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Cubase SX CS


Jaicen
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I wonder if anyone here can help me. I want to build myself a control surface which will allow me to work the way I like in Cubase/Nuendo SX2.

Basically, I'd like a complete channel strip comprising:

Master volume

Pan

EQ (Freq, Q, Boost/cut)

Mute

Solo

Record Arm

Send 1 Level

Send 2 Level

The way i'd like this to work is that i'd be able to select a channel in the software, and when I turn one of the controls, the screen value will jump to that value. It's a bit like the way the center channel works on the Neve Capricorn really.

Does anyone know if this is possible??

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surely it is :D look left to MIDIboxLC or MIDIbox64. With both of them you can control cubase. LC is a controller "compatible" to the orig LogicControl. But of you dont need the motorfaders i think MIDIbox64 would also do. You can replace pots with faders.

Read a bit in the forum and you will see the large possibilities of Midiboxes.

greetz

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I have read up on the existing designs quite thoroughly, but they're not really what I need to be honest.

For me the purpose of DIY is to make something that fits my needs exactly, rather than adapting other things. Stuff like the Mackie control is ok, but it's not really what i'm after. I just want hands on control of all the track parameters because I hate having to make eq adjustments with a mouse! I want to be able to automate level changes too, so a real fader would be perfect.

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Jaicen,

Be aware that Cubase/Nuendo's generic remote has a small quirk in the handling of a two way connection for status lights and such. If you assign channel strip elements (mute/solo/rec) to note messages or whatever you're using to trigger them, the corresponding messages will only go out if the parameter is changed from the DAW. To simplify, if you had a channel strip with a "record" light and button assigned to a MIDI note, pressing the button on your controller would not cause the LED to light, whereas pressing the onscreen button in Cubase would do it. For such a small "incomplete feature", it can really screw things up for people like us.

The rest of the GR implementation seems to work well for what you're after. If you assign a common channel strip to the "selected" channel in Cubase, all the correct messages will go out as you change the selected channel onscreen.

Sorry if that's bad news for you (it definitely was for me).

George

PS- Drop them an email if you can. I'm guessing they don't see it as something worth fixing. I read the remote section of the version 4 PDF, and it looks like the same exact documentation. 

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I actually wasn't planning on having any LED displays so it's not really a big deal. It would have been nice yeah, but I can live without it.

Basically you hit the nail on the head:

The rest of the GR implementation seems to work well for what you're after. If you assign a common channel strip to the "selected" channel in Cubase, all the correct messages will go out as you change the selected channel onscreen.

I'd be working off the screen anyway, so I wouldn't need feedback on things like Solo etc. I just want something I can put my hands on!

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I've made up a quick sketch of what I have in mind. I know that Cubase will give me access to these parameters, but i'm not sure if it will let me jump them to whichever channel is active or not, that's really what i'd like to know. Since I've got 12 buttons, I'll need two DIN's, so i'll probably add some nice big transport buttons to that surface too (Start, Stop, Record Arm).

3818230864.jpg

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I don't know about the Generic mode of Cubase but does not work in Sequoia (the DAW I use).

What you want, is called a "Fat Channel"... and this is not supported by the Mackie protocol.

As far as I know it basically could be possible with the generic mode of Cubase but the problem might be (again as far as I know), that you have to address the channels directly. - This means, that fader strip 1 is always controlling track one in Cubase and there is no possibility to move your surface channel wise. You could program a second bank and configure those faders to control the next array of tracks. - So if you have a 32-fader controller, you would control Track 1 to 32 with the first bank setup and fader 33 to 64 would control those appropriate Tracks in Cubase.

Greets, Roger

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but i'm not sure if it will let me jump them to whichever channel is active or not, that's really what i'd like to know.

Hey again. Yes, it will. :)

In the GR editor, you have a column where you'd select which channel you want each controller element to map to, and there's an item for "selected" channel which will do that. All the control items you mention should be no problem as they appear to be part of the onboard channel strips. Inserts can work like that too, but you have to be careful to keep the exact same plug in the exact same insert location on your channels, because it seems to only address them as a list of control elements (it doesn't actually know what you're mapped to). So, if channel one has an EQ in slot one and you've set up a knob map for it, and channel two has a reverb in that location, your map will go to random parameters on that one.

