Steinberg Cubase 7 User Manual

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AutomationThe Automation panel (Cubase only)
ÖThe automation mode for On/Off switches is always Auto-Latch (even if another mode 
is selected globally or for the track).
Cross-Over
The Cross-Over mode is a kind of “manual return time” option (see “Automation 
Preferences” on page 297). The Cross-Over mode can be used in situations where 
you are not satisfied with an automation curve or with the automatically applied return 
settings. Cross-Over mode allows you to perform a “manual return” to ensure smooth 
transitions between new and existing automation settings.
For Cross-Over, the punch out condition is crossing over an already existing 
automation curve after touching the parameter for a second time.
Like in Auto-Latch mode, once the automation pass begins with the first touching of 
the parameter control, automation data is written for as long as playback lasts.
When you have found the correct value setting, you can release the fader – the 
automation pass continues, with the value setting remaining the same.
Now, re-touch the fader and move it towards the original value. As soon as you cross 
the original curve, punch out occurs automatically.
Trim
Trim allows you to update data from a previous pass by adding or removing 
automation data.
ÖTrim works for channel volume and cue send level adjustments.
When enabling Trim on the Automation panel, a trim curve is positioned in the exact 
middle position of your automation track. You can use the trim curve to modify the 
original automation curve. Just drag the trim curve up or down and add automation 
events to it. These increase or decrease the values of the original automation curve, 
but allow you to preserve the original data. 
Trim data is edited like any other automation data and it is stored with the project. 
When Trim is activated, all editing and recording affects the trim curve. When you 
deactivate Trim, the original automation curve will be reset and gets active so that you 
can edit it. 
You can use Trim either in Stop or in Play mode:
•In Stop mode, you can edit the trim curve manually by clicking on it and moving it 
up or down. The original automation curve is displayed in a lighter color and its 
values are merged with the trim curve. The resulting automation curve is displayed 
in a darker color. 
Trim curve Original automation curve
Resulting automation 
curve 
						

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AutomationThe Automation panel (Cubase only)
•In Play mode, the events of the original automation curve are trimmed as the 
project cursor passes over them.
Trim in Play mode, in combination with Fill to Punch
Freeze Trim
You can freeze your trim curve automatically or manually and render all trim data into a 
single automation curve. 
To freeze your trim curve automatically, open the Freeze Trim pop-up menu in the 
Automation Settings. Select “On Pass End” to perform a freeze whenever a write 
operation is finished. Select “On Leaving Trim Mode” to freeze the trim data when 
Trim mode is switched off (globally or individually for a track).
To freeze your trim curve manually, select the corresponding option on the Freeze 
Trim pop-up menu in the Automation Settings (see 
“Automation Preferences” on page 
297). You have the following possibilities to freeze your trim data manually:
•On the automation track, click on the parameter name and select “Freeze Trim” 
from the pop-up menu to freeze this specific parameter for the track.
•On the Automation panel, open the Functions pop-up menu and select “Freeze All 
Trim Automation in Project” to freeze the trim automation for all tracks in the 
project.
•On the Automation panel, open the Functions pop-up menu and select “Freeze 
Trim Automation of Selected Tracks” to freeze the trim automation of all selected 
tracks. 
						

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AutomationThe Automation panel (Cubase only)
The Functions pop-up menu
At the top right of the Automation panel, you will find the Functions pop-up menu, 
which contains a number of global automation commands.
The following functions are available:
The Fill options
The Fill options define what happens in a specific section of your project when you 
punch out of a running automation pass.
The Fill options write one particular value across a defined section of your automation 
track – any previously created data within this section is overwritten.
The following Fill options are available:
To Punch
Let’s say you are automating the volume for a pop-song in realtime. The volume must 
be softer in the chorus section than for the verse. You do not yet know how much 
softer, but the change in volume from verse to chorus must be abrupt.
Proceed as follows:
1.Select “Touch” as automation mode and click the “To Punch” button once to 
activate it as Fill option.
The “To Punch” button is highlighted. 
2.Start playback somewhere during the verse and touch the fader at the moment of 
change from verse to chorus.
The automation pass is punched in.
FunctionDescription
Delete All Automation in 
ProjectThis removes all automation data from your project. 
Delete Automation of 
Selected TracksThis removes all automation data for the selected track(s). 
Delete Automation in 
RangeThis deletes all automation data between the left and right 
locators on all tracks. 
Freeze All Trim Automation 
in ProjectThis freezes all trim automation for all tracks in the project, 
see 
“Freeze Trim” on page 292.
Freeze Trim Automation of 
Selected TracksThis freezes all trim automation for the selected tracks, see 
“Freeze Trim” on page 292. 
						

