Plug-in Set
Designed to put a fully-fledged virtual studio at your fingertips, Cubase Essential 4 features a complete set of first-rate effect plug-ins for mixing, mastering and creating imaginative sound effects.
In addition, many reputable audio software vendors offer effects in the renowned VST format that plug right into Essential 4. Cubase Essential 4 compensates for delays throughout the signal path to ensure proper synchronization and timing regardless of the employed plug-ins’ latency.
The new effects VST3 plug-ins in Cubase Essential 4 come with a huge range of great-sounding presets, which allow you to experience the excellent quality of these effects from the first moment on.
Here is a complete overview:
| Group | Plug-in | Description |
| Delay | Mono Delay | Monophonic delay processor with filter stage and tempo sync. The Steve Reich of delays. |
| Stereo Delay | Dual-channel delay with separate and independent left and right delay stages. Features variable filters and tempo sync for each channel. | |
| Ping Pong Delay | A mono delay with automatic L/R bounce for the classic ping-pong delay effect. Also features a filter stage and tempo sync. | |
| Distortion | Tone Booster | Simple volume booster with a variable filter stage for tone control. Simulates classic stomp boxes like Range Booster. Very useful in combination with AmpSimulator to adjust output volume from low-level output instruments. |
| Distortion | Great-sounding but simple to use distortion effect with Drive, Feedback, and Tone controls. | |
| Amp Simulator | Guitar amp simulation with speaker simulation. Features various amp and cabinet models to chose from. Additional controls resemble a classic guitar combo. Also suitable for bass. May be used in combination with the "ToneBooster" if the guitar lacks output gain. | |
| Dynamics | Limiter | Straight-forward low-distortion limiter with auto-release; puts a "hard ceiling" on any signal. Also suitable for the master stage. |
| Gate | Flexible gate with independent attack and release controls, auto-release, a sidechain input filter for ducking effects, as well as a "live" mode for low-latency use. | |
| VST Dynamics | This is the VST3 version of the classic VST Dynamics multi-effect plug-in. Combines Compressor, Gate, Limiter and Soft Clipper with flexible routing capabilities. | |
| Filter | WahWah | Typical wah-wah pedal modeling effect - lets you emulate your favorite wah-wah pedals. Features parameters for frequency-range, filter-width, and gain range. |
| DualFilter | This unique effect combines low-pass and high-pass filters with single Cutoff and Resonance controls – great for DJ-style filter effects. | |
| Modulation | Studio Chorus | Powerful dual-stage chorus with two identical stages running in serial; each stage also features a filter stage and a spacial parameter which creates modulation offsets between channels, also in surround configurations |
| Chorus | This single-stage Chorus is identical to the Studio Chorus, but with a single modulation stage only | |
| Flanger | Powerful flanger with editable Lo/Hi Range, a filter stage, manual mode and a "spacial" parameter for multi-channel modulation offsets. | |
| Phaser | Classic phaser with variable filter stage, manual mode, tempo sync and a "spacial" parameter for multi-channel modulation offsets. | |
| Tremolo | Classic tremolo effect with optional tempo sync and a "spacial" parameter to add multichannel modulation offsets. | |
| Vibrato | Classic vibrato effect with optional tempo sync and a "spacial" parameter to add multichannel modulation offsets. | |
| Rotary | Rotor speaker cabinet effect with very powerful editing capabilities. Features independent Lo/Hi cabinet control, overdrive, slow/fast/stop modes. | |
| Spacial | MonoToStereo | Can create a pseudo-stereo signal from any mono source. Also includes controls for "color" and "delay". |
| Stereo Enhancer | Can enhance the stereo width of a stereo input signal. Features controls for "color" and "delay" to further enhance the effect. | |
| Reverb | Roomworks | Steinberg!s acclaimed DSP reverb provides programmable input filters, room size and width controls. |
| Roomworks SE | A new “light” version of Steinberg's appraised Roomworks reverb. Great sound – low on CPU load. | |
| Other | Octaver | Sub-octave pitch shifter creates two additional signals, one and two octaves below the input signal, each with variable level. |
| Tuner | Instrument tuner plug-in. | |
| UV22 HR | Dithering plug-in featuring a dither algorithm developed by Apogee. |
In addition to these new plug-ins, the following original Cubase SE3 plug-ins have been updated for Cubase Essential 4:
- MIDI Gate
- DaTube
- StepFilter
- Tranceformer
- Metalizer
- RingModulator
- Chopper
- Bitcrusher
- Grungelizer
