Cubase resources
This page contains a few odds and ends for Steinberg's Cubase audio package. The scripts and converter programs contained herein are dedicated to the Public Domain.
Contents
- Overview
- Supernova
- Polymorph
- Installing patch scripts (Cubase SX)
- Using patch scripts (Cubase SX)
- Using drum maps (Cubase SX)
- Converting patch names to scripts and maps
Overview
This page contains various Cubase SX resources, including patch scripts which should also work in Cubase VST though they have not been tested there. Two patch scripts for the Novation Supernova 2 are included - a short script here containing basic programs and performances, plus a full script here which includes user banks, drum maps and arpeggio data. There are XML drum maps for the Supernova 2 as well (see later). A patch script for the Quasimidi Polymorph is here, and there are further resources related to patch script generation listed below.
Supernova
Patch scripts
The basic patch script contains just programs and performances in one large group, so it is straightforward to use but rather limited in ability.
A larger script, with programs, performances, arpeggios, the drum banks and user defined banks included, with patch names preceeded by bank letter and patch number, is here. Note that at the moment the arpeggiator does not seem to change bank, just program number within the current bank. All other items work normally.
The items in the large script are grouped, so you will need to choose a group from the channel connection window that opens when the output of the relevant MIDI track is set to go to the Supernova 2 device. The PDF or HTML online help in Cubase has further details - see also "Using patch scripts" below.
XML drum maps for Cubase SX
Under Cubase SX there doesn't seem to be a way to get at drum maps included in
patch scripts. Drum maps are handled separately, with a drum map editor and an
undocumented XML-based file format. I've produced, based on observation of the
format of an exported drum map, five XML based .drm files with
the drum maps for OS 2.0:
These have to be individually imported into a project or saved with the default project to be used all the time; so you have to both select a drum map patch for the Supernova output device, and independently select a proper drum map from the drum map menu if you want the drum editor to appear rather than the MIDI note editor.
The drum maps are set to use the "Any" channel for all instruments, which means whichever channel is selected for the MIDI track using the drum map will be used for note output too.
The BBC BASIC program used to build the larger patch script and XML drum maps is available here.
Polymorph
Patch scripts
A patch script for the Quasimidi Polymorph is available here which includes the 128 user programs, 4 banks of 64 Setup programs (with names derived from the setups, as in Polymorph itself), plus a bank of the Setups themselves.
As described in the Polymorph manual, you have to send Setup changes on a MIDI channel 4 above the base receive channel set in the device (e.g. if you use channels 1 through 4, send Setup changes on channel 5).
Setups are defined in their own separate group in the patch script. A good way to use this script is to install the Polymorph device (see "Using patch scripts") but leave its default MIDI output unconnected. When you then use Polymorph device as an output for a MIDI track in the Inspector, Cubase will open a connections window for it. This allows you to assign a group to each of the 16 MIDI channels. You can then readily assign program banks to the four main channels on which the device is set up to receive commands, and the setup bank to the next channel along.
Installing patch scripts
To install patch scripts in Cubase SX under Windows, you need to copy the patch script into a particular folder.
If Cubase is installed on drive 'X' go to:
"X:\Documents and Settings\Andrew\Application Data\Steinberg\Cubase SX 3\Scripts\Patchnames"
You will need to turn on the display of hidden files and folders in Explorer to be able to navigate to this location - "Tools->Folder Options...", "View" tab, under the "Hidden files and folders" entry in the list, select the "Show hidden files and folders" radio button.
Inside the above folder you should find a text file called "script documentation.txt". This documents the file format. If you copy in a Cubase VST patch file to that same folder, then it ought to work in Cubase SX.
Using patch scripts
Within Cubase SX, go to "Devices->MIDI Device Manager", click on the "Install Device" button - and your device should be listed in the panel. It seems that if you add or modify patch scripts, reopening the device manager is enough to get Cubase to notice the changes - you don't have to shut down Cubase, or reopen projects.
When you install a device, the MIDI device manager window lets you select a default MIDI output for that device. In general, when using patch scripts which include groups, I prefer to not assign any default channel. Then, when the relevant device is selected as the output for a MIDI channel in the inspector, Cubase will open a connections window that lets you specify both the output for the device itself, and a group for each MIDI channel used to communicate with the device. You can then set up group usage on a per-track basis rather than having it fixed in global configuration (if you know of a better approach I'd be glad to hear about it, as the above method is pretty clunky - please e-mail me with details).
Using drum maps
The online Help for cubase has details, but in brief, create a MIDI track and select in. In the Inspector, select the output device (a synth or other bit of gear installed via. the MIDI device manager) to which the MIDI track should connect. This will ideally be a device related to the drum maps you wish to use. For example, suppose we selected the Supernova device. A window opens listing the Supernova and 16 channels, initially all set to "Performances". Choose whichever channel corresponds to the channel on which you want the new MIDI track to operate, click on the relevant "Performances" entry and choose "Drum maps" from the drop down menu.
Back in the Inspector, choose the MIDI output channel that you want, which should match the channel you just set up for drum map use. Then click on the patch field (which will by default be showing "Off") and choose a drum map from the menu tree that opens. The Supernova should then get set to the right patch and bank whenever the MIDI track is played. Cubase, however, will still open the standard MIDI note editor for the track.
To get around this, go to the drum map area of the Inspector and click
on the "No map" entry to get a popup menu of all drum maps. Choose the
"Add new" (or similarly worded) entry to get the Drum Map Editor window.
Click on the "Load" button and browse to whichever of the .drm
drum map files corresponds to the drum map patch you have selected. This
should load and appear in the list of available drum maps. Click on OK,
then select the new drum map in the Inspector.
Converting patch names to scripts and maps
Whilst I hope to rewrite this in Perl in the near future, I used a
BBC BASIC program written under an A5000 emulator to do the conversion
of a list of patch names to a patch script. The patch name files just
had a single patch name on each line of a plain text file. Line ending
types of LF or CR+LF are acceptable. The
output patch script uses the PC line ending CR+LF. There
are two versions; the simple variant for
the short patch script and the later
version that includes drum maps within the patch script and outputs
matching XML drum maps for Cubase SX.
The Supernova 2 script was created mostly using patch name files included within Novation's OS 2 upgrade archive. If it doesn't match your patch layout, then either you had a slightly different version of the patch banks, or the patch names listed in the archive were not entirely correct. The arpeggio banks were done from patch files created by copying the list of names in the PDF version of the user manual.
The Polymorph script was created by extracting patch names from Cubase-exported MIDI files, containing SysEx data sent directly from a Polymorph.
A BBC BASIC interpreter for the PC is available.
