Hi.
Just getting back to Cubase after some years now and I’m setting up a system with Cubase and TotalMix (RME Fireface UFX). I have a hard time finding a good setup for this. There are two alternatives, and both seem to have their shortcomings in a good work flow. I am hoping I’m just overlooking some features that limits my setup.
Setup 1:
Using direct monitoring.
Pro: Easy to record and work with vocals. Can monitor with effects in Totalmix.
Cons: Not able to record guitars using GuitarRig 5.
Q: So is there a way to use a hybrid direct monitoring, where a vox channel uses direct monitoring but the guitar channel don’t?
Setup 2:
Not using direct monitoring.
Pro: I can record guitar in GuitarRig5.
Cons: Recording vocals where I use RME Totalmix means I will have to manually mute a vox channel when I record to not hear the echo. I found a plugin called Muteomatic which seem to help me automate this.
Q: Is it possible to have a mode with direct monitoring where selected audio channels play back the content on play, but is muted on recording? This would be kind of the tape style monitoring. But in stop/record it would just mute.
Hope anyone have any tips for me setting up my studio again.
It’s totally possible. Go to your preferences and check the monitoring settings (not at the machine, I think it’s found under ‘Transport’ there). Choose ‘manual’ there. Then simply press the orange monitor button on the channel you record to to hear the input (or don’t if you prefer that channel to be direct monitored via TotalMix).
Tape style, while record enabled/recording running would change state at each stop/play/rec operation.
There are several scenarios you can realize. Cubase’ cue sends can remote control TotalMix (= being able to use TM’s FX section as well), useful in many cases but not so much in yours. The inputs in TotalMix have to be set up exactly like the associated input channels etc… things can get complicated quickly.
Almost always I use TotalMix for monitoring, just because it’s simple. In case of VSTis or amp sims I reduce the buffer size to 128 or lower if possible and monitor only those through Cubase.
Thanks for the input masrQs. I played around a bit yesterday and ended up with a setup that seem to work great so far.
Direct monitoring turned off.
Tape style monitoring.
Channels recording vocals all have the Muteomatic plugin on (meaning sound is muted on stop/recording state in Cubase).
Monitoring vocals through Totalmix.
Controlling the Totalmix volume fader in Totalmix using Cubase iC Pro (using a midi channel sending CC 102).
This gives me a setup where I can record vocals without latency. I can record guitars in GR5 with low latency, and I can control transport, the Cubase mixer and Totalmix volume using Cubase iC Pro on my iPad. No fiddling around with manual mutes on channels to toggle recording and playback.