Saturday, December 31, 2022
Friday, December 30, 2022
Steinberg Cubase 6.5
It may be 'only a point five' update, but there's plenty on offer in the latest version of Cubase.
Don't panic: Cubase hasn't gone brown for 6.5, this is just how I like it! Above is the new comping tool, which can be used with the group-editing feature to save hours of tedious multitrack editing.
As a long-time Cubase user, I've seen many major updates to Steinberg's flagship music-production software, and the latest brings us up to Cubase 6.5. Updates are available both for the full version, as reviewed here, and for Cubase Artist.
Cubase 6.5 does not at first sight appear to be the most major of overhauls, and some users have complained about having to pay for a '.x' version. But after evaluating v6.5 for several weeks, I don't agree: there's some really useful new functionality, and significant enhancements to existing facilities that should prove worth the modest upgrade price. Version 6.5 also includes plenty of bug-fixes, and when it was first launched, this was the only way you could get hold of them. Since then, these fixes have been incorporated in Cubase v6.0.7, which is a free update for Cubase 6.0.x users (for full details, and to download the updaters, go to www.steinberg.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=21918).
So what exactly does your money buy you with Cubase 6.5? Notable additions include two new VST synths and a couple of new EQ and filter plug-ins, as well as an update to the VST Amp Rack guitar amp, cab and effect modelling plug-in. There's also much-requested support for 64-bit ReWire (yes, it works — and there's very little else to say about that!) Finally, there are a number of new features designed to streamline editing and the comping of multitrack recordings.
OK Comp-uter
The first feature worth writing home about is a new dedicated comping tool, intended to streamline the process of piecing together the perfect virtual performance from a number of different takes. Its icon looks like a pointing finger, and can be accessed from the same tool palette that offers scissors, glue tool and so on. I'm pleased to report that it promises a significant reduction in the number and intensity of headaches caused by intensive comping!
The way it works will be familiar to users of some other DAWs, notably Apple's Logic Pro, which I believe was the first to adopt this approach. With the different takes displayed beneath each other on lanes, all you need to do to comp the perfect performance is select the comp tool and 'paint' the areas on the different takes that you wish to hear. This is a vast improvement over the previous system, where you had to use the pointer, scissors and mute tools to identify and bring to the 'front' the elements you wished to comp together. It has made this common task both easier and faster.
Steinberg have gone a step further, though, by adding some useful menu options. When you've selected the desired regions of your comp takes, you can right-click (Ctrl-click on Mac) to access a small drop-down menu offering an automatic Clean Lanes function, which takes care of the minutiae, such as overlapping takes. The same menu also features a Create Tracks From Lanes function which 'mults' out each lane, complete with comp selections, to its own audio track, on which you're able to alter levels, add effects and perform all the usual operations you might do on an audio track. This means that, as well as comping with it, you could use this tool as a convenient method of picking out the odd word, phrase or note to be treated with spot effects while mixing or remixing.
For me, the new approach to comping alone would be worth the upgrade price, but it gets better: when used in combination with the group-editing functions that were introduced in Cubase 6.0, it can save quite literally hours of tedious editing of multitrack, multi-take parts such as backing vocals and drums. As with all group editing, all you need to do is to make sure the multi-mic recordings are on adjacent tracks, select all the tracks, right-click and choose the Move Selected Tracks To New Folder option. On the new folder track, you click on the '=' icon beneath the mute and solo buttons to enable group editing, then select your comping tool and get to work.
It really is that simple — and it worked flawlessly in my tests, except when I'd inadvertently included a wrong audio track in the same folder. In this scenario, you'll get a helpful warning that not all the files are in sync, which denotes that you've either inadvertently nudged a track, or included one in the folder that shouldn't be there (from a different instrument, for example). This is a most welcome addition to Cubase. If I were looking to buy a plug-in to do such a job (if one existed), I'd expect to pay a fair whack for it, so the modest upgrade price is beginning to look very reasonable.
One very minor issue that I noticed while testing this new function isn't new to v6.5 but is worth a brief mention in case anyone reading gets confused by it: when in group editing mode, it's still possible (admittedly via a somewhat convoluted route) to throw group comps out of sync, by double-clicking on a part to open the track's sample editor and changing the start and end point of a region on that track. When you return to the Arrange page, you'll find that the region length has only changed for the selected track, not for the others in the group — and because of this, that one track's comp selection will no longer quite match that of the others in the group. It's a loophole which ideally Steinberg will close, but the easy way for the user to avoid this, of course, is not to be stupid enough to do this sort of edit in group mode in the first place — and now you're forewarned, you've no excuse!
