Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Monday, September 28, 2026
Steinberg update Cubasis and Dorico apps
Toggling the bypass status for insert plug‑ins on multiple tracks: a great shortcut for A/B comparison.
Embrace the power of Cubase’s Project Logical Editor, and you can become a workflow ninja!
In last month’s workshop I demonstrated just how powerful the MIDI Logical Editor, found in both the Pro and Artist versions of Cubase, can be for manipulating MIDI data, but as I mentioned in that column Pro users also have something called the Project Logical Editor. This is a similar logic‑driven tool that allows you to simplify complex tasks, but in this case rather than work with MIDI data, it’s used to streamline project‑level tasks. As with the MIDI Logical Editor, if you’re not used to working with Boolean logic, the Project Logical Editor can feel intimidating at first, but exploring just a few example presets will soon get over that initial speed bump.
Better In Or Out?
We’ll start our introductory tour with a preset that’s conceptually easy to understand yet does a super‑useful job. ‘Toggle Inserts Bypass of Selected Tracks’ is found in the Mixing category of the Factory presets and does as the name suggests: action this preset and all the insert plug‑ins on the currently selected tracks will have their bypass status switched, with active plug‑ins put into bypass and bypassed plug‑ins made active. The first screen shows how this is achieved.
As with the MIDI Logical Editor last month, the options in the Event Target Filters panel dictate what objects are to be selected. The Event Transform Actions panel then specifies what changes are to be made to those selected objects. In the upper panel, the ‘Container Type’ is selected if it is ‘Equal’ to ‘Track’ and if its ‘Property Is Set’ to ‘Selected’. This means that only tracks that you’ve selected within the Project or MixConsole windows are going to be changed by any of the commands specified in the lower panel. In that lower panel, a single entry applies a ‘Track Operation’ to the ‘Inserts Bypass’ parameter: it ‘Toggles’ the status of the bypass setting. This preset can be a really useful function for A/B comparisons. For example, you can select all your subgroup bus tracks and quickly bypass their insert plug‑ins to check whether all those mix processing moves are helping as intended, or hindering. Another scenario is use it on one or more tracks to toggle between two instances of an EQ or compressor (or both) that are configured with different settings, to see which you prefer.
And since you can configure a key command to execute any Project Logical Editor preset, once you’ve selected the tracks you wish to work with, a single click lets you toggle the bypass status of all the insert plug‑ins. There are other (equally useful) presets within this Mixing category that provide similar ‘bypass’ options for the sends and EQ panels within the MixConsole — I’ll leave you to explore their potential!
It’s easy to clear out unwanted automation data for only the selected tracks in a specific song section.
Automation Reclamation
Have you ever got deep into a mix and decided that within one section of the song, the mix just isn’t quite right? Stripping out the automation data (for example, volume, pan, EQ, and any send and insert effects) in a single project section can be a time‑consuming process. Thankfully, there’s a Project Logical Editor preset for that: ‘Delete All Automation Data for Selected Audio, Instrument and MIDI Tracks inside Cycle’.
The name may be a bit of a mouthful, but this preset does what it says on the tin. Once you’ve placed the left and right locators around the appropriate section of the project timeline, simply select which tracks you wish to remove the automation data from, then execute the preset. As shown in the screenshot, four entries in the Event Target Filters panel do the heavy lifting. The first two selection criteria identify that ‘Media Type’ that is ‘Equal’ to ‘Automation’ data and that it is ‘Contained’ within an ‘Event’ (ie. an audio or MIDI clip). However, the selection process also considers the third and fourth criteria: the automation data must have a ‘Position’ ‘Inside Cycle’ (between the left and right locators) and the ‘Parent Object Is Selected’ (the ‘Parent’ property is the Track upon which the event sits), so only tracks you have already selected will be acted upon by the preset.
For the automation data that fulfils these combined selection criteria, no transformations are specified in the lower panel. But at the base of the UI, the ‘Delete’ action is specified. When we hit the Apply button, any selected automation data is therefore deleted and replaced by a straight automation line joining the nearest automation points before and after the left and right locators. As a means of cleaning up an unwanted mess of automation data within selected tracks in a portion of a project, it’s a pretty speedy solution.
This preset is a great candidate for DIY modifications. For example, if you select the last of the current criteria, you can use the Insert button to refine the selection further. And if you enter ‘Name’ as the Filter Target, ‘Contains’ as the condition, and ‘Volume’ as Parameter 1, then only volume automation data will be selected. When this revised version of the preset is applied, volume automation is reset but other automation data is left intact — very useful if you just want to rethink the track levels within a song section. Of course, you could also apply the preset across your entire project by simply placing the left/right locators appropriately...
