Audio Engine Output

The Audio Engine Output section contains all the settings related to the output of the Cubase audio engine.

  1. Sample Rate

    Note

    This parameter is only available for uncompressed audio file formats and FLAC files.

    Allows you to select the frequency range of the exported audio. If you set the value lower than the project sample rate, the audio quality degrades and the high-frequency content is reduced. If you set the value higher than the project sample rate, the file size increases without increasing the audio quality. For CD burning select 44.100 kHz, because this is the sample rate used on audio CDs.

  2. Bit Depth

    Note

    This parameter is only available for uncompressed audio file formats and FLAC files.

    Allows you to select 8 bit, 16 bit, 24 bit, 32 bit, 32 bit float, and 64 bit float. If you plan to re-import the mixdown file into Cubase, select 32 bit float or 64 bit float, depending on the Processing Precision setting in the Studio Setup dialog. 32-bit float files are twice the size of 16-bit files. For CD burning, use the 16-bit option, as CD audio is always 16 bit. In this case, we recommend dithering. Activating the UV22HR dithering plug-in reduces the effects of quantization noise and artifacts when converting the audio to 16 bit. 8-bit format results in limited audio quality and should only be used if required.

  3. Real-Time Export

    Allows you to export the mixdown file in real time. This takes at least the same time as regular playback. Some VST plug-ins, external instruments, and effects require real-time export in order to have enough time to update correctly during the mixdown. Consult the plug-in manufacturers for further information.

    Cubase Pro only: During the real-time export of a single channel, the Audition Volume fader is displayed in the progress dialog. It allows you to adjust the Control Room volume.

    Note

    If the CPU and disk speed of your computer do not allow to export all channels simultaneously in real time, the program stops the process, reduces the number of channels, and starts again. Afterwards, the next batch of files is exported. This is repeated as often as needed to export all selected channels.

  4. Mono Downmix

    In Cubase Artist, this option allows you to downmix the 2 channels of a stereo bus to a single mono file. In Cubase Pro, this option allows you to downmix all the subchannels of a stereo or surround channel or bus to a single mono file.

    For stereo, the panning law as defined in the Project Setup dialog is applied to avoid clipping. For surround (Cubase Pro only), the channels are summed and divided through the number of channels used (in case of a 5.1. channel = (L+R+C+LFE+Ls+Rs)/6).

  5. Split Channels

    Allows you to export the 2 channels of a stereo bus or all subchannels of a multi channel bus (Cubase Pro only) as separate mono files.

  6. L/R Channels

    Allows you to export only the left and right subchannels of a multi channel bus into a stereo file (Cubase Pro only).