Come Together
The ability to slice, quantise and stretch audio has been present in Cubase for a while now, and although the tools work well, I've always felt that they should be rather better integrated — and so too, apparently, did Steinberg, because in 6.5 they've overhauled all of this, making the various tools work much more closely together. It's easy to overlook this sort of improvement because there aren't really any new functions here — you can't do anything you couldn't do in Cubase 6 — but it's a very useful rationalisation of what went before.
By way of example, when you detect hitpoints, the same window now presents you with the opportunity to create warp tabs or markers based on the position of each of those hitpoints. Previously, you had to perform a number of separate steps to achieve the same result.
Imports & Exports
Further potentially useful enhancements include the ability to publish your mixes directly to your SoundCloud site. Once your SoundCloud details are set up, all you need do to achieve this is tick the following option: Export/Audio Mixdown/PostProcess/Upload To SoundCloud. Cubase will then upload the stereo mix to Soundcloud after performing the bounce. (Just don't forget to check the file for errors, as you would with any other bounce!)
A more useful facility for me is the support for FLAC audio files. FLAC is a lossless data-compression format for audio, and it now appears in the list of import/export options. I can see this being incredibly useful to anyone wanting to archive projects or media pools to DVD, for example.
All this talk of imports and exports also provides me with a rather tenuous segue to the fact that Cubase now supports the Chinese language. I'd love to be in a position to say that I've tested that, but I'm afraid that the only kind of mandarin I'm familiar with is a small, orange and refreshingly juicy citrus fruit!
The Main Grain
Cubase has, perhaps unfairly, developed a reputation for lacking the virtual-instrument firepower available to owners of, say, Logic, Sonar or Pro Tools. Personally, I had very few problems with the existing synths, and have happily made use of Monologue, Prologue and Embracer despite possessing several costly third-party VST instruments. Sure, there are better soft synths out there, but as a starting point, these were capable of creating an extensive and very usable sound palette.
The new Retrologue and PadShop VST synths.
Nonetheless, Steinberg clearly thought that there was room for improvement and they've done their best to fill it with a granular synth, PadShop, and a subtractive analogue-modelling synth, Retrologue. Both are completely new, and are included in the full and Artist versions of Cubase. PadShop is also available separately (for the same price as the full Cubase upgrade), for use in other VST3 hosts, such as Presonus Studio One and FL Studio.
Both synths sound pretty good, to my ears, and are very different from Steinberg's previous offerings. PadShop does much what you'd expect of a granular synth: it's great for creating breathy or bell-like, evolving, other-worldly soundscapes, for example. There are around 400 presets, and a number of controls both for the granular part of the synth, and for the obligatory filter, amplifier and other control sources (including two LFOs and a step modulator). Modulation and delay effects are built in.
Using PadShop is a breeze. Everything's nicely laid out and the controls are pretty intuitive. The results sound pretty decent to my ear, as well. However, a significant disappointment is that PadShop appears to work only with its own bundled audio files: I was unable, for example, to take an excerpt from an audio file in the project I was working on, or a sample from my existing library, and use that as the starting point for a new sound in PadShop. That's a shame, as to me that's part of the fun of playing with a granular synth, so let's hope it gets added in future. Nonetheless, the plentiful presets mean that this synth is still capable of creating a wide range of useful sounds, and it should have appeal for anyone wanting to add texture to electronica or dance tracks, or perhaps people looking to write atmospheric soundtracks.
Retro Chic
Retrologue is much more my cup of tea, and will feel familiar to anyone who's ever programmed a subtractive analogue synth. It's a much richer, warmer-sounding creation than Steinberg's previous offerings: it sounds much better than either Monologue and Prologue, which is a pleasant surprise. The sound is created by three oscillators and a noise source. The two main oscillators offer a wide range of waveforms, as well as an intriguing 'cross' mode, where the two interact. For each, the pitch is set in three degrees: the octave, the semitone (coarse) and cents (fine). A sub-oscillator offers a choice of square, sawtooth and triangle waves, and the noise source provides pink and white noise, both 'clean' and band-pass filtered. A mixer sets the relative levels of these sources, and provides a ring modulator. The filter section offers a choice of 12 different filters, as well as a choice of tube distortion or clipping, and the usual ADSR filter envelope, and there's another ADSR for the amp. There's also the usual choice of modulation and delay effects. Then, of course, there are the two LFOs, each delivering one of six waveforms, which can be tempo-sync'ed if required. I was mildly disappointed to find there was no audio side-chain input for the LFO, which would have been a nice touch for creating more complex control modulations.
