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Cubase VST PC Power Tips

If you're a little stuck in your ways when it comes to Cubase, help

grease the wheels of production with our pro users' tips...

There are those among us who still cherish those long-lost days when the Atari ST was king. It was inexpensive, it
had built-in MIDI ports, there were no compatibility problems and, hand-in -hand with the Atari, the (arguably) most
influential piece of music software ever seen was born - Steinberg's Cubase - spawning a whole generation of
bedroom producers (although there are those who would say that a certain Mr. Mike Hunter also had a lot to do
with this).
Over the years, Steinberg's baby has grown and bloated and, in its present incarnation, become something of a
monster - a high-quality integrated MIDI and digital audio workstation. Yet it is testament to the brilliance of the
original Cubase that the user interface remains largely unchanged. Sure, there's been a few additions to cater for
the audio side of things, but if you ignore VST's audio side for a moment, you could easily imagine that you were
still plugging away with that trusty old Atari.
The thing is, because the interface is so familiar, many of us haven't bothered to read the manual (again, Mike
Hunter could have something to do with this), and the audio side of things can get somewhat convoluted. So here
we have gathered a few Cubase VST tips for your enlightenment and pleasure: enlightenment when you learn
something new; pleasure if you already know it and can give yourself a congratulatory pat on the back.
THE TIPS
Know your shortcuts
OK, so we said the same thing in last month's Pro Tools tips, but that's only because it's important if you want to
work quickly and efficiently. Pay attention to the drop-down menus and note the keyboard shortcut shown next to
the desired function. Make a conscious effort to not use the menus, and use only keyboard shortcuts to open any
editors and sub-windows.
Use expression
We all (should) know that MIDI controller #7 controls a MIDI channel's volume. Using controller #7 it is possible to
create fade-ins, dynamic effects - well, everything you'd expect to be able to do, really. But if this is how you use
volume control messages, you could be heading for trouble. Imagine you have a string pad part for which you
have entered a lot of volume control data (louder in the chorus perhaps, quieter in the verses) - see fig. 2. But as
the song develops, you find the string pad is, overall, too quiet. You're going to have to adjust all of that controller
data. The answer is to use controller #11: expression. Most synths and soundcards recognise controller #11 and
simply use it as a secondary volume controller (older equipment may not recognise controller #11, so check your
device's MIDI implementation chart if you are unsure). This means that you can use the expression controller to
create dynamics in a part, which allows the volume controller to act purely as a master level for the channel. If the
part's too quiet, turn up the volume - the expression stays the same.
A Pencil tool pointer
As with the original Atari version of Cubase, right-clicking anywhere in a main window opens the toolbox (fig. 3).
When working in the arrange window, many people neglect the pencil tool, except for the odd bit of part resizing.
But if you hold down [alt] and use the pencil to drag out a part, you will automatically create copies of your part.
Holding down [ctrl] instead will drag out ghost copies.
The audio pool
Hitting [ctrl] + [F], or selecting Pool from the Audio menu (if you must) will open the audio pool (fig. 4). Try to avoid
using numbers when naming your audio files - when creating new segments (or regions in non-Steinberg speak)
Cubase automatically appends a number to the end of the file name. If you were to create a segment from, for
example, Loop1, Cubase would name the new segment Loop12. Obviously, this will quickly cause confusion, so
stick to letters or re-name any new segments as soon as you create them.
But be warned, Cubase will make new segments all on its own as you shuffle your parts around the arrange
window. Clicking an arrow in the audio pool will show you all the available segments relating to the file. Next to the

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small speaker icon (used for auditioning the segment) a number is printed. This denotes how many times the
segment is being used. If a segment doesn't have a number next to it (or a nought in some cases) then it isn't in
use and it is safe to remove it (fig. 5). If none of the segments in an audio file are being used, then it is safe to
remove the whole file from the pool.
Selecting the file and hitting [backspace] will remove the file from the pool, but leave it on your hard drive. Hitting
[ctrl] + [backspace] will delete the file from your drive.
Saving CPU power
All of Cubase VST's audio processing is taken care of by your CPU. Selecting Performance from the Audio menu
gives you a graphic readout of how your PC is coping with the strain Cubase is placing on it (fig. 8). If the CPU
reading starts to climb towards the red, then it is time to do some bouncing.
Set the left and right markers at either end of the section of audio you want to bounce and mute any audio tracks
that you don't want to include in the bounce.
Now select Export Audio File from the file menu. Fig. 8b shows the window that will now open. Select your desired
settings, remembering that if you want to re-import the new audio file into Cubase you must leave the resolution at
16-bit and use the same sample frequency as you have already been using in your song. Check the relevant
boxes, select a path and enter a file name. Cubase will automatically place the new file in the correct place in your
track. This is also a good way to free up audio tracks, but remember to do a Save As before a bounce, in case
you need to come back to it and change it later.
System specification and setup
Steinberg, somewhat optimistically, say that Cubase VST will run on a Pentium 100, although they do recommend
the slightly swifter Pentium 166. However, if you are using plug-ins, you really need to have at least a Pentium II
266. The next consideration is RAM - how much do you need? Again, Steinberg's recommendation is 24MB and,
again, this is slightly optimistic. Each audio track has its own RAM buffer to ensure uninterrupted playback, so the
more RAM you have, the more audio tracks you can have and the more reliably they will play back. We highly
recommend installing at least 64MB and preferably 128MB, especially as Windows (95 or 98) can eat up a
staggering percentage of your system memory just by being there.
One of the causes of this is that over time, as you install all sorts of hardware and software, more and more
applications launch on startup and sit in the background - sometimes being useful, sometimes doing nothing at all.
Have a look at your System Tray (the small rectangle at the right of the Windows taskbar) and see what is running
there - hold the mouse pointer over an icon for its name to be displayed. Close down all unnecessary programs,
either by right-clicking on them and selecting exit or by hitting [ctrl]+[alt]+[del], selecting the item to be closed and
clicking End Task (fig. 9). You should always shut down any anti-virus software that is running.
When it comes to hard drives, you need the biggest and fastest one you can afford. You should also try to get a
drive that doesn't perform thermal recalibration, as this can interfere with recording and playback of audio files.
These days, there's very little speed difference between SCSI and E-IDE hard drives, although SCSI is still
marginally quicker. If you do want to use SCSI, avoid using a PCI-based SCSI card, as it can impair the operation
of your soundcard. Get a motherboard with an in-built SCSI bus instead.
If you only have one hard drive installed, you should create a partition on the disk exclusively for audio files. Better
still is to have a second hard drive. If you are using a very large drive, you should partition it into smaller sections.
This makes it easier to organise and keep track of your files, and it's a lot quicker de-fragmenting a 3GB drive than
a 13GB drive. Which brings us nicely to the next point - de -fragment your audio drive regularly using either
Windows in-built disk defragmenter (fig. 10) or a commercial package such as Norton Speedisk.
ASIO drivers
These are the applets that allow Cubase to communicate with the rest of your PC. Some soundcards have their
own dedicated ASIO drivers - if yours does, use them! From the audio menu select System. Click on the ASIO
Device drop-down menu in the Audio I/O area of the window. If there is no entry in the menu that refers to your
card then select ASIO Multimedia Driver (fig. 11). Always keep your soundcard's drivers up-to-date.
Adam

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