Cubase 5.1 playback through amp

WaveLab
1

First of all, im sorry about my english! Im not a native english speaker :wink:

I’ve done some searching but I’m still stuck, so I thought I’d chuck it up here to see if I can get some help!

I am running my Boss GT-10 pedal with Cubase 5.1 on Windows Seven through USB port and everything works fine with the recording side, but my problem is when I play back what I have recorded. It is playing through my guitar amp, which cant reproduce my recordings very well, obviously. I can plug headphones into my pedal and have it play back through there (This is what ive been doing so far).

What I want is it to play back through my PC speakers, but in the VST setup I can’t see an option to select this.
I know it can be done, at least is should be possible. :astonished:

I do not own a pc sound card. Iam thinking about getting one, but im not sure if its really needed in this case. Ive been using my asrock z68 extreme3 gen3 onboard sound system until now, and its been great.

I’m most likely doing something stupidly wrong and if anyone could point me in the right direction that would be awesome! :smiley:

2

You’re not really doing much wrong. Most ASIO drivers support just a single audio interface, and Cubase can use only a single ASIO driver at a time. That means you can use just 1 audio interface at the time, which is your pedal in this case.

Now there are 3 options: You either switch ASIO drivers everytime you want to record or play back. The 2nd option is trying an ASIO driver that does support multiple interfaces. The obvious choice here is ASIO4all. This would probably work well but the result may suffer from increased latency which can be a problem if you want to monitor your playing live through the pc speakers.
The third option is buying a dedicated audio interface that you can connect your PC speakers to, as well as inputs for recording the signal from the Boss pedal. You won’t need the USB connection in that case. This option is best and most convenient, but also costs money :wink:

Option 1 is fine but that can get annoying really quickly I imagine, so I suggest you try 2. Good luck!

3

Thank you for your kind answer!

The third option is what I need at the moment… I still have 2 questions left though: How would the hook up diagramm look like if I was to buy an audio interface?

I can only imagine it would be like: Guitar > Boss Pedal > Audio Interface > PC > PC Speaker.

What audio interfaces you recommend? Firewire or USB? Ive 300 bucks to spare :astonished:

Thanks! :slight_smile:

4

Good, if you have money to spend things get more interesting :sunglasses:.

I can only imagine it would be like: Guitar > Boss Pedal > Audio Interface > PC > PC Speaker

This is nearly correct. There are a few scenarios, each have different routings depending on the options your audio interface will offer. Generally speaking, everything sound related will connect to the audio interface.
When working with Cubase the signal flow will be:
Guitar > Pedal > Audio Interface > Cubase > Audio Interface > Speakers.

When working with the PC but not Cubase (IE listening to music or videos) the signal flow will be
PC > Audio Interface >Speakers.

Lastly, some audio interfaces offer standalone operation, so you could, with your PC turned off, use
Guitar > Boss Pedal > Audio interface > Speakers.
(Whether you want that is up to you, if you have a good guitar amp for instance I doubt you’ll want to use your Speakers in this case. I see the pedal also has a headphone output so for using headphones you can bypass the audio interface completely if you want to.)

This does however mean that you need to have speakers that you can connect to another soundsource than your PC. With built-in speakers like in a laptop this won’t work.

As for which interface to get: plenty of choice. USB or Firewire doesn’t really matter, although firewire performance is VERY dependant on which firewire chip you have. It is probably safer to go with USB, also because there’s more on offer and most cheaper interfaces are on USB anyway.
Now you will need at least 2 inputs (the pedal offers stereo output), and of course 2 outputs for your speakers. Most PC speakers connect with a regular stereo minijack, a connection most audio interfaces don’t offer. That means you’ll need to either get a converter cable from stereo minijack to 2x mono jack, or use the headphone output on the interface with a common minijack-jack converter plug. Audio interfaces don’t offer minijack connections because higher end speaker systems support balanced connections, in which case dual mono outputs are required.
What to get: as said, there is plenty on offer. I don’t know what computer you have, but Windows/Mac is obviously important, as you need compatible drivers. I see you have W7, do you run a 64 or 32-bit?

Steinberg offer their CI-range of USB audio interfaces which fall into your budget. Lexiconn, M-Audio, E-MU, Line-6 (these are especially geared towards guitar users, but you have that covered with your pedal already.), Tascam, ESI, Focusrite, Presonus, Mackie etc etc.
I obviously don’t have experience with all of them, but I’ve heard mostly good stories about most of these, apart from ESI who I have never heard anyone mention.

