Steinberg Cubase 6 Manual

							171
The Mixer 
						

							15
Control Room (Cubase only) 
						

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Control Room (Cubase only)
Virtual Control Room – The concept
The concept behind the Control Room features in Cubase 
is to divide the studio environment into the performing area 
(studio) and the engineer/producer area (control room) 
common to traditional studios. Previously, an analog con
-
sole or some method of speaker control and monitor rout-
ing was necessary to provide this functionality to the DAW 
environment.
With its Control Room Mixer and Control Room Overview 
features, Cubase provides all the functionality of the ana
-
log console’s monitoring section, along with many more 
features, in a virtual, VST-based audio environment where 
flexibility and instant recall are expected.
Control Room features
The following features are available for the Control Room 
Mixer:
• Support for up to four sets of monitors with various speaker 
configurations from mono up to 6.0 Music or Cine speaker 
systems.
• Dedicated Headphone output.
• Support for up to four discrete cue mix outputs called “Studios”.
• Dedicated Talkback channel with flexible routing and auto-
matic record defeat.
• Support for up to six external inputs with configurations up to 
6.0 surround.
• Click track routing and level control to all Control Room out-
puts.
• Flexible Listen bus options with the Listen Dim setting that 
allows listen-enabled tracks to be heard in context with the 
whole mix.
• Listen bus enabling on both Control Room and Headphone 
outputs.
• User-definable downmix settings using the MixConvert plug-in 
for all speaker configurations.
• Individual speaker soloing for all speaker configurations.
• Multiple inserts on each Control Room channel for metering 
and surround decoding among other possibilities.
• Monitor Dim function with adjustable level.
• User-defined Calibrated Monitor level for postproduction mix-
ing in a calibrated environment.
• Adjustable Input Gain and Input Phase on all external inputs 
and Speaker outputs.
• Full-sized meters on every Control Room channel.
• Support for up to four aux sends (Studio Sends) for creation 
of discrete cue mixes for performers. Each Studio output has 
its own cue mix.
• The ability to disable the Control Room Section when working 
with an external monitoring solution or console.
Control Room operations
In traditional analog studios, the control room section of 
the console contained the most used set of controls in the 
whole studio.
The need to constantly be able to switch monitoring 
sources, adjust the volume of monitors and route various 
cue mixes and other sources to headphone systems is the 
norm in most sessions. Meeting the needs of several per
-
formers in the studio plus a producer and the engineer be-
comes a constant task that requires flexibility and ease of 
operation. Communication between everyone must be 
flawlessly clear without intruding on the creativity of 
performers.
The Cubase Control Room Mixer is designed to fill those 
needs with a simple yet highly flexible solution. The virtual 
mixing environment of VST is the ideal solution to the var
-
ied needs of a control room matrix. With a virtual mixer, a 
high degree of customization and precise settings are 
possible with the ability to completely recall these settings 
at any time.
Configuring the Control Room
The Control Room features are configured in several loca-
tions within Cubase. 
• The hardware inputs and outputs for the Control Room chan-
nels are defined in the VST Connections window on the Stu-
dio tab. Here you can also enable and disable the Control 
Room.
• The Control Room Overview gives you a visual overview of the 
Control Room channels and signal flow. It is opened via the 
Devices menu.
• The Control Room Mixer allows operation of the Control 
Room features. It can be opened from the Project window 
toolbar (Media & Mixer Windows section), the Devices menu, 
or the Studio tab in the VST Connections window.
• Some general Control Room settings can be found in the 
Preferences dialog (VST–Control Room page). 
						

