cubase fun (questions from cubase noobs for 1337 cubax0r to answer)

ableton live has an option to manually compensate for latency after some simple test...

create a general midi click with a nicer click sound that the one cubase has? then mix that down?
(this can be very handy if the emphasis moves around a bit. 'composing' click tracks can give you a good rhythmic overview of your track as well)

If you're using complete live drum tracks, chances are the tempo will drift even if the drummer was tracking to a click track. Tempo Tracks in Cubase SX allow you to slave the program's timing to the drummer's timing, but you must go measure by measure to make the corrections in the tempo track.

Thanks, that's what I ended up doing, just used some hi-hats and handclap samples.

Uh, next question, how do I set my project to play tracks at 48 khz instead of 44.1? I got my drum tracks home and couldn't figure out at first why everything was 10 bpm too slow!

The only workaround I've found is to use the resample function on all the wav files to put them to 44100. That shouldn't cause any problems, uh, right?

haven't used cubase for a while, but theres an audio manager there somewhere (under devices) have a nose around there, you'll find it.

good tip for cubase/anysequencer users is to spend a little time setting up a template file to work from. get all your shortcuts, window sets, ins and outs, effects chains and all that mumbo sorted.

when i'm writing i do this with pretty much everything. a standard 'band' set up first, then i write the song. once the song is written and arranged i come back to it later on, with a different mindset, to do the 'decorating'. its kind of like remixing a basic song form, except you have complete control over the sounds and everything. really helps me make coherent work, rather than buggering about with sounds and not really getting anything done.

i was having midi issues last night...i'm able to record midi tracks using the microkorg and then use it as a controller to alter the sounds, but i'm unable to 'record' any of those changes and the midi tracks aren't there when i bounce out mixes. i thought all i had to do was press the "W" (write) button on the track and then play it back in "read" mode. any ideas?

;_;

sorry, i got cubase for free with my usb mixer but am too lazy to figure it out

I don't use Cubase, so I'm working from my knowledge of A.N.Other DAW, but I think that the reason you can't hear sound is because you're recording MIDI data. You need a soft synth plug in on the track to turn the data into sound.

hmm, isn't there a way to use my hardware keyboard (w/midi connections) to do it? i mean, when play the track back, i hear the midi data using whatever sound the microkorg is set to. my problem is that i can't save that as an audio file or a permanent sound. does that make sense?

I've never used a MicroKorg, and I don't know what computer or audio interface you're using, but generally there needs to be a connection from the synth's audio "line out" to the computer's audio "line in". A quick look at a pic of the back of a MicroKorg tells me that the line outs are marked "Output - R L/MONO".

but the midi jacks are marked out, in, and thru (whatever that means)

http://www.musictechteacher.com/kgpics/microkorg_rear01.jpg

(xpost) but the method I just outlined gives you an audio track that you can't tweek with the MicroKorg's knobs later.

Another way would be to use the MK as a controller keyboard, record the MIDI data, then play the track and tweek the knobs while Cubase records the audio coming out of the MK.

Also, what MIDI interface are you using?

oh, recording the keyboard as an instrument is no problem, i do that on the regular. it's just recording it as midi and then tweeking the knobs and having that recorded that's a problem.

i'm running it through the firepod btw.

MIDI OUT on the Firepod needs to be connected to MIDI IN on the MK. MIDI IN on the Firepod needs to be connected to MIDI OUT on the MK. Ignore the MIDI THRU socket, it's only used if you have more than two MIDI devices to connect together.

Now this is where my total lack of knowledge of Cubase becomes a problem, so if anyone else can pich in with specifics, go ahead. But generally, what you need to do is this:

1) Set Cubase to record MIDI from the Firepod's MIDI input.

2) Play the tune on the keyboard.

3) Set Cubase to record audio from the audio input on the Firepod that the MK is connected to.

4) Play the track. The MIDI data recorded in step 2 should be being sent to the MK, causing it to play the notes. Tweek the knobs how you want while this is happening. The MK's audio should be being recorded by Cubase.