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AutomationThe Automation panel (Cubase only)
3.Move the fader until you have found the volume setting you need in the chorus and 
release the fader to punch out.
The volume curve is set from the point of punch out back to where you punched in. 
The values written while moving the fader to find the right value are deleted, and 
the volume jumps at exactly the right moment from the value set in the verse to the 
value found for the chorus.
To Start
“To Start” is similar to the “To Punch” option, but with the following difference: When 
“To Start” is selected, punching out of automation will fill the automation track from 
where you punched out to the start of the project.
To End
Let’s assume you are automating volume for the background tracks of a two-minute 
part in your project. Rather than holding the fader for two minutes, you can proceed as 
follows: 
1.Select “Touch” as automation mode and click the “To End” button once to activate 
it as Fill option.
The “To End” button is highlighted. 
2.Start playback and touch the parameter control to punch in the automation pass.
3.Move the fader until you have found the setting you want and release the fader.
This will punch out the writing of automation data. As you let go of the fader, the 
automation curve will take the found value setting, from where you punched out to 
the end of the project.
Loop
To use the Loop option, you must first set up a loop range with the left and right 
locators. When you then select Loop, punching out will set the found value within the 
range defined by the left and right locator. 
						

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AutomationThe Automation panel (Cubase only)
Fill combinations
You can also combine the various Fill options. 
•Combining “To Punch” and “To End” will fill the automation track from the punch in 
position to the end of the project.
•Combining “To Start” and “To End” will fill the automation track from the beginning 
to the end of the project.
Feel free to experiment!
One shot vs. continuous fill
The Fill options can be used in two different ways:
•One shot: When you click one of the Fill buttons, it is highlighted, and will be 
enabled during the next automation pass.
Afterwards, the option is disabled again.
•Continuous fill: If you click a Fill button a second time, a lock symbol is displayed 
on the highlighted button, indicating that you are permanently in “Fill to X” mode 
and that the operation can be repeated as many times as you wish.
Clicking the button a third time disables the corresponding Fill option.
Drawing curves with Fill enabled
You can use the Fill options on the Automation panel in combination with the Draw 
tool. This provides you with an extremely powerful method for writing automation data 
manually:
1.Open an automation track and select the Draw tool.
2.On the Automation panel in the Fill column select “To End”.
3.Click and draw to create an automation curve. 
						

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AutomationThe Automation panel (Cubase only)
4.Release the mouse button.
At the moment of release, a final automation event is created. The automation 
curve is written from this last event through to the end of the project.
This procedure can be used with all the Fill options. 
The Suspend options
The parameters or parameter groups selected here are excluded from the reading or 
writing of automation data – giving you full manual control of these parameters. 
ÖThe “Others” options refer to all parameters not covered by Volume, Pan, Mute, EQ, 
Sends, or Inserts.
Suspend Read
Imagine you have already automated several tracks. While working on the current 
track, you want one of the other tracks to be louder, to better identify a particular 
position in your audio material. By suspending Read for the Volume parameter, you 
regain full manual control and can set the volume to the required level.
•To suspend the reading of automation data for all parameters/parameter groups, 
click the All button at the bottom of the section.
When any of the options in the Suspend Read category are enabled, clicking All 
will disable these buttons.
Suspend Write
Imagine the following situation: To help you concentrate while working on a particular 
track, you mute several other tracks. However, because write automations are active 
on these tracks, this mute state is also automated during the next automation pass – 
a classic situation in mixing.
To avoid inadvertently excluding whole tracks from your mix in this way, you can 
exclude Mute from all automation writing. Simply click Mute in the Suspend Write 
category on the Automation panel.
•To suspend the writing of automation data for all parameters/parameter groups, 
click the All button at the bottom of the Suspend Write category.
When any of the options in the Suspend Write category are enabled, clicking All 
will disable these buttons.
•When an automation pass is in progress for a particular parameter and you write-
suspend this parameter, it will punch out of the automation pass. 
						

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AutomationAutomation Preferences
The Show options
The Show options on the Automation panel always affect all tracks. Clicking these 
buttons opens the automation tracks for the corresponding parameters, e.
 g. Volume 
or Pan. This makes it easy to look at your EQ settings on several tracks, for example.
•When you click either Volume, Pan, EQ, Sends, or Inserts, this will open the 
corresponding automation track(s) for all tracks.
The automation tracks will be opened even if no automation data was recorded on 
these tracks.
•For parameter groups (i. e. Pan, EQ, Sends, and Inserts) you can step through the 
individual parameter sets by repeatedly clicking the respective button.
•When the Used Only button is enabled, clicking one of the options will show you 
only the corresponding automation tracks for which automation data has already 
been written.
•When you click Show Used, all automation tracks that contain automation data will 
be displayed.
•Hide All will hide all open automation tracks.
Automation Preferences
If you click the button in the bottom left of the Automation panel, you open the 
Automation Preferences.
The following options are available:
Automation Settings
OptionDescription
Show Data on 
TracksActivate this to show audio waveforms or MIDI events on automation 
tracks.
The events are displayed only if the “Show waveforms” option is 
enabled in the Preferences dialog (Event Display–Audio) and if “Part 
Data Mode” (Event Display–MIDI) is set to an option other than “No 
data”. 
						