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Control Room (Cubase only)
VST Connections – Studio tab
The Studio tab of the VST Connections window is where 
you configure the inputs and outputs for the Control Room 
Mixer. You can also enable or disable the Control Room 
and open the Control Room Mixer. The channel width of 
the Control Room channel is shown in the Configuration 
field on the top right of the tab. For more information about 
the VST Connections window, see the chapter 
“VST Con-
nections” on page 25. 
The Studio tab of the VST Connections window showing several Con-
trol Room channels
ÖBy default, one stereo Monitor channel is created after 
installing Cubase.
About the Control Room channels
There are different types of channels that you can create, 
each defining either an input or output of the Control 
Room Mixer. As more channels are created, the Control 
Room Mixer expands to display controls for each channel.
Of all Control Room channels only Monitor channels can 
share hardware inputs or outputs with another bus or chan
-
nel, as defined in the VST Connections window (see “Add-
ing input and output busses” on page 28). As you create 
connections for each Monitor channel, those device ports 
that have already been used for other busses or channels 
are shown in red on the Device Port pop-up menu. If you 
select a port marked in red, the previous connection of this 
port is lost.
ÖIn order to avoid confusion due to suddenly missing 
port connections on other tabs, you may want to set all the 
outputs to “Not Assigned” while the Control Room is be
-
ing set up.
Monitors
Each Monitor channel is a set of outputs that are con-
nected to monitor speakers in the Control Room. Up to 
four Monitor channels can be created for the different sets 
of speakers in a studio. Monitor channels can be config
-
ured for a mono, stereo or up to 6.0 surround speaker 
configuration. 
The Control Room Mixer allows you to switch speakers 
easily. Each set of Monitors can have its own custom 
downmix settings, input gain and input phase adjust
-
ments.
Phones
The Phones channel is used by the engineer in the control 
room for checking cue mixes and as another option for lis
-
tening to the mix or external inputs on a pair of headphones. 
Furthermore, the Phones channel can be used for preview
-
ing, see “Control Room preferences” on page 182. It is not 
intended for cue mixes that performers use while recording.
Studios
Studio channels are intended for sending cue mixes to 
performers in the studio during recording. They have talk
-
back and click functions and can monitor the main mix, ex-
ternal inputs or a dedicated cue mix. Up to four Studios 
can be created allowing four discrete cue mixes for per
-
formers.
For example, if you have two available headphone amplifi-
ers for performers to use, create two Studio channels, one 
for each headphone mix.
External inputs
External inputs are used for monitoring external devices 
such as CD players, multi-channel recorders or any other 
audio source. Up to six external inputs can be created with 
various configurations from mono up to 6.0 surround. 
ÖIf you select external inputs as input source of an audio 
channel, you can record them. In this case, you will not 
need to assign the device ports to the input channel (see 
“Routing” on page 164).
Click here to open the Con-
trol Room Mixer.The width of the 
Control Room channel
!The Phones channel is stereo only.
!Studio channels can either be mono or stereo. 
						

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Control Room (Cubase only)
Talkback
The Talkback is a mono input used for a communications 
system between the control room and performers in the 
studio. Only one mono Talkback channel is available.
The Talkback channel can be routed to each Studio chan-
nel with variable levels in order to optimize communication 
between the control room and performers.
ÖAdditionally, the Talkback is available as a possible in-
put source for audio tracks. You can record from the Talk-
back just like any other input.
Creating a Control Room channel
To create a new channel for the Control Room, proceed 
as follows:
1.Open the Studio tab of the VST Connections window 
and click the Add Channel button.
A pop-up menu lists all available channel types along with how many of 
each type are available.
ÖInstead of clicking the Add Channel button you can also 
select a channel type on the context menu of the Studio 
tab.
2.Select the type of channel you wish to create. 
For most channel types a dialog opens, allowing you to choose the con-
figuration of the channel (stereo, 5.1, etc.).
The new channel is displayed in the VST Connections win-
dow. For each audio path an audio device must be se-
lected. You can assign device ports to channels in the 
same fashion as assigning any VST connection.
Exclusive assignment of Monitor channels
Even though the port assignment to the Control Room 
channels is generally exclusive, it might be useful to create 
Monitor channels that share device ports with each other 
as well as inputs and outputs. This can be helpful if you 
use the same speakers as a stereo pair and also as the left 
and right channels of a surround speaker configuration. 
Switching between monitors that share device ports will 
be seamless, providing any downmix of multi-channel au
-
dio to stereo if needed. Only one monitor set can be active 
at a time.
If your scenario does not require you to assign ports to 
several Monitor channels, it is recommended to activate 
the “Exclusive Device Ports for Monitor Channels” option 
in the Preferences dialog (VST–Control Room page). This 
way you can make sure that you do not accidentally assign 
ports to inputs/outputs and Monitor channels at the same 
time.
ÖThe state of the “Exclusive Device Ports for Monitor 
Channels” preference is saved together with the Control 
Room presets. Therefore, if you recall a preset, your current 
setting in the Preferences dialog might be overwritten.
Outputs – Main Mix
For the Control Room to function correctly, the Main Mix 
on the Outputs tab must be assigned to the set of outputs 
that actually contains your final mix signal. If you only have 
one output bus, it will be the Main Mix by default.
If you have more than one output bus defined, you can 
choose another bus as Main Mix by right-clicking on the 
name of the output and selecting “Set ‘Out’ as Main Mix”. 
The Main Mix is marked by a small speaker icon to the left 
of its name.
Selecting an output bus as Main Mix in the VST Connections window.
Outputs other than the Main Mix are not routed through the 
Control Room Mixer.
!Inserts are available on the Talkback and all other 
Control Room channels. A compressor/limiter can 
be inserted on the Talkback channel to ensure that 
erratic levels do not bother performers and clear 
communication with everyone is possible.
!Note that the port assignments for all Control Room 
channels except Monitor channels are exclusive, 
meaning that you cannot assign the same device 
port to any bus or channel and a Control Room chan
-
nel at the same time.  
						

