New Cubase 4 - Advanced Music Production System

14Mar07

Cubase 4 represents the cutting edge in digital audio workstations. Designed for professionals from the ground up, Cubase converges extraordinary sound quality, intuitive handling and a vast range of highly advanced audio and MIDI tools for composition, recording, editing and mixing.

New Features In Cubase 4:

Control Room

The mixer in Cubase 4 has been expanded with a powerful Control Room section. You’re now able to connect multiple sets of control room monitors and external sources (CD, DVD, Tape etc.) directly to your audio hardware and switch between them from a convenient Control Room panel. The Control Room section also offers a talkback channel, a headphone bus, and the ability to create up to four studio mixes (monitor mixes), so each mixer channel now offers a separate studio send section for controlling those mixes.

New Plug-in Set - VST3

Cubase 4 not only includes a completely new set of superlative audio effect plug-ins, it also marks the next step in VST plug-in technology. VST3 offers major new features both for plug-in developers and users. VST3 plug-ins can adjust their number of audio busses to the channel they’re inserted to (mono, stereo, 5.1, etc.). A silence detection function makes sure that a plug-in only processes audio when there’s actually a signal present. This helps to reduce overall CPU load. VST3 plug-ins natively support Intel-based Macintosh computers. For developers there are many more features under the hood.
 
In Cubase 4, there are 30 all-new first-class audio and MIDI plug-ins. In addition, some of the previous plug-ins have been reworked and updated for this version, pushing the total number of audio plug-ins to 50.

One of the many highlights of this new plug-in set is a powerful new Equalizer, which is also available within the new channel EQ. Other highlights include a Vintage Compressor, Studio Chorus, a new Multiband Compressor, a voice-doubler called Cloner, and a great-sounding modeling guitar amplifier with speaker cabinet simulation.
 
A feature not related to VST3 but to the Cubase mixer: effects can now be re-arranged using drag & drop. This works both within a single channel, as well as between channels. 

 New Virtual Instruments

Cubase 4 adds four new outstanding virtual instruments: HALion One, Prologue, Spector and Mystic. HALion One is a special version of Steinberg’s award-winning HALion virtual sampler and puts hundreds of quality instruments at your direct disposal. The HALion One content is based on the same renowned Yamaha sample content used in its famed Motif series of synthesizers.
 
Prologue is a polyphonic analog-modeling synthesizer with exceptional-sounding filters and powerful modulation capabilities – ideal as a general purpose sound armory covering everything from smooth, rich pads to bright, acerbic leads. With its flexible spectrum filter synthesis, Spector adds an additional range of synthesis tools for exquisitely detailed sounds and textures, while the aptly-named Mystic uses a stunningly powerful combination of physical modeling and spectrum filters to create a vast range of unusual textures ranging through darkly emotive, startlingly original or just plain strange. Prologue, Spector and Mystic are powered by VirSyn technology and also come with hundreds of fantastic presets to get you going.

SoundFrame™ Universal Sound Manager

SoundFrame™ is a set of features which incorporate a powerful Universal Media Library within Cubase 4. SoundFrame™ combines the new Instrument Tracks, Track Templates, and VST3 categorization functions with a powerful database system known as MediaBay.
 
What is SoundFrame™?

->SoundFrame™ allows you to manage ANY sound from ANY software or hardware synthesizer under a single, unified user interface (MediaBay)

->SoundFrame™ can help you find any sound, not only by instrument but also by category, type, style, character or other attributes

->SoundFrame™ even comes with more than 1000 ready-toplay sounds, which are also conveniently organized by instrument category, type, and character. These can even be instantly previewed before loading.

->SoundFrame™ can even manage your VST effects plug-in presets as well. These can also be organized and categorized to form one big effects library.

MediaBay - Media file management system

To keep up with the ever-growing number of sounds, samples, loops and presets, Cubase 4 is equipped with an immensely powerful media file management system known as MediaBay. MediaBay is the central place for browsing, searching, managing and categorizing any type of media file. This includes audio and MIDI files, instrument and plug-in presets, track presets, video data and even project files.

Powerful search tools and an extremely easy-to-navigate user interface give almost instant access to any sound file anywhere on your system. MediaBay also includes a tag editor to apply your own attributes, while the Scope section gives full preview of your audio, MIDI or Presets - even down to the auditioning of loops in your song tempo.

Track Presets

One of the most powerful new features in Cubase 4 is the Track Presets system – especially when combined with the new MediaBay feature. Track Presets store every aspect of track/channel settings for audio, MIDI, and Instrument tracks. Combinations of tracks can also be saved as Multi-Track Presets. Almost all track and mixer setting are stored including volume and Pan information and all insert effect settings as well as the channel EQ. For instrument tracks, all Instrument/Preset information is stpre with a Track Preset, while for MIDI tracks, the Track Preset includes MIDI Port, Channel and Patch information.

Track Presets can be saved with attributes like Category/Style/Character and so on, opening up a whole new dimension in sound management on your DAW,

Instrument Tracks

Cubase 4 introduces a new track type: the Instrument Track. An Instrument Track provides a fast and convenient way to use virtual instruments. As a quick alternative to the VSTi Rack, Instrument Tracks provide a single MIDI Input and a single stereo Output within a single channel/track. Setting up a VST Instrument and getting ready to play is now just one step away!

Major Score Editor Enhancements

The Score Editor in Cubase 4 has seen a major redesign, including many usability and workflow improvements as well as new features. Composers don’t despair! None of the existing functions have been lost. All functions from previous versions are still available, albeit in different places.
Here’s just a brief overview:

->The Score menu is now slimmer and better organized. Some functions are now available via dedicated context menus and therefore easier to use

->The symbol palettes have their own freely configurable “inspector” which is organized in tabs – similar to the track inspector

->All preferences have been combined into a single “main” score settings dialog

->The Drum settings are now part of the main Drum Map Setup

->Cubase 4 now offers two additional high-quality score fonts: “Jazz” and “Classical”. The original Cubase font is now available as “Legacy” font.

User Interphse Redesign 

Designed with meticulous attention to detail, Cubase 4 features an extensively redesigned and anhanced user interface. The overall visibility of active items versus inactive items has been drastically enhanced, so although there are now more screen elements in Cubase 4 providing better access to even more features, overall visibility and orientation is now better than ever. Critical areas such as the Mixer and Inspector have received particular attention, with clearer highlighting and better readability of textual information.
The new user interface also introduces a number of new features, inculding a fully customizable Track Inspector. Not only can each item in the Track Inspector be hidden or shown as desired, but the order and visibility of items can be changed and stored individually for each track type.  

->The Channel Strip window is also fully customizable, featuringits own setup panel and configuration options for each ndividual section - with full preset management. The new EQ section now offers a larger display area, giving better overview when using the new Channel EQ.

->The Mixer window offers even more flexibility and ergonomics in Cubase 4.  View settings can be applied to any number of selected channels, and the view/hide status can be set either individually for a single channel or for several channels simultaneously.

References: http://www.steinberg.net/

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