Steinberg Cubase 8 Manual

							Metering
Loudness
371
5)True Peak
Allows you to specify a reference value and a tolerance value for the true peak 
level. If higher values are detected, the clipping indicator in the loudness 
meter turns red.
6)Switch between LUFS and LU
Allows you to switch the meter scale between LUFS (absolute values) and LU 
(relative values).
7)Switch between EBU +9 Scale and EBU +18 Scale
Allows you to switch the meter scale between EBU +9 and EBU +18.
8)Reset on Start
Activate this to reset all values on playback start. 
						

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Audio Effects
Cubase comes with a number of effect plug-ins included. This chapter contains 
general details about how to assign, use and organize effect plug-ins. The effects 
and their parameters are described in the separate PDF document “Plug-in 
Reference”.
IMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANTIMPORTANT
This chapter describes audio effects, i. e. effects that are used to process audio, 
group, VST instrument, and ReWire channels.
Overview
Audio effects can be used as follows:
•Insert effects
These effects are inserted into the signal chain of an audio channel, which 
means that the whole channel signal passes through the effect. This makes 
inserts suitable for effects for which you do not need to mix dry and wet sound, 
e.
 g. distortion, filters or other effects that change the tonal or dynamic 
characteristics of the sound.
You can have up to eight different insert effects per channel (and the same is 
true for input and output busses – for recording with effects and master 
effects, respectively).
•Send effects
Each audio channel has eight sends, each of which can be freely routed to an 
effect (or to a chain of effects).
Send effects are practical for two reasons: you can control the balance 
between the dry (direct) and wet (processed) sound individually for each 
channel using the sends, and several different audio channels can use the 
same send effect. Send effects are handled by means of FX channel tracks.
•Offline processing (Cubase Pro only)
You can apply effects directly to individual audio events. 
						

							Audio Effects
Overview
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VST 3 Standard
The VST 3 plug-in standard offers many improvements over the previous VST 2 
standard and yet retains full backwards compatibility.
Cubase is able to run plug-ins originally developed for different platforms: you can 
use a 32-bit plug-in with the 64-bit version of Cubase under Windows
 8 64 bit and 
Mac
 OS X 10.8.
NOTE
This functionality is provided to allow you to load older projects including their 
original plug-ins on current computers. However, the plug-ins will require higher 
CPU performance when compared to their native platform. Therefore, it is 
recommended to use 64-bit versions of such plug-ins or instruments once 
available.
Smart Plug-In Processing
The VST 3 standard features smart plug-in processing, i. e., processing by a plug-in 
can be disengaged if there is no signal present. This can greatly reduce the CPU 
load, thus allowing for more effects to be used.
This is achieved by activating the “Suspend VST3 plug-in processing when no 
audio signals are received” option in the Preferences dialog (VST–Plug-ins page).
When this is activated, VST 3 plug-ins will not consume CPU power on silent 
passages, i.
 e. when no audio data runs through them.
However, be aware that this can lead to a situation where you added more plug-ins 
on “transport stop” than the system can handle on playback. Therefore, you should 
always find the passage with the largest number of events playing simultaneously 
to make sure that your system offers the required performance.
NOTE
Activating this option can increase your system performance a lot in certain 
projects, but it also makes it more unpredictable whether the project can play back 
fine on any timecode position of the project.
Side-Chain Inputs
Several VST 3 effects feature side-chain inputs. This means that the operation of 
the effect can be controlled via external signals routed to the side-chain input. The 
effect processing is still applied to the main audio signal.
RELATED LINKS
Side-Chain Input on page 388 
						

