Before you can start sequencing, you have to make some decisions about track and channel usage. A reasonable way to allocate instruments to tracks is follows:
Each track should have its own name, and common practice is to give each track the same name as the instrument it plays.
Note that for this sequence, you are not going to be using any digital audio.
Important: If you're using Cubase SX in room 1N95 in UWE then you must follow these instructions:
Setting up Cubase with Simple Synth
We're assuming that you'll be using an inexpensive home keyboard to record and play back your sequence. We also assume that home keyboard includes the "General Midi" set of standard voices (most of them do).
If you have an older PC, then you may find that your existing sound card incorporates a midi interface and you can buy a suitable adapter from a music shop. Plug the adapter into the joystick (or game) port on your PC, and then connect the two midi leads (usually supplied as part of the adapter) to the In and Out connections on your keyboard.
However, if you have a Mac (or a PC without a midi interface), then you'll need to use an external USB device, such as a "midisport". Plug the interface into a USB port and use two midi cables to connect to your keyboard.
Whenever you plug the midi cables into your keyboard, you have a 50:50 chance of getting them the wrong way round! If your computer and keyboard don't appear to want to talk to each other, try swapping round the cables going into the In and Out keyboard connections. Provided your equipment is in good working order, swapping the connections won't damage anything.
From the earliest implementations, full versions of Cubase on the PC have required a hardware security device (popularly called a dongle). The dongle for Cubase 5 (the previous version) plugged into the parallel printer port and most users installed it once and forgot about it. The Mac version of Cubase 5 did not use a hardware dongle.
The situation has changed slightly for Cubase SX. First of all, both PC and Mac versions require an identical dongle, which is plugged into a spare USB port. On first installation of the dongle, it is necessary to go through a driver installation procedure and we assume you've already done this.
Given that the dongle uses a USB port, you may prefer not to keep it permanently installed, but to plug it in just before firing up Cubase SX. There's no need to power down the computer just to plug in or remove the dongle! Be very careful to keep the dongle in a safe place as it is very difficult to replace
Unfortunately, the dongle supplied with Cubase 5 is not compatible with Cubase SX.
If you skipped over the "Making the Connections" section and followed the instructions for setting up the keyboard in room 1N95, restart this worksheet from HERE
In this tutorial, we are assuming that you reasonably familiar with using the computer mouse, clicking and double clicking on buttons, using menus and opening and closing windows.
Although all Cubase commands can be accessed via the menu, there are a great number of keyboard shortcuts which will really speed up your work. Many of these are accessed by holding down a special key and then hitting another one. We are assuming that you're already used to this feature as it is commonly used in many well known programs.
In these worksheets, the keys you might need to press are identified as [SHIFT], [ALT] or [CONTROL]. Use the following table to identify each of these with your actual keyboard:
| Key Name | PC Keyboard | Mac Keyboard |
|---|---|---|
| [SHIFT] | shift key | shift key |
| [ALT] | "Alt" | Option/"Alt"/Twisted fork icon |
| [CONTROL] | "Ctrl" | Command/Apple icon/Four Leaf Clover icon |
If you're a Mac user, then it's really important to remember that when you see [CONTROL] you must NOT press the key marked "Control".
If you're using a laptop (Windows or Mac) then the function keys F1 to F12 have probably been defined for special operations, such as brightening the screen or adjusting the volume.
On most laptops you need to press and hold the 'Fn' key before pressing F1 to F12. This overrides the special action and ensures that the function code gets passed on to the application.
The traditional Macintosh mouse normally has ONE button which corresponds to the LEFT mouse button on a PC. This button is used for most pointing, clicking and menu selection operations in Cubase SX.
The PC mouse also has a RIGHT mouse button. In Cubase SX, pressing this button brings up a quick menu of common operations.
On the Macintosh, the equivalent of the PC's right mouse button is to press and hold down the real [CONTROL] key (not the [COMMAND] key), and then click with the mouse button.
Many options are selected by a virtual Push Button which appears on the screen. When the option is selected, the appearance of the button changes so that looks like it has been pressed. Pressing a button several times alternately selects and de-selects the option.
To select or de-select a push button option, just click on it with the (left) mouse button.
It is normally quite easy to tell if an option is selected or deselected:
sometimes the push button will appear to light up;
sometimes a tick appears (or disappears); and sometimes the words "On" or "Off" appear.