I could give you specific models but I suggest you just see what’s available in your area and closely compare the different options. Read some reviews, ask specific questions here if anything is unclear. In most currencies 300,- can buy you a fine audio interface :wink:

5



As for which interface to get: plenty of choice. USB or Firewire doesn’t really matter, although firewire performance is VERY dependant on which firewire chip you have. It is probably safer to go with USB, also because there’s more on offer and most cheaper interfaces are on USB anyway.

Ive done some researching and Ive read good things about Focusrite Saffire Pro 14(Firewire) and M-Audio Fast Track Pro USB. Both of them fit my budget quite well and are very easy to be found here in Switzerland. I could go for something better, but I really dont need all the fancy features they offer.

Now you will need at least 2 inputs (the pedal offers stereo output), and of course 2 outputs for your speakers. Most PC speakers connect with a regular stereo minijack, a connection most audio interfaces don’t offer. That means you’ll need to either get a converter cable from stereo minijack to 2x mono jack, or use the headphone output on the interface with a common minijack-jack converter plug. Audio interfaces don’t offer minijack connections because higher end speaker systems support balanced connections, in which case dual mono outputs are required.
What to get: as said, there is plenty on offer. I don’t know what computer you have, but Windows/Mac is obviously important, as you need compatible drivers. I see you have W7, do you run a 64 or 32-bit?

My config:

Cubase 5.1
Win7 64bits
Asrock z68 Extreme4
i7-2600k@3.40GHz
8GB Ram
Edifier S550 5.1 Speaker System

Steinberg offer their CI-range of USB audio interfaces which fall into your budget. Lexiconn, M-Audio, E-MU, Line-6 (these are especially geared towards guitar users, but you have that covered with your pedal already.), Tascam, ESI, Focusrite, Presonus, Mackie etc etc.
I obviously don’t have experience with all of them, but I’ve heard mostly good stories about most of these, apart from ESI who I have never heard anyone mention.

I could give you specific models but I suggest you just see what’s available in your area and closely compare the different options. Read some reviews, ask specific questions here if anything is unclear. In most currencies 300,- can buy you a fine audio interface > :wink:

Dear Strophoid, i cant thank you enough for all your help in this matter. And please, fell free to make some suggestions on audio interface models. I really could use some tipps from an expert like you.

6

Hmm, a 5.1 system. How have you hooked that up currently? From the specs I could find it has an analog stereo RCA input, and 6 digital RCA surround inputs.
Second question would be if you need full surround capability from within Cubase, or would regular stereo be fine? (Using stereo you’re still using your entire speaker system, but the difference is if you need 6 independent outputs instead of 2. Using surround in Cubase you can pan your signal across your room instead of just left and right.)

I had a look at that motherboard of yours, and from what I could find the onboard firewire chip isn’t really great for use with audio interfaces. There’s no harm in trying it though, and if it appears not to work very well you can get TI firewire expansion cards for PCIe very cheaply and these work great.

7

Well, my 5.1 system has only an analoge RCA. The S550 offers analogue inputs ONLY. This speaker does not Decode Dolby Digital or any Digital signals :frowning:

Second question would be if you need full surround capability from within Cubase, or would regular stereo be fine? (Using stereo you’re still using your entire speaker system, but the difference is if you need 6 independent outputs instead of 2. Using surround in Cubase you can pan your signal across your room instead of just left and right.)

This speaker set was quite expansive, so Id like to use its full potencial. I mean, regular stereo would be nice, but if there is the chance to make it sound even sweeter, why not? What should I do/buy in order to make my cubase pan my signal across my bedroom?

I took a very good look at my MOBO and it has only 5 independent outputs.

8

hey strophoid plz help me out. im using cubase le 4 and i want to record guitar through microphone of my laptop.i hv checked for every settings in cubase but still whenever i try to record the guitar i cant hear anthing pre or post recording and even the audio levels are not rasing. im able to record my guitar in the sound recorder of win 7. plz help me out.

9

Well you could start by not hijacking another topic that’s not related :stuck_out_tongue:
Have you tried the getting started manual for Cubase? All you really need to do is select the right driver in device setup (try asio4all if performance is bad), set up your inputs in VST Connections (f4), create a mono audio track, set its input to the microphone. Arm the track for record, hit record and you should be off.

Good luck.