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Control Room (Cubase only)
Output click enabling
There may be a situation when you want the click to be 
routed always to a specific output bus, regardless of the 
actual Control Room settings, or indeed when the Control 
Room is disabled. In these cases, enable the click on spe
-
cific outputs using the Click column on the Outputs tab in 
the VST Connections window.
The Outputs tab showing the Main Mix and a second surround output 
that is click enabled. 
Disabling the Control Room
Once you have created all the channels for your studio 
configuration, the Control Room functions are available for 
use. If you need to use Cubase without the Control Room 
functions, you can simply disable the Control Room using 
the On/Off button on the Studio tab of the VST Connec
-
tions window. Any channels you have created are saved, 
and when you enable the Control Room again, that config
-
uration is reloaded.
You can also create presets for the Control Room config-
uration in the same manner as for inputs and outputs, see 
“Presets” on page 29.
!The click will only be heard in outputs that are as-
signed to device ports. Note that the click can also 
be routed to device ports using the Control Room 
features.
!Be aware that some audio interfaces allow very flexi-
ble routing within the hardware itself. Certain routing 
configurations can cause overloads and possible 
damage to speaker equipment. Consult the hard-
ware documentation for further information.
Click here to disable the Control Room. 
						

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Control Room (Cubase only)
The Control Room Mixer
The Control Room Mixer is where you can access all the features of the Control Room. It is designed to display informa-
tion and controls only for the channels you have defined in the VST Connections window. For example, if you have not 
defined any Studio channels, they will not appear in the Control Room Mixer. If you want to see all possible channels, use 
the Control Room Overview instead (see 
“The Control Room Overview” on page 185).
1.2.
3. 4. 5. 6.
7.
8.
9.
6.
11. 10.
12.
13.
14.
15.
6.16.
17.18. 19.
26.
20. 21.6. 22. 23. 24. 25.
27. 
						