The icing on the Retrologue cake, though, is the Matrix section, which enables the user to set up some pretty sophisticated control-source routing. As well as the usual LFOs, mod and pitch wheels, filter and amp envelopes and the like, you can select VST note expression inputs as the source. You can also set up routing buses within the Matrix, which gives you a massive degree of control if you're prepared to put the time into programming your own patches — and if you're not, again there's a generous complement of presets that will satisfy the lazier composers amongst you! All in all, then, this is a decently specified synth, and it sounds damned good to boot.
New Filter Plug-ins
As I mentioned at the outset, there are also a couple of new filter plug-ins, Morph Filter and DJ EQ. Essentially, the Morph Filter offers a useful range of high-, low- and band-pass resonant filters, and allows you to blend between two of them at once. Again, it's a useful addition, particularly if you want to perform automated filter sweeps, and although it's hardly the most ground-breaking of tools, it works really well and sounds good.
Also new are the DJ EQ and Morph Filter plug-ins.
DJ EQ is, as the name suggests, a 'kill' EQ. It provides three EQ bands which can be boosted or cut to shape the sound as desired, and a kill switch for each band allows you to toggle between the boost/cut you've applied and complete removal of the band. To me, it's more of a performance effect, as its name implies, which might best be used in conjunction with a control surface of some sort — but I can see that it could also be used with automation to create interesting remix effects.
VST Amp Rack
With the exception of the old Quadrafuzz plug-in, for which I always had a soft spot, the VST Amp Rack plug-in is the first of Steinberg's guitar processors that I've really liked.
The VST Amp Rack has been overhauled and includes some new plug-ins. In Cubase 6.5, it has been developed further and it really is maturing nicely, with a few new features and plenty of new presets. The bottom line is that it sounds rather good, with several really usable amp and cab models, a decent array of effects that can be inserted pre- or post-preamp section, and a handy master section. We've also been given a couple of useful new effects for VST Amp Rack, a maximiser and a limiter, both workmanlike and welcome additions, but their presence does make me wonder why there aren't VST insert slots that allow you use Cubase's existing complement of processors and effects in VST Amp Rack.
I do have one reservation, which is by no means a deal-breaker. When inserting this plug-in, there was a significant boost to the level of the signal, sufficient to clip at the output or in subsequent plug-ins in the chain. (I suppose you could argue that an amplifier should boost signals, but it's not massively helpful in a DAW context!) On the plus side, the plug-in now features both input and output level metering, so it's easier to see what's going on in this respect.
Verdict
As I stated at the outset, this is a genuinely useful update to Cubase, and if you're wondering whether to updgrade from Cubase 6, I wouldn't blink: it's well worth the asking price. If you're looking to buy Cubase for the first time, while it — just like any other DAW — is not going to please all of the people all of the time, I think the traditional criticism of its bundled plug-ins, limited routing flexibility, multitrack editing and so on are now out of date.
With VST Amp Rack coming of age, a decent complement of synths, drum instruments and sample-based instruments, a great-sounding convolution reverb and an ever-growing list of bundled plug-ins, it's fair to say that Cubase has very much caught up with the pack in this respect. In other areas — such as groove and hitpoint detection, quantisation, multitrack comping and pitch and time manipulation, it's now up there with the best. And let's not forget that there are still more features (like the drum editor) that have been around for a while and are, for me at least, easier to use than on any other DAW. Certainly, whatever your DAW preference, it's hard to argue that anything else offers a great deal more functionality. And while the full price can at first appear a little daunting in comparison with that of some other DAWs (notably Apple Logic, Ableton Live, Cockos Reaper and Presonus Studio One), it bears comparison with others, such as Avid's Pro Tools 10 and Magix's Samplitude Pro X, and is not unreasonable.
Installation Teething Troubles
I've read a number of reports on the Internet of users suffering with installer problems in Windows, and should mention that I had frustrating time of it myself. The full installer is a hefty 8GB or so, so I opted to download the smaller update from Cubase 6.1. Unfortunately, the installer was corrupt: after three separate download attempts, it kept hanging when trying to unpack some files associated with PadShop. Retreating from that battle, I gritted my teeth and downloaded the full installer which worked fine on the second attempt (the first worked, but the PadShop source WAVs weren't installed). The exception was that I lost my Cubase 6 preferences. It took a while but, as you can see from the gloriously brown screenshots, I was able to retrieve the original XML preferences file! I should stress that there are plenty of people who have had no problems, and that after early problems with updater files for Windows, Steinberg made a new version available. In any case, I'd suggest that you stick with good practice and set a restore point on your operating system prior to installation.