Ready to tidy up your unwanted muted parts?
Refuted When Muted
As I work through a busy project, I’ll often end up with lots of audio and MIDI clips that I muted as I ‘trimmed the fat’ while mixing. Once I’m happy that these elements are surplus to requirements, the ‘Delete All Muted Parts And Events’ preset (in the Parts And Events category) provides a speedy way to declutter. The screenshot shows the selection criteria used to find all the muted elements in your project (as with the previous example, no transformations are applied in the lower panel; the selected items are just deleted when you hit Apply). The key thing to note is how the selection criteria find only ‘Container Types’ that are ‘Equal’ to MIDI ‘Parts’ or (in the Bool column) audio ‘Events’ or ‘Audio ‘Parts’. The final entry then ensures only those Events/Parts that are currently muted actually get selected. Usefully, there’s also a Delete Muted Tracks preset (in the Tracks category) if your project requires a different ‘tidy up’ strategy.
It’s easy to add the date (or other details) to selected track names with the Project Logical Editor.
Make A Date
The final screenshot shows the ‘Add a Date to selected MIDI + Audio Track Names’ preset (from the Naming category). Given our earlier examples, the approach used in the four Event Target Filters panel should feel familiar. The four entries combine to identify all ‘Container Types’ that are ‘Tracks’, and that have the ‘Property’ of being ‘Selected’ and the ‘Media Type’ is ‘MIDI’ or ‘Audio’.
All tracks that meet these criteria (essentially all MIDI or Audio tracks that you have selected within the Project or MixConsole window) are then subjected to the entry in the Event Transform Actions panel. The Action Target is the track’s ‘Name’, and the Operation is set to ‘Append’ (that is, add something to the existing name). In this case, Parameter 2 is set to ‘Std. Names’ (if you click on this, a drop‑down menu of options appears) and Parameter 1 is ‘Date’. When you hit the Apply button, every selected audio and MIDI track has the current date added to its existing name.
For projects you’ll be working on over an extended period of time, adding the date to specific tracks can be a really helpful reminder of how the project has evolved. Which vocal take was the original? What’s the most recent version of the saxophone solo? And, if you work with collaborators and want to keep track of who added what to a project, you can simply adapt this preset by clicking on the ‘Date’ entry in the Parameter 1 column and type your own text such as your name or initials. Run both this modified version and the original ‘Date’ version, and every track you select can get your name/date added to its name, making it easy to see who has done what (and when) as the project moves between the various collaborators.
Surface Scratching
The above examples are very much the tip of the Project Logical Editor iceberg, but they should show you the potential for automating some pretty complex tasks. I hope they’ll encourage you to explore the various preset categories to find titles that might be useful to improve your own Cubase workflow. And remember, many of these presets can be candidates for the kinds of simple DIY customisation demonstrated above — even if you don’t feel ready to roll your own presets from scratch.
Combining the MIDI Logical Editor and Project Logical Editor with the use of key commands and the Cubase Macro features (both topics we have covered here in the past but are probably worth revisiting soon) can be absolutely transformative to your Cubase workflow — and bring Cubase ninja status within reach!
Saturday, September 26, 2026
Friday, September 25, 2026
Cubase: Managing The Low Mids With Frequency 2
By John Walden
With Frequency 2 inserted on the master bus, you can apply gain reduction only to the low‑mid frequencies, and only when they contain the most energy — this can be an effective tactic if faced with a muddy‑sounding mix and static EQ can’t get things where you want.
Wrestling with low‑mid mud? Cubase’s dynamic EQ can help.
Almost every instrument group in modern music productions can contain significant energy in the low mids (broadly speaking, around 250‑500 Hz), so when mixing you’ll often find that there’s an unhelpful build‑up of energy within this range — if there’s too much going on in this region, a mix might sound ‘muddy’, ‘muffled’ or ‘boxy’, and you need a plan to address that.
There are a number of ways in which this ‘too much mud’ issue might be approached, and careful arrangement and instrumentation choices can obviously play a big part, by which I mean you can write the parts and pick and layer your sound sources in a way that avoids an unhealthy build‑up of energy in the low midrange in the first place. But if further control is required, standard EQ applied at the master bus, on subgroups, at the individual instrument level or a combination of all three can be used to control the energy that sits in this frequency range. Cubase offers several EQ tools that can be used for that, including the Channel Strip EQ, StudioEQ and, for users of Cubase Pro or Nuendo only, Frequency 2.