							Audio Effects
Insert Effects
374
Plug-In Delay Compensation
A plug-in effect may have some inherent delay or latency. This means that it takes a 
brief time for the plug-in to process the audio fed into it – as a result, the output 
audio will be slightly delayed. This especially applies to dynamics processors 
featuring look-ahead functionality.
Cubase provides full plug-in delay compensation throughout the entire audio path. 
All plug-in delays are compensated for, maintaining the sync and timing of all audio 
channels.
Normally, you do not have to make any settings for this. However, VST 3 dynamics 
plug-ins with look-ahead functionality have a “Live” button, allowing you to 
disengage the look-ahead to minimize latency, if they are to be used during realtime 
recording (see the separate PDF document “Plug-in Reference”).
You can also constrain the delay compensation, which is useful to avoid latency 
when recording audio or playing a VST instrument in real time.
RELATED LINKS
Constrain Delay Compensation on page 609
Tempo Sync
Plug-ins can receive timing and tempo information from the host application (in this 
case, Cubase). Typically, this is used to synchronize certain plug-in parameters 
(such as modulation rates or delay times) to the project tempo.
• This information is automatically provided to any VST plug-in (2.0 or later) that 
requests it.
You do not have to make any special settings for this.
• You set up tempo sync by specifying a base note value.
You can use straight, triplet or dotted note values (1/1 to 1/32).
Please refer to the separate PDF document “Plug-in Reference” for details about 
the included effects.
Insert Effects
As the name implies, insert effects are inserted into the audio signal path – this 
means that the audio channel data will be routed through the effect.
You can add up to eight different insert effects independently for each audio-related 
channel (audio track, group channel track, FX channel track, VST instrument 
channel or ReWire channel) or output bus. 
						

							Audio Effects
Insert Effects
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The signal passes through the effects in series from the top downwards, with the 
signal path shown below:
As you can see, the last two insert slots (for any channel) are post-EQ and 
post-fader. Post-fader slots are best suited for insert effects where you do not want 
the level to be changed after the effect, such as dithering and maximizers – both 
typically used as insert effects for output busses.
NOTE
Applying several effects on several channels may be too much for your CPU to 
handle! If you want to use the same effect with the same settings on several 
channels, it may be more efficient to set up a group channel and to apply your effect 
only once, as a single insert for this group. You can use the VST Performance 
window to keep an eye on the CPU load.
RELATED LINKS
Dithering on page 379
Routing Through Insert Effects
Insert effect settings are available in the Inserts rack of the MixConsole, the Channel 
Settings window, and the Inspector.
The examples below show the Channel Settings window, but the procedures are 
the same for all the inserts sections.
PROCEDURE
1. Bring up the Channel Settings window.
The insert slots are found on the Inserts tab. 
						

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Insert Effects
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2. Move the mouse over the first insert slot, click on the arrow symbol that is 
displayed, and select an effect from the selector.
RESULT 
The effect is loaded and automatically activated and its control panel opens. You 
can open the control panel for a loaded effect by double-clicking in the middle of 
the insert slot.
• If the effect has a dry/wet Mix parameter, you can use this to adjust the 
balance between the dry signal and the effect signal.
• To remove an effect, open the pop-up selector and select “No Effect”.
• You can add up to 8 insert effects per channel this way.
• You can reorder the effects by clicking and dragging.
• You can copy an effect into another effect slot (for the same channel or 
between channels) by holding down [Alt]/[Option] and dragging it onto 
another effect slot.
• You can open all plug-ins inserted for a particular track at once by holding 
[Ctrl]/[Command]-[Shift]-[Alt]/[Option] and clicking the edit button for that 
track in the Inspector or in the MixConsole. [Shift]-click the edit button to 
close any insert plug-ins for the track.
Deactivating vs. Bypassing
If you want to listen to the track without having it processed by a particular effect, 
but do not want to remove this effect completely from the insert slot, you can either 
deactivate or bypass it.
Deactivating means to terminate all processing, whereas bypassing means to play 
back only the unprocessed original signal – a bypassed effect is still processing in 
the background. Bypassing allows for crackle-free comparison of the original (“dry”) 
and the processed (“wet”) signal.
• To bypass an effect, click the button on the left in the insert slot.
When an effect is bypassed, the slot turns gray. 
						

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• To deactivate an effect, hold [Alt]/[Option] and click its Bypass button.
1) This effect is deactivated.
2) This effect is bypassed.
3) This effect is activated.
• To bypass all inserts for a track, click the “Bypass Inserts” button.
This button can be found on the right of the header of the Inserts section in 
the Inspector. It lights up in yellow to indicate that one or more inserts of this 
track are bypassed.
In the Channel Settings window, you can find the button on the left of the 
Inserts tab.
Effects in Multi-Channel Configurations (Cubase Pro only)
Whether an effect plug-in supports mono, stereo, or multi-channel processing 
depends on the capabilities of the corresponding plug-in.
Regardless of this, all VST 2 and VST 3 plug-ins can be inserted on tracks with a 
multi-channel configuration. Surround-capable plug-ins are applied to all speaker 
channels (or a subset of these), while mono or stereo effects can only process one 
or two channels.
For example, if you insert a plug-in on a 5.1 track, Cubase tries to apply a 5.1 
configuration to this plug-in. If the plug-in is surround capable, this is accepted. 
However, if you insert a stereo insert effect, the first speaker channels of the track 
(L and R) are routed through the effect’s available channels, and the other channels 
of the track are left unprocessed.
To apply the effect to other speaker channels, you can use the Routing Editor, which 
can be opened via the Channel Settings window.
Using the Routing Editor
You can set up the routing for the individual channels.
PROCEDURE
1. Open the Channel Settings window for the track on which the effect is 
inserted.
2. In the Inserts section, open the Routing tab.
A signal diagram is shown for each loaded insert. 
						