Pros
Cons
Summary
While the headline updates don't appear, at first glance, to add up to a great deal, this is actually one of the most useful Cubase updates yet, and the program is maturing nicely. There are valuable additions for programmers and synth heads, as well as for anyone doing serious mixing and editing. The new group comping tool is probably worth the upgrade price alone if you often work with layered backing vocals or multitrack drums.
Information
Test Spec
PC with Core i7 960 processor, Asus P6T Deluxe v2 motherboard, 12GB DDR3 RAM and ATI graphics card, running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. Both 64 and 32-bit versions of Cubase installed.
Published June 2012
Thursday, December 29, 2022
Wednesday, December 28, 2022
Groove-quantise, Part 2
Part of the drum loop showing in the Sample Editor. Note the low threshold setting to ensure that all of the drum hits — loud and quiet — have a hitpoint associated with them.
In last month's Cubase column (/sos/jul12/articles/cubase.htm), I explored how to use Groove Quantize to extract the subtle rhythmic and dynamics variations that make up the 'groove' of one MIDI part, and apply them to another. Although the mechanics are slightly different, similar techniques can be used with audio parts, and that's our subject here. If you want to know more about grid-based quantisation of multi-miked, multitrack, audio (for example, from a drum kit) check out the workshop in SOS March 2012.
Prepare To Groove
To prepare the audio for groove quantising, I'll use a similar example to last month — taking a groove from a short (stereo) drum recording and applying that to other parts, such as bass and rhythm guitar. Imagine that the bass and guitar were originally recorded to a different drum performance but, in order to spice things up a little, the drum part has been replaced with a new recording which has a slightly different feel (more funky) than the original. So the task is to keep the bass and guitar parts, but give them a little more of the groove from our new drum performance.
First, double-click on the drum audio event to open it in the Sample Editor. You can now adjust the Threshold setting under the Hitpoint tab, to identify the key drum-hit thresholds. When working with drums, I tend to use a relatively low Threshold setting to capture even the quieter hits (in this case, from the hi-hat), but if Cubase has identified some additional spurious hits, you can manually disable individual hitpoints: with the Edit Hitpoints button engaged, hold down the Shift key and click on them (and move them if you don't think the algorithm has got the positioning spot-on). Don't forget the Remove All button if you decide to start from scratch.
Extraction
Adding hitpoints to the bass part. As well as the notes starts, this also created two hitpoints at the ends of notes (just after the start of bar 14 and bar 15) that I disabled prior to quantising.
Having generated and sorted your hitpoints, you can make a groove preset from them directly from the Sample Editor window, via the Edit menu, or by dragging and dropping to the Quantize Panel, and it's worth noting that these three different methods don't always seem to produce consistent results (nope, I've no idea why either!). Personally, I tend to stick with the second approach, but see which works best for you.
With the drum part selected in the Project window, select the the Edit/Advanced Quantize/Create Groove Quantize Preset menu option. This uses the full length of the audio event to create the groove preset. Once done, make sure you save the preset (the name has an asterisk at the start of it when it has not been saved) and give it a meaningful name.
Groovy Application
To apply your groove to another audio performance, two different approaches may be used: AudioWarp and slicing.
For non-drum-based material, such as bass and rhythm-guitar parts, the AudioWarp approach can produce pretty decent results. First, create hitpoints for the audio that's to be quantised. When we later quantise the part, AudioWarp will time-stretch/compress the parts being quantised, so that the hitpoints align more closely with those in the groove preset.
As with any time-stretching process, though, if you ask too much of AudioWarp you can end up with all sorts of unpleasant audio artifacts. This is one reason why I suggested starting with a low hitpoint detection threshold when creating your groove preset: because there are a lot of hitpoints, it's less likely that the quantise process will have to stretch or compress any individual bit of your target audio too far.
For the bass and rhythm-guitar parts used in this example, the Quantize Panel's AudioWarp option produced the smoothest results, but quantising based on sliced audio is also possible.
For the target audio, I prefer to create the required hitpoints via the Sample Editor, as it lets me fine-tune the process. A hitpoint at the start of each note or chord is a good starting point, and this can easily be checked by auditioning individual slices within the Sample Editor. As shown in my bass-guitar example, the hitpoint-detection process will sometimes be fooled by things like finger or fret noise at the end of notes and chords, and I tend to find that I get smoother results if I disable these hitpoints in the Sample Editor prior to applying any quantisation. Cubase can add hitpoints automatically for you when you select the audio event in the Project window and then open the Quantize Panel — but you don't get the same level of control if you use that method.
