The Channel Strip
Channel Strips
Although the built-in EQ remains largely the same, it has been bolstered with independent high- and low-pass filters and a real-time spectrum analyser, which is very helpful. The new Channel Strip integrates the EQ with a range of compression types, limiting, maximising, transient shaping and a tube/tape saturation module.
Whilst some of these are nothing more than easily accessible, small footprint versions of existing Cubase plugins, some are completely new (such as the Tube Compressor). They all make mixing in Cubase with no additional third-party plugins very quick and straightforward.
All plugins now offer an A/B comparison feature, though in future I would love to see this extended to mixer parameters such as channel level faders. Channel linking has been much improved in C7 and, as hoped for, allows for a wider range of mixer controls to be linked, including third-party plugin parameters – this is truly excellent.
The newly redesigned EQ in action.
Drag-and-drop of mixer functions has been made visually clearer and is little more straightforward. Each channel can now be given its own icon and notepad area. Incidentally, whilst Cubase does not yet offer a way of rearranging and grouping your own plugins, there is now a pop-up search window that does make finding individual plugins much easier.