							Audio Effects
Insert Effects
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3. Double-click on the diagram.
The Routing Editor opens.
4. Make your settings by using the arrow buttons, the Link checkbox and by 
clicking the lines.
Routing Editor
The Routing Editor allows you to freely set up the routing for the individual channels. 
It shows the channels in the current configuration, with signals passing from top to 
bottom.
• The gray field in the middle represents the actual effect plug-in.
• The squares above represent inputs to the effect plug-in.
• The squares below represent outputs from the effect plug-in.
• A line represents a bypass connection – the audio on that speaker channel 
passes the effect without being processed. 
To break the connection, click on the line.
A broken line indicates a broken connection – the audio on that speaker 
channel will not be sent to the output at all. To create a bypass connection, 
click the broken connection.
• The upper arrow buttons allow you to change the input assignment of the 
channels.
• The lower arrow buttons allow you to change the output assignment of the 
channels.
• If you activate Link, you can move the input and output connections together. 
						

							Audio Effects
Insert Effects
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• If you move inputs or outputs independently, you create a “cross-connection”.
The audio on the Ls-Rs channels is processed in the plug-in and output on 
the L-R channels. Since the L-R channels are bypassed, this means the final 
L-R output will contain both the original L-R signals and the processed Ls-Rs 
signals.
• If a channel is bypassed (a straight line is shown through the plug-in), you can 
click on the line to break the connection.
Click again to replace the broken connection with a bypass.
• If you click Reset, the original setup is reset.
NOTE
Changes you make in this editor are audible immediately.
Adding Insert Effects to Busses
You can add insert effects to busses. The easiest way to add insert effects is the 
Channel settings window.
If you add insert effects to an input bus, the effects will become a permanent part 
of the recorded audio file.
If you add insert effects to an output bus, all audio routed to that bus is affected.
Dithering
Dithering is a method for controlling the noise produced by quantization errors in 
digital recordings. The theory behind this is that during low level passages, only a 
few bits are used to represent the signal, which leads to quantization errors and 
hence distortion.
For example, when “truncating bits”, as a result of moving from 24 to 16 bit 
resolution, quantization errors are added to an otherwise immaculate recording. By 
adding a special kind of noise at an extremely low level, the effect of these errors is 
minimized. The added noise could be perceived as a very low-level hiss under 
exacting listening conditions. However, this is hardly noticeable and much preferred 
to the distortion that otherwise occurs. 
						

							Audio Effects
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When should I use dithering?
• Consider dithering when you mix down to a lower resolution, either in realtime 
(during playback) or with the Export Audio Mixdown function.
A typical example is when you mix down a project to a 16-bit stereo audio file 
for audio CD burning.
What is a “lower resolution” then? Well, Cubase uses 32-bit float resolution 
internally, which means that all integer resolutions (16
 bit, 24 bit, etc.) are lower. 
The negative effects of truncation (no dithering) are most noticeable when mixing 
down to 8
 bit, 16 bit and 20 bit format; whether to dither when mixing down to 
24
 bits is a matter of taste.
Applying Dithering
PROCEDURE
1. Open the Channel Settings window for the output channel by clicking its Edit 
button in the MixConsole.
2. Open the effect selector for slot 7 or 8.
The two last Insert effect slots (for all channels) are post-fader, which is crucial for a 
dithering plug-in. The reason is that any master gain change applied after dithering 
would bring the signal back to the internal 32
 bit float domain, rendering the dithering 
settings useless.
3. Select the included UV22HR plug-in from the selector.
4. Make sure that the plug-in is set to dither to the correct resolution.
This would be the resolution of your audio hardware (on playback) or the desired 
resolution for the mixdown file you want to create (as set in the Export Audio Mixdown 
dialog).
5. Use the other parameters in the control panel to set up the dithering to your 
liking.
RELATED LINKS
Export Audio Mixdown on page 938