User Manual

Table Of Contents
Installing and Managing Plug-
Ins
Installing VST Plug-Ins
Cubase supports the VST 2 and VST 3 plug-in standards. You can install effects and instruments
that comply with these formats.
A plug-in is a piece of software that adds a specific functionality to Cubase. The audio effects and
instruments that are used in Cubase are VST plug-ins.
Effect or instrument plug-ins normally have their own installation application. Read the
documentation or readme files before installing new plug-ins.
When you scan for newly installed plug-ins or relaunch Cubase, the new effects appear on the
effect selectors.
Cubase comes with a number of effect plug-ins included. These effects and their parameters are
described in the separate document Plug-in Reference.
VST Plug-In Manager
The VST Plug-in Manager provides lists of the effects and VST instruments that are installed on
your computer. These lists are used in the selectors for VST instruments and effects.
The VST Plug-in Manager allows you to do the following:
You can view lists of all effects and VST instruments that are loaded by Cubase when you
launch the program.
The lists of all effects or VST instruments are created automatically every time you start
Cubase. You can also initiate a rescan at any time. This ensures that these lists are always
up-to-date.
You can create your own lists of effects or instruments for use in the selectors for effects
or instruments. User-defined lists are called collections.
Collections allow you to create sub-sets of the available effects or instruments, for
example, to give you a better overview of the effects used in a project.
NOTE
If an installed effect or instrument cannot be loaded by Cubase, it does not appear in
the list of all effects or instruments. Also, the effect or instrument is grayed out in any
collections in which it is included. For example, this can happen if a copy-protection dongle
required to run the effect or instrument is missing, or after uninstalling a plug-in.
VST Plug-In Manager Window
You can manage your effects and VST instruments in the VST Plug-in Manager window.
To open the VST Plug-in Manager window, select Studio> Plug-in Manager.
637