Once you've created and fine-tuned the hitpoints, open Cubase's Quantize Panel, select the groove preset and engage the AudioWarp button. For more gradual control over the quantise process, the iQ (iterative quantise) mode is useful: as the name suggests, this allows you to get closer to the groove by degrees, rather than snapping wholly to the groove, and this means that you can make the timing progressively tighter.
As shown in the screenshot, for both the bass and guitar parts used here a setting of 25 percent for the iQ and Position controls provided a good starting point, as it allowed me to repeatedly press the Quantize button and listen as the audio was gradually quantised a little more firmly with each iteration. In addition, a Max Move setting of 16th or 32nd intervals stopped the quantise process from moving any hitpoint too far from its original position, ensuring a smoother end result.
Nice Slice Baby
A short section of the bass and rhythm guitar tracks with both the unquantised (blue) and quantised (red) versions shown. As an example, see how the note or chord at the cursor position has been pulled forward in time in the quantised versions and now coincides with the drum hit at the same time position.
Slicing is probably best used with audio tracks containing very sharp transients, such as drums or percussion, although there's nothing to stop you trying it with simple bass or rhythm guitar examples such as those we're trying to 'groove' here. When dealing with a single-track recording (rather than the multitrack drum recordings considered in SOS March 2012), the process is slightly different, as the slicing is done in the Sample Editor. Essentially, you create hitpoints as described above, and then press the Create Slices button to slice the audio at each hitpoint.
Once you've created your slices, the audio event is turned into an audio part in the Project window, containing separate events for each slice. You can now use the same combination of Position, iQ Mode and Max Move in the Quantize Panel as given in the earlier example (but leave AudioWarp switched off). The quantisation is then achieved by simply moving the start positions of each slice within the part to more closely match the hitpoints in the groove.
As with any slicing process, moving slices relative to one another can create gaps and overlaps between slices, so you might also need to tweak the settings in the Crossfade section of the Quantize panel that appears when dealing with sliced audio. Applying a little Nudge to the left can also help, as it moves the position of any crossfade prior to the attack portion of a note, so that the attack itself, which is so crucial to the sound, is not unduly influenced by the crossfade.
Mix & Match
When quantising with sliced audio, the Quantize panel includes the Crossfades section.
You can, of course, mix and match groove quantising between MIDI and audio parts, so if you've captured a good groove from a MIDI part, it's perfectly possible to experiment with applying it to an audio performance (and vice versa). As with the MIDI groove quantise tasks described last month, the best way to get used to these tools is to start with something simple like a short two-, four- or eight-bar phrase for your drum, bass and rhythm-guitar tracks. If you can get those to lock together well they can be looped to build a song section, and the process can be repeated for other song sections, as required.
Finally, I'll leave you with a handy tip: groove quantising can also be used to create convincing double-tracked guitar parts from a single guitar take. For example, if you take the kind of rhythm-guitar loop that I've used here, you can duplicate the track and then apply slightly different amounts of groove quantisation to each version, so that their timing is tight without being perfectly matched. Pan them hard left and right and you have instant double-tracked guitars.
If you happen to have recorded a DI'ed version of the guitar performance, you could enhance this effect by inserting a guitar-amp simulation plug-in on each track and dialling in different guitar tones. And, as luck would have it, that's just the kind of thing we will look at in more detail in next month's column on the VST Amp Rack.
Tuesday, December 27, 2022
Monday, December 26, 2022
Groove-quantise, Part 1
By John Walden
The groove from my two‑bar drum loop is captured and becomes available in the Quantize Panel.
Back in this column in SOS March 2012, I explained how Cubase 6 allows you to apply grid‑based quantisation to multitrack drum recordings. However, as I mentioned briefly at the end of that piece, Cubase also allows you to quantise to a groove, where you take the rhythmic feel of one music performance and nudge other parts to more closely match it. The end result allows you to keep some of that magical 'swing' or groove in the overall performance, while still getting that 'locked‑in' sensation between the key rhythmic instruments in your arrangement.
Cubase 6 includes features that allow groove‑based quantisation of both MIDI and audio performances, and this month and next I'll look at each of these in turn. To illustrate the process, I'll use a typical example; extracting a groove that I like from a two‑bar drum loop and applying that groove to other key elements of the arrangement, such as a bass line and rhythm guitar part.
Feeling Groovy
Grooves can be accessed, saved, deleted or renamed via the Quantize panel's drop‑down menu.