The end result will be a MIDI track and an audio track. There's another way to do this, but it needs more specific knowledge of Cubase and the MicroKorg.

thx snowball, i didn't try recording an audio track while playing back the midi. that makes sense and it would be awesome if it works, will try tonight.

it worked! thanks brah, you are a lifesaver. it did some weird things (like also recording an unplayable audio file on the MIDI track), but i ended up with a usable audio track of my knob-twiddling coming back out from the keyboard.

okay, another dumb question from me. apparently something in my setup is causing one stereo channel to be a lot quieter than the other. when i pan something hard left, it's a lot quieter than when i pan something hard right. and it's not anything to do with monitor volumes/connections, because when i export a stereo wav file (like bouncing down a track) the same thing is true. any ideas would be welcome.

this is still driving me crazy, i can't figure out why it would be happening

so if you exported a stereo file with the same levels on both channels, and went and listened to it on a different setup, the left/same channel would still be softer? which would suggest the issue was in Cubase ...

I've never touched Cubase, so this is a shot in the dark, but ... is it possible there's some behind-the-scenes master volume control with separate L/R sliders? if the left one accidentally got bumped down, that'd explain it.

(that seems unlikely with a DAW, but it's certainly happened to me before with audio interfaces that install master control panels -- you know, at some point you set inputs 1 and 2 to different levels, then later you tap into them as a stereo pair and can't figure out why they're not balanced right.)

Is this only an issue for the master out channel? Did you check the levels for each audio track? Also, as Nabisco said, check the software settings for your audio interface. In addition, check the settings for your VST Connections (under the Devices menu). You may have one channel set up as mono and the other as one part of a stereo pair.

no, it's definitely been an issue on any given individual channel. i think i fixed it though! i changed the "stereo pan law" in the project setup from -3 db to 0 db...i know it's supposed to apply to both sides evenly, but it seems like it was causing one side to be quieter (by about 3 db!) than the other.

btw thanks for responding to this guys

Ah. I'm definitely not 1337 at Cubase, and usually record stereo things as a pair of mono tracks so that I can adjust the stereo field of each instrument individually. (I'll let a real producer/engineer tell me why I'm wrong for doing it that way.)

me too...this was affecting mono tracks as well (volume discrepancies when panned to one side vs the other)

spent awhile trying to trick cubase sx into doing sidechain compression before accepting (after more googling) that it's just not possible. so now i'm faking it using volume envelopes (like putting fades on all the bass synth tracks wherever the kick drum hits), ha.

apparently cubase 4 and later has a convenient "sidechain" button...i'm thinking about springing for a new version, but it seems a little silly to do it for just this feature (and i'm a little worried about my old computer handling it as well as it does sx).

My friend wanted to jam/record with me today, so I brought over my laptop, audio interface, and external drive over to her house. Everything went fine until about midway through the second project we worked on. I got about 10 Syncrosoft license control errors in a row, and the program crashed. Everything was lost including one of the best drum loops I've ever made (made it on an instrument track using Battery 3 so I didn't even have the audio file).

I then tried to reopen the previous project, and got another 10 or so Syncrosoft errors, Cubase couldn't find any of the VST effects, and in closing the project I got a few more Syncrosoft errors. IDK why this happened: I have a paid-for, registered copy and the dongle was plugged in the entire time. Same setup as always: Cubase and Syncrosoft on the main drive; project files, VSTis, and sample libraries on a partition on my external.

I'm going to try to back up all my project and audio files, wipe all versions of Cubase, and reinstall tomorrow. Hopefully it works, otherwise I'm going Ableton in the future. Copy-protection needn't fuck with paying customers like this.

…so I brought over my laptop, audio interface, and external drive over to her house.

or you could buy a portastudio

i've been reading the cubase 5 manual before falling asleep at night. it's very soothing.

xp

portastudio isn't very good at midi sequencing and hosting vstis

use em together, best of both worlds. i never fail to be impressed by how good a decent portastudio can sound, but i wouldn't try to do anything but track and maybe eq a bit on them

yeah, we ended up getting some stuff onto her Korg D3200 that day (but not that drum loop)

Cubase 6 is coming out this month. Jordan, you may want to check if you qualify for the grace-period update.

apparently i do, thanks! kind of sick of upgrades atm and it doesn't look like the new features are especially relevant to my interests, but i might as well take advantage, i guess?

btw, after some amount of pain i've finally got everything set up and working with my old soundcard/interface and midi controller. now i'm just learning how to deal with the things that i've managed to avoid so far, midi and synthesis.