Audio Integration

Using Audio Integration you can integrate external devices into your recording software. The external devices could be an external effect or even an external synthesizer.

We will show in 2 different examples how the integration of external effects and of external instruments work:

1.Integration of External Effects
2.Integration of External Instruments

1. Computer with Steinberg’s Cubase SX 3

2. Yamaha 01x

This is just one of the many possibilities of integrating external effects. The same thing could also work with a digital mixing desk like the DM 1000 or the multi-effects processor SPX 2000.

First you should setup the Studio Manager in Cubase as described in the “Total Recall” section and create a MIDI connection between the 01x and Cubase.

Then you have to setup the send and return path for the external effects.

The settings for the external effects can be found in the VST connections in the devices menu. Here you will find the reader “External Effects”. Now you click on the field “Add External Effect”. Then you can setup the number of inputs and outputs, from mono to surround. We choose a stereo setup for send and return for our example.

In the external effects window you can see in the first column the name of the effect that also could be renamed by clicking on it. In the column “audio device” you choose your audio driver – in this case ASIO mLAN. In the column device ports you setup the inputs and outputs for the effects, in this example this will be mLAN 07 - the second row is left blank (as the 01x reverb has a mono in) - for the sends and mLAN 15 and 16 for the returns. Now you have setup the audio connection between the computer and the 01x. Then you can set a delay time, whereas the latency of the driver is automatically corrected by Cubase. This delay time is for external digital effects which could create a little amount of delay and also can be corrected by Cubase by hitting the right mouse button and selecting “check user delay”. In the column “MIDI device” we choose “Studio Manager” and then “01x”.

Now the external effect has to be loaded into the VST mixer and the sends have to be set. So you can close the VST connections window and click with the right mouse button anywhere in the project window. Choose “add track” from the context menu and then “FX Channel”. Choose in the first field “Stereo” and in the second “External Effects” and our External Effect. In the VST mixer you can find the FX channel on the right side. You can rename the channel by double-clicking in the field under the fader – for example “01x Reverb”. The VST mixer should be in extended mode – clicking on the blue icon on the left bottom side of the mixer changes the size of the mixer. Then select the insert view in the FX channel by clicking on the black arrow on top of the fader. On top you should see our external effect and clicking on the edit button opens the 01x editor.

Next thing is to choose a channel that will be sent to the reverb. Choose a channel and change the view to “Sends” (click on the black arrow). Go to the first send, choose the 01x reverb and turn on the signal that should go to the reverb.

Now the 01x has to be configured. The easiest way is to use the 01x editor; this can be opened by clicking on the edit button of the insert in the FX channel. Choose channel mLAN 7 in the 01x editor. This should be the channel that receives the signal from Cubase. Choose “Selected Channel” in the windows menu of the editor. The selected channel opens and here you set Aux 3 to pre and turn the Aux 3 knob to 0 dB. The fader should be left down.

Now the signal goes to the first DSP effect, the input of the effect is mono and the output stereo. Now close the selected channel and click on “Master on the right side. Click on the select button of the “ST1” channel, the FX return. The aux 3 master fader should be turned up (channel next to the FX returns). Now in the “ST1” channel the button “bus” should be on (click on it) and “stereo” off (another click), this way we can send the signal back to Cubase without hearing the FX signal twice on the stereo out. Also the bus fader should be turned up (channel next to Aux 1 master fader). Now we have to send the signal back to Cubase. Therefore you have to do the following:

Choose “Windows” >> “Patch Editor” >> “Output Patch”. The recording bus can be found on top left, in the columns you can set the output, here you choose channel 15. Now the recording bus is send back to Cubase on channels 15 and 16.

Now changing to Cubase you not only should hear a signal with reverb on it, but also see the meters of the Cubase FX channel moving up.

It is easier to setup typical insert effects like a compressor. In this case you can load your external effect directly into the desired channel. In the 01x editor you then do not have to go via the Aux path – you can send the signal directly back to Cubase from the output of the channel (the outs of the mixer are normally pre fader, so you can leave the fader down).

When making an audio mixdown in Cubase the external effects will be calculated in realtime into the final file (see example of external instruments).

1. Computer with Steinberg’s Cubase SX

2. Yamaha MOTIF ES

As with the integration of external effects the Studio Manager should be setup for the external instrument, in this example the MOTIF ES. In this example the Multi Part Editor for the MOTIF ES should be loaded into the Studio Manager. Then the MIDI connection between the Motif and the Multi Part Editor should be setup. The settings for the MIDI Ports of the Multi Part Editor can be found in the menu “Setup” and then again “Setup.”

Then you go to the „Devices“ menu, choose VST-Connections and the reader “External Instruments”. Choose “Add External Instrument” and then set the number of return ports, in this case stereo.

In the column “Audio Device” you setup the correct driver and then choose the inputs to which the MOTIF ES is connected in the “Device Port” column. You can setup a delay time in the “Delay” column if you know the offset between your audio recordings and the MIDI instruments. The latency of the audio driver is compensated automatically by Cubase. In the column “Return Gain” you can lower the input coming from the MOTIF, in this case we leave it on 0 dB. Then choose in the column “MIDI Device” the MOTIF ES from the Studio Manager section.

After that you can close the VST Connections window and go to device menu and choose VST Instruments. The VST Instrument Rack of Cubase opens. You can open a VST Instrument by clicking on one of the slots, in this example we go to “External Instruments” and then “MOTIF ES”. The Multi Part Editor of the MOTIF ES opens and at the same time also VST Instrument tracks for the MOTIF ES can be found in the Cubase project window. The MOTIF ES channels in Cubase monitor the sound coming from the MOTIF directly. Pressing a key on the MOTIF should light up the LEDs of the channel and you should hear a sound.

Now the MOTIF ES is integrated directly in the Cubase project just like a VST instrument, with the sound still coming from the synthesizer.

But there is even more integration: Normally you make an Audio Export in Cubase after finishing the mix of a project. In the “File” menu of Cubase you will find the Export function. In this example the sounds coming from the MOTIF ES get automatically recorded into the resulting export file. In this case Cubase does a real-time mixdown. So you do not have to bounce your MIDI files first before creating your audio mixdown like it was in the past!