The Steinberg GR has a lot in it. It's deep enough that it could probably use a better form of GUI/editor than it has (as well as a fix for that bi-directional glitch I mentioned >:().

Can't believe you're going with no lights. ;)

Take Care,

George

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Hi,

I see a fader in your design and you also speak of automation.

If you want to use automation, I think you have to go for a LC.

Without it your Fader won't follow your automation and as far as I know, only the midiboxLC is supporting motorfaders.

greets

Doc

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I thought that it would be possible, but I couldn't figure out how to assign the stuff to only the selected channel. Am I right in thinking that I just assign Fader1 in the control name to selected, then set the action to Output, that will do what i'm asking??

I don't actually want any automation, although if there was a simple way to add just one motorfader i'd do it. All I really want is for the onscreen control to jump to the settings of the controller when one of the pots is moved. When I mentioned automation, I meant for writing automation into the DAW.

Is there anywhere I can find the relevant documentation for customising GR's ??

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Am I right in thinking that I just assign Fader1 in the control name to selected, then set the action to Output, that will do what i'm asking??

Not in front of a Nuendo machine right now, but that sounds about right. Hope this link works, but there are PDFs for Cubase3 here:

http://www.steinberg.de/386_1.html

The GR seems to have been pretty unchanged for a couple versions at least. The docs for it aren't actually in the "Remote Control Devices" manual, but in the main "Operations Manual" in a section called "Remote controlling the mixer". You'll probably get as much info from just playing around with it though. As I mentioned, it's pretty deep. You'll also notice certain transport functions and stuff which show up in more than one place in the editor's pull down menus (it's sort of a mess, but at least it's powerful).

George

PS- Make sure to export the maps as you make good ones. Building them can take quite a while, and IIRC, there are points where it won't auto save the map with the project or something, so you'll be dumped back to the defaults if you aren't careful.

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Will that track the automated levels in the sequencer??

Jaicen- I checked that for you at the studio tonight on my sampler's MIDI monitor. Nuendo did indeed output a stream of CC data as the fader automation was being read on the selected channel. It would also output a single value in stop mode whenever the selected channel was changed (corresponding to whatever the new channel's fader was at). Everything looks good.

George

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This. Is. Brilliant!

I'm totally stoked about this, I can't wait to get into building it!

Am I right in thinking that I just need a core, DINx4 and AINx4 to get this thing up and running in its most basic form?? Where do I look for info regarding adding a motorfader?? Do I need a CV out for that??

Can I add a shuttle control using an encoder connected to the DIN?? I may have to economise on the buttons, but it would be worth it.

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hi jaicen,

Where do I look for info regarding adding a motorfader?? Do I need a CV out for that??

look for the MF module. You don't need Aout CV module for that.

even if it's less ergonomic, you can replace the motor fader by an encoder (with a ledring, so you can see the value as well as with a fader, so you will save a MF module, and an encoder is 10x cheaper than a MF

I recommend you to use the bank ability of the MB, you juste have to add 8, 16 or 32 butons (using small ones on, that won't take to much place, as Ican see ,two row of little butons will fit on your design).

And you will be abble to acces directly any channel at any time (i.e. you can edit a track on screen with mouse and tweak another one- for example, it's often needed to dim. the volume of a track to ear better what you do on other), you will save a lot of mouse move..

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I had actually thought of that. If I had a bank up/down and a row of eight buttons, that would work right??

I want to keep this version pretty simple and small to be honest. If it works out as well as I'd like, i'll then go for something with 16-odd faders like a baby mackie or something.

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Ok, I just read throught the MF documentation and I have another question. Is it possible to cut build part of the MF module to just support one module, or would that require the firmware to be modified??

My project only really needs the one motor-fader at this stage, and I am trying to keep things pretty simple!

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