In addition to normal EQ duties, Frequency 2 provides an additional level of control: dynamic EQ. Compared to a standard EQ, where any cut (or boost) is applied all the time, with a dynamic EQ, the cut (or boost) is only applied when the signal is at its loudest in the target frequency range. There are plenty of third‑party options for those using other versions of Cubase (such as Tokyo Dawn’s freeware Nova: https://www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-nova), but since Frequency 2 comes with Cubase Pro and its GUI makes everything really easy to configure, let’s use it to explore some dynamic mud management tactics.
I’ve also prepared some short audio examples (available on the SOS website at https://sosm.ag/cubase-1223) to illustrate what I’m discussing here.
Mud Master
If you think the correction required is a modest final tweak to an otherwise finished mix, or you’re already at the mastering stage of a project, some corrective low‑mid EQ on your master bus or stereo mix might be the most appropriate, or perhaps even the only option. But even if not, I find it’s often worth trying an instance of Frequency 2 on the master bus before you move on to a more finessed approach. You might be surprised by what you can achieve!
The first screenshot shows the settings I configured for this approach with the mix used in the audio examples. Note that I’ve switched the Frequency 2 display to Sing (single band) mode, as this provides easier access to the full range of EQ controls for a single EQ band (in this case, band three of the eight available bands), including the Dynamics section. The required settings will be dependent upon the source material, of course, but there are some useful guiding principles. I’ve used a peak filter centred at 350Hz and with a Q of 2.5 to deliver 9dB of gain reduction. No, that’s not a mistake! A 9dB cut on the master bus would almost certainly be too much with a conventional static EQ band; as can be heard in the audio examples, it would rob this mix of too much low‑mid energy, making the mix sound ‘thin’. But this won’t be a conventional EQ cut...
Before we engage the Dynamics section, though, there are a couple of points worth noting. First, with this combination of settings, the filter shape means the cut extends a little beyond the 250‑500 Hz range. You can control this by adjusting the Q (larger values make the filter narrower) or gain (smaller cuts also reduce the range of frequencies affected by the filter). Second, when you know you’ll be making the band dynamic, it’s actually not such a bad idea to start by applying a static EQ that produces rather more cut than you think you’ll eventually need. This makes it easier to hear the EQ change, and I find it helps when targeting the initial Freq and Q settings; it’ll be that bit easier to hear exactly where the problem lies.
Applying Frequency 2’s dynamic EQ to subgroup tracks gives you greater control over which instruments are ‘de‑mudified’.
Get Dynamic
Having brought our ‘mud spot’ into focus, we can now engage the Dynamics section. The main control options are Threshold, Ratio, Attack and Release, and will be familiar to anyone who’s used a conventional compressor before. Again, the settings could vary according to the material, but you probably don’t want the gain reduction to be too aggressive. In the example, I opted for a gentle 2:1 ratio, fast (3ms) attack and medium (150ms) release. With those set up, I simply adjusted the Threshold fader, to specify the signal level at which this band‑specific compression started delivering the amount of gain reduction that my ears suggested was required.
The GUI provides some very useful visual feedback, and it’s worth noting that the original Freq, Q and Gain settings control the absolute maximum amount of gain reduction that can be applied, while our Dynamics settings control how often and how far the gain reduction moves towards that maximum position. When there’s more ‘mud’ — that is, more energy within the specified frequency band — more gain reduction is applied so, almost as if by magic, the unwanted mud is dynamically managed. You can hear the result in an audio example on the SOS website for which I applied different Threshold settings to adjust the level of mud reduction. The degree of control is impressive and if you get the balance right, you can tackle the mud without making your mix sound thin.
The Start control lets you combine static and dynamic EQ. I’ve exaggerated the settings here for clarity: the Start setting of ‑6dB (topmost thin white curve) forms the EQ starting point onto which any further dynamic cuts are superimposed.Before we move on, a final thing to note about the Dynamics section is the Start control. This allows you to combine your dynamic EQ adjustment with a static cut/boost. So, for example, if I set Start to ‑3dB, I would get a static 3dB gain reduction applied all the time and this would then form the starting point (hence ‘Start’) from which any further dynamic gain adjustment would applied. Again, the frequency display in the upper panel provides a very intuitive graphical representation of this so it’s easy to see what’s happening.