Defining the term 'groove' is not so easy, but most people would agree that a groove (good or bad!) results from the rhythmic variations a performer introduces into their playing compared to a regular, grid‑based performance of the same notes, and that those rhythmic variations are repeated as a regular pattern. The sense of 'groove' can be increased when the player also emphasises (accents) some notes within the pattern.
In essence, then, to obtain the 'groove' of a performance we need to extract its regular pattern of both timing (and, in particular, timing that doesn't fit the regular musical grid that might be set by a metronome) and playing dynamics.
Capture The Feel
When it comes to capturing a groove from a MIDI performance in Cubase, you actually have very little control over the process: you simply select the MIDI part you want to take the groove from and choose the Edit/Advanced Quantize/Create Groove Quantize option. If you then open the Quantize Panel (Edit/Quantize Panel), you'll see your freshly captured groove in the drop‑down list of available grooves at the top of the panel. Note that, by default, this new groove is given a name to match the name of the MIDI part from which it was taken, but you can edit this to create a more meaningful label. Also note that when you first capture a groove, the name has an asterisk (*) character beside it to remind you to press the save preset button (located next to the drop‑down menu).
Although you can't change the mechanics of the extraction process itself, there are two significant things you can do prior to the extraction that influence just how groovy your captured groove will be... First, you need to decide where exactly you'll extract the groove from. If you only have a short MIDI performance as your source (two or four bars, for example), the choice is simple, but if you have a longer performance (for example, a complete drum performance generated from an electronic kit), you need to decide whether to use all of it or just a selection. Given that one of the key elements of establishing a groove is its repetition, selecting the 'grooviest' few bars is probably the simplest starting point.
When you extract a groove from a MIDI part, MIDI velocity and note-length information are also extracted, and, as we'll see in a moment, you can then choose how much of the MIDI velocity pattern is applied when you superimpose the groove onto another MIDI performance. If you think the original MIDI performance lacks a little something in terms of volume dynamics, then, it's a good idea to go in and tweak the MIDI velocity data a little, or use the Functions/Velocity options to expand the MIDI velocity range, prior to extracting the groove.
Groove Application
If required, the Functions/Velocity menu option allows you to adjust MIDI velocity dynamics prior to groove capture.
Applying a groove preset that you've created to other MIDI parts is very simple and — unlike the extraction process — you get some user control. If you select the MIDI part to which you wish to apply the groove preset, and then open the Quantize Panel, you can select your new groove preset from the drop‑down list. You can then tweak the various Quantize panel controls to adjust just how 'hard' you apply the groove quantise to this MIDI part. These controls are described in the Cubase Operation Manual, so I won't go into too much detail here, but the key starting points are Position and Velocity.
A Position setting of zero percent means that the MIDI notes within the part aren't affected by the timing of the notes in the groove preset. By contrast, 100 percent means that notes are moved to match the groove exactly. Clearly, you can adjust this setting to taste, depending on how tightly you want the various performances to lock together, and I find that a value of 70 percent is a good starting point for a tighter feel, without taking away all the natural variation within the original performances.
Velocity is also expressed as a percentage value and behaves in a similar fashion; zero percent means that the velocities of the groove preset aren't superimposed on the MIDI part, whereas 100 percent produces a close match in terms of playing dynamics. Again, adjust to taste. The Max Move setting allows you to place a limit on how far notes can be moved by the quantise process, and the Randomize setting can be used to add just a touch of 'human' variation: both are well worth experimenting with.
The Quantize Panel allows you to control how 'hard' the groove is applied to other parts. All of these controls are also available via the Quantize tab of the MIDI Editor window.
Once you've adjusted these settings, pressing the Quantize button applies them, but you also have the option of engaging the Auto button, which means that settings will be applied automatically as you make changes. Both note‑start positions and velocities will be adjusted. Because the quantise process is non‑destructive, you can make further changes and repeat this process as often as you wish: you can undo all of the effects of the quantisation by pressing the Reset button, located at the bottom‑left of the Quantize Panel. If there are times when you want to commit to the applied quantise, even if only to reduce the likelihood of resetting your perfectly locked groove by accident, Edit/Advanced Quantize/Freeze MIDI Quantize will do the trick.
These bread‑and‑butter groove‑transfer techniques are useful, but the same tools can also be used for more advanced tasks. For example, it's well worth experimenting with applying a short fragment of extracted groove to the remainder of the longer MIDI performance from which it was taken, to see if it helps (by making the groove feel more consistent) or hinders (by killing the natural variation in overall feel created by the musician). Alternatively, you can choose just to use a short section of the performance for the various instruments (as I've done in my example), and then loop that section, or to retain the whole performance and apply the groove to all of it. Both can work, the former giving greater potential for an ultra‑tight end result, while the latter may produce something with a more natural flow.
