OK so I’ve been trying to understand how to setup an LFO using AUTOLFO to modulate an effect parameter. I want a modulating EQ point but because it’s an effect there’s no MIDI section so can’t use AutoLFO.
I am not willing to draw automation for the whole damn track because that’s unbelievably stupid and time consuming.
So, and i’ll preface this by if I am wrong i’ll retract and apologise, but if I am right, why has nothing been implemented like Bitwig and Ableton to allow this to happen easily ? I Got Bitwig 8 track to sound design for this exact reason, and its SO EASY. Just add LFO and assign to parameter, job done.
This is supposed to be a premier DAW and this is absolutely insane that this isn’t possible. How on earth have the dev’s ignored this all this time ? Total neglect on their part.
But as I said if I am wrong and there is an easy way to do this, i’ll delete and retract this, but if there isn’t, you have to just laugh out loud at the fact Cubase cannot do it, and point the finger at the devs as just not being able to implement such a simple and easy thing.
There is no easy way yet to do this in Cubase. There is a way which is more complex to setup, but once it’s set up, it can be reused in a fast way to modulate practically anything with MIDI.
Create a MIDI remote controller surface and set a virtual MIDI port (IAC on macOS or whatever equivalent exists on Windows) as the input
Add 8 knobs mapped to 8 quick controls and choose CCs for each knob
Previous 2 steps have to be done only once.
Open the VST3 effect whose parameter you want to modulate and assign that parameter to a track quick control
Create a MIDI track with no input and set its output to the same virtual MIDI port that the remote controller surface from step 1 uses as input
Add Auto LFO and set it to modulate MIDI CC that was assigned to the knob on the MIDI surface that is mapped to the quick control chosen in step 3
Your VST3 parameter is now modulated.
Steps 4 and 5 can be saved as presets. For example, we can have a track preset with multiple Auto LFOs outputing to CCs selected in step 2. Those presets can then be recalled very quickly when needed. Custom key commands and macros may be able to speed-up things further, but I haven’t tried it yet.
Similar procedure can work with 3rd party MIDI effects.
So, yeah, this is a bit of pain to set-up, but realtively easy to use after that. The main drawback is that we are stuck to MIDI resolution, but I guess that should change with MIDI 2.0.
Of course, if modulations are something we need to do all the time, then Cubase is currently not the best option. Ableton Live or Bitwig or even Logic Pro are all better for this type of workflows at the moment. I also hope we will get more flexible modulations in Cubase in future versions.
Thank you very much for taking the time to explain all that.
Steinberg , you seriously need to look at the competition like Bitwig and Ableton, and implement things like this, because its so easy to implement and makes life so easy. How on earth is Cubase in it’s 13th incarnation and you still only have LFO and other modulations in the MIDI insert ? HOW ? Stop bloating Cubase and add really functional things like this.