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Control Room (Cubase only)
The Control Room Mixer has a variety of controls, some 
that are similar to the Project Mixer and some that are 
unique to Control Room operations. In the following each 
control is briefly described:
1.Input Phase
Each external input and Monitor speaker output has an Input Phase re-versal switch. When lit, all audio paths within the channel have their 
phase reversed.
2.Input Gain
Each external input, Monitor speaker output and the Talkback input has 
an Input Gain control. When an external input or Monitor becomes ac-
tive, the Gain settings are recalled.
3.Channel inserts
Each channel in the Control Room Mixer has inserts available. For de-
tailed information about inserts in the Control Room Mixer, see “Config-
uring the Control Room Mixer” on page 180.
4.Channel configuration
This displays the current configuration of audio paths in the channel, e. g. 
Stereo or 5.1.
5.Channel labels
This displays the name of the channel as defined in the VST Connections 
window.
6.Expansion controls
There are several arrow buttons that open and close additional panels of 
the Control Room Mixer. By default, the extended panels are hidden. For 
more information, see 
“Configuring the Control Room Mixer” on page 180.
7.Control Room and Headphone input selectors
These buttons allow you to select input sources for the Control Room 
and Headphone channels. The choices are External Input, Monitor Mix, or 
any one of the four Studio channels.
8.Use Reference Level
When you click this button, the Control Room level is set to the reference 
level set in the Preferences dialog, e.
 g. a level for calibrated mixing envi-
ronments such as film dubbing stages. Press [Alt]/[Option] and click this 
button to set the Reference Level setting in the Preferences dialog to the 
current Control Room level.
9.Show Meters/Inserts button
This allows you to switch between the display of meters and inserts for 
the extended Mixer view.
10.Listen Bus AFL/PFL
This button determines whether the signal of a listen-enabled channel is 
routed to the Control Room channel after applying the fader and pan set
-
tings (AFL) or before (PFL) (see “Listen mode (Cubase only)” on page 156).
11.Listen Activate/Deactivate All Listen
When lit, this indicates that one or more channels in the Project Mixer are 
listen-enabled. Clicking this button deactivates Listen for all channels.
12.Listen DIM Level
This gain control adjusts the volume of the Main Mix when channels have 
been put in Listen mode. This allows you to keep listen-enabled channels 
in context with the Main Mix. If the Listen DIM level is set to minus infinity, 
you will only hear the listen-enabled channels. Any other setting leaves 
the Main Mix at a lower level.
13.DIM Signal
This turns the Control Room level down by a preset amount (the default 
setting is -30
 dB). This allows a quick reduction in monitor volume with-
out disturbing the current monitor level. Clicking on the DIM button again 
returns the monitor level to the previous setting. 
The default value can be changed by adjusting the “Main Dim Volume” 
setting in the Preferences dialog (VST–Control Room page).
14.Activate Talkback
Click the TALK button to turn on the Talkback system, allowing commu-
nication between the control room and performers in the studio. There 
are two modes of operation: momentary mode used by clicking and hold-
ing the Talk button, and latch mode where clicking once turns the Talk-
back on until you click it again to turn it off. 
15.Talkback DIM Level
When the Talkback is enabled, this control allows you to determine how 
much the output of all the channels in the Control Room Mixer is reduced. 
This prevents unwanted feedback. If the Talkback DIM level is set to 0
 dB, 
no change occurs in the Control Room channels.
16.Cycle Downmix Preset Selection
The Control Room allows four different speaker downmix settings for au-
ditioning with various speaker configurations. Clicking this button cycles 
through the four downmix presets. Various icons appear to show which 
preset is active.
17.Cycle Monitor Selection
Pressing this button changes the Monitor selection to the next available 
set. As Monitors are changed, so are the downmix presets, Monitor inserts, 
Input Gain, and Input Phase controls associated with that Monitor set.
18.Listen Enable for Output
This activates the Listen bus function for either the Control Room or 
Headphone output. If this is not enabled, the Listen bus will not be 
routed to that channel.
19.Listen Level for Output
This level adjustment determines how loud Listen bus signals are when 
routed to the Control Room or Headphone output. Clicking on the num
-ber pops up a fader control for adjustment.
20.Activate channel buttons
These buttons turn each channel’s output on or off. When lit, the channel 
is on. 
						

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Control Room (Cubase only)
21.Channel labels
These labels reflect the names entered in the VST Connections window.
22.Talkback Enable to Studio and talkback amount
In order for Talkback signals to be routed to a Studio, the Talkback En-
able to Studio button must be lit. Clicking on it turns it on or off. When 
Talkback Enable is deactivated, the Talkback DIM setting has no effect 
on this output.
 