Final Thoughts
The two‑bar bass line without (above) and with (below) the groove applied. Note the subtle shifts in the starting points of some notes in the lower version and how the Velocity setting has been (deliberately over) used so that three notes are now heavily accented to mirror beats which had emphasis in the drum loop that formed the source of the groove
The example I've used to illustrate the MIDI groove-quantise process is deliberately a simple one: a two‑bar drum loop provides the groove that's applied to other two‑bar loops for bass and rhythm guitar parts, both of which are MIDI based. In a full production, though, things will usually be rather more complex. For example, even if you take the most simple of verse‑chorus song structures, you might experiment with one groove applied to all the song sections or a separate groove applied to each key song section. This is, of course, a creative decision, but Cubase has all the tools you need to do the required experimentation easily and quickly.
Finally, of course, we've been working only with MIDI here, but most of us now work with MIDI and audio alongside each other — so next month we'll look at how you can get both of these locked nicely into the same groove.
Published July 2012
Saturday, December 24, 2022
Friday, December 23, 2022
Amp It Up!
The VST Amp Rack includes seven amp/cab models, covering a wide range of possible tones.
Guitar players, myself included, often argue over the tonal merits of real amps relative to virtual ones. But whatever your views on plug-in guitar-amp simulations, you can't deny that they present some very useful possibilities, not all of which are confined to guitars. So this month we'll explore a few examples of how the VST Amp Rack, which was introduced in Cubase 6, can be put to good use.
To use the VST Amp rack for guitar tones, you'll first need to get a DI signal from your guitar into Cubase. Most modern audio interfaces have an input or two that can work quite happily with a direct guitar-level signal, but if yours doesn't, you'll need a DI box that can send one signal 'thru' to your amp and another to your interface's mic input. You can choose to record this DI signal alongside the output from an amp or hardware modeller, in which case the DI and amp signals should be recorded on separate Cubase tracks, to give you flexibility later.
Dial In Tones
The VST Amp Rack's primary function is, of course, to create some decent guitar tones. You have seven amp and six cabinet choices which, as hinted at by the graphic styling, include models based upon three Fender classics, a couple of Marshalls, a Vox and a Mesa Boogie. You can combine the different amp and cab types to give you quite a wide range of tonal starting points.
All the amps are capable of decent clean tones, but the best choices are probably the Fender- and Vox-based models. For super-clean, back off on the gain settings or, for a bit more twang (via the Tweed amp) or grit (for example, via the Vox amp), start with the gain about halfway and adjust to taste. With a little more gain, or the addition of an overdrive pedal in a pre-effects slot, you can create a range of 'just breaking up' tones — perfect if blues is your thing. The Plexi model can also do this at lower gain settings, while for straight 'rawk', both Plexi models can do the business. For a more saturated overdrive, the Plexi Lead and Diamond (Mesa Boogie) models are your best bet.
You also get a decent selection of emulated stomp-box effects that can be placed pre- or post- the amp/cab modelling, a choice of microphone type and position and a 'master' section with EQ, a tuner and master output level control. In short, for a bundled plug-in this is a pretty decent package!
So that you can hear the differences between the various models, I've created some short audio examples, and these are available via the SOS web site (/sos/sep12/articles/cubasemedia.htm) for you to audition. In addition, there are audio examples to illustrate each of the VST Amp Rack applications described below. Hopefully, listening to these while reading the text will give you a better idea of what can be achieved.
Reamp At Mixdown
For both corrective and creative applications, there's a good selection of virtual stomp boxes.
It's one thing creating the perfect tone for while you're playing the guitar, but at mixdown you might find that your chosen sound is inappropriate. For example, you might decide the original sound requires more or less gain in order to sit well in the mix. In a traditional recording environment, a DI signal is often recorded alongside the miked amp so that, at mixdown, this DI signal can be fed back to the same or a different amp, the tone tweaked to best fit the mix, either by tweaking the amp settings or changing and moving microphones, and then re-recorded to replace the original. While the results can sound great, this technique can be a bit of a faff — and one of the key advantages of plug-in amp-sims like VST Amp Rack is that they make the process a breeze to perform: you already have your DI'ed guitar part, so you just change the Amp Rack settings to suit the mix.