Group Therapy
If your usual approach to mixing makes use of the group channels to provide separate sub‑mixes of the drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, vocals and so forth, then you can apply precisely the same basic principles at the subgroup level. Simply insert an instance of Frequency 2 on each of group channel and use each one to dynamically control the lower mids of each instrument group.
In principle, this should give you greater control over how and where your mud management is applied, and minimise collateral damage to sources that you don’t want cut. For example, you could use the approach on just your guitar and keyboard/synth buses (common culprits in mud supplies), while avoiding stealing any lower‑mid energy from other instrument groups. Equally, since you’re dealing with single instrument groups, you can generally be a little more conservative (for example, a higher threshold or lower ratio). Cuts are only applied to a specific instrument when that instrument exceeds the threshold, and when combined with similar cuts being applied in isolation to other channels, the overall result should, hopefully, be a mix with a little more clarity.
By the way, there’s nothing to stop you combining both the master bus and group bus approaches, although if the main mud management is done at the group level, you’ll find you can apply much more subtle settings at the master bus, just to catch the occasional 1 or 2 dB of excess mud.
Keeping Your Balance
So, where fader moves and conventional compression and static EQ boosts don’t seem to deliver a satisfying tonal balance (it’s rarely a bad idea to try such bread‑and‑butter tactics first!), looking to these Frequency 2 tactics to minimise the mud can be a great next step. Of course, you could extend the same basic approach down to the individual instrument channel level, though do use your ears to decide if its actually needed — there’s no point processing audio for the sake of it, and if there are complex phase relationships between different sources you should listen out for unwanted side‑effects; unpicking problems you only notice later can be time‑consuming and frustrating!
Another tactic is to use Frequency 2’s external side‑chain input options to duck one or more sources out of the way of a source whose low‑mid presence you want to retain (for example, using the guitar bus to duck a synth bus), but that’s perhaps a topic for another day.
Thursday, September 24, 2026
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Cubase: Using Chord Pads
The updated Chord Pad window incorporates the Chord Assistant, including its handy Circle of Fifths display, in a panel on the right.
The revamped Chord Pad offers even better support for songwriters than before.
Cubase’s Chord Pad facility has always made experimenting with different chords easy for anyone, regardless of their version of Cubase (it’s included in the Pro, Artist and Elements editions) or their level of keyboard competence — you can create (or load) a palette of suitable chords, which can be as simple or as complex as you like, pick a key, and then all you need to experiment with different chord sequences is a single finger. Thus, it can be a very powerful aid to songwriting... and Cubase 13 brought some interesting refinements that are aimed squarely at this use‑case scenario.
Strike The Right Chord
As shown in the first screenshot (above), the Chord Pads can be accessed in the Project window’s Lower Zone. At its simplest, you can use the pads, each of which is associated with a MIDI note, to trigger a full chord on the currently active MIDI/virtual instrument track. However, you can now specify a larger number of pads (configured in the Chord Pad Remote Setting dialogue box, accessed using the MIDI connector icon located top right). You can also opt for a grid‑based layout (in the Chord Pads Display Setting dialogue, accessed very top right), which may be helpful if you are using a drum‑pad‑style device to trigger your chords.
The top bar menu system has been reorganised to provide better access to options for transposing or re‑voicing chords on selected pads. There are also improved pattern performance options (very neat, but a topic for more detailed consideration another day...) and options to configure both how chord triggers are quantised and how note overlaps are handled.
Steinberg have added a bunch of new Chord Pad presets that are well worth exploring but it’s easy to build your own selections, and we will look at one songwriter‑friendly route for doing this in a moment. Before we do, I want to offer you a quick reminder about the Adaptive Voicing (AV) feature. In essence, if this is active when you trigger chord changes, then Cubase will attempt to make those changes smoother by using the smallest shifts in pitch required to move between chords — much like a competent piano or guitar player might do. This can be activated on a per‑pad basis using the AV buttons in the toolbar. But sometimes you’ll want more specific control over the voicing used on a specific pad (for example, by setting the notes used with your MIDI keyboard), and in that case you can deactivate the AV system for that pad altogether and, as an extra ‘failsafe’, use the Lock button to ensure your chosen voicing doesn’t get altered.
You can now create larger sets of Chord Pads and the Chord Assistant’s List display makes it easy to add more harmonically complex chords to your selection.
Test Your Theory
From a songwriting perspective, the new ability to open the Chord Assistant directly in the Chord Pad system is very useful. This can be toggled on/off using the ‘right panel’ button, located at the top right of the window. There are three display options available here: Chord Editor, List and Circle of Fifths. They all have their uses, but for creating an initial chord selection from scratch, I think the Circle of Fifths display is particularly useful.