The value below the button controls the amount of Talkback signal fed to 
the output of each Studio.
23.Metronome Level and Pan
The Level and Pan controls determine how the Metronome will be heard 
in each channel. These controls are independent for each channel.
24.Activate Metronome Click
This determines whether click signals are sent to each channel. When lit, 
click signals will be heard in that output.
25.Channel Level control
This is the main volume for each Control Room output. These faders do 
not affect recording input levels or the Main Mix level for exporting mix
-
downs.
26.Studio input selectors
For Studio channels, the input choices are External Input, Aux (from Stu-
dio Sends), or Monitor Mix.
27.Signal Presence Indicators
In the Preferences dialog, there is an option to display these Signal Pres-
ence Indicators as a substitute for the full size meters.
28.External input selectors
Up to six external inputs are available. These buttons determine which ex-
ternal input is currently being used. The names for the external inputs are 
displayed here as they were entered in the VST Connections window.
The Monitor controls in the Control Room Mixer
29.Individual Speaker Solos
Each speaker icon is a solo button for that channel. [Shift]-clicking a 
speaker will solo all the speakers in that row (front or rear). [Ctrl]/[Com
-
mand]-clicking on a speaker that is already soloed will mute that speaker 
and solo all other channels. 
Use the speaker solos to test your multi-channel speaker system and en-
sure that the proper channels are routed to each speaker.
30.LFE Solo
The “+” icon solos the LFE channel.
31.Solo Left and Right/Front/Rear Channels
These buttons solo the left and right channels, the front channels, or the 
rear channels (from left to right).
32.Cancel Speaker Solo
This button defeats all speaker solos, resetting them to normal playback.
33.Listen to Rear Channels on Front Monitors
This button solos the rear channels and routes them to the front speakers.
34.Listen to Solo Channels on Center Monitor
When this button is enabled, all speakers that are soloed will be heard in 
the center channel if there is one in the configuration. If not (as with stereo) 
the soloed channel will be heard equally in both left and right speakers.
35.Open MixConvert Settings
Clicking on this tab opens the MixConvert plug-in used to downmix 
multi-channel signals for monitoring. With this plug-in you can modify the 
settings for each downmix preset.
 
Note that you can also double-click in the center of the speaker solo area 
to open the MixConvert plug-in.
28.
29.
30.
33. 31.
34.
35.
37.
39. 38. 36. 32. 
						

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Control Room (Cubase only)
36.Downmix Preset Selection
With these buttons you can select the downmix preset for the current 
Monitor. Automatic configuration of the downmix settings follows a logi
-cal path. For example, if you have defined one set of 5.1 monitors and an-
other set of stereo monitors, Cubase will create a 5.1 to stereo downmix 
preset and another downmix to mono. 
37.Downmix labels
This area displays the names of the four downmix presets. You can click 
on a name to change it. A “?” appears when there is no preset defined 
for that downmix.
38.Monitor selection
With these buttons you can select the current Monitor set. Each Monitor 
has its own settings including downmix preset, solo enables, inserts, in
-put gain and input phase. These settings are automatically recalled when 
a Monitor is selected.
39.Monitor labels
This area displays up to four Monitors. The names are entered in the VST 
Connections window when you define a Monitor channel.
Configuring the Control Room Mixer
In order to display more controls in the Control Room 
Mixer, the small arrows in the lower left and right corners 
can be clicked to open or close the extended speaker 
controls on the right (“Show Right Strip”) and the External 
Input and Talkback controls on the left (“Show Left Strip”).
The arrow in the upper right corner of the Control Room 
Mixer (“Show Extended View”) extends the Mixer vertically 
to display meters and inserts. A second arrow appears 
above the inserts and meter display. Extending the Mixer 
using this arrow (“Show Routing View”) exposes the Input 
Gain and Input Phase controls, the channel configuration 
and the name of each channel. Each panel can be closed 
by clicking the corresponding down arrow.
The different Control Room Mixer panels are handled in 
the same way as the Project Mixer panels, see 
“Configur-
ing the Mixer” on page 148.
Control Room inserts and meters
In the extended view of the Control Room Mixer the me-
ters are visible. They function the same way as the ones in 
the Project Mixer.
When you click the Show Meters/Inserts button to the right 
of the meters display, the view changes to show inserts in
-
stead of meters. Alternatively, these can also be displayed 
by deactivating the Show Meters option on the Window 
submenu of the Control Room Mixer context menu.
Each Control Room channel has a set of inserts configured 
as six pre-fader and two post-fader inserts. External input 
channels only have the six pre-fader inserts and Monitor 
channels have eight inserts (post Control Room fader).
If you do not wish to see full sized meters but still want 
some indication of signal activity, activate the “Signal 
Presence Indicators” option in the Preferences dialog 
(VST–Control Room page). They will be displayed next to 
the input selection buttons and indicate signal presence 
for all inputs.
Control Room Mixer channels with active Signal Presence indicators
Inserts for external inputs
Each external input has its own set of six inserts. By click-
ing the button next to the name of an external input on the 
left of the Mixer window, the inserts associated with that 
channel are displayed in the extended view.!You can also use the Window submenu of the Con-
trol Room Mixer context menu to show/hide the dif-
ferent panels, just as in the Project Mixer.