Layer Take
Another common traditional recording technique is to layer several guitar sounds using different amps, blending the sounds as desired at mixdown to create a fuller tone. With VST Amp Rack, the same effect can be achieved very simply by duplicating the track containing the DI'ed recording and adjusting the amp settings on each track to taste. There's nothing (other than computing power) to stop you from layering as many tones together as you want, if it gets the job done, although usually things will start to sound mushy if you stack more than three or four parts.
While a 'wall of sound' is one application of this approach, a subtler one might be to blend a cleaner sound with an overdriven or fuzz-style sound. When using a heavily overdriven tone, the part as a whole might leap out of the mix, but you pay a price, in that note definition can often be lost. Blending in a cleaner tone can provide the transient information that helps listeners pick out each note without compromising the overall tone.
For example, if you were using a high-gain Diamond amp for your main sound, you might blend in a much cleaner Plexi-based amp tone to add some clarity. The second tone needn't be ultra clean for this to work, just clean enough to have better note definition; and it only needs to be blended in quite subtly, otherwise it becomes obvious that there are two very different tones in use. A further trick is to quite aggressively filter the low frequencies out of the cleaner tone, so that it's only providing aural cues that notes are being picked, but without intruding on the frequencies that define your fuzz tone.
An alternative — or complementary — technique is to insert an instance of Cubase's Envelope Shaper after the Amp Rack on the more distorted sound, which will help emphasise the attack portion of the cleaner sound.
Faking It
As described in the main text, the Envelope Shaper can be used when blending a cleaner tone with a more distorted one.
The VST Amp Rack can also be used very effectively to fake double-tracked guitar parts. Again, copy the DI part to two tracks, pan each hard right and left respectively, and insert an instance of VST Amp Rack on each. The two tracks can be given different guitar tones, to create the illusion of two different guitars playing exactly the same part. You can create radically different sounds if you want, but the differences can also be quite subtle. For example, try simply swapping the default speaker cabinet model for one of the alternatives. If you also apply just a little nudge to the Inspector's Track Delay for both tracks (perhaps bring one slightly forward in time and the other slightly back) you can create a much more convincing impression of two guitars being played. Just make sure that the sound works when listening in mono, if you do this.
In a similar vein, it's also possible to take a section of your guitar performance, move it to a different track, and treat it to a completely different guitar tone. A typical example might be to transform a part that is overdriven (try the ZZ Bottom preset) for the majority of the track into something much cleaner or with some sort of 'ear candy' type special effect (the heavily flanged 'Purple Gain' preset, for example) for use in a breakdown section of the song. This kind of marked contrast can add interest for the listener.
This Means Wah
The sine waveform line tool is great for creating automation data for the wah pedal.
All the VST Amp Rack's parameters can be automated, most easily using Cubase's Quick Control system, so you can vary your tone in different song sections if required. An obvious target for automation is the Amp Rack's wah pedal. Unless you have a MIDI volume pedal that can be used to send controller data while you are playing, you have to resort to adding suitable controller data after recording the DI signal. This actually works quite well, and provides plenty of control. However, for a funky auto-wah effect, you can use the sine waveform line tool to create automation data first (in the screenshot, this has been drawn with a quarter-note grid setting so the wah syncs with the song tempo) and then record your performance while Cubase controls the wah pedal for you. There are, of course, other automation tricks you might use such as varying the amp gain between different song sections, to help create dynamics in the production.
The Guitar Is Not The Star
The VST Amp Rack can also be used as a send effect alongside your more usual reverb or delay processors.
In record production, guitar amps regularly get used for more than just guitar duties: almost any sound source might be processed through a guitar amp to add a little warmth or overdrive. Obvious candidates are keyboard sounds (such as rock organ) and vocals, to give a little grit. A plug-in virtual amp like Amp Rack makes this sort of experimentation quick and easy. There are two approaches you can adopt. First, if you want a full-on effect, simply place the plug-in as an insert effect on the track (or on the audio output channel if it is a software instrument you want to process), just as you would with a guitar.
The second approach, which will often yield more pleasing results, is to set up VST Amp Rack as a send effect. You can then use a parallel-processing approach to blend in just as much (or little) of the amp processing as required, and automate the send level to create any variations you might like in different song sections. This can, for example, be a great way to add just a tiny amount of edge to a vocal to lift it out of a busy chorus section mix. The key here is to experiment with various sources to see what effect you can achieve, and you might be surprised — I've even had good results using amp sims in parallel to add body and sustain to a wimpy snare drum, blending it with the original sound that provided the transient which identifies the sound as a snare.
Published September 2012