Can someone explain control room to me, and what the benefits are over just setting the inputs and outputs up? Also, do I have to have control room outputs setup at the same time as the main inputs and outputs? What’s the most optimal way to set this stuff up in Cubase? I never really learned how to be honest, I just did things the caveman way!
Also, is there a way to force all of my projects to use the same audio setup? Lots of that stuff seems to be saved on a per-project basis, which is quite clumsy when moving from machine to machine.
Control Room is Cubase’s separate “monitoring mixer”: it handles what you and the musicians hear, while the normal Outputs handle what gets recorded and exported.
Key benefits over simple Outputs
Separate monitor volume vs mix level
The big Control Room level knob only changes what you hear on your monitors, not the actual mix or export level.
You can turn your speakers up or down freely without touching the master fader, so your exports stay consistent.
Easy multiple speaker/headphone sets
You can define several Monitor busses (A/B/C sets of speakers, or speakers + headphone out) and switch between them with one click.
Each monitor path can have its own level and dim settings, so checking mixes on different systems is fast and safe.
Proper headphone/cue mixes for musicians
Control Room provides Cue/Studio channels so each performer can get their own mix (more vocal for the singer, more drums for the drummer, etc.) without changing your main mix.
You can base a cue on the current main mix and then tweak levels independently for that headphone feed.
Talkback and studio communication
You can set up a talkback mic input in Control Room and route it to the performers’ headphones only, with a dedicated button and level.
This is much cleaner than trying to manage talkback through regular audio tracks and outputs.
Click and metronome routing
Each Control Room channel (monitors, cues) has its own Click button, so you can send click only to the drummer’s phones, but not to the singer or the main speakers.
That avoids bleed into microphones and keeps the control room quieter.
Safe “monitor-only” plugins
Control Room has its own insert slots, so you can load room/headphone correction, loudness meters, or limiters that affect only what you hear, not the exported mix.
For example, you can put a monitor-only limiter on your headphone bus to protect ears without printing that limiter into your mixdown.
Quick reference track A/B
Many engineers use a dedicated Control Room channel to monitor reference tracks and quickly A/B between their mix and commercial tracks without routing them through the main stereo bus.
That lets you compare tonality and loudness without disturbing your mix routing.
When it really matters
Recording more than one musician at once (each needs their own headphone mix).
Working with more than one set of monitors or monitor + headphones.
Using room/headphone correction plugins, or wanting a monitor-only limiter/metering chain.
Doing lots of reference A/B with commercial tracks while mixing.
I proof-read it.
One of the biggest benefit for me: Inputs and Outputs are stored in the project. Control Room is stored globally. So even if I get a 3rd party project, my monitors are always working as expected, without need to change anything.
I give thumbs down. I’ve never used control room and never will
Partially because I have an actual control room & console anyway as a central hub, however, more importantly for me….
Less crap happening in a daw= a happy daw …or at least a happy dosWasBest The universe works best when the fewest daw windows open
All my Cubendos feed into a “mixdown Cubendo” (sort of like my jh24s feed into atr100 concept). control room not necessary there at that point.
Don’t need a/b referencing from control room. On a Cubendo multitrack…I have little mono or stereo mp3 previous-mixes inserted right up at the top of the project. Instantly available to mute/unmute to visually/aurally compare….and I mean…a few…none of this analysis paralysis “let’s compare 5000 diff mixes of this tune”
Don’t need metering of a specialty type …I don’t do soundtracks, games, nuttin’ where control room meters are necessary…..now if Sb EVER adds channel-by-channel accurate yellow vu meters like on the ssl Oracle (ditch turn/off the plasma next to each cubendo chnl fader), hey, nirvana for me when tracking….but that’s a different topic
A guy like Dom is cool…he likely has 10,000 Cubendo keystroke/menus/workthroughs in his brain at all times for instant retrieve. (Chris is somewhat similar). But….I hear the actual music he attaches to all that knowledge in his videos and I’m always struck by “well, that’s not like anything I do or am interested in”.
There are 8 million possibilities in Cubendo. I use about 20 of them I have no use for control room.
Control Room is invaluable to me. It also is just one of many differentiating marks between Cubase and the other more “simpler better workflow” type DAW that doesn’t include any such thing that is now in the hands of Servco Pacific.
Generally, similar to a DA/AD converter, once I set it up I tend to forget about it with exceptions of Listen, Dim, Channel switching, etc. All those options are configured in Metagrid so the times I actually open Control Room are rare.
I suppose you can say it’s something over time you grown into. If you have any room correction software, I suspect you will grow into it a bit faster…or eternally do more clicks.
@DosWasBest Haha, at first I thought you were joking…
Each to their own! It’s actually refreshing to hear someone not praising Control Room unconditionally. I get it why you don’t need/want it.
To me, however, Control Room is invaluable. I’m with @Greg_Purkey. I love its features and studio life would be much more difficult without Control Room.
That’s the beauty of Cubendo, isn’t it? I guess we are spoiled.
I have an x32 so my multiple monitor and headphone setup is already sorted there, however the one thing nice about control room for me personally is it’s the fastest way for me to switch between mono and stereo when mixing. Other than that I guess the point above about safe monitor might also be ideal.
Control Room should really be thought of as a sort of software “replacement” of a real studio’s control room, and that’s where you can set your environment individually to each machine. That’s how I see it.
It can be hugely useful, and you can tie key commands to it, or access them in Eucontrol if you use that (or other software), giving you easy, quick control over things like reference level, dim and more.
