How to setup kX with Cubase SX
(by Lex Nahumury)
This guide will show you how to setup Cubase SX with kX and
vica versa.
I will not go into detail on how to operate Cubase (see your
manual for that),
but focus on how Cubase SX interacts with kX.
The pictures may vary for different card types.
Cubase version used is 1.68.
kX driver version used is 3537.
-First make sure you have setup your Windows 'Mutimedia
Properties' properly;
Set to 5.1 surround sound speakers,
..and full Hardware acceleration etc.
- Start Cubase SX.
If this is the first time SX is launched, it will ask you to test
your DirectMusic/ASIO setup.
Ignore (skip) this since we won't use the Directmusic stuff for
ASIO.
-From SX's menu, open File->New Project->Empty.
Select a directory. (this is only temporarly).
If SX reports "Samplerate could not be set...", ignore
it, click OK.
Ok, now you should have an empty project window.
-From SX's menu, open Devices->Device Setup.
Select KX ASIO driver under VST Multitrack.
Open Control Panel and set Samplerate to 48000 Hz.
Set Latency to a reasonable value that matches the power of your
PC.
You can change/adjust the Latency afterwards, but always
use 48000 Hz samplerate..!
Also make sure that all your audio files in your Project are
48kHz..!
So if you import 44kHz audio data, convert it to 48kHz first.
Confirm everything with 'OK' and close the Device Setup.
-From SX's menu, open File->Save as Template
Type in any name and save it.
Now comes a "weird" part.
Close down SX, start it again and open a New Project
selecting the Template you just saved.
If SX reports "Samplerate could not be set..." again,
click OK,
open the Device Setup again, check it's settings, click OK
and save/overwrite this Template once again!!
The next time you open this Template, everything should be fine.
Ok, you just have set SX to use kX ASIO driver, set it's
Samplerate and it's Latency.
Now let's see how kX's ASIO Inputs and Outputs work with Cubase
SX.
ASIO VST Inputs
Hit F5 in SX to open the VST Inputs Dialog.
As you can see in the next picture, Cubase recieves (Records)
from kX's DSP ASIO "outputs".
That's right. You are always Recording what is coming *Out* of
the DSP..!
Here I used the [Asio] plugin from the ProFX menu, but you can of
course use the ASIO "outputs" on Epilog.
ASIO VST Outputs
Hit F4 in SX to open the VST Outputs Dialog.
As you can see in the next picture, Cubase Plays Back into kX's
DSP ASIO "Inputs".
That's right. You are always Playing Back *Into* the DSP..!
Cubase's outputs Playback *into* the DSP through FXBus, or the
[Src] plugin from the ProFX menu.
The next diagram shows clearly how Cubase SX interacts with kX.
Or more precisly, ..with the DSP..!
Notice how "Outputs" go to "Inputs" and visa
versa.
The ASIO "mapping issue"
Certain card models have a ASIO output
mapping issue as mentioned in kX FAQ.
What basicly happens is that you'll miss two of the lower ASIO
channels, and the channel mapping is a bit messed up.
New kX users can get quite puzzled on how to setup their VST ASIO
Inputs because of this issue.
I will use Cubase SX2.0 here to illustrate this issue so I don't
have to write two guides:)
Since the ASIO Input (recording) mapping is messed up, you need
to find out how your cards maps.
Here's how you can do that;
1. In Cubase SX2.0 hit F4 and activate all VST
Inputs.
Click on 'Add Bus', and select the kX ASIO pairs.
This is how it looks when you are done;
2. Open the DSP window and load 'Wavegenerator' and ProFX's ASIO
3. In Cubase SX, hit F3 to open the Mixer.
4. Start wiring the Wavegenerator's Sine output to each ASIO
recording output subsequently.
5. Watch your Cubase Input Mixer which VST input matches with the
DSP output.
Here's how it all looks with an "issue" card;
As you can see, you miss 2 ASIO channels, and the mapping is a
bit messed up.
In Cubase SX2.0 you can easily change the bus mappings and save
the whole setup
That's it..!
DSP Setup
Now that you know that Cubase Plays Back into the DSP and Records
from the DSP,
it's obvious that we have to setup the DSP properly.
If we don't, no sound will go in or come out..!
See kX's
DSP Concept if you are not familiar with kX's DSP concept.
There are numerous ways to setup the DSP. The next setup is just
an example which can;
- playback 2 ASIO channels
- record to ASIO from Line-In with Compression
- add Reverb to whatever we want
- monitor everything we want etc. etc...
It uses the ProFX plugins for easy setup and saving DSP
resources.
The same setup as above, but now using the standard I/O plugins.
(Note: Picture may vary for different cardtypes)
Suppose we would want to record Vocals through Line-In and add
some Reverb for the vocalist
to monitor him/herself. In most cases we would want to record the
vocal track dry.
The next MX6 settings, used in the above DSP setups, makes this
possible.
The MX6 has a typical Mixer Bus architecture. It has 4 stereo
busses;
R = Record Bus,
M = Main Bus
S1 = Send1 Bus
S2 = Send2 Bus
(E simply Enables/disables the whole Input channel)
Here, only IN3 (our vocal channel) is routed to the R (Record
Bus),
so that's the only signal that gets recorded.
All other channels including Reverb are routed only to the M
(Main Bus) which goes to the
Speakers/Headphones for monitoring.
As I mentioned before, there are many other possible DSP setups
to achieve the same or a variation.
That's the power of kX!
Here is another more complex example.
-A nice feature in Cubase is that you can use any ASIO Playback
Bus as a Send Effect.
That way you can use kX's hardware Reverb instead of some
"CPU hungry" VST reverb.
Here I used VST Bus 3 as a Send Effect.
-The SoundFont MIDI Synth is also used here.
The Synth's direct (dry) signal goes directly to the Output Mix.
A [Src] assigned to FXbus 13/14 takes care of the GM compatible
Reverb&Chorus Sends.
-Just as in the previous example, we can record 'Dry" from
Line-In, add some Reverb to it and mix it with the Output Mix
Well, the rest is up to you since, once understood, the
possibilties are endless.
Feel free to post questions, errors, comments on our forum.
/Lex Nahumury