIDI tracks. 
ÖIf you just want to use the Thru function for a MIDI 
track without recording, activate the monitor button for the 
track instead. This is useful, for instance, if you want to try 
out different sounds or play a VST instrument in realtime 
without recording your playing.
Setting MIDI channel, input, and output
Setting the MIDI channel in the instrument
Most MIDI synthesizers can play several sounds at the 
same time, each on a different MIDI channel. This is the 
key to playing back several sounds (bass, piano, etc.) from 
the same instrument. Some devices (such as General 
MIDI compatible sound modules) always receive on all 16 
MIDI channels. If you have such an instrument, there is no 
specific setting you need to make in the instrument. On 
other instruments, you will have to use the front panel con
-
trols to set up a number of “Parts”, “Timbres” or similar so 
that they receive on one MIDI channel each. See the man
-
ual that came with your instrument for more information.
!This feature does not constitute an “overall” guaran-
tee by Steinberg. While the program itself was im-
proved in such a way that audio recordings can be 
recovered after a system failure, it is always possible 
that a computer crash, power cut, etc. might have 
damaged another component of the computer, mak
-
ing it impossible to save or recover any of the data.
!Please do not try to actively bring about this kind of 
situation to test this feature. Although the internal 
program processes have been improved to cope 
with such situations, Steinberg cannot guarantee 
that other parts of the computer are not damaged as 
a consequence.
Record Enable 
buttonMonitor 
button