To change any number in Cubase SX, just click on it once with the (left) mouse button. The number will become highlighted and you can enter a new value from the keyboard. When you've entered the correct number, press [ENTER]. Alternatively, you can use the [UP ARROW] and [DOWN ARROW] keys to increase or decrease the number by one.
With some numbers (but not all!), resting the mouse cursor near the top or bottom of the number causes the mouse cursor to change to + or - sign. If you now click the mouse, then the number is increased or decreased by one.
Some numbers are divided into several fields ('1.2.1.78' for example). You can either change individual fields separately, or you can highlight the whole value and enter new values for all fields, separated by dots. (If you don't enter values for all the fields, then Cubase will assume a default value for the ones you miss out).
Some number values can also be set to 'Off' (which is not the same as '0'). You can set a value to Off by highlighting it and entering 'off' on the keyboard
Some values may actually be names. You can change a name by clicking on it, typing in a new name and pressing [ENTER].
Some items are changed by using a pop up menu. These are usually (but not
always) identified by the following symbol: 
To change an option controlled by a pop up menu:
From time to time, you will need to select a tool from a tool bar which is usually near the top of the window.
To select a tool, move a mouse to the appropriate tool icon in the tool bar and click. Some tools have options (indicated by an arrow head); clicking a second time will cause a menu to pop-up, allowing you to select the appropriate option.
You'll know when you've selected a tool, because the mouse cursor will change from its usual arrow shape. To use a tool, just click the mouse button at the appropriate place on the screen.
To deselect a tool, just go back to the tool box and select the normal mouse pointer.
An alternative way to select or deselect a tool is to use the context menu as follows:
Finally, you may select tools by pressing the numeric keys [1], [2], etc on the main keyboard (not the numeric pad). Pressing [1] selects the first tool option, [2] selects the second tool option, and so on.
You should be used to using draw and scroll bars as most windows based programs use them. However, in addition to the usual scroll bars, Cubase also provides a second pair of sliders which change the horizontal and vertical magnification of a window.
To change the magnification, drag the slider to a new position whilst holding down the mouse button . When you release the mouse button, the window will be redrawn at the new magnification. You can control the horizontal and vertical magnification separately.
We've called this step 0, rather than step 1, because it's a once-only step. And once it's done, you'll never need to do it again (unless you re-install Cubase SX). If you're working in a college, then it's quite possible that your system administrator has done it for you.
What this step does is tell Cubase that you're going to use a General Midi device. Since this is a well defined standard, Cubase knows a lot about GM devices, including the instrument names (or "patches") and the details of the drum sounds.
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
In Cubase SX, a sequence is called a "project". It is common practice to store all your cubase projects in a single directory. This step creates an empty project for you to work with, and a new directory for to store it in.
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
If you need to close down Cubase SX then be sure to select File, then Save (or [CONTROL]+[S]) to save your project before you exit.
When you restart Cubase SX, you can quickly re-enter your project by selecting File, then Recent Projects
The transport bar looks rather like a letter box. It holds the main 'play' and 'record' buttons (just like a tape recorder), and a lot of other useful options and data.
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
The metronome feature provides a steady clicking noise to act as a timing reference whilst playing and recording music.
Cubase allows the user to use either a MIDI output channel, or the computer's own sound card as a source for the clicking noise. If you're working alone and unlikely to disturb other people, you might choose to use the computer's sound card; however, if you're working in a busy lab and listening to the keyboard through headphones, then it's best that you use the keyboard (midi output) instead.
Note that you can turn on and off the metronome by pressing the Click button on the transport bar.
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
You have already seen how you will be using the different MIDI tracks and channels. You now set up Cubase so that you can use the tracks as you have decided.
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
Tracks 11 to 16 are used for scratch storage and you should mute these tracks so Cubase doesn't play any data stored on them. The 'M' button indicates whether a track is muted or not.
It is standard practice to use Track 10 for drums. In Cubase SX, you need to set up a drum map for this track.
The Auto Save option periodically saves all the information about the sequence to a backup file. You should set this up so that it performs a save every 15 minutes. This can be useful if things go badly wrong, but should not be relied upon.
Working with Cubase has shown that there are several further options which are useful for more experienced users, but which can seriously confuse beginners. Let's take the opportunity to make appropriate settings.