To start with a blank set of pads, use the Select All button on the left of the lower row of toolbar items, and then hit the Delete button. You can then select the root note of the key you wish to use from the drop‑down box at the top left of the toolbar, and choose between major or minor keys in the Chord Assistant. The Circle of Fifths display will automatically adjust to place your root‑note chord at the centre of its display.
The beauty of this display is twofold. First, even if your music theory knowledge is a work in progress, the arrangement of the chords gives you a clear indication of which chords are most likely to work well together in your chosen key. The seven basic triad chords in the selected key are shown in the upper quadrant of the display, and are also indicated with Roman numerals that show the position of their respective root notes in the scale (three major, three minor and the ‘harmonically challenging’ diminished VII chord). As you move further away from this upper quadrant, all the chords shown stray progressively further ‘out of key’. As a result, they might be more difficult to place in a chord sequence with your ‘in key’ chords — but, equally, the occasional unexpected chord choice can often be really helpful in giving a sequence a unique, engaging feel. The ease with which this sort of experimentation can be explored is one of the real advantages of the Chord Pad system.
Second, you can now assign a chord to a Chord Pad simply by dragging from the Circle of Fifths display to an empty Chord Pad. And with the Circle of Fifths display to guide your choices, you can simply repeat this process until you’ve built a set of chords to explore.
Colourful Chord Changes
As shown in the second screenshot, I’ve done this for all the basic chords in the C major scale, starting at Chord Pad C0. For simplicity in triggering, I’ve confined the triggers to the white notes. But having expanded the number of Chord Pads (as mentioned earlier) to span two octaves, I’ve then added a second instance of each chord, with adjustments that give me access to something beyond the basic triads. If I want to add some more harmonically interesting chords in my sequence, it’s now just as easy as triggering the basic triads.
The two sideways arrow buttons in the toolbar (Less Tensions and More Tensions) can be used to create these extended chords. But if you switch from the Circle of Fifths display to the Chord Editor display in the Chord Assistant panel, then you get even more control over these extended chord options. Usefully, the chords automatically audition themselves as you make selections.
From a ‘songwriting assistant’ perspective, there are a couple of other really useful additions to the pads display. First, in the Chord Pad Display Settings dialogue, you can add either Roman Numerals or Nashville Number System labels to the pads, either as the primary or secondary label. Chord sequences are often abbreviated to these number sequences (for example, the classic I, V, iv, IV that’s been used in a gazillion hit songs) because it provides a concise summary of the chord sequence that would work, whatever the key. It can be super‑useful to see these labels on the pads themselves as you explore your own chord sequence ideas.
The other addition, which I reckon is a really clever one, is the interactive colour coding of the Chord Pads. When you trigger a pad, Cubase applies a little bit of music theory in the background and instantly colour codes (at the bottom strip of the pad) the more obvious ‘next chord’ destinations for you. A shade of green indicates the most obvious destinations, while yellow, orange or red suggest chords that will create a progressively more dramatic change. This process happens in real time as you play, so as you search for some chord sequence ideas, you’ll find that your ‘virtual assistant’ has always got your back with a suitable idea or two as to where to go next! Whatever your level of music or harmony knowledge, and whether you wish to use it to follow the suggested wisdom or deliberately choose not to, I think this is genuinely useful.
Did I Play That?
From this point on, it’s all about having fun and letting the creative process happen, and with these enhancements to the Chord Pad feature set it’s even easier to experiment with chord sequences than ever. You needn’t worry about your keyboard chops or struggle to draw on a partial knowledge of music theory — it can be a really liberating experience. And when you are happy with your chord sequence, hit the record button, trigger your one‑finger chords, and the full triggered chords, however complex, will be present and correct in the resulting MIDI clip.
Once you’ve created a useful Chord Pad configuration, don’t forget to save it as a preset. And if you decide the key needs adjustment when you try to sing a topline over your chords, you can simply change the root note from the drop‑down mentioned earlier — the Chord Pads will just transpose to suit (note that you can defeat this automatic change, if required).
Over multiple releases, the Chord Pad system has gradually evolved into a really powerful feature in Cubase, but the ‘songwriting assistant’ workflow that I’ve described above is just one way it can be used — so I’ll return to explore other applications for the Chord Pads in a future workshop or two. Until then, let your one‑fingered chord sequence writing run free and generate some new song ideas.