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AutomationHints and further options
Hints and further options
Automation key commands
In the Key Commands dialog (opened from the File menu in Cubase), in the 
Commands section on the left, you will find an Automation category which lists all 
automation commands to which you can assign key commands.
How to assign key commands is described in detail in the chapter “Key commands” 
on page 711.
About linking and automation
•Cubase allows you to link, in the MixConsole window, various parameters between 
different channels (see 
“Linking Channels (Cubase only)” on page 201).
When automating the settings of a channel that is linked to another channel in the 
MixConsole, the parameters of the linked channel will NOT be automated.
•Cubase only: Also, in the Channel Settings window, you can make the send’s 
panorama settings follow the panorama settings displayed in the channel (by 
enabling the “Link Panners” option in the Functions Menu, see 
“Setting pan for the 
sends (Cubase only)” on page 239).
For linked panners of sends and channels, automating the channel panner will 
automate the send routing panner as well.
Continue WritingIf you activate this option, the recording of automation will not be 
blocked when locating to a new position. For example, this can be 
used to perform multiple automation passes in Cycle mode or if you 
are using the arranger functions.
If this option is deactivated and you write automation data and locate 
to another position in the project, the writing will be stopped until the 
mouse button is released or until a Stop command is received. 
Reveal Parameter 
on WriteIf you activate this option, the corresponding automation track is 
revealed on writing automation parameters. This is useful if you want 
to have a visual control of all parameters changed on writing.
Return TimeThis determines how fast the automated parameter returns to any 
previously automated value when you release the mouse button. Set 
this to a value higher than 0 to prevent sudden jumps in your 
parameter settings (which may lead to crackles).
Reduction LevelWhen punching out, this function will remove all superfluous 
automation events so that the automation curve contains only the 
events necessary to reproduce your actions.
Freeze TrimIn this pop-up menu you can specify how to freeze your trim curve.
Select “Manually” if you want to freeze your trim curve manually.
Select “On Pass End” if you want a freeze to be performed whenever 
a write operation is finished.
 
Select “On Leaving Trim Mode” if you want the trim data to freeze 
automatically when the trim mode is switched off (globally or 
individually for a track).
Option Description 
						

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AutomationM IDI controller automation
MIDI controller automation
Merging automation data
When working with Cubase, it is possible to record automation data for MIDI 
controllers in two places: as MIDI part data and as data on an automation track. 
If you have such “conflicting” automation data, you can specify separately for every 
parameter how these will be combined during playback. This is done by selecting an 
Automation Merge Mode in the track list for the automation track.
The following options are available:
ÖThis pop-up menu is only available for controllers that can be recorded both for a part 
and a track. When the pop-up menu is not available in the track list, the current 
parameter will not cause any playback conflicts.
For a full list of all the parameters with potential automation data conflicts, open the 
MIDI Controller Automation Setup dialog, see below.
The settings you make for a controller are applied to all MIDI tracks that use this 
controller.
OptionDescription
Use Global SettingsWhen this is selected, the automation track uses the “global” 
Automation Merge Mode specified in the MIDI Controller 
Automation Setup dialog, see below.
Replace 1 - Part 
RangeWhen this is selected, the part data has playback priority over the 
automation track data, i.
 e. at the left and right part borders, the 
automation mode switches abruptly from part to track automation, 
and vice versa.
Replace 2 - Last 
Value ContinuesSimilar to the above, but part automation only begins when the first 
controller event within the part is reached. At the end of the part, 
the last controller value will be kept until an automation event is 
reached on the automation track.
AverageWhen this is selected, the average values between part and track 
automation will be used.
ModulationIn this mode, the automation track curve modulates the existing part 
automation, with higher curve points emphasizing the automation 
values and lower curve points reducing the automation values even 
further. 
						

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AutomationM IDI controller automation
MIDI Controller Automation Setup settings
In the MIDI Controller Automation Setup dialog, you can specify how existing MIDI 
automation is handled on playback and where new automation data is recorded, in a 
MIDI part or as track automation.
Proceed as follows:
1.On the MIDI menu, select “CC Automation Setup…”.
A dialog opens.
2.On the “Record Destination on conflict (global)” pop-up menu, specify the record 
destination for MIDI controller data.
This determines which destination will be used if there is a “conflict”, i. e if MIDI 
controller data is received by Cubase and both the Record and the Automation Write 
buttons are enabled. 
The following options are available:
3.On the “Automation Merge Mode (global)” pop-up menu, specify the global 
Automation Merge Mode, i.
 e. the mode that will be used for all automation tracks 
with the “Use Global Settings” setting, see above.
OptionDescription
MIDI PartSelect this to record MIDI part automation.
Automation 
TrackSelect this to record the controller data on an automation track in the 
Project window.