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
There are numerous preferences which enable you to tailor Cubase to suit your needs. Unfortunately, the default preference settings aren't always suitable for beginners and so you need to make the following settings:
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
| Appearance> | No changes necessary |
| Editing> | Mixer selection follows project | Selected |
| Editing> | Enable Record on selected track | Selected |
| Editing> | Enable Solo on selected track | Selected |
| Editing> | Lock Events Attributes | Position+Size+Other |
| Editing> | Legato Overlap : 0 Ticks | Selected |
| Editing> | Automation follows events | Selected |
| Editing> | Popup toolbox on right click | Selected |
| Editing> | Warn before switching Display Domain (timeware tool) | Selected |
| Editing> | Zoom tool standard mode: horizontal zooming only | Selected |
| Editing> | All other options | Not Selected |
| Editing>Audio> | No changes necessary |
| Editing>Audio>Time Stretch Tool> | |
| Editing>Controls> | |
| Editing>Tool Modifiers> |
| Event Display> | No changes necessary |
| Event Display>Audio> | |
| Event Display>Video> |
| Event Display>Midi> | Default Edit Action | Open Score Editor |
| Event Display>Midi> | Part data mode | Lines |
| Event Display>Midi> | Show Controllers | Selected |
| Event Display>Midi> | Edit as Drums when Drum Map is assigned | Selected |
| Event Display>Midi> | Note Name Style | MIDI and Value |
| General> | Auto Save | Selected |
| General> | Auto Save interval | 10 mins |
| General> | Language | English |
| General> | Show tips | Selected |
| General> | Use file extension is file dialog | Selected |
| General> | Live window resize | Selected |
| General> | Maximum undo | (infinity symbol) |
| General> | On startup | Do nothing |
| General> | Usage profile | Not Selected |
| MIDI> | MIDI thru active | Selected |
| MIDI> | Reset on Part end | Selected |
| MIDI> | Reset on Stop | Selected |
| MIDI> | Chase Events : Note | Not Selected |
| MIDI> | Chase Events : Poly Pressure | Selected |
| MIDI> | Chase Events : Controller | Selected |
| MIDI> | Chase Events : Program Change | Selected |
| MIDI> | Chase Events : Aftertouch | Selected |
| MIDI> | Chase Events : Pitchbend | Selected |
| MIDI> | Chase Events : Sysex | Not Selected |
| MIDI>MIDI File> | No changes necessary |
| MIDI>MIDI Filter> | Record and Thru : Note | Not Selected |
| MIDI>MIDI Filter> | Record and Thru : Poly Pressure | Selected |
| MIDI>MIDI Filter> | Record and Thru : Controller | Selected |
| MIDI>MIDI Filter> | Record and Thru : Program Change | Selected |
| MIDI>MIDI Filter> | Record and Thru : Aftertouch | Selected |
| MIDI>MIDI Filter> | Record and Thru : Pitchbend | Selected |
| MIDI>MIDI Filter> | Record and Thru : Sysex | Selected |
| MIDI>MIDI Filter> | Channels | NO numbers selected |
| MIDI>MIDI Filter> | Controllers | No changes necessary |
| Record> | Audio cycle record mode | Create Regions |
| Record> | Create audio images during record | Selected |
| Record> | Snap MIDI parts to bars | Selected |
| Record> | Solo record in MIDI editors | Selected |
| Record> | MIDI record catch range | 100 ms |
| Record> | Retrospective record | Selected |
| Record> | Retrospective record buffer size | 10000 |
| Record>Broadcast> | No changes necessary |
| Scores> | Keep moved notes within key | Selected (Ticked) |
| Scores> | Tied notes selected as single units | Selected (Ticked) |
| Scores> | Show braces in Edit mode | Selected (Ticked) |
| Scores> | Show position cursor | Selected (Ticked) |
| Scores> | Show note info by mouse | Selected (Ticked) |
| Scores> | Default number of bars per staff | 4 |
| Scores> | All other options | No changes necessary |
| Scores> | Event Layer | Ensure all numbers are set to "1" |
| Transport> | Return to start position on stop | Selected |
| Transport> | Deactivate punch in on stop | Selected |
| Transport> | All other options | No changes necessary |
| VST> | No changes necessary |
One of the actions in the the previous step was to set up the Score Editor as the default editor. Although the score editor is very powerful, there is an alternative editor, the Key Editor, which is useful in certain situations. Let's set up a key shortcut to this editor so you can use it without going through the menu.
At the same time, you should also set up some other useful key shortcuts.
As you did before, assign keys as follows:
You should save what you have so far, and give it a suitable file name. Preferably, a name that reflects the song title.
Follow these steps. Put a tick next to each one as you finish it:
We've now set up Cubase SX and we're